Chapter 6: every night is another story
Another week had pasted since the father son charity game which had proved to be more eventful and more illuminating than the twins would have thought, today was another game day for the team but tonight was different since it was the first game where the team would be playing away from their familiar court at their high school meaning that it was the twins' first time ever playing an away game with the team causing their anxiety to be hurt than normal. Things between Lucas and Haley were still a little tense due to the whole Nathan thing placing Alex in the middle of it all despite the fact that she was trying to keep out of it all as best as she could each which wasn't easy when they both took every opportunity to talk to her about the other
" Hey stranger" Haley said as she noticed that Alex and Lucas were currently walked towards each other as they headed home for the day as Alex wondered if this was going to be as awkward as it seemed
" Hmm, no stranger than you" Lucas said making the point that she was avoiding him as much as he was avoiding her causing Alex to roll her eyes as she thought about how all of this was blown out of proportion
" and somehow I'm still the strangest one here" Alex said try to use humour to try and defuse the tensions between them three of them as this was unknown territory for them since they always got on
" you'll always be the strangest one in this trio. Hey, did you get my message last night?" Lucas said remembering that he had taken the first step to fend their friendship by calling her last night
" Nah, I was, uh, at the library late. Midterms" Haley said knowing that while they had basketball to focus their attention in relation to school, Haley always placed her focus on her tutoring and schoolwork
" Yours or Nathan's?" Lucas said unable to resist the urge to make the dig about her tutoring Nathan as he was convinced that there was more to this than just her tutoring him as she was still wearing the bracelet
" you just can't this go, can you?" Alex said thinking about how much he was hating the fact that everything was changing in their lives and in their friendship in ways that they couldn't have imagined
" Both, actually" Haley sad knowing that she wasn't going to hide the fact that she was tutoring Nathan, just like she tutored so many different student and tried to help them with their schoolwork
" Well, good luck with that" Lucas said dismissively as he still thought that her tutoring Nathan was a bad idea despite that everyone else seemed to think that there was nothing major going on between them
" Luke, you're cool with this, right? I mean, last week when you said you didn't trust me..." Haley said remembering how much his words had her when they spoke during half time break at the father son game
" you said that? You didn't tell me that you said that to her?!" Alex said as she hit her brother on the shoulder as she realised that he had inconveniently left that part out when he had told Alex about it
" I know I didn't mean that. Alright? I meant I don't trust Nathan" Lucas said knowing that Nathan was the issue in this equation and not Hayley as he thought about how they couldn't predict what he was going to do
" and now that's all sorted and we're friends again, I'll see you two later. I need to go talk to AJ" Alex said seeing AJ nearby as he waved at her knowing that she would come over to him once she saw him
" be careful" Lucas said as he still worried about AJ and Alex getting close together as she walked away to meet AJ where he was as Lucas and Haley were joined Peyton who wanted to talk to Lucas
" hey, you all excited for your first away game?" AJ said as he put his arm around her as they continued to walk towards his car as he had told her that he would drive her home instead of Lucas
" not sure excited would cover it, I'm more nervous than anything else" Alex said thinking about how different things would be away from their home court advantage and familiar settings of their school
" why? Is it about you being a girl on an all boy team? I thought you were over worrying about that" AJ said knowing that her recent successes had worked towards helping her being more confident with it
" I don't know... I mean here everyone knows about me and when the other teams come here, I have the home crowd cheering me on. That might not happen tonight, the whole room might hate me" Alex said knowing she was nervous about a lot of things concerning tonight
" listen I know some of the guys who play for the pirates, they already know that we've got a girl on the team. Word has gotten around about you and quickly might I add" AJ said as they walked to his truck
" it has? What are they saying about me?" Alex said as she placed her bag in the truck first before jumping in herself as she wondered what the high school basketball world were saying about her
" apart from the usual stuff, the other players you've played so fair have said how great you play and how hot you are" AJ said as he got into the truck himself and leaned towards her before kissing her neck
" Ahh... is that what they're saying?" Alex said chucking a little as she thought about how it sounded more like his words than his as she wondered how long it would be before she encountered them on her own
" oh definitely... so I was thinking about tonight, how about we sit next to each other on the bus in the way to the game?" AJ said thinking about how they could talk and mess around in the way there
" that kinda depends on Luke, him and Nathan are still at war with each other and I'm just kinda stuck in the middle right now" Alex said thinking about how she was trying to be a sister to both of them
" I get that but if it turns out that Lucas is cool with it then I'll be waiting for you with sparking conversation and snacks" AJ said with a smile as he tried to convince her to ditch her brother for once
" snacks are essential to any trip, no matter the distance" Alex said before leaving in to kiss him again before pulling away so that he could start driving them both home to get ready for the game that night
~~~~~~~
The players of the Tree Hill ravens only had a small time period to get themselves ready before heading back to at the school to get on the bus that was to take them to the game that night. For Lucas and Alex, this meant getting their bags ready include packing their blue basketball shirts rather than their usual white ones due to it being an away game for them as the team always wore the blue uniforms when playing on another team's home turf. Alex made sure to pack what she felt were the essential for a game away such as snacks, a book, some music for the journey, water as well as the normal things that she kept in her sports bag. Both twins were in the kitchen as Lucas finished packing his bag and Alex finished creating what was becoming her official game day hair of two tight braids when their mom came in with two different dresses for them to pick from.
