Hey Guys, I'm back for another chapter. I so want to thank everyone that has been faithfully reviewing and those who are not only reviewing but also telling me where I need to improve I appreciated it all so THANK YOU! LEYTONALWAYS, Cookielover96 , breyton Davis-Sawyer, OTHGirl24 , Hildolfr You guys have been awesome.

julianafun - Thank you for letting me know how you feel about the story I'm sorry if you thought I screwed it up


Peyton stretched and rubbed her eyes as she slowly awoke. When she turned to lay on her side she saw Lucas still asleep on the couch on the other side of the room. She and Hayley had agreed to switch rooms and as luck would have it, Skills ended up in Bevin's room. When Peyton and Lucas had returned to Peyton's room they were more behaved then Peyton expect. Sure they kissed but other than that Lucas was okay will leaving it there, in fact he was the one that suggested sleeping on the couch.

Peyton was starting to wonder if he was too good to be true. She enjoyed her time with him and she was really happy that he was here but at the same time she couldn't get that nagging voice out of her head that was telling her that she needs to stay guarded. She knew that Lucas was not a threat to her but then again she had thought that before and look where that got her.

Peyton got out of the bed as quietly as possible and moved into the bathroom to get ready for the competition. When she felt that she was up to Brooke Davis standards she walked out of the room and saw Hayley walking out of her door at the same time.

"Hey" Peyton said walking towards her.

"Hi, did you have a good night?" Hayley asked smirking at her

"Yah, it was fine but nothing happened if you were implying something else." Peyton said rolling her eyes at Hayley's smirk as they walked together towards the elevator.

"I have no idea what you think I was implying?" Hayley shrugged as she followed Peyton into the elevator.

Xx

Brooke woke up in her boyfriends arms and was waiting patiently for him to wake up. She needed someone to talk this craziness that is Peyton and her new lifestyle. When the clock changed to 9:19am she took matters into her own hands.

"Julian...Julian...JULIAN!" Brooke slapped his chest

"huh...What.. I'm awake" Julian said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes

"oh, you're awake, good so am I so we need to talk about Peyton now" Brooke said propping herself up to look into Julian's face.

"Brooke, come on" Julian sighed "What Peyton does with her life is not are concern" Julian appreciate Brookes protectiveness he would go as far as say that he loved it about her but this Peyton drama was starting to drive him crazy.

"Don't you come on me!" Brooke huffed "I know for a fact that this thing she has with Lucas will only end in disaster. Is it so wrong that I want to protect her from him?" Brooke sighed then moved to flop back onto her back.

"It's not wrong, and I love you for it, I do...but, you can't protect her from everything." Julian sighed and moved to kiss her head then got out of bed. "And besides, I thought you said you and that Hayley girl made an compromise on the whole Peyton drama"

"Oh please she doesn't know Peyton like I do, I just said okay to stepping aside because she is all we have as a replacement cheerleader." Brooke said crossing her arms and huffing again.

"Baby, you know I'm with you no matter what but the more you tag on Peyton the more she is going to push away." Julian said keeping the door to the bathroom open so he could hear her as he brushed his teeth.

"I just don't want the Ian, Peyton drama to ever happen again" Brooke said with a crack in her voice.

Julian popped his head of the bathroom and looked at her with sympathy "I know baby, and we will make sure that it doesn't."

Brooke sighed and moved into the bathroom with him "Promise me you will be on my side no matter what I do in the future."

Julian frowned wondering what she was thinking of doing that she feared he wouldn't side with her on but put a hand on her shoulder and nodded his head "It's you and me against the world babe"

Xx

"Alright girls we have only one chance to go over this routine before we perform for the judges so let's make sure we do this without mistakes or there will be no party after!" Brooke said putting her hands on her hips and looking at the group of girls sternly. She watched as Hayley nervously fidgeted beside Peyton.

The girls groaned and Peyton smiled and shook her head, then went to stand where she needed to, to start the dance. Though she knew that Hayley was incredibly nervous she knew she was ready. There was no doubt in her mind that they all were ready, it would just be a matter of doing their best when they got in front of the judges.

"AND 5,6,7,8" Brooke shouted from her spot in front. The always started their routine with a cheer that they use at Basketball games and once that was finished then that was the cue to start the music.

Just like always when the music began, Peyton was able to get lost in it. It really didn't matter what type a music was playing as long as there was a beat and a way to move her body. Sure a cheerleading dance was more structured and you needed to include claps and jumps, but other than that it all came back to just the simple action of moving you're body.

"Hayley bigger jump" Brooke shouted

Peyton smiled when she saw Hayley close her eyes and just nod. She knew that Hayley wasn't very happy about Brooke telling her what to do but she said she would grin and bear it for one day and then after that she was going back to be invisible. Peyton remembered trying to look as serious as possible for Hayley sake but she knew that it would be impossible to go back to being invisible once this tournament was over.

"Guys follow Peyton, she is suppose to be leading you" Brooke shouted again

Leading them that was an interesting position Peyton thought. Growing up she was always suppose to lead by example. Act how high society adults expected there young children to act and Peyton was meant to be a poster child for that. When the kids were out playing outside she was suppose to be inside talking with adults about whatever they wished to talk about.

