It was May and Troy was getting stronger in therapy. He was ready for it to be over; he just wanted to learn how to do his new steps in basketball. Bryce wouldn't let him take off his boot regularly; Troy hasn't passed the test of movement and stability. Even though Troy argued he was fine, he still didn't win. Troy was getting frustrated, he had no idea it would take this long. He wanted to go against the odds. He woke up for school the next morning and got dressed. He went to his closet to get his shoes. This time he got his right shoe and his left. He put his shoes on and stood up. It felt weird to him; he hasn't worn two shoes in eight months. He got up and looked in the mirror; he had a smile on his face. 'Well it feels good to look normal again.' he thought. He walked around his room a couple of paces, feels fine to him. Only one thing he had to look out for today, his dad. Troy had to avoid Jack at school today; Jack is all for what the professionals say and he didn't want Troy messing something up. Troy left for school. When he got there he saw his friends standing around Chad locker. Troy walked up to them.

Troy: "Hey guys."

The gang greeted him with hey's and what's up.

"Do you want to see the new shoes a got?" Even though Troy really didn't have new shoes.

The gang gave each other weird look and Troy smiled. He lifted up his left pant leg. The gang smiled.

"Doesn't red and white look so much better than black these days?" he put down his pant leg.

Jason: "So this means you get to start playing basketball now?" They were excited, they finally get to go to Troy's house and play basketball like they used to.

"Well that's the thing. I am supposed to be wearing my boot right now; the guy doesn't think I am stable enough yet. But I wanted to see for myself and see how I really was. But if I tell him and show him I can pass the test then yeah I will be able to start playing."

Zeke gave him a high five, "Awe yeah this is going to be so sweet!"

"Oh wait and another thing, my dad does not know I am like this right now so if u see him and see me near him push me some wear else or cover me because he will flip."

The gang nodded. They were so excited Troy was going to play with them soon the time was finally coming. All day Troy avoided Jack, he came close at times but he dodged it. He felt fine walking by himself. Everyone noticed, they were excited. After being crippled for eight months, Troy still didn't understand how everyone acted like his best friend and how the school still loved him. He appreciated their support but he hasn't done anything. Troy was sitting in class about to fall asleep until the teacher called his name.

"Troy."

Troy sat up hoping he would get yelled at for falling asleep.

"You need to go to room E214." Troy got wide eye and looked at Chad. Chad looked at him with the same look. Chad mouthed,

"What are you going to do?" Troy shrugged his shoulders and got up.

E214 was his dad's room; there was no escaping him now. Jack was on his off period so this wasn't going to be soft and sweet. Troy walked down the hallway to his dad room trying to come up with an explanation his dad would be ok with. He came to his open door and knocked on the door frame, his dad looked up from his desk.

"Well well looks like the rumors are true." Troy sighed and walked in.

Troy: "Yeah I guess so."

"You know you are not supposed to be doing that right?" Jack looked up at him.

"Yeah but I felt fine and wanted to try it. I do not see what the big deal is."

"I know you are egared and so is everyone else around you but you have to be patient."

"What if I can prove tonight I am fine and pass everything? I have been patient for the last eight months I am so over being patient dad. If I say I am fine and it feels right then trust me! You and Bryce and no one else are me, you don't know how I feel about anything!" Troy kind of blew up. He didn't mean to he just wanted to get his point across.

Jack sighed, "Your right, you are absolutely right. I am just scared of something happening. But if you feel fine and comfortable no one can tell you different."

Troy was surprised he didn't think his dad would respond like that.

"So tonight if you want to prove everything and hopefully finish your therapy you do that. I believe your ready, you have shown yourself you are ready and you can move forward to the last step." Jack was really happy inside. When he saw Troy walk in he became over whelmed. He looked normal. He didn't walk normal but he finally looked ok.

Troy sighed. "I am ready." Jack nodded ok. He had to believe his son, he was right no one knew how he felt except him.

Later that evening in therapy, Troy did his best. He could do on the weights, bends and walk. Bryce was impressed.

Bryce: "So do think you are ready for some basketball?"

Troy: "Yeah I think I am. Everything felt comfortable."

Bryce smiled, "Yeah think you are too."

Troy did a little 'yes!' to himself. He finally gets to play basketball, actually play and not just shoot.

"I am going to talk to Doctor Roy and tell him you have completed therapy and run the whole basketball thing by him. He will probably want to take x-rays and check out your leg to see if anything has shifted."

Troy and Jack nodded.

"Now I am happy to say you are now boot free. But if you start to feel uncomfortable or it hurts put it back on."

Troy couldn't wipe the smile off his face; he looked like a little kid a Christmas morning.

"So how about we start on Monday? You will have these next 2 days and the weekend off to rest up and feel comfortable. How does that sound?"

Troy: "Sounds awesome."

"Ok good. Remember you will have to wear a brace when you play I will have a special one for you Monday so do not worry about getting one."

Troy realized he hasn't tried to run yet, that was going to be interesting.

The weekend came and they guys came over. Of course they were going to play basketball. Troy was going to play but not move very much. He had come too far to screw everything up. He was going to wait and do lay ups and moves the right way.

They guys walked out to the back yard to the court, they saw Dylan playing.

Troy: "Do you want to play a little five v five with us?"

Dylan gave him a weird look, "You can play now?"

"No but I was going to shoot and mess a around a little, I start Monday."

