I KNOW
Brooke Davis
"What am I gonna do ?" she whispered, unable to move.
Unlike her, Peyton had not turned into stone and ran around the shelf to see who had spied on them. Brooke turned her head and saw her friend watching her from the other side of the shelf, shaking her head in dismay. She snapped from her cataleptic state and walked to her friend's side, looking around them stealthily and realising there was indeed no one around them.
"What am I gonna do," she repeated glancing around her, "what am I..."
Peyton grabbed her by the shoulders and whispered in an unshaken voice, "Calm down Brooke. You're freaking out."
"I'm not freaking out."
"Yes you are."
Her voice did sound suddenly high-pitched. Brooke nodded silently, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"But somebody heard us.", she told Peyton.
"It doesn't mean they got it..."
"Unless that person is a complete idiot, I'm pretty sure he got that I'm not really dating Nathan," she retorted, taking a step back. "If he – "
"We have to get to class," Peyton interrupted her, "whoever it is that heard us, I don't think they'll say anything for now. We'll figure this out Brooke, I promise."
She trusted her, so much that Brooke could have trusted her with her life, but... This wasn't just about her, Nathan was involved too.
But Peyton was right, they had to go to their classroom and leave that matter for later. And maybe, maybe, whoever it was that had heard them had no idea what they were talking about. If only it could be true...
Nathan had asked her out two years ago, in January. She had been completely taken aback, for she had never really talked to him before that.
The only time they had talked was a few weeks before, around November. He had helped her out with two boys who had been way too clingy for a while. They were seniors and had literally harrassed her to get her to date one of them... probably both. She hadn't been very seduced by the idea and had in all logic told them she wasn't the least interested. Apparently they had not been satisfied by her answer and continued to try to change her mind. And one afternoon, while they had been trying for a gazillion time, one of the Ravens' newest players came to her help, telling them that if they did not disappear quickly they would have to deal with him. The first thing Brooke had thought was that he probably had a bad reputation, for the two seniors didn't think twice before running off. She had thanked him afterwards but had never seen him after that, only during basketball games since she was part of the cheerleaders.
Brooke had not immediately realised Nathan and the guy who had helped her out were the same person, but when she did, her interest suddenly awoke.
Despite Peyton's reluctance, she had decided to ask him why he was so desperate to go out with her when he didn't even know her. Her best friend kept telling her all he wanted was to put her in his bed and display her to his friends as his property, but Brooke knew that wasn't just it and she had been right. Nathan told her that he didn't really want to date her for real, he just needed a stand-in girlfriend to get rid of his own stubborn suitors. She didn't understand why he couldn't just tell them off and he explained that he had tried that before, but it had just made things worse. With a girlfriend next to him though, surely they would give up ?
That was when she realised he hadn't chosen her randomly; he knew she had the same problem and he had a way to help them both at the same time. He had also promised her their arrangement wouldn't last long, two weeks at the very most.
And yet two years later, they were still "together". Weeks had turned into months and when they realised they both were fine with that, months turned into years. With time, their relationship had evolved : at first, Brooke didn't trust him at all, but now things were completely different. They had learned to get to know each other and had slowly grown attached to each other, which was probably the main reason why their arrangement had never ceased. Brooke didn't want to date anyone for now, and neither did Nathan. It was all very simple : if either of them felt attracted to someone, anyone, they would put an end to their fake couple. But so far, it had never happened and so the two of them had stayed together.
She had come to care a lot for Nathan, way more than for a regular friend.
Lucas Scott
Lucas took a breath, grabbed the door handle and went in the teacher's lounge.
He had knocked on this very same door not so long ago, when he had wanted to meet with one of his teachers. He had never been into the room, an absolute sanctuary where students' presence was strictly forbidden. That might have been why he felt a little out of place when he went in.
He immediately pulled himself together, remembering he wasn't a kid anymore, he had to get used to being a teacher. Lucas looked around him : the room was quite spatious, filled with four – no, five round tables, a little fridge, some cupboards, a micro-wave... And of course, the essential coffee machine.
Three other teachers were already here, sitting around a table; for some reason, they had suddenly stopped speaking when he entered the room. Lucas thought at first it was out of courtesy but when he greeted them and received no response at all, he figured maybe it wasn't just that.
