Author- Emily-Grace Mendes (brookebynature)

Disclaimer- I don't own the characters or the show, only this story

A/N- A HUGE thankyou to al of you guys that reviewed, and I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, but I wanted to make this chapter both longer, and more eventful. Oh, and to those of you who are in doubt, I'm a HUGE Brucas fan, so I wouldn't have this story any other way. Hope you enjoy, and please review xxx

Play The Game

Play To Your Strengths

She made sure she got there first that morning, she had to have that parking space. Her hair was styled to perfection, and that new pair of Gina shoes were keeping her feet cosy underneath her jeans. If Lucas Scott thought Peyton was better than her, she had to show him what he was missing.

Brooke had a plan.

"Hey Nathan!" she caught his attention as he was high-fiving some member of the basketball team she'd made out with once.

"So that party was…." she searched for a word to describe what exactly had happened. Shit was the one which came to mind. "Eventful" was the one which left her mouth.

"Yeah and thanks to your little invitation to that loser, I ended up missing out on….." he trailed off, realising that Brooke and Peyton were best friends, and it probably wasn't the best idea to advertise the fact that he was about to have sex with another girl.

She raised her manicured eyebrows at him. "You ended up missing out on what?"

He shrugged, she'd find out anyway. "On sex with that hot girl I was dancing with."

Brooke rolled her eyes at him. "I really don't care who you have sex with Nate." she told him, a smirk crossing her face.

"So I guess you know about Lucas and Peyton."

She knew he didn't, and that's what made this even more fun.

"What the hell about him and Peyton." He spat the word 'him' and Brooke noticed the anger in his eyes. This was perfect.

"They slept together. I thought you knew?"

The smirk grew when she watched him walk away, just as Lucas pulled up in his car, the same car that he wouldn't be able to park in her space. Even more perfect.

"Hey Brooke!" he called over to her, parking his car haphazardly on a small stretch of grass. She kept walking, the pain from her heels starting to kick in only minutes into the day.

Well, some things had to suck.

"Brooke the other night……"

"Look loser" Nathan cut in, I don't know what the hell you're doing here, but if you think you can sleep with my girl and gte away with it, think again."

"Except I don't think she is your girl, little Brother." Lucas smirked. "She sure as hell didn't seem like your girl the other night. At least, not when we she told me to fuck her."

He laughed a little as he saw the anger flash in Nathan's blue eyes, the only thing they had in common other than their father.

Brooke found herself frowning as Nathan seemed to have met his match in his brother, as had she.

"I see you got that parking space" Lucas shouted to Brooke, who just rolled her eyes and continued walking to where the rest of the cheerleading squad were gossiping about the latest pregnancy scare, or who was cheating on who.

"It's my space." she muttered to herself, trying to ignore Lucas, while also trying not to care what he had done with Peyton.

She failed at both.

"So I'll meet you here after school babe?" He shouted, taking in her sassy walk, and the way the rest of the cheerleaders smiled when she greeted them with a 'hi bitches'

"Look Lucas" She turned around, frustratedly moving a stand of hair away from her eyes. "I don't need to meet you after school, because in case your idiot brain hasn't registered this fact, my car is fixed. Okay? So I don't need a ride, and I don't need you to watch me talk to my friends, and I sure as hell don't need you to call me babe."

He smiled a little, undeterred as she turned her back to him once more after catching Nathan's eye, where he gave her a small smirk, one of appreciation, and of admiration, with, perhaps…..a little lust thrown in there too?

No no, he didn't like Brooke like that. Did he?

----

"So was he good?" Brooke asked, throwing her gym stuff down beside Peyton's.

"What do you mean?" She asked, a little surprised if anything, that Brooke was even asking. Normally, she'd have been more concerned with her own love life.

"You know, did he do the whole kissing his way down to your stomach part? Making you arch your back up so it actually hurts a little the next day, which, in your case, would be today?"

She cocked her left eyebrow a little, a smirk appearing on her face, her hazel eyes narrowing slightly as she waited for the blonde's reaction.

"Look Brooke, if you're pissed at me…."

"Why would I be?"

"I just thought that maybe since you'd slept with him on….."

"I'm going to stop you there Peyton." Brooke told her, holding her own hand out in front of her face to stop the other girl from talking. "For the record, I didn't sleep with him."

"But you did have sex."

"Yeah we did. And I've had sex with other guys. What makes this different?"

Peyton shrugged, unprepared for her question. "Nothing I guess."

