Author's Note: Since we've seen Nick Lachey in recent episodes, I actually listened to some of his old stuff on youtube, and then this song popped up on me and I couldn't resist. I suppose that some might hear it and think of it the opposite way that I did but I wanted to turn things around a bit. I know that Brooke has a huge selfless heart but for once, I wanted to see her putting herself first. I wanted her to go after what she wanted instead of giving everything up for those around her. So I came up with this little tale. I hope you like it and that you don't think that just because Brooke is the other woman, that she's anything like Peyton... because she never will be.

On another note, I know that I have plenty of stories out there that need finishing, but lately it's been very hard to find inspiration. I hate what Mark has done to this show so it's been hard for me to continue with the stories I have that pick-up from certain past episodes. It's kind of why I just wanted to write a whole new story. Something that has nothing to do with where the show has gone. Something that had a season 1 & 2 vibe to it which I hope I'm able to accomplish. I hope you enjoy it and don't hate me for not updating anything else recently.

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. The title song is "The Hardest Thing" by 98 Degrees

Background Info: Season one with a few alterations. To start with, everything is the same with the Scott family. Brooke is still the rich cheer captain. The only difference is that there was never a BP friendship and Peyton was never a cheerleader, therefore, never dated Nathan. No Brooke makes Peyton a different person and vice versa. You'll see the changes in their personalities that come from not growing up together.

Summary: AU: He knows he has to make a choice but he doesn't know what the right choice is. He either gives up the loyal girlfriend he always wanted or the beautiful but broken girl he's desperate to have.

Lie in the Sound - Trespassers William
Beautiful Disaster - Jon McLaughlin

Prologue
Lie In The Sound

It rained that night. A quiet storm outside while a stronger one raged on inside.

His touch was gentle, inexperienced as his fingers lightly skimmed down her body. The anticipation was sweet torture. She arched into his touch and released a quiet sigh of pleasure. "You're beautiful," he whispered and trailed his kisses to her breasts where he laved one nipple, then the other with languid, hot flicks of his tongue.

Hands fisted into the comforter while she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

Every other breath she took was a moan. A quiet, throaty sound of enjoyment for the wondrous havoc he wreaked on her body.

Slow and timid, he continued the journey down her stomach until he reached the juncture between her thighs. She was hot and slick, ready for him when he slipped two fingers inside and nervously teased. "Luke…." His name was a breath… a sigh that quietly passed through her lips. "Please…" she softly begged. "Please."

I am falling… say my name and I'll lie in the sound. What is love, but whatever… my heart needs around.

His weight pushed her down into the mattress, pinning her between the softness of the bed and the hard muscle of his body. "Open your eyes," he gently coaxed with lips only a breath away from hers. "Please." It was his turn to beg as eyes slowly fluttered open and blue met hazel. "See me. Only me," he whispered.

Oh but I know what I need.

In one swift thrust, he buried himself to the hilt.

Both cried out at the feel of him filling her body with his. He marveled that they were one. That he was inside of her, a part of her in the most intimate of ways. "I see you," she murmured and closed her eyes as he slowly pulled out and pushed back in. "Luke…" she whispered over and over as his body moved against hers.

Their lips were never far apart, sharing the same breaths while he passed three words from his mouth to hers. "I love you."

And it needs you too much now.

Her eyes opened and she stared into his, locked as something indescribable passed between them. It lasted only a second, and in the next moment the beautiful depths were locked away again while she urged him to move faster… harder. He could do nothing but comply as she rocked her hips in time to his movements. Arching… crying… falling as he pushed her over that final precipice into oblivion.

----------

Chapter One - Beautiful Disaster

She's giving boys what they want, tries to act so nonchalant,
Afraid they'll see that she's lost her direction.
She never stays the same for long,
Assuming that she'll get it wrong.
Perfect only in her imperfection.

"This year we've decided to make participation in the school's history fair mandatory for all juniors. Something I'm sure you're all very pleased about," Mr. Donahue said amidst groans from the entire class. "Alright, settle down."

From where he sat in the back of the room, Lucas Scott glanced over at his girlfriend of five months and mouthed "Be my partner."

"I will be choosing your partners," Mr. Donahue continued.

Peyton shot her boyfriend a disappointed look as their teacher walked around the room handing out slips of paper.

"There are 22 students and 11 different topics. Match your topics and you've got yourself a partner," he explained and handed Lucas one that said Kennedy. "Once you've paired up, you can decide to keep the topic or pick something else from that same decade. I'll need your final answer though by the end of class tomorrow so we'll be taking a trip down to the library so you can do some research."