Mechanically, he went to the coffee maker and realised he had no idea how to use it. His last years spent without working at the café had apparently erased everything he had learned about those machines... So he turned to his colleagues to ask for their help, and once again was completely ignored.
Why were they giving him the cold shoulder ? He had never seen them before, he hadn't been their student so why would they be mad at him ?
He got pulled out of his thoughts by his cellphone, which started to vibrate frenetically. Who was calling this early in the morning ?
Well, Lindsay of course, who else could it be ?
He walked to the nearest corner of the room, making sure they wouldn't hear his conversation and answered the call.
"Finally !" Lindsay cried, tearing up his right eardrum. "I almost thought you were avoiding my calls."
"Why would I do that ?" he said half-amused.
"Because I want to know about your new book."
Which was a very good reason to avoid her.
"What book ?" Lucas asked, not remembering telling her about a new book even once.
"The one you were supposed to start writing three days ago, you know, when you came to see me ?"
Now he remembered; he had indeed been to New York right before coming back to Tree Hill, to meet Lindsay and give her the debrief she had asked. There, he did say something about getting back to writing as soon as possible.
"Listen Luke, I gave you the sabbatical year you wanted", Lindsay sighed, "my associates all said I was just doing a rookie mistake believing you, but I still decided to trust you. It's been a year now, and I need a text, do you get that ?"
"Yeah, I, hum – I'll get to it tonight, I swear."
She sighed heavily, obviously not buying it, "Just write something, please. Give me a draft, anything will be fine."
Except he didn't want to write just anything. That's what he had done for his two previous books and even if they had turned into bestsellers, he hated them and he hated that he had written them. He was not doing that again.
"I'll try," he said with little conviction.
"Thank you," she said with a smile, "and one more thing... When are you coming here ?"
"You mean New York ?" he asked with a frown. "Can't I just send you my drafts by email ?"
"I'm not talking about that, you dork. When are you coming to see me ?"
He gulped, having feared this conversation since the moment he had left New York.
"Actually, Linds", he said with embarrasment, "about what happened friday night – "
"You mean our night together ?"
"Yes, right. We were very drunk and I – "
"Oh please don't say it was just the alcohol talking. If we had sex, it's because we wanted to."
He couldn't refute that; yes, Lindsay was a very charming woman, seductive, funny... And yes, to some extent, he was physically attracted to her. But that was all there was to it, and he didn't want that kind of relationship, not anymore.
"I still think it was a mistake."
"Well then we disagree. Don't you think you should at least give us a chance ?"
"I'm staying in Tree Hill for a while", he sighed, "that's miles away from New York. It wouldn't work."
"Just think about it, alright ? You may change your mind. I have to go, I'll call you soon for the new book.
"You don't have to, I'll call you myse – "
Too late, she had already hung up. Lucas smiled, picturing her in her office, her desk drowning under piles of manuscripts yet to be read, a cup of coffee in one hand and a handful of nicotine patches plastered on her arms.
Lindsay tended to be quite hyperactive but was still an excellent editor, always anwering to the needs of her writers. However, she also knew what she wanted and when she had something in mind, it was better not to get in her way.
Once he hang up, Lucas didn't try to talk to those who kept ignoring him, and figured that maybe he had just come across some weird teachers. He sat at a table and took out his schedule. His first class was only in an hour but he had decided to come here early to go back over the last lessons of the teacher he was replacing, which she had emailed him a few weeks ago. All he had to do was to follow her instructions.
An hour later, Lucas entered his classroom in a state of nervousness never reached before that only got higher when he saw the room was already filled with his students. Once again he felt a bit unsettled, having trouble realizing he was not a student anymore and was supposed to teach these fifteen kids who were chatting loudly, apparently not noticing him. He suddenly remembered the teachers he had hated, all their tics and mannerisms, and promised himself not to copy them.
"Good morning everyone," he said with his loudest voice, hoping to silence them. It worked, and all the students who were still standing went to sit at their own desks.
So far, so good.
"Let me introduce myself," he said with a smile, "I'm Luke – Lucas. Scort. Scott. Lucas Scott."
