NIGHT CHANGES !
𝖮𝖭𝖤 ━━━ 𝖻𝗋𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗍 𝖻𝗋𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋

"Are you crazy?!" Riley Davis exclaimed to the boy on the other end of the phone call. The device was pressed against her ear, letting out grumbles under her breath at the words that had just come out of her friend, Brayden Mills' mouth. "So, let me get this straight— your idiotic of a bestfriend led his team of minions while stealing a school bus?! That's like..."

"Stupid? Yeah." Although Riley couldn't see what he was doing, she could feel him nod through his words and sigh in annoyance. "Try telling that to Nate. Because of his dumb idea, half of the team had gotten suspended, and now his dad's angry at Whitey."

Riley shook her head, shivering from the cold air as she continued her footsteps along the concrete path, when her eyebrows furrowed, managing to hear a murmur of disagreement from a new voice that led to what sounded like bickering, and the blonde-haired girl rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Beavis and Butt-Head." The voices coming from the other end of the call, quieted down after that. "I know I'm on speaker, Brayden, and Nath, if you can hear me—" She raised her voice slightly before her next words, "this is not GTA: the video game, bonehead! I do not want to be friends with a criminal." She huffed in a dramatic manner.

Even though the clouds were dark that you could barely even see them anymore, the lights glowed from the stores on the road— just enough for her to still see where she was going and the figures of people across the road. But, it was a good thing that nobody else was around to hear that.

"Gee, thanks Riles." She heard a voice, filled with sarcasm, that she could quite easily tell belonged to Nathan Scott.

"You're welcome." Riley beamed. She had finally arrived at the cafe, swinging the door open to see Karen Roe, stood behind the counter. She greeted the woman with a quick wave, before turning to shut the door behind her and spoke quietly into the phone. "Listen, I gotta go now, but I'll see you tomorrow when I can throw a basketball to your head. Maybe it'll knock some sense into you."

"And who are you referring to?" Nathan asked.

"Obviously you, you unbelievable weirdo." Riley whispered incredulously, rolling her eyes. "Now then, ta-ta for now." At their rounds of goodbyes, the girl hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket before approaching Karen. "Hiya."

"Hi Riley. How was your day?" With a kind smile, the woman struck a conversation with the blonde teenage girl, who was like a daughter to her.

"You know," She hummed. "same old thing, just a different day." Riley merely shrugged, and leaned her arms on the counter as she caught a whiff of what Karen must have made for dinner, causing a grin to appear. "Oh, that smells amazing."

Karen chuckled at the compliment, but before the woman could respond, the front door was pulled open again, this time by Lucas, who had walked inside, still dressed from playing basketball at the River Court with his friends.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Ry Ry." He greeted the two.

"Hey, hon."

"Hey, Luke."

"It smells good in here." Lucas commented. "Did you change your hair?"

Riley pulled her arms off from the counter for the woman to wipe it quickly with a cloth, before she stopped. She turned to pick up a mug shaped-like bowl and looked up at her son, scooping some of the food she made into the bowl. "If by 'change' you mean 'dragged a brush through it', then yeah."

"Well, it looks nice." The Scott boy complimented his mother, getting a thank you in return, making Riley smile from beside Lucas. She wasn't going to lie, but she felt envy of the relationship he had with his mother. If only, her and her sister could share the same thing with their parents. But they couldn't. The closest thing the Davis sisters had to parental figures, was their grandparents. They didn't live with them but were living in Tree Hill, where they could still keep an eye on their grand-daughters. But, you can also call it, fulfilling their role as their guardians after the girls' parents had passed the rights over to the pair, when they left their children behind.

"Well, the magazine pages are sticky again. Little pervs." Haley had come through the back, with a magazine in her hand, when she looked up at the boy with an innocent smile. "Oh, hey, Luke. You been reading this?"

Riley chuckled while Luke tilted his head. "I don't know, Haley. Is that the 'Why do I hang out with these people?' issue, because you're on the cover of that, right?" He remarked, earning a smack on the arm from Riley.

"No, actually, it's the 'Our Best Friend Is An Idiot' issue and there you are." Lucas scoffed, walking away from the counter with his dinner, and Haley and Riley high-fived each other.

Both of them looked over when Karen called out to them. "Riley, Haley, would you like to join us?"

"Hell yes." The girls replied. Like was that even a question? They scooped up their food, putting it into a bowl and made their way over to join Lucas and Karen at the table.

