A wave of emotions was crashing down on Cassie as she made her way towards the gymnasium doors. Fear and excitement were all that she could think about; as it was Lucas's first basketball game since he joined the Ravens. Joining the basketball team would be a huge opportunity for her brother, but she couldn't help but think about the inevitable. Nathan torturing him even more. As she was about to walk through the opened wooden doors, she was stopped by two familiar, basketball obsessed sports announcers.
"Cassie, care to make any last comments about the game tonight?" Mouth asked, holding his microphone up to her mouth.
Cassie let out a chuckle, "I will not be speaking to any sort of media tonight. Can't be going around spoiling Lucas's luck, now can we," She joked, turning around to enter the gymnasium, to find a certain best friend and uncle in the stands,only to hear Mouth and Jimmy's excitement as Mouth said, "that's twice now we've been called media, we are going places Jimmy!"
When Cassie finally spotted the duo, she headed straight towards them, climbing the steps of the bleachers.
"Hey, you made it," Haley smiled.
"Of course...I wouldn't miss it," Cassie said, taking a seat next to her uncle.
Cassie couldn't deny that she felt a little awkward sitting in the stands of the blue and white gym, instead of a cold metal bench at the river court. But she wasn't going to let Dan or Nathan keep her from supporting her brother, and she didn't blame her mother for not joining her.
"Hey, Cas!" She heard Jake call out to her as he made his way over to the bleachers. "I didn't think you would come,"
"And why's that?" She questioned.
"Well—reasons," Jake raised his eyebrows.
"Well, I am personally ignoring those reasons, like I do everyday. I'm not just here for Luke, I'm supporting you too,"
The brunette didn't know how much those words warmed the boy's heart. Knowing that he could count on her, despite her own issues. Which made falling for her even easier, but she would never look his way. Jake didn't know when his feelings towards the girl started, but even when he was with Nikki, he knew that a part of his heart still ached for Cassie.
"Now go kick some ass," Cassie finished, before Jake went off to join the rest of the team by Coach Whitey.
Once the game finally started, and the ball was passed back and forth between the teams and across the court, Cassie couldn't have helped but notice a switch in Lucas' behavior. Every single time Lucas was passed the ball, or it left his fingertips he missed the shot.
Every. Single. Time.
From the look on Lucas' face he didn't know what was wrong either. But when Cassie looked over at Dan, she wasn't surprised when she saw a sly smirk spread across his face.
~~~
"I was wondering when you would get home," Cassie said to her brother, as she was sprawled out on his bed.
"I just—needed to clear my head," He dropped down next to her.
Cassie got up from her position and scooted closer to him; sitting Indian style, "What's on your mind?"
"I sucked plain and simple,"
"You didn't suck,"
Lucas raised his eyebrows at her.
"Okay, maybe a little," Cassie held up her hand, with her index finger and thumb, a small gap between the two. "What was up with you tonight?"
The blonde stood up, "I couldn't even tell ya. I went to the river court tonight to hopefully fix everything and it's still the same,"
"Was it Dan?" She asked, dragging out the question.
"No, this has nothing to do with Dan," He retorted.
"Lucas, I really don't know what you want me to tell you here. I can't give you an explanation, only you can do that," The Scott girl stood up from the bed, making her way over to Lucas. She put her hands on his shoulders, "Look just get some sleep, and hopefully everything will be better in the morning,"
"M-Kay," Lucas let out before enveloping his sister in a comforting hug. "Thanks, Cas,"
"What are sisters for,"
~~~
"You know, early in his career, Hemingway was...he was frustrated. He was a good writer who wanted to be great. And eventually he discovered that less was more," Cassie's English teacher explained as he circled the room. "Peyton," He continued, catching the blonde's attention. "Describe Lucas using just one word," everyone in the class turning to her now.
"Choke," She stated plainly. Everyone in the classroom erupting with laughter.
"Okay, quiet, please. Thank you. Lucas, care to respond and describe Peyton?"
"Lonely," The class letting out "oohs"
"Okay, quiet, please,"
Before anyone knew it, Nathan was shooting up his hand, "Yes, Nathan?" Mr. Kelley asked.
"I can describe Lucas in one word. Actually I can with Cassie too. Bastards," the statement making even more "oohs" come from the students around themselves lips.