" Okay... What does this dress say to you?" Karen said to her children as she held up a red dress to her body as she tried to down play how anxious she was about the event she had to attend tonight
" Uh... beware of crazy ladies who talk to dresses" Lucas said as he gave his mom a curious look as he wondered what she was talking about as Alex gave him a disapproving look at his comment
" No, come on. Really! I need your help, actually I probably need Alex's help more than I need yours. So Single and successful or married to her work?" Karen said switching between the two dresses
" why can't you be single and successful because she's married to her work? Anyway either you'd look hotter in the black dress, the red one is too casual" Alex said giving her mom some fashion advice
" Is this for that justice league thing?" Lucas said making his sister laugh as he confused the event for tonight's name with one of the most well known super hero team up names as their mom rolled her eyes at them
" Small business league and yes, it's one of the few times a year I get to dress up and I'd like to look nice" Karen said knowing that she was stressing out a little more than normal due to everything else
" well, in case sit down and I'll get started on your makeup" Alex said as she pulled her makeup bag out of her gym bag which she always carried with her despite only wearing a small amount of makeup
" Well, is Keith still going as your date?" Lucas said giving her sister a sneaky smile as he looked at his mom as he knew that they had always wanted their mom and their uncle Keith to get together
" He's not a date, we're just going together. Why would you say that?" Karen said as Alex began to het started on her makeup as she wondered why her son would just assume her and Keith would be dating
" You guys hang out a lot. You get along well..." Lucas said looking to his sister for some help on explaining this and trying to try to get his point across as he knew that they had wanted to talk about this for a while
" Yeah, well I get along with the guy who delivers our water. That doesn't mean I'm gonna date him" Karen said completely missing the point that Lucas was making causing Alex to decide to step in
" I think what Luke is trying to say is that you and Keith are really close, always have been. I mean come on, mom. You and Keith practically raised us together" Alex said thinking about their childhood
" Yeah and anyway the guy who delivers our water is not Keith" Lucas said showing once again that men didn't always understand what women were talking about when came to relationship matters
" Where is this coming from?" Karen said knowing that her children had never really involved themselves in her love life considering that she had never really had one since they were born
" Well, you know I've been thinking, you know, that you're not exactly old, Mom" Lucas said causing Alex to mentally face palm she he heard his comment as she looked up at him before continuing
" I think what he means is that you've always put everything on hold for us including your love life and despite having two 17 years old, you're still young and hot might I add" Alex said finishing her eyes
" I'm just saying that we'd be all right with it, you know... if that's what you're worried about" Lucas said knowing that their mom did everything for them as they knew that she had to have something for herself
" Well, thank you, Cupid. Now, help with the dresses, please" Karen said as her daughter finished up her makeup as she knew that she had to start getting ready if she going to get there on time tonight
" Alex was right, the black one is hotter" Lucas said knowing that Alex was definitely the one to go for fashion advice as she had more style than him considering he mostly wore his grey hoodie and jeans
" Black it is.... Keith didn't say something to you two, did he?" Karen said as she began to walk away before turning back to her children in the kitchen as she wondered if this was all coming from Keith
" Oh, you mean about the date that you two aren't going on tonight?" Alex said with a tilt of her head as she recognised that her mom was clearly hiding feelings for their uncle Keith and her closest friend
" Not a word..." Lucas sad finishing Alex's sentence as they both shared a knowing smile at the fact that one of their biggest wishes was about to come true as they had always hoped that it would
" I hate it when you to do that. Anyway good luck with your game" Karen said knowing that she was sad that she was missing their first away game especially considering that she missed their first game
" Yeah, you too, Mom" Lucas said making them all laugh as him and Alex high fived before grabbing their stuff since they needed to leave soon if they were going to be on time to catch the bus to the game
" I bet you anything, that Keith and mom get together tonight" Alex said with a happy girly squeal as she was thinking about how they had always wanted this considering they thought of Keith as their dad
~~~~~~~
Alex and Lucas soon left their house in order to drive back to the school in order to catch the bus to game, along the way Lucas told his sister about his most encounter with Peyton and about how she and created a cd for him to him go listen to on the way to the game which allowed Alex to talk to him about her sitting with AJ which prompted him to give her yet another warning. Once they had arrived, Lucas and Alex both placed their bags in the luggage hold on the bus before grabbing two empty seat by the window. Alex looked around to see AJ standing at the back of the bus with the rest of the basketball players as they laughed and joked around making Alex roll her eyes a his behaviour as she pulled her book out of bag.
