"You look like hell," Peyton commented as she watched Brooke rest her head against her locker. "She looks like hell too," she quickly added in when she saw Haley rush by. She figured it was probably due to the long, miserable, school day they were about to experience.
Brooke looked at her best friend and sighed. "You have no idea, Pey. Haley had some emotional break down last night and wouldn't go to sleep. And since god knows what Taylor was doing, I had to stay up with her until she finally fell asleep at five." Peyton gave her friend a sympathetic smile. She knew how hard it was for Haley to deal with the death of her parents. Brooke was the same, but she could talk about her parents without breaking down most of the time.
The bell rang, signaling the start of first period. The two friends linked arms and started to walk down the hall. Peyton had French with Haley so she stopped by Haley's locker.
"Hey, sister," Brooke greeted in her cheery voice. Peyton couldn't help but laugh, running on two hours of sleep didn't stop Brooke from being so perky. Peyton took a quick glance at Haley when she raised her head up from her math book. The bruise on her face was beginning to fade but it was still visible if you looked closely. She noticed that Haley looked more tired that Brooke did, prompting her to wonder if she had gotten any sleep.
"Hi," She mumbled quietly. She never understood why her sister was so perky. Most of the time she thought it was an act to cover up how she really felt.
"Well ladies, as much as I love to stay and chat, I've got to run to English. If I don't get there in time Nathan steals my seat next to Lucas." Brooke said as she started to walk away. Haley cringed at the name. Brooke quickly turned back around and knelt down next to her sister. "I have cheering after school so if you want to hang out until four or five I can give you a ride."
Haley looked up at her sister and smiled. "I have tutoring after school, thanks anyways. Apparently they need a little help with Math."
"Okay, well I'll see you in History!" Brooke exclaimed. Before getting back up, she gave her sister a quick hug and kiss before running off down the hall. Peyton raised an eyebrow and helped Haley to her feet.
"Do my eyes deceive me or did Brooke actually hug you in public?" Peyton asked in disbelief. She linked arms with Haley as they started to walk up the stairs to French. Haley simply shrugged, trying to hide the small smile that was creeping upon her face.
By 4th period Brooke was about to drop dead. Her eyes felt heavy and she had to keep applying concealer to hide the bags underneath them. She dragged her feet into her Algebra class and collapsed into the chair.
"Rough night, last night?" Theresa asked from behind her. Brooke simply waved her hand at her and put her head down. Theresa took that as a yes and laughed. "Luke was always good in bed." Brooke made a disgusted face. If she wasn't about to fall asleep she would of turned around and slapped her.
"Alright, guys, I hope everyone is ready for the test tomorrow. It's going to cover 5.1 to 5.5 in your book. It won't be hard if you study." Mrs. Mason said, passing out a review sheet down the rows. The girl in front of Brooke woke her up from the daze as she handed her the sheet. She rolled her eyes and grabbed it out of the girl's hands, passing one back to Theresa.
Haley took a quick glance behind her and saw Brooke with her head down on the desk. She sighed and watched as Mrs. Mason snapped her fingers in Brooke's ears. She turned back around and began the review sheet. Ten minutes went by and all she had written down was her name.
"What the heck does FOIL mean?" Theresa asked. Brooke was getting pretty annoyed with her and all her questions.
Brooke shrugged. "Do you think I know?"
"Well considering your sister is the smartest person in the class then yeah." Bevin said, bringing her desk over next to them.
Tim put his head between the girls. "FOIL means fuck-"
"Tim! Do not finish that sentence!" The girls squealed making Tim smirk. He walked away and sat down next to a bunch of guys on the basketball team. Brooke put her head back down on the desk, but was quickly woken up when she felt a hand shake her.
"Brooke!" Came Theresa's whiny voice. "If we don't do well on this test then we won't be able to cheer this weekend." Brooke groaned as she glanced around the room. She noticed that almost everyone in the class was paired up with someone but Haley. She sat in the corner all alone.
"Um, I'll be right back." Brooke said, getting up from her desk and making her way over towards her sister. She pulled the empty desk up next to her and sat down.
"Okay, Tutor Girl, teach me about Foil." Brooke said, pencil in hand ready to write. Haley didn't respond, she simply looked down at her blank paper. "Haley? Haley!" Brooke said again, snapping her fingers, which brought Haley out of her daze.
"What? Oh, sorry Brooke." Haley began to show Brooke how to do the problem. Mrs. Mason smiled at the two girls, but it soon faded when she saw the bruise on Haley's wrist. And by studying her contently she noticed the fading bruise on her cheek.
For what felt like an eternity, the bell finally rang, signaling the start of lunch.
"Remember, everyone. Study!" Mrs. Mason shouted at the exiting students. "Brooke, Haley, can I talk to you two?" She called out after the two, who were the last ones to leave the classroom.
