Coach Whitey Durham had been back and forth about this. On the one hand the Scott girl was good, really good, on the other hand, his team would hate it.
Finally he came to the conclusion that what his team wanted didn't matter. Putting Scott on the team would be a good move towards at perfect season.
"Scott." Whitey called entering an English class, Nathan moved to get up immediately, but Whitey stopped him, "Not you, Ms. Scott."
Brooke stood up and followed him to the gym.
"Um, coach guy?" Brooke asked.
"Coach Durham." he said.
"Right, ok…What's going on?" she asked confused.
Whitey looks around the gym, "Nice, isn't it? A lot of people like their gyms loud. I like mine like this -- quiet, clean... Kind of like a church. A lot of praying done here, anyway. You played ball in grade school. Why'd you quit?"
"I didn't." she stated.
"What three boys and a girl in the park? That's not exactly basketball." he said.
"What is it you think we're doing out there then? Plotting to rob a bank?"
"Look, I've got an opening in my lineup, varsity. Chance of a lifetime. What do you say?"
"I'd say those people who spend their time praying in here are just wasting their time, God doesn't watch sports." Brooke took her shot, making it of course and walked out of the gym.

"When were you planning on telling us about this?" Haley demanded sitting next to Mouth on the picnic table, while Brooke and Skillz played one on one.
"It's nothing." Brooke said.
"Whitey asks you to play on the school team and you say its nothing?" Skillz asked calling a time out.
"It's nothing cause I'm not playing- not with those guys. Don't you think that maybe this is where we belong? Out here?" Brooke asked.
"No we belong out here." Skillz said motioning to himself, Mouth, and Fergie," You never have."
"Thanks Skillz, just shoot." she said.
"Look Brooke, you know your one of my best friends right? Ain't nothing never gonna change that, girl. But keep it real. We ain't shooting for teams. We're shooting to be your excuse. And I ain't about to be a part of that." Skillz said dropping the ball.

Haley and Brooke walked to the Roe residence.
"Brooke why is there a package at your door?" Hales asked.
"Hmm?" Brooke asked as Haley pointed to a small box.
"I don't know grab it for me, I'll meet you in my room." Brooke said. Then searched the house for her mom.

"Moms not here.." Brooke said walking into her room.
Haley smiled sheepishly, "I couldn't help it it screamed open me." she held up a Raven's uniform.

"Honey are you here?" Karen calls opening Brooke's door and sees her looking at herself in the mirror, trying on the uniform."Someone left it at the door." Brooke attempted to explain.
"Take it off." Karen said without explanation.
"Mom you ok?" Brooke asked following her, Haley in tow.
"Do you know who left it?"
"Whitey probably. He asked me to join the team."
"Maybe you should."
"You sound like Skillz, Mouth and Tutor girl." Brooke said pointing at Haley.
Haley shrugged.
"The boys refused to play, they said they didn't want to be my excuse. I was pissed off." Brooke told her mother.
Karen picks up a picture of Brooke when she was little, "Do you remember this?"
"Yeah that's when I got my first leather ball. That was the year Skillz dad told us there was no Santa. Haley cried for a week." Brooke said.
"I did not,." Haley said.
"Yeah and then I tried to talk you out of it, then you said something I'll never forget. You said you felt bad for the kids who never figured it out, because when they grew up and had kids of their own, there wouldn't be any gifts on Christmas morning. You're a good kid, Luke. But sometimes I feel like you're sitting out your life on account of me, and I don't want that for you. My past is not your future, okay?"

Nathan was working out in the weight room when his dad walked in."Dad."
"Your mom called. She won't be back --what do you know about Whitey inviting-"
"You daughter to play?" Nathan asked cutting him off
"Don't call her that." Dan commanded.
"She has our last name."
"The fact that she shares your last name is only wishful thinking on her mother's part. We were young -- summer after high school. We made a mistake." Dan said for the hundredth time.
"A mistake I know, "Nathan sighed, "Look, it's kind of screwed up, all right? People talk about it."
"I want you to go to this kid, convince her not to play." Dan said suddenly.
"I'm not scared of her." Nathan said.
"Well you should be. A girl joining an all boys team, the scouts will love her." Dan said.

Brooke was shooting free throws at the river court while Haley sat at the picnic table doing homework. The boys had still refused to play with her, so she resorted to playing by herself.
"Nice shot," Nathan said as he, Lucas, Tim, and a few other members of the team came up behind her, "Think you can hit that against a double team, down by 2, packed house telling you, you suck? How about just two people telling you, you suck?"
"What do you want, Nathan?" Brooke asked.
"What do I want? What do you want, Brooke? I mean other than my best friend and my spot in the lineup, huh? None of us want you on the team. I don't want you. The guys don't want you. Lucas sure as hell doesn't want you. --but here's the deal. --You and me, one on one. You can name the time and place. If you win, I'll quit the team. If I win, you crawl back in your little hole and you remember your place in all this. Time and place, baby. Time and place"
Brooke blushed when he insinuated that she had feelings for Lucas, but didn't show any fear of Nathan. Lucas however moved a bit back further in line, embarrassed. Brooke merely looked at Haley, "You ready?"
"Uh, yeah, sure." she said quickly gathering her things, sparing a glance at Nathan as she left.

As Haley and Brooke walked through the streets of town she turned to Brooke and asked, "Are you gonna play him?"
"I don't know, I mean I have nothing to prove right? But I really just wanna beat him and laugh when he loses to a girl!" Brooke said childishly. "And to show him what a mistake he's made"
"Dan?"
"Mostly for mom. And...Sometimes for me." Brooke said.

"Why wouldn't you play?" Keith asked as he showed Brooke how to fix something on a car, that night.
"I do play, every night, well not lately cause the boys are being idiots." she said.
"It's not the same, Brooke." Keith said.
"Why not? God why does everyone keep saying that? How does it make it any less of the game by being in a park instead of a gym?" Brooke demanded.
"I'll tell you why. When I was a kid, my father took me to Raleigh to see David Thompson play. I was 9 years old. I couldn't have cared less about basketball. But when Thompson stepped on the court, he was so young, so quick, and just so graceful that I was mesmerized. I couldn't take my eyes off him until late in the game, and I look up at my dad, and he's got tears in his eyes. 14,000 strangers and my father's crying because he's so beautiful. He played with such poetry that he made us feel like we were a part of it. You have a gift, Brooke, and it's a crime not to let people see it, to hide it in the park. It's a damn shame. That's why." The phone rings interrupting him, "Keith's auto body and towing."

Brooke is hooking Luke's car up to the truck, "that's me inside your head."
"What?""NOFX." Lucas explained, "it's lyrics to a-"
"I know the song." she said cutting him off.
Lucas sighs and grabs his cell phone out of the car, "Nathan hey dude, its me. all right, well, listen, my car broke down. You're gonna have to come pick me up. So leave the gym. Listen, it'll take you, like, 10 minutes. I'm on River Road around the curve. Well, sucks to be you. Then send Bevin. Whatever man." Lucas hung up.
Brooke sighed once more gritted her teeth and asked, "Look are you sure you have a ride? I mean, I can wait if you want."
"Yeah that's what I want." Lucas said sarcastically, "Have you dad call me with an estimate."
"My uncle." she said annoyed.
"If that's your story." he sneered.

Okay I know I'm being confusing with Luke's behavior but, its supposed to be that way. He's torn between possible feelings for Brooke and his loyalties to Nathan. So expect him to be an ass at times and really sweet the rest of the time. Please review.
-Em