A/N: Hello everyone! First I want to say thanks for the welcome reviews and I'm glad several of you are enjoying this so far. It's actually my first OTH fic so I was a bit nervous and still am a little but thanks again! I hope you keep enjoying it.
Chapter 2 - Please, Let Me Get What I Want
Good times for a change
See, the luck I've had
Can make a good man
Turn bad
"I don't even really know him and already I hate him," Peyton Sawyer groaned later that day at lunch. Frustrated, she pushed away a stray curl that the wind had rustled loose before looking over at her best friend. "Since yesterday after school, all Nathan's been doing is bitching and moaning about how jealous his brother is because of Nate's place on the team and how royally pissed off their dad is."
As her tall, blonde haired friend mentioned the illegitimate Scott, Brooke couldn't help casting a sympathetic glance in his direction.
If anyone knew what it felt like to be rejected by their parents, it was Brooke Davis. "Maybe, but that's pretty harsh, even by your standards P Sawyer. Plus you can hardly blame him for wanting to step into the spotlight," Brooke quietly defended, knowing as well as Peyton did that Lucas Scott was set to pay big for his decision to join the team. She hardly thought it was fair to pile even more on him what with Nathan's initiation of choice. "Besides, Nate'll get over it," she added, waving the whole thing away. "It's not like they play the same position or anything."
"Yeah, you really think that'll matter once Dan starts putting a little pressure on Nate to freeze out the new recruit?" Peyton quizzed pointedly. "And speaking of… what's your deal with him anyway?" the blonde asked after glancing towards the older Scott as he sat down with some brown haired girl a few tables over. Each had a book in front of them, peering down at it every once in a while and in between sentences to each other. "Any time someone says something about him, not a minute passes before you jump to his defense," Peyton reminded. "So what is it? Did you sleep with him at some point and now feel guilty about leaving in the middle of the night or something?"
Rolling her eyes, Brooke gathered her bag and slung the single strap over her shoulder. It was powder blue and sparkled, much like the cute little convertible she drove. "Real tactful P Sawyer. And thanks for reminding me that everyone in this school thinks I'm slut," she bit back and disappeared before her friend could utter an apology for the poorly aimed joke.
"Are you still crushing on her?" Haley asked when she saw Lucas staring at Peyton Sawyer's table.
"Crushing on who?" Tim Smith asked after stumbling over to Lucas and Haley.
"What… do you have dog ears or something? You can't walk more than five steps without bumping into someone but you heard our conversation perfectly," Haley stated with a frown. Irritated about being interrupted coupled with her frustration over his usual stream of constant come-ons had Haley acting less friendlier than usual. Unfortunately, that put the unsuspecting basketball player on the receiving end of her ire.
"What do dogs have to do with this?" Tim asked before shaking his head, deciding there were other things to talk about that were far more important. "Hey, Scott… you gonna make it to my party tonight? The whole team's gonna be there," he informed while further down the quad, Nathan and a few other guys from the team stood watching with smirks on their faces.
"Uh… not really my thing," Lucas declined after a prodding look from Haley.
The one party he attended the summer before had been more than enough. It gave him his first taste of life in the fast line and Lucas couldn't help but think it was as clichéd as every teen movie he'd ever seen. "Oh come on. Don't you believe in team unity and crap like that?" Tim questioned. "The team that parties together, plays together."
His cajoling meant very little. Lucas was aware that the other male was talking out of his ass, making things up in order to persuade Lucas to attend. What he didn't understand was why. It couldn't just be that he was now on the team. Especially since Tim was Nathan's best friend and most likely well aware of the little battle his younger brother seemed so determined to wage against him.
"Well?"
Uncertainty at the forefront of his thoughts, Lucas was a heartbeat away from declining again when a blur of blonde swiftly walked into his line of sight. She seemed to be in a hurry as she sped into the building carrying a couple of textbooks and a black bag that had a Fall Out Boy patch sewn onto one of the flaps.
As a cheerleader and Nathan's girlfriend, Lucas realized that Peyton was sure to be in attendance. After all, wasn't that what high school couples did? Among other things at least, didn't they go to beer bashes on Friday nights together? "Alright. I'll be there," Lucas agreed, much to Haley's chagrin and Tim's excitement.
For months he had abided by Brooke's warning but recently he'd seen more than his share of fights between Nathan and Peyton. Public displays of anger were a regular occurrence and it was obvious that neither minded fighting in front of a crowd. So he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe she was getting tired of the bickering. Maybe she was getting tired of his brother.
"Seriously, Luke?"
With Tim gone and Haley looking at him with disappointment, Lucas was left with a loss of words.
Her ranting the night before made Lucas more than aware of how his friend felt about the addition to his after school schedule. Not that Haley wasn't proud of him. She was just wary of the Tree Hill athletes as a whole. Few were ever nice or decent save for the random exception here and there. Namely Jake Jagielski who never partied with the team because he had an infant daughter at home to take care of.
"The team that parties together, plays together," Lucas parroted with shrug when he couldn't find anything better to say.
-----
A typical Tree Hill party usually consisted of a big house, lots of booze, the most popular kids in school and most importantly, no parents. That was why Tim's place was the perfect candidate that night. With his dad and step-mother away on their annual pilgrimage to Vegas, their house would be empty for the entire weekend. If all went well, the party would drift into Sunday before everyone would finally go home to nurse their hangovers and sleep off their exhaustion in time for school on Monday.
