Thanks for the reviews! They mean a lot to me. Lets see...if you haven't guessed, Nathan is going to be the way he was at the beginning of the show. I just loved him to death then. Lucas is going to be in the story a lot...you will see! Haley and Peyton will also make an appearance, Haley more so than Peyton. That's all for now! Enjoy. :)
Chapter Two: "Harder to Breathe"
"So, what do you think?" Her father asked as they walked towards the school. It was a lot smaller than her other school, but then again, her old school was in a much larger city than Tree Hill.
"It's nice." She said, simply, making her way towards the entrance. Once they were inside, Brooke waited for her father to guide her throughout the empty hallway. School had started about a half an hour ago, the students were sure to be all in their classrooms at the moment. As much as Brooke would have loved to make an entrance infront of a lot of people, this worked out just fine. She continued to follow her father until he stopped outside a small office at the end of the long hallway.
"You ready?" He asked her, placing his hand on the doorknob. "Yep." She said. "Okay." Her dad said in response, opening the door for her. Brooke walked into the room. She spotted a woman sitting behind a large desk.
"Can I help you?" The woman asked, taking off her glasses to get a better look at the girl infront of her. "Hi. My name's Brooke Davis...this is my first day here..." Brooke's words drifted off as the woman got up from her seat in search for something.
"I'm supposed to meet the principal?" Brooke asked in more of a question than a statement. She was confused by the woman's actions.
"Yes, yes." The woman said finally grabbing what appeared to be a file from underneath a clutter laying upon the desk. "Right this way." The woman said, walking towards a door with the principals name written on it. Before she followed her, Brooke turned her head to look back at her father. He smiled before waving goodbye. Her father had just wanted to take her to school so that she could get to the office without any complications. He had told her that Nathan would give her a ride home. She was not thrilled about this at all. From what she could tell, Nathan was an ass, and she wanted to distance herself as far away as possible from him. However, that wasn't an option now. Clearing her mind of her thoughts, Brooke walked into the office, ready to plaster on a fake, happy smile and impress those who needed to be impressed. One thing her mother had taught her early on: appearances are everything.
"Brooke." She heard the principal said in acknowledgement.
"Hi." She said simply before walking over to him and shaking his hand.
"Welcome to Tree Hill High." He said as he sat back down in his chair.
"Thank you." Brooke said, taking a seat in one of the chairs placed infront of his desk.
"Lets see...we have everything in order for you. Here is your class schedule." He handed her a white slip of paper with the order of her classes listed. Brooke read over the sheet making sure everything looked fine. "We have a student coming by to help you out throughout the day. She's going to show you the ropes, so you will be a Tree Hill veteran in no time!" He exclaimed.
'Oh, joy.' Brooke thought, before looking up from her schedule. "Sounds good. I do have a question though." The principal nodded in response, telling her to continue. "Cheerleading? I, um, I was a cheerleader back at my old school, the captain actually. I was wondering if there was any way I could be one here, or try out?"
"Yes, I saw that you were one through your transcipts. I'm sure that there should be no problem with you being one for us. We would love to have you." He said.
Brooke couldn't help but smile. She loved cheering. It was her passion. It was also the one thing that had knitted such a tight bond between her and her mother. "Great." Brooke said.
A light knock was heard from the other end of the door. Brooke turned around to face the door. The principal got up from his seat and walked over to the door, opening it slightly. "Is she here?" She heard him say. Brooke stood up.
"Alright, Brooke. Your escort is here." He said, leading her outside the small room. Brooke spotted a girl around her age standing before them. She had long blonde hair that was somewhat wavy. "Brooke, this is Haley." The principal said. "Haley James." Haley said as a matter of factly. "Brooke Davis." Brooke said, with a smile. "Alright, well, I will let you girls get on your way. Goodluck, Brooke. And welcome!" He shouted before closing his office door once again.
-----
"What you brings you here?" Haley asked her.
"Um, my mom died, so..." Before Brooke could finish Haley stopped dead in her tracks, making Brooke stop as well.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.." Brooke held her hand up to stop her.
"No, it's fine." Haley looked at her, not believing her. "Really." Brooke said, stressing the word with all she could. Haley nodded slowly before she began walking again.
"So, it's just you and your dad?" Haley asked, hoping she didn't sound too much like a nosey, little girl.
"Actually, it's me, my dad, his girlfriend, and her son. Her son goes here, actually." Brooke said, looking over at Haley once they stopped infront of a classroom.
