Hey guys. I'm not sure how this turned out, but I've been really busy lately, but I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing (seeing as I've got about four stories worth of angry reviewers lol). This is kind of shorter, I think, but please review, and let me know what you think.

Beyond Good and Evil

Chapter Four

Mistakes and Regrets

Long, glossy blonde hair flowed around a set of smooth tan shoulders, tumbling down the slim, slightly bony back. Lucas Scott had never really had a preference in women's hair color, but was always partial to the particular shade of blonde that his stepsister wore so well.

"Lucas, are you listening to me?" Haley asked over her shoulder, honey eyes narrowed slightly.

"Not really," he admitted, his own crystal blue eyes tracing the contours of her body, licking his pouty pink lips slightly.

Haley cast him a knowing smirk before tossing a small, black satin robe over her half-dressed frame. "Better?"
"Depending on your definition," he mumbled, striding leisurely across the room and plopping down onto the lounge chair in the middle of the room. With a cat-like prowl, Haley James followed him across the room, perching herself on the edge of the antique chair. Most of the James-Scott household seemed like you stepped into an 18th century French château, and Haley's bedroom was no different. A deep, rich, royal blue, with silver accent and a giant crystal chandelier, the room was large and cold, full of sharp lines and clean edges. Beautiful at first glance, but it would get to you if you were around it for long enough. So much like the girl herself.

"So, what do you think?" she asked him.

"About what?" Lucas asked absently, long fingers wandering idly up her exposed thighs.

"Brooke Davis," she whispered, her lips against his neck.

Some might be appalled to find the stepsiblings in such a compromising position. Some might be downright repulsed. However long hours spent alone cooped up in the house with nothing but each other and sexual tension to keep them company in a massive townhouse full of everything except parental supervision had aided in the development of their spicy domestic routine. A routine that showed no signs of changing any time soon.

"I think that she'll be easy enough to crack. Just like I told you in the car, Hales, they'll all break one way or another," Lucas said confidently. This was one of his traits that Haley found most endearing and most irritating. The supreme self-assurance that he maintained was a characteristic that she had recognized in him from the moment she laid eyes upon the handsome blonde, recognizing the trait that existed in her own being. They really were equals in every sense, and just the thought made Haley sort of awestruck. To think that there was one person out there who was really like her wasn't petrifying so much as comforting. Cuddling her head into his muscular chest, a familiar observation of hers swirled in the dim midst of her many thoughts. They fit together perfectly, as if they had always been meant to lay together like that, entwined. An outsider who didn't know exactly how related the gorgeous blonde pair were would think that from the adoring look in his bright eyes and the expression of happy serenity on her pretty face that they were really in love. They would be wrong, naturally. Haley and Lucas couldn't be in love, for one simple reason. Love isn't real.

At least, not in their world.

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"So wait… I'm sorry, but I still don't understand what I have to do. What's the point of this whole thing?" she asked with an adorably puzzled frown upon her face. Brooke Davis was like one of those china dolls that little girls love when they are just that—little. And so the people gathered around her in the Bakers' cocktail lounge were staring at the new girl with a mixture of adoration and envy. Perhaps no one had ever informed them that that was not the way to bring in a leader. Then again, it probably wouldn't have mattered at all.

At Oakwood Preparatory School, it was all about social status. The school was a way to prepare them for life in North Carolina high society, and the Four Suits of Oakwood were a highly influential, though unspoken, indicator of what your life would be like, post-high school. Being a member of the most powerful suit was a very good thing. However, it wasn't a thing that could be redefined or switched. The Spades held all the power now, and Haley James with Lucas Scott seemed to be an unshakeable mix. This was one thing that the Hearts just couldn't accept. They had all had their suspicions that Haley wasn't exactly what she seemed, and knew that Lucas was exactly what he seemed--- and no one was quite sure which was a scarier proposition.

Brooke Davis seemed like a golden opportunity for them to take back some of the authority in the school. Beautiful, intelligent, caring, funny. She was everything the group had wanted in a member, and was the perfect clean slate to place at the top of their monarchy. So what if she had no clue what she was doing? Logan could pull the puppet strings. All she had to do was look pretty, and stay pure.

"It's kind of like being class president, then," she said slowly after a long winded explanation by other important members of the group.

"Kind of," Julia simpered. If it were anyone else, she would have tacked on an "only incredibly popular and much more dominant". And if it were anyone else, that would've been all the incentive they needed. But it was obvious from the start that Brooke Davis was not like the rest of them. She wouldn't be swayed by greed, popularity or lust. She was better.

Julia was a girl with double sides. Scornful people would call her two-faced, but she preferred multilayered. It was a very close call when they let her into the Hearts, because she possessed so many qualities of a Spade. Namely, a deep admiration of Haley James. It's not that Julia wished that she was a skanky, manipulative bitch. It was more that she wished she had the courage to be one. She was always pushing a little further, a little bit more, which is what made her a very dangerous opponent. Her considerable skills, motivation, combined with the desire to put the Hearts back on top made her a very lethal weapon for that side. One that Haley James had had to squash immediately. Fortunately, for all of Julia Hamilton's talents, resisting the charms of Lucas Scott was not one of them.

Winning over girls like Brooke Davis was, though. And with a few kind words and insincere promises, the beautiful brunette teen was the Queen of Hearts. Brooke had sealed her own fate.

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Tall, dark, and handsome. That's what Nathan Lee was, along with sweet, sensitive, athletic, caring, intelligent, and funny. And the ex-boyfriend of Haley James.

Haley wouldn't say she loved him, of course. But as she watched him running down the basketball court, muscles rippling slightly, it was safe to say that she kind of missed him. Judging by the smiles he was exchanging with Peyton Sawyer, it was safe to say that he didn't feel the same way.

Haley and Nathan had been the perfect couple. They were adorable, everybody thought so. He was probably the first boyfriend Haley had that she had actually cared about, and so she decided that it was time to show him the real her.

It was a move that Haley would live to regret. Nathan broke up with her the next day, saying that she "wasn't the girl he fell in love with". Moving on to purer pastures, rumors flew around the school that Nathan's next girlfriend would be a curly haired, naïve, blonde cheerleader. None other than Haley's new best friend. Coincidence? Not on Haley's part.

But at times like this, sometimes Haley wondered what it would be like to be a normal girl. Someone who wasn't the Queen, who wasn't a manipulative mastermind, who wasn't a plain ol' bitch. Someone who could love Nathan, the way that he deserved to be loved. Someone like Peyton. Her honey brown eyes widened at this realization. Nathan and Peyton, they deserved each other. They were both honest and genuine, loving and caring, truly emotional. The smallest part of her heart (which Lucas liked to joke was two sizes too small) tugged at her, thinking 'Maybe you should just let them be happy'. The larger part, which was the part she usually listened to, contained her pride, which Nathan had subsequently stepped on with his brutal dumping, was screaming for revenge. He would learn, just like everybody else, that you don't fuck with Haley James.

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So here's a little back story on why Haley really wants to destroy Peyton, and this is also my way of introducing Nathan into the story lol. Please please please review. You'll be my bestest friend. Lol. Thanks for reading

Xo Sam