Chapter Two
Is There A Way Out

He looked across the crowded gym. The gym was packed and everyone was watching him. Tonight was the night he would score his two thousandth point. Everyone was just waiting for him to cross into prodigy status or fall into the category of those who just couldn't measure up. Nathan felt like he was going to be more of the second. The words "you can't do it", "you aren't me", "you will never be me" kept playing over and over again in his mind. He felt that orange leather ball in his hands and he squeezed it tight. He dribbled it down the court until his feet met with the three point line. He had been firing them all night; this time wasn't going to be any different. He put it up, and down it fell, through the net for three more points. That was his two thousandth. He looked up his father, Dan Scott, and then at the scoreboard and watched the numbers next to 23 change to 29. Nathan smiled at it. He loved this game almost more than he loved beating his dad.

Brooke ran her hands across the front of her cheerleading uniform. She let her fingers run over the letters, CDA. Brooke knew the only reason she was a cheerleader was because that is what was expected of her. Her mother was a cheerleader, her dad was basketball player and her grandparents were the ones who opened her school, hence the name Carolina Davis Academy. It was a gift. It was a curse.

She gripped her maroon and gold pompons tightly in her hands and dug her fists into her hips. She smiled a bright smile and looked out and through the crowded gym. The Raven gymnasium's air condition was more than lacking and Brooke was drenched in sweat. She felt sorry for the basketball players who were actually doing some sort of workout knowing that if she were this hot, then they must be near death.

For a moment everything seemed to move in slow motion. Tree Hill's Coach Durham called a time out and the team congregated around him. Lucas Scott, Tree Hill's second highest scorer on and off the court, slowly turned his head to glance at Brooke. She tossed her pompons down and began a cheer, "Here we go Cougars, here we go…" The corners of Lucas lips turned up when her eyes met his. Brooke narrowed her eyes at him and turned back toward the crowd. Disheartened, Lucas took the ball back out and stood near Brooke on the sidelines. They both kept their eyes on the referee.

As Brooke bent down to pick the poms back up, Lucas said, "I saw you looking at me. I don't want to get you too excited."

Rolling her eyes, Brooke said, "Don't worry, you never did." She narrowed her eyes at him and gave him a cunning smile.

Nathan Scott, Lucas's younger, half brother and the leading scorer, overheard Brooke's catty comment and smirked at her. He smiled at Brooke and she winked back.

"You better focus on the game and not the sidelines if you want to live to see the end of this game." Lucas said, passing the ball hard to his brother.

Nathan caught the ball and shot it from two feet behind the three point line. "Maybe I should just tell you to step up your game. Or wait…" Nathan pointed up to the scoreboard showing how many points each player had earned, "Maybe this is the best you can do." Nathan had 32. Lucas had 12. Nathan stared at Brooke all the way down the court.

Peyton Sawyer, Brooke's all time best friend and "wingwoman", nudged her, saying, "Leave it up to you to get caught between the two people who hate each other more than… well, there really isn't even anyone to compare them too."

"Hopefully soon I can compare them in other ways," Brooke put her arm through Peyton's, "If you know what I mean."

"Yes," Peyton laughed at pushed her away, "I know what you mean."

The two girls looked back to the court just in time to see Lucas sink the last basket. Brooke and Peyton jumped into each others arms and stormed the court. Lucas walked up to Brooke and put his hand on her back. He leaned close to her and whispered into her ear, "See you after the locker room." He pulled away and kissed Brooke on the cheek. She immediately wiped the kiss off of her cheek.

Brooke watched Nathan from across the gym. She ran over to meet him before he got into the locker room. Brooke was notorious for her locker room shenanigans but not tonight. She put her hand on Nathan's chest and stood on her tiptoes, whispering into his ear, "See you at the beach house?" Nathan nodded and Brooke walked away. She turned around to him. "Good game by the way." She gave him a dimpled grin and walked toward Peyton. The girls put their arms around each other and Peyton said, "You are so bad."