Once most of the topics had been distributed, Lucas walked over to Peyton, hoping she had the same one as he did. "Stock market crash," she said as he held up his own slip of paper.

"Yes!" Haley James uttered from nearby as she walked up and looped her arm through Peyton's. "I thought I was going to end up with a completely useless partner," she admitted shamelessly.

"What... you mean like me?" Nathan teased as he joined the group, flashing a paper that said, Walk on the moon.

"No," Haley blushed. "I meant someone like Tim or Cheerleader Barbie over there," she said, gesturing to the class clown and the varsity cheer captain. The former sat laughing with a couple other guys from the school's basketball team, oblivious to anything else while the latter stared at the topic Mr. Donahue had just handed her.

"Who still hasn't found their partner?" the teacher asked, breaking up the various conversations throughout the room.

Lucas raised his hand and saw his brother, Jake Jagielski and the cheerleader in question do the same. "Whoops," Haley muttered as Jake walked over to Nathan, leaving Brooke Davis holding a little slip of paper baring the single word, Kennedy. "Good luck," she added as blue eyes met hazel. "With a partner like her, you're gonna need it."

----------

Each pair found a quiet spot in the library to sit and flip through their text books with the hope of deciding on a topic. Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott were no exception. Tucked away on the second floor, each quietly read through pages of information on the former president.

As the minutes ticked by, Lucas wondered if his partner was still reading or if she had just spaced out.

"So what do you think?" he asked, breaking through the silent reverie.

"He has a lot to say about courage," Brooke replied, only glancing up briefly.

She was different than he had assumed.

On the sidelines she stood cheering and smiling, leading her squad from one chant to the next. At the few parties he'd been to at Nathan's house, she drank with the best of them, danced to every song she liked and took a different boy upstairs every time the mood struck her. But here and now, sitting quietly in the library with her bottom lip between her teeth, she was different. Almost lonely.

"Are you okay sticking with this topic or was there something else you wanted to do the project on?"

Brooke shrugged. "It doesn't matter one way or the other to me. You can pick and I'll just go along with it."

Frowning, Lucas struggled with the words sitting on the tip of his tongue. "Look, I..." he faltered as she met his gaze with her hazel eyed stare. "This project counts for half our grade this semester and I just... I need a partner that's going to contribute. You know, someone who..."

"Is more than just Cheerleader Barbie, right?" she finished when he lost the words he intended to say.

"No," Lucas quickly corrected, drawing the gaze of a nearby pair. "That's not what I meant."

"But it's what you thought, isn't it. What all your friends think," Brooke said and rolled her eyes when he couldn't bring himself to lie. "Whatever. It's not like it matters what you think of me anyway." Gathering her books, she stuffed them in the red backpack she carried. It was the exact shade of her lipstick, Lucas couldn't help but notice. "Decide which parts of the project you trust me with and let me know tomorrow. We can work on it separately," she shrugged and turned to walk away when Lucas reached out a hand to stop her.

Brooke kinked her eyebrow curiously but said nothing else. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you are," the brunette replied. This time when she began to walk away, Lucas let her.

"What was that all about?" Haley asked as she and Peyton appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. His girlfriend held an aged reference book against her t-shirt clad chest, blocking the image of some late 70's rock band. The expression on her face was expectant, glancing between him and the retreating figure who neared the stairs.

"Luke?"

"Nothing, she just..." he trailed off as a wave of disappointment washed over him. Lucas tried hard to not ever judge a book by its cover but the brief, hurt expression in Brooke's eyes told him that he'd done just that. "Nothing."

----------

Brooke Davis was a girl on a mission.

"Oh, come on, Principle Turner. The cheer squad has been wearing the same uniforms for the last five years," she informed and set a brightly colored brochure down on his desk. "Even though our squad has won best choreography at the Classic for the last two."

Sighing, the principle glanced at the brochure featuring the Ravens cheer squad on the front cover. Front and center was their captain... Brooke Davis, and sitting beside her was a trophy nearly half her size.

"Does it really seem fair to you that our football team gets new jerseys every year even though they haven't won a game since Earl Matthews graduated six years ago?" she questioned, pinning the principle with a determined stare. "Yet our squad is known throughout the state and has to keep showing up to the classic in the same outdated uniforms."

If she had to listen to Claire Young brag about Bear Creek one more time, she swore she'd knock the girl out with the nearest trophy.

"I understand your request, Miss Davis, but I'm sorry," Turner denied, returning Brooke's attention to the present. "There just isn't money in the budget to outfit the cheerleaders in new apparel."

