CHAPTER ONE

Sleepless nights

It all started with a rabbit.

A white-furred rabbit, that kept gracefully leaping and bouncing in front of her, as if it wanted to be caught. But for some reason, she would not budge, not even for a little bit. She would keep looking at it, as it went around her garden and eventually down the rabbit hole.

And then she would wake up.

Brooke had always been able to remember her dreams. She seemed to have been wired that way, unlike her best friend, Peyton, who never could. Their 5th grade teacher had told them one day that some people could remember their dreams, and some could not.

Most of her dreams were pleasant. Meadows, birds, the sea. Some were less pleasant: she would wake up in the middle of the night, and it would take her a full minute to realize that no psychopath had been chasing her down the street. Fortunately, these did not happen often.

Sometimes, she had recurring dreams: her teeth falling, someone close dying. These were sporadic; she had them only once every few years.

As far as she could remember, she had never had the same dream twice in a row. However, since the beginning of summer, she had started dreaming of a white rabbit. She had kept seeing it in her dreams, every single night, for the past two months.

At first, she hadn't paid attention to it, but lately, it had become a source of frustration. She could not understand why she kept seeing that rabbit. It didn't mean anything to her; she had never owned one, she had never even touched one before. And yet, she kept seeing it. But what baffled her the most was that she wasn't even doing anything in her dream: she was sitting down on the ground and would just watch it running around her garden. Round, and round, and round, until she would wake up.

Every night, for two months. Until the night before her first day as a senior. That night, she dreamt of the rabbit once again. Instead of staying passive, she finally got up on her feet and walked towards it. She stopped when she saw it freeze, its face turned to her, standing on its hind legs. It blinked several times, then turned around and slowly walked to a spot a few feet from them: a burrow. Moving at the same pace, she followed it, trying not to scare it away. It stopped before the hole in the ground and turned to her one last time. This time, she threw herself at it, and just as it was jumping in, she managed to grab its tail.

Her eyes flickered opened. She was looking at her ceiling and was obviously no longer in her garden, nor in her dream. She frowned and raised her hand in front of her, the one that had grabbed the rabbit's tail. It wasn't there anymore, obviously, yet she felt like she was still grasping its fur in her fingers.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, she woke up without the disappointment of the past mornings. She sat up straight, stretching her arms as far as she could, and reached for the water bottle on her bedside table. She had a mouthful and was surprised to feel something cold going down her throat. Her water had been cold last night when she had gone to bed, why was it still chilly eight hours later?

She wasn't complaining, though. This summer, the heat had been unbearable in Tree Hill. Luckily, her parents had decided to rent a beach house in California, near L.A., and though temperatures had not been any different there, at least the ocean made it more tolerable. When they had come home, two days ago, they had realized that things had not changed in two months. Usually, the weather would get colder in September, but this year seemed to be special.

Brooke got up and went straight to the bathroom. As she passed by her parents' bedroom, she noticed they were both already up.

When she was dressed, she went downstairs, her bag swinging on her shoulder, and greeted her parents who were already in the kitchen having breakfast.

"Good morning Brooke," her mother said with a strained face.

She had looked like that most summer, and apparently coming back to Tree Hill had not helped her. Her dark circles were deeper than ever; her mother had always had them, as far as Brooke could remember, but she had never seen them so dark before.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad," she said, walking around the table to grab the coffee pot. "Did one of you come to my room last night?"

"I did," her father said, looking up over the newspaper he had been reading. "Brought you some fresh water."

"Thanks!" she said with a beaming smile. "But when did you do that? I didn't hear you."

"Oh, you were fast asleep. It was around four."

"Four?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows. "What were you doing up at four?"

Her father furtively looked at his wife before saying, "Couldn't sleep."

"But ─"

"What do you think you're doing?" her mother cut her off, frowning at her.

Brooke froze, her hand midway in the air, holding a cup of coffee. Busted, she thought. Damn, she couldn't even have a sip.

"But Mom, I didn't sleep very well, and I have a student council meeting today, so I have to stay late at school ─"

"I don't care," she said curtly, "put your mug down."

"Come on that's unfair!" Brooke retorted. "I'm almost eighteen now!"

"Oh but you're right, I forgot," her mother said sarcastically, "of course since you're almost eighteen, your body will magically reject the negative sides of caffeine. Put. It. Down."

She sighed and threw a quick look at her father who had not moved an inch, his face still hidden by his reading. When she realized he would not be of any help, she caved in.

"Fine," she mumbled, trying to hold in her anger. "I'm leaving."

She quickly walked past them and went to the hall, stopping at the shoe rack to look at her reflection in the mirror, checking if her hair looked okay. She then heard her mother say, appalled, "Can't you at least eat something before you go? Ted, will you please say something to her?".