Brooke raised her eyebrow and smiled at her best friend, "I know." She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the two brothers, "I love it."

US 74 toward Tree Hill. The sign came and passed. She ran her hands over her bare arms and tapped her foot to the rhythm of her racing heartbeat. After becoming bored with the tapping of her foot, she drummed her fingers on the armrest. Leo put his hand atop hers and looked at her. His knowing eyes seemed to calm her down for a moment. Until the moment Brooke saw the sign saying, "Welcome to Tree Hill." She buried her head into her hands and began shaking her head, "What a mistake." She mumbled into her hands.

Leo put his hand on her back and moved it slowly up and down. "Listen Brooke, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. I mean honestly how much could this little town have changed in five years?"

She glanced out the window as the car passed the Saint Augustine Catholic Cemetery. "Stop the car." She said calmly. The car kept going. "Stop the car!" Brooke exclaimed, as she opened the car door and jumped out before the car had completely stopped moving.

Leo pulled the car over and watched her run through the cemetery. She tripped over a fallen headstone. Brooke began sobbing and laid her head on the wet grass. She ran her hands over the headstone, which appeared to have been beaten down with a baseball bat or something else along those lines.

"Brooke? Are you okay?" Leo said to her, as he put his hand on her back.

She glanced back down at the headstone and her tears fell from her eyes to the stone, "How could someone do this?" Sobbing she said, "How can people do this to them?" Her words were almost inaudible, "They never did anything to anyone." Brooke laid her head down onto the granite headstone.

"Whose grave is this Brooke?" Leo asked as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Brooke lifted her head and Leo looked at the name on the headstone. Phillip and Margaret Davis. It was Brooke's parents.

Leo didn't know what to say. He took Brooke's arm and pulled her up, "Come on."

She looked up at him, "I never got to say goodbye," She forced out through tears. "I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Leo nodded and put his arm around Brooke's waist. She looked up at him and smiled. The two heard muffled footsteps behind them, but chose to ignore them and continued walking back to the car. The footsteps came closer and seemed to stop at the gravesite of Brooke's parents. Brooke glanced over her shoulder and noticed at figure kneeled down at the grave. She smiled at the sight and continued to the car.

The figure stood up and watched the pair get into the car. He watched the familiar looking girl close the door and roll down the window. He blinked hard and called out to her, "Brooke!" The car began to drive away. He called again, "Brooke Davis! Wait! Stop!"

Brooke stuck her head out the window looked at the man and then turned to Leo. "Stop." She jumped out of the car and stood barefoot in the dewy grass. The two were about 40 feet from one another. The man was all too familiar looking. It was someone she had hoped not to see for so long. It was the man who broke her heart in a way her heart had never been broken before. "Nathan."

"Br..Brooke." He couldn't even form words. He hadn't seen her since the accident and he was almost one hundred percent sure that Brooke was hoping to keep it that way. Nathan couldn't remember everything about that night and he imagined that was probably a good thing. He didn't know if it was from a defense mechanism in his mind or from the impact of the crash. Whatever the lapse in memory was from, he knew it was for the better.

By the look on Brooke's face, he knew she remembered everything. All she had to do to remember was look at the headstone with the name, Davis, inscribed

Slowly, her eyes filled with tears. Nathan opened his mouth, but Brooke wouldn't have it. "No," She said as she put her hand up, as if to stop the words from reaching her ears, "I don't want to hear anything."

Leo emerged from the car and walked toward Brooke. He put his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes didn't leave connection with Nathan's. "Come on." Leo said as she pulled Brooke back to the car. Her eyes remained on Nathan's. Nathan dropped the flowers in his hands, peach roses with red tips, to the ground and watched the car drive away.

"Those were you favorite." Leo said as he put his hand atop Brooke's. She looked at him, confused. "Those flowers."

"Peach roses with red tips…" She looked out the window and back at Nathan standing in the cemetery alone. "Those were my favorite."

Nathan stared at the explorer as it drove away and said, "I'm sorry." He looked down at the ground, "I will make it up to you, I promise."