AN: Hi everyone! Sorry again for the long wait, but anyway here's a new chapter (: I really wanted to post this before I disappear for a little while. I won't be around much the next couple of weeks, let alone I'll be posting, so yeah, here's my last update for any of my stories for a few weeks. I really hope you're still interested in this story and that you'll like this chapter! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible after my exams (:

Monse: Aw, thank you! I'm really so glad that you are enjoying their dynamic and I hope you'll keep liking it! And yeah, Peyton not agreeing with him is not something he particularly likes :P Thanks again for your review, it really does mean a lot to me that you take the time to tell me what you think of it (:

Thank you all for reading and if you would have the time, a review would be wonderful! ;)

Chapter 4. Lost in the Mission

"Don't use that pen, please." Peyton said, her eyes focused on the pen Lucas had just taken to write something down.

"Are you serious?" He asked and gave her a rather weird look.

She briefly nodded before shifting her attention back to the book in her hands. "Yes. Don't use that pen."

It had been three days since the day when Lucas and Clay had sheltered at her house for the rain and she and Lucas had worked on their English homework. Everything had been rather calm between them (well, expect for that little fight when they had to choose which place to eat at the other day. Thank you Haley for insisting on having lunch together on Saturday.) It was Monday now and the first time they had to work on it in class.

"Why?" Lucas said, juggling the pen between his fingers.

"Because I say so?" She answered and snatched it away from his fingers.

"That's ridiculous."

"No, it isn't. Just use your own pen."

"Which lies on my desk across the class room." He complained. He was sitting at Peyton's desk so they could easily work together. "Just let me use this one."

Putting the pen away, Peyton tilted her head. "You know, this room has a size of what, forty square meters? It won't kill you to get your pen."

"You really are being ridiculous."

Another person close to them cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um, are you two really fighting over a pen?" Julian asked with an awkward chuckle as he noticed the dead glare Peyton was sending him.

"Julian, now is not the time to dig on gossip for Brooke." Peyton smiled, rolling her eyes a little.

She liked Julian and she knew Brooke was amazingly happy with him, but she also knew that since Brooke knew Julian was in the same English class as them, she probably had insisted that he should listen to every conversation she and Lucas held. It wasn't particularly hard to notice how Brooke was enjoying this whole situation even more than Nathan was. Pure sadists, her friends.

"It's a pen. There's hardly any gossip in that." Lucas replied and rolled his eyes as well, though it was meant at Peyton and not at Julian.

"Oh, there's gossip in anything." Julian commented with a smile and Peyton just had to let out a snort at that. She smiled somewhat triumphantly at Lucas (not that there was anything really that she had to prove to him, but she couldn't help but love that she could send him one of those smiles).

"You are clearly Brooke's boyfriend." He shook his head a few times as he looked from Peyton to Julian and back to the curly blonde.

"And proud of it." Julian nodded as Peyton rolled her eyes once again. Really, how did Brooke manage to get such a dork as her boyfriend? "But, really. A pen? I know you guys fight and discuss a lot, but don't you really have any other subject to fight over than a pen? It seems kinda absurd."

"Ha!" Lucas exclaimed and she thought he might even have pumped his fist in the air if it wasn't for the weird looks he would get. "I told you you were being ridiculous. Now you can hear it from someone else than me."

"I just like that pen, okay? I don't want you to write it all empty." Peyton defended herself, sending Lucas one of her best glares.

Chuckling lightly, Julian rummaged through his own pens. "Here, you can use this one."

Just as Lucas was about to say something, the bell rang, indicating the end of the class. Peyton quickly gathered her things and stood up from her desk. "See you later, Julian." She smiled before turning to Lucas. "And I'd rather not see you anymore, but since that isn't possible, I see you later as well."

"Rather feisty one, huh?" Julian said as they both made their way out of the class room as well.

Somehow letting out a sigh and chuckle at the same time, Lucas nodded. "That's the least you can say."

"Jake, hi." Haley said as he took a seat next to her on their usual lunch table. "What's up?"

"Not much. Have you seen Peyton?" He asked while unwrapping his sandwich.

Shaking her head a little, Haley smiled. "No. Last time I saw her was after her English class. She was ready to punch someone then." She said and they both couldn't help but laugh.

"Let me guess, Lucas?" Jake laughed before taking a bite of his sandwich. He didn't really get all the fuss between the both of them, they were both his friends and he honestly had no idea why those two couldn't get along. Unlike Haley though, it mostly just amused him.

Haley sighed. "Yeah, it's driving me crazy."

"You? I'd rather think it was driving Peyton crazy." He laughed again.

"Jake. You know that those two are killing me. I'm stuck in the middle, I'm getting so sick of it." She said as she sighed once again. He shot her a apologetic look and smiled a little. He knew Haley didn't quite like the situation and he honestly felt for her, but somehow it just didn't seem that bad to him.

"I know you don't like it, Haley, but you're not stuck in the middle, you know. They both don't expect you to choose or something. You just have to let things go their own way, you gotta let it go." Jake said, still smiling at her.

"I just want them to like each other, is that so weird?"

"Of course not." He shook his head. "And they will. You just can't push it."

Tilting her head a little, she smiled as well. "You think they will?"

He nodded as he took another bit of his sandwich and watched Haley nod her head slightly as well. "Don't worry about it, Hales."

She laughed lightly, knowing that she'd worry anyway before getting up from her place. "I'll try. I gotta go now though, I'm sorry. Nathan's waiting for me."

"Oh, Nathan?" Jake said teasingly, a smirk on his face.