"Well, how much money is in the budget?"

"Excuse me?" His tone incredulous, Brooke rushed to pitch a new idea.

"I'm just saying," she carefully began. "That if there isn't enough, maybe we can make some kind of compromise. You know, have a few fundraisers or something and then the school can match whatever money we make."

"I don't know," he hedged.

"Oh, come on, sir," she cajoled. "I'll even find a good deal on the uniforms we get."

"I have no doubt you can argue the prices down," Turner said dryly.

"So do we have a deal?"

Sighing in defeat, he nodded. "Yes, Miss Davis... you have a deal."

"Yes!" she smiled widely. "You won't regret it, sir. I promise we'll raise a ton of money."

"I'm sure you will. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to," he said and handed back the Cheer Classic brochure.

Grinning widely, Brooke strolled out of the office and bumped right into the boy she'd been avoiding since 3rd period history. The smile slipped from her face as she watched him glance at the door she'd just walked out of. "Brainless and always in trouble," she said, guessing at the direction of his thoughts. "You really lucked out in the partner department, huh?"

"So did you," Lucas replied. "You ended up with a judgmental jerk."

Her lips twitched with a hint of amusement before rolling her eyes. "Give me your pen," she demanded and plucked the object from his hand. Holding onto his wrist, she wrote a number on his palm. "Call me later and we'll set up a time to work out the details. Maybe if you aren't too unbearable, we can work on this project together."

He closed his fingers against his palm and said, "I really am sorry."

"Yeah, well..." she trailed off as she spied a curly haired blonde watching from a distance. "Looks like I'm not the only one you'll be apologizing to today," Brooke stated, gesturing to where his girlfriend leaned against her locker. "Good luck," she said while Lucas considered the fact that she was the second girl that day to wish him luck.

"I'd ask what that was about but you'd probably just say nothing," Peyton said as Lucas walked up to her.

"It was just history project stuff," he replied and reluctantly opened his hand when Peyton began to pluck at his fingers. "We didn't really get off to a good start earlier."

"I remember," the blonde quietly said. "I guess you fixed that now, though, huh?"

"Peyton..."

Lucas couldn't remember ever seeing his girlfriend jealous. Sure, she'd been a little wary of Haley at first but after realizing that the two were more like brother and sister than anything else, she quickly came around to the friendship. Since then there had been no cause for jealousy and from his perspective, Lucas couldn't see one now either.

"I'm sorry," she apologized before he could say anything else. "It's just a little weird. Seeing you standing so close to her, watching her write her number down on your hand. I guess I just..." she frowned. "I don't know. I guess it just... felt weird."

There was vulnerability in her green eyes as she looked up at him and Lucas couldn't help the twinge of guilt he felt.

His whole exchange with Brooke had been innocent enough but staring down at Peyton, he started to feel like he'd done something wrong just by talking to her. Especially since it provoked such a foreign response from the girl he spent years pining for. A girl who'd spent the last five months making his fantasy a reality.

"Peyton," he began once more when the overhead bell silenced whatever it was he planned to say. "Come on," he offered, smiling coaxingly. "I'll walk you to your next class."

And just like that, she felt secure again. The familiar comfort of having Lucas' arm around her shoulders was enough to squelch the irrational jealousy she felt when she saw Brooke Davis smiling up at him.

She had nothing to worry about, Peyton told herself. Lucas wasn't like other guys. She could trust him. He spent years trying to get her to notice him and when she did, he spent months trying to get her to say yes to a date. He wasn't going to hurt her now. Not ever.

"I love you," she whispered and his answering smile was enough to send a swarm of butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. "Love you too."

----------

"God, they're cheesy," Nathan groaned as he came up behind Haley. Hands on her shoulders, he glanced at the couple walking arm and arm, oblivious to the chill that danced up her spine.

"They love each other," Haley managed. "What's so wrong with that?"

Shrugging, Nathan released his hold and walked around until he was facing his tutor. "Nothing, I guess. They just don't really seem like they fit."

"What are you talking about?" Haley frowned. "They're perfect for each other. They like all the same movies, books... music."

"Right," Nathan agreed. "They're like the same person. Where's the fun in that?"

"So you're saying a relationship is no fun unless the couple is always fighting and disagreeing?" she questioned.

"No," he grinned. "But it does make things interesting." Haley blushed at this and Nathan couldn't help teasing her. "Come on," he said, gently tugging on a lock of brown hair. "I have that English quiz tomorrow, and you promised to help me study for it."

"Right," Haley inwardly sighed. "Tutoring."