"Wake up."
What the fuck?
Nathan rolls over to look at his alarm: 5:30. Is his dad kidding? He groggily covers his head with his pillow, trying to pretend like his dad isn't waking him up at the ass-crack of dawn.
"Get up son."
"Dad, would you get the hell out of my room?" Nathan retorts.
"You need to do some more training if you want the scouts to notice you. Your performance last night was sluggish," Dan says, taking the pillow away from Nathan and throwing it on the floor.
"My performance was fine; I made the winning shot," Nathan says, now sitting up and facing his dad. It's too early for this shit.
"You got winded in the middle of the second half, Nathan. Is that the type of thing you want the scouts to see?" Dan asks. If Nathan never heard the word "scout" again, it would be far too soon.
"No, I guess not," Nathan says, rising out of his bed to grab some running clothes.
"Good. Meet you outside in ten," Dan says, exiting the room.
"Yeah," Nathan answers, still half asleep. It's times like these where he wishes his mom wasn't working so much. She was the only one who could stop Dan from being so obsessively controlling. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to be home for another week or so, leaving Nathan to deal with Dan himself.
Nathan gets dressed and heads to the kitchen to grab some coffee. He's going to need an entire pot to stay awake today. He couldn't fall asleep for hours last night, his fight with Peyton and his dad's disappointment swirling around in his mind. Those weren't the only things bothering him, however:
"Dude, you never told me you have a brother!" Tim exclaimed, sitting next to Nathan in the cafeteria.
"What the hell are you talking about, Tim?" Nathan asked."I'm an only child, unless you've smoked so much weed you've forgotten about that."
"What? No!" Tim said, clearly a little offended by Nate's accusation. "I overheard my mom talking about it with my dad last night. She said she remembers your dad and Karen Roe dating in high school. Apparently he got her pregnant and then left her."
Nathan practically choked on his pizza before turning towards his friend. "Karen Roe? Tim, if that's true, which I highly doubt it is, that would mean that freak Lucas is my brother."
"It is true!" Tim said before pulling an old Tree Hill yearbook out of his backpack and slamming it down on the lunch table. He flipped furiously through the pages and came across the one he was looking for. "Here, look."
Nathan snatched the yearbook and tried to find what Tim was talking about. He found an old picture of his dad standing with some girl. "This doesn't prove anything, Tim."
"Would you read the caption underneath the picture, Nate?" Tim asked him, getting annoyed.
'Dan Scott and Karen Roe, cutest couple award.'
"Holy shit," Nathan said, putting the yearbook down on the table and leaning back in his chair.
"Right?! Isn't it crazy? Your dad has a bastard child he never even told you about!" Tim laughed.
Nathan was really trying not to hit him in the face.
"I lost my appetite," Nathan said, getting up from the table and walking away.
"Hey, wait Nate!" Tim called after him.
"Leave me alone, Tim!" Nathan responded.
"You ready, son?"
The voice of his dad pulls Nathan out of his memory. He glances down at his half empty coffee cup and nods, getting up and following his dad outside.
It was cold as hell outside, and all Nathan wants is to be back in bed, and the last thing he wants is to be around his dad right now.
Halfway through their run, his dad tries to start conversation.
"So I heard a lot of yelling coming from your room last night, mind telling me what that was about?" Dan asks, bending down to tie his shoe.
"It was nothing," Nathan lies.
"You can tell me, son," Dan says.
"It's none of your business, honestly," Nathan spits, starting into a run again.
Dan gets up and follows behind him. "Like hell it's not. Is that girl the reason your game was crap last night?"
"I don't have to tell you anything, considering the fact you've been lying to me for the past 17 years," Nathan baits, still trying to focus on running instead of his dad.
Dan grabs his arm and pulls him to a stop.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, you know, the fact that I have a brother you've never told me about," Nathan says. Clearly it was true judging by his dad's face; he's never seen somebody look so surprised in his life. "So it's true."
"Son, listen, you have to understand- " Dan starts, but Nathan isn't having it.
"Understand what? That you were just going to try and erase him from existence hoping I would never find out? Think again, Dan." He can see the anger rising in his dad. He's always hated it when Nathan calls him by his first name, which is why he continues to do it so much. He abuses every opportunity he can to piss his dad off.
Shaking his head, Nathan takes off, leaving his dad standing with nothing to say.
If only it were this easy to shut him up all the time.
—
That day in school, Lucas wished he could hide under a rock for the rest of his life.
