I don't know if anyone is still reading this but if you do I hope you enjoy.
Sunday at family dinner you could cut the air with a knife. The adults were disappointed in the kids and the kids were angry for being grounded. On top of that Nathan had benched Jamie for the time being. As a result of being grounded the Sott teens had nothing much to do besides sitting in their rooms and read a book or count flies. Lily got grounded in the aftermath of the whole thing when Peyton watched the security tapes from TRIC and her office with Brooke. No one really spoke during dinner and so the group went separate ways pretty fast. Haley and Karen didn't understand their kids and no one really could explain why Lily was so damn fascinated with having sex, well no one besides Brooke who had a pretty easy explanation:
"She is a Scott!"
Jamie spent the whole day lying on his bed thinking about what the hell had happened. He couldn't really explain but he knew it wasn't fair to string Chelsea along when he wasn't sure what he was feeling right now. So he made plans to talk to her as soon as he could.
Monday in school everyone was talking about Jamie and Kyle's fight and what that would mean. Chelsea tried to keep her head high but it hurt. All the kids were whispering and pointing but as soon as she came anywhere close to them they stopped talking and only looked at her pitiful. After first period she went to look for Jamie so they could talk about what had happened. She finally found him on the bleachers of the gym twirling a basketball in his hands.
"Here you are! I was looking for you outside." Chelsea said softly while she approached him."What are you doing?"
Jamie's head shot up and his features shortly break into a smile.
"Hey, just sitting here, thinking about … well everything." He gives back shrugging his shoulders.
After a couple of seconds of silence they both say: "About Saturday …"
Always the gentleman Jamie signals her that she should go first.
"Jamie what happened to us? I mean we were so good together but over the summer something changed. Maybe it'll be better if we break up and stay just friends!" when she was finished Jamie looked at her relieved.
"I was kind of thinking the same thing. I mean I am not sure what I feel anymore. Yeah staying friends would be great for now."
They hugged and both reaffirmed their new and tenuous friends status. Chelsea got up to leave and asks
"I'll see you in practice later?"
"Probably I'll be the guy running extra laps and sit on the bench during the game handing out water bottles."
"Your dad benched you?"
"Yeah it is his rule,remember? You get caught fighting and you are benched for the next game. Well I got to run if I don't want to be late for my next class." With that the two exes part ways and head off to their different classrooms.
Jamie next class was English literature and unfortunately his mom was teaching that one today.
"Good morning class. In the notes I have you should have prepared chapter 10. Who can give me a summary of what happens?" Haley starts off and looks around the room. No one reacts. The teens all try to appear busy with something ranging from pretending to sleep to drawing circles won the table top with their fingers. "No one prepared anything?" she asks again but before she can give out a class assignment Jamie speaks up.
"Why should we give you a summary of what happened. It is your damn life and you know all that happened. The book is stupid and I am going to leave now!" Jamie grabs his backpack and goes to leave but before he has left the room he hears
"Detention tomorrow after class and no basketball for at least a month!" That is the hazard of having your parents at the same school. The rest of the morning James skipped all of his classes and just sat outside in the courtyard blaming himself and all the people around him for his crappy situation.
"If Lucas never had written the damn book, if Kyle hadn't tried to get with Sophia, if Mom and Dad had different jobs… "
He couldn't say how long he had sat out there in the yard when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, can we talk?" He looks up to see Sophia standing in front of him.
"I guess. What's up?"
"I wanted to ask about Saturday… I mean what happened?"
"I can't say. I mean I just reacted when I saw you with Kyle."
"You are with Chelsea so what is it to you? Can't I be happy too?"
"Yes you should be happy but I am not with Chels anymore. We broke up this morning. Listen I don't know what is going on right now and I have no idea how this is going to work. I just hope I can salvage my friendship with Kyle."
"I hope that too and I am sorry that you and Chelsea broke up." Sophia hugs him and kisses him on the cheek before she leaves him alone again. Unbeknownst to them Kyle observes their exchange and he feels anger rise in his chest. Having heard already that Chelsea and Jamie had broken up he only thought that Jamie now was moving on to Sophia taking her away from him.
"That means war!"
In the evening during basketball practice Nathan has the boy's pair up to play a little one on one and to avoid fighting he puts Kyle and Jamie with other boys but at the end for the training game the twosome ends up on the same team. Usually the two play very well together but tonight they freeze each other out and occasionally foul each other. This leads to Nathan closing practice early and keeping Jamie back to clean up the gym. The other guys on the team get vocal about how much it sucks that their captain and his supposed friend can't forget about their differences on the court and how they both need to work it out before playing with the team again. The team decides to freeze both of them out in hopes that being alone will make them discuss their issues and become friends or at least friendly again.
While Jamie cleans up in the gym Nathan is in his office going over some plays when he notices a message on his voicemail. While he is listening to the voice on the other end his face turns from happy to very angry but he doesn't get up.
"We really need some help with this book problem." He thinks and dials a familiar number. When the person on the other end picks up he just says
"Your husband needs to come to Tree Hill fast!"
In the meantime James has finished tidying up and has taken a shower. He just needs his books for homework but when he opens his lockers the first thing he sees is a piece of paper.
"Keep your paws of of Sophia or you will regret it!"
