Checkmate

Checkmate is the second episode of the first season of One Tree Hill: Next Generation.

Main Plot
The Scott house is shown as Jamie wakes up to a text from Madison, his girlfriend. He swiftly passes by Nina and Kieran on his way to the bathroom while listening to music. He then looks into Jackson's room and sees that he already left and took one of his cars from the driveway. Jamie, now extremely ticked off, asks Nathan and Haley why they let Jackson leave with one of his cars cause he was going drive it to school today. Nathan and Haley look at each other when Lucas walks in and explains that he and Nathan were exactly like Jamie and Jackson, often arguing and fighting. Lydia, knowing Jamie and Jackson are on bad terms, offers to take Nina and Kieran to school out of "the goodness of heart" as an excuse to take the BMW. Before she leaves, she tells "Jamie do not do anything stupid that will get Mom and Dad on your case". When Jamie, Chuck and Madison pull up to the school, it is shown that his parking spot was taken by Elliot and Lucas, who had driven their sisters Melanie and Grace to school. Jamie then calls Andre and Jenny telling them that they have a problem and he needs their help. As Melanie and Grace walk inside the school, Lucas and Elliot remain in the parking lot only to be confronted by Jamie and Chuck. Andre, Melissa, Milo, Jenny, and Haley then get to the parking lot and come to help Jamie. Jamie tells Lucas that they parked in his spot and asks them to move their car, to which Lucas apologizes but Elliot retorts that it doesn't have his name on it and they got their first. Chuck, however, is not laughing as he doesn't like being disrespected. Elliot glances at Haley, who looks back at him, and smiles at her and says that he's trying to look tough in front of his friends. Jamie, who's already pissed at Jackson, tries to lunge at Elliot but Lucas stops them to say that a teacher is coming. Chuck and Andre back up Jamie as he says "This isn't over nerd, I'm coming for you and your friends. Watch your back." Elliot then says "Hey can't wait Golden Boy, please prove my point more" and laughs. Haley glances back at Elliot, surprised that he stood up to Jamie. Madison, Jenny, Melissa, and Haley then explain to Brooke what happened and their boys are looking to start something. Jackson and Elliot then glance back at their rivals, smile slyly, then walk into school. As the school day continues, Lucas gets a text from Hunter about their confrontation with Jamie and Chuck, telling them to not mess with that crowd cause they're dangerous. Elliot doesn't believe the hype and shakes off the warning only to find out that his locker got defaced saying "We warned you, E. Don't mess with the best" as the popular crowd walks down the hall laughing at this development. The camera gets a close up of Chuck and Jamie's faces smiling as Elliot looks on. Rachel approaches Elliot and asks if he knows who did it because she's there to make sure every student is treated fairly. The episode ends with Elliot slamming his locker and Haley looking back to see the rage on his face.

