Chapter 2

"so does anyone want to step up and confess?" Rachel asked, but no one moved a muscle. "didn't think so…"

"so then what do we do?" Peyton asked.

"let's deal with the most serious one first… 'S - I've tried to kill myself'?" Haley asked everyone in the room. "who ever is doing this needs to step up. I can't believe someone in this room has even attempted it."

"how do we know it's not you?" Peyton asked Haley.

"because I'm the one who said we should deal with it. Why would I be saying all of this stuff it were me?"

"maybe you're just trying to cover up for yourself" Rachel started. "maybe you're just so unhappy with your life you want to end it"

"that's ridiculous" Haley said.

"is it?" Rachel asked.

"please, do I look like I've tried to kill myself?"

"none of us do, but someone has tried." Peyton said.

"what about you?" Rachel asked Peyton. "you had that whole drug thing going on before, not to mention you have the whole 2 deceased moms thing going on"

"Rachel, don't go there" Haley said.

"no, go ahead, I want to know what you think" Peyton said a little angry, but trying to make it look like she was calm.

"well I'm just saying, even though I've never lost a parent I can imagine it's hard for you, and maybe you just don't want to be here anymore… maybe you don't want to exist anymore"

"please, I'm not stupid enough to try that" Peyton said. "plus, I doubt I could even bring myself to even try it"

"well we don't know that" Rachel said as she glanced over at Brooke. She had been quiet for a while now… Rachel thought the whole idea of suicide was probably scary for Brooke. But it couldn't have been her, she was with Rachel and she was happy.

"we… right." Peyton reminded herself. "since when have you two been so close anyways?"

"well ever since my best friend stabbed me in the back, I've searched for someone else" Brooke finally spoke up. Peyton eyed them suspiciously but let it go.

"okay this is getting old now… would someone just speak up so we can talk about this? This is really serious, and I'm willing to put any and all anger aside if this person would just speak up." Peyton offered. But once again there was silence. Rachel looked over to Brooke again and saw that she wasn't even looking back at her, she knew Rachel was staring at her, but couldn't look up. Soon Rachel became suspicious. If it was true, she couldn't take any chances. Rachel nudged Brooke and caught her attention, and stared into her eyes. She was a little nervous, which made Rachel really nervous. Rachel continued to stare into Brooke's eyes search for an answer, and Brooke kept trying to tear her eyes away but couldn't. Then Brooke did something to change it all. She gripped the ends of her sleeves with the tips of her fingers, pulling the sleeves down by less than an inch.

Rachel instantly stood up when she saw it. "please don't tell me…" Rachel whispered. Brooke sub-consciously gripped the end of her sleeves tighter.

"what?" Peyton asked. Rachel took a step closer to Brooke and grabbed her arm. Brooke tried tearing her arm away, but Rachel had a good grip on it.

"stop!" Brooke said quietly as she started to cry. Rachel ignored the tears and continued with what she was doing. She forced Brooke against the wall and grabbed her arm. She pushed the sleeve up aggressively and saw something she would have never expected. Half way up Brooke arm there were several scars. Some deep than others, but most of them pretty close to her wrist.

"it's you…" Rachel whispered as Haley and Peyton rushed over to Brooke as well. Brooke pushed her sleeve back down and started crying even harder. "it's you…" Rachel repeated. "you've tried to kill yourself?" she asked in disbelief. Brooke didn't say anything, she just folded her arms and sat back down, still crying.

"Brooke…" Peyton said trying to comfort her. As promised she disregarded all of her anger to help her friend.

"get off me!" Brooke snapped.

"why did you do this Brooke?" Peyton asked softly.

"you want to know why I did this!?" Brooke yelled. "it's because of you, Peyton. You and Lucas. I loved him! I really loved him, I had never felt that way about anyone, and then out of no where you, you secretly date him behind my back. And I gave you a second chance, Peyton, and you blew it. You told me you had feelings for him and it hurt so much when you said that… so much that I…"

"you tried to kill your self?" Peyton finished the sentence. "Brooke I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, if I knew any of this would have happened I wouldn't have even said a word"

"but you did, and it hurt me so much. I cared about you and Lucas more than anyone else in the world, and when I lost you both I just couldn't take it. It… it just hurt so badly, I had to escape." Brooke said with tears streaming down her face as she fell into Peyton's arms to hug her. Peyton was crying just as much as Brooke was now, Haley even had some tears in her eyes. Rachel was sitting down a few feet away from Brooke, trying not to look at any of them.

"Brooke, I'm sorry for everything" Peyton whispered into Brooke's ear. "I love you B. Davis" Peyton said hoping that she would hear her nickname too. If she could just hear that nick name she knew everything would be okay.

"I love you too… P. Sawyer" Brooke whispered. Brooke and Peyton finally pulled apart, Brooke looked over at Rachel who was staring blankly into the air.

"Rachel?" Brooke asked. Rachel came back to reality, but instead of looking back at Brooke she just stared at the floor. "Rachel" Brooke said again. She knew Rachel wasn't happy.

"I can't believe this" Rachel said. Brooke sat down next to her, while Peyton and Haley sat down a few feet away from them, but watching.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't tell anyone, I couldn't…" Brooke said.

"that's not even it…" Rachel said.

"then what is?"

"it's the fact that even though you and I were together you still felt like you didn't want to live. It means that I don't make you happy"

"what? No" Brooke said. "of course you make me happy"

"Rachel, you're her friend" Peyton said. "and from what I've seen lately you guys are pretty close, even I could tell Brooke was happy"

"you still don't get it, do you?" Rachel asked Peyton.

"get what?"

"I'm not just Brooke's friend… we're dating!" Rachel said turning her attention back to Brooke. "dating... And if I can't make you happy when we're dating – happy enough to live – then maybe we don't belong together"

"what are you saying?" Brooke asked.

"I'm saying that someone out there can make you happy, because it obviously isn't me."

"you're breaking up with me?" Brooke asked sadly.