Author's Note:

Hey y'all... Now that you got a little background, here's some more interesting stuff. Hope you like!


Chapter Two

"Nate, are you ready yet or am I gonna have to drag you out of here just like I had to last night?!"

Nathan was brought back out of his thoughts. "Oh, I'm sorry Hales. Thanks for ripping me away from that girl last night. I'm really glad you care about me enough to take me away before I got her phone number," Nathan replied, dually sarcastic.

"Well at least I took you away before you puked all over her like you did to me," Haley said.

"Wow, I have good timing," Nathan teased.

"Ha hah, now go get dressed before Coach Durham barges in here and gets you dressed himself," Haley ordered laughing at the look of disgust on her best friend's face.

As Nathan got dressed, he thought back to the dream he had had. He had been with Haley at the Rivercourt back in Tree Hill. They were playing around and then Lucas had come. He had taken Haley away, and Nathan was left on the court feeling lonely, just as Lucas had for the past twenty-two years. Nathan decided just to forget about it. It meant nothing. Everything from the past was put behind them; he didn't need to worry about that anymore. Haley was his friend and his only. Lucas could never take Haley away from him, like he had with their dad.

Haley noticed Nathan's troubled look. "Nate, what's up?"

"Nothing, Hales. It was just a stupid dream."

"Well it can't have been stupid if it has you this worried about it," Haley pointed out, concerned for her best friend.

"It's nothing, Hales, really. Don't worry about it," said Nathan, while still worrying himself.

"That's really convincing, Nathan," Haley said sarcastically before walking away. She was always able to see right through him, and sometimes it annoyed the hell out of him.

The pair walked out of the room together and headed towards the gym, where the home game was to be played in 35 minutes and counting. 'Shit, I was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago,' Nathan thought. When they finally entered the gym, Haley went to the already crowded bleachers and Nathan jogged over to the locker room entrance. While the UNC team was warming up, Lucas saw Nathan run across the court, apparently late, and shot him a nasty look, not going unnoticed by Nathan. Nathan returned the glare.

As Nathan walked (or rather sprinted) into the locker room, he saw that Coach Durham, or Whitey as some called him, was already looking more than a little angry.

"Well, Nathan Scott, so nice of you to join us," Whitey said mockingly.

Nathan quickly threw on his jersey and wrapped his ankle and sat down on the bench next to Tim Smith, one of his dim-witted team members. Tim was not the brightest of the bunch, earning him the nickname "Dim."

"As I was saying when Mr. Scott so generously graced us with his presence, today is a big game for us, boys. We all know that UNC is our biggest threat. I'm not afraid to admit it; they've got a pretty damn good team. Lucas Scott is by far their best shooter, so we are going to put the best of our defense on him. Got that, Nathan?" Whitey had noticed that Nathan looked a little uneasy today and was a little worried.

"Sure, Coach."

"Nathan, are you sure you're going to be okay guarding Lucas?" Coach Durham asked louder this time.

"What? Um yeah of course," Nathan said, obviously still not paying attention.

"Alright good because you are going to be guarding him the entire game," Coach Whitey said, trying to get a reaction out of Nathan to see if he was listening.

"What?!" was his response.

"Okay then I guess you're listening now," a satisfied Whitey answered with a chuckle. He had always liked Nathan. The kid had a great heart, but could sometimes be a little misguided.

"Coach, am I really guarding Lucas the entire game?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, Nathan. Lucas is hot this year and we need you to stop him," Coach Durham said.

"Of course it has to be me," Nathan mumbled under his breath.

"Yes, it has to be you. You are our best defender. If you're too scared to stand up to that little brother of yours, then I'm sure we can make adjustments. I can take you out of the game if you don't want to play, Nathan," Coach said angrily. Nathan had huge potential as a ball player, and it angered Whitey when he didn't feel like using it for the benefit of the team.

"No, I'll do it, Coach," Nathan replied weakly.

