Okay, so I meant to update this late night, but again the stupid Internet stopped working, argh! So here is chapter 12, enjoy and review! ;) Jem

0101010101010

When Brooke awoke to the sound of her alarm clock on Tuesday morning, she was surprisingly chirpy. Lucas would be picking her up this morning and driving her to school, she couldn't wait! Realising she only had an hour until he came, she hurriedly jumped out of bed and into the shower; she had to look nice for when he arrived!

Brooke was sitting at the kitchen table finishing her cereal when the doorbell rang. She had already jumped up to let Lucas in when she heard her mother saying good morning to him. Figuring she could finish her breakfast she sat back down and resumed chewing. A moment later Brooke's mother entered the room followed by Lucas. Looking up at him Brooke noticed his usual smirk adorning his face, which turned into a smile seeing her. Brooke was incapable of answering him at that moment, as her mouth was full of rice bubbles but was saved from doing so when her father walked into the room.

"Lucas! Good to see you again! Now, what type of car do you own, is it safe?"

Lucas answered this simply with, "it's parked right out front Sir, would you like to come and see it?"

"What a good idea! Oh and by the way, Richard will be fine, Sir makes me feel old."

As Lucas led Brooke's father out to his car, Barbara smiled at her daughter. "I'm sorry about Daddy Brooke, you know he's just like that because he's protective of you?"

Brooke smiled reassuringly at her Mom, "Yeah, it's okay Mom, I get it and I think Lucas does to. He said to me the other day that he thought it was cute."

"Awww," smiled Barbara, "he certainly seems like a nice boy Brooke, you've chosen well!"

Brooke blushed at her mother, "I didn't choose him Mom." Pondering for a second Brooke added, "I am glad that I needed tutoring though!"

Both daughter and mother laughed at this as Brooke got up from the table to get her school books and meet Lucas outside.

As Brooke closed the red front door behind her an amusing sight met her eyes. Lucas had opened up the hood of his car and him and her father were examining the engine. Brooke thoroughly suspected that her father had been the one to suggest the inspection and that Lucas was just playing along with it. Reaching the pavement Brooke called out to them, "I'm sure Luke's car's fine Dad!"

Both the men stood up. Lucas grinned at Brooke while her Dad's face held a stern expression. "You can never be too careful about cars Brooklyn, an extra check over one in a while can never go astray."

"Dad, not the full name please!"

"What's wrong with your full name? Brooklyn is the lovely name that your mother and I christened you with."

"I just prefer Brooke Dad please!"

Lucas chuckled and shut the hood of his car, while Brooke hugged her Dad goodbye. "Make sure you always drive with two hands on the wheel Lucas!"

"I sure will, Richard!" Obeyed Lucas. Brooke, however, could see the tiniest start of a glint in his eye and knew he was trying not to be amused by his tone of voice.

As soon as they were on the road, Brooke laid a hand on Lucas' forearm, "I'm sorry about my Dad Luke, I didn't know he was going to be so insanely protective!"

Lucas smiled warmly at her in return, "Don't worry Baby, I understand why your father is protective of you. Trust me, you're worth protecting!"

That was another one of those comments that Brooke didn't know how to respond to so she consequently didn't reply at all.

0101010101010

Ten minutes later Lucas was parking his car in the parking lot as they arrived at school. Brooke hopped out and shut her door and Lucas locked it. He then grabbed Brooke's hand and held on to it as they walked into school. Brooke loved it how Luke did things like that. Those little touches meant so much to her and she suspected that Lucas had realised that.

As they entered the school building, Brooke's hand subconsciously tightened in Lucas'. He looked up at Brooke, "Hey Baby, there's no need to be nervous, sure everybody will probably know about us, but don't worry, I'm right here and hopefully the gossip will die down by the end of the week.

