"See you tomorrow, Hales," Nathan said hoarsely and got into Dan's car smiling at her lopsidedly.

"Ms. James." Dan nodded his pretend-polite goodbye and vanished out of her sight, just like his car did, mere seconds later.

Tomorrow…

-o0o-

"Brooke! Hey, Brooke!"

Brooke was walking down the school hallways, accompanying her BFF to the cafeteria, when she heard her name being called so loudly. She threw Peyton an annoyed glance, expecting the caller to be Greg, who had started to get on her nerves pretty quickly once he had started attending Tree Hill High with them. Granted, he had been great the night the accident had happened, and in a way he still was that nice, caring guy.

It was just… Brooke didn't like it how he seemed to cling to her. She didn't like clingy guys in general. Male attention? Yes, always! Not like that, though, and not his; not Greg's; not when he still seemed to think she might cave one day and go out with him. It didn't exactly help that he was never around to see how she showed Lucas her undivided affection. Brooke sort of thought that this way he was kind of forced to believe he could continue following her around like a stupid puppy dog.

Sighing, she turned around, walking backwards as she addressed her unwanted follower.

"Listen, Greg, me and you—not gonna happen, okay? I told you I'm with Lucas and although he may not be around—and contrary to whichever rumors about me you may have picked up in the guys' locker or wherever—I'm not easy to be had. Okay?" Looking over to the side, where Peyton was eyeing her somewhat critically, she added, addressing her friend this time, "Oh come on, P! So maybe I changed? Besides, just because the guys can never seem to turn down an offer doesn't mean that Brooke Davis is a slut."

Brooke was so preoccupied with explaining her bit of logic to the laughing blonde beside her that at first she didn't hear Greg speaking up again. In fact, he had to repeat her name a third time before she would return her focus to him. By that time he had finally caught up with the two girls and was now directly facing the brunette, who had finally stopped in her tracks.

Arms held up in a gesture intended to show her he meant no harm he said, "Hey, I'm sorry okay? It's just that Mr. Ashford asked me to help you a little with calculus." Ignoring how Brooke's mouth took on an O-shaped form just as her eyebrows shot up while her eyes widened in obvious disbelief he went on, "Seeing as you seem to have difficulties catching up with the new stuff, he assigned you a tutor. Don't look at me like that, it was not my idea, alright? I'm just following orders, so to speak."

"Following orders, are you?—Seriously, P," she quickly turned to Peyton, "Can you believe it? That stupid Mr. Ashford!—Well, Greggo, I already got a tutor, okay? Haley? Haley James; you know her, right? So, thanks anyway, but you can go and tell Mr. Ass-ford—"

"Brooke!" Peyton blurted a little shocked.

"—to mind his own business; and if he has to officially assign me a tutor he better make it Haley next time." With that said, she eventually turned her back to a somewhat stunned looking Greg, and seeing Peyton stare at her she shrugged before resuming her walk.

"What the hell was that all about?" Peyton asked, looking slightly baffled.

Brooke was spared to come up with an actual answer, though, when she heard her name being called. Again. Now this is getting extremely annoying, she thought. For a second there she considered ignoring this renewed call. Making up her mind, though, she suddenly whirled around and—surprising even herself—blurted out,

"Listen, Greg: I. Am. With. Lucas.—I love him, alright? Get that into your head and leave me the hell alone. And, stop using teachers as sorry excuses for your sad attempts at hitting on me! Honestly. Be. A. Man!"

Only once she had finished her outburst, did she realize that it had not been Greg, after all, calling her name. It had been…

… Lucas. Now, could it be? Could it really be that he was finally back?

Yes, there he was. Apparently he had used the other entrance, seeing as he couldn't yet master the stairs what with him still relying on the wheelchair. But here he was, back at school. Finally. No more long, boring Lucas-less days spent at school, waiting for the end of classes when she was free to go and visit him.

Was that really how she had spent the last weeks? Had she, Brooke Penelope Davis, seriously turned into that pathetic a person?—Also, did she actually just blurt out a love confession to Lucas' face?

So much for the being pathetic…

She didn't care, though. Blame it on Luke's good influence or whatever, but Brooke didn't care if anyone thought her hopeless; and with that thought she left Peyton standing there to walk up to her boyfriend. Following some stupid impulse, she went to sit down in his lap—mindful of his injury—cupped his face and, startling him with her intensity, kissed him passionately.

"I missed you, Lucas Scott," she eventually whispered.

