A/n- so here it is guys, chapter two. Enjoy.

Disclaimer- once again I do not own any of one tree hill. 

Chapter two- Fear, empowered by change.

He walked into the changing room, and looked around. He'd been in practice with the team all week but they were just like sheep, they seemed to just follow Nathan around. This was the Ravens 6th game of the season, 5-0 was their current record. Lucas was nervous, very nervous, and the nerves certainly told. He had the worst game of his life, scoring no points, and generally looking like the oppositions 6th man out on the court.

The end of the game couldn't come quick enough. When it did, Lucas ran straight home, ashamed of himself for playing so badly. He was shocked his mum hadn't been there to see him play, even though Keith and Haley were there along with all the guys from the river court he felt alone, in a new world where he didn't seem to fit in.

There comes a time when every life goes off course. In this desperate moment, you must choose your direction. Will you fight to stay on path? Will others tell you who you are? Or will you label yourself? Will you be haunted by your choice? Or will you embrace your new path? Each morning you choose to move forward or simply give up.

Nathan loved the fact Lucas sucked so much in his first game. He couldn't stop laughing during his after game make out session with Peyton. She couldn't see the funny side of whom she thought to be a decent guy playing badly and left.

Keith went straight to the café after the game to confront Karen about not choosing to see Lucas play, they both knew she should have been there. But she was scared of the school and Dan. She didn't want to see him. But she felt guilty, she should have been there.

Lucas was on his own at the river court, thinking about his performance in the gym, he was scared of that place. Afraid of the world behind that door, he didn't fit in, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Not one of the shots he was shooting, went in.

'Misery really does love company' came the voice that made his hairs stand on end. Lucas turned and there was Peyton, why was she there?

'What are you doing here?' Lucas asked in a slightly more unfriendly tone than he wanted.

'Actually I'm not here, I was never here.' She responded, slightly taken aback by his response.

'You know, I shoot the ball and it goes in, I don't ask questions, I don't think about it, that's just the way it is.'

'Or the way it was' she responded, Lucas could only agree.

'Yeah.'

'Look, its just a game, who cares if the entire school, most of your friends and half the town saw you suck.'

'So you've clearly come to cheer me up.' Neither of them could tear their eyes away from the other. This was hardly a conversation that either of them wanted to take part in, well at least what was actually being said anyway. Both wanted to have a conversation with the other, but not this particular one. Lucas changed the subject.

'You want a ride?'

15 minutes later, Lucas pulled up outside Peyton's house.

'Look, you mind if I ask you a question?'

'Shoot'

'Why'd you decide to do it, join the team? Cause you don't exactly fit in here do you.'

'The game I guess. I love the game.'

'Right, same reason I cheer, its just a game. Why not just stay on the playground? Why join varsity?'

'Because I wanna know if I'm good.'

'If you ask my opinion, we all just wasted a perfectly good evening. You, me and everybody else in there.'

'Then why do you do it? I mean, do you like it or not?'

'If I say that I like it, then I'm just another cheerleader, but if I say that I hate it then I'm either a liar or a fraud, either way I lose.' Lucas couldn't help but be curious about her, she was different to anyone he'd ever met in many ways, but in others they were very alike.

'Do you wanna come in?' This caught Luke completely off guard, Peyton Sawyer had invited him into her house.

'What about Nathan?'

'What about him?' Now Luke was even more confused, why did Peyton ask him to come in?

He got out of the truck and made his way to the door.

'What are you doing?

'Um, you just said..'

'I didn't invite you to come in, I just asked if you wanted to. Thanks for the ride.' Lucas smiled to himself, Peyton Sawyer was a mystery, and she seemed to want to keep it that way. Not for long if Lucas had anything to do with it.

Lucas drove home, and got inside to see his mother on the couch. He was disappointed she wasn't at the game. Karen said the café was busy and that she was sorry she missed it. Lucas wasn't happy and said he was sorry too before going to his room.

Peyton was in her room, on her webcam just like every other night, listening to some of her punk rock music and drawing when the phone rang, it was Nathan. She turned her music up and put the phone to the speaker after answering it. It rang again, this time she picked it up and turned her music down.

'I'm sorry…Peyton' were Nathan's first words. For once they sounded genuine.

'Peytons not here right now, just her lame music'

'Look I'm really sorry, its just this guys on the team now and my dads been hammering me about it but I shouldn't take it out on you, I know that.'

