Rachel Gattina knew her way around men. She knew how to work them to get whatever she wanted. She knew when to back off…for the most part….and she knew what to do to get out of a potentially hairy situation.

Of course there was the prerequisite pepper-spray and she knew a thing or two about karate and the finer forms of physically protecting herself. But Rachel also carried another form of protection in the form of a little pill.

Some might call it a date rape drug. Rachel called it her extra inch of safety…and fun. The dosage didn't knock the man out, but definitely made them less aware.

Rachel decided that for better or worse something needed to happen between Brooke, Lucas, and Peyton. Some….closure. Or not, Rachel thought, as she discreetly dropped the pill into a drink. Adjusting her skirt she sauntered over to where Lucas stood, brooding in the corner.

"Hey, blondie," she greeted, leaning against the wall next to him. Lucas drew his eyes away from the crowd and laid them on Rachel with question and a slight bit of mistrust.

"Hey, Rachel." Lucas ended the unenthusiastic greeting with a sigh.

"You look like you could use a friend and a drink."

"No thank you."

"You sure? I heard you and Peyton out there talking on the patio. Pretty intense stuff."

"You were spying on us?" Lucas turned his full attention on the red headed troublemaker in front of him.

"Not spying broody boy. Just getting some air. Plus, it's not like what's going on between you and Peyton is top secret, you know."

At the look Lucas gave, she cocked her head. "It's written all over your faces like a freaking book and if you and Peyton weren't any indication, well there's Brooke."

At the mention of Brooke, Lucas's face became a strange mixture of regret, anger, longing, and guilt. "Brooke?"

"Yeah, I mean I know you've been in mope town, but you have to have to have noticed Brooke. She's heartbroken."

Lucas sighed again. He'd been in a fog, but yes he had noticed Brooke. He'd noticed every ugly thing Brooke said to Peyton in the presence of others. He'd bitten his tongue more times than he could count wanting to defend Peyton, wishing he could take the brunt of Brooke's wrath for her. Didn't he deserve it? Unfortunately, Brooke preferred pretending he didn't exist. He hated that she was so hurtful to Peyton especially with all that she had gone through with Derek and he resented her for it and for her tendency to hold onto grudges.

It was what broke down their relationship in the end and also, he felt, partly what still kept him and Peyton apart.

"I don't know what you want me to do about that," Lucas replied. "I mean, she broke up with me. She won't acknowledge my existence. And I would have hoped we'd at least be able to be friends, but I understand that that's too much to ask. And frankly I can't stand the way she's been treating Peyton lately."

"It all goes back to her doesn't it?" Rachel commented, following his gaze to where Peyton stood with her back to them.

Lucas sighed and stood up straight and planted his steely blue eyes on her. "What do you want Rachel?"

"I told you. You look like you could use a friend…and a drink. Here." Rachel handed him the beverage, which he hesitantly took with a 'thank you.'

"So I have something to ask you about Brooke." Rachel took hold of his shirt sleeve and tugged. "Come on broody. I won't bite," she added, at the look he gave her. Lucas followed her upstairs, sipping on his drink.

Meanwhile Brooke stood against the wall, a place she was not used to, swatting boys off like flies. This was something she was used to. The school was well aware of Brooke and Lucas's new broken up status and the eligible bachelors of Tree Hill High wanted to take advantage of the hot new commodity that just came back on the market. Brooke found she couldn't get back in the game. As much as she hated it, she couldn't get over Lucas. She hadn't planned on falling so hard for the quiet blonde. She certainly hadn't planned on losing to Peyton Sawyer for a second time.

As the thought went through her head she caught sight of the curly haired blonde and glared up until the moment she stood in front of her.

"I know you aren't really standing in front of me right now giving me the same face you gave me a year ago when this same shit went down," Brooke hissed, turning her eyes away from Peyton's apologetic stare.

"Brooke, I know you're still mad at me, but I just-I need to apologize again-"

"You need?" Brooke laughed, mockingly. "You need to apologize to me just like you needed to tell my boyfriend that you were in love with him at prom, just like you needed to kiss him at prom. The prom we've been talking about since we were seven years old!"

"Brooke, please-"

"And you know what kills me Peyton? Not just the fact that you did this to me again, for a second time while I was with him, but that he told you he loved you back…and you aren't even with him!" Peyton stared in shock at the tears swimming in Brooke's eyes and felt like dying. Her words were like a stab in the heart.

"He loves you Peyton, he would do ANYthing for you, he's aching for YOU, the way I ached for him, and you-you won't even be with him! You ruined US and you ruined him for NOTHING! As far as I'm concerned you are nothing but a selfish two faced backstabbing whore and I hope you burn in hell."

Brooke stalked away as quickly as possible, angrily wiping away the tears that had fallen. She nearly ran straight into Haley.

"Wow, who are you trying kill with that stare?" Haley asked, taking in the blazing brown orbs of the red faced girl.

"Well, if you must know traitor girl I'm trying to hone my jedi mind powers to-"

"Okay okay, never mind." Haley was sure she didn't want to get into it with Brooke. She could overlook the new nickname, Brooke gave her. She was just weirded out that Brooke knew what a jedi was and the look in her eyes.

"Brooke are you okay?" That seemed like a safer question…sort of. Haley winced as Brooke let out a loud long sigh.

"I'm shitty and not even nearly as drunk as I need to be," Brooke replied looking into her cup of beer, like she wanted to supersize it. Haley decided Brooke was far drunker than she needed to be.