"Look, if it's about sleeping in class, I'm sorry. I had a rough night and it won't happen again." Brooke started to say but was soon cut off.
"No, it's not about that." Mrs. Mason said looking at Haley. "Haley, I don't mean to pry, but I noticed you have a few bruises on you. Is everything alright at home?"
Haley exchanged a worried look with Brooke. "Um, yeah, everything's fine."
Brooke tapped her foot nervously; Haley was never good at lying. "I tripped over my cat and I fell down the stairs, that's all." Haley smiled, hoping Mrs. Mason wouldn't know they didn't have a cat.
The older woman smiled. "Oh, well then you best hurry up, don't want to miss lunch!" She sighed as she watched the two sisters walk out of the room, knowing Haley was lying through her teeth. But it wasn't her place to interfere, was it?
"Haley," Brooke said, grabbing Haley's arm. She looked at her sister and realized that school wasn't the best place to confront her about the bruises. "Why don't you come sit with us today?" She said instead. Haley smiled and nodded. They quickly walked to their table and put their stuff down. Haley left to get some lunch while Brooke sat down and greeted everyone as they gradually came down.
"Um, whose stuff is in my seat?" Theresa complained as she picked up a book.
"Oh, that's my sisters stuff." Brooke said as she pushed the books near her and put them on the ground. "Must have took them by accident."
"For a second there I thought Tutor Girl was going to sit with us. " Theresa laughed as Brooke let out a small laugh too.
"Like I would ever let poor Tutor Girl sit here, please, what is this? Be nice to geeks day." This caused more laughter from Theresa. Haley came back over, noticing Theresa sitting in her seat and looked confused. Then she noticed that the whole table had been filled, her books nowhere in sight. But instead of marching over and making a scene, she opted for the more subtle approach by sitting alone underneath the tree. Brooke could have kicked herself for what she had just done. Peyton just shook her head and watched as Haley ran her fingers through the grass like a little girl whose lost something.
The end of the day finally had come. Brooke and Peyton hurried off to the gym for cheering and Haley made her way to the tutoring center.
Brooke and the other girls were about to start practice when Principal Turner walked in the gym with someone in tow.
"Girls." He said in a deep voice, "I'd like to introduce you to the new co-captain of the Ravens." He stepped aside to let the girl come into view. Brooke's mouth fell open when she saw who it was. "Claire Young."
Claire smiled and thanks Mr. Turner. "Thank you Mr. Turner for letting me join the squad in mid-season. And of course for making me co-captain, I'm sure Brookie and I will do a great job together." The fake smile quickly vanished when Turner left.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Brooke asked, very pissed off. There was no way she was letting Claire Young take over her job as captain.
"Didn't you hear the man? I'm the new captain so move over, bitch."
Most of the other girls didn't know, or remember Claire from the classic last year. But who could blame them, she wasn't the friendliest person there.
"Excuse me, he said co-captain." Brooke fumed. "So that means I'm still a captain on this team."
Claire laughed deviously. Whatever she had planned was not going to sit well with Brooke. "Let me tell you something, honey. There is no such thing as co-captains. There's only room for one, meaning me. So if you don't get your scrawny ass back in line over there, I'll throw you off this team faster then you can say Ravens."
Brooke stomped over to the rest of the girls and sulked, throwing her pom-poms on the floor. Peyton sighed and patted Brooke on the shoulder.
Haley sat down at the empty table in the tutoring center and gazed around the abandoned room. She glanced at her watch and noticed that this new student was already fifteen minutes.
'Five more minutes, and then I'll leave.' Haley thought to herself as she began to tap her foot in anticipation. Five minutes had turn into ten, ten had turned into twenty and twenty had turned into sixty. This person wasn't coming she figured. She was about to leave when the door swung open.
"What, you didn't think I'd show up, little Brooke?" Came the cocky, arrogant voice behind her. Haley felt a shiver up her spine as she turned around and saw Nathan Scott standing there.
"Get out," She said in a shaky voice. Nathan simply laughed and walked closer to her.
"You know, you should really stop saying these hurtful things to me. One day they'll come back to haunt you." Nathan said, moving his face closer to Haley's. Haley jerked back and walked to the other side of the room. He put his bag on the table and opened up his book.
"What are you waiting for? Tutor me, Little Brooke."
Haley shook her head and glared at him. "If you don't get out in the next two minutes I'll call the police and have you arrested for attempted rape."
Nathan simply laughed. "Now, why would the star of the Tree Hill Ravens attempt to rape somebody? Say what you want, but I'll deny it. And if you even think of going to the cops, I'll make sure what I started last night gets finished."
Okay, so I know that wasn't much, but I wanted to get a quick update in. The upcoming chapters will have more drama in them, I promise. But for now I hope this didn't suck and you enjoyed it a little.