Brooke smirked; even without seeing him, she knew exactly what face he was making. He was probably doing his best not to roll his eyes.

"Brooke, listen to your mother," she heard him say with a jaded, monotonous voice as she got out of her house.

On her way to school, she kept switching radio stations. Either she didn't like its music, of it kept talking about the unusual heat wave lingering in North Carolina. In the end, she played a disc that Peyton had left in her car.

There was already quite a crowd when she reached the school's parking lot. As she got out of her car, she heard someone eagerly shout her name. She turned around and noticed a familiar head riding a bicycle and zigzagging his way through the crowd, until he hit the brakes right next to her.

"Mouth!" she yelled in his ear as she hugged him.

"Wow, careful," he said with a laugh, "or you'll make us both fall."

She let him go and accompanied him as he went to the bike rack.

"How was California?"

"Too short," she said with a dramatic sigh. "It was really fun."

"Didn't you say you would try surfing?"

"Not surfing," a female voice corrected from behind them, making them both turn to her. "Surfers."

"Hi Peyton," Mouth told her with a wide smile.

Brooke lightly punched her arm, looking offended. "Whatever, Mouth knows you're lying, don't you Mouth?" she asked him, turning to him.

"Well… It does sound like you," he said hesitantly, making Peyton chuckle.

Brooke looked away with a pout, and suppressed a smile when Peyton put an arm around her shoulders, giving them a squeeze. "Alright Pres, I'm deeply sorry for tarnishing your image."

Brooke pretended to think about it for a second. "Fine, I forgive you."

"You know, Mouth, I think we're very lucky to have such a kind-hearted president."

"Yeah," he added, "who knows what our school would have become if it weren't for her?"

"Alright, now don't overdo it," Brooke said, rolling her eyes, making them both laugh.

The three of them walked to the entrance, Peyton and Mouth telling each other about their holidays. Mouth turned right to get to his locker and told them he would see them later. As the two girls kept going straight ahead, they had to make their way through a lot of students. First years, Brooke thought, did they always have to flock together? And while she was struggling to access her own locker, she noticed someone staring at them.

She turned her head to the blonde boy looking at them. A second later, his eyes darted away, and he appeared to be talking with his friend. Brooke stealthily looked at Peyton and saw that she hadn't seen anything; it appeared that Lucas Scott had still not gotten over his crush on her best friend.

"Oh, I have something for you," Peyton told her as she was putting away her books. She searched through her bag and got a paper out of it.

"A new P. Sawyer original?" she asked, taking the drawing in her hands. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." It was a rabbit. A white-furred rabbit drawn as it was hopping high in a garden.

"Well it's your fault for telling me about it everyday for the past two months," she shrugged, closing her locker door. "I had to draw it. Does it look like yours?"

"Quite spot on, but guess what? I finally caught it last night!"

Peyton threw her a surprised look. "Really? And then what happened?"

"Nothing, I just woke up."

"And… that's it? You've kept dreaming of that same freaking rabbit all summer, and talked about it every single day, just to tell me that you've caught it─"

"Actually," she clarified, "I barely grabbed its tail."

"Ok, so you've just grabbed it and that's it? You don't want to know what happens next?"

Brooke frowned, bemused by what Peyton had just pointed out. She was right. She had kept dreaming of that rabbit, frustrated every morning by it, yet this morning when she had woken up, even though nothing really had happened in her dream, she had felt… at ease. She didn't want to know what happened next because part of her believed that there would be nothing after that. She was just supposed to catch it.

"No. I think that's just it."

"All that suspense for nothing," Peyton said with a chuckle. "You're so weird sometimes."

She gave her a nudge, "Come on, we don't want to be late for homeroom."

They hurried to their classroom; she thought she wouldn't see a familiar face until her eyes landed on one of her oldest friends.

"Nate!" she said, going over to him. "Are you kidding me, four years in a row?"

"What can I say Brooke, I keep begging Turner every year to be with you," he winked, making her laugh.

She turned to the boy that he had been talking to, "Hi Lucas."

"Hi," he said evasively, turning around to take a seat.

She noticed Nathan had a brief frown. "So, how was the camp?"

"Huh?" he said, apparently confused.

"High Flyers? You never told me how it went."

"Oh, it was ok," he said with a dismissive shrug.

Before Brooke could ask any further, their teacher arrived, and they had to sit down. She went to the seat behind Lucas, and looked at Peyton who was on her left.

"Hey, remember how Nathan kept telling us about his basketball camp since he was five?", she whispered to her.

"So?"

