A/N: I am SO terrible. It's just that I didn't realize anyone actually was still reading this story, so there really wasn't a time limit in my head and then added to Christmas vacation (oh man I really haven't updated in FOREVER!), meetings for school, speech meets, YIG, and some other crap I just haven't gotten to actually typing and updating…..:( Sorry! But thank you dianehermans for like giving me a "wake up call" I guess. Although I didn't forget about this, I just kinda thought I could like slack ya know? Oh and one last thing, there will be some Leyton because I don't want this to be another Brucas story where Lucas just kinda ditches Peyton. Oh and Peyton's slightly less bitchy in this chapter, which was not on purpose and then I realized I HATE HER SHE must be a bitch. So then I made her a little more mean. I wanted to update yesterday, but I didn't type fast enough before I had to go to sleep :P. And also this wasn't written until I started typing this meaning that I had like no ideas and almost went on break from it. But I didn't so yay.

Disclaimer: IIIII don'tttttttttt ownnnnnnnn OTH or Brooke. Or Luke. Or Nate. Or Peyton. But I do own Matt and Zack and those other guys that you don't recognize.

Chapter 7:

Nathan's Car

3:03AM

"Brooke, can we stop? Or at least trade?"
Silence.
"Ok we're stopping I guess," sighed Nathan.
They had been driving for six hours and had already gotten lost almost seven times. Nathan suggested that they go to Durham, and Brooke had agreed. Nathan turned into a Hyatt. Brooke probably would've insisted that they find somewhere more five-starish, but she was asleep so he didn't have to deal with her.
"Alright, don't move," Nathan said more for his own benefit.
He walked into the Hyatt and glanced at the car.
"Can I help you?" asked the man at the front desk.
"Yeah can I get-" Nathan was about to say one room, but he didn't know if Brooke would protest, wanting to have her own so that she could have privacy (code for using the bathroom as long as she'd like).
"Well?" questioned the man.
"One room for one night please," decided Nathan.
"Alright. Name please."
"Na-Mark….Ronaldton," changing his name would make him harder to find.
"Just you?"
"Oh no. There's my friend too, but we'll share a room."
"I need your friend's name as well."
"Oh. Uh Kassidy….Fluster."
"Ok Room 3268. It's on the third floor, there's a breakfast included in this," he pointed to a piece of paper, "package and checkout by 12:00 PM tomorrow."
"Uh, I'll have the package thing. How much is it?"
"$185.99."
"Oh…" Nathan was surprised that it cost so much for one night. But he had never really been to a hotel that he paid for himself, so he didn't have a price in mind. Nathan handed over a Visa giftcard. Dan had plenty laying around the house for whenever he wanted his purchases to be untraceable. Nathan had taken them all. Unlike a credit card, his name wasn't attached to them.
"Here you are sir."
"Thanks."
Nathan took the keycard from the man and walked toward the door.

When he got to the car, he saw that Brooke had woken up and started playing with the radio.
"Hey you're up."
"Did you pay for the room yet?"
"Yeah," Nathan waited for her to start complaining.
When she didn't, he gave her a look.
"What?" asked Brooke.
"I-no it's just…do you know where we are?"
"Oh yeah the Hyatt somewhere on the way to Duke. How many times have we gotten lost anyway?"
"Yeah you're right. We've gotten lost like seven times. I just thought that you'd complain."
Brooke sighed and turned the radio off, "I know we can't stay at the best places ever. We ran away. I'm not stupid."
"Ok I know. But still. Come on let's go," Nathan said as he grabbed a duffel bag from the backseat, "By the way, I'm Mark and you're Kassidy, in case the desk guy asks," he said as he walked towards the entrance.
"Wait, what?" shrieked Brooke as she struggled to pull out a suitcase.
Nathan spun around, "Well we can't just walk around giving our real names. That's like telling people back in Tree Hill where we are!"
"Couldn't you have chosen prettier names? How bland are those?"
"They were off the top of my head!" defended Nathan as he helped Brooke take out the suitcase.
"Fine. Let's go."

