Thanks everyone for your comments! Keep them coming, I love reading them!

Roswell Dream Girl: I can't stand Peyton too and this is definitely not a pucas story, its is 100 brucas! Pucas are just part of the journey in the story

Artemis no Himitsu: Hey ChiChi, thanks for your comment, Rachel definitely does like to stir things up and Peyton well… she's just an all round moody brat, lol. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

daniela1683: Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and liked the "Your girlfriend went that way.." part. I thought that would be funny Lucas moment lol. Hopefully Peyton won't be paired with Lucas, lol. We've seen enough of them this season! Hope you enjoy the next update.

brucas831: Thanks for your comment. I'm really glad you like the story.

hinata-37: Thanks. I'm glad you like the story, keep reading…

Chapter Twelve: I'm not crying, I'm just embarrassed

Brooke continued to run down the hallway towards the girl's bathroom. She was running so fast she wasn't looking where she was going. She turned the corner bumping right into…

"Brooke?"

"Mouth?" Brooke replied. Could this day get any worse? She hadn't spoken to Mouth in so long. Last time they had spoken they had a huge argument and she didn't exactly know where they stood. Brooke just looked at him and hurried past. She didn't know what to say especially now when all she could think about was Lucas and Peyton and the embarrassing scene which had just taken place.

"Brooke!" Mouth turned around calling after her as she ran down the hallway. She didn't stop. She looks really upset. Mouth didn't know what had happened but he knew that she was upset. He wanted to go after her and see if she was okay but he didn't know whether she'd want him too.

"Mouth, mouth?"

Mouth turned around to see Rachel standing in front of him. "Rachel?" Mouth said "Do you know what just happened with Brooke?" He asked

"Where did Brooke go?" Rachel asked ignoring Mouth's question.

"In there." Mouth said point at the girl's bathroom down the hall.

Rachel nodded and continued down the hallway into the bathroom, Mouth followed. Even though he and Brooke had spoken in a while, he still cared about her.

"Just go Rachel" Brooke said, looking up as she saw Rachel come into the bathroom followed by Mouth. What was he doing here?

"Brooke, are you alright?" Rachel asked walking over to her as Mouth stood in the corner of the room.

"As if you care" Brooke said as she applied some mascara in the mirror

"How is any of this my fault?" Rachel asked defensively

"You just couldn't help yourself with all your smart remarks, winding Peyton up, as if this morning wasn't bad enough you had to push it throughout the whole lesson"

"Okay fine, maybe I did stir things up a little but…"

"A little, what was with your comment about me liking the French Revolution because Lucas was my partner?"

"Well do you?" Rachel asked

"No!" Brooke turned to face the mirror

"So why are you crying about this"

"I am not crying I'm just embarrassed. In case you didn't notice, everyone heard our argument, everyone heard Peyton call me stupid and everyone knows I failed and was pathetic enough to lie about it. I mean Theresa of all called me sad." Brooke rolled her eyes with frustration throwing her mascara in bag

"Give me a break Brooke. First of all, ignore Theresa you can totally get her back for her that at cheer practice and second of all, since when did you care what other people thought?" Rachel said moving next to Brooke and nudging her, as she styled her hair in the mirror. "Or maybe you care about what a certain someone thinks… someone like Lucas"

Brooke paused staring at Rachel and then at Mouth. She didn't want to answer that. She didn't have to she knew that's why she was upset and so did Mouth and Rachel.

"What are you going to do about the whole partner thing Brooke?"

Brooke shrugged her shoulder "I don't understand why it was such a big deal."

Rachel just looked at Brooke as if to say "You're kidding right". Brooke smiled "Okay maybe I can see why but that's me. Peyton usually wouldn't care about something like this"

"Well if you want my opinion" Rachel began "Screw Peyton, you didn't chose Lucas as your partner, it just happened, you were just meant to be together and I know you want to work with him so just forget about Peyton"

"I don't know" Brooke said turning to face Rachel and Mouth "I mean, excluding the public humiliation and arguing with Peyton I was… kinda relieved."

Rachel shook her head, completely confused by what Brooke had just said "Okay you totally lost me, you were relieved?"

"Yeah. When I said that Peyton and Lucas should be partners it felt like I was back in… in my safe zone"

"Your safe zone?" Rachel asked, still confused.

