Thanks for all the great reviews. I love that you guys like this. So here we go...we're almost to the juicy parts...lol.

R/R


JUST ONE SHOT

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Chapter 4

There Must Be Something in the Water

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Haley swung into the doorway of Brooke's bedroom, prepared to see her adding the last touches to her makeup but instead, she saw a lump under the sheets. She instantly frowned. "Uh, am I in the right room?"

"Go away." She mumbled from beneath her purple comforter.

Haley glanced at Jake who was making his way up the stairs. "Something's wrong."

Jake looked worried and rushed to look inside. "Brooke, what's wrong?"

"Go. Away." She said again, huffing afterwards.

Haley shook her head. "Brooke, I don't know what you're going through but you have to come to school today."

"Why?" Brooke finally threw the covers off of her face and looked up.

Haley grinned widely. "Lucas is going to meet my friends today." Her brows wriggled. "And…he asked if you were single…twice I might add, even though the first time was kind of weird…and, I quote, he said you were hot." Haley bit down on her bottom lip, expecting to here a shriek.

Brooke's eyes nearly bulged from her head. "Wait, what?! You were talking about me last night?!"

"Yes!" Haley answered happily and then frowned. "Wait, how do you know that if you never showed up?"

"That's not the point." Brooke said seriously, standing to her feet. "I…I have to take a shower and get dressed. I have to look my best." She panicked, running around her room. "I have so much to do, so little time!" She threw the tank top off of her body and into the oblivion of her room.

Jake put his hands up and turned his head hysterically. "Ah, Brooke! My eyes!"

Haley laughed and flopped down on the bed. "Brooke, you can't go all topless around Jake. He's never seen real boobs before." She joked, dodging a pillow as Jake tossed it at her.

"I've seen a lot more boobs than you know." He smirked, sitting in a chair next to Brooke's computer.

"That time you saw Rachel skinny dipping doesn't count." Haley said casually pointing to him. "Her boobs are fake."

"You guys! Forget about boobs right now!" She said running out of the closet. "Haley, find me something to wear. Something that says I'm available and conservative and not a whore," she stuck her finger up to hush any comments that were coming on and narrowed her eyes, "and don't you dare object to that last one, you two." She warned.

Haley stood up. "Okay, how about jeans and a shirt?" She shrugged, hoping that her simple idea was the solution.

"Athlete Girl, I can't just wear any jeans and shirt, it has to be the jeans and shirt."

"It will. It'll be the jeans and shirt I pick out." She smiled wryly and pushed the brunette towards her bathroom. "Go take a shower and trust me, okay? I have a little Brooke Davis in me, I can pick something you wouldn't cringe at wearing."

"Okay." Brooke reluctantly went to start the shower. "Don't disappoint me, Haley!" She yelled before closing the door.

Haley looked over at Jake and sighed. "Okay, I have no idea what to pick. Jake, you're good at this. You pick something." She waved towards the closet desperately.

Jake tightened his eyes at her as he stood up. "Don't ever tell anyone I'm good at this, Haley. I'll kill you." He put a finger to his chin and glanced in her closet. "Now, in the famous words of Brooke, we have to find something that screams how much freedom rocks." He rolled his eyes at Haley as she laughed and disappeared in her closet. Moments later, he spoke. "Aha, I've got it." He walked out of the closet holding the clothes.

Haley looked on approvingly. "Wow, Jake. You really are gay."

xxxxxx

"Okay, how are you and Lucas so cool now anyway?" Brooke wondered, smiling happily as they walked towards the lunch area. She wore a long brown tunic shirt with only one strap, which was covered by a small mini jacket that matched her light blue fitted jeans, her outfit being topped off with brown fur boots, adorned by gold hoops and a gold waist belt…Jake didn't do so bad. The clothes hung to her body in all the right places.

"We just kind of click," Haley shrugged and eyed Brooke's outfit again, "but I honestly think you've rubbed off on Jake a little too much."

