"Hey Whitney" Anthony smiled, catching the eye of one of the most attractive girls in the 7th grade. The hallway was crowded, and Madison and Catherine were chattering right behind Anthony.

"Anthony" she cooed. "How are you?"

"Good…tired" he winked. "Basketball's milking me" he laughed.

"I love watching basketball! When's your practice?" Whitney asked.

"Today at 4"

"I'll be there to watch you…I bet you have your dad's skills"

"Well you'll just have to come see then" Anthony said. "I'll be looking for you" Whitney giggled and tossed her cascading strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder.

Hot tears filled Catherine's eyes as she listened to Anthony flirt with Whitney, and he was making it more obvious than anything else. Madison's mouth fell wide open and her eyes got big as she shot a death glare at Anthony and hugged Catherine.

"Come on kitty" she said, using Catherine's old nickname. "He's an asshat" she snapped. Catherine nodded and Madison hugged her before seeing her off to her English class.

"Anthony Paul Scott!" she yelled across the hallway.

"Ooh that didn't sound good" Anthony grimaced to his best friend AJ.

"Why are you an utter and complete jackass?"

"That's kind of harsh, Madison" Anthony said. "What did I do?"

"You flirted with a skinny whore when Catherine was standing right behind you!" Madison said, smacking him.

"Madison!"

"No, Anthony, could you be more oblivious to other people's feelings? I can't believe you did that- you are in BIG trouble when we talk this afternoon" she said, giving him a disgusted look and walking into her classroom.

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"Wait, Ellie…I thought the conversation was over?" Peyton said the next day when Ellie showed up at her door again.

"Peyton….I'm your mother"

"You are not my mother, Ellie! Go away!" Peyton yelled, shutting the door.

"Peyton…"

"Ellie, before I call the cops on you" Peyton breathed. She saw Ellie turn away dejectedly, returning to her car.

"Babe, you ok?"

"Ellie keeps showing up!"

"Peyton…I don't know what to say" Jake said, enveloping his wife in a hug. "You wanna go somewhere? Jenny's here with the kids" he said, stroking her hair gently and kissing her.

"Ok" Peyton said, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Hey baby, don't cry…" Jake said, pulling her closer to him and tightening his grip around Peyton.

"What happened to my mother, Jake?" Peyton sobbed into his shoulder. "Where is she?"

Over at the Scott senior residence…

"Hey baby" Lucas said, picking Lena up and patting her back gently. It was pretty early in the morning after the kids had left for school and Brooke had fallen asleep again. Lena cooed and shifted but basically was still as Lucas carried her to his and Brooke's bedroom.

"Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"Hi"

"Hi" Lucas laughed, kissing Brooke and setting Lena down in her spare crib.

"Kids home yet?" Brooke murmured sleepily.

"Baby, they just left" Lucas laughed, climbing back into bed. She sat up and he wrapped his arms around her tightly as she sighed.

"I'm worried about Peyton" Brooke sighed. "She's in a really bad situation right now"

"With the Ellie woman?"

"Yah" Brooke said. "She keeps showing up at her door and it's really bad. The loss of her actual mother was hard enough on her as it was, now there's Ellie in the picture with baby photos and teething rings and ugh…when did life get so complicated, Lucas?"

"When we decided to fall in love and get married and have children" Lucas laughed. "Remember when we were four, Brooke, and you and I had just met in the park?"

"Yah…"

At Tree Hill High…

"I can't believe you would do something like that Anthony" Madison said, when they were sitting at lunch.

"Something like WHAT, Madison? I'm not in a relationship with anyone! And I'm not a priest either, I can flirt with people" Anthony defended.

"But you're leading Catherine on! You act like you like her a lot, which you DO, and you know she likes you too, but then you turn around and flirt with Whitney- Whitney of all people! And you know Whitney and Catherine hate each other" Madison said. "You're being so insensitive!"

"You're not the one getting hurt here, Madison" Anthony pointed out.

