One Tree Hill 1. An unexpected problem

"_Well, the Ravens are down 17-21 and are knocking on the door to the endzone but they are out of timeouts and only have enough time for one more play_," the radio announcer told his listeners, "_and it seems Coach Whitey Durham and star quarterback Nathan Scott are discussing what play to run on the sidelines._"

"Whitey, I'm telling you the read option out of the shotgun is going to score, the end isn't smart enough to stop it, especially this late in the game," Nathan told his coach about what he thought the final play should be.

"Damn it Nathan, listen to me we are running a power out of the i-formation," Whitey told Nathan for the third time, "you are going to hand the ball to Tim and he is going run off Jagelski's ass into the endzone, now do you understand me Nathan!"

"Yea whatever coach, but it's not going to work" Nathan answered as he ran back to the huddle. 'We run that play every time we are in the redzone, they would stop it before Tim even made it to the 2 yard line,' Nathan thought.

As he made his way into the huddle every one of his teammates looked at him wondering what they were going to run. "Alright guys Whitey wants us to run a power off Jagelski's ass, but instead we are going to run the read option since they haven't been able to stop it all game," Nathan explained to his teammates.

"You sure thats a good idea Nat, I mean the power has worked in the last 2 games" Jake asked knowing that they only had one chance left to score.

"Yea its going to work Jake, don't be such a dumbass, Nat knows what he's doing" Tim Smith answered instead of Nathan, "So Nate what are running again?"

As most of the huddle rolled their eyes at Tim's stupidity and sucking up Nathan answered him. "Well, Tim I thought we would run the read option off the left side because their end hasn't been able to stop it all game." After listening to the play Nathan decided they would run, instead of the power, most of the huddle agreed it was a good selection.

"Alright so we are going to run the read option out of our basic shotgun formation and we do it on one" Nathan told his teammates looking into each one of their eyes, he then smiled and said, "besides once we score here and win this game I got a party set up at my beach house, so lets put this in and get laid right boys."

They broke the huddle, ready to score in more ways than one, and lined up in the shotgun. "Damn it Nathan what the hell are you doing thats not the play I called," Whitey yelled across the field. But it was to late and Nathan was already calling the cadence for the play.

"_Nathan Scott is lined up in the shotgun formation and Tim Smith is next to him in the backfield with one wide receivers on each side of the ball. Jagelski is lined up tight on the right side of the line, and the Ravens are inside the ten with 5 seconds left. The ball is snapped and Nathan gives the ball to his halfback, no wait he keeps it and the end tackles Smith and Scott runs into the endzone without being touched. Ravens pull ahead with no time left, what a play call by coach Durham_" the radio announcer told the local Tree Hill residents.

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On the other side of town away from all the screaming fans, parents, and cheerleaders were a group of friends playing their own football game away from all the noise. Lucas Scott, the half brother of Tree Hill High star Nathan Scott, and his friends Antwon 'Skills' Taylor, Fergie Thompson, Junk Moretti, Chase Adams, and Marvin 'Mouth' McFadden. They were playing their own pickup football game at the local park, with Lucas, Chase, and Mouth on one team and Skills, Fergie, and Junk on the other. They were playing to seven with the score tied six to six with Lucas, Chase, and Mouth having the ball.

"Ok Chase I'm going to run a slant and go, put it over my outside shoulder, Skills won't be expecting it. Mouth you run whatever you want underneath" Lucas told his friends, he then began to laugh lightly, looking at how beat up they all looked, and continued "we are finishing this game here because we all look like shit and need to end this"

As they broke their makeshift huddle and everyone lined up across from each Skills looked at Lucas and said, "Yo dawg you and I both know the ball is going to you and we both know you that only one of us is going to come down with this ball"

"Yea well Skills we will see won't we, and besides you and I both know I have the best hands and I'm slightly faster than you so you better be on your game" Lucas answered him with a smile. Chase then hiked the ball and the play began, Lucas began to cut in and Skills, expecting the slant, began to run up to stop it when Lucas cut upward and ran right by him as Chase threw the ball and all Skills could do was watch as the ball floated over his head and into Lucas's arms in the endzone.

"Skills you are an idiot man, how do you let him beat you on a slant and go?" Junk yelled from across the field walking towards the bleachers following the rest of his friends.

"Listen Junk I may have the quickest legs out of all ya'll, but damn its Luke man, the guy could be all state at receiver if he decided to leave us and play for the Ravens" Skills said back to Junk as he arrived at the bleachers, and gave Luke a look.

Lucas, recognizing the look from Skills just shook his head and took a drink from his Gatorade. "Listen guys you all know that I am never going to play for the Ravens with Nathan at quarterback, he would never throw me the ball and they have a good enough team without my help," he answered his friends, took a drink and continued to talk "besides they have those two good wideouts anyway, and I couldn't leave you guys, you are my friends I belong with you guys."

He then began to collect his gear and was getting ready to leave when he heard Skills say, "No Luke, we belong at this park playing under these crap lights, you belong on that field with that team."

Luke heard him as he was walking away and thought, 'Yea maybe Skills, but my opportunity came and went with Nathan becoming quarterback.'

He then began to jog back home away from his friends and began to think about how it could have been different if he did tryout for the team his freshman year instead of letting Dan and Nathan get the glory that they didn't need. During this time of inflection he didn't hear the car that was moving up the road until he saw the headlights shine bright on his whole body.

He looked over and saw the girl of his dreams behind the wheel. Peyton Sawyer in all her glory, the blonde hair blown back from the car having the top down and her green eyes gazed up at him, almost surprised to see him in the road this late at night. After what felt like forever, but was nothing more than a few seconds, her surprised gaze turned to a look of annoyance and he realized he should probably get out of her way and he continued to move across the street and towards his house. During his jog back to his house he couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful those green eyes were, and how besides the surprise in those eyes he also saw a hint of sadness that was quickly smothered.

'I guess I will never know,' he thought while walking up the steps to his door not knowing that his life would begin to change after the night ended.

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Coach Durham sat back relaxing in his office, happy with the results of the game but still upset at Nathan for not listening to him. "What's the old saying, like father like son," he said to himself with a sad chuckle.

He was then knocked out of thoughts by a knocking on his office door, "Doors open" he yelled at whoever wanted him this late in the evening. As the door opened it revealed a man that he had never seen in all his years at Tree Hill before. He was dressed in tan khakis and a white button up shirt, the look on his face looked like that of a man who was about to give some type of grave news that Whitey didn't think he could take at this stage in his life.

"Coach Durham, hi my name is John Jacobson and I work with the states high school athlete drug program," the man said as he entered the office. "First off I would like to congratulate you on the ending to that game, personally I wouldn't of had the gut to run the read option that late in the game," the man said pulling a couple papers out of his folder that he had in his hand. He then continued "And as you probably know the state doesn't send people like me out unless we had received a positive test for a banned substance from a player on your team,"

"Where did you get these positive results from?" Whitey asked, slightly suspicious of the man, thinking that he was a bad joke thought up by his players.

"Well, as you know before the season starts we ask for every member of the team to submit a urine sample at random times" John answered as he pulled more papers from the folder, "and it seems that several of your starting players were found to have taken an illegal HGH derivative." He paused for a moment to hand the results to Whitey and then continued "Now we will have to immediately suspend all players who tested positive and then retest them on Monday to make sure that the test are correct, and if they are then those players will be suspended for the rest of the season" he finished and waited for Whitey to say something while looking at the awards surrounding the office.

Whitey heard everything the man had said and looked through the list of players which included both his starting wide receivers, a couple of his offensive and defensive lineman, a corner and linebacker. They were all major parts in his offensive and defensive scheme that him and his assistants had put together at the start of the season, if he lost these guys his season was in jeopardy. "So I could loose all these men for the season if they all test positive again" he said in a tired and hurt voice to Mr. Jacobson, who merely nodded his head. Whitey then got up from his chair putting the paperwork on his desk and then turned to look out his office window.

"Now since you have a large amount of boys on the team taking this substance the state is willing to allow between one to three new members onto the team without any punishment," Mr. Jacobson told Whitey as he grabbed the paperwork off the desk and began to walk the door then paused before exiting. "I'm sorry to bring you this bad news coach, but you still have three quarters of a season left, you could still make the playoffs" he said trying to make the situation better as he walked out of the office. All Whitey could see was his championship season slowly slip out of his grasp as he sat down at his desk and grabbed the emergency bottle he kept in his desk drawer and poured himself a well needed drink.


	2. Getting on the Team pt 1

Ok so I don't own One Tree HIll or the characters ect.

Would be awesome if you guys reading could shoot me some reviews about what you think of the story so far

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He didn't know what god or gods he had pissed off that made his week as bad as it was. How he could be the star quarterback on top of the world one night and then less than a week later his entire world was flipped on him. And it all was because of one annoying teenager that he would never call his brother...well it wasn't entirely his fault but it was just easier to blame him.

'Well with all the things that went wrong this week I shouldn't have any problems for the rest of this season' he thought to himself as he walked into the italian restaurant that the team used for pre-game meals on Thursdays. As he walked into the restaurant his mind went back to his own personal week of hell that began pretty much after the game.

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His beach house was probably the most rocking place in Tree Hill after his game winning touchdown. Women and alcohol were flowing pretty much nonstop, it was nice that his dad could persuade the police to keep their noses away from the place while the teenagers had their fun. He on the other hand was only looking for one particular girl, a lovely blond cheerleader that he had been talking to for a month.

"Yo Nat great party man, the bucket with the orange vodka and orange soda is slammin,'" Tim yelled across the room at Nathan.

"Thats great Tim, now go sit down before you spill both those cups on my dads couch" Nat yelled back at him. He on the other hand was busy focusing on winning the game of beer pong that was in front of him. It would be a lot easier to win the game if he wasn't looking around his house for a skinny, curly blonde girl that was supposed to be there.

"Hey Nathan you going to shoot that ball or just stare off into space" Brooke Davis yelled at him from across the table.

'Brooke is here and she is Peyton's best friend so why the hell was Peyton not here' Nathan thought as he sank the last cup and began to walk away from the table. However he only made it a couple of steps before he felt the familiar presence of Brooke make her way up to his side.

"So Mr. Star quarterback where is our favorite girl that you've been talking too for the past month" Brooke asked as she took his arm and lead him toward the fridge to grab them both a couple beers.

"I really have no idea where she is Brooke, isn't she your best friend?" Nathan asked her as he grabbed a beer out of her hand. "Didn't you both come here together anyway, you would know better than anyone" he continued.

"We actually did come here together, but then when I got out of the car she said she was going to find a parking spot and I haven't seen her since" Brooke answered as she set them both on the couch.

