This chapter takes some dialogue from 1x17: Spirit In The Night.

Chapter Sixteen: And They Dance Like Spirit In The Night

"Ready? Ok!" a loud blonde cheerleader in a gold and white uniform shouted. Their choice of music began to pump out from the speakers and the group practiced in the middle of the gym.

Haley, Brooke and Peyton watched half-interested before grimacing at their lack of form and their song choice.

"I'm all for diversified choices of music, but are you kidding me?" Peyton said, "No-one can dance to this!" she complained.

"Well we should give them props for trying," Haley said.

"And failing!" Brooke added as she witnessed some of the cheerleaders failing to keep in time. "If I knew the competition was going to be this easy I wouldn't have needed to panic."

"You never know, Brooke, this could just be a decoy to make us think they're really bad and then they're actually really good on the day," Peyton said.

"Yeah, that's a likely story. No-one could purposely be this bad," Brooke replied as they watched the captain ask for the music to stop and begin yelling at her team before throwing her pom-poms on the ground and running off.

"Wow," Haley said, "Poor girl."

"Please tell me I'm nothing like her," Brooke asked her friends.

"No, you're nothing like her," Peyton assured, "You're worse!" Brooke hit her in mock offence.

"Well, well, if it isn't Peyton Sawyer," the voice of Claire Young, captain of the Bear Creek Warriors, said as she and her entourage came up to the three girls. "What happened to your captain? Did she realize how much you sucked?"

"Claire," Peyton said as she stood up, "It's always a pleasure to see you again. Meet our new captain, Brooke Davis," she motioned to Brooke, who also stood up. Claire looked Brooke up and down and shook her hand.

"So you're the unlucky chosen one. Ready to be beaten?" she asked. Brooke scoffed.

"Please! You think you're going to beat us in that outfit?"

"This is our uniform, you retard," Claire said.

"I know. By the way, you're stretching it out. But who knows, maybe the baggy, frumpy look is in this year," Brooke said enjoying every minute of this. She'd heard rumors about Claire and the Bear Creek Warriors from the other cheerleaders. The fact that they'd won the last four years annoyed Brooke and she was determined it wouldn't happen on her watch.

"Whatever. We're going to win anyway. The Tree Hill Ravens always lose."

"Not this year. They've got me now." Claire Young and her cheerleaders laughed.

"You think you can beat us? We've won four years in a row, including the prize for Best Choreography. It's already in the bag!" Claire said. Brooke sighed.

"Listen, there's something you might want to know about me. I never lose. Ever. No matter how good you think you are, I'm better so you'd better watch your back," Brooke told them menacingly. Claire said nothing to her.

"Let's go, girls," Claire instructed her group, "Oh, and by the way," she turned to Brooke, "You'd better perfect your loser faces."

"Right back at ya," Brooke said, "Oh wait, you already have."

With a final glare in Brooke's direction, Claire led her team off and away. Brooke rolled her eyes.

"So that's Claire Young?" she asked Peyton. Peyton nodded. "Urgh, I already hate her."

"You did a pretty good job handling her, though," she commended Brooke.

"I feel icky," Brooke said looking at her hand where Claire had shook it, "I think I'm going to grab a shower," she announced, "If there's any cheer emergency, find me, okay?" she asked as she walked back to her room.

Haley looked at Peyton, "What the hell would a 'cheer emergency' be?" Peyton threw an arm around Haley's shoulders.

"Ah, young Haley, you have much to learn."

Brooke was applying her make-up when rapid knocking on her door startled her. She groaned as she saw the stray line of lipstick that had extended past the designated lip line. Wiping it off with a tissue, Brooke made her way to the front door.

"This better of been worth messing up my make-up for," she said as eight cheerleaders, plus Haley entered her room all at once. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Oh my god, Brooke!" Bevin said grabbing the girl by the arms, "Theresa got sent home."

"What!" Brooke cried.

"She came down with chicken pox or something. Whitey called her a cab because she was too contagious," Bevin explained. "What are we going to do?"

Brooke tried to think of solutions but her mind was filled with panic and dread of having to rework the whole routine – especially since she'd just mellowed out.

"We… we need to redo the routine," Brooke said, causing moans from the group.

