Chapter 5- It

Just ain't right,

Lord it just ain't right

Brooke couldn't stop thinking about it. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't escape thinking about him, about Lucas. He had been the only thing on her mind for the last few days. It amazed Brooke that she had gone through more than three years at Tree Hill High and she'd only seen Lucas a handful of times, but now that she wanted nothing more than to avoid him, he was everywhere.

Brooke felt terrible for the things she had said to him. The truth of the matter was, she never realized just how superficial her world must seem to the outsider. And now that she had shared her qualms about giving all of that up with an outsider, she was beginning to see for herself just how superficial it really all was.

Being queen of Tree Hill was simply the way it had always been for Brooke. From as early on as she could remember Brooke had always been one of the most popular girls at school. Truth be told, she loved it, she always had. She loved walking down the hall and having other girls worship the ground she was walking on. Brooke just wasn't sure she could give it all up, even for Lucas.

It was hard to deny that there was something real between her and Lucas. No matter how hard she wished whatever it was between them wasn't going to just go away. Even though they had had that knock down drag out fight, when Brooke passed him in the hallway she could feel it, she could feel the electricity between them. Somehow, he possessed the power to make her knees go weak with only a glance. And that kiss, well that was proof enough.

That kiss had been the most amazing thing Brooke had ever experienced. She honestly didn't know that a kiss could feel like that, that a kiss could make her feel like that. It had though, and it was wrong. It was wrong because of Nathan. Even though what Brooke and Nathan had might not have been the be all and end all of romances, it was just understood that they shouldn't go around kissing other people.

Brooke knew what she had to do, but that didn't make it any easier. With all honesty, she had never even thought about breaking up with Nathan. Now though, she knew that she had no other choice. Whether or not she could put all of her qualms aside and actually date Lucas, that hadn't been decided yet. What had been decided was that Brooke felt so strongly for Lucas that it was definitely wrong for her to stay with Nathan.

On her way over to Nathan's she prepared herself for what she was going to say to him. Brooke wasn't all that sure that the kissing Lucas part would bother him. Nathan had never been all that possessive. Sure, it might bother him that some nobody was making out with his girlfriend, but Brooke was pretty sure that he wouldn't be angry at her. Brooke did know that the breaking up part would bother Nathan. After all, his parents were just as in love with the concept of Brooke and Nathan spending their lives together as were Brooke's parents. That and Nathan might not like it when word spread around school that Brooke broke up with him, after all, that wouldn't do much to help the captain of the varsity basketball team image he had come to know so well.

Taking a deep breath Brooke decided it was time to own up. It was time to stop debating the what ifs and just get it over with. Brooke reached out and knocked on Nathan's door, waiting for him to open it so she could own up to her indiscretions.

"Brooke, hey, what's up?"

Brooke looked curiously at Nathan, something seemed off about him. It almost seemed as though he was uncomfortable that Brooke was there.

"Nathan, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, Brooke, it's fine."

"Okay, well, can I come in? I need to talk to you."

"Um, yeah, sure. Come on in."

Nathan stepped aside, allowing Brooke to walk inside. She headed up the stairs to Nathan's bedroom. When Brooke opened the door to his bedroom, she was shocked at what she saw.

"Haley?"

"Brooke, hi. Nathan and I were just studying."

Brooke knew she had no reason not to believe that anything else was going on between the two of them, but she did. Call it a feeling but she was pretty sure that this was a little more than a study session. Most times Brooke would have wanted to rip Haley to shreds, throwing the word betrayal at her, but that wasn't what Brooke wanted to do now. In fact, she did the only thing she felt compelled to do, she laughed.

"Brooke, I can explain." Nathan said from behind her.

"Nathan, you really don't have to, it's okay."

"No, I want to. It's just that Haley had been tutoring me and well, we've kind of started to fall for each other. I wanted to tell you, Haley wanted to tell you, and we were going to, we just weren't sure when. Please, don't be angry with me, and especially her."

"Really, I'm not. It's okay. I have to tell you something too Nathan, I met someone else. It's all really new, and well, I don't even know that it'll go anywhere, but it still seems wrong for me to be with you. I mean, what we had was great Nathan, but I think that we both know that there's more out there."

Nathan nodded in agreement, "Yeah, there is. You're right Brooke, it has been good. But there is more out there, and in fact, I think that my more is sitting right here." Nathan gestured to Haley.

"Brooke, I'm really sorry…" Haley started.

Brooke put a hand up interrupting her, "Stop Haley. Don't say another word. It's okay. You're one of my best friends and you've never done anything to hurt me, I know that you never purposely would. I'm not angry. I know you would have told me. It's really okay. I want you guys to be happy."

Haley walked towards Brooke and the two hugged, "Thanks Brooke, for understanding."

"Really, I do. It's okay. Nathan and I just didn't have it."

"It?" Nathan asked curiously.

"Yeah, it, love, the it everyone looks for."

Nathan nodded in understanding, "Yeah, we didn't have it."

Brooke nodded and then walked out of Nathan's room, closing the door behind her. She started down the stairs feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Brooke really didn't know what to do with herself at that moment. Then she knew, she knew where she had to go, who she had to find.