At least that was what usually happened.
"We all set?" Nathan asked two of his buddies as they spied Lucas walking through the front door.
Dressed in a pair of jeans and a button down shirt with the tales tucked out and the sleeves rolled up, he easily blended in with the other party goers. The only thing that set him apart was the expression on his face. A look of uncertainty that came from being alone in a new setting. One that was entirely different than the quiet existence he was used to.
"All set."
To begin the initiation of their newest player and with any luck, drive him completely away from the game… Nathan and his friends had planned a little prank. First they'd spike his drink and once he was sufficiently drunk enough they planned to drive out into the woods, take his clothes and leave him out there to fend for himself.
Not their most original idea but they were aiming to embarrass rather than hurt.
"Let's do it," Nathan said and nodded towards Theresa, a cheerleader that had agreed to be their bait.
"Drinks are in the kitchen and the keg's out on the deck," Theresa said and placed one hand on Lucas' chest, leaning up so that he could hear her over the noises in the room. Mostly it was loud music blasting from the surround sound speakers but some of it was cheering coming from the corner where a group of players and cheerleaders were locked in an interesting game of strip poker. "How about you come out with me. It's kind of cold out there," she propositioned, pouting with puppy dog eyes as she looked up. Yet surprisingly, at least to her, Lucas wasn't at all impressed.
"No thanks," he politely declined and attempted to walk away when she made a grab for his arm.
"Please?"
"God this party's boring," a new voice added. Clad in a skimpy black shirt and a pair of tight fitting jeans, Peyton Sawyer spoke to her fellow cheerleader, unaware that the plan had already begun. "And this music sucks. I doubt Tim has a single decent CD in his collection," she declared, only realizing that Lucas was standing by her when someone knocked her into him by mistake. "It's okay. I'm fine!" she called out sarcastically to the culprit's retreating back. "You can let go of me now," she added pointedly as Lucas had yet to remove his hands from around her arms.
"I'm gonna get a drink. Theresa… you coming?" she invited, unknowingly helping to sway the new basketball player into accompanying them outside.
"Only if Lucas will," she grinned flirtatiously.
"Well?"
It was hardly a difficult decision as Lucas realized it may be his only shot at spending any time alone with Peyton. At least, alone without Nathan around. Something that would undoubtedly piss off his younger brother if he knew. "Uh… lead the way," he agreed, if not a little hastily.
"Excellent," Theresa declared and linked her arm with Lucas' while Peyton rolled her eyes behind them.
Nearby, Brooke set five cards down, revealing a full house. "Read em and weep and baby. Full boat. Aces over kings," she gloated and looked around at the scantily clad players. "Alright boys and girls. Strip!" A happy grin adorned her lips as she leaned back expectantly, waiting for their compliance.
"Well I think you're cheating," Bevin declared with a slightly slurred voice while another one of the cheerleaders grumbled in agreement.
"Don't be a sore loser. It's so not attractive," Brooke responded, unaffected.
While the others were mostly down to their underwear, Brooke had only lost her high heeled shoes. Something she accredited to the card games she used to play when she was a kid with their maid's oldest son. Brooke also supposed it also helped that in this rare occasion she was the least drunk at the table.
The few glasses of vodka and cranberry juice she drank were enough to create a nice little buzz as opposed to Bevin and the other girls who were only upright because of the chairs they sat on.
-----
An hour into the party and Lucas was swaying where he stood. Everything seemed out of focus as he squinted and rubbed his eyes, hoping to clear away some of the fog. "What'd you have Tim put inside his beer anyway?" Peyton inquired after the second time Lucas tripped on his way inside the house.
"Who knows?" Nathan shrugged, unconcerned. "We just grabbed whatever we could find in my mom's medicine cabinet. It's probably just aspirin or something," he said and watched from a safe distance as his brother bumped into one of their teammates. A small grin adorned his lips as he noticed that everything was going according to plan.
"Well that was dumb," Peyton informed with her arms crossed over her chest, clearly unimpressed. Her words, while not yelled, were biting enough to steal Nathan's attention back. "You do know how to read don't you? How hard could it have been to check the label?" she asked, holding in a groan as she saw her boyfriend's eyes narrow suspiciously. "What Nathan? What?" she demanded, irritated.
"What the hell do you care what happens to him?" he all but yelled.
A light breeze that had chilled the temperature several degrees had also blown a few strands of hair into Peyton's face. Her angered and slightly shaking hand rose to push them back but Nathan beat her to the punch, gently tucking the stray curls behind her ears. "I care about you," Peyton answered, momentarily halted by his sweet gesture. Another rarity of the night and a stark contrast to the harsh tone he had used in his last words. "If something bad happens to him, he could point the finger at you and then where would you be?"
Shaking his head, Nathan wished Peyton could understand. "Whatever happens, my dad'll get me out, okay? He cares a whole hell of lot more about what happens to me than he does about him." Something that was so entirely truthful, it was almost sad. As far as Dan Scott was concerned, he only had one son and would support whatever Nathan did if it meant embarrassing Lucas in the process.
"I just don't want you to do something you'll end up regretting later," Peyton shrugged and shook her head sadly.
"Hey." He ran the tip of his finger beneath her chin, gently urging her to meet his gaze. "It'll be fine," he assured and pulled her into his warm embrace.
Back inside, Lucas continued to fumble along, unbeknownst to what was about to happen.