"Or…" Peyton said garnering the attention, "We could find a replacement," she suggested.

"Who can we get at such short…" Brooke followed Peyton's eyes to where Haley was standing. Brooke smiled.

"Oh no," Haley said as she noticed the looks she was getting, "I am not a cheerleader. I barely can do a handstand."

"But you promised!"

"No, I didn't. You did!" she protested.

"Come on, Tutor Wife, please? You don't even need to do anything. We'll teach you the routine – we have all night," Brooke pleaded. "Think of how cute you'd look in the uniform and you can totally keep it for when you and Nathan-"

"Brooke!" Haley blushed. "Fine, fine. I'll do it but you owe me and I'm warning you now that it's not going to be pretty." Haley said. Brooke squealed with glee and everyone sighed a collective sigh of relief.

Just then, Lucas entered the room, looking at all the cheerleaders congregated in his room.

"What the hell is going on here?" he asked as she made his way to Brooke. All the other cheerleaders whispered and giggled to themselves at the sight of the school's star player.

"Haley is going to replace Theresa in our line-up," Brooke announced. Haley gave Lucas a small wave.

"Oh, Nate is going to love that." Lucas laughed, "Are you going to practice now?" Brooke nodded. "Okay, well, I'll just grab my wallet and leave you girls alone." Lucas looked around for his wallet.

"Where are you going?" Brooke asked as she handed him his wallet. He thanked her and put it in his pocket.

"Just around. There's an arcade somewhere apparently," Lucas explained. "I'll see you later. Good luck," he said as he made his way out of the door.

"Bye!" Brooke called. Once Lucas was gone, all the other girls turned to face Brooke. "What?" she questioned.

"You already live with him and now you're sharing a room with Lucas?" Bevin said, "Are you sure there's nothing going on?"

"No!" Brooke said a little too quickly, "We're just friends."

"That's one word for it," someone muttered. Brooke glared.

"Okay, are we done or do I have to turn into Cheer Nazi again?" she warned. They gulped and all scattered off to their rooms to get into their practice gear.

Brooke turned to Haley, "Now, Tutor Wife, are you ready? We have a lot riding on this and you've got to really try, okay?"

Haley nodded uncertainly.

"I'll try."

"That's the spirit," Brooke said, "Speaking of; Peyton will show you how to perfect your jazz fingers! Let's go!"

"Come on, Tutor Wife!" Brooke complained as Haley failed to perfect a move in time to the music, "You're a beat behind everybody else!"

"I'm trying," Haley said as she tried to keep up, "I told you I sucked at this."

"Nobody can suck at memorizing a simple routine. What exactly are you having trouble with?" Brooke asked. Haley watched as the other girls continued dancing to the music and several did some backflips.

"That," she pointed, "There is no way in hell I can do that without breaking my neck," she explained.

Brooke thought for a moment and motioned for Peyton to turn off the music.

"Okay, girls. We're going to rework some moves," she ignored the groans. "Bevin, Claudia, Kelly, Christie and Peyton, you'll all do the backflips, while Joanie, Michelle, Jen, Tutor Wife and I will all go into floor turns," Brooke explained. She then turned to Haley, "Does that work for you?" Haley nodded.

"I guess so," Haley said.

"Okay, let's practice that out. Oh, but the girls doing the floor turns have to go straight into diagonals while the others regroup."

"Uh, what's a diagonal?" Haley asked. Brooke did one for her. "Oh, okay."

"Ready? Ok!" Brooke turned on the music and the group practiced the reworked portion of their routine. Once they were finished, they were greeted with enthusiastic clapping from several of the guys who had turned up to see the girls at practice.

"My wife looks amazing," Nathan said as they came up to the stage. Haley excitedly went to hug her husband. "Having fun?" he asked. Haley shrugged.

"It's good. Hard work though. I thought all you had to do was flick your hair and smile like a bimbo."

"Hey!" Brooke said as she took a sip of water.

"But I'm glad to be proven wrong," Haley said, causing Brooke to smile. Peyton kissed Jake and several of the other cheerleaders went to greet their boyfriends and other friends.

"So, I guess we're taking five then," Brooke said to herself, as she wiped some sweat off her forehead. She caught Lucas' wandering eye looking at her, which was quickly diverted as soon as he noticed. She shook her head and sat down on the stage near him. It seemed she'd have to put in more effort.

"Hey, did you have fun with the guys?" she asked. Lucas nodded.

"Yeah, until we realized that the strip club Tim took us to were holding a Ladies Night," Brooke grinned. "Looks like you've been working hard," Lucas said, glad that it was getting easier to just 'be friends'.

Brooke nodded, "That we are. Your sister-in-law is pretty good. A little raw in places but nothing a little extra coaching can't solve. We should be fine for tomorrow," she said.

"Well, if it isn't the Tree Hill Losers. A little late to be practicing, isn't it?" Claire Young and her troupe came up behind them, "Although I don't see anyone moving. Maybe this will be an easy competition after all," Claire smiled.

Brooke rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, "Someone must be a little insecure if you're wandering around trying to scope out the competition. Afraid?" she asked.

"Hardly. We just came to wish you guys luck."

"Well, I'd keep it if I were you. You're going to need all the luck you can get," Brooke told her.

"We heard a rumor one of your girls came down with something. Was it herpes or chlamydia? We forget." Claire asked.

"Bite me, Claire," Brooke said sternly.

"Ooh, she's getting feisty. Maybe somebody's getting nervous," Claire told her fellow cheerleaders, "So who's your replacement. Oh wait, let me guess." Claire motioned to where Haley and Nathan were standing. "That one." Claire laughed again. "You might just need that luck," Claire added.

"I think you'd better go," Brooke warned, "Before I get really mad."

"You heard her, girls," she instructed her team, "We'd better go," Claire turned to leave. "Don't forget, Ravens, jazz fingers!" Claire taunted.

"I'll give her a jazz finger," Haley muttered. Claire didn't hear the comment and continued to leave, before turning around for one final insult.

"Oh, and if I were you, I'd get some beauty sleep. Y'all need it, especially your captain," Claire said.

That was it. Something inside Brooke snapped. Screw the cheerleading code of honor, Claire had it coming.

"Let me at her," Brooke said as she lunged towards Claire, only to be grabbed and pulled back by Lucas.

"Easy, Brooke!" he said as he held her over his shoulders to prevent her from getting at Claire. Brooke was kicking and yelling as Claire and her teams smirked as they left the area. "Calm down," Lucas told her.

"Get off of me, Lucas!" she yelled as she began beating him. Lucas had no choice but to let her go and she stood up on the stage, her hair messy and her face red.

The other cheerleaders and players looked at her as if she was crazy. Brooke struggled to regain her breath.

"From the top, girls," she said finally as she grabbed the remote control. "This time I want no mistakes. And no distractions!" she said to Lucas pointedly.

Lucas took it as his cue to leave, followed closely by the other guys, who were all surprised at Brooke's outburst.

"You okay, Brooke?" Peyton asked as she came up to her best friend.

"I will be once I wipe that smirk off Claire Young's face." Brooke muttered. "We're not leaving until we get this right."

Brooke snuck into her room as quietly as she could. Entering the bathroom, she quickly changed into her pajamas. She was sweaty but fatigued over-powered her and so she decided a shower in the morning would have to suffice.

Once changed, she silently crept into her bed, relishing as her tense muscles began to relax a little once she hit the mattress.

"Hey Brooke," Lucas whispered from the other bed.

"Yeah, Lucas?"

"How was practice?"

"Okay, I guess. I think we're as ready as we'll ever be," Brooke told him. "You're still awake?"

"I was worried about you. You looked a little pissed when we left. Plus, it's pretty late so…"

"You didn't have to stay up."

"I thought you might have forgotten your key," Lucas said.

"Hey, just because I did that once does not mean it happens all the time," Brooke shot back, referring to the one time she had forgotten her key, and so snuck through Lucas' open window in his room to get in.

"Well, we're on the eighth floor so I figured you'd have a hell of a time trying to sneak in through the window," Lucas said. Brooke giggled.

"Thanks Lucas," she said.

"Good luck for tomorrow," he said quietly, "Goodnight Brooke."

