Jason struggled to get through the rest of the day as all he could think about was how much he wanted to train.


    As soon as school was over Jason sent a text to Samantha saying that he wouldn''t be able to show up to drama club to practice his lines today.


    Kyle followed Jason as the two of them sped home on their skateboards. Both of his parents were still at work when he and Kyle walked into the apartment.


    Jason went over to his room as he flipped on the lights and started to curl some weights in both of his hands.


    Kyle walked in and chuckled when he saw what Jason was doing "What happened to no practice?" Jason smiled as he continued to lift the weights.


    "No practice for the rest of the guys. You can skip out too if you want. I was going to do this anyways but thosements have me hyped as fuck."


    Kyle shook his head with a slight smile on his face as he walked over and picked up a set of weights and started to workout with Jason.


    "How am I supposed to just sit back and chill when you''re out here acting like this? I would have to have the thickest skin in the world to do that."


    A few minutes passed by as the two of them worked up a sweat. Kyle''s breathing was starting to get rougher as he looked around the room.


    "So where''s Shania?" Jason answered while continuing to curl the weights "She''s probably still at practice. Her school is doing really good this year.


    And a lot of it has to do with her. Even though she''s just a freshmen she''s already on the varsity team getting a good number of minutes.


    Even if she''sing off the bench it''s really impressive that she made the varsity team in the first ce. Most of the time freshman''s have to start with junior varsity and move their way up from there.


    I just feel kind of bad. I haven''t had a chance to go to any of her games yet this season because they''ve been at the same time as our games."


    Kyleughed "The coach would have to have something wrong in their head if they didn''t put her on the varsity team.


    She''s at the point where she was able to pressure me on defense. She''s probably better than a lot of the guys we yed at the Nike training camp."


    Over the summer Jason had invited Shania to join him, Kyle, and the other guys that had been on the team for basketball practice.


    At first Kyle and the others were skeptical. Girls typically had a disadvantage in terms of strength and athleticism.


    But after she destroyed all of them in a game of King of the Hill they had to admit that she was good. She was even better than them.


    Kyle was the only one who was able to give her a challenge with his huge height advantage, crazy wingspan, and out of this world athleticism.


    While Jason was the only one who was actually able to beat her.


    Time passed by as Jason and Kyle continued to workout in his room. After they were done with the weights they worked out with the medicine ball.


    They then moved on to weighted squats, push ups, sit ups, mountain climbers, and bicycle kicks. By the time they were done a few hours had passed.


    Kyle wasying on the floor as he was dripping with sweat "I-I can''t believe we did all that. You weren''t joking when you said you were pumped up to train."


    Jason''s shirt was soaking wet with sweat and his breathing was ragged as he stood andughed at Kyle''s remark.


    Despite all the exercising they had just done it looked like he wasn''t ready to rest just yet as he had a hand gripper in his right hand.


    He repeatedly squeezed the hand gripper as he looked at Kyle "I told you that you could rest whenever you wanted."


    Before Kyle could say anything the door to the room swung open as Shania walked in. She shook her head weakly with a smile on her face as she looked at the two boys.


    "I thought y''all had the day off today? Why the hell you look so dead tired Kyle." He weakly lifted his arm as he pointed to Jason.


    "You can me this guy. Day off my ass. This was more intense than our normal basketball practice. Dude sees a bunch ofments shit talking him and now he wants to workout like Hercules."


    Shania tossed her backpack to the side of the room before jumping on to the bed. As she wasying down she pulled out her phone and started to scroll through her social media.


    She chuckled "You talkin bout that video of Jaya practicing his lines on stage right? Not gon lie I thought it was pretty funny.


    Sammy was keepin it a buck when she said that Jaya was perfect for ying a vampire. And when I saw thements I knew that they wouldn''t bother you.


    I just didn''t know that you would get so fired up after seeing em." Jason smiled "Hey, I''m surprised to. I didn''t know I would get so hyped up after reading them.


    Even now I just feel like I want to keep on grinding and working out. I want to make sure these next few games are something special haha."


    After saying that an idea popped into Jason''s head. He put the hand gripper down before looking at Shania.


    "Alt people are in to like DIY shit right?" Shania thought about it for a second before nodding her head "Sammy and me ain''t that type but I would say a lot of Alt people is in to that kind of stuff.


    A lot of them like making their own clothes or messing with they boots and shit. Why you asking?" Jason smiled "Do you or Sammy know anyone that''s in to that? I kind of have a favor to ask."


    - - -


    That weekend practice would be intense for everybody. Saturday and Sunday turned out to be two of the most tiring days of some of the boys lives.


    But event though they were being worked to the bone none of them had the guts toin when they saw that Jason was working even harder than them.


    It soon became widely known in the team that Jason had gotten fired up after reading some of thements that made in regards to the video of him practicing his lines.


    All they could do was bury theirints deep down in their hearts as instead of cursing Jason they instead chose to curse the person who had posted that video.


    They then cursed the people who had made those negativements about their team''s captain and superstar.


    All kinds of vulgarities and curses flowed through their minds as they wished that they could get their hands on those people and grind their bones to dust.


    - - -


    Monday afternoon. After the weekend was over Jefferson had their 8th game of the season lined up for today.


    Jason and the boys had to ride the bus for over an hour because of California''s usual terrible traffic. Today they would y against Hoover Middle School in Murrieta.


    Although they had been a mediocre program in the past thest few years they had actual improved.


    Now they were at the point where if the season ended today they would have a fairly high seeding in the county tournament.


    The bus ride was silent as everyone was doing their own thing either listening to music on their earbuds or browsing the inte on their phones.


    After arriving at the school the boys followed Coach Swendel as he lead them to the visitors locker room.


    Since they were outside of Riverside city the crowd didn''t cheer for them as they passed by. In fact the crowd was booing them as a few signs could be seen among the crowd.


    The signs ranged from ''Jefferson'' with an X going through it to '' Go Hoovers!'' it was clear that the crowd was here to support the home team.


    After getting changed in to their game jerseys in the locker room Coach Swendel gave the boys a quick pep talk before heading out ahead of them.


    Jason stood up before sweeping his gaze through the rest of the boys in the room "Lately there have been a lot of people talking shit about us.


    They don''t think that we have what it takes to win the county title even though our team right now is clearly better than the team we hadst year.


    They don''t think that we''re dedicated enough to be the best team in the county. Well let''s show them just how crazy they are for believing that shit!"


    Jason stuck his arm out "I want this game to set an example. I want everyone to see just how good we really are! Jefferson on 3!"


    All of the boys crowded around Jason as they began to pile their hands on top of one another. They then shouted out in unison "ONE! TWO! THREE! JEFFERSON!"


    All of the boys then tossed their hands up into the air before following Jason as he made his way out of the locker room.


    The crowd was booing and jeering but as soon as Jason''s figure appeared they were stunned silent as he debuted his brand new look.


    He had a pair of all white Jordan 1s that he had asked one of Samantha''s friends to customize for him.


    It was now painted all ck as the sides had the image of a scythe drawn on them while the tongues of the shoes had an image of a skull with an eerie smile.


    He also had an all ck arm sleeve on his right hand that went from his wrist all the way to above his bicep.


    It had white bones drawn down the length of it making Jason''s arm look like a skeleton''s.


    Thatbined with his chilling gaze and bloodthirsty smile made it so that none of the people in the crowd were able to continue their booing.


    Jason smiled ''I hope this team is ready to lose. We''ll be burying some bodies today.''