I hummed to myself as I looked through my movie collection. Over the years, it had grown quite extensive. My mom and my brother always liked to say I was the queen of movie quotes and trivia. I couldn't help it. Movies were my passion. They were the reason I auditioned for every school play, willing to appear in the smallest of roles for a chance to lose myself in a character. Maybe it was because my own life was so typically small town.
The curse of too much choice was when I was unable to choose. With a sigh, I headed out of my room to find a snack. I was taken aback when I heard my mother's quiet, serious tone.
"Take it off."
She abruptly left my twin brother's room and curiously, I looked in to see Luke dressed in a Ravens varsity jersey.
"Lucas!" I said in shock. I could very well understand our mother's discomfort in seeing it. The only part of my life that was not small town was ironically the part that we all avoided most in our family, and that was the topic of Lucas' and my biological father, Dan Scott. Dan had abandoned our mom and by extension, the two of us, for basketball. Of course, he got another girl pregnant barely even three months later and stood by her, ignoring the three of us, and thus creating the hell spawn known as Nathan Scott. "Is this why Whitey wanted to talk to you?"
"You heard about that?" he said in surprise.
"Everyone heard about it," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Just… what are you doing?"
He shrugged, turning typically broody. I rolled my eyes and went into the kitchen. I rarely won against him when he went all broody like this. So I picked up the phone and dialled Skills, wondering if Luke had informed him of his plans. In our group, everyone got along but everyone also had a best friend: Jimmy and Mouth, Haley and Luke, Fergie and Junk, and me and Skills. I chatted with his mom for a bit before she put her son on.
"Sup, Beth?" he answered.
"Some crazy idea about Lucas playing basketball at school," I said. "Heard about it?"
"Yeah, we heard," he answered. I knew he would have. However much Skills wanted to act like a total player, he was also a total gossip. "We said we wouldn't be his excuse not to."
"Are you insane?" I said bluntly.
He paused. "Is this about your brother?"
"By brother you better mean Luke," I said sweetly, warning him not to bring up Nathan.
Of course Skills being Skills, he ignored me. "You know who I mean."
I went quiet as Luke passed by me, heading out the front to talk to Mom. Once he was out of earshot, I resumed the conversation.
"I don't understand how he would want to be near him," I paused. "Or Dan," I said quietly.
"Damn, you know how good Luke is," he said. "Why does Nathan Scott deserve to take this too?"
I still wasn't convinced. That evening Mom was being quiet, so I knew her head was in the past. It was very odd to even catch a glimpse of my father. We all ran in very different social circles, and he wasn't mentioned in our house. It was ironic that his brother, our Uncle Keith, was one of my absolute favourite people. He was the only reason I could bear having the last name Scott in this town.
After a quiet dinner, I was reading out the front when Luke came out, clad in his typical shirt from Keith's Body Shop and a basketball. He gave me a look, as if waiting for me to tell him off about this whole basketball thing.
"Want some company?" I asked instead.
He gave me a look of surprise. "Sure."
I was good at basketball, but not nearly as talented as Luke was. Still, we still occasionally played together on the River Court. I could hold my own against most of the guys there. Tonight though, I was grateful that it was just the two of us. We didn't speak, we just played.
A car pulled up beside the court, and I paused as Nathan got out, followed by his friend Tim who remained by the car. I was proud of Luke however, as he made an effortless shot into the hoop, letting Nathan know his presence wasn't worth acknowledging. Nathan caught it and sent us a smirk.
"The two of you think you can play, huh?"
This may have been the actual first time we had had a conversation. We had gone to a different elementary school, but from seeing each other at high school, there had been an unspoken rule that had Lucas and I ignoring Nathan's presence, and vice versa. It was a rule I would have been happy to remain intact.
"Nice shot," Nathan continued, when Luke and I just glared him down. "Think you can hit that against a double team, down by two, packed house telling you that you suck?" he circled Luke, and I moved protectively closer to Luke. Nathan just smirked. "How about just two people telling you that you suck?"
"How about the two of us telling you you're an asshole?" I retorted, and both boys looking at me in surprise. It occurred to me suddenly that I looked more like Nathan than I did Lucas, with our dark hair and blue eyes. I hated that. I didn't want to be anything like him or his damn father.
"Beth," Luke said gently, trying to calm me down.
"Watch your sister there," Nathan said condescendingly.
"You can go f-"
"What do you want?" Luke addressed Nathan, purposely interrupting me before I could go off.
