::AN:: Sorry about the long time in between updates, this past weekend was pretty insane for me. But now I've graduated, it's summer, and the only thing standing in my way of updating more often is work. Which is a pretty big thing but I'm going to do my best. I hope you like it!

Chapter 10

When the cheerleaders walked into the gym, the basketball team's running slowed down like it always did. They enjoyed watching the girls stretch as they ran their suicides at a more leisurely pace, until Whitey noticed and yelled at them to 'get their asses in gear.'

This time however, Nathan wasn't looking at the whole squad, he was focusing on just one girl, and she looked amazing. Her hair was still down, which surprised him; most of the other girls put their hair up when they came to cheer practice. But Haley hadn't really been expecting to join the squad today so she probably didn't come prepared for a work out. Her long golden locks were flowing as she walked towards Whitey. Her skin had a beautiful all over glow and he couldn't help but notice that she had her belly button pierced. 'This girl couldn't be anymore perfect if she tried.' He thought.

"Someone is eyeing the new girl." Jake said suggestively as he noticed one of the stars of the team was thoroughly distracted by only one of the girls. Nathan broke off his staring at Haley and looked towards his friend and rolled his eyes.

"Woah," Tim said as he noticed who they were talking about. "She's definitely going to want some Tim action; I should give her my number."

Nathan turned his attention to his other side and looked incredulously at the boy who had been one of his best friends since elementary school. "I'm guessing she is pretty much off limits Tim." Jake said as he saw Nate glaring at the other guy.

"Oh, she is definitely off limits." Lucas chimed in from Tim's other side. "They made out today during lunch." He added.

The boys had slowed so much that they were now at a jog, but it didn't really matter Whitey was distracted with his conversation with the cheerleaders. "Wait, how would you know that? Unless…" Jake's words trialed off as he looked at the two brothers. "Thank God, you two finally made up, I have to say those two-a-days were killing me and Jenny, I hardly get to see her anymore."

The Scotts just looked down at their feet; they didn't want to admit that they had been acting like pre-teen girls towards each other for the past few months.

"What!?" Tim screeched as he looked from one side to the other. "Why am I always the last to know everything?" He pouted as he saw the guilty expressions on their faces.

Both Lucas and Nathan laughed hard when they heard Tim's voice, it sounded like he was still going through puberty. "Relax Tina, it isn't that big of a deal" Nathan said.

"Hey you agreed to stop calling me that in junior high, you can't bring it up now Natalie!" Tim yelled. The guys around them started laughing as they heard the argument between the two friends.

This attracted Whitey's attention to his team and he noticed that they weren't working as hard as they should be. He ended the conversation with Haley, and turned fully towards his team "Pick up the pace gentlemen, this isn't social hour."

The whole team began to sprint once again with Nathan and Lucas grimacing in pain the whole way. Nathan caught Haley's eye and she winked at him, suddenly he didn't care about the pain that was coursing through his legs, and that they were dangerously close to cramping up and giving out on him. All he could do was focus on the smile that she was directing towards him before she turned around and joined the rest of the squad.

"Woah, I guess your player days are over." Jake commented as he noticed Nathan's reaction to Haley's smile. Nathan however, either ignored the comment or didn't hear it because he kept on sprinting as fast as he could.

After a few more minutes Whitey blew his whistle, which signaled the boys to stop running and form a circle around him so they could hear the plan for the upcoming weeks.

"Because quarter grades came out last week I had no choice but to drop 4 guys from the varsity team." Whitey announced; he never wasted any time with pleasantries at the beginning of practice unless they were sarcastic. "That's why some of you have noticed that this practice is considerably smaller than this morning."

The boys looked around, before they hadn't quite noticed what was off about this practice but now that he mentioned it, it was pretty obvious. Whitey kept a small varsity team anyway, with only 15 guys, now they were down to 11, 'this is going to be fun' Lucas thought sarcastically. He loved to play the game, but he was happy with the amount of playing time that he got, he didn't need it to increase.

