PROLOGUE
basketball is my life

Natalie Scott walked into the gymnasium with her Ravens cheer uniform on and pom—poms held tightly in her right hand as she scoped the area for her twin brother — Nathan Scott.

Nathan, of course, was already scoring hoops before the game had even started when she finally locked eyes on him. She walked over as their dad, Dan Scott, climbed down the steps, "Hey, Nathan. Remember, twenty shots. No less".

The boy sighs and turns away from his father. "Got it, dad".

"Quit yakking and warm up", Coach walked past as Nat watched on the side. Dan looked to Whitey who looks back before he shrugs with a smirk and walks back to sit down.

"Hey, Coach", Natalie stepped forward and the man's glare softened upon seeing her, "Can I have a minute?", she pointed at a stressed Nathan and the man nodded with a pat on her shoulder as he walked away to the other guys.

Whitey preferred Natalie, she was his favourite Scott. She was down to earth but had a snappy attitude when you got on the wrong side of her but most of all she was really smart.

Dan didn't believe in failure amongst his children, just because Tree Hill didn't have a female basketball team didn't mean he wouldn't pressure her into getting good grades for future scholarships and cheerleading to support her brother.

Nathan looked over when Nat came up to him, he smiled a little a continued to bounce the ball on the floor but she quickly grabbed it with her free hand. "Stop a minute".

"I can't", he tried to take the ball back but she gave him a sharp look making him sigh knowing their dad was watching them.

"You've got this, Nate. Don't look at him", she whispered and his tall figure blocked her smaller one so Dan couldn't make out what they were saying because of Nathan's back facing him, "Just look at me".

The boy smiled genuinely this time and kissed the side of her head. Natalie gave him the ball back and squeezed his shoulder when she walked passed him and up to Peyton Sawyer.

Peyton Sawyer was one of her best friends and was also dating her brother, Nathan. They were also friends with Brooke Davis who was their cheer captain — they made quite the trio despite their unique personalities that in most friendships would never work out.

Natalie was now cheering loudly with the girls by her side, waving their pom—poms and smiling widely as Nathan scored another hoop. "Let's go, Nathan!".

"Basket by Nathan Scott! He really looks sharp out there tonight".

Tim took the opening and slid past the opponents and captured the ball. "And now a steal by the Ravens. They'll go on the offensive".

Natalie watched Whitey shout over, "Pass the ball!".

"Coach Whitey Durham urges them on. Tim Smith . . . he's got Scott!".

Natalie jumped in excitement and clapped her pom—poms together as Tim passed the ball to Nathan who begins running and jumps high in the air, "Finds Nathan Scott and he hammers it home!".

"Woooh!", Peyton and Natalie scream and hug loudly as they cheered.

"He's already got fourteen of the Ravens' seventeen points, tonight. Turn—around jumper by Nathan Scott. And I tell you, we haven't seen talent like this since his father, Dan, played for Whitey"

Nathan runs past the girls and looks to Natalie in hope of gaining some courage, she nods with a smile and he smiles back as he takes the ball and runs down the line to the hoop. "Here's Scott again. Another long jump shot. It's all Nathan Scott!".

"You guys are stinking up the place", Coach shouted when the game began getting sloppy on the Ravens' side. He timed out and the players came back over to him.

Nat then watched as Nathan got benched and frowned. He sat down heavily and Peyton turned to her, "What happened?".

The Scott girl sighed with a shake of the head, "I have no idea but my dad isn't happy", she looked up at her dad in the bleachers and he did in fact look really angry it almost scared her.

Nathan once again looked up at his little twin sister and she smiled lightly at him, "Don't worry", she mouthed to him and he nodded with a sigh.

As the game proceeded, Peyton and Nat stood still as the Ravens began loosing, Whitey shook his head before telling Nathan to get back in the game. "Yes, Nathan!", she cheered loudly when he began running back onto the floor and got hold of the ball then walked over to the cheerleaders side of the room.

"Don't bother showering tonight", Peyton said and Nathan smirked and threw the ball.

"Gross, that's my brother", Natalie pretended to be sick with a grossed out look on her face and Peyton shoved her with a smile.

"The Ravens have it. And they're gonna hold onto the ball and shoot for the win. Ten seconds remaining on the clock. Now, five!".

The ball was passed to Nathan and everyone stopped moving and watched him throw it flawlessly. Nat watched the ball spin in the air right before it landed in the hoop.

She screamed loudly as the Ravens side of the room cheered loudly. "Yes!". Peyton hugged her tightly before she found Nathan free from his team players and turned around to look at her. She smiled and ran across the room to him and jumped in his arms — her pom—poms fell to the ground by their feet as he wrapped his arms around her and span her around.

"You did it!", she smiled into the hug.

"Couldn't have done it without you though", he placed her down on her feet and messed her hair up making her swat his hands away. "You coming?", he asked when they all began leaving and she shook her head.

"No, I'm getting a lift with dad but I'll see you at home. Stay out of trouble", she fake glared at him and he rolled his eyes playfully before exiting the room with his team players grabbing at him in excitement of winning.

"You ready, dad?", she asked when she found him outside and placed her pom—poms in his hands to take as she carried her bag.

"Yeah, let's go home, kiddo".

"I'm not a kid, dad", she laughed when he grabbed her and pulled her to his side with his own laugh.

Natalie often wished he was always like this with her, always so happy and treated her like a teenager instead of a test subject but her wishes stopped coming true when Lucas — her half brother — never showed up into their lives.

Ever since she found out about him, every year on her birthday right before she blew out the candles she would hope that one day he would come up to her or she would find the courage to ask the other to be in the each others lives like a real brother and sister but neither of them did.

