Brooke awoke knowing something was wrong. Lucas had placed in one of his warm hoodies and yet she still felt cold. Maybe it was the chill in the air or maybe it was her female instincts, but she knew that Lucas was in trouble.
She sat bolt upright and scanned the room for any trace of where he was, or what he'd done. Her eyes rested on a piece of white paper covered in Lucas' slanty handwriting.
Pretty Girl,
I've gone to your house to...
Brooke didn't need to read anymore, she knew he was in trouble, and once again it was her fault. She dropped the note, ran to the bathroom and threw up violently.
Karen heard the retching and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Hello?" She called. "Lucas is that you? Are you ok?"
Brooke didn't have the strength to reply. She just kept her head positioned above the toilet. Karen slowly opened the door, as Brooke hadn't had time to lock it.
"Oh my God." Karen breathed. Brooke looked up, her skin was pale and her eyes were black, from where her mascara had mixed with her tears, causing stains on her cheeks.
Karen grabbed some tissues from the box next to the sink, and bent down, wiping Brooke's mouth and tears. She had stopped being sick and now looked like a pitiful heap on the floor.
"Brooke….." Karen began, not sure how she was going to finish.
"Karen." Brooke interrupted. "I need to go." She stood up to leave.
"No." Karen said sternly, and yet with a motherly tone. "You are going to stay here and rest. You're not well enough to…."
"No Karen." Brooke insisted. "I need to go."
"Brooke you are staying here, I don't care how important …"
Karen couldn't finish as Brooke began to sob again. "it's …." She whispered, just loud enough for Karen to hear. "It's Lucas."
The next five minutes were a blur. Brooke found herself on her front lawn, watching the paramedics carry Lucas into an ambulance on a stretcher and Chris being led away by police. Karen hadn't spoken to her since she told her where Lucas had gone. It was as if she held Brooke responsible for Lucas' actions, but Brooke couldn't blame her, it was her fault and as Lucas was the only one who knew about her experience with Chris, she couldn't talk to anyone about it, not even Peyton.
When everyone had left, Karen in the ambulance with Lucas, the police cars with their sirens blearing and the neighbours going back inside after witnessing the events, Brooke just sat down, on the side of the road, in full view of everyone journeying down her street, and cried. Today had been the worst, best and now worst again, day of her life. And she couldn't believe the last thing she'd done was lie to Lucas.
As the sun began to settle and the shadows from the many trees became larger and darker, Brooke decided to get up and go somewhere. She didn't know where.
Haley was sitting in her room, trying to write the essay she'd been assigned on "The connection between love and death in Shakespeare plays". As usual she was trying to finish it on the day it was set, but she couldn't focus on it. Lucas hadn't rung her, not that she expected him to ring every night, it was more that he hadn't been at school and he hadn't told her why. He always told her why he was off, so she wouldn't worry and, although she told herself he was ok, she couldn't help but be anxious. She finally gave up on her essay, promising herself that she would finish it tomorrow, even though it wasn't due in until next week. She picked up the phone and began to dial Lucas' all too familiar number when a knock on her door interrupted her.
"Haley, hunny, someone's at the door to see you. She says she's a friend. She looks pretty upset, you should go down and see her."
Haley made her way downstairs, trying to decide who it could possibly be. It wasn't like she didn't have many friends but her mum had met most of her close mates and she couldn't think of any who would go to her if they were upset.
Haley's confused smile turned into a face of absolute shock. She would have been less surprised to see Marilyn Monroe standing in the doorway.
Brooke Davis looked awful. Her eyes were red from crying although she had forbidden her eyes from forming fresh ones when she reached Haley's house, She had not put any makeup on and she was wearing loose jeans and a hoodie Haley instantly recognised as Lucas'.
Haley finally regained her voice. "Brooke…" She stuttered. "You want to come in?"
Brooke just smiled a meek smile and followed Haley into the house, up the stairs and into her room.
"Your mum seems nice." Brooke said simply.
"Yeah, she is." Haley replied. "Brooke, I don't mean to sound rude but …" She paused not quite sure how to say this. "What are you doing here?"
Haley expected Brooke to get offended and leave, or burst out laughing saying, "fooled you!" But Brooke did neither. She burst into tears, right there in front of Haley, she just broke down.
Haley felt helpless. Haley's best friend was a boy and she didn't really have fits, as she wasn't really the 'emotional girl' type. She just put a comforting arm around Brooke and let her cry the tears out. That's what her mum used to say,
"Cry the sadness out"
Brooke must have been crying for an hour while Haley contemplated what had happened that could make Brooke Davis, head cheerleader, most popular girl in school, cry so much. She also wondered; why did Brooke come to her? Why didn't she choose Peyton or another cheer-whore? How did she know Haley's address? And Why the Hell was she wearing Lucas' hoodie?
Once Brooke had stopped crying and had washed her face with cold water, Haley tried to get to the bottom of the problem. Her mum was a councillor so she knew some of the tricks, ones her mum had used on her when she'd been upset.
"Ok, Brooke." She tried to use her friendliest voice "Now I just want you to nod or shake your head. No speaking until I say ok?"
Brooke, grateful that she wouldn't have to voice her problems, as there was a good chance she'd start crying again. She just had to decide which problem to choose. I mean for a girl who was believed to lead the 'perfect life', She had quite a few problems.
Haley began questioning Brooke, dreading what she'd discover.
"Is it to do with school?" Brooke shook her head.
"Is it to do with home?" Brooke hesitated but once again shook her head. Haley noticed this, noticed the pause, but dismissed it as nothing.
"Ok, is it to do with friends?" Haley hoped Brooke would nod, tell her Peyton was a bitch to her and that she bought the hoodie herslef and didn't know who Lucas was, but Brooke just shook her head, again. Haley gulped knowing, before even asking, the answer to this question.
"Is it to do with boys?" Brooke nodded slowly. Haley inhaled deeply and hoped it had something to do with Nathan Scott or another basketball crony.
"Is the boy at our school?" Brooke nodded more confident.
"Is he in our year?" Again Brooke nodded.
"Is he on the basketball squad?" Brooke thought about this. He had had an excellent try-out, better than most of the original squad, but that fight may have caused Whitey to have doubts. Usually the team sheet was up the next day, which meant today. But Lucas wasn't at school as he was with Brooke. God, Brooke thought, he must really like me to miss finding out if he made the team just to take me to the clinic.
"Well?" Haley brought Brooke out of her thoughts and back to reality, Brooke just shrugged, she didn't know if he was on the team.
Haley knew she had to ask the question, she knew what the answer would be.
"Brooke," She began to speak quietly fearing her answer."Is it Lucas?"
Brooke looked into Haley's big brown eyes. She saw the panic behind them. Brooke nodded.
"Ok, Brooke you can talk, tell me what happened to Lucas?" She was speaking fast and her voice was no longer calm.
"He's in the hospital. It's bad, Haley, It's really bad." Haley just sat there frozen as a single tear rolled down her face.
- - -
Thanks for all the amazing reviews I love them. Hope you like this chapter as well.
I'll thank everyone personally, but I know you want this chapter up so I'll do it in the next chapter.
I have a question for you. Basically, when I uploaded the first chapter I didn't really know how to work the website and I actually planned it to be like 2/3 chapters, but then I just decided it'll be a long chapter. Trying to keep the other chapters long means I don't update too regularly, maybe once a week or less and when I go back to school, I will update even less so you have a choice.
Long chapters but big gaps between updates
-Or-
Short chapters but frequent updates.
I don't mind either way so it's up to you.
Please keep reviewing it really makes me smile!
