"Haley? What are you doing here?" Jake's eyebrows furrowed together as he stared at the blonde standing rather nervously in the front of his steps. He looked furtively over his shoulder, something that Haley didn't miss.

"Is that any way to treat your oldest and best friend Jagielski?" she gave him a wry smile then looked away. "I…look I know Brooke's here and I-I need to talk to her."

Letting out a breath, he stepped out the door and closed it behind him softly. "She needs time Hales."

"I think she's had more than enough time Jake. She can't avoid me forever."

"I know but-"

The front door opened again suddenly and Brooke's frame appeared through. "Jake, what's taking you…" trailing off as she spotted Haley, the smile on her face died off quickly and in its place a cold firm mask fell over her face. "Oh. I see you've got company. Well, I'll leave you to it."

"Brooke wait." Haley sighed, stopping the brunette before she ran back in. "I came here to talk to you."

Squaring her shoulders, Brooke frowned as she turned back around and gave her a cold unfriendly smile. "Well, I believe there's nothing I have to talk to you about."

Looking furtively between the two girls, Jake quickly excused himself despite Brooke's protests.

"That's where you're wrong Brooke." Haley began. "Because I think there's plenty that's left to say between us."

Realizing that Jake was really going to leave her to deal with this, Brooke leaned against the door frame, her stance cold and guarded. "Well, I disagree former best friend."

Flinching at her cold tone, Haley took a deep breath and she took a step towards her. "Brooke, please don't be like that. Can you please just let me explain?"

"There's nothing to explain Haley!" Brooke snapped in return, crossing her arms in front of her fiercely. "You betrayed me and that's all there is to it. Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Brooke, I didn't know he slept with Rachel okay?" Haley blurted out, grabbing the pretty brunette by the arm before she could make her escape. "I knew they kissed, but Nathan convinced me that Rachel was the one who kissed him, and that it meant nothing. You have to believe me, I was just as shocked as you were about the other bit of news."

Hesitating slightly, Brooke regarded the girl she'd known all her life. "I-I don't know what to believe anymore Haley."

"Believe me, please." Haley begged, letting go of her grasp on her. "Look, that night that you and Nathan broke up, the night we went to the bar? I received a picture message of Nathan and Rachel together okay? And I confronted him about it the next day and he swore that it was a stupid and fleeting thing that should've never have happened. And I believed him, so I let I slide, and I didn't tell you anything about it, because honestly I didn't think that it mattered."

Not knowing what to think, Brooke sat on the steps of the Jagielski's' home and looked straight ahead of her. "You still should've told me Haley."

Sitting down next to her tentaviley, Haley let out a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. I should've and I didn't. I know that now Brooke, but you have to know that the only reason I kept that from you was to protect you, not hurt you."

"I can accept that Haley." Brooke started, letting out a huge breath. "But what I can't accept is the fact that you covered up for Nathan to help someone else, not protect me."

Shocked silent, Haley couldn't even muster up the words to defend herself so Brooke continued. "I'm your best friend Haley, so you should've told me what was going on with Nathan, whether he deemed it a mistake or not. But you didn't. Instead, you used that as leverage to get Nathan to back off Lucas. Which I don't even understand. I mean when did you and the bastard son become friends?"

"We're not friends Brooke." Haley admitted, taking a huge breath. "Me and him...we're uh-"

"It doesn't even matter." Brooke cut her off, standing up as she did so. "I can forgive you for not telling me about Nathan and Rachel kissing, but I can't forget that you disregarded my feelings in favor of protecting someone else's."

Feeling the tears welling up behind her eyes, Haley stood up as well. "Brooke…I'm sorry…"

Giving her a sad smile, Brooke nodded. "I am too. I uh….I'll see you around Haley."

Watching her best friend walk back into the Jagielski home, Haley sat down on the steps and placed her head in her hands, the tears not giving way as they spilled out of her eyes rapidly. Damn it, what had she done?

For the second time that week, Nathan dragged out of his last class before lunch and decided to skip all together. Again, he wasn't in the mood and frankly, he just wanted to be alone.

As he was walking down the quad, he spotted a familiar curly set of hair ahead of him and he stopped.

Peyton was sitting smack in the middle of the quad, lonesome and she had a sketch pad in front of her, the tray of food next to her completely untouched.

The sun was glistening brightly and it fell directly behind her silhouette, making her blonde curls appear even more golden and he had to take a sudden deep breath at the beautiful sight before him.

Because she looked like an angel.

He was suddenly confused by the rush of emotions sweeping over him and he felt his heart actually flutter in his chest and he frowned.

Because that had never happened to him before and he wasn't that type of guy.

Pushing that aside, he started to make his way over to her. The sarcastic blonde had avoided him like the plague today, and he was intent on finding out why. Halfway there he stopped again, the frown on his lips only turning more downwards as he watched Lucas and Haley beat him to the punch and set their lunch trays across from Peyton's.

Great, his two favorite people in the entire world.

There was no way he'd be able to talk to Peyton now. And anyways what would he say? They'd kissed and he realized that he couldn't even begin to explain to her, much less to himself why in fact he'd done that.

