School Of Love Chapter 22, a higher ground fanfic

SCHOOL OF LOVE

A/N: Ah, chapter 22 up! Amazing! I never went that far with my other stories, it's just fantastic! Hope you'll enjoy even if I don't really like how I wrote this chapter… Also, I'm trying to add some music to my chapters, I think it's better to go into the story!

Queen of Shadows: It's okay, you're not forced to review each chapter but I'm glad that you did! Yes, I'm trying to develop this story as much as I can... I hope you'll like that chapter, it's been a long time since I didn't review, and now that I'm more on my OTH stories, it's becoming a little harder to write about Higher Ground. But I'm still doing it and am actually trying to write chapter 27.

Ghostwriter: Thanks, I'm glad you're still here, encouraging me! I hope this chapter will be as good as the others to you, but I'm not sure about it. So feel free to be critical on me!

RATING: T (just to be sure)

CHARACTERS: Shelby, Scott, Wendy, Brooke, Brian, Luke

SUMMARY: AU. Shelby, Wendy, Scott, Brian and the others are all in high school. Walt still exists, but is slightly different in comparison with the show. Elaine happened but is now out of the picture.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the original characters. The others are completely made up, unless my subconscious worked on things I saw on TV or something…

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Two Weeks Later, Monday

Scott stopped dead in his tracks as he was walking to his next class. Shelby was standing a few meters ahead, searching things in her schoolbag. She still had her crutches but seemed obviously better even if she was leaning against the wall in support. She had some difficulties with keeping her balance and he was slightly hesitating in going to help her. He was about to move towards her when he felt a hand sliding down his chest. He recognized the perfume's owner and turned to face her. She smiled sweetly and kissed his lips quickly, not opening her mouth. "Hey." He greeted uncomfortably as he watched Shelby glaring at him with a painful look on her face. He knew the simple gesture had hurt her too bad he had intended to. All he wanted was for her to know he was just as heartbroken as she was.

"Hey baby…ready for next class?" Brooke asked following his gaze and smirking a little. She knew about them being together in the past and couldn't help but feel threatened even if she knew Scott wouldn't cheat on her.

"Sure. C'mon." He said and when they walked past Shelby, he didn't even let his eyes crossing hers, in fear of not being able to continue walking without talking to her.

"So, I was thinking…" Brooke started then watched Scott carefully as this one just rolled his eyes at her cheerfulness. She was never tired of wearing her mask, it was amazing. He even started to wonder if it was really a mask…maybe she was always like that?

"Yeah?"

"You know almost everybody is going to that party at the beach house and you still didn't confirm you were going too." She pouted and Scott shrugged, knowing it wasn't a big deal to him since he didn't even want to go…knowing he wouldn't have any fun.

"So?"

"Well, I need to know if you can, because if you're not, I'll need to find another driver." She teased him slightly and he just chuckled, knowing she was but finding it slightly amusing though.

"Oh, so that's all I am to you? A car driver?" He asked faking dissatisfaction and she just giggled a little, bringing a hand to his upper body.

"Of course not!" She playfully smacked him in the chest and he laughed a little. She was funny to hang out with …even if she was slightly annoying…life was always easy when he was talking or joking with her…that was it, it was just uncomplicated, distracting and he liked things this way.

"I'm going too anyways."

"Great." She gave out a small squeal and he took her hand in his, dragging her inside the classroom, knowing they were both late.

Shelby watched the Golden couple walk to their next class and couldn't help but feel bitter about it. She just couldn't believe he had replaced her this quickly. She couldn't believe he acted like 4 months of a relationship were meaning absolutely nothing to him. It should have been her being walked by Scott…she should have been the one kissing him in the stairs, the one joking with him, the one going to parties with him…just everything… Se had let him the time to think and he apparently had…not in the good way of saying obviously. She deeply hated him for being so self-centered he couldn't accept the fact some secrets hadn't been revealed to him. She finally found her wallet and looked inside to see if she had any cash left and cursed. What would she do with only a few cents? She looked around to see if anybody could help her out and saw Wendy walking inside an empty class, followed by Brian. What were the two doing together? She took her crutches back and began walking with difficulty, stopping at a classroom posthole shaped window and eyed them. Wendy was sitting on a desk and Brian was leaning against her, kissing her. Shelby stood there bewildered, not knowing what to do about it. She was about to leave when she crossed Wendy's horrified eyes. This one got up and ran outside the room, to her bestfriend.

