chapter five
all that you can't leave behind!

Riley walked into the cafe to get a drink, only to stop at the door when she realised that Lucas was sitting at the counter. He hadn't noticed her yet, too focused on the article in front of him. But, it wasn't until Riley chose to walk back out of there, that the sound of the door swinging open was what made Lucas turn his head — just in time to see Riley's retreating figure.

It took him a few seconds before he rushed out of the building, catching the blonde just outside of the cafe. "Riley." He called, and she stopped with a sigh before turning around to face him. "How long are we going to do this?"

"Do what?" Riley asked.

"Avoid each other."

Riley scoffed. "You tell me. You're the one upset."

"And you're the one who lied to me." The boy was quick to remind her about what happened. Out of respect for him, Riley normally tried not to show her friendship with Nathan in front of Lucas. He knew Riley couldn't ignore him all day, especially when she is also partly involved in the popular crowd with her sister, however, after finding her hat in Peyton's car that Nathan was driving that night, it made her friendship with his enemy more real — and he didn't like it.

"I don't know what to say to you, Luke." Riley let out a sigh as she brushed her hair back with her hand.

Lucas stepped towards Riley. "Just explain to me why you were with Nathan, huh?" He demanded an answer. "I mean, I get that you talk to the guy through your sister, or at practice or mainly with Brayden, and I know you don't do it in front of me, but considering the past few weeks and what he's done..."

The Davis girl sighed. "I can't..." She continued to delay telling him the real reason why she started tutoring Nathan in the first place.

"You know how I feel about him, Riley." The boy started backing away, and turned around to leave in a huff.

But he couldn't get very far before Riley sighed in defeat and shouted him. "Lucas, fine!" He turned around to look at her, listening as she continued talking. "Yes. I know how you feel about him. But there is something you don't know." Lucas stayed silent, merely shrugging as he waited for her to elaborate. "I promised him I'd tutor him if he left you alone."

His eyes fell into shock. "What?"

"I'm doing it for you, Luke." And without another word, Riley turned around and walked away from him, leaving a stunned Lucas standing alone in the street. That was until he looked back as a car drove past that he recognised as Peyton's, seeing her go through a red light. He rounded the corner and watched as she drove down the road — but what caught his attention, was that every traffic light that she drove through, was red.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Following on to the next day — Riley and Lucas were still avoiding each other. But, due to Riley working at his mother's cafe, attempting to avoid each other would be a problem.

Riley was currently at the cafe, standing at one of the tables that morning as she exchanged words with a customer and gave them the check. When she turned around, she came face to face with the Scott boy who was first to speak. "I'm an idiot."

Haley carried on working behind the counter, but stayed quiet, hoping this talk would go well.

The blonde-haired girl brushed her hand through her hair, taking a moment before responding to Lucas. "I know."

"I'm sorry." Lucas started to say. "I miss hanging out with you, Riles."

"Yeah. I miss hanging out with you too." The girl sighed, looking at Lucas with a kind smile.

"Listen. I appreciate everything you did for me. I do, Riley, but... how about you let me handle the team from now on, ok?" At his words, Riley kept the smile on her face and slowly nodded at him before turning around to carry on working, only then did she stop at his next words. "All right. So you can stop tutoring Nathan now."

"Um, no. I can't."

"Riley."

"Lucas." She interrupted him. "I can't. I promised him. If I break that promise, I'm just as bad as you think he is." Riley then walked away before he could respond.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Moving on, Riley finally arrived at school after her shift, where she had a session with Nathan at the tutor centre first thing, before she was back in the gym for cheer practice. The Ravens basketball team was also there, practicing for the Father and Son game.

"Wait!" Brooke interrupted their practice, before stepping towards Peyton. "Hold on, you've got the arms wrong."

"It's not brain surgery, Brooke." Peyton sounded annoyed, just by being there.

