Second Quarter
Sixteen-year-old Asher Holt used to be that kid — the one every coach talked about, the one who couldn’t miss a shot even under pressure. Basketball was supposed to be his future. Then one night he cracked under it all — the noise, the expectations, the whispers at home that he wasn’t working hard enough — and walked away from the game completely.
A year later, starting over at Jefferson High, Asher wants to stay invisible. No more tournaments. No team. No gym. Just quiet. But when he passes the echoing court after school and hears the familiar rhythm of a ball on hardwood, something inside him stirs — something he’s not ready to face.
That’s when he meets Jordan Nguyen, the team captain who recognizes a player’s stance even when he denies it, and Leah Kim, a classmate who sees past Asher’s silence and into the parts he’s still trying to bury. Between the pull of the game and the pressure at home — a mom who loves him but doesn’t understand, an older brother whose own failure still casts a shadow — Asher’s forced to decide whether he’s done for good or just scared of caring again.
As the season unfolds, so do the things Asher’s been avoiding: the panic that still hits when the gym gets too loud, the guilt of walking away, and the question that won’t leave him alone — if basketball broke him once, can he trust it to help him heal?
Second Quarter is a coming-of-age story about second chances, self-forgiveness, and the long road between giving up and letting go.