"Hey Shel." She greeted nervously, straightening her clothes a little. But she didn't mind keeping on doing the act when she met her friend's dark eyes. She was mad at her, she could easily tell by the glare.

"Wendy…cut the crap; I just saw your little lovely show." Shelby answered sarcastically and scoffed at her as she looked at her with puppy dog eyes. She knew what she was doing was wrong to herself, to Luke and to Brian… and even to Shelby.

"There is no need to be aggressive like this." Wendy replied coolly and Shelby just sneered at her statement.

"No need to be aggressive? Excuse me Wendy, but what about Luke?" She questioned her, leaning against the closest wall and placing her crutches by her side. She stood there, arms crossed in front of her chest, waiting for something coming out of her bestfriend's mouth, which was swollen by the way. Certainly due to too many kisses lied on her lips…

"That doesn't concern you." The brunette only answered to her defense and Shelby couldn't help but frown a little at her jauntiness. Was she just doing the same mistake twice, and without thinking?

"Then stop acting like it doesn't, damn it! I already lost my boyfriend because of your little games!" She exploded then regretted immediately blaming her for what had happened with Scott. They both knew it wasn't entirely Wendy's fault if Scott didn't want to talk anymore…he was the one not being tolerant.

"I'm sorry but you lost him by your own fault." Wendy retorted and Shelby wiped away a single tear while she just stood frozen by her friend's distress. Who was she to give her some advice about her love life after all?

"You know that's not true!" Shelby replied weakly and Wendy just shrugged, not really caring and blowing the subject off.

"Well anyways, I decided to give Brian another chance." She declared and Shelby looked at her incredulously.

"You don't even love him!"

"How would you know?" Wendy said now angry at her and she showed it silently by threatening her with her eyes. That didn't impress Shelby, who just continued talking.

"I saw you with both of them: with Brian you're not yourself, you're cold and bitchy…and the look in your eyes is just animal. With Luke, you're just so sweet and I know you love him."

"No Shelby. You can't do that. You can't come here and tell me who I'm in love with. It's not fair." Wendy pleaded and Shelby shook her head, carrying on her speech.

"I'm sorry Wendy, but what you're doing to him…I just can't accept it again. You already did that mistake once with Brian and you just do it again with Luke. Why do you fear loving and being loved that much? Is it because of what happened between Elaine and Scott?" Shelby questioned, trying to understand better her acts.

"Why don't you mind your own business? This way you won't have to feel like you have to protect me from every mistake I make?" She almost shouted and Shelby couldn't help but feel bothered by her way of dealing with things. She was also mad at her for doing it to Luke… hadn't that being enough to hurt Brian once? She also had to make Luke enduring it too?

"You know what Wendy? Fine, just go back to that classroom making out or doing even more with Brian, I don't care anymore. But I warn you: if anything happens, it's not even worth coming getting me to your rescue, I won't be here." She almost promised and Wendy just threw her arms up in exasperation.

"Fine!" She said and began walking back to the classroom where Brian was still waiting. The poor guy, he was really completely crazy about the girl who didn't really love him. "Oh, and you know what else? Scott was right, you're just too dumb." Wendy said as she stopped and turned around a last time before entering the room. Shelby bit her bottom lip to keep the tears from falling down and slid against the cold wall, her head in her hands, hiding from the cruel world.

Later in the Afternoon

"Scott, tell me again…why do we have to study that?" Brooke moaned, leaning against his shoulder. Scott shrugged her off carefully so he would not hurt her head and sighed.

