A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews. This is basically a catch up chapter where Lucas brings Brooke up to speed with all the goings on in Tree Hill since she left. And in the future, you'll be seeing characters from Tree Hill pop up in Beaufort and there will be a few visits back to Tree Hill too.

Chapter Three: A Catch Up

Brooke drew circles in her Pepsi with her straw. She watched as the bubbles rose up to the top before checking her watch.

Lucas was late.

She hesitated before pulling out her cellphone and looking for his number.

"Brooke!" someone shouted from the entrance. Brooke whipped her head around and looked at who it was.

"Lucas, I was just about to call you. You're late," she said as he made his way to her booth.

"Sorry," he apologised, "New town. I don't know the places very well. Are you aware that there are three diners here?"

"Yeah, well only this one is called The Diner so it's pretty easy to find – eventually," she laughed.

"So… this is where you hang out?" Lucas questioned looking around the place, "It's nice."

"It's not exactly Karen's Café but it's okay. Want anything?" she asked.

"What's good to eat?" Lucas asked glancing at the menu.

"Um… chilli fries, French fries, cheese burger, vanilla milkshake. Anything really, but stay away from the hot dogs because they'll make you throw up for days," Lucas laughed.

"I think I'll just grab a milkshake and some fries," he gestured to her Pepsi, "Is that all you're going to have? The Brooke Davis I know used to eat a burger, fries, drink milkshake and stole fries off my plate," Lucas reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah. I remember. I'll just have the same as you," she said as she called the waitress over.

"Hey Brooke," the waitress, Milli, greeted before glancing at her companion, "And who is this young man?"

"Mill, this is Lucas from Tree Hill. He just transferred," Brooke introduced, "Lucas, this is Milli; the best waitress in all of Beaufort," Milli blushed and gave Lucas a small nod.

"Actually, Brookie here is a liar. Everybody knows she's the best waitress around here. Puts me to shame." Milli told Lucas, "What'll you both have?" she asked, missing the look Lucas gave to Brooke, who quickly ordered their meals.

"You work here?" Lucas asked Brooke once Milli left.

"Yeah, sort of. I just pull in some hours over the weekends and some evenings."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because… in Tree Hill I was the rich girl who never needed to work for money. It was always there. It's like a fall from grace now that I have to work part-time just so I can get some new clothes. Do you know that I'm wearing the same shirt I wore last week? I even had to learn how to use the washing machine because we don't have a maid anymore. I'm not used to cleaning up after myself. It's kind of embarrassing," she told him truthfully. Lucas reached over and held her hand comfortingly.

"It's not embarrassing. I'm proud of you, Brooke. Everybody hits some hard times every once in a while and you've really done yourself proud. Do you like it?" Lucas asked.

"It's okay. I get on really well with the staff and the customers never give me any trouble. I can make and pour coffee all by myself. Even my mom is working."

"Really?" Brooke nodded.

"It's strange to see her going out every morning and not seeing her until five, but I guess that's how it's done, right?"

"You're happy?"

"Yeah, I am. Who'd have thought that former Homecoming Queen, slash cheerleader, slash Student President of Tree Hill High would be such a good waitress?" Brooke said with a grin, "Just one favor?"

"Anything."

"Don't come in here when I'm working. Every time one of my friends comes in, I end up getting really distracted and… well, last time it happened, I broke the cappuccino machine." Lucas laughed.

"Anyway," Brooke began when Milli arrived with their food, "you still haven't told me how Tree Hill is since I left. Any gossip?" she asked taking a bite of a French fry.

"Well, things are different. Where do you want me to start?" Brooke thought for a moment.

"Well, you've already told me about Karen and Andy, and a little bit about Dan… did Deb's divorce come through?" Brooke said.

"Uh, not exactly. They're still married. For some reason, unknown to everyone, Deb hasn't pushed Dan for a divorce."

Brooke made a face, "Well, let's hope she sees the light soon. How's Peyton?" Brooke questioned, a little guilty for not asking about her earlier. Lucas chuckled to himself.

"Have you… by any chance… spoken to her lately?" Brooke shook her head.

"We did at first, but pretty soon we lost touch. I keep meaning to email her or call her but things just keep coming up, why?" Brooke's interest was peaked.

"Well, you're not going to believe it but… Peyton is in a relationship."

"With Jake, duh. I knew that." Brooke said taking a gulp of her milkshake.

"No… with a girl."

Within seconds Brooke's milkshake was spurted all over the table and Lucas was wiping himself down with paper napkins.