"That's beside the point Anthony! You're being insensitive to her feelings! She likes you, and you KNOW that- how would you feel if she started flirting with Michael? She knows you hate him; you know he likes her- why are you being so stupid? You're acting like her feelings don't exist!" Madison exclaimed.

"She's not willing to act like she likes me, whenever I try to hint at it, she totally blows it off!" Anthony yelled. "She doesn't like me Madison!"

"Yes, she does! A lot! Ever heard of being scared, Anthony? She doesn't wanna damage your friendship- you guys have been friends literally since birth…I wouldn't wanna damage a friendship that sacred!"

"Ok…seriously, Maddie…I'm sorry I flirted with Whitney. I am- but she wont understand that" Anthony sighed.

"Don't apologize to me- apologize to her" Madison snapped. "And it's your fault in the first place that she's a complete mess today" Madison said, before stalking off to find Conrad.

At the Scott junior residence…

"So what's going on with Anthony and Catherine?" Nathan asked Haley. "Is he being a player?"

"Yah, Madison called me yesterday…I swear that girl is a force of nature…anyway, so there's this girl named Whitney that Anthony apparently openly flirted with and Catherine was really upset…Nathan, you need to talk to him- he may have inherited this from you and Lucas"

"Hey!"

"Its true…that was your trademark in high school" Haley pointed out, popping a grape in her mouth.

"Before I met you" Nathan smiled, kissing her.

"True…so what are we gonna do?"

"I'll talk to him"

"Good"

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Brooke sat on her bed, quickly testing the milk on her hand before giving Lena the bottle to hold. Where the hell was Lucas? Oh, he had practice. Brooke thought that their relationship had been slipping- they never had enough time for each other anymore. Nothing romantic had been done in months. She loved her children, more than life itself, but she also sort of missed their whirlwind romance of a life.

"Sleep tight Lenny" Brooke whispered, kissing her daughter on the forehead and putting her down in her crib. Brooke sat down, tears forming in her eyes. She didn't know why, but she felt like crying. All the Peyton mother stuff made her wonder what kind of childhood she would have had if her mother had loved her like that. What kind of childhood she would have had if her mother had rocked her to sleep like she had just rocked Lena to sleep.

"I love you Lena" Brooke whispered. She sighed and decided she was being too emotional…probably hormones, she concluded. She padded out to the kitchen, where what she saw made her breath catch in her throat and her eyes fill with tears again. There, on the table, was a vase of yellow and white roses, Brooke's favorite kind. A little Tiffany's box lay next to it. When Brooke opened it, a charm for her chain lay in the soft cotton of the box. A small diamond encrusted heart, with a little note stuck to the bottom of the tiny box.

Brooke- I hope you get this when I planned for you to get this. I wanted to give you a little something because I know you've been stressed out and down lately with all the drama that's going on. I hope the diamonds do your beauty justice, but no amount of sparkling diamonds could measure up to the twinkle in your eyes when you're happy. I hope you like it, I spent a while picking it out. I love you- don't forget that, okay Cheery? See you when I get back from practice.

-Lucas

A new wave of tears rolled down Brooke's cheek as she read the note and ran her fingers across the diamond heart. Lucas had just made her day a whole lot brighter than she had expected it to be.

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"Hey Madison…how was your day?" Conrad asked, sitting down next to Madison on the bench in the nearly deserted courtyard.

"It sucked"

"I'm sorry…anything I can do to make it better?" he asked, laughing.

"No…thanks anyway though" Madison smiled, looking up at him, her eyes replicating Brooke's famous twinkle.

"Ok…I can't believe how much homework we have" he sighed. "I hate homework"

"Me too" Madison laughed, throwing her pencil at him. "But I actually DO mine"

"Hey, I do mine too!" Conrad laughed, throwing her pencil back at her.

"Only occasionally" Madison laughed.

"That's not true" Conrad defended leaning forward, close enough that Madison could see his eyes right in front of hers.

"Conrad…"

"Shh…" he said, leaning in to kiss her.

A/N: Things are heating up! Will they kiss? Will they not? Hehehe review! I heart them and you know it ;-)