OLIVIA SCOTT sat next to Mouth McFadden, Jimmy Edwards, and Junk Moreti. The four were sitting on the pinic table next to the basketball ball court, also known as the River Court. The group was always there, and if they weren't there, they were at Karen's Cafe. Olivia sat there, sketching in her sketch pad as she normally does when she went there as the boys played.

Mouth McFadden and Jimmy Edwards were two of the nicest kids you could ever meet. Olivia met them in elementary school when her cousin, Lucas, introduced them. She met Junk when she and Lucas first started coming to the River Court.

"And there he is, ladies and gentleman, Lucas Scott." Mouth says as he is trying to broadcast what was going on in front of them in the game. Mouth and Jimmy have always wanted to be sports broadcasters, and Olivia thought they had a really good chance. The two were really funny and they knew a lot about the sport. "What's happening, baby? 137 and 3 going into tonight's contest." Mouth spoke.

"He sucks." Junk spoke up, causing him to get a glare and a slap on the head from Olivia.

Mouth looks over at Junk, speaking, "And as a special bonus, we're joined in the booth by Junk Moreti and Olivia Scott, future fashion designer!" Olivia smiles at Mouth's words before looking back down at her sketches, beginning to draw again.

"You don't have a booth." Junk tells Mouth, who just ignores him.

"Actually," Jimmy says, speaking up and moving closer to the group, "he's 138 and 3 -- Lucas."

Olivia smiles, knowing he's always watching the score. Her smile fades as Junk opens his mouth, though. "Jeez, Edwards, but you can't remember to run a barof soap under your pits?" He asks the Edwards boy.

"What?" Jimmy asks him.

"You smell bad, man. You're ripe." Junk tells him.

Olivia rolls her eyes at the boy. "I think you're smelling yourself, Junk. Didn't smell bad 'til you walked over here." She says to the boy who just rolls his eyes and looks back at the game. Olivia looks back at Jimmy, "Just ignore him. He's lying. You smell great." She says to him, causing him to smile at her. She smiles back at him before returning to her sketches.

She zones out for most of it until towards the end of the game as Lucas has the ball and the boys talking about him not having a shoe deal. "He'll have a shoe deal soon from me!" Olivia says.

"There's under 20 seconds to go! Luke flashes in the paint. Fergie finds on one the wing." Mouth announces as Lucas goes to throw the ball towards the hoop. Olivia sits up in anticipation, her left leg boucing up and down waiting to see what happened. "Scott for the game!" Mouth exclaims.

And Lucas shoots the winning shot.

The group cheered for Lucas as they stood up. "Good job, Luke!" Olivia says to her cousin, smiling brightly. He smiles back at her, giving her a small nod.

---

Olivia and Lucas were walking home, passing the closed Karen's Cafe, Lucas' mothers cafe. Lucas had his hoodie pulled up over his head, one headphone in his right ear as Olivia walked on the left side of him.

"So yeah, we haven't talked since basically before last summer, and I'm super pissed. I've tried reaching out, but like I'm so done with it. She should've just told us she didn't want to be friends anymore.."

Olivia was too lost in her talking to not notice the car coming straight at them until she heard a soft but loud voice yell, "Watch out!" and tires screeching.

Lucas pushes Olivia back a foot or two just in case the car were to hit them, but luckily, it doesn't.

Olivia looks at the car, seeing Peyton Saywer and Belly Cameron. The Cameron girl had a hand on her chest, probably from freaking out that her friend was about to run two people over.

Belly Cameron was Olivia's former best friend, the girl she was just ranting about. The two were so close up until last year, right before school started up, when Brooke finally convinced Belly to join the cheer squad. And then it was party's at the beach houses and basketball games all the time for Belly, she never had time for her old friends anymore. Olivia always thought that her and Lucas would end up together, but Lucas was interested in Peyton.

Lucas removes his hood, looking at the two girls in the car. Belly gives the two outside the car an apologetic smile.

Peyton just looks at the two Scott's before moving her hand, wanting them to get out of the road. Olivia rolls her eyes before grabbing onto Lucas' arm and dragging him out of the road. "God, she's such a bitch." Olivia says as the two walk onto the sidewalk. Lucas laughs lightly but doesn't say anything, looking back at the Comet that drove away.

---

The next day after school, Olivia was working her shift at Karen's Cafe, along with Karen, Lucas' mother, and Haley James, Lucas and Olivia's best friend.

"Like she wouldn't have stopped unless Belly yelled out. She could have killed us." Olivia was telling the two women what had happened the night before with Peyton and her car.

"Well, it's a good thing Belly was there." Karen says to the girl. "Peyton needs to start paying attention to her driving, it sounds like."

