Chapter 20. Regret Your Life

Four Months Later

Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer is quite something. Gorgeous short, blonde hair with the most beautiful green eyes and perfectly plucked eyebrows. Her nails are always manicured; face like an angel and a tanned body with killer legs. Most popular girl in school and captain of the cheerleading squad. She seems to have thousand of friends.

It was official, Peyton Sawyer had replaced Brooke Davis.

Peyton walked trough the halls of Tree Hill High like she owned the place (which was probably the truth), followed by her posse of shallow cheerleaders. When Brooke left the cheerleading squad to be student council president, Peyton took Brooke's spot as captain since she was co-captain.

After the 'party' Brooke and Peyton hadn't shared one word with each other. They weren't friends and they weren't enemies but they just ignored each other and pretended that the other one didn't exist.

They pretended like they were never friends.

Brooke watched her with dark eyes filled with pure hate and anger. Haley placed a hand on her arm in sympathy. Together they watched as the blonde passed them with a smirk on her face.

Haley had replaced Peyton for Brooke, as a person that was completely the opposite of her ex-best friend. Sometimes, Brooke had the admit, she was extremely annoyed by the way Haley acted. But that was just a thing she had to get used to. Haley wasn't Peyton, and that was a good, but new, thing.

Peyton was still dating Nathan, Brooke and Lucas were dating again. Nathan and Brooke came to the conclusion to leave everything that had happened between them behind, and to be friends. And to everyone's surprise, that worked out quite well.

Of course, Peyton hated the fact that her boyfriend was friends with the pretty brunette, who Nathan claimed to like four months ago. She knew that even if Brooke hated her, she would never cheat on Lucas with Nathan. Brooke was now the 'loyal girlfriend' who didn't hurt a fly, so Peyton wasn't threatened by her.

Peyton kissed Nathan demandingly on the lips. The cheerleaders beamed around them and giggled when they walked away to their lockers. Brooke and Haley just watched them all in disgust.

"Pey Pey, come on! We have Algebra so we have to be on time or Ms. Van der Kamp is going to kill us!" One of the cheerleaders yelled.

The blonde kissed Nathan one last time on the lips and smiled as she walked away with her heels clicking on the hard floor.

Nathan sighed as he met Brooke and Haley's eyes. "What?" he asked as he jogged over to them. He already knew why they were giving him such cold looks.

"You know what Nathan Scott, why are you letting her kiss you?" Brooke spat with annoyance.

He rolled his eyes at her. "She's my girlfriend you know."

"Why are you even staying with her after everything she has done to us?" Haley broke in, her voice calm and staring intently at the guy in front of her.

"Both of you know why, this was your idea for Christ sakes!" Nathan said shaking his head in frustration as he pointed at Brooke.

"I know, trust me. This is just taking a little longer than I thought it would be." Brooke snorted.


Brooke and Lucas were lying on his bed, she was watching a stupid program and he was just watching her. With her eyes firmly on the TV screen, her lips forming a big smile once in a while, showing of her dimples; she looked beautiful.

She could practically feel his eyes on her, so she turned around to watch him with an amused smile on her face. "What are you doing?"

He grabbed her by the loops of her jeans, pulling her closer to him. "I was just watching you."

"Really?" She asked slightly surprised as she narrowed her eyes on him.

"You sound surprised."

Brooke fumbled with the hem of her shirt as she looked down feeling a little unsure, "It's just that, not one guy ever just liked to… Watch me."

Lucas frowned at this. "Why not? You're beautiful, I love to watch you." He said as he grabbed her left hand and kissed it.

Now Brooke didn't even try to hide her surprise. "You think I'm beautiful?"

He started laughing as he rolled her over so that he was on top of her. His arms rested next to her on the bed. "Brooke Davis you are something else, of course I think you are beautiful! You are the most beautiful, amazing girl I've ever met."

She rolled her eyes playfully at him. "You're so cheesy."

"Oh, but you love it."

"Don't get too cocky now mister." She poked him in the chest as he let his arms fall. Lucas body collapsed on hers and for a moment she felt like all the air in her lungs had disappeared. He watched her and automatically wet his lips hungrily before crashing his lips on hers.

Kissing him felt like heaven. No one could make her feel like this. His lips were soft and tasted like mint and she knew how stupid it sounded but she wanted to kiss them as much as possible.

