A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I've just been so busy. But I wanted to tell you that I sincerely appreciate all of the reviews I've gotten so far. And Linkie, thank you so much! Your review made me feel better! Okay, here's Chapter 5! Enjoy!

Chapter 5

As usual, school went on. Brooke still kept on seeing Chase and Lucas kept on seeing Peyton. They were all in class together talking, until their teacher spoke up.

"Okay class, new project. This side of the room write your names down and the other side of the room draw the names."

Everybody looked at each other, waiting for an explanation.

"For 50 minutes, you and your partner will be seeing outside of the labels you are put in. There are 5 objectives on the cards you get. You must complete all of them, no trying to get out of this. It counts for your grade."

Groans and sighs were heard throughout the classroom. Everyone gave their friends an 'are you serious?' look. The teacher continued.

"Okay, now that you got all of your complaints out. Time to partner you up."

The teacher had the students on the right side pick names while the other side waited for their name to get called.

"Hey Brooke." Peyton whispered.

Brooke looked at her, confused. Peyton showed her Chases' name on her paper and Brooke understood.

"Thank you." She said sincerely. Peyton nodded, content with having Nathan as a partner.

"Okay everybody the partners are Lucas and Glenda, Brooke and Chase, Peyton and Nathan, Haley and Skillz, and Rachel and Bevin. And…Go!" The teacher yelled. The students scrambled out of the classroom and into rooms where they could start, and get this project over with.

Chase and Brooke found an empty classroom. Brooke still hadn't told him about the Calculus test and she felt really bad about it. She wanted to be honest with him, but she was afraid he'd stop talking to her or worse, judge her. Since they had only been on a study date, she figured that honesty would make their relationship better. She hadn't really had that with Lucas in the beginning, well she was honest but he wasn't. And like she said, honesty is the best policy.

"Chase." Brooke began. He sat down and looked at her.

"I have to tell you something." She said.

"Okay, spill." He replied.

"Now, I know that we both agreed that honesty was the best policy so that is why I'm telling you this."

He nodded.

"Well when I told you my reason for being a Clean Teen, I wasn't exactly honest about it. You see, I'm only a Clean Teen because I got caught stealing answers for a Calculus test. I was with Rachel and we both just figured that if we said we were in the Clean Teens then the principal wouldn't be so suspicious. Long story short I took the test and got an A but now the principal knows answers were stolen. I just thought you should know before they expose me or before we get serious." She said, meaning every word.

She thought Chase would have left the room, started throwing things, or yelled. But when she saw him, he was calm and smiled.

"I understand Brooke. I'm just glad you told me." He said.

Brooke breathed a sigh of relief.

"So your not mad at me?" She asked.

"Mad at you? Brooke, that's really hard to tell someone and just that you told me because you wanted to be honest and maybe take our relationship into something more serious just makes me like you even more." He said. Brooke's frown turned into a wide smile.

"Oh, okay then." She said. There was a moment of silence and then Chase spoke.

"Do you feel bad about it?" He asked. Brooke looked down at her feet. Of course she felt bad about it, she didn't like being a cheater or stealing or lying to her best friend but she had to. She needed to graduate, and it seemed like this was the only way.

"Yeah, I really do." She said with real honesty.

"Then you can fix it." He said and hugged her. Brooke nodded and hugged him back.

"Now let's take those pictures." Chase said and Brooke smiled.

Lucas and Glenda didn't really hit it off well in the beginning of the project. Him not knowing her name pretty much made her angry at him until he showed her something that made her smile. He pulled out a first copy to the novel he wrote.

"I wanted someone to look at it and I thought you would be perfect for it." He said.

She smiled; surprised that he trusted something this big with her. But she figured that she should give him a chance since he was being bold. "Thanks, I'll read it and get back to you."

"Sounds good. I'm really sorry about not knowing your name." He said sincerely.

"It's okay, I didn't really expect you to. I'm basically invisible to everyone."

