Chapter Three: Picture Perfect Memories

Lois Lowry once wrote that "The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared." But I am not sure I wanted to share my memories with anyone quite yet. Least of all with Nathan. The member of my family I felt the most alienated from somehow. I found myself sitting at the desk opposite from his Coach's chair.

"How are you doing, Lily Roe Scott?" he asked, gently.

"I'm fine."

"Lily. You and Lucas both has the same tell…"

"I'm pretty overwhelmed," I replied, instantly. "I don't know what I was thinking wanting to come back to Tree Hill. I forgot. Nathan…what kind of a daughter forgets the very spot her father got murdered?"

"The same kind who shares a cousin from the guy who killed her dad?" he said, apprehensively. "Lily, I know you and I have never been close and I don't blame you. But Luke and I…"

I frowned and cottoning on said, "I don't blame you for my dad's death, Nathan. It wasn't your fault. It was Dan Scott's fault and oh well, at least he's gone."

"He did try to redeem himself towards the end," Nathan said, softly.

"I am sure he did," I said, "But if you killed someone, if stood by and watched someone die, how do you seek redemption from that?"

"Lily?" he asked, confused.

I shook my head realizing I'd let slip something I should not have in the first place. I gave Nathan a watery smile, "You're my brother's brother. He means the world to me and I know you've always meant the world to him. I think we'll just have to meet each other halfway, Nathan. No more tiptoeing around each other. Deal?"

"Deal," he said, but he wasn't entirely convinced by me, "And listen Lily, if you ever need to talk then please…my door's always open."

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch break. I got up saying, "I'll take you up on that offer some other time, Coach. Right now, I've to get to class. I've English and I don't know where that class is."

"It's okay, I remember where that classroom is," he laughed and gave me the directions.

I found the classroom in the nick of time and suddenly all my nightmares seemed to have become rolled into one. I shared this particular class with Jamie, Ryan, and Alison and when our teacher entered, I almost fell of my chair.

"Good afternoon, class, it looks like I'll be your new English teacher for a while before Mrs. James Scott can come back to us again. It's a good thing I was in town, wasn't it?" Lucas was grinning at us from the front of the class.

I could feel my heart sinking and I knew Jamie was beyond thrilled. My cousin and my brother were part of the administration of my school. Did he bribe Haley to stop coming to school for a few days? What work could Lucas possibly have in school? My mind was whirring again.

"My name is Lucas Scott," he was going on, "And some of you might know me. But to those of you, who don't, I should just tell you I'm pretty easy to please. Don't talk in class, listen to me and submit your assignments on time. You'll be fine."

I had a feeling he was looking directly at me when he said that. I nodded slightly and Lucas went on, "Good. Now, I thought we'd go back to the stories we used to read as children and see how we read it differently now. Your assignment is to pick one book that meant the world to you as a child and how you look at it differently now. I won't be grading you but I do expect everyone to participate in my class."

"Lucas is our English teacher," I echoed, as we walked out of school that day, "Jamie, why didn't you warn me about that?"

"Because I didn't know," he said, shrugging, "Usually my mom's the one who takes English. I didn't know she'd gone on a brief break either. Then again, Luke and Hales have their own little world. I never quite know what's going on with them."

I smiled at him, "Jamie. It's okay to want what Luke and Hales has. But if you want that kind of a friendship from me, you're not going to find it."

"Well, the last girl best friend I made ended up becoming my girlfriend," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry if it felt weird when I tried to help you. It's just that between all the girlfriend drama and the teammate drama, I thought having a friend in a cousin would help me take my mind off things for a bit. I just want to be able to talk to someone and not think of the consequences…you know."

"What you're doing for me is really, really sweet," I said, smiling, "And it's not your fault that I cannot open up to being best friends with you yet. But I can promise you one thing, James Lucas Scott, you're pretty much the only friend I have in the world."

His face broke into a wide grin and the next minute I was engulfed in a big bear hug. He let go, and I laughed, "Don't you have practice to get to?"

