A/N- Thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter Title is by The New Amsterdams

Chapter Ten: Hanging On For Hope

Brooke groaned as she came to and glanced at the clock to find that it was 7:01. She realized that she had to go to school instead of skipping another day. She would have paid no attention to even thinking of going to school when she felt like this but she could hear her father downstairs and knew that she couldn't hang around there if she wanted to avoid him.

"Ugh," Brooke groaned again and made herself get up. "I do not want to deal with this today."

She got dressed slowly and walked out of her room and out the door not bothering to eat breakfast. She sighed as she got in her car and she knew it was going to be a long day.

The first person Brooke saw when she got to her parking spot was her sister, more importantly she saw her sister exchange a loving look with her ex-boyfriend. She could see Lucas standing in front of them, oblivious to their gazes and then it hit her that they had gotten back together.

Brooke sighed again, once more she was left out of the loop. She slammed her door loudly and started walking toward the school deliberately passing the small group of people she thought she knew.

"Brooke," Haley noticed. Brooke ignored her calls and kept walking still not wanting to deal with her sister. "Brooke, wait!"

Brooke turned around and was instantly face to face with her twin. "Give me one good reason why I would wait for you Haley?"

Haley tried not to frown when she saw the hurt and anger in Brooke's eyes, "Because I'm your sister."

Brooke's eyes softened at her words. "I can't do this right now Haley. Just give me some time."

And before Haley could say anything else, Brooke walked off leaving the other girl standing there alone watching her go.

"She's going to be okay Hales," Nathan told her as he walked up next to her and took her hand leading her inside the school. As she glanced around the empty schoolyard, she realized the bell had rung.

Haley nodded. "I really hope so Nathan."

Haley tapped her pen on the desk not paying any attention to what the teacher was saying, which while not unusual for a high school student, it was unusual for her. She glanced to her right and saw Brooke sitting there expressionless, just staring at the teacher. Haley sighed as she took in Brooke's appearance, it was obvious that something was wrong in her life but nobody knew, nobody could possibly know.

As the teacher droned on about astronomy, Haley's thoughts shifted over to Nathan who was sitting in the corner of the room, half asleep. She smiled at the thought of what was said between them and she knew that this was right for her. She loved him with everything she had and there was no doubt in her mind that they were going to end up together anyway.

Suddenly the bell rang surprising Haley out of her thoughts and she watched Brooke grab her stuff and walk out of the classroom quickly. "Brooke!"

"Haley," Brooke sighed as she turned around. "Why can't you understand that I don't want to do this now?" She closed her eyes for a second, "I just want to get through the day and then we can talk."

"Promise?" Haley lifted up her pinky.

Brooke stared at Haley's hand before bringing hers up and linking them together. "Promise."

Haley sighed as she watched Brooke walk away, no longer the perky cheerleader they had all become used to. It saddened her to see Brooke this way and she vowed she would do anything she could to make her sister at least a little bit happier than she was now.

Peyton caught their little exchange and she knew she had to do something. While Brooke had a reason to be angry at her and Lucas, she shouldn't have been angry at Haley, who was only trying to make things better for the whole group.

She walked over to her locker and was surprised to see Lucas standing there, bags under his eyes. He had obviously not gotten any sleep by his appearance.

"What are you doing?" Peyton hissed at him. "You really think it's a smart idea to be hanging around me? What if Brooke see us?"

"I don't know what to do Peyton." Lucas ignored her words. He needed help. "Brooke won't answer my calls, Haley's furious at me. I just don't know what to do."

Haley cleared her throat from behind him. "I think you should listen to Peyton and stay away from her for a while."

Lucas turned around quickly and was met by Haley's steely glare. "She already knows Haley, it's not like we're hiding anything anymore."

"It probably hurts to see you two together, even just talking." Haley rationalized. "I mean, you both know how Brooke is." She stopped talking when she saw Brooke heading their way.

Brooke watched them as they tried to not glance at her as she deliberately ignored them on the way to lunch. No way was she going to sit with them but no way was she going to eat lunch in the bathroom. Haley shot her a smile and Brooke knew that she was just trying to help and she appreciated the gesture. She gave Haley a small smile before walking away.

