( 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝗇𝖾 — 𝗉𝗂𝗅𝗈𝗍 )
"Are you crazy?" Riley Davis snapped to the boy on the other end of the phone call. "A freaking school bus?! That's like... grand-theft auto, you know?"
"Try telling that to Nate." Brayden Scott sighed to his friend. "It was his stupid idea and now dad's on Whitey's case because half of the team got freaking suspended."
"Well, tell your brother he's an idiot." The blonde haired girl shook her head as she spoke, shivering slightly from the cold air, heading towards Karen's Cafe.
"Gee, thanks Riles." Nathan responded to Riley's surprise, making her huff out a breath. "Well, I'm not wrong and Brayden, stop putting me on speaker!"
The Davis girl simply received laughs in response from the Scott twins making her sigh as she finally approached the door to the cafe, swinging it open to see Karen stood behind the counter.
"Listen, I gotta go but I'll see you tomorrow so I can throw a basketball to your head. Maybe it'll knock some sense into you." Riley remarked through the phone, sending a quick wave to the woman behind the counter.
"And who are you referring to?" Brayden asked.
Riley hummed. "You know who. But who knows? It might be double for one, depends what mood I'll be in."
"Alright then. Bye, blondie." Brayden chuckled, the two friends saying their goodbyes before hanging up the phone.
"Hi Hi." Riley smiled at Karen after slipping her phone into her pocket.
"Hi Riley. How was your day?" The brown-haired woman asked with a smile, the two going into conversation, reciting what they had done that day.
"I'm so glad to be here though because your food is one of my favourite things ever." The blonde Davis girl grinned, which made Karen smile. But before she could respond, the door was pulled open again to reveal Lucas coming in from playing basketball at the River Court.
"Hey, Mom. Hey, Ry Ry." Lucas greeted the two by the counter, who responded with their own greeting. "It smells good in here. Did you change your hair?"
Karen slapped the cloth onto the counter. "If by 'change' you mean 'dragged a brush through it,' then yeah."
"Well, it looks nice." Lucas complimented his mother, getting a thank you in return. This got a smile from Riley though she was trying to hide the envy she was feeling of their relationship, due to her own mother issues.
"The magazine pages are sticky again. Little pervs." Haley came through from the back with a magazine in her hand before looking up at Lucas with an innocent smile. "Oh, hey, Luke. You been reading this?"
"I don't know, Haley. Is that the 'Why Do I Hang Out With These People?' issue, because you're on the cover of that, right?" Lucas was quick to come up with a remark, earning a smack on the arm from Riley.
"No, actually, it's the 'Our Best Friend Is An Idiot' issue and there you are." Riley high-fived her friend in amusement before Karen piped up with a question. "Riley, Haley, would you like to join us?"
"Hell yes." The two girls answered, scooping their food into a bowl before making their way over to the table to join Lucas and Karen, the latter glancing to her son with a question. "So, honey, how was your day?"
"Good, thanks." Haley responded, assuming the question was aimed at her. "Well, 'good' is relative, considering a third of the world is starving, which does not change the fact that I am clumsy as hell. Did I tell you that I fell down today? Yeah, slipped off the curb, face down, butt in the air." At their laughs, Haley added on to her rant. "Too graphic? Sorry, I'll just be quiet."
"Well, I almost tripped down the stairs today so you're not alone, Hales." Riley shrugged her shoulders like it was no surprise to her.
"So, I got something for you, Lucas." Karen told her son, going to elaborate before Haley interjected. "Actually, I found it. Not that I was looking for something specifically, which implies some hideous sort of 'Joey loves Dawson' scenario and completely creep me out, but, you know, we saw it, and..." She looked towards her two friends, noticing their amused stares. "Give him the book."
Riley turned to Lucas with a playful scoff. "And you say I talk too much."
The blonde-haired boy chuckled, ruffling her hair before grabbing the book of his mother to examine it. "Wow. Julius Caesar."
"There's a tide in the affairs of men." Karen said, reciting a quote from the book. "Or something like that."
"Nice. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much."
"Whatever. That's what you're into."