"He didn't"

She suddenly stopped when she heard their teacher taking attendance.

Something was definitely off. She had heard about this basketball summer program for almost as long as she had known Nathan. And now that he had gone there, nothing, no detail, just a "it was okay"? High Flyers was a dream come true to him, why wasn't he more excited about it? Was it just disappointment from being back to school? But thinking back, this summer, he had been unusually evasive in his texts on how things were going…

Well, she would have to deal with that later. For now, she tried to focus on what their teacher was saying, taking notes on the meetings they would have with the guidance counselor.

She turned around quickly, suddenly feeling a warm breath on her nape. Confused, she remembered that she was at the back of the room and no one was behind her. She turned to their teacher again, but she could still feel it. It was soft, and somehow faint, but it was there. Mechanically, she touched her bare nape with her right hand, massaging it.

As she did that, she started feeling a tingle in her toes and fingers. First at their tips, and then it was progressively moving up her feet and hands. She looked down at her hands, spread out on her desk, and frowned. What the hell was going on?

A buzzing sound came ringing into her ears. Once again, it was quite faint and from her classmate's absence of reaction, she knew she was the only one bothered by it.

This all lasted for a minute or so, making her wonder whether or not she should call for help, but figured it would just stop. She was probably just dehydrated or something, right?

And then, even though she had been perfectly awake just a second ago, she started feeling drowsy; her eyelids seemed like they weighed tons. She struggled to keep them open, to stay focused. Until she couldn't.

When she opened her eyes again, it was all gone. The tingle, the buzzing sound. But she could still feel the warmth on her nape. And most importantly, she was in her bed, naked.

She closed her eyes, appreciating the cool bedding she was lying on. It just felt so good, after last night's smothering heat. She let out a small sigh, which turned into a gasp when she felt something on her neck. Someone was kissing her nape.

Though it had startled her at first, it did not take long before she thought that it felt quite delightful.

As she was lying on her side, she felt a hand moving her hair away, a mouth kissing her neck, her earlobe, her shoulder; another hand was on her stomach, drawing circles with a finger. She let out another sigh, which was apparently taken as a good sign: the finger stopped and started tracing a line, from her navel, to her hipbone, her thighs, and then…

She turned around to take a look at the one behind her, opened her eyes, and saw Lucas Scott grinning at her.

She screamed; it was a scream of horror, louder than she thought herself capable of. It startled him as he stared at her with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Hey, what is"

She didn't let him finish his sentence; instead, she punched him as hard as she could in the guts."Get off me!" she shouted at him, pushing him away and fumbling with the bed sheets to cover herself up. When she managed to do so, she got off the bed and stood up, looking down at him with fury in her eyes, her right hand tightly holding the sheets around her.

Lucas sat up, massaging the area where she had hit him, scowling at her. "What the hell was that for?" he asked, indignant.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" she asked back on the same tone.

"Your room?" he repeated with a frown, his anger quickly fading away. "Brooke"

"No! Don't you dare move!" she shouted. Her eyes still fixed on him, she grabbed her bedside lamp with her left hand and held it high above her head, in what she hoped would be a threatening pose.

Wait… Something was off. Instead of feeling a smooth metallic surface in her hand, she felt something with curves. She looked at her lamp, lowering her arm to examine it closely, and realized that it wasn't her lamp at all. It was a white rabbit-shaped lamp, with ears sticking out of the shade.

She froze, and then finally paid attention to her surroundings. She wasn't wearing her bedsheets around her; the walls had unfamiliar blue shades; behind her was a walk-in closet she had never seen before and there was a poster on the nearest door representing a band she didn't know.

"Brooke?"

She suddenly turned to Lucas, remembering he was still there. He had done as asked and not moved an inch. The only difference was that now he looked extremely concerned. And that was when it hit her: he was naked. Fully naked, nothing to cover him up. She felt a rush of blood to her cheeks and looked away at a bookshelf that, without any surprise, wasn't hers either.

"Brooke?" he repeated.

Don't look at him, she thought, don't look at him. "Can you wear something?"

"Huh?" he replied, sounding confused.

"You're naked, Lucas."

"And that freaks you out because… Oh," he said, his tone suddenly more serious. "Oh. Oh no."

She had to look at him, because she couldn't understand what was going on. So she did, and saw that he was now freaking out too, his eyes darting fast around him until they landed on his shorts lying on the ground behind him. He bent over the bed to catch them, giving Brooke an opportunity to peek at his bare bottom for just a second; she quickly looked away when he turned back to her, his shorts on. "Oh god, I'm so sorry Brooke, I didn't mean to scare you, I never thought it would happen when we're, erm… Oh no, wait, is this the first time?"