" hey, when did you get here?" AJ said as swung into the seat next to her still acting as cheerful and as pumped up as he had been acting while with the others at the back of the bus as she continued to read
" five minutes, I would have said hi but you seemed busy with your boys back there" Alex said as she kept her eyes on her book as AJ realised that there was a certain edge to her voice that he didn't like
" come on, are you mad at me?" AJ said with a little humour in his voice as he tried to think a way of trying to make her come out of her mood as he looked back to where Lucas was watching them talk
" AJ, when are you going to learn that as a woman I am always an inch away from being mad at you or anyone really? It doesn't take a lot to tip me over the edge" Alex said finally putting her book down to look at him
" We were just getting excited for the game, this is what we do every time we play away" AJ said laughing a little as Alex looked around at the other players on the bus and listened to the music playing
" yeah and if I knew then I'd have probably tried to convince Whitey to let me drive to the game instead of being instead this metal cage filled with toxic masculinity" Alex said shaking her head at the team
" come on, babe. It's not like the whole way there, Whitey will come in soon and put a stop to it and anyway I promised you entertainment on the way there right?" AJ said as he grabbed his gym bag
" you did promise that, so what you got?" Alex said with a smile as she discreetly let him know that he had once again cracked her hard exterior and gotten passed her walls as she put her book away
" well I've got all the classic games right up here and for snacks... I have red vines, flaming hot Cheetos, some chocolate" AJ said waiting for reaction as he seen her face light up as he spoke
" oh I'm all about those red vines" Alex said with a laugh as AJ gave her one as Whitey came onto the bus and immediately killed the vibe that was currently happening on the bus as he began to speak to them
" Alright! Knock it off! This is our first away game and for those of you who are unfamiliar, you sit there with your mouths shut and focus. I'll choose the music.Tonight's theme is defence. Let's roll" Whitey said to the team before replacing the music currently playing for sappy old music before the bus began to move
~~~~~~~
Eventually the ravens arrived at the rivalling team's school as they headed into the locker room that was given to them although it meant that they were all sharing a locker room making it harder for Alex to get changed although she had anticipated this by already wearing her shorts bra and undershorts underneath her clothes meaning all she had to do was change into her blue basketball uniform. Soon the game had kicked off and was heading into their second quarter with the ravens in the lead, however Alex was finding it a little hard to focus on due to the growing tensions between the two Scott boys as she constantly found herself stuck in the middle of them trying to keep them on track in terms of the game.
" Hey. Why don't you try putting your hands up on defense, alright?" Nathan said after getting a foul from the ref after smashing the ball of one of the pirate player's hands as he walked over to Lucas
" Why don't you try not getting beat?" Lucas said as a form of comeback as Alex rolled her eyes at the two of them constantly fighting on the court instead of trying to beat the opposition like they were meant to
"Why don't I just beat your ass? Moron... keep it up, punk" Nathan said as they both moved into position as Rey got ready for the next play while constantly making digs at each other despite being on the same team
" why don't both of you shut the hell up and just play the game or I'll beat both your asses up?" Alex said shouting at the both of them as the ref blew his whisper after making a decision on the foul
" Hey you gonna talk or you gonna play, Daddy's boy?" Lucas said clearly deciding to ignore his twin and continue to taunt Nathan as he wondered how he could have ever felt sorry for him last week
" Hey, Haley's looking pretty fine tonight, right? Can't wait to get with that" Nathan said as he looked back to where Haley was watching them from the stands as he used her to get to Lucas once again
" ok while you two are having this bitch off, the other team are scoring points and catching up with us!" Alex said as she tried to snap of this whatever it was before it cost the whole team their first loss of the season
" Hey. So I saw Nathan in the shower... yeah, no wonder you broke up with him" Lucas said to Peyton after he ran over to where the cheerleaders were before walking away causing Nathan to hit him with the ball creating a fight between them
" are you freaking kidding me? Hey, cut it out!... woah" Alex said as she tried to get in the middle of the fight before being roughly and harshly shoved away by one of the boys causing her to hit the ground hard
" Alex! You okay?" AJ said as he ran over to Alex as did Jake while the rest of the team headed over to where Lucas and Nathan were to try and separate them as they began to fight over Brooke hurting her too
" yeah, I'm fin- ow, oh that hurts" Alex said as she tried to stand up straight and take a deep breathe before feeling a sharp pain in her ribs causing her to bend over again as she leaned onto AJ for support
" want to try that again? You're so not fine" AJ said worrying about her as he knew that Nathan and Lucas would be angry with themselves when they realised that she had gotten hurt because of them
" yeah, I think you've banged up your ribs pretty hard. I don't think you can play like that" Jake said knowing the familiar signs of a badly bruised rib due to his own basketball related experiences
" You two! You're out of here! You too, miss Roe. I'm sorry but you're going to need to go the team medic and get checked out" the ref said as he kicked two Scotts out for fighting and another due to injury
" You're throwing them both out of the game? And her too?" Whitey said yelling at the ref, knowing that he couldn't really get angry at Alex for trying to prevent this and getting hurt in the process of doing so
" I got to, Coach. I got things rolling and punches being thrown" the ref said before running off to get the game back on track as AJ lead Alex over to the bench before heading back to the game himself
" They're on the same team!" Whitey said realising how ridiculous it was that two of his own players were kicked out of a game due to fighting each other rather than the opposition as they both sat down
" I'm sorry, coach" Alex said as she painfully put her on her team hoodie before she needed to head to the team medic to get checked out as she felt like she was somehow letting the team down by being injured
" Alexandra, you've got nothing to apologise for that. That'd be something that your dumbass brothers need to do. Go get checked and rest for now, sweetie" Whitey said gently to her and with a smile
~~~~~~~
Alex spent the rest of the game sitting it the medical room with an ice pack on her rib cage while the game continued and led to the ravens winning the game despite everything that had happened during the game between the Scott siblings. Once the game was over, Alex headed into the locker room where the mood in the locker room was somber to say the least despite winning as she thought about it while she painfully got dressed back into her previous outfit with the help of her brother who could see that she was pain from being pushed to the ground that way she had been. AJ tried to make her feel as comfortable as she could when they got on the bus by letting her lean on him while sitting in a more relaxed position, that was until Whitey ruined the silence on the bus which was coming to a stop.
