A/N: From the reviews for the last chapter, I realized that a lot of readers thought Karen was Lucas' mother, which is understandable since she is on the show. However, in this Deb and Keith are Lucas' parents, while Karen and Dan are Nathan's; I just wanted to remind everybody. :)

Chapter Thirty-One

Deborah Scott wasted no time moving out of her soon to be ex-husband's house and into her boyfriend's apartment, and was gone by the time Nathan and Lucas got home from school the next day. As a result, Lucas was in a foul mood when he and Nathan went to school the day after that.

They had left home early since Lucas had morning basketball practice and just when they were out the door, Nathan's Mom showed up. Deb had invited her to come over when Nathan had arrived but up until now Karen hadn't been able to leave her café. Unfortunately, both Deb and Nathan had forgotten to call her and tell her about the change in situation, but Keith told her to stay anyway.

"So…" Nathan looked over at Lucas who was driving, "have you spoken to your Mom?"

"She called last night. Don't think she knows about your Mom showing up yet though."

"Mom will call her," Nathan said. "That was strange timing, huh?"

Lucas nodded. "Yeah."

Nathan studied Lucas' expression before asking, "You're not upset about her coming, are you?"

"No, no. It's cool. Plus, now Dad will have someone to talk to. I'm just thinking…"

Nathan decided to leave the subject at that and returned to gazing out the window.

When they arrived at school, Lucas headed straight for the boy's locker room, while Nathan leisurely made his way to the library. As he was walking down the corridor, the door to the faculty lounge opened and Nathan, unable to stop himself in time, accidentally collided with the person coming out.

He hadn't been able see their face since they had been carrying two large boxes with some posters on top, but when they crashed into one another, the boxes came tumbling down and revealed their identity.

"Nathan!" Haley exclaimed.

"H-Miss James. Hi – I mean, I'm sorry; I didn't see you there."

"That's okay." Haley bent down to pick up the boxes, and Nathan followed suit.

"Let me help you."

"No, you don't have to do that."

"It's fine." Before Haley could object Nathan had taken both boxes in his arms and was carrying them effortlessly. "Where are you taking them to?"

"The auditorium; I'll take them there," Haley said, as she transferred the posters to one hand and then tried to take the boxes from him.

"I can carry it for you."

"You don't have to do that," Haley repeated.

"I don't mind."

Haley realized he wasn't going to give them to her and so, with a sigh started walking to the auditorium.

"How's your back?"

"It's a lot better," Nathan replied. "So…this stuff is for the play?"

Haley nodded as she folded her arms. "They're the props."

"And is that the poster for the play?" Nathan wondered.

"Um…it's a prototype."

"Can I see?"

"Not yet."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Not yet?"

"Well, it's not ready yet. This is just an example; it's not necessarily what the poster is going to look like."

"So you're going to show it to some people first, get their opinions?"

"Exactly."

"So show it to me and I'll give you my opinion."

"Uh…Okay, fine." Haley gave up and showed him the poster. When he was silent for a moment, she became nervous. "Well, what do you think?"

"It's good."

Haley grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah. The art is really cool."

"Miss Sawyer did that. So, you really think it's a good poster?" Haley asked.

"I would definitely look at it twice."

"Good." Haley let out a breath, and smiled at him apologetically. "I know it seems weird to be obsessing about a poster, but I just want everything to be perfect."

Nathan smiled back. "Well, it's your directorial debut; nerves are understandable."

"True. Wait, how do you know it's my debut?"

"You told me."

"I did? When?" Haley wondered.

"A while ago; at one of our tutoring sessions."

"Oh, right. Hey, we're here." Haley gestured to the auditorium entrance in front of them. She held the door for Nathan so he could bring the boxes in.

"Where do you want these?"

"Just put them down over there. Thank you for bringing them."

"No problem. I'm happy to help. So…I guess I'll see you in class," Nathan said as he started turning around to go back out.

"Hey, do you like plays?" Haley asked suddenly.

"Well…not that much, but sometimes they're okay."

"Oh. Well, even better. Sometimes when we're rehearsing I've got some of the staff to come watch and say what they think, but I haven't gotten feedback from any of the students."

"You want my feedback?"

Haley nodded. "And, since you don't usually like plays, then you can be more critical of it. That is, if you're not busy…"

"No, I'm not busy."

"So, you'll watch?"

"Sure."

"Great. Sit over here," Haley pointed to the seat that was next to where her handbag was, "and once the scenes are over just tell me what you think of everything in general. And feel free to say what you didn't like too."

"Okay."

"We'll start in a few minutes. I just have to go on stage and talk to some of the actors."

Nathan nodded and moved to sit down before he stopped suddenly. "Is Brooke here?"

"Brooke?" Haley thought for a minute then shook her head. "No, she's not in the two scenes we're doing this morning." When she noticed that Nathan looked somewhat relieved by her answer she asked, "Why don't you want to watch if Brooke is here?"

"Oh…I…Brooke wouldn't want me watching her rehearse. She, uh, doesn't like to see people she knows in the audience before she's fully prepared."

Accepting his answer, Haley nodded and headed towards the stage while Nathan took his seat in the audience.

Once Lucas had taken his after-practice shower he headed to his locker, which, owing to their surnames, was opposite Damien West's locker. As he walked past him, Lucas noticed Damien hastily shoving something back into his locker. Lucas shot him a wondering look, which Damien replied with a, "What are you looking at?"

Lucas shrugged. Damien looked like he was about to say more when Skills came in from the showers too. Skills had turned out to be one of the few guys on the team that Lucas actually got on with, and Lucas had liked him even more after he discovered that he was the only other team member who didn't suck up to Damien.

Skills nodded at them both as he opened his locker. "Hey. Trying to get yourself beat up again, Damien?"

Lucas laughed, observing that Damien's face was much worse for wear than Nathan's, who had pretty much healed by now. Damien, on the other hand, still had a few cuts and showed the remnants of a black eye.

Damien glared at them both but slung his bag over his shoulder and left the locker room without saying anything. His posse had already gone, and he wasn't quite so cocky when he knew he was out-numbered.

"West hitting on your girl again?"

Lucas shook his head. "Nah. He just thought I was looking at him or his locker or something."

"I would tell that guy to take a chill pill if I didn't think he was already wired up on drugs."

Lucas had been reaching into his locker for his t-shirt, but stopped the moment he heard Skills say the word "drugs". He tried to keep his tone light when he asked, "You think Damien is taking drugs?"

Skills shrugged. "I was joking, dude."

"No, I know. I was just wondering if you had ever thought he was taking them for real."

"Honestly? There was this one time when I thought I saw him doing something that looked kind of weird by his locker, like he was taking something before he drank his water, you know? But it was just that one time and I didn't really see anything, and who knows, maybe he was sick and taking medicine."

"Right…so he might not have been or he might have; we'll just never know."

"That's for sure," Skills said certainly in a way that made Lucas think twice.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I like to think of Damien as an idiot, and for most of the time he is. But, when he feels like it, he can be much less of an idiot."

Lucas' frowned. "I don't think I get what you're saying."

"Well, when Vegas got caught you knew for sure that that was his first time messing with drugs. Vegas is the kind of guy who'd do stupid things and be stupid enough to get caught doing them, so there's no way he could have been taking drugs for long. Now, Damien…well, he does a lot of stupid things too, but he does them the smart way you know?"

"He wouldn't get caught," Lucas stated.

"Exactly. The guy knows how to cover his tracks. Something to keep in mind in case you fall onto his bad side, which you just have done," Skills warned, leaving Lucas with a lot to think about, and tell Nathan, when he made his way to homeroom.