Secondary Plot
Meanwhile in the Evans household, Logan wakes up to sound of Sarah and Vivian arguing over Sarah's crush on Davis Baker. He walks down the steps as Kelsey and Hunter are already up and eating breakfast, laughing at his reaction to their constant bickering. Clay comes into the kitchen and Kelsey questions why he is finally wearing a suit to work. Clay tells her to keep that sense of humor and that he has an important meeting at Fortitude today regarding their expansion. Quinn walks down the steps says that they might be moving into a bigger house if their father gets the contract to expand. She tells her kids that she has a good feeling about this and kisses Clay as she goes to work. Clay does the same leaving the kids home by themselves. Hunter yells to the twins and tells them that they should get to school. After they get to school, Kelsey goes to meet up with Elizabeth and Katie. Hunter goes to look for Lucas, Jeremy, and Nathan as they have gotten close. Logan turns his head to the confrontation between Lucas, Elliot, Jamie and Chuck along with the confrontation between Jackson and Brooke off in the distance. He then says "This year is gonna be wild" and laughs. As he walks into the school followed by his siblings, Davis, Jude, Matthew, and Serena walk into the school with all new clothes from their mother Brooke, where she gives Serena a call about her mess at home. Sarah is seen at her locker having trouble with the combination but gets help from Jimmy, who tells her that she switched the numbers. She laughs and tells him thank you as Vivian walks up to her. Jimmy starts walking away but is confronted by Sawyer asking him what that was about. He tells her nothing so drop it and Sawyer glares back at Sarah and Vivian but doesn't say anything. Davis and Jude walk up and introduce themselves to the Evans twins, and Sarah being petrified to speak. Vivian however says that it's nice to meet you and hopes to see you guys soon as they walks to class. In the background, Octavia and Lily are shown secretly talking with Lauren and Andy Taylor mentioning that this was not part of the plan but Andy tells them to relax and act as everything is fine with Kevin and Chris watching from afar. As the school day end, Sarah and Vivian start walking to Logan's car when they're stopped by Kelsey asking why they're so chipper. They say that Sarah finally got to meet Davis and shes speechless. Hunter tells them to get in the car before he dies on boredom as they wait for Logan. As Logan gets into the car to drive them home, he tells them the other Ravens went too far in punishing Elliot. Kelsey agrees but it isn't their place to say anything just yet cause she doesn't want a target on their backs. Sawyer, Octavia, and Lily stop them as they about to pull out and asks if they saw the graffiti going around the school. Octavia says that whoever did it should keep it a secret cause it'll cause panic. Lily says that she feels bad for Elliot but it rather be him than her. Vivian says that Elliot doesn't deserve what he is getting just for standing up for himself to which Sarah agrees. Hunter says that he gave Lucas the heads up so whatever he did with that information is his fault so Elliot is going to have to deal with it. Logan tells Sawyer goodbye and he'll see her tomorrow as he drives his siblings home. As Sawyer walks away, Lily and Octavia look at the Evans' car then at each other and smile, making it seem like they know who did it.

Tertiary Plot
The Keller house is shown with the Adams family staying over while their house is getting renovated. Chris explains to Chase over the phone that they try and have their kids bond. As he says this Chuck, Milo, Melissa, and Katie come down the steps and sigh. Before Chase can get a sentence out, Melissa asks for keys to drive to school which he agrees too. "Don't scratch it or else Melissa" he says as Milo and Melissa run out of the house and they hear a car beeping. Jenny pulls up to the house with Andre and Haley in her car. Chuck leaves the house next as Jamie and Madison are waiting for him. "Scolnik get your ass in the car and let's go run the school" Jamie says. Melissa and Milo get a call from Jenny about Jamie and Elliot's confrontation and they need their help. Melissa says that they're almost at the school and will help when they get there. Meanwhile, Brooke drives Katie to school and explains the pecking order of high school. She goes into detail about the way a person survives is either adapting or perishing under the pressure. She says "The world is sometimes cruel to the good people, like you Sis, but high school is the biggest shark tank of all. Either adapt with the times or perish with the losers, but remember that I got your back" She then winks at her sister and laughs. Brooke then starts driving around the parking lot to find there is only one spot left but as she is going up to park in it, a mysterious car pulls into the spot. Jackson gets out of the car and Brooke starts complaining that he almost hit her. He then says to never change her tune Brooke. She asks if she knows him to which he says "You're kidding right?...Of course you don't remember me but we've been neighbors for years" Brooke apologizes for not recognizing him as he looks a lot different then the last time she saw him and asks him to move out of the spot. Jackson smiles at looks around at the crowd starting to form and says sure for a price. She then asks him what he wants but he says he'll think about it as she owes him a favor. "I'll see you around Brooke" as he pulls out of the spot and smiles at her. He then walks into school as he sees his cousins Keith and Taylor talking about confrontation between his brother and Elliot. He asks them what happened and they explain that Elliot and his brother almost came blows over a parking spot. But Jackson realizes that it is more about his actions this morning rather than Elliot's as he ticked Jamie off first. As the last class lets out, Jackson is shown looking on at the popular crowd passing and realizes they wrote on Elliot's locker. He then calls an unknown number person saying "The popular crowd is starting to get under my skin and they're taking this too far. Let's get even with them." Jackson, along with Keith, Lydia and Sawyer, look on as Elliot slams his locker and read the message on his locker. Jackson and Lydia glance at each other as she mouths "Jamie or Chuck", to which he shakes his head and turns to look at Elliot steaming mad.

