Jason zipped past his defender and curled around the hard screen. He was open and the ball came to his open hands as if it was summoned. There it was right in front of him, a slim window for an open shot. He suddenly froze - a billion thoughts ran through his head...should he take it? what if he missed? what would his coach say? would his teammates be disappointed? who's watching in the stands? Finally he snapped out of his daydream. One whole second passed but it felt like an eternity. The ball left his finger tips with an unwilling demeanor...
A sinking feeling gripped Jason's stomach. That shot was dead on arrival. The lanky arms of the help defender emerged from thin air and interrupted the ball's flight. "Oooooo"...the crowd grimaced.
Minutes later, Jason found himself open again alone...alone with his doubts. He passed up the shot. And then again, and again, and again. The stat line at the end of the game? 0 for 1...and more importantly, a loss for the team.
Back in the classroom, everyone was buzzing about college applications. The world was your oyster...until you get with realities. "Can I pay for these expensive colleges?", "What are my chances, I'm just a regular guy" - these doubts crept into Jason's mind. He was thinking of just applying to the local state school, that seemed a better fit for him. He told himself that he didn't care about Stanford - it's not that great, who cares?
"Hey Jason! How are those college applications coming along? Let me know how I can help" - Ms. Bernard was always a believer in him even when he wasn't.
"Ugh yea, I'm still thinking about it. Bye Ms. Bernard, see you tomorrow". Jason hurried out of class to avoid any further uncomfortable questioning.
Later that night, Jason sank into his couch to catch the end of the Laker's game and take his mind off of the day's events. Kobe was having a bad game - the shots just weren't dropping, including the final deciding basket. For one night, Kobe lost his air of invincibility: final score Lakers 102, Pistons 113.
"Kobe, you had a difficult night with your shot, anything you would've done differently?" inquired a reporter.
"No, that's the nature of the game. I have a job to do and that's to score. Somedays the ball drops, somedays it doesn't. I will take every one of those shots again - you miss every shot you don't take."
Jason switched off the TV. He's right, Kobe's right, he thought to himself. I just have to pick myself back up and go get what I want. He rushed upstairs to start his college applications.
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