Chapter 4(Lucas)

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

During all my classes, my mind was spinning. The way Peyton had looked at Haley earlier. The way Haley had looked beneath me this morning. The way her hand had felt in mine. The way I had hungered for the anger reflected in Peyton's eyes. Everything seemed to be getting confused in my mind. I wanted Peyton back but I also wanted to hurt her, that didn't seem like the nice guy I thought I was. Using Haley to get her back didn't seem very nice either.

The final bell rang, startling me from my thoughts. Finally this day was over. I walked quickly towards the gym, needing some basketball therapy to stop me from stressing. I pushed my way through the mass of students in the hall into the locker room. Changing quickly, I threw my other clothes into my locker and spun the lock. That's when Nathan walked in. At seeing his face, intense rage swept through me. He looked up at me and our eyes locked. Nathan shook his head and turned his back to me.

"You're an ass for treating Haley that way." I spit out. He turned back around and glared at me again.

"Whatever man, it's none of your business." I strode over to him and got in his face.

"Now, that's where you're wrong. It is my business."

"Lucas, back off man before I smash your ugly ass face in."

Jake came up behind me and grabbed my arm and pulled me away, "Luke man, he's not worth it. Let it go."

I moved away from Nathan and he turned around again. I shrugged Jake's arm off and walked into the gym. Once here I felt an intense calm wash over me. Here, I knew who I was. I was Lucas Scott, basketball player. When that ball was in my hands, I felt like the world all made sense. Life wasn't so hard; all that mattered was putting that ball through that hoop.

I grabbed a basketball off the rack and tossed it up. I heard the familiar sounding swish and I felt my stress just melt away. Here, I was actually good at something and even if it was just for game night, I mattered to the people at this school.

I felt a finger tap my shoulder and turned around to see none other than Brooke Davis.

"Hey Broody." She winked at me and gave that familiar smirk. "I told Haley to swing by since of course it would never occur to you two."

At that I heard the gym doors slam open and looked over to see Haley. She fumbled with the doors and almost dropped her books but she caught them and in doing so, her purse slid off her arm and clattered to the floor. I heard her sigh and trotted over to help her out. She bent down and reached for her purse at the same time I did and we almost had a collision. Haley glanced up, obviously surprised by my closeness.

"Oh…hey Luke." Her voice sounded breathless and her soft brown eyes bored into mine. She stood up and so did I. I stood, like I was frozen in time. It was me and it was Haley. I felt her purse in my hand, I smelled her perfume, I saw the slight smile on her lips. I heard wolf-whistles coming from some of the guys.

"Hey Luke! That purse matches your lipstick!" I looked back at the smirking Tim Smith. I shook my head and handed Haley's purse back to her. Her cheeks flushed, from all the attention, I guess.

I wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, Hales. This is the price of being a famous basketball player's girlfriend. Unwanted attention."

She stepped out of my arms and looked surprised, "Oh my God…look at that!"

I looked down at myself, "What? What's wrong?"

"You're head has physically gotten bigger. It's amazing. Complete science miracle."

I laughed, "Alright…alright." I heard the guys starting to break off in teams for practice. "Well Haley. I have to go. My precious work demands it. Stick around; we'll go do something when I'm done, k?"

She smiled, "You mean play the doting submissive girlfriend who waits around for her man?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean."

She scoffed, "I'm waiting but not because of some patriarchal demands but because Attack of the 50ft Woman is playing and I wish you to accompany me."

"Sure, sounds great." With that I trotted off and joined the game. I kept jumping high and making half-court shots, hoping to show Haley how well I could play but every time I looked over at her, she had her nose buried in a book. Oh well, that was my Haley.

I managed not to kill Nathan during practice and he managed to stay out of my way. Afterwards I ran to the locker room to shower and change but I noticed that Nathan hadn't followed. At the door to the locker room I paused and watched him slowly saunter over to Haley.

She looked up from her book to see him standing over her. Even though I was half-way across the gym, I could still hear Nathan's deep voice.

"Hey Haley."

I saw her mouth move but couldn't quite make out what she said.

He sat down next to her and they looked deep in conversation. Feeling something like disgust coursing through me, I went into the locker room to change.