New Boys in School
Chapter 3
The next two days flew by for Brooke, she was busy organising the beach party and so paid no attention in school. She had not even seen her friends properly because there were so many last minute things to do during her lunchtimes. She had been looking forward to Wednesday after school when the basketball and cheerleading tryouts would take place. The tryouts would be a good place to catch up with Haley and Peyton and to check out the talent on the basketball team.
When the bell rang to signal the end of the day, Brooke, Haley and Peyton gathered their things and made their way to their lockers where they could leave their books and pick up their cheerleading gear. Then they made their way over to the gym where they found about fifty girls waiting to audition. Haley turning to Brooke with a panicked look on her face said, "How are we going to audition all these girls before the boys need the gym in half an hour?"
Brooke was just asking herself the same question. Usually only a few girls turned up and they were able to audition them one at a time before the boys needed the gym. Suddenly Brooke had an idea and addressed all of the girls in the gym, "since there are so many girls this year, we are changing how we're going to audition you. The girls that are already part of the squad are going to perform a routine today and you lot are all going to watch and learn. Then, you will practice and perform the routine in small groups and we will decide who we want in the squad from that."
Brooke looked around the gym at the girls, they seemed nervous and it reminded her of when she first auditioned. She told the girls that were already part of the squad to get into position and started the music. The girls went through the routine three times. Brooke told the auditionees that they would be shown the routine once more in the next practice then they would be expected to perform so to only turn up if they knew the routine and could perform it well. The auditionees then left the gym as there would not be enough space for the basketball team, the cheerleading squad and the extra fifty girls. (There was hardly enough space for the boys and the girls.) The basketball coach, Whitey, allowed the girls half an hour straight after school to use the whole gym then after that they were given a tiny bit of space off the court.
Because of the number of girls who came to audition and the lack of time Brooke announced; "I don't think there's much point learning a new routine because we're going to have to teach it to the new girls and I thought we would know who that would be by now. Since we don't, I say you can have practice off so you can stay or go it's up to you". Most of the girls left but Brooke, Haley, Peyton and a couple of the older girls decided to stay and work on a new routine. They sat down at the bleachers just as the boys ran in. Brooke spotted Jake who was with Nathan and Lucas. Jake looked up at the girls and smiled at Peyton who blew him a kiss. Whitey must have told the boys what to do before they got to the gym because as soon as they ran in they all started to do laps of the gym. Whitey then announced he needed to see the principle so the boys should carry on with their warm up and he would be back in five minutes. All of the boys slowed down and Jake ran over to where the girls were sitting. He was slightly out of breath but said "Whitey has dropped all of us. He said since so many people turned up for tryouts that it's only fair if everyone gets a chance!"
"How is that fair?" Questioned Peyton, "you guys have been on the team for ages, he should let you stay!" she exclaimed. Jake started laughing and told her to calm down.
"Jake is the best player on the team, he doesn't have anything to worry about," added Brooke. Jake smiled at Brooke, kissed Peyton on the cheek and ran back to the court. Brooke watched him as he went and saw him join the other boys running. Her eyes fell to Lucas as he jogged past Jake. Lucas was concentrating on his running and had worked up quite a sweat. Brooke watched as he lifted up his shirt and wiped his forehead exposing his toned mid-riff. Brooke felt her heart rate increase and found herself unable to look away. He lowered his shirt and looked directly at Brooke who immediately turned away hoping he hadn't noticed her staring. She felt herself staring to blush. When she dared to look up he had a small smile on his lips. Brooke thought it would be best to distract herself so she began working on the routine with the other girls.
By the end of the practice, Brooke and the girls had worked out half of a new routine so she was very pleased with herself. Jake came out of the locker rooms with Nathan and Lucas. All three of them had made the team and Jake had been made captain. Brooke didn't know a lot about basketball but from the little she had watched during practice, she could tell Lucas and Nathan were extremely good players.
"I was going to show the guys the rivercourt, do you girls want to tag along?" Jake asked.
Peyton looked at Haley and Brooke and they nodded so they made their way to the cars. Haley called Jason so he would meet her at the rivercourt but he was busy so it would just be the six of them. Brooke and Peyton both had their cars so Peyton and Jake climbed into Peyton's car and since no one else wanted to ride with the couple, everyone else decided to ride with Brooke. Haley and Nathan got into the back so Lucas sat at the front. Brooke had driven to the rivercourt hundreds of times before but she had never felt so nervous. What was it about this guy, Brooke wondered. She composed herself, started the car, put on the radio and followed Peyton's car to the rivercourt.
Once they got there, the boys started shooting at the basket with the ball Jake brought. The girls sat down at the benches when Haley's phone rang, she walked away to answer it. She came back with a huge smile on her face and told the girls that Jason was waiting for her at her house so she had to go. She said she would walk as her house was nearby and waved goodbye to everyone. The boys came and sat down with Brooke and Peyton.
Jake turned to Peyton and said "we had better go if we're going to be on time for dinner with your dad."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that," replied Peyton. "What time is it?"
"It's 5:55" answered Jake. Suddenly Nathan jumped up, he had just remembered he promised his mom he would help out at the café at 5:30. The others laughed at him and Brooke said she would drop him off as it was on her way home anyway.
They both stood up when Nathan asked Lucas if he was coming. "I think I'm just going to go home, mom only asked you to work," replied Lucas.
"Where do you live? I don't mind dropping you off," said Brooke. Lucas gave her his address and she realised that they were the ones that had moved into the house at the end of her street. She laughed and told him she was definitely going that way as she lived on the same street. The three of them got into the car and Brooke drove to Karen's Café where Nathan thanked Brooke for the ride while simultaneously jumping out of the car. Brooke laughed and drove on with Lucas in the car.
Brooke had been driving for five minutes and they had not said anything to each other. She decided to break the silence; "so, how have you settled in to Tree Hill? Do you hate it?"
Lucas turned to look at Brooke and said "it's alright so far, the town is so small and quiet."
Brooke smiled and said "you'll see Friday night when you come to your first Tree Hill party. They're not small and they're never quiet. Plenty of drink, music and hook ups."
Lucas scoffed at this last comment and muttered something under his breath that sounded like 'always the same' but Brooke couldn't be sure. At the same time Brooke arrived at her house and parked in the driveway. Lucas mumbled a thank you to Brooke, got out of the car and walked off to his house without a backward glance at Brooke. She let herself into the house and wondered what Lucas' problem was. When she thought they were making progress, he would say or do something to confuse her. She decided he wasn't worth her time anymore so she would concentrate on making the party a success and looked forward to getting drunk and having a good time.