Author's Note: This was one of the hardest chapters to write for several reasons but mainly because I had no idea which path to take. I'd written several different scenarios but I settled on this one. Take a deep breath, guys. There's not long left.

Chapter 11: A Week

"This is getting ridiculous," Jessica told Brooke as she spied Brooke casting another longing look at Jason, "You don't you just apologise to the guy and get back together?"

Brooke sighed and looked at her best friend, annoyed she had to explain it for the umpteenth time, "Jess, the deal was to have a week's break so I can sort my head out, and it has only been a day." Brooke sighed as she saw Jason disappear into the main building with some of his friends.

"Well, roll on next week because I for one am getting sick and tired of you seeing him and getting that look on your face."

"What look?"

"The 'I-can't-live-without-him' look. The same goes for Lucas."

"I have not been looking at Lucas. In fact, I haven't even seen him."

"That's because you've been avoiding him. You even got Brenda Wallis to switch places with you in English."

"The window seat was making me cold." Brooke told Jessica.

"It's so obvious what you're doing. Instead of taking the short-cut through the computer rooms to get to English, you go the long way around," Jess said.

"I felt like taking a walk." Jessica sighed deeply.

"You make me want to pull out my hair, you know that?" Jessica said as she turned to Rachel, who took the opportunity to take Brooke away before Jessica exploded.

"Come on, Brooke, we better get our asses to World History," she said patting Jessica supportively on the shoulder.

The two girls walked away from Jessica and entered the main building block, arm-in-arm. Brooke stopped dead as she saw Jason talking to a girl at the end of the corridor. Finally, she saw the girl hand him a piece of paper with her number on it and give him a shy wave before they both walked in their separate directions.

The girl had a smile plastered on her face as she walked towards them but upon seeing the look Brooke was giving her, quickly wiped it off and upped her walk to a brisk.

"Can you believe her?" Brooke asked Rachel as the girl wandered into a classroom, "We haven't even broken up yet and she's already trying to get her claws into him," Brooke gave a disgusted grunt.

"Okay, somebody's been sniffing glue because you know as well as I do that Jason was asking her out, not the other way around," Rachel told her gently, "He told Shawn that he was going to go out on a few dates this week. Just an experiment, nothing will happen, I promise."

"Other people?" Brooke cried, "Other people!" she repeated "he never said anything about other people!"

"Isn't this week supposed to be about that? Clearing your heads so you can see if your really want to be together? You said it yourself not five minutes ago," Rachel reminded her.

"But that was before 'other people'!" Brooke sighed. "God, I wish things could just go back, back to it was before where we were happy and together and before-"

"Lucas?" Rachel interjected, Brooke gave her a look "I know it's hard, honey, but this is the best for both of you. Wouldn't you rather be secure in your relationship than the two of you constantly worrying that the other is thinking about someone else?" Brooke nodded slowly, "Then just suck it up. Get your feelings in check and in a few days, tell him how you feel."

Brooke sighed and nodded, realising that Rachel was right and it was probably for the best anyway.

"Fine, but if that girl goes anywhere near him, I'll-" Brooke threatened.

"She won't," Rachel said before her features darkened, "Okay, not to be the bearer of more bad news but Lucas is coming our way," Brooke quickly looked behind her and frowned.

"I don't want to see him," she informed Rachel.

"Well, honey, you're going to have to talk to him if you want to be with Jason again. Otherwise this week is worthless."

"Come on, we have World History," she said dragging Rachel away.

"Aren't you going to talk to him?"

"I have a week to talk to him," Brooke said as she cast a quick glance over her shoulder at Lucas and walked around the corner, far away from him as possible.

"Brooke, honey?" her mom called from downstairs, "Lucas is on the phone!"

Brooke rolled her eyes, "Tell him I'm busy," she yelled back. Her mother hesitated before relaying the message back to Lucas.

Mrs Davis walked up the stairs and knocked gently on Brooke's door.

"Come in," Brooke said, "What do you want?" she asked her mother.

"What's going on? This is the twenty-fifth time Lucas has called in almost a week and you still refuse to talk to him. Are you having a problem?"

"He's the one with the problem, not me."

"You haven't spoken to Jason either, except he hasn't been calling and I haven't seen you go out on any dates with him. Is everything okay?" she questioned further.

"We're taking a small break. It should end tomorrow anyway but…" Brooke sighed before looking up at her mother, "Did you ever have feelings for two guys?"

Mrs Davis closed Brooke's room door and sat on the edge of her daughter's bed.

"Why? Do you feel like that for both Jason and Lucas?"her daughtershrugged.

