Rebound: A 2nd Chance

As soon as the boys ran in to the restroom they saw two other boys on the floor. Then they saw Jason\'s sorry condition.

His face was bruised and battered with his lip busted open as two boys held him back. One grabbing each of his arms while the other four beat up on him.

But despite his situation Jason\'s face showed no signs of fear. Instead he was intensely fighting back by throwing kicks at the boys in front of him while also trying to free himself from the other boys\' grasp.

Kyle was the first one to react as he dashed toward Jason "Jaya!" His voice signaled the start of an all out brawl as the others from the basketball team rushed forward as well.

- - -

In the Principal\'s office. Jason, Kyle, and the other guys from the basketball team were all sitting silently.

They all looked like they had just come out of a fight as their faces had bruises or black eyes. Jason was in the worst shape compared to all of them.

His right eye was shut swollen and his bottom lip was split open. Thankfully Jason was applying a ice pack to his lip so the gross sight was covered for the most part. 

As Principal Morris looked at the boys sitting down across from him he sighed and shook his head.

"First day of school and you boys are already rocking the boat. This is the first time I\'ve had to talk to this many students at once in my office. We had to pull some seats from the front office."

Neither could Jason or the other boys say anything as they sat in Principal Morris\' office in silence. He had a weak smile on his face as he looked at them.

"Don\'t worry gentlemen. There were a substantial amount of witnesses that said that you boys only acted in self defense.

So don\'t worry about any punishments or disciplinary acts." He then looked around his office and checked to make sure that his door was closed.

He then gave a thumbs up "You boys never heard this. But I am very impressed. Especially with you Jason.

I heard that you were alone with those boys for at least a minute or two. You must have put up one hell of a fight to last long enough for your friends to show up."

It was only after hearing the principal say that could Jason and the other boys let out a sigh of relief. Jason looked at Principal Morris and chuckled.

"I don\'t know if you can say I did anything all that impressive. Just one look at my face is enough to tell you that I got rocked pretty hard."

Kyle laughed as he held an ice pack to his eye "Yeah. But you were pretty much fighting 1 vs 8 bro. How many people can say that they wouldn\'t get rocked in that kind of situation."

DJ laughed but then stopped as he held his side and winced in pain "Jaya\'s the only dude that still wouldn\'t be happy to settle for that."

Matt\'s massive Jewfro bobbed up and down as he nodded his head "Knowing Jaya he was probably thinking of knocking all the dudes out even in a situation like that.

Most guys would just be happy with not getting put to sleep in a scenario like that." All of the boys laughed after hearing him say that.

Jaya shrugged his shoulders "If you think about it they picked the worst place to jump me. Since we were in a restroom they couldn\'t really take advantage of their numbers.

If I were them I would have jumped me somewhere with more space. Guess they didn\'t really think things through all that much."

Principal Morris along with all the other boys were stunned after hearing Jason say that. It took a moment for the principal to recover.

He shook his head "Well putting that aside, although you boys aren\'t in any trouble I went ahead and called your parents to explain the situation to them.

They should be here shortly to pick you all up. Don\'t worry about missing your last few classes. It\'ll be an excused absence. Just go home and get some rest."

After speaking with the principal the boys went to the front office with their backpacks as they waited for their parents to pick them up.

As the boys got picked up by their parents Jason and Kyle were the only ones left waiting. As the two of them were casually playing games on their phones the door to the office swung open.

Jason\'s Dad and Kyle\'s mom walked in and rushed to their children as soon as they spotted them. Aunty Vee pulled Kyle into a tight hug.

"My poor baby. Look at that shiner. Are you okay?" Kyle nodded his head "I\'m good mom. We\'re still at school. Can you tone down the hugs?"

As the two of them talked Jason\'s dad walked his way to Jason. He shook his head before smiling weakly. He then reached down and ruffled Jason\'s hair.

"One hell of a way to start the new school year Jason." Jason chuckled "Tell me about it. Can\'t say I saw this on my class schedule."

The two of them then followed their parents as they drove them home. After they were in the apartment Jason\'s dad looked at him "Strawberry or chocolate?"

Jason thought about it for a second before saying "Strawberry." His dad nodded his head before heading in to the kitchen.

Thirty minutes later there was a plate of hamburger steak and rice sitting on the table. Next to it was a tall glass of strawberry milkshake.

Jason picked up his spoon and started chowing down. His dad looked at him and shook his head with a smile on his face "You\'re lip not bothering you?"

Jason swallowed the delicious food in his mouth before looking up at his dad. He smiled "Not enough to keep me from eating the food that you cook."

As Jason was sipping the strawberry milkshake the door to the apartment opened "I\'m home." Shania was taking off her shoes when she saw Jason\'s face turned toward her.

She instantly dropped her shoes and ran to Jason. She grabbed his face and moved it side to side as she inspected him.

Jason shook her hands off before wiping the milkshake mustache that he had "Yo chill Shania. You about to give me whiplash."

Shania\'s nostrils flared as she began to slap her fist into her hand "Who the hell did this to you bruh? You just let me know and we gon take care of this."

Jason laughed "You don\'t need to take care of anything Shania." She turned to Jason\'s dad "Uncle H, you gotta make him talk. Ain\'t no way we can let this slide."

Jason\'s dad laughed "He\'s right Shania. You don\'t need to take care of anything. Jason and the rest of the boys from the team handled it.

And from what I heard from the principal they handled it real well." After hearing him say that Shania went back to the entrance of the apartment and picked up her shoes and put them away.

She then walked back to the dining table "Dang Jaya. You gettin my blood pressure up as soon as I get home."

Jason rolled his eyes before sarcastically saying "My bad Shania. Sorry for giving YOU problems." After he said that Shania lightly punched him on the shoulder.

Jason\'s dad laughed "Alright you two. Instead of messing with each other how about you just eat. Strawberry or chocolate Shania?"

Shania answered "Chocolate please. Thanks Uncle H." Shortly after Jason\'s dad fixed up a plate and a milkshake for Shania.

- - -

The next day. At first period. Samantha looked furious as she examined Jason\'s face "Those bitch ass cowards.

Who the hell jumps someone in the restroom? And 1 vs 8? That\'s such a bitch move." Jason nodded his head "You can say that again. Good thing Kyle and the guys had my back."

Samantha\'s fierce expression softened a bit as she asked "So how did your mom take it? I can\'t imagine that Aunty was happy to see your face like this. Especially the stitches on your lip."

The swelling had gone down but his eye was still a dark purplish color. Jason shook his head "Bro, she flipped the fuck out as soon as she saw me.

She was talking about calling the police and shit. Thankfully my dad was able to calm her down." Samantha shook her head "You guys should have let her."

Jason chuckled "It was just a fight between middle schoolers. Besides, getting the police involved would just make things messy."

Samantha rolled her eyes before blowing a lock of her red hair out of her face "I guess. So what happened to tryouts? That was supposed to be yesterday right?"

Jason nodded his head "Yeah. We were supposed to have tryouts yesterday after school. Coach Swendel ended up having to postpone it."

Then he smiled "But tryouts are happening today and I am so hyped for it. I can\'t wait to see what kind of players we\'ll be getting."