"So can we get on with watching these basketball tryouts now? I wanna see what the new hotties are made of."

She left Peyton standing there, just watching her walk into the centre of the court to stretch in full view of the players. Her usual move.

And then she saw him. Lucas. He was trying out for the team.

----

"So you're a cheerleader" He said, pausing only a second to look her up and down, before shooting a free throw.

"You're quite the genius there Lucas." Nathan said, grabbing the ball from the back wall to run a lay-up. He then turned his attention back to his older brother, the one who was now shooting the rest of the cheerleaders 'looks', much to Nathan's disgust. He was usually the one who did that.

"And for future reference, I don't think my girl wants to talk to you." He warned, placing his arm around Peyton's shoulders.

"You thought wrong." Peyton replied, removing his arm before taking a step closer to Lucas.

Brooke watched from her position in the middle of the court, which, unusually for this particular time in high school, was uncrowded, with the majority of people at the end of the court where Nathan, Lucas and Peyton stood.

"Unless I'm mistaken, this is basketball tryouts, not speed dating!" The basketball coach shouted. "For those of you who are new, I'm Coach Whitey Durham. Learn it. Now get!"

He pointed to one end of the court for the guys, who reluctantly took their places in a circle huddled around Whitey, still doing their best to steal glances at the cheerleaders down the other end of the court.

"You're trying out for the team now?" Nathan said, rubbing the back of his neck roughly as his brother shot him pleased look.

"Just like Coach said, this isn't speed dating little brother." Lucas smirked, winking at Nathan.

"Well you've already had your fair share of that." He muttered, hoping Lucas' comment about him being his 'little brother' would be ignored. It wasn't.

"Little brother?" Whitey asked in amusement as he watched his shooting guard squirm under the powerful glare of Lucas.

"That's right." Lucas smiled. "Scott, Scott." He winked once more at Nathan before extending his hand. "Lucas."

"Well well" Whitey stifled a laugh. "Lets see what you got. Scott"

Lucas turned from his position in the circle to shoot the ball effortlessly through the hoop, winking over at the cheerleaders who spouted into a round of applause.

----

She was fully aware of his eyes on her body during most of their practise, but still Brooke couldn't bring herself to turn around and look at him. That would mean he'd won. And Brooke didn't loose.

And then she saw him wink at Peyton, who reciprocated with a small wave and a grin, before giving her a small shrug while trying to disguise her smile. Brooke wasn't sure if Lucas was just doing it to piss her off, or whether he actually liked her. Still, Peyton didn't seem too bothered either way as she begun stretching in full view of Lucas, making sure to give him a good view as she bent over.

Brooke bit her lip as she fought the urge to scream 'bitch' out loud. That was her move.

----

"I can't believe Whitey gave him a place on the team." Nathan spat as he poured a drink for himself, passing the bottle to Brooke as he took a sip.

"I can't believe she stole my move."

"Who?"

"Your girlfriend. Or sex buddy. Whatever you guys are these days." Brooke waved it away, downing her vodka in one fell swoop.

"Peyton? Who would she want to use your move on?"

"I'll give you one guess."

Nathan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Brooke to make sure whether she was serious.

"This isn't the time to piss about Brooke."

"I'm not pissing about, she totally used my move on that loser."

Brooke found herself a little happier after telling Nathan, at least there would be someone else who was pissed at Peyton. If she thought she could get away with stealing the guy Brooke wanted, she had to show her.

"You're not mad at her are you?" Brooke enquired, pouring another drink which barely touched the sides of the glass before she let it wash down her throat, savouring the burning feeling. "I mean, you kinda were going to cheat on her and…."

"What? You mean, kinda like how you can't be mad at Lucas cos you turned him down and everything."

"Don't bring that into it, I just thought you should know about Peyton, ya know, for future reference."

"What do you want Brooke?" Nathan asked "She's supposed to be your best friend."

She shrugged. Actually, she didn't really know what she wanted. She just didn't want Peyton and Lucas to get together.

"I just……"

"And since when did you think that Lucas was a loser?"

"Since I found him in bed with your girlfriend….or sex buddy. Again, I don't exactly know what your relationship status is so…."

She trailed off as she saw Nathan slam his glass onto the counter, and followed his gaze to the door, instantly understanding why he looked so pissed.

They were here. Together. And she didn't seem to care that Nathan or Brooke could see, because, as far as she was concerned, this was payback.