CH.3 – The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

After first block Skylar took Chase to his next class, English, even though she didn't have English at the time, Mack did, so he would be totally fine. Skylar stopped by her locker and ran into Erica on the way. "Oh my god, you would not believe the hot new guy that I get to show around today, he is b-e-a-utiful."

"Shut up, is tutor girl going to get some from the new boy?"

"Ha, funny Erica, and no I'm not going to get anything but a detention if I don't get to class, where are you off to anyway?"

"English with Mack and Brady."

"Oh god, Chase is in Mack's English class right now, he should be sitting near her, he's the cute one!"

"Aw tutor girl getting some tutor love, Brady is not going to be happy about this one."

As soon as Erica walked into class she knew exactly who Skylar was talking about, and if she wasn't dating one of the cutest boys in school she too would have so been into him. She took a seat next to Brady and asked him how his first class of the day was. "It was good until this tool showed up," Brady said, pointing to Chase. "I've been in love with Skylar since we were three and now this kid shows up and she's all crazy eyes for him."

"Aw, Jagelski, am I seeing your inner emotions run outward?"

"Yeah, no, I mean yeah but I just can't help it, I mean when I look at Skylar I just get this feeling in my stomach that this is it, she's the one, but she doesn't feel the same way so I have to put that feeling aside and settle for whoever wants to be with me this week."

"You know, normally I would feel bad for a person in your situation but, no one is making you be with those other girls, have you ever thought that maybe the reason why Skylar isn't into you is because every other girl is?"

The last comment made his skin prickle. Maybe Erica was right, maybe Brady was wasting too much of his time with the wrong girls and not enough time with his girl.

As class dragged on, Mack and Chase were laughing and having a good time, when Chase asked her about Skylar. "Oh you see, Skylar's one of my best friends, since we were itty. She's not dating anyone right now, but that kid behind us, the one with the biceps, he's been in love with her since, well forever," Mack said with a hopeful look in her eye, "I mean we all know they're supposed to be together he knows it, we know it, but she doesn't, I think she's waiting for the right moment to realize," Mack said pondering why it was so hard for Skylar to realize that Brady's the guy for her.

"So does that mean she's single, because I would really like to ask her out," Chase replied trying not to make eye contact with the extremely muscular boy behind him.

"Yeah, you can ask her out but, be careful my friend because one wrong move with her will put you on his bad side," she said pointing to Brady who was now deep in thought.

As the bell rang, Mack and Erica walked towards their lockers together and explained to each other what had just happened. "So it's midway through the first day of school and trouble is already brewing," squealed Erica with excitement in her voice.

"What's brewing?" Landon asked as he walked up behind and planted a kiss on Erica's forehead

"Just our little Skylar in the midst of a love triangle on the first day of her senior year," replied Erica, a huge grin appearing on her face.

"Oh tough shit man, does Brady know about this guy yet?" asked Landon a look of concern coming over his face.

"Yeah sort of, I mean he knows that this kid's trying to put the moves on her but he doesn't know that he's asking Skylar out, as we speak.

"Ha, I have next block with Skylar and Brady, this should be good," laughed Landon as he kissed Erica and walked away, having a quiet laugh to himself to whole way down the hall.

Government class contained only about twenty kids, three of them being the infamous love triangle that Skylar wasn't even informed about. She took a seat next to Chase as Brady and Landon filed in behind them. "So Skylar, I was wondering if you weren't busy on Friday, maybe we could do something, you could show me around Tree Hill," asked Chase a shot of hopefulness in his voice.

"Well there isn't much to see in Tree Hill," replied Skylar oblivious to the fact that he was asking her out, "I mean I can show you the River Court, I spend a lot of time playing basketball there," she said without glancing up from her notebook.

"Yeah the River Court on Friday sounds great," Chase added making sure the boys behind him could hear what exactly he was saying.

Brady broke the pencil he was holding in his hand in half, he was going to kill this kid before the end of the class. Landon looked over at his friend and in a sympathetic way added, "Well there's a real good chance that she's better at basketball then he is."

"Dude, I'm not laughing, at all," Brady added in total seriousness.

By the time lunch rolled around, half the grade had heard about the good looking new kid and were all looking over at their lunch table and whispering among themselves. "Okay I know we get a lot of looks but Chase you seem to be attracting quite the number of stares by at least half of our grade," Erica said while taking a bite of Landon's sandwich.

"Well you see, Chase Keller is a hot commodity no matter where he is," Chase said while taking a large bite of an apple.

"Chase Keller," Erica and Mack mouthed in unison.

Skylar walked over moments later with a look that could laser holes into walls. "Preseason starts next week, not October, not November, next week. I haven't run at all, I'm going to bloody die," she said as she gulped a swig of her bottled water.

"Look on the bright side, at least I'll start my pre-season too," Brady added trying to make her smile. Out of all the kids, Brady was perhaps the most gifted athlete. Apparently Jake's clumsiness skipped a generation because Brady was getting looked at by some of the top schools for basketball. It helped that his Uncle's Nathan and Lucas had been putting in good words for him since he was eight years old.

"Yeah, at least we can rot together," Skylar said as she looked dimly into her water.

"Do you want to go to the River Court after school to start working out then?" Brady asked breaking the momentary silence.

"Yeah, I get out of school in like thirty minutes, want to meet me there?"

If there was any advantages to senior year, leaving early on block scheduling certainly was one of them.

"I guess I can, I mean someone's got to get you into college, right Scott?" Brady added as he playfully tapped her on the arm.

"Skylar, you play basketball, who would have thought such a beautiful girl would be gifted in more ways than one," Chase said, making everyone realize he was still at the lunch table.