Luke chuckled lightly. "But you just visited me yesterday…"

"Yeah. You could have told me then that you'd be coming back to school today, Scott," she scolded him, earning a mischievous grin.

"Aw, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss your welcoming me back like you just did. Not for the world." And smiling, he quietly added, "Missed you, too, Brooke Davis." With that said, he kissed her again, until a very familiar voice chimed,

"I'm glad you're back, Mr. Scott. But should it have slipped your mind: this is still a school and my team are not to… display their affection for their girls too openly in front of… um… the general public."

"Whitey…," Lucas said fondly, just as Brooke made to untangle her arms from his neck. But the old man just went on, "And don't think you don't have to answer to me anymore, Scott, just because you may not yet be up to par again. You're still a member of the team and as such I expect you to act as a role model for the younger ones around here."

"Understood, Sir," Lucas assured him, looking up to the Coach, smirking, until the man's features softened and he grumbled out a barely audible, "Good to see you back, Lucas. Good to see you back…" Then Whitey left the teenagers to themselves again, and watched as more and more friends came up to welcome the blonde Scott back, one dark-haired boy prominently absent among them…

-o0o-

Haley was still smiling when she left the circle of friends early to go and find the curiously absent Nathan for their regular tutoring session after lunch. She couldn't help but worry about him ever since she had seen his father pick him up after school the day before. Now that he hadn't even been around to welcome his brother back—or at least acknowledge his return, that uneasy feeling in her stomach manifested itself even farther. If she thought about it, she hadn't seen the younger Scott all day long and started wondering whether he'd actually show up for tutoring.

Once she entered the room in which other kids were already beginning their tutoring sessions, she was surprised to spot Nathan already sitting in a chair at the back of the room, brooding over an open book. Hurrying, she walked over to him and fell into the chair opposite him, breathing out an apology.

"Gosh, I'm sorry I'm late. But—did you know that Lucas is back at school? I didn't see you at lunch…"

Nate barely lifted his head to look her in the eyes. He let it droop again almost instantly, and muttered, "I wasn't there." He said it just like that, a statement and no explanation whatsoever. Great, Haley thought, now he was all back to being the jerk he used to be before the whole drama with the accident. Already she was sure Dan was to blame for the boy's sudden fall back into old habits, but she decided to let the matter drop for now. Maybe, if she gave him a few minutes, he would pull himself together again and act a little less uptight.

Maybe he would stop acting like that moment between them—that moment yesterday when… —maybe he would stop acting like it never happened, would stop ignoring her, like he pretty much did just now.

"Um, okay," she eventually forced out. "So… seeing as Ms. Langlois told us she's going to have us write a test soon we'd better start with English today, don't you think?"

Nathan just shrugged, making his tutor sigh. This was going to be one tough lesson if he chose to remain this unresponsive.

"Alright. Let's start with the basics. Do you remember how a good essay is supposed to be structured?—Nathan?"

"Huh?" He looked up again, blinking. Only now did she notice the dark shadows underneath his eyes. He looked as if he hadn't slept all night. Actually, he looked nearly as bad again as he did when he was still in the hospital which, she needed to remind herself, had only been a couple of days ago.

"Are you feeling all right?" she asked, daring to place a gentle hand on his arm. Still, her touch made him flinch and she couldn't help feeling hurt when he pulled away.

"I'm…," he stuttered out, "yeah. Can we just—can we just get this over with?"

"Sure…" Quietly, Haley took out her things and made him write an essay choosing one of the topics on offer on the list in their book, deciding it would be best to simply correct his writing once he was finished. She wouldn't be able to make him recite to her the basics of how best to outline an essay, anyway, so why bother.

Yet she did; bother. Watching him as he silently scribbled down words on a piece of paper, she asked herself for the umpteenth time how he could be her best friend's brother. Those two were so unlike each other. With Lucas, she was accustomed to him brooding over anything and everything. She knew how to take his silences. She knew when best to accept them as his usual behavior and when to question their reason and make Lucas talk about what bothered him.

With his sibling, though, things were different. He was not exactly the brooding type of guy, and neither was he the haunted, quiet one. Or was he? No; for all Haley knew, Nathan Scott had always been your average b-ball high school star player, self-confident and laid-back jock, complete with an outgoing personality and charming—(or you could call it annoying, like she had mostly done)—attitude.

Then again… What with the accident, she could no longer be sure of anything, not even of what was and what wasn't typical behavior for one Nathan Scott. It was not like she actually knew him all that much right? One nearly-happened kiss between them didn't exactly change that, now did it? No, she reasoned, it did not.