"I taught him the tricks of female fashion." She said proudly. "And he serves me pretty damn good." She spotted Lucas and slowly came to a halt. "Oh no, Haley, there he is," she turned away and fanned her face quickly, "what should I do?"

"Act human for once." Haley rolled her eyes and smiled at Lucas. "Lucas, this is Brooke. Brooke, Lucas." She announced as he walked up.

Brooke smiled brightly. "Hi Lucas. I know you already but," she shook her head, choosing against that subject, "I mean, I don't know you, know you, but I know you." She nodded and smiled wider. "Hi."

Lucas laughed—a little nervously at that. "Hey. You look great today." He smiled at her, somehow forgetting about Haley until she cleared her throat.

"Should I leave you two alone?" At that moment, Jake approached them with a teasing smile towards Brooke. "And this is Jake, who isn't neither of our boyfriends." She clarified.

"What?" Jake asked confused, but his question was ignored.

"Yeah, I know. We have Trigonometry together." Lucas recognized the boy.

"Yeah, we do." He looked towards Brooke who was a light shade of red. He feigned a concerned face. "Brooke, are you okay? You seem a little flushed." He teased with a straight face.

She glared at him quickly as if to hide it from Lucas. "I'm fine, thank you." She gritted with a forced smile.

Haley suppressed her laugh. "Well, if that's all…" She started.

"Hey, Brooke. Sorry about Rachel yesterday." Lucas started, stepping closer to the girl. "She's a bitch sometimes."

"Just when she's breathing." Haley said sarcastically, but was only heard by Jake who smiled at her.

"It's okay." Brooke lied. "I don't really want to talk about her." She smirked suggestively.

Haley knew it was wrong, the guy had a girlfriend—but was it wrong that she was enjoying watching Brooke hit on him, even though his girlfriend was on the other side of the lunch area? And if she didn't know any better, she'd say Lucas wasn't being so subtle either…

"Yeah, we don't have to talk about her at all." Lucas answered, sneakily raking his eyes over her body before forcing a nervous half smile her way.

Haley and Jake looked at each other before looking away from each other, on the verge of exploding in laughter at the two. "Speaking of annoying redheads, she's looking at you like she's going to kill you." Haley acknowledged over his shoulder. All four of them glanced back at her and she was as red as her hair.

Lucas grimaced. "Wow."

"Red really isn't her color. I tried to tell her that with the hair and now she's just going full crimson." Brooke shook her head in mock pity and smirked up at Lucas. "You might want to go over there if you want to still be living tomorrow."

"Hey," he held out his arms, "A guy can have friends, right?"

Haley nodded one proud time as Jake threw his arm around her shoulders. "Right. You know, I like the way you think, Luke. You should pass that on to family members of yours who weren't graced with such successful brain cells." They all smiled and laughed, walking off to a nearby table.

Rachel turned to Taylor with a pensive stare. "What are we gonna do?"

Taylor narrowed her eyes at the four, obviously planning revenge. "This is the first time he's even talked to Brooke, it's not Brooke." Taylor falsely guessed.

"What?! Well, they were just eyeing each other like slabs of meat!" She nearly shrieked. "Taylor, this is so not good! Ever since that bitch joined the team—"

Taylor motioned to where Lucas and Haley were talking. "He likes her." Taylor said, not sure if it was true or if she was trying to reassure herself. The weird way Nathan had been acting, she was starting to believe he liked her and vice versa.

Rachel made the most disgusted face. "Okay, ew! What does he see in her that I don't have? I'm like…ten times better, right?!" She questioned frantically.

Nathan, Tim and Peyton walked up to the two. "Hey, what's up?" Nathan said to his girlfriend, kissing her quickly on the cheek. "Where's Luke?"

Taylor nodded her head towards the traitor softly. "Right. There." Her eyes were evil as she looked at the group.

Nathan, Peyton and Tim all turned to see him and Haley engaging in what seemed like playful banter from afar. Peyton laughed in amazement. "Wow, that's so cool." She laughed.

