By Emily Carol
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill, just the CDs and DVDs and my obsession with James Lafferty.
Thanks for the comments! I can't wait to see what you think of this chapter. Took me longer to get around to putting it up then planned (I'm trying to do an update a week since I do have a few chapters already written) but school and Thanksgiving kind of have screwed me up.
Enjoy!
-Emily Carol
Chapter 3: Joining the Team
Nathan cautiously made his way down the halls of Tree Hill High, aware that many people were staring at him. Tree Hill was a small school, a small town for that matter, and a newcomer was easily spotted. Nathan ignored them and just continued his way down the hall towards the basketball coach's office, Whitey Durham.
Nathan cautiously knocked before opening the door.
"Who is that?" Whitey asked as Nathan stepped in.
"My name's Nathan Lee, Coach Durham," Nathan said shyly to Whitey's back. He seemed to be studying a playbook or something similar.
Whitey turned around to face him. "That's right, Grove High School, am I right?" Whitey asked.
"How'd you know?" Nathan asked.
"I was at the semi-final game that you lost in the state tournament," Whitey said. "You're a damn good player, even for a freshman. How'd you end up here in Tree Hill?"
"My mom sent me to try and get to know my dad," Nathan said. "He didn't take it so well, but I'm staying with my uncle now."
"And who is dear old dad?" Whitey inquired. "If you don't mind my asking that is."
"Dan Scott," Nathan said. "Although he doesn't believe it."
"Ah, good old Danny boy," Whitey said. "Wouldn't imagine he'd take that kind of news too well. Don't think Karen or Lucas would either."
"His wife and son?" Nathan asked. He and Keith had avoided family history over the weekend through an unspoken agreement. Whitey nodded.
"Practice starts right after school, we'll see how much of dear old dad you've got in you then," Whitey said, turning his back to Nathan, as signal for him to leave.
"Thanks," Nathan said before leaving the office. Coming out of the office he literally ran into a tall blonde boy.
"Watch where you're going," the boy said rudely.
"S…sorry," Nathan stammered before walking away. He tried to focus on his schedule and the map of the school he'd received to try and find his first class. Confused he looked up and saw two girls at the locker near him. A tall blonde with curly hair and a shorter dirty blonde with wavy hair. "Excuse me, where's room 105?" He asked politely. The girls just looked him up and down before scoffing and turning their backs to him, walking farther down the hall.
"So I see you've met the queens of Tree Hill High," a female voice came from behind Nathan. He turned to be met with a brunette girl.
"Huh?"
"Peyton Sawyer and Haley James," the girl explained. "They pretty much rule the school, Haley was just named cheerleading captain, lucky me."
"Are you a cheerleader?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah," the girl said. "My name's Brooke Davis."
"Nathan Lee."
"Nice to meet you Nathan," Brooke said. "And room 105 is the next door on the right side of the hallway," she pointed. Nathan looked where she was pointing but when he looked back to say thanks, Brooke had vanished.
"Strange school," he mumbled to himself as he walked into his first period math class.
Nathan was loaded down with books by the time school ended. Apparently Grove High was further behind Tree Hill High and Nathan was paying for it.
He walked into the gym locker room for practice, changing quickly and ignoring the stares from the other guys, obviously wondering who this imposter was. As a result of his quick changing he was the first player in the gym with Whitey.
"Let's see what you've got," Whitey said. He tossed a basketball at Nathan. Nathan caught it, dribbled it, and ran towards the basket before jumping up and making an impressive slam dunk. "Well, looks like you do have some of Danny-boy in you." Nathan just looked at him, unsure of what to say to that comment.
In the meantime, the rest of the team began to filter into the gym, including the blonde boy that Nathan had run into earlier.
"Boys, meet Nathan Lee, he's going to be joining us," Whitey said. "That is, if he survives this practice, which I don't see as being a problem." Whitey quickly went through the group of guys and named all of them, and Nathan learned that the rude blonde boy was Lucas Scott, his half brother.
"How'd it go?" Keith asked Nathan. They were in Keith's office at Scott Motors where Keith was owner and president of the company.
"Well the school is weird, barely anybody said anything to me except some cheerleader who vanished the minute I tried to thank her for directions, and the basketball team didn't take kindly to me, especially after Whitey announced I'd be staying," Nathan said.
"Why not?" Keith asked.
"Whitey kept making me do stuff, like dunking and shooting, I felt like he was making me show off," Nathan said. "They didn't like that."
"Well, they'll get to know you," Keith said. "Besides, if Whitey was making you show off that means he was impressed which means you must be good."
Nathan just shrugged. "Lucas is on the team," he said quietly, after a few seconds of silence.
"Yeah," Keith said quietly.
"I don't think he knew who I was," Nathan said. "But it was weird. This guy is my brother, we share DNA." Keith just put a reassuring hand on Nathan's shoulder, not knowing what else to say.
"How was practice?" Dan asked Lucas as Lucas walked into his office at Scott Motors.
"There's some new guy joining the team," Lucas said. "Whitey kept showing him off. He played for some team that went to semi-finals last year."
"Really? Who?" Dan asked.
"Nathan Lee, he's from Grove," Lucas said. "And the weird thing is that he kept shooting looks at me."
"Wow, didn't think she'd go this far," Dan mumbled to himself.
"Huh?"
"I'm going to tell you something, but you can't breathe a word of this to your mother," Dan said.
"Not like I talk to her anyway," Lucas said.
"This girl I dated in college, before I came back for you and your mom, well, she's trying to get back at me for leaving," Dan explained. "So this boy, Nathan Lee, if that is his real name, is pretending to be mine and her son. Now, of course he isn't, but I can't let your mom know. She doesn't think I was with anybody in college, so I don't tell her about Deb to protect her."
"So now this guy is living here, trying to steal my team?"
"I'm sorry," Dan said. "I didn't even know he stayed, figured he would have been back to Deb now to tell her she failed in getting me back. I didn't think he'd find anywhere to stay."
"Whatever," Lucas said.
"Just remember, this guy is from a different school, he's probably trying to get some inside information," Dan said. "He's not your teammate, he's your opponent." Lucas nodded. "Now, I've got to go give these papers to your Uncle Keith, and then we can go."
Dan walked out of his office and across the showroom floor to Keith's office, but through the window looking into Keith's office he saw Keith talking to a familiar looking boy. Rage filled Dan as he realized who Nathan had found to stay with, his own brother.
"What do you think you're doing?" Dan asked, barging into Keith's office.
"Nice to know you learned how to knock Danny," Keith said.
"Are you housing this little con artist?" Dan said accusingly.
"You mean your son?" Keith asked.
"He is not my son," Dan hissed at Keith. "He's just a sorry excuse for a kid who's earning some money trying to get back at me for my college girlfriend while he steals away my son's team."
"Get out of my office Danny, or you're going to find yourself fired," Keith threatened. Dan turned to leave as Keith talked again, "And stay away from Nathan, he could do without your corruption." Dan left the office, slamming the door behind him.
"So I guess my impression of Dan wasn't off," Nathan commented.
"Sorry you had to see that," Keith said. Nathan just shrugged again. As he looked out the window he saw Lucas and Dan leaving, Lucas shooting death glares through the window of Keith's office.
This is going to be a long season, Nathan thought to himself.