Secrets//Jake Jagielski

~80~

Brighid felt the pressure. The pressure from the crowd to perform, the pressure from her father, mostly the pressure from Nathan to lose. He was riding on her to lose.

The first half she tried to play as horrible as she could, stumbling over her own feet, making careless mistakes. Her teammates began to stop passing her the ball making her job that much harder.

"Time out" the coach yelled blowing his whistle the girls gathered into the locker room where the coach began to give them a big lecture. Brighid felt guilty. The team had a great shot of winning, she was just holding them back.

"Come on Scott. We need you" teammates whispered as they headed back onto the court. Brighid was the last to leave. Slowly walking from the hall to the gym.

"Brig" Nathan called out.

"Is this good enough? Cause if it's not there's nothing more I can do. I'm trying-"

"Brig. I want you to go out there and win. Don't let what I said hold you back"

"But. You said-"

"But nothing. Go and win this. For me and for your nephew" Nathan said. Brighid smiled at the thought of Nathan having a boy. She gave him a big hug before sprinting out onto the court.

"You ready Scott?" One of the girls asked.

"Feeling better. Let's kick some clover ass" Brighid chanted getting the team ready to play the best game of their lives. The buzzer went off and Brighid immediately grabbed the ball, passed it, retrieved it and scored a clean three pointer. Her adrenaline officially kicked in.

She continued playing the second half like this winning left and right. It was down to the final few seconds. Brighid passed the ball and stayed back hoping to be passed it again.

Her teammate choked for a second, hesitant to make a move. She noticed Brighid was wide open and threw the ball. Brighid with two seconds remaining remembered all the training she and her dad had done for three pointers. She grounded her feet and shot the ball.

It sailed through the air smoothly landing in the basket. The buzzer went off and the Tree Hill Girls Varsity team was announced state champs.

Jake ran onto the court as the confetti flew down from the sky.

"You did it" Jake whispered as he picked up Brighid.

"We did it" she muttered back placing a kiss on his lips. Nathan, Lucas and Haley came over congratulating her as well.

They headed to Karen's Cafe to celebrate the big win.

"Congratulations" Karen said hugging Brighid. "Your mom would be proud". Karen had dropped off Deb at rehab tricking her into thinking that she was going to see Brighid play.

"She's getting the help she's needs. That's most important" Brighid said causing Karen to smile.

"We are heading out for the night" Nathan and Haley said waving goodbye. As they opened the door the bells chimed.

"Nathan" Brighid called out following after the two. Haley continued to the car while Nathan stood in the middle of the street. Brighid grabbed Nathan in a hug whispering "thank you. You don't even know how much this means". The two pulled away as headlights made their way towards them.

"Nathan" Haley screamed. Brighid instinctively pushed Nathan out of the way. Before she could move herself the car collided with her causing her body to roll up and over the car before landing on the ground.

Brighid laid lifelessly on the ground trying to breath. Her lungs were beginning to fill with blood.

"Nathan what happened?" Lucas asked all panicked.

"They just hit her man" Nathan responded. He looked up to see the car had crashed. He ran over punching the driver.

"Call 911" Haley said. Brighid could hear Jake and a few others come rushing out as well. Brighid could hear the paramedics asking questions. Lucas began to falter while answering them.

"His heart stopped" a paramedic shouted.
———
Brighid woke up a few hours later in pain. Her leg and arm were in casts and she could feel some cuts on her forehead.

"Hey" Jake softly said as she came out of her slumber.

"I just had the weirdest dream" Brighid said. It was quite realistic and scary for Brighid.

"Just rest. The doctors said you'll be new in a few weeks. Just need to rest up" Jake said. Nathan and Haley walked in a few minutes later.

"You shouldn't have done that" Nathan said giving Brighid a hug.

"Please. You'd do the same" Brighid muttered. Haley continually thanked Brighid for saving Nathan.

"So where's Lucas?" Brighid asked trying to sit up in the bed. They all looked around at each other.

"His heart stopped. He's okay now" Nathan said. Brighid frowned at the news. "He's fine Brig. We have more things to worry about. Dad's in jail"

"For what?" Brighid asked. Although she couldn't stand her dad at times he was still her father after all.

"He uh-" Nathan began choking on the words.

"He beat up the guy who hit you. Don't worry about that now. Just rest" Haley said. Brighid weakly smiled trying to process the news.

Peyton and Brooke came to see Brighid shortly after Haley and Nathan left. Brighid was released a few days later and Nathan and Haley offered to take care of her until she was able to walk.

"Guys seriously I can take care of myself" Brighid intervened.

"Stop fighting it Brig. Just relax and if you need anything let us know" Nathan said.

"Thanks again you guys"

Nathan and Haley smiled at Brighid before leaving the room.