Nathan felt like an idiot, a whole month of texting and flirty smiles in the hallways and she bales on the greatest night of his relatively short life. "Damn, well that blows she said that she was going to meet me here tonight" Nathan said to Brooke and smiled at her. 'Well lets see, if I can't get the girl that I had been talking to for a month maybe her best friend would do' he thought and began to eye her up. "Well since our girl isn't here, what do you say that we go out to the beach?" Nathan asked as he stood up and held out a hand.

Brooke smiled back at him and took a drink of here beer. 'I guess she was right, that if she didn't show up he would look around to someone else. Good for you P. Sawyer for not coming tonight, and thank you for letting me get him instead' Brooke thought to herself and stopped taking her drink, she then smiled at Nathan and took his hand as they headed for the backdoor.

'Well Sawyer your missing out on a great time' Nathan thought to himself as he lead Brooke to the beach. And even though he knew he was in for a fun night he still felt like an idiot who had been played.

'Well Friday night wasn't the worst part of the week," Nathan thought as the food was being served for them, then continued thinking, 'Except the being played part but that even turned out somewhat ok'. The next thing that happened on Sunday was 100 times worse than being stood up by an emoy teenager.

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Nathan woke up in his actual house still tired and slightly sore from the game, and a little upset that it was Sunday morning and he had school tomorrow and hadn't touched the homework that he was given.

"MOM is breakfast ready," Nathan yelled while rising up from his bed and began to get ready for his Sunday morning workouts. He didn't hear an answer and began to make his way downstairs to make sure that his parents were even home.

As he rounded the steps he saw his mom and dad both staring at the television and the local newspaper in his dads hand. As he got closer to the television he could read what was on it and it read, **Tree Hill High suspends 8 football players**.

"What the hell, this better be a joke," Nathan yelled at his father, there was no way that this was true. "What did it say that they were suspended for?" he asked.

"Well son from what the paper, the news reporter, and Whitey all said it seems that they were taking a substance that the state banned, but don't worry they still can play they just can't fail another test" Dan answered him, then he asked "Now Nathan I'm going to ask you once, you haven't taken any unknown substances from your teammates have you?"

"No dad I haven't," Nathan yelled back at him, "hell dad you and me have worked out together since you and I both agreed that I could make it to the NFL, wouldn't you have noticed a jump in my performance" Nathan questioned.

Dan nodded his head and they both began to walk toward the kitchen when he began saying, "Ok son I believe you, and now, since we have that cleared up, how about we have breakfast and then you can do your workout and I'll go talk to Whitey and see what we can do to keep you on the path to the NFL."

Nathan nodded and took his seat at the table and looked over his shoulder and asked, "Dad what did you mean by keeping me on the path to the NFL?"

Dan looked up at him and said, "Well son it seems that the players that were suspended were all major players on the team, including your two favorite wide receivers. You know the guys that make you look good, Danny and Campbell."

"Danny Chapman and Campbell Jensen, like the two best players on the team besides me, took a banned substance" Nathan said looking shocked and hurt.

"Unfortunately yes," Dan said as he took his seat at the table "But luckily you still have a good defense to support you as well as most of your offensive line intact. You'll just have to shoulder the load for the season and give Tim the ball some more, but the scouts will still come and they'll recognize the bad situation these possible suspension have potentially put you in"

"Yea well I hope so dad, but it is only my junior year I just have to get on the major teams radars" Nathan said as he looked at his plate, but in his head he had bad thoughts about this season.

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Whitey could see Dan Scott's hulking figure coming down the street toward his house before Dan saw him. He knew he was going to come at some point when the news about the suspensions broke. 'That man could never keep his nose out of other peoples businesses' Whitey thought, 'well better get ready to explain this to the numb-nuts.'

Dan was halfway up the walkway when Whitey spoke first, "Listen Dan before you start yelling about how this is going to harm your star sons scouting options and winning a state title, I'm telling you this now I don't want to hear it."

Dan looked surprised at first then said sarcastically, "Well Whitey thanks for being concerned about my son," he then took on a darker turn "but you should have been looking out for the entire team to make sure that they didn't hurt my sons chances"

"Listen Dan I may be their coach but they have to take responsibility for their own actions, and if that harms their teammates than it happens, but I can't keep tabs on forty young men and what they put in their body" Whitey yelled back at Dan who looked like he was ready to kill someone. Whitey then continued "And besides they may just pass those test tomorrow and play this Friday, and if not well then blame those idiotic kids for what they put in their bodies and how they harmed your sons chances to make it," he finished and sat down with a smile while grabbing his newspaper.

Dan approached him and stepped up to the porch, looked him in the eyes and menacingly said, "Listen Whitey if my son loses his chance for a title this season to impress the scouts I'm personally blaming you for that happening, just like I still blame you for not listening to me when I had my chance to be great."

Whitey looked up at him from his newspaper and sneered at him, "No you listen Danny, your son will have his chance at playing in the pro's he, unlike you, actually has a good enough head on his shoulders to not make the same mistakes that you did." He then stood up, looked back at Dan and said, "And you wouldn't have lost your chance to be great, if you hadn't let your arrogance, your inability to be a good teammate, and heck even just being an overall good person drag you down. I made the correct call that day and then you decided that you knew better than me, and where did that get you, a broken collar bone and no championship. Hell, even today you haven't changed, you're more worried about your investment in your son instead of the rest of the team, he needs them as much as they need him." Whitey then began to move toward his front door and looked back at Dan and said, "Maybe you should worry more about the kids that we are going to lose if they test positive than your son, because they are the ones to get him there, not him alone." He then walked inside and closed his door leaving Dan alone on the porch.

'Worry about the other players ha, my son is the most important part of that team and he's going to show that old man that he can do it himself' Dan thought as he walked down the porch and back to his house.

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If the news on Sunday wasn't bad enough for Nathan his Monday afternoon made his life and football career very, very dark.

He was walking down the hall when he saw Campbell walking out of Whitey's office, looking more upset than he had ever seen the guy. "Hey Cam, how'd it go" Nathan asked walking up to his senior wideout.

"It's over Nat, everything we worked for this summer all gone" Campbell answered back, his eyes on the verge of tears as he slid down the wall and sat on the floor. "I knew I shouldn't have listened to Kyle, 'We won't get caught Cam they never test for this stuff'...now my chances of playing in college are gone man, nobody wants somebody who uses performance enhancing drugs."

"I don't know what to tell you Cam, maybe you can go to a junior college or something" Nathan said as he sat down next to him and asked. "What happened to the other seven guys, did they clear?"

Cam looked at him and gave a chuckle, "Only one of us cleared, freaking John our lovely dumbass noseguard I can't believe it." He then rubbed his eyes and stood up, "But on the bright side apparently the state is awarding us two players free of charge since we are losing about a quarter of the team...like that makes up for anything, but I guess it is our own fault we should've of known we'd be caught." He then helped Nathan up off the ground and began to walk away.

As Nathan watched him walk down the hallway he began to think about how the team was going to even make it to the playoffs with the pieces that they currently had, and who the hell would take his wide receivers spots, since the back ups were definitely not going to help them reach the playoffs. 'But I guess its all up to Whitey' Nathan thought and he began to walk to his third period class not caring about what trouble he was going to be in for being late, he had a far worse problem on his hand.

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If Whitey could stop time at the beginning of his season and show the young men he had just lost what today was going to look like he would do it in a minute, but time stops for no man and he couldn't change what happened. So instead he was sitting in his office trying to figure out the game plan for the upcoming Friday, and wondering if he should have a tryout or not for the two spots. 'First things first, how the hell are we going to beat the eagles with most of my starters gone' he thought to himself, but his next thought was interrupted by a knock on his door.

"Rough day?" Keith asked as he allowed himself into the office.

"Well looked who dragged his sorry ass away from his garage to talk to an old man" Whitey chuckled, happy for the distraction and just somebody to talk to. "So word still travels fast around Tree Hill huh, so I'm guessing you heard the news by now?"

"Yea it still travels fast, especially through Karen's," Keith chuckled then asked, "So how are you going to deal with losing about a quarter of your team?"

Whitey then reached into his emergency drawer and pulled out the bottle and two glasses, pouring about a shot in each. "Well if you have hands now I could really use you" Whitey said as he handed one of the cups to Keith and held out of his glass.

"Unfortunately not, the blocking is still there though, the hands haven't gotten any better" Keith answered clinking his glass against Whiteys. "Why are you asking about me anyway?" Keith asked after taking a sip.

Whitey lowered his glass from his lips and said, "Well since I lost a quarter of my team I am lucky enough to get two free players to fill two of my lost positions...like it's going to make a difference we aren't going to make the playoffs anyway."

Keith nodded sympathizing with him, "Yea those two spots won't make up for the players that you lost."

Whitey stood up and leaned against his desk, "Funny thing is we are still pretty stable on the defensive side of the ball, as long as we can put up enough points to help out the defense then we should still be able to make it to the playoffs. I just need to find two people who can take the roster spots for those idiot wide receivers who thought about themselves more than about the team" he said angrily.

"Whitey you did some looking at the local little league football programs didn't you?" Keith asked handing back his empty glass.

"Yea why?" Whitey asked and gave a self deprecating laugh, "It's not like I can put a twelve year old on my team Keith."

"I'm not talking about now Whitey, I'm talking about when Nathan and Lucas were on the same team, don't you remember how good they were together?" Keith asked.

"Yea I remember Keith, but I would never be able to get both those boys on the same team again. Their last game together resulted in a fight on the sideline and Karen having to pull Lucas off the team because of Dan" Whitey answered.

"Yea but Whitey think about it," Keith said standing up and moving next to the coach "you said that you needed offensive weapons and you could still have a good enough shot to make the playoffs, I can get you those two weapons that you need."

"Ok so lets say you can convince Lucas to join the team that is only one of two spots filled, who else do you have in mind to take the other spot. And besides we both know that Nathan would never throw the ball to him and they would just bump heads the entire time." Whitey said back and rubbed his hand over his face.

"Well Lucas and his friends play pickup football games at the local park and I stop by occasionally to watch and while Lucas is hands down the best one out there another guy, they call him Skills, he has got some hands and quick feet. He would be perfect as one of those athletes you can move around the field, with him, Lucas, and Nathan working together, if Nathan wants to work together, than you have an offense that would be close to unstoppable" Keith told Whitey, trying to make his sales pitch the best that he could.

Whitey moved around his desk and sat back in his chair contemplating Keith's words, as the afore mentioned man turned to look at him. "Ok Keith lets say I add both these boys to the team, I have no idea about what potential they have and if Lucas still has the hands that could catch anything" Whitey said looking up at the man.

"Well lucky for you Luke and his friends are playing a pickup game in about ten minutes at the park, so if you want to see the boys in action come with me" Keith said and smiled at the man and was awarded with a smile as an answer back.

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"They look like a bunch of idiots beating the crap out of each other" Whitey said as he looked over at Keith.

"Yea they do, but you got to admit that a couple of those catches that Luke and Skills have made so far have been impressive" Keith answered looking back at Whitey then out the windshield to see his nephew and his friends being teenagers.

