Chapter 29: Out of the pan into the fire

Jason passed the ball back to Manny with a crazed smile on his face "Go ahead man. It's your ball." Jason got into a low defensive stance.

There was about three feet of space between Jason and Manny. But even with that much space Manny felt like Jason's defense was suffocating.

Manny tried to fake a three-pointer but Jason didn't bite on it. After an unsuccessful jab step and a few wasted dribbles Manny decided to try forcing another drive to the paint.

Jason stayed on his hip as Manny forced his way to the paint. Just as they were getting closer to the rim Manny pulled the same dirty trick as before.

He felt Jason bodying him up from the left so he sent his elbow out again. But this time Jason was ready.

He was in a lower defensive stance than before so the elbow hit him on his chest instead of in the gut. And this time he was mentally prepared to take the hit.

Jason absorbed the hit while maintaining his defensive presence. As they finally neared the rim Manny had run out of space and was forced to throw up a heavily contested layup.

- - -

Kyle was worriedly watching the game between Jason and Manny. Jason had just managed to convince Coach Swendel to allow them to continue.

Manny had the ball and was about to start his offense when Kyle's phone started to ring. He checked his phone to see who it was and his expression immediately got worse 'It's Sammy!'

Kyle hesitated for a few seconds before finally answering the call "Oh hey Sammy. I wasn't expecting you to call me... What's up?"

Samantha's voice could be heard from the phone "I was just wondering if you and Jason were still at school. Wait is that dribbling I hear in the background? I thought the doctors told Jason that he couldn't play?"

Kyle was sweating bullets and his hand that was holding the phone started to shake "No! I mean yes! I mean-uh it's just a video game. Me and Jason are at his plac-"

Before Kyle could finish what he was trying to say one of the kids on the team yelled out "Damn! He took another hit and this time it didn't even faze him. Jason's a beast bro. He's a monster"

Kyle's voice got stuck in his throat. After a second of silence Samantha's voice blasted out from the phone "Kyle! What did he mean by 'took another hit'!? Is Jason playing- no forget it. I am heading over there!"

Kyle tried to stop her "Sammy wait! Don't come! You don't even know where we are!" But it was useless. She had already hung up.

- - -

Jason boxed out Manny as he was going after the rebound. While he was boxing out he could feel some elbows hit him in the ribs and in the back.

Coach Swendel wanted to blow his whistle a hundred times already. But after remembering what Jason had told him he had no choice but to choke on his whistle 'If I don't call it then that means that there was no foul alright Coach?'

Despite Manny's best attempts Jason managed to box him out and grab the rebound as the ball rolled off the rim.

Jason took the ball back out to the three-point line. Manny had taken a defensive stance and started pressing against Jason.

Jason had the same crazy smile on his face as he trash talked Manny "What's wrong Manny? Your elbows getting tired alread? I hardly felt the last one. I thought a butterfly landed on my chest for a second."

Manny was clenching his teeth so hard that he had to push the words out of his mouth "Shut up you fucking twig!"

Jason jab stepped to the right and ripped through to drive left. Manny was left a step behind and had to go all out to try and catch up.

But as soon as he made contact Jason dipped his shoulder slightly down and gave Manny a bit of a bump.

Unlike what Manny had done earlier Jason's move was perfectly legal and frequently used by dominate slashers like LeBron.

The power-dip takes advantage of the fact that the defender has yet to establish legal guarding position to get the defender off balance and strongly initiate contact on the way to the basket.

Jason was in the air already getting ready to lay the ball in with his right hand. He noticed that Manny was right behind him and that he had jumped in an attempt to block the shot.

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Jason sneered 'Maybe if you were Jerome. But don't you even dream of blocking my shot with your pathetic defense.'

Jason pulled the ball back,tucked it towards his body and swung it around to his left side before shooting the layup with his left hand.

The ball bounced off the backboard before falling through the hoop. But before Jason could land and celebrate he felt something hit his face.

Manny had jumped from behind Jason after he was already in the air. So it was only natural that he would be higher up than Jason. On his way down Manny positioned his elbow to smash into Jason's face as he landed.

A metallic taste filled his mouth as warm streams started to drip from Jason's face. But he didn't even seem to mind. With blood dripping from his nose Jason smiled at Manny.

"Looks like I beat you Manny. Now you better shut up and put in some actual effort at practice. I don't want see anyone just wasting time on-"

Jason was interrupted when a figure suddenly appeared. Samantha walked through the team and stormed towards Manny. Without warning she slapped him in right in the face.

"You should be ashamed of yourself. He just got out from the hospital for a fucking concussion and you elbow him in the face!? Are you crazy?" Manny was stunned by what she did.

She then turned to Coach Swendel "And you! You're a teacher! A full grown adult! You should know better than to let something like this happen!"

Coach Swendel was at a loss for words. Before he could say anything Samantha had dragged Jason and Kyle out of the gym.

Samantha dragged Kyle and Jason for a few minutes all the way to the front of the school. On the way there Jason kept apologizing while Kyle was silent.

Samantha stopped and glared at Jason "What the hell were you thinking!? You told me that the doctors didn't want you playing for at least 10 days. So what the hell was that!?"

Jason was wiping his nose with the towel that Samantha had pulled out of her bag and handed to him "Sorry. But I had to do it."

Samantha was fuming after she heard that "That's bullshit Jason! You didn't have to do anything! You shouldn't have even gone there after school since you know you can't play."

Jason was still holding the towel up against his nose "Listen Sammy. I appreciate that you care and I appreciate the towel. But let's just drop this okay? You wouldn't understand."

Samantha stomped her feet "I wouldn't understand? Why? Because I'm not one of the bros? Or is it because I don't play ball? Why don't you try explaining it to me Kyle? Maybe you understand."

Kyle was surprised at suddenly being dragged into the argument. His back started sweating and his hands got sweaty as he struggled to think of something to say.

Jason sighed as he saw Kyle's condition "Take it easy on him. He probably wouldn't understand either. Heck he probably can't even drink from a sippy cup in the condition he's in right now."

Samantha angrily put her hands on her hips "Now is not the time for jokes Jason. Now tell me why it was so important for you to go against your doctors orders?"

Jason saw how upset she was and gave in "The guys that have been on the team for a few years see me, Kyle and Trell as outsiders. They would never follow behind someone that they didn't think was one of them. This was the only way I could think of to make them fall in line."

Jason's answer did nothing to ease Samantha's anger. She yelled back "So what Jason! If they don't want to listen to you just let them do whatever they want.

You can just play how you normally play and you would still be amazing. I don't even watch basketball but I could tell how much better you were than everyone else during your game against Mt. Vernon."

Jason tried to explain "To be honest that would be the easiest thing to do. I could just get my stats and not care about the team. But I want to win more than I want to get numbers.

A team can't win without a leader and that one on one game was the only thing I could think of that would make them see me as their leader.

I'm not like Udonis. I haven't known those guys for a few years and I'm not charismatic or friendly enough to get them to like me.

The only thing I can do is lead by example. I have to put in everything I have every time down. That way they won't have to like me.

I'll just force them to recognize and respect the blood and sweat that I'm dripping on the hardwood. Because I don't hold anything back. I leave everything out on the court."

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