Breaking away, she breathed heavily and he looked back at her lustfully. Brooke could see his normal ice blue eyes turn dark. They kissed again, this time harder and longer as she allowed his tongue to explore her mouth. When Lucas slide his left leg in between her thighs and applied pressure, she let out a gasp of shock and pleasure.

Before they both even realized it, their clothes were spread around the entire room. She was only in her panties and bra, he only in his boxers. Her breathing was coming faster and so was his. Lucas kissed her neck, leaving a dark mark behind she knew she had to hide for days.

Their eyes locked for a moment as he searched for a sign for her to tell him that they were doing the right thing, that she wanted this as bad as he wanted it. And when he heard her the clasp of her bra he knew she was ready.

"Are you sure?" He whispered against her mouth as he looked her straight in her hazy eyes as she removed the bra.

She nodded and let out a quick "Yes," before kissing her way down his body, placing circles around his bellybutton. The moment her hands found the hem of his boxers she dragged them down his legs, leaving him completely naked. A few seconds later, he did the same with her panties, dragging them down her smooth, tanned legs.

Things felt different. The air felt different. She felt different. She then realized that this night wasn't about having meaningless sex, this was something else.

Love.


What the hell was she doing? Why on earth did she come here? Why had she just knocked on that door? What was wrong with her?

"Brooke?" Peyton's voice was cold but Brooke could make out a surprised tone.

Without Peyton's permission she let herself in and immediately walked up the stairs. She could hear the footsteps behind her, following her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Peyton asked harshly as she saw Brooke searching for something in her bedroom.

"There's some stuff that I left here, and I want it back."

"I'll put them in a box and give them to you tomorrow or something, but I want you to leave now. I have some other things, more important things, to do."

Brooke turned around and looked Peyton in the eye for the first time in months. "Practicing your new cheerleading routine?" Brooke said sarcastically as she continued to grab her stuff.

The blonde rolled her eyes in a bored way and looked at her watch to let Brooke know she was annoyed with her. "No. Not that it's any of your business, but I'm about to go to this High School party."

Brooke raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought you hated those parties."

"Guess people change." She replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"People don't change in not even half a year Peyton, you are still the same, old, fucked-up Peyton."

Peyton decided to ignore Brooke's last comment. "I love partying so I don't care what kind of party it is, and besides, I was bored."

"As always." Brooke smirked before continuing, "Aww, is Peyton bored with her life already? I mean, now that you are the most talked about person in school, captain of the cheerleading squad, still dating the star of the basketball team, you feel like you are all alone? Let me guess what you are thinking; poor me, mope mope, whine whine, I've got everything that I wanted but why do I feel so empty inside?"

Peyton said nothing as she turned her head away so that Brooke couldn't see the tears that started to form in her eyes.

"Why can Brooke change but I can't? Why do I miss my mother more than anything right now? How long do I have to wait until my father realizes that I want him to come home? Am I pretty enough? Am I going to look stupid when I give up the cheerleading squad after everything? Are the cheerleaders my real friends? Do they listen to me like Brooke did?" Brooke ranted as she took a step closer to Peyton who in return backed away.

"Is it true that people always leave? Have you ever thought that maybe it's your fault that everybody is leaving you? That you sent people away? That-"

"STOP!" Peyton yelled with her hands covering her eyes. "Just stop, please…" She pleaded as she broke down on the floor.

Brooke watched her former friend cry her heart out. A part of her wanted to hug her, comforting her that everything was going to be alright, that she was sorry for the things that she'd just said. But the other part of her enjoyed watching the blonde girl. It was her own fault, and this was her way to hurt Peyton like Peyton had hurt her.

"What's the matter Peyton? Can't handle the truth?"

"Just leave." Peyton was now sobbing and the tears were streaming down her face.

"I'll only leave on one condition." Brooke said calmly as she sat down on Peyton's bed. "I want to ask you something and you have to promise to answer honestly."

The blonde only nodded from the spot on the floor and waited impatiently for Brooke to ask her the question.

"Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Everything. Do you regret wanting to destroy Haley's life? Do you regret hurting me, hurting Nathan or anyone for that matter? Do you regret that you're now the most popular girl in school? Do you regret giving up your artwork because you have to pay all your attention to cheerleading?" Brooke asked softly as she swallowed hard before continuing, "but most of all, do you regret your life?"

She waited for about two minutes for the other girl's answer. When she was about to say something she heard a soft whisper.