He's nervously tapping his pencil in study hall, continuously looking towards Nathan, who was sitting at the table adjacent to his. This was all way too much to take in for him. The whole thing isn't fair; why in the hell does his dad have to be Dan? Hell, he'd rather be related to Tim Smith than Nathan, and that guy's a complete douchebag. Glancing over at Nathan again, he sees his brother looking back, looking at Lucas like he's a freak of nature.
Okay, he has to get out of here, now. He can't take this anymore.
Gathering his things and getting up from his table, he plans to escape study hall (the bathroom seems like a nice place to hideout; anywhere's better than in here) when Coach Whitey walks into the room.
"Scott?" Whitey calls out.
"Yeah?" Lucas instinctively answers at the same time as Nathan, despite just finding out that was his last name that morning. Nathan looks at him with a look of utter confusion.
"Crap, I get so used to saying that name all the time it's become a habit. Must be old age," Whitey says, shaking his head. "I meant to say Roe. Nathan, read a book or something, it might be good for you."
Whitey points at him. "You, I need to talk to you for a second."
"Sure thing," Lucas responds, following Whitey out of the room. What could the coach possibly want to talk to him about?
Whitey leads Lucas into the gymnasium, which was currently empty.
"Most people like their gyms filled with people and noise. I like mine just like this. Let's me concentrate better," Whitey says, grabbing a basketball out of the rack in the middle of the floor.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lucas asks, still confused as to why he's here. However, it is getting him out of study hall, thank god.
"I have an opening spot in the lineup, a varsity spot. Interested?" Whitey asks, tossing Lucas the basketball.
Lucas catches the ball and looks at it for a bit, lost in thought. Him? A Tree Hill Raven? Being on the same team as Nathan? No, there was no way he would be able to do it. No way in hell.
"Sorry coach, but all of this," Lucas begins, his finger pointing in every direction around him, "it isn't for me."
"I've seen you play at the Rivercourt Lucas, and I think you'd be an asset to the team," Whitey pleads, clearly desperate for Lucas to join.
"I'm sorry, but I can't," Lucas responds. He hands the ball back to Whitey before turning to exit the gym. "Thanks for the offer though, coach." He can tell Whitey's disappointed, but he just can't bring himself to do it. Being in the same room with Nathan was agonizing, let alone being on the same basketball team with him. As much as he wanted to say yes out of his love for the game, he just can't.
The rest of the day was just as unbearable for Lucas; he kept seeing Nathan everywhere. He saw him in the cafeteria, in the hallway, in English class, hell, he practically could see him when he closed his eyes. The worst part of it was that he still found Nathan attractive. He kept finding himself wanting to kiss those lips of his and stare into those deep blue eyes…
… but he just felt so fucking wrongwrongwrong!
"Earth to Luke, are you listening?"
"Hm, what?" Lucas answers. He and Haley were walking home from school, and as much as he was trying to pay attention to her, his mind was going a mile a minute.
"I said you should really join the Ravens. I mean, why not, right? Show all of those jerks up at their own game," Haley says, looking over and smiling at Lucas.
"I can't, Hales, seriously."
"Why not?" Haley asks him, frowning.
"It's.. it's a long story, but just believe me when I say that I can't," Lucas answers. He hates lying to Haley. They tell each other everything, but this was something she didn't need to know about him. He can't even imagine how that conversation would even go.
"Oh hey, so I've had a crush on Nathan Scott since forever and guess what? I found out this morning that he's my brother, but I still like him! Isn't that great?!"
"Just promise me that you'll consider it, at least?" Haley pleads.
"Okay, sure, I'll consider it," Lucas answers, Haley letting out a "yay!" in response, "but I'm not making any promises, okay?"
"As long as you promise you'll think about it, that's okay with -"
Haley was cut off by a group of birds flying out of an alley at her, causing her to jump in surprise.
"Damn! Okay, what is up?! I was attacked by a flock of crows the other week!" Haley yells, laughing as she regains her composure. Noticing Lucas is laughing at her, she shoves him and says "I'm serious!"
"Oh, by the way, it's actually a murder," Lucas tells her.
"What?" Haley asks him, looking confused.
"Well, more than one crow is a murder," Lucas explains.
"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about," Haley responds, laughing and shaking her head.
"A parliament of owls; an exaltation of larks; a murder of crows," Lucas explains further.
"Okay, I think that's why people think you're weird," Haley teases. "So, what do you call more than one Raven?"
"An unkindness," Lucas answers.
Later that night, as Lucas closes his eyes to go to bed, he sees Nathan everywhere.
An unkindness of Nathans.