" Nathan Scott! Lucas Scott! On your feet! You too, Alexandra" Whitey said knowing that he needed to do something drastic in order for the Scott siblings especially the boys had to stop for the sake of the team
" oh god, this can't be good" Alex said as she groaned as she stood up from where she was sitting as she looked to where her twin and half brother were currently glaring at each other due to their fight
" Congratulations, boys. In all my years of coaching, this has got to be a low point. That little stunt you pulled almost cost us our undefeated record and injured our point guard, you sister" Whitey said yelling at them for what happened
" to be fair, I should have know better than to get in middle of these two" Alex said knowing that she had thought about what she was doing before just pushing through and doing what she felt was right
" I don't give diddlee-squat about your issues with your daddy or your girlfriends. As far as I'm concerned, you can hate each other until hell freezes over but if you're going to play on my team, you're gonna learn how to work together" Whitey said knowing that was the key to playing in a team
" I can't see that happening, Whitey" Nathan said looking to Lucas as he thought about everything that his dad had ever said about Lucas and Alex as well as what had been happening between Lucas and Peyton lately
" Yeah? Well the three of you have got thirty-some-odd miles to figure it out" Whitey said as he gestured for the three Scotts to leave the bus as they began to leave as Alex realised this meant her too
" wait, three? Why are am I being made to walk when it was these two idiots that were fighting?" Alex said knowing that she would be in her bed than being made to walk home alone with Nathan and Lucas
" I'm hoping that you'll be able to knock some sense into them and keep them from killing each other" Whitey said as all three of the Scott siblings got off the bus before it drove away leaving them on the road
" They can't just leave us here" Nathan said protesting what had just happened as they watched the bus drive away from them as part of him still thought that the bus and Whitey eould come back for them
" they just did" Alex said wishing that she had grabbed her jacket before getting off the bus as she pulled her sleeves over her hands to keep her warm as she noticed around to see the road was empty
" Nice work, idiot" Lucas said clearly blaming Nathan for them being chucked off the bus and for them fighting during the game in the first place as he hated the fact that his sister had gotten her because of it
" This is great. This is friggin' great!" Nathan said as they began to walk along the road since that was all that they could do considering that their own ride home has just left without them and wasn't coming back
" Calm down... hey al, jump up" Lucas said noticing that his sister was looking tired and sluggish as he crouched down for her to jump on his back so that he could carry her on his back as they walked home
" You calm down, man. My phone's on that bus. My wallet's on that bus" Nathan said thinking about how they had absolutely no choice but to walk home since they had been left with nothing but each other
" you know, what? Our stuff was on that bus too and we wouldn't be here if you two weren't constantly at each other's throats all the time. So suck it up, buttercup" Alex said now fed up with his behaviour
" So what the hell do we do now?" Nathan said sounding a little lost as he looked around to see nothing but trees and emptiness and a long stretch of road as Lucas and Alex began to walk away
" like she said we start walking" Lucas said as he let Alex down as they began to walk along the road before Nathan caught up with them as he saw no other choice but to follow his two older siblings
" you know we wouldn't be out here if you two never joined the team" Nathan said as he turned to the twins, although he had to admit that Alex irritated him way less than Lucas did by being on the team
" do you blame everything on us joining the team? Oh I would who killed Abraham Lincoln or who shot JFK, it must had be the Scott twins because they joined the ravens" Alex said rolling her eyes at him
" why do all of you example include murdered presidents?" Lucas said to his sister as he gave her a curious look as he could tell that Nathan wasn't just getting to him right now but also to her as well
" I don't know, I'd blame my recent history test but it was on European history..." Alex said shrugging her shoulders as she knew that her examples were the first that had come to her mind at the time
" anyway, we wouldn't be out here if you weren't such a jackass about us joining the team" Lucas said knowing that things would have been different if he had just been more accepting of them joining
" actually I've gotten used to Alex but not you. I mean why do you want my life so bad anyway, man?" Nathan said knowing it felt like Lucas was trying to take over every aspect of his life right now
" aww that's kind of sweet... although I do feel like some kind of fungus that you just can't shake" Alex said knowing that his words were about as flattery as they were going to get from him considering things
" Dude, don't flatter yourself, alright? You're about the last person I want to trade places with" Lucas said knowing that there was a lot of Nathan's life that wasn't Lucas's style including who his dad was
" Oh yeah? Well all I know is you came out nowhere and started grabbing everything you could from me. My game, my girl... and you, you took my best friend from me" Nathan said turning on them both
" hey, I thought we liked me right now and I didn't take away from you. I didn't ask AJ to like me or me in return, it just happened okay" Alex said knowing that she should have seen that one coming
" What about you, huh? I bet your grades sucked before you met us but I didn't see you going to Haley for help then" Lucas said knowing that Nathan was definitely benefiting for knowing them in some way
" Who said what me and Haley's got is about grades?" Nathan said trying to tease and provoke Lucas again like he had on the court which had caused all of this mess in the first place during the game
" Haley. Haley said it was all about grades" Alex said simply with a straight look as she wondered what gave boys the right to twist everything in their heads as a car suddenly pulled up next to them
" Ravens! Hey Ravens! Want a ride?" One of the boys inside of the car said calling out to them causing the twins to share a look of concern since they had seen enough horror movies to know how this ends
" I wouldn't take that ride if I was you" Lucas said warning Nathan since it was obvious that he would be the one out of the three of them that would be the most tempted to hitch a ride and avoid walking
" not unless you like being murdered and being chopped into a thousand little pieces" Alex said as she folded her arms and titled her head wandering hoe he could ever think that this was a good idea
