Hey everybody!

To care44, for being the first reviewer for last chapter, and relieving my strong fears that everybody in the entire universe would hate me for it. Lol okay, so that's an exaggeration, but I'm still very grateful to all my reviewers. Of course, a special shoutout goes to Maggie, who is quickly becoming, in my opinion at least, my friend lol. Hahah I totally agree with you alarma1! But even if it weren't the usual thing to do, Felix will always be the jerk in my stories… because he'll always be a jerk in my heart! Lol I've actually hated him since-- actually, that's a long story that nobody wants to hear lol.

There are a few things I need to tweak out in the story, and I'm probably going to do so judging by your reviews lol. I'm sorry I haven't been updating that frequently, but life gets in the way, you know? Haha. Anyway, this chapter is rather short, but it's totally crucial to the rest of the story. So here's an update to tide you all over while I attempt to iron out the kinks in this story. Any and all feedback is totally appreciated!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of One Tree Hill, I just play with them… much like Kathryn Merteuil has to anyone she's ever met. Only in a nicer way—I hope.

At the Heart of It All

Chapter Nineteen

And It's Not What It Seems…

"So I hear that your play for Brooke was a miserable failure," Anna mocked from the doorway. Felix said nothing but glared at her through the spotless mirror where he had been previously admiring himself. His sister rolled her eyes, knowing full well that there had never been a more self-centered man than Felix Taggaro.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked with her voice full of false commiseration.

"Not really!" Felix responded bitingly. "Wanna go away?"

"Not really," Anna said simply, sauntering across his room and plopping herself down onto his large bed. She stretched out and groaned. She could mock the Taggaro riches all she wanted, but there was definitely something to be said about high thread count sheets. Writhing about on the sheets that felt soft as silk underneath her, she was surprised that she didn't just melt into the bed. After a few minutes, she became settled and looked towards her slightly-older brother. He was usually really open with her, so she was shocked that he hadn't come clean yet. However, the expression on his face told her that he was still reflecting on today's failures. Now she wasn't so surprised. Anna had heard there was a lot of failure to be reflected upon…

"Peyton Sawyer," Felix had drawled, satisfaction resting in every syllable. Peyton knew what he was trying to play at. He had told her as much during Study Hall. But she was, like he said, Peyton Sawyer, and she didn't take orders from anybody, especially not Felix Taggaro, and she certainly wasn't interested in becoming his partner in crime, even if it meant Lucas would be free for the taking. Just taking him would be much more fun anyway. In the meantime, she'd just pretend she had no clue what the hell he was talking about.

"What?" the blonde snapped, looking up from her locker, down the deserted hallway towards Brooke and Felix. Her perfect curls tumbled down her back and her heavily outlined hazel eyes were narrowed at them. Brooke had never hated Peyton Sawyer more than at that moment.

"Well, Brooke's just inquiring into Lucas's new prom date. I thought you could help us out…" Felix began smoothly. He expected a smirk to light up her face, but Peyton's glare only intensified.

"Cut the bullshit Felix. Everybody knows that Lucas doesn't have a new prom date," Peyton hissed, more than a little bitter. Brooke felt a wave of relief like nothing she had ever experienced wash over her. She actually found herself tossing Peyton a grateful glance, but quickly cut herself off--- what was she doing!

Felix made a noise to try and cover up his mistake. He had assumed that Peyton would play along, if only to see Brooke get mad. She and Peyton had never been on the best of terms. However, it appeared that the blonde's loathing of him outweighed her hatred of Brooke, and Felix was a fish of out water, fumbling for a smooth recovery to his fumble. Too late, he realized, when he saw Brooke glaring at him as if he was something she had scraped off the bottom of her heels.

"Never speak to me again."

"Brooke—"

"And by never I meant not again, not in this lifetime, not today, not any other day, not this year, this week, this decade and most certainly not right now!"

"Brookie, I can explain…"

"Don't need an explanation! That would qualify as speaking."

"I just figured that Lucas had a new prom date because he's been hooking up with everything with a pulse lately, and figured you'd need a friend."

"I have needed a friend lately. But you will never, ever fall into that category," Brooke whispered meaningfully, a painful mixture of hurt and anger shining in her green eyes and she backed away from him before turning away, click-clacking down the hall and never looking back.

"Hah. That sucks for you."

He had forgotten she was still there, but now she was leaned against the lockers with humor lighting up her pale face. Shifting, her miniskirt rode up a little. Suddenly she was looking very attractive to him…

"Not gonna happen," Peyton spat bitingly, chucking and walking away, leaving Felix alone in darkening hallway of Tree Hill High.

"You really messed that plan up," Anna said softly. "But you didn't really expect it to work, did you?"

"Do you have any better ideas!" Felix spat, whirling around from the pristine mirror to fully glare at his twin.

"Yes!" Anna stood up to her brother, both figuratively and literally as she tipped her head up to look him square in the eye. "I'm going to be Lucas's friend."

"That's brilliant!" Felix mocked. "Why hasn't anybody ever thought of that before?"

"Well, it's different with me and Lucas, Felix! He's in love with me. He still loves me… I know he does..." she trailed off, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to convince both him and herself. Felix took advantage of her moment of confusion, whirling her around and steering her towards the door.

"Well, knowledge is power. Have fun with that sis!" he smiled, a wide fake smile, before shutting the door in her face. He sighed in exasperation as he leaned against it, banging his head a few times.

Being evil takes a lot out of you.

The minutes slowly ticked by, and before he knew it, Felix found that it was 2:30 in the morning and he was still up thinking about Brooke. It wasn't an unusual ailment for him, not at all. But this time it was different. He wasn't thinking about the sexy, seductive Brooke he fantasized about constantly. He was thinking about the warm, caring Brooke he had never really gotten to know. The side he had only ever heard from her when she was on the phone with her best friend. But not just her personality… he thought of her lips when she smiled, of her eyes when she laughed, and that excited clap thing he had always found so endearingly stupid. At 2:30 that morning, Felix Taggaro had an epiphany. He found himself completely and totally in love with Brooke Davis.

Too little, too late, don't cha think?

But as he rolled over in bed, he found his mind going through an almost flip-book of memories of the head cheerleader he had forsaken for so long. From her laughs to her tears to her stories to her jokes to the look of absolute disgust on her face as she told him to stay away from her. A look that would launch a thousand of his nightmares, starting with that night.

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Eek! What do you guys think? I'm dying to know! Lol. Again, sorry for the length, but I think that I already babbled enough about that among other things at the beginning. Anyhoo...Thanks for reading!

Xo Sam