Chapter Four: Bright Lights, Late Nights

Brooke ran her fingers through her long brown hair as she tried to make sense of what she was writing. Her eyes had started to feel heavy and her neck was aching from staring at the computer screen for so long. She tried her best to massage her shoulders in an attempt to make herself feel better and more awake but it was no good.

Brooke groaned as she checked her word count. She was still at a measly six hundred words out of a minimum of 1500 and it was almost eleven in the evening. She rested her head on her pillow, regretting starting her essay after dinner. Brooke was a huge procrastinator and she easily found distractions in anything.

So far she'd painted her toe nails, given herself a manicure, alphabetized her CD collection, updated her iPod twice and sorted her wardrobe out in colors. Glancing at the clock and seeing it reach 10.58, she sat back up, determined to write more and get it done by midnight.

Almost twenty minutes later, Brooke had written an additional thirty words and had abandoned it to play a game of FreeCell.

She groaned again when she realized it was getting late and that she'd never finish the essay on time. She'd have to make another excuse, ask for an extension and kiss some major ass if she was going to avoid a detention.

Brooke contemplated on calling Haley for help, seeing as she had the smarts, but then realized Haley may be asleep. She glanced quickly at the time and then at her essay before picking up the phone.

It picked up after five rings.

"What?" an irritated voice answered.

"Nathan? Is that you?" Brooke questioned, "Why do you sound weird?"

"Because I was asleep?"

"What kind of people are asleep at 11.20?" Brooke questioned. Nathan groaned.

"The tired kind. What do you want, Brooke?"

"Haley, actually."

"She's asleep… wait, no she isn't. I'll hand it over to you." Brooke heard some muffled speech and movement over the phone before she heard a tired voice.

"Brooke?"

"Haley! How much do you love me?"

"Not much considering you woke me up. What's up?" Haley asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"You know that essay we had to do for English? Well, I need help."

"Which essay?" Haley asked.

"The one of Jane Austen. The social and moral responsibilities in 'Emma' and stuff."

"What about it?" Haley yawned on the other end.

"I'm stuck on the essay. I have no idea what to write and you're smarter than I am and you know the books and I really have no clue where I'm supposed to be going with this." Brooke babbled on the phone, she could hear Haley groan as her voice got louder and more desperate.

"Okay, Brooke. First of all, lower your voice and take a deep breath," Brooke did so, "Brooke, I'm really sorry but I handed that essay in two days ago and I have no clue what I wrote."

"Don't you have a copy on your computer that you can send and I can use? Please, Tutor Girl, I'm desperate here," Brooke pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Brooke, but I handwrote it. Just… I don't know. Make it up?" Haley suggested, letting out another yawn. Brooke sighed.

"Okay, I'll see. Thanks, Haley." Brooke said defeated. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

"No problem. It's Nathan who'll probably be annoyed at you. He likes his beauty sleep…ow!" Haley groaned, "He heard that. I'd better go. Good luck,"

"Thanks," Brooke hung up the phone and sighed, turning to the computer to have another stab at it.

Brooke wanted to kill things. More specifically Jane Austen. She wasn't even up to 800 words yet and she'd already run out of things to say.

She was dangerously close to tossing her laptop out of the window when she heard someone come into her room. Irritated with her essay and tired, Brooke shot him a dirty look.

"What do you want?" she snapped. Lucas chuckled and sat down on her bed.

"I saw your light on. Whatcha doing?" he asked picking up her copy of 'Emma'.

"None of your business," she said, snatching the book away from him and trying to shoo him away.

"Somebody is grouchy. You writing an essay on Austen?" Lucas flipped through the pages of the book.

"Yeah and it's kicking my ass, so would you mind leaving me alone?" Brooke questioned trying not to let him get to her.

Instead of listening to her request, Lucas grabbed hold of her laptop and read what Brooke had been writing.

"You have some good points, but you're veering off the actual focus of the question." Lucas said, lying down on her bed as he gave back the laptop.

Brooke stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

Lucas sat up, grabbing a nearby pen and paper and handing it to her, "Look at it this way. Write down all the characters in ranking order of wealth and status,"

Brooke looked skeptical but did so. She showed it to him. Lucas nodded, "Now write down all the characters in ranking order of morals,"

"I don't get it."

Lucas took the pen and paper off Brooke and wrote down his list, showing it to her and explaining what he'd done.

"Look at this – with the exception of Mr Knightley, those who are higher in status, are the meanest. Take the Eltons for example, they are quite rich but they're the ones who you hate in the novel. Even Emma."

"I think I get it. You're trying to say that whatever social status you hold doesn't necessarily mean that you have the highest morals,"

"Yup,"

Brooke looked at Lucas and cocked her head to the side, "How do you know so much about Austen?"

He shrugged, "I read. Why, does that surprise you?" he questioned. Brooke sheepishly nodded.

"Kind of. I guess I never thought of you as the type to pick up a book – especially with all the basketball you have going on," Lucas shrugged.

"Despite what my dad might say, basketball isn't everything. You know, I actually never was into the whole basketball thing as much as Nate was but since he quit, I guess I just felt like I had to carry on the dream for both my dad and Nathan."

"That doesn't seem fair," Brooke stated.

"What is fair?" he questioned, a small smile playing on his lips. Brooke returned the smile and Lucas quickly looked away, "Look, you okay with this essay now?"

Brooke nodded, "Yeah. Thanks,"

"Whatever. Just make sure you shut the light before you go to bed," he said coolly as he got up off her bed and walked out of the door.

Brooke sighed. Just as she felt they were making progress, Lucas would suddenly put up a barrier and they'd move two steps back – leaving her feeling confused and hurt.

Shaking herself out of those thoughts, she looked over the piece of paper Lucas had written on and began to write. Within forty-five minutes, her essay was finished and she could finally relax.

The funny thing was, the person she wanted to thank for helping her was currently unapproachable.

"Hey dude," Peyton Sawyer said as she sat down next to Brooke and Haley at lunch. The three had quickly become inseparable in the few weeks Brooke had first arrived. Peyton and Haley had quite a bit in common and they all loved to hang out together – even though Brooke repeated complained about their tastes in music.

Brooke found that she was able to talk to Haley a lot about her problems with Lucas and, even though Peyton didn't particularly like Lucas, she gave advice, thanks to her links with Jake.

"Hey yourself. What's that big grin for?" Brooke asked referring to the huge smile on Peyton's face.

"I just heard there is a killer party this Friday night at Tric. Wanna go?" she asked.

"Sure. Nothing else to do except tip-toe around Lucas all day," Brooke said taking a gulp from her soda.

"What about you, James?" Peyton asked Haley.

"I don't know yet. I'll ask if Nathan wants to come but don't count on it. Friday nights are usually spent with Tim on his PlayStation 2. One of these days I'm going to throw that thing out."

"Okay, Tutor Wife, we love you but you can do something without that husband of yours. Anyway, if he's so busy with his stupid PlayStation, we can have a girl's night out. At least you'll be out of the house,"

"Well, someone needs to clean up the mess they make," Haley told them.

"Just do what I do. Use sex as a weapon. Tell Nathan that if he wants some, he can clean up the house every once in a while. It'll work wonders!" Brooke winked.

"Says the girl who hasn't hooked up with anyone since she got here. How long as it been… three, maybe four weeks since you came to Tree Hill?" Peyton laughed. Brooke threw a French fry at her.

"I could totally hook up with a guy if I wanted to,"

"Well why don't you? I know plenty of guys that are into you."

"I don't know. I just think I need some time by myself at the moment. Plus, dating is so hard; I just can't be bothered to put in the effort. At least not yet." Brooke sighed.

Haley and Peyton nodded, "Well, when you're ready. Just give me a yell and I'll hook you up with a couple of guys," Brooke laughed at Peyton's proposal.

"Yeah, that'll happen. I know your type P. Sawyer and they'll probably like to wear chains, and have long hair and stuff,"

"That is so stereotypical!" Peyton cried, throwing a French fry at Brooke, who shrieked loudly.

Lucas watched the girls laugh from the distance. He was genuinely pleased Brooke had managed to make friends so quickly, and even happier that she was friends with Haley. Haley was a smart girl but had kind of been a bit of a loner before she met Nathan. And although Lucas liked her, sometimes he could do without having her around all the time when he wanted to spend time with his brother. This way, Brooke and Haley could go do their girl things while Lucas and Nathan did whatever brothers did – especially now that Nathan was somewhat banned from the household.

"Hey, stop staring at my wife!" Nathan snapped playfully, knocking Lucas out of his thoughts.

"I wasn't staring at her," Lucas told his younger brother. Nathan looked over to the area where his wife was sitting.

"Maybe you were interested in her company," he nodded his head towards Peyton and Brooke, "Let me guess, you don't particularly like blondes so…"

Lucas scoffed, "Please!"

"How is that going, by the way?"

"Well, she's still there. Nothing I can do about it is there?" Lucas shot back.

"You could try getting along," Nathan suggested.

"Why?"

Nathan shook his head, knowing that his brother was stubborn and probably wouldn't listen to her anyway.

"Okay, we'll get off the subject. You going to this party on Friday night?"

"I can't. Practice early Saturday morning," Lucas replied.

"I thought that didn't start until 11."

"Have you already forgotten the fact Dad likes to make us get up at 6am for a 'daily, leisurely jog'?" Lucas asked. Nathan nodded.

"Oh yeah, definitely don't miss those." Nathan commented, "He's not running you too hard, is he?"

Lucas shook his head, "Nothing I can't handle, little brother."

Lucas walked into the house, knowing full well his parents were still at work. He strolled into the kitchen and pulled out a beer from his well hidden stash and opened it.

Taking a quick swig from the bottle, he walked around the house, heading for his room. Noticing faint music playing from Brooke's room, he paused outside momentarily to see what she was up to.

There she was, standing by her closet in jeans and a black bra. He raised his eyebrows in approval before walking in.

She was too engrossed in her clothes and music to notice him at first but when she turned around, she jumped and covered her modesty with a nearby blouse.

"Don't you knock?" she exclaimed, thoroughly annoyed with him.

"My house." Lucas challenged.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked feeling uncomfortable.

"Admiring the view," he smirked as he took another swig of his beer, "Do you usually walk around the house half-naked, or am I just special?" he asked.

"I thought I was alone and, anyway, I was trying some clothes on – not that it's any of your business."

Lucas shrugged and sat down on her bed, lying down on top of it and staring at the ceiling.

"Why are you still here?" Brooke asked.

"Because I want to be. Don't mind me. I'm sure I can give you my approval on whatever outfit you're wearing," he said absent mindedly flicking through a nearby magazine.

Brooke rolled her eyes, "Fine. Just don't touch anything," she told him as she turned from him and quickly put on any top.

She could feel his eyes on her and – although she was mad at him – she was strangely flattered. However, her anger quickly took over when she realized he wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

"I'm going out," she declared, hoping that he'd soon get bored and go away.

"Fine by me," he said, not looking up from the magazine.

"Perv!" Brooke scoffed as she walked past him and out of her room.

She returned three quarters of an hour later, hoping that he'd left her room. Instead, she found him still lying down on her bed and engrossed in a book.

"Is that my diary?" she shrieked as she realized just what he was reading. She pulled it away from him and hit him with it, "You do not read my diary!"

Lucas blocked her hits with her pillow and got up, moving quickly away from her.

"Whatever," he said as coolly as he could, "It wasn't that interesting anyway," he told her as he walked casually out of the room.

Brooke grunted in frustration – both at the insult and the invasion of privacy. Disgusted with his behavior, she looked around her room, making sure nothing else had been read, taken or misplaced.

Sitting down on her bed, she tossed his empty bottle of beer in the wastebasket and wondered just how much of her diary he'd read.

Sometimes she couldn't stand that guy.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note:

Thank you all for the continued support you have shown in this fic. I just have to say how awed I am at the response and apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out.

Greece was fantastic and I'm planning to hopefully go there again sometime soon – although it'll probably be an R&R trip rather than a study one. I'm sick of spending hours on a coach or climbing mountains.

Anyway, just thank you all and I hope you'll continue to show your support for the coming chapters.

Tejal x