A/N: Well since I have several chapters of this already written out, I figured there was no harm in posting twice in a day. Especially since I can tell from some of your reviews that you're a little unhappy with the direction of this fic so far. So to clear a few things up... this is 100 a Brucas story. I am absolutely anti-leyton!!! But since I wanted to start it off like the show and then take it in my own direction, I had Lucas crushing on Peyton a little but at no point in this fic will the two of them ever be together, I assure you.

As for when Lucas and Brooke get together, it's still a few chapters in but it'll definitely happen. I'm just setting up the general premise of the story for now. So please just stick with me and try to ignore Lucas whenever he thinks anything about Peyton. There won't be too much more of it from this point on anyway. I'll should also be able to post at least once a day since, like I said, I have a lot of the story already written out. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3 - Life is Short

Oh I am young but I have aged

Waited long to seize the day

All things said and plenty done

Life is short

Down at Karen's Café, Haley James emitted a bored sigh as she wiped down the counter. Only two customers continued to sit inside, a sweet elderly couple who sipped on mugs of coffee while Haley and Karen chatted idly. "So what do you think about the whole basketball thing? Bad flashbacks?" Haley queried, belatedly realizing how callous her comment had sounded. "Oh god, Karen I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," she said, quick to apologize.

The expression on the older woman's face was understanding and a little sad.

After watching the blunt teenager grow up alongside her son, Karen knew that the things she blurted out were never said to hurt someone. It was just that Haley tended to not filter her words before they came out. A habit that was born from having several other brothers and sisters. So many that in the James household, if you didn't speak up, you lost your voice in the crowd.

"Haley, it's fine," Karen easily assured. A small smile told the younger girl that she held no hard feeling for the comment.

"I guess I just haven't gotten used to it," Haley attempted to explain. With a coffee pot in hand, she poured a cup for her friend's mother before bending beneath the counter to search for a package of marshmallows. The little white ones that would be the perfect addition to her own cup of cocoa. "It's hard to picture Luke grunting and spitting with the rest of those animals," she stated, clearly unimpressed with the other guys on the team.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Karen said though her voice lacked any real conviction.

While she was glad that her son had finally found his place doing something that made him happy, she couldn't help but be worried. Especially with Dan Scott so close to the game because of Nathan. He'd undoubtedly make a pest of himself to Lucas with eye rolling, smirking and his own brand of berating. Something he'd learned well from his father, Royal. The worst of them all.

"I guess," Haley sighed quietly and squinted her eyes in confusion, temporarily distracted when she saw some little blue convertible come speeding down the street. Then just as quickly, the car screeched to halt in one of the spaces near the café, instantly cutting its lights. "Besides… I suppose it's a lost cause already anyway," she continued, momentarily forgetting the sight she'd just seen. "Luke's all gung ho about the whole thing so… might as well support him, right?"

"That's one way of looking at it," Karen murmured softly but smiled at the brunette none the less.

Though before either female could utter another word, the bell above the door jingled as it emitted a new customer.

There, clad in a short black skirt and skimpy red lace top stood Brooke Davis. Her shoes were high heeled, blood red and at least four inches up. The brown hair that was normally so immaculate and polished was now windswept and tousled. "What the…" Haley trailed off as she caught sight of the cheer captain, looking pensive and uncertain. Two words that she had never before associated with the beautiful brown haired girl.

"Um.. can we help you with something?" Karen asked as Brooke walked up to the counter.

"Oh, um… a brownie?" Brooke decided before turning her attention to Haley. "Can I talk to you for a second, tutorgirl?"

As she asked, there was an almost desperate expression on her face that had Haley agreeing when she would have otherwise declined. "I'll be right back," she told Karen as the older woman set the baked chocolate pastry down on the counter.

"Thanks." Sliding a dollar bill onto the smooth surface, Brooke offered a small smile of gratitude before turning to follow Haley James outside. "Hmmm. This is really good. I love these brownies even though they've got about a thousand calories," Brooke stated and groaned in pleasure as the chocolate ran over her tongue. "You know, I used to…."

