I Don't Want To Be

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

Note: I've changed Lynette's name to Emily (Emma for a nickname). Why? Because I decided that I don't like that name for her – no offense to anyone named Lynette or Lynn or any other derivative of the name Lynette. And yes, I've gone to the previous chapter to change it as well.

------- … scene change/break or indicated flashback

Italics … thoughts

Bold … emphasis

I Don't Want To Be: Chapter 8: Friends and Foes

"Lucas!"

Upon hearing his name, the blond boy paused in his trek to his locker. A neat side-step kept him from being knocked over by the brown-haired whirlwind that was Haley James. The boy neatly arched an eyebrow at his grinning friend.

What is she so happy about? His calm was turning into wariness. Bad things tended to happen, to him specifically, when Haley James was overly happy and/or excited.

Haley paid no mind to her wary friend, counting that as part of his nature. And besides that, she was in sixth grade. What would she know about wariness and stuff anyway? "I told you so!"

Lucas allowed himself to be dragged along as the twosome headed to lunch. "What are you talking about Haley?"

"Yesterday! Don't pretend like you forgot!" She shot him a scandalized look, as if he had done something horribly inappropriate.

"Yesterday," he repeated. "Yesterday people kept bugging me about the car accident, I made some kid cry, all my classes sucked, some kid named Nathan decided it would be fun to pick on some other kids and got mad when I stepped in, and you dragged me to some court by the river—"

"Rivercourt," Haley interjected.

"Fine, you dragged me to the Rivercourt and introduced me to a very loud Spanish girl, a really quiet blonde girl—"

"Like you're one to talk!"

"Can I finish please?"

"Yeah, go on."

"Like I was saying, you introduced me to a loud Spanish girl, a quiet blonde, a skinny kid that doesn't like to play basketball, and three other guys that do. I went home tired with a lot of homework to do."

"They have names, you know. I introduced you to Mia, Emily, Mouth, Skillz, Fergie, and Junk. And you loved it, just like I said you would." They plopped down at their usual table – just the two of them. Both brought their own lunches.

"You never said that," Lucas quipped while pulling out an orange.

"Um yeah, I did. I told you that it wouldn't be bad, and it wasn't. Which is why I get to say 'I told you so'." Haley gave the apple in her bag a sour look before pulling it out.

"Saying that I'd love it is not the same as telling me that it won't be all that bad. There's a difference. So no, you don't get to say 'I told you so'."

The girl pouted. Aww..I've been dying to use that line. Ugh, I hate it when he's right.

Without even discussing it, the two sixth graders traded fruit. "I don't even know why she puts apples in here. I hate them." She shoved Lucas a little as he smirked a little at the comment.

"Lucas?"

The boy was staring at something. Haley looked up…and groaned. "Great," she mumbled.

"Who are they?"

Haley frowned before an 'oh' expression settled on her face. Lucas was new here and hadn't spoken to very many people. Of course he wouldn't know. "The popular crowd: Brooke Davis, Peyton Sawyer, Nathan Scott and a few others. They're really mean to everybody, always acting as if they're better than everyone else."

"I know that Nathan kid."

"You do?"

"He and some other guys were picking on these two kids and I told him to lay off. One of his friends told me to shut up and pushed me. I pushed him back. Then Nathan pushed me – or he tried to anyway. I had moved. He missed and fell on his face. He turned all red and stomped off." He shrugged at the end, a response to Haley's open-mouth expression.

"Are you crazy!? He's like…like…"

"Like what?" Lucas queried.

"Like bad."

"Is that the best you could come up with? He's 'bad'?"

Haley punched him in the arm and Lucas groaned, pulling away from his friend. "Ow – Haley!"

The girl looked mortified. "Oh no! Oh Lucas I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. Please don't be mad…"

Lucas grimaced at the spike of pain in his arm, but tried to reassure Haley that he wasn't really mad and he didn't need to go to the hospital.

"Well isn't this touching?"

Lucas and Haley looked up to see Nathan, a pretty brunette girl, a rather tall blonde girl that was also pretty, and a few others. Nathan was scowling at Lucas, obviously having not forgotten what happened yesterday.

Haley absently grabbed onto the edge of Lucas' shirt, not comfortable with the situation. This was really bad. Nathan looked awfully mad…

Lucas failed to see the big deal. He hadn't done anything wrong as far as he knew. And he didn't even know the rest of these people. He frowned at them in confusion. What did they want? "May we help you or something?" he asked. This caused a round of snickers, but Lucas had no idea what was so funny about his question. "Well?" he added.