'Nathan I'm tired of this.'

'I know and I haven't been very good to you lately and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, ok….Just say its ok, so that when I see you tomorrow we can start being us again, ok Peyton?' Peyton sighed to herself, did she want this for herself?

'Ok' she begrudgingly replied.

The next day dawned, and Lucas was up very early, down at the river court hours before school. Still he could not shoot a basket. He accepted this for now, and made his way to school.

His first class was English literature, his teacher asked Peyton to describe him in one word, and she looked at him, before realizing Nathan was looking at her. She put her head down.

'Choke.' Lucas looked a little shocked, but noticed Nathan was watching. Again Peyton's defences were up.

'Lucas care to respond?' Lucas looked at Peyton, and they locked eyes again. Neither of them looked away.

'Lonely' Lucas said, but it wasn't an insult, it was an accurate description. Peyton looked at him but her face didn't portray hurt that he'd said that, it showed shock, and that shock was because despite the fact he had never spoken to her before this week had begun, he seemed to understand her better than anyone. He had hit the nail on the head. She knew it wasn't an insult either. Nathan on the other hand, did not.

'I can describe Lucas in one word' he said when the teacher was asked why his hand was raised

'Bastard.' Peyton was hurt by that comment, there was no need for it. She couldn't help but feel pity for Lucas, he didn't deserve that. He seemed like a genuine guy.

Nathan turned around and looked at Lucas, Lucas snapped. He was out of his seat and had Nathan pinned on the ground before anybody could blink. Peyton looked shocked Lucas could do such a thing but if anybody deserved a comeuppance, it was Nathan.

Whitey took Lucas into his office and had it out with him. Lucas felt ashamed of his actions, it's not who he is.

Lucas' basketball game had been suffering since the first game, and he told Whitey he wanted to quit. Whitey doesn't want Lucas to run away, but Lucas points out he didn't run away, that's why he's in the office in the first place.

Meanwhile, Nathan is spreading crap about him tackling Lucas. Jake, the only member of the team not to follow Nathan around as a sheep, points out Lucas tackled Nathan, and that when it was broken up, Nathan was on the bottom.

Nathan proceeds to threaten Lucas, but he takes it in his stride.

'You know its really too bad Lucas is poor and he can't play cos he is fine.'

Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer were in Peyton's room discussing Peyton and Nathan, and Lucas. Brooke is the captain of the cheerleaders and probably the biggest slut in school.

'Do you ever look past it Brooke?

'Past what?'

'High school, basketball, the whole popularity drama?'

'Yeah, I mean I think about the future sometimes and it scares me, but then I think I'll go to college, ill join the right sorority, ill marry a rich guy. Unless I get fat.' Peyton looks at her and raises her eyebrows. Brooke is very naïve. Despite the fact they are best friends, they are very different people.

Lucas was at the garage with Keith, who was trying to persuade him that quitting the team was not the way forward. Michael Jordan was the argument he used, he got cut from his high school basketball team, and he still did ok. Lucas argued he didn't fit in. Keith argued back that Jordan didn't either when he first started. Lucas was really confused about what to do, he needed a reason to stay on the team. Was the new world he was becoming a part of about to give him one?

He and Keith uncovered Peyton's car, and Lucas found an art sketchbook. He was flicking through some of the sketches, and a letter to Thud magazine when he heard

'Those are my sketches.' Peyton sounded angry and Lucas knew he shouldn't have been looking through her things.

'Um, I wasn't looking.'

'This is personal, alright. I don't read your diary.'

'I don't have a diary.'

'No, dear diary, my daddy doesn't love me, ps stay out of my stuff.' Peyton turned and stormed off. Lucas just laughed, defences up again.

Nathan was doing weights when his father asked him about the fight at school. He said it was nothing, and typically Dan Scott's only concern was basketball.

'Do you realise how fast a suspension or bad reputation can ruin your prospects?'

Dan Scott, is a selfish man, and the only thing keeping him in touch with his son was basketball. He asked if Nathan was ok, and Nathan replied that he was fine, before he told Dan that he wasn't the one being swung at, Dan was.

Lucas entered the cafe and sat down, instantly Karen questioned him about the fight at school. Lucas was never one to get involved in a fight, he was a sensible well mannered guy. Karen was surprised to get a phone call saying her son had been in a fight, she thought they had the wrong Scott, but they had two. Lucas was angry with himself for letting Nathan goad him down to his level. But it was in the past and couldn't be changed. He tried to defend himself

'He was being a jerk'

'And this comes as a surprise to you? He's never been a jerk before?' Both were rhetorical questions, but Lucas gave an answer anyway.