"So, honey, how was your day?" Karen asked, the question being aimed at Lucas. So, she was surely surprised to hear Haley reply back to her, as she began rambling about her day. "Good, thanks. Well, 'good' is relative, considering a third of the world is starving, which does not change the fact that I am clumsy as hell. Did I tell you that I fell down today? Yeah, slipped off the curb, face down, butt in the air." The three of them laughed, and Haley raised her brows with a wince. "Too graphic? Sorry, I'll just be quiet."

"Don't worry Hales," Riley brought the attention onto her. "you're not alone in that department. I mean, you know how many times I have fell over my own feet?"

"We're in this together." Haley nodded, and they high-fived once again, over the table, making the mother and son duo shake their heads, amused.

"So, I got something for you, Lucas." Karen said, changing the subject.

"Actually, I found it." Haley interjected. "Not that I was looking for something specifically, which implies some hideous sort of 'Joey loves Dawson' scenario and completely creep me out, but, you know, we saw it, and..." She glanced between her friends upon noticing their stares, and she looked back at Karen. "Give him the book."

Riley turned to Lucas with a playful scoff. "And you say I talk too much."

The blonde-haired boy chuckled, ruffling her hair before grabbing the book out of his mom's hand to examine it. "Wow. Julius Caesar."

"There's a tide in the affairs of men." His mother recited a quote from the book. "Or something like that."

"Nice. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much."

"Whatever. That's what you're into."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The next day, Lucas went to school, not expecting Whitey to offer him a spot on the team, all thanks to his Uncle Keith for convincing the man. Lucas had turned it down at first, but when he got home from the River Court that day, there was a package on his front porch — addressed to him, and inside it was a Ravens basketball jersey, with the number 3 printed on the front and back.

But of course, Nathan being Nathan, wouldn't let him go on without a fight. So that night, he drove to the River Court with his sidekick, Tim, just for the purpose of challenging Lucas to a game. And if Lucas won, he could join the team, but if he lost the game, he couldn't.

"So, Nathan challenged you. Are you gonna play him?" Riley and Lucas were talking the next day, where Lucas informed the girl about the deal that Nathan had made.

"I don't know." Lucas replied. "It's not like I have anything to prove."

"Yeah, I guess." Riley agreed on one part, but she shrugged, thinking of something else. "But don't you just want to show him sometimes—" A flock of birds that came her way, interrupted the point she was trying to make, and she jumped up. "Oh, damn! What is up?! Literally, me and Haley were attacked by a flock of crows last week! I'm totally serious!" She let out a laugh and shoved him.

His laughter died down, and he turned to the girl and nodded. "By the way, it's a murder."

"What?" She asked breathlessly.

"More than one crow is a murder."

Riley laughed. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about." She told Lucas, making him sigh before going on to explain. "A parliament of owls, an exultation of larks, a murder of crows."

"That right there, I think that is why people think you're weird." Riley pointed out. "Honestly, just count yourself lucky, Luke, for having friends like myself and Haley."

Lucas shook his head and chuckled. "I would like to show him sometimes, though," He mentioned. "what a mistake he's made."

Riley furrowed her eyebrows in question. "Dan?"

"Mostly for Mom... and... sometimes for me." He admitted, causing Riley to look at him. Her facial expression softened for just a moment, and gave him a small nod before she decided to change the subject. "So, Luke, what are Ravens? I mean, you know, more than one?"

"An unkindness."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Tomorrow night, at midnight, at the Riverfront. Those were the words that Lucas told Nathan in the gym, naming the time and the place for them to have that game.

It was a few minutes before midnight, and Lucas was already on the court, using the time to get a few practice throws in as more people started to arrive.

"Just moments before the strike of 12:00 and still no Nathan Scott." Mouth reported, speaking into his microphone. He and Jimmy were sat down on the bench table — as the media, where they could get a clear view of the game.

Jimmy leaned closer to his friend who moved the microphone closer so he could speak into it. "And the natives are getting restless, Mouth, judging by the crowd that envelops our booth."

Junk sat himself down on the bench, and hearing the last part of what Jimmy said, he whacked his arm on Mouth's leg. "You don't have a booth."

"Junk Moretti joins us now." Mouth continued to report through his microphone. "Junk, you care to make a prediction?"

"Sure. I predict you guys will be the two biggest morons out here."

The sound of a car engine revved loudly, causing everyone who heard it to turn their heads in that direction. The crowd erupted in loud cheers and applause as the car pulled up. "And it looks like Nathan Scott has arrived, driven by car right onto the court."

Nathan stepped out first, followed by Tim on the passenger side, and then Peyton coming out from the back. As the raven-haired boy made his way through the crowd, Tim met back up with him at the front of his car and smiled, glancing around at everyone. "By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I told a few people."

Nathan simply smirked as he pulled the final part of his hoodie off, and he handed it to the boy who passed it onto Peyton.