"Sometimes it feels like I do. I love Jason a lot. I really do, but in Tree Hill, it was the other way around. I was really in love with Lucas and he broke my heart. We're friends but he seems to be jealous of Jason and I really don't know what to do. Jason told me that we couldn't go on if I wasn't clear about the way I felt about either of them."

"So that kind of explains why you've been miserable all week," her mother said, "Everybody goes through it, Brooke. I've been there and it's hard because you don't know if you should take the risk or just play it safe. I would tell you to follow your heart or something cheesy like that but if you're in two different places, all you can do is ask yourself, 'are you going to look to the future, or stick with your past?'" Mrs Davis patted her daughter's knee comfortingly and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Think about it, okay?" Brooke nodded and lay back down on her bed.

What was it going to be; her future or her past?

Jason missed the eighth consecutive basket in a row. He sighed in frustration and picked the ball up again, sizing up the basket and throwing it towards the basket.

It missed again.

"Good thing basketball season is almost over," a voice said from behind. Jason looked at the man who just walked into the gym.

"What do you want, Lucas?" he asked in an annoyed tone as he took a swig of beer.

"I wanted to talk to you," Lucas said as he picked up a ball and tried shooting it. It missed. "Seems like we've got the same problem."

Jason shrugged, "You always sucked," he joked. Lucas laughed.

"Come on, we can't avoid each other forever, although Brooke seems to be doing a pretty good job. How many times does she wash her hair in a week?"

"You've been calling her?" Jason asked.

"Trying to, she's avoiding me. In the corridors, at lunch, in class, at The Diner, at home. She really doesn't want to see me."

"I see. What do you want me to do about it?" Lucas shrugged.

"I don't know. But I came to realise something. She really loves you. She wouldn't be avoiding me like this if she didn't. And I know that you love her too," Lucas told him. "I mean, I love her but I lost my chance back in Tree Hill. I made a huge mistake on cheating on her and she's never really forgiven me for it. It's going to be a long time before we ever get close to where we were, and all I can tell you is that… you win."

Jason looked puzzled.

"I win what?" he asked.

"Brooke. Not that she's a prize or something, but I can tell that – for now- she's wildly in love with you and not being with together is killing both of you."

"What about you?" Jason questioned. Lucas shrugged.

"I guess I can live with just being her friend. I've done it for a while. But believe me, this is your only chance. You mess it up and then I'm going in because a girl like her doesn't deserve to be hurt. Not again. Besides, I have a feeling we'll get together at some point. It's not over until it's over, right?" Jason nodded.

"What about Scarlett?"

Lucas laughed, "We're not together anymore. It was never going to last. Last I heard, she was working on some college guy or something."

"Good luck to him," Jason laughed before the two stood awkwardly in front of each other.

"Come on, man," Lucas piped up, "Go after her."

"The break doesn't end until tomorrow," Jason said.

"Who cares? If you love her all that much, you should take your chance now before you lose it."

Jason thought about it for a second and nodded, tossing the ball at the basket one final time. It made it.

"Thanks," Jason told Lucas, "Maybe I don't hate you all that much," he grinned as he raced off towards his car.

Lucas watched Jason run and couldn't help but feel disappointed. He'd given up somebody very close to him so that she could be happy. He just hoped that nothing would mess it up.

Brooke awoke at 3am to the sound of loud ringing.

"Go away!" she mumbled sleepily as the ringing finally stopped. Her mother must have picked it up. Just before she could resume her deep slumber, her bedroom door opened, flooding the room with light.

Brooke shielded her eyes, "Mom, what the hell?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Brooke-"

"It's 3am" Brooke complained.

"Brooke." Her mother said more sternly, but something in her voice made it come out as more of a squeak.

Brooke turned on her light and could see her mother's expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked, afraid to know the answer.

"That was Jason's dad. Uh, apparently Jason had been drinking and driving. He got into some sort of accident…" her voice began to crack.

"He's okay, isn't he?" Brooke whispered, "Mom?"

Her mother shook her head, "Oh, Brooke, I'm so sorry," she said enveloping her into a hug as she began to cry, "He died in surgery," she informed her.

Brooke sat stunned for moments afterwards. Her mother had left Brooke alone to let it sink in and grieve but Brooke was almost paralyzed with shock.

She sat in her bed, staring at the ceiling and hoping that anytime, her mother would reappear and tell her it was all a mistake and Jason was fine.

She glanced at the pictures on her bedside table and her eyes lay upon one of herself and Jason taken weeks before. Suddenly her heart began to hurt and it finally all sunk in.

Within moments, Brooke was submersed in her tears. Her parents tried to get to sleep, but her muffled cries resonated through the walls. They held each other close and hoped for their daughter's sake, they could help her through it. Although they knew, that all she really needed was time.

To Be Continued…

Okay, that was tough to write