Chapter Three: Wander The Great Indoors
Brooke and Haley dropped down on the couch. After three hours of non-stop shopping, even someone such as Brooke was exhausted. She closed her eyes and sighed contently at the weight lifted from her legs.
"I don't think I've ever done that much shopping," she told Haley.
"Neither have I. You could give me a run for my money."
"Well, I've never met anyone like you. You really know your bargains." Brooke was clearly impressed.
"It comes from years and years of spending time at the thrift store." Haley told her new friend, "We make a pretty good team."
"We should do this again sometime," Brooke suggested brightly. Haley laughed.
"Yeah, maybe when I can feel my feet again. Maybe I'll bribe Nathan into giving me a foot massage…" she mused aloud.
"Ah, if I had such luxuries," Brooke muttered, "Where are they anyway?" she asked as she glanced around the house.
"Oh, they'll still be playing a game outside. Those two are so competitive, it's ridiculous. Basketball, PlayStation, tequila shots… once they even had a competition on who could fit more pieces of popcorn in their mouth." Haley rolled her eyes.
"So who won?" Broke asked. Haley thought for a moment.
"I actually have no idea," she giggled, "I think they gave up or something."
"They seem to get on really well," the brunette commented and Haley nodded.
"That they do. Probably the only person Lucas gets on with."
"Ah, so it's not just me," Brooke looked relieved, "I was thinking that maybe he hated me for coming into his home."
Haley bit her lip. "Honestly? He probably does hate you - but just learn to ignore him and his remarks. He likes attention. He's a complete attention whore."
Brooke snorted, "Yeah, I can believe that." Haley sighed.
"Do you want a drink?" Brooke nodded and Haley sighed again, "Can you be bothered to get up?" Brooke shook her head, "Ok, so that's the drinks out of the window."
Brooke managed to reach for the remote control and started absent mindedly flicking the channels, finally resting on a fashion programme. The two new friends were so invested in the new tips for this season's colors; they didn't hear Lucas and Nathan come inside from the yard.
Nathan took the opportunity to creep up behind his wife and drop a kiss on her forehead. She jerked up, startled, but the relaxed the moment she realized who it was.
"Hey, baby," she said softly, "You scared me."
"Sorry," Nathan apologized to his wife. "Did you have a nice time shopping?" Haley nodded motioning to the pile of bags in the corner and Nathan narrowed his eyes. "Okay, how much did you spend?"
Haley shrugged sheepishly, "I sort of got carried away…" she began. Nathan sighed.
"Haley, c'mon, you know how tight things are," he said trying to keep his tone down. Brooke looked away guiltily, realizing that some of it was her fault as she'd convinced Haley to buy many of the items in the shopping bags.
She cast a wary glance at Lucas who pulled out $200 from his wallet and handed it to Nathan. Nathan looked down at the notes in his hand.
"What are you doing, man?" he questioned, handing the money back to his elder brother.
"This should cover all the stuff in those bags, and then some," Lucas explained putting the notes back in his younger brother's hand.
"I don't want your money, Lucas."
"Take it." Lucas told him.
"We'll totally pay you back," Haley assured Lucas, who shook his head.
"It's a gift."
"A gift for what?" Nathan was still unconvinced.
"Your birthday," Lucas replied.
"That was four months ago." his brother reminded him.
"Fine, Haley's birthday."
"That's-" Nathan began.
"Just take it, Nate," Lucas repeated. "Consider it your payment for beating me in basketball today."
"We never play fo-" Nathan started before realizing he'd probably never win this argument. He stopped in midsentence and accepted the money, "Thank you," he said.
Lucas just nodded, "Mom and Dad will be home for lunch in twenty minutes. I suggest you get out of here before they catch you," he informed his brother and his sister-in-law. They nodded.
Haley hugged Brooke goodbye and Brooke said goodbye to Nathan and watched the two drive off. Once they were gone, Lucas shut the door and made his way into the living room. Brooke followed him in and watched for a moment as he turned the channel from E! to ESPN. He could feel her eyes on him and he sighed in exasperation.
"What?" he asked not even turning around.
"That was nice… what you did for Nathan and Haley," she said taking a seat on the couch opposite to him.
"So? Just because my dad cut him off, doesn't mean I have to. Nathan is working two jobs as well as trying to concentrate on school to pay the bills. Whereas I have all this money I'm never going to use. I mean, how many clothes does one guy need?"
"You don't agree with what your dad did?" Brooke questioned. Lucas shook his head.
"I can understand how annoyed dad was when Nathan married Haley and stopped playing basketball. Dad wants both of us to go pro, but since Nathan quit the team, he doesn't want anything to do with him. Although for some reason, he just loves riling him up and trying to get him to come home without Haley," Lucas said, tired of his father's tricks.
"You like Haley, don't you?" Brooke asked. Lucas nodded.
