Brooke had just heard the news. Jimmy had shot Keith right in the heart. Keith was gone…forever. She wept bitterly, burying her head in her pillow. Why? Jimmy Edwards? That geeky kid from her English class? There was no way! This must be a nightmare, she thought. At that moment her Pink RAZ-R rang again. She bit her lip when she saw the caller ID. It was Lucas. She flipped the phone open.

"Hey." Brooke said.

"Hey." Lucas said.

Awkward pause

Lucas took a deep breath. "Have you been to see Peyton?"

"Yeah, she's gonna be OK. Thank God, otherwise I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I was the one that lost her through all the mass chaos. It was like, totally my fault." As Brooke said this, she wondered why Lucas hadn't said anything about Keith yet.

"Actually, speaking of faults, if it's anyone's, it would be mine." Lucas said.

"What? Why do you say that?"

"Brooke."

"Ya?"

"Have you heard?"

Brooke felt the tears welling up again. She knew what he was talking about, but she asked him anyway. "Heard what?"

"About…" Lucas didn't finish.

Brooke didn't know what to say. She tried to say something. Anything for Lucas. "Lucas, why don't you come over?'

Another awkward pause.

"Umm…OK. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"I love you. A lot. You're amazing. You're the best. I love you. So much." Brooke said in a teary voice. God, I sounded retarded.

"I love you too, Brooke."

Ding Dong! Brooke ran up to the door and opened it. "Hi." She stepped towards Lucas and placed a hand on his cheek, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Lucas kissed her back again. "You look great." Brooke laughed at this. She was wearing a pink Juicy sweatsuit and hadn't put on hardly any makeup or straightened her hair. But Lucas always thought she looked great, no matter what.

Brooke got Lucas a bottle of Sunkist from the fridge. They sat down on the couch.

"This is kind of surreal, huh?" Lucas asked. He had his arm around Brooke, and she was laying on the couch leaning against him.

"Tell me about it. I mean, everything about it is just so screwed up. I've always seen things like that on TV, but who could ever imagine that it would happen in real life? Well, at least no one was killed." Damn it! Why did I just say that? Brooke remembered: Keith. She tried to halfway smile.

"You didn't hear?" Lucas's voice came out all throaty.

"Umm…actually, yeah I did." Wow, brilliant, Brooke!

"Oh." Lucas said.

Brooke had never felt more stupid in her life. At once, she broke down. Tears streamed down her face, and she lifted her head off of Lucas's chest and sat up, facing him.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I'm acting completely retarded, it's just I don't really know what to say, but I'm really sorry about Keith and if there's anything I can do just tell me, because I'll do whatever you need me to do, even if it requires me to donate a limb, just—OK, sorry, I'll shut up now." By now, Lucas was about to cry, but he wouldn't. He was a guy.

"Brooke. It's OK." Lucas said softly. He stroked her hair for a few seconds. "Come here." He held out his arms. Brooke fell into them immediately, burying her head in his shoulder. He held her tightly against him.

The entire day, she had been trying to think of what to say to Lucas. And once again, he solved the problem for her. Lucky girl.