And they weren't sure they ever would.

⋆.˚🏀 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ 📖⋆.˚

     Natalie waited outside for her brother and father to come out of the school. She had heard what her brother and his friends had been up to — stealing a school bus and almost getting hit by a train. She couldn't believe how stupid he had been but she shouldn't of been so surprised.

     Nathan began acting out when their mom began leaving for long periods of time due to work and that's when their dad really came down hard on them.

     She watched Whitey come out and her dad followed she spotted Nathan in the hall and walked through the door to see Tim and some other boy she didn't know standing with him.

     Nathan looked up before closing his eyes, knowing what was coming. "Nathan Royal Scott!".

     "Oh crap".

     "What part of do not get into trouble falls deaf on your unusually large ears?", she spoke lowly which scared him more than when she yelled.

     "Dude, your middle name is 'Royal'", Tim laughed and the twins looked over at him.

     "Shut up, Tim". The boy deflated and held his hands up in mock surrender.

     "Nat, it was harmless fun. Chill out", Nathan told her and she raised both her eyebrows and mocked him.

     The girl scoffed, "Chill out? Chill out? I swear to God, Nathan, if you don't stop this stupid behaviour you're gonna get yourself or somebody else hurt", she then felt eyes on her and turned. "Who are you anyway?", she pointed to the boy at the end who was looking at the situation in amusement.

     "I—erm, I'm Jake . . . Jagielski", he held out his hand for her to shake but she looked down at it before looking back at him without shaking it.

     "Well, I—erm, I'm Jake . . . Jagielski, how about you and Timmy here try and keep my brother out of trouble, yeah?", she scrunched her nose with a sickly sweet smile at the end before it was gone and she glared at the three of them before walking away.

     "Dude, your sister is scary", Tim's eyes were wide while he watched her walk away. Nathan looked at him like he was an idiot before he walked through the hall behind her.

⋆.˚🏀 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ 📖⋆.˚

     Peyton sat with Natalie while she drew in her notebook, the young Scott got up from her seat and went to grab a book as someone else grabbed it, "Oh, I'm sorry", she turned to see Lucas and pursed her lips and he too looked down awkwardly. "Erm, you have it".

     "No, no, you have it", he passed it to her but she shook her head.

     "I've already read it like . . . a gizzilian times", she smiled and pushed his hand with the book back towards his chest, "Maybe when you're done . . .", she looked up from the floor to meet his eyes, "You can tell me what you think? Maybe?".

     Lucas looked at the book then back at her in thought and she went to apologise for being silly but he nodded his head, "Yeah. I'd like that".

     "Yeah?", she looked at him hopefully and he smiled a little.

     "Sure", he nodded and walked back to his seat and opened the book. Lucas always had a piece of himself that wanted to know his half siblings but when he officially met Nathan that piece disappeared but he never really knew Natalie or had a conversation with her until that moment.

     And he was starting to feel that maybe just maybe she wasn't like her twin. And if that was the case then he wouldn't mind getting to know her a little — she was his sister after all.

     Natalie picked up a different book and ignored her twins burning glare from the other table and sat next to Peyton. "Scott", someone called and the three teens in the room looked to the Coach.

     "What's up Coach?", Nathan said as Nat said, "Yeah, Coach?".

     "Not you two. You", he pointed at Lucas who seemed as surprised as everyone else did. Natalie turned to Lucas and cocked her eyebrow with a smirk, he stared at her with wide eyes before getting up and walking off with Whitey.

     "Why are you talking to him?", she heard her brother ask making her turn around with an annoyed look.

     "Maybe because he's a person and unlike you I don't talk to losers", she pointed to Tim before grabbing her stuff as the boy muttered words of offence while Nathan shook his head as he watched his sister leave.

⋆.˚🏀 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ 📖⋆.˚

     Natalie walked into Karen's Cafe for the first time and looked around the place. Haley noticed her first and tapped Karen who turned and looked at the girl in surprise before tapping Lucas who then looked up.

     The youngest Scott noticed them by the till and smiled brightly at them, "Hi, miss Karen, Haley, Lucas".

     Karen smiled lightly but she could sense the hesitation, "Hello. Would you like some coffee?".

     "Yes, please". The woman nodded and began pouring the coffee, Natalie gave her the money and Karen gave back the change then the four stood in silence as the girl sipped her drink. She then turned to Lucas, "I heard you're playing against my brother tonight".

     "Yeah . . .", he looked down with a chuckle with the book they spoke about before resting on the counter top in front of him.

     "I hope you win", they all looked to her surprised and she shrugged, "Nathan may be my twin but even this is too far for me", she grabbed her bag and put it over her shoulder before grabbing her coffee. "And for what it's worth Miss Karen, this place is so pretty".

     Karen smiled as the girl turned and began walking away but turned when Lucas called her, "Will you be there . . . tonight?", he asked.

     Natalie shook her head, "Nah, I'll leave the testosterone battle to the boys. I've got homework", she smiled one last time and left the cafe

     "I respect that", Haley mumbled and Lucas looked over at her with amusement as did Karen, "What?".

     Natalie had heard that Lucas had won the next day at cheer practice and watched as he walked into practice with his backpack on his shoulder as he watched them all before he locked eyes with her.

     He nodded subtly and she nodded back before smirking and going back to practice.

     Things were finally getting interesting.

__________

*authors note — this is just a little prologue of episode one, just to get a sense of what her relationships look like with everyone and get an idea of what Natalie's character looks like. Episode two dives deeper into her relationship beginning with Lucas and the struggles she has with Nathan. Hope you enjoy :)) *