"Don't get me wrong I wanted to be Lucas's partner it's just… I'm scared, scared of opening up all those feelings again. I'm scared of being around him, even when we're just talking in the hall I go back to being that girl at Haley and Nathan's wedding. Heart-broken and scared"

Rachel reached out, pulling Brooke into a hug "If Lucas makes you feel like that, why are you friends with him?"

"Because he's the only one who can stop me from feeling that way, he can make me feel safe and loved" Both Mouth and Rachel looked at her sadly, as Brooke continued "Isn't it funny" Brooke said "He's the only guy who's ever broken my heart and… he's the only one who can fix it." Brooke took a deep breath, picking up her bag. "I think I'm gonna go home"

"Okay" Rachel nodded sympathetically "I'll see you at home"

"Okay" Brooke began to walk towards the bathroom door when Mouth spoke for the first since he had entered the room.

"Brooke, wait"

Brooke turned round to face him.

"I don't know what happened today but I know that Lucas cares about you very much and no matter what happened that's not going to change"

Brooke smiled. "Thanks Mouth" she said before leaving. She really didn't want things to change between her and Lucas not for the worse she just didn't know whether being Lucas's partner was a good idea, especially with Peyton so against it. No. Brooke thought to herself. Lucas should be Peyton's partner, it's all too soon for us.

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"Peyton, Peyton!" Lucas called as he followed Peyton into the art rooms.

Peyton marched over to a table at the far end of the room and began getting out her sketch book to draw. Lucas caught up with her shortly, sitting opposite her.

"Peyton, why did you do that?" Lucas asked, catching his breath.

"I'm fine Lucas don't worry about me but thank you for asking" Peyton said sarcastically.

"Answer the question Peyton"

"Why do you care about her?"

"What?" Lucas asked confused at what she was asking.

"You and Brooke, you broke up, you didn't speak, and you're with me now" Peyton said pressing hard on the piece of paper with her pen.

"I don't get what you're…"

"You kissed me in the library, remember when I thought I was going to die, you sat with me and…"

"You kissed me, Peyton" Lucas said looking down. You kissed me, you kissed me!

"You didn't push me away" Peyton replied quickly. "And you didn't tell Brooke about it, you kissed me and you kept it a secret as if it meant something"

"No, it's because I didn't want to hurt her, it didn't mean anything so I didn't want to upset her" Lucas replied raising his voice to match Peyton's.

"You should have told her" Peyton replied again quickly "And you spent the day with me on her birthday Lucas" Peyton said bending forward as she spoke every word.

"You said you had a plan to help me get her back"

"God, Lucas STOP! Stop with the excuses. What do you want, who do you want. If anyone should be answering questions it's you, okay. Why did YOU do that?" Peyton said, point at him with her pen.

"Do what Peyton?"

"Why did you stick up for Brooke, why didn't you ask to switch and be my partner? Is it because you want to be Brooke's partner..." Peyton said looking at Lucas

"Yes, I do" Lucas sighed frustrated about the whole thing "What so wrong with that? We're friends"

"What like you and I were friends?"

"No, Brooke and I, it's different"

"Different how Lucas?" Peyton asked unsure about the answer she was going to receive.

Lucas paused. He wanted to give her an answer, an answer that would make her happy but he couldn't answer the question. He and Brooke were different, he didn't know how to describe it, he just felt it. Whenever he was around her, he couldn't help but smile, he could forget about the school, Dan, basketball, everything and he could be there with her, just the two of them and feel whole and he missed her, he always missed her. He missed her when she wasn't around. God, he missed her right now, her smile, her eyes, her…

"Lucas?" Peyton said interrupting Lucas's thoughts. "How is it different?"

"I don't know how, I can't answer that" Lucas said, trying to be honest although he could tell from the disappointment on Peyton's face that it was not what she wanted to hear.

"I love you Lucas" Peyton said reaching out to touch his hands

Lucas looked up at her. He wanted to make her happy he always did, that's why he always there for her, always saving her and that's why he told her he loved her.

"I love you to Peyton, I promise"

The first time Lucas had said that to Peyton was when he first questioned whether he really did love her, whether he was in love with her the way he had been with Brooke. It was something about the way he said it. "I love you Peyton, I promise" He couldn't help but promise her it was true as if he was trying to convince her and himself. He never had to promise Brooke he loved her, he knew he did and she knew it too but now with Peyton he found himself doing things, saying things to reassure her and himself.

Peyton reached over to hug Lucas. "I'm sorry about everything" She said in his ear, and even though he knew he should probably be relieved, happy and fixed in this moment all he could really think about was… Brooke.