"Look, I know you don't really care about where you're going next year because your parents would pay for every university you want to go in, but I really need my good grades." He said dryly and she rolled her eyes at him.

"They're already at top. C'mon, you promised we'd be having fun today!" She whined again and he just smiled tightly at her.

"I know and I was not lying…just let me finish that essay, and I'm all yours." He promised and she looked at him suspiciously.

"Promised?" She asked and he brought his hand on top of hers.

"I swear Babe. Now, why don't you just go outside to my car or something?" He suggested and she let out a small breath, opening her palm to him so he could just hand her the key.

"Can you give me your keys then? So I can go inside at least?" She finally asked as she noticed he wasn't really paying attention.

"Sure, they're in my right coat pocket I think, just take them." He said and she nodded, sliding her hand into his pocket. Her hand reached his cell and she found out it was just vibrating. She took it and looked at the caller id but it was already too late for him to answer.

"Hey, you have two missed calls from your mother." She announced and he just shrugged, keeping his eyes on his paper.

"I'll call her later. You know this is the last essay I'm ever gonna write for school?" He stated and she swallowed a little, before answering.

"Yeah, kinda strange, uh?" She said slightly distracted by her hand still searching for his key. She finally found it in the inside pocket and sighed softly.

"Are you happy to leave school?" He questioned again and she licked her bottom lip and softly bit it before answering.

"More like anxious…"

"Yeah me too…we kinda are belonging to the popular crowd here and then next year…" He trailed off and she let out a small smile as she perfectly pictured how next year would be for him. She replaced his coat on his chair and peered over his shoulder to see where he was in his page.

"I'm sure you'll be just fine. With your good looks and football you have nothing to worry about popularity. Me, on the other side…I won't keep up with cheerleading next year, so I better be good intellectually if you know what I mean." She said with worry readable in her eyes but since he wasn't looking at her, he missed it and thought it wasn't a big deal for her.

"C'mon, you know you're gorgeous Brooke, you'll still be someone people notice when they walk past you."

"Thanks…" She leaned down and gave him a short kiss on the lips and left to wait for him in the car. She wasn't really reassured but knew he was kinda distracted with his essay and all… She put back on her baby pink vest as she felt the sight wind hitting her face and headed to the stairs. On her way out of the school, she noticed Shelby Merrick having a hard time dealing with her crutches and even if it was a funny sight, she went over to offer her some help. "Hey Merrick…" She started then bit her lip as the blonde turned to her with an annoyed look.

"What do you want?" She asked dryly and Brooke took a step back, holding her hand in the air in defense against her aggressiveness.

"Sorry, I just thought you might need a hand…guess I was wrong." She muttered and was about to walk past her without glancing another time at her but stopped when she heard Shelby replying.

"C'mon Johnson, I know you don't like me. What's with that sudden wave of sympathy?" Shelby asked, leaning on her crutches and well knowing she was on position of weakness compared to the girl.

"You know what? Fine! I know we're not friends or anything. I just know that Scott's hurting right now and that I'm only the rebound." Brooke exclaimed, almost yelling at her and Shelby scoffed at her.

"Unbelievable…" Shelby muttered into her breath and sat on the steps carefully leaning against the wall. Brooke looked down at her and decided to sit next to her.

"I'm not stupid…I saw it had something to do with you." She quietly said, looking down at her painted nails. Shelby followed her gaze and hesitated before talking again.

"We were in love…" She trailed off and Brooke eyed her slightly confused at her statement. What did she mean by saying 'in love'?

"What?"

"We were together for 4 months…and we both loved each other." She added softly and Brooke bit her lip, feeling sorry for the poor girl with the visible broken heart.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." She said nicely and Shelby sighed a little, running a hand through her wavy blond hair.

"No one did. We kinda did go out in complete secret since we couldn't let Wendy know." She explained and looked up as she saw a car pulling over, hoping it would be her mother or Walt…she didn't know who was supposed to come taking her.

