NIGHT CHANGES !
𝖳𝖶𝖮 ━━━ 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗋𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗅𝗋𝗒 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗎𝖾𝗌

At Tree Hill High, the basketball team stood on the court in the gym — currently in the middle of their warm-ups while the Ravens cheerleaders stood off in the sidelines, waiting for the game to start. Riley stood next to Peyton and Brooke, with her eyes scanning through the crowd of people on the bleachers, until her eyes landed on Haley sat with Keith and Brayden's father, Richard. Seeing her waving, Riley beamed before sending her a playful wink, and looked away when she spotted Nathan out of the corner of her eye, running up to the basket to do a slam dunk.

"He's so extra." Riley commented, sharing a look with Peyton who chuckled. While they continued to watch the warm-ups, Brooke had her attention on someone else. She raised her brows, watching Lucas head off towards the side, after their Coach blew his whistle, calling his team over. "So, that's the boy that beat Nathan?" She looked over at the two blondes, tilting her head with a smirk at their non-verbal response. "Well, he's good from behind."

"Oh, my god." Riley laughed, whacking her sister on the arm with one of her pom-poms, when the whistle blew again — signalling to everyone that the game was about to start. "Get your mind out of the gutter, B. Davis!"

As the game started, Riley's hope that Lucas' first game would go well for him, soon went down the drain. Unfortunately, Lucas wasn't starting off as well as he hoped he would. The boy had his arms out open in front of him, ready for catch the ball that Nathan was throwing at him. Instead, Lucas showed everyone a demonstration of what butter fingers looked like, making the basketball bounce off the tip of his fingers and fly past him, almost hitting Peyton.

"Nice hands." The Sawyer girl looked back at him with a glare.

Lucas simply tilted his head as he started backing away, with a smirk. "Nice legs." He quipped, and turned back to the game when he left a stunned Peyton Sawyer behind.

At the sound of Riley's laughter, the curly-haired girl turned her head to look at her. "What?" She shrugged. Only for the Davis girl to purse her lips and shake her head with a mutter. "Nothing."

By the time the first period finished, Lucas found himself on the bench, filled with disappointment after missing every shot he tried to make into the basket — which led him here, benched by Whitey, who also looked gutted for Lucas. "It's not your night, son." Was what he said to him.

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The next day, Riley had to hear from Brayden about a fight that started in class, and guess who between? Nathan and Lucas. There was not even a part of her that felt shocked, as she knew it was bound to come soon. After everything Nathan has thrown at him, she wasn't surprised to hear that Lucas was the one that initiated it.

On the rooftop mini-golf course, Riley and Haley were in the middle of playing when Lucas finally arrived, approaching the girls, making Haley put her hand on her hip as she looked at him, raising her brows. "Any side effects?"

"From what?"

"Your amnesia." Haley replied. From behind her, Riley widened her eyes slightly, pursing her lips to hide her amused expression once she realised Haley was confronting him about the fight.

Lucas still looked confused, so he looked towards his other best-friend, gesturing to the James girl with his finger. "What is she talking about?"

Riley clicked her tongue and sighed loudly. "She's talking about how you must have gotten amnesia, because we know you would've mentioned that you got into a fight today." She reminded — then her eyebrows knitted together when concern set in. "Are you okay though, Luke?"

"Yeah." He let out, and turned around, picking up a putter of his own. "You two ever wake up from a really good dream and try to get back to sleep? Or you got the flu and you promise yourself that you'll appreciate normal so much more if you could just get back to it."

The girls nodded their heads, coming up with the same answer. "Yeah."

"That's the way I feel." He answered truthfully. "I just want things to go back to the way they were."

"With basketball?" Haley asked.

"With everything."

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That night, Riley stood in the kitchen, making a glass of milk for herself. The atmosphere in the Davis Residence was hushed, apart from hearing the sound of her favourite show, Friends, playing on the tv on low, and the soft snores coming from Brooke's mouth as she laid across the couch with a blanket covered over her.

Riley put the milk carton back in the refrigerator, before closing it behind her, and she grabbed her glass of milk to take it in the living room with her and continue watching Friends. As she tried not to wake Brooke up, she managed to fit on the end of the couch, and put her feet up on the table. She continued watching the episode she was on while drinking her glass of milk.

Once she had finished, she paused the show after checking the time, before standing up to take her glass to the sink. She gave it a quick rinse and put it on the drainer before heading back towards the living room — making sure to turn the light off as she left. Sighing to herself, she switched off the tv before turning to Brooke, crouching down so she was eye-level with her sister.

"Brooke." She whispered her name, while tapping her softly as she tried to wake her up. "Come on, it's time to go up. I don't really want to leave you alone on the couch, B." The brunette let out a soft hum at hearing her voice. She stretched her arms and yawned. "Come on. There you go."

Riley gently pulled her up, moving Brooke's arms so that they were wrapped around her neck from behind, before she could start dragging her along towards the stairs and slowly carry her up to her bedroom. Once she made it to Brooke's bedroom, she approached the bed before turning around to unwrap Brooke's arms from around her neck and let her fall back onto her bed with a light bounce.

She quickly moved her so her head was laying on her pillow, and threw her blanket over her so she wasn't cold, receiving a hum from the half-asleep girl. "Thank you, Ry Ry. You're the best." Brooke mumbled tiredly, and turned on her side, hoping to sleep for the rest of the night.

A soft chuckle left Riley's mouth when she smiled at her sister. "Good night, Brooke." She muttered and stopped at the door, switching the light off as she finally exited the room.

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Two days later, and it was game night. Riley and Haley discussed this topic with Lucas earlier that day and the two of them were still waiting on his decision on whether or not he will be coming back to the gym.

The Davis twins and the other cheerleaders were stretching on the floor while they waited until the game began, when Peyton Sawyer approached — dressed in her cheerleading uniform. As the girl plopped herself down next to them, the fraternal twins looked over at her, with Brooke voicing her thoughts. "I was beginning to think you weren't gonna show."

The curly-haired blonde shrugged before joining in by stretching her legs. "It's game night. Where else would I be?"

As the game was about to begin, the cheerleaders lined up by the door, cheering loudly as the team players made their entrance, and ran out onto the court. Riley grinned, holding her hand out just so Brayden could give her a high-five as he passed by her — followed by the remaining players.

Lucas stopped, turning around to look at Peyton and called out. "Hey." When the girl looked over at him, he nodded. "Your art matters. It's what got me here."

Riley smiled at their interaction, watching him as he turned away to run out onto the court — when something caught her eye. On the back of Lucas' jersey, where his surname would be marked, all she could see was a blank strip where he ripped his name tag off.

Riley had a mixed reaction. On the one hand, she was very proud of him for standing up to the man who abandoned him. However, she remembered that his Uncle Keith — who he loved dearly, was still a Scott.

But she still carried on with a smile, and joined in with the rest of her cheerleading squad as they all cheered loudly, ready for the game to start.

"Go Ravens!"

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author's note!

i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! also, i have changed the nathan and riley scene in this chapter, only because i wanted to show you guys more on the bond between riley and her sister!

but, don't worry, there is more content to come with nathan and riley next chapter! thanks for reading, i love you all!! <3