Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Monday. It was only six in the morning but the sounds of activity could already be heard in the kitchen as Karla prepared a mountain worth of food.

Her eyes were slightly puffy and red but despite the clear signs of tiredness she was smiling brightly as she cooked.

After finishing preparing the food she packed them up in individual containers and marked them \'Mom\' \'Dad\' \'Lisa\'  \'Eduardo\' \'Freddie\' \'Danny\'

For a few years now it had become a part of her daily schedule to prepare the lunches of everyone in her house.

Ever since she had first noticed how busy her parents were she started to help out and pitch in wherever she could.

By the time she was done packing everyone\'s lunches for the day she went to her restroom to wash up and get ready for school.

The house began to get more lively as more and more people woke up and began to get ready to start off their days.

As Karla walked out of her room dressed for school with her backpack on her shoulder a little boy that looked to be around six or seven years old ran up to her and jumped into a hug.

"Morning Lala!" Karla chuckled as she patted him on the head "Good morning Danny. Make sure you brush your teeth and get dressed okay?

Don\'t give mom and dad a hard time first thing in the morning." The little boy puffed his cheeks angrily "Danny always a good boy."

Karla smiled before bending over to once again hug him "You\'re right. Danny is always a good boy. I have to go to school now okay?

All of your lunches are packed and ready to go. Make sure you pick up the right bag okay? I wrote your names on them like usual."

She then walked out of her house and got on her bike as she made her way to school. As she biked she couldn\'t help but think of her current situation with Jason.

\'That was so stupid of me. I should have just been honest and told them that I wasn\'t making any progress with Jaya.

Now there\'s rumors going around the school about the two of us. I can\'t imagine how Jaya will react if he finds out about the rumors.\'

She was so embarrassed with herself that she couldn\'t even muster up the courage to watch any of Jason\'s games even though they were home games.

She was afraid of him seeing her among the crowd. Even now as she got closer and closer to the school her pedaling became slower and slower.

But it wasn\'t until she finally arrived at the school that she felt just how hard it was for her to enter the school. 

Multiple kids saw her and greeted her but despite the smile that she put on her face she was full of guilt and anxiety.

As she was locking her bike up in what all the students at Jefferson referred to as \'The Cage\' she couldn\'t think of anything other than Jason.

\'What am I going to tell him? How do I even tell him? I actually meet a guy that I genuinely like and I fucked up this bad.

Why couldn\'t this have happened at my old school? I wouldn\'t have cared if it was anyone else other than Jaya.\'

She had been one of the popular girls even back at her old school and she had played her fair share of social games.

But this was the first time that she had ever been so concerned about the consequences of her actions.

\'Man, I never knew that having feelings for someone was so rough. I would have been way nicer rejecting those guys if I had known.\'

As Karla walked out of The Cage she bumped into one of the last people that she wanted to see right now.

Samantha was by herself as she stood in front of Karla with her arms crossed "Morning soccer princess. Looks like someone had a tough time going to sleep."

Karla sighed "Can we not do this right now Sammy? I really don\'t have the energy to fight with you." Samantha didn\'t move as she continued to stand in front of Karla.

"Trust me, I don\'t want to start of my day by talking to you either. But this isn\'t about me and this isn\'t about you.

I came here to talk to you about Jaya." Karla had a defeated look on her face as she lowered her head "Alright. But can we do it somewhere else? Somewhere a little more private?"

Samantha nodded her head "Follow me. I know just the place." Karla followed as Samantha lead the way into the school.

Samantha walked into the indoor auditorium and flipped some switches as the lights began to turn on. She took a seat on the edge of the stage and looked at Karla.

"We don\'t have anything lined up for the next play and this place is normally empty. So you don\'t need to worry about anyone listening in."

Karla stared Samantha straight in her eyes "So I\'m guessing you\'re here to talk to me about the rumors right?"

Samantha nodded her head "I guess your head does work. I want you to tell Jaya about the rumors and I want you to clear things up."

Karla looked at Samantha with a confused expression "You mean you didn\'t tell him yet?" Samantha snorted "Why? You disappointed that I didn\'t bust you yet?"

Karla shook her head "I just thought that you would hop on a chance like this to ruin my image and my chances with Jaya as soon as you could."

Samantha took a deep breathe "As much as I would love to drag you through the mud I know that it won\'t do much for Jaya.

All the pleasure that I would gain from exposing you to him won\'t help him feel better when he finds out that someone that he let into his circle betrayed him."

Karla was stunned as she silently looked at Samantha. She continued "I don\'t know if you\'ve noticed this but Jaya doesn\'t really have the biggest group of friends.

Or at least not ones that aren\'t in the basketball team. Don\'t you think that\'s weird considering how popular he is?"

Karla responded "Everyone knows that. Besides the guys on the basketball team he doesn\'t really interact much with other people.

But that\'s just because everyone is intimidated by his intense eyes and his deadpan face. Everyone thinks that he\'s Mr. Unapproachable but he\'s actually really cool if you get to know him."

Samantha shook her head "You got half of it right. Jaya normally doesn\'t talk with people much besides the guys on the basketball team but there\'s a reason for that.

You should know that he\'s super popular with a bunch of the girls here at Jefferson right? Heck, he\'s even popular with girls from different schools. 

They all know that Jaya isn\'t as cold as his appearance makes him out to be. Even the other kids here know that at this point.

But the reason why Jaya doesn\'t really mess with them is because he doesn\'t do anything without having a purpose.

He doesn\'t like wasting his time with things that don\'t matter. And that includes me. You think it was easy to get that blockhead to accept me as a friend?

He was the first person that I ever had to put so much effort into just to get him to talk to me on a regular basis.

I had to be extra pushy and extra talkative. You know why?" Karla remained silent as she didn\'t know how to answer Samantha\'s question.

"The reason why Jaya doesn\'t really like to interact with other people and socialize is because he\'s afraid to waste his time and effort.

I don\'t know who hurt him in the past but I can tell that he\'s afraid to invest himself because he doesn\'t want it to happen again.

For as long as I\'ve known him, even though it\'s only been a year, Jaya has never been the kind of guy to just walk up to people because he wants to make friends.

The only time I\'ve seen him interact with people not related to basketball is when he\'s forced to do it because of circumstances.

He not only agreed to let you be a part of our group but he even started treating you as a friend. If we were just going to work on a project together we could have just talked online.

But he made the effort to invite you to hang out in real life after school because he wanted you to feel comfortable in the group."

Karla kept her mouth shut as the guilt began to pile up inside of her. Samantha frowned after seeing Karla remain silent.

"I don\'t want him to hear about these rumors and where they started from random strangers. You have until today to tell him yourself."

Samantha lifted herself up and hopped down the stage as she began to walk toward the exit. As she was halfway through the door she turned her head to look back at Karla.

"You\'ve already disappointed me once princess, so I hope you don\'t do it for the second time. Because now it involves Jaya and I don\'t want to see him get hurt."

Karla stood completely still like a deer caught in headlights as the door closed. A second later and tears started forming in the corners of her eyes as her entire body trembled.