Both her Mother and Father were big on joining country clubs and well any group that consisted of people that were in their inner circle and when a member of that group was involved with scandal then the group as a whole had to turn their backs on the person or family. When this happened which it did Peyton was also required to turn her back and that was the hardest especially if the family had kids her age. There had been times in the past where she had friends that she had to cast out of her life because they were not acceptable to be around anymore.

Peyton was brought out of her musings when the music stopped and Brooke started talking again.

"okay girls, that wasn't all that bad but I want you all to go up to your rooms and practice by yourselves and make sure you got all the timing right. This is no time to be sloppy if we want to beat the Wildcats." Brooke hissed the name Wildcats this year it was going to be different she vowed.

Peyton over to Brooke as she watched the girls walk out of the gym, she saw Hayley waiting patiently by the door so she figured she would have to make it quick with Brooke.

"Hey, everything okay?" Peyton asked when she got close enough to her

"Yeah, sure I'm fine and ready to blow those stupid house cats out of the water." Brooke huffed

Peyton smiled and patted her friends back "we'll do it this year I know it" Peyton comforted Brooke

"Yeah I know" Brooke smiled and grabbed her gym bag

"So what are you going to do now?" Peyton asked

"oh well I'll go over the dance a little bit but Julian will mostly likely be in the room when I get back so we'll have to see how much cheer music he can put up with." Brooke laughed

Peyton smiled just thinking about poor Julian listening to a cheerleading song over and over again "Alright well then I'll see you back down here at 3:30" Peyton said waiting for Brookes approval

"yup sounds good, oh and maybe you should practice a bit more too cause your herkie is lacking heights and precision"

Peyton glared and shot her the middle finger, turning her back to head for the door she heard Brooke laugh.

Xx

"So are we really going to practice?" Hayley sighed as they made their way back up to their floor.

Peyton laughed to herself and then shook her head "No, it's probably better to just relax before we head over there."

"Thank God" Hayley said dramatically "Brooke would give the military a run for their money"

Peyton smiled "don't I know it try going shopping with her"

"No thank you" Hayley said slipping the card to gain access into her room. She stopped short when she saw a three men sitting with snacks watching the game. "Seriously guys, you couldn't find something more exciting to do?" Hayley said throwing her bag down and started to pick up the clothing that was lying all over the room.

"ummm no" Nathan said not taking his eyes off of the game

"Oh well you would care if we went out then?" Hayley questioned

Peyton looked at her like she was crazy but smiled when Hayley raised her eyebrow and then moved her head in the direction of the distracted boys.

"Nope" was Nathan's response

"Lucas, what about you?" Peyton questioned

"dunno" he said distractedly

Peyton rolled her eyes, seriously the man only had one response

"Okay well Hayley and I are going to shack up with some basketball players a few floors down, we'll see yah later" Peyton said grabbing Hayley's hand and pulling her out of the room.

Hayley laughed "You know that when they figure out what you said they'll be rushing around this hotel trying to find us"

"Yeah I know, it will be good for them" Peyton shrugged "Why don't we go get ready in Dylan's room that way they won't find us for a good while and we will have time to get ready without boys hovering around us."

"Sounds like a plan" Hayley smiled then gave Peyton a high five then they turned as they heard the door swing open "Run" Hayley hissed as they quickly moved to Dylan's door. When Dylan opened the door to let them in the last thing they heard were their names being called.

Xx

The arena was packed with people and cheerleading teams from all over. This competition was one of the biggest around and it drew people from all over. Winning this gave the lucky school major bragging rights and also a huge sum of money that was to be used solely for cheerleading purposes.

As the team made their way over to their specified area Peyton saw Lucas, Nathan and Skills walk in. She nudged Hayley to show her where they had chosen to sit and couldn't help but smile when she saw her completely relax. She knew that when it came time for them to perform Hayley would go back to being nervous but she could help but think how cute Hayley's relationship with Nathan was.

She hoped that one day she too would find that kind of relationship where just seeing someone from a distance was enough to relax her. Nathan was able to calm Hayley without words or gifts or anything for that matter, just being present was enough. She looked over at Lucas as he talked to Nathan and started to wonder Lucas could be that safety blanket for her. There was so much that they still had yet to talk about and there was the simple fact that they did come from different worlds, and her father still didn't know that she was seeing anyone.

Peyton shook her head and took a deep breath, she needed to focus. She needed to erase all thoughts and questions out of her head if she wanted to help Brooke bring home Gold. She needed to lead and be confident not worrying about what might become of her and Lucas.

Their name was called through the speaker and she quickly moved towards her bag to grab the ribbon that was meant to be tied in with her elastic already in her hair. She quickly pushed through the clutter of makeup and shoes and clothes until she came across a newspaper clipping. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she pulled it out of her bag. Peyton's breath caught when she read the headline and she quickly looked around the gym starting to feel like someone was watching her, her attention was drawn back to the paper when she red coming through the front. She nervously turned it over and then brought her hand to her mouth.

In red permanent marker she re read the words printed DON'T FORGET.

Peyton swallowed and shut her eyes tightly

"Peyton?" Brooke called wondering what the holdup was.

Peyton quickly shoved the clipping back in to her bag and turned to her "Yah"

Brooke started to ask what was keeping her when she noticed how pale she was "Are you okay?"

"Yeah fine, let's kick ass" Peyton smiled fakely

Brooke knew she was being fake but it would have to wait because the team was suppose to be hitting the floor now. "Yeah let's kick ass" she agreed jumping up and down and running on to the court reving the crowd up before the music started.