True to Lucas' word people left, right and centre were whispering and pointing at them as they walked down the hallway. Some guys came and clapped Lucas on the back in what Brooke assumed to be congratulations, which seemed odd, as she didn't know them. If she had voiced this comment to Lucas he would have laughed. Sure, Brooke might only be a freshman, but any red-blooded male could hardly fail to notice her figure and looks.

Sensing that Brooke was growing even uneasier as more and more people noticed them, Lucas slung his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Whispering in her ear, "don't think about them Baby, just picture the end of our next tutoring session where we hopefully won't be interrupted."

This comment caused Brooke to giggle and to their expectant peers, this made Lucas and Brooke an extremely cute couple. Unfortunately Lucas' previous comment would turn out not to be true. The large majority of the school would be still interested in the new couple after a week, maybe even two. There was just something so enchanting about a relationship between one of the most popular seniors and a relatively unknown freshman.

When they reached Brooke's locker Lucas leant his arm against it as Brooke deposited her books. Then Lucas noticed a hesitant Peyton walking up to them. Not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable Lucas addressed her, "Hey Peyton!"

Brooke turned around and saw her friend. "P. Sawyer, how's it hanging?"

Both Peyton and Lucas cracked up at this comment, which prompted Brooke to elbow Lucas and throw and reproachful glare at Peyton. Both tried to contain themselves and Peyton answered, "Oh yeah I'm good Brooke, hey Lucas."

Slamming her locker shut, Brooke walked off in the middle of her two friends. She soon found herself smiling; however, as Lucas rubbed small circles with his thumb on her back and she promptly forgave Peyton as well.

As they reached Brooke and Peyton's first period classroom, Lucas kissed Brooke on the kiss and bid them both goodbyes. Peyton then walked into the classroom and Brooke was about to follow when she felt a sharp poke in the shoulder. Turning around she found herself face to face with none other than the unfriendly Rachel.

"Umm… Hi, Rachel,"

"Sure," was Rachel's curt reply. "Look, you know I don't like you very much, I think that's pretty obvious to both of us."

Brooke wasn't very sure how to answer this comment so she chose to stay silent and remembered Luke's warning from yesterday about how Rachel was out to cause trouble.

Rachel carried on, "everybody knows that the only reason that a stupid freshman like yourself could get Lucas Scott is by being promiscuous. Oh, and if you don't know what that means it's slutty. Basically everyone knows that you're sleeping with Lucas. Nice reputation to hold don't you think?"

"I… I don't… I'm not…" Stuttered a highly embarrassed Brooke.

"Anyway, I'll see you at practice this afternoon Brooke." Continued a fakely happy Rachel, "Bye now!" With that last comment she sashayed off down the hallway.

Poor Brooke was nearly in tears. Suddenly a stern voice inside herself told her to pull herself together. Lucas had even warned her that Rachel would play dirty, what was she thinking almost crying? Still, there was a part of Brooke that wondered if Rachel was right. Did other girls and guys who now knew about her relationship with Lucas think of her as a skank or slut or whatever? She didn't want everybody to hate her; other's opinions mattered to her a lot.

Although Brooke tried to forget about the ambush throughout the rest of the day, it kept nagging at the back of her mind. Was she thought of as a slut? A lunch when she saw Luke briefly she didn't mention Rachel. Lucas, however, noticed that something was off with her but didn't want to question her about it until he got her alone. Brooke also saw Rachel once more that day and the girl in question threw her a conceited smirk.

All in all, Brooke was very glad to here the end of the last class bell ring only then realising that she would see Rachel at cheerleading practice. No decent excuse would come to mind, however, for why she could not a attend any anyway she was getting a ride home from Lucas afterwards.

Brooke therefore dawdled her way to practice and was the last of the cheerleaders to arrive. She reached the group of girls she heard a familiar sneering voice, "Ahhh, I see that the slut has denied to make an appearance at last!"

Brooke winced and knew that she was turning red. The basketball boys were to far away to hear what Rachel had just said and she didn't expect Peyton or Bevin to stand up to the much older girl. Would anyone defend her?