Chapter 9:

Megan POV

"Don't you look cute", Dad cheers as I walk into the kitchen. I blush automatically and look down at my outfit. I have a pair of dark jeans and my favorite Bobcats t-shirt on with lightly applied makeup and hair straightened.

"Thanks Dad", I shyly answer. I look to see he changed into his long sleeved Bobcats t-shirt too. "You ready to head over"?

He nods his head yes while picking up his set of keys from the counter. He opens the side door for me as I walk out first heading towards the other Scott household on the street. The best part about living in Tree Hill is that Uncle Nathan lives four houses down from us. How could life be any better when your family is that close?

When we start walking down the street I start remembering Aunt Haley and Mom were going to have a girl's night. That means Aunt Haley is going to hear about this morning, which will result in me getting an ear full from her, great.

"Do you think Mom is going to tell Aunt Hales about earlier"? Maybe I can tell her myself before she gets too.

Dad looks over at me with a frown. With that face I know I'm too late. "Yeah Uncle Nathan texted me a half hour ago saying he overheard what happened this morning. But I told him that we aren't going to talk about it tonight so no worries".

"You know either way Aunt Haley is going to say something to me", I mumble back sighing. She has been trying to get me to talk to Mom since Dad told her what happened. I get why she does it, I just am so tired of hearing another lecture.

I look to see if Dad has anything to say but he's staring at the house as we approach their driveway. A small brown haired girl catches my eye from the front door and it makes me start to walk faster.

"Megan", Lydia screams running towards me. It puts a bright smile on my face as I run towards my little cousin to pick her up.

"Hey baby girl", I coo as I lean down to kiss her chubby cheek. "How's my favorite cousin today"?

"Good your mommy is here and she brought me all these toys", she announces and when I look up I see Aunt Haley and Mom sitting on the front porch.

"That's awesome Lydia", Dad cheers back while reaching over to hold her.

"Meg come here", Aunt Haley yells waving her hand over to me. I take the few steps up towards where they are sitting slowly. She stands up from her chair and hugs me tightly.

"Hug her and say you're sorry", she whispers only loud enough for me to hear. I groan in her ear but laugh when she gives me a sloppy kiss on the side of my face.

"I swear she looks exactly like you Brooke" Aunt Haley laughs as she sits back down. "If it wasn't for the piercing blue eyes you wouldn't even know she was a Scott".

"That's not true I have always thought she looked like Lucas", Mom adds as we make eye contact.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but I saw a picture of you when you were sixteen and it's looks like we could be twins", I reply and try not to smirk when Mom gives me her dimpled grin. I'm a sucker for that Brooke Davis smile, just like my father.

"I'm going to check on Nathan and Jamie", Dad states interrupting the moment and I'm thankful. I don't want to give in to Mom already. He hands Lydia to Aunt Haley and walks in the house.

"Lydia lets go get a juice box", Aunt Haley suggest as she holds her on her hip following Dad inside.

It's silent for a minute before I get the courage to look at her again. I go to open my mouth but close it. Saying sorry isn't going to fix things between us, and quite frankly I don't feel any remorse for what I said. It was the truth. And for once speaking the truth felt good to hear, even if it offended her.

"You know I never meant to hurt you", she abruptly whispers causing me to me look away. That is exactly what I didn't want to hear.

"It doesn't change anything", I reply rolling my eyes.

She sighs and nods her head, "I know". She stands up then and walks to face me. "Can't you just come over after the game and talk to me"?

I shake my head no and look up at her. "I have plans tonight". She has a look of defeat as I start to walk towards the front door. Before I make it inside she grabs my hand for me to stop. "Then how about tomorrow"? Her face seems to be pleading with me to say yes.

"I'll see". She seems crushed then but nods her head. I look down at her hand that is holding mine and frown. I let go of it before I turn to walk inside.

"Hey Meg, guess what", Mom suddenly bursts making me stop again. Turning around I kink my eyebrow up for her to continue.