"Brayden, is it too late to go home?" A voice that Nathan could recognise easily, caught his ears as he stepped onto the court. Subtly, he looked over and spotted Riley, with a pout on her face as she faced the Mills boy. A small smile grazed upon his lips and he looked away before certain people could notice — like he was used to doing it.

"Yes, Riley. Pushing aside how annoying Nate is, him and Lucas both want you here." Brayden told his friend. And as Nathan's best friend, what he said was true. He could tell that Riley was like a good luck charm to Nathan.

"Ah, they're too pissed with each other, I'm pretty sure they won't notice if I leave now, to go home to watch Friends with Brooke." Riley pointed out, earning a chuckle from Brayden and Haley, who was stood on the other side of Riley. As she tried to make a break for it, the blonde was pulled back by the both of them, making her pout like a child.

The game begins, and Nathan and Lucas stood in front of each other in the middle of the court. The blonde-haired boy had the ball in his hands, and jumped up, making his first shot into the basket from the half-way line.

"Oh-ho!" Mouth exclaimed through the cheers of the crowd. "A 25-footer rips the silk like Jimmy Edwards in a size three dress."

Nathan passed the ball back to Lucas. "Go ahead, man. I'll give you that all night." He spat out, and Lucas merely glared before throwing the ball and he scored another basket — making the crowd on the sidelines cheer once again.

As Lucas got the ball back, he was crouched down slightly when he looked at the boy in front of him with a smirk. "What happened to all night?"

Lucas tried to go around him, but Nathan caught him before he could make more than a few steps and snatched the ball off him. He dribbled it onto the ground, chuckling at his half-brother through a taunt. "Is that all you got, man? If that's all you got, this is over." He rushed around the boy who followed him, but failed to retrieve the ball before Nathan scored his first basket.

Loud cheers were starting to erupt from Nathan's side, excited when they saw he scored.

"This looks to be a battle, Mouth." Jimmy said to his best-friend sat next to him.

As the game continued, the cheers became louder as they watched Nathan and Lucas show off their skills as they carried on throwing the ball into the basket, until the score ended up at 14-12. Nathan currently had the ball in the palm of his hands, as Lucas was blocking him from behind — only to be elbowed in the nose by the raven-haired boy.

Lucas hunched forward — with his hand covering his now injured nose that had crimson red blood coming out of it. Ignoring the gasps of shock that came from the crowd, Nathan used his chance of having free space to score another basket.

From the sidelines, Haley had her arms wrapped around Riley, stopping her from moving forward to punch Nathan herself for his actions. Brayden looked down at his friend, trying to hide his smile of amusement at seeing the look on the blonde's face. "You calm, yet?"

"Nope." Riley pursed her lips, keeping her eyes in front of her as she watched Lucas, stand near the side as he spat the blood out onto the ground and wipe his mouth afterwards. He slowly returned to his spot in front of Nathan to address. "No foul. Basket counts. Besides... you won't score again."

"Oh, the basket counts, and it's 14-12, game point for Nathan." Mouth commented. "He could win it all right here." They watched as Nathan dribbled the ball around Lucas, and bounced off the floor to score his basket. But to his surprise, Lucas had jumped up and managed to block his shot, losing his chance of winning right there and then.

The majority of people in the crowd bursted with excitement at seeing that block. As Lucas got the ball back, he scored the next basket, making the crowd cheer louder.

"Lucas gets a basket, and he's down by one." The McFadden boy reported.

"You're down by one, man. Don't choke now."

As Lucas scored another basket, making him now tied up with Nathan, the battle was more tense at this moment as whoever made the next basket in the game, would be crowned the winner.

"This is it, folks. No going back now." Mouth said through the microphone. "The next basket wins it."

Nathan roughly passed the ball back to Lucas and scowled at him. "He's never mentioned you, man, not once in all these years." Maybe it was a way of distracting him, or it was just to put it out there, but it angered Lucas.

But he held it in. He narrowed his eyes at Nathan before stating proudly. "This is for my mom." He started to dribble the ball around him — dodging his block before he aimed it towards the basket as soon as he found an open space.

The crowd erupted in applause after watching the ball go into the basket. Celebrating his win, Riley and Haley got to Lucas first, as they engulfed him into a hug to congratulate on his win — while his other friends crowded around him.

"Ah, Luke, you did it!" Riley chuckled softly. Her arms were wrapped around his neck as the two of them hugged — not one of them had noticed the look Nathan held on his face as he watched Riley with Lucas.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

author's note!

i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!

also, the fact that haley and brayden aren't even together yet and they are already treating riley like she's their child 😭

thanks for reading, i love you all!! <3