:):)

Hyatt

3:30 AM

Brooke walked into the Hyatt before Nathan and examined the lobby. It wasn't as bad as she expected. Especially since what she expected was linoleum floors and couches from 1921 so worn out that if you touched them, they'd break.
"Not what you thought, huh?" asked Nathan as he walked in.
"Nope…" Brooke relented.
"Well I'm exhausted, so let's go."
"But I'm hungry."
Nathan groaned, "Brooke….."
"Hey! I can't help it if I'm a growing girl in need of food!"
"Fine. Let's go put our stuff away first though."
"Ok!"
The two friends walked past the front desk and pressed the button for the third floor on the elevator.
"Ok so find 3268," instructed Nathan.
Brooke stepped in front of Nathan and pointed to a room to the left of them.
"Here it is!"
"Alright. Here's the key," replied Nathan.
Brooke pushed the door open and dropped onto one of the two double beds.
"And here I thought she'd check out the bathroom first," muttered Nathan.
"What's that?" asked Brooke.
"Nothing!" called Nathan as he rolled in Brooke's suitcase and walked past the bathroom which was opposite the closet.
"You're not still hungry are you?:
"Well…now that you mention it, not really. But I'm so tired."
"Great. I am. So whatever you do, keep it quiet."
"Gosh no need to be so crabby Nate. Or Mark."
"Whatever," replied Nathan as he stuck his tongue out at her and dropped onto the other bed.
Brooke huffed, "Fine. I'll sleep too."
Nathan waited until he was 100% sure that Brooke was asleep before pulling out his phone. He'd gotten a new one with his own money and plan so that Dan or Deb couldn't track his phone. He'd promised Haley he would keep in touch and that was how he planned to.
To: Haley James

Lost a few times. Whitey's last.

-N

:):)

Tree Hill High

8AM

"Hey Haley!" called out Peyton from across the quad.
"Oh Peyton, hey," greeted Haley.
"You never got back to me about the whole Tric thing."
"Oh um sure I'll think about it."
"Well you don't have to sign to the record dealios, but could you maybe at least sing for opening night tonight?
"I….yeah sure," relented Haley. She didn't really feel like singing in front of people, after all stage fright was something she had, but Peyton was still kind of her friend.
"Ok cool!"
"Yeah, Bye!"
"Yup!" Peyton walked off to her locker.
"Ha-ley…"said Rachel in a scolding tone.
"Rachel…"
"You talked to Peyton. And you agreed!"
"You know it's not nice to eavesdrop," Haley replied as she and Rachel started walking towards the hallways.
"I wasn't eavesdropping I was 'gathering info' for homework."
Haley rolled her eyes, "Sure."
"Hey where's Brooke?"
Haley froze. She hadn't realized that people would probably be wondering where Brooke was and Nathan too, "What?"
"Hey now she's not a stranger. Ya know, B. Davis? Where is she?"
"Um hold on. I need to check my phone because I think my mom called me."
"Sure. But do you know where Brooke is? Cause there's this really cute dress and-"
"Nope. I didn't see her after going to Karen's Café, but I think she said something about her parents."
Haley took out her phone and looked at a new text message from Nathan.
"Oh. Well I wonder where they dragged her this time. Last time they-"
"Durham," Haley accidentally said as she figured out the clue from Nathan.
"Sheesh tutor-girl you have got to stop cutting me off! But what about Durham?"
"Oh….I kind of want to go to Durham and um see some of Jake's friends from Duke that he always talks about."
"Cool! We should totally go! And call Brooke to meet us, it would be so fun."
"Um you know I don't think so, I have to sing at Tric so it really wouldn't-"
"Right, your deal with the devil."