"Okay, what's with the attitude?" Brooke's brows pinched together, obviously confused by Peyton's sudden hostile behaviour. Whereas, Riley was left looking more curious, until her eyes widened as soon as she realised. The anniversary of Peyton's mom's death was coming up.

"What's with your life?" The curly-haired blonde shot back at her bestfriend. "Seriously, aren't you embarrassed that the most important thing in your world is some stupid cheer?"

Unlike Brooke, she assumed different. "Look, I'm really sorry things didn't work out with you and Nathan, but don't go all Mariah on me, ok?"

"You think this is about Nathan?" Peyton scoffed incredulously. She couldn't believe that her own best-friend didn't remember the upcoming event, when she was there for Peyton when she passed away. "You're not even close! You're not even in the neighbourhood of close!"

"Okay, then, what's wrong?"

What's wrong? Peyton couldn't believe that her best-friend had the audacity to ask that. "What's wrong is..." She sighed. "how pointless all of this is."

"Stop saying that!" Brooke exclaimed.

But, Peyton continued anyway. "No! Because it's true." The girl raised her voice, just loud enough for the boys to put their practice on hold and turn their heads towards the scene. "What difference does it make if you sleep with a popular guy, or you go to the right party, or you know the moves to some moronic cheer to do with some lame-ass game I could care less about?" Peyton threw her pom-poms at Brooke before storming out of gym.

Riley looked at her sister with a sigh and followed Peyton out of the gym. Running into the hallway, Riley called out after the emotional girl. "Peyton! Hey!" And if it was anyone else, Peyton probably would've continued walking, but hearing Riley's voice, made her stop and turn around with tears in her eyes. Riley frowned and dropped her pom-poms to the floor as she approached Peyton, and pulled her into a hug and let the girl cry on her shoulder. "Oh, Peyton, I know how hard it must be for you. I'm sorry. About your mom and my sister."

"You remembered?" Peyton whimpered, pulling away from the girl and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Riley nodded softly. "Of course, I did. I miss her, too. Now... I'll leave you to it if you want to be alone, but if you need someone to talk to, just let me know and I'll be there." Her words made the Sawyer girl smile slightly before engulfing her in another hug.

"Thank you." Peyton sniffled, before pulling away as Riley gave her a reassuring smile. She let out a sigh before turning around to leave. Riley stood in the hallway alone, before she picked her pom-poms off the floor and returned to the gym.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The next day, Riley had another tutor session with Nathan after school. After grading one of his papers, Riley set the pen down before looking up at Nathan. "Well, the good news is you did better, and the bad news is better is a D."

"Yeah. I guess I didn't really give this one my best shot." Nathan replied, staring down at his paper, making Riley tilt her head when she sensed the tone in his voice.

"What's going on with you?" She asked.

"Well, me and Peyton obviously broke up." The raven-haired Scott reminded her, making Riley nod her head before clearing her throat.

"Peyton and I." She awkwardly corrected him.

"Oh. She broke up with you too?" Nathan teased, making Riley shake her head and roll her eyes at him. "I just... I didn't know she was going to take it this hard. I mean, you remember, she went off on your sister at practice. I'm kind of worried about her."

Riley sighed. "Well, maybe you should've worried about her more when you were together. Then, you would know that her snapping at Brooke had nothing to do with you."

Nathan furrowed his brows. "You don't know the first thing about Peyton and I." He said, reciting the terms that Riley used to correct him. But, he had misused them once again.

"Me and Peyton." Riley corrected, earning a look from Nathan.

"Whatever." He sighed.

"And like I said before, if I recall Peyton's words at practice, she told Brooke that it had nothing to do with you."

"Brayden said the same thing." Nathan sighed in annoyance, making the blonde purse her lips at him before tutting.

"Well, maybe that's a sign that you should start to listen!" She emphasised on the last word as she tapped her ear, receiving a non-heated glare from Nathan. "Not everything's about you."

"Then, why did she yell at your sister then?"