"What do you want, man?" Nathan spat. "I mean other than my girlfriend and my spot in the line-up, huh? None of us want you on the team. I don't want you, the guys don't want you. My girlfriend sure as hell doesn't want you."
"Who are you kidding, Nathan?" I spat. "You don't want him on the team. You feel threatened."
Nathan took a step towards me, his eyes flashing with anger. But Luke was between us staring him down before he had chance to get any closer to me.
"Threatened?" he scoffed, throwing off his anger. "How about this? You and me, Lucas, one on one. You can name the time and the place. If you win, I'll quit the team. If I win, you and your sister crawl back into your little hole and you remember your place in all this."
Luke grabbed my arm without turning around, knowing I was about to say something. I hesitated, and then didn't respond.
"Good girl," Nathan said, his voice dripping with condescension. To Luke, he said, "Time and place, baby, time and place."
Luke and I stood in silence as we watched them leave.
I let out a long, shaky breath. "Okay, I have officially changed my mind," I said angrily. Luke turned to me. "You have to do this. Our place in this? He is a pig, and he deserves nothing more than the ass kicking and the beautiful humiliation that would accompany it."
"You shouldn't let him antagonise you like that," Luke said.
I sent him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? Did you not hear what he said?"
"He feeds off the reactions, Beth," he snapped.
I grabbed the ball off him and effortlessly made a basket. "Be pissy all you want, Lucas. Just beat him."
My complete inadequacy around a kitchen meant that my mother utilised my skills with numbers instead, so my part time jobs revolved around doing the books for Karen's Café and Keith Scott's Body Shop.
I arrived at the body shop just as Luke was leaving with the tow truck, and I sent him a wave as I walked in.
"Ah, there's my favourite niece," Keith said, and I grinned.
"How bad are the books?" I said knowingly, and he laughed as he led me to his messy desk.
"I did what you asked me to do," he said innocently.
"Leave them until I get here?"
"That's it," he said. "So how you doing, kiddo?"
My smile immediately dimmed. "I take it from your tone of voice you have spoken to Luke."
"He said you're having some trouble with all this," Keith said.
"Well, I'm not," I lied. "I'm all for Lucas showing Nathan where our place is in all this."
Keith looked concerned, and opened his mouth to reply. Thankfully, a customer arrived.
"Go on, I'll get started," I shooed him away and with a reluctant look, he left me at the desk.
I liked numbers. They made sense to me in a way life often didn't. So I bent my head down and started to work. The customer left and before Keith could approach me again, a door slammed and I heard the sound of Dan Scott's voice. I gritted my teeth and ignored their conversation as much as I could.
"Nathan's got a shot here, Keith. A real future." Wow. Dan really had some nerve. Did Lucas not deserve that same shot?
"A real future. Let me ask you something," Keith said. "Do you ever even think about Lucas' future? Or Beth's? Do you ever think about them?"
"I can't change the fact these kids exist," Dan stated matter of factly. "If I could, I would."
I couldn't stand to be in the same room as this man. I didn't know what we, or our mother, had done to deserve this cruelty. I had been under no illusions – I didn't consider Dan Scott to be my father in the ways that mattered. That role belonged solely to Keith.
I came up behind Keith, but Dan didn't see me because his attention was taken by Lucas' arrival. He seemed to have heard just what I had. Dan and Luke stared at each other for a long moment.
"Luke," I said gently, the same way he had tried to calm me down when we had been confronted by Nathan at the River Court. Keith, Dan and Luke all looked at me at the same time. But Luke was the only one I cared about.
Luke abruptly threw the keys to Keith who caught them and started to walk away. I paused beside Dan.
"I don't know why it bothers you that we exist," I said bluntly. "Considering for the past sixteen years, you haven't existed in our lives at all."
With that, I walked out. I didn't find Luke. I knew he needed the time alone to process what Dan had said. I didn't want to think about it at all.
"What's up?" Skills asked when I showed up at his house. I held up a bottle of vodka I had managed to get with a fake ID.
"Wanna drink?" I said bluntly.
"Yo, what happened?" he said, looking at me as if I was about to break down. I was determined not to.
"I need a drink," I said. "You can either join me or I can find someone else."
Thankfully, his parents were away so we had the place to ourselves. I quickly started to drink, ignoring my best friend's look of concern. Though I had thought he was drinking, I got drunk incredibly quickly and he seemed to remain sober.