"That's not true…" Lucas said trying to comfort her.

"Yes it is, and that's fine. It's how it always has been. Everyone has ignored me except for Brooke. We started talking a little while ago."

"Brooke Davis?" He asked.

"Yeah, when the whole school shooting scenario was going on we were both trapped in the gym together. We talked and ever since then she kept in touch. I heard you used to date her."

"Yeah, I did until just a couple of months ago actually." His head drooped down a little, remembering the whole night and the affects afterwards.

"What happened?" She asked.

"You know Peyton? The girl I'm going out with now?" He asked. She nodded.

"Well that used to be her best friend. I cheated on Brooke with her while we were together but then she gave me a second chance because I fell in love with her. But then she just springs all of this on me how we never have a real conversation and how I'm so far away. So I spent time with Peyton and now I'm with her." Lucas explained.

"So you aren't actually with her because you like her?" Glenda asked confused.

"No, no I like her. It's just Brooke breaking up with me kind of led me to her because we spent so much time together." He said. He knew that it was the reason they were together. He'd been trying to deny it but every time he thought about it, every time he analyzed it, that was the only conclusion that he came up with. And it was the right one.

"So was Brooke mad about it?"

"Well if she was, she covered it up really easily. She basically told me to go to her. And we got together the night of the big championship game." Lucas said.

"That's great, considering Brooke has Chase now."

Lucas winced. He still didn't like thinking about Brooke and Chase. He didn't really want to think about Brooke with anyone else. He was plain jealous and he hated it. Most of the time he just wanted to wring Chase's neck. But he saw how happy he made Brooke so he stayed away.

"Yeah, they look good." Lucas choked out.

"You sound happy for them." Glenda said sarcastically.

"I am it's just weird to see them together." He replied.

"Because you still care about her?" She asked.

"I'll always care about her. She was my first love." He said and quickly drifted off to the night where they said their first 'I love you's'. He would always remember that night and it would always remain special in his heart, and that scared him.

"And maybe only love." She said.

"Let's just take that picture." Lucas laughed nervously and she nodded.

Haley and Skillz were on the roof top talking. They really never talked before and Haley was worried it would be awkward.

"So Skillz, tell me something. When did you start to love basketball like my obsessed husband?" She asked.

"I've always loved it. Ever since I saw the lines drawn on the pavement at the river court, man I just knew it's what I wanted to do. I hope I can still do it after high school."

Haley saw how worried he looked about getting in. "You'll make it Skillz, I know you will."

"Thanks Haley." He saw her looking at her belly. "That kid is going to definitely be an athlete dawg. He's got the Scott curse."

Haley laughed. "I know, that's what I'm afraid of."

"Your scared to be a mom?" He asked.

"Well…yeah. I always thought that I could do it but now, seeing it and realizing I'm having a baby, I just don't know anymore. I don't feel as confident." She answered honestly.

"Your gonna be a great mom Hales. I know you will." Skillz said, repeating what Haley told him.

"You know, you and I are a lot a like." She said.

"Yeah, I can see that too. And since I can trust you, would you mind seeing if I got in?" He asked and handed her an envelope.

Haley smiled wide. "I'd love to!"

She ripped open the envelope and read what it said. She looked at Skillz with a sad face.

"Yo dawg, that face don't look so good…" He said worriedly.

"You got in!" She exclaimed and hugged him.

"You definitely had me there for a second…" He said after they hugged.

"I know I did, that's what made it more fun." She said playfully and stuck out her tongue.

"Alright, alright come on, we still have to take a picture." He said and they went and posed.

Nathan and Peyton sat in the gym on the bleachers. She was lying down and he was sitting up holding a basketball.

"So Nathan, you're going to be a daddy!" She exclaimed playfully.

He laughed. "I know and I'm so freaked out about it."

She sat up. "Really? You seem really relaxed about it so far."

"Yeah, so far. I'm so afraid that I won't know what to do."