'No, he's always a jerk.'

'Then why go down to his level?' Lucas sighed, he knew he shouldn't have done it, and arguing with his mum about it seemed so pointless. Until she spoke again

'This wouldn't have anything to do with playing poorly would it?' Lucas snapped at this point, his mother wasn't even there when he played.

'How would you know? You weren't even there.'

Karen just glared before leaving the table, she knew she should have been there and felt guilty about it but Lucas knew he shouldn't have said anything and instantly apologized. But it was too late. He'd have to fix this later because he had just seen Peyton Sawyer out of the window, abandoning her very good sketches in a bin. She couldn't pluck up the courage to submit them to Thud magazine. Lucas picked them up and vowed to do this for her, they were good sketches, and one in particular meant something to him.

The next day he spoke to Karen about the night before, and Dan came up. Lucas discovered when his father told his mum that he was going to college and abandoning her and him. If there was anything Lucas knew, it was that he and his mum had gotten this far on their own, and if they stuck together they would continue to do well by themselves.

Nathan and Dan had been for their morning run in the park, Dan was explaining to Nathan about Whitey's past with him, he told Nathan of how he had refused to go back in to a state championship final. He had disobeyed Whitey's orders, and Whitey tried his hardest to point out that he was the coach and that this was a team sport, but Dan being Dan couldn't let it go, his ego had been damaged. So he refused to go back into the game and the team lost. Dan Scott, the selfish, egotistical, sociopath that he was today, had just explained to his own son that that was exactly who he was back then, and who he is now. Dan had formulated a plan to get Lucas off the team. He was controlling Nathan's life.

At school that day, Lucas was reading in the library on his lunch break, when he was spotted by a member of the basketball team, Jake Jagielski. Jake was not like the others on the team, he had not been involved in the bus incident earlier on in the season and was not suspended from playing. He was actually a genuine guy.

Lucas had his guard up from the moment Jake spoke to him.

'Hey Lucas, tough game the other night.'

'Yeah..' Lucas said, more to himself than to Jake. Was a member of the team acknowledging him? Being nice to him even?

'It happens.' Jake paused and looked back at Lucas, who was looking around expecting a prank to be pulled, but nothing came. 'So you read a lot, huh?' Jake continued.

'Yeah'

'I got something for ya. Listen, I know we haven't had much of a chance to talk much since you joined the team but I just kinda wanted to stay outta the way and chill you know. Oh, and I'm Jake.'

'Yeah I know'

'A lot of talk about your one on one with Nathan, man I wish I could've been there.' Lucas could not believe there was actually another person on the team worth talking to.

'Ah its no big deal'

'You know Nathan, he's a hell of a player, he really is but he buys into all this nonsense. You got him scared.' Jake rummaged in his bag for a book, Atlas shrugged, before finishing his sentence.

'Fear changes everything' he finished.

'Atlas shrugged?'

'Yeah, you read it?'

'Nah'

'Yeah, it's good. Man you're gonna be fine, just remember, don't let him take it.'

'I dunno what that means'

'I know, but you will.' Jake smiled and patted Lucas on the shoulder as a friendly gesture. Lucas smiled back, maybe there was someone in this world he could relate to, even be friends with.

After lunch, came English literature. Lucas' teacher wanted everybody to

'Write down one word to describe what you want most in your life right now.'

Peyton wrote truth, Nathan wrote revenge, Lucas wrote answers.

After school, Lucas went down to the river court, and tried to get his game back. But try as he might he just couldn't. Nathan's presence didn't help things, he had turned up to taunt Lucas, just like his father told him to. Lucas was feeling pretty horrible, and probably dwelled on what Nathan had said to him a bit too much, and so when practice came later that night, he never went. Nathan had told him not to turn up, and he hadn't…he could think of no reason to be there.

Instead of practice, he went by the garage and started to help Keith out. That was when Peyton arrived. Her car had been fixed and she was there to pick it up. Lucas gave her the keys, and also the sketchbook she had thrown away. Peyton instantly stuck her guard up.

'What are you, stalking me?'

'I thought somebody should see them' and he was right, her sketches were good, really good.

'Well its none of your business.'

'You know what you're right, its none of my business. I wouldn't know anything about it.'