"Wait a second," Haley easily interrupted. "Please don't tell me that you dragged me out here to rave about Karen's brownies."

"What? Oh!... No!" Brooke exclaimed as her mind drifted back to the matter at hand. "Listen, I need your help tutorgirl. It's about your friend, Lucas."

Eyes widening, Haley glared at the other girl when the admission instantly made her wonder if it was all a trap that involved both her and her blonde haired best friend. "What about Lucas?" she questioned harshly, sounding more rude than Brooke had ever heard her speak. And that was saying something considering the times Brooke used to see Haley working with Tim in the tutor center the previous year.

She could admit that she was a difficult student herself… or at least that was what her own tutor said time and again. But Tim Smith, as goofy as he acted, was on an entirely different level of difficult.

"Long story short, there's a prank happening as we speak. Which means that in about an hour, your friend Lucas is about to be really embarrassed," Brooke stated, trying to convey with her words just how serious the whole situation was. "And I can't fix this on my own so I came here," she shook her head, wondering if it would all be in vain. "I thought that maybe you'd be able to help."

After only speaking the occasional word or two to one another over the years, Brooke wasn't at all surprised by the suspicious glint in Haley's brown eyes when she looked into her own hazel ones.

"First tell me why should I believe you? Tell me how I'm supposed to know that this isn't just some trick to get both Lucas and me out there so you can play some prank on the both of us?" Haley questioned, making a valid point as far as she was concerned. It wasn't as if the Ravens or their cheer squad could ever be called moral. They partied harder than any other clique in the school and seemed to thrive on other people's embarrassment.

"I get that we don't usually talk. But why would I want to hurt you?" Brooke asked, sounding truly baffled.

If there was one person in Brooke's life that constantly got hurt by her actions, it was herself. And it was enough.

Unlike the majority of her friends, she didn't take enjoyment from watching other people suffer. Their pranks only garnered her amusement when they were done to people that could handle it or deserved it. Guys like the starting four or girls like Bevin and Theresa. Those that would just laugh it off or were too popular for the unfavorable circumstances to stick.

"You're a tutor and those are the people that basically get me from one grade to another," Brooke continued, unintentionally putting herself down in the process. "And Lucas has never done anything bad to me, okay? This isn't because he's a bad guy. A big part of it is because he committed the worst sin in the world… being the son of Dan Scott. That's why he's getting it tenfold tonight."

"Nathan."

It was muttered with disgust as Haley shook her head. "Nathan," Brooke confirmed. "And I know where and how it'll go down tonight. We have the chance to turn it around on them but I can't do it on my own. So will you help me or not?"

Opening and closing her mouth several times, Haley contemplated the situation before fixing Brooke with a hard stare. "Fine. But if this is some trick, I'll make sure no tutor in the school will go anywhere near you. Are we clear," she threatened, causing a small smile to turn up the corners of Brooke's lips.

She was loyal. Fiercely so. The kind of friend that Brooke wished she had.

Sure there was Peyton. A girl she'd known practically since diaperhood. A friend that knew some of her deepest and darkest secrets. But not someone she could always trust. At least not since Peyton began dating Nathan. Slowly but surely, his mindset had rubbed off on her and too many of the things that came from her mouth were now rude or uninterested.

It was all about protecting what she had. Namely her boyfriend and popularity, no matter how often she bitched about either.

"Deal," Brooke agreed and gestured towards her car. The blue convertible that had haphazardly parked a few spaces over. "Come on."

"Wait, I have to tell Karen I'm leaving."

Impatiently, Brooke waited outside as Haley walked back into the café and spoke to the dark haired woman.

In Tree Hill there was rarely a secret that stayed buried for long. Brooke knew that Karen Roe was not only Lucas' mom, but the woman Dan Scott laughed about with his rich friends at their high class parties. She was the self-made businesswoman who achieved her success on her terms alone, something that couldn't be said for Dan as he needed his parents and his wife Deb's money in order to get his car dealership off the ground so many years before.

