the other two.

⁽⁰¹⁻⁰¹⁾ ᵖⁱˡᵒᵗ⁻³

-tree hill, north carolina.

the next day at school, lucas was sat in the library along with haley, catching up on work during their free period. lucas caught himself looking up at peyton who was busy with her head in what seemed to be a multitude of different sketches. "scott." whitey called as he walked into the library.

both lucas and nathan, who was sat with ethan, tim and peyton, raised their heads. "whats up coach?" nathan asked as he remained in his seat. whitey sighed, "not you. you." he specified as he turned his focus over to lucas, nathan, ethan and tim folllowing whitey's gaze, setting their eyes on nathan. peyton smirked at lucas as he stood up, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

madeline walked into the library as whitey told nathan, "you, read a book or something." ethan laughed at his coaches comment, prompting nathan to elbow him in the gut. madeline walked past lucas as ethans eyes settled on her, taken aback by her beauty.

how had he only noticed her now? he wondered as her eyes also locked on his for a split second, before she ripped her gaze away and kept on her way towards haley, who was still hyper focused on her physics work. "hey, hales." madeline whispered as she gathered lucas' stuff into a pile for easy access in case he didnt return on time.

____________________________________________

back at the river court, madeline was sprawled on the bleachers, sketching on the back of her homework while listening to music through her walkman, connected to her wired headphones.

"whitey asked you to play on the team, and its nothin'?" skills asked as the four guys were shooting their respective basketballs. "its nothing 'cause im not playing. not with those guys." lucas replied with heavy breaths as he shot yet another basket.

skills sighed, "luke, man, ive been guarding you almost every night since we were like, twelve years old, right? and i won how many games? i dont know. it just seems like a waste to me man." skills reiterated for the umpteenth time, "maddie baby, can you tell him that he should just suck it up and play?" he redirected his attention to madeline.

madeline took off her headphones, "believe me, skills. ive told him countless times, he wont listen to me either." lucas sighed looking between the two, "im right here?" he stated. "yes, we know. how unfortunate for us, luke" madeline exaggerated earning a chuckle from fergie, before putting her headphones back on, focusing on her drawings.

skills looked down, walking towards his best friend, "yo, luke man. you know you one if my best friends, right?" he questioned the blonde in front of him. lucas nodded slightly as skills continued, "aint nothin' never gonna change that' man. but keep it real." he paused for a moment, gazing towards madeline who sat up on a bleacher, still focued on her sketch.

"we aint shootin' for teams, man. were shooting to be your excuse. and i aint about to be a part of that" skills finished as he, junk and fergie walked away from lucas, madeline walked up to him patting his shoulder, "cmon luke. lets go." she said lightly, ushering him to grab his basketball.

____________________________________________

the twins were currently sat in lucas' bedroom, lucas checking himself out in a jersey, which had appeared inside a yellow envelope, stood at the door when they got home. "it looks so natural on you, weirdly." madeline muttered as lucas chuckled, still checking himself out.