" You're not me and you never will be" Nathan said as he walked over to where the car had stopped before being pulled into the car which then began to reverse back to where the twins were standing
" two little Ravens and cheerleader for the price of one. Get in or the superstar dies" one of the three pirate players said as Lucas and Alex saw that Nathan was currently stuck between two of the boys
" the blonde cheerleader can sit up front with me, I'll show her what a real man is" the boy driving said not noticing the reaction that it had on both Scott boys to hear their sister being spoken about like that
" first of all, gross. Second of all, I'm a basketball player not a cheerleader... you absolute sexist pig" Alex said before rolling her eyes and doing so she was told as Lucas did the same by sitting next to Nathan
" oh right, you're that girl ball player that the ravens have. What did you guys run of guys to fill your slots?" The driver said as he spoke to the Scott boys behind him as he laughed at their school team
" so can you actually play or do they just like something pretty to look at?" One of the boys said to Alex as he laughed at his own joke ignoring the reactions that were coming from all of the three Scotts
" I can actually play and sometimes tells me that I can play better than the three of you combined, being pretty is a bonus" Alex said with her usual amount of charm and snarky as she wished she was anywhere else
~~~~~~~
" Alright. This is my stop. Thanks for the ride, fellas" Nathan said as the car stopped just out of a gas station connivence store as he made a move to leave as the boy next to him pushed him back
" This one's funny, Thing. Lets kill him last" the boy next to Nathan said to the boy driving causing all three of the Scott siblings to give each other a look when they heard the nickname that had been used
" Wait, your name is Thing?" Nathan said as if it needed clarifying as Alex suppressed a laugh as she had a feeling that the humour in the nickname would be lost on the three teen kidnappers right now
" as in the rock monster thing from the fantastic four comics?" Alex said knowing that her reference was a little too geeky for some of the players to get but to her the reference was high amusing
" That's right. Thing" Thing said giving Alex a confused look as he wondered what was so funny about the nickname that he went by, although the three ravens wondered how no one else saw the humour
" And I'm Thing One" the boy next to Lucas said as Alex realised that this moment couldn't get any better as well as realised that whatever everyone said about the pirates and their hometown was true
" Okay, wait. Let me guess. Thing Two" Lucas said unable to resist making the comment causing his sister to laugh as she realised how ridiculous it was that they found themselves kidnapped by the boys
" oh god, I feel like I'm stuck in dr Seuss's head" Alex said more to herself than to anyone else as she wondered how this night was going to play out since it seemed ridiculous and unpredictable for them
" Thing Three. Because I'm the third" the boy next to Nathan said in response to Lucas, although he seemed oblivious to the reaction that his confession would have on the teenage as Alex laughed again
" and clearly you're the brain of the operation, thing the third" Alex said rolling her eyes at the fact that they currently found themselves kidnapped by three of dumbest boys she had ever met before tonight
" Get your clothes off, you're going shopping" Thing Three said as Thing pulled out a gun and pointed at them causing Nathan and Lucas to tense up a little when they saw the gun but Alex had a closer look
" yeah, I don't care if you shoot me or not but I'm not taking my clothes off for you" Alex said giving them a blank look as she knew that the gun couldn't be real considering their names were thing
" the girl can keep her clothes, alright? We'll take ours off" Nathan said not wanting his sister to be in that position even if she was his half sister as he shared a look with Lucas as they began to strip
" oh no, you all do it. I'm kinda interested in seeing what you've got underneath that sweater" Thing said to her as he gestured to her clothes with the gun causing the blonde girl to scoff at his actions
" ok, calm down before you cream your pants there, big boy. You can have my shirt and that's it. Now give the damn list" Alex said as she took her light pink sweater off leaving her in her white sports bra
" get everything on this list and maybe we'll give you back your clothes" Thing 1 said giving Alex the list after him and Thing 3 had taken their clothes and had written something on Lucas's and Nathan's backs
" oh well, this is great... what's first on their insane list" Alex said as they headed into the convenience store that was a restaurant as everyone laughed at seeing their state of undress when they entered
" Hemorrhoid ointment" Lucas said reading the first item on the list causing Alex to roll her eyes at the immature and predictable items of lists as she looked for the item so they could get this over with
" Dude, this is total crap. These guys are morons, not killers. I bet it's not even a real gun" Nathan said wondering why they were even doing this and going through with their games like this right now
" it's not. Those three can barely work out their own nicknames, never mind use a gun" Alex said picking up the ointment as she rolled her eyes at how all of this was unfolding itself right now
" Lets just play the game, get our clothes, and get home... Ah, we need two bottles of spring feminine cleansers" Lucas said getting embarrassed as he read the next item on the list they had with them
" I'll grab these and then we get out of here" Alex said looking around to see that the store owner was currently phoning someone as she presumed that he was calling the cop on the undressed teenagers
" oh, great! A pair of douche bags" Nathan said as he suddenly got the immature joke that the Things were making causing him to roll his eyes since it showed the combined intellect that they shared
" all we need is a case of beer and we're out of here" Lucas said reading the final item on the list which they realised would be the item that would cause them the most issue due to being underage teens
" What? How are we going to pull that off?" Nathan said knowing that there was no way that they looked overage or had any form of ID with them even their fake ones as he looked around the store
" Would you card us?" Lucas said as he gestured to the fact that they were in their underwear and Alex was currently in jeans and her sports bra as he knew that the store owner would just want them gone
" I mean he has a point. Let's just get this over with so we can go home" Alex said now more desperate to get away from the Things in order to go home since this was proving to be one long and tiring night
