"You Can't take It Back"

"Dude, did you hear about Lucas and Peyton?" Tim asked Nathan, the moment he walked into the empty locker room. "I thought he was dating Brooke. Now she's hot." Tim smiled, his eyes practically glazing over as if he was in the middle of a daydream.

"Lucas is an ass." Nathan replied, shoving his gym bag in the locker and slamming it shut. Nathan stared straight ahead and pounded his fist against the locker door. Everything is his life seemed to have hit a brick wall, where he was unable to fix any of it. Things from his relentless dad, his parents' bogus marriage, his substandard grades, to his relationship with Brooke.

"Whoa, man…I was just saying." Tim reassured him, backing away towards the door.

"Nah, Tim it's straight. I've just been having some issues with my dad." Nathan told him, sitting down on the locker room bench. "Sometimes it just gets to me."

"Need something to take the edge off? It helps, trust me. In the morning I don't remember a thing." Tim offered, as he pulled a couple bottles of alcohol from his locker.

"I guess." Nathan agreed as Tim passed him a bottle. "But, just one. I have to play tonight, and if I suck my dad will kill me."

"Yeah, just one." Tim granted, taking a sip out of his bottle.

"Do you think Brooke would go for me? I mean, now that she's single?" Tim looked at himself in the mirror. "How could she resist this face?" He mused, making faces in the mirror.

"Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Okay, Nate."

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"Luke!" Haley James sprinted across the courtyard, to where her best friend Lucas Scott was sitting on a picnic bench. "What's up?" She breathed, sliding into the space next to him. She tossed her book bag on the ground, and dug out her lunch.

"Nothing. Besides the fact that I screwed things up majorly with Brooke." Lucas replied, running a hand over his buzzed hair. His light green eyes looked dull and red as they met Haley's.

"Well, that's an understatement." Haley scoffed, biting into her apple. "And I hate to break it to you, but she's done Luke. It's over for her."

"I didn't mean for her to find out like that." Lucas explained, his eyes searching the courtyard. "Peyton didn't either. It was all a huge mistake."

"Does Peyton feel that way?" Haley asked, noticing as Lucas watched Brooke from across the court, his expression softening. She wondered if maybe there was more to their relationship, than she had initially realized. "Luke?" She said, touching his arm.

"Sorry. I gotta go, Hales. I'll see you tonight at the game." He smiled at her encouragingly, slipping his brown book bag over his shoulder.

"Right." Haley returned his smile, wishing she knew what was going on with him. She watched him walk quickly across the campus, in the direction Brooke had went. Haley sat there for a couple of minutes just soaking in all the drama and confusion that was high school. Everything had changed for her, when Lucas had become "popular". Suddenly she had boys asking her out, that she'd never even noticed, let alone had a conversation with. She had become friends with people that had never previously acknowledged her existence, and it was still all a little new to her. All of the emotions, the boys, the love triangles, the backstabbing, the unwritten rules of who you can talk to and who you can't.

"Haley!" Peyton Sawyer exclaimed, quickly running over and sitting down beside Haley. "Hey, I was wondering, if you'd seen Lucas." She asked, tucking a stray ringlet of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Or Brooke." She added her voice dropping.

Haley shook her head, and gave Peyton a fake smile. She'd never really talked to the petite blonde before, something about her had always seemed so artificial. It was like she was always putting on a show for everyone, but when the curtain was closed, what nobody really saw, that was the real her. And Haley wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Okay, well hopefully I'll see you tonight." Peyton got up from the table. "You definitely can't miss the rager Dan Scott's throwing." Peyton said sarcastically picking up her stuff, "Should have known he'd find some way to incorporate basketball into it. If I wasn't required to go, there is no way I'd go. The guy's a complete jackass."

"Agreed. I'm only going to be there because Lucas asked me to. There is no other reason I'd be found anywhere near Dan or his prized castle." Haley admitted, as Peyton laughed.

"Good luck, the first time's the worst." Peyton winked at her as she turned around, the wind blowing her curls back.

"Well, tonight should be fun." Haley muttered, to herself. Brooke, Peyton, Lucas all at the same party. Not something that she'd like to witness, but it didn't look like she had all that much of a choice.

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"Brooke!" Lucas Scott yelled as he ran up behind the brunette, grabbing her arm. He let go as she faced him, a glare already on her face.

"Don't you dare touch me!" She shouted, as his eyes searched hers. She started to walk away, but suddenly turned around and walked up to him, a gleam in her dark green eyes."Oh and by the way, in case you got us confused again, I think I saw my former-best-friend A.K.A. your new girlfriend back there. You know the one you really want." She linked arms with the dirty blonde haired girl standing silent, next to her. "Come on, Bev."

"Why are you mad at him, again?" Bevin asked, looking back at Lucas.

"Did you dye your hair again?" Brooke snapped, slightly pushing the blonde away from her. It was a little well known fact that every time Bevin dyed her hair, she acted more ditzy than usual. Well at least Brooke thought she did, Bevin didn't really get the joke.

"How'd you know?" Bevin wondered, as she adjusted her Versace sunglasses that were perched on top of her head.

"Brooke! Come on, can we at least talk?" Lucas exclaimed, from behind her throwing his hands up in the air. "I'm sorry, okay? What do you want from me?"

Brooke turned around and met his persistent gaze. "What I want from you? I wanted you to want me. To mean it when you told me you loved me. I wanted to trust you when you told me there was nothing between you and Peyton, and I did. I trusted you, and you stabbed me in the back. " Brooke stepped back, running a shaking hand through her hair. She could feel her eyes welling up, and she held back the tears threatening to escape. "Now, I want nothing from you."

Brooke glared at him, grabbing Bevin's arm, and practically dragging her inside the school. Brooke fought the urge to look back, instead she tried to straighten her already straight Chloe' dark blue camisole tank top.

"Bathroom detour?" Bevin asked, meeting Brooke's eyes. Brooke nodded glad that Bevin was there in spite of everything. "It's okay, I'm the queen of break-up's. You're in well-educated hands."

"Thanks, Bevin." Brooke cried, laughing at the same time. She wrapped her arms around Bevin, as they walked into the bathroom, and she still clung to her as she sobbed through her lunch period in the Girl's bathroom stall.

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