"At least you're getting through to her," Lucas noticed the two sisters. "She won't listen to me Haley!"

Haley glared at him. "You cheated on her with her best friend, you really expect for her to want to talk to you?" She saw that Peyton was going to say something, "And Peyton, don't even get me started on you."

And with those words, Haley walked away and into the lunch room where Nathan, Tim, and Jake were all waiting at their table. Lucas and Peyton each sighed as Peyton closed her locker and they followed her in noticing that Brooke had chosen to sit with the cheerleaders and Haley had taken a spot between Jake and Nathan with Tim in front of her.

This was going to be a long lunch.

Hours after school ended, Brooke found herself sitting by the docks staring out into the peaceful calm of the ocean. She couldn't go home, she couldn't go to Peyton's or Lucas', and she couldn't make herself go to Haley's just yet. She was alone and at this point she didn't know who could help her.

"It's pretty out here, isn't it?"

Brooke's head shot up at the voice. "Yeah."

Nathan sat next to her and they just sat there in silence as Nathan bounced his basketball periodically. Finally Brooke had enough. "What are you doing here Nathan?"

Nathan sighed, "Haley's worried about you Brooke, we all are."

"Yeah," Brooke nodded absently. "Congratulations by the way." She noticed his confused look. "On you and Haley getting back together."

"How…how did you know?" Nathan sounded surprised. He and Haley had agreed to wait until the whole thing with Brooke, Lucas, and Peyton was over to announce that they were back together.

Brooke rolled her eyes, "It's so obvious." She glanced at Nathan. "Come on, you and Tutor Girl are like the perfect couple, you guys can't break up without getting back together later!"

"Um, thank you?" Nathan shrugged. He didn't know how to respond to that. "Are you going to be okay?"

Brooke sighed. She didn't want to do this right now but she knew Nathan. She knew that he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. "I will be."

Nathan bounced his basketball once more before speaking again. "Haley's really worried about you Brooke; she thinks you can't come to her with this." He paused. "She needs you too Brooke, especially now. You two need to be strong and stick together through all of this."

Brooke didn't realize she had tears in her eyes until he finished speaking. "I know."

"Ok and that's my cue to leave," Nathan looked up and saw Haley standing there with a smile on her face. "I'll see you around Brooke." And with those words, he stood up, gave Haley a kiss and walked off.

Brooke watched him leave and stared at Haley, who didn't leave her spot. She had to smile at Haley's stubbornness. "You can sit down; I'm not going to bite."

Haley grinned as she sat down. "You gonna stop pushing me out?"

Brooke raised an eyebrow at her bold question. It wasn't like Haley to be so out there. "Yeah."

"Good," Haley linked her arm through Brooke's. "Because believe it or not Tigger, I actually missed you.'

Brooke had to laugh at that. "It's only been like a day Hales."

"I know," Haley shrugged. "But no one else is as cheery as you are and they kinda all brought me down." She noticed that Brooke's demeanor around her was starting to change. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"About what?" Brooke glanced at her sister.

Haley knitted her eyebrows, "About the living situation." Brooke's face fell, she probably hadn't even thought of that. "You can always come stay with me until I figure out what I'm gonna do."

"Thanks Tutor girl, but I think I'm just gonna stay at my house," Brooke shrugged. "I mean Dad is probably going to be leaving soon and I'll have the house all to myself again."

"You're not alone in this Tigger," Haley told her softly. "It's me and you now, remember?"

Brooke let out a soft laugh, "I know Hales, and I don't know if I ever told you this, but I'm glad that out of all the surprises in the world, you turning out to be my twin sister, is my favorite."

Haley smiled. "Ditto." She nudged Brooke softly with her shoulder, "So what do you say we go get some ice cream and watch a chick flick and take our minds off of everything else?"

"Okay," Brooke nodded. She felt Haley stand up and take her with her. She watched Haley let out a laugh and hugged her slowly. "Thanks Haley."

Haley hugged her back. "Anytime Brooke."

The two sisters pulled away from each other and started walking back into town. Together.