Nothing made sense. She was in a room she didn't know, with an almost naked Lucas Scott sitting on the bed, apologizing profusely for… Well, for what exactly?

"The… The first time?" she stuttered, her face still very red. "What are you talking about?"

He frowned, looking more and more mortified. "Look," he said, moving a bit towards her "I know this must be weird but"

"I said don't move!" she shouted, raising the lamp above her head. Confused or not, she would not hesitate to strike him.

"Wow, ok," he said, freezing on the spot, his arms raised in defense. "It's okay, I won't do anything to you. Could you please just put my lamp down, you've broken the last one already, remember?"

This was just getting more puzzling by the second. "What?" she blurted out.

"Oh no, wait, so that was after this… Sorry," he said with an apologetic smile that startled her, "I don't have all the details. So anyway, erm… What's today's date?"

She stood still and silent, feeling as if her brain had given up on her.

"What's the date, Brooke?" he asked with a voice so soft, that she automatically answered.

"September 10th."

And suddenly it looked like something had dawned on him. "So it is the first time."

"First time that what?"

"That… Wait, no, I can't tell you," he stopped himself, shaking his head.

"Why not? What are you talking about? And where are we exactly?" Even with her best scowl, he didn't give in. He looked uncertain, but he still wouldn't give in. "Well say something Lucas!"

"I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I was asked not to. And anyway, you'll figure it out on your own… Well, almost on your own."

She must have been drugged. That was the only possible explanation she could find. She had been drugged, abducted, and thrown into a parallel universe in which Lucas not only said more than three words to her, but was also very comfortable around her. Too comfortable.

And then she felt a pressure on her left arm; she looked at it and saw nothing, yet she felt as if someone was shaking her arm. She frowned, just as she started hearing muffled voices around her, and when she looked around, saw that there was only Lucas.

"Brooke? Are you okay?" he anxiously asked.

"I, erm…" She frowned. The words wouldn't come out properly. She dropped the lamp on the bed and looked at her hands, a tingle appearing on her fingertips and then down to her wrists. She could also feel it in her feet. The muffled voices were replaced by a quiet, buzzing sound and suddenly, she felt groggy again. She had to fight to keep her eyes open and the last thing she saw before closing them, was Lucas jumping out of the bed to catch her before she could fall.

She opened her eyes. Peyton was on her left, gently shaking her arm. Brooke's head was resting on her desk. When she noticed it, she sat up and looked around. Every single person in the classroom was staring at her. But the one standing closest to her was their teacher, looking down at her, shaking his head.

"Looks like Miss Davis didn't get enough sleep last night."

"I… I'm sorry," she muttered with a hoarse voice.

That seemed enough for him; he strode back to the other end of the classroom and kept talking about different meetings. Her classmates kept looking at her with curiosity for a few seconds, so she had to look down at her desk until they turned their attention back to the teacher.

What the hell had just happened? Did she just have an erotic dream about…

Her head shot up as she remembered that he was sitting right in front of her. She sighed with relief when she saw that he too had turned his attention to the front of the room. But she could feel her whole face becoming hot, as she pictured him naked in that bed, lying behind her and kissing her.

Well, she couldn't pretend otherwise: she had definitely just had an erotic dream about Lucas.

"What's wrong?" Peyton whispered next to her.

She turned to face her and shrugged. "I just fell asleep. I think it's the heat, it made me drowsy."

Her friend squinted at her, a suspicious look on her face. Brooke looked away, pretending to focus on the rest of their homeroom.

She tried to evade her until lunch break, when they gathered with the other cheerleaders outside, around a table. Brooke tried to stall as much as possible, going around the group, greeting everyone and reminding them of their first training later that day. Eventually, she had to sit down to eat and of course Peyton sat right next to her.

"So, what happened to you in homeroom? Don't tell me it was nothing, your face was all red."

"Well," she said, hesitating, "it was embarrassing to fall asleep during our first period of our first day."

"Please," Peyton said with a snort, "it takes much more than that to embarrass you. There's something you're not telling me."

Brooke looked down at her plate, wondering how she would get out of this one. "I had another dream."

"When?"

"In class," Brooke said, confused. When else would it be?

"But how? You fell asleep for like ten seconds. I'm not even sure that counts as falling asleep."

"No, it was longer than that."

"It was ten seconds," she insisted. "You bumped your head on your desk, everyone heard it, then Preston came to see you and you opened your eyes."

She frowned; no that could not be. It should have lasted at least a few minutes.

"Alright," Peyton said with a shrug, "so you had a dream. What was it about?"

"I ─" She stopped, looking furtively at a table to their right, where another group had gathered. "I don't know. It's all fuzzy now."