"Yeah, you can mind your own beeswax from now on," Nathan said. I don't know who this kid thinks he is, but he better watch out.

"Excuse me?" Lucas arched an eyebrow. What is this guy's problem?

"You heard me. I don't know what this 'superhero' act of yours was supposed to do, but just keep it to yourself or you won't get away so easy next time."

In the back of his mind, Lucas was aware that this was a threat of sorts. But this was sixth grade – what the heck was Nathan going to do to him? They had a grand total of two classes together – English and gym. Okay, so the teachers may not like him so much for whatever reason – except his English teacher – but they weren't going to sit back and let Nathan start a fight right there in class. I hope.

And sure, Nathan, apparently, knew where he sat at lunch. So? Would he steal his lunch or something then? Luke could have cared less. I've gone without lunch plenty of times, Lucas thought to himself.He could just grab something from his mom's café, no problem.

It seemed that Lucas' lack of reaction was grating Nathan's nerves. The dark-haired boy's frown deepened and he moved until his shadow was cast right over Lucas. The blond frowned back.

Luke may be quiet and he may keep to himself for the most part, but the boy was no pushover. He wasn't backing down. What Nathan and his friends had been doing was wrong and mean. Lucas wouldn't sit around and watch them bully people right in front of his face while he could do something about it.

Haley noted the hush that had fallen upon the crowd around them. She looked over to see that Nathan and Lucas were still locked in a staring contest. Neither boy blinked, nor did they stop frowning. She fidgeted, as did Nathan's clique. They were only in sixth grade; this sort of intensity wasn't the norm.

"Ummm…Lucas?" This was making her uncomfortable, but it seemed that her new best buddy was just fine glaring the other boy down. She'd never seen Lucas come so close to hostility. Granted, her friends had been nice to him and Haley wasn't around to see him glare at that one kid he made cry the other day… This has to stop.

"Luke!" Haley had both their lunches in hand.

"Yes?"

The petite brunette wasn't sure if she should be annoyed or impressed by the fact that he could answer her without breaking the mini-show down. "We have to go." She started tugging the sleeve of his "good" arm.

The blond didn't budge for a minute or two. When he did get up, Lucas maintained his eye lock with Nathan. At this point, Lucas was shorter than Nathan, but only by an inch or two. However, as a sixth grader, this seemed to be like a foot to both boys. It allowed Nathan to tilt his head a little and look down at Lucas.

RIIIIIING!!

The bell for their next class had rung, but neither boy seemed to notice. Nathan blinked as his friend Tim, or "Dim" as he was often called, tugged on his sleeve. He was trying to stay focused on the irritating boy before him, but the incessant pulling and calling of his name was too distracting. He looked away.

"What?"

Tim took a step back at the tone. "Umm…dude, we'll be late for class."

Nathan huffed. "Is that all?"

The other boy nodded.

"Tch, whatever. I'm not done with – " His sentence was cut off when he turned around. Lucas wasn't there.

Nathan glared at the spot Lucas had been standing in, thoroughly ticked off. This is not over, he decided mentally.

"Haley."

The brunette ignored him, continuing to drag him down the hall. She had successfully managed to force him out of the lunchroom when Tim had distracted Nathan for those scant minutes.

"Haley, stop!"

She halted, turning around to face him. Haley was not happy and it showed. "What is wrong with you?"

Lucas tugged his hand out of her grasp, confused and edging toward the defensive. "What are you talking about?"

"That, that, whatever it was with Nathan! Are you crazy!? He's, he's bad. He's bad news and getting involved with him isn't going to help anyone."

Lucas huffed. "So I should just let him pick on whoever he pleases without doing anything about it? Without even trying? Is that what you want?"

Haley opened her mouth and closed. Frowning back, she said, "Yes. You'll only make it worse. He'll be all over you now; you should have just let him go. Now him and his buddies will be picking on you and, and – "

Lucas snorted. "I don't think it's me you're worried about." With that, the blond walked away. He never did get to go to his locker. I'll be late now. Great.

There you have it. Another chapter. Short, but that's how I do it. I've had other plot bunnies hopping around in my head, and have started to type them just to get them out of my head. But don't worry; I won't officially start up any other stories until much, much later.