Wallflower- One Tree Hill

8 | Midnight at the River Court

Brooke: tonight. midnight @ the river court. Lucas vs. Nathan

I sighed at the text notification. It had been a week since Whitey had asked Lucas to join the team, and it still seemed to be the only talk of the town. I guess this Scott family drama went a lot deeper than I had originally thought.

Come to think of it, I hadn't seen Lucas at all recently. Or Nathan. But even I, one of the most irrelevant people at Tree Hill High, had heard about what had happened.

Classic Nathan had insulted Lucas, and Lucas finally stuck up for himself. And now it led to this. A showdown between the two, over whether or not Lucas could join the team. In the form of a one on one basketball game of course.

On the one hand, I wanted Lucas to win. I didn't really understand why Nathan had been so against Lucas joining in the first place, and it was honestly unfair of him to be so rude to Lucas. But realistically, Nathan was the star player on the varsity basketball game. I had never even seen Lucas near a basketball before.

I checked the clock in my bedroom. It was 11:38 p.m. I internally debated whether or not I should even play into this rivalry nonsense for a little, but threw on a hoodie and headed downstairs as I realized that I did actually want to see this.

Surprisingly, I found my mom working on her computer in the living room. She looked up at the sound of my footsteps approaching.

"Hi sweetie. Are you headed somewhere?" I wondered if I even had a curfew. I had never been out late before, so there was never really a need to set one. "Yeah, I'm just going to go watch a basketball game at the River Court. I won't be home too late."

She had already turned her attention back to her computer. "Okay, have fun!" Her teenage daughter was leaving the house at 11:45 at night and she didn't even glance at a clock. If I was a little more outgoing and adventurous, I could use this to my advantage.

Unfortunately for me, watching Lucas and Nathan play was as crazy as my life would ever get.

...

When I parked by car next to the River Court at 11:58 exactly, the court was already crowded with students from our high school. As I got out of the car and walked towards the scene, I noticed only one figure on the court. Lucas.

Where was Nathan?

I tried to go around the crowd to a spot where I could actually see, but ended being pushed all the way to the front. Right into Lucas' line of vision.

Lucas widened his eyes at me in a clearly surprised manner. He began walking towards me."Skyler! I didn't think you would be here."

I laughed. "Honestly, this definitely isn't my scene at all. But I was curious what would happen." Lucas smiled back at me. "Well, I'm glad you're here. I'm going to need all the support I can get." At this exact moment, Nathan pulled his car onto the grass behind the court and made a huge entrance. Everyone was clapping and cheering as he stepped out of his car, followed by Tim and Peyton.

What was he, some kind of celebrity? He just smirked and made his way on the court, pushing through the groups of people patting his back and wishing him luck.

All eyes were on him, and I got nauseous just thinking about being in that situation. But he basked in the attention. I knew he had done it on purpose.

I could feel Lucas stiffen next to me. He was clearly intimidated by Nathan, and I don't know what sane person wouldn't be. "Hey." I said, and Lucas looked over to me. "Good luck." I gave him a genuine smile.

He didn't say anything back, but he didn't need to. I knew he needed to hear some encouragement in this sea of Nathan worshippers.

Lucas made his way towards the center of the court and picked up the basketball. He shot the ball at the hoop, but it unfortunately bounced off the rim. Yikes. I know he was just trying to calm his nerves by warming up, but this definitely didn't help him do that.