Olivia nods and scoffs, "Yeah, you got that right." Haley passes Olivia a towel to wipe down the counters. "Thanks." She mutters, and Haley smiles and nods. Olivia looks back at Karen. "I think she needs her license taken away."

Haley laughed lightly. "Says the girl who failed her driving test the first two times."

Olivia rolls her eyes and faces her, "Hey, I don't work well under pressure when I'm driving. That rude instructor had it out for me from the beginning. She was a bitch!" Olivia spoke as Haley walked to the back.

Karen laughs at the girls words as Lucas enters the cafe. "Hey mom, Livy." He says to the two, giving his mother a hug.

"Hey hun." Karen says to her son.

"It smells good in here." Lucas says. Olivia smiles as she knows Karen's been cooking dinner, and it did smell amazing. "Did you change your hair?"

"If by "change" you mean "dragged a brush through it." then yeah." Karen tells him, and Olivia laughs lightly. Olivia finishes wiping the counter before tossing the towel in a small basket by the back and washing her hands.

Lucas smiles at his mother. "Well, it looks nice."

Karen smiles back at him. "Thank you."

Haley comes back out, holding up a magazine, flipping through the pages. "The magazine pages are sticky, again. Little pervs." She says, looking down at the pages. "Oh hey, Luke." Haley says once she looks up, she holds up the magazine. "You been reading this?" She asks him causing Olivia to laugh.

"Is that the 'why do I hang out with these people?' issue, because you're both on the cover of that, right?" He asks, pointing between his two best friends. Olivia scoffs and hits his arms, causing him to say a quiet 'ow' and hold his arm. Olivia rolls her eyes at her cousin.

"No, actually, it's the 'my best friend is an idiot' issure, and there you are." Haley says to him, smirking. Lucas scoffs at her words as Olivia laughs.

Karen looks at the two teen girls. "Liv, Haley, would you like to join us?" She asks the two.

"Yes, please." Olivia says as Haley says, "Hell yes." The two girls look at each other and laugh lightly as they sit down next to Karen and Lucas. Karen brings over the pot of beef stew, and they all begin getting some.

Karen looks over at her son. "So, honey, how was your day?" She asks him.

"Good thanks." Haley says as the group looks at her. "'Good' is relative, considering a third if the world is starving, which does not change the fact that I am clumsy as hell." She ranted off. Lucas and Olivia share an amused look before looking back at their best friend. "Did I tell you that I fell down today?" She asks the group, but no one says a word. "Yeah, slipped off the curb, face down, butt in the air." She looks around at them, noticing none of them saying anything. "Too graphic? Sorry, I'll just be quiet."

Olivia laughs lightly, shaking her head, as Karen looks to her son. "So, I got something for you, Lucas."

"Actually, I found it, with Olivia." Haley chimes in again. "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 trails off as she notices the three just staring at her. "Well, give him the book." Haley tells Karen.

Karen laughs lightly and pulls the book out of a bag and onto the table. "Wow, Julius Caesar."

"There's a tide in the affairs of men" - or something like that." Karen says.

"Nice." Lucas says to them. "Thank you, guys. Thank you very much."

Olivia and Karen smile and nod at the boy as Haley says, "Whatever. That's what you're into."

---

Olivia sat next to Mouth and Jimmy at the River Court. They were watching the boys play again.

"Luke is on fire tonight!" Mouth announces. "How do you say "hot" in French?" He asks.

"Flambe." Olivia and Jimmy both say at the same time. Jimmy smiles at Olivia, and she smiles back at him.

"Luke is Flambe!" Mouth tells them. "Fergie finds Luke, who takes out Junk again."

Olivia smiles as she watches her cousin with the ball. "Nice Luke!"

"They never learn, Mouth." Jimmy says to him and Olivia laughs, agreeing with the boy.

Olivia looks to the other side of the river court, seeing her dad's car parked in the back. She gives the car a confused look before getting up. "I'll be right back, boys." She tells the two on the bench, who give her a confused look but don't question it.

She walks towards her dads car, staying on the side of the court that was darker so she wasn't seen. She slowly crept to the trunck before quietly opening it. She didn't have to worry about the lights turning on and alerting her dad or any noise from opening it, as she broke them years ago and her dad, even though he was a mechanic, her never fixes them. She just had to worry about closing the door after she got in. She's done this so many times to her dad to prank him. Olivia crawls onto the floor of the trunk. She quietly lowered the trunk door enough to make it look closed if her dad or someone were to look back at it.

Olivia listens as she hears two voices in the car, now knowing her dad wasn't alone, though she was still confused with why he was at the river court. She clicks a small button in the trunk for the backseats, pushing the drivers side back seat forward so she can crawl through. She heard the voices of her father and coach Durham.