"The boy still has hands Keith I'll give it to you, and that Skills boy isn't bad either, he could be put anywhere on the field. And if you and I could convince both boys to join I think I might actually get that championship after all. Only problem is can we get both of them and Nathan to not kill each other when they are on the same field together?" Whitey asked, and hoped that there was an answer somewhere.

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Lucas was in the library reading a John Steinbeck book trying to stay away from his brother and his friends when he saw Whitey looking down at him while he was reading. "Yes coach Durham, do you need anything?" he asked looking up from his book.

"I was wondering if you had the time for a talk with an old man?" Whitey asked, hoping the young man would say yes.

"Well coach I don't know why you would want me to walk and talk with you, Nathan is over there" Lucas answered pointing to the group of kids laughing in the corner.

At that moment Nathan happened to finally notice his coach had entered the library. "What''s up coach, need anything?" Nathan asked as he got up from his seat and walked over to his coach.

"Not from you Nathan, in fact if you could go and pay attention to your school work that would be nice though," Whitey answered him looking over at him "in fact I'm just here to see if your brother is able to have a talk with me."

As Whitey spoke the words brother both the Scott boys looked at each other as if they were both nothing but garbage. Nathan then looked back at Whitey, "First of all coach why do you need to talk to him and second he is not my brother"

Whitey, seeing where this was going, turned up his authoritative side, "Listen to me Nathan, I don't have to explain my actions to you and he is your brother whether you like it or not, know get the hell out of my face before I bench you for this next game"

Nathan, slightly taken aback by his coaches outburst, just gave both his brother and his coach a dirty look and began to walk away from them but then stopped, "We both know that you won't bench me coach I'm the only thing you have left," then he continued his walk back to his friends.

Lucas looked from his 'brother,' if he even wanted to call him that, and back toward the coach, "I would actually love to take that walk with you coach." They both then began their walk outside and to the football stadium.

As they approached the gates to the field Whitey was the first to talk, "Son, you must have heard about what happened over the weekend, and how this put me in a position I've never thought I would have to be in."

They were almost at midfield when Lucas decided to answer him, "Yea coach I heard about the ban that they put on you, but why are you talking to me about this?"

"Lucas look around you, you were once a top flight receiver when you and Nathan were on that little league team together. I saw how you and him had a connection before that unfortunate incident, and I'm offering you the opportunity to get that going again." Whitey told him as they looked down the field toward the runner up plaque that was against the wall of the stadium.

"Yea well being Dan Scott's other child had the perk of being good I guess," Lucas scoffed then continued to speak, "And you can't add any new players anyway its against state regulations this late in the season."

"Yea well the state is giving us a little leeway to add two players for the seven we lost," Whitey answered and pulled the blue baseball cap off his head, "and you gained a lot more from your mother and Keith than what your father could have ever given you." He then began to lead Lucas and himself to the nearest bench and they both took a seat.

"Ok so say I do join your team...there are so many other factors that I have to think about before I say yes. You don't know how good I am anymore, I have to think about my mom and friends, and just Nathan overall." Lucas said while looking around the field.

Whitey put a hand on Lucas's back and said, "Listen Lucas I can't tell you about how your friends or mother is going to say, but I can tell you your uncle drove me out to see you play at that park and you still have it in you to be one of the best receivers in the state. And you don't worry about Nathan and what he has to say, if you join he's going to have to throw the ball to you at some point if he wants to win." Whitey then got up from the bench and was about to walk back into the school when he looked at Lucas and said, "Listen Lucas I need you on this team, with Nathan at quarterback and you at wideout it would be a dream season for everybody...And you can tell that friend of yours, Skills, that the other open spot is his," he add as he handed Luke two playbooks and then walked away leaving the teen to contemplate his decision on the bench.

'Ha me, Nathan, and Skills all in the same huddle sounds like a brawl getting ready to happen. But if we do somehow manage to get it all together we might be able to do something magical' Lucas thought and then looked down at the playbooks, if he was going to do this the hardest person to convince would be his mom, Skills would be to easy.

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Skills received the text from Luke in his fourth period class, 'Skills need to talk its important, meet me at my uncles shop after school.' Well know Skills was walking into the garage to see Luke under the hood and his uncle underneath the car. "Yo Luke whats so important that you were texting in class" Skills asked walking into the garage.

Luke looked around the hood and saw his friend standing there not knowing what to do with himself. "Yo Skills come on him and hand me that wrench, and lets talk about sports," Luke said going back to the car.

Skills walked in and handed the wrench over, "So you send me an urgent text to get my ass over here and all you want to do is talk sports...man we could do that over at the field" Skills huffed getting ready to leave.

"No Skills wait, I'm serious I need to talk to you about our favorite sport man come back man" Luke yelled moving away fro the car.

"Like I said Luke we can do that at the park" Skills yelled over his shoulder and kept walking.

"No man sorry, this isn't a general conversation. Whitey came and saw me today, he wants us to play for him" Luke told him, and it stopped Skills in his tracks.

Skills turned around and began his walk back into the garage, "What do you mean he wants us to play for him, he can't magically change the roster" Skills asked.

"It seems that since he lost a good part of the team that the state is allowing two add ons for the season and he wants us to fill the spots" Luke explained as he walked over to Skills and sat on a stool.

"What do you mean he wants us to fill the spots, he has never even seen us play before?" Skills said as he sat down next to him.

"I don't know how he saw us, all I know is that he said that he wants us both to play as his starting receivers and he even gave us both the playbooks" Luke answered giving him the other playbook.

"I can explain how he saw you both" Keith echoed from underneath the car as he rolled out from underneath it and wiped off his hands. "I might have drove him over to the park to watch you both play after he and I talked about him filling the two roster spots."

"Keith man, you just gave us the chance of a lifetime, thank you" Skills uttered and then stood up to give Keith a handshake.

"Well I knew you would be easy to convince, its just my nephew that needs the convincing" Keith stated, accepting the handshake and looking over at Luke.

Lucas rolled his eyes and stood up also and then spoke, "Look Keith its not that I don't want to do it, it's just how am I supposed to play a sport I love when we both know mom will freak out when she hears about this, I have to play with that asshole Nathan, and me and Skills don't even know the playbook."

During Luke's tirade both Keith and Skills looked at each other, both silently agreeing to persuade the young man in front of them. Skill's decided to go first, "Luke lets think about this opportunity for a moment. We would be both the starting receivers for the team he has to throw us the ball if he wants to win, and we will study the playbook together and get it down, besides Whitey knows all of this its not like he would throw us under the bus. And if Nathan decides to give us grief we can just beat his ass at some point or make him look bad on the field, he needs us as much as we need him."

Once Skills was done Keith began, "Yea Luke listen to Skills he's right. This isn't basketball Nathan can't take over by himself he needs both of you if he wants to impress those scouts. And don't worry about your mother she knows how much you love the sport, she may be upset for a little but she will let you do the thing you love."

"So you both think we can really pull this off when we are already a quarter of the season in?" Luke asked and when they both nodded their heads he knew they could do it, with his uncle there to lean on and his friend there to help him deal with Nathan they could do it. Now the only problem was convincing his mom to let him play high school football.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the phone go off and his uncle answering it.

"Yea, uhha ok yea I'll send someone right over. Hey Luke a girl needs a tow over by that lake I let you drive around when you were younger, think you can handle that?" Keith told him and then handed him the keys to the tow truck.

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Luke was on his way to pickup whoever was stuck out on the road when he saw a black range rover coming up on him fast and he pulled over to the side of the road to let it pass, but instead it just pulled up next to him. When he looked into the other car he immediately regretted his decision to pull over, of course Nathan would be driving with his cronies.

Nathan pulled up in front of Lucas and blocked him in and not allowing him to get back on the road. Luke saw Nathan say something to Tim and then saw the window lower, Luke then lowered his window to see what the dickhead group wanted, "What do you guys want?"

"Get out of the car, we need to have a 'brotherly' talk" Nathan told him, then began to get out of the car. 'I could back up real quick and leave now or just deal with him and his groupies. Screw it I'll just deal with him now, I can only imagine what else he would do' Luke thought.

They met in front of both vehicles Luke by himself and Nathan with Tim and a couple other guys Luke didn't actually know. "What do you want Nathan?" Luke asked, breaking the standoff.

Nathan looked him in the eye and replied, "I know what Whitey wanted you for, he wants you to be one of the new guys on the team. I'm here to tell you that it's not going to happen, we don't need you I'm at quarterback so we have all the guys we need to win."

"Well thats not what Whitey thinks. He thinks that you need me otherwise all the scouts and wins will just disappear" Luke said back with a smirk.

Nathan beginning to get angry with his so called brother walked up to him and said as menacingly as possible, "We do not need you, I can carry this team to victory we don't need you as a distraction from our goals. So do the right thing and tell him you aren't interested."

He then turned around and began to walk back to his range rover, when Luke yelled back at him, "If you are so adamant about me not being on the team then how about we play for it, if I win I get put on the team if you win I stay away for good. We can do your three against my three at the park?"

Nathan stopped in his tracks and turned around, "We both know you don't have a good enough team to beat who I could bring. Besides from what I've heard your the only one who can actually play ball on that ragtag team of yours."

"Well then it shouldn't be a challenge for you to beat us then, unless you think you can't do it" Luke replied back as he walked up to him this time.

Nathan and his group then began to laugh at how easy of a proposition it was to accept, Luke's group wouldn't be able to touch his group. "Ok then big shot we will do this, tonight so be ready. I am about to crush your dreams tonight and you have nobody to help you win. Lets get out of here boys and let the future loser figure out what he is doing."

They then drove off still laughing at Luke's proposition, problem for Nathan was that he didn't know about Skills, which made Luke laugh while getting into the truck. While Luke caught whatever was thrown at him, Skills just flat out burnt everyone and Luke knew that Nathan wouldn't be able to stop that.

He then started the truck back up and remembered he had a person and a car to tow, 'huh hope they weren't waiting to long' he thought as he drove to pick whoever was broke down.

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We will get into some Lucas/Peyton stuff next chapter. Also we have the game so brush up on the football vocab, and please review


	3. Getting on the Team pt 2

Ok so I don't own One Tree Hill or the characters ect.

Would be awesome if you guys reading could shoot me some reviews about what you think of the story so far

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He saw the car as he rounded the bend in the road, the black exterior with the red interior, a classic. But the car wasn't the best thing that he saw as he pulled up to the broken down car. Peyton Sawyer was laying down on the hood of the car, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world as he pulled up. As he put the tow truck in park she began to pull herself out of whatever world she was in.

"Hi I'm here to bring your car in" Lucas said to her as he climbed out of the truck.

As he came around the front she was leaning against the bumper when she said, "The tow truck was kind of the give away. So do you need me for anything or can you handle picking up my baby yourself?"