:):)

Hyatt

8AM

"Come on Brooke! Let's go!" Nathan exclaimed as he pounded on the bathroom door.
"Ok ok, just a minute!"
"It's been more than just a few minutes," Nathan muttered.
"What?" Brooke asked as she flung open the door.
"Oh, nothing. Come on I thought that you wanted to get to Duke."
"But I haven't even done my hair!"
Nathan glanced at her perfectly blow-dried hair.
"What do you mean? It looks fine."
Brooke huffed, "See? It looks fine. Not stunning."
Nathan rolled his eyes, "Ok it looks stunning. Can we go?"
"Fine."

:):)

Nathan's Car

8:45AM

Forty-five minutes later, they were finally checked out and in the car. Brooke was still whining about her hair, and now her makeup too. Nathan couldn't figure out why she was, especially since as far as he saw, she'd already dried her hair and put on some of the black stuff that goes on eyelashes.
"Stop fussing around, you're gonna poke your eyes out and if we go to a hospital our cover will be blown."
"Hey, you're the one who's in such a hurry to get to Duke."
"Well maybe if you didn't take so long to shower you'd be ready."
This was how the rest of the way to Duke was. Brooke would keep coming with clever responses and Nathan the same.

Four hours later, they finally found Duke.
"Finally!" exclaimed Brooke.
"Ok so here we're Brooke and Nathan."
"But won't word get around or something? I mean-"
Nathan interrupted, "I have some friends here, and unlike your friends here, they know me by Nathan, but all they know is that I'm Nathan, I'm in high school, and I hate my dad. They don't know my last name or if I have any siblings. So you're Brooke, my sister and our last name is Kensilla," explained Nathan as he parked outside of a fraternity.
"That takes care of your friends. What about mine who, by the way, actually know me as Brooke Davis," Brooke paused, "Well some of them anyway."
"Fine. Then you just look like Brooke Davis," Nathan said as he got out of the car.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."

:):)

Pi Kappa Alpha House

Brooke followed Nathan up the stairs to a fraternity house. The lawn was littered with plastic red cups, probably remnants of last night's party. Brooke carefully stepped over a floaty ring covered with whipped cream. Nathan seemed to be indifferent to the mess.
"Please tell me that we're not actually staying here," Brooke said as they passed a tree with toilet paper strung through it.
"Yeah we are, and I know it looks like a crappy mess, but it's not usually like this."
Brooke and Nathan reached the door and Nathan kicked it open.
"They just keep it unlocked?" asked Brooke.
"Yeah. Why not?" shrugged Nathan.
"Yo Zack check the door," yelled a voice from a room to the left.
A minute later, a boy with blue eyes and disheveled blonde hair popped out from behind a large pole.
"Nathan? Guys guess who's here!" hollered the boy.
The sound of footsteps was heard and a few boys appeared.
"Yo my man Nate! Long time no see!" a boy with green eyes and black hair greeted as he slapped Nathan on the back in a somewhat hug.
There were more welcoming shouts and hugs before the blond-haired boy from before noticed Brooke.
"Who's this?" he questioned.
Nathan looked over. In the commotion, he nearly forgot that he and Brooke had just run away and had an image to keep.
"Oh this is my sister Brooke. Brooke meet Zack."
"Nice to meet ya Brooke. Your bro is awesome," grinned Zack.
"Where's Matt?" questioned Nathan before Brooke had a chance to say anything to Zack.
"Oh he's um…I think…well he was in the game room earlier. I'm not sure if he's still there."
"Ok thanks. Come on Brooke."
"How long you gonna be here, man?" asked Antony, a tan-skinned, dark-haired boy who had just arrived.
"I don't know yet dude. Good seein' you again," Nathan answered.