She slowly slid onto the floor on the passenger's side. She slipped upwards and sat up right in the middle seat, slowly closing the backseat to the trunk.

"That's what I'm talking about." Keith says as he watches Lucas make a basket.

Whitey nods at the boy. "All right, and I'm not saying I am." Whitey says. "Why put him through that?" He asks Keith.

"Because he should know that he's good, not just playground good, but good, period. He can use that in his life." Keith says, and Olivia realizes what they were talking about. Lucas playing for the Tree Hill Ravens, their high school's basketball team. Where Lucas' half brother and Olivia's other plays. The two were never close, Nathan and Olivia only saw each other when their parents were forced to be in the same place. Even though their dads were brothers, they never really got along, so the two cousins rarely saw each other, and Nathan never tried to talk to her at school. Not that Olivia minded she loved her small group.

"We could all use that in our lives." Whitey tells him, the two men still not realizing the 16 year old that snuck into the car.

"Yeah." Keith says, looking off that the River Court, just now realizing his daughter wasn't sitting where she originally was. He shook his head, firguring she had headed home before continuing. "But we had our chance."

After a moment of it being quiet, Whitey speaks up. "So, you and Karen - are you, uh.. Friends?"

Keith sighs. "Um.. You know, I'm the kid's uncle, and I'm in their lives. It is what it is."

"You know, I remember when Dan told me Karen was pregnant right after senior year, I told him he should honor his scholarship and go to college." Whitey says to the oldest Scott in the car.

"I'll tell you one thing - you did Karen a favor." Olivia nods at Keith's words. "And Lucas, too. Now maybe you can do me one." Keith says to his former basketball coach.

The two don't talk for a moment before Olivia sighs, causing the two men to let out quiet screams. "What the hell?" Whitey exclaims, looking into the backseat at the young girl, a hand on his chest over his heart.

"Livia!" Keith exclaims.

Olivia laughs quietly. "I'm sorry, you guys were takin' all serious, I didn't want to interrupt." Keith shakes his head at his daughter. "Hey Coach!" She says, smiling brightly at the basketball coach.

Whitey laughs, barely. "Hey, Liv. You trying to give an old man a heart attack?"

Olivia laughs. "No, I'm sorry about that. I didn't know you'd be here too." She says to him causing him to shake his head.

"You win any fashion awards yet?" He asks the young girl.

Olivia shakes her head. "Nope. Hopefully soon, though." She says with a bright smile. She's known Whitey her whole life, he was like a grandfather to her, especially since she didn't really get along with her own grandfather from her dad's side and she's never met her mom's father.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get one soon. You know, when the cheer girls do their classic, I'm pretty sure best costume is a prize. Maybe you can design them?" Whitey says to her.

Olivia shrugs. "I don't know. I don't think I could handle being around all of them for too long. They're all so.. fake." She says to them.

Keith shakes his head and Whitey laughs lightly. "They're not all fake, you just need to get to know them." Keith tells the girl, who shrugs.

"Well, anyways, I think Lucas would be amazing on the team, I just don't know how Nathan will take it." She says to the two men, who share a look, they were thinking the same thing she was.

"It'll all figure itself out." Keith says to them before looking back at the court and then his daughter. "Am I driving you home?" He asks his daughter, who sits there for a moment, thinking.

"Uh, nope! I'll see if Luke or Mouth will drive me." She answers him before beginning to climb back towards the trunk. She pulls back down the backseat as Whitey looks at her amussed as Keith looks basically horrified his daughter knows how to quietly break in and out of  someone's car.

"Liv, use the door!" Keith exclaims as she is halfway into the trunk.

"I left the trunk open! I gotta close it! I love you!" She says before climbing fully into the trunk and closing the back seat.

Keith laughs at his daughter. "I love you!" He yells back to her. She taps the trunk 3 times, letting him know she heard him. She climbs out of the trunk and fixes her jean shorts before closing the trunk. She walks towards the front of the car, facing the river court. She looks back at her dad and Whitey who were looking at her, very ammused. She waves at them before skipping back over to her friends.

She reclaims her seat in between the boys, stealing a piece of Jimmy's candy. He scoffs at her and laughs before offering her some more. She smiles at him, "Thanks." She says before taking one more small piece.

The three continue watching the game, enjoying their peaceful night.

---

Okay, so I wanted to kinda break at least the first episode up cause there's a lot in it lol. Is it too short a chapter? What did you guys think? I'm so excited for this story, and I have so many ideas for it. if you guys have any ideas or suggestions, please comment! I really wanna know y'alls thoughts! AND don't worry, she meets Jake soon! Anyways, let me know your thoughts! Thanks for reading!

-Bellarkesklaroline