The Unkindness
The Unkindness
Disclaimer: See Author's Bio
Summary: AU. Two rivaling cliques rule the halls and the population of Tree Hill High. At the head of those two cliques are two rivaling enemies, Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer. OTH & OC Crossover
A/N: Thank you to: BRUCAS EQUALS LOVE, cRaZyGuRl093, and awakeningjenny for reviewing! I know you all are getting really curious about how everything will turn out. Bare with me cause it will need to take a few chapters to explain everything. And then I can get into the fun stuff. This chapter adds a big twist to the story and also highlights some of the past history of Brooke and others.
Prologue Part 4: Sounds Like Teen Spirit
"What the hell was that about?" Ryan exclaimed as he caught up with Brooke in her car. He hoped her anger wouldn't affect her driving, especially with the rain pouring outside. She didn't bother to answer his question, so Ryan sat silent and still for the car ride. His eyes shifted every so often to see if Brooke would calm down anytime soon. Normally he didn't have regrets. But he had a feeling that by the end of the night, he would regret ever agreeing to go with Lucas to Nathan and Summer Scott's end of summer party.
Ryan wondered what Haley James would do in his situation. After all, if it wasn't for him insisting for her to stay away from the party, he wouldn't be involved in this Summer-Lucas-Brooke-Nathan-Peyton craziness…well maybe still involved with the Nathan-Peyton stuff…but at least Nathan and Peyton now had the decency to ignore him and pretend he didn't exist. He'd take ignorance over Brooke's wrath any day.
He wondered if the night wouldn't have been such a disaster if he and Lucas said no to Brooke tagging along. She found out about Lucas' party invite from Haley and insisted she go with them. After four rounds of arguments, Lucas and Ryan finally agreed to take her when she reasoned that they would need a designated driver; and she was the only one out of their friends who had the guts to go near a "jock infested" party.
But he dismissed those notions. There was one reason and one reason only for why the night turned into a huge suck-fest. And that reason was Lucas; who left the party without them but with Summer Scott, something Ryan promised Brooke would not happen. Boy was he going to get it later.
"When did Lucas leave?" Brooke asked angrily, interrupting Ryan's thoughts. Ryan jumped a little at Brooke's question. Not only because of Brooke's angered tone, but also because she seemed to possess some sort of ESP. To say Brooke was furious at the moment was an understatement; and Ryan knew it. It wasn't just the fact that Lucas had run off. It was also the fact that every time Brooke and Peyton exchanged as little as two words, Brooke's past would come back to haunt and anger her.
"Some lacrosse player said that he left twenty minutes before we did," he paused, wondering if he should reveal the rest of the information he knew, "Some girl passed out and Lucas, uh, helped her get home." At this piece of information, Brooke abruptly slammed on the break, causing a screeching tire sound and Ryan to jerk forward in his seat.
"Are you trying to give me whiplash?" he complained, but Brooke didn't bother with his whining.
"What girl? No council chick was at the damn - " Brooke began when the little light bulb in her head went on, "Wait a minute, don't tell me. Nathan's sister?"
Ryan nodded and confirmed Brooke's mini revelation. With a huff, Brooke resumed the drive home and yelled to no one in particular. "Does Lucas always have to play the hero? He seriously has some sort of damn complex," Brooke complained. "If he wasn't Haley's stinkin' best friend forever, I would kick his ass out of the freakin river court for hanging out with that little twit."
"Aww, come on. You, Seth, Haley, and Lucas are the freakin Four Musketeers; you wouldn't kick him out." Ryan reasoned.
Even though Ryan had only been in Tree Hill for a mere two years, he got to know Brooke and her best friends pretty well. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere. It sort of helped that Brooke's best friend, Seth Cohen, had a father who was kind enough to take Ryan in when his mother couldn't care for him after his father landed in jail.
From what Ryan gathered the past couple years, Haley James and Lucas Roe were best friends since they could read; while Brooke Davis and Seth Cohen became best friends in the third grade. Eight years ago, Brooke had moved in across the street from the Cohens and she introduced Seth to the world of Playstation. Haley taught Brooke a trick for multiplying fractions in the fifth grade and shortly after that, the Four Musketeers were formed.
Five years later, at the start of freshman year of high school, Ryan entered their lives. By then, the eccentric group of four unintentionally formed one of the most powerful cliques in their school – "the Council." They became the group that the athletically challenged idolized.