:):)

Pi Kappa Alpha House, Game Room

Nathan and Brooke made their way to the game room. It was no easy feat, especially since almost everyone in the house had come to the foyer to greet Nathan. Apparently he was well-liked here.
"Matt?" Nathan spoke through the closed door.
"Come in!" a voice answered.
Nathan pushed open the door and they both stepped in. The "Game Room", as everyone called it, was indeed a game room. The house had every game any boy would ever want. These were all obtained from money that should have gone to pledge education. Who really cared about that anyway?
"The door is always open you know I mean-" Matt stopped as he turned and saw Nathan, "Nate! What brings you to this old place?"
"Um sudden road trip with my sister," Nathan said as he gestured towards Brooke.
"Well hell-o there. Chris is going to be ecstatic that there's a girl in the house. I assume you need a place to stay?"
"You know me well."
"Um, who are you exactly?" interrupted Brooke.
"Oh! I," paused Matt, "am Matt Gigandet. That's je-gan-day," he grinned.
"Oh. I'm Brooke."
"Yeah, I heard," Matt turned back to Nathan, "So how long are we talkin'?"
"Uh…" Nathan looked at Brooke. They hadn't actually thought about that.
"Um. We don't know yet. Just blowing off some steam from our parents ya know?" Brooke improvised.
"Well that's great!" clapped Matt, "You know what they say, the longer the merrier!"
"Actually I think it's-"
"Whatever. Nathan can room with me, and Brooke can have the spare room."
"Thanks bro," Nathan replied.
"It's cool man, I owe you anyway from that whole Peyton-"
Nathan cut him off, "Uh, yeah I'm kinda hungry do you have any food? Brooke-"
"Wait, what about Peyton?" Brooke asked.
"I'd actually rather not say, I mean it was a mistake an-"
"Aren't you hungry Brooke?" Nathan interrupted.
"He's telling me something ok? Let him finish."
"Well I mean there's not much to say," shrugged Matt.
"What happened? Why do you owe Nathan?"
"Fine, since you're his sister I'll tell you. So I went to visit good ol' Nathan and I was only just a little drunk. I mean I was sober enough to find his house, and man it's hard to find!"
"It is, isn't it?" Nathan agreed in a last-ditch attempt to get Matt to keep his mouth shut.
"Continue," Brooke said.
"So I was basically totally sober and I was at Nathan's. Then we went to some party. It was at like this kid Tim's house. I only had like five drinks there, and I'm not a lightweight either, so I still wasn't all that drunk. Then this blonde, who I later learned was Peyton, came and challenged me to a game of beer pong. I, of course, lost since I wasn't on home turf. Ya know? Home advantage for her. So by now I was totally drunk and it was totally her fault I mean-"
"Just get to the end," interrupted Nathan. By now he had accepted that he wouldn't be able to stop Matt.
"Chill I'm getting there. So then we were like totally drunk, her fault one hundred percent, and basically we slept together."
"Then he found out Peyton was dating Lucas. So he owes me cause I didn't tell anyone," finished off Nathan.
"But you know you're welcome even if I didn't owe you."
"How long ago was this?" asked Brooke.
"Like um…well I don't know. Maybe three, four weeks ago?"
Brooke paused. Three weeks ago, Peyton and Lucas were together? As far as Brooke knew, and she knew herself pretty well, three weeks ago Lucas was still with her. If Matt thought that Peyton and Lucas were together, then someone must've told him…but who told him? Nathan? Brooke looked at him.
"Brooke," began Nathan.
"It was you. You told him Luke was with Peyton. Didn't you?"
"Yeah but-"
Brooke cut him off, "But what? Lucas asked you to? You're not even friends."
"We kinda are now…but I thought you guys broke up already, I mean like two days before that I saw them-" Nathan stopped abruptly. Brooke probably wouldn't want to know what he knew. Then again, Brooke would probably pry it out of him.
"You saw them what?" Brooke asked.
"I…I um I saw them making out at the mall and the library."
"Um…why does that even matter?" Matt who, up until now had watched in confusion, asked.
"Why does it matter? It matters because three weeks ago Lucas was my boyfriend," Brooke answered, her anger evident.
"So…that means Peyton was single?" Matt asked.
"Yeah she was," said Nathan.
"And this whole time I was feeling guilty…wow. But I'm sorry for you Brooke."
"I…um I'm gonna go find some water," said Brooke as she left the room quickly.
"I'm gonna try and follow her so she doesn't do anything stupid ok? See you in a while Matt."
"Yeah cool. Come play some games later Nate. Oh and tell Brooke sorry for me."
"Will do, man"