At first it was only one student who started laughing, and then they were two, and soon enough, half of the students in front of him were laughing their heads' off while the other half was desperately trying to remain serious, most likely out of politeness.
Lucas tried to get their attention back, "I'll be replacing your literrature teacher..."
He stopped, aware that no one was listening to him. He had messed up his introduction, stuttered like an amateur and given them the opporunity to laugh at him for the rest of his days in this high school.
Well done, Luke, really well done...
He tried to talk again, but it was no use. He had completely lost them and soon they would be completely out of control and –
Lucas jumped up in fright, like the rest of the class, when he heard a loud crashing sound from the end of the room. Everyone became silent at once and turned around to stare at the young blonde girl who had fallen flat on her face, her chair knocked down on the ground next to her. Then, very quickly, his students started laughing again, but not at him this time. And during that second when no one was looking at him anymore, he tried to regain his composure as fast as he could.
"Oh come on," cried the girl sitting next to the clumsy blonde, " leave her alone !"
Looking exasperated, she helped her friend up before sitting back herself, while her classmates were gradually getting silent again.
That's when he recognised her; not the one who had fallen but her friend, the one who had basically told them all to shut up. It was Brooke. While every student was turning back to face him again, Lucas noticed that the blonde girl looked stunned and seemed to be mad at Brooke. He frowned a little, wondering how a student would fall off her chair for no reason at all, but quickly remembered his students were ready to listen. He had to catch their attention, preferably without making a fool of himself.
"I was asked to continue where Mrs Ogher stopped." he explained to them with a steady voice. "Can you remind me what work you're studying ?"
No one answered; he really thought this was all going to turn into a massive fiasco, until a rickety hand finally raised in the air.
"Bel Ami", the student said.
"Alright," he said with relief, "And who wrote it ?"
"Maupassant!" another student answered.
For the next ten minutes, he kept asking them simple short questions about the book. Everytime a student gave an answer, he would ask for their name and then try to remember it, a game they seemed to enjoy. Thankfully, they were all very active and for the most part even seemed interested. Well, all of them apart from one particular student, who had still not spoken once.
"And who is his most regular mistress ? Brooke ?" he called before anyone could answer.
She didn't move an inch, and when he looked at her more carefully, saw that she wasn't listening at all, she was scribbling things down on her paper sheet. Her blonde friend, whom he recalled was Peyton, gave her a slight nudge that was propably supposed to stay discreet but ended up startling Brooke.
"Yes ?" she said, making her classmates laugh again.
"Duroy's mistress, what's her name ?"
"Hum... I don't remember." Brooke replied with an awkward shrug.
He felt a bit caught off-guard and wondered if she was just kidding or not. If she really didn't know... Wait, that was impossible, her name appeared more than a hundred times in the novel, no way she could have forgotten it.
"Anyone else ?"
"Clotilde."
He watched out for Brooke's reaction, but she didn't seem to care and kept looking down on her desk.
"Alright, I think this brainstorming session is over now. We still have... Forty minutes left, so I'm gonna ask you to write a short text. An essay, a poem, a critic – anything you want, as longs as it has something to do with Bel Ami."
"What do you mean by something to do with it ?" Peyton asked him with a confused look.
"Well," he said while leaning back on the board behind him, "it can be a place featured in the book, like Paris. Or a particular character that marked you, one of the book's themes, the author himself. Anything you want. Don't hesitate to speak out your mind, I won't mark your papers, I just want to know what inspires you in that book." he said with an encouraging smile.
Though they didn't look very thrilled at first, they eventually all wrote something down, up to three pages for some. At the end of the class, each student left their copy right before leaving the room; that's when he noticed that Brooke seemed in a hurry, for she almost threw her paper on his desk before rushing away.
Nathan Scott
When his class finally ended, Nathan left his classroom and let out a long sigh. He wasn't a bad student, he could even get good grades when he wanted to; the thing was, he didn't like school. Sitting down for hours at a desk to write down things he didn't care about wasn't his favorite activity. But everyone had to go through it, so he couldn't object to it. He still felt a surge of freedom everytime he left a classroom.
In the main hall, he saw a few of his team-mates who reminded him of the meeting they had with the coach, this evening at 5 pm sharp. How could he forget about it, he was the captain after all.