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Ever since it was heard that Lucas was offered a spot on varsity, Riley had been getting an earful from Nathan, ranting about the boy that him and his twin brother share a father with. Boy, was she glad Nathan had his own twin to rant to as she was too tired to even listen to a word he was saying. Plus, Lucas had been informed her about being challenged by the guy to a game.
"Are you going to play him?" Riley questioned as her and Lucas walked down the sidewalk to the cafe.
Lucas shrugged. "I don't know. It's not like I have anything to prove."
"Yeah, I guess. But don't you just want to show him sometimes—" Riley was interrupted by a flock of birds coming her way, flying around her which caught her off-guard. "Oh, damn! What is up?! Literally, Haley and I were attacked by a flock of crows last week! I'm totally serious!"
Lucas laughed. "By the way, it's a murder."
The Davis girl raised her brows. "What is?"
"More than one crow is a murder." He informed Riley who laughed, still not knowing what he was talking about. "A parliament of owls, an exultation of larks, a murder of crows."
Riley giggled. "Count yourself lucky, Lucas, for having friends like me and Haley because I think that is why people think you're weird, dude."
"I would like to show him sometimes, though, what a mistake he's made." Lucas pointed out to his friend who furrowed her brows in question.
"Dan?"
"Mostly for Mom... and... sometimes for me." The blonde-haired boy told Riley who nodded before changing the subject, asking what the plural for Ravens was — in which, Lucas responded to her question with. "An unkindness."
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Tomorrow night at midnight, the game was set to be taken place at the River Court. Brooke decided to stay at home though Riley still went over to watch the game.
"Yo, blondie!" Riley heard a familiar voice from behind her, interrupting her conversation with Haley as she turned to see Brayden approaching.
"Hey Bray!" The blonde-haired girl greeted just as the boy stood beside her, his eyes then moving towards the brunette in front of him. "Haley, right? I've heard so much about you."
"Y-Yeah. Hi." The James girl stammered slightly which Riley took notice on, her lips tugging up into a small smirk as she looked between her two friends who gazed at each other.
"Ooh, looks like bonehead is here." Riley finally announced upon seeing the car pull up before Peyton, Nathan and his sidekick stepped out of the car, approaching the court.
Though whilst talking to Brayden, Riley hadn't noticed the pair of eyes on her that belonged to Nathan, the boy smiling subtly before finally turning his attention on the game, narrowing his eyes at Lucas as the game began to start, Nathan ending up making the first shot.
As the game continued, the crowd cheered louder as both Lucas and Nathan were scoring many shots into the basket. The latter now had the ball, dribbling it against the ground with Lucas blocking him from behind when he was suddenly elbowed in the nose by the raven-haired boy.
This gave him the opportunity to shoot another basket, ignoring the gasps coming from the crowd but he could almost feel daggers burning at the back of his head as Riley sent him a disapproving look along with Brayden.
Lucas stood near the side, spitting out blood onto the ground before wiping his mouth. He slowly returned back to his spot in front of Nathan to address. "No foul. Basket counts. Besides... you won't score again."
Now 14-12 to Nathan, he only needed one more basket to win. However, the boy failed to score the winning basket as Lucas jumped up and managed to block his shot — instantly receiving the ball and shooting the next basket, making Lucas now down by one.
With the game now tied up after Lucas managed to shoot another basket, whoever made the next one would be crowned the winner.
"This is for my mom." Lucas spoke proudly as he narrowed his eyes towards Nathan before starting to dribble the ball around him, dodging his block before aiming towards the basket once he found a space open.
The crowd erupted in applause and cheers after watching the ball go into the basket. Riley and Haley got to Lucas first, engulfing their friend into a hug to congratulate him on winning the game — his other friends surrounding him.
"Ah, you did it!" Riley grinned at the blonde, her arms wrapped around him as they hugged, unaware of the look Nathan held on his face as he watched Riley with Lucas.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
megan speaks!
hiyaaa!! welcome to the first chapter of this book and i hope you enjoyed reading!
let me know what you think so far because i love reading your comments and they inspire me to keep on writing!
thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33