"Oh yeah? Who's her son?" Haley asked before opening the door.
"Nathan Scott." Brooke stated simply.
Haley's mouth dropped slightly, "Nathan Scott!" Brooke sent her a confused look, as did the rest of the students inside the quiet classroom. Haley looked at the students all staring her. After what seemed like hours, she yelled, "Is the greatest basketball player...ever!" Finally, everyone turned their attention back to their studies, but Brooke was still staring at Haley like she was a crazy person. "Sorry." Haley whispered, "But, that boy is bad news." She added, walking over to the teacher's desk. "Wonderful. Not only is he an ass, he's the king of all asses." Brooke mumbled under her breath before following Haley over to the desk.
-----
It was lunchtime and Brooke was sitting with Haley at a random table in the lunchroom. Brooke looked around the large room, watching as kids walked in and out, sat and their designated tables, talking amongst themselves. She liked to observe people. She loved to just watch people interact with one another; this gave her a sense of how people really were...or atleast tried to be. "This food looks gross...as usual." She heard Haley say forcing her out of her trance.
"So...what exactly do you know about Nathan?" Brooke asked her before looking down at her own food.
"Don't you live with him?" Haley asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah..." Brooke said, hesitantely. "But, the first time I ever met him was last night...and you couldn't even call it a meeting." She said, looking up at Haley.
"Well," Haley began, leaning back in her chair, "He's...a jerk." Haley said before laughing slightly. Brooke laughed as well.
"I could tell that much." Brooke said.
"He uses girls. But, most girls don't care because he's Nathan Scott." Haley explained, making air quotes with her fingers. "Right now, he's dating, and by dating, I mean screwing, Rachel Gettina."
"Who's that?" Brooke asked, not having the slighest clue of who she was talking about.
"Her." Haley said, before pointing over to a table surrounded by preppy, popular looking girls. "She's the queen bee, head cheerleader, you know..." Haley added before pushing her food aside. "She's a bitch basically."
Brooke nodded. Apparently, Rachel could feel eyes on her and she turned to see Haley and Brooke looking her way. She gave Haley a slight nod in acknowledgement before rolling her eyes in Brooke's direction. Brooke shook her head and turned around. "She gave you the nod...she must not hate you." Brooke said.
"She only does that because I'm on the squad." Haley said. Brooke quirked an eyebrow. Haley was a cheerleader? She did not look like she fell into that category in the slighest.
"So, then why don't you eat with her?" Brooke asked.
"Because..." Haley said, searching for the right words. "...I don't like her." Brooke laughed. "Well, the principal said I could be on the squad. I used to cheer at my old school."
"Were you any good?" Haley asked.
"I guess." Brooke said, shrugging slightly, "I was the head cheerleader."
Haley nodded. "Oh, so you used to be the bitch?" She asked.
"Pretty much." Brooke said, the tone in her voice had a bit of laughter behind it. "But things change." She said, truthfully. Things for her had changed. Things made her feel weaker, they made her feel more vulnerable.
"Peyton!" Haley yelled. A taller, curly hair blonde walked over to the table.
"Hey." She said with a smile. She looked down at Brooke. "Who's this?" She asked.
"Peyton, this is Brooke. Brooke, Peyton." Peyton waved slightly, as Brooke smiled. "Nice to meet you."
"Brooke's going to be joining us on the squad, as well." Haley added.
Peyton sat down besides Brooke. "Oh, good! We need all the help we can with that one in charge." She said, looking over at Rachel.
The three were silent for a moment before Brooke spotted Nathan walk into the lunchroom. Right as he walked in, Rachel made her way over to him. "Are you coming over later?" She asked him in a low whisper.
He glanced over at her, "I'll think about it." And with that, he walked towards a group of guys sitting to the left of Rachel's table.
"Did you tell Brooke about Nathan, Hales?" Peyton asked, turning her attention back to their small group.
"Brooke knows about him. She lives with him." Haley said.
"What?" Peyton asked, her eyes widened at the comment.
"His mom's dating my dad." Brooke said, slowly trying to not feel like an idiot the way Peyton was looking at her. Brooke then shook her head. Just as Brooke was about to speak, Nathan walked past their table, staring dead at her. She couldn't read his features, but she knew he wasn't going to run up to her, hug her, and ask to be good friends. No, it was far from that. He didn't take his eyes from her own the entire time.