Once he had taken the books he needed from his locker, he automatically went to Brooke's. He had not seen her or Peyton this morning, which was quite unusual. Getting closer to her locker, he saw that she was with Peyton and that they looked like they were fighting; at least Peyton seemed to be very pissed and Brooke very troubled.
"How many times to you want me to apologize ?" Brooke asked, rolling her eyes.
"I just want to know why you did it," Peyton said back with her arms crossed, before noticing him, "ah! There you are ! You won't believe what you girlfriend did to me."
He held back a laugh and went to stand behind Brooke. She turned her head and smiled when she saw him. He kissed her cheek and slid his arm around her waist.
The great thing about the fact they had been pretending to date for a long time was that they didn't have to make out everytime they were in public to convince their friends they were really goint out together. Well, to be fair, kissing her had not been a problem at the beginning of their relationship, but now it just made him uncomfortable, so he'd rather avoid that as much as possible.
Anyway, it had been a while since they had done anything more than holding hands or hugging, and no ne was suspecting a thing.
His idea of pretending to be in a relationship with her had seemed so absurd at first that he thought maybe it would actually work. Of course Brooke didn't want to at first, but she had come to him to know why he wanted to be with her, and when she understood they would both benefit from their deal, she agreed to it.
"She pushed me to the floor, right in the middle of class." Peyton said, outraged.
"What ?" said Nathan, raising an eyebrow, "Why did you do that ?"
"That's a very good question ! Why, Brooke ?"
"Hum – It wasn't on purpose."
She sounded strangely nervous, her eyes stealthily going from Peyton to him.
"Fine," Peyton said with a smile, "I'll forget about it if you cook dinner tonight."
Brooke smiled immediately, looking relieved, "Deal. Well, my father will be doing the cooking, but that's pretty much the same, right ? You can come too if you want." she added to Nathan.
"Thanks," he said with a smile, "but I don't want to bother your dad."
"You won't, he adores you."
"I think what he means," Peyton said with a frown, "is that I bother him, right ?"
"Yeah, sure, " he sighed, slightly shaking his head, "Now that you mention it, you do – "
"Oh for god's sake" Broke cried with a stern look, "can you two stop fighting for one minute ?"
Peyton gave him the same amused look he had. While it was true that they often fought, Nathan had to admit that most of the time, they did so just to annoy Brooke.
"I didn't see you this morning," he said to change the subject, "where were you ?"
He noticed Brooke suddenly tensed, and when he looked at her more closely, saw that she looked quite nervous all of a sudden.
"We went to the library", Peyton said, " and then we were going to be late so we went straight to class."
"Right.", Brooke added with a faint voice.
From her reaction, it was obvious they were hiding something from him, but he knew them very well : if it was all they were willing to say for now, he wouldn't get anything else from them.
A minute later, the three of them were walking towards their next class. Brooke was babbling on about a dress her father had bought her for her birthday.
"She's so pretty !" she said with shiny eyes, "I don't know how he knew which one to buy – "
" Good question Brooke," her friend replied, refraining a laugh, "maybe it's because you accidentally left a page of the magasine where you found it, in your dad's office ? After circling it with a red marker of course."
Nathan laughed loudly, and quickly stopped when he saw the scowl on Brooke's face.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said with an innocent look, "is it really my fault if –" she stopped speaking suddenly, turning to him, "What's wrong ?"
She had probably felt his arm tighten around her hip, and from the worried look on her face had noticed he had tensed up. He slightly shook his head and simply averted his eyes.
Lucas was here, a few meters in front of them, walking in their direction. They were going to cross ways but if he ignored him, Lucas wouldn't say anything and –
"Hi Nathan."
Seriously ? His half-brother was really a complete moron. Instead of walking past them silently, he chose to slow down when he reached them, flashing him with what he guessed was supposed to be a friendly smile. Nathan wasn't dumb though, and he was not falling into his trap.
He just couln't stand him, it's like it was in his blood to hate him. He didn't get why everyone else idolized him so much. All he had done was write a book about himself, nothing else ! Nathan could have done the same !