:):)

Duke University

As soon as Brooke got out of the fraternity house, she started on her mission to find a payphone. It took her a while, but she finally found one by the library. Brooke didn't think before calling the familiar number.
"Hello?" answered Haley.
"Hey Hales, it's me Brooke."
Haley was surprised that Nathan had told Brooke that she knew where they were, let alone allow Brooke to call her.
"Brooke! Nathan told you that I know?"
"Told you that I know what?" Brooke asked coming to her senses finally and realizing that she shouldn't have called Haley.
"You know the whole running away thing? You don't have to pretend, I'm in my car no one can hear our conversation."
"Wait, you know?" Brooke exclaimed.
Uh oh. Maybe Nathan didn't tell her.
"Um…Nathan told me." Nathan was going to be so mad.
"Great. He betrayed me twice in less than a month. Great idea to let him come," Brooke ranted in an angry voice.
"Brooke I'm sorry I-"
"No Hales I'm not mad at you. Just Nathan. I trust you; I know that you won't tell anyone."
"I'm really sorry anyway. But why did you call me when you didn't even know that I knew about you guys running away?"
"Oh…um I just need someone to talk to."
"About what?"
"Well…like two weeks ago did you see Nathan's friend?"
"Matt Gigandet? The one with dark hair and blue eyes?"
"Yeah, it's actually pronounced je-gan-day by the way. Well anyway he was there when I was still with Luke right?"
"Mhm, I think so why?"
"Oh nothing, I just wanted to see why it was that I never met him, but I guess I was with Luke a lot so that's probably why."
Haley didn't believe Brooke, but if there was anything she had learned from Rachel (learning from Rachel? Shocking right?) it was that if Brooke didn't want to tell you something, then you shouldn't pry.
"Hales, I gotta go now. Miss you!"
"Oh bye Brooke!"
The fact that Matt's time estimate was correct made Brooke angrier. Now there was no doubt that Lucas had cheated on her not twice, but three times. Before thinking, she reached out and dialed Lucas' number.
"Hello?"
"Lu-"
"Get off the phone! Come hereee," giggled Peyton in the background.
"Sorry I think I got the wrong number," Brooke said as she quickly hung up.

:):)

Pi Kappa Alpha House

Nathan plopped down on the couch. He'd looked for Brooke all over the house and still couldn't find her. He decided to stop though, because he knew that if she didn't want to be found, then she wouldn't be found. She would be safe anyway. Duke wasn't that big.
"What's up Nate?" Zack asked as he sat down next to Nathan.
"Not much. I was lookin' for Brooke but I gave up."
"You never said that you had a sister before. Why didn't you tell us/"
"I just didn't think it was important," Nathan shrugged.
Zack looked at Nathan, "Is she really your sister?"
"W-what? Of course she is."
"Nate you can tell me if she isn't. Y'know I'm the same age as you. I won't judge. All I did was skip a grade."
"How old you are doesn't matter to me. She is my sister."
"Ok, ok chill. It's just that I thought that I saw her around before and her last name was Davis. Not Scott."
"I've heard of Brooke Davis too. Trust me, that's not my sister. Brooke Davis I mean."
"Ok," Zack said with doubt in his voice.
"So, let's do something fun tonight," exclaimed Matt as he entered the room.
"What are you talking about?" questioned Zack, "Don't we do something fun every night?"
"Yeah, but let's do something extra fun to celebrate Nathan and his sister being here."
"You just want an excuse to go to a different bar," mumbled a dark-haired boy.
"What was that Stephen?" asked Matt.
"Huh? Oh nothing."
"Stephen! You're way too quiet, I didn't even notice you!" Zack suddenly said.
"So it's settled then. Spread the word," Matt decided as he left.

