Title: "Summer Days"

Author: Cindy

Summary: Season 2. Spoilers from episodes 1 & 2. Brooke has to get a job. Someone has a crush on Peyton.

Pairing: Naley. Maybe Brucas. And Peyton and...you'll find out!

"What is going on?" Brooke yelled and hit the machine. "What the hell is going on?" She was trying not to get upset, but she didn't understand what was happening.

"Maybe..." Peyton started to say but couldn't come up with any scenario to make her feel better.

Brooke shook her head. "I uh got to get home. Bye."

"I'll call you later!" Peyton yelled to Brooke who had already walked away.

Brooke ran the rest of the way home. She opened up her front door and closed it loudly. She heard her parents talking in the dining room.

"Mom, Dad," Brooke said. "I...what's up with the credit cards? And I couldn't get any money out of the ATM."

Her dad looked at her mom. "Well we stopped you access to all the accounts."

"Why?"

"Because we are having some money problems right now," her mom said. "We'll give you some money a week to live off of. But if you need any money other than that, you need to get a job."

"What money problems?" Brooke asked.

Her dad sighed. "We've been going over the bills and we could save a lot more if-."

"If you cut me off," she finished for him. "That's fine. I'll get a job."

Brooke spun on her heel and left the house slamming the door. She'd stay over at Peyt's tonight. Brooke was heading to Peyton's house when she passed Karen's café. She saw Karen behind the counter cleaning. Brooke walked inside.

Karen looked up from what she was doing. "Hey Brooke," she greeted her with a smile. "What's going on?"

Brooke took a seat at the counter. "I...I wanted to talk to you about maybe getting a job here...if you need help of course. If not it's ok," she said quickly.

"Slow down Brooke. Actually I do think I could use help around here. I'm going back to school," Karen told her. "So I won't really have time to be here. But just kind of over see things."

"Wow. That's really good Ms. Roe. Good luck with your classes."

"Thanks. And I told you call me Karen. So if you could start tomorrow?" she asked.

Brooke smiled. "Thank you Karen. Thank you so much. Tomorrow yes tomorrow is fine."

"Brooke can I ask why you need a job all of a sudden?"

Brooke looked down. "My parents are having financial problems they said."

"I'm sorry Brooke," Karen said.

She just shrugged. "It's ok. So what time do you want me here tomorrow?"

"Can you be here at 8?" Karen asked Brooke. "I wanted to get you trained before we open. There's not much to learn. You'll get the hang of it fast."

"8 it is! Thanks again! Bye!" Brooke hopped off the stool and left, heading to Peyton's.

Brooke leaned in Peyton's doorway with a smile. "Hey girlfriend."

Peyton looks up and saw Brooke standing there. "What's got you so cheerful?" she asked, flipping to a clean page in her sketchbook.

She shrugged. "Just got myself a summer job."

Peyton laughed. "Brooke Davis has a job?"

"That's right girlie. You are looking at the newest employee at Karen's Café." Brooke paused before continuing. "My parents are having money problems or something. It doesn't matter. So I have a job. Is it that unbelievable?"

"A little. But that's good Brooke. When do you start?"

"Tomorrow morning at 8. I'm being trained probably by Haley," she answered Peyton.

"I'll be sure to stop by. Thought I'm not sure I'd trust you to make my coffee," Peyton said grinning.

Brooke grabbed a pillow and tossed it at Peyton, then hopped onto the bed next to her. "So what are we doing tonight?"

Peyton shrugged. "I don't know. We could go see a movie?"

"Sounds good and oh yeah...I'm sleeping over tonight."

"Ok then," Peyton laughed. "I don't think I've ever invited you to stay over all these years."

Brooke thought for a minute. "Well there was that one time in 5th grade. Remember? We wished for snow that night and when we got up there was snow everywhere," she recalled smiling.

"I remember," Peyton said. "We had a snowball fight and made snow angels."

"Anyway, get your ass up. We have a movie to go see."

"What movie do you want to see?" Peyton asked her.

"How about Resident Evil: Apocalypse?" Brooke suggested. "The first one was good. What's better than seeing a girl kick some ass?"

Peyton laughed. "I've wanted to see that."

Brooke got up. "Alright then, it's settled!"