Chapter Fifteen: Show Me How To Say 'No'

Karen sighed as she walked past Brooke's room and met Lucas in the hallway.

"Hey, honey," she greeted. Lucas smiled and cast a glace at Brooke's room.

"Is she still in there?" he asked.

The past few days had been a nightmare for all those close to Brooke. Completely going nuts over the Classic that weekend, she was becoming meaner, more determined and less likeable as the days went on.

Either cooped up in her room and rehearsing the routine or rounding up the girls during all possible free time for practice, Brooke was losing friends quicker than flies were dropping.

Karen nodded, "Yup, I only saw her for breakfast this morning. I swear, if I have to hear 'Kung Fu Fighting' again…" she trailed off and Lucas suppressed a smile.

"She's taking this seriously, isn't she?" Karen nodded just as the opening chords of 'Kung Fu Fighting' echoed through the walls. She groaned.

"I'm going to raid the kitchen for some aspirin. If you need me, I'll be in my room… or waiting outside Brooke's room with an axe," she said as she made her way to the kitchen.

Lucas waited momentarily outside her door and though he considered entering, he knew he'd lose more than one body limb. Shaking his head, he decided that he should wait after the Classic to talk to her.

That is if she'd talk to him.

Brooke surveyed her team-mates with a scrutinising glare. She knew she was unliked at the moment and she'd heard people use the term 'Cheer Nazi' to describe her. It stung a little, but Brooke was certain that after they won, it'll all be worth it.

You had to be cruel to be kind to succeed.

"Theresa!" she said stopping in front of the girl, "Do you exfoliate?"

"No…" the girl began. Peyton grimaced, a fatal mistake. She almost felt sorry for the girl.

"Well start! The judges won't just be looking at our moves, girl. Presentation is everything," Brooke reminded them.

"Peyton," Brooke said as she stood in front of the blonde, "Your posture is terrible. You so need to work on this otherwise we're not going to win."

"Brooke, I'm your best friend, you know that right?" Peyton said.

"And?" Brooke asked.

"So believe me when I tell you that you better calm yourself down because I am seriously considering stuffing pom-poms in your mouth," she told her friend. The other girls sniggered but were silenced with one glare from Brooke.

"Peyton, can I see you for a moment?" Brooke asked leading the girl away from the others before she could protest.

Once out of earshot, Brooke narrowed her eyes, "What the hell was that? Threatening me in front of the team?"

"Brooke, love you girl, but you have got to drop this power-mad act before something happens and we really do lose this competition. I know you want to win, we want to win it too, but we can't do it with your riding us all the time. You're so stressed out, that you're forgetting that this is supposed to be fun. You know what 'fun' is right? It's that thing you used to be before someone drove a big, fat stick up your butt." Peyton told her friend truthfully.

"I have to be a bitch because otherwise we'll all slack off, and our routine will be sloppy and we'll forget our spirit fingers! We can't win without the spirit fingers."

"Brooke, thanks to you I've been having dreams about this freakin' routine, okay? Last night I dreamed the opposing team were actually ninjas who we had to fight."

"Really?" Peyton nodded, "Was their routine good?" Brooke asked.

"You know you're crazy, right?" Peyton asked hugging her friend, "Calm down. Take a chill pill, relax and enjoy this weekend – because I'm serious about the pom-pom thing."

Brooke sighed, "Fine, I will try and calm down. But if I see something that needs fixing then I'm going-"

"We got it, Brooke. Believe me!" Peyton interrupted giving her another hug. "Just please don't make me want to hurt you."

The pair walked back to the group of cheerleaders and Peyton nudged Brooke, prompting her to speak.

"Apparently I've been a little harsh," the group chuckled knowingly, "So I promise I will tone it down a little."

Brooke forced a smile.

"But know that if any of you screw up, then what you're going through now isn't going to even compete with what I'll put you through," Brooke threatened, wiping all the smiles off the girls' faces. Peyton's eyes widened and saw the fear etched on their faces.

"Uh, Brooke, how about we go see Haley, okay?" Peyton said pulling her friend away before she could do any more harm.

"What was all that about? I thought you were going to be nice?" Peyton hissed.

"I am going to be nice. A friendly warning never hurt anyone."

"Yeah, well remember that when we're chasing you with pom-poms," Peyton joked as they made their way to where Haley was busy helping to load up the school bus.

"Hey Tutor Wife, Goldilocks here thinks I'm too harsh on the girls. What do you think?"

Haley looked anxiously between Peyton and Brooke.

"I don't know – which answer will allow me to keep my head attached to by body?" she asked. Brooke gave her a look and Peyton laughed.

"Anyway," Brooke shook her head and decided to change the subject, "Are you riding in the bus?" she asked Haley. She nodded.

"Yup. There's nothing like sharing a bus with basketball players and cheerleaders – no offence," Haley said sounded less than amused at the thought.

"In that case, how about you join Peyton and me in my car? We'll make it a girls-only road trip," Brooke suggested.

"You're not riding in the bus?" Haley asked.

"Nope, Whitey said there wasn't any room for my 'cheerleading crap'," Brooke grumbled.

"But that's totally and completely fine," Peyton assured Brooke, "Because then we can have a little road trip. What do you say?" Haley nodded enthusiastically.

"Let me go tell Nathan I'm riding with you," she said as she searched for her husband.

She spotted him talking to some team-mates and Lucas near the bus.

"Hey," she said as she walked up to him. Her snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, proudly showing off his wife.

"Hey, are you ready to get on the bus?" he asked.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Brooke and Peyton are taking Brooke's car and they asked if I wanted in…"

"If you want to go with them, you can, Hales," Nathan smiled. Haley returned the smile.

"Aw, you're the best husband!" she said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Plus, it'll give me and Luke a chance to gossip about you girls," Haley hit him on the arm.

"More like perv over Tim's copy of PlayBoy. Don't think I didn't see you sneak a peak earlier," she told him feeling slightly envious of the curvaceous bimbo that graced the cover.

"You know that no airbrushed model could ever compete with you," Nathan reassured her. "Go, have fun. I'll catch you on the other side," Nathan said. Haley smiled and gave him a parting kiss.

"Love you," she called.

"Love you too," he said before returning to his brother. "What?" he asked when he saw the look Lucas was giving him.

"Man, you are so whipped," Lucas shook his head as he chuckled. Nathan glowered.

"Whatever, dude, just get on the damn bus," Nathan said as they all piled into the bus.

Lucas sat in the seat behind Nathan and Tim. He put his earphones in his ear and started up his iPod. Glancing out of the window, he spotted Brooke, Haley and Peyton getting into the car, arguing about the music that was going to be played. As the bus started up, the girls turned and waved at the people in the bus and laughed as they sped off ahead.

Lucas sighed, Brooke had seemed to be more relaxed than earlier and he just hoped that this weekend would turn out okay. Nathan turned to his brother and gave him an encouraging smile.

Brooke, Haley and Peyton waited for the bus to pull in. In their hurry to get to the Classic before the bus, they'd completely forgotten that Whitey had their room information and needed to sign them in. So far, they'd been waiting almost half-an-hour, and spent the time checking out the competition.

"Did you see their uniforms? Ew, which bozo decided green and purple made a good match?" Brooke said as she watched one of the hideously dressed teams walked past. Haley and Peyton laughed. "God, when is that frickin' bus going to get here. I'm hungry!" Brooke complained.

"We told you to stop at that diner we passed," Peyton said as her stomach grumbled.

"Carbs are bad, Peyton, have I taught you nothing?" Brooke said.

"I'm glad I'm not a cheerleader," Haley mused aloud.

"Careful, Tutor Girl, if one of mine pulls out, you're our replacement," Brooke informed her.

"Since when?"

"Since you came with us," Brooke said.

"But I'm… not flexible and I don't know the moves and…" Haley began to panic.

"Calm down. Haley, Brooke is just talking about 'if' someone pulls out. Which they won't because they're all scared of Brooke," Peyton said.

"Yeah, plus we'll teach you the routines. And I'm sure you're flexible, you have to be for the bedroom, or don't you and Nathan do any of that freaky, kinky stuff?" Brooke asked. Haley hit Brooke and blushed.

"That's none of your business," she said.

"That's a no then…" Brooke said as she got another hit from Haley, "Hey! I can't have bruises!" she complained just as their school bus pulled up.

"Finally!" Peyton cried as they went out to meet their fellow classmates.

Peyton and Brooke entered their room and while Peyton immediately flopped down on a bed, Brooke was busy out on the balcony.

"What are you doing, Brooke?" she asked.

"Checking out the competition. I wonder if anyone has bugged out rooms," she said as she came back inside and swept the room for any suspicious devices.

"You are one crazy girl," Peyton mumbled.

"Well, it's better to be safe. This is going to be fun," Brooke said satisfied that they were in no apparent danger.

"Yeah."

"So what bed do you want?" Brooke asked motioning to the two beds on either side of the room, "Or do you just want the one you're on?"

Peyton get up and winced sheepishly, "Actually Brooke, I'm not going to be sleeping here."

"What?" Brooke cried.

"Nathan is bunking with Haley in hers, and I thought I'd be with Jake in his room."

"So, who does that leave me with?" Brooke asked. Peyton offered a small smile. "Oh no!"

"Sorry, Brooke. It was either him or Tim!"

"I'll take Tim then!" Brooke said.

"Really?" Peyton questioned.

"Well, no – but it's better than Lucas!" Brooke sighed. "When was this decided?"

"Um… two days ago?" Peyton cringed.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Sorry, we figured it'd be safer if we didn't until now," Peyton said.

"Peyton, you know Lucas and I aren't talking."

"Maybe this will give you an opportunity to," Peyton suggested. Brooke gave her a look, "Listen, you both are on separate ends of the room, you both share a house anyway! What is the worst that could happen?"

"I can't believe you did this," Brooke said visibly upset. Peyton hugged her friend.

"I'm sorry, but we were all getting fed-up with this stupid dance you were doing. You have to talk to him, Brooke."

"I know. I just didn't think it'd have to be this weekend." Brooke sighed as their was a knock at the door.

Peyton opened it to reveal Lucas standing awkwardly with his suitcase.

"Hey," he said, "Jake is ready for you," he told Peyton. She nodded as she let Lucas in and took her bags.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed to Brooke as she did so. Brooke just shrugged and turned away.

Peyton gave Lucas an encouraging look as she left the room and the couple alone.

"So, what bed do you want?" Lucas asked after a ten minute silence. Brooke remained turned away from him and just motioned to the one nearest to her. Lucas nodded and put his stuff on the other bed.

"About what happened that weekend-" Lucas began suddenly.

"Lucas, we don't have to talk about this," Brooke said turning to him in an attempt to stop the conversation there and then.

"Yes, we do, Brooke! If we don't talk about it now, then we'll never talk about it and it'll end up killing us both," Lucas reasoned. Brooke decided he had a valid point and nodded.

"Fine. Where do we start?"

"We had sex," Lucas stated.

"That's a start…" Brooke muttered.

"Look, I know we'd rather avoid this but I'd much rather have my friend back."

"Friend?" Brooke asked.

"Well, yeah. We were friends… are friends," Lucas said.

"Who slept together-"

"I know."

"After you kissed me! This is all your fault, Lucas, unless you kiss all your 'friends'," she said.

"Brooke, that's not it," Lucas told her.

"Than what is it, Lucas? I was perfectly fine with the way we were. Friends. And then you had to go and ruin it all by kissing me!" she yelled.

"Hey, don't try and shift all the blame on me! You're the one who came into my room and began undressing!" Lucas yelled back. Brooke growled.

"Don't try and blame me either, Luke," she sighed as she sat down on her bed and put her head in her hands.

"Look, um, I… I know what happened was kind of sudden. Not just the kiss, but the… everything afterwards. I'm not even sure we took the necessary precautions-" Lucas began uncomfortable about how to approach the subject.

"I took a pill in the morning, so don't worry about it," she told him. Lucas nodded.

"So, what do we do now? Do we go back to being friends or…" Lucas prompted, garnering her attention.

"Or what?" Brooke questioned, curious about where this was leading.

Lucas though seriously about telling her about everything he felt for her. Why he kissed her and how he didn't regret anything except the fallout.

But something inside him prevented him from doing so.

"You know what? I think we should just… carry on as normal. Just go back," he turned away in time to avoid seeing the momentary crestfallen look on her face, which was quickly replaced with a cover.

"Uh, yeah. I think you're right. Normal is good," Brooke said with a nod.

"It's what's best, right?" Lucas said trying to convince himself.

"Of course," Brooke clearer her throat, "I mean, us dating?" she scoffed, "I don't see you as a one-woman man," Lucas merely nodded, "I don't want this trip to be awkward and hard for us," she said.

"Neither do I," he agreed.

"So, we are friends?" Broke asked.

Lucas nodded again, "Just friends."

Brooke broke into a smile, "Phew, I'm glad that's straightened out. I hated having to avoid you all the time. Plus, Dan was creeping me out and always asking me weird questions," she told him.

"Same here."

"So, do you want to go and check out the rest of the hotel? A bunch of us are planning to head out after curfew," Brooke suggested trying to make this easier on both of them.

"Nah, I think I'm just going to hang out here. Maybe find Nathan, Tim and Jake and go practice or something."

"Oh," Brooke didn't try to hide her disappointment, "But I'll see you at dinner, right?" she questioned.

"Maybe," Lucas said evasively, "I'm going to find Tim. I'll see you later," Lucas said as he left in search for his team-mates.

Brooke had expected that redefining their friendship would be a relief and make them more comfortable around each other, but for some reason, it didn't feel all that good.

Suddenly, she felt disappointed and almost guilty.

Although they had agreed to be friends, something told her that nothing would be the same between them again.

To Be Continued…