A/N:Sorry it's been so long since an update! I kind of forgot this story excited! So hopefully new updates soon on all my stories:) Thanks!

In Trouble & Causing It

There was a part of Lucas Scott who wondered why he had turned out exactly the way he had turned out. Why he wasn't exactly like his brother Nathan, who cared about no one other than himself, and saw only the beer in front of him, instead of his impending future. Lucas wondered why he read Shakespeare, and not Maxim, and why he accepted Hailey as his future bride, instead of Nathan who accepted Taylor as his fuck-buddy.

Today he wondered these things as he drove himself to school, mildly hung over from the previous night where he seemed to remember making out with a girl… but for the life of him he could not remember who she was. She seemed familiar, and she was topless at the time. He remembered Nathan getting him completely hammered and then he remembered this girl coming on to him.

Then it hit him.

"Shit," he said aloud, shaking his head, suddenly not feeling so different from his brother, "It was Taylor."

Haley stepped out of her beige Denali SUV, her cork-bottomed wedges hit the pavement and she swung her pink and white oversized Kate Spade bag that matched her outfit, over her shoulder. Hitting the lock button on her keychain the car beeped twice, flashed its lights and fell silent. She walked with a certain confidence about her. Noting that she didn't care what people thought about her preppiness. Some people mistook this confidence for snobiness, and was therefore referred to in smaller circles as variations of the word bitch. Haley didn't care… that much. She held her head high, because the higher it was the more she could pretend she didn't hear the whispering and the swear words. Today she couldn't pretend not to hear one comment though. It came from within a tightly enclosed circle of jocks, and when Haley looked she wasn't even remotely surprised to see it coming from the one person she despised most at her school, Nathan too-good-for-the-world Scott.

"Haley," he had called, "What the hells shoved so far up your ass that makes you walk like that?" he laughed, and naturally people joined in. She turned to him, her cheeks flaring instantly.

"Nathan Scott," she said, her words as sharp as knives, "I may seem anal to you, but at least I'm not a man-whore. You sleep with so many girls, I bet you're middle names Chlamydia." Some of Nathan's friends laughed on Haley's behalf saying things like "Woahhh" and "Ouch." Haley turned to keep walking.

"Not that you would know, right Haley? Tree Hill's own little virgin saint. Saving yourself for my brother, eh? Too bad your sister got to him first." Another chorus of "ouchs" from the surrounding students. Little battles like this between Haley and Nathan were extremely common. They hated each other, it was a well known fact. This time Haley had nothing to say, nothing she wanted to say aloud anyway, and walked briskly to first period, a full fifteen minutes early.

"You know it's true," Nathan called again, "Guess your fairytale life isn't so perfect, is it?" She didn't reply, slamming the front school door behind her.

Nathan shrugged his shoulders at his friends.

The final bell rang to signal the start of first period, and as usual Brooke Davis was no where near ready to leave for her class, much less already be seated in it. She finished her long winded chat with her close friend Bevin, and moseyed off to her locker where she spent another ten minutes getting her books, fixing her hair and applying three coats of her favourite shimmer strawberry lip-gloss. Lazily and with a yawn, she finally mustered enough courage to wander to English Lit. She opened the door, and slid through it just as her teacher, the notoriously evil Mr. Barber, finished up a lecture. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, preparing for the lash for being late.

"Ms. Davis, you decided to honour us with your prescence this morning? How lovely… it seems you're a full twenty-five minutes late and have already missed the key lecture of the class. You are therefore unable to complete today's assignment, and are therefore missing a required part of the course. In turn you are looking at a failing grade, and if I can presume correctly, I'm guessing this isn't the only class you're failing. In other words Ms. Davis, because of your tardy habits, and your love for gossiping, you are, in essence on the edge of failing. If I was you, I would not only get to class on time," he said with an harsh glare, "but step up your grade. If I don't see an improvement by the end of this week, I'm referring to the principal that you attend summer school." Brooke sighed, rolled her eyes and took her seat at the very back of the class. Bull if he actually thought Brooke Davis would do school in the summer. She pulled out her iPod very prepared to drone out Mr. Barber and her homework for the rest of the day.

"Oh yes, and Ms. Davis?" Mr. Barber inquired. Brooke narrowed her eyes and pulled the white headphone from her ear.

"What?"

"You owe me the amount of minutes you were late . That's twenty-five minutes, plus interest. So be prepared for a half-hour detention after school." Brooke sighed again, wondering why on earth she had even shown up to school today. She glanced at the girl next to her furiously working on the lengthy assignment. She shrugged, Mr. Barber was right, she missed the lecture, no need for the assignment. Leaning her chair on the wall and relaxing in it, she drowned out the world with a six-minute club remix of "This is Why I'm Hot."