He smiled at the backhand comment that she made as he walked toward the back of the truck to pick up the chains. "Well, I've done this a couple times so I wouldn't worry about the car, or baby, if thats what you want to call it. And if you want to I can take a look and see what's wrong?" he replied and wrapped the chains around the wheels.

She eyed him up as he was wrapping the chains around her baby. 'If he puts a single scratch on her I'll kill him' she thought as he spoke about checking out what was wrong with the car. He looked like someone who knew their way around a car, god knows she didn't. "Yea sure see what you can do" she replied as she sat in the driver seat and pulled the lever to pop the hood.

He heard her answer and the gentle pop of the hood being released. He then lifted up the hood and looked at the engine, it was extremely clean and he couldn't really see what was wrong. But then again he didn't really know what he was looking for underneath the hood, he only asked to get some extra time to talk to her.

"So what is exactly wrong with my baby?" she asked leaning out the side of the car to see what he was doing.

He laughed at her question, he hadn't done and she was already asking questions. "Let me just check a little more and see" he answered pretending to look around. "So why exactly are you out here Miss. Sawyer?" he asked, trying to get some kind of conversation going.

"Don't tell me you are one of those tow guys that needs to talk while he's doing everything?" she grumbled and grabbed her sketchbook from across the front seat. She was hoping that he would take the hint and be quiet for the rest of the time.

"Nope not the talkative kind of guy, but usually people don't come down this way" he said still trying to make it seem like he was doing something then continued, "And by the way I can't really tell you what's going on underneath the hood" as he dropped the hood back and looked at her.

She heard him say that he didn't know what he was doing and her sketch was immediately forgotten. The look she gave him over the steering wheel could've froze hell over, "What do you mean you don't know what you are doing? What the hell were you doing underneath my hood and to my car for the past ten minutes?" she said to him as coldly as possible.

The only person to ever give him a look like that was his mother, and even that was rare, he'd also never been speechless before but she'd done it. "Um, well I might not of known what exactly was wrong with the car, but I thought I might as well see to make sure" he said quickly, rubbing his hand on the back of his head.

He watched her get out of the car and walk around to the back as she ran her hands through her hair. "That has to be the stupidest idea I have ever heard. How would you fix something if you don't even know what is wrong with it? You wasted time that we could have used to get back to Tree Hill for what Scott?" she yelled at him, clearly upset about the situation.

He had thought up the plan in the spur of the moment and hadn't really thought about its consequences, he actually hoped there wouldn't be any. 'Might as well come clean about what I was doing before she continues ranting' he thought and moved toward the levers that operated the tow mechanism, hoping the distance might make it less awkward for both of them. "If you really want to know, I was just trying to waste time and have a conversation with you" he answered her as the car began to move slowly upward.

She huffed as she heard his weak excuse of an answer, "You do realize that we could've talked in the truck on the way back to Tree Hill don't you? It's not like someone is going to drive all the way out here for me." She said and began to move toward the truck.

"Yea, um, I didn't know that you were going back with me, I thought that girlfriend of yours would pick you up" he answered happy to finally see her calming down.

She actually laughed at his answer and replied, "That girls name is Brooke, and no she is doing cheerleading stuff right now that I was supposed to be at an hour ago."

At her mention of cheerleading he laughed, still not believing that the girl in front of him was a cheerleader. "Yea I still can't believe your a cheerleader, how can you cheer and be as broody as you are?" he asked letting go of the lever and locking the cables in place.

Her eyes narrowed and she looked like she was going to slap him when she said, "First of all you don't know me, and second of all you don't know me. So why don't you finish your job and get my damn car to the garage." Peyton then turned her back, pulled out her cell and began to call Brooke, hoping she would finally answer her stupid cell.

He was surprised by the fiery response she gave, and she was also right he knew nothing about her, but he was curious enough to want to know more about this broody, fiery, beautiful woman in front of him. "I can always give you a ride ya know," he offered then added, "I'll even let you make fun of me."

'_Hey this is Brooke leave a message_,' after the third missed call in a row Peyton knew there was no shot in reaching her. 'I guess I have to ride with, what's his name again Lucas, that's right' she thought then turned around and began to walk towards the cab of the truck. "Ok listen first I'm not riding with you because I want to, but because I have to. Second keep the talking to the minimum, you don't know me and I barely even know your name, and that's all I want to know about you. Third I am going to make fun of you, now lets go I have places to be," and with those demands she walked past him and climbed into the passenger seat.

As he watched her climb into the truck the only thought running through his mind could be summed up in one word, 'Wow.' He didn't understand how such a woman could suddenly have this hold on him, but then he remembered she always had a hold on him. Only difference between his middle school days of watching from afar and now, she was actually talking to him. "Well, ok then, no talking and a lot of jokes I can deal with that" he said to himself and walked toward the drivers side to begin the drive back to Tree Hill.

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The drive back to town was only halfway done and he was surprised by how bad her jokes at him were up to that point. Either she was trying to be nice or her jokes about him just weren't as good as she thought. Right now she was going on about how he couldn't drive the truck properly, and how her 'baby' was going to be wrecked. "Sorry to interrupt you but your ability to make fun of me hasn't worked and you also haven't told me where you live" he said interjecting into her rant, and hoping to get an actual conversation going.

His interruption stopped her rant in its tracks, one because he did have a point he had no idea where she lived, and second she thought she was getting somewhere with the jokes. "I live on elm, I hope you know how to get there from here," she told him then asked "and what do you mean they aren't working?"

"First I do know how to get to elm, and they aren't working because they are bad. You either are bad at making fun of people or you're just too nice to be mean underneath that cool exterior. I mean come on aren't you going out with Nathan, these jokes should come easy" he answered her making a right at the traffic light.

When he didn't hear an answer fired right back he looked over and saw her to be holding in her laughter, and suddenly it spilled out. "Haha, you think...you think I'm going out with him. Yea right, whatever you heard in school is so off, I actually played him so my best friend could have him for your information" she answered him slowly composing herself.

"Well, I guess that should teach me to not listen to the rumor mill at school anymore" he replied, "so you and Brooke must be close to give the star quarterback to your friend."

She looked over at him and was about to say something when the her phone went off, "Speak of the devil," Peyton said and picked up the phone.

He couldn't hear Brooke on the other line or what was being said, but from the way her expression changed and the subtle looks over at him he knew it was about him. He also heard several references to Nathan and a park, he could only assume it was about the game tonight though.

On the other side of the cab her talk with Brooke was different then what she thought she was going to hear. "P. Sawyer, have you heard what is happening at the park tonight?" Brooke asked, clearly excited.

"No B. Davis, what is happening tonight?" she answered back sarcastically, clearly not as excited.

"Nathan is playing his brother for the open spots on the team at the park tonight, and everybody is going to watch" Brooke told her.

"Why would Nathan do that? And his brothers name is Lucas Brooke, and are you talking about that old park down by the river?" Peyton answered, taking a peek over at Lucas.

"Apparently whatever his name, Lucas, challenged Nathan to a game to decide if he gets on the team or not, and I don't care what his name is he's going to lose anyway. And yes that nasty old park down by the river, so are you coming with us or not P. Sawyer." Brooke explained quickly.

"Yea I'll go with you Brooke, but you have to pick me up and bring me to the park because my car kinda broke down." Peyton answered looking out the window and seeing that she was a couple blocks away from her house.

"Great I'll meet you at your house, oh and by the way you missed an awesome practice, love you P. Sawyer see ya soon," and with that Brooke hung up the phone.

"Nice talking to you to Brooke" Peyton said to the dial tone and realized she was on her street, with her house coming up. "Its the last one on the left" she told him getting ready to leave the truck.

"Well, here we are then," Luke said as they pulled up in front of the house. And as she was getting out of the cab he asked, "Well I guess I'll be seeing you tonight then?"

The question stopped her as she was getting ready to close the door, of course she was going to go she had made plans with Brooke after all. "Yes, I am going to the park tonight, I made plans with Brooke if you were listening" she answered back with a huff and closed the door.

'Well, that went well, but I guess everyones story has got to start somewhere,' he thought and began to drive off toward the garage.

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As he pulled in he could see his uncle and Skills talking about something. And as he exited the cab he could hear it was about getting on the team, "Listen Keith I'm going to talk to Whitey tomorrow and get my spot on the team, even if Luke is up in the air about it" Skills said making up his mind.

"Alright Skills now that Luke is back why don't you tell him this grand plan," Keith told Skills as he moved toward the truck to go look at the car.

"I will...alright Luke listen to this, we both role up into Whiteys office tomorrow and tell him we are both on the team, but we demand that Nathan get off of it so we don't just run block the entire season" Skill explained as Luke sat down next to him.

Nathan laughed at the audacity of his plan, but in the back of his mind he realized that they might need to get Nathan kicked off. "Yea Skills I don't think that is the best plan considering a, we aren't on the team yet, b, if we do get on the team we would probably need Nathan to throw us the ball, c, I kinda made a bet with Nathan that determines if we get on the team or not" Luke told Skills, the last part a little faster than necessary.

Skills gave him a look at the last part then asked, "What do you mean you made a bet that determines whether we get on the team Luke?"

Luke stood up and scratched the back of his head, trying to find the right words to explain how both there slightly distant dreams could end at the end of tonight. "Well, I ran into Nathan and we kinda got into it and he pissed me off enough that I kinda made a bet that we play a three on three game at the park. And if we lose we never try to get on the team and if we win we get on the team" Luke explained, trying not to make it seem that their dreams resided on one football game.

At the thought of him never being able to play for the Ravens because of Luke's stupid bet Skills got up and began to pace. "Luke dawg that is the stupidest bet I ever heard man. It was always our dream to play ball for the Ravens, and you put those dreams on one game, why?" he practically yelled at Luke.

At this point Luke was getting slightly angry at Skills for not knowing the situation and judging. "Listen Skills you weren't there he was being a complete ass and I needed a way to just get him to stop being a cocky ass and the only way I could think was to beat him and then make him be our teammates" Luke answered back, trying to hold in his anger.

"Really Luke that was the best way, you know he's going to bring the best Tree Hill has to offer. How are we supposed to beat him with our rag tag group of who, me you and chase, it seems like a lot to lose," Skills said sitting back down, a hopeless look on his face.

Luke, sitting back down next to him, wore a different expression though, a hopeful one. "Skills we are going to beat him. Our rag tag group has been playing together for what five six years now. We know each other and what we can do, and we have more to lose than Nathan does. Skills we will beat him, we just need you to play better defense," Luke said to him with a smile at the end of it.

Skills gave a chuckle, his expression brightening as he took in Luke's words. "Yea I guess you're right Luke. We do have a better squad and have more to lose than Nathan has to gain. But thats not cool to be busting on my defensive skills, we both know that with my speed I can make a mistake and fix it." Skills answered back a smile also on his face, he then got up and began to leave, "Alright Keith thanks for listening to me for that long ass time Luke was gone. And Luke see you at the park tonight where we are going to win that bet, and I'll tell chase and the others about meeting us down there."

