Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason instinctively smiled after seeing the system notification pop up in the corner of his vision. After seeing the details of the mission he got even more excited.

\'It\'s been a while since the system actually gave me a mission. At first the missions shifted to small stuff that barely gave any rewards and then it went silent for a few months.

It\'s nice to finally get a mission that looks like it has a decent reward. It all depends on how much of a show I can put on huh?

It didn\'t put a time limit so do I have to do it today or can I do it some other time as long as I\'m still in New York?

Nah, better play it safe and try to do the mission today. Just because it didn\'t say that there was a time limit doesn\'t mean that there isn\'t one.\'

"Jaya" Jason turned his head after hearing Kyle call out his name "Hmm? Yeah?" Kyle asked "You look excited. Did you want to take Jasmine up on her offer?"

Jason thought about it for a moment before answering "Not gonna lie, going to Rucker Park was one of the things that I put on my list of things that I wanted to do while we were here."

Kyle smiled "Okay. Let\'s go then." Jason looked at Kyle "Are you sure you want to go? You seemed really tired after we got off the van.

Just because I want to go doesn\'t mean that you have to. You can stay here and rest up if you want."

Kyle shook his head before smiling at Jason "Are you kidding me? It\'s rare for you to look so excited about something. Of course I\'m going."

Jason felt a warm stream flowing through his body after hearing Kyle say that. He simply smiled as he nodded his head.

He then turned around to the other boys "How about you guys? You seriously don\'t need to go if you\'re feeling tired.

You guys can just chill here at the hotel and rest up." Rudy refused right away "Are you kidding me?! No MC in their right mind would ever say no to something like this. Count me in."

Alex and Danilo both nodded their heads as Danilo spoke out "You can count us in too Jaya. If you\'re heading to a court then it\'s pretty much a sure thing that you\'ll want to play.

And me and my bro wouldn\'t turn down a chance to see you ball out." Jason\'s smile grew a tiny bit bigger after hearing Danilo say that.

Jason then turned to the last person "How about you 3D? Last time I checked you hated doing extra shit like this."

3D rolled his eyes "I hate doing extra shit like taking the stairs when there\'s a perfectly fine elevator. But if it\'s something related to hooping then I\'m always down."

Jason laughed "Alright then. I guess that means that we\'re heading to Rucker Park. I hope they\'re ready because I know that I am."

After sending her a text saying that they were all down to go to Rucker Park tonight Jasmine simply replied with a bunch of smiling emojis and a thumbs up.

She then sent another text saying that she would be at the hotel to pick them up in around fifteen minutes.

Jason and the rest of the guys decided to simply wait in the lobby of the hotel. As they waited Jason pulled out protein bar after protein bar as he quickly devoured them.

Rudy looked at Jason with a odd expression "Damn bro. How many of those things do you have in there?"

As he chewed on the protein bar that he had just tossed into his mouth Jason opened up his sports bag and lifted it up as he showed the inside to Rudy.

Other than a his sports bottle, an extra pair of shorts, and his basketball shoes the entire bottom of his bag was lined with protein bars of different flavors.

3D chuckled "Jesus dude. Sometimes I still get surprised by how much of an eater you are. I honestly think that you could pack away more food than me."

Jason swallowed the food that was in his mouth as he nodded his head "I probably could. Too be honest sometimes I actually get sick of eating.

But I know that my body needs the nutrients and the fuel so I don\'t have any other choice other than to suck it up and keep eating.

After almost a whole year of me trying my best the most weight that I was able to put on was like ten pounds (4.5 kg).

The hardest part is to find different things to switch up my diet. Even if something is tasty as hell after eating it for a couple days in a row you\'ll feeling like yakking whenever you see it."

3D sighed "Damn man. I couldn\'t imagine getting sick of eating. That must suck." Jason responded "It does. But getting stuck with a small body that makes it hard to play ball sucks even more."

Everyone fell silent after hearing Jason say that. All of the boys could feel how dedicated Jason was to basketball after hearing what he had to say.

The idea of pushing themselves that far for basketball was foreign to some of them. 3D had always been blessed with his enormous body that allowed him to dominate in the post.

Rudy had been told that he was one of the best players in his age group as soon as he picked up the ball so he never felt the pressure that Jason felt.

And Danilo had always been more athletic and bigger than the other kids his age so he never had to struggle the same way that Jason was.

The only ones who seemed to understand Jason were Kyle and Alex. Kyle understood Jason\'s struggle because he had been there since the beginning.

He had seen how Jason was criticized and how he had his accomplishments downplayed because of his small and thin frame.

While Alex understood Jason\'s way of thinking because he could somewhat sympathize with him. Despite being twins there was a clear difference between him and Danilo.

Danilo had always been praised for his combination of athleticism, size, and skill. He had gotten the star treatment since as far back as he could remember.

While he was told that he didn\'t have the qualities to be a star and that the most that he could do was play the supporting role for his brother.

The mood became somber as they waited in the lobby. Thankfully they didn\'t have to wait long as Jasmine walked through the doors with a bright smile on her face.

"Alright! Who\'s ready to check out the Rucker?"