Hey guys. For anybody wondering where the heck I've been, no, I didn't die or have a writer's block (humm… I wonder which is worse? Haha) I've been lurking over in the Cruel Intentions section. Sorry for neglecting, I'll try to make it up to y'all lol.

Beyond Good and Evil

Chapter Five: Clash of the Titans

"What are you looking at, Hales?"

Haley James loved her name. Even more than she loved her name, she detested nicknames. As a young child, she had gone through everything from 'Hales' to 'Haley-Bub' to 'Jimmy' to 'Tutor Girl', and as the darkness in her grew, she had come to resent every last one of them, and the people who uttered them. Unfortunately for her, Hales had stuck to a degree, but the margin was growing smaller every day. At this point, there were three people in the entire world who would dare call Haley 'Hales'. Two of them were gorgeous young men, well over six feet tall. The other was a Latin beauty, sitting in front of her.

"None of your business, Theresa," she said through gritted teeth, her perfect smile still in place. Refocusing her honey brown eyes that were anything but warm upon her target, she felt a strange emotion bubbling up inside of her, and took a moment to debate whether it was a strange emotion, or strange that she had an emotion.

"You're looking at Nathan again, aren't you? Could you be a bit more pathetic, Hales?" Theresa cackled, a bit too gleefully. Haley's icy gaze snapped onto the girl considered her social equivalent, a dangerous air surrounding the petite girl.

"Pathetic? Interesting choice of words, Theresa. You know what I thought was kind of pathetic? What about that time where you wouldn't come out of your room for two weeks because Lucas blew you off for a date? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems a wee bit on the pathetic side to pine over a boy who wouldn't have spared you a second glance if you weren't naked after the first," she spat. Haley James had the unique ability to insert venom into anything, and now that she was smiling like the good little girl she was supposed to be, and her eyes were bright and cheerful, something about her was distinctly treacherous.

The courtyard was crowded, as always. The hierarchy of the school sat in distinct sections, the four corners. While the Spade's corner was cast into shadows, Haley found that this suited them perfectly. In the corner opposite the entrance, Haley James could keep track of the comings and goings of anybody that happened to walk by. Currently, she was scanning the crowds for her infamous stepbrother. It wasn't much that excited her, but she had to admit that she was dying to know if he had run into Brooke Davis yet. Casting a disgruntled gaze at the sunny corner occupied by the Hearts, she had to forcibly keep herself from gagging.

Besides, she should probably save that for after lunch.

Continuing her manhunt, Haley was suddenly started when her eyes locked with a pair of light blue ones. They weren't the ones she was looking for, but they were equally beautiful, and at one point, she had felt something for their owner too. Blinking, she tried to break Nathan's stare, but he was relentless. For that moment, Haley felt like it was last summer again, where he was looking at her as if he could see right into her soul and find something other than Machiavellian intent. A tug on the sleeve of his letterman jacket broke his concentration, and their connection was lost, and Haley felt a bizarre twinge of regret along with it. She was decided now—it was a strange feeling, not the strangeness of feeling, the way she felt about Nathan Lee.

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Glossy brown hair, tiny waist, deep green eyes. Oh yes, Lucas Scott had found his target. Approaching her in the hall was no easy matter. For it being Brooke Davis's first day, she was certainly popular. Followers aside, Lucas had had her within reach a few periods ago, but had to take a detour into the second floor janitor's closet to have some pressing needs taken care of with a few members of the varsity cheerleading squad. However, now he had her right where he wanted her, and had no intention of missing this opportunity. In his current predicament, time was of the essence.

Haley James. Nobody could get Lucas Scott riled up like his stepsister did. Before their parents were married, they had a love-hate relationship the likes of which Tree Hill had never seen. Both were clever and attractive, but while it would've been typical of them to date, they remained best friends (with benefits…). After hitting puberty, they had discovered their supreme attraction to each other, and everyone else's to them. Rather than being bashful about this, they were quite brass. During freshman year, Lucas Scott had already slept his way through both his class and the sophomores, and was half-way through the juniors. Haley had preferred to perfect her craft more subtly, dealing in the fine arts of manipulation, destruction, public humiliation and secret sexuality. Neither had any problem with pushing the envelope, but one clause remained in their relationship throughout— no sex. However, recent events seemed to open up one hell of a loophole.

The terms were simple. The bet was anything but. If Lucas could bring down Brooke Davis, newly crowned Queen of Hearts, he could fuck Haley. If he couldn't, he would have to hand over his most prized possession- his car. While others would be hesitant about accepting such a deal, Lucas didn't think twice. This was a golden opportunity. Most people think twice before making a deal with the devil, but Lucas and Haley were two of a kind. He was just as evil, if not more so.