Karen was also the one everyone rolled their eyes at because of her relationship with the elder Scott brother, Keith. Owner of a garage that Brooke had personally used a couple times in the past. The place where she first noticed Lucas so long ago. Working with the other guys and laughing at something his uncle had said. Brooke couldn't remember what it was but she remembered thinking he was cute. Something about his smile and the way his blue eyes shone with amusement when he laughed.

"Alright, let's go," Haley said, instantly drawing Brooke out of the bubble of remembrance her mind had just been inside of.

As they shot off down the street, Haley was jerked backwards and wasted no time reach for the seatbelt. "Some driver," she muttered under her breath but not quietly enough for Brooke. A small amused smile played at her lips, clearly not offended by the comment.

"Gee… thanks."

Minutes went by and Haley couldn't help but feel distinctly uncomfortable on the leather seats with the wind lapping around her and the cheer captain at her side. With a sigh, she searched her mind and tried to come up with something to say as they drove off to some unmentioned location. Something that would break the silence that had enveloped them because she didn't want to dwell on the possibility that Brooke might actually be decent.

"So what exactly are they planning to do to Lucas?" she asked, eventually coming up with some form of mutual conversation.

"Standard punishment," Brooke said, remembering countless times over the previous two years when she'd seen the same scene they were about to barge in on. "Get him drunk, get him naked and them leave him out in the woods for a while." Sometimes it worse, but Brooke didn't say that out loud. Then other times they were dripping with honey or sporting some profanity in blue paint on their skin. "Afterwards they'll go back to the party and bring everyone out to see him."

"But Lucas doesn't drink," Haley protested.

"Doesn't matter. All it takes is one spike and then they'll slip him something to make it a little easier. Before long he'll be wasted and no one will even know it," Brooke explained, grateful but uncertain as to why she was, that Haley hadn't smelled the alcohol on her own breath.

"But why won't anyone stop it from happening?" Haley questioned, frustrated beyond words. They really are Neanderthals, she couldn't help but think.

"No guy on the team will go up against Nathan. Not when he's Dan Scott's son or the leading scorer every game night," Brooke shook her head, wishing that the other girl could understand how things worked in their world. It wasn't as simple as black and white, right or wrong. There too many shades of gray that made it only too easy to screw up. "Besides… that's just the way it is." It sounded flippant but Brooke didn't know how else to say it without delving too deep into the kind of life they all lived.

"Well then they're all just spineless losers," Haley declared, a mutinous expression etched into her features as she crossed her arms over her chest. The overall effect was a strong resemblance to a petulant child.

"You won't get an argument out of me," Brooke muttered but the words were carried away by the wind as they approached the scene of the crime.

-----

More than half passed out on the ground with the other four starters on the Tree Hill High Ravens varsity team standing around him, Lucas barely noticed as they pulled his clothes off. The twigs that poked his back when they first set him on the dirt were now only a mild annoyance, secondary to the pounding in his head and the loud beat of his heart. "Dude… he's your brother. You take off his shorts," Tim declared once they'd gotten Lucas down to his boxers.

Everything else had been taken and stored away in the trunk of Nathan's car for safe keeping. Not that they ever expected for Lucas to see the garments again.

"Urg! Fine, just move out of the way… and stop calling him that," Nathan grunted as he tugged the cotton material down his brother's legs.

Needless to say it was more of his brother than he ever cared to see.

"Dude, I can't wait until the girls see how stupid he looks," Hamilton stated with a smug grin on his lips. Payback, he thought, for seeing his girlfriend checking the new recruit out earlier that day in the halls. It didn't occur to him that seeing Lucas completely naked wouldn't stop the whispers and pleased giggles whenever he walked down the hall. It would only fuel them.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Nathan ordered once he was certain Lucas was completely asleep. "We'll wait about an hour and then bring everyone down," he decided. But while they were laughing childishly at the prank they had just pulled, none of the four noticed a powder blue beetle slowly driving up the path with its lights turned off.