Chapter 9
In his thirty –five years in coaching, Whitey Durham was just never late for practice. The same was expected from all his athletes – be ready and warmed up by 3 o'clock sharp. Anyone showing up even a second past the hour owed the coach laps around the gym until Whitey told them they could stop.
"Hey, it's 3:10…should we start practice without Whitey?" Lucas asked his brother and co-captain.
Nathan looked a Lucas carefully. Usually it would have been Nathan, the more serious player of the two, to take initiative when Whitey wasn't around.
"Umm…why don't we sit,"
Lucas gave Nathan a confused look.
"Team meeting first? Like how Whitey starts practice," Nathan answered quickly.
Lucas nodded then turned to the rest of the guys who were shooting around and warming up. "Alright guys," he yelled, "On the bleachers,"
Nathan and Lucas stood in front of the rest of the team who were all grouped together on the wooden bleachers. All eyes were on Nathan, waiting for instructions. Just as Nathan was about to speak, the boys' locker room door opened. Whitey leaned his head out the door.
"SCOTT!" he yelled. His eyes narrowed in on to Lucas, "I'd like to speak with you in my office. The rest of you boys…scrimmage – blues versus whites,"
Lucas looked over at Nathan, wondering what was going on. Nathan avoided eye contact and walked back onto the court with the rest of the team. The blonde haired boy shrugged his shoulders and jogged over to the locker room to meet his fate.
"Peyton!" Brooke yelled, "You're supposed to be following my lead. Not Lucas's,"
"Well, who can blame her?" Rachel said to herself, which garnered a glare from Brooke who was the only one who seemed to hear her.
Peyton was too caught up with her own concerns to hear or see anything else that was going on. She couldn't help it and was worried about what happening behind the door Lucas just disappeared behind. Nathan glanced back over at her as he was walked towards the backcourt. Even from afar, he could see the worry in her eyes and that made two of them.
No more then two minutes later, the boys' locker room swung open again – this time more violently. A loud thud echoed as the door made contact with the metal stopper that was screwed into the ground. Every basketball player and cheerleader looked over. The gym fell silent. They watched with confused faces as Lucas emerged with an angry scowl on his face. His strides were long and quick as he made his way across the gym floor. He didn't even cast a glance back or make any eye contact with anyone. His focus was on the exiting door, which he shoved open with a loud bang. Without hesitation, Peyton dropped her blue and white pom-poms and ran out after him.
He had heard her call his name, but he didn't acknowledge her. Lucas didn't want to deal with her now but didn't have the choice when she finally caught up with him in the parking lot.
"Get out of my way, Peyton," Lucas warned. His eyes were glazed over with anger and a hostility that scared her.
"Lucas, calm down. Please,"
"Calm down? How can I calm down? Whitey just threw me off the team!"
Peyton wasn't exactly shocked to hear the news. She closed her eyes, trying to keep her tears from falling.
"You don't look surprised do you?"
"Luke…"
"You're the only other person who knew…" He glared at her, "You told him, didn't you?"
Peyton's mouth opened, then closed quickly. She couldn't find any words to say. Fear enveloped her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was guilty and was now bracing herself for what was about to happen.
"How could you do this to me, Peyton?" he yelled at her, "I trusted you! How could you go behind my back and tell him? You know what…forget it. I don't want to hear it. I can't even look at you right now,"
A tear escaped as Lucas strode past her without a second look back at her. She quickly wiped it away as she turned to watch him walk away.
"Lucas, wait!"
Lucas stopped in his tracks and turned around. Peyton turned around as well. Both of them were confused and surprised to see Nathan standing there.
"Luke, it wasn't Peyton. It was me," Nathan said.
"Nathan…" Peyton started but Nathan cut her off.
"I told Whitey this morning about your heart condition,"
"You what?" Lucas yelled. He walked back towards his brother, "I can't believe this…wait, how did you even know?"
Nathan handed him over a white piece of paper. Lucas snatched it from his hand.