"They junior varsity team is doing 'so well' that Coach McAllen wont allow me to move any of his players up." Whitey said cynically, as the JV team had only won 2 games, but he had to admit that, they were doing better than previous seasons. "That being said, how many of you boys still play at the River Court?" he put the question out there knowing that at the very least Lucas still did.

Lucas, Nathan, Jake, and Tim all raised their hands; the other guys hadn't played there since the Open Mic Night when they had been invited. "Are there any guys down there that are worth taking a look at?" Whitey asked focusing on the two Scott brothers, knowing that they would recognize talent when they saw it. "I would like to, at the very least, add a couple more guys to the team, so the rest of you aren't spread too thin."

Nathan and Luke looked at each other and knew that they were thinking about the same two people. "Skills and Fergie," Lucas said.

"They are both really good, but you might have some trouble convincing them to join the team." Nathan added.

"We tried to get them to try-out at the beginning of the season but neither of them would go for it." Lucas explained, as he looked from his brother to Whitey.

"Maybe you could convince them though." Nathan suggested as he turned to face Whitey.

"You do have a very persuasive manner." Lucas said with a joking smirk, referring to the way Whitey had convinced him to play on a team with the brother that he had hated.

Whitey glared at the two brothers as they did their back and forth dialog, he immediately knew that something was different between the two, they hadn't actually looked at each other in months. "Good to know," the old man said with a small smirk which instantly dropped from his face almost as soon as it appeared. "But I'm not just going to hand them spots on the team, I want to see them play."

"Alright, we can set up a game of two-on-two for tomorrow." Lucas suggested as he looked at his younger brother to see if that would work for him.

Nathan nodded at the idea, "Sure, it works for me."

"Okay, let me know, at practice tomorrow, what time and I'll be there." Whitey said to his two co-captains. "Now I got some new plays for us to work on, so let's get to it." He blew his whistle and the boys hustled to put their practice jerseys on.

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"Oh my God, Nathan looks so hot right now." Haley commented to the three other girls that were around her, as they all started stretching. Brooke and Peyton laughed when they saw the completely smitten look in her eyes when she looked at the younger Scott. Haley whipped her head around when she heard the laughter and knew it was directed towards her, she saw the guilty expression on the faces of the two girl's who were quickly becoming her best friends, and glared at them. "What?" She asked, "You have to admit that he is looking pretty sexy."

This comment just made the girls laugh even more but Haley chose to ignore it, she turned around and enjoyed the eye candy that was in front of her.

"Alright Girls," Brooke started as she took her place in front of the rest of the squad, "Because of Rachel's slutty tendencies, and the fact that she now has a bun in her oven," She said as a joke when she saw that the bottle red head was sitting in the bleachers, "We got a replacement."

"I am not pregnant!" Rachel yelled indignantly from behind the girls, "What do I have to do to prove it to you, pee on a stick?"

Rachel's yell was so loud that it echoed through out the gym, causing all the boys on the basket ball team and Whitey to look at her in shock. "What?" She yelled at all of them, she'd never been one to be embarrassed easily. The boys all averted their eyes from her and focused all of their attention on putting their practice jerseys on.

"Brooke stop spreading rumors." Whitey yelled in his gruff voice that carried way too easily in a gymnasium. The captain of the Cheerleaders just rolled her eyes and waved him off, refocusing her attention.

"Anyway, New Girl get your butt up here!" Brooke commanded, in an overly cheery way. It was now Haley's turn to roll her eyes, but she did so as she walked over to Brooke and stood next to her. "Everyone this is Haley." She said with a big smile as she but her arm around Haley's shoulders.

Haley turned slightly red from being in front of a group and having all of their attention focused on her. It was good that Brooke quickly moved on to another topic. "Girls, the Classic is in a month, which means that we only have 4 weeks to get Miss Haley here, ready for it." The rest of the squad nodded in understanding. "Which means we are going to have to work that much harder." When Brooke said that, the girls groaned, loudly. Their captain, took the Classic too seriously as it was; now she was going to drive them all crazy.

"Now, let's get started!" She yelled in a very cheery voice. The girls heard this and everyone except for Haley got into position.

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::AN:: Wow so that was actually pretty long, you may not have thought so but it was for me. Lol don't forget to review!