She tried to ignore her friend's quizzical look by focusing on her food. She had just lied to her best friend, and she did not like it one bit.

It wasn't fuzzy at all. That was usually what happened with her dreams: as hours went by, they would become more and more hazed until she could barely remember them. Unless it was a dream that she kept having, like the one with the rabbit. At first, she had dismissed it, but with the days going by and the dream coming back every night, she had been able to remember more and more vividly what it was about.

But right now, four hours after she had had her dream about Lucas, she could still clearly remember it. She could see every detail of the room, the closet, the walls. She could still see Lucas' body. And she could even still recall the touch of his lips and hands on her skin, and how it had made her feel.

Her eyes drifted to the real him: he was talking with his friends, the ones he had been hanging out with since forever, Mouth included. She frowned when she noticed that his best friend was missing; where was she? Haley James was usually always around him.

But the real question was, how accurate was her imagination? Did Lucas really look like what she had dreamed? Well, that was possible, since she had once helped him change his clothes, a year ago. But she hadn't really paid much attention to his build, she had been too busy washing the vomit off his shirt. And at that time, she had been less self-conscious, since she had been fully clothed. Maybe, on an unconscious level, she still remembered what he looked like under his t-shirt. But under his pants? That was definitely her imagination working.

She must have stared too hard, because he eventually frowned and turned his head to her. She looked away as quickly as she could, but deep down knew he had noticed her. Great, just what she needed.

She got up, startling her group, and mumbled something about not being hungry anymore before rushing out.

She went back inside the school and slowed down when she saw that she was alone.

Why Lucas, out of everyone?

She had barely talked to him in the three years they had spent so far in high school. The only real interaction they had had was last year, at Nathan's party. She had tried, the next day, to talk to him, but he had suddenly become extremely elusive. He would barely talk when she was around, and most of the time would just leave the room, even if he had been in the middle of a conversation with Nathan or Mouth.

When she had decided to run for president, she had found Mouth to be a huge help, with… Well, with pretty much everything. That was when they had really started hanging out together, and she had thought that maybe, since he and Lucas were really close, she would be able to approach him. But it had not changed a thing in his behavior. Eventually, she had realized that he was just still in love with Peyton.

There was no other explanation, was there? She knew there was no way he could remember their time together at Nathan's, he had been way too drunk for that. So, that meant he avoided her for another reason. And he had just been rejected by Peyton, the girl that she was always hanging out with. So, it wasn't really her that he was avoiding, it was Peyton.

And now, a year later, things had not changed. She sometimes even wondered if he didn't hate her, if he didn't believe that she had told Peyton not to go out with him. But she had done just the opposite: after Nathan's party, she had tried to advocate for him around Peyton. But her best friend's decision was definite. She had explained that she was sorry for Lucas but that didn't change the fact that she had never seen him that way.

She was walking by the school theatre when she remembered something about her dream: the rabbit shaped lamp. Another rabbit… What was that supposed to mean? She wasn't much into fortune-telling and omens, but it kept showing up in her dreams, so it had to mean something, right?

"Brooke?"

She turned around, dragged away from her thoughts, and smiled as she saw Nathan walking to her. "Hi. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, erm…" He stopped next to her. "I was eating in the gym."

"On your own?" Brooke asked with a frown.

"Yeah, I was practicing."

It seemed strange at first, but she brushed it off quickly. Nathan was definitely the kind to practice even during lunch breaks. He was passionate about basketball; as far as Brooke could remember, he had always been this way.

"You're okay? You surprised us all this morning."

"Oh yeah, don't worry about that, I was just a little tired. So," she said, trying to change the subject, "how is life without your dad?"

This brought a huge grin on his lips. "Awesome. It's not perfect, because I still have to talk to him sometimes and he insists on having dinner together once a week, but Brooke, it feels so good to have him out of my life!"

She chuckled, "Well I'm glad you take it so well. Your dad was always an ass to you."

After a thoughtful silent, he said, "Yeah, and to Luke too. It's funny how our hatred for him actually got us closer. Brooke, are you sure you're okay?"

He had probable noticed her face going red. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just the heat wave. So anyway, how was your camp? You kept talking about it all year and I get no detail at all?"

"It was fine," he said with a shrug.

"Just fine? That's it?"

"Yeah, I mean it was great. How was L.A.?"

She hesitated, very aware that he was just changing the subject, and then recalled that she had done the same twice in the past two minutes. "Really nice. My dad loved it so much that he's trying to buy the beach house where we stayed. I, erm, heard him talk about it to my mom."

He nudged her, chuckling. "Eavesdropping is a bad habit, Brooke."