"See ya Skills" both Keith and Luke answered back and watched him leave the garage. As Skills left Keith looked over at Luke who's smile left his face once Skill's was out of sight. Keith knew that look, it was pensive and broody, the same look his nephew got whenever he was in a rough situation. "You don't think you're going to win do ya Luke?" Keith asked moving away from the car.

Luke looked over at him and began to walk over to him while answering, "Truthfully I don't know. I mean Skills and I, we have the talent, only thing is how are Skills and Chase going to play defense against three of the best players in Tree Hill." He then began to help his uncle get the car completely in the garage.

Keith was in a conundrum, on the one hand his nephew put himself in the situation that he was in and he needed to learn from that. On the other hand he wanted to tell him that he had the ability to win the bet, he just needed to take over more than he ever had. He decided to take the middle road and give it to him straight, "Listen Luke we both know that you and Skills have the talent to beat Nathan and whatever he puts up against you. But if something does go wrong and you do lose tonight, you have to remember that you put yourself in this predicament. Only good thing is, Nathan has no idea about Whitey also looking at Skills, so if you do lose your friend can still be on the team, but you will lose your dream over a bet made in anger and that will make this loss far worse for you," Keith told him, while trying to sound sympathetic towards him, he was his favorite nephew after all.

Luke knew his uncle would play the role of devils advocate and tell him what he had to hear, not what he wanted to hear. The funny thing was that it actually made him feel better about the situation, because his uncle did make a good point in that if they did lose it would only be his loss not Skills. "Uncle Keith, have I ever told you that you give some of the best advice around" Luke said while his uncle was underneath the hood, "and you're right if I lose tonight I lose my shot, but Skills still has his so I have nothing to lose tonight. And playing with nothing to lose makes playing this game so much easier to do."

He heard his uncle chuckle from underneath the hood, "Luke thanks for the compliment, and you're right playing with nothing to lose is the best because in the end you have everything to gain tonight. And I just want you to know that I believe you'll win this game tonight, because you have everything to lose and you, Skills, and Chase have a great connection with each other which is something that Nathan has never tried to make with his teammates. And that is the most important part of a team sport like football, you need to have the kind of unspoken connection you guys share it will get you to great places Luke" Keith said to Luke, hoping that his little speech could propel his nephew to the Tree Hill football team.

Luke heard everything his uncle said, and somewhere deep down he knew that him and Skills were going to be Ravens by the end of the night. "Keith I feel like I don't say this enough but thank you for everything," Luke said and then walked into the corner to pickup his bag.

As he was picking his stuff up he heard Keith yell at him, "Hey Luke do you know who's sketchbook this is." He looked back and saw his uncle holding up the book Peyton was sketching in earlier that day. "Yea Keith, I know who owns that. Just give it to me and I'll give it back to the owner tomorrow" he answered and grabbed the book on his way out the garage door.

Before he was gone though he heard his uncle say, "Luke I know you don't need it but, good luck tonight you'll do great. And if you get down just take over like I know you can."

He looked back inside the garage and smiled at his uncle then answered, "Thanks Keith, for everything and I know we don't need luck, we have something much more consistent." As Luke began his walk home he started to day dream about what numbers him and Skills would wear this season. But then he remembered the most important person in all of this, and he would just have to hope that his mom would be as open about the idea of playing as his uncle was.

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The entire walk home he wondered how he was going to convince his mom to not be mad at him for wanting to play for the Ravens. The thing was, now that he was in front of his house, he might have lost all his courage that he built up on the way over. 'Guess it's now or never' he thought and began the walk to his room, and the potential conversation or argument he and his mother were about to have.

"Mom you home?" he yelled as he walked into his house, hoping she was in a good mood.

"In the kitchen Lucas" he heard her yell back at him, "what do you need."

He walked into the kitchen, happy she was happy at the moment. And seeing her cooking, he thought it was a good time to start the impending conversation. "So mom Whitey came and talked to me today, he wants me to join the Ravens" he told her sitting down, and hoping she would follow to make the conversation easier.

But as she turned around he could tell the conversation wasn't going to go the way he wanted, and the answer didn't make it better, "Absolutely not, out of the question."

"Why mom, Whitey said I would be a great addition to the team and it's not just me, Skills would also be with me," he said trying to tilt the conversation in a better light.

She turned around with a sickly sweet sort of smile on her face and said, "Well thats good for Skills Lucas, but he's not my son so if he wants to play good for him. You on the other hand are my son and I am going to say no as my final answer" Karen told him and turned back around to finish her cooking.

He stood up and leaned against the counter next to her and continued his trying at convincing her, "Mom, we both know I'm good at football, maybe even great but we won't know unless I play. And I understand why you don't want me to play with Dan and that history, but this is what I want."

Karen stopped what she was doing and gave him a sympathetic look, "Listen Lucas me not wanting you to play for the Ravens isn't about Dan or the history that is there. I don't want you to play because of Dan's other son, we both know that he is going to make his life a living hell while you're both on the team. I don't want you to get your hopes up and you start to play and they force you into quitting something you love."

Luke knew where she was coming from, and she was right Nathan could make his life hell but with Skills around they could both deal with it. "Mom I know what Nathan could do and I'm not worried about it. It would be Skills and I together against him, and most of the guys who' d mess with us were kicked off the team, we would be fine trust me," he explained to her.

She knew her son was right, and that his abilities to play football are even better than his fathers were at his age. And if he wanted to play as bad as it seems he did right now than he could handle all the crap Nathan and Dan would throw at him. "Alright Luke if you want it as bad as it seems you do and you are willing to deal with all that comes with it then I'm willing to give you my blessings." Karen told him and went back to her cooking.

Luke was speechless with what to say back to his mother, he thought that it would take more of a fight to get her to fold and agree with him. "Mom, not to say that I'm upset about you letting me play, but why are you letting this happen without really putting up a fight?" Lucas asked, slightly unconvinced with her giving up so easy.

"Lucas I'm not going to say I'm happy about you playing, but if you're happy about playing then I'll be happy for you. Besides I know you and if the game starts to not be fun anymore then you'll walk away without any regrets and thats all I want for you, no regrets about what your about to do" Karen answered and went back to cooking.

"Thanks mom, this means a lot to me" Luke told her, then wrapped her in a hug, "and I hope this dinner is finished soon because I have to meet the guys over at the park soon." He then released her with a smile and walked into his room and laid down to rest before he had to play the first of many games that he was going to win.

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The lights were on at the park and Nathan and his friends still hadn't shown up as Luke and his friends continued to warmup for the game they were about to play. "So not to be the downer here, and I know you and Skills will be great tonight, but what if I screw up and it ruins both your chances to play for the Ravens," Chase asked Luke as he threw another deep ball to Skills.

Luke laughed at Chase's question, "Listen Chase all you have to do is just get the ball to Skills and I, we will handle the rest." Luke then lined up to run a route as Skills brought the ball back.

"Yea Chase, me and Luke got it just get us the ball like you always do," Skills told Chase as he handed the ball back to him.

"I know but, one mistake and your both screwed so I am a little nervous about this game" Chase said throwing a perfect slant route to Luke.

"Chase your arm hasn't changed overnight so I'm not worried. And it will only be my dream that is lost tonight, I didn't tell Nathan about Skills. Win or lose either one of us or both of us are going to be on the team, I would prefer both of us were on the team though," Luke said to Chase giving a smile to him and Skills bringing the ball back.

"Pretty sneaky dawg, and thanks for keeping me out of this whole messed up situation" Skills said thanking Luke and receiving a handshake. As they pulled away from each other the sound of honking and headlights brought them back to reality and the game that they were about to play.

"You ready to become a Raven Skills" Luke asked as almost thirty teenagers, lead by Nathan, came walking to the bleachers and field, ready to watch the nobody's get beat. In the crowd he saw his blonde haired crush walking toward the bleachers, with a brunette attached to her side. As he watched her walk down they caught each others eyes, as his eyes locked with hers he saw them looking back cooly. But he also felt some type of connection and hoped she felt it also.

"Alright we're all here Lucas, you and your 'teammates' ready to lose" Nathan stated as he walked onto the field with Danny and Cam.

Luke looked at both Chase and Skills, and noticed all three of them had a smile on their faces, and with that he knew they were going to win the game they were about to play so Luke replied with a simple, "Yes, but we aren't going to lose."

"Yea ok Lucas, whatever you think. And hell I'll even give you the ball first since it's your home field." Nathan answered back to Luke, as both teams began to walk towards the one endzone to begin the game.

As they made it to the end of the field Luke turned and announced the rules of the game, "Alright so home rules; game is seven, we play tackle, you call your own fouls seven-second count before you can blitz, and two completions is a first down now lets get this game going." Luke and his friends then huddled up and determined what they were going to do, "Alright so Chase lets go long on the first play since they are going to be playing man coverage. Skills I need you to burn Dan since he isn't really known for his speed, I'll keep Cam busy incase you get in trouble Chase."

They then lined up and Chase hiked the ball and the game was on. With Skills speed Chase didn't have to wait long to throw the ball, and as Skills ran into the endzone and Chase heard the boo's from Nathan's friends he didn't think that the game was going to be hard to win.

"Well, ladies and gentleman the game just started and Skills has already burned Cam Jensen on a fly route" Mouth announced to the crowd, "lets hope it continues for the rest of the game."

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If Nathan knew how long the game was going to become, it might have just been easier to bully Lucas off instead of playing him for it. After a straight hour of tackling, throwing, and everything in between Nathan and his team were tired. Only good thing was Lucas's team also looked to be on the end of their ropes, but they also had the ball in a six to six tie.

The game was rough from the start with Cam giving up the easy touchdown, but after that both teams got bogged down with turnovers and the occasional score. Nathan had never thrown as many interceptions in one game than he had in this one, and to be fair he was surprised the game hadn't ended earlier. Lucas's team was, well, a team, they knew each others strengths and weaknesses, Nathan was just lucky that the Skills guy was only average at coverage because otherwise Lucas would've already been on the Ravens. But he wasn't, yet, and all Nathan needed was one turnover and he would be going home the victor, problem was getting that turnover, and someone needed to shut up the commentator on the bench.

"Alright ladies and gentleman, the score is six to six with only one score to end it, lets see how both teams try to win?" Mouth announced to the crowd who at this point was so caught up in the game you would've thought it was the high school playing.

In the huddle Luke, Skills, and Chase were trying to figure out how to end the game as quickly as possible. "Guys, I'm thinking we should run the no huddle, we are eighty yards from scoring. We need a couple quick passes, slants and in's then we go deep when they start to creep up" Luke said hoping to convince Skills and Chase.

"Yea but Luke they are sitting on the short stuff already, we've been nickel and dimeing then for the past two scores," Chase answered back, looking between Skills and Luke.