'I know you don't.' Peyton turned to walk away without the artwork. Lucas wanted to know why she couldn't believe in herself.

'Look just tell me why you didn't submit them?' he asked, as he got up out of his seat and walked towards her. 'your stuff is good.'

'Not good enough.' She responded.

'Peyton, why not?' Lucas asked again, in a more defiant tone, he clearly wasn't leaving her alone until he had an answer. Peyton turned around, and she didn't know why but there was something she felt towards Lucas that made her answer. Just the way he seemed to understand her.

'I wanna draw something that means something to someone, you know, I wanna draw a blind faith or a fading summer or just a moment of clarity. It's like when you go and you see a really great band live for the first time you know, and nobody is saying it but everybody is thinking it, we have something to believe in again. I wanna draw that feeling. But, I cant. If I can't be great at it then I don't wanna ruin it. It's too important to me.' Lucas had finally got through the barriers, she had opened up to him and it felt really good, not only because Lucas felt the same way about his basketball, but because he had finally spoken to the real Peyton Sawyer. He responded

'Yeah, me too.' Peyton started the car after climbing into it.

'Hey, what about your sketchbook?'

'What about it?' she replied with a smile on her face, it was as if a big weight had been lifted from her shoulders. 'They don't mean anything to anybody do they? She continued before driving away. Lucas didn't understand though, half of her drawings did mean something, and she had drawn exactly what she wanted to, she just couldn't see it. Lucas on the other hand could. That was a moment of clarity for Lucas, he realized that he didn't believe in himself either, he was good enough to play for the Ravens, hell he had beaten the best player on the team in one on one, he just had to believe in himself. Peyton had given Lucas a reason to play.

When she arrived home, Peyton tore down all the drawings in her room. She did not believe in herself, and just like the word she had written in her English class, she wanted truth.

Nathan had been at home for hours, doing weights. All that was on his mind was Lucas, he wanted revenge for being beaten in that one on one.

Lucas was at the river court. He wanted answers about many things, including why had his game disappeared? He was thinking to himself for a while before Whitey appeared, he had been the coach of the Ravens for 35 years, and had some sterling advice to give.

'There's no shame in being afraid, hell were all afraid. What you gotta do is figure out what you're afraid of, because when you put a face on it you can beat it, better yet you can use it, think about it.'

The next day after school, Lucas was at home. The basketball game was tonight, and Whitey had told him he would be on the team sheet until tip off. The rest was up to him. But Lucas still hadn't figured out why he couldn't play, until now.

Karen told Lucas she was coming to watch him at the game that night, but Lucas told her he wasn't playing. It was now, that Lucas realised why he couldn't play, Karen and Lucas spoke about the junior leagues, Lucas' first jersey and the reason he quit playing. Dan. Lucas had tears in his eyes, he told his mum it was because he didn't want to have to see his face, when really it was mainly for her. But it was different now, when he stepped onto that court, it felt like Dan had a piece of him., and he wanted nothing less than to be like Dan. Karen said that she had taken the night off to watch her son play basketball and that Dan had taken enough from them already. Lucas smiled at her kind words and thanked her before looking down to the drawing he was holding, of many guys in suits, all looking the same, and one faceless guy at the front mixed in with the crowd wearing red. With the title saying 'THEY ARE NOT YOU.' This was one of Peyton's drawings. Her art mattered.

In a flash Lucas jumped up and ran over to thud magazine with Peyton's sketches. They mattered to him, and he would see that Peyton got recognized for her talent. He gave them to an editor outside the store and told him to look at them before running down the street to get to the game in time.

He made it in time, and had a run in with Dan. He looked him in the eye and in that moment he wasn't afraid anymore. Some kind words from Jake, who Lucas met in the hallway and he was ready for the game.

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours...

As he got ready, Lucas noticed the one thing that Dan still held over him. The name Scott. I ripped it off, it was barely hanging on, and would fall off at any moment.

He ran out onto the court with a new sense of purpose, and when he saw Peyton, he turned to her and looked into those beautiful deep pools of bright green and said

'Your art matters, it's what got me here.' She smiled back at him, how could there possibly be somebody who understands you so much, and knows exactly what to do or say, when you barely even know each other she thought.

The team went in for their pre match huddle, and Lucas spotted Dan. He smiled to himself before turning away from him so he could see, the lack of the name Scott on Lucas' jersey. Any hold he had over Lucas, had gone.