Hometown | Twenty One Pilots

13

After days of being surrounded by basketball pictures and trophies in his room, Tyler decided to make it part of his life again. He was going to do this by going to basketball practice after school. Basketball practice is every Thursday after school in the gym.

When he arrived at the gym after school with Zack, the basketball coach was surprised to see Tyler. "Tyler! We're so glad to have you back."

"Thanks." Tyler said shyly.

The rest of the team was already here shooting hoops and dribbling. Tyler and Zack had yet to put on their basketball uniforms.

"Are you really in the yearbook club?" Tyler asked his brother when they stepped inside the locker room.

"Yeah. It's fun, you should join."

"I'm good." Tyler rejected the offer. "And what's this club we go to almost every weekend?" Tyler wanted to confirm that Josh told him the truth about the club he talked about.

"It's just a few blocks away. A bunch of different local artists go there to play music and there's food, which is the best part."

"So there is a club?" Tyler wanted to confirm.

Zack nodded. "There is. Where are you getting all this from? Are you remembering?"

"No, Josh told me. He said we should go there again and catch up." Tyler said truthfully. "Maybe it'll help bring my memory back."

Zack looked at Tyler in disbelief. "Tyler, how do I say this?" Zack sighed, taking a pause. "You're not going to get your memory back just like that. What you nee-"

"Time, I know! I need time!" Tyler started to get angry again. "I've heard this a thousand times. But this could help!"

"Okay, if you're so sure I guess I'll go." Zack gave in, making Tyler relax.

Once they had their basketball uniforms on, they walked back out to the gym where everyone else was and started to get ready to play. The basketball team's coach blew the whistle, making everyone stop what they were doing to pay attention to him. "Alright team, let's practice some shooting!"

The whole team grabbed some basketballs to shoot some hoops, and so did Tyler and Zack. Zack already knew what to do, so he started aiming to the basketball nets. He missed some shots, but he got most of them.

Tyler was nervous. What if the new him didn't like basketball? Would he have to decline the scholarship his dad told him he was offered?

"C'mon Tyler!" Zack smiled at Tyler, who was just standing there looking at everyone else play, trying to encourage him. "Here. Don't get nervous now." Zack passed him a basketball.

Tyler took the basketball from Zack's hands and aimed at the basketball net. After trying to calm himself down by letting out a big sigh, Tyler threw the ball. It went right through the hoop. This gave him a little bit of confidence.

"See?" Zack looked back at him. "No need to doubt yourself."

Tyler started to shoot more hoops. He was getting every single throw through the basketball hoops from different distances. The coach looked at him amazed, smiling because Tyler was coming back. Tyler shot more and more from further and further away from the hoop, still getting every single ball through.

"Yes, Tyler!" The coach smiled. He told himself that his team's star athlete was returning.

Even from all the smiles and congratulations from the rest of his team, Tyler felt a little empty inside.

He didn't know why or where this feeling was coming from.

---|-/---

"You did great today." Zack told Tyler as they walked back home from basketball practice.

"Thanks, brother." Tyler forced a smile. He liked basketball, it used to be his passion. Why wasn't he really happy? Why was he feeling like something else was missing?

"Basketball is great, glad you're back at it. We're gonna do great. We are starting competitions next week with other schools." Zack rambled on.

"Exciting!" Tyler forced himself to smile once more.

When they got home, their mom was setting the table to have dinner along with Tyler's other siblings, Jay and Madison.

"Hi mom!" Tyler waved and so did Zack.

"Hey boys! How was practice?" She asked excitedly.

As his mom and Tyler talked about how his first basketball practice was after the accident, Zack walked upstairs hoping nobody would notice. He succeeded.

Zack walked quickly to his room and closed the door. He needed this to be quick. He grabbed the phone that was on his nightstand and dialled Jenna's number.

"C'mon, pick up." He muttered to himself as the phone beeped, impatiently waiting for Jenna to answer.

"Hello?" Jenna finally picked up the phone.

"Hi Jenna, it's Zack." Zack told her.

"Hey! What's up?"

"I have a slight problem." Zack tried to keep quiet so nobody could hear him.

"Uh, okay. What is it?" Jenna asked, slightly worried. She had a gut feeling that she knew exactly what was coming.

"Tyler wants all of us to hang out. This Saturday at the club we all used to go to." Zack explained.

"Zack, you know that I don't want to-"

"Jen, please." Zack pleaded. "Can you please just forget it for one day? He doesn't even remember what he did. If we don't do anything he'll just get more suspicious and ask even more questions."

"I understand, but even though he doesn't remember he still-"

"Zack!" His mom knocked on the door. "Dinner is ready honey."

"Coming mom!" Zack said loudly after moving the phone away from his face. "I know, and I'm sorry. Can we please just talk about this later tomorrow?"

There was a short but suspenseful pause."I'll think about it." Jenna agreed.

"Okay, I gotta go. Let's meet at lunch?"

"Sure, whatever. See you." Jenna hung up the phone.

Zack already knew that getting everyone in the same place was going to be hard.

---|-/---

Ohhhhh I've waited to post this for a while👀

Plot twists to come.

Love you all |-/

AND THANKS FOR 100 FOLLOWERS AND 500 READS I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE READ THIS AND TAKEN THE TIME TO GET HERE AHH