the other two.

⁽⁰¹⁻⁰³⁾ ᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵗʳᵘᵉ⁻⁵

-tree hill, north carolina.

the following day, lucas found himself at practice. yes, while still not over what the team did, a meaningful talk with his mother about taking the high road and fighting back once hitting a certain point was enough to ground him, and get him to focus on the more important things in his life.

now, during a practice game at the gymnasium, "ball! ball!" lucas clapped his hands in order to get the attention of ethan, who currently has possession of said ball. the blonde rolled his eyes, taking matters into his own hands. lucas ran towards tim, disregarding the play at hand, rushing to take the ball from the boys grasp, pushing up the court for a layup.

once the ball went through the net, lucas let out a small celebration, walking back onto the court. the moment was cut short as ethan rushed to him in the heat of the moment, "what the hell was that?" the brunette called to him, pushing the blonde from behind, catching him off gaurd.

whitey quickly blew his whistle, catching the altercation from the corner of his eye, before whitey could get a word in, lucas pushed ethan back, grabbing onto his collar before forcefully letting him go. ethan glared at the boy as whitey finally raised his voice, "here! second team!" ethan furrowed his eyebrows in anger, "but he stole the ball from his own team!" the boy called to his coach, motioning a hand to lucas.

"he but nothin'!" whitey eyes didnt leave ethans as he raised his voice, "that guy has hit seven in a row and you wont pass him the ball!" the man switched his gaze from ethan to lucas, "and you! this is a team game." whitey gave both boys a stern glare, then turning to the others. "if you guys dont get your heads out of your asses, i might be forced to suspend my second team this season. go home!" whitey finished, walking away from the group of boys towards his office.

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around two night later, haley, lucas and madeline found themselves approaching the burning boat ceremony, which coach whitey had been beginning. "wait, so just- catch me up on what exactly happened?" madeline asked of lucas, who was in between her and haley as they got to their spot.* lucas sighed, "you might need hearing aid or something, maddie." the boy joked before beginning.

"a couple nights ago a bunch of the guys basically 'teen'-napped me, took me to some random field and left me there." he began, using his hands as a way to get his point across. "thats why the house smelled. sorry, continue." madeline quickly shut up, seeing the look her brother wa giving her. "then, yesterday, ethan, of all people started shit with me at practice after school. its like the entire teams against me, which i already knew." lucas scoffed, throwing his head back for a moment.

madeline's eyebrows furrowed, ethan? i mean him of all people. madeline wouldn't have thought it to be true until she saw the look haley gave her, knowing the pair had talked about this earlier in the day when she was at the cafe.her face dropped slightly, "seriously?" madeline turned back to her brother, who nodded back at her. "yeah. but i know they wont stop, not without a fight at least." madeline nodded slowly, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

she shook her head, willing her thoughts out of her head as she smiled at her brother, "well, im here for ya. if thats any consolation." madeline offered. lucas scoffed, "barely," he joked, laughing as he earned a shove from his younger sister. madeline rolled her eyes with a laugh, "you're a jerk."

soon, everyones voiced quieted down as coach whiteys voice boomed over the speakers, "good evening! usually, the master of ceremonies at this deal is red legner. but, uh.. well, red died." the man began, taking a look at the load of people stood in front of him. "so, what are you gonna do?" he tried to continue, stopping only for the crowd to let out a few choruses of laughs at his statement.