"Yea Luke, Chase is right, we should go deep first play because that is all I have left in the tank man, just one deep ball. Unless you want to be thrown at on every play Luke we got to beat them now" Skills said agreeing with Chase, and hoping Luke would agree with him to.

Luke on the other hand didn't think that going big on the first play was smart, Chase's arm wasn't as strong as it was in the beginning of the game and Skill's legs weren't as fresh either. "Look guys if you want to go to me every play thats fine, but we all know that going deep isn't feasible. We are all tired, Chase your ball has been losing its zip since the third touchdown and Skills your legs are barley beating Cam's anymore. If you want to go deep and chance it Skills be my guest, but I'm going short for know and my hands aren't tired yet" Luke told them, making his point by pointing out the flaws in their plan.

Chase and Skills looked at each other and after a silent conversation they knew that Luke was right, they were both extremely drained because of the game and the deep ball wasn't going to be open. "Alright Luke we will do it your way and run the no huddle, but you better be ready to catch everything and what are going to be the signs for the routes?" Chase asked.

Luke looked at both his friends, and knowing they were all ready to finish the game began to explain the route symbols, "Ok so a tap of the chest is a slant, touching the back of the thigh is an out, the top of the thigh is an in, touching the face is a fade, and a face to chest is a slant and go," Luke then paused and looked between Skills and Chase, "do we all understand because I don't want to stop on this drive."

Skills and Chase nodded their heads, "So to start I'm going to run a slant and Skills you run the fade to keep them honest alright, lets break" Luke said and then they began to walk to their respective positions.

Chase picked up the ball and looked at what the defense had in store for him, Skills guy was playing off by about ten yards, which meant he was expecting the deep ball. Luke's defender was slightly closer but the slant was definitely going to work, he then hiked the ball and saw Luke wide open about two steps into his drop. He stopped and fired the ball right into his chest about 10 yards down the field, Luke was was then stopped after about five yards.

Right after the tackle Luke bounced back up and got into position as Skills jogged back, 'sixty-five more yards' Chase thought to himself as he watched both his wideouts give their signal, Luke was going to run an out, Skills was slanting this time. Luke's defender was going to jam Luke at the snap, which was going to mess up his timing. Skills guy still hadn't moved up, expecting the fly or fade route again, it was going to be an easy ten to fifteen yards.

Apparently Skill's legs were still strong enough to catch and run for a thirty yard gain, which meant they only had to go thirty-five more yards to end the game. Problem was as Skills was getting off the ground his leg cramped up, "Damn it, ahhh, crap I'm cramping guys," Skills said as he hobbled behind the line and tried to stretch it out. Luke knew this wasn't going to end well if Skills couldn't get rid of the cramp soon.

"Lucas are we going to finish the game or wait an hour for your friend to get rid of his cramp. No substitutes Luke you have to win with who you got," Nathan yelled from across the field.

Luke looked down at Skills, who was still trying to rub out the cramp and then over at Nathan, and he knew what he needed to do, exactly what his uncle had told him earlier that day. He looked at his two friends and said, "Chase we are running the slant and go, I need a really good pump fake from you on this one though Chase. Skills we don't need you on this play I can do this, I just need a good fake from you Chase, and we will win this."

Skills looked up from his spot on the ground to both Chase and Luke then asked, "You sure Luke, they're going to double cover you and even with a good pump fake its going to be a tight window for the pass."

Luke looked down at Skills with a determined look on his face and said, "I know Skills but I know Chase can make one good last pass to win this game, so lets go finish this and Skills get off the field."

Nathan saw Lucas and whoever the quarterback was line up, surprised that they were going to continue playing with only the two of them. But he wasn't going to complain it made winning this game easier than he would've thought. "Cam, Danny, double up on Lucas and go for the pick, lets end this now," Nathan told his teammates, hoping that the quarterback finally held onto the ball long enough to get a sack.

Luke saw the coverage they were playing, first guy was going to bump him at the line and try to disrupt what he was trying to do. The second guy was floating about eight to ten yards back, zoning him and keeping him from going deep. Problem for the defense was that the defender across from him had his feet in a bad position for the route he was going to run, which meant an easy release from the line. If that happens the pump fake should bring the zone guy down hard on the slant creating an open hole in the back of the zone. He was ready to win this game and he looked over at Chase who hiked the ball and began the play.

He was right about the first defender, his footwork put him in a bad position, what he didn't expect was how quickly he would recover and stay with him. Which let the zone guy stay in position as Chase pumped the ball, the trailing defender dove thinking the ball was thrown taking him out of the play. Now Luke only hoped that Chase would put enough air under the ball that he could out jump the defender in the zone,

Mouth was surprised by Luke's courage, or stupidity, to play without Skills. As he watched the play unfold he began to commentate, "Without Skills on the field it is only Chase and Lucas playing offense. The ball is snapped and Luke runs a slant as the defender is caught out of position, but quickly recovers. The ball is pumped and the trailing defender dives to make a play, but Luke turns up field as the deep defender starts to run with him as Chase launches the ball into the endzone. Luke and Cam make it into the endzone and they both jump for the ball..."

Luke saw the ball floating as if in slow motion, and all he had to do was just out jump the guy next to him. He's done the jump ball before, except he has never done it against a guy who was taller than him. He could only time his jump as best he could and hope he could beat out his defender. He jumped up a second before his defender did, reached up, and felt the leather on his finger tips and pulled it down while falling onto his back.

"and Lucas pulls it down over Cam for the win, and the Ravens just added a new player ladies and gentleman" Mouth finished with a yell as him and the rest of their friends began to run over to help Lucas up off the field. "So Luke how does it feel to be a new member of the Ravens?" Mouth asked as Lucas started to walk off the field.

Luke gave Mouth a weak smile then answered, "Truthfully I feel like crap Mouth, and it isn't just one new Raven, Skills will be joining me also so why don't you talk to him." He then moved away from Mouth and his friends and toward the bench where Peyton still sat as the rest of her friends were leaving around her. As he approached her she looked up at him, her eyes warmer this time, "I hope you enjoyed the show, you'll be seeing a lot more of me" Lucas said to her.

"I'm not going to lie, that last catch was a little impressive. Maybe you make a couple more of those in a real game and we'll see if we get an actual conversation going," she told him as she got up and left. She would definitely talk to him again, hell she had never felt a connection like she had with that one look he gave her.

He hoped that they would continue to talk, he wanted that connection he felt to come back again. Then it hit him about being able to talk to her again, 'I still have her sketchbook, I'll just give it back to her tomorrow and we can talk then' he thought as he watched her leave.

While Lucas was watching Peyton leave, Nathan was watching Lucas and trying to create a plan that would get Lucas off the team. 'I would just quit and wait till next year but I need the scouts to see me and Dan won't let me quit. So we just have to resort to the next best thing, forcing Lucas and apparently his friend off, and he knew just how to do it.

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Well, thats all folks. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and again please review especially about the whole leyton thing and any other comments you guys have on the story. Thanks for reading


	4. The beginning of something

Ok so I don't own One Tree Hill or the characters etc.

Would be awesome if you guys reading could shoot me some reviews about what you think of the story so far. Also sorry about the slow update, heading back to school soon, needed to get other stuff done.

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Luke couldn't have been happier as he walked towards his mother cafe, 'I could be less sore also, but playing football comes with some bumps and bruises' he thought as he walked into the cafe hoping his mom had something for him to eat, he was running around after all.

Instead of his mom he saw his best friend cleaning off a couple of the tables as he walked through the door. "Hey Hales, your here late, don't you have some studying to do or something," he said with a smile as he sat down at the table she was cleaning off.

She just gave him a look and then sat down with him, "Luke we both know that I study enough that working an extra shift is not going to hurt my 4.0 gpa, and you look happy I'm guessing you won the bet?" she asked.

"Yea Hales I won the bet, Skills and I are going to be joining the Ravens tomorrow, Nathan is going to be pissed off more by having Skills join since he didn't know about that," Luke told her laughing, imagining Nathan's reaction to both of them walking onto the field, but then his stomach reminded him why he was at the cafe instead of home. "Haley two questions for ya, one is my mom still here and two is there any food left?" he asked.

He saw that Haley was about to answer his two questions when he heard his mom answer for her from the back, "Yes Lucas I'm still here and its a restaurant, of course there is food here."

He heard the smile at the end of that statement before he saw her walk from the back with it on her face, it was also nice for him that she brought out some soup. "Thats good mom I was worried that I would have to walk my sore butt home, and thanks for the soup I'm starving," Luke thanked her with a smile as she sat the soup down and took a seat next to him and Haley.

As he began to dig into his soup Haley asked, "So Luke, did you win tonight?"

He looked up at her with sad eyes, then back down to his soup hiding his smile as he heard her say, "Oh Luke I'm sorry, you must feel horrible about not being able to play." He then looked back up at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes and started to laugh, "Don't feel bad Haley I won the game, Nathan is going to have to deal with me and Skills for the rest of the season," he was about to have another spoonful of soup when he remembered about Skills. "Oh yea I might have forgot to mention that Skills was also going to be joining me," he added then continued to eat his soup.

As he continued to eat he heard his mother ask, "Haley what did you mean by him not being able to play football?"

"The bet that he made with Nathan earlier today, didn't he tell you, actually I didn't hear about it until I called him during my break between shift," Haley explained to Karen as Luke finished up his soup.

Karen gave Luke a slightly disappointed look while answering Haley, "No Haley I didn't hear about this bet, all I heard about was that he was going to play for the Ravens. Please explain to me this bet he made with Nathan?"

Haley looked at Luke then at Karen and began to explain the conversation she had with Luke a couple of hours ago.

