Rebound: A 2nd Chance

The entire audience winced in pain after the camera showed a zoomed in look of Jason's hand on all of the displays around the stadium.

Jason's finger was clearly dislocated as it was bent and pointing outwards in the direction of his pinky.

Not only was the dislocation bad but his finger was twisted until it halfway face upward. Many of the people in the audience had to look away from the displays because of how bad the injury looked.

Jason's parents both jumped out of their seats after seeing their son's injury. Tory grabbed Jason's mom by the sleeve of her shirt.

"Are you and uncle going to check on Jaya?" Jason's mom nodded her head "I know that it's nothing life threatening but I just don't feel right staying here knowing that he's hurt."

Jason's dad added "Plus this is the first time that something like this has happened to him on the court. I'm a little worried with how he'll take it."

Tory was about to say something when her dad gently placed his rough hand on her shoulder. He smiled at her and then at Kyle and his mom who were sitting together with them.

"Everyone else should stay here. You too Naomi. Me and Henry should be enough to check up on Jason.

I have some experience with popping fingers back into place. I've had to deal with dislocations a couple of times because of Tory. Plus I used to wrestle back in my younger days so I should be able to help."

Jason's mom was about to say something when her husband patted her on the shoulder. He looked at her with a gentle look on his face.

"I think Jin has a point. We don't need to crowd the entire locker room just to check on Jason. Plus I think it would be good to have someone that has experience with things like this to go see Jason."

Tory gently held Naomi's hand as she tried to reassure her "Don't worry Aunty. My dad has a ton of experience dealing with things like this.

I dislocated one of my fingers during a Judo meet at the beginning of the year. He popped it right back into place like nothing.

Later on I got it checked out at the hospital and the doctors had nothing but praise for my dad. They said that he did a great job."

She was hesitant but after a few seconds she finally conceded as she sat back down in her seat as Henry and Jin began to make their way down.

- - -

Back out on the court. Jason was hunched over as he grasped at his left hand. The pain clearly visible on his face as beads of sweat dropped from the top of his nose.

With the game paused all of Jefferson's players ran toward Jason. Trell asked "Ay bro you okay?" Jason slowly stood up "I'm good bro. I just need to step off the court for a sec."

As soon as Trell saw the state that Jason's finger was in his face got hot and his vision went red. He stomped over to Nate who was still blankly staring at Jason's hand.

"The hell bro!? You out here tryin to break people's fingers? How bout I try that shit on you?" Nate was still dazed but Trell's outburst had pulled him back to reality.

"N-no I didn't-" Trell stepped toward him but was pulled back by Jason "It's cool Trell. He didn't do it on purpose. Things like this just happen. It's a part of the game."

Jason walked over to where the referee and Ms.Yuller we're talking. After a moment of discussion it was decided that the game would continue while Jason would go back to the locker room to treat his finger.

Jason walked toward the locker room with Ms. Yuller as the game resumed. As the doors to the locker room opened Jason was surprised to see his dad and Uncle Jin sitting there.

As soon as he saw him Jason's dad stood up and walked toward him. He gently pulled him into a hug, taking extra care to avoid hurting Jason's hand.

Jason smiled as he looked up to his father's face "Not that I don't appreciate seeing you guys. But why are you guys here?"

Uncle Jin laughed as he walked toward Jason and motioned for him to show him his hand "I told your mom and dad that I might be able to help.

Tory's been doing wrestling and Judo ever since she could walk. I've had to deal with a couple finger dislocations before so I thought that I could help.

Not to mention that I have some personal hands on experience since I used to wrestle when I was younger. I've had to deal with a few of them myself. Here let me see."

Jason took off the white towel that the referee had given him to cover his hand up. When Uncle Jin saw Jason's hand he frowned slightly.

"The dislocation looks pretty bad. Not just that. The way the finger is twisted halfway facing up... Looks like there could be some ligament damage."

Jason's dad furrowed his brow "What does that mean Jin? Can you fix it?" Jin paused for a moment before nodding his head.

"I can fix the dislocation. We just need to pop it back into place. But with the ligament damage even if we stabilize the finger by taping it to the finger beside it the kid is going to be feeling a ton of pain."

Jason's dad frowned and his face got even more serious after hearing that. Just as he was about to recommend that Jason sit out the rest of the game he heard his son's voice.

"Go ahead and tape it up Uncle. The quarter should be ending soon and I need to get back out on the court."

Both Uncle Jin and Jason's father turned to look at him with serious expressions on their faces. Uncle Jin asked.

"Are you sure about this Jason? Just popping it back into place is going to hurt like hell. And taping your finger is just going to make it so that you don't damage it further.

It's not going to fix anything. You are going to be in constant pain and it'll be even worse with the slightest touch."

Jason didn't even hesitate as he nodded his head "Like I said Uncle. Go ahead and tape it up. I have a game to finish."

- - -

Nate was sitting on High Bridge's bench with a dazed look on his face. Normally his expression was emotionless but he still looked like he was focused and paying attention.

The way that he looked right now would have some people wondering if he even knew where he was.

His original role had been to simply guard Jason. So without him on the floor it was understandable for Nate to be on the bench as well.

But Coach Kaminsky had actually wanted to keep Nate in. Unfortunately ever since Jason's injury was revealed Nate had been in this state.

Rudy sighed as he looked at Nate. He put his hand on Nate's shoulder "Don't worry about it Nate. You can't blame yourself for his injury.

These typa things just happen. It's all a part of the game. You'll be hard pressed to find a player that's never had to deal with an injury."

The clock buzzed indicating the end of the second quarter. As the rest of the players made their way back to the bench Nate was still struggling to deal with Jason's injury.

Just as he was deep in his thoughts contemplating what he could have done differently something caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

He saw Jason making his way back to Jefferson's bench. His vision automatically went toward Jason's hand.

The finger that had been twisted and dislocated was now sitting straight as it was taped to his middle finger.

For some reason that sight caused a smile to appear on Nate's face 'I should have known. There's no way he would let something like that stop him.'

- - -

Back in the stands. Jason's dad and Uncle Jin had just made their way back to their seats as Tory, Kyle, and Jason's mother all clamored to ask about how Jason was doing.

Jason's father laughed as he waved them off "You can see him right there. He's sitting on the bench perfectly fine."

They all breathed a sigh of relief when they looked back and saw Jason sitting on the bench with his finger taped up.

Just as her father had taken his seat Tory nudged him on the side and leaned in to whisper "Hey dad. So how was it really? I know that you don't want to freak out Aunty Naomi but you can tell me. I've had my fingers dislocated before so I know that they aren't just a walk in the park."

Tory's father was stunned for a moment. After a second he busted out in laughter. He then ruffled her hair as he smiled brightly.

"I honestly don't know how to describe it. All I can say is that the world is lucky that Jason took up basketball.

If he went into boxing or any other competitive combat sport then the world would have to deal with a real headache. The kid is a tough nut to crack hahaha!"

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