But he wasn't blind, this admiration he got from everyone had started a long time ago, way before he had started writing books. He had been pitied so much when Dan abandoned him and ever since then, every single person in Tree Hill had pampered him. Well, maybe he was amplifying things a bit, but sometimes, when he heard his teachers speak of Lucas, they seriously sounded as if he had completely brainwashed them.
He sped up, dragging the girls away with him, and whispered to his half-brother, "Don't ever talk to me again."
Brooke kept staring at him, visibly surprised by his reaction, and glanced over her shoulder at her teacher.
"You don't have to be like that." she then told him, shaking her head in disagreement.
"That was really childish from you," Peyton added in the same tone.
"Believe me," he told them, cut to the quick, "this is the most mature reaction I've ever had with him."
Peyton Sawyer
"At least we haven't heard anything about it." Brooke, who was sitting opposite her, told her in a hushed tone.
"There's no need to whisper Brooke." she told her with a smile.
They had isolated themselves from their usual cheerleading lunch table for a reason, after all.
"And it's alright", she added, "I doubt my fall will be today's gossip, I'm not that popular."
"I wasn't talking about that, and again I'm really sorry for doing that but I just wanted to help Lucas. He looked so nervous and everyone was making fun of him – "
"And you couldn't think of anything else to distract them ?" she asked, feigning annoyance.
Brooke looked at her with a sheepish look on her face, "I just did the first thing that came to my mind..."
"It's fine, really," she said with a shrug, "and I get why you didn't want to tell Nathan. I didn't think he was that pissed against his brother !"
Brooke shrugged, "Me neither. We should talk to him about it. But anyway, back to what I was saying, we still haven't heard of a rumour about a fake couple..."
Peyton sighed and nodded silently. If the one who had heard them talk was a gossip, everyone in their school would have already known about Brooke and Nathan, but they hadn't heard anything about that... yet.
"We do agree we shouldn't tell Nathan anything for now ?"
Peyton nodded again, "He looks busy enough with his brother."
"But still, we should find out who it is. I could investigate."
She chuckled, the image of Brooke dressed as Sherlock Holmes coming to her mind.
"I can do it !" Brooke cried, trying to be convincing, "Maybe if I ask the librarian – "
"It was a movie shelf." she cut her off. Brooke raised an eyebrow in confused way, "He or she was in the video library. It's a start."
"It's not really – "
"It is." Peyton insisted, "Let me take care of that, and you go talk to Nathan about his attitude with his brother."
Brooke winced; it was true that she had not left her with the most pleasant task, but she was dead set on finding out whose wandering ears had her friend so worried.
Brooke was more than just a friend, she was her only family. Well, technically she still had her father too, but she could only meet him once a year, if she was lucky. The rest of the year, he kept travelling from one military base to another. Brooke, on the other hand, had never left; she and her father, Ted, had watched over her even since she was a kid, when her mother died. Her father trusted them, since he had been neighbors with Ted for a while.
Even though she was old enough to live on her own, Peyton still went to the Davis's whenever she was invited. Their house had become her second home.
That's why she was not letting this go. She would track down that little rascal and convince him to keep quiet.
When they were done with their lunch, Brooke and her went out of the cafeteria; while they were walking down the main hall to get to their lockers she noticed a student on their right, leaning on the wall. They walked past him and heard him call her name after a few steps. They turned around at the same time, and the boy was now right in front of them, looking at them with a hint of a smile.
"Can we talk ? It won't take long."
"And who are you ?" Brooke asked immediately with a frown, "How about introducing yourself first ?"
Peyton gave her a nudge and when her friend turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised, she slightly shook her head.
"What ?" Brooke told her, apparently not understanding her signals.
"He's been with us in maths since our first year, and in PE." she whispered to her, though she knew he could hear everything.
"Oh." Brooke said, blushing a bit, "Sorry about that, hum... What's your –"
"Julian." she said before he could answer, "Baker, right ?"
He nodded silently. Unlike Brooke, Peyton had always been good at memorizing people's names.
"So, can I talk to you ?" he asked her again, staring at her.
"Sure." she said with a shrug.
After telling Brooke they would meet at the end of the afternoon, Peyton followed him, unaware of where he was taking her. She quickly realised he was just looking for a quiet spot. He eventually stopped in another hall and leaned against the wall, just like when he had waited for her.
"I know."
