Heart of the Champions

Chapter 3

Ina's POV
   Volleyball went by pretty quick, which was kinda sad because I really love the girls. After practice was over, I went home and did my homework after showering. I'm pretty smart when I want to be, and considering I want to go to Duke I have to keep my grades up. After homework, I went to bed. Soon enough, my alarm was going off. Damn thing. I woke up and left my hair in its natural wavy state, fixing a few pieces here there. I made my way over to my closet and decided on a navy oversized sweater, a pair of dark ripped skinny jeans, and the same tan booties I wore the previous day. I went over to my vanity and went to work on my makeup. Currently, my acne is alright so I just applied some moisturizer, some concealer where I needed it, mascara, and lip balm to top it off. I grabbed my volleyball bag and bookbag and made my way out to my car. Of course I picked up Lucas like every other day, but he seemed kind of upset or nervous about something. "Luke don't be nervous, you're a great basketball player, and the team is going to be lucky to have you." I stated, repeating the same advice he gave to me. Lucas just kind of shifted in his seat a little bit and said, "I'm not nervous for basketball yet. It doesn't start for almost another two months. I'm more worried about you." I raised my eyebrows glancing at him slightly waiting for him to continue. "Yesterday, I saw the way the team was looking at you." he turned his gaze towards me to see my reaction. "What in utter disgust at my sweat?" I asked half jokingly. He said, "Not quite. They were looking at you like you were a piece of meat and they were starving. I don't want you to get hurt Ina. Especially with the way Nathan was looking at you. This can't be good." I looked at him for a slight second before speaking, "Luke calm down. I think you're overreacting. Guys get all weird when they watch volleyball. It's because of the spandex. I doubt they were staring at just me. Besides, you don't have to worry. Nathan is dating Peyton and I think he is repulsive. There. Problem solved." Lucas was laughing at my reaction. "Good to know. Problem solved then." I looked at him and smiled. Lucas smiled before saying, "Come on Ina were gonna be late." With that I grabbed my two bags and headed to my locker. I saw Luke as I walking towards the tutoring center and jokingly shoved him into his locker, but not too harsh. He turned around and slapped my ass as a comeback. I held in a laugh as I walked down the hall sticking up the middle finger for Lucas. "See ya later jackass." I said as I made my way into the tutor center.

Nathan's POV

I was watching Lucas and that girl from volleyball interact. Why does he always smack her ass? That should be me or someone worth her time. Not Lucas Scott. I needed to know who she was. I turned my attention towards Tim. "Hey. Who is that girl Lucas always hangs around?" I asked. "Oh that is Ina Taylor. She's super hot and all the guys want her, especially now since she joined the volleyball team, but she hasn't given anyone the time of day. Why? Are you getting bored with Peyton?" he replied. I rolled my eyes at Tim, ignoring him. I suddenly had the perfect idea to get close to her, and piss off Lucas at the same time as I watched her walk into the tutor center. This was perfect.

Ina's POV 

I was done tutoring this one kid in algebra and went to put his paperwork into his file. As I was searching for the folder, I heard someone walk in. "Are you Ina Taylor?" I heard no one other than the Nathan Scott say. "Nope, wrong girl." I said while rolling my eyes. "I hope you're joking because you're my tutor." he replied while holding out his form. I was shocked and confused. "What? Let me see that." I took the paper from his hands, and sure enough my name was clear as day on the slip. "I'm sorry I'm friends with Lucas." I told him as I handed the slip back. He scoffed. "Yeah well than I'm sorry too.." He saw my reaction and continued, "Look I already tried. If there was someone else I wouldn't be coming to you, but there's no one." I couldn't help myself but to correct him. "If there were." He smiled and said, "Look, you're helping me already." I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. "Nathan I'm sorry, but there's no way I can tutor you. I'll try and find you someone else. Lucas would kill me." He looked as if he were about to say something else, but he just looked at the ground, nodded, and walked out. I sighed feeling a little guilty as he walks out. I know he's a complete ass but it's not fair to his future if some selfish girl in high school decided not to tutor him. It's just tutoring. Nothing more. Yet again I would feel completely guilty because of Lucas. Maybe I'll talk to him about it, and sees what he says. I pushed my thoughts aside and went straight to the locker room. I was greeted by the girls and quickly changed into Royal blue Nike pros, and a Ravens basketball shirt with black nike socks, and of course, my nike shoes. I threw my wavy hair into a messy ponytail, and added some black prewrap to keep my baby hairs from falling in my face all practice. We did all of our conditioning, warm-ups, drills, and etc. Now it was time to scrimmage. We were playing a full on game now. My team consisted of me, Carly, Courtney, Nicole, Hannah, and Jordan. We killed it. We were playing so in sync together, and we were keeping everything alive. We were playing like a true team. When we got a water break, I walked over to Lucas.