"Night Lucas," Brooke said as the two descended into silence and submersed themselves into their dreams.

Brooke and her Ravens waited for their number to be called. Claire Young and the Bear Creek Warriors had just finished their routine and they were now officially scared.

"Next up, the Tree Hill Ravens, led by Brooke Davis," the announcer spoke. Brooke gulped and stood up, a little shakily.

"Okay, girls, this is it. Now, I know I've worked you all into the ground and we had the unfortunate incident with Theresa. But Claire Young is sitting there with her minions and she's smiling because she thinks she can win this. The only thing better than the Bear Creek Warriors are the Ravens because we can fly. And also, we look pretty damn cute in our uniforms. We have to win, otherwise all this was worth nothing, got it?"

The team nodded and they placed their hands in the middle, "One, two, three…Ravens!" they called as they made their way into the middle of the floor and into their positions.

"The one, and only. Blue, black and white. The best of the best. That's right," they called as their music began to kick in.

Lucas, Jake, Nathan and the team watched proudly as Brooke and the girls did their routine perfectly. The grueling days and hours spent working on it was truly worth it and they all hoped that they'd get the prizes they deserved.

Lucas especially was enthralled in watching Brooke move. Sure, he'd seen her do her cheers before, but there was something else that made it especially exciting to watch. She seemed happy and relaxed and she was giving everything she had into the routine. She was by far the best cheerleader in the arena that day.

Once they finished, the group broke apart and the guys joined the girls as they made their way off the performance stage.

Haley leapt into Nathan's arms happily, while Peyton kissed Jake. Brooke watched as all the girls seemed to have somebody to greet and hug. Lucas came up to her and smiled.

"You did great," he said. She smiled genuinely.

"Thank you," she said.

"No, seriously. You beat the hell out of Claire Young," he commended. Brooke's smile grew bigger.

"Thanks."

"So, are you going to hug me or are we going to stand here like lemons?" he asked. Brooke sighed and hugged Lucas. Even if the hug was a little awkward, she was on a high and she was grateful that he'd been there for her.

"It's not over until the awards," she reminded him as nerves suddenly got a hold of her.

"You'll do fine," he said confidently, gripping her hand for extra assurance.

Brooke couldn't breathe; they were moments away from finding out the overall winner for the Classic and so far, neither Claire or Brooke's team had been called up.

"And in first place this year, the award for Best Routine, sponsored by Secret is…"

Brooke held her breath as she and her fellow Ravens held each other's hands tightly in anticipation.

"… the Bear Creek Warriors for the fifth year in a row!"

Brooke stood dumbfounded as she tried to come to terms with what had been announced. Suddenly all of her dreams had been dashed. All that work had been for nothing.

Lucas and the guys all shook their heads as they saw the disappointment etched on Brooke's face. They all felt sorry for the cheerleaders as they'd witnessed the amount of rehearsing that had gone on.

"Brooke…" Peyton said as she turned to her friend, "Are you okay?"

"Is it too late to pull a Tonya Harding?" Brooke managed to squeak out as she saw the gleeful look on Claire Young's face.

"We did our best, Brooke. The judges are blind," Haley said.

"And finally, the award for Best Choreography…" the announcer began. Brooke watched as Claire handed her trophy to another girl and edged closer to the announcer, expecting the award.

"Let's go," Brooke said as she turned away. She couldn't bear to see Claire Young hold another trophy over her head.

"Brooke, wait," Haley urged.

"…Brooke Davis, captain and choreographer for the Tree Hill Ravens!"

Everyone cheered loudly from the stands as Brooke realized what it meant. Still in shock, Peyton had to remind Brooke that she had to go up, almost pushing her forwards.

"Brooke, that's you!" she said squealing loudly.

Brooke caught sight of Claire's upset expression and immediately felt better as she went up to collect her reward. Brooke couldn't help but smirk and stick her tongue out at Claire.

Rejoining her group, Brooke screamed in delight at the award, and up in the stands, Lucas cheered louder than he'd ever cheered before.

Brooke turned to the stands and proudly showed off her trophy to the Raven players, catching sight of Lucas, she winked and grinned. Lucas returned the grin.

This had turned out to be a pretty good trip.

To Be Continued…