DISCLAIMER

Belongs to Mark Schwahn and the CW. I only own the plot. I know in the series, the guys and girls had different phys ed classes (if the ep where Nathan taught Haley to shoot a free throw is any indication), but I felt for my story, it worked better as a coed class. I use a line from the original Pilot and a piece of dialogue from Messin With The Kid.

Lucas looked at his schedule and then at the numbers on the doors. All he had to do was find his homeroom. But where was his homeroom? He continually checked the number on his sheet with the ones on the doors, increasing his frustration.

"Hey. You look lost," he heard someone say as two people came up to him. Jumping, he turned around. To his surprise, it was a girl with long brown hair and hazel eyes and a taller boy with short black hair and brown eyes. Lucas noticed the letterman's jacket, but said nothing.

"What room are you looking for?" the girl questioned.

"Homeroom," Lucas answered.

"Come on. We'll take you," the boy offered.

"Thanks," Lucas stated and then followed the two. Once in the classroom, he started to go to the back of the room.

"Hey, why don't you sit with us?" the girl offered.

"Are…you sure?" Lucas asked nervously. He didn't want to make waves here. All he was interested in was making it through his first day.

"Yeah. It'll be more fun than sitting by yourself," the boy answered. Lucas laughed.

"I'm Haley James and this is Nathan Scott," the girl introduced them.

"Lucas Mallone," Lucas said. Once seated, he focused on the front of the room. Nathan and Haley looked at each other, and then shrugged. It was the same for every class he was in. Lucas would focus on the teacher and nothing else. Finally, it was fourth period gym class.

"Man, I hate phys ed," Haley groaned.

"Don't worry about it, Hales. You'll be fine," Nathan assured. Coach Brian "Whitey" Durham blew his whistle.

"Okay, everyone. Line up. Today we're going to do a little basketball," he announced.

"Oh, joy. If we don't see that every week," Peyton commented with a roll of her eyes. Brooke laughed. The kids were divided into teams and played a quick game. Nathan found himself staring at Lucas. Wow. His game is good. We could use him on the team, he thought to himself. Lucas landed a winning three-point shot for his team right before Whitey blew his whistle.

"Wow! Nice shot!" Peyton called. Lucas just gave her a raised eyebrow and then headed out with everyone else. At lunch, Lucas got a tray of food and then sat an empty table in the corner, away from prying eyes. Man, what a day, he thought to himself. He hated being the new kid. At least those two kids---Haley and Nathan he thought it was---seemed to be okay. Almost as if he had conjured them up just by thinking about them, they suddenly came up to his table, followed by two girls. One was about the same height as Haley with blonde hair and brown eyes, while the shorter one had brunette hair with dark eyes. As the two sat down, Lucas noted the words on the blonde girl's notebook.

"That's Me Inside Your Head," he noted.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "You know Nofx?" she questioned.

"Yeah. They're pretty good," Lucas said. "But Metallica's better," he added.

"What do you think about the Cure?" the girl asked.

"Good beat, but some of their lyrics can get depressing and whiney," Lucas answered.

"What are you crazy? They sing it from the heart," the girl objected.

"Okay, changing the subject," Nathan interjected. "That's Brooke Davis and you've been discussing music with Peyton Sawyer," he stated.

"I'm Lucas Mallone," he told them.

"Nice to meet you," they all said.

"So hey, that was a pretty good game in the gym. You should go out for the team. We got tryouts after school," Nathan stated.

"Yeah, you'd be great," Haley agreed.

"No, I don't think so. My dad---he doesn't really like things like that," Lucas told them.

"Come on, man. It'd be fun," Nathan urged.

"I don't know. He and my mom don't really approve of the whole jock thing," Lucas objected.

"Hey, look at it this way. It'll keep you out of trouble after school. How could they disapprove of that?" Nathan pointed out.

"You don't know my parents," Lucas responded. He hesitated for a few moments. He liked the feeling of freedom he had when he snuck in a game. He knew he shouldn't, but Nathan's offer was so tempting. "All right. All right, I'll go," he finally agreed. Brooke, Peyton, Haley, and Nathan whooped in delight. Then, they realized lunch was over and hurried off to their classes. Later that afternoon, after he changed into a uniform, Lucas and the others gathered in the gym. The blond-haired boy looked around nervously.

"Maybe---maybe this was a bad idea," he stammered.

"No way, man. From what I saw in phys ed, you got talent," the other boy disagreed. "Come on, scrimmage with me." The two boys went into a layup drill. A few minutes later, Deb Scott, her husband Dan, and his older brother Keith came in and sat on the bleachers.

"The team's looking good," Keith noted.

"Yes, but they are short-handed ever since Jake Jagielski dropped from the team to take care of his daughter Jenny," Dan reminded them.

"That poor boy. It must be hard for him," Deb commented.

"Yeah, but at least he's getting help from his parents," Keith agreed. Then, "Who's that with Nathan?" Dan and Deb followed the man's gaze to see their son with a blond-haired boy.

"I don't know. He's good though," Deb said as they watched him put three baskets in a row through the net. Dan couldn't help but stare at the blond teen. There was something familiar about him, but he couldn't figure out what. The boy turned so that his face was to the crowd. Dan inhaled sharply, feeling as if someone had punched the air out of him.

"Dan?" Deb asked, sensing the change in her husband.

"What's wrong, little brother?" Keith questioned.

"It's Lucas," Dan said. "I think that's Lucas."