Cast
Main Cast-Students Adults Recurring Students Adults Cast Absences
 * Zac Efron as Jamie Scott
 * Vanessa Hudgens as Madison Landry
 * Taylor Lautner as Chuck Scolnik
 * Logan Lerman as Elliot McFadden
 * Cody Christian as Lucas McFadden
 * Sterling Sulieman as Andre Fields
 * Lily Collins as Jenny Jagielski
 * Danielle Campbell as Haley Baker
 * Tom Maden as Jackson Scott
 * Minka Kelly as Sarah Evans
 * Penn Badgley as Logan Evans
 * Carlson Young as Brooke Keller
 * Jessica Stroup as Kelsey Evans
 * Tristan Wilds as Andy Taylor
 * Selena Gomez as Melissa Adams
 * Aly Michalka as Sawyer Scott
 * Matt Lanter as Davis Baker
 * Dylan O'Brien as Jude Baker
 * Colton Haynes as Matthew Baker
 * Willa Holland as Elizabeth Scott
 * Thomas McDonnell as Ben Chambers (no lines)
 * Nick Robinson as Keith Scott
 * Leven Rambin as Lydia Scott
 * Paul Wesley as Nathan Smith
 * Nina Dobrev as Lily Roe Scott
 * Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia Hargrove
 * Chad Michael Murray as Lucas Scott
 * James Lafferty as Nathan Scott
 * Sophia Bush as Brooke Baker
 * Robert Buckley as Clay Evans
 * Tyler Hilton as Chris Keller
 * Leighton Meester as Vivian Evans
 * Ricardo Hoyos as Milo Adams
 * Chace Crawford as Hunter Evans
 * Tammin Sursok as Melanie McFadden
 * Crystal Reed as Grace McFadden
 * Lucy Hale as Nina Scott
 * Keegan Allen as Kieran Scott
 * Candice Accola as Katie Keller
 * Zach Roerig as Jeremy Jagielski
 * Matt Barr as Jimmy Scott
 * Bella Thorne as Serena Baker
 * Chloe Moretz as Taylor Scott
 * Kat Graham as Lauren Taylor
 * Ed Westwick as Kevin Hargrove (no lines)
 * Grey Damon as Chris Hargrove (no lines)
 * Shantel VanSanten as Quinn Evans
 * Bethany Galeotti as Haley Scott
 * Lee Norris as Mouth McFadden
 * Lisa Goldstein as Millie McFadden
 * Danneel Harris as Rachel Gatina
 * Stephen Colletti as Chase Adams (voice)
 * Hilarie Burton as Peyton Scott
 * Austin Nichols as Julian Baker
 * Brett Claywell as Tim Smith
 * Antwon Tanner as Skills Taylor
 * Bevin Prince as Bevin Mirskey
 * Bryan Greenburg as Jake Jagielski
 * Moira Kelly as Karen Roe
 * Kieren Hutchinson as Andy Hargrove
 * Barry Corbin as Whitey Durham

Trivia

 * This episode mark the beginning of a new school year with Rachel Gatina as principal.
 * This episode marks the beginning of the Jamie-Elliot Conflict.
 * It is revealed in this episode that Brooke Keller is the Prom Queen and captain of the cheerleading team.
 * This episode marks the beginning of the Chuck-Lucas Conflict.
 * Dan Scott and Lydia James' deaths are mentioned by Madison and Chuck to Jamie when talking to him.
 * This episode marks the beginning of the Jimmy-Sarah Friendship.
 * It is revealed that Jamie Scott and Madison Landry have been in a relationship for 1 month.
 * Jackson reveals that his family and the Keller family have been neighbors for over a decade.
 * It is revealed later in the series that the person on the other end of Jackson's phone call was in fact Elliot.
 * The person that graffitied Elliot's locker was revealed to be Calvin Richards under the orders of hidden character Dylan Harris.