Bounce Back

Chapter 5

Ryan's POV

Tyler looked like he was asleep on the desk when I headed into the library. I was a couple of minutes later than I would like because I was talking to one of my teachers. I took a seat and Tyler still didn't look up.

I rested a hand on his shoulder and shook it slightly. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry, have you been here long?" he asked.

"No, I was running late so I just came in," I said.

He nodded and sat up straighter. We both pulled out stuff out and I opened his book to where we finished last time. We were starting to move through faster as we worked more together. Tyler seemed to understand our current topic better so it wouldn't take it as long.

We paused for a minute to take a break before continuing.

"Do you have any maths homework that you want to do?" I asked.

He nodded and reached into his bag to pull out a worksheet. I grabbed it and skimmed it quickly. I knew what it was asking for so I spread it on the table and grabbed a pencil. I started to explain it to him and he seemed to get it.

It didn't take us long to get through the sheet and return to our work. We had settled into an easy routine and I think that we were both surprised to realise that we had been working for an hour and a half.

He leant back on his chair and closed his eyes.

"This is too hard," he moaned slightly.

"Let's take a break. Talk to me about something that you want to talk to me about," I suggested.

He nodded and started to tell me about basketball. I could see how interested and invested he was in it and it showed on his face.

We didn't do a whole heap more work because we had already done a lot. I glanced around the library and noticed that my friends weren't in here. I grabbed my phone out to see a text from Jordan saying that they had already gone home since they were done.

Instead of heading out I grabbed my own homework out and decided to stay here and work.

"Are you going to stay here working?" Tyler asked.

I nodded and noticed that he wasn't moving from his seat.

"Can I stay here too?" he asked.

I nodded again and we settled into silence as we both worked on our own things. I didn't have a whole lot of work to do so I didn't take me long and when I looked up I noticed that Tyler looked like he was struggling.

"Do you want some more help?" I asked him.

He looked up at me and nodded. We slowly work through his homework as well and we were both finished not long before the library would shut.

"My friends and I always some in here and do our homework together so we can help each other. You could join us when you don't have training," I suggested.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Of course"

He nodded as he packed up and smiled at me.

"I would like to join you guys then," he smiled.

We both smiled at each other once more and headed out in opposite directions. It was late and dark because we had been working so long but I was glad to help Tyler. Mom and Dad were both home already when I got back and Mom handed me a plate of food.

"You were later than expected," Mom said.

"Yeah, I was helping Tyler. Did I tell you that I was tutoring him?" I asked.

"I think you did. That's good," she smiled.

I talked to both my parents for a while before heading up to my room to call Jordan. I waited until I was stretched out on my bed and he answered after a couple of rings.

"Hey, I saw that you were tutoring Tyler for longer today," he started.

"Yeah, well, we never set a time that we were going to work for. Also I invited him to work with us if he wants because he seems to be struggling a bit," I continued.

"And we all know how good students the basketball team," Jordan teased.

"Anyway, so I thought that we would be good to help him."

"Are you sure that that is the only reason that you offered?" he teased.

I spluttered and I could hear him laughing at me.

"Of course," I protested.

"I'm sure, I'm sure. I was just asking," he smirked.

I quickly moved the conversation away from Tyler and my tutoring and to other things. Jordan told me that I had missed out on Drew complaining for twenty minutes about one of his teachers. I don't think that it was helped by the fact Jordan and Morgan were egging him on.

I could hear Jordan falling asleep on the other end of the phone so I told him to go and sleep and we could talk more tomorrow. He protested for a minute before yawning and promptly hanging up.

I had already finished all my homework so I didn't have much else to do. In the end I started to organise all the basketball stats that I have. I had them organised by name and you could look at each player but I started adding videos and photos if I could find them and notes that I had from watching.

I started with Tyler. There were a couple of good videos and a lot of photos that I added before I started to write notes. I know a lot about basketball and it was obvious that he was a good player. I'd been to so many games that I knew all the players strengths and weakness by heart.

I could feel myself drifting off to sleep so I packed up my computer and curled up in bed. I really don't think that the Coach used this but it would be so useful. I knew a lot about rival players as well but he doesn't believe that my stats will help him.

Too bad I couldn't show him.

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The Wise One