A/N - Thanks for the reviews and favourite-ing the story. I really appreciate it, it does actually make me want to write at this stupid hour in the morning. Please let me know what you think. There isn't really a plan for this fic, so it's as unpredictable for you as it is for me.
Also, for future reference, any major parts of text in italics are parts of Phoenix's writings and musings.
Enjoy!
Chapter Two - Game Day
I always loved game days. There was a sense of anticipation, fear, excitement. The amalgamation of all of these things always made for an intense atmosphere around the school. It was always a time to be in early, soak it all up. Coach Durham's tradition continued. The players smartened up and the cheerleaders wore their uniforms for the entire day. Even with this segregation, there was an odd sense of unity.
Sitting in the quad, the anticipation of tonight's game was evident. Probably more-so because of the presence of some of the Hollywood Studio representatives. That was the rumour anyway.
I had another reason to be in school early this morning, not just to get away from my meddling mother trying to work out why I wasn't out with a boy the night before. Haley wanted to see me. I don't know if this was a good thing or bad thing.
Approaching her classroom, I could hear voices, one of which I recognised to be Haley's, another belonging to Lucas and a third and fourth, both of which were male. Hearing my name being mentioned, I stopped outside the door and listened in,
"We'll have people queuing up the pay for this sort of access. Why should we give it to some kid?" One of the voices I didn't recognise wasn't making himself my favourite person.
"That's my point exactly, people will be paying for this to write anything. They'll be looking for the drama, and fighting…"
Knocking gently on the door, I opened it before anyone had a chance to reply, "Sorry. I just thought I'd be better fighting this fight for myself?" I looked up at Haley, who smiled at me. "Sometimes it's easy to feel like you're the only one in the world who's struggling, who's frustrated, or unsatisfied at barely getting by. But, that feeling is a lie and if you just hold on; just find the courage to face it all for another day, someone or something will find they way to make it all okay." I looked up at the four faces in the room, Haley and Lucas were smiling. The other two guys in the room seemed intrigued, so I continued. "Because we all need a little help sometimes, someone to help us hear the music in the world. To remind us that it won't always be this way. That someone is out there, and that someone will find you." I paused trying to work out what I was going to say next. Quoting Lucas was the easy bit, and it had probably won three out of the four people in the room. But the guy in the corner still seemed unconvinced. "I've lived in Tree Hill all my life, I don't have a boyfriend, or a job. I spend most of my nights babysitting my eight month old niece while my mom and sister are out doing double shifts. You could have someone pay to write something sufficiently nice about the movie and the book, but the book and the movie deserve something more than just something nice. I have a shot at a paid internship this summer, but I have to give them something that will make me stand out. This is my shot. Someone gave each of you a shot one day, why can't my day be today?"
"So we're just meant to give a shot to any kid that wants it cause they're from around here?" This was the same voice as that I had heard earlier. I really didn't like this guy.
Haley buried her head in her hands and sighed, "Julian, you own the rights. What do you think?"
"We'll be back tonight. If you write as good as you talk, you can have a shot."
"My name is Lucas Scott, I am a senior at Tree Hill High School. Tree Hill is just a place somewhere in the world, maybe it's a lot like your world, maybe it's nothing like it. But if you look closer, you might see someone like you." - Lucas Scott
My name is Pheonix Anna Lewis, and I am a senior at Tree Hill High School. Tree Hill used to be just a place somewhere in the world, maybe it was a lot like your world, maybe it was nothing like it. But if you looked close enough, you would probably have found someone a lot like you.
My name is Pheonix Anna Lewis, and I am a senior at Tree Hill High School. Nine to five, it's a high school. After that it's movie studio. See the Lucas Scott, small town high school basketball star, he got his novel published. A tale of drama, romance, loss, lies, deception. A tale of truth. An epic love story that's going from paper to the big screen.
So as I walk the halls of Tree Hill High, I'm walking through history, but our graduating class is making our own history. We may not win the state championship, we probably won't have someone design a clothing line. But if I look closer, what will I find?
Today is no ordinary day at Tree Hill High. It's game day. I always loved game days. There was a sense of anticipation, excitement, fear. Fear not only of failure, put fear of the opportunities that success on this night could bring. However tonight is no ordinary game day, this is also the first night of shooting for the Ravens movie. Everyone is talking about it. There was an extra buzz around the quad at lunch. The cheerleaders all want to be part of the movie, so were perfecting routines. Tonight their anticipation is not only for the game, and the movie, but also for the chance to spend time with Brooke Davis.
Lucas Scott once wrote "She was fiercely independent, Brooke Davis. Brilliant, and beautiful, and brave. In two years she had grown more than anyone I had ever known. Brooke Davis is going to change the world someday. I'm not sure she even knows it."
Brooke Davis was always more than just a cheerleader. The whispers down the halls of the school nowadays were not only of her popularity, but her success as student body president, her clothing line which half the school was dressed in, if not half the state and her recent more surprising activities. Brooke Davis has a brilliant mind, she had a dream and she achieved it. Clothes over Bro's was a runaway success, it was more than just a clothing line. Clothes over Bro's was a phrase that I often hear muttered among girlfriends. Beauty was something that no one could deny of Brooke Davis. And bravery? If Brooke had not proved bravery through her high school years, then she did recently at the Tree Hill Boutique of C over B.
The Brooke Davis we will see in Ravens, will be the Brooke Davis of high school. She will be fun, flirty, surrounded by drama. She will be the party girl that the party girls of my graduating class try to be. These party girls can only hope to do half the things that Brooke has achieved. And maybe that's what keeps them going. Maybe they think they can party and have fun for now, and something will come along that will change everything. But they aren't Brooke Davis, as much as they may try.
Scanning through the work I had done in the quad over lunch, I spent my free period pacing outside Haley's classroom, mustering the courage to go in. Checking the time on my cell, I had five minutes before this class would end and my chance would be gone. I knocked on the door without giving it another thought, and as I walked in the classroom I could feel twenty two pairs of eyes on me, "What can I do for you Phoenix?" Haley asked.
"Could I borrow Sam for a sec?" I asked,
"Yeah sure." She gestured for Sam to follow me out of the classroom.
"I'm writing about Ravens, and I have to give something to Julian and Dixon tonight. I started to write about Brooke, but I'm not sure about it. And I read your piece about Quentin, and then I saw your piece in the paper and I was wondering if you would mind helping me out a little? I haven't even showed Haley…" I trailed off.
Sam seemed surprised that I had asked her. Pleasantly so. "You sure you want me to do this?"
"Hell yes!" I scrambled in my bag for the piece I had written. "I have to give it to them before the game tonight. We could maybe meet in the quad before then?" She nodded, taking the piece of paper from me. "And I want you to be in it too, what I'm writing I mean. You're a part of this world now, a big one."
She was taken aback by this, "Are you serious? I mean, I've just started here and I know I live with Brooke, but that's it." She looked down at the pieces of paper I had given her, "I can meet you in the quad an hour before tip-off? Unless I get stuck with Brooke and Julian being all over each other…" she trailed off.