" Sweet, they scored the brew" Thing said as soon as they headed back to the car after being paying for everything that had been on their lift as they hoped that the things would let go now after this
" Where's the porn?" Thing Three said as he rummaged through the bag looking for the item in question as he looked at the siblings as Alex rolled her eyes at how sexist and idiotic he was being
" I decided to not get that one due to a moral dilemma on the account of them being gross" Alex said from her place in the passengers seat as she thought about how she'd rather punch these guys than be near them
" Hey! You had your fun, now give us back our clothes" Lucas said as he watched as his sister wrap her arms around herself to try and cover herself up as the three of them hoped that this was end of it
" Yeah, man, I'm done with these clowns. Hey, lets go somewhere and get wasted" Thing one said as he thought that they had had their fun with the three ravens players and instead wanted to do something else
" With no porno mags?" Thing three said clearly still upset by the lack of naked girls causing Alex to roll her eyes at his comment as she realised that he was kind of guy that she'd rather avoid
" seriously! What, are you all going to jerk each other off or something?" Alex said wondering why they were so important as she used her usual amount of snarky and sarcastic attitude towards the boys
" Alex... They didn't have Playgirl" Nathan said as he warned his half sister not to push the three teenage boys too far since they still didn't know how hard that they would go with all of this
" Go back inside and get some hardcore" Thing three said as his mind was fixed on one thing as the sound of sirens began to get nearer and nearer as they looked behind them to see a police car coming
" Wait! Shut up! Listen!" Thing said hearing the siren coming as he looked behind them as they all began to panic since no one wanted to explain what was going on in the car right now
" Come on, roll, roll, roll. Let's go, move it" Thing one said as Thing as began to move the car and drive away from the store as they tried to lose the police car as they hide in the middle of a clearing in the woods
" Oh, yeah. Yeah, baby!" All of three of the Things said as they began to celebrate the fact that they had lost the cops causing all of the three of the Scott siblings rolled their eyes at the stereotypical jocks
" Yeah, yeah, right. Alright. Yahoo! Yeah, enough's enough. Give us our clothes" Lucas said joining in on their cheering before turning the conversation to something more serious as he demanded their clothes back
" Don't they say please in the suburbs?" Thing said pointing to the gun at Lucas as a way of trying to show the raven players who was the boss in this situation causing Nathan to decided to take action
" He said give us our clothes, you hick" Nathan said after grabbed the gun from Thing and pointing at him as a way of using their own tricks against them causing the pirate boys to laugh at his actions
" Can't you tell a fake gun in the suburbs?" Thing said causing Alex to roll her eyes since she had known that the gun was fake due to the fact that she had been so close to the gun compared to the rest of them
" guys, it's a starter pistol. I did tell you that thing was fake, there's no way that these three could operate a real gun" Alex said seriously doubting that the three boys could operate a light switch between them
" Yeah but our fists are real" Thing three said as he shook a fist in Nathan's face as a way of threatening him as the two Scott boys wondered whether or not they could actually take the three teenagers
" Look, we'll give you guys your clothes back and we'll even give one of you a ride home" Thing said as he thought of a way of making this whole thing much more interesting for the three pirate boys
" wait, what do you mean by one of us?" Lucas said realising that there was another challenge and condition attach to this not so kind offer from the things as he wondered how bad this one was
going to be
" The game is Gladiator. Basically, you guys beat the hell out of each other for our amusement. The one left standing gets his clothes and a ride to a phone. The loser... well he loses. The girl is just for us but we might share" Thing said as they all got out of the car as he put his arm around Alex
" first of all, don't touch me and second of all, eww... those are my brothers" Alex said making herself cringe at the thought of Thing sharing her like some kind of bar of chocolate and not like the person she was
" Let the games begin... Okay, the game isn't called two punks staring at each other. It's called Gladiator. Get to it" Thing said not happy with the fact that the two boys hadn't started to fight yet
" Alright, you can screw yourself. Because there's no way in hell that the two of us are going to fight... Or maybe we are" Lucas said changing his mind after Nathan has charged at him causing them to fight
" This is great. Not only do I get to kick your ass but you get 30 miles to think about it" Nathan said as him and Lucas continued to fight as he threw him onto the car that Things had been driving in
" what the hell are you two doing? Why are you fighting each other when you should be fighting them?" Alex said hating to see them fight each other as she knew that they were going to hurt one another
" You want it? You got it" Nathan said to the Things who responded by cheering before Nathan then spun around and grabbed the keys from car as a way of trying to use them to get their clothes back
" hey, you okay? What about you, Nate?" Alex said pulling away from the Things as she ran over to Lucas to check that he was okay before checking in with her other brother who was surprised by her concerned
" yeah I'm good... Pickerington morons" Nathan said touched by her concern as he looked at the three boys who had been terrorising them from the moment that they had grabbed them from the roadside
" Give us the keys" Thing said still holding a bottle of beer in his hand as he hesitantly took a step forward as he realised that this whole situation had taken a drastic turn since they needed the keys
" Give us our clothes, starting with her sweater" Lucas said knowing that he'd rather that his sister was clothed and covered before they were since he hated uncomfortable she was in front of the boys
" you guys wanna play games, huh? I've got a little game for you. It's called keys for clothes. You give us a piece of our clothes, we'll give you a key" Nathan said once Thing had thrown Alex's sweater at her
" No deal" Thing said thinking that they could still find a way to get the upper hand here despite the Scott siblings having something that they needed much more than they needed their clothes right now
" oh dude, I would take that deal if I was you" Alex said as she put her pale pink sweater back on before taking her hair out of its braids due to them being too right before placing her messy hair into a bun
