⁽⁰¹⁻⁰²⁾ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉˢ ʸᵒᵘ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵗᵒ ᶠᵉᵃʳ⁻⁴

                                    

                                          
-tree hill, north carolina.
back in english class, mr.kelly began, "okay, were gonna try our little hemingway project again. but in order to avoid a bar fight, were gonna do it on paper." he began passing out a slip of paper to every individual in the class, madeline accepting hers with a small thank you.
"now, you dont have to put your names on these. simply write one word, one single word to describe what you want most in your life right now." mr. kelly finished as he placed the final slip of paper on a desk. silence wafted into the classroom as each student began thinking long and hard about what to write, mr.kelly telling them they could leave right after they finished writing.
madeline fiddled with her pencil in between her thumb and pointer finger, looking around the classroom as a couple of students, including her twin brother began standing, leaving their paper on mr.kellys desk, and walking out of class. her eyes landed on ethan, who also seemed to be struggling with finding the right word to write down. she sighed as she looked back down to the blank piece of paper in front of her.
after a couple extra seconds of deliberation, she took her pencil, adjusting it in her grip before writing down a word in the center of the paper, folding her paper in half as the rest of the students before her had done. 
contentment
she stood from her seat, making sure to collect all her things before walking up to mr.kellys desk, putting the paper in the forming pile, walking out of class. after a few seconds, footsteps began trailing behind her. she turned around slightly, glancing at the figure of ethan, whom she figured had also finished writing his word down.
she smiled at him as he approached her, "cant get enough of me?" the girl joked as the boy caught up with her, laughing slightly as he narrowed her eyes at her and falsely grimaced."moving on.." he chuckled. "whatd you write down?" he finished, glancing down at her. 
madeline turned to look at him, furrowing her eyebrows, "cant tell you." she shrugged as he raised his eyebrows to her as they continued walking down the hallway together. "its like a birthday wish, you know? cant tell you until it comes true." she looked up at him as they stopped at her locker.
"you believe in that stuff?" ethan asked her as he came to a stop next to her, "sort of? like its hard to explain why but i just do, only sometimes though." she explained and he nodded in response. as the awkwardness between the two began to settle in, ethan nervously spoke up, "hey, sorry about brooke, the other day." he reminded her, with a sheepish smile. 
madeline smiled at him, "its fine, we actually started talking more than i figured so, thank you" ethan smiled at her, "oh. then, youre welcome." madeline laughed at his nervousness, "okay. well, i have to get going but again, thank you." she smiled at him, before walking away. he smiled at her retreating figure before nathan and tim came up behind him, nathan patting his shoulder with a smirk.
ethan snapped out of his zoned out state, turning to look at nathan, "what?" ethan narrowed his eyes. "you know, we could use this connection or whatever you two have to get to that bastard." nathan motioned to the area where madeline was previously with a smirk, referring to the current drama between lucas and nathan.
"what? nah, man. leave her out of it." ethan told the boy, who seemed to take it lightly, but quickly frowned when he saw ethans pointed look directed at him. "oh, youre serious?" nathan asked, "the hell do you see in her man?" the young scott scoffed as he narrowed his eyes at the davis boy, walking away with tim.
_____________________________________________
 
"its like this." nathan berated lucas on the river court after school. the younger boy walked up to him a few seconds earlier, grabbing the ball as it fell from the basketball rim. nathan perfectly shot a free throw, "you cant do it can you?" the boy asked while shooting another shot perfectly.