After they had finished eating Samantha got a text saying that her friends had just arrived. Before anyone else had a chance to Samantha had talked to the waitress and paid for everything.


    Everyone thanked her but she simply waved it off "We''re all friends here. You guys don''t need to thank me."


    Despite what she said everyone made sure to thank her for paying. Afterwards they all walked to the front of the Mission Inn.


    There they saw a group of girls. They were all dressed like girly girls and they had clearly done their makeup.


    Their appearance was a clear contrast to Samantha''s. The difference between them made it hard to believe that they were all friends.


    However after seeing them interact it would be hard to deny their friendship. The girls ran up to Samantha as soon as they saw her.


    They all hugged as they greeted each other. After they were done Samantha turned around and pointed to Jason and the other guys.


    "I thought that it would be boring to go see the lights with just us so I invited Jason and told him to bring the other guys from the basketball team."


    The girls all smiled in delight and started giggling. One of them stepped away from the group and walked over to the boys.


    She was the shortest one out of all the girls standing at 5 foot t (1.52m). She had long light brown hair that went all the way to the middle of her back.


    And she was dressed in light blue denim shorts that looked a little faded and some ssic ck and white converse.


    She was wearing a white shirt under her denim sweater jacket that looked to be just a little too big on her as she had to pull up the sleeves for her hands to show.


    She walked over to Kyle "Hey Kyle. I was wondering if you wanted some help tonight. It might be annoying to go see all of the lights on your crutch."


    Kyle was caught off guard as he began to stammer "I-uh-crutch-um-walk-yeah?" He just barely managed to answer ,although it sounded almost like a question, as the two of them began walking.


    After those two paired off it seemed to have signaled the beginning of something as all of the girls began to choose their partner.


    It looked like a few of the girls wanted to approach Jason but they all hesitated before deciding to just pick someone else.


    After a few minutes everyone was paired up as they began to walk around to take pictures in front of all the Christmas lights and decorations.


    Even Trell who had once had a frightening reputation at the school managed to get paired up with one of Samantha''s friends.


    With Samantha walking on his left side Jason began to take pictures of all the pretty lights. asionally they would stop to take a picture with the two of them in it.


    The group eventually reached the inside of the Mission Inn where there was a huge gingerbread house.


    Jason gave his phone to one of the workers at the Inn and asked him to take a photo of him with all of his friends.


    The first photo that they took was a fairly normal one. The ones after that included funny faces, weird poses, and giving piggy back rides.


    As they were finishing up taking all of their pictures Jason thought ''I never knew taking pictures could be so fun.''


    - - -


    Theirst day of rest quickly passed as Jason and the rest of the team once again made their way to Los Angeles to y their third game in the state tournament.


    As they arrived at the Pauley Pavilion Jason had his headphones on as he listened to his pregame ylist.


    Jason got off of the van that was provided by the school and made his way into the stadium with Ms. Yuller and the rest of the guys on the team.


    Everyone had a serious expression on their face as they walked into the hallways of the stadium.


    There were no smiles and no joking around as Jason and the rest of the guys stepped into the locker room.


    After changing into their jerseys Jason and the rest of the guys then made their way to the court.


    As Jason picked up one of the balls from a rack the song Middle Child by J.Cole began to y on his headphones.


    ''I''m writing down names


    I''m making a list


    I''m checking it twice and I''m getting ''em hit


    The real ones been dying


    The fake ones is lit


    The game is off bnce


    I''m back on my shit''


    The lyrics slowly started to disappear as Jason could only feel the rhythm of the music as he dribbled the ball and got up his shots.


    The time passed by quickly as eventually they had to clear the floor of the ball racks and some people came over to give the floor one final clean before the start of the game.


    Udonis got everyone together as all of the guys huddled up "Been a hell of a year huh boys?"


    For the first time since they had gotten on the bus everyone was able to crack a smile andugh.


    Trell answered "For real. I neva thought that I''d be here with all y''all hoopin at the state tournament."


    DJ nodded his head and took a shot at Trell "I never would have thought that Trell would would flip the script and stop getting into fights."


    Udonis waited for everyone to get theughs out of their system before continuing "We should be proud of ourselves.


    No one had using this far. No one thought that it would be possible for us. But we didn''t let any of that noise creep into our heads.


    We kept our heads down and stuck to the grind. Our road wasn''t smooth but we made sure to get to where we wanted to go.


    What we aplished this year is something that no one can take away from us for the rest of our lives.


    We brought Jefferson its very first county banner in school history. And now we are one of the top 8 teams in the state.


    This is some serious shit and all of us should be proud." Everyone began to cheer and p after Udonis took a pause.


    He looked everyone in the eyes before adding "But that doesn''t mean that we can take our foot off the gas.


    We need to stay hungry! I don''t want to be one of the 8 best teams in the state. That''s nice but it ain''t enough for me. I want to be number one!


    And I know damn well that y''all are thinking the exact same thing! Because we some wild ass dogs!


    And dogs like us are always hungry. We always lookin for our next prey. We always got our eyes locked on to the next hunt.


    So let''s bit down on High Bridge''s neck. Snuff em out. And move on to the next one! Who''s with me?!"


    Jason started to yell out with the rest of the guys. Udonis shouted "I CAN''T HEAR YOU! SAY THAT SHIT WITH YOUR CHEST!"


    All of them yelled out even louder. Udonis nodded his head after hearing them shout out for the second time.


    He stuck his hand out "Keep that same energy y''all. I know that we down a man but I don''t want to see anyzy y on the court today.


    Let''s shout out our name and let these fools know who they yin. Jefferson on three! One! Two! Three!"


    They all stacked their hands on top of each other. All of them shouted out in unison "JEFFERSON!" They all threw their hands up before making their way to the court to shake hands with the opposing team.


    All of the guys were locked in and their eyes shone with razor sharp focus. The pressure and air that they emitted was on a whole different level than how they had appeared until now.


    Even Ms. Yuller looked serious as a cold and serious atmosphere enveloped her. Completely different than the entric and whimsical energy that usual surrounded her.


    She shook hands with the coach of High Bridge Middle School. She grasped his hand firmly as she said "Good luck." He shook her hand and responded "Same to you."


    As expected from a team that managed to be the representative for arge county all of the yers from High Bridge were unaffected by the pressure being emitted by Jefferson.


    They stood their ground as they also exuded the air of a team that had been forged through the fires of fiercepetition.


    As they were shaking hands Jason finally came across the face that he was expecting to see. He shook hands with Rudy.


    "Let''s have a good game. This time you might want to make sure you keep your hands dry." Rudy gave a half hearted chuckled before replying.


    "Don''t worry about me bro. Flukes don''t happen twice in a row so I''m pretty sure I''lle out on top today.


    If anything you might want to search up some ways to spend the rest of your break because today''s yourst day in the tournament.


    If you think you can actually win then you must be crazier than I thought you were. Good luck with that."


    Jason thought back to their first encounter and cracked a small grin "Thanks but I don''t need it. MC''s don''t need luck when they have plot armor."