"What?"

"Yes." Peyton whispered now more loudly. "Yes, I regret everything you just said."

As much as Brooke wanted to be satisfied with this answer, all she could feel right now was guilt. She felt sorry for Peyton.

When Peyton looked Brooke finally in the eye, the brunette gasped as she saw Peyton's face. It was pale and it wasn't glowing or shining, it was flat and cold. Mascara was running down her cheeks and her lipstick was smudged.

"Are you happy now? Are you happy that I'm unhappy with my life? Are you happy that I always wanted to be you, that I always looked up at you like you were some kind of goddess? You were my hero once Brooke, you were my hero when we were destroying other people's lives. I wanted to be just like you. And now that I am an exact replica of you, I can't help but still want your life."

Brooke swallowed hard as she felt the lump starting to form down her throat. "If it makes you happy, I'm still unhappy too." She whispered as she looked down at her hands.

Peyton let out a laugh when she stood up and wiped her tears away. "Right, you have the perfect life, there's no way you're not happy."

"I lost my best friend four months ago Peyton. She transformed into someone I didn't recognize. She was evil and she did some things that were so screwed up, I can't even put it in words."

The blonde let her head fall down in shame as Brooke continued. "But I still miss her and I want to tell her how sorry I am for the things that I've done to her because, even if she did some ugly things to me, I've hurt her pretty bad too."

Peyton looked up to face Brooke who grabbed her hand and said, "Forgive me?"

"Of course!" Peyton said with a huge smile on her face as she flung her arms around Brooke's neck to give her a hug. "But first you have to forgive me." She whispered in Brooke's ear.

"All forgiven."

She could hear Peyton take a deep breath in relief. "I'm so glad that we're friends again Brooke, you were right about everything. From now on I'm going to change my life and try to be a better person. I'm going to say sorry to Haley and all the other people that I've hurt the last few years." She said as she broke the hug.

"I'm really glad we are friends again Brooke, I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too. As much as I love Haley, she's not my cute Goldilocks." Brooke and Peyton both smirked. When Brooke glanced at her watch she said, "Oh it's getting pretty late and I promised to meet Lucas ten minutes ago so…"

"Go, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah." Brooke nodded her head as she walked to the door. "I'll talk to you later."

When Peyton heard Brooke open up the front door she screamed down the stairs, "Wait! Brooke, wait!"

Brooke turned around and crossed her arms, wanting to know what her friend was about to say. "I'm really, really glad we're friends again."

The brunette only smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah, me too."


The moment Brooke closed the front door, a person appeared from the dark porch. "And, are you guys friends again?"

Brooke smiled evilly. "Yup, she bought everything. She's completely clueless and she even broke down in front of me when I told her the whole 'do you regret your life' thing."

The guy let out a laugh as he wrapped an arm around her. "That's good. You know, I think our plan is finally working out."

"I think so too, all we have to do now is make her fall in love with you again, then you'll dump her and after that she will crawl back to me, wanting comfort-"

"-and you'll tell her she can't change and that you choose to be on my side, not on hers." Nathan finished as they waited for a car to arrive.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Brooke asked after five minutes of comforting silence.

"Think about the things that she's done to us; she's evil Brooke, she can't change. If you guys are friends again then you can bet your ass that she's going to screw you over."

He could see her nodding her head slowly as she began to chew her lip. "You're not regretting this, right?"

"Of course not." Brooke snapped with confidence in her voice. "Look, there's Haley with the car, let's go."

They greeted Haley as they stepped in the car. "And, how did it go?"

"Perfect."

They laughed in union as Haley drove of. While Nathan and Haley were joking around, Brooke looked back to Peyton's house. The lights of Peyton's room were still on and if Brooke looked closely she could make out a figure dancing happily in the room.

This was how it was supposed to be. It was her own fault, she had to pay for what she did.

Payback's a bitch.

Right?

The End!


Final A:N/ so this is it, this is the end of Material Girl. I want to thank EVERYONE for reading and reviewing, I really can't thank you all enough for that. I'm sure thatsome peoplelike the ending and other people didn't, but I wanted it to be surprising and something different so I guess that worked lol.
I'm now writing a new fanfic, I don't have a name yet and I'm still working on some ideas but make sure to check it out soon.

Again, thank you all for reading and don't forget to review for this chapter cause I still want to know what you guys think of it!

Love,
Helen