Chapter 2- Lucas Roe

He drowns in his dreams

An exquisite extreme, I know

Lucas Roe made his way to the river court, thankful that he was finally on his way to the one place that granted him solace. For as long as Lucas could remember, whenever life got to be too much for him, he could go to the river court and unwind. Whether he was there shooting by himself, or playing with his buddies, life always seemed to make more sense while at the court.

Lucas had been playing basketball for as long as he could remember. He had always had a natural ability and an unwavering love for the game. Lucas had played on a team once, way back in junior high, but it just didn't feel right to him. Somehow, the politics of the game always managed to sneak in. Lucas loved the game, but hated the politics, so he quickly quit the team, realizing that all he needed to do was play, and the river court afforded him that luxury.

As Lucas walked towards the court he realized he was the last one to arrive. His buddies Skills, Fergie, Junk and Mouth were all there already.

Lucas had known these guys for what seemed like his whole life. They had always been there for him and he loved them for it. At school Lucas wasn't popular, in fact, he was hardly known at all besides those closest to him. Because Lucas and his mom didn't have a lot of money, it was difficult to gain any kind of popularity. Tree Hill was so run by money that it was disgusted Lucas. He knew that he would always be frowned upon because of where he lived and money he didn't have. That didn't bother him though, as long as he had his close friends he didn't need to be popular.

"We were about to start playing without you man, where have you been?" Skills asked as he knocked fists with Lucas.

"Sorry guys, I had to stop by my mom's café after school, she needed some help with a delivery. I'm here now though, let's shoot for teams."

Karen, Lucas' mother, had raised Lucas all on her own. Lucas' father had left them when Lucas was five years old. Owning her own café had always been a dream of Karen's, and it was a dream that had finally come true only a few years before. The café certainly wasn't a gold mine, but it provided Lucas and Karen with their basic needs.

"What's the deal Luke? I heard Whitey called you into his office after lunch." Fergie asked after knocking down a shot.

Whitey was the coach of the Ravens basketball team. He was an old and grumpy man who was usually quite rude to everyone, but for some reason when it came to Lucas the man had a genuine soft spot.

"Nothing big, just some player got suspended and Whitey has an opening in his line up, he wanted to see if I was interested."

"And of course you turned him down again, huh?"

"Yeah, I had to. I tried to play with those guys once and hated it. Why would things be any different now? If anything I think they'd just be worse. I don't really want to talk about it though, let's just play."

Whitey had asked Lucas to play for him on more than one occasion, but Lucas always turned him down. Lucas didn't want to lose his love for the game, and he knew that if he joined the team he probably would. Lucas thought that he had made Whitey understand that, but the man kept trying. Lucas had to give Whitey credit, he was definitely persistent.

After kicking the other teams' ass, Lucas headed home. He walked into his house and looked around, as usual it was empty. His mother was usually at the café pretty late.

Lucas headed towards the fridge and upon opening it, spotted a plate of food that his mother had left for him. Most of Lucas' nights were like this. He rarely got to eat with his mother. In the past Lucas would go to the café and try and they would try to eat together, but inevitably there was an interruption. Karen couldn't afford to hire a large wait staff, so most nights it was up to her to handle the majority of the work.

After pulling the plate from the microwave, Lucas headed into the living room and switched on the TV before settling back into the couch to eat his dinner. He flipped through the channels, and finally settled on some comedy show he watched from time to time.

When he had finished his dinner, Lucas headed into the kitchen to wash his dishes and then went into his room to do a little reading.

This was pretty much how every night of Lucas' life went. He'd go to the river court, shoot a few games, head home to eat alone, in front of the TV, and then he's settle in and read for hours.

Books had always been Lucas' passion. He loved how he could lose himself into a world created by whichever author whose work he chose to delve into. Admittedly, it was a nice escape from the world in which he lived. As much as he loved his friends and mother, Lucas felt as though something was missing from his life. He wasn't quite sure what it is, but he hoped that he would soon find it.

ooooOoooo

Brooke sat in class, twirling her hair around her pen and trying to pay attention to the teacher. It was pretty hopeless though, there was never a teacher who was capable of holding Brooke's attention for a whole period. Brooke went to classes because she had to, in order to cheer she had to attend her classes. If it wasn't for cheerleading, Brooke would never be in class, she was smart enough to do the work to pass on her own.

"Well class, you all knew it was coming soon, and well, today is that day. Here I have all the information you need for your mid semester projects. You will work in groups of two for this project, groups of two that I have assigned."

The teacher began to call out names in pairs and Brooke braced herself, she never got lucky when it came to teacher assigned pairings.

"And last, but certainly not least, Brooke Davis and Lucas Roe."

Brooke groaned inwardly. Lucas Roe was about as far from popular as someone could get. The only thing that bothered Brooke more than his unpopularity was the fact that he was drop dead gorgeous. Brooke had eyed him many times, but was always promptly reminded of how unpopular he was.

Lucas rolled his eyes at the teacher's pairing. Brooke had to be one of the least studious girls to walk the planet. Granted, Lucas didn't always excel in school, but he wasn't an idiot. And Brooke Davis, well, Lucas was pretty sure that she was an idiot. She was just another pretty face atop a hot body, a really hot body. Lucas stood up and decided he had better get this over with, bracing himself, he walked over to Brooke.

"I think it would be easiest if we just got together later and split the project in half, that way we can each just do our part. When we're done with our parts we can just meet again and put it all together. How does that sound?"

"Whatever. When do you want to meet? I'm really busy you know."

Lucas rolled his eyes yet again, "What about tonight?"

"I have practice until 7:00, I'm a cheerleader in case you didn't know."

"Oh I know, don't worry. How about 7:30 then? At the library?"

"Yeah right, like I know where the library is, and even if I did, I wouldn't be caught dead there, especially with you." Brooke ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled something down quickly, then handed it to Lucas. "My house, 8 o'clock, see you then."

With that Brooke stood up and walked out of the room, not glancing back for a second. Had she, she would have seen a very agitated Lucas shooting her a death look. Lucas knew this was going to be one long and painful night.