She was still preoccupied with her own thoughts when suddenly Nathan shoved his paper over to her wordlessly, staring at her, eyebrows raised.

Startled, she looked from him to the paper, then to her watch. "Oh," she exclaimed. Time was halfway up. If she was to give him some feedback on how to improve his essay writing technique she had better hurry.

-o0o-

Nathan eyed the James girl as she was reading through the crap he'd written down. Deep down he felt sorry for his behavior toward her, but with Dan basically having threatened her like that the other day he didn't feel much like letting her in on anything anymore and by doing so possibly endangering her freakin' safety. Besides, he absolutely didn't need someone else to worry about now that his oh-so-sympathetic father was breathing down his neck about practice, this year's basketball season, and Nate's chances of making it to college if he didn't return to the game ASAP (or rather, the lack thereof, as Dan had been pleased to rub in every other minute. "Without basketball, son, you're nothing. And you will remain nothing if you don't get your ass up now and start behaving like a Scott again!")

Tiredly, he rubbed his eyes, just as Haley's head shot up for a second and she shot an odd look at him which made him feel all creepy inside.

"Nathan," she finally said, the sound of her voice making him feel apprehensive of whatever she was going to say next. He flinched visibly as the next thing she did was cite a passage out of his essay.

"'Children don't always know what's best for them. Occasionally, they need someone else to remind them what's best for them. If they still don't want to face the truth it might be necessary to use other means than words to make them…'" Haley looked up again, not finishing reading out his horrible sentence. "—Do… do you honestly think that's true?" she asked warily. Weirdly, Nathan could only detect traces of worry on her pretty face, no accusation, no disdain.

"Aw, come on now, Hales," he blurted out somewhat flustered, "It's just a goddamn essay. I just… At least I wrote 'occasionally,' didn't I?—Which, by the way, is a word I wouldn't have used before you started tutoring me… Okay, so maybe I need to reword a few things here and there. Now that you're reading it out it does sound a little… uh, it…," he closed his eyes, touching one palm to his forehead, admitting defeat. Crap, he thought, unable to face her when he heard her speak up again.

Very quietly, she said, "Nathan, have you been… has Dan ever—"

"It's not like that, Haley! Crap! This is just a freakin' essay, for God's sake, don't make it any bigger by saying—by… Just don't talk about things you know nothing about!" he yelled, startling not only the girl in front of him, but the other students present, as well. Getting up with such force that his chair fell to the ground with a loud thud, he stared at the others challengingly "Stop looking at me like you feel sorry for me!" he hissed, no longer addressing Haley. He was not mad at her after all. No, not at her, never at Haley James… "There's no friggin' need for that, so STOP IT! Go feel sorry for yourselves, coz that's what you should rather be doing. Screw you! All of you!"

With that said, he exited the room, not sparing Haley another glance. He couldn't look her in the eyes. Not now. Not ever again.

Heading straight to the boys' locker to get ready for today's practice, he tried his hardest to forget that last look on her face, but there was no way he'd ever be able to forget it.

Sorrow, and pain on her beautiful face… What had he done?

-o0o-

As Brooke Davis was wheeling her boyfriend into the gym, laughing all the while, her wavy dark hair flying this way and that, Greg watched her intently. She was such a pretty girl. A shame, really, how she clung to that poor crippled boy in the wheelchair. She was too full of energy to spend her days cheering him up. Oh, of course Greg didn't begrudge the Lucas kid his luck, not at all. The guy deserved some happiness in his life after all he had been through following that horrible car crash.

And yet. In a way Greg did begrudge him something, or better: someone; and that was Brooke Davis. The girl he would already have called his girlfriend, he was sure, if it hadn't been for the accident; that stupid accident, which seemed to haunt every goddamn minute of his life since first he had encountered the scene of the crash that night after the party.

He saw Brooke bend down to kiss the blond Scott and couldn't help feeling an uncomfortable sting of jealousy at witnessing their apparent happiness.

He still remembered how soft her lips felt. She had kissed him that night after all. Sure, she had been slightly drunk, and curiously angry at her boyfriend, who turned out to be Lucas Scott, as it had transpired later. She had been so angry at him then, and willing to risk everything for a night with Greg and his friend. It had only taken one severe accident to make her forget her initial anger, and understandingly so.

But what if Greg somehow managed to unearth the reason for that anger again, what if he succeeded in making Brooke remember what had made her so mