A/N: Reviewers, you are awesome hugs all around I'm glad people like this story. I didn't know how it would be received but so far it's been all positive so yay! Not much to say here. I just hope you enjoy it! Remember, reviews are always appreciated!

Disclaimer: I don't own Vicious Pink or their song Confess nor do I own Lifehouse's Hanging by a Moment. Now, One Tree Hill…that I own :D…oh who the hell am I kidding?

Chapter Four: Guilty Conscience

I confess, I'm hypnotized

Although I know that it's not wise

For guys like you, don't stay around

You want to win each heart in town

Brooke Davis was not used to questioning her actions. Her life had always been simple. She'd always go left when others told her to go right. She went after what she wanted no matter what the price was. She was ruthless and never backed down from a challenge. She had made girls cry, boys ache and parents curse. Never, not once in her pretty life, did she ever second guess herself. So why, right now, did she feel so guilty?

"Hey," Lucas said as he approached his locker. His girlfriend was waiting there for him like she had for the past two days, a worried smile on her face.

"Hey back," she said, as cheerily as possible. Lucas saw right through it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She bit her lip as she leaned against the locker next to him, holding her books close to her chest. "Just thinking."

"About?" He was preoccupied with figuring which books he need for his next class, but he tried to listen to her nonetheless.

"Peyton." The name nearly died on her lips, but somehow through the mess and confusion it slipped out.

"Peyton?" Lucas asked in disbelief. He kept his head buried in his locker so that she couldn't see his amazement.

"Yeah. Umm, I know she's been a super bitch to me lately, but I'm worried about her."

"You're a good person, Brooke Davis," Lucas smiled as he retracted his head from the locker.

"No, I'm not," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"Why do you say that?" His voice now matched her tone. They were huddled close in what almost looked like an intimate moment, bar the fact they were talking about the girl they both loved and the wrong they'd done her.

"Because I knew she loved you and I still went after this-"

"Brooke-"

"No! Don't say it's okay! You and I both know it's not. We both know what she's like. She's closed off and hard to read and she says yes when she really means no. I should have known that us being together was not okay."

Lucas sighed. He knew she was right, but he also knew he was just as guilty as she was for all of this. He strung both of them along. He reached over and tilted her chin up with his index finger.

"We're in this together," he said simply, "And we'll find a way to fix this."

Meanwhile, the sickly sweet sight was reeking havoc on the already weak Peyton Sawyer. It was bad enough she knew they were together. She didn't like watching them act so tenderly. But there was no escaping it. They were only down the hallway, a few rows of lockers separating them. And whenever she glanced at her schedule posted on the door, she could see them out of the corner of her eye. She growled at the door.

She wasn't the only one who was watching the interaction. Down the hallway, A.J. was taking in the whole scene with amusement dancing in his eyes. He saw the way everyone seemed miserable and in a sick way, he loved it. Popular kids deserved to suffer every once and a while. However, he thought that seeing the curly blonde suffer anymore than necessary would be a crying shame.

A.J. was a smart kid. He could read people. He could manipulate situations to his best advantage using nothing more than pure honesty and a charming grin. Right now, he knew that Brooke and Lucas were talking about Peyton. He knew that Peyton thought that she was witnessing something emotional between the couple, but really it was just pure guilt that had bonded them together. So seeing this little situation, he figured out a way to soothe Peyton's pain and use it to his best advantage. Well, that was a lie. He wouldn't be soothing her pain. He'd be helping her get a little revenge. It was temporary solution.

He swooped down upon her giving her little room for complaint. His hand latched onto hers and he pulled her forward to his locker which happened to be two or three over from Lucas's. If Lucas and Brooke didn't see them coming, they definitely heard them. A.J. pushed Peyton into a locker and placed his lips to her ear.

"What are you doing?" Peyton asked.

"We're making Brooke and Lucas pay."

"How exactly?" Peyton bit her lip. She knew how they were doing it. His hands on her hips. Hers pressed against his chest. They were creating their own intimate moment.

"Oh you're a smart girl. See, from this angle, it looks like I'm doing nefarious things to your neck."

"Nefarious? That's an awfully big word, Hopps."

"I like big words," he said. He turned his head a little so he could catch Brooke and Lucas's eyes, which were staring at him with disgust and anger. He smirked and pressed a chaste kiss on the top of her ear. He brought his head back to look in her eyes, but he kept their bodies pressed close together.

"You're making me shiver," Peyton whispered.

"I could make your body do worse things," he wiggled his eyebrows. The comment earned him a good slap on the chest. However, it wasn't the shove that surprised him. It was the small smile that graced her lips. "Oh dear God, is that what I think it is?"

"What?"

"Peyton Sawyer is smiling." She rolled her eyes but she couldn't keep her grin from widening at the accusation.

"Maybe," she said.

"I, Aaron James Hopps, made the ice bitch smile!" he proclaimed to the whole hallway, his arms raised over his head in triumph. People just stared oddly at him, but a few people clapped him on the back as they passed and Peyton wondered if her smiling was really such a rare thing.

"I'm glad you're happy," Peyton said sarcastically.

"No, I'll only be happy when I have you under me wiggling and moaning in exta-" His comment was cut short.

"Mr. Hopps!" a teacher yelled as she approached them. She was a little old woman in her mid sixties. She was plump with tight ash colored curls and an upturned nose, "Foul language in the hallway is frowned upon!"

"Wait a second! I didn't even have a chance to use foul language yet," A.J. argued.

"I believe you referred to Ms. Sawyer as an ice…well you know the word!"

"Whore? Slut?...Was it harlot? I don't remember being that old fashioned…"

"Mr. Hopps! Come with me," the teacher grabbed his arm and began to pull him down the hall.

"Oh I know! It was bitch!" he called as he was dragged away, "Ice bitch! I'll see you in English!" Peyton couldn't help it when she gave him a little wave. Something about A.J. intrigued her, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.

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Lucas and Brooke watched as Ms. Harrington dragged A.J. down the hall. They saw the smile Peyton gave him. They saw her turn and glance at them for a moment. They saw her shame and her disappointment. They saw her smile vanquish in only a second. And then they watched as she walked away from them.

Brooke took a deep breath and looked up at Lucas.

"We need to break up," she said firmly.

"Yes, we do."

"Because I love her more than anything in this world," Brooke began. She paused to bite her lip, "and I've wronged her one too many times to let you and I continue. Plus, I'll be damned if I don't know that you love her too. You've been stalking her since we were in freshman year."

"True," Lucas let out a small chuckle.

"So we both love her, and we both know that this A.J. guy can't be good for her. So umm, you need to fight for her and I need to…well I don't know what I can do for now. I think I'll just wait until she cools down some more."

"Okay," Lucas nodded.

"But umm, I want you to know. I think you're one of the sweetest guys in the world and Peyton really deserves someone like you. And on that note," Brooke turned to leave, but Lucas grabbed her arm.

"Brooke," Lucas said, "You'll find the right guy for you."

"Thanks."

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Desperate for changing

Starving for truth

I'm closer to where I started

Chasing after you

The song was not what she expected to pop on her ipod. However, that's what happens when you put it on shuffle. Random tunes you haven't heard in years like to pop up. Peyton didn't want to hear this song though. It reminded her of Lucas. But if she was honest with herself, every song she heard reminded her of him or Brooke.

It was English class and once again, the teacher was late, along with her man of the hour A.J. She had watched Lucas and Brooke enter. Lucas had given her a soft smile which she ignored, and Brooke had cast her eyes down in shame as she walked past. Serves her right, Peyton thought as she tapped her pencil on her drawing pad. Inspiration had been lacking for her recently. She had plenty of anger and frustration in her system. She just didn't quite understand how she could release it. She thought of drawing that moment at Lucas's house but the thought was just too painful, and every time she tried to start, she wound up smashing her pencil against the pad.

She was so deep in her musings that she didn't even realize when someone pulled her earbud out.

"Lifehouse?" an amused voice whispered in her ear, "I thought better of your taste in music."

"A.J, my music taste is eclectic. It means I like everything." She watched as he took his seat by the window and immediately cracked it open.

"So if I went through that playlist I might find N'SYNC?"

"I said eclectic not insane," Peyton said removing the other earbud from her ear. She watched as he lit up a cigarette, "So I'm guessing you locked our teacher in the closet again?"

"No this time it was another classroom, but you can hardly blame me. The guy walks into my traps."

"Ah right," Peyton nodded. She stole a quick glance back at Lucas and Brooke who were trying hard not to listen in on the conversation in front of them. A.J. followed her gaze.

"Well I have good news for you," he said as he watched her eyes snap back up to meet his.

"Why do I feel this will be innuendo-laced?"

"Not this time, but soon enough," A.J. grinned, "Actually, I was going to say rumor has it that your stalker broke up with the slut. Or the slut broke up with your stalker. Either way, that doomed, sex indulged ship has sailed."

"Am I supposed to do a little dance now?" Peyton scoffed.

"No, you're supposed to pretend it doesn't matter one bit, but when you go home, you'll have a big fat grin on your face because you made sure they never had a chance." A.J.'s words were sharp and quick, but knowing she'd feel guilty if he let them sink in, he kept talking, "What are you doing now?"

"Talking to you," she said, pushing his previous statement to the back of her mind for later processing.

"Besides that," A.J. rolled his eyes, "Is that a drawing pad?"

"Good job, Sherlock. Two points for you."

"Are you going to use it?"

"I would," Peyton shrugged, "If I could find something that moves me."

"Draw me."

"What?"

"Oh dear, did I start speaking Swahili again? I tend to do that from time to-"

"Shut up, smart ass! I just was wondering why you would want me to draw you."

"Because I'm something that moves you," A.J. smirked.

"Well there's the innuendo," Peyton muttered

"Am I too much of a challenge for you?" The smugness of his tone was intentional and Peyton knew it. He was trying to play on her pride and he was doing a fabulous job of it.

"Fine," she sighed turning to face him.

Half and hour later, she was hunched over the pad, shading the curves of his face. She had sketched him leaning against the windowsill, the cigarette falling loosely from his lips. His eyes glazed over as he watched outside. He looked triumphant and powerful in the picture and yet at the same time, she managed to capture a hint of vulnerability she was sure that only she saw. She was about to announce the picture's completion when the door to the classroom swung open. There was their teacher, an angry look etched upon his face.

"A.J, can I have a word?" he said beckoning the boy forward with his hand. A.J. died his cigarette out on the ledge and flicked it outside.

"Oh well, I must have forgotten to lock the windows," he sighed. He glanced over at Peyton as he gathered his stuff up, "I'll have to see the finished product when I pick you up on Friday."

"Bye A.J," Peyton nodded, "Good luck."

"Bye bitch."

She watched him go before turning back to her work. Before she knew it, someone tapped her on the shoulder and a small piece of paper flew into her line of vision. She grabbed the piece from the outstretched hand, without bothering to look back for who sent it. She unfolded the paper.

I need to talk to you, Peyton. I'll be at your house at five. Promise me you'll hear me out.

She'd make no promises, but she knew it would be pointless anyways when it came to Lucas. She always heard what he said.

I confess, I'm hypnotized

Each time I look into your eyes

I try hard to be so cool

But end up feeling like a fool

I just can't deny it's true

I'll always hold the ball for you

I confess, I'm hypnotized

Although I know that it's not wise

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