(Prom: Tree Hill High School – Inside)
Brooke wiped the tears from her eyes. She knew Mouth was right. Ever since she'd been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Brooke had been running scared.
She'd wanted to tell Peyton more than anything, but she couldn't. Peyton had been devastated when she'd lost Ellie to breast cancer and Brooke wasn't going to put her best friend through that pain again.
So she shut her out. When Peyton had told Brooke about her feelings for Lucas, she'd seen it as an opportunity to shut her out of her life. Brooke felt it was better that Peyton hated her. At least that way she wouldn't have to deal with yet another loss in her life.
At first Brooke had thought she was pregnant, she'd never even considered that it could be a symptom of cancer. She'd taken a pregnancy test at Nathan and Haley's wedding, but that had turned out to be negative.
When she was still late the following week, she'd gone to the doctors. They'd run a number of tests before eventually giving her the bad news. Brooke had been alone when she'd gone and hadn't returned to see them since, refusing all treatment.
At the time she'd felt so isolated from everyone. Her parents were in New York and no matter how much she'd tried to contact them they were always unavailable. Brooke had split up from Lucas, Peyton and her were no longer talking and she'd found out that Nathan and Haley were expecting their first child.
She'd considered telling Rachel about it, but at that point they weren't that close and she didn't feel she could trust Rachel with her secret.
It was easy to hide this from Peyton when they'd been fighting, but Brooke didn't think that she would be able to keep up the charade much longer now they were talking again. Peyton knew her better than anyone and she would soon see straight through her.
Mouth was right. She should tell Peyton the truth. It would hurt her, Brooke knew that, but she wanted to be honest with Peyton if they were going to start again.
Mouth was watching Brooke closely as she stood deep in thought, staring into space. He touched her arm gently making her jump slightly.
"Brooke?" he said quietly, worry in his voice.
Brooke looked at Mouth sadly.
"I'm so scared Mouth." Brooke said, tears starting to form in her eyes again.
Mouth reached forward and pulled Brooke into a tight embrace.
"You don't have to be scared." He whispered into her ear, "Because no matter what happens Brooke, you will never be alone. I'm going to stand by you through this, and together we're going to fight it. I promise."
Brooke wrapped her arms around Mouths shoulders and said quietly back to him, "Thank you."
Just then, Principal Turner stepped onto the stage and stood in front of the microphone. The music had been stopped momentarily and everyone was watching him as he spoke.
Brooke wiped her eyes dry and turned towards the stage, Mouth's hand holding hers tightly. Peyton stood with her back to Lucas, his arms wrapped protectively around her waist. Nathan and Haley were beside them, their arms around each others waist.
"Good evening students." Principal Turner began. "I hope that everyone is enjoying themselves."
At this the students shouted and a large applause could be heard throughout the gym.
"Every year the students at Tree Hill High School are able to nominate their choice for prom king and queen."
Principal Turner removed a small envelope from his pocket, before continuing.
"And here," he said holding up the envelope for everyone to see. "I have the results."
He paused momentarily.
"This years Tree Hill High School's prom king and queen are…"
He opened the envelope and removed a small piece of card from within it.
"Nathan Scott and Brooke Davis."
On hearing the announcement, Brooke looked down at her feet. She could hear the whispers from the crowd.
"Whore"
"Slut."
Peyton was watching Brooke from where she was standing with Lucas. She could see from her expression that she would rather be anywhere else at this moment. Peyton could hear the names the crowd were calling her, could see the faces they were pulling. Brooke didn't deserve this and Peyton felt bad for her.
She released herself from Lucas' arms and walked over to Brooke who was still looking at her feet. She put her hand on Brooke's shoulder and whispered something into her ear.
Brooke looked up at Peyton and smiled.
"Thank you." She said.
Whilst this was happening, Nathan turned to Haley and saw that she was staring at him a look of surprise on her face. After a moment, Haley smiled at him.
"Well?" she asked him, "Are you going up there or what?"
Nathan was taken aback by Haley's attitude. He'd thought that she would be annoyed about the whole thing after what had happened last night, but instead she seemed to be pleased.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Of course" she said winking, "You were right. Brooke's been a good friend to me and it's not fair that she should have to go up there alone."
Nathan smiled at her before kissing her quickly, "I love you" he said before walking over to Brooke and offering her his arm to take.
Brooke looked uncertainly at Haley. They hadn't spoken since their fight this afternoon and she didn't want to hurt her anymore than she already had.
Haley saw Brooke looking and smiled back at her as she nodded.
Brooke looked back at Nathan.
"It's ok," he said.
Brooke took Nathan's arm and together they walked onto the stage to collect their crowns. Everyone's eyes were on the pair of them and Principal Turner placed a crown on Nathan's head.
From where she was standing, Brooke could see everyone whispering and pointing at her, faint mumbles of whore and bitch reaching her ears. The writing on her dress had re-appeared and she glanced down at the floor again to avoid the crowds' stares.
Peyton could see that Brooke was looking dejected and she felt guilty about the writing on Brooke's dress.
Principal Turner stepped towards Brooke and placed the crown on her head. As he did so, Brooke heard voices shouting from the crowd and looked up.
"Woo! Go Brooke!"
Everyone looked towards Mouth and Peyton who were clapping and shouting supportively. She could see both Haley and Lucas smiling and clapping as well.
Brooke smiled. Seeing that her friends were cheering was all that mattered to her. As long as Peyton and Haley were ok with this she didn't care what anyone else thought.
Peyton and Mouth had hushed the whispers from the crowd and now a gentle applause could be heard throughout the gym.
Nathan offered Brooke his arm once more and she took it happily. Together they walked back onto the dance floor and shared a dance as king and queen, the rest of the room following suit and joining in, Lucas dancing with Peyton and Haley with Mouth.