Put together Brooke's "Miss Congeniality" personality and looks, Seth's quirkiness and sarcasm, Lucas' knight in shining armor compassion, and Haley's academic success and you had the recipe for a group that the "ordinary sports deficient people" promoted towards the top of the Tree Hill Hierarchy just by wishing they were more like them. And to top it all off, the student body had deemed them eye candy material. It was something unexpected by the group and definitely unwanted by at least three of them.
The Council's rivals, naturally, was the clique headed by Nathan Scott and Peyton Sawyer. This athletic clique consisted of solely athletes, but not just any athlete. The group consisted of the most attractive and/or richest athletes Tree Hill had to offer, aka the cheerleaders and any hot male athlete they deemed worthy. If an athlete was fortunate to be a part of the group, it meant the majority of the student body wanted to either be them, be with them, and at the least be seen with them. The "Cletes" (Cheerleaders + Athletes) were the athletic royalty idolized at Tree Hill High. Brooke preferred to call them the Jockstraps.
Unfortunately for Ryan, his earlier reference to the Four Musketeers wasn't sitting too well with Brooke at the moment and she became silent. Ryan hated it most when Brooke was silent and angry. He hated not knowing what she was thinking. Angry he could somewhat deal with, but silent and angry, that was another story.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened with Peyton?" Ryan asked, hoping that she wouldn't ignore him. They arrived at Brooke's driveway and the two exited the car.
"Like you care," Brooke slammed the car door, the anger in her voice eminent as she searched her purse for her house keys.
"What are you talking about; of course I care. We're friends aren't - " Ryan began, but didn't get a chance to finish. Brooke suddenly turned around and looked Ryan straight in the eye. Even though the rain was blurring his vision, he could still see the hurt that she was carrying. Ryan felt as if daggers were to shoot from her hazel eyes at any moment.
"Ok, friend. Do me a favor; next time you want to pull me away from a fight and defend me, take your eyes off of the blonde," Brooke hissed. The rain continued to fall and soak their hair and clothing, but neither one dared to move.
Ryan was utterly confused as to why she was feeling so hurt and angry at him. All he did was try to prevent her from causing world war three. "What has gotten into you Brooke?" he asked a little too loudly.
"Now what the hell are you talking about?" Brooke asked him in reply. She was confused how one of her close friends could be so clueless about everything.
"You were the first person to ever smile at me when I entered Tree Hill. You convinced Sandy Cohen to take on my case and then let me into his home. How could you hate this girl so much?" Ryan asked.
"Are you taking her side?" Brooke asked, her anger beginning to escalate.
"I just want to know why you hate her so I can understand what is going on," Ryan tried to calmly explain without getting Brooke more upset. He noticed, however, that his goal wasn't exactly reached.
"God, you and Lucas – I don't know what to do with either of you! I go away for one summer and you and Luke suddenly switch sides and fall for little Miss Pyramid Topper and Cheer Captain from Hell!" Brooke exclaimed. "At least Lucas fell for the good Clete; you on the other hand couldn't have picked a worse girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend, and you have no idea what you're talking about. I can't speak for Luke, but as for me and Peyton…What happened wasn't even close to a relationship," Ryan shot back. It always went back to his few summer encounters with Peyton. Ryan wished he took Seth's warnings about Brooke more seriously. He also wished that he never said a word to Peyton the first day he saw her at the New Mexico rehab center.
"Call it whatever you want, Ryan, but that girl does not deserve to associate with any of us," Brooke claimed.
"Any of us? Do you hear yourself? Since when did you ever care about groups or cliques or whatever you call this stupid popular thing?" Ryan exclaimed.
"It's not about the stupid hierarchy! It's about that Clete turning you against me!" Brooke snapped back.
"I am not against you. How many times do I have to explain it all to you?!" Ryan yelled.
"Oh believe me; once was plenty," Brooke screamed.
"Then why the hell don't you believe me?" Ryan asked in frustration.
"Because aside from wanting to a) stab me in the back or b) stab me in the heart, I don't know why the hell any of my friends, most of all you, would hang out with the Cheer Bitch formerly known as Peyton Davis Sawyer!" Brooke exclaimed back fiercely.
The name Peyton Davis Sawyer struck Ryan with more than shock, if that was even possible. If words were tangible, they would have knocked him to the ground. Brooke watched Ryan's eyes as he started to put all the pieces together in his mind.
"That's right, old friend of mine. Little Miss Goldilocks is my damn sister. What are the odds right? That my worst enemy shares the same father as me? And I find out from her mother, no less. She assumed if I knew the truth, I would take care of my little sis, just like an older sister should. I was ten, Ryan! Ten!" Brooke's raspy voice filled the thunderous air. She wasn't angry. She was hurt. And Ryan couldn't say anything. What could he say? But he didn't have to say anything yet because Brooke continued with her emotional rant.
"Well I tried to be the older sis…two whole damn years I tried…and look what happened…she declares war on me in the seventh grade – the seventh grade! Do you have any idea what that feels like? You don't. Nobody does. So do me a favor and cut me some damn slack for hating the bitch." Her voice was scratchy and hoarse from all the previous yelling, but Ryan heard every word Brooke said. And now, he felt as if he finally saw just one of the layers of Brooke that she closed off from everyone.
"I am so sorry, Brooke" Ryan voiced with sympathy. He pulled her in for an embrace, and she slowly relaxed into his arms.
"Well I'm sorry I'm related to her," she said, causing both of them to chuckle. He continued to comfort her in the rain as she stared at the Cohen's house across the street. It was funny how that house seemed more of a home to her than the one she was standing in front of right now.
"Listen," Ryan interrupted her thoughts, "I'll cut you some slack for hating her if you could you do me a favor and stop this act that you've been pulling for the past few months, please?"
"What act? I'm the same Brooke Montgomery I've always been," Brooke pulled away from Ryan, her arms crossing in front of her chest.
"No you're not, Brooke. Ever since your mother - "
"Not this again. Don't you dare, Ryan; don't you dare judge me or talk about my mother. You have no right. Run across the street, get off my property, and go away." She turned away from him, trying to stop the tears from forming. She felt droplets cascade down her cheeks. She couldn't figure out if they were tears or the rain. Ryan, meanwhile, was confused. Brooke had just done a 180 on him and again, he wasn't sure why.
"Brooke, just talk to me. You know you can tell me anything; you're - " he tried to finish his sentence, but in typical angry Brooke fashion, he was cut off.
"Oh no; don't you finish that line with 'you're like a sister to me.' I did talk to you. I told you one of my deepest secrets; one that only Seth, Lucas, and Haley know. I made you the fifth musketeer. And what do you do? You accuse me of… ok…I don't even know what. But all I know is that it hurts. And the fact that you hung out with her and didn't bother to tell me - " Brooke screamed in frustration.
"Don't bother pulling the 'you're like a sister to me' card, cause it won't work," Brooke insisted; anger and sadness washing over her. "My only family is the Cohens… And last I checked - you're not a Cohen."
She knew she stabbed him deep with that comment, but she couldn't help it. She had been hurting the past six years – six long years, and even more so the past two months. The fight at the party and her accidental revelation was the ultimate breaking point. She had to take it out on somebody; and like Nathan Scott, Brooke often spoke before she could think.
She watched as her words twisted in Ryan's heart and he sadly did as he was told and ran into the Cohen mansion. She proceeded to go into her own residence, but couldn't bring herself to turn the doorknob. She slid down against the door and sat on the welcome mat. Crying, she wished she could turn back the clock to before summer ever started.
A/N: Dun dun dun…yeah so I decided to do a switch up and make Brooke and Peyton siblings instead of Nathan and Lucas. So obviously, this story is totally changing up some OTH and OC history. But don't worry, I'm definitely going to throw in some original OTH and OC stuff in. I can't wait till I get further into this story because a LOT of characters are going to be showing up and possibly stirring up trouble.
I'm also still trying to decide between certain couples. From the past chapter, you can tell I'm leaning towards a Lucas/Summer relationship, but I was a huge shipper of Seth/Summer back in the day…so…yeah lol I don't know what it's going to end up being. And I'm trying to figure out whom to pair Brooke with…Nathan? Ryan? Lucas? Chase? Someone else??...so any ideas or opinions would help! Thanks everyone!
So please review and I'll post the next chapter up soon!
Coming up: Lucas and Haley, how Lucas and Summer became friends.