"Well Nathan, you're not supposed to. I mean it's your first kid your going to make mistakes but you'll also learn from them. I mean look how our relationship was, you learned from that and now your married." She said and laughed at the end.

"Your so right. I'm married and not too long ago I was dating you. I really have grown."

Peyton cringed. "Ouch, okay that really wasn't necessary I was trying to be all sincere dude."

"Okay sorry, sorry." He said and smiled.

"You know, we haven't really hung out in a while." She said quietly.

"I know, you're always with Lucas!" He exclaimed. She looked at him angrily. He laughed.

"It was a joke Peyton."

"Oh yeah? Well so is this!" She yelled and took the ball from him and went running onto the court.

"Hey!" He yelled and chased after her. She shot the ball and didn't make it. He grabbed the rebound.

"Nice shot." He said.

"I tried." She said and shrugged. "And anyways I just beat Nathan Scott with running!"

"Your so immature." He mocked.

"Oh yeah? Well I wasn't until I met you!" She yelled and slapped him on the arm.

"Ow! Okay truce! Maybe it's time for us to take those pictures…" Nathan said and shook his head.

"Deal." She said and they got ready to take the picture.

Bevin and Rachel had been in the girls' bathroom for 20 minutes and they hadn't really talked about anything. Rachel had lit up a roll and Bevin sat there in disgust.

"Rachel, what happened to you? You're smoking pot now?" Bevin asked.

"I'm surprised you haven't already. You usually go for that stuff." She snapped.

"You know, all of you think that I'm so dumb and that all I know is cheerleading and boys. But the truth is, I get all A's for my grades, I work hard, and cheerleading is at the bottom of my list." She said.

Rachel looked at her, surprised.

"Bevin I didn't…" Rachel began.

"Know?" She finished. "I know you didn't because you didn't care to. And that's fine, because I let you believe it because I knew in the end it didn't matter." Bevin said.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Nobody cares what you did in high school Rachel. Nobody will care if you tell them that you got all the guys or if you won prom queen or if you were a cheerleader. Because that was in the past. And I realized that way before you." She said. She didn't say it in a mean way, just a way that made Rachel re-think some things.

"I'm really sorry Bevin." Rachel said.

"It's okay, were still friends Rachel." Bevin reassured and hugged a now tearful Rachel.

"How about that picture?" Bevin asked.

Rachel nodded and took a picture of them hugging.

All of the partners returned to the classroom with their pictures. Chase and Brooke sat next to each other followed by Glenda and Lucas, Haley and Skillz, Nathan and Peyton, and Rachel and Bevin.

"Okay class, you will see everyone's pictures at the end of the year." The teacher said. Just then the bell rang. "And now you can go."

The class all filed out when Brooke went up to Glenda.

"Hey how are you?" She asked. She hadn't checked up on her for a little while and she missed her.

"I'm actually good. Lucas was really nice." She replied.

"That's good. He's been really nice to me lately too." She said quietly.

"He still cares about you, you know." Glenda said after a few moments of silence.

"What?" Brooke asked and looked up at her, surprised.

"He said he'll always care about you." Glenda repeated.

"Oh, well…I'll always care about him too." She said trying to wave it off but she knew she couldn't, because now that sentence would be circling her head for the rest of the night and maybe even the rest of the week.

"Okay well I have to go, my mom's waiting."

"Why don't I walk with you?" She asked. Just then Lucas came up to her.

"Hey Glenda, I was just thinking that we could walk out together." He suggested.

Glenda looked at Brooke and Lucas. "I guess you both are going to walk me out then."

Lucas looked confused.

"I asked her too." Brooke said. Lucas smiled, glad that Brooke was coming along too.

"Sounds good to me." He said and the three of them walked out together, with her mom watching the whole time.

Okay so how was it? Good? Okay? I'm changing a lot of things that happened this season because I hate the way it's going so far. But reviews are crucial so please tell me what you think!