"I was looking through my wallet yesterday and I found the receipt from the pharmacy. I remember Peyton telling me it was for her birth control pills but when I read the name of the drug…it's the same thing dad was taking for his HCM,"
Lucas crumpled up the paper and threw it on the ground. "If you knew, then you should have come to me. You had to no right to do this! But maybe this is what you wanted after all…"
"What?" Nathan questioned in disbelief.
"Kind of a coincidence that when I start getting all the attention off the court – you use the first thing you get your hands on to throw me off the team,"
"You think I did this for the praise and attention? Lucas you're my brother. Your life is more important to me then some stupid game,"
"Yeah, whatever…you know, I'd expect something like this from Dan – get the competition out of the way so you can bask in all the glory,"
Nathan shoved Lucas, "You leave him out of it!"
"Why? You know it's true," Lucas shoved back. "Like father like son…"
Nathan balled his hand into a fist. He was nothing like his father. His fist was ready to strike, but something stopped him.
"Stop it!" Peyton intervened and stepped between the two. She was beginning to get scared being caught in the middle of another Scott brother brawl.
Nathan looked at Peyton and saw her fear. He also knew the Lucas was upset and was more irrational of the two. Respectfully the younger Scott stepped back but continued with what he had to say, "You know what? You did this on your own, Luke. So if there's anyone to blame, it's yourself…not me and certainly not Peyton. It's all you, bro,"
"No," Lucas shook his head, "No, we're not 'bros'…we're not brothers. We're not even friends. You are nothing to me," He turned and walked away again.
Nathan looked at him in disbelief. He knew Lucas would have been upset, but to disown him just like that caught him off guard. Nathan blinked back his tears.
Peyton, on the other hand, couldn't hold them in any longer. Peyton never imagined that things would escalade into another fight between them. She stood there, once again caught between the two boys. Part of her wanted to go after Lucas but the other part of her needed to talk to Nathan. She needed to know why Nathan did what he had just done.
She wiped the fallen tears away, "You knew I told Whitey, didn't you?" she asked Nathan quietly, "That's why you came out here and told him you did it. But how did you know?"
Flashback
Forty-five minutes before the first school bell, Nathan pulled into the parking lot. With the exception of the school's faculty, the school was normally empty that time of day. Not even the keeners would show up this early and it was the prime time for Nathan to do what he needed to do. But to his surprise, Nathan spotted the familiar black mercury car with the red leather seats parked in its usual spot. He didn't think anything peculiar about it but did make a mental note to himself to swing by the art room to see if Peyton wanted to join him for breakfast in the cafeteria before class.
When Nathan rounded the corner towards Whitey's office, he heard voices coming from within. As he walked closer, he recognized Peyton's voice. Standing out of sight, beside the office door that was slightly ajar, he listened in.
Whitey let out a deep sigh, "Are you sure about this?"
Peyton nodded, "Yes," she reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of pills. She placed it on the desk.
White reached for the bottle with one hand and put his glasses on with the other. "The damn fool," he muttered when he read the prescription. Whitey rubbed his aching forehead.
End Flashback"Peyton, if you wouldn't have told Whitey, I would have done it myself," Nathan tried to calm her down.
"Why…why did you lie to Lucas just now?" Peyton stuttered.
"Because even though we don't always get along, I still love my brother and I don't want to watch him die," Nathan kept his eyes on the red truck that was speeding out of the lot. When the truck was out of sight, Nathan looked back at Peyton, "And because he needs you more then he needs me right now. You're everything to him now, Peyton…he can't lose both you and the game,"
His answer surprised Peyton. In all the years she had known him and the one year she had dated him, she never once saw this selfless side of him. Most of the time when she was with him she saw a mini Dan Scott. But since then Nathan had truly changed his ways. Even if he did have some help along the way from Haley and perhaps Brooke, Nathan changed because he wanted to change. And Peyton was proud of him more then ever.
A/N: Thanks for patience and your reviews! I still have another week of exams but hopefully I'll write another chapter during my study breaks. Btw, how great was tonight's episode! I loved all the LP hints, especially the flashbacks...reminds me why I ship the couple so much.