He didn't say anything else and Peyton didn't need him to.
"Why were spying on us ?" she asked with a frown.
He shook his head and said with a shrug, "I wasn't, I just happened to be there."
Peyton silently scanned him and remembered what her father had told her a long time ago, when she was just a kid. According to him, by calmly observing a person, one could easily judge their level of dangerousness.
However, deciphering Julian seemed much more complicated than that.
"So ? What do you want ?" she asked him dryly.
"I need a favor."
"And why are you telling me this ? Why not Brooke ?"
He shrugged at her in such an offhand way that she suddenly felt the surge to punch him in the face.
"It's because I need you, not her."
Brooke Davis
"I'm coming !" she yelled after hearing Karen call her name for a second time.
She left the kitchen in a hurry, where she had been chatting with Deb, and grabbed the tray that was resting on the counter, where Karen had been sitting all along, checking her bills.
"Check for table three", her boss told her with her usual warm smile.
Karen could smile in almost all circumstances. It wasn't out of sheer politeness, but because she was genuinely delighted most of the time. And tonight, she had been on cloud nine the whole evening. Brooke figured it probably had something to do with her son being back in town.
Once she got the money from table three, she went back to the register et gave it to Karen, keeping her tip in her apron.
"So how was your day at school ?" Karen asked her.
Brooke sat on a stool, opposite her boss, "It was alright."
"Really ?" Karen asked, looking up at her, "You seem a little off-colour today."
She looked away, avoiding Karen's insistent look. Not that with a single glance, she could guess that Brooke had been lying about going out with Nathan all this time, and that some stranger had discovered it this morning, but still, she prefered to be careful around Karen.
"No, really, I'm fine."she insisted with a polite smile.
"Good. And Lucas, did you see him today ?"
"Yes, this morning. Actually I think we were his first class, he looked really edgy."
"Did it go wrong ?" she immediately asked, worried.
"No, he did great for a first class, everyone was thrilled." she said, making Karen look more relieved.
"Thank you."
Of course Karen had not thanked her, why would she ? Brooke turned around to see Lucas standing right behind her and grinning at her.
"No need to thank me," she said while he sat next to her.
"But didn't you help me this morning ?"
Without apparent reason, Brooke turned red. She had thought for sure he hadn't noticed anything about the chair incident.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." she murmured.
"Neither do I," Karen told them with a lost look on her face, "Did it go well or not ?" she asked her son.
"Everything went fine, I'll tell you all about it at home. I was just swinging by to thank Brooke."
Karen gave her a quizzical look, to which she simply shrugged.
"Well, I guess miss Sawyer is exceptionally clumsy then." he said with amusement.
She held back a smile, "Your words, sir."
"Oh please don't call me that," he said with a wince, "at least not when we're out of school. It makes me feel like I'm twenty years older."
Karen gave him a sarcastic laugh, "Believe me, you never get used to it."
"That's because you've always stayed young mom."
"Yeah, right.", she said, rolling her eyes, before turning to Brooke, "He is right though, you don't have to be so formal with him here, and you're like family anyway."
Brooked lowered her eyes a little, feeling that she was blushing again. She liked that Karen thought of her as family, and she liked when she treated her as her own daughter. If Brooke could have chosen her mother, Karen would have definitely been her first choice.
"Alright," she said to Lucas before turning to her boss, "Can I leave a little early tonight ? I'm supposed to cook, my father's coming home late and Peyton is expecting a feast..."
"Of course, after all the extra hours you did yesterday it's the least I can give you. Are you walking back home ?"
"Yeah, why ?"
It was her usual routine, the café was only twenty minutes from her house.
"Lucas could drop you off ?" she asked, glancing at him at the same time.
"Sure." he said with a shrug.
"Hum... Fine, but I was gonna stay another thirty minutes, is that alright with you, si– Lucas ?"
"I can wait."
She thanked him with a smile. He then looked around the room, as if searching for someone.
"Do the other teachers come here sometimes ?" he asked them both.
Brooke thought about it, "Not really, no. Sometimes during the weekend. Why do you ask ?"
"I thought maybe I could meet some here."
"Hum... Can't you meet them, I don't know, at school ?" she said with amusement.