Riley sighed before shaking her head. "That's not for me to say." She said briefly, being respectful to Peyton.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The weekend flew by pretty fast, and now, it was Monday again, meaning Riley had another tutor session with Nathan at his house. The Davis girl was in the middle of writing something down, while Nathan sat beside her at the table, looking spaced out.

"Still in denial?"

At the sound of her voice, Nathan snapped out of it and turned to the blonde with furrowed brows as he asked. "About what?"

"Missing her." Riley simply said, and finally took her eyes off the paper in front of her, to look up at Nathan. "It's okay that you do."

"What, are you my tutor or my shrink?" Nathan retorted.

"I thought that was established already." The girl looked at him confused. "This isn't the first time you've come to me for advice." She shrugged, and let out a hmph. "But whatever you need."

The raven-haired Scott chuckled softly before she resumed looking through his paper as he looked away, sighing to himself. "I treated Peyton pretty bad." He began to admit, making Riley look back at him. "She had every right to walk away. Okay, yeah, it was my fault. I screwed up. I just wished I had another chance."

Riley sent him a tight-lipped smile before looking back down at his paper. "Nice work." She praised upon seeing his grade.

However, assuming that Riley was responding to whatever he just said, Nathan scoffed. "That was the truth." He looked at her confused, his words causing Riley to chuckle.

"No. On your practice exam." She corrected him before smiling. "81."

She passed him the practice exam and he picked it up to look at it. "Oh." He let out as Riley began to gather her things together. Grabbing her bag, she got up to her feet but stopped when Nathan turned to her with a small smile. "You know, it's funny. I've never realised it but I think we've actually talked more than Peyton and I ever did."

Riley tilted her head, wincing at his words. "Well, that's probably because we don't have sex." She retorted, making Nathan widen his eyes slightly before the blonde laughed. "Also, Peyton and I. Good job." She praised him on his use of correct grammar.

Riley patted him on the shoulder and walked past him to leave. "Yeah, you too." Nathan muttered as he watched her go to walk out the room, when he stopped her. "Hey, are you coming to the game?"

"Um, well," Riley looked in thought before telling him. "it depends on how you do on your English exam. Anything less than an 81, I'm staying home and watching my favourite series ever, Friends."

She went to leave but he stopped her again in her tracks. "Riles?"

She turned around to look at him. "Yeah?"

"I know this hasn't been easy for you." The Scott boy acknowledged. "I just wanted to say thanks."

Riley smiled at Nathan showing his soft side that he didn't often do. "Good luck, Nath." The blonde nodded at him before officially leaving.

After she left the Scott Residence, Riley returned to Karen's Cafe and walked onto the roof where Lucas and Haley were currently playing a round of mini golf. The latter was first to notice the girl before she nudged Lucas on the shoulder, making him follow her eyes as they both turned to see Riley approaching with a putter in her hand.

"Hey." Lucas was first to approach her, as Haley stayed behind so they could talk.

"Hey." Riley greeted, meeting him in the middle before admitting. "I really don't want to be like this, Luke."

"What is that?" Lucas asked.

The Davis girl sighed. "This." She said, gesturing between them. "Us skirting around each other. I mean, we're friends. You know, when you wanted to join the team... I didn't understand it and I told you that, but I supported you."

Lucas nodded. "I know."

"So... support me!" Riley started to argue. "When I'm tutoring someone and they get it, and that light goes on, I feel good! I feel worthy. The same way that you feel when you play basketball. And besides, haven't things gotten better for you? The team's left you alone, the hazing's stopped? Yeah. So, that's worth the risk for me. What's not worth the risk is us. We're friends and that is important to me."

"Oh, come on Lucas!" Haley shouted from where she was standing, desperate for her two friends to make up.

The boy chuckled slightly at Haley before looking back at Riley in front of him. "You're just tutoring him?" He asked, wanting to be sure.

