"Mom?" She called out, using the word hesitantly. She let the door fall shut behind her. "I got a call from your lawyer... He said you wanted me to come home..."

Ted and Victoria sat side by side in the living room, their expressions unreadable. Three suitcases sat by the front door.

She already knew what was happening.

"Hello, Brooke." Victoria greeted, her tone cold. "Please. Come. Sit."

Brooke shook her head, warily glancing around the room. "No... Let's just get this over with... Please."

"Very well." Ted coughed awkwardly. "Well... Brooke, as you know, you are not really our daughter, or our niece for that matter... We don't really have any legal responsibilities to you."

His wife nodded. "The housekeeper took the liberty of packing your clothes, but if there's anything else up in your... In the spare bedroom, then please, feel free to run upstairs and grab it."

She took the steps two at a time, trying to hold back her tears. How could she have expected anything else from them?

It wasn't her bedroom anymore.

Her silk sheets, and her hand-sewn comforter were folded up at the end of the bed. She grabbed a spare laundry basket from the hall closet and tossed them inside. Her purple monkey, the one treasured item from her childhood was sitting on the dresser, she took that too.

The only other things she wanted from that room was her jewelry, her nail polish, her perfume, and her doll house. It didn't right to leave it behind.

Carefully, she made her way back downstairs. She couldn't miss Victoria's eye roll as she watched the teenager bring such 'childish' things along with her.

"Brooke."

Slowly, Brooke turned to face the man she had once considered to be her father. He pressed a set of keys into her hand.

"We bought that car for you." Ted Davis mumbled, looking away. "We could sell it, but we would never even get half of what we spent on it back... Think of it as a going away present."

What the hell was she supposed to do now?

After throwing everything into the trunk of the car, she'd broken down. Ted and Victoria wouldn't have ever won 'Parent of the Year' award, but never in a million years did she think that they would have abandoned her.

Her phone buzzed.

You okay?

Julian. She could have smiled. He had made it very clear that he was there for her, 24/7.

It was almost like having a reliable boyfriend.

Not really...

She had no where to go. She could try to stay with Peyton, but it was hard enough for her blonde best friend to live in that house, while her father was constantly away, working to provide for her. She didn't have the money for an apartment.

Would she have to go to Charlotte?

Wanna meet somewhere?

Brooke couldn't even think about going back home, and she was very hesitant to use that term. Elena Reynolds knew that home, Elena Reynolds knew that family. But there was only one problem.

Elena Reynolds no longer existed.

If you don't mind holding me while I cry, then yeah, sure. I'd love to.

I'm here for you, Brooke. Never forget that.

While her friends had been there for her, 100%, Julian seemed to want to be there for her 110%. Why did he care so much?

You like him. Brooke Davis likes the new boy.

As if! There's this guy, Felix? Also known as my boyfriend?

Sure. You just keep telling yourself that, Davis.

It seemed like another lifetime ago that Nathan had found the two of them together in the hallway. He'd teased her about the way she looked at Julian.

Brooke had no idea how he felt about her, but if she knew one thing, it was that she was crazy about him.

Meet me at the beach? Fifteen minutes? XX.

She was in trouble.