"Hey bud" I said throwing him a peace sign.
He smiled at me and said, "Hey loser." I threw my hands up in defense as he said that, "Idk Lucas, we looked like we were winning out there to me." He chuckled at my attempt of a comeback. Halfway through his chuckle, coach blew the whistle signaling our team to play again. While I was running away, I looked at Lucas quickly said, "I have to talk to you about something after practice, okay?" He looked a little confused and worried, but just simply nodded.
Nathan's POV
Ina sat and watched practice because she had to wait for Lucas. I tried my best to impress her, but she seemed distracted by something. Coach Whitey mumbled something about us not listening to instructions, and the next thing you know, he calls Ina to come over and lend him a hand. Lend a hand with what? Ina looked a little startled when her name was called, and she hesitantly made her way onto the court after she was urged by Whitey. She seems to be really shy, and probably a little self conscious of herself, especially in front of boys. I don't know why tho. She's perfect. And lucky for me, she still had her volleyball clothes on.
"It seems to me like my boys don't know how to listen to their coach," he said while picking up his ball cap and rubbing underneath of it. Ina looked confused, "Yeah I can see that coach, but what am I supposed to do about it?" Whitey chuckled, and threw Ina a basketball. Everyone looked confused except for Lucas who had a giant smirk on his face. Ina looked at Coach Whitey unsurely, who returned a small smile and a nod for reassurance. "Nathan, guard Ina." I smirked knowing I got a chance to be up close with her, and considering she probably has never touched a basketball before in her life, I can guard her even closer. I got in position to guard her when Coach Whitey spoke up. "Now I've been telling you guys to read your opponent, and none of y'all have heard a damn word I said, so let's see if I'm talking to quiet or what. Ina, play Nathan 1 on 1." I smirked looking at her. This should be good.
Ina's POV
WHY THE HELL DID WHITEY PUT ME IN THIS POSITION?! Too late to back out now, Whitey is counting on me, and I'll look stupid. Alright, deep breaths Ina. I fiddled with the basketball in my hands as I watched Nathan smirk at me, waiting for Coach to blow the whistle. As if right on que, I heard the whistle, and took a second to glance at Nathan's stance. He was playing my pretty tight because he thinks I know nothing about basketball, and he's standing straight up, so I took a dribble with my left and did a spin move around Nathan, switching to my right. I got around him pretty quick, so when he sprinted to get back, I knew he was gonna try to block my shot. I set myself up for a lay-up and jump stopped, doing a little pump fake. As I predicted, Nathan went flying past me, leaving me for a wide open lay-up. The whole team laughed at Nathan. I looked at him and said, "Nice defense, Scott." He walked over to me immediately, smirking and smacked my ass saying, "Nice ass, Taylor." Lucas was not happy with this. Whitey gave Nathan a hard time about his defense, and then instructed him to go again. This time he was playing me too far off because he thinks I'm going to beat him to the hoop again, and because I can't shoot. I took a few dribbles making him open his hips, sliding to the direction I was going, then I hurried up and pulled back, popping the three. I shot the ball, and it watched it go in. The boys all looked at me, impressed. I looked over to see Nathan with his jaw on the ground. "I thought you played volleyball only?" Nathan questioned. I looked at him smirking, "There's a lot you don't know about me Scott."