"Oh my god, are you kidding me!" Brooke was still in shock, "Who's the girl?"

"Anna."

"Anna!" Brooke literally shouted. "I thought she was moving to Boston with her parents and Felix."

"She was… but she and Peyton got emailing and pretty soon she came back. They live together now." Lucas explained.

"When did this happen?"

"Oh, about… four, no three months ago."

"Oh gosh. I knew I should have called her."

"You still can. Although maybe once you're over the shock of it all. She's pretty comfortable with it all and so are most people."

"Oh no, of course I'm happy for her but… but what about Daddy Jagielski? I thought she had her nice little insta-family?"

"People can't always help their feelings. Plus, they baby-sit for Jenny sometimes. Once everyone got past the initial shock they managed to pull a routine together and stuff."

"Wow," Brooke took another sip of her milkshake, "I wasn't expecting that. What about Haley and Nathan?"

"Oh, Haley got to go on tour with Gavin DeGraw."

"Really? That's amazing… wait, she didn't ditch Nathan again, did she?" Brooke frowned. Lucas shook his head.

"When the offer came through, Haley asked Nathan to go with her. And he has. Since she's ahead of all her classes, she tutors Nathan during the day and at night she performs. They're making it work which is the most important thing,"

"What about Nathan's basketball?"

"He gave that up. For now, I guess," Lucas told Brooke, "Dan was not happy about that."

"I can imagine. So… what else is there?" Brooke searched for some other names to pop up in her head.

"Keith and Jules live up in Chapel Hill. Jules explained about her deal with Dan and after a couple of months, Keith forgave her and they got engaged again, but left to go to Chapel Hill, away from Dan."

"Aw, that's sweet."

"Whitey is retiring soon. He's made me promise to bring you back for his retirement party." Brooke broke out into a full grin.

"I'd love that," she sighed, "Wow, people sure did move on after I left," Brooke rested her chin on one of her upright hands, "It's kind of… sad."

"Why?" Lucas asked, leaning in closer and keeping his voice low. Brooke gave a small smile and turned her head to look out of the window, watching the branches sway in the light breeze.

"Because I wasn't there to see it change. I mean, with Peyton… we've been friends since forever and I had no idea about her and Anna. I feel so disconnected from it all."

Lucas rubbed her arm reassuringly, bringing her attention back to him.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Nobody's forgotten you. In fact, Peyton asked me to give you something. It's at my house, probably still buried under the boxes I brought from Tree Hill. I haven't had time to unpack."

"Really? Well, um, are you free now?" Brooke asked finishing off her last French fry.

"I guess so, why?" Lucas questioned.

"I thought maybe you wouldn't mind if I helped you unpack and get settled in." Brooke said a little nervously, just in case he refused her offer. Instead, Lucas smiled and nodded.

"That'd be great. Let me take care of the bill and we'll get going," he said. Brooke pulled him down.

"Sorry, I can't let you pay."

"But Brooke-"

"Nope. You are in my town now and I can't let a friend pay. Plus, I work off my bills so it's all good," she said as she slid out of her side of the booth and put on her coat. "Hey Mill!" she shouted across to the counter, "I'll drop by for my shift on Wednesday night, is that okay?"

"Sure, have fun!" Milli shouted back. Brooke shot Lucas a grin and took him by the hand.

"Come on, Broody, come and show me your new house," she said as they walked out of The Diner hand in hand.

They got into Lucas' car and drove off from the parking lot.

Brooke, too invested in looking at Lucas' CDs, was too busy to notice Scarlett and her friends walking down the road, having seen Brooke and Lucas.

Scarlettscoffed, "Can you believe her?" she asked her friends, "She's dating Jason Samuels and even two days before he comes home, she's already in the arms of someone else."

Her friends shared her disapproval. Scarlett smiled.

"Which is perfect… for me," she chuckled.

Scarlett sighed happily as she plotted the various wonderful ways she could bring down Brooke Davis.

From the minute Brooke had come into their sleepy town, she'd quickly made a lot of friends, managing to become Student President almost as quickly as she'd managed to steal Jason away from Scarlett.

Of course, by that time, Scarlett and Jason had already split up for a month but she was relishing in the fact Jason hadn't been seeing anybody since the split.

And then there was the fact that Brooke was voted head cheerleader, but refused the position in favour of concentrating on her studies, so Scarlett became captain by default, which annoyed her to her very bones.

She watched the car drive down the road.

Yes, this would be perfect. It was time little Miss Brooke Davis fell from grace.

To Be Continued…