"Are you kidding me, Skylar is going to the big time, next to Jagelski over there, Skylar Scott is the hottest thing on the hardwood," Erica added while giggling because Landon had been tickling her.

"Oh please, Erica is going to play division one lacrosse next year," Skylar said taking the attention off herself.

"Well it's good to know a man like me is surrounded by so many strong ladies," Chase replied while wearing the smuggest smirk imaginable.

The last comment made both Landon's and Brady's skin cringe. Who was this asshole they both thought to themselves?

Before heading off to the River Court, Skylar stopped home to change, "Mom I'm home," she yelled as she walked through the front door of their house.

"Hi baby, how was your first day?" Haley said as she walked in from the kitchen.

"It was good, I met a boy. His name is Chase and we're going out Friday night," Skylar replied all in one breath.

"Does this boy named Chase have a last name, parents, a car, and respectable manners?" Haley asked growing concerned that her only daughter was growing up too fast.

"His name is Chase Keller, he has parents or at least a dad, and a car, as for the manners thing goes, I'll let you know after Friday," Skylar replied growing irritated by all the questions being asked by her mother.

Haley almost fell to the floor, "I'm sorry did you say Keller, as in the son of Chris Keller?"

Skylar never even put two and two together; Chris Keller was the musician that almost broke her mom and her dad up when they were in high school. She frowned realizing the position this put her in. "Oh god, mom, I didn't even think about it. I won't go if you don't want me to," she said being 100 truthful.

"Sweetie, your father and I will have to talk about this, I don't know if this is the best situation for us all to be in," Haley said the look of concern on her face only growing deeper.

As Skylar was leaving for the River Court, she saw Brady pulling into his driveway next door, "Good," she thought, "I can just ride with him."

Brady got out of his truck and looked across the lawn at the girl who was slowly walking towards him, dribbling a basketball in her left hand and waving to him with her right. "Man, I love this girl," he thought to himself as he walked in the house.

"Dad, I'm home," he said as he put his keys down next to the door.

Jake walked out into the foyer and asked his son how his first day of school went.

"It was alright, I'm going to the River Court with Skylar because pre-season starts next week and we're both in need of a serious workout," he said while heading up the stairs to get changed.

"Speaking of Skylar," Jake said as she walked in the door, it was custom now between the generations of friends that knocking was overrated, that was Peyton's policy at least, it had rubbed off on everyone else in time. "So how was your first day of school Sky," Jake asked as Skylar headed into the living room.

"It was good, I kind of met the son of the man who tried to ruin my parent's marriage, and then he asked me on a date," she said while not even glancing off of ESPN.

"Wow," Jake said as he took a seat beside her, "You met Chris Keller's kid; I didn't even know assholes like him were allowed kids."

"I guess so," she said in a dark tone "I mean he's real nice, so it's hard for me to think that his dad could have hurt my family that much."

"Sky, the only thing I can tell you," Jake said while scratching his head, "Is the apple never falls far from the tree."

By this point Brady had come back downstairs ready for their workout, "I guess I'm driving?" he said as he grabbed his keys.

"Of course, you can at least make yourself useful doing something. Bye Jake, thanks for the advice," Skylar said while walking out the front door.

"For you my dear, anything," Jake responded.

"Tutor mom, when were you going to tell me that Chris Keller's offspring has infected the halls of our children's school?" Brooke said practically screaming through the phone.

"I was going to get around to it eventually," Haley replied while moving the phone away from her ear.

"Well thank god Erica has a big mouth, she practically screamed it when she got home from school today," Brooke replied while painting her nails.

"Yeah, well wait until Nathan finds out, I hope this boy is nothing like his father," Haley wished hopingly.

"Oh tutor mom, you know the apple never falls far from the tree," Brooke laughed into the phone as they hung up.

By the 6:00 Haley had heard from almost all of her high school friends regarding the situation with her daughter. By the time Nathan got home Haley had told the story six or seven times.

"I'm sorry; our daughter is going on a date with that asshole's son because why?" Nathan said trying to act calm, clearly not succeeding.

"It's not definite hun; I told her we still had to talk it over between us. It's not like she's head over heels in love with the kid, she just met him today," Haley added trying to be the voice of reason.

"Why are you so calm about this Hales, I mean this guy almost broke our marriage up, now his son is pining for our only daughter," Nathan said while trying to take off his tie, almost ripping it because he was pulling so hard. "I don't see why she can't just date Brady, we know Brady, we like Brady," he added while taking off his shoes.

"Sweetie, we can't make her do anything she doesn't want, in time she will see that Brady is the right one for her, until then we have to let her find her own way to happiness, and if this kid happens to be a detour we have to let her find out for herself," Haley said, half surprised at herself for being so calm about the situation.

Once dinner was on the table at 6:30, Skylar had just walked in from her workout with Brady following behind.

"Where are your parents tonight Brady," Haley asked as she set another plate down for her second son.

"They have to work late at the record store tonight, some big album signing by this guy," he said while trying to pour himself some water.

"Yeah, Chris Keller," Max added as he himself just walked in the door, guitar in hand.

"If I hear that name one more time today I might explode," Nathan said with a serious look in his eyes.

After dinner Skylar, Brady, and Max did their homework at Brady's next door, Max coming home around 8:15. "Where's your sister," Haley asked sitting in the living room with her husband.

"She and Brady wanted to watch some game; I swear sometimes I think that she's a boy."

"Sometimes I wish she was a boy," Nathan said glancing at his teenage son. "Then I wouldn't have to worry about her dating dirty little boys, or getting hurt by dirty little boys."

"You know dad, I think that if something were to ever happen to Skylar, you wouldn't be the first man at her side," Max said as he thought of his sister and one of his best friends at the next house over.