Hey Guys! Sorry for the long wait. I know that the last time i posted an authors note (which I really hope you took into consideration) I promised two weeks but things are so busy so i finally had some time. This chapter is by far my longest one yet, it about 5,352 to be exact. I really like it, I hope you do too. So here it is. Please Leave Me Reviews!

"Ok," Sarah proposed. "How about a game of HORSE? Loser has to run twenty suicides and then do twenty push ups."

It was the end of fall and Sarah and Miles were playing on the river court. The pavement scattered with different color leaves. When she spoke steam came from her mouth, her breath warmer than the autumn air.

"Game on lil sis." Miles said a smirk forming on his face. He had only the rest of the day in Tree Hill before he had to leave to the city, and he planned on spending as much time as he could with his sister.

Grabbing the ball from his sisters hands he ran back toward the three point line and shot the ball. He waited in suspense for a few seconds, and breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that the ball had sunk in. He watched his sister scowl as he handed her the ball to shoot.

Swish. How she made it in perfectly was beyond him. She smiled and gave him a pointed look. "Is that all you got big brother?"

He scoffed. Heading down towards the base line he took another shot. Sarah scowled again. He held out the ball to her and she grabbed it, taking the shot.

She missed, and he laughed. "I feel like you're all talk and no game." Miles said grabbing the rebound.

"And I feel like your going to be crying like a baby when you get your ass kicked by your sixteen year old sister."

After playing for twenty minutes Miles was in the lead with only H, O, and R and Sarah had H, O, R, S.

"This is it. Game point. This is the real test to see how are you under pressure." Miles taunted.

Sarah stuck out her tongue at him. She took the shot and watched how it went around the basket, and fell out bouncing onto the pavement.

"And I believe that's HORSE!" He smirked. "Start running sister."

She groaned. "I declare a rematch once I'm done!"

Just as she started running, her three coaches and their little tag along walked towards their sacred black top. As they drew near, they saw that the one running was Sarah, and saw another guy who they had never seen before.

"Now why is that girl running on her free time?" Skills asked. "And who is he?" he said pointing towards Miles.

Miles heard the comment and turned around. "I'm her brother, and she's running cuz she lost."

"Wait a second," Lucas said, "Sarah never told us she had a brother."

"Yeah, well I guess she hasn't told anyone." He turned towards his sister. "Don't slow down! You still have twenty push – ups to do."

"I'm Lucas Scott," he said stretching out his hand, "I'm one of her basketball coaches. And these are her other coaches my brother Nathan, and my friend Skills."

"Miles, I'm Sarah's brother." He shook all their hands. "I hope you're working her hard." He laughed with them. His face brightened in realization. "Wait, you're the Lucas Scott who wrote the book about Peyton who Sarah is living with?"

"Yeah," Lucas chuckled. "That's me."

"I read it and really liked it. Now its coming back to me, this place is like your childhood sanctuary right?" he asked pointing to the court where Sarah was running. Miles laughed at himself. "I probably sound like a stalker right now, but I feel like I already know you."

"You and the rest of the country. I guess that's what happens when you write about your life and sell it to everyone." Lucas chuckled. He looked at the blacktop remembering all the pivotal things in his life.

They watched the girl run in silence.

"I don't get how you got her to do this." Nathan pointed to the girl in the middle of the court doing push ups.

"Sibling Rivalry." Miles stated. "The girl hates it when I beat her, its all competition and having fun when were playing together. Hey if I lost I would be doing the same thing."

"For brother and sister, you two look nothing alike." Skills said looking at the two.

"That's because Miles is adopted." Sarah said joining her brother and coaches. "So yeah we don't look anything alike, but he's still my brother. But I'm sure we are related some how through blood, we have the same jump shot."

"You play?" Skills asked.

"Ehh, I used to. Once I finished college I had no time to play so today was the first time I playing in over three months. And I still beat you." He said pointing to Sarah.

"I think you should try playing them." She said pointing to her coaches. "That would be a nice game to watch."

"Fine. Two on Two." Nathan stated, the light in his eyes already sparkling. "Me and Skills vs. The Prestons." He turned to Luke, "you can sub with whomever you choose."

