Chapter 9

I own nothing…

So I'm sorry for my lack of updates…I'm still kinda sick, not as bad as before, but I've been really busy and I can't stay up til 2 in the morning anymore, cause I have to get prepared for school to start on Monday…but here it is…

Thing's weren't working out for the 6 friends. Haley and Nathan could tell if they didn't do something fast to fix things, they would never be the same. And as of now, nothing could fix things.

They went back to school. Brooke avoided Peyton and Luke and they avoided her. Jake avoided them too. Brooke only really talked to Haley, occasionally talked to Nate; she really didn't talk to Jake, even though things were okay with them. Sure, Jake tried talking to Brooke, but then he would see Peyton or Luke and feel guilty about everything and just turn around and walk away.

Days, Weeks, Months passed, and they still weren't friends. Haley and Brooke became closer. Haley, taking over Peyton's former position as best friend. And of course Haley taking over as Peyton's best friend too. Soon Haley felt as though she was in the middle of their tug of war.

"So Haley, we're going to the mall tomorrow right?" Brooke asked.

"Umm, I have something to do, but I can try to get there," she responded, knowing Brooke didn't want to hear Peyton's name.

"What are you doing?" the brunette asked, not knowing the Peyton was behind it.

"I'm going to the record store, picking up some new ones, stuff like that," Haley answered.

"Oh, cool, I could come too, and then we could hit the mall, it could save some time."

"True, but, uh, I don't know if you'd want to go. I mean Pey-"

"On second thought, I'll stay home, read some sappy romance novel, or some book where your best friend stabs you in the back, and drown myself in tears," she said.

"Brooke, not to make the situation worse, but you've been friends with her your whole life. She's sorry, you're depressed out of your mind and it's been months. Why can't you try and talk to her."

"She stole my boyfriend. She's sorry about it? If she felt even an ounce of regret, she wouldn't still be with him, she would have dumped him on the spot and apologized til she couldn't anymore. But, what does she do? She goes off and continues to be with him. At least I'm not with Jake," she tells Haley.

"Brooke, you kinda are with Jake."

"No, I'm not, we ended that like 2 months ago, we both felt so damn guilty, we decided not to throw it in their faces," she said, even more depressed, "like they did," she added. "And plus, I'm sort of with the 'new guy' we've been on a couple dates," she told her.

"Brooke, it's been 2 months, can't you at least try to talk to her. For me? The one who's stuck in the middle, and being pulled in all different directions," she asked her. "And the 'new guy' has a name Brooke, if you're going to date him, you might want to call him by his first name. He has been here for like 5 months."

"Maybe, but not tomorrow, I'll just meet you at the mall, I've got to get to class, call me later," Brooke said, walking towards her class. Not paying attention to where she was going, bumped into someone, and dropped all her books.

"What is up with me and bumping into people?" she asked, out loud. "Oh, Scott, hey, sorry about that."

"No problem, so I was thinking, maybe we could go out tomorrow night?"

"Sure, that'd be good. Oh, I'm hanging out with Hales tomorrow," she said.

He looked at her, dejected. "Look, Brooke, if you don't want to do this, then just say so."

"No, it's not that, I just made plans with Haley, we could go Saturday. Dinner would be nice," she smiled at him.

"Okay, I'll pick you up at 7?"

"Yea," she said still smiling at him, watching him as he walked away.

"Hey Brooke," came someone from behind her.

"Jake, hey," she said, turning around.

"You still don't smile the way you smiled at me," he told her.

"Jake, we agreed."

"I know, and every time I try and talk to you, they appear and suddenly I feel like I shouldn't. And they're not here, so I'm trying to talk to you," he said nervously.

"What did you want to talk about, Jake?"

"I still want to be with you. Things got weird, yes, but that doesn't change how I feel. Things were screwed up, but what if we were meant to be and not you and Luke."

"Don't mention either of their names. Even though I'm supposed to try and talk to her or something, don't mention them."

"I get it Brooke, you're still not over it, over everything that happened."

"No, Yes, I don't know, it's not that I don't want to Jake, but we promised no to throw it in their faces."

"Like, they're doing to us?"

"Still, we have to be the better people," she said, still avoiding a certain detail.