Taylor and Rachel turned to look at her. "What?!" They said in unison.

"What? It is." She shrugged innocently.

"There's nothing cool about my boyfriend talking to that…trash!" She grunted in frustration and plopped down next to Tim. "I'm going to get Haley back for this, I promise."

"Okay, obviously he likes Brooke." Nathan stated, sounding like it should've been the most obvious thing though it wasn't. "He's sitting next to her, not Haley." He then realized that in some weird Taylor-ish way, he'd just defended Haley. "I mean, that's not any better," he started, clearing his throat, "but I mean, you shouldn't have to get any of them back, Lucas knows what he's doing."

Taylor narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "What? Do you like those freaks?"

"No. I don't like those freaks." He said tiredly. "What do you mean, like those freaks? She's not—" Nathan caught his words and shook his head. "She's not important to me."

Peyton rolled her eyes at how weak he was. "Whatever, I'm out of here." She said grabbing Rachel's untouched water bottle from the table.

Taylor put her hand up to Peyton's chest. "I'm starting to think you're a freak just like Lucas turned out to be."

Peyton smiled sweetly. "I'm starting to think that you shouldn't put your hands on me, bitch." She said cheerily and then cocked her head to the side, standing her ground.

Tim frowned. "Hey, Peyt. What's wrong with you?"

As if finally fed up, she turned to them with a scathing look. "You guys are, obviously. I mean, you set these rules for our little group and think that we're supposed to abide by them, when you guys don't. When its not even right or fair or…" Peyton motioned towards them. "Taylor, you know you haven't been living by them, so why do you expect Nathan to?" She looked to Rachel and scoffed. "And you don't even have room to talk."

"Get away from us." Taylor seethed. "I guess we're enemies. So leave."

Peyton smiled. "Happily." She shook her curly blonde head.

Tim stood up abruptly. "Peyton, if you leave…"

"Then I won't come back." She finished giving him a tired nod. "It was nice dating you, T-Man." She teased lightly before shaking her head in pity at the group and running over to where Lucas, Haley, Brooke and Jake were.

Nathan watched them laughing and talking almost all lunch period. Lucas and Haley were looking a little more lovey-dovey than they should've, he thought to himself. Or maybe he was just…jealous? Whatever, he wasn't jealous, he told himself.

xxxxx

"Well, thank you guys for walking me to class." Brooke said pointedly to Lucas. Jake had already rushed off to walk Peyton—his new secret crush—and now it was just her, Lucas and Haley.

"No problem, Brooke." He nodded his head and watched as she walked into class.

"She's nice, huh?" Haley asked slyly.

"Yeah," he answered hesitantly, "why are you asking me that?"

Haley shook her head innocently as they began walking. "Oh, no reason." She cleared her throat and looked up at him. "So why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" He questioned in confusion.

"Hanging out with us. I mean, we're not your typical crew." She observed lightly.

He shrugged and then looked down at her. "I'm actually…thinking about breaking up with Rachel."

Haley's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow."

"Yeah, don't say anything. I want to give it to her slow." He said lowly, knowing that the people among Tree Hill would blab if they heard him.

"Why?"

"She's just not…nothing's ever going to change." He sighed, settling for that. "I've been dating her for a year now and it's just like, she gets more annoying each day."

"You're just now realizing that?" She laughed lightly.

"No." He said simply. "But I found a reason to do something about it." Before she could ask him to elaborate, he nodded his head down a hallway. "I'm going this way. I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I guess so." She waved quickly. "Later Luke." She watched him walk off before continuing on her way where she heard someone call her from behind. When she turned around, she almost died when she realized that it was Rachel. The redhead ran up to with a bright smile.

"Haley, hey." She handed her a piece of paper. "Here's my address. I'm having a party Friday night after the game."

Haley was really confused now. "O-kay, and you're telling me because…."

Rachel exaggerated a sigh. "My boyfriend is obviously your friend now, and I know he probably wants you to come." She put on a fake smile. "I just want to make him happy. So I'll try not to be mean to you and at least try and be a little civil."

