Nathan slammed the basketball he had been holding against the back board at the river court. He liked the thump the ball made when it first made impact with the wood; he liked to imagine that it was Chris Keller's head that he was throwing it at.
Sighing, Nathan caught the ball as it came back down and just started dribbling it around. The river court was where Nathan felt himself coming all the time these days, probably because it was one of the only places that didn't directly remind him of Haley.
Haley James; the girl that had changed his life so much that he barely recognized the person he used to be, Haley James; the girl that had torn his heart out when she left him to go on tour with some soppy ballad writing punk that talked about himself in the third person.
Nathan threw his ball at the backboard again in frustration, why did she leave him? He tried his best to give her everything, he didn't go to High flyers so that she could pursue her dreams, and how does she repay him? By leaving him! And the fact that she kissed Chris before she left made him so angry he could barely breathe.
Nathan slammed the ball against the backboard once more, but didn't bother waiting for it to come back down, instead, he went over and sat in the bleachers and put his head in hands. Which is why he didn't hear the footsteps until they were right next to him.
"Hey Nate." A soft voice said timidly as the footsteps stopped.
Nathan looked up briefly and narrowed his eyes. "What do you want Brooke?" he said.
If she was, Brooke didn't seem disconcerted by his bluntness; she just sat down next to him. "I wanted to see how you were doing."
Nathan looked at the sincere look in her eyes and sighed. "Sorry, I'm just not really good company right now."
Brooke smiled slightly. "That's understandable." She said. "I just wanted you to know that if you ever needed to talk..." she trailed off.
Nathan took that in. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad to have someone to talk to. Peyton had he own troubles with Jake and he could barely tolerate how Lucas seemed to be taking over his stance in his old family structure, having someone else that wasn't so connected to the situation might be good.
"Thanks." He said finally. A small smile on his face.
"Anytime." Brooke said, her voice friendly, she placed her hand gently on Nathans shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze before getting up.
"Brooke?" Nathan said as Brooke started to walk away.
"Yeah?" Brooke asked, turning around to face him again.
"Did you know that she kissed Chris?" Nathan asked, his voice breaking slightly on Chris's name.
Brooke shook her head slightly. "Not until you did." She said, tilting her head to the side a little.
Nathan nodded. "Yeah, well she did. She told me nothing was going on... but she was out there kissing Chris." He said angrily.
"Nathan..." Brooke started, not sure what to say to that.
"I told her that if she left to go on tour, if she left with Chris that we were over." Nathan continued, his tone gone from the angry tone of the last sentence to just plain sad.
Brooke walked back over to the bleachers and sat down next to him again, still not sure what to say.
But before she could think of something, Nathan looked at her, his eyes full of pain.
"I didn't mean it Brooke!" He said. "But she left anyway."
The way that Nathan's voice broke on the last few words of his sentence broke Brooke's heart.
"I'm so sorry Nathan" She said, instinctively putting her arm around his shoulder.
Nathan leant into her, glad for the comfort, as she wrapped her other arm around his front.
Later that night Brooke was sitting in her room thinking about Nathan. She was glad that she was able to be there for him, they had always been friends because of his and Peyton's contently tremulous relationship, but not the kind of friends that sat down for huge deep and meaningfuls.
But then again, they had both changed a lot in the last few years, Brooke knew that Nathan thought that it was completely Haley that had changed him into a better guy, but in her opinion she thought he always had the potential to be one of the good guys.
Brooke was sick of guys that thought they could just walk all over her, guys that either lied to get in her bed, or lied to get in her heart. Brooke knew very well that Nathan used to be one of those guys that would lie to get in a girls bed, but she completely believed that he wasn't like that anymore, she had saw the broken look in his eyes and had almost felt like she was looking in a mirror when she was talking to him that afternoon.
Brooke sighed as she looked out her window onto the street that she knew that Felix was probably sitting outside on, hoping that she'd come out.
Going out with Felix had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she just couldn't stop thinking that he wasn't the right guy for her.
Brooke sighed and walked over to her dressing table where her campaign speech was sitting.
"You think you know me. But you don't." She said to her reflection. "Which means you don't know what I can do.
Brooke was walking through the hall when she saw Nathan sitting outside the principal's office, his bag on the floor and a beer in his hand.
"You know." She said as she got closer to him, "I may be wrong, but you're not actually allowed to drink alcohol at school."
Nathan got a small smile on his face when he saw it was her.
"I've got another if you want." He said, pulling a second beer out of his bag.
Brooke laughed. "Maybe another time." She said
Nathan smiled, but before he could say anything the door to the principal's office opened and he came out.
"Scott. You can come in now." He said sternly, holding the door open for Nathan.
Nathan smiled slightly at Brooke and got up.
"See ya later Brooke." He said before walking in the office,
Brooke stared sadly after him. "Yeah, later." She said softly.
Brooke was elated! She'd won the election and was now president. It was Friday already and Felix was away on a cruise and Peyton was busy with Jake so she hadn't celebrated much yet, but she was in a good mood anyway and when she saw Nathan walking towards her she instinctively smiled hugely. "Hey Nate, did you hear?"
Nathan smiled in spite of the fact he was in a really bad mood. "Yeah, well done Brooke." He said.
Brooke smiled back. "Thanks!" she said.
Nathan looked at her for a second and then something caught his eye that made him narrow his eyes.
Brooke turned to see what he was narrowing his eyes at and saw Felix heading towards them.
Nathan groaned. "You're not still dating this jerk are you Brooke?" He asked.
Brooke turned back to Nathan and frowned. "He's not really as bad as he seems." She said.
"Hey baby." Felix said as he got closer and wrapped his arms around Brooke's waist.
Brooke threw Nathan an apologetic look and turned around to face Felix. "How was your trip?" she asked.
"Terrible." Felix answered. "I spent the whole thing missing you."
Nathan rolled his eyes.
Felix looked up just in time and narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I got you a present Brooke" He said, holding up a small bag.
"Ooh give me!" Brooke cried, grabbing the bag and looking at the contents.
When she saw what was in there she glanced at Nathan and quickly closed the bag.
"What's wrong Brooke?" Felix asked, looking meaningfully at Nathan. "I thought you'd like Chris Keller's first single, you knew him didn't you?"
Nathan stared at Felix for a second before walking off in the other direction.
Brooke glared at Felix. "You're a jerk!" She exclaimed. She stuffed the CD and the bag against his chest and ran after Nathan.
Nathan stopped and turned around when he heard her calling after him. "Guys a jerk Brooke." He said.
"I know." Brooke said quietly. "He's an asshole for doing that. He's just... really protective."
Nathan scoffed. "What, he thinks he needs to protect you from me by being a jerk?"
Brooke sighed. "I don't know, it's like a defence mechanism. "
"It's only defence if I did something to him." Nathan replied angrily.
Brooke looked down. "I know, I'm sorry."
Nathan sighed. "It's not your fault." He said. "Look Brooke, I've got to go, but seriously. You could do a lot better than that jerk."
Brooke smiled sadly and nodded, watching Nathan walk away for the second time in two days.