"Yeah, well I don't really have a choice. Lately, they've been whispering a lot around me. I think they want to move to L.A."

"Why does it sound like a bad thing?"

She sighed, "Because I like my house in Tree Hill. I don't want them to sell it."

"You're gonna move out eventually. Didn't you want to go to NYU next year?"

"I still do. But where would I stay if I want to come back here?"

"Hmm, let me guess," he said, pretending to think hard about it, "I think Peyton wouldn't mind taking you in."

"I know," she said, holding back a laughter, "but it wouldn't be the same."

"And if by any chance, Peyton kicked you out, you know you can always come to my place. My mom loves you, she thinks you're the only reason I didn't turn into a jackass like my dad."

"I'm pretty sure she had a lot to do in that," she said with another laugh, "but yeah, she's probably right."

The rest of the day turned out to be torture for Brooke. The universe had seemingly decided to punish her.

She had literature with Lucas and Haley. She tried hard not to look at him, but how was she supposed to do that, when she kept reminiscing about the dream she'd had? At some point, she noticed that Haley was glancing over her shoulder, in her direction; she buried her head down on her paper, forcing herself to stop staring. Lucas had already noticed her at lunch; she did not need his best friend to tell him that she was doing the same in class.

Then her cheerleader training came. Since it was too hot to train outside, they were asked to go to the gym, with the basketball team. This time, she managed not to turn to Lucas every five minutes, as she was too busy yelling orders at her squad. She may have overdone it though, as Peyton pointed out at the end of their session. But she didn't care, as long as she could take her mind off Lucas, she didn't mind being a tyrant.

As she had told her mother earlier that day, she still had to stay at school for her first student council meeting. And as she had told her, she was getting tired by the minute. That cup of coffee could have really helped her, it could have even prevented her from falling asleep in class this morning!

Everyone in the council was relieved when she told them that this would be a short meeting. They went over the main points for the year to come, the election that would be held in a few months and the transition they would have to prepare for the next council.

They all left the room one by one, leaving her to read the schedule they had prepared for this year. She just wanted to make sure that it was perfect before handing it out to Principal Turner. And she still had to make sure they had DWNotI members volunteering for Nathan's party. She should have asked them earlier; most of them were basketball players. But she had been trying so hard not to approach Lucas… She took out her phone and texted Nathan, asking him to check if he had at least three drivers for Saturday night.

Usually, Nathan hosted his party at the end of summer, but this year, since he had been away at camp, he had postponed it for a week.

When she received his positive response, she figured she could go home now.

She locked the meeting room and when she got out of school, noticed that the sky had turned a dark shade of gray. She hurried to her car as she heard the rumble of thunder in the distance. She inserted her car key, turned it, and nothing happened. Well, something did happen, a strange noise she had never heard before came out of her car. It didn't start, it wouldn't start no matter how many times she was turning the key.

"Oh come on!" she shouted, punching the wheel, accidentally making a horn blast.

She got out of her car, slamming the door behind her and looked around; no one was there. She took out her phone and texted her father to check if he was still at work; he didn't reply. What was she going to do now? She looked up at the sky with a worried look. There was definitely a storm coming soon.

"Need any help?"

She turned around to face Haley, who was standing behind her, her bicycle on her side and her head tilted as she was looking at the car.

"Oh thank god you're still here! Wait, what are you still doing here?"

"I was at the tutoring center. So, what's wrong with your car?"

"Oh, erm… It won't start. Do you think you can help me?"

"No, I don't know anything about cars…" she said, shaking her head. She looked genuinely sorry, and even though it didn't help her one bit, it did make Brooke feel better. "Oh, but I can call Luke, he'll know what to do!"

"No!" Brooke said a bit too loudly. "I mean, you don't have to bother him with this, I can just go home and "

"Don't worry, he won't mind at all," she said, already taking out her phone.

"I'm serious, I'll find another way!"

But it was already too late. Haley brought her phone to her ear, and somehow looked very excited about this whole mess.

"Luke, are you free right now? I've got a car situation. Well no, obviously, it's for, erm…" She looked stealthily at Brooke, "For a friend. Why, are you gonna come depending on who that is? Alright, then get over here, she's on the school parking lot." She hung up, then looked back at Brooke. "He'll be here in five minutes." She hopped on her bike.

"Wait," she said, alarmed, "where are you going?"

"Sorry but I can't stay, I'm already late for my shift." Brooke couldn't help but think that she didn't sound sincere at all this time. "But don't worry, Luke will definitely come."

That was precisely what she was worrying about, as she watched Haley ride away from her. She looked around but still saw no one. Maybe… Maybe she could just leave? That way she wouldn't have to see him. Haley never gave her name, so maybe… No, she couldn't possibly do that. Not to mention, with the way the sky was growling right now, it would start raining hard any minute.