" Fine, we were walking anyways" Nathan said as he pretended as if he was going to throw them away showing them that they could take or leave their clothes if it meant that they still won over the Things
" wait, wait, wait! We'll deal!" Thing one said thinking about all of this logically as he knew that it was long way home and that walking home wasn't really an option for them as it would be more of hassle
" Forget it. I want to walk home" Thing said knowing that walking home would be better than giving into three ravens especially not three ravens that they had kidnapped and being messing around with
" It's dark... Man, seriously" Thing said clearly scare of the prospect of being left alone in the middle of night in the woods to walk him as he looked around as if expecting something to come out of the trees
" Fine. Give him his sweats" Nathan said pointing to Lucas as Alex jumped onto the hood of the car with an amused look in her face as she watched as the boys played out this little game of theirs
" That's worth a house key" Lucas said as he picked up his sweat pants that Thing one had dropped on the ground in front of him as he began to put them as he realised how good it was to be clothed
" Hey, keep them coming" Nathan said as he dangled the keys as he planned to use all of the keys on the keychain to get back their clothes and to get their revenge on the boys for everything that they had done to them
" oh this going to be so much fun, boys" Alex said laughing as she realised that the tables had turned on them as she wondered how long this could go on for before they'd be able to hit the road again
~~~~~
" Last key. You got one thing left" Nathan said after a while when they were eventually on the last key and the last piece of clothing which just so happened to his own shirt as he looked at the other two Scotts
" Give us the car key and we'll give you the shirt" Thing said wanting to making the trade off at the same time since he knew that there was still a chance that the dark haired teen would pull something
" I can live without my shirt" Nathan said as he decided to throw the last key into the woods as he stunned the boys into shock as they realised that there no chance that they'd be able to find the key
" have fun walking, you bunch of jerks!" Alex said as she jumped off the car as her, Nathan and Lucas ran off and headed off to some where were they could and wait for the Things to give up and go away
" Just find the key... we're gonna kill those guys" Thing said as the three of them headed in the direction that Nathan had thrown the keys in allowing the three Scott siblings to run and hide from them
" Alex, get down... I still can't believe you sucker punched me" Lucas said pulling his sister down behind some bushes so she'd be out of sight before holding his jaw in pain from the punch
" I had to. It got us outta there, didn't it?" Nathan said as he knew that it was the only that they could have gotten over the Things and gotten out of there like they did, although they far from being safe
" it was a good plan, I just wish it was one that had been less violent" Alex said as she looked at the cuts and bruises that had began to form on both of their faces as Nathan didn't know how to react
" Here... so what's your master plan, genius? Huh? You gonna hotwire the car?" Lucas said taking off his grey hoodie and gave it to Nathan since he wasn't wearing a shirt due to his plan with the keys
" I actually know how to do that. What, uncle Keith taught how to do it when I was ten" Alex said noticing the looks that both boys were giving her after hearing that she knew how to hot wire a car
" Actually, we're not gonna have to. Those idiots are gonna flip out when they find a key chain with no car key" Nathan said showing the twins that he still had the key to the Things car that he had kept
" ok but what's the actually plan here because I know they look dumb as hell but they are going figure it sooner or later that there's no key" Alex said as she tried to make herself more comfortable on the ground
" we'll get the car, we'll drive into town, we'll find a phone, and we'll ditch it" Nathan said explaining his plan a little more to them as he could tell that his half sister was beginning to get more tired by the minute
" Wait, what if they report it stolen?" Lucas said worrying that the cops would come after them or the car because of this since he knew that his mom would go crazy if him and Alex were arrested by cops
" Well I kinda think that the cops got the license plate number earlier, don't you?" Nathan said thinking about they had to flee from the cops at the convenience store that they had shopped in earlier
" anyway you really think those idiots are going to report their stolen and risk telling them how it got stolen?" Alex said thinking about how she'd love to see the cops faces when they mentioned the kidnapping and fake gun
" ok true but they didn't see who was driving that car. I mean think about it, if they pull us over they can pin everything on us" Lucas said trying to think it all through before they made a mistake that they couldn't take back
" What if we sit here and we talk about it all night, huh? Got any better ideas?" Nathan said knowing that there was only so much that they could while sitting here in the bushes hiding from the bullies
" I'll drive" Lucas said still a little hesitant about going through with this plan of Nathan's but he could see that Alex was beginning to get more and more tired, probably due to the pain in her ribs
" No, I'll drive" Nathan said as he looked around to check that the area was clear before making a move to run towards the car with both the Scott twins following close behind him as they ran to the car
" look I don't care who drives, as long as we get the hell out of here" Alex said putting a stop to their petty fighting as they reached the car as Nathan got into the driver's seat as he tried to start the car
" Pickerington sucks!" Nathan said before realising that the car was currently stuck in the mud despite how hard he was trying his hardest to try and make it move as Alex began to panic about the boys
" oh god, they're coming back so we need to do something like now" Alex said heard the boys shouting at them as they came running back towards the car making Alex worry about what would happen
" Bail!" All three Scotts said as they looked each other before deciding that they needed to get out of the car and run as fast as they could away from the car before the Pickerington boys could find them as they started to yell at them
~~~~~~~
" Still out there" Lucas said looking through the thick layer of bushes that they were hiding behind as he looked down to where Nathan and Alex were sitting on the ground as they waited the three boys out
" They'll get bored eventually" Nathan said sounding as tired as Alex looked as she leaned against Lucas when he eventually sat down beside her as they heard the boys shouting on them from the car
