2

2.

Brooke stood in the hallways, smiling and laughing with her large group of friends. All of them smiled and told stories, laughing at her jokes in hope that she would accept them. Tightening her lips together she forced a smile but she knew that none of them could tell it was fake, the only one who could ever see through her… was Nathan.

As her somewhat friends went on and on about something that had happened over the weekend her mind drifted to what happened the night before.

Brooke had once promised herself she would never let anyone get close enough to hurt her; people no matter how good they want to be can't help but hurt people, wither they care for them or not.

She'd seen it so many times it was starting to become a broken record. Girls claiming they were inlove and even if only for a short time it might look like it was going to work but she knew better. If anything she was the exact opposite.

There wasn't a boy Brooke had dated that hadn't told her they loved her or were inlove with her but she knew better, as soon as they spoke the L word it would be the end of whatever they had going on. The boys never lasted, no matter how hot they were, smart, talented, sweet, or bad. At the end of the day they would just hurt her but she wont give them that chance.

"Brooke!" the blonde haired girl in front of her called out. Brooke instantly snapped out of it. "What'd you say?" she asked. "I was asking why you weren't at Skill's party on Saturday?" the girl repeated again.

Like Brooke would ever give her the real answer, 'Oh well my family decided it was a good time to have another emphasis Davis Disaster night… you know where your mom hits your dad until he breaks and hits her back and in the end they find some way to blame me?'

"Well I was a little busy with the new boy toy.. sorry." She lied as she kinked her eye brow to let them believe the lie. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she spotted Nathan coming out of his last class. "Gotta Go."

Sprinting off down the hallway her long brunette hair was flowing behind her and falling in her face as she just on his strong muscular back. "I was looking for you Nate…" She smirked and then slid down off his back.

A grin appeared on his face and she rolled her eyes. "Don't even Nathan Scott.. Your lucky I even talk to your ass.. You should feel privileged to be in my presence."

Watching him as he stopped in the hallway and gave her an appropriate nod, she knew he understood exactly what she meant.

--xXx—

Brooke dug through her guy back, wondering if she even bothered to pack her shorts for practice. She had been so preoccupied escaping her family drama that cheerleading practice was the last thing on her mind. She was the captain and she knew that she should appreciate that more, there wasn't a girl on the squad that wouldn't have killed to be in her spot but cheerleading wasn't her life like the other girls.

Unbuttoning her top she pulled it off and dropped it to the bench, unhooking her bra and reaching for her form fitting sports bra. Some of the other girls' eyes gawked at Brooke as she stood there half naked. She didn't mind being envied by girls; in fact she enjoyed knowing she was hot enough that other girls checked her out.

Pulling on the sports bra, she adjusted her breast in it, making sure she had enough cleavage to still look hot even when she was all sweaty. Unbuttoning her jeans she wiggled out of them, pushing them down past her knees before stepping out of them and sliding on the shorts that barely covered her ass.

"In the gym in 10 minutes girls.." she called out before walking out of the locker room and into the gym where half of the boys where already gathered for basketball practice.

As soon as she walked through the doors she could feel the eyes piercing her skin, it use to be her favorite thing about practice. All the boys would gawk in awe of her body and how tight her outfit was but that was back before she knew they all wanted her.

Stepping over to the pile of pomp pomps her eyes landed on Lucas, Nathan's half brother, not that Nathan would ever admit it. They'd never gotten along; there were too many close encounters between the two of them.

The tension was obvious with them, it still amazed Brooke that they could play on the same team but that didn't mean there hadn't been a few blows.

Once two years ago, Brooke had made the mistake of thinking Nathan just never gave Lucas a fair chance but she learned that lesson the hard way.

Standing in the kitchen of Bevin's house, Brooke was pouring herself a drink when someone walked up beside her. Turning to face them she looked up curiously at Lucas Scoot who was grinning down at her.

"I know you don't like me, seeing as your Nathan's best friend." He said before leaning back against the counter and making himself comfortable in front of her.

Her eyes scanned the room, curious why he was approaching her. Brooke was the queen of sneaky and this had sneaky plan written all over it. "What do you want?" she finally let out before letting her eyes return to him with a glare.

"Woah! Down girl" he smirked and help his hands up like he surrendered. "I was just trying to be nice and let you actually get to know me before you wrote me off.

Letting out a sigh Brooke reach down and grabbed her pomp pomps, still pissed at herself for being so gullible that night two years ago.

Turning around to face the open court she quickly took a step back when Lucas was less than 3 feet in front of her. "What do you want?" she hissed before giving him another glare.

"I just wanted to see how my favorite girl was doing." He spoke before stepping closer to her and placing his hands on her hip, trying to pull her to him.

"Get off of me!" she screamed while pounding her fist into his chest to get him to back off of her. When his grip tightened she pushed harder only to have him press his body into her.

"Come on Brooke… You enjoyed it so much two years ago." His voice was husky and deep as he tried to keep her from escaping his grasp.

Before Brooke could get another word out a strong force pulled Lucas's hands from her body and flung him back to the floor. Her yes darted to the two forms on the floor, rolling around while punches are being thrown.

"Nate!!" Brooke screamed rushing over to the two and grabbing on to Nathan's arm, trying her hardest to pull them apart. "Stop before you get benched for this Friday's game."

Breaking them apart, Brooke watched closely as Nathan stood up and glared at Lucas. "Touch her again… and you wont have to worry about playing basketball ever again."

Lucas scooted back on the floor and Nathan turned to face Brooke, placing his hand on her arm and staring into her eyes. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"No." she repeated quietly before letting her eyes stare down at the ground. Nathan was always there, he always saved her. He was her savor.