_Haley was working her shift at the cafe when Skills walked in with one of the biggest smiles that she had seen on his face, the last time she'd seen that was when Skills finally beat Luke for the first time. "Hey Skills what's got you so happy this afternoon?" Haley asked as he walked up to the counter._

"_You will not guess who's going to be on the Ravens this season," Skills said to her sitting down on the seat in front of here._

"_Skills I barely know who's on the Ravens now, well besides Nathan and thats only because he's Luke's brother," Haley told him as she wiped off the counter._

"_Thats true Haley James, how about I give you a hint, you know both of them and actually talk to both of them," Skills told her as he began to look over the menu._

_Haley stopped wiping off the counter as she heard Skills hint, "There's no way that both you and Luke got on the Ravens, you both have never tried out" she said quickly._

_Skills smiled up at her and put the menu down before he answered, "Yep Hales me and Luke both are going to be on the team, and probably starting at wideout. And we didn't have to try out, Keith showed us playing to Whitey and he offered Luke and I a spot on the team. We have to beat Nathan tonight though thanks to Luke's big mouth, but Luke thinks that we will win so I'm not worried...oh and by the way could you get me a BLT to go, got to be prepared for tonight."_

_By the time Skills was done with his explanation Haley was standing in front of him taking in Skills explanation. "So let me get this straight you and Luke both got offers to play for the Ravens from Whitey because Keith showed Whitey you and Luke playing. And what about having to beat Nathan tonight, and yea I'll get you that BLT," Haley said trying to recount back to Skills what he just said, and then taking down his order._

"_Yep thats pretty much what Luke and Keith told me when I was at Keith's shop. And I don't know the exact specifics, but apparently Luke made a bet with Nathan that he wouldn't ever go out for the team if we lose tonight. If you want to get the low down on what actually happened call your best friend up, and how long for the BLT?" he explained to her._

"_Yea I'll do that and it'll probably take about ten to fifteen minutes" she said back to him and walked away from him. As she walked away from the counter she told the cook that she was going to take a quick break and headed upstairs to the roof to give Lucas a call. She sat down on the picnic table that they had setup there and called, after about three rings she heard him answer, "What's up Hales?"_

"_Whats this I hear about you playing Nathan for a spot on the football team?" she asked back, and heard him move around on the other end before he answered back, "Where did you hear that from?"_

'_Thats what he comes back with, I was expecting an answer,' she thought to herself and then said quickly, "Skills came into the cafe with a million watt smile and I asked him what he was so happy about, he said that he was going to become a Raven along with you. Then he said something about you making a stupid bet with Nathan and how it might not get you on the team" _

_She heard another groan then an answer, "Yea Whitey came to see me today about Skills and I playing for the Ravens, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to go out since both of us would be doing it together. And on my way to a tow, Nathan drove up and we got into an argument and I bet him that if I win tonight I get on the team and if I lose I'll stay away from the Ravens." _

_She stayed quiet for a few seconds taking in everything he had just told her, apparently it was longer than she thought because she heard him ask if she was still there. "Yea I'm her still, and Lucas that was a stupid thing to do you could lose your chance to play for the Raven all over a stupid bet. You do know he's going to bring his best players to beat you, and all you have is the guys you play with at the park." She said back to him trying to see a bright side to what he was about to do. Then another thought hit her, "And besides if you win tonight its going to be rough once you get on the team, he's not going to let you stay on easily."_

"_Yea I know Hales, its going to be a tough game even with all three of us being on the same page tonight. And yes I also know that if I do get on he's going to make it hard for both me and Skills, but Whitey pretty much told us we'd be starting so he's going to have to deal with us if he wants to go onto college," Luke answered back, trying his best to sound confident._

_She sighed and rubbed her head, she was starting to get a slight stress headache about this whole situation. "Alright listen Luke I have to get back to work, I probably won't be able to come see you tonight though I'm probably going to pull a double shift, and tell your mom when before she leaves to come back here that she's running low on bacon, Skills will probably get the last of it," she told him laughing slightly at the last part._

"_Alright Hales will do and don't worry about not being able to make it tonight I'll just stop by the cafe and tell you how it went afterwards," he said to her._

"_Ok Luke, I'll talk to you later then, and good luck tonight I really hope you win tonight, you deserve to be a Raven, you're one of the best players in the Tree Hill. So I'll let you go now good luck talk to you later," she said getting ready to go back to work._

"_Thanks Haley you're a great friend and don't worry we'll win tonight, and then we'll have an actual reason to go to the games," he said, and she heard him laugh at the stupid joke as they both hung up._

"And that is everything," Haley said as she finished retelling the memory of what happened, then she continued, "But know we don't have to worry about Luke losing because we know he won, so everything is ok."

Karen who still didn't look to pleased with her only child, finally spoke for the first time in what felt like forever, "Thank you for telling me Haley, and you Lucas, that was the stupidest thing I think I have ever heard you do, you were pretty much on the team when Whitey came to you why risk it?"

Luke, who had been staring between his empty soup bowl and the two other people at the table the whole time Haley was talking took a few seconds to think of a good enough answer besides he was angry and finally came up with one, "Well mom I had to show him that me and Skills had the ability to play with him, otherwise if we just walked onto the field he would never had seen us as two players with any ability."

The answer seemed to convince her because she looked less upset as she spoke, "But Lucas you could've done that while you were on the field with him at practice instead of risking the opportunity that was just given to you by your uncle."

He rubbed his neck, knowing that her answer was true, Skills and him could've just shined at practice. "Yea I know mom, but I was kinda angry when I made that bet though so that might have played a part in my thinking," he explained to her as he put his dish on the counter.

"Yes, well, this should teach you about not fighting back when your angry," Karen told him, as she walked his dish into the back for cleaning. When she reappeared a few seconds later she had a book in her hand, "But enough about tonight Haley and I decided to get you a gift, something for getting on the team." As she walked up to the table he noticed the book was old, the spine being worn and the pages having that old look to them, and when she sat it down he got extremely happy.

"Julius Caesar thanks guys this is great," he told them both and began to slowly flip through the book, being delicate with the old the pages.

"Its no trouble dear," Karen said as she looked at him and then sent a quick smile Haley's way. After that they talked a little longer and then began to close for the night, he needed to sleep he had practice the next afternoon after all.

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To say that Nathan was unhappy was a complete understatement, he was furious. He still didn't understand how three random guys had so much chemistry together that they seemed to know exactly what each was doing. But in the back of his mind he knew it wasn't just that, Lucas was good, real good, so were the other two and that also contributed to his first real defeat in what felt like forever.

'Well, I guess dad isn't going to be to happy about this one' he thought to himself as he walked inside his house. 'Its good that at least he's not awake to hear about this one' he thought, but his assumption was wrong when the light in the living room went off and he heard his dad say, "How'd it go son, do we need to worry about the other one."

Nathan inwardly groaned and began to walk to the living room. As he arrived he saw his father sitting in the recliner, nursing a whiskey and reading the sports page, for what Nathan could only assume was the thousandth time that day. "Unfortunately yes dad he beat us, but don't worry he won't be on the team for long if I have anything to say about it," he told Dan and then began to walk back toward the stairs.

He was almost to them when he heard Dan say, "I hope you can deal with it, we don't need him to ruin your chance of being a pro. And if you can't handle him, I'll make some moves to get rid of him. Night son."

Nathan just shook his head and yelled a good night back to his father. 'I don't understand why he's worried Lucas needs me more than I need him. Without a good quarterback a receiver is nothing,' Nathan thought to himself then began to drift to sleep.

Dan on the other hand was extremely worried, he had seen flashes of greatness from his other son before, especially when Nathan was throwing to him. He had the hands and height to play college ball, and with Nathan as his quarterback he would be great which would detract from Nathan, and Dan Scott wouldn't allow the son he never wanted to be on the same level as the son he would do anything for. 'So if Nathan can't handle him, I'll do whatever it takes to keep him from taking the spotlight off Nathan,' Dan thought to himself as he took the final sip of his Whiskey and began to walk to bed.

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Brooke was waiting for the stupid kids, who in her opinion were moving entirely to slow, to get the hell out of the way. The only good thing about this situation was that Peyton was also stuck with her, so at least she had one bright spot while everybody in front of her were taking there sweet ass time to get away from the park. As she waited for the car that parked her in to start moving she looked over at Peyton, who was starting out of the car in her own broody way. "What ya thinking about?" she asked, hoping to get some conversation flowing, she hated silence.

She heard Peyton give a shot laugh then her answer, "A little bit of everything and nothing, why what are you thinking about?"

She gave her a look at her answer but said back, "Same as you I guess everything and nothing. So why don't we get onto something, like how awesome Nathan looked tonight huh."

Peyton smiled at her, "Brooke Davis crushing on Nathan Scott, never thought you had it in you," Peyton then said sarcastically and finished with a smile, "But you always shoot for the top tier don't ya Brooke."

Brooke slapped her arm then smiled back at her exclaiming, "I am so not crushing on Nathan, we just happen to have a relationship based off of certain benefits that were established last weekend. And what about you, I saw you talking to his brother, whatever his name is Lupis or something."

Peyton face felt a little more flushed than it should have at Brooke's insinuation, but she just scoffed and said, "Its nothing he was the one who drove me home today when you couldn't pick me up, and his name is Lucas by the way."

Brooke looked back at the road noticing that they were finally able to leave the park and began to drive to Peyton's house. "Thats not what it looked like from here, it looked like you like him," Brooke sing songed back at her.

"Nope I do not like Lucas Scott, besides he might just be your next big thing," Peyton said back sarcastically to Brooke, who just smiled at her.

"Maybe he will be, if he does something on the field. If he can do that, then maybe he can play with me also," she answered back to Peyton sarcasm.

Peyton couldn't help but laugh at her words, "Maybe Brooke we'll see in less than a week won't we." Then she began to think about how different of a guy Lucas seemed to be, and relayed that to Brooke, "And be nice to this one Brooke he seems different from all the other ones that you've had your sights on."

Brooke gave her a naughty smile, "Don't worry P. Sawyer, I'll be extremely 'nice' to him, but he has to out do Nathan first, then he might be able to do me," she finished with a laugh.

"Ugh you're incorrigible B. Davis, but we will just have to see how this year plays out, I think it just might be pretty fun," Peyton answered as they began to pull up onto her street.

"Yes, well hopefully we both have a lot of 'fun' we are in the best times of our lives after all. See ya tomorrow P. Sawyer," Brooke said as she pulled in front of Peyton's house.

"Yea see ya tomorrow B. Davis, have a good night," Peyton said back to her and gave a wave as she walked toward her front door. 'I really hope she doesn't do anything foolish with him, he seems like a nice guy...and he's a little intriguing' she thought to herself as she ascended her stairs. 'I guess we will just have to see how it plays out, besides we will definitely be seeing a lot more of each other, he might be a really great guy' she thought to herself one last time before going to bed.

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Luke and Skills were in awe at how awesome it was to see their own pads, helmet, and cleats hanging in the locker room. They hadn't worn the equipment in at least five years, and the stuff they had back then couldn't even touch the stuff they had now. All the pads were top of the line, along with their helmets, and they couldn't wait to go out and practice.

"You ready for a new chapter in our lives to start Luke," Skills asked looking away from the pads and toward Luke.

"I would be lying to you if I wasn't Skills. We are going to do big things this year, if Nathan throws us the ball," Luke said looking at Skills then at Nathan's locker, which was right across from his.

"Yea well he'll throw it to us at some point, this isn't little league, we are playing with the big boys now, you have to throw the ball," Skills answered back with a smile. Lucas was about to say something when they heard the bell go off, school was one period away from being over and they were closer to playing organized football again.

Skills and Luke met each other at Luke's locker, "You ready for a great time?" Skills asked as he walked over to Luke.

"As ready as I could ever be...You study the playbook last night?" Luke said to him, closing up his locker, and they began to walk toward the locker room.

"Kinda, I was a little tired last night after playing in that epic game and such so I might have passed out on like the third page," Skills answered with a smile as they walked into the locker room.