" I don't know, they seem like they're sharing one brain cell between them" Alex said thinking that the boys could keep it up all night since it seemed like they were likely not to give up so easily
" So that was a pretty good move with the car keys" Lucas said to Nathan since he felt like it was time that they started being nice to each other especially when they had a enemy in common right now
" yeah, it doesn't change the fact that my dad's gonna kill me for getting kicked out of that game" Nathan said thinking about how his dad was going to crazy at him for his performance during the game
" yeah, what is up with him and you playing basketball? It's like he's reliving his glory days through you" Alex said giving Nathan a look as she wondered what was going on between him and their dad
" you know you should consider yourselves lucky sometimes" Nathan said knowing that there had been times in his childhood where he had wished that he could trade places with Lucas and Alex
" Lucking out of a dad?" Lucas said giving him a look as he wondered if he had properly thought that through as he knew that there were times that they had missed having a father in their lives growing up
" At least this one. I remember this one summer, I was playing little league baseball and I was the pitcher and my dad was the coach. Anyway, this kid Billy Lyons, he was a great hitter. Everything he hit was a homerun. So, you know, he got up to the plate and there was nobody on base so I just walked him. Four straight pitches, nothing even close to a strike. So my dad calls a timeout, comes to the mound, and I'm thinking he's gonna say like, Smart move or Good thinking son, something like that. But instead... instead he grabs me by the arm, and he kicks me in the ass as hard as he can. I mean, he literally took me by the arm so that I wouldn't like, go flying, he kicked me so hard. Then he brought Stevie Planking into pitch, sat me on the bench, never mentioned it again" Nathan said lost in thought
" I'm sorry but I have to say it... your dad, our dad, whatever the hell he is... he's such a dick" Alex said shaking her head wondering how a father could ever treat his son like because he did well during a game
" That sucks" Lucas said realising for the first time that while they had missed out on having a father in their lives, at least their lives were filled with nothing but love and happy memories due to their mom
" Yeah, so just think about that the next time you're both feeling sorry for yourself" Nathan said thinking that it was them who had the better end of the deal despite the popularity and the big house he had
" oh trust me when it comes to Dan and thinking not having a father because of him, it's not pity that I feel" Alex said knowing that unlike Lucas, she had always seen the side of Dan that Nathan had described
" Man, it's been like, what? Twenty minutes? Think they're coming back? What?" Lucas said wondering if they could go or not when Nathan started to laugh causing the other two to look at him
" Thing, Thing One, and Thing Three" Nathan said thinking about how ridiculous their names were causing the other two join in on the laughter as weirdness of the night began to hit them
" Well, yeah man, he was the third" Lucas said causing them to laugh harder as they remembered the dumb response that one of the boys had given them when they ad been explaining their names
" aw man, how do you think they even got those nicknames?" Alex said as she leaned against Lucas as she tried to soak up nice of a moment this was between the three estranged siblings right now
" Hey. What are we doing hiding from these idiots anyway, huh? Look I can hold my own, I know that you could throw a pretty damn good punch and trust me when I say that this one is scrappy as hell. I say lets take these fools on" Lucas said wondering why they were hiding as if they were scared of them
" Alright. I'm in for that. Alex?" Nathan said as him and Lucas stood up to look at the blonde female who was still sitting on the ground as if she was unsure about whether they should fight or not
" oh you know me, I'm always up for a good fight" Alex said as she took the hand that Nathan was offering out to her as he helped her stand up before they began to walk towards the main road again
" So this Haley thing... you know, for some reason she feels like you're not full of crap. Don't take advantage of that" Lucas said knowing that he'd hate it if Nathan did all this to hurt Haley to get to them
" I'm not going to" Nathan said knowing that had been his original plan but that was before he had gotten to know Haley and had started to develop feelings for her even if he wasn't willing to admit it yet
" I know you're not because if you do, you're going to live to regret it" Lucas said knowing that he considered Haley to be like his second sister and knew that he'd do anything to protect her from anything
" Bring it on. Hey Alex, AJ said you really helped him out last week with his dad and stuff. Thanks. His dad makes ours look like father of the year" Nathan said thinking about AJ and the abuse he had suffered
" yeah, I know a little about his past with his dad but something tells me that he kept the really bad stiff out... can I ask you something? AJ being into me all of a sudden doesn't have anything to do with you does it?" Alex said knowing that she needed to know for once and all
" no, you're still my sister at the end of the day and it wasn't all of a sudden" Nathan said before closing his eyes as he realised that he had made a mistake and slipped up by revealing too much
" what do you mean?" Lucas said as they stopped walking to look at each other as the twins tried to work out Nathan's meaning as he shook his head at himself since he was about to spill one of AJ's secrets
" I mean AJ has always had a crush on you, Alex but I always told him that you were off limits. When you joined the team, he knew that was his chance to get close to you without me bothering because I'd be focused on Lucas" Nathan said knowing that AJ had always wanted to date Alex
" huh? Remind me to tease him about that later" Alex said causing the three of them to laugh as they knew that she was serious about teasing him about since he was meant to be mr cool all the time
" Hey, listen. Look, man, you didn't have to get in that car when those guys grabbed me. Especially after you two warned me not to" Nathan said knowing that they could have just left him alone to do this
" Right, whatever. You know the way I see it, I mean, if they would've taken you out, who the hell else am I gonna have to fight with, right?" Lucas said as way of shrugging off what they had done to help
" Same person I have" Nathan said as he remembered Alex's words during the father and son game about how it suited Dan to have his children all fighting each other instead of uniting against him
" please tell me, we're talking about Dan? Yes! A Scott sibling squad team up" Alex said making both boys laugh at how dorky she was being about the prospect of teaming up against the man who had fathered them