“Jerk!” I yelled at his back. He had just walked away after making a jab at my best friend, Lucas. Who did he think he was? Just because he was the best basketball player in the school it didn't give him the right to poke fun at him. It was probably because he was half brothers with Lucas except their father chose him, Nathan. I hated him so much.

“Lucas are you okay?”
“Yeah I'm fine. I don't have time to deal with jerks like him. One day he is going to realize that he isn't as great as he thinks he is. He will fall off his high horse and I can't wait to watch him.”
“I can't wait either.”


As we were walking to English class I saw Lucas staring at Brooke. She was the prettiest and most popular girl at school. After all she was the captain of the cheerleading team.
“Lucas snap out of it!”
“Sorry.”

It was the second half of our senior year and the teacher thought it would be a great idea for us to get to know our classmates better. I moaned. I didn't have time to get to know these superficial people who would never see me as equal to them.

We were told to pick names out of a hat. Of course it would happen to me. I would end up choosing Nathan. It was probably for calling him a jerk and a few other words.

The assignment had 5 parts. The first one was to answer what do you want out of life? The second was what do you fear the most? The third was to take the other person to your favorite place. The fourth was to tell the other person something personal about yourself. The fifth was to take a picture of the other person that depicts the kind of person they are.

We walked out of the classroom and of course he walked ahead of me. He thought he was better than me.
“This assignment is stupid. I'm going to go shoot some hoops. We can meet back in the classroom and pretend like we did this assignment.”
“You know you don't have to pretend like you don't care all the time? You can still be the “popular” kid and be nice.”
“Whatever.”
He walked away and I followed him because I wasn't going to fail an assignment because of him.

We walked into the gym and I asked him, “Why do you love basketball so much?”
“I love basketball because it makes me feel alive. It's the one thing that I am good at. No one can take it away from me. It's a way to beat my dad and show him that he can't control me.”
“Beat your dad?”
“My dad was a basketball player back in his day. He pushes me to my breaking point because he was never able to play in the NBA and he doesn't want that for me, but sometimes its too much. He always berates me, but if I can beat his record I can show him that I am better than him. Then maybe he will leave me alone.”
“I'm sorry. So you want to play in the NBA?”
“Yes.”
“See talking to me isn't so hard. Since we are already talking we might as well do the assignment.”
“I guess.”
“So you want to be a basketball player. That's what you want out of life?”
“That and I want to be a better father to my kids than my dad ever was.”
“You know your dad isn't a good guy. Knowing that why do you still pick on Lucas?”
“I guess I am jealous of him because he has a mother who loves him and he is free of my dad. He doesn't have to deal with my dad.”
“Maybe you guys can form an alliance against him and take him down.”
“If only. So what do you want put of life?”
“I want to be a famous singer one day who travels the world and has thousands and thousands of fans screaming for her everyday.”
chuckles
“WHAT?!”
“You sing?”
“Not out loud.”
“Hate to break it to you, but if you want to be famous you have to sing out loud to people.”
“Haha. He has a sense of humor.”
“How about you sing to me?”
“No. I can't.”
“Yes you can”

Somehow hearing him say those words gave me the confidence to sing. I sang Heaven by Bryan Adams.

“Wow. You are amazing. You just conquered your fear.”
“Thanks. That takes care of my fear. What are you afraid of?”
“Not being good enough. Not being able to get out of my dad's shadow. Having to live with his disappointment every day. I am afraid to turn into him.”
“You are an amazing basketball player. You can do it. And as for being like him. You will never be like him.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”

The third part was to take the other person to your favorite place.
“This is my favorite place. The basketball court. It makes me feel alive.”
“Come on. I want to take you to my favorite place.”
“Where are we going?”
“Just follow me.”
They walked into the music room in the school.
“I like to come here in my free time to play music. No one comes here. It's like my own private studio.”

“Tell me something personal about yourself.”
“I will never be as good as my siblings.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have 5 siblings. I am the baby. No one takes me seriously and sometimes I feel like I will always be in their shadow. I'm scared that I will never make a name for myself.”
“With that voice, you are going to take the world by storm.”
“You really believe that?”
“I know that.”
“How about you? What's your personal statement?”
“My mom is a drug addict. She chose pills over me.”
“Nathan.”
I didn't know what to say to him so I hugged him. In that moment that's all I could do. He was reluctant at first, but he hugged me back.

“Well I guess it's time to take a picture.”
“Yeah.”
“I have a great idea for your picture. I want to take a picture of you singing. You shouldn't be afraid to show the world your talent or who you really are because you really are something.”
I smiled.
For his picture I took a picture of him standing in the hallway because he was so much more than just a basketball player.

This was the day that I, Haley James was wrong for the first time in my life. I was wrong about the type of person Nathan was. He was so different, but he was just afraid to show it.

That James Lucas Scott is the story of how I fell in love with your dad.