"Well pin a rose on your nose."

Troy got mad. "What is your deal? You have been acting like a little prick for the past couple of months I haven't done anything to you!"

The guys stood behind Troy awkwardly, they were used to seeing Troy and Dylan argue but have never seen them this mad at each other before.

"BS! No one in this family give a damn what I do anymore. Dad always would come to my baseball practices but he hasn't came to one this year because of you! And you with your stupid little promises. You said you were going to tell dad to go easy on me and you didn't! You just sat in the house watching me get drilled to death! You also told me you were going to help me with some basketball things, did you? No!"

"Then why didn't you say something? I forgot. I have been dealing with crap these past couple of months you can't expect me to remember everything! Yeah that is my fault on that part, but if you are mad about dad not going to your practices take that up with him, don't blame crap on me I have no control over!"

"No one feels sorry for you! Stop blaming everything on everyone else!" Dylan walked up to Troy and got in his face. "I am so sick of hearing everything about you even at my school I can't get away from you! You don't even go there and people still talk about you! Sometimes I wish you would have just died when you flipped It would have been better than hearing all this crap!"

The guys got wide eyes and their jaws dropped, did he really just say that? Chad saw Troy clench his fist like he was about to punch him. Chad stepped in the middle and pushed them apart.

Troy was beyond mad, "You think I want people feeling sorry me? You think I like getting a million questions asked in my face every day? I don't feel sorry for myself and I don't want people to feel sorry for me either! Did you not pay attention when you went to the basketball games with me? Did you not listen when I talk to people and see how uncomfortable I felt? No because you're too damn worry trying to turn crap against me! If you want me dead then get out of my life!"

Troy was yelling at this point. He had no idea Dylan was this mad at him the whole time. He felt bad for not keeping his promises but he didn't know Dylan wanted him dead. Dylan and Troy stared at each other waiting for the other to crack. They guys stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do. All of the sudden Dylan tackled Troy to the ground.

Troy was pushing Dylan off of him; the guys grabbed Dylan before he could throw a punch.

Troy and Dylan were breathing heavy just looking at each other. The guys were still holding Dylan back. Troy stood up.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Be mature for once! I am sorry that I didn't keep my promises! If it bugged you that bad you should have came to me!"

Dylan just looked at Troy. He yanked out of their grip and started to walk inside.

Zeke: "What just happened?"

Troy: "I don't know, but dang he didn't need to come at me like that! Yeah I feel like crap for not keeping my promises but I didn't know he was that mad." Troy brushed the grass off his shirt.

Chad: "It's ok dude just let it go for now, you both need to cool down just talk to him tonight without killing each other."

Clay: "Yeah come on, let just play some b-ball and chill out for a while."

They guys agreed and started to play. They were having a good time, Troy felt good he wasn't hurting and he had his mojo back in shooting and looking for passes. The guys were happy to have their player back on the team. After playing for 2 hours everyone jumped in Troy's pool to cool down. It was a good day chilling with the guys with no restrictions.

Later that night…

Later that night Troy saw Dylan shooting hoops and went outside.

Troy walked up to the court, Dylan shot and missed.

"When you raise up to shoot, lean back it will give your ball more arch making it go in."

Dylan didn't know he was standing right there. He grabbed the ball and did what Troy told him. It went it.

"There you go just like that." Dylan grabbed the ball and passed it to Troy.

Troy stepped on to the court and shot it.

"Are you still mad at me?"

Dylan sighed, "No not really, I am sorry I lost it earlier. Everything just built up. I also got mad because you said you can start playing and dad was still going to have his focus on you making sure you ok." He passes the ball back to Troy.

"It's ok. I am sorry too, I am sorry I didn't keep my promises. I just wish you would have said something. I want to help you and have you get better. We can now play how we used to. And I will tell dad every time he wants to practice my new steps with me that you should join. It will help both of us. I need someone faster than dad to play against."

They both laughed a little, their dad was slow.

"It's ok I know I probably should of said something, you were just too busy sucking face with Gabi."

Troy laughed, "Hey I had to do something to keep me busy."

Dylan laughed, "If you say so, are we good?"

Troy nodded, "Yeah were good." Troy paused for a second. "Wait, do you still want me dead?"

Dylan shook his head no, "No, sorry for saying that too that was just out of pure anger."

"It's ok." Troy couldn't really be mad at Dylan for being angry. He did break his promises and his dad was always with him making sure he was taken care of.

"Plus if you were dead, I wouldn't have anyone to crush in basketball anymore" Dylan took the ball from Troy's hands ran and shot it.

"Crush? Please you haven't beaten me in a day in your life." With that Troy and Dylan started playing against each other. Ever since they were younger they have always been good at getting over arguments easy. They were brothers nothing was going to change that.

Troy: "I am starting my basketball class Monday, do you want to come? Bryce needs someone to demonstrate how to do a layup and a bunch of other stuff and compare it to what I am going to have to do. Dad would demonstrate but he wants to watch so when I practice he can see if I am doing it right."

Dylan nodded "Yeah I'll come."

Dylan and Troy were finally fine, just had to patch up some of the hole and misunderstandings. Troy will finally start his training and basketball season will start in no time.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

How was that? Sorry for some of the curse words! I didn't make it to vulgar. And I know no techniques on how to shoot a basketball I made it up. I hope it was ok and made since. Please review!