He was about to turn and head towards the parking lot to his car when another sight stopped him, dead in his tracks.

Up ahead of him, Brooke and Jake were sitting very closely and talking softly to each other.

Now, Nathan was a lot of things.

An arrogant, cocky, smug son of a bitch…a jackass if you would…

But he sure as hell wasn't insecure.

But something about the way Brooke and Jake were sitting together and the way Brooke was smiling at Jake, made something inside of him shift.

Clenching his fists at his side, he hated the feeling that spread across his chest as he watched them.

You're not the only one who's noticed how hopelessly in love with her he is, y'know.

Narrowing his eyes, he watched them intently as Rachel's words resonated in his head like some sort of taunt.

Sure he knew Jagielski had deep feelings for Brooke, he'd known that for a very long time. After all, they had grown up together and despite them drifting apart, they still knew each other pretty damn well. However, that knowledge had never left him feeling like this.

Feeling the jealousy pool in the bottom of his stomach, he watched as his childhood best friend's arm wrapped around Brooke's shoulder like some sort of comforting gesture. He felt his blood boil like nothing he ever thought possible and he snapped.

Because Jake was comforting his girl, touching his girl and there was no way in hell he was going to just sit back and watch it happen.

"Uh-Oh."

"What?"

"The shit's about to hit the fan." Haley replied once she'd spotted Jake and Brooke sitting together ahead of them, maybe too close for comfort.

Both Lucas and Peyton turned in the direction that she was staring and watched as Nathan stalked over towards Brooke and Jake, visibly angry.

"I was afraid of this." Haley sighed, feeling a sudden uneasy feeling creep over her as she watched Nathan slam his hand down on the table Brooke and Jake were sitting at. "Well, it's been a long time coming that's for sure."

"Well, well what do we have here?"

Both Brooke and Jake jumped apart startled as Nathan stared at them, his eyes dark with anger.

"Well, if it isn't my cheatin, lying ass ex-boyfriend." Brooke snapped, ignoring the wild pounding of her heart at his presence. "What the hell do you want Nathan?"

Laughing hollowly, Nathan pushed away the two trays of food sitting on the table in anger, sending them crashing into the ground. "What do I want? What the hell do you want Brooke? I mean, it's like what, 3 days since you break up with me and already you're with him? What the fuck?"

"Excuse me?" Brooke stood up quickly, her eyes blazing angrily. "But who the hell do you think you are?" she yelled furiously, shoving her hands against his chest. She didn't care that everyone on the quad was staring at them. She was beyond angry. "You cheat on me, and you think you have any right to come over here and question me on who I'm with?"

"So, that's it then?" Nathan shouted, looking between the two of the angrily. "What the fuck man?" he directed towards Jake. "Did you really think you could just pick up where I left off? Fuck you Jagielski. You've got another thing coming if you think I'm going to stand by and watch you move in on my girl."

"I'm not moving in on your girl Nate." Jake stated calmly, standing up to his full lenght. "But I'm not going to stand by and watch you walk all over Brooke either. She's not your girl anymore. You pretty much made sure of that the moment you decided to cheat on her with Rachel."

"Screw you Jagielksi." he spat, taking a menacing step towards him. "You don't know the first thing about it, so don't give me your holier than thou attitude okay? And I bet you were just waiting in the wings weren't you?"squaring his shoulders off angrily, the captain of the Ravens pushed the teenage father back roughly. "You were so ready to just pick up the pieces weren't you? Admit it. You've been waiting for this to happen for a very long time." his eyes narrowing dangerously, he balled his fists tightly, wanting nothing more than to deck his childhood best friend across the face. "Screw all the years of friendship man. I'm warning you, if you even so much as attempt to make a move on Brooke, you won't live to regret it."

Before Jake even had a chance to respond, some of the other guys on the basketball team rushed in ahead of them, separating them quickly before it fully came to a head.

Between all the commotion, Nathan took this opportunity to turn to Brooke and grab her by the arms fiercely. "Brooke, we need to talk okay?" he hissed out deseperately.

Shaking him off, she tried to walk away but he wouldn't let her, having had enough. "You're going to have to talk to me some time Davis. You've been avoiding me and I'm sick of it. I've given you enough time now."

"I don't have to talk to you!" she yelled back, trying her hardest to shake herself off from his grasp. But to no avail. "I don't want to talk to you damn it! I don't even want to see you!"

"Fine. But you leave me no choice."

He didn't even give her a chance to protest. He picked her up swiftly, fireman style and swung her over his shoulders.

Her screams and protests fell on dead ears as he was intent on getting them out of there. Jake tried to help her out but both Tim and Tyler held him back, letting him know that this was between Nathan and Brooke and he needed to back off.

Dumping a livid and screaming Brooke into the front seat of his car, Nathan gritted his teeth as she continued to scream and hit him. Buckling her in swiftly, he ignored her as he put the car in reverse and peeled out of there.

So I know it was a pretty short chapter, but hope you guys enjoy it anyways. Next chapter, there's PLENTY of more Brathan I promise. For all you fans ;)