"Good, now everyone get your asses out on that court and start warming up," Whitey growled.

Out on the court, Nathan let all of his anxieties go. He made several slam dunks and practiced his free throws, nailing 90 of them. Nathan was on fire tonight. He looked unstoppable and his opponents definitely noticed, especially Lucas.

Nathan watched as Lucas approached his coach.

"Coach, we need to do something about number 23. He's looking really good tonight. I can take him though. I am the best defender on the team. Let me guard him tonight; I won't let you down," Lucas commanded.

"Lucas, you sure?" asked his coach.

"Definitely," responded Lucas cockily, with the same mischievous grin that Nathan had worn so many times.

Nathan looked away from his brother, disgusted by the likeness that he saw existed between them. So Lucas wanted to play rough? 'Well then, I will just have to kick his ass for even thinking he can take me,' Nathan decided with a small grin. He pounded down a couple more free throws and slammed a couple more dunks and then went into the locker room with his teammates for Whitey's ritual pre-game speech.

"Okay boys. This is the game that we've been preparing for all year. If we beat these idiots, we will have the division title securely in our hands. We can't let these buffoons get the best of us. Once we lock down Lucas Scott, the game will be ours. Lucas is their only decent player so we have to take him down. Nathan's on that, right Nate?" Coach probed.

"Hell yeah, Coach! I say we do whatever we can to take him down and then kick some major Tarheel ass!" Nathan responded, riling up his team. Nathan was pumped for the game now. The adrenaline was flowing and he was ready to play.

"Here, here! Let's go kick some major Tarheel ass boys!" Whitey chuckled.

The team slapped hands and broke their huddle. Whitey exited the locker room and the players filed out behind him in their lineup order. Once they drew near the stands, they heard the crowd erupt in cheers. The lights dimmed and an announcer's voice could be heard over the loudspeaker.

"And now the Duke Blue Devils! Introducing…" The announcer introduced all of the players, with the exception of Nathan.

"And now, star small forward and captain of the team, Nathan Scott!" The crowd went wild with applause and shouts. Nathan could hear Haley scream "Yeah Nathan!" at the top of her lungs. He laughed quietly to himself at the small brunette's antics. God, he loved that girl.

Nathan proudly jogged out onto the court amid all the rampant cheers. When the cheers slowly died down, the Duke players returned to their side of the court and awaited the coming game. Then the announcer came back over the speaker and invited the opposing team onto the court. Lucas and the other starters for UNC came jogging out and some boos erupted from the crowd. Nathan and Lucas met up in the middle circle for the jump, staring each other down.

"Looks like you're not much of a crowd pleaser, Luke," Nathan taunted.

"Let's see who I'll be pleasing later on, Nate. Haley looks awfully hot tonight, doesn't she?" Lucas added.

"Haley would never get with you, Lucas. She only likes real men, not spoiled ones who live off their daddies' money," Nathan spat.

"At least I have a daddy to live off of, Nate," said Lucas right before the whistle was blown.

Nathan was too stunned by his comment to react properly to the whistle, giving Lucas the advantage. Lucas easily tipped the ball to one of his teammates.

"Looks like I'll be the one scoring tonight, in more ways than one," Lucas said, eyeing Haley while the brothers ran to catch up with the ball.

Haley looked on from the stands, watching the interaction between Lucas and Nathan. She knew Lucas was probably saying some pretty cruel things and Nathan was probably fighting right back. That's how they always were when they were anywhere near each other. She knew Nathan was tough so she wasn't too worried, but she kept seeing Lucas look over at her so she guessed he was opening old wounds with Nathan.

God, she felt so stupid. Haley knew that what she had done back in high school had torn Nathan to shreds, but she had never thought that Lucas would be a big enough ass to bring it up again after all these years. Lucas surprised her every time she saw him. He just couldn't let any opportunity to make Nathan miserable go by. He would take any chance that he got to make Nathan feel like crap, and Haley felt even worse because this time she knew that it was all her fault.