New Arrivals

Hayley was completely frazzled, but there was no getting around it on this particular morning. She had to find Lucas and see if he could do the welcome wagon duty, and she had to get to the doctor. Nathan and her were having a baby, and she couldn’t miss her appointment. She walked up to the front of the school, and down the hall to Lucas’s locker and found him talking with Peyton. She walked up to him briskly, and hoped she didn’t sound short. She’d forgotten all about escorting the new senior around the school, so she just hoped that Lucas would do it for her. As she came to stand beside him, she grabbed his arm.

“ Luke, I really need you to do me a favor. I’d owe you so big.” Lucas became serious and faced her.

“ Sure, what’s up?” Hayley took a deep breath and began.

“ I’m not going to be here today, I have a doctor’s appointment. The office called me and there’s a new student that needs to be showed around. I know you hate doing stuff like this, but she’s going to be in all of your classes. So, could you do this for me just this once?” Lucas gave her a puzzled look.

“ There’s a senior starting here with only three months left to go?” Hayley shrugged.

“ I don’t know her situation, I just know that I really need you to help me out here. Her name is Callie Richards, so can you show her around today?” Lucas looked at Peyton, who chuckled and walked away. Lucas sighed and shrugged.

“ Sure, why not? Is she in the office right now?” Hayley nodded and took off running towards Nathan, who was waiting for her at the end of the hall. Lucas sighed and headed towards the office.
Lucas wasn’t much of a people person, so the fact that he’d been recruited to do the school’s welcome wagon was kind of funny. When people saw him today, they were sure to stop and gawk. He walked in to the main office and saw two girls sitting in front of the desk. The one on the right looked relatively young, so he ruled her out. The other girl was absolutely beautiful. She had really fair skin, short curly red hair, and the pretties brown eyes he’d ever seen. She also had freckles sprayed across her nose and cheeks. He stopped staring and went to the front desk. The Secretary looked at Luke with obvious dislike.

“ What can I do for you, Mr. Scott?” Lucas cleared his throat.

“ Hayley James...er...Scott asked me to show Callie Richards around to her classes.” The woman frowned.

“ Why isn’t Hayley doing it? She told me this morning that she’d be able to.” Lucas was very uncomfortable.

“ She has a doctor’s appointment this morning, and she’d forgotten about it. She said that Callie was going to be in all of my classes, so it’s not a big deal.” The lady nodded and motioned for one of the girls to come forward. The red head that Lucas had been staring at, walked up to the desk. The secretary addressed her in a very soothing manner that was very unlike the prickly woman.

“ Callie, This is Lucas Scott. He’s in all of the classes you’ll be taking, so could you stick with him for the next few days? He’ll show you the ropes of the school.” The girl nodded and walked out of the office, leaving Lucas to follow. Callie turned to look at him when he came out of the door.

“ This whole welcome wagon, buddy system thing is kind of weird.” Lucas grinned.

“ I’ve always thought so, but Hayley has done it for as long as I can remember. She seems to really like it and thinks it’s a good idea.” Callie followed Lucas as he headed to their first class. He was surprised when she spoke again, because she didn’t seem to be in he best of moods.

“ So, are you related to this Hayley person? I noticed that you have the same last name as she does.” Lucas thought if he should tell her, and kept walking.

“ Hayley is my best friend in the world. I’ve known her since we were kids, and she’s just recently become my sister-in-law.” Callie stopped in her tracks.

“ Do you mean to say that she’s married...and still in highschool?” Lucas stopped to face her and shrugged again.

“ She married my half brother, Nathan, last year. It was quite the scandal around these halls.” Callie nodded and resumed walking.

“ So, I guess it isn’t really boring in Tree Hill after all.” Lucas laughed at that.

“ Tree Hill is anything, but boring you’ll come to find.” Lucas led Callie to the english class and took his seat. The teacher assigned her the empty seat right behind him. That was basically how the entire day went. Lucas led her to the classes, and the teachers seemed to think it was a good idea to keep them close. When the school day was over, and their last class was done, Lucas turned to face her.

“ Can you find your way back to the front? I’d show you myself, but I’ve got basketball practice right after I’m done here. I’d have Hayley, Brooke, or even Peyton show you, but they’ve all got cheerleading practice.” This caused Callie to frown.

“ You mean that on my very first day, I’ve managed to find the popular ‘in’ crowd? That’s just...great. I mean no offense at all, it’s just....great.” When she turned to leave, Lucas called out to her.

“ We’re not like you think we are, Callie.” She turned around and saw a group of people crowd around Lucas.

“ You mean that you’re not the popular crowd that everyone talks about? The crowd that everyone wants to be friends with and associated with?” Lucas chuckled.

“ Okay, we might be that group.” Callie nodded.

“ I thought so. Thanks for showing me around, Lucas.” After saying that, she turned and walked out of the room. Brooke turned to look at Lucas and she was frowning.

“ Was that girl cracking on us?” Nathan laughed.

“ No, she was just saying she didn’t want to be friends with us, which sometimes...who can blame her? We do tend have a lot of the drama in this school.” Brooke huffed and walked out, not happy at all. Everyone but Nathan and Lucas followed immediately. As Lucas went to leave, Nathan cornered him.

“ She was totally hot, dude. Are you going to ask her out?” Lucas gave Nathan a startled look.

“ Nathan, I just met her. Besides, she was pretty clear that she didn’t want to hang out with us.” Nathan shook his head.

“ You’d better ask her out soon, because a girl that hot isn’t going to stay single for long.” Later that day, Lucas walked into his mother’s café and found the bouncy set of curls sitting at the counter. He walked up beside her and sat down. She looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

“ Have I found ‘the’ hangout as well?” Lucas chuckled.

“ No, that would be “Trick”. The club that is affiliated with this diner. This is just...where me and Hayley dwell.” Just then Karen walked up and kissed Lucas on the cheek.

“ Hey sweetie, how was school today? You stick to the fifteen minute rule of basketball?” Callie burst out laughing, but didn’t say anything. She handed Karen a paper and stood up.

“ I don’t have a phone yet, so if there is a follow-up, could you send word with Lucas?” Karen glanced from Lucas to Callie, but spoke professionally.

“ Actually, if you’ll give me just a moment, I’ll do the interview now.” Callie sighed with relief and sat back down. When Karen walked away, Callie rounded on Lucas.

“ So, she’s your mom?” Lucas grinned.

“ She is indeed. You know...you really insulted some of my friends today.” Callie chuckled and looked away.

“ Look, that wasn’t my intention at all. It’s just...popularity and I really don’t mix.” Before Luke could respond, Karen came back and took Callie to a secluded booth, leaving Lucas to man the register. Lucas watched as Callie charmed the socks off of his mother and thought what an odd but interesting girl she was.