Once Nathan reached his destination, another table full of guys, Brooke looked over at Peyton and Haley. They were both staring at her. "What?" She asked.
Haley held her hands up in defense and Peyton just looked away.
"That was a little...intense." Peyton mumbled.
-----
"Do you have to take the bus home?" Haley asked Brooke as they walked outside the school after the final bell had rung. Brooke had to admit, this day was not what she expected. The school was so different from her last one. However, she was glad she had made a friend in Haley.
"No. I have to ride home with Nathan." Brooke replied. Haley laughed.
"Good luck with that." Haley said.
"Yeah, I just need to find his car first." Brooke said, looking around the parking lot. "
Black mustang...right there." Haley said, pointing to the left.
"Thanks." Brooke said, thankful that Haley had helped her so much throughout the day.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow...when we have to come back to this hell. Oh, and don't forget cheerleading practice tomorrow!" Haley shouted as she walked away.
Brooke laughed before shaking her head. Haley sure was something. She made her way over to Nathan's car. She received a few weird looks as she walked over to his car, but it didn't phase her. She had been stared at the whole day like she was an alien; she was used to it though.
-----
She paced back and forth around Nathan's car. She had been waiting for what seemed like hours. She had wanted to call her dad, but unfortunately she left her phone at the house that day. Brooke leaned her back against the car, glancing down at her watch. When she looked back up, she saw two figures walking towards the parking lot; a boy and a girl. As they walked closer, she could see that it was Nathan and Rachel. She fought the urge to roll her eyes at the sight. She could tell by Nathan's look that he was not happy to see her. What was his problem? He didn't even know her and yet he was acting as if she was his enemy. Rachel whispered something to Nathan and Brooke could only imagine the horrible things that were being said about her.
"What took you so long?" Brooke asked, fed up with this whole ordeal. Nathan just looked at her.
"I'll see you later, Nate." Rachel said, before capturing her lips with his own in a chaste kiss. "Call me." She said before winking at him and walking away.
Brooke wanted to gag, but she fought back the urge. She just wanted to go home...or atleast back to the house that was supposed to be her home. Nathan walked over to the driver's side and unlocked the car. He got in, tossing his backpack in the back of the car. "O-kay." Brooke said to herself outloud, before opening the door on the passenger's side and getting in. She slammed the door shut, making Nathan look her way. "Sorry." She mumbled quietly before putting her seatbelt on. She had no idea why she was apologizing, but she was. Nathan had that affect on a lot of people. Nathan then turned on the car, and backed out of the parking spot.
Throughout the entire ride home, complete silence filled the car. Nathan hadn't even turned on the radio, and Brooke was not about to do it herself. She would look at him out of the corner of her eye. He had a blank look on his face everytime she looked his way. She sighed heavily, not being able to take the silence anymore.
"Look, I get it, you don't like me. But, I didn't do a single thing wrong here. I don't even know you...you don't know me, and you're already judging me. How is that fair?" She asked him. She looked over at him.
Once again, he said nothing.
"It's not fair. At all. I know this whole situation is weird for you, but it is for me too..." She continued talking as Nathan turned into the driveway and parked the car. "So, maybe, I don't know..." Brooke placed her hand on the door handle and opened the door somewhat. "..Maybe you could atleast look at me like you don't completely hate me. And maybe you could atleast respond when I talk--" She was cut off as Nathan reached over, putting his hand on hers to stop her from getting out of the car and to stop her from talking.
"I don't talk because I don't want to. But you know what?" He asked making it so that his face was on inches from her own. He was speaking in an angry tone, and Brooke just listened, not knowing what else to do. "I'll work on it, if that means that you will be quiet for two seconds. Okay?"
"Yeah." Brooke whispered, not taking her eyes from his own. "Great." Nathan replied sarcastically. He took his hand from her own and moved away from her. He then got out of the car and walked towards the house. Once he was inside, Brooke laid her head back against the headrest as she tried to get her breathing back to a normal pace.
Hope you liked it! Please review! I know Nathan and Rachel are kind of random, but I really wanted to have Rachel in this story. Also, there will be a lot more NB in the next chapter. Sorry for just a little in this one, but I wanted to establish Brooke and Haley's friendship.
Also, I revised this for those who could not read it due to the fact that I did not space it out as much as I should. I apologize. Thank you to those who were nice and understanding about it, I appreciate it, and apologize once again. :)