Heya guys, I know this was a REALLY long hiatus, the mayhem of life got in between but… I have put up two chapters and will update with another two chapters very soon. Tell me what you think and enjoy…

daniela1683 Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you liked that moment, Mark had done his best this season to try and ruin the memories we have of brucas; least I could try and do is create some cute ones. Mosie1213: Thanks for you comment, I like Rachel's smart ass comments too, she says what people are usually afraid to say. hinata-37Thank you for your comment, I'm really glad you like the story, I'll definitely keep it up, the story still has a way to go with lots more drama and angst!

Without further ado…

Chapter Ten: If you stroke a stray dog, expect to get bitten

Brooke and Rachel stepped into the gym, both not looking their best.

"Okay, whose brilliant idea was it to have an early cheer practice" Brooke moaned

"That would be you, captain" Rachel said, managing to smile sarcastically.

"Great" Brooke muttered under her breath. She looked around the gym. "Okay, where is everybo…" Before she could finish her sentence most of the squad came through the changing room doors.

"Everyone is here… early?" Brooke said. Sure enough Brooke had ranted on to the whole squad about how important this early practice was but she didn't actually think everyone would be here on time. They must have listened after all.

"Yeah Brooke, you said in the morning and I woke up like an hour ago so… it's got to be the morning… right?" Bevin smiled tilting her head to the side.

"Thanks for that Bev" Brooke said smiling at Bevin before addressing the rest of the squad. "Okay everyone, get into your positions" Everyone made their way to their places. Brooke looked around once more, noticing that Peyton wasn't in. She whispered to Rachel "Peyton isn't here, she should be here, I mean we haven't had a practice in ages and there's a big game coming up"

Rachel looked around "Maybe she's still in bed… with Lucas"

Brooke rolled her eyes "And I officially just threw up in my mouth" she said before walking to the front of her squad. "From the top, everyone" She bent over to press play on the CD player "5, 4, 3, 2…."

After five run-throughs, lots of shouting and only one five minute break, Brooke stopped the CD and stood with her hands on her hips waiting for the attention of her whole squad "Okay, so that didn't suck and we've managed to get a lot done. Theresa, just remember to be faster on the kick and Bevin make sure…" Before Brooke could finish her sentence she was interrupted by a late arrival…. Peyton.

Peyton walked calmly into the gym as if she had arrived on time and not a second late. The entire squad watched as Peyton put her gym bag on the bench and take her position, looking up at Brooke as if to say "Continue…"

"Peyton, you're late… like over half and hour late." Brooke said.

"Yeah, I am aware of that." Peyton replied without a care.

"Well is everything okay?" Brooke asked

"Yeah" she replied again carelessly.

"So why are you late?" Brooke said sounding a little annoyed

"Look it's just a stupid practice, so I was late… big deal"

The whole squad now turned to face Brooke…. this ought to be good.

Brooke smiled uneasily "Okay guys, you did good today, I think we've done enough so you can go"

Looking between Brooke and Peyton, the squad could tell they "needed to talk" so everyone silently made there way to the changing rooms quickly. Rachel however, walked over to the bench and sat down comfortably. She wasn't going to miss this.

"Peyton..." Brooke began walking closer to her "I get that you might not be that bothered but if you show up late that's not fair one everyone else, okay. If Theresa or one of the other girls did that I would rip their ditzy little heads off. Just because we were talking yesterday doesn't mean…"

"God, spare me the pep talk. So we talked yesterday, nothing has changed… has it? You're not all of a sudden going to forgive me for whatever you think I did to you"

"You know what you did" Brooke said trying to hold back her anger "So what was this about then, I have to be friends with you or you're going to undermine me in front of the squad.. a little dramatic don't you think?" Brooke said trying to keep her cool.

"If anyone should know about being dramatic it's you, so what I turned up late. I slept through my alarm, no big deal… but you always have to make things bigger than they have to be" Peyton said raising her voice.

"Are we still talking about cheerleading Peyton or something else" Brooke replied.

There was a long pause; Brooke stared at Peyton waiting for her to reply, even though they both knew the answer to the question. What was up with her today? Where did yesterday's Peyton go? Brooke thought to herself.

