Season on the Brink

So I know it's been about a week since I updated - shame on me. Sorry for the delay guys. Hope it was worth the wait.

There was a time when Lucas had barely noticed the door in his bedroom that led to the side porch. Before he started dating, before sneaking in and out became part of his weekly routine, he'd had little use for it. But as he pushed it open and quietly slipped inside the house at 4:00 in the morning, he was grateful for the escape route.

Until his interior door opened and he found his worried-looking mother, and his even angrier-looking step-father, staring back at him. "Shouldn't you guys be in bed?" he asked.

Karen put a hand on her husband's shoulder and took a step inside the room. "Where have you been?"

He sighed and sank to the bed. "Started my evening with a nice little Dan Scott chit-chat, then I wandered around town for a couple of hours, and then I went to the river court for awhile."

Before he could continue rattling off his whereabouts, Karen pointed a finger at him. "You're so lucky I have to open the cafe in two hours and I desparately need the sleep that worrying about you has deprived me of until now. We'll talk about this later," she warned, brushing past Keith in pursuit of her own bed.

When she was gone, Keith moved into the room and sank to the bed beside the boy he had always considered his own son. "Lucas," he started.

Lucas struggled to sit and raised an eyebrow at Keith. "Look, Keith, I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything, but I'm just not really in the mood for a father-son pep talk right now, okay?"

"Good thing I'm not in the mood to give you one, then," Keith responded, his eyes steeled and angry. "Personally? I'd like to just drag you out in the yard and give you a good ass-kicking, but your mom says that's not really legal now that you're my son," he gave the first hint of a half-smile as he remembered the argument he'd had with his wife a few hours earlier.

Shrugging, Lucas looked at Keith in confusion. "I'm sorry I didn't call. I know I should have let you guys know where I was and everything," he started.

Keith shrugged and stood, looking around the room. "Listen, Luke, I know that there are things you're going to have to deal with on your own. There are more and more things that you're going to go through that your mom and I can't hold your hand through." He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and gave his son a warm look. "You just gotta remember that girls are gonna come and go. Friends grow up and grow apart. And Dan's," he stopped and tried to think of a word for his younger brother, "Well, he's Dan."

Lucas nodded in agreement and rested his head against the wall behind his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Dan offered to pay my way to Oakworth for the rest of the year."

Leaning in the door frame, Keith tucked his hands in his pockets and thought about what Lucas had just told him. "And what did you tell him?"

"That I didn't wanna be his substitute Nathan," Lucas answered honestly, looking at the man in the doorway. "He said it would be a great academic opportunity, even if I didn't get a basketball scholarship." When Keith continued staring at the floor, Lucas let out another heavy sigh. "He's right."

"He's using you to hurt Coach Dixon," Keith said flatly, raising his eyes to see that Lucas knew that already. "Luke, you don't have to worry about a scholarship, okay? I've got college covered, wherever you decide to go."

Lucas laughed slightly. How in the world could Keith possibly have college covered? He barely managed to keep his own business afloat. But the yawn that escaped his lips was sign enough that it was way past time to ask questions. At least for the night. "Can we talk about this later, Keith? Like after my mom grounds me for the rest of my life?"

Keith just waved good night and left the room, closing the door behind him. Sinking back into the bed, Lucas ran his hands over his face and shook his head. Girlfriend drama was a high school given, but the issues that he was dealing with were not. Sometimes he wondered if he would even graduate before the world came to a screeching halt.

The ringing of his telephone sounded, drawing him out of his thoughts. Rolling over, he took it from his back pocket and looked at the caller ID screen. Hitting the button to ignore the call, he tossed the phone onto the bed beside him and closed his eyes. Peyton could wait until tomorrow.

------

Haley squinted her eyes against the glare of her overhead light, sleep fogging her mind as she glanced at the clock. "What the hell?"

"Come on, James," Peyton instructed loudly, pulling on the covers until Haley was left with nothing but pajama pants and a tank top to shield her from the brisk, fall morning. "We've only got about twenty minutes."

"For what?" Haley mumbled, rolling over to bury her face in the pillows again. "It's only 6:30."

But Peyton wouldn't be swayed. Throwing the blinds open, she waited for her friend to turn over on the bed and shoot her an angry glare. "You can lay there and bitch and moan until I'm forced to drag you from this room, kicking and screaming. Or you can get up like a good little tutor girl and take a shower. Either way, we're leaving this house at 6:50," she said.

The only thing worse than being awakened at the ass crack of dawn was being threatened first thing in the morning. It had been a long weekend, and since she hadn't been able to fall asleep until well after midnight, she was counting on those last few minutes of sleep before the alarm clock sounded. But Peyton wasn't kidding. With a groan, Haley rolled out of the bed and gathered her things for a quick shower.

Twenty minutes later, she was resting her face on her palm as the morning air whipped through her hair. "Where are we going?"

Peyton turned the radio down and looked over at her friend. Though things between she and Brooke were tense, Peyton was happy to find that she and Haley still got along. Dancing around the subject of Lucas, since Haley refused to side with either of them in that matter, was tricky sometimes. But for the most part, their friendship had remained unchanged.

"To school," Peyton answered honestly, her blonde curls blowing around her face as she smiled at some inside joke that only she was privvy to.

"Why?" Haley asked automatically, looking at the clock again to make sure it really wasn't even seven yet. "Are you failing a class? Beause we could have set up some tutor sessions after school or on the weekends," she started, shaking her head and trying to figure out why in the world she had been kidnapped before dawn.

But Peyton just shook her head as she made a right-hand turn toward the school. "This isn't about tutoring. Lucas told me about what you saw the other night, at Coach Dixon's house," she explained.

Haley felt the blush rising in her cheeks as she looked out the window again. Of course she should have known better than to trust Lucas with that particular information. "You dragged me out of bed to talk about this? Peyton, don't you think that's a little bit extreme?" she asked when they pulled into the school parking lot.

"There's something you need to see, Haley," Peyton answered, the small smile still playing on her lips. "Does Coach Dixon give Nathan preferential treatment? Probably," she answered, killing the engine of her car in the back of the parking lot. "But it's not because there's anything going on between them."

Haley followed her friend's eyeline as a sleek sports car eased into the parking lot and stopped outside of the gym doors. "Who's that?" Haley asked as the doors opened and two figures stepped out. "Is that Coach Dixon?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Peyton nodded. "Yes, it is," she answered, her smile growing.

"Oh my god," Haley gasped. "Peyton that's," she stopped as the young coach moved around the front of the car to throw her arms around the driver. When they kissed, Haley tilted her head to the side. "That's Cooper."