Hello...here's the chapter... not much to say today.. im on a writin high so i have to get back to my other fanfiction lol... just review pretty please

Disclaimer: I Do not own One tree Hill

Chapter Seventeen: Learning New Things

Music blasted as Haley tried to make her way through the crowd. She was feeling extremely uncomfortable. Parties had never been her scenario, but Mark didn't need to know that did he? Did he need to know she didn't ever hang out with the popular people like she did? That she didn't go to parties or she wasn't on the cheerleading squad, or that she spent her spare time in a tutoring center.

She moved her hands over her ears in total annoyance of the loud music. Rolling her eyes, she noticed Mark laughing at her. "You alright?" He asked through his sweet smile. He reached his hand out and placed it on the small of her back which was unusually exposed under a small tank top she was wearing, he directed her towards the bar that had been set up as he leaned in to whisper to her.

"Yea Im fine." Haley smiled nervously, embarrassed as she realized she must have looked like such a baby. If fine means I wanna go home, then yeah, Im fine. She thought.

"We don't have to stay long, I just need to do a little business with my friend Jack, then we can head out and get a pizza or something, I actually don't like these things either." Mark admitted with a friendly smile on his face. His hand was still on the small of her back, but smoothly he slipped it off, as if it were a sign for her to stay put. She watched him though, as he walked up to a handsome guy who she knew must have been Jack. She was a little uncomfortable after what she saw.

Brooke studied Lucas as he slept on the couch in his dorm room. They weren't sharing a dorm; but Brooke seemed to have found refuge in his small dorm room. His roommate was a real book worm, spending his time studying in the library or tutoring center, they barely ever saw him. So Brooke spent the last couple of days with Lucas just hanging out as friends, having a good time. She spent so much time here that she wasn't sure if she knew what her own room looked like, or what her roommate looked like. Which led them to this moment, Lucas sleeping on the couch while Brooke watched him. She studied his strong cheek bone, something she had never noticed about him before.

There were a lot of things she was learning about Lucas that she hadn't before. And though she loved those things, she couldn't help but think that she was terrible for having liked him before. She knew nothing about him, just that he was a jock, and she was a cheerleader, ti seemed to fit.

Had she not liked him for the way he laughed?

The way he smiled?

The way he furrowed his eyebrows when he didn't understand one of her stupid jokes.

The way he smelled after showering.

The face he made whenever he was trying hard to study?

No. She hadn't because she hadn't noticed it at all before. Why had she liked him? He was gorgeous. And... he was gorgeous. Brooke got up from her crouched position in front of the couch and walked to the window, staring out as the sky turned red and the sun began to set. She sighed. She felt pathetic. She had put her whole heart on the line, lost her best friend, over a guy that she thought was hot. Of course, now she saw something different in him, she saw him in a different way, and she loved the light that seemed to circulate around him. But that wasn't enough for her, she wanted to rewind her life and go back to highschool with Haley, and notice these things before, and decide then if he was worth the heart ache.

"Hey..." Lucas smiled as je sat up on the couch, the book which as resting on his chest falling to the floor. "I was hoping you were still here." He got up off the couch and walked over to her, sitting on a stool next to the window she had so dreamingly been gazing through. She turned and smiled at him and gazed through the window again. He could tell she was thinking hard about everything that had happened in the past. "I miss her too you know." he sighed.

It was amazing, Brooke thought, how clearly everyone could read her, it was as if everything she ever thought was written on her face. "I know you do." She whispered, not wanting to break the peaceful silence of the dorm room.

Lucas watched her lost look. He studied the way her eyes weren't full of tears and sadness, nor were they full of joy and happiness. There were just blank, as if she had lost everything she had ever believed in. " I miss you too." He whispered as he kicked the air with his foot and gazed down at the floor.

"Im right here." Brooke laughed as she walked from the window and sat on the other side of the counter across from Lucas.

"Are you?" He asked. "You're not yourself anymore, and I miss that."

"I get the feeling that we didn't know each other as much as we should have in the beginning Lucas." Brooke smiled at the fact she was able to say this out loud, that she felt comfortable enough with him now to have such a conversation.

He picked u a bag of marshmallows and began to eat them. "Well..." He said deep in thought, his voice muffled from all of the marshmallows in his mouth. "Let's start getting to know each other again. I think we've really begun to over the last couple days... let's keep it up." He smiled with a small piece of marshmallows on his chin.

Brooke laughed at him and he gave her a questioning look. "I'd like that." She smiled.

Haley just stood there. Mark. She was beginning to believe that he was perfect. Sweet. Gentle. Perfect. But he wasn't. He was far from it. He walked back to her and placed his hand on her back again, smiling at her brightly as if it were something that she saw everyday. Maybe this sort of thing occurred frequently at these parties, which made Haley happy she didn't go.

"Ready to go?" He asked nicely. The way he smiled at her made him seem to be perfect again. But the small bag which he had clenched in his fist so tightly as if it were his last source of life, turned her off. Haley winced as she eyed the with the white powder substance, she wondered what she'd be getting herself into.

"Yea." She smiled. She watched the bag in his hand again. And he must have noticed.

"Want some?" He asked, dangling it in front of her face as they sat in the car together. Haley took a deep breath and followed the rhythmic motion of the bag in front of her.

"No thank you." She smiled politely. She was disappointed. He view of Mark had been set to such high standards, and now she felt like the ground which she was finally getting a firm balance on again, was once again crumbling. She had no right to feel this way though. She didn't know Mark, and was this actually a big deal?

"Haven't tried it before?" Mark smiled as he himself placed some on the crook between his thumb and his forefinger, rasing it to his nose and sniffing hard. Haley watched in amazement. He seemed like such an expert. Which wasn't exactly the best complement ever. But next to him, Haley felt dull. Boring, like a young child. And in this time and this place, she wanted to be different then the person she was in Tree Hill.

"I have..." She lied, feeling too unworthy to tell the truth. "... never really liked it." Mark raised his eyebrows at her.

"Good..." He said with his genuine smile. "Because girls and cocain... major turn off." he began to drive out fo the parking lot of the party house, and down the street. This place seemed too perfect. All the houses were bright pastel colors, with huge beaming front lawns and a Victorian shape.

"And guys and Cocain?" Haley felt a confidence roaring inside of her. "That's supposed to be a turn on?" She raised on eyebrow. Mark smiled, he liked how she spoke her mind.

"Well you still want to get pizza with me don't you?" He said with a cocky grin.

"Yeah, of course."

"Well then, it can't be a major turn off can it?" He smiled and kept driving. Haley didn't speak, just smiled into his deep eyes and tried to forget about what she learned tonight.

Review Please...

Michelley P:o)