In an instant, both Lucas and Nathan were on their feet, Lucas tackling Nathan to the ground. Before Lucas could get a hit in, Mr. Kelley ripped him off of the brunette, pushing him back towards his sister before sending both of them to the principal's office.
"Great, just great," Cassie thought to herself.
~~~
The Scott twins, including Haley, sat around a table in the cafe, as Karen made her way over to the group so they could start eating. Lucas took a drink of his water, just waiting for the moment for their mother to bring up the fight.
"So, are you gonna tell me about the fight or you wanna just assume I know about it while I yell at you?" Their mother asked.
"Is that the phone? I'll get it" Haley said abruptly, taking her plate as she got up from the table. Leaving Cassie to suffer the awkwardness alone.
"Still here," She continued
"Mom, he had it coming," Lucas stated, letting out an angry sigh. "You know he said—"
"No. When they called me today I was certain they had the wrong Scott, and then they told me they had two Scotts and I could take my pick. Honestly, Lucas, fighting in class! Fighting at all!"
"Mom, it's not all his fault," Cassie spoke up.
"Cassie, I would advise you to stay out of this," Her mother warned.
"No, mom, Lucas was defending both of us. Nathan called us bastards. Bastards! What did you expect him to do? The guy was being a jerk!"
"And this is suddenly a surprise to either of you? He hasn't been a jerk before?"
"No, he's always a jerk! But this time was different, it wasn't just me," Lucas said.
"Lucas you don't need to fight my battles, Nathan says crap all the time," Cassie said.
"And why go down to his level?" Karen asked, pausing. "This wouldn't have anything to do with playing poorly, would it?"
"How would you know? You weren't even there,"
"Lucas!" Cassie scolded her brother.
The curly-haired womens statue deflated, at her son's words, placing down her knife and piece of bread. The whole conversation made her lose her appetite.
"I'm sorry. Mom," Lucas said, as she got up from the table. "Mom, I'm—"
Lucas's form deflating as well, at the thought of the effect his words had on his mother.
"Nice," Cassie sighed. When she looked back at her brother she noticed his attention was focused on something outside. When she moved her head towards the window, she saw Peyton standing outside of a magazine shop. The blonde sighed in defeat, and she went over to a trash can and threw away a black folder.
Cassie let out a scoff as she got up from her chair, "Have fun with bitchy," and she went off to find her mother.
~~~
The Scott girl sat on the couch, making a silly face at Jenny Jagielski, as her favorite movie Dirty Dancing was playing; Jake walked back into the living room from the kitchen.
"I really don't think he did that bad, you know? I think it was just first game jitters, but the whole situation I think is really messing with his head," Cassie said.
"He'll get used to it, I think it's just going to take some adjusting," Jake said, plopping down next to the duo.
"She really is beautiful Jake," The brunette smiled down at the laughing baby on her lap.
"She's the one good thing that I've got right now," Jake slid his finger against his daughter's cheek.
Cassie gave him the side eye, "Gee thanks,"
"You know what I mean," He smiled, giving the girl a shove.
"Do you regret it? Being with Niki?"
"No," He responded plainly, taking Jenny from her arms to place the baby in her crib. "Because I wouldn't have Jenny,"
Cassie could never imagine what it's like being in Jake's shoes. Having the mother of your child abandon you both, it broke her heart knowing that Jenny would have to grow up without one. Jake never introduced the brunette to his ex-girlfriend. She only knew what Jake would tell her; that she was older and in college, and that his heart was broken into a million pieces when she left. Cassie walked over to her friend, placing her head on his shoulder from behind him. "You don't give yourself enough credit Jake, you are a great father,"
Jake turned around to meet his best friend's eyes, giving her a smile, which she returned. "Thanks, Cas,"
Before the boy could say anything else Cassie's attention moved onto the tv behind him. "This is my favorite part!" She squealed. Watching the scene in front of her when Johnny is giving Baby dance lessons, and she keeps laughing when he drags his arms down her body. Before Jake knew it, Cassie was singing along to Hungry Eyes, as it played on the tv. Cassie grabbed Jake's hand and started twirling herself and pulling the boy close so they could dance to the song, all while singing the lyrics back to him. There was a moment between them that both of them couldn't ignore, as they looked into one another's eyes. A moment that gave Jake Jagielski hope that maybe, there was something more between them.