"I am just tutoring him. That's it." She confirmed, making Lucas nod. He muttered an 'okay' before holding his hand out for a fist-bump, which he got.

Seeing this interaction, Haley grinned. "Finally! Whoo!" She cheered in relief as she rushed over to them. "The trio is back together!" She pulled both of the blondes in for a group hug while they laughed at her antics.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

"Hellooo? Brooke?" Riley walked along the path that led to the school building, with her phone to her ear as she tried to talk to Brooke who was on the other end of the call. "I can't hear you. Where are you? No, Brooke— Ah!" She groaned as she hung up the phone.

"Hey, got a sec?" Riley looked up at Nathan, with the angry expression on her face that still hadn't faltered. "I've got something that might cheer you up."

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Sure, what's up?" She asked, slipping her phone back in her pocket.

"Check that out." Nathan smiled as he held up his test for Riley to see. The blonde looked over the paper until her eyes found his grade, which made her smile brightly.

"An 84! That's amazing!" Riley exclaimed, before Nathan held his arms out for a hug, knowing full well who was walking up behind Riley. The Davis girl playfully groaned. "Okay, fine." She chuckled before wrapping her arms around him.

As the two hugged, Nathan smirked at Lucas over Riley's shoulder, satisfied to know that his action made him angry. Standing not far away from the duo, Brayden watched their interaction, looking disappointed that Nathan was still using Riley to irritate Lucas. After he found out about the whole Riley tutoring Nathan thing, he told the Scott boy that he better not let her down. He hoped Nathan would listen to him, but it wasn't looking good.

As the boy walked ahead into school, Nathan and Riley pulled away, both with smiles on their faces before approaching Brayden who was waiting for them. "Come on then." She walked ahead, as the boys followed behind her, and they entered the school building.

While the team were doing their warm-ups, Riley tried to call out for Lucas. "Luke! Lucas!" She had called his name twice, but he still hadn't looked her way. From beside her, on one side, Haley was wearing a similar look of confusion, but Brayden on the other hand, pulled a face, knowing why he must be ignoring her. "Hey, Scott!"

Finally, Lucas looked her way, but Nathan did as well, making the smile on Riley's face falter when she saw the expression on Lucas' face. "Why did I say that? And what's his problem?" Riley huffed out a breath, and rested her head on Haley's shoulder.

Haley stroked her friend's hair, frowning. "I don't know, Ry Ry."

Finally, when the alarm blared, the crowd sat on the bleachers erupted in applause as the Father-Son game was beginning. As the players ran over to Whitey, the commentator announced. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Tree Hill Ravens' father and son charity basketball game."

Thankfully, watching the game managed to bring Riley's mood up a bit when the boys tried to have a laugh by playing around with the ball, and still continued to try and score baskets. By the end of the first half of the game, the sons were winning by 30.

As the basketball team were returning to the gym for the second half of the game, Riley was glad to have caught Lucas as he went to follow the others but stopped at the sound of Riley's voice. "Lucas. Luke. Are you mad at me? What's going on?"

Lucas turned around to face her. "I don't want to talk about it right now." He snapped.

Riley kept a straight face. "Okay, can you just tell me what I did, please?" She spoke softly, feeling frustrated that they were in this place again after they have just made up. "Again."

"I saw you with him."

"Who Nathan?" Riley gave him a bewildered look before scoffing. "God, he got a good grade on that math quiz and I gave him a hug. What's the big deal? It was nothing."

"I want to believe you, Riley. I do." Lucas started off by saying. "But I don't think you're telling the truth."

"I am telling the truth, Lucas." Riley said, looking fed up that Nathan was being the main subject of their argument yet again. "There's nothing going on."

Lucas stayed silent as he looked down at the girl's wrist. "Nice bracelet." He pointed out, chuckling to himself before he turned around and ran back out onto the court.

Riley was still wearing that plastic charm bracelet that Nathan gave her from the Cracker Jack box at their first tutor session.