As the bell rang for lunch, Haley walked out of her Physics class wearing a smile after learning she had achieved the highest mark on the midterm. Without noticing she accidentally ran headfirst into Lucas. She looked up at him, and he looked up at her.

"Hey," she said, tucking a piece of auburn hair behind her ear. She wondered why this was so awkward, they were best friends. She knew that Lucas would never sleep with her sister… would he? Was it a rumour, or wasn't it? He was acting strange, almost nervous.

"Hey," he replied… "Umm, what's new?" Haley raised an eyebrow, and started walking to her locker. Lucas walked beside her.

"Are we still going for lunch?" Haley asked. Usually on Fridays they went for lunch at Deb's Diner, which was conveniently down the road.

"Uh, sure.. If you want…" he said evasively. Haley sighed, and turned to him.

"Did you sleep with my sister?" she asked. Might as well be blunt, the world was sick of small talk. His eyes went wide.

"Sleep with her?" he said shocked. Haley nodded, "No, of course!" he replied, "I didn't sleep with her… but I think, well, I think I might've kissed her.. Maybe. I was really drunk… one of Nathan's stupid ideas…" Lucas said, dragging out the truth.

"Why do you listen to him!?" Haley asked frustrated, picking up the pace.

"He's my brother," Lucas replied, as if it was obvious.

"So?" Haley asked sharply, "He's a jackass. You know that." Lucas sighed.

"Yeah well… sometimes we do stupid things. I was just having a weak moment. Haley look, I'm sorry…" She shrugged, picking up the pace.

"It's fine," she said bluntly, leaving Lucas behind. Lucas exhaled deeply, and shut his eyes, leaning against a nearby locker.

"Yeah… right," he muttered, turning the opposite way. Haley was his best friend, and now maybe he ruined that.

The final bell rang, signalling that school was over not only for the day but for the week. Freedom for everyone.. Except Brooke of course who wandered to her English Lit class to spend half a dreaded hour with the one teacher she despised the most. Many of her friends tried to stop her on her way to the classroom, weekend plans, upcoming parties, updated gossip, but Brooke was determined not to be late. Her attitude a lot of the time was that she just didn't care, but she knew that if she was late again, she'd be here till Monday. Scooting through the door in her thigh-high Chanel boots, she makes it to her seat just past 3:05. Mr. Barber enters the room not a few seconds later and actually looks surprised to see her here on time.

"Ms. Davis, what a pleasure. Now please hand over your iPod, cell phone, and any other things of interest. I wouldn't want you having a good time while you're here." Brooke groans, shoving them into his greasy hand. She sighs and leans back in her chair, attempting to count the number of bumps on the ceiling as a way to pass the time.

Some time later after losing count about one trillion times she made it all the way up to 212, when she was distracted by the door opening. She immediately forgets the number as she sees Lucas Scott walk in. Brooke knew him… sort of. His brother Nathan was the star of the basketball team, Luke had tried out too.. But Nathan, being macho as he was, dubbed basketball "his" thing. Lucas didn't make the team. Brooke raised her eyebrows, maybe it was because there were no other boys in the room to distract her, but Lucas looked hot. Hotter than she remembered. He had a buff sculpted upper body, and mussed blonde hair that fell so cutely over his forehead, almost blocking the way of his milky eyes. He looked at her, clearly surprised to find anyone else in the room. He quickly looked away.

That's weird, Brooke thought to herself, Boys never look away from me. Especially cute boys.

"Ahh, my star pupil, Lucas Scott!" Mr. Barber announced. Lucas looked slightly embarrassed. Brooke wondered why. Was he ashamed to look smart in front of a cheerleader?

"Hey, Mr. Barber." He said nervously. Mr. Barber glanced from Luke's nervousness to Brooke.

"Ahh, don't worry about Ms. Davis, she's just here to be bored out of her skull, she won't pay any attention to us." Brooke rolled her eyes. "So, questions? Comments? How's the latest chapter coming?" Lucas pulled out a thick manila folder from his book bag.

"Done the last chapter. Umm…" he glanced at Brooke, "I'll just leave it with you for the weekend." Mr. Barber raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" Luke nodded, and quickly made his way out the door. Brooke Davis was one of the most beautiful, popular girls in school. Every guy he knew had liked her at some point or another, and he had to admit, there was a fire to her, that many girls were lacking. She barely knew him, but he had watched her habits for some time. Always a secret admirer.