Mother and son both chuckled, before he explained, choosing his words with care, "Those I met at school weren't very... friendly."
"What do you mean ?" Karen asked, frowning.
"Well they completely ignored me. But I only saw three of them this morning and then I avoided going back to the teacher's lounge."
"Do you know them ?"
"No, I've never even met them. That's why, I have no idea why – "
"Maybe they're jealous.", Brooke said quietly.
Lucas and his mother turned to her at the same time, encouraging her to keep talking.
"I mean... You're not really a teacher, right ? You may have studied litterature in college, you don't have an official degree that gives you the right to teach in a high school, so I think they're angry that you were hired here, when you're actually a writer."
"It makes sense," Karen said, deep in thoughts, "they must think this is unfair."
"So what am I supposed to do ? Lay low for the next four months ?" he asked them in dismay.
Karen had visibly no solution for him, and neither did Brooke; this time, pushing someone from their chair would not be of any help.
Nathan Scott
Walking down the street with four of his friends, Nathan was going towards Karen's café. He had parked his car a few streets away from it, unable to find a nearer spot.
Usually he didn't go to the café this late, but the coach had held them back longer than expected and had lectured them after their disastrous first season. He had also promised them to be merciless for the weeks to come, and according to him they were going to weep buckets after every training session. Tim had asked what size these buckets would be, to which Whitey barked at him to run ten times around the court.
When they were finally free to go, Nathan decided to still go to the café to take Brooke home. She usually went home on her own, stating that there was nothing to fear in Tree Hill.
But even if they were in Tree Hill, a girl who looked like Brooke, walking home on her own and through every back alley there was to get home sooner, gone 8pm, wasn't entirely safe. He had once offered her a tiny tear gas, to which she had laughed and said she would probably end up hurting herself when trying to use it.
She was so headstrong, that most of time he wouldn't insist on accompanying her back home, but seeing how it was already so late, he figured she would give in tonight.
A few meters before the entrance of the café, he slowed down, making out two familiar figures coming out in the dark. From a distance, he could see Brooke getting in a man's car, an expensive german car that hinted to its' owner relative wealth.
"Is that Brooke ?" Tim asked, looking behind him to see that Nathan had frozen a few steps behind them.
He kept watching the car until it started and drove away in the darkness.
"Who was with her ?"
"No one." Nathan said coldly, turning around to get back to his own car.
"Wait a minute," said one of his team-mates, "that was the new teacher, the lit – "
"I'm telling you, it's no one !" he yelled at them, clenching his fists, "I'm going home."
His friends were smart enough not to follow him.
So many thoughts were running through his mind, but they were all pointing in the same direction : Brooke had sympathised with Lucas, enough to accept that he dropped her off, when he had to move heaven and earth to convince her.
Right before he reached his car, he crashed head down into a girl. She lost her balance and fell on the ground ; it took him a few seconds to snap out of it and immediately held out his hand to help her. She refused to look up at him though, surely embarassed, and apologized profusely before running away at lightening speed.
He was about to get in his car, when something shiny on the ground caught his floor; he crouched down and picked up the object, bringing it to the street light. It was a silver charm bracelet, shaped in musical notes. It must have been hers... He turned around swiftly, looking for her, but she was already gone. Letting out a sigh, he put it in his pocket and got in his car.
The image of Brooke and Lucas together flashed again through his mind, making his blood boil. He started the engine and drove back home, resolved not to let him approach Brooke anymore.
That's it for chapter two !
Thank you so very much for your reviews, it's like fuel for when I'm translating my chapters ! I hope you've enjoyed this one, next chapter should be uploaded in about 5-7 days !
Juste un petit mot en français pour ceux/celles qui m'ont laissé un commentaire, merci merci merci, ça fait super plaisir de voir que certaines personnes se souviennent de cette histoire que j'ai pourtant commencé il y a deux ou trois ans ! Pour ceux que ça intéresse, étant donné que j'ai retrouvé ma motivation et surtout du temps pour écrire, je vais reposter mes autres histoires en français à partir de la semaine prochaine.
PS Un grand merci à Manon, si je me souviens bien tu m'as laissé beaucoup de commentaires sur mes anciennes histoires et ça m'a fait vraiment plaisir de voir ton nom à nouveau :)