Tara Gallagher was currently driving home after the game with her three brothers and sister.

" Tara, he won't stop crying " Eve told her sister over the noise.

" Look for his pacifier " Tara told him.

After a minute Eve said " It's not here ".

Tara groaned before looking away from the road and began to fumble through the glove compartment that was in front of her brother jay and eventually found it and passed it to her brother Austin, who gave it to Liam.

Tara looked back at the road and saw she was about to hit someone and quickly hit the brakes causing the person to stop and he pulled off his hood to reveal Lucus Scott, who looked at Tara dazed.

Tara didn't know Lucas all that well and the times they did cross paths, she was with her best friend Nathan Scott or she was at Karen's cafe, where she worked for some extra cash.

Tara raised her arms in defeat with raised eyes brows and gestured for Lucas to move with an annoyed look.

Lucas looked at her before running away letting Tara drive away.

⎯

It was the next day and Tara sat with Nathan, Tim and his girlfriend and her best friend Payton Sawyer as she drew in her sketch book bored, she looked up when she felt eyes on her and saw Lucas looking at her.

The two stared at each other before Coach Durham walked in.

" Scott " Whitey said as he entered the room.

" Sup, coach " Nathan looked up.

" Not you, you " the older man pointed at Lucas, who looked at Tara one last time before getting up as the old man looked at Nathan " You read a book or something ".

Tara leaned back in her chair throwing her head back as she laughed at Nathan.

" Shut up " Nathan rolled his eyes with a slight smile.

" I didn't say anything " Tara held her hands up in defence.

⎯

" You challenged him " Tara raised an eye brow at Nathan, who was walking herself, her sister and her brothers home, the next day.

" Yep " Nathan nodded as he grabbed Liam, who was making grabby hands at the tall boy from Tara.

" And what exactly is this gonna prove " she asked her best friend as she kept an eye on the 12 year old twins Jay and Eve, who were walking ahead of them. 

" I don't know, I'm only doing what my dad told me to do " Nathan shrugged as he grabbed Liam's hands from his hair.

" and what does he get if he wins? " Tara asked.

Nathan looked at her before replying " You ".

Tara was taken a back at the statement, she wasn't exactly sure how she felt at being a pawn in their rivalry.

" Are you gonna win, Nate? " Austin, who was walking in the middle of them asked Nathan looking up at the tall boy.

" You bet ya buddy " Nathan smiled down at the younger boy giving his blonde hair a ruffle.

" Can I come? " the boys smile widened.

" You'll have to ask your sister " Nathan said and looked away from the boy and at Tara.

Tara nodded and her brother jumped onto her back in excitement, which wasn't a hard task to do considering the girl had a small structure.

" What about us? " Jay and Eve shouted at their older sister.

" Okay......homework first though " Tara told them which cause Austin and the twins to groan. 

⎯

It was the night of Nathan and Lucas's showdown and an engine roared as Nathan parked his car at the river court, people began to cheer Nathan's name as he, Peyton, Tim, Tara with Liam in her arms, Austin and the twins exited the car.

" By the way, I hope you dont mind but I....told a few people " Tim said to Nathan, who smirked at threw his jacket at his best friend and walked onto the court as Tara, the twins and Austin took a seat on one of the picnic tables as the girl placed Liam in her lap and began to bounce her leg.

Lucas shot the ball into the hoop and Nathan grabbed it, bouncing it against the floor as he walked before he turned at threw it letting it bounce on the floor before running and grabbing it and threw it in the hoop grabbing the metal part of the basketball hoop and jumped down.

" Here we go 15 by ones, make it, take it win by one....." Mouth said as Nathan grabbed the ball and walked over to Lucas " And you can feel the intensity in the air ".

" You ready for this? " Nathan stared down Lucas.

" Why not? " Lucas shrugged and bounced the ball to Nathan, who grabbed it.

" it's your life " the younger Scott shrugged and threw the ball at Lucas.

" Yeah, it is " Lucas nodded and faked Nathan before shooting the ball into the hoop cauing people to cheer as Nathan grabbed the ball and walked back over.

" Go ahead man, I'll give you that all night " Nathan threw the ball at Lucas and bend his knees slightly.

Lucas looked unfazed and he shot another hoop causing people to cheer again as Nathan once again grabbed the ball.

" What happened to all night? " Lucas taunted and tries to go left but Nathan grabbed the ball making them switch positions.

" Is that all you got many....cause if that's all you got, this is over " Nathan taunted back with a laugh before running up and shot a basket.

It had been a while and the boys kept at it as Nathan tired to got to the basket but was stopped by Lucas defending but Lucas was met with an elbow to the face causing people to boo as Nathan shot the hoop.

Tara stood up with Liam placing him on her hip as she watched Lucas walked off to the side and spit out blood from his mouth before walking over to Nathan.

" No foul, basket counts " Lucas said as he took the ball from Nathan and moved in font of him handing it back " Besides you won't score again ".

" Oh the basket counts and it's 14-12, game points for Nathan, he could win it all, right here.......Nathan for the win " Mouth said as Nathan run up and tried to shoot the basket but Lucas blocked him causing the ball to hit the back board.

Everyone cheered.

" Some day men will write stories about that block " Mouth announced " children will be named after it, Argentinian women will weep for it ".

Cheers erupted again as Lucas scored another shot.

" Lucas shot another basket and he's down by one ".

" Down by one, man.....don't choke now " Nathan smirked at Lucas and threw the ball at him, who grabbed it and shot another basket.

" another dagger and it's all tied up ".

" I think, I'm gonna puke ".

" This is it folks, no going back, the next basket wins ".

Nathan shoved the ball into Lucas's chest and began to taunt him " He's never mentioned you once, man...not once in all these years ".

" This is for my mom " Lucas said before he dribbled the ball as Nathan blocked him but Lucas managed to get away and shot the basket.

People cheered and Lucas's friends ran over to him as Nathan glared as Austin ran over and the glare diminished in an instant.

Tara had a small smile on her face, the crowd began to diminish as Lucas walked over to Tara, who held her youngest brother.

" So, what'd you bet? " Tara asked as Liam played with the chains of her necklaces.

" I win Nathan stays on the team " Lucas replied.

" Why? " Tara raised an eye brow.

" Because it's the last thing he wants and anyway it's not about him " the blonde boy told her before he felt a tug on his shirt and looked down to see a small dark skinned baby had grabbed his grey shirt and he smiled lightly " Cute kid " the older scott said as he grabbed Liam's hand causing the toddler to grip his finger.

" My brother " Tara smiled up at the boy, who looked at her with a soft look.

" Tara " Nathan called causing the girl to look behind her and saw Nathan looking at her with a pointed look.

" I'll be seeing ya " Lucas looked at her softly as he backed away from Tara and Liam cauing the toddler to pout and hide his face in Tara's chest.

Tara nodded before walking away.

𝐀/𝐍:

𝐇𝐢𝐢,

𝐒𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲
𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟒 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐬'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝.

𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞
𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲.

𝐐𝟏: 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?

𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐱𝐱