Author- Emily-Grace Mendes (Brookebynature)

Disclaimer- I don't own One Tree Hill, I don't own the characters, but I do own this story. So yay for me.

A/N- I know this has been a rediculously long time coming, but I've finally completed this chapter after much deliberation over what should happen. So a huge thank you for your reviews and without further ado, here's the next chater. Enjoy xxx

Play The Game

Play For Real

Normally she would have asked Peyton to buy the test, to be the one that hid under the large hoody with the dark sunglasses, but she wasn't speaking to Peyton so….well…she had to do it herself.

"Anything else?" the cashier asked as Brooke placed the test on the counter.

"I'd say condoms but it's probably too late now right?" She tried to joke. She wasn't sure what Peyton said in these situations, she'd normally be hiding out in her car or ducking behind a shelf reading the ingredients list of something like petroleum jelly.

Brooke always thought it was kinda expensive just to find out whether you were pregnant or not. The past two times she'd contemplated just waiting to see whether she started getting fatter, rather than charging the $10.95 to her father's bank account. But she'd given in eventually, persuading Peyton to buy the test from the only drug store in Tree Hill, so naturally, you were bound to see someone you knew.

----

She wasted no time in reading the instructions, she'd done two of these before, each having the same relieving answer. Brooke wasn't quite sure why people called it the longest two minutes of their lives, because in those two minutes, she'd been able to figure out what she would wear to the weekend's upcoming party, and more importantly, what her next plan of action was in the whole Lucas/ Peyton scenario.

"What?" she shrieked when she did finally look at the white stick resting on the bathroom counter. Scrambling for the box, she re-read the instructions to make sure that the meanings of the colours hadn't changed. Sure enough, the blue line did in fact mean that Brooke was pregnant.

----

"I need to talk to you Nathan." Brooke cut icily past Haley who seemed to be having trouble with her 'child.' Right now, she couldn't care about the damn crying lump of plastic, she had more real things to think about.

"I was kinda in the middle of something there." He told her, diverting his eyes to Haley, then quickly back to Brooke again.

"Yeah well you're gonna be in the middle of something worse in a minute." She shot back.

"Jesus Brooke you hormonal or something?"

The bell rung, signalling the beginning of school, much to Nathan's relief. He had no idea what was wrong with her, but guessed something had seriously screwed her up somewhere along to road to adolescence.

"You have no idea how ironic that is" she mumbled, marching off in the direction of her first class, which fittingly enough, was biology, where the teacher would check up on how they were all doing as parents.

Brooke hadn't seen Lucas since the previous night's poker party, and when she had woken up, Nathan was already gone, leaving her without her car, and without a way home that night. So obviously, that was a perfect situation to be in.

----

He was grinning at her when she walked in through the door, late only because she'd needed to throw up, and being at school meant that she could only make herself sick when everyone else had gone to class and wouldn't be listening to the sounds of her retching in the cubicle.

"Late." He muttered sarcastically, practically thrusting the doll at her before she could even sit down.

Brooke simply raised an eyebrow. "In more ways than one."

Lucas didn't twig however, and Brooke was a little disappointed. She didn't want to have to tell him straight out that she may be pregnant with his child. Perhaps she could let him find out in a less obvious way.

"So how are you all doing as parents?" The teacher asked, awaiting her student's response. There was the usual exchanging of looks between those who had argued over their projects, and also between those who were doing exceptionally well, hoping one day that they would be in this situation for real.

Out of the corner of her eye, Brooke could see Peyton burying her head in her hands after Tim's shouts of "daddy Tim's a pro." Of course, she had no idea how good a parent Lucas was, and vice versa. Right now, she was trying to sush her own lump of plastic that Lucas had so carefully handed to her just minutes ago. A momentary smile crossed her lips as the thing finally ceased crying, and Lucas gave her a grateful wink.

It was then, that she felt something sharp in her chest, an aching of sorts as she held eye contact with him, but then it was over, just as quickly as it had happened when he looked away, and back at Nathan.

Brooke too, looked over in that direction, becoming increasingly pissed with both him and Haley- the girl who seemed to have his undivided attention most of the time. She was wearing her cheerleading uniform that Brooke had given her the other day, and with her hair curled lightly, she just fitted in perfectly with the other members of the squad. It was Brooke, that didn't quite match today, wearing the same clothes that she'd had on the previous night at Nathan's and her hair tied messily in a bun.

She could look good tonight at the basketball game. Unfortunately, it was Haley's first game, and she hadn't quite gotten the hang of the sequence they were due to perform in under eight hours.

----

"You have a further three days of this project left" the teacher stated, just as Peyton looked over in the direction of Lucas and Brooke, who was able to send her a cold stare before running her hand across Lucas' jeans.

"Try to improve on your skills before then."

Class was dismissed almost immediately after that, and as Brooke watched Nathan walk away with Haley, and the rest of the class with their respective partners, she had no choice but to accompany Lucas to the gymnasium with their 'child' in tow.

"What're we doing?" She asked as he let his bag drop onto the floor.

"I thought I'd shoot some hoops."

"Great." Brooke muttered as she rolled her eyes. "And what am I supposed to do?"

"You followed me here." Lucas stated as he removed his shirt in front of Brooke, who simply raised a manicured eyebrow at his toned physique.

"Because as luck of the draw would have it, we're partners for this experiment." She replied, hoping that he's put a basketball jersey on soon, because it was becoming quite hard to concentrate when his bare chest was right in front of her eyes. "So that means we should do it together."

"Brooke Davis actually cares about this assignment." Lucas smirked as he finally covered his chest, looking down at the doll in her arms.

"I care, because if we fail, I'm in detention for a hell of a lot longer than I'd ever consider amusing."

He looked at her for a minute without saying anything, perhaps taking in her moment of truth, perhaps just unsure of his own reply.

"Well then lets do this together."

"Do what?" she asked, glancing at the doll in her arms which thankfully seemed to be sleeping.

"Play basketball."

"I'm not dressed to play basketball Lucas." she told him. "And in case you haven't noticed, we're supposed to be looking after this."

"I have spare clothes."

"I'm not…."

"C'mon." He cut in, his eyes meeting hers as he felt that small stab of something run through him again, just like he had done at Nathan's last night. "We've got nothing else to do. Gym's empty, it'll just be us."

"Fine" she mumbled, feeling uneasy with his eyes on hers, and grabbing the clothes he held out for her, she made her way to a corner near the showers where he couldn't see her getting changed.

"Aww c'mon Brooke, you're killing the fun." He called out, removing his jeans to put on a pair of shorts. "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

She shot him a look when she emerged with his clothes covering her body. They were, of course, far too big, but in a way, she felt some security with the material covering her skin, his scent enveloping her as she made her way past him, holding the doll, as they went into the gym.

"What're we playing for?" She asked, curious to see whether he would make a bet like she expecting.

He paused in thought for a few seconds before replying. "We're playing for fun."

----

Time passed quickly, and soon the bell signalling next period rung. They hadn't kept score, and both of them knew Lucas had won, even if he had been playing badly to try and give her an advantage.

He saw her shivering as she handed him back his clothes, her own no match for the warmth she had just felt around her. Brooke was almost out of the door with the doll when Lucas called her back.

"Here" he said, holding out a grey hoody with some sort of writing on the back. "You look cold."

She took it, offering a grateful smile as she handed him the doll so she could pull the top over her head. "Thanks."

They shared the silence again, both looking at each other, unsure of what to say, although Brooke wanted to scream at him that she was pregnant.

"You o.k?" He asked, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Careful." She smiled a little. "People might start thinking that you're actually nice."

He chuckled lightly as she left the locker room, giving him a little wave as she turned the corner. Lucas was unsure as to when things had changed between them, and they'd grown semi-comfortable with each other.

----

"Why the hell am I doing this?" Haley spat as she peered into the tightly-packed gymnasium. She hadn't ever been to a basketball game before, so she was unsure of what to expect, but she sure as hell didn't imagine all these people would be watching her in a skirt that all of a sudden seemed to short, teamed with the little top that showed a lot of her stomach.

"You should think about getting a piercing." Brooke told her, eyeing her stomach. "Guys like that."

"Not all guys like you Brooke." Peyton shot, narrowing her eyes at the brunette who seemed a little too perky right now, at least, compared to what she'd been like back in first period.

"Name one." She replied, raising an eyebrow as she awaited Peyton's answer.

"Lucas."

"FYI, P Sawyer, Lucas and I spent the whole of first period playing basketball in that gym right there." She smirked, looking through the doors as she witnessed the look of doubt across her former best friend's face.

"What were you playing for?" She asked. "A bet? Money? Sex?"

Brooke smirked and shook her head. "We play for fun."

"Why the hell am I doing this?" Haley repeated again, pacing the girl's locker room as the gym only continued to house more people.

"Because it's fun." Bevin replied, grinning. "And you get guys."

"Looks like she's already got that part down." Peyton muttered as she saw Nathan nodding in their direction.

----

The game had proved a success, as had Brooke's new addition to the cheerleading squad, who hadn't put a step wrong throughout the cheers and sequences, much to Peyton's dismay.

Brooke was however, without a ride home, and could only hope that Nathan would be around to take her back to her house, or even, to his. He wasn't where she expected him to be however, and instead, Brooke spotted him chatting to Peyton, who kissed him goodbye before she left.

"What the hell was that?" Brooke asked, smacking him across the chest.

"What was that for?"

"Why were you talking to her?"

"Because she needs a lift home."

"Have you forgotten what she did?" Brooke spat.

"She did what we did Brooke."

"But she cheated on you. There's a difference."

"We're all the same Brooke." Nathan told her. "When are you going to realise that?"

"Except we're not the same."

"What do you mean?" His foot was tapping impatiently, and Brooke was now starting to really piss him off.

"I'm pregnant Nathan."

She waited for his reaction, for him to swear, and tell her how much this was going to ruin his life. And his reputation. A father at seventeen, and he knocked up Brooke Davis.

"You're screwed up Brooke." He replied coldly, walking out of the gym as if he didn't believe what she'd told him, as if he thought of her as a liar.

----

She had gotten just out of the parking lot wearing nothing but her cheerleading uniform and Lucas' grey hoody when he slowed down in the silver Mercedes she'd come to recognise since the first day she'd met him.

"Need a ride?" he asked as he drew alongside her shivering form. Brooke simply nodded, her eyes conveying the thanks she didn't need to say aloud.

"So where's my ass of a brother?" Lucas asked, curious as to why he hadn't given Brooke a ride home.

"Probably screwing my ass of an ex-best friend." She shot, her hands disappearing up the sleeves of Lucas top in a bid to keep them warm.

He nodded, not saying anything more, but instead, turned up the radio, realising that the silence would grow uncomfortable before long. He'd never had this problem with girls before, normally he slept with them and that was it. He occasionally dated for a couple weeks at the most, but always with the same outcome: he became bored and cheated with another girl, or made excuses and dumped them without warning.

And now he was beginning to be a little scared, not that he'd ever admit it, that he felt things when he looked at Brooke, or when he watched her perform the cheerleading sequences or walk down the corridor at school.

"So what happened between you and Nathan?" He asked ain a bid to keep the conversation flowing.

"A stupid plan." She told him, gazing out of the window as he turned into the road near her house.

Lucas didn't question her, but nodded instead. He pulled up outside of her driveway, the dark greeting her just like it did back at his own house.

"I'll be needing that." He gestured to his grey hoody she was wearing.

"But I'm still cold."

"Can't let people think that I'm really a nice guy can I?" He smirked as she handed it over.

And as she watched him drive away, entering her house greeted her like a slap across the face. It was dark and she was alone, and unfortunately, it was her turn to look after the doll tonight.

It wasn't fun any more, not now she was pregnant, and when it begun to cry, Brooke realised she was playing for real.

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