"Game on!" Sarah challenged giving her brother a high-five.

They played a close game and the Preston siblings were the definition of teamwork. They thought together and played together knowing where to pass the ball or when to shoot. But in the end Nathan made a slam dunk against Miles.

"Looks like that comeback's coming along." Sarah smirked at Nathan who was smiling. "And don't deny that it's not a comeback." Looking over toward her brother, she saw him doubled over and panting. "You okay there?" She asked him a little concerned.

"Yeah…" he panted. "I just haven't done that in a really long time."

Sarah chuckled. "If you're hurting now, don't think about how its going to feel tomorrow."

Miles groaned. "Okay. I have to go, Brooke and I have a video meeting with my boss. Basically if this goes well I'm moving to Tree Hill temporarily."

Lucas who was listening, chimed in. "Wait, you're working for Brooke?"

As they walked to the car Miles explained what he was doing for C/B, and how he wanted to be in Tree Hill to be with Sarah since their mom had jetted off.

"That's great, so I'll be seeing you at tonight's game right?." Lucas said looking at Sarah and then Miles.

Sarah looked up at Miles hopefully.

"Yeah man. I'll be there."

"Great, I'll see you there." Lucas said. "And don't wear that girl out, we're gonna need her tonight." And with that Lucas left.

23oth23oth

Zeke had been knocking on the door of Sarah's house for the past fifteen minutes. He would have called her cell phone, except she didn't have her number. He considered texting Ryder for her number, but that had the potential of causing problems for both him and Sarah, so he decided against it.

Giving up, he started walking home. He was kind of pissed because he wanted to get this project done and now he was going to get a zero, but just as he walked out of Sarah's driveway a car pulled up slowly and the window rolled down.

"Mr. Peters," Haley called out of her car. "Are you looking for Sarah by any chance?"

Zeke answered timidly. "Yeah actually. But no one was home."

"That's because she's not living there at the moment. Hold on a second and I'll take you to her."

"Sure, Thanks." Zeke mumbled.

Now this was awkward. He was seeing Sarah because he didn't do his English project and now his English teacher was here, going to where Sarah lived.

Haley led Zeke across the street and rang the door bell. They stood awkwardly awaiting for someone to open the door. Haley stood there smiling thinking about the only reason that Zeke and Sarah would be making plans, which would be to the project she assigned the first week of school.

Haley was broken out of her thoughts when Sarah opened the door.

"Haley!...and Zeke." Her smile disappeared when she remembered that she had plans with him. She let them both into the house.

"Brooke! Haley's here!" Sarah called. "Come with me." She told Zeke.

She ushered the two into the kitchen where Brooke was feeding Maya and Miles was on his computer preparing the final details for his meeting.

"Okay, so I'm going to take Zeke across the street to my house so we could work on our…uh…project. Okay?"

"Sure." Brooke said. "See ya later."

Soon enough she was out the front door heading towards her house.

"What was that about?" Miles asked Brooke.

"Who knows." She shrugged looking at Haley quizzically.

"Actually they are doing a project for my class that's due tomorrow. I assigned it the first day of school. So it kinda sucked that I caught them." Haley chuckled.

"So youre Sarah's teacher?" Miles asked Haley.

"Yeah," Haley answered. "I'm her English teacher. And you are..?"

"I'm her brother Miles."

" Haley James – Scott." She introduced herself. "I didn't even know that Sarah had a brother."

"Apparently no one did." Miles said rolling his eyes.

"So what are you doing in town?" Haley asked.

"Well hes actually the new architect for Clothes over Bros. If this meeting goes well," she said pointing to the computer as if it symbolized the meeting, "then he will be moving to Tree Hill."

"Which I really hope it does cause I'm really starting to like Tree Hill." He said looking at Brooke, which immediately made her blush, which did not go unnoticed by Haley.

"Umm Hales do you mind helping me with Maya for a few minutes. I need to put her down before Miles and I video into New York."

"Sure."

Once the two women had walked upstairs Haley immediately started questioning Brooke.

"Wanna tell me what that was about?" Haley asked, using her husband's infamous smirk.

"Honestly I don't know. The guy makes me blush. He's so sweet and caring for Sarah, and he's incredibly hot." She squealed acting like she was seventeen again.