"She's like my little sister. When she was a freshman, she used to follow me around all the time but then she fell for Nathan and I ended up being best man at their wedding. Although, I don't tell my parents that." Lucas sighed looking back at Brooke. "So, have fun with Haley?"
Brooke nodded, "Yeah. The mall was fun. I like Tree Hill so far."
"Wait until you see the school," Lucas commented before realizing that Brooke was getting rather too comfortable in his company than before. "Anyway, I'm going to take a shower. Don't break anything," he told her coldly as he got up and left.
Brooke groaned. Just when she thought she was making progress with Lucas, he seemed to turn it around. But like Haley had said, it wasn't just her who got on Lucas' bad side.
Brooke wasn't naturally a timid, quiet person but Tree Hill High was a big school for such a small town. She found herself intimidated by the other students, especially since everyone seemed to be gossiping about the new girl. With the help of Haley earlier, she'd been able to locate her locker and sort out her schedule and even make it to Algebra on time. But since Haley had gone to the Tutoring Hall, Broke was alone and had been thrown to the wolves.
She had decided to spend lunch trying out for the cheerleading team,and, almost immediately, she'd been attacked by three of them.
"Oh my god, are you Brooke Davis?" one of the girls asked and before Brooke even had time to reply, another girl was asking a question.
"Is it true you're living with Lucas Scott, because he is so fine!"
"Shut up, Miranda, you only like him because he winked at you one time. So, have you seen him naked yet?"
Brooke was speechless and had no idea where to start with the questions, or if she even wanted to answer the following twenty that followed.
Fortunately, she was saved by a mess of blonde curls that came to her defense and started shooing all the girls away.
"Give her room, c'mon, girls. Move it!" she almost barked in her attempt to free Brooke. Once the girls had dispersed, Brooke could finally breathe.
"Thanks." Brooke said gratefully to the girl in front of her.
"No problem. You're the new girl, right?"
"Yeah. Brooke Davis." The blonde girl thrust out her hand to shake it.
"Peyton Sawyer. I hear you live with the infamous Lucas Scott and his family."
"Yeah, that would be right," Brooke nodded.
"Good luck with that."
"Thanks. So, what is Lucas Scott like in school? He's kind of an-"
"Ass? Yeah, that'd be about right. He thinks that just because he's Dan Scott's son and the school's star basketball player he can get away with murder. Truth is, he probably could." Peyton told her.
"You know him well?"
"Well, not really. Most of the girls know him anyway, different girl every night, never a phone call the morning after." Peyton said.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Brooke said sympathetically. Peyton looked at her.
"How did you know?" she asked suspiciously.
"You sound kind of bitter."
"About Lucas Scott? Please! I'm happier with Jake. He's also on the team but fortunately, he has morals and actual feelings. Although that whole Lucas thing happened ages ago. I'm over it. It's funny how you can be crushing on somebody for so long, and once it happens, you find out who they really are." Peyton informed Brooke matter-of-factly. Brooke looked Peyton over.
"So, you look different," Brooke commented.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you've got that grungy, rock/punk thing going on. Most other people haven't," Brooke commented on Peyton's outfit. She looked comfortable and Brooke was pleased that she wasn't trying to be fake like the others.
"I dare to be different. Where about are you from?"
"New York, hence the whole fashion radar. Got to say, I'm loving the look. Not my personal style, but you rock it."
"Thanks. Word of advice? If you want to keep that pretty little head of yours, you stick with me. The cheerleaders will have you actually seeing your IQ level drop and I know you are not the quiet type. What's your GPA?"
"3.6."
"Not bad. You're definitely not a total geek but not dumb enough to be an airhead. You'd definitely fit in with me," Peyton told her.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Trying out for the cheer squad?" Brooke nodded, "Well, I'll help you get the routines down. I have a feeling that you'll make it into the team in no time,"
Brooke frowned, "You're a cheerleader? You so don't look like you'd go for that."
"Well, I thought the only way to get my guy away from these girls was to be as close to him as possible. Also, it gives me something to do," Peyton told her. Brooke smiled.
"Well, P. Sawyer," she said, "I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Author's Note:
I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. I had a rough idea of where I wanted to go, it was just trying to place it in the actual story.
I want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. Your comments mean so much to me and I hope you continue to show your support.
I also have to mention that, unless I work really hard, this will be the last update for about a week or so. I'm going to Greece on Wednesday and I need to pack and stuff. It's only a 5 day trip but it's a really intense trip as I'm in a new place every day.
Hopefully, I'll be able to write the chapters up while I'm on the plane/coach rides/free time so you won't have to wait much longer.
I apologize for this but it's a really important trip as I need to see as many temples/sculptures/pots as I can before my exams in June.
Please continue supporting this story as you have so wonderfully before and I'll see you all in a week!
Tejal x