He had never cared much about Nathan Scott. He was an amazing basketball player, that was something no one could deny, but Jake had never really liked how Nathan himself knew that all too much as well. Being modest had never been one of Nathan's qualities. And the way he had handled Lucas joining the team was definitely not something that got him into Jake's good books either. However, lately he had noticed Nathan changing his ways. There had been no problems anymore with Lucas and Jake had seen how that boasting and somewhat arrogant side of him had slightly diminished a bit as well. He somehow thought that had something to do with the petite brunette tutoring him.

"Tutoring." Haley simply answered, ignoring his comment, though she had more than clearly understood him. "See you, Jake." She said with a wave of her hand as she walked away in the direction of the tutor centre.

"Okay, tell me everything." Brooke demanded as she stepped into Julian's old car. Julian gave her a rather weird look, letting her know he had no idea what she was talking about. "Leyton?"

He laughed softly at her use of the name Leyton. It was so typically her and he couldn't love it more. And every name she came up with just sounded so good. Like, Brulian. As if their names were meant to be put together. "Tell you everything?"

"Yes." She nodded determinedly. "You had English with them, right?"

"Um, yeah, I did."

"And?"

"They fought over a pen." Julian answered as they left the parking lot of the school. They were going for lunch together, outside of the school. It wouldn't be too special or something, probably just Karen's Café, but they both didn't feel like hanging out with all the people they normally hung out with at school and they'd rather sit in Karen's Café together than having to find a lunch table at school for only the two of them.

Brooke rolled her eyes as she sighed deeply as well. "Really? What is wrong with those two?"

"They're too much alike." He explained. "They collide because they are actually just the same."

"It's stupid."

Chuckling softly, Julian fixed his attention back on the road. "I know, but I don't think there's a lot you can do about it." He said as he rounded the corner of a street.

Brooke gave him a pointed look even though he couldn't see her. "Of course I can. I think that maybe I should talk to that Haley girl some time. Maybe she's got some sort of plan to get them to like each other."

"What is wrong with you girls?" He said without much thinking and was quick to receive a glare from his girlfriend. He smiled crookedly, trying to somewhat appease her, "Sorry, babe. But really, you can't make them like each other. Besides, I saw them together today and believe me, it won't take them too long anymore."

"Firstly, Julian Baker, I can make them like each other. I'm Brooke Davis." She smiled proudly. "Secondly, I can't hear Peyton whining about him for just another minute. They better get their act together. Even 'not too long' sounds too long."

Julian smiled, knowing he couldn't say much that would make Brooke change her mind. She was looking out of the window, a pensive look on her face, and he was pretty sure she was already planning one thing or another. Best to just let her be. He shook his head softly and turned on the radio, immediately singing along with the music.

Hearing the music and her boyfriend's singing, Brooke looked back inside, sighing playfully at Julian. No matter how long she already knew him, his dorky ways still surprised her sometimes. She was sure the catchy song he was singing along with would be stuck in her head for the rest of the day. Oh well, at least she'll have a soundtrack to her whole 'get-Peyton-and-Lucas-to-like-each-other-plan'.

"Don't go breaking my heart. I couldn't if I tried." Clay kept on singing as he and Lucas walked down the hallway, heading towards their last class of the day.

"Clay, seriously?" Lucas laughed, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

"What?" He asked. "It's catchy. I can't help it." He shrugged before singing that same phrase again.

Still laughing, Lucas nodded. "Where did you even hear it?"

"That Julian guy was singing it during History. He spent a whole hour singing old songs like that. What does Brooke see in him?"

"Stop complaining about Brooke and Julian." Lucas commented, rolling his eyes.

Ever since Clay had mentioned Brooke the first time, he had been talking about her constantly. About how he didn't get why she was with Julian, or how it just didn't seem right. Lucas didn't quite get it, not understanding the whole fuss about Brooke (sure she was pretty, very pretty even, and she had never really done anything bad to him, but still), but he figured it might just be better to just let Clay talk. He knew that whenever his friend had set his mind on something, he wasn't so easy to distract.

Clay started singing again, making Lucas roll his eyes again, until he abruptly stopped walking, shutting up as well. "Whoa. Who's that?" He asked after a few seconds of shameless staring.

"Who's who?"

"The girl."

"What girl, Clay? You do realize we're at school, right? There are girls all over the place here." Lucas sighed, having no clue who Clay was talking about.

Jerking his head in the direction of a blonde girl, he mumbled, "There. You see her now?" He spoke so quietly Lucas had to actually listen intently to even understand him. It was as if he was afraid the girl would actually hear him even though they weren't standing close at all. Finally noticing the girl Clay was talking about, Lucas smiled at his friend.

"She's new here. I think her name is Sara." He told Clay.

"She's hot."

"Is that really all you can think of?" Lucas sighed and made an attempt to start walking again. Clay didn't immediately follow though, still looking at the new girl.

Throwing him a quick glare, he defended himself, "Of course not. But I don't know her yet, how could I possibly say more about her?" He asked. "I'd want to get to know her, though." Clay added, a quite suggestive smile dancing around his lips.

"What about Brooke?" The other blonde asked, rubbing his neck and letting out a few chuckles.

"Brooke has a boyfriend, you know." Clay answered. "And I'd rather not get killed by Peyton. Seriously, that girl's a shark." He said matter-of-factly and Lucas couldn't help but agree on that one. "No, this Sara girl seems great as well."

Lucas only sighed and smiled as they started walking again towards their class. So far for Clay not being easy to distract.

Song that Julian and Clay were singing: Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John & Kiki Dee. It really is catchy :P

Thank you again for reading!