"I see that. What's with the Preston's and the good looks?"

"Well being that he's adopted, it can't be genes, but the boy looks like he's stepped out of an Abercrombie advertisement."

"So how is it that you're working with him?" Haley asked.

Brooke went on to explain how her business manager wanted to redesign all of C/B, and how Miles showed up, and the reunion between the siblings. She then went on to explain how she just offered him the job, and told him to move to Tree Hill.

"Brooke that's a huge step." Haley pointed out.

"I know, I didn't even think about it before it happened. It just came out of my mouth." Brooke said leaving Maya's room. "I kind of feel really good about this one though, I think he's going to change everything."

23oth23oth

"Sorry about all the confusion… I should have mentioned that I'm not living in my house anymore." Sarah said as she opened the door to her house.

"Nah, its okay. We definitely should have worked on the whole communication thing before we met up." Zeke took a look around the house he just walked into. This house made his house look like a closet.

"It just sucks because Haley definitely knows that we are working on this project now."

"Whatever, she likes you so shell let it slide." Zeke said taking a seat on the kitchen stool. "Lets just get started." Pulling off his draw string bag he pulled out a crumpled packet of paper. "Okay so the first question is describe yourself to your partner. Tell them the way you think of yourself."

"I hate talking about myself. This is going to be one long assignment. You go first." Sarah told him sighing and resting her head in her hands.

"Ok." He said slowly. He leaned back in the chair and shook his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes. "I'm somewhat unexpected. There's some sort of mold that my personality or my behavior is supposed to fit, but I don't think that works with me. I'm shy, but at the same time I'm not. I like to have fun, party, hang out with my friends, but I also really enjoy just sitting in my room playing the drums or guitar, sometimes writing my own music. I hate my parents, but then again what teenager doesn't, and I hope to play in the NBA or for a college team once high school is over." He turned to look at Sarah who was eyeing him weirdly.

Wow. Sarah thought to herself. She really didn't expect him to open up like that to her.

"Your turn." Zeke reminded her.

"umm… Okay. I don't like high school stereotypes, therefore I don't consider my self a jock, or a cheerleader, or a band geek, or anything. I'm quiet and I like to write down a lot of my thoughts. I really like music, but right now I'm not doing much playing, more listening. I love my older brother, and consider him to be my best friend ever. I like to have an adrenaline rush so I like to do some crazy things, like one time I rollerbladed under a truck." She looked up to see Zeke's mouth drop. "It's a long story. And yeah that's basically it. "

"That's…Pretty awesome." He looked down at the paper and read the next question. Once again his long shaggy hair was covering his eyes. Sarah couldn't help but notice his beautiful green eyes, and the hair was cute too.

"Kay, next question favorite food, that's easy pizza."

"ummm..I'll have to go with Fettuchini Alfredo."

"Interesting.." Zeke said looking Sarah deep into her eyes. " Favorite Ice cream flavor?"

"That's a question?" Sarah asked looking at her paper.

"No…But I was just wondering." Sarah laughed at him.

"That's a hard one…. I'll have to go with Ben and Jerry's fish food."

"Oooh, good choice, but personally I'm more of a cookie dough fan. Moving on though.."

She laughed. "Ok favorite childhood memory. Okay I'll go first this time. So there was this one time that my dad rented a house in Point Pleasant, on the Jersey Shore, and it was right on the bay. So along with the house my dad was able to get us this luxury speedboat. It was really little but we had so much fun. So it was our last day there for the summer and we were going for our last trip with the boat. My dad took the boat out to the ocean and turned it off and put down the anchor. He just got out of the seat and took me and told me to look at the ocean and take it all in."

By now the tears had started falling. Zeke took her free hand and gave it a squeeze.

"And I just sat there in the boat in the middle of the ocean, and I realized how lucky I was. It was a beautiful moment, me and my family sitting there on the boat and I looked out in the ocean thinking that I would always remember this moment forever…." She wiped her tears with the free hand and laughed a bitter laugh. "But that's all gone now, so that's why I remember it. Im such a girl crying like this."

"Yeah, but that's okay. I dig the tears." Zeke said trying to lighten the mood.