"Oh yeah, are you coming?" he asked.

"I will," I answered, "I just need to do something quickly before I come to the gym. Will Alison save me a seat?"

"She'll be too busy cheering," Jamie laughed as he rushed off to practice.

I found the signup sheet hanging the hallway for other curricular activities. I saw that they'd be holding tryouts tomorrow morning for the girls' track team and immediately signed up for it. Then I went to fetch my books from my locker and found my brother standing there.

"You know this used to be my locker," he said, as he moved aside to let me keep my books inside and take out my homework, "And when Hales and Nate got married we became locker buddies."

"How cozy," I laughed, "Jamie and I are locker buddies thanks to the alphabetical system."

"Funny how they didn't change that," he commented.

"Were you ever going to tell me why my brother suddenly decided I needed him as my high school English teacher?" I asked, banging the locker shut.

"Because I missed out on the opportunity to go to school with my adorable younger sister?" he asked, with a grin.

I scowled heavily at him and he laughed, "Haley needed a favour and I came through. That's what best friends do you know, kid. When you have a best friend, you'll understand."

"Well, I needed to be rooted to a spot for more than five minutes for that to happen, Lucas. Everything has its pros and cons. I got to see the world but for most part I don't remember seeing it." I said.

"Awww, cheer up little girl," he said, placing an arm over my shoulder, "Want to go see Jamie practice?"

"I was actually on my way there," I said, "Don't tell me. You're his Coach too?"

"Actually, I'm Nate's assistant. You can sit on the bleachers and watch us Scott boys in action."

I rolled my eyes but followed him to the gym nonetheless. The guys on the basketball team were warming up, and the cheerleaders were at the other end going over their routine. Lucas walked off to talk with Nathan, and in the midst of it all someone called,

"Hey, New Girl! Think fast!"

And out of nowhere a basketball came hurtling towards me, that I caught deftly in my hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I made sure Lucas and Nathan were still deep in conversation. Jamie was standing between me and the guy who'd thrown the ball at me, wondering what I'd do next. I smiled at the guy who'd throw it and not taking my eyes off him, threw it towards the hoop. There was pin drop silence as I made the basket and Jamie caught the rogue basketball. I winked at the guy and walked off to the bleachers.

"What the hell?" he croaked as he finally found his voice.

"Don't mess with a Scott," laughed Jamie. He jabbed a finger at his father and his uncle and mouthed, "Can you believe them?"

I shook my head, unable to suppress my glee. I sat in the bleachers, watching Jamie's practice. He'd kept looking at me, to make sure I was fine and I found myself slowly warming up to the possibility that maybe we could be better friends. Maybe we had always been destined to be on more than just postcard terms. I was grateful he'd let me fight my own battle but he knew too well what it meant to be Scott in Tree Hill.

I found him after he'd finished his practice and was about to drive his car home. I was standing next to it.

"Remember the offer you made me?" I asked him.

"If you ever need to talk…"

"I think we should talk."

We went upstairs to the roof again, and Jamie asked, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I don't know…nothing, everything," I said, slowly, "I wasn't lying when I said you're pretty much the only friend I have."

"What about Ryan Summers?" he asked.

"I hardly call the guy I ran into in the cemetery my friend, Jamie."

"What were you doing in the cemetery?"

"Visiting my dad…I know it's so stupid and all," I said, "But I just had to see him."

"I can understand that," he said, "But why was Ryan hanging out in cemetery?"

"It's kind of personal so I didn't ask," I replied, "Anyway. You know the friendship Haley and Lucas have, well, friendship like that doesn't grow on trees and neither can you force it. But…."

Jamie grinned at me, "Louise, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

"So here's the deal. I tell you something about myself and you tell me something about yours. Let's see who can hold onto all their secrets for the longest time, eh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you're so on," he laughed.

Author's Note:I really would appreciate reviews, favorites and follows :) C'mon you die hard One Tree Hill lovers. Show me some love? :D