The next day in Tree Hill, Lucas was seen exiting Tree Hill Elementary in blue pinstriped pants and a white rolled up dress shirt. Peyton drove up and saw him shaking hands with the principal Mr. Bryant.
"It's an honor to have you on board, Mr. Scott."
Lucas laughed and was walking down the sidewalk when he saw Peyton and Aaron from the corner of his eyes.
"Hey. How you doing?"
"I'm Aaron." Aaron went towards Lucas and stuck his hand out at him. Lucas smiled at the kid and went down on one knee to shake his hand. Peyton smiled towards them and felt her heart warm up at the sight of them.
"Hey there kid. I'm Lucas."
"Nice to meet you." Aaron looked at his mom and tugged at her hand. "Aren't you going to say anything mommy?"
Lucas and Peyton looked at each other and she broke the ice by smiling at him. "Hey Luke."
"Hey Peyt. It was nice seeing you."
"Wait, are you gonna be working here?"
"Didn't you hear? I went to school in New York. NYU to be exact. I decided to become a teacher and I got a major in English. I was working on a masters so I could teach in secondary and postsecondary schools when I got the call about Whitey. So I guess you were wrong after all when you said I was doing nothing with my life."
Lucas put his hands in his pockets and turned to leave. Peyton felt like going after him to say she was sorry when she felt Aaron pull her hand.
"Mommy, we're going to be late."
Peyton sighed of frustration and allowed Aaron to drag her inside the school.
At the Keith's garage, Keith was working on tightening some brakes on a car when Luke arrived. Keith heard some footsteps and rolled out from under the car.
"Luke, hey, care to lend me a hand?"
Lucas laughed and looked at his apparel. Keith shook his head and took the hint while he rolled back under the car.
"So how's life treating you little one?"
"I got a job as a temp at Tree Hill Elementary."
"You don't say. Who are you temping for?"
"Mrs. Johnson. Apparently her maternity leave interferes with the beginning of the school year so for the time being, I'll be teaching her kindergarten class."
Keith rolled out from under the car and looked at Lucas. "Did you say Mrs. Johnson?"
"Yeah…why?" Lucas asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"That's little A's teacher."
"Are you serious? Wow, how small is the world that I'm gonna be teaching Peyton's son. Let's think about this. When he's asked who his first teacher ever was, he would have to answer… "Well, my first teacher was the man my mommy hated with all her guts"." Lucas and Keith both laughed and Keith wiped his hand with his hand towel.
"Well he wouldn't use the word guts but its close enough."
Both men shared another laugh when a squeal heard from behind scared the both.
"Oh my god! Tell me I'm seeing ghost?"
Oh God, tell me that's not Brooke Davis. Lucas turned around couldn't believe his eyes. Oh my god, it is Brooke Davis.
"Why Lucas Scott, have you been hiding from me?"
"Brooke…what a surprise."
Brooke ran towards and jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly while Lucas tried with all his inner strength to not explode.