Hey everybody! I'm thrilled (as always) by your reviews, and so I would love to answer some of your questions. A question that I got was that if I liked the whole Lanna relationship because I dropped that Lucas and Anna were "in love", in chapter six. NO! I am not, and probably never will be, a fan of any relationship involving Brooke or Lucas involved with anyone other than each other. I actually really despised Lanna (no chemistry, in my opinion… or maybe that was just in comparison to Brucas…) I really want to thank brucasfanatic for their review, and I'm just going to tell you straight up that you really hit the nail on the head with one of your comments. I just can't tell you which one! (Haha, I know that really sucks of me, but that's what semi-plot-twists are about, right?)

Disclaimer: I own nothing… shocked, I'm sure.

At The Heart Of It All

Chapter Seven

Everybody's Talking

"So big brother, what's this I hear about you snatching up Brooke Davis?" Nathan Scott called to his sibling across the deserted gym. It was supposedly a study hall for the boys at this time everyday, but they decided to skip and keep honing their on-court skills.

"Yeah… Brooke and I are together," Luke said slowly. He didn't want to lie to his brother, but he definitely couldn't tell him the truth about his and Brooke's relationship. Actually, he couldn't even if he wanted to, because he himself barely understood it. He knew that the formerly not-so-strictly platonic relationship had now taken a turn into the dating world… but it was also just an arrangement that would benefit them both.

However, Lucas was surprised to see how easily it was to pretend Brooke was his girlfriend. He spotted her easily in the ground and was drawn to her like a bee to honey. Then again, he always had been.

"Just… be careful, okay man? I know it's been a while since the whole Anna fiasco, but I'm not sure you're--- you know, not that Brooke's anything like Anna, that is so not where I was going with that—I… I just want to make sure you're happy, bro."

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"So it looks like Theresa really called that one," a mocking voice said from over Brooke's head. The brunette looked up from the book she was silently suffering through to meet the cold eyes of a blonde that she'd rather not deal with.

"Hello Brooke, it's really nice to see you. Hey Peyton, nice to see you too. How have you been lately? Oh, I'm great, thanks for asking," Brooke spat, all the while wearing a sweet smile.

"So, it's true then?"

"Will you please stop skirting whatever you really want to know and just spit it out?"

"Are you Lucas's girlfriend?" Peyton said, the words tumbling out of her mouth, her bluntness surprising both her and Brooke. Brooke took her time in answering, stretched languidly, yawning, and then finally allowing a sweeping smile to cross her face before responding.

"Yes."

Peyton looked stricken for a moment before quickly regaining her composure. "Well, we'll see how long that lasts."

Brooke suddenly had a vision of herself lunging over the desk and tackling Peyton to the floor, pulling her hair and smacking the stupid smirk off her face. She could hear Lindsay Lohan's Mean Girl's voiceover in her mind… I knew how this would be settled in the animal world… but this was "girl world". And so Brooke pasted on a smile and glanced up at her rival. "That sounds an awful lot like a challenge Miss Sawyer."

"Take it as you will," Peyton said with an indifferent shrug, but Brooke thought she could detect a bit of a malicious glint in the girl's eyes.

"Then happy hunting Goldilocks. But I should just warn you that Lucas and I are very…very…happy together."

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"Lucas Scott… hi, I'm Haley James," a petite girl said, sliding into the seat across from Luke in the library.

"Erm… nice to meet you?"

"Yeah. You don't actually know me, but I do know a lot about you. Don't worry, I'm not like your stalker or anything, and I'm definitely not one of your groupies, although I do hear that they're getting t-shirts pretty soon which is pretty cool I guess, in a super weird and ultra-creepy way…oh yeah, I'm friends with Brooke. Yeah, that was my point," she said, blushing as he raised his eyebrows at her, prompting her to get to the point.

"Nice to meet you Haley… just so you know, I do know who you are. Brooke's talked about you."

"Good things, I hope."

"Of course. And I do want to thank you for being such a great friend to Brooke… because, we've always been best friends, but I've been told I'm not so great for girl-talk," he smiled as Haley laughed.

"I hear you two are going out now," Haley said, examining him carefully. She wasn't too shocked, given how Brooke spoke about him, that a slow, happy smile spread over his face, completely lighting him up… completely unknown to him, of course.

"Yeah, we are. Actually Haley, I'm starving… but I'd be really happy if you would come to lunch with me, because any friend of Brooke's is a friend of mine," Lucas said, extending his hand out to Haley, who accepted it.

"Works for me." Haley said with a laugh as they exited the library.

Reviews are so very helpful and definitely appreciated ! lol . I'm sorry that lately the chapters have been kind of short, but life's a beyotch sometimes. Expect them to get longer and longer, because the school year's kind of coming to an end my graduation's o the 21st ! wheee! and so that will give me more time to write. Thanks for reading!

xo Sam