"Don't you think you've had enou-" Before Haley could finish her question Brooke interrupted her.

"Haley can I ask you something?"

"Um, sure."

"Why does Peyton always win? She always gets the guy and always gets the sympathy. And what does Brooke Davis get? Shit on. I get shit and I get Rachel. What the hell kind of consolation prize is that? And why doesn't Lucas love me like he loves her?"
"Woah, Brooke. That's more than something. That's a loaded question. I don't think I can answer it for you."

"Why!? You're his best friend. I heard him talking to the slut that will remain nameless out there on the deck. He would do anything for her and nothing for me. I get cheated on and Rachel!"

Haley frowned and pulled Brooke into an awkward hug. Her belly wouldn't allow anything closer. She could see the pain and genuine hurt in Brooke's eyes; the little girl who didn't understand why her parents would rather go to Miami than be home for her thirteenth birthday, the girl who, behind all the makeup and attitude and cheer, felt she wasn't good enough for anyone.

Brooke had always been jealous of Peyton. She was jealous of her height, secretly jealous of her lovely curls, jealous of her ability to play the social game and simultaneously give it the middle finger. She was jealous of her talent, of the way she embraced her melancholy instead of hiding her emotional issues behind a tiresome smile. Smiling took a lot of effort. And mostly she was jealous of the way Lucas loved her so unconditionally, so blindly, and so completely. He would literally walk through fire and walk over her just to get to Peyton. She was jealous of that piece of his heart he had been unable to give her.

"I'm sorry Brooke. I know this really sucks for you and it's not fair that you're here again," Haley said sympathetically. Brooke gave Haley a small smile of appreciation.

"You know," Brooke started, happy she was able to confide in someone other than Rachel. "He kissed her again. At PROM."

"Oh….Brooke." Haley mentally prepared herself. Her reaction did not sound like she'd gotten this information for the first time and Brooke picked up on it immediately. She couldn't believe it. First Peyton….now….

"You knew," Brooke whispered.

"Brooke, I'm sorry. I-I saw them. I saw Luke pull her into the kiss and-He swore me to secrecy Brooke!" Haley cried at Brooke's back as she tried to follow her. "Brooke it wasn't my place to say anything!"

"You are wrong there, traitor girl." Brooke said whirling around and sticking an accusing finger at her. "It WAS your place as my friend, but not anymore. We're through." Brooke stalked off, weaving her way through the crowd, leaving Haley in her misery.

"Baby what's wrong?" Nathan asked coming up behind his distressed wife. "Was that Brooke you were talking to?"

"Yeah…and probably for the last time too. I just ruined things with her."

"Well, how?"

"I didn't tell her that I saw Lucas and Peyton kiss. This is the second time Nathan, that I caught Lucas with her while he was seeing Brooke and didn't say anything. What kind of person does that make me?"

"You were just trying to protect Lucas, baby. You were just doing what you thought was right."

"None of this is right Nathan!" Haley cried. "Peyton is miserable, Lucas is miserable, Brooke is angry and miserable! Everyone is miserable and I don't see how any of this will work itself out anytime soon."

"Haley, calm down." Nathan pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back soothingly. He wasn't sure that things would be fine either. Not at all, but he said the words anyway. "It's gonna be okay, Hales."

"How?" Haley asked her voice muffled from being pressed into Nathan's shirt.

"I don't know. I really don't know."

Brooke just needed to be alone. She couldn't believe the turn her life had taken in just a matter of weeks. She had no one. Peyton had betrayed her. Her boyfriend, who had sworn he was the guy for her, that it was her that he loved and not Peyton. There was no way to describe the way she felt every time he went to her, every time she found him in her arms, every time he chose Peyton over her. It would always be her.

Why isn't it ever me, Brooke thought sadly to herself.

"Brooke?"

"Rachel?" Brooke watched the red head tip toe out of a bedroom and walk up to her. "Why are we whispering? And why is your top on are you loosing your game?"

Rachel smirked and patted Brooke on the back, guiding her towards the room she just left. "If that's what you wanna believe brookie monster. Hey, did I get you a birthday present this year?"

Brooke looked at her quizzically. "What the hell are you talking about? It's not my birthday for another four months."

"Oh well consider this an early birthday gift," Rachel said opening the door a crack. Brooke peeked in the room and immediately closed it.

"What is Lucas doing in there?" She hissed.

"Look, he's a little…shall we say inebriated and…well payback's a bitch." With that Rachel opened the door and shoved Brooke into the darkened bedroom.

It was the first time she had found herself alone with Lucas in months. He sat on the bed hunched over, swaying slightly. His eyes were bright and stared blankly at a point on the floor. Brooke could tell he was drunk and that Rachel had slipped him something. But even behind that glassy blank look, Brooke could see the hurt….barely. What she saw of it she ignored, as she remembered the useless promises he made her, the way he held Peyton outside of Karen's Café before telling her he'd chosen Peyton over her once again, the way he used to touch her…..

"Peyton?"

Brooke started at the sudden sound of his voice. She hesitated, hearing the hopefulness and longing laced within his inquiry.

"Peyton is that you?"

Brooke remembered this feeling. It was what made her tell Lucas she was pregnant when she wasn't. Hearing Lucas call for her that way….Rachel was right.

"Yeah baby," Brooke replied, pulling off her top and walking towards Lucas on the bed. "It's me."

Payback is a bitch.