"Why that?" Brooke asked, keeping Scott's car keys in her hand and slowly rubbing them.

"Because she had made me promise not to do anything with him and vice versa." Shelby said thinking it didn't really interested the girl but Brooke didn't show any sight of boredom so Shelby didn't mind sitting there with her.

"Oh…" There was a small moment of silence uninterrupted as both girls seemed lost in their own thoughts.

"Yeah…so what do you want from me?" Shelby broke in after a while and Brooke nodded her head at her.

"I just wanted to know why Scott was acting this way. I guess I have an answer now…" He's still desperately in love. She thought to herself, not bothering to tell Shelby about it as she knew the girl was already crushed by their break up.

"Yeah." Shelby answered with a little bitterness and looked up at the brunette sitting next to her. It was just so strange that the two were talking that anyone who would have seen them would have thought it was just a joke. "Brooke, can I ask you something more personal?" She asked her and the older girl nodded, shrugging all the same.

"Depends."

"Okay, I wanna know if you and Scott are having sex together?" She kinda whispered and Brooke watched her with surprise written all over her face before replying honestly.

"Yes, we are. I'm sorry." She sincerely apologized and Shelby smiled a little even though it was hard for her to hide her deep feelings for the guy that held her heart.

"Okay…look, thanks for being nice but I really gotta go, my mom's waiting." Shelby stated as she saw her mom's car pulling over. She slowly got up and Brooke held her schoolbag for her.

"K. See you around." Brooke said following her eyes and spotting the car and the woman inside.

"You too." Shelby turned back smiling nicely at her for once and walked to the car. Scott joined his girlfriend and followed her gaze, noticing it was on Shelby. He would have asked her what was going on, but Brooke cut him off before he could even say anything and this one started rambling about anything not really important to his eyes. They walked to his car and since the girl wouldn't stop talking, he listened distractively and finally forgot to ask his question.

Shelby sat at the end of her bed and put her crutches to the side, leaving them on the floor. She had told her mother she was tired and would try to have a small nap before diner. She attuned her guitar (the one she had been offered for Christmas) and began playing a soft melody of a song she particularly loved. She began singing, lost in her thoughts.

Take my home
Take everything I own
Take it, take control
You will feel better
You will feel whole

You're so good
You stopped me where I stood
And let me look at love and I feel better
Oh, I feel good

As she was about to continue singing, she heard a knock on her bedroom door and looked up, half expectantly her mother or sister. "C'mon in!" She yelled and was quite surprised when she saw Luke's face appearing. He looked almost hesitant to enter, but took more confidence when his eyes met Shelby's warm ones. "Luke? What are you doing here?" She asked and he just shrugged his shoulders sadly, eyes puffy, still keeping a step outside. He had been kinda hoping Wendy would be here and that he could have talked to her…and again, he wasn't sure if he wanted to ever see her again.

"I need to talk to you…can I go in? Your mother said you were pretty worn out by your school day."

"Of course you can." She answered heartily, but still a little confused about the reason why he was there, visiting her. Luke stepped inside and closed the door behind him quietly, before turning back to Shelby. He walked closer to the bed and leaned down, kissing her cheek.

"Hi…"

"Hey, you okay?" She asked as she saw he had been crying as his eyes were particularly swollen and red.

"Not really… I guess you know about Wendy and me?" He said looking down at his feet. He didn't even know why his feet had walked him to her…he just needed to talk to someone and hoped Shelby would be that someone.

"Yeah, I saw her this afternoon…but I didn't know if she had broken up with you."

"She did. I was supposed to meet her after school but she never came to my car." He started and watched as Shelby looked at him with sympathy. He could tell she was truthfully sorry. "I called her on her cell and she just told me we were over."

"Did you ask her if there was any valid reason?" She asked him to know if he was aware that her bestfriend had gotten back with Brian. She wasn't going to tell him about it if he didn't know. She didn't want to have him crushed even more than he already was.