"I love you".

My heart sank a little at her comment as I try to hold myself together. It was one of her jokes she used to say to me growing up. That's the one thing I never got sick of hearing. I know my mom loves me, I've never doubted it; I just wish she loved Dad too. I wish love was enough.

She's smiling at me waiting for me to say something back to her. Instead I take a step closer and put my arms around her. She hugs me back immediately and squeezes me.

"I love you too Mom, that's the hardest part", I whisper and let go of her quickly.

I walk straight into the house and release a breath. My heart is beating at a fast pace as I try to calm down. The doctor did say I needed to be more stress free. Like that's ever going to happen. I live in Tree Hill.

"What's up Meg", Jamie screams disturbing my thoughts. I look up to see him at the top of the staircase. He's dressed in jeans and a basketball jersey with a matching Bobcats snapback hat on.

"Just having a chat with my Mom, you ready to go", I ask and shrug when he sends me a questioning look.

"Yeah I'm ready", Jamie adds as he walks down the steps. He stops in front of me and hugs me tightly.

I throw my arms around him and squeeze him back. We may be cousins biologically but were so much closer than that. He's my brother and the best friend I've ever had. He means so much to me and just the little gesture of giving me a hug shows a lot.

"How you feeling today", Jamie whispers right before he lets go of me.

I roll my eyes then and subconsciously put my hand over my heart. "I told you I hate when you ask me that Jamie. I'm going to be okay".

Ever since I collapsed at the river court when I went by myself he's been so cautious around me. I know he thinks it's his fault for not being there sooner but it wasn't. He won't let me play basketball anymore with him and always sends me texts to take my medicine. I know it's his way with trying to deal with it and I'm thankful for it. But I don't want him to act differently around me. I don't want my HCM to hold me back even more than it already has.

I'm just a regular sixteen year old girl, why does having this illness stop me from acting that way? Because if I push myself to hard I can actually have a heart attack, that's why.

"I don't care if you hate it Meg, I never want to find you at the river court unconscious ever again".

I frown then and nod my head. I know exactly how he feels. I wouldn't know what to do if I found Jamie barely breathing at the river court. I'm glad he's the stronger one out of the two of us.

"I just hate that you have to worry about me", I mumble and he laughs at my comment.

"I'm always going to worry, you're my cousin. It's my duty to protect you", Jamie smirks as he throws his arm over my shoulder.

I beam a smile up at him and wrap my arm over his waist as we head towards the back of the house.

"Thanks for that. I wouldn't know what I would do without you in my life".

"You would be extremely bored that's for sure", he laughs and sends me a wink.

"Hey Meg", Uncle Nathan says when Jamie and I walk into the kitchen.

"Hey", I say back and let go of Jamie to hug him.

"You didn't tell your Dad about that boy huh", Uncle Nathan whispers in my ear and my eyes go wide. I look into his eyes when he lets me go and shake my head no. He rolls his eyes and looks to Dad.

Ryder the mystery boy. Oh how I can't wait to see him later. Not that I've been thinking about him all day or anything. No not at all. I haven't been thinking about the way he looked at me, the feeling I got when he touched my hand, or how beautiful his deep brown eyes were. Nope, he hasn't even come across my mind at all.

"You guys ready to head out", Dad questions and we all nod. I immediately grab Uncle Nathans hand and start walking to the garage while cheering "Let's go Bobcats"!

Lucas POV

The Bobcats game was success. The won in overtime and it was so much fun. In these moments I'm glad I have my brother. He's come such a long way since high school. It's no surprise that Megan adores him.

"Thanks again Uncle Nate it was awesome", Megan says as we pull into our driveway. The sun has set hours ago as I look at the dashboard that says 9:00pm.

"Of course I'm glad we all got to go together", Nate replies as he puts the car in park.

"See you guys for Sunday morning breakfast", I add and fist bump Nathan along with Jamie before opening the car door.

