Chapter 5

The next few days passed quickly as Lucas got ready for his first big game as an official Raven. So far his practices with the team had been fairly tame with only the occasional run in with Nathan and Tim. Cassie had come to watch almost every practice with Haley sometimes tagging along. The big day finally approached and Lucas had woken up and left the house at the crack of dawn to go for a jog to warm up, Cassie had insisted on tagging with him.

"So Luke, are you ready for this afternoon?" Cassie asked her brother.

"I guess so, its just a game right. I mean it's not like I'm the team star or whatever, that's Nathan's job." Lucas said.

"I don't know about that. The pressure is kind of on you. Think about it; your Dan Scott's son, people are expecting you to play amazingly well." Cassie reminded him.

Lucas suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "Thanks Cas, I wasn't nervous about the game up until you reminded me of that."

Cassie suddenly felt horrible. She hadn't meant to make him more nervous. "I'm sorry Luke, but you know me, Haley, Mom, Keith and all the guys from the Rivercourt will be there to cheer you on." She said trying to make him feel a little better.

They arrived at Karen's Cafe where their mom had been working for the last couple of hours serving breakfast to the morning crowd. The big rush was pretty well gone so the place was pretty dead with the exception of a few people in the corner sitting with their laptops open on the tables, drinking a coffee.

"Morning mom." Cassie said cheerfully as she walked behind the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee. Her mom really hated that she drank the stuff.

"Cassie." Karen sighed. "That stuff is going to stunt your growth."

"Sorry ma." Cassie laughed. "That's not going to scare me, besides I'm pretty tall as it is and I don't care if I don't grow another inch or two."

Karen just shook her head in frustration as Cassie got Lucas some to-go breakfast as he had to be at the warm-up in twenty minutes.

Lucas grabbed his breakfast and stood up. Just as he was about to leave Cassie yanked him back and hugged him as tight as she could.

"What was that for?" Lucas asked pulling away.

"That was just for good luck today, not that you'll need it. Your an awesome player Luke." Cassie said being completely honest.

"Thanks Cass, see you guys at the game." Luke said as he exited the cafe and headed to the highschool.

A couple of hours later it was about time to head over to watch the game. Haley and Keith had both joined Karen and Cassie at the cafe.

"So how is Luke doing this morning?" Haley asked.

Cassie shrugged. "He seemed ok up until I mentioned that everyone was going to expect him to play great because he's a Scott."

"So he should have already known that." Haley said.

"Well I think he did, but he had just kind of tried to forget about it and I think I kind of forced him to think about it more and now the pressure is getting to him." Cassie said. "Hales if he loses then it will be all my fault."

"Cassie don't say that. Lucas knows you mean well and he knows you love him." Keith said having overheard the entire conversation.

"Thanks Uncle Keith, I hope your right." Cassie said.

"Of course I'm right, I'm always right." Keith joked. "Now its time for us to go. You ready Karen?" He asked.

Karen shook her head. "I'm not going, I've decided to keep the cafe open, we could use the extra business."

Cassie knew what her mom was doing and didn't like it. "Mom, the cafe can afford to lose a couple of hours of business. Your son is playing his first major game today and he'll be devastated if you miss it."

"Sweetie I'm sure my being there is not going to affect Lucas' playing all that much." Karen assured her daughter as well as herself.

"But mom, I told Luke you'd be there. He needs all of us. The pressure is going to be a lot for him to handle." Cassie said.

Keith agreed with Cassie. "I think your making a big mistake Karen."

Haley understood where Karen was coming from. "You guys, leave her alone. She doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to run into you know who."

"Thank you, Haley." Karen said gratefully.

"Ok fine, mom stay. Don't face your fears like your always telling me and Luke to do. If you ask me that's totally hipicritical." Cassie said sounding angry as she walked out of the restaurant behind Keith and Haley leaving Karen alone to think about her actions.

Meanwhile at the gym...

Nathan had decided to skip his plan A and go straight to plan B figuring it would be more fun. Instead of making Lucas prove he was worthy of joining the team he would make him prove he had what it takes to survive being on the team. And with what Nathan had planned, he would quit the team completely. He was about to set his plan in motion as he waited for Lucas to finish getting ready. Lucas walked out of the changing rooms and straight into Nathan's overpowering face.

"So you ready for the big game?" Nathan asked him.

"What's it to you?" Lucas asked.

"Oh nothing, you know I just figured I hadn't exactly welcomed you to the team officially. So that's why the guys decided we'd throw a welcome party in your honor. Tonight at my parents beach house. Everyone will be there including the cheerleaders. If you want to you can invite your sister and that other girl, you know the tutor whats her name Bailey..."

"Its Haley and you and I have never gotten along so why would you invite me to this party of yours?" Lucas asked.

"I did say it was in your honor didn't I?" Nathan asked and Lucas nodded. "Look man, were going to have to learn to get along if were going to be on the same team for the next few months. And you know we do share a father, and sister for that matter."

"Fine, but it you have anything planned, you leave Cassie out of it." Lucas warned.

Nathan nodded as Whitey entered and told them it was game time.