"Ms. Davis, since you arrived on time, and have been quiet the entire time, you may leave as well." Mr. Barber announced. Brooke grinned, stuffing her crap in her bag so fast it was incredible. She was in such a rush she forgot to ask for her cell phone and her iPod back. Brooke Davis was anything but subtle and she had a curiosity in her stronger than anyone else she knew.

"Lucas!" she called down the hallway. He was only ten feet in front of her. He stopped and turned around to face her, confused as to why she was talking to him. She caught up with him. Curiosity kills the cat, they saw, or at least the cheerleader.

"What was that thing you gave him?"

"What thing?" Luke asked pretending not to know what she was talking about.

"The folder. Are you writing a book, or something?" His tall frame, shrunk slightly. Nobody but him and his favourite English teacher were supposed to know.

"Yeah… maybe… well… why do you care?" Brooke shrugged, raising an eyebrow in a flirty fashion. God, he was hot.

"I've always had this thing for writers. Do you hang out at Starbucks, and write poetry?" she asked hopeful to fulfill one of her fantasies. He smiled.

"No. Not usually." A playful grin flashed over her face.

"Too bad, I gotta thing for boys who write poetry." Or all boys really, she thought. Lucas smiled, looking up at her. "You should write me something. Show me whatcha got," she said with a little wink. Lucas smiled again.

"Maybe I already have," he told her, mustering up his flirting skills, "Maybe you're in my book already." This time Brooke just raised an eyebrow and watched a smiling Lucas walk away.

"See ya Brooke Davis," he called back. Brooke watched him walk away, completely intrigued. She bit the corner of her cheek, when it occurred to her that she had forgotten her cell phone and iPod in class. She hustled back to the classroom, but found it empty. Her cell was laying on the desk…. Right next to the manila folder that contained Lucas's book. Was she really in it? Looking behind her shoulder in both directions, making sure that Mr. Barber was not in the room, she swiped her cell phone, and the folder and in one quick motion swept it all into her oversized bag.

School had been over for a while by the time Haley made it out to her car. Her Kate Spade bag felt heavy on her shoulder, overfilled with textbooks and folders, containing all the materials for the various clubs she belonged to. Yearbook, Grad Council, Leadership, Haley did it all. She beeped her Denali opened and tossed her bags in the back seat, eager to relieve herself of the weight on her shoulder. She climbed into the drivers seat, slid the key into the ignition and turned… nothing. She tried again… nothing.

"Fuck." Haley moaned. "Dead battery." She thumped her head on the steering wheel in frustration, and tried once more, dead. She had no jumper cables, and even if she did would have no idea how to use them. She was about to call her father when there was a knock on the window. She jumped and looked. She jumped again when she saw that Nathan Scott was the one knocking on the window. Unable to roll down the electric windows with a dead battery, Haley opened the door and got out.

"Car trouble?" he asked. She glared at him.

"Maybe, but why would you care?" He exhaled sharply.

"Fine, you know what? Whatever, I was going to help you out, but clearly no help will be appreciated here." He turned to walk away. Haley bit her tongue.

"Nathan.. Wait….. Look I'm sorry… I could really use the help," she said helplessly. Nathan turned. Without saying a word, he got some cables out of the backseat of his luxury crew cab, and hooked them up to Haley's Denali.

"You seem pretty good at this," Haley commented, straining herself for something nice to say. Nathan glanced at her. He paused, smiled, and looked up at her with funny expression.

"Does it pain you that much to compliment me?" he asked. Haley couldn't help but smile. She said nothing, but Nathan took it for a yes. He finished hooking up the cables and got behind the wheel of his truck. He turned over the engine, and asked Haley to do the same. Her Denali started with a purr.

"There you go," Nathan said, coming over to unhook his handiwork. Haley got out and leaned against her truck, crossing her arms.

"Thank you," she told him, "That was surprisingly nice." Nathan nodded.

"Don't mention it," he said making a move to leave. Guilt plagued Haley somewhere deep inside.

"Nathan, wait," she said. He stopped.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier." He turned to her.

"I doubt that. There's nothing you love more than making me look like that failure I am." Haley was offended.

"Well it's not like your perfectly innocent in all of this… you love making me look like a stuck-up bitch, admit it." Nathan smiled.

"Maybe just a little." A mutual peace had come between them, both for once accepting what they had done. A sort of calm. Haley was appreciative for his sudden random act of kindness and Nathan was starting to realize maybe she wasn't as perfect as she tried to act to be.. And he kind of found her more tolerable because of it. Maybe almost…. Cute?

"We'll I'll see you," Haley said climbing into her Denali. He waved. Haley liked the way he waved, he had a little half smile that went along with it that was maybe…. Almost…..cute?