So now he found his target alone in the bland colored hallway, bent over at her locker, alone at last. This was the elusive Brooke Davis; he sized her up before announcing his presence. This was the creature he plotted to have in his bed as soon as possible. She was beautiful, but nothing he hadn't seen (or done) before. His train of thought was broken by the sound of heavy text books crashing to the ground, and saw his opportunity.

"Brooke, right?" he asked coolly, picking up a text book. The brunette looked up at him, obviously flustered. Locking her bright green eyes onto his ice blue ones, he smirked as she blushed. This would be too easy.

"Yeah, hi. Thanks, I'm such a klutz. I'm Brooke Davis. Wait, you already knew that. I'm new here, but you probably figured that too. Sorry, I babble when I'm nervous, and I—"

"Shh," he whispered, placing a finger over her lips. "No reason to be nervous around me," he soothed, but the cocky grin on his handsome face suggested otherwise.

Lucas was surprised when her startlingly green eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. "You're Lucas Scott, aren't you?"

"Yeah…" he shifted.

"Of course you are. Cocky, unbelievably good looking, charming…" she began to rattle off, appearing to forget that he was in the hall, and looking very amused by her rant.

"You're very good looking too," he chimed in. This brought Brooke's attention back onto the boy in front of her.

"You're a Spade, correct? King, if I'm not mistaken?"

"You aren't mistaken."

"Well, I'm the Queen of Hearts, and I believe we have no further business," Brooke said diplomatically, with a defiant lift to her chin. She spun on her heel and began to walk away, but he soon fell into step with her.

"Have you got any idea how conceited that sounded?" he asked, eyes sparkling with laughter. "I'm the Queen of Hearts."

"Well, I am!" Brooke said defensively, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Well, I'm the so-called King of Spades. But you might wonder what that has to do with anything? That would be nothing. Personally, I don't understand why we've let ourselves be segregated according to a deck of cards."

"That's exactly what I thought when they first told me about it! It does seem kind of ridiculous. I mean, what do we actually do? No good for anybody. It's just a stupid popularity contest, and a way for people to feel better than others."

"I agree completely. Then why are you doing this?" his question caught her off guard.

"Oh… um… you know, I don't know. It's just kind of hard being the new girl. And I come with kind of a reputation; people think I'm really weird because of the whole chastity thing. But I just thought it would be a way to make friends, I guess…" a blush raged in her cheeks now, and she was eager to get the spotlight off herself. "What about you? Why do you do this if you think it's so stupid?"

"Haley," Lucas shrugged, brightening a bit at the thought of his wicked stepsister.

"Haley James!" Brooke stopped short.

"Yeah…do you know her?" he asked casually, suppressing his smirk. Of course she did.

"Well, of course! Everybody knows about Haley James. That essay she wrote about feminism and women's roles in society was absolutely brilliant. It's quite impressive, and it was reprinted in so many things. I heard that it was even in the New York Times," Brooke gushed. Lucas smiled at her. He too was impressed by Haley, but it wasn't because of her bullshit opinions on women's rights, as he knew that Haley didn't really give a damn what she was allowed to do. Yet not just anybody could scam an entire nation. That was the Haley that earned Lucas Scott's respect.

"Yes, Haley's a rather impressive girl," he drawled.

"How do you know her?" Brooke's intrigue was manifesting itself.

"Oh, we're very close- our bedrooms are roughly five feet away," Lucas said, waiting for the scandalized look to appear on Brooke's innocent face, and he wasn't disappointed. "We're stepsiblings."

"I've really been looking forward to meeting Haley. It was one of the factors in me coming to Oakwood at all, because my parents thought that she would be a good influence. But I heard that she was the Queen of Spades, so I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to talk to her. Does that matter?"

There was something endearingly naïve about Brooke Davis. It was more than just "the new kid" quality, but something that ran deeper inside of her. It would be a shame to see that ruined; Lucas surprised himself with the thought. Of course, he would do it anyway. That was how Lucas and Haley ran.

"Well, I'm talking to you now, and I'm a Spade. I actually like you a lot, Brooke," Lucas whispered, cupping her blushing cheek in his large hand, caressing it gently. Swirls seemed to form in her green eyes, as if the thoughts inside her pretty little head were visibly rearranging themselves. As if sudden clarity had struck, they widened and she glared at him hard.

"I've been well informed of your reputation, Lucas Scott," Brooke pulled away, hitching her leather bag higher on her shoulder but never breaking eye contact. "The most you can hope for is my friendship, and you're walking a thin line at that," she spat before storming away. However, Lucas couldn't help but notice her backward glance before she flung open the double door at the end of the hall, before her petite body vanished completely from his view. Instead of feeling discouraged, he smirked widely.

It was Lucas's turn to be intrigued.

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Okay guys, I'm not sure how that turned out, because I may be working on too many things at once. But I love, love, love this story, so I hope it didn't suck too much. Anyway, sorry for the sort-of hiatus and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought.

Xo Sam