I danced around the living room to some of Skill's favourite rap songs, which after hanging with him so often I know knew off my heart. With a giggle, I collapsed onto the couch, and he leaned beside me.
"You ready to talk?"
My smile faded. "It's humiliating," I said softly. I hated how I let this bother me. "Dan came by the body shop today."
"What did he say to you?" he demanded overprotectively.
"He didn't know I was there," I said. "Or Luke, who came to hear the best part. That he wishes we didn't exist." I wiped my eyes angrily. "I don't want to care, Skills. I just want it all to go back to the way it was before."
"I know you do, girl," he said gently. I stood up and almost fell down.
"Oops," I giggled.
"You know your mother's going to kill you."
Even though I knew he was right, I couldn't stop laughing. I wasn't the type to normally drink (we weren't exactly invited to the popular kids parties after all) so Skills was a bit at a loss of what to do. In the end, he called Luke to come and get me.
I proceeded to entertain Skills with rapping, determined not to think about Dan, this time without the music.
Luke walked in, looking at me in shock. "Have a bit to drink, Beth?"
"Maybe," I giggled, falling into his arms. "Wanna rap with me, Luke?"
"Don't look at me, dawg," Skills said defensively. "You try stopping your sister when she wants to do something."
"Okay, I'll take you home," he said. "Though I don't know how we're gonna hide this from Mom."
"Mom!" I said dramatically, slapping my hand to my forehead. "We'll pretend I'm sick!"
"Yeah, let's see how that works," Luke said, as he and Skills together walked me home. Mom was in the kitchen cooking dinner.
Seeing me being supported by the two boys, rapping loudly, was a dead giveaway I admit.
"What the hell happened?" she demanded.
"She had a rough day," Skills offered in explanation.
Mom took over, steering me into my bedroom.
"This isn't like you, Beth," she said in concern. "What are you doing, drinking?"
"I just wanted to forget stuff," I said, waving my hand.
"What stuff?"
"I can't tell you," I said. I knew it would hurt her, just the same as it had hurt me. As it had to have hurt Luke.
"Keith called," she said gently. "She said Dan came by," I remained silent. "He said he wished you didn't exist."
"I know he's not my dad in the ways that matter," I said quietly. "But I don't know why he has to hate us so much."
"Me too, baby," she said. "Me too."
I woke up the next day with a hangover that sent me straight to the bathroom to throw up.
"Oh God," I muttered as I stumbled down the hallway.
"Morning sunshine," Luke grinned. I scowled at him.
"Shut up," I said, annoyed he was enjoying my pain.
"Oh, look who's up," Mom said.
"Grounded?" I said as I helped myself to coffee.
"Two weeks," she confirmed.
"Awesome," I groaned.
"Beth, I know things are difficult right now," she said. "But drinking is no answer to your problems."
"No, the solution to my problems would be seeing a certain someone being put in his place," I said, turning to my brother. "Lucas?"
He groaned. "Who told you?"
"Haley," I said in a 'duh' tone. "She texted me this morning. Wait! Mom, I have to see this!"
"Well that's too bad," she said, leaving the room, but not before adding over her shoulder, "Grounded, remember?"
I followed her into her bedroom. "I have to be there."
"You need to stay away from all this," she said, and even though I was annoyed with her, I could detect the genuine concern for me in her voice. I hated making my mother worry. "Going there and watching Nathan and Lucas play, what will that do for you?"
"Mom," I said gently. "We are in this whether we want to be or not. All Nathan and Dan want us to do is disappear. To act like we don't exist. I am done hiding. And that's what it will look like I'm doing if I'm not there supporting my brother tonight."
Mom looked torn. I had never managed to change her mind when it came to discipline, but to my surprise she seemed to understand. "Fine, but that is it –"
I cut her off with a tight hug. "Thank you," I said softly, and she hugged me back in return.
I was grounded except for school, drama club and this game between Nathan and Lucas. Word had already spread like wildfire about the game, and I arrived at the River Court early with Lucas who wanted to get warmed up before Nathan's arrival. Jimmy and Skills were the only ones there before us, dressed in suits and looking every bit the professional commentators they wanted to be one day. I rolled my eyes at them in amusement as they began, long before the crowds of people started to arrive.
"Thanks for letting me know," I said to Haley as she arrived.
"No worries," she said with a smile. "I think Luke would have hidden it from you if he could. He's worried about you."
"I'm fine," I said. Typical Luke though, trying to keep me away from all this as if it was his burden to carry.