Sarah chuckled. "Ok you tell your story."

He thought about it for a minute. " So one day my dad came home and he was really pissed. Like super pissed, you could almost see the steam rising out of his ears. So he screams at my mom and me to get into the car. And we were both really scared we had no idea what was wrong so we got into the car and once we were a mile out of Tree Hill my dad starts laughing. I remember him saying, "Boy you should have seen your faces. Don't worry, were only going on a family excursion." So after a little bit of questioning my dad finally gives in that were going camping, and my mom totally freaks out that she isn't prepared to go camping we have no food and stuff. But my dad had packed it all in advance. So there we were, going on a surprise camping trip. It was probably the best weekend of my life. We went fishing, cooked on an outdoor fire and we played hide and seek in the woods. I don't think I was able to stop smiling. The thing is I don't remember my family ever being the same." Zeke gave a bitter chuckle at the end. "It was the week after that my mom decided she liked drugs more than her own kid."

Sarah gasped, she understood that she and Zeke were opening up to each other, but she didn't think that he would drop something that big on her.

"Zeke, I had no idea, I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. He had no idea why he added that to the end of his story. It was true that the week later his mom had ODed on prescription drugs the next week, and was miraculously saved, but there was no link with his favorite childhood memory.

"Its okay. You didn't know."

Sarah wanted to add something, say something that would make him feel better. But she couldn't find the right words. Zeke sensed the awkward air setting in, and changed the subject.

"What is your favorite place to be in the world?" Zeke asked Sarah.

"Umm. I'll have to go with the roof of our old apartment in the city. You could actually see the whole world from that place. My mom bought a couch to put up there so we could just sit up there no matter what the weather or time of day, and just look out and see all of New York city. Yours?"

With not even a moments hesitation he said, "The River Court. The best place in the world, especially at night when its just you and the game."

She scribbled his answer down on her paper, and read the next question. "Favorite Movie?"

"Superbad." He said with a smirk.

"Ugh, you're such a guy." She said smiling and rolling her eyes.

"And yours?" He said with a laugh at her reaction.

"The Notebook."

He scoffed. "You're such a girl."

The banter continued for another half an hour until they realize that almost three hours had passed since they started the project. At first it had been really awkward, but in the last half hour a food fight ensued and they became better friends. They were only interrupted when Ryder walked in the door.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and got their attention.

"Oh hi…" Sarah smiled sweetly. She immediately dropped the whipped cream she was spraying into Zeke's hair.

"I was just leaving." Zeke said awkwardly grabbing his project. "See ya guys at the game later."

He hurried out the door, trying to avoid the death glare that was burning into him from Ryder.

"Hold on a sec." She told her seething boyfriend. "Hey Zeke!" She called out her front door.

He turned around. "Don't be a stranger okay?" She asked with real sincerity.

He nodded and went on his way leaving Sarah watching him as he left. Slowly, Sarah walked up the stairs knowing that she had to deal with Ryder and his jealousy. Sarah knew that Ryder was the type of guy that got jealous, bus she didn't know to what extent.

She closed the door softly behind her.

"Wanna tell me what that was about?"

She jumped. Turning around slowly she saw Ryder sitting on a chair in her living room with his arms crossed around his chest.

"We had an English project and I had been avoiding doing it because of the incident that happened at my first practice."

It didn't seem to satisfy Ryder.

She inched towards him, coming face to face with him.

"What did you think it was?"

"It looked too comfortable to me…" Ryder barked a little his eyebrows scrunched and his arms still crossed over his chest.

Sarah tried her best to stifle a laugh. It was just so funny his jealous side, and his frown was really cute.

"Aww no…" she said sliding her arms around his waist. She immediately felt his muscles relax. "Zeke and I had a project about getting to know each other and I had put it off because I was still mad at him from the first practice. So now we finally did it and I really did get know him. He's a cool kid."

Ryder just nodded and leaned down to kiss her head. "I'm sorry." He mumbled in her hair.

They stood there for a couple minutes enjoying being in each others company. Sure enough though, with in ten minutes the making out started. They had gone on for ten minutes collapsing onto the couch. They were just going at it only stopping for air.

