Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Principal Morris had given Jason and his friends a fair bit of leeway in terms of what songs they could play during the dance.

The only thing he asked of them was to play cleaner versions of the songs in order to keep the music appropriate for a middle school dance.

With the Principal gone it was just Jason and his band left on stage. He looked out to the crowd "Alright y'all, since this is a retro-themed party we're gonna be starting off with a classic.

Sing along if you know the lyrics, and show some energy!" After he said that he turned to Cody and gave him a thumbs up.

Cody began to set the pace with his drums as Kyle filled in the rest with his keyboard. Jason began to tap his feet as he reached for his microphone.

"One, two, three!

My baby don't mess around

Because she loves me so

This I know fo sho!"

Just the opening verse was enough to drive the audience crazy as they began to clap and cheer. For them Jason was the main reason why they begged their different schools to host their dance alongside Jefferson's.

But what they didn't expect was the energy and effort that Jason and his friends were putting into their performance.

"But does she really wanna

But can't stand to see me walk out the door

Don't try to fight the feeling

Because the thought alone is killin' me right now

Thank God for Mom and Dad

For sticking to together

Like we don't know how"

Jason began to dance on stage with his mic stand as he began to emulate Andre 3000's performance from the original music video of the song.

As the next part of the song came on Kyle and Samantha both leaned into their mics while Jason pointed his out toward the crowd.

This move seemed to have energized the audience as they all immediately jumped in to join the band.

"Hey ya! Hey ya!

Hey ya! Hey ya!

Hey ya! Hey ya!

Hey ya! Hey ya!"

The awkward atmosphere created from having a joint dance with students from multiple different schools disappeared in an instant.

With AND1's energetic and charismatic performance lead by Jason all of the students in attendance began to dance and intermingle.

After they had finished performing their first song of the dance Jason felt like a surge of electricity was traveling across his entire body underneath his skin.

This was the first time that he had ever felt this sensation outside of a basketball game. He wiped a bit of sweat that had formed on his face as he smiled.

'I really owe Sammy one. If it wasn't for her I don't think I would have ever pushed myself so far out of my comfort zone.

I wouldn't have ever had this chance to create these kinds of memories and I wouldn't have found out that I enjoyed doing things like this.

Samantha really surprised me. I didn't think that I would still be learning from a middle schooler after UD left, I guess there are some things that adults can learn from kids.'

Jason leaned into his mic as he faced the crowd "I know that we're dressed like this but don't worry. Just like how we showed with the first song we're not going to be doing just Emo or Alternative rock.

Ain't that right Sammy?" Samantha smiled as she turned her head to meet Jason's gaze with her own "Let's show em. Kyle!"

Kyle nodded his head as he began to mess with the settings on his keyboard. He then began playing with an inorganic synth sound as Samantha joined in with her singing.

"I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas, please (Woo)

Fold 'em, let 'em hit me, raise it, baby, stay with me (I love it)

LoveGame intuition, play the cards with spades to start

And after he's been hooked, I'll play the one that's on his heart"

All of the girls in the room squealed in excitement as they all began to sing along. With the crowd so receptive Samantha felt more confident as she began to add her own flair to her performance as she danced around the stage and reached down to touch hands with the audience.

After their second song, the energy in the room was perfect as everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Jason smiled as he looked out into the crowd "And now we got something for the Riverside boys. Yo Kyle, drop the beat."

Kyle turned from his keyboard to his laptop that was set up next to him. As he pressed a few keys a beat began to play as Jason took his microphone off of its stand.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go

Go, shorty

It's your birthday

We gon' party like it's your birthday

We gon' sip Bacardi like it's your birthday

And you know we don't give a hell it's not your birthday"

All of the boys began to shout in excitement as they new what song Jason was about to perform. Seeing as how a lot of the boys had come wearing durags underneath their caps Jason knew that he had picked out the perfect song.

- - -

The night was going perfectly so far. Jason and his friends had done more than a few songs and the vibe in the room was perfect as they saw all of the students chatting and having fun.

They were in the middle of a short break as they all sat on the side of the stage drinking water while Kyle played a few songs on the speaker with his laptop.

Jason noticed that even though he was smiling Kyle seemed a bit down, as though there was something weighing down on his mind.

Jason got up and took a seat right next to Kyle before throwing his arm around his shoulder "What's up bro?"

Kyle looked at him "What do you- Sigh Is it that obvious?" Jason nodded his head. Kyle ran his hand over the top of his head before looking down at the floor.

"I thought she would be here. I even sent her a ticket and everything." Jason instantly understood what Kyle was talking about.

Jason was silent for a moment. In all of his years of life he had never been in the position to give relationship advice.

Seeing as how he was so unsuccessful in his own love life that role had always fallen to Devin. Not only was he his only friend in his past life, he was the only one Jason had known that seemed to understood girls perfectly.

Jason wracked his brain for a few moments before giving up. He patted Kyle on the back "What did she say when you asked her?"

Kyle looked up and into the crowd where the boys were happily talking and dancing with he girls "She ghosted me.... After I asked her to come to the dance she stopped responding to my messages. She won't even pick up my calls."

Jason looked over at his friends sad expression "Ouch dude, that sucks to hear. I don't really know what to say in a situation like this to cheer you up.

I don't know if I should tell you to just forget about her and to enjoy this dance or to stay hopeful and to not lose faith."

Kyle looked to Jason as he gave a pained smile "Thanks Jaya, I know you're trying. Do you think I was being too pushy asking her to come all the way out here for a dance?

I was trying not to come off as needy or pushy. I only asked her to come after she said that she would be in the area anyways. And I told her that if it was too much trouble that it was okay for her not to come.

Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut. If I had known that this would happen I would have never asked her in the first place."

Just as Jason was thinking of what to say next he saw a face that he hadn't seen in a while approaching the stage. Jason smiled before giving Kyle a strong pat on the back.

"Ay bro, I think you should get ready.. Looks like we got another song request on the way."