:):)

Tree Hill

1PM

Peyton was having a bad day. Tric's opening was missing invitations. No one, except for Peyton's good friends, knew about it. It was going to be such a disaster. At least Haley had agreed to sing. She'd just have to spread the word by mouth.
"Hey Peyton!" called out Lucas.
"Oh Hey," Peyton tried to sound enthusiastic, but she just wasn't super excited to see Lucas anymore. She told herself that she was stressed with Tric.
"So what time does Tric start again?"
He didn't know? "Seven," smiled Peyton.
"Ok cool so I'll be there early with my mom."
"Yeah, ok. I have to go find Haley and tell her to get there early to rehearse." No she didn't.

:):)

Tric

5PM

"Move it over more!" called out Peyton.
"Peyton, if they move the banner over anymore, it'll be off center and they'll just have to movie it back," Karen reasoned.
"This is my club, Karen!" exclaimed Peyton.
Karen looked surprised. She knew that Peyton was stressed, but she never thought that Peyton would get mad at her.
"Karen I-"
"Who funds your club? Me," Karen said coldly as she walked over to the door. It was a bit harsh, but she thought that Peyton needed to learn that not everything revolved around her.
"I'll see you tonight."
"Karen I'm sorry! Please I need-"
Peyton was cut off by the sound of the door slamming.

:):)

Pi Kappa Alpha House

5PM

"Hey-oh woah, you didn't waste any time," Nathan said as he turned and saw Brooke with armfuls of bags.
Immediately after ending her call with Lucas, Brooke had gone shopping to cool down before seeing Nathan. She wasn't as mad at him anymore.
"I see we have a shopper here! Ooh is that a Victoria's Secret bag I see? Any chance you'd like to model that for me?" grinned Matt.
"In your dreams!" exclaimed Brooke.
"Yes definitely in my dreams."
"Oh! Enough! I do not want that picture," Nathan cried out.
"I decided to get revenge on my mom and went on a little spending spree," Brooke explained, "All cash too," she added for Nathan's benefit.
"So Nathan and I decided that we would be going out tonight with the house. Care to join?" asked Matt.
"Sure," shrugged brooke, "Where are we going?"
"I heard that there was this new club opening somewhere in a town near here. Train Hill or something we're gonna take a couple cars and leave at 6."
"Train Hill? I've never heard of it," Brooke said.
"Well I don't really know if that's what the town's called," shrugged Matt.
"Club openings are always fun no matter where they are," Nathan interjected.
"Yeah. I'm in," agreed Brooke.

:):)

Tric

6PM

"Haley! Thank God you're here! Didn't you get my message? Oh never mind. Get up there for tech rehearsal!" Peyton exclaimed as Haley walked inside.
"Oh sorry but I was telling Jake to text some of his friend from Duke about Tric."
"Really? Thanks so much!" Peyton clapped as she enveloped Haley into a hug.
Haley didn't like and struggled to get free.
"Ok now go!"
"Just know I didn't get Jake to call in those Duke friends for you," Haley mumbled.

:):)

Pi Kappa Alpha House

6PM

"Alright let's roll!" Zack shouted as he cranked the engine of his black Mercedes.
"Woo! Yeah!" exclaimed a brunette named Sam.
"Ok can you enter the address into the GPS, Matt?" Zack asked as he slipped on a pair of sunglasses, which were completely unnecessary seeing as the sun was almost down.
"Read it off, my man."
"2371 Courtlan Lane."
"Courtlan Lane?" Brooke repeated.
"Yeah," answered Zack.
"The city?" questioned Matt.
"Tree Hill."
Brooke widened her eyes, "Tree Hill? Tree Hill, North Carolina?"
"No. Tree Hill, New York," Matt said in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh crap," muttered Nathan, loud enough for Brooke to hear, but soft enough so that no one else would.
"Tell me about it," Brooke mumbled.

A/N: I have started writing the next chapter . I think that the next time I get zero ideas for a long time on this fic, I'm gonna take a break. Cause I'm not really even watching OTH anymore and so I'm not feelin it. :/Sorry. But I got a new idea so yay.