As she waited, she started having butterflies in her stomach. She was nervous, but at the same time felt somehow tingly.

She was starting to think that maybe he had changed his mind, when she saw his car pulling over the parking lot. It stopped some feet away from her, close enough that she could see the confusion spread across his face.

She waved at him with an awkward smile, and he seemed to figure out what was going out.

Lucas got out of his car and walked up to her. "You're the friend in need?"

"Yeah," she said, averting her eyes. "That's me. I don't know why she called me that though."

"I think I know," he murmured with a groan. "So, what's wrong?"

She motioned towards her car. "It won't start anymore."

He nodded, looking intensely at the car. Wait a second, was he also avoiding meeting her eyes?

She watched as he went to her car, opened its hood and bent over, rummaging through it. She was busy detailing his biceps when he leaned back and shook his head at her.

"The transmission belt is broken."

"English, please?"

He chuckled, which startled her. "It means I can't do anything right now, it needs to be changed. My uncle can do that but he'll need to order a part."

"What? So I can't use it tonight?"

"No, but I'll call the garage. They'll tow it away and take care of it."

"Oh… Okay. I mean, thank you, you know, for coming."

"Sure," he shrugged, pulling out his phone to call his uncle.

She didn't listen to what he was saying, her mind fixated on this terrible day she was having. That was just what she needed, her car breaking down. She jumped when she heard the thunder, this time much louder than before. It was definitely getting closer.

"Alright," Lucas said, hanging up and turning to her, "they'll come get it. Were you going home?"

Why was he asking? "Yeah," she said nonetheless.

"I'll drop you off, it's on my way."

"But you don't have to, you've already "

"With this storm coming?" he asked, pointing to the sky. "Peyton will kill me if I leave you here. And Nathan too. Come on."

She hesitated for another second before following him in his car. She didn't know why, but when he had mentioned Peyton, the butterflies in her stomach had suddenly disappeared. Why did she feel so gloomy? It shouldn't have come as a surprise that he would want to be in Peyton's good graces.

As he started driving, something caught her eye; a small object hanging from the rear-view mirror. Her heart started racing fast, as she kept staring at the lucky rabbit's foot dangling back and forth.

"That's from my uncle," Lucas said, "he's very superstitious."

"Oh." she said hoarsely.

For a few minutes, it was the most awkward ride ever. Neither of them seemed to know what to talk about. They both jolted when it started pouring outside. It was raining down so hard that Lucas had to slow down as he couldn't properly see the road anymore.

It got easier when he turned on the radio: at least there was something to occupy her mind. She didn't know whose song it was, but it was nice. She closed her eyes, her head resting against the car window, and found that the sound of the song combined with the pouring rain was very soothing.

"Do you like it?"

She opened her eyes swiftly and looked at him. He was squinting at the road, struggling to see it clearly. She noticed that he was driving even more slowly than a minute ago.

"The song." he clarified when she didn't answer. "You were humming."

Was she? "I didn't realize I was. Erm, well I don't even know that song."

"Are you kidding?" He sounded extremely surprised, almost offended. "That's Norah Jones."

"Never heard of her," she shrugged.

"I didn't know that was possible," he said with a quiet laugh, still looking at the road. Good, that way he couldn't see her cheeks turning pink. Really Brooke, because he was laughing? Was that the effect of the dream still lingering on her?

"You sound just like Peyton."

"Yeah, she is a music freak." he replied, with another chuckle.

"She really misses her work at Tric. It, erm… It was really nice of you to introduce her to your mother."

About a year ago, Lucas had come to Peyton to talk to her about a project her mother had. She wanted to open an all-age nightclub and needed someone to help her with the music. Of course, Peyton had been thrilled about it and had accepted right away. She had kept busy with it most of last year. Unfortunately, during summer, Tric had gone through serious water damage and needed some renovation work. Peyton had told her it would not reopen until October.

"Oh you know, my mom asked me if I knew someone who could be in charge of the music and, well, anyone in our school would have thought of her."

Why was he dismissing what he had done for her? At that time, when Peyton had told her about this project, she had thought it would be a good way for Lucas to get closer to her. But somehow, it had never happened.

He pulled her from her thoughts once again. "Come away with me."

"Huh?"

"That's the name of the song."

"Oh," Brooke said, listening closely as it was ending. "It's a really nice song."

She couldn't help but smile and stole a glance at Lucas; he was wearing the same smile on his face, although still trying hard to drive his way through the rain.