"Don't forget our morning run tomorrow either", Jamie shouts and I'm assuming he's talking to Meg.

"Alright I'll be waiting for you at six. Love you guys", Megan gushes while she hops out of the car.

I walk up to the front door and unlock it with my keys. Looking behind me I wave towards Nathan as he drives down the drive way. Megan walks in front and strides towards her bedroom.

"Not so fast kid, what are your plans for the night", I stutter as she immediately stops in her place.

"I'm probably going to Amanda's", she answers as she spins around to look at me, never making eye contact. She has a small grin upon her lips which makes me think she's not telling the truth. Megan is a horrible liar. She can't look at you when she tells a lie and always smiles while she's talking. I don't question it though; I need to learn to trust her after all.

"Okay well just tell me when you're leaving. Don't forget to send a text when you're on your way home".

She seems shocked that I let it go so easy but nods her head as she darts to her bedroom. I have the house to myself for the night, what is there to do?

I walk into the kitchen throwing my keys on the table and sigh. What am I thinking? I have absolutely nothing to do. There is no will power in me to even write a sentence.

"Bye Dad", Megan screams with the sound of the front door slamming.

"Bye", I whisper more to myself. Guess I'll turn a movie on.

Walking into the living room I glance at our DVD collection and smile. The Avengers is Megan's new favorite movie, and secretly mine. Knowing it's already in the DVD player I turn the TV on and press play.

Ten minutes into the movie I hear a loud knock on the door. Who could that be? I press pause on the movie and leap towards the door. Opening it I look up and suddenly my breath is taken.

"Why do you still do that to me", I say without thinking and my visitor smiles lightly.

"Do what", the person smirks as their eyes are glistening into mine.

"Take my breath away". She blushes at my comment and looks away from my gaze. "I was on my way home from Haley's and saw the light on. Is Megan home"?

"Just missed her, she's at Amanda's".

She frowns and then shakes her head. "Alright well I guess I'll head to my hotel room. Hope I didn't disturb your night". As she starts to walk away and I feel this tug at my heart saying to stop her.

"Hey Brooke", I shout and can't believe I just said that. She has her eyebrows kinked up waiting for me to talk and I melt, frozen in her stare. I could never resist that look.

"Why don't you come inside and we can talk". Did I really just ask that?

"No it's okay Luke. I wouldn't want to impose on your night".

I shake my head no and open the door wider. "We have a lot of things to talk about so why don't you just come in, stay awhile".

She seems to be having an inner battle in her mind of what to do. But there are a lot of things we need to discuss and she probably has a lot of questions.

"I'll even make you my mom's famous hot chocolate", I add knowing she can't resist that. It's one of her many weaknesses.

"Okay", she whispers and walks in my house. Here goes nothing.

Megan POV

Maybe it's ridiculous for me to think that the mystery boy from last night really would come back to the river court. Maybe I'm making up the connection I felt for him. He just seemed so different and interesting. He's secretly all that I've been thinking about today. But how can I express these feelings about someone I barely even know?

Ryder Lynn is a challenge to me and I must figure out who he is.

As I finally arrive at the river court I'm left with disappointment. He's not here. I grab my phone out of my pocket and see its only 9:30. I'll give him a half hour and if he doesn't show, I'll never think about him again.

I walk to the picnic table and reach underneath for my basketball deciding the best way to pass the time is to practice my jump shot.

Turning around to start to shoot I look up and see a silver Jeep pull up towards the court. After shutting it off the person climbs out of it and I immediately notice the grey hoodie. It's my mystery boy.

Ryder strides towards me as I'm standing in the middle of the court. He has a bright smile on his face and his dimples are showing. My heart beats a little bit faster but I know it's not from my HCM; it's from looking into his gaze. He's absolutely beautiful.

"Hi", I somehow croak when he's only a couple of feet away from me. Here goes nothing.

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