Slowly Ryder placed his hands under her Hanes T shirt, inching his way up, and at the feeling Sarah jumped out of it.

Realizing his mistake Ryder frowned. "I'm sorry…I just thought…"

"No it was my fault, I led you on….I…I..I got to go. I'll see you at the game." And with that she ran out of her house in close to tears.

Frustrated Ryder sighed and sunk back onto the couch cursing himself for being such a guy.

23oth23oth

Sarah was in the girls locker room getting ready for the game with the cheer leaders. She looked into the mirror and sighed.

"Whats up buddy?"

Sarah jumped and turned to see Michelle.

"Everything's up. What's not up?" Sarah said frustrated. Her emotions were running wild.

"Tell me what happened." Michelle asked concerned.

So they sat down on the locker room bench and Sarah explained about what happened with Zeke earlier and what had happened with Ryder on her couch.

"…. And I basically feel like I've been leading him on this whole time."

"You can't act this way Preston." Michelle said. "Especially since youre about to play with him right next to you, you have to tell him how you feel.

Sarah looked at her doubtfully. She was about to say something when one of the cheerleaders came up to Michelle.

"Umm Sarah there are a couple of guys waiting for you to come out of here."

"Just do it ok?" Michelle said giving her friend a quick hug.

Sarah nodded and headed to the boys locker room. Everyone was waiting for her so she sat down quickly next to Jack who gave her "is everything ok?" look.

Sarah just nodded and looked at Lucas to hear the game plan. She could feel Ryder's eyes glued to her face, watching her but she tried no to make eye contact. When she finally did it was only for a few seconds, but she could see the sorrow in his eyes. She quickly looked away.

"Ok guys… and girl," Lucas said, "We're still undefeated, lets just keep it that way."

The team roared in response.

"Ravens on Three!" Jamie yelled. "One! Two! Three!"

"RAVENS!"

They all headed out of the locker room their spirits were high. Sarah was heading out when she felt someone grab her wrist. She turned quickly and saw Ryder.

"Sarah…"

"I'm Sorry." They both blurted out really fast.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Ryder said, caressing her cheek. "I pushed you too far."

Sarah leaned into his touch. "No. Its both our fault. We have never discussed it and I was leading you on."

He looked at her expentantly. "I'm just not ready for anything yet. I'll let you know when I feel ready to do anything else. I understand if you don't want that type of relationship…" She couldn't go on any further.

"No, no. I'll wait for you Sarah Preston." He said seriously.

Sarah blushed. She had never felt this way about someone before.

"So were good?" Ryder asked sliding his arms around her waist pulling her towards him.

"Uhuh." She mumbled on his lips.

"I love you." Ryder said when they broke for air.

Sarah felt her heart hammering in chest. "I love you too." She answered back immediately. Her grin wasn't as big in comparison to Ryder's.

"C'mon." He said grabbing her hand. "Lets go kick some serious ass."

And the couple left the musty locker room in higher spirits than anyone can imagine.

23oth23oth

Miles climbed up the bleachers with Peyton, Brooke and Haley.

"So boys basketball is a big thing in Tree Hill?" Miles asked.

"You couldn't imagine. Especially since your sister joined the team they're undefeated." Haley told him.

Miles smiled. "That's good. Honestly I was worried about her. When she told me that she was going to drop all the sports, I knew she would never be herself, but now that she's playing basketball I'm not as worried even though she's changed a lot because of it."

"What do you mean she's changed?" Peyton asked.

Miles shrugged. "Shes just not the same. Not the crazy outgoing girl that was rocking out on a guitar one minute and the next was playing soccer and lacrosse, and no matter what was singing. I swear my parents got so many calls from teachers that shed just break out into song during class. I don't even think she's shown interest in music since my dad passed away."

"I had no idea that Sarah was even musical at all." Brooke told him.

"We did." Peyton said looking at Haley. "We took her to the office one day and she wandered off and we found her in the studio singing. When I asked her about it she wouldn't tell me, so I just dropped it. But man she was good."

Miles smiled. "Yeah that girl has a set of pipes. We used to write so many songs and we'd write her in harmonies that sounded brilliant. I think we still have the CDs we recorded."