"Brooke, you're acting weird," he said.

"What do you mean, I'm acting weird? I'm not acting weird."

"Sure, what aren't you telling me?"

Brooke looked at him. Regretfully and fast, she told him, "I'mkindofdatingsomeone."

"Hey, next time, let's try English," he joked.

"I'm kind of dating someone," she told him. Off his hurt expression, "Jake, it's just we've grown apart, and things have been awkward and I thought this would help. I had to start dating again sometime."

"Yea, you did, I'll see you around."

"Jake," she said, but he had already walked away head down. She couldn't take it anymore. She broke out in tears and ran out of the school, right past Luke and Peyton, who were sitting on a bench.

"Whoa, what's up with her?" Luke asked.

"This is my chance, I'm going to go talk to her," she told him, getting up.

"Are you sure, now might not be the best time."

"If I don't do it now, I'll never do it," she told him, "I'll call you later."

And with a kiss goodbye, she was gone, speeding out of the parking lot, on her way to Brooke's.

"Seat taken?"

"Nope."

So she sat down, and he immediately got up.

"Luke," Haley said.

"Haley," Luke said, matching her tone.

"Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm your best friend Hales, or at least I was."

"We're still on that. Brooke's my best friend too. If it weren't for you guys, I would have no friends. I mean sure there's Mouth and others, but without the 6 of us, I have no one."

"Well you should've just told me," he said.

"And what? Screw thing's up more? I don't think so. What would it have done Luke? You break up with her, even though you were doing the same, even worse than she was. I wasn't going to break anyone up. We were all happy, why can't it be like that again? Without all you guys dating?"

"I don't know Hales, but it's going to take some time. We all have to move on."

"You seem to be doing that well," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he said, getting defensive.

"Nothing, but if you wanted to spare peoples feelings Luke, maybe you shouldn't have gotten with Peyton so damn fast. You hurt Brooke, and don't even try the she did the same thing to me. You were doing it for months before she even thought to look at Jake like that. It's your fault, you shut her out," she told him," you know what, I don't want the seat, you can have it." And she got up and walked back into the school.

Brooke's House…

"Hey, Brooke," Peyton said cautiously as she walked into the room.

"What do you want Peyton?" she asked hurt.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay, you seemed a little upset. You know, running out of the school with tears running down your face."

"Stop making it sound like we're friends, we're not Peyton, you hurt me."

"And you didn't hurt me?"

"Cause I was doing it for 4 months," she said sarcastically, "You went behind my back and you lied to me. You even said that you swore on our friendship that you weren't with Luke. You swore, and now I don't think I can trust you. So please just leave."

"Fine, at least I tried."

Graduation…

"Brooke," Jake called out, chasing after her.

"Jake?" she asked, obviously crying.

"Yea it's me, come here," he said, pulling her into a much needed hug.

"How could I have been so stupid? I trusted him. First Peyton and Luke, and now him. I can't trust anyone anymore."

"Hey," he said, cupping her face with his hand, making her look at him, "you can trust me, you always can. You can come to me for anything. I'll always be there for you."

"Thanks Jake," she said, smiling.

"There's that smile I love," he said sweetly, causing her to smile more.

"I can't go back in there, he's there and, oh my god they're arresting Mr. Scott, this was supposed to be the best day ever," she said, bursting into tears again.

"Hey we're graduating, and we're moving on. You'll be away from this place, away from them, you can finally move on," he told her.

"Jake, I don't need moving on from them, I'm fine with them now. I never got over you," she told him.

Thought I should end it there. Sorry for the time jump...but if i didn't make time got faster this story would be boring and really long...

Anyway, voting is complete, thanks to Sheena and her vote. I'm very happy with the way this turned out…

Also, to clear things up…Andy, Brooke's boyfriend, is not Andy, Karen's boyfriend. That Andy doesn't exist. I can't say I really liked him as Karen's boyfriend.

Also…I will have this go past graduation. It will show Brooke in NYC, although she will have her doubts about that.

Another thing, if you haven't figured this out yet. It will be a Brooke/Jake. Andy/Scott is just some random person I made up…I had a crush on an Andy and a crush on a Scott and also my friends' last name is Jones.

Well…please review, cause it makes me feel special…

Kara