"Brian and she got back together apparently and I can easily tell I don't understand her act." He said with a nod of the head and she cleared her throat before speaking again. She didn't know what she was supposed to say. She just felt the same way as he did…confusion, lack of understanding, and pain.

"I don't understand either Luke…but…maybe she's just confused?" She suggested but he shook his head in denial.

I just want to give it all to you
I want to share this with you
Make you mine and mine will be all yours
Whatever you want and more
What I'm anticipating
Everything else will be over-rated
Baby, it's for you, it's all for you

"No, she's not Shel…she seemed perfectly clear and sure when she broke up." He said then sighed, putting his head between both his hands. He was so hurt by Wendy's behavior. One day she told him she was falling in love with him and that Brian was history, and then she was breaking up to go back with the guy. He couldn't believe she was acting this way, when he had been ready to give her everything he had…

"I'm really, truly sorry Luke. I tried talking her out of breaking up with you but we just end it by arguing and she doesn't want to talk to me anymore." She said sadly and Luke's eyes widened as she told him that her friendship with Wendy was on rocks too.

"Really? What happened?" He asked and she vaguely answered as she didn't want to go into details that weren't his business.

"Nothing really. I just told her what I thought about her getting back with Brian and she really didn't like it." It was the truth after all…except it wasn't the only thing that had enraged Wendy…

"I'm sorry; it's my fault if you two aren't on best terms right now." He apologized but she just shook her head, stopping him with her hand.

"Don't be sorry about something like that. Don't feel guilty about it, really Luke, what happened is my whole fault, believe me."

You speak kind
Oh, if you were mine
What would we be like?
We would be liked
We would be...

"C'mon Shelby, I never met someone as caring as you." He complimented and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed he thought of her that way. If he knew what both Wendy and Scott were reproaching her…she perfectly knew she hadn't been as good as she should have as a friend… And that she should have realized or detected that Wendy needed more help that she could afford her.

"Thanks…but you don't know everything." She only said but that picked up his interest.

"Want to tell me more about it?"

"No, it's really not my place to tell…it doesn't only concern me." She replied quietly and he nodded with a small smirk, but understood that she didn't want to let out a secret concerning her relationship with her bestfriend.

"Okay…I understand. Anyway, thanks for comforting me a little, I'm sincerely glad we're talking to each other so openly." He said with a genuine smile playing on his lips and she nodded, softly biting her bottom lip. At least, she had a new friend…even if she had lost two precious ones.

"I like having you as a friend too." She admitted and he nodded with a smile, looking at her gently. He really liked the girl. She was very different from Wendy, the girl that held his heart, but she was definitively something too. She was nice, easy to talk, you could confide in her, and she was particularly lovely and sweet. If he hadn't been in love with Wendy, he could have fallen easily for this one. If he hadn't been in love with Wendy…

"So, change of topic…I didn't know you could sing?" He teased her kindly and she blushed a little, looking down at the music instrument she still had on her tights.

"Yeah…there are a lot of things you don't know…" She said with a low, mysterious voice and chuckled a little as she met his eyes. They both smiled at each other and Luke brought his hand to hers, holding it softly. A friendship was definitively born…

Open up
Let me fill your cup
I can really pour it out
It will be like...
I will be enough
I just want to give it all to you
I want to share this with you
Make you mine and mine will be all yours
Whatever you want and more
What I'm anticipating
Everything else will be over-rated
Baby, it's for you
Baby, it's for you
Baby, it's for you, it's all for you

Songs credits: GAVIN DeGRAW, Over Rated, on album CHARIOT

Hope you liked this chap…actually, it's not one of my favorites…but still REVIEW please!

In next Chapter:

Ch.23: Wendy/Shelby, Scott/Brooke/Shelby, Wendy/Luke, Shelby/Luke (potential item?), more about Jess and Walt relationship.

Since the next chapter is already done, I'll update it by next week.

Please R&R!