"So youre family is really musical?" Haley asked.

"Yeah my moms a classical pianist and my dad was more of a rock and roll pianist so it kinda rubbed off on us. Our house here has a whole musical conservatory part that was built for everyone to grow as a musician…but I don't think its been used in a long time…"

Before anyone could respond The buzzer sounded and the team took their spots on the court. Miles watched his sister walk hand in hand with a tall blonde boy on her team.

"Okay. Who's the blonde with my sister?" Miles asked slightly smirking.

Brooke looked at her girlfriends. "Umm. That's her boyfriend. I guess she hasn't told you about him."

"Oy. It seems there are a lot of things that my sister conveniently forgot to tell me." Miles said rubbing his face. "As long as she's happy." He sat there watching his sister on the court. "Is she happy Brooke?" He asked quietly.

She looked at the man sitting next to her. Gone was the funny, sweet, vivacious man that she had been working with all weekend. Next to her was a man who was still grieving the loss of his father. He was a true brother, concern written all over his face.

"Some days are good and some days are bad, but she's happier with him." Brooke said rubbing his arm, she could help but notice the tingly feeling she felt while touching him. It was like an electrical jolt.

She pulled her hand away quickly when the buzzer rang signaling the beginning of the game. She watched as the Miles went back to being his normal self, smiling and cheering for his sister. She watched him getting the feeling in her mind that she may be falling for him hard.

23oth23oth

The final buzzer sounded and the members of the Ravens ran to center court jumping in joy for remaining their undefeated status. The fans were going wild.

The Ravens had a crushing defeat, beating the other team by 30 points in a game where the score was 80 – 50, the highest they had ever scored all season.

Soon the crowd dissipated and the gym seemed to be much quieter. Lucas smiled, ecstatic about his victory. He looked around the gym and thought about how much had changed since he played there when he was in high school. He looked towards the bleachers and saw Peyton talking with Brooke and was almost immediately fixated. Her hair fell perfectly on her shoulders and her smile was to die for.

"So is that the same Peyton from the book?"

The voice broke Lucas out of his thoughts. Turning around he saw Miles, his hands shoved in his pockets.

Lucas chuckled.

"It's probably hard being a best seller author and have the whole world know your personal life." Miles told him.

"Boy you can say that again."

Miles gave a short laugh. "Anyways man I wanted to congratulate you on the win tonight. You've got a really strong team." He told the coach sticking out his hand which Lucas took and shook. "I also wanted to thank you for giving Sarah this opportunity, you don't know how much happier this is making her. Basketball was a big thing in her life and you really helped bring it back."

Lucas nodded. " She's a great player, and a great girl. God the girl is one of the bigger reasons that were still undefeated. I mean she scored 28 points tonight and didn't play for the whole game."

Miles laughed. "Yeah he scoring average has remained the same for a while, I keep telling her that she has to use her ambidextrous skills to her advantage, especially on offense."

Lucas thought it over in his head and smiled. "Yeah were definitely going to work on that next practice."

Just then Sarah walked up to her brother still in her uniform.

"Hey coach." She said. "Great game. Thanks."

Lucas smiled, the girl amazed him. He smiled at her but someone else caught his eye.

Sarah turned around and smiled. Once again Lucas was staring at Peyton. She laughed at the two adults who were so in love with each other, all they needed was a push.

"Go talk to her."

"…What. We talk." Lucas stammered caught off guard by the girls blunt statement.

"Uhuh. Sure. Just talk to her." Sarah told him. "Miles….Miles!"

Sarah was trying to get Miles attention, but she noticed he too was zoned out on a certain brunette that was sitting in the bleachers. Sarah left.

"Hey Miles!" he finally broke his gaze and gave his sister his attention. "Lets go home."

He nodded and took his sister's duffel bag and threw his arm over her shoulder, and left the gym.

Sarah took it all in. It was suddenly coming back to her, a feeling she knew so well but she had not recognized because she hadn't felt it in a long time. And then it his her, this feeling she felt, it was happiness. She finally remembered what happiness felt like.

REviews! Tell me what you think. Any suggestions, concerns, ideas? Leave a review. Thanks for reading