His admission made Luke give a slight laugh, "I can respect that, hopefully Whitey doesn't get too mad that we both barely know what we are doing." As they both walked towards their respective lockers they noticed that Luke's helmet was missing. "Dammit, should've known that he would start early," Luke angrily said and began to look around the locker room for the helmet.

"Don't worry man I'll help you find it, besides if all else fails just do like Thurman Thomas did in the super bowl, and wait for someone to get you a new helmet," Skills said and began to walk around the locker room looking for the helmet.

As they began to look around the locker the rest of the players began to trickle in, until finally Nathan and his 'entourage' walked in. "Well, well, the bastard child appears, and look he already needs a friend to help him get ready," Nathan laughed at Luke and Skills as they continued to look for the helmet.

Nathan's statement caused Luke to stop looking and turn to face Nathan, "Listen Nathan I earned my spot here by beating you, so just leave me alone and we won't have any problems," he said with a little anger in his voice.

At the sound of a threat Nathan stepped closer to Luke, trying to intimidate his supposed brother, "Listen you might have beat me, but I run this team and you won't be here for long if I have anything to say about it. Besides even if you stay around you won't be getting the ball anyway, I'll probably just throw to that other new guy rather than you." At the end of his statement to his brother Nathan turned and yelled through the locker room, "Where's the new guy Whitey brought in, whats his name, something Taylor."

For several seconds Nathan didn't receive an answer until he saw Luke laugh and then saw his friend turn the corner with a helmet in hand. "Here Luke, Jagelski helped me find it in the laundry, and whoever was looking for Antwon 'Skills' Taylor you found him baby, and you better be ready to see this face in the endzone at least three times a game," Skills practically yelled to everyone in the locker room, smiling as he said it.

"Yo Nate isn't that the guy who helped beat you last night?" Tim asked Nathan, who still looked dumbfounded for a couple seconds.

"Yes, Tim he is, and you have got to be kidding me, Whitey picked up the two back alley players who can barley play, this has got to be a joke," Nathan said anger evident in his voice.

"Wow we aren't back alley players we beat your ass last night, with your ex-starting wide receivers so give us some credit man, if you want to win you'll need us," Skills answered back to Nathan and sat down at his locker to get ready, "And instead of staring you guys should probably get ready we got practice in fifteen minutes."

Nathan on the other hand looked like he was about to kill someone, and he yelled at Luke and Skills, "No way man, you both don't deserve to play with us, and nobody on this team wants you here either. So why don't you both leave here and you can tell your mom that your still not wanted."

Luke could take the bullying and the verbal onslaught that Nathan screamed out but he had no right to bring up his mother and the past like that. Instead of yelling back or even taking the high road he decided to just shut him up by punching him in the face, which in turn lead to a mini brawl between Nathan, Luke, Skills, and several other members of the team. It ended almost as soon as it started when they all heard Whitey yell, "What the hell is going on here?"

Luke got off of Nathan and everybody else followed, once everyone involved stood up, Whitey continued, "Dammit boys we've already lost some important parts of the team over the past couple day, and now that we have something to get the offense going you decide to fight each other instead of just dealing with each other. I don't care that you don't like each other but your damn well going to respect each other and behave like teammates, because if you don't your ass will be on that bench and I'll find someone else. Now get ready you have ten minutes before practice starts, and Nathan, Lucas, and Taylor get in my office now."

With that said everybody began to change and put there pads on for practice, and Luke Nathan, and Skills headed towards Whiteys office. Whitey was staring out at the field as they entered, but then turned around, "Sit down gentleman we have several things to discuss. Nathan I would like to introduce to you your new targets on offense, I believe you all have met or played together before." The three teens just stared at him, neither of them wanting to give in and break the silence.

"Now Lucas an Antwon you just got here so I don't expect you to know the playbook yet, Nathan on the other hand you knew it before your freshman year. I want you to help your new teammates learn the where they need to be and what they need to run, and don't argue about this one Nathan if you want to win a state title this year you'll need these two men to get there. Now any questions?" Whitey ended what he was prepared to say to the three teens.

Nathan was the first to speak, "Coach they can learn it just like everyone else, I'm not going to hold there hand through this season. Besides I have other stuff to do during the day than teach them their stuff."

Whitey gave Nathan a look that told him Whitey didn't care, "Now you listen Nathan I want these boys to know at least ten basic plays and the formations, and you won't be doing all the work that is what practice is for, unless you forgot about that. And from what I have seen from your grades you might not even make it to a college team if you don't get your grades up." Whitey paused for a second then said, "Since we are going to have these two new boys learning the playbook for the team, and they still have better grades than you, you can teach them the playbook and get a tutor for those grades of yours. And if you don't get a tutor Nathan you'll be riding the bench until your grades go up. Now you three get out of here, get changed, and get stretched we have a lot of learning to do today." With that said Whitey gave them a smile grabbed his hat and walked out of his office, leaving the three boys to their thoughts.

Luke and Skills didn't need any time though, they walked back to the locker room and got ready, Nathan on the other hand stayed in there trying to wrap his mind around what just happened. 'He's making me get a tutor, who the hell does he think he is. The scouts aren't going to care about my grades, they'll worry about my play and my ability. He won't sit me anyway, he won't have anyone else who can play quarterback.' At that point Nathan decided to not get a tutor and dare Whitey to do something, but he had practice no and needed to teach the two new 'teammates' the playbook.

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They were the last ones in the locker room since Whitey forced them to stay and taught them several more plays. Lucas and Skills minds and bodies had never been so sore and used in there entire life as they plodded there way to the locker room. Ten plays didn't seem so bad, until they realized how many different formations they would have to do the same play out of. Besides the mental part of the game, Nathan always seemed to throw the ball in the area where they would get hit right after they caught the ball.

"Yo Luke, you ever feel as beat up as you do now?" Skills asked as he sat down on the bench and began to take off his pads.

Luke sat down next to him with a grunt then answered, "Nope never have felt this bad, and besides my body my mind is still going over how putting x before z changes what we run." He paused for a second taking his cleats off then continued, "It also doesn't help that Nathan is trying to get us killed, telling us the wrong routes and throwing into the teeth of the defense, hell my rib is still killing me from that shot I took."

Skills put his pads away and threw his practice clothes in the wash bin as he answered, "Yea its going to be a couple of long weeks ahead of us, but once we got everything down, there is nothing to stop us from winning that state title."

With that said they both finished getting ready to leave in a comfortable silence. It was finally broken when Luke said, "Skills before we can actually win anything, we need to get Nathan to play with us and trust us, otherwise no ones going to win anything."

Skills stopped his packing his bag and looked at Luke, "Yea I know Luke, without either of us on the same page we aren't going to win squat. But that learning thing goes both ways, we gotta learn to trust and play with him also and if that means not fighting in the locker room and just talking trash on his stupid ass outside of it, well then I think we could actually do something special this year. Anyway I gotta head out real quick, don't need the moms to think that my first high school football practice ended in me getting hazed or something." Skills then left the locker room leaving Luke to his thoughts on what the other teen had said.

'I hate when the people around me can articulate an idea when I want the exact opposite of what they tell me.' He thought as he finished up his things. 'Nathan will never except me or Skills as part of the team, all he wants is to be the golden boy that Dan always wanted him to be. And he's such a dick to me and my friends, the only way that Skills and I are going to do special things is if Nathan fails this season.'

As he left the locker room still in his thoughts of how they were going to get anywhere with Nathan, he heard a familiar voice yelling into what he assumed was a cell phone. "Brooke how could you not remember your best friend wasn't with you when you left, I told you you were my ride home for the next couple of day." His suspicions were confirmed when he didn't hear an answer back.

He stopped walking and listened in on the conversation, kind of ashamed that he was listening in on the conversation, but he had never seen the fiery side of Peyton Sawyer before and it intrigued him. "What do you mean that something came up, I told you to wait a minute and I would be at your car...Oh thats what came up, more like he came 'up', I can't believe you left me at school for Nathan...Just get a ride with the another person, you do realize that no one is here right now, I told everyone else that I was just going to ride with you...Sorry really doesn't help me right now Brooke...Yea I'll just call Bevin or something, you owe me big time Brooke...Yea we're still best friends Brooke, even though you did leave me for like the biggest ass in the school...Yea good luck, use protection see you later," She laughed at the end of the conversation, then he heard a sigh, which indicated to him to begin walking again.

As he turned the corner he saw the blonde beauty sitting in a chair with her head in her hands. "You're a little late, cheerleading practice ended about an hour ago," he said trying to strike up a conversation, and supplant some humor into the situation.

Instead of a laugh, he just got a look that told him if he was an ant he would be underneath her foot right now, "Why is it that whenever bad things happen to me you are always around, you're like a curse or something."

He gave a slight laugh at the last part, then he sat down in the chair next to her and hoped she didn't hit him. "You say that like its a bad thing, besides the only other bad time I was around you was when I was doing my job and towing your car back to my uncles garage," he answered back giving her a slight smile, he didn't receive one back instead it was a bored look.

Each time they had an actual conversation she gave him the same look, and it was beginning to annoy him. "You know you can be civil to me, I may not be the most popular guy here but that doesn't mean I'm not a person. Maybe if you tried talked with me maybe we could begin to start becoming friends," he told her, his voice telling her he was clearly annoyed with how she had been treating him when he tried to have a civil conversation.

To say that she was embarrassed was an understatement, she knew that she wasn't treating him right but people usually left her alone when she treated them as crap. He on the other hand was the first to continue trying to talk to her, and if he was making an effort to know her, she might as well try to know him since she would be seeing a lot of him now that he was on the team. "Ok you got me I've been kind of an ass to you each time we talked and I could see that becoming annoying. So how about we just maybe start over, I won't be an ice queen to you and you just be what you've tried to be whenever we talked." She stated looking him directly in the eyes, and noticing how blue they were, almost like the Caribbean.

He gave her a full blown smile and nodded his head, "Sounds like a plan, now I heard you saying you needed a ride home as I was walking down the hall, I could take you and we could maybe learn a thing or two about each other along the way?"

She was sort of happy about him accepting her offer, after all she wasn't really good at making any kind of friends. Realistically Brooke was her only friend, everybody else she hung out with was probably an acquaintance if anything, so maybe making a new friend wouldn't be such a bad thing, it also helped that he was somewhat cute. Besides a potential friendship he was also offering her a ride home, which at this point she couldn't really refuse. 'Maybe instead of a curse he's sort of my rescuer, to help me get out of all my automotive jams' she thought to herself, the beginnings of a smile forming on her lips.

She answered his question by getting up and walking toward the parking lot, when she noticed he wasn't following she turned around and asked, "You going to drive me home or not, I thought we were trying to become friends or something?" As she turned and continued to walk toward the lot another smile formed on her lips, it had been some time when she even remotely smiled as much as she had in the past couple of minutes, maybe a friendship with Lucas Scott wouldn't be such a bad thing.


End file.