"I heard you do a pretty mean rap," she said, bumping her hip against mine and making me laugh.
"Skills' fault," I said as my best friend came and stood beside me. More and more people were arriving.
"What's Skills' fault?" he asked.
"My knowledge of rap," I explained, watching as Luke tuned the crowd out and continued practicing.
"Yeah, you owe me for that," he laughed. "Sup, Haley?"
"Freaking out about this game," she said anxiously, looking distracted as Nathan finally arrived, to the whoops of the crowd. He was loving it.
"Douchebag," I muttered as he took the ball from Luke and dunked it.
Skills laughed at my comment and Haley just looked worried.
"He can do this, Hales," I said softly. "He has to."
"Okay folks, here we go. Fifteen by ones, make it, take it, win by one," Mouth announced. "And you can feel the intensity in the air."
Mouth wasn't wrong, as Nathan and Lucas met in the middle of the court to begin the game.
"You ready for this?" Nathan said, glaring at Luke as he gave him the ball.
"Why not?" Luke said, giving the ball back to Nathan. Neither wanted that first shot.
"It's your life," Nathan said, giving the ball back to Luke.
"Yeah," Luke said, briefly glancing over at me. I nodded at him, and he turned back to Nathan. "It is."
With that, he made the first basket of the night.
The smack talk continued as the boys played furiously against each other. I don't think I'd ever seen Luke so intense about something that wasn't a book before.
Everything was going fine until Nathan elbowed Luke in the nose to get a shot in. Haley gasped and I automatically went to go to Luke, but Skills held me back.
"You don't wanna do that," he said, though he looked just as furious as I did. I understood his point though. Luke didn't need his sister running in and trying to save him. After spitting the blood out of his mouth, Luke addressed Nathan.
"No foul, basket counts."
"Idiot," I groaned quietly, and Skills scoffed.
"Like you're not just as proud as Luke is,"
I elbowed him playfully in the stomach and returned my gaze to the game.
"Besides," Luke warned Nathan. "You won't score again."
"The basket counts, and it's 14-12, game point for Nathan," Mouth commentated. "He could win it all, right here."
I felt sick with nerves, praying with everything in me that Luke would win this. For me, for Mom, but most of all, for himself.
Nathan went to make his winning basket, and Luke pulled off a miraculous block, leaving us all cheering wildly, especially when a moment later he caught up by another point.
"You can do it, Luke!" I called, and he sent a grin my way. Nathan glared at me, but addressed Luke.
"You're down by one, man," he said. "Don't choke now."
Luke answered in the form of another basket. My heart was in my throat.
"You can do this, you can do this," I muttered, clinging to Skill's arm.
"This is it folks, no going back now," Mouth announced. "The next basket wins it."
"Come on, Lucas!" Haley called.
"You can do it, dawg!" Skills yelled.
"He's never mentioned you, man," Nathan snapped at Luke. "Neither of you, not once in all these years."
"This is for my mom," Luke said, and I felt faint as I watched the ball fly through the air, and scream as Luke made that winning shot. I launched myself at him, ahead of the crowd, and he caught me easily in a hug.
"You did it, Luke," I whispered. I pulled away as all our friends fought to congratulate him, and I couldn't help but beam at Nathan and the glare on his face. I went to look away, but was surprised when I noticed that someone was watching me. In this war of Nathan versus Lucas, nobody really bothered to look at the sister who was decent at basketball but no threat to either of the boys.
It was Clay Evans. He wasn't looking at me with anger, or disappointment, which were the expressions on his friends' faces. He was looking at me like he was trying to figure something out. Sure that Nathan's best friend couldn't be looking at me, not in any way that was less than unfriendly, I checked behind me. When I looked back, the light haired boy gave me an amused grin, that grin that girls at school never shut up about. Unnerved, I looked for Luke.
I spotted him as he was approaching Peyton, and I could see the clear jealousy written across Nathan's face.
"Be careful, Luke," I said when Luke returned to our celebrating group. Beating Nathan at the game he loved was one thing. Hitting on his girlfriend was another.
"You worry too much, little sister."
I scowled. "I am your little sister by barely five minutes, Lucas Eugene."
"Well, Elizabeth Moira," he said, grinning at me. I couldn't help but smile back. "It's enough to call you little sister."
"I'll let it fly tonight," I said, hugging him again. "Because you did it, big brother."
As we listened to the cheers of our friends, it really felt like everything was about to change.