Peyton finally answered. "Whatever Brooke" she said before walking out, towards the changing rooms.

Brooke waited to hear the sound of the doors shut and then took a huge breath, turning to face Rachel.

"Hate to say I told you so Brooke…" Rachel said throwing up her hands "but if you stroke a stray dog, expect to get bitten"

"What the…" Brooke said confused

"Okay, so I've been hanging out with Bevin too much but you know what I mean"

"Do you think her and Lucas had a fight or something?" Brooke asked

"Please, the two of them are like twins, what would they fight about? Which CD to play on the way to school"

Brooke just rolled her eyes. And walked over to the bench were Rachel was sitting.

"Speaking of Lucas" Rachel continued "How is your…so called friendship going with lover boy"

"Okay, first of all don't say 'lover boy' and second of all, the whole friend's thing is going great" Brooke said

"Great because he's your… lover boy" Rachel teased.

"No!" Brooke laughed "We are just friends"

Rachel smiled and started singing "Brooke and Lucas sitting in a tree… doing things they shouldn't be..."

"Shut up, Rachel" Brooke laughed

"Brooke loves Lucas, Brooke loves Lucas…" Rachel continued

"Rachel, you should…" Brooke was about to tell Rachel she should get a life but was interrupted by Peyton who stood only a few feet away from her. Shit! Brooke thought to herself. How did I not hear her come in? Peyton did not look amused. Brooke hit Rachel to stop her singing.

"What?" Rachel said, before turning to face Peyton "Oh"

Peyton just scoffed at the pair of them bending over to grab her gym bag, she swung it over her shoulder muttering, loud enough for both Rachel and Brooke to hear "Please" before storming out of the gym.

Brooke threw her head back, putting her hands up to her head. Crap!

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The bell rang for first period and Lucas made his way to history class. He loved History class, not just because it was one of his favourite subjects but because he got to see her. He got to see her smile and hear her laugh and even though they were just friends, he couldn't help but feel happy around her. He remembered back to when they broke up and how he would sit there, two rows back from her, hoping, just hoping that she'd turn around and wink at him or smile the way she used to or… do that thing she used to do when she'd look to her right pretending to be looking at the person next to her when she was really trying to look at him. That would always make him smile like some goofy idiot and Mr Henderson had no problem picking him up on that "Are you alright there Scott" he'd say or "What is so funny about Mussolini, Scott?"

He'd have to catch up at the end of class, staying back to ask Mr Henderson questions about chunks of the lesson he had missed just thinking about Brooke, but she'd always be there leaning against the wall, waiting for him after class. She always looked so beautiful, she looked perfect….

"You're such a bod" Brooke teased as Lucas came out the classroom and walked over to her placing his arm over her shoulders holding her tight as the walked forward.

"Maybe if somebody didn't keep turning around and distracting me the whole lesson, I wouldn't need to ask Mr Henderson so many questions" Lucas said as Brooke stopped turning to face him, putting her arms round his neck.

"Oh really…" she said grinning, reaching up to kiss him.

She stood on her tiptoes as Lucas placed his arms round her waist leaning into the kiss….

"Lucas! Lucas!"

Lucas turned around to see Peyton. "Hey Peyton"

"Hey, you were a million miles away" Peyton said nudging him.

"Something like that" Lucas muttered "So what are you doing here?" Lucas asked

"I'm in your history class remember" Peyton smiled

"Of course, I was totally out of it. How did practice go?" Lucas asked

"Apart from Brooke being… erm... Brooke, everything was fine"

"I thought you guys were talking again?" Lucas asked

"Well that was yesterday, today she's being an annoying bitch so I'm not talking to her"

Lucas rolled his eyes "Peyton…"

"Miss smarty-pants Brooke needs to realise that there are other things more important than cheerleading like I don't know…school, grades and…

"Hi Lucas… Peyton" Rachel said as she walked past with Brooke whose face was filled with rage at what she had just heard. Brooke glared at Peyton. What a bitch! She thought to herself. I wonder if she always bitches about me to Lucas.

They all walked into the class taking their seats… Yep this was definitely going to be interesting.