Chapter Thirteen

"Never Take Friendship Personal"

Haley slowly walked into the school with head phones on her ears. "And you think that you finally found a place of your own. Amongst the cold timid souls. Where only failure knows your name. Look around for the closest to blame. But look no further than the hands beneath your arms. And now you're six feet down buried with, with your passing fame." The words by 'Anberlin' poured out.

She reached down and switched the CD player off. "How depressing," she said aloud.

The school looked the same as it always did. She couldn't believe how long it had been since she walked through those doors. Right now, nothing but fear grew inside of her.

The cold doorknob on her finger tip slipped between her hands as she entered. The first person she faced was Nathan. Imagine that? She thought to herself. She smiled at him and nodded. Instead of stopping she kept walking. That's when she saw Brooke. "Hey," she waved. Brooke kept walking. "What did I do?" she thought out loud. Finally she saw Peyton and Luke. "Hey," she said again hoping for a response from them.

"Hey," Peyton smiled. "Look at you." Peyton pointed out Haley's look. She was wearing a pair of low rise jeans and a light pink tank top that hung incredibly low.

"Do either of you know why Brooke completely ignored me?" she asked them nervously.

Lucas shook his head no. "Actually yes," Peyton said. "Excuse us Lucas," she pulled Haley away from him. "Brooke saw you kissing Nathan the other night,"

"What?" Haley asked. "Is that why she left the party so quickly? Nathan told me they weren't together."

"They're not really," Peyton sighed. "They have been hanging out a lot. Brooke really likes him. She caught the two of you kissing, and she's really upset."

"Oh," Haley nodded. She wasn't sure how to react to that. She felt bad that Brooke was upset with her, but at the same time, Brooke was kissing her ex husband. That had to come with some kind of territory.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Brooke sat down in the desk in the back of the room. Nathan hadn't made it to class yet, because for the first time ever, she was incredibly early. She hadn't seen or heard from him all weekend, and at this point, she didn't care to. She watched as he walked in, talking to a couple girls. He noticed her and made his way to sit down next to her. "Hey," he smiled. "Where have you been? You left so early the other night. It was your party, and you just left."

Brooke looked at him with disgust. "Like you care." She focused her eyes on the front of the room.

Nathan was confused why she was being so cold to him. "What's wrong with you Davis?" he asked slumping back in his chair as the teacher entered the room.

"Again, like you'd care."

Nathan shrugged. "Okay, whatever," he sighed. "If you want to be a bitch that's just fine."

Brooke's eyes lit up. "I am NOT a bitch!" she yelled. She stood up from her desk and stormed past the teacher and out of the classroom and toward her car.

Brooke sat in her car and turned up the radio. She noticed a girl walking toward her and suddenly realized it was Aubrey. She rolled her eyes. "What do you want? I'm not in the mood."

Aubrey sat down on the curb and shook her head. "I wanted to apologize," she smiled. "I know you don't want to hear it. I don't know what I was thinking the other day with Nathan."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Brooke shook her head. "Tutorwife is back?"

"Tutorwife?" Aubrey laughed. "Who's that?"

"Haley." Brooke told her.

"Oh," she nodded. "That must be the girl I was Lucas with."

Brooke nodded. "What happened with you and Lucas anyway?"

Aubrey shrugged. "We broke up. Which is fine, it wasn't going to work anyway. I see how he feels about you."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Well for your information. It doesn't matter how he feels about me, because I don't feel that way about him."

"I know." She smiled. "Just think Brooke, if you want it bad enough you can have anything you want. I bet if you think of Nathan that way, things will work out."

"Yeah, okay, see-ya, bye." She slammed her door and squealed out of the parking lot. Like she was going to take advice from Aubrey.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Brooke walked into the café for her first shift when she noticed Karen about to head out the door. "Where are you going?" she asked.

Karen stopped and looked at her. "Oh hi Brooke. I'm going to look at something. I'm actually not going to need you tonight."

Brooke sighed. "Okay," What was she going to do now? She turned to walk out the door when she saw Nathan coming toward her.

"Peyton told me what you saw," he said before had a chance to speak.

"Okay, note to self, don't trust Peyton with anything," Brooke said sarcastically.

Nathan laughed. "Come on Brooke, I had no idea you saw that."

Brooke shrugged. "What does it matter, we're not together anyway."

Nathan nodded. "I know. But it still wasn't what you thought it was."

"Whatever."

"Haley kissed me. It took me by surprise. I don't have any feelings for her anymore. There was just too much drama with us. Honestly."

Brooke shrugged. "Okay,"

"Okay?"

Brooke agreed. A part of her felt stupid for not considering that before. She still wasn't ready to act all cheery. "I have to go," she lied.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To look at apartments," she told him. "Karen is letting me work for her and pay for an apartment since she's moving in with Andy." She said smiling. Every time she talked about it she got excited.

"Do you mind if I come with you?" he asked.

Brooke shook her head. "I guess not, as long as you promise not to touch me."

Nathan laughed. "Whatever Davis, you know you want this."

"Yeah right," she rolled her eyes. She laughed as they walked out the door together. The truth was, she did want that.