Marcus looked at Jason "Go for it little man. I'm all ears." Jason took a deep breathe and tried to calm himself down before telling Marcus about Coach Butler's visit.
He was nervous the entire ti. As he was retelling the story he looked at Marcus' face but he didn't see any changes in his facial expression.
Finally, after he was done talking Jason just looked at Marcus. After a few monts of silence Marcus spoke up "Okay. And?"
Jason was surprised "What do you an and?" Marcus chuckled "I ant is there anything else to the story?
I don't understand why you were so serious about bringin this up. And the entire ti you was talking you looked shooked haha."
Jason looked at Marcus with a confused look on his face "You're not upset?" Marcus slapped his leg and started laughing.
"Bruh why would I be upset? You didn't even decide if you're going to the school yet. And even if you did I wouldn't be feeling no type of way about it.
I was already sure that you would end up going to a school that's a ways away. There ain't a school close by that's good enough for soone as good as you.
I'm a little surprised that yous still considering going to a no na program like Beach Side Academy.
But even if you leave that don't change the fact that you from here bruh. Whenever we see you ballin out on TV or hear about you on the news we still gonna be proud as hell.
We can point at that dude on TV and say that he's from Riverside. That we went to school with him. That he went to our block party.
We ride for our own like it ain't nobody's business. So no matter where you end up going for high school just rember that your roots are here.
No matter how rough things get for you out there you got people back here that got your back no questions asked.
Just don't forget about us when you make it big alright Young Buckets? You don't want to end up like so of those other folks that blew up and act like they forgot where they ca from."
Jason nodded his head 'I don't think I could ever turn my back on this place. From Amare and Marcus to the random people that I bumped into they all showed so much love.'
- - -
The day passed quickly passed as Jason's family threw their usual Thanksgiving party with Tory and her father.
But there was a new addition this year as Kyle and his mom showed up as guests. The most shocking part happened during the dinner.
Just as Jason's dad was about to start carving up the turkey Tory's father announced that he had sothing to tell everyone.
He made it official as he and Kyle's mom announced that they had been seeing each other for a while but now they were officially in a serious relationship.
Tory was the first one to react as she jumped out of her chair squealing in joy "Oh my god dad! Congrats!"
She then ran over to Kyle's mom and pulled her into a tight hug "Congrats Aunty Vee! I knew sothing was up. My dad had been to happy recently."
Tory's dad chuckled "Geez, sorry for being happy. You say that like it's a bad thing for your dad to be smiling."
Kyle was shocked as he turned to his mom "You and Tory's dad are dating? You guys are like boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Kyle's mom laughed as she pulled him into a hug "I know it might be a little shocking baby. I should have told you sooner but I didn't want to say anything just in case it didn't work out.
But it looks like things are getting serious so I thought it would be best to tell you along with everyone else."
Kyle had a complicated expression on his face. It wasn't so much sadness or anger. It was more along the lines of confusion.
Everyone congratulated uncle Jin and aunty Vee on their relationship. The dinner continued as Jason's dad went back to carving up the turkey.
Jason took a look at Kyle's confused face before turning to Tory who was bouncing up and down on her chair from excitent.
'Well this never happened in my past life. For better or for worse I guess I really am making so serious changes.'
- - -
The first two gas of the tournant finished. With December rolling around it was finally Jefferson's turn to start playing so gas.
Jason and the rest of the guys from Jefferson were warming up as they shot the ball around on their half of the court.
Jason shot the ball five feet away from the three point line. He held his right hand up from the follow through as he watched the ball hit nothing but net.
Kyle walked up to Jason and patted him on the shoulder "Dang bro that was like your tenth shot in a row. You might be in for a real hot scoring night."
Jason laughed as he playfully elbowed Kyle in the side "Don't you know you're not supposed to bother a sniper when their in the zone?"
Kyle smiled as he shook his head "Not like it's actually going to affect you. I've never seen you get bothered by anything when you're standing on the court."
Jason responded as he shot another three pointer "It doesn't matter Kyle. It's all about the principles.
So you ready? First ga of the tournant and we're starting things off on our court. Tonight would be a bed night to wet the bed."
Kyle shot a three pointer that ca close but ended up clanking off the glass "I guess I'm ready. To be honest I don't feel any type of way about it.
I feel like tonight's the sa as our last ga of the regular season. I don't feel any butterflies in my stomach and I'm not really super hyped.
If anything I'm just excited that we get to play so ball again. I feel like that short break was more like a long detention.
I never thought I would miss the feeling of sweating in a gym as much as I did during the break."
Jason smiled "That's a sign that you are officially a hooper Kyle. If you get a chance to rest and all you can think about is putting the ball on the hardwood then you a hooper for real for real.
During the break all I could think about was getting so runs in. I almost went down to the park just so I could get a couple reps against so casuals."
Kyle shot another three pointer that ended up hitting the front of the rim "I hate to break it to you but I don't think you would be able to get a single ga in.
Everyone that's remotely interested in basketball around here knows your face. I don't think they would want to end up on a episode of Through the Hoops as one of your highlights."
After a few minutes the clock buzzed indicating that it was ti for the ga to begin. Jason went with the rest of his team as they went to go shake hands with their competition for tonight.
Their first opponent of the tournant was a school that they had played against earlier on in the year.
They would be playing against Vista Heights tonight. Vista Heights had what they would consider an incredible year so far.
Not only did they finish as one of the better teams in the county. They managed to make it through two rounds of the tournant.
If they could make it on to the next round they would have set a new school record in terms of success.
The players got on the floor as they positioned themselves for the tip off. Kyle managed to make it look easy as he effortlessly jumped into the air and swatted the ball in Jason's direction.
It looked like Vista Heights had done their howork as they scrambled to get a defender to mark Kyle.
Unfortunately for them Kyle had began sprinting to the basket as soon as he tossed the ball toward his team.
With the ball in his hands Jason threw a laser of a pass as it went straight to Kyle's hands as he was running toward the basket.
With no defenders around him Kyle decided to show off what he had been practicing in his backyard during the break.
Kyle asured the distance to the basket as he positioned his feet for the jump. As he jumped off of both his feet he began to spin.
Kyle spun around completely before slamming the ball down toward the rim. He hanged off the rim with one hand for a second before letting go.
As he landed Kyle turned toward the ho section and started moving his arms up and down at his side gesturing for them to get hyped "This our house! Make so noise!"
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