Haley glared. "Oh. Well, in that case, no." She shrugged. "I don't go to lame high school parties."

Rachel contained her anger and smiled. "Fine. But I just thought you'd want to go hang out with Lucas."

Haley narrowed her eyes. "You expect me to believe you're this cool about Lucas and me hanging out?"

The redhead smiled tightly. "Of course, I mean, what's there to be jealous of?" She asked with a small snort.

Haley heard the second meaning to that comment. It was obviously an insult. "You shouldn't be." Haley forced about. "Whatever." She handed the paper back. "I'm not going."

xxxxx

"We're so going!" Brooke demanded happily. "Haley, really, joining the basketball team was the best thing you've ever done!"

Jake laughed and shot the ball, making it effortlessly into the hoop. "Brooke, she doesn't want to go."

"But she is!" Brooke said sternly. "This is perfect. Lucas and I are going to be together in no time." She crossed her legs from her spot on the bench.

Haley rolled her eyes as Jake threw her the ball. Luckily, practice had been cancelled so they decided to go to the rivercourt. "Brooke, don't you think you're being a little vindictive lately?"

"No." She blinked. "You know how bad I want this, Athlete Girl."

"Yeah but, you don't have to go to a party to get his attention. He said he's dumping Rachel soon and that he found a reason to break up with her." She wiggled her brows at Brooke before dodging Jake and slamming the ball in the hoop.

"Yeah, he totally likes you." Jake said to Brooke, though he was eyeing Haley in confusion, wondering how she'd gotten around him so easily.

"I don't know. What if the reason was Haley?" Brooke asked softly.

Haley missed that shot and frowned at her friend. "What? No!"

"Yeah, you guys talk all the time." Brooke slightly pouted.

"Which is exactly why I know he doesn't like me." Haley argued. "I'm like one of the guys in his eyes. Just like Jakey here is one of the girls." She teased him, stealing the ball from his hands as they continued to play.

"Are you sure?" Brooke asked a little more happily.

"Haley's right. I mean, not about me being one of the girls but, guys don't just sit there and talk to girls they like like that." He motioned to his opponent. "He'd be too nervous. Like he was around you." He said to Brooke.

"And like you were around Peyton?" Brooke asked knowingly.

"I don't like Peyton." He denied.

"And like Nathan is around Athlete Girl." Brooke continued.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're going to far, Mrs. Lucas Scott." She held up her hand in objection. "Nathan does not like me, okay?"

"Oh Haley, come on. Why would he apologize day in and day out?" She queried.

"She has a point." Jake said, happy to get the heat off him.

"No, she doesn't." Haley refused to believe this.

"And he's always looking at Lucas like he's his worst enemy when he's talking to you." Brooke added cautiously.

"Because Lucas is a much better person than he is. If I were him, I'd be jealous too." She glared at her friends before glancing at her watch. "I have to go."

"Off to see Nathan, right?" Brooke teased.

Haley glared harder. "Brooke, do you value your life?"

Jake grabbed her by the arms. "Come on, Hales, I'll take you."

"And I'm going to walk home." Brooke said hopping down.

"Sure?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I need to get a new pair of pants for the party." She shrugged. She smirked as they walked towards his car. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Haley!"

"Sometimes I hate her." Haley mumbled to Jake as they climbed in.

xxxxx

Nathan could feel himself wanting to ask her questions about her and Lucas' relationship. Every time he asked Lucas, he'd just say 'she's cool'. It was really starting to piss him off because he knew she was cool. Hell, he was the one who told Lucas she was cool. But that didn't mean he had to be all around her all the time. It was just really starting to piss him off. Was Lucas trying to prove a point or what?

"So you and Lucas…" He said which felt totally against his will.

Haley looked up from her book and frowned. "What about us?"

Us? Did she really just say that?! "He has a girlfriend, you know?" Okay, he really needed to stop before he made a complete ass out of himself.