Suddenly, the rest of the drive wasn't so awkward anymore. They didn't say much after that, but it didn't seem to bother either of them. Brooke even felt a pang of disappointment when he pulled over her driveway. Yes, she was definitely still reeling from her dream.

"Thanks again," she told him with a grin.

"You're welcome," he replied, shutting off the engine. "Looks like things are reversed now."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, compared to last year, when you drove─"

"You remember!" she shouted, making him startle.

"Erm, yeah, but─"

"But you were so drunk!"

That made him laugh. "I know, the morning after that was hell. But I still remember most of that night. Except maybe the fact that you drove me back, Keith told me that."

"But, you…" she mumbled, stunned. "You never said anything, you even avoided me after that!" Why was her tone so accusatory? It wasn't such a big deal, was it?

"Well yeah," he said, raising his eyebrows, "you did see me at my worst. It was embarrassing."

"I guess so," she murmured, and then couldn't help but snicker. "Sorry, I just remembered how you dropped right in your puke."

"See!" he said, motioning at her with both hands.

"But seriously, that's why you've been avoiding me all this time?"

His smile faded a bit as his eyes suddenly looked more intense. "Well, that, and erm, there was something else too. See, I─"

They both jumped when they heard a thumping noise on the car. Brooke looked to her right and saw her mother under an umbrella, struggling to keep it open.

"Mom?" Brooke said, startled, as she lowered the window for an inch. "What are you doing outside?"

"I figured you didn't have an umbrella and that's why you were waiting in the car. Whose car is this anyway?"

"Um, Mom, this is Lucas," she said, pointing at him. "My car broke down, so he drove me home."

"That was very nice of you." She didn't give him time to reply, "Now Brooke, will you please get in the house before I drown out here?"

"Right," she said, lifting her bag from the car floor. "Thanks again Lucas."

She hurried out of the car and noticed he looked disappointed. As she rushed into her house, her mother holding her close under the umbrella, she wondered what he was about to say.

Well, she had a hunch on that. Two hunches.

Either he was about to say that he was still in love with Peyton, and that was why he was so nervous around her. Or, that he had hated her for a while because for some reason, he had believed she had discouraged Peyton from going out with him. In both cases, she didn't want to hear about it; for once, she was glad about her mother's awful timing.

Once she got inside, she was taken aback: her father was sitting on the couch, reading what looked like work paper.

"You're already home?" she asked, taken aback.

That almost never happened; her dad would usually barely get home on time for dinner.

He stood up, "I got off work early. How was school?"

"Surreal."

"That boy was very nice," her mother said from behind, "driving you home. Have I seen him before?"

She turned to her. "He's Nathan's brother."

"Oh, wait, is he Karen Roe's son?"

"Yeah, his mom owns the Karen's Café. His uncle is gonna fix my car."

"His uncle?" her mother asked.

"Your car?" her father asked almost at the same time.

"Erm, yeah," she said, turning to him, "it's down. That's why I texted you."

"Oh right, I forgot to answer. I was busy, with erm… Work."

"Anyway, Lucas said it had something to do with a transfusion thingy ─"

"You mean transmission? Like a transmission belt?"

"Yeah, I think that's it. And he said his uncle could fix it." She turned to her mother. "He owns a workshop."

"Well you should get him something."

"You mean money? I am going to─"

"No, not to the uncle. To that boy, Lucas. You have to thank him."

"I already have."

"I mean," she said, getting impatient, "give him something as a thank you, like, I don't know, flowers."

Brooke snickered at that. "You want me give Lucas flowers?"

"Fine, maybe not that, but… What does he like?"

"I don't know, Mom, I don't really know him."

She did know him, though. At least, she knew he had two passions: reading and playing basketball. She had always seen him with a book in his hands. But to buy him something… No, that was too much. She had already said her thanks.

After dinner, she went upstairs to her room. As usual, she sat down at her desk, opened the bottom left drawer and took out her diary.

It had been a long time since she had written such a long entry. The main reason was that she had written in details her dream about Lucas. She stopped after a few lines, remembering something he had told her in his car, about the song they had been listening to. She took out her phone, put on her earphones and opened her music app. She typed "Norah Jones Come away with me" and selected the album. When the music started, she felt content enough to keep writing.

When she went to bed later that night, she fell asleep quickly; with the storm, the heat had disappeared.

From that night on, she never dreamt of the rabbit ever again.


Thank you for your reviews. I'm glad you're liking it so far, this has been on my mind for a while and I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it.

For those who don't know the song Lucas is talking about, take a look at the lyrics if you've got two more minutes, or even better, listen to it. Especially the last verse, there's a reason why I chose this song for this specific dialogue.

Thanks again for reading, chapter 2 is coming soon.