#23 | Nathan Scott

chapter five

Allie was in her room doing homework when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in." She says and the door opens, revealing Lucas.

She got up from her bed and zipped her jacket up, "Luke, hey." "Hey, Ada let me in." She nods and moves her books closer to her pillows and pats her bed next to her. "What's up?"

"So, you and Nathan huh?" He asks her. She furrows her eyebrows and looks at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I uh, I saw you guys on the pier." He reveals and looks at her. "Oh it's nothing. I'm just-" She sighs and gets up away from him.

"What's going on Allie?" He asks and gets up. "Just promise me you won't get upset okay?" She says looking at him through her mirror.

He nods and Allie turns around to face him. "I'm tutoring Nathan in exchange for him leaving you alone."

His face falls before quickly recovering. "Um, why are you doing that? I mean for me?" He asks and sits back down.

"Because despite what people might think, I actually care about you and Haley. I feel like I'm more of a human being around you guys." She says and sits next to him on the bed, facing him.

"You don't even like the guy, Allie." He says to her. "I know but-" She sighs again before playing with her nails. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Dan stayed with Karen?" She looks up at him. He stammers a bit, "Uh, sometimes. When I was younger." He reveals.

"Well maybe it's a good thing he didn't choose your mom." She says and looks at him. "I don't understand. What are you talking about?" Lucas asks confusingly.

"I saw him after the last two games, Luke. I saw the way he treats Nathan." She sighs deeply. "He treats him like this perfectionist and if Nathan screws up Dan just abuses him, emotionally and mentally. It's sad to think about or even witness."

Lucas just nods his head and looks away. "I'm just saying, even if Nathan got Dan, maybe you had a better life you know?" She says, waiting for him to speak but he doesn't. He just wraps his arm around her shoulders and kisses the crown of her head.

-

"So you and Nathan are officially done huh?" She asks her blonde friend. "Yeah, I think last Friday just really solidified it for me. I'm just over it." She says and Allie wraps her arms around her. "

I'm sorry P." She says and lets go of her. "Don't be. I'm not." Peyton says and chuckles lightly. "I mean, we were bad together, you know? I just think, maybe this is for the best."

Allie nods her head, a soft "Yeah." escaping her lips. The two girls continued walking to cheer practice in silence.

-

"Peyton, you got the arms wrong." Brooke says and walks up to her. Peyton scoffs, "It's not brain surgery, Brooke." "Okay, what's with the attitude?" Brooke says, offended.

Allie looks between them with her brows scrunched. "What's with your life? Seriously, aren't you embarrassed that the most important thing in your world is some stupid cheer?"

"Okay girls, let's take a water break, okay?" Allie says and dismisses the remaining cheerleaders. "Brooke, Peyton-" "Look, I'm sorry that things didn't work out with you and Nathan, but don't go all Mariah on me, okay?" Brooke says, interrupting her.

"You think this is about Nathan? You're not even close! You're not even in the neighborhood of close!" Peyton says, raising her voice. Allie walks closer to them.

"Peyton." She says trying to calm Peyton down. "Okay, then what's wrong?" Brooke asks softly. "What's wrong is how pointless all of this is!" Peyton yells.