"Taylor has a boyfriend, but that doesn't stop her from doing what she wants." Haley smiled dryly. "I think the only one that it really affects is you."

"What does that mean?" He frowned.

"Okay, you're like really…whipped or something." She said carefully.

He scoffed. "No, I'm not."

"Okay." She shrugged simply. "Then lets finish this conversation tomorrow at school. You know, I'll come over to your table and chat it up with you the whole time." She said sarcastically. Nathan looked down and she snorted. "That's what I thought."

"So you and Lucas are what?" He stood in front of her.

"We're friends." She said easily. "And he's really a good guy. I don't know how he and Rachel ended up together. He's good looking, nice, hot, nice," she went on, just to press his buttons—because she could feel that it would. In her very, very secretive opinion--Nathan was way hotter. An ass, yeah. But a really hot ass.

Nathan narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't want to hear about you crushing on my brother, alright?" He snapped.

"I'm not crushing on your brother!" She scoffed disbelievingly. "I think you're just jealous because he has the guts to be who you want to be."

"And what's that?"

"Himself." She answered obviously. "You can't do that for some odd reason. You're scared of social humiliation or…whatever it is that you airhead's are afraid of." She waved her hand at him.

Maybe she could read him a little too well. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, sure." She shook her head and looked down at her book again. "Because it's so hard to read you." She spoke sarcastically.

"You're not really a closed book either, Haley." He started drilling. "You just want to fit in like we do, so you join the basketball team to get noticed, you're hanging under Lucas like he'll open doors to popularity for you—which is really pathetic by the way."

She slammed her book closed and glared, standing up. "As opposed to you, right? I mean, you practically lick the ground Taylor walks on because she's your only hope in becoming someone."

"That's not true." He interrupted.

"Yeah, I think it is. You're Taylor James' boyfriend, and that makes you someone, right? I mean, you hang out with all the jocks and the cheerleaders. Popular by association, Nathan. That's all it is. But in the end, you'll realize that it never really mattered because this is just high school and this is just some stupid little town where the small population is obsessed with basketball!" She rambled, obviously, her words weren't directed to only him anymore. "You'll realize that there's this whole different world out there and no one's gonna care who you were when you were seventeen! This is just the beginning!" She was out of breath and heaving heavy when she stopped yelling.

He was a little taken back by her outburst but kept his cool. "It'll matter who you were, won't it? I mean, to the scouts and all."

"Yeah," she said dryly, "I'm gonna make it through the rest of my life off of my jump shot."

He smiled crookedly, hoping to calm her down. "Which I think is a pretty good one."

"So I've heard." She mumbled to herself, turning around. "Don't talk to me, Nathan. Please."

"Why not?" He asked grimacing. He had hoped she was over that whole humiliation thing.

"Because you rattle my nerves and tomorrow, I have my first playoff game." She answered, gathering her stuff. "Then, oddly enough, I have a party to go to afterwards. But you can rattle my nerves then because I'll have liquor." She smiled wryly. "And liquor un-rattles my nerves."

"You're going to Rachel's party?" Now that was weird.

"Oddly enough, the shrew invited me." She threw her backpack over her shoulder and smiled forcedly.

"Don't go." He said quickly. "You really shouldn't."

"Why? Afraid you might accidentally say hi or something and be damned to unpopular damnation with the rest of us little people?" She rolled her eyes and tried to walk past him.

"No, no, just," he frowned, trying to find a way to warn her, "you and Rachel aren't exactly friends. Everyone's going to be there."

"I know. Wouldn't want to miss that, would I?" At first, she really hadn't been all that excited about going, but now she definitely was going to go, just to make his life a living hell. She knew why he was saying this, because she wasn't one of the 'cool kids'. To hell with them all.

"Do you really trust Rachel and Taylor?" He asked softly. "You don't know them like I do." He warned her.

She almost thought she saw true concern. "That's why I love my life." She glanced at her watch for the second time that day. "It's almost nine. See you tomorrow." She looked at him oddly before walking around him to leave.

"Bye." He sighed dejectedly.