~~~
"Jake Jagielski, you are so dead!" Cassie ran down the hallway to catch up with the boy, punching him in the shoulder once she got there.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You lent your copy of Atlas Shrugged to Lucas, whom you don't really know, over me, your best friend. Who might I add, you told to "buy my own copy"," She mimicked his voice at the end.
"Oh, you didn't hear? Your brother and I are besties, we are practically like this," he held up his fingers crossing them, which earned him a shove in return.
"I hope you know your not getting your book back until I read it,"
"Weren't you just reading Julius Caesar?" Jake asked.
"That was a few weeks ago, I finished that in like two days. But seriously, why lend him the book?"
"Let's just say, inspiration,"
"Well, this is me," Cassie pointed to her English class. "I'll catch up with you later," she waved to the boy, before entering the classroom; taking her seat behind Lucas.
Once the bell rang their teacher had no hesitation in starting the lesson immediately.
"Okay, we're gonna try our little Hemingway project again," He said, passing out tiny papers to each of the students. "But in order to avoid a bar fight we're gonna do it on paper. Now, you don't have to put your names on these. Simply write one word, one single word to describe what you want most in your life right now,"
Cassie didn't really know what she wanted out of life. She could've put down a million different words, just to complete the assignment, but instead she chose to write down the word PEACE in big letters. She could have said love, like any other teenage girl in the class did but the amount of chaos that had happened in her life overruled that desire. The one thing she wanted out of life was to be left alone, and for people to stop comparing her and Lucas's lives with Nathan and Dan's and to stop intertwining the two. Because as far as Cassie could tell, her life was none of their business.
~~~
"Did you guys ever figure out your porn name? Haley asked the twins as they walked down the sidewalk of town.
"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked.
"Your porn name. Um...you know, you take the name of your first pet and your mother's maiden name, and put them together. What was the name of your first pet?"
"Well, you know that, we had a dog named Rocket," Cassie answered.
"Well, I would like to point out that Rocket was mostly my dog because someone never took care of him," Lucas narrowed his eyes towards his sister.
"Oh, Rocket. Oh! I loved Rocket. So, your mother's maiden name is Roe. Rocket Roe," the three bursted out laughing. "Nice," Haley continued.
"That's kind of weird, that we have the same porn name," Cassie pointed out.
"Just another thing for us to share, little sis," He smiled at her. "What's yours?" Lucas focused his attention back onto Haley.
"Uh, oh, I had a bunny named Bunny,"
"You named the bunny, Bunny?" Cassie questioned.
"Yes, I did. And my mother's maiden name is Brigard, so,"
"Bunny Brigard," The three said simultaneously.
"Dawson's Freak, starring the Rocket Roes and Bunny Brigard," the twins laughing even more at their friends' joke, as they turned towards their house.
"Hey...there's a game tonight. You're not playing anymore?" Cassie asked.
"No," Lucas sighed. "You know, I've never walked away from anything before, Cassie,"
"I know,"
"But I can't do it, and even worse, I don't know why I can't do it. It's like no matter how confusing or...screwed up life got you know, the game always made sense. It was mine, you know? And in a lot of ways, it's who I am. But...I can't be that person in their gym...or in their uniforms or in their world,"
"I hear you, Luke. But I know you, and I know that no matter what happens you're still gonna be the same guy that you always were. No uniform. No...whatever is gonna ruin that,"
Later that night when Cassie walked into the gym with her mother, everything felt normal for once. She didn't know if Lucas was going to play or not, but she would be happy with whatever he decided. When they took their seats, the team started heading through the double doors, jogging towards the warm up bench to meet their coach. When Cassie finally saw Lucas, her heart warmed knowing her brother wasn't giving up his passion, and she was even more proud when she noticed that the thing that was defining him was ripped off of the back of his jersey. Leaving a solid black square in its place.
This chapter is pretty short compared to my other one and I don't know how I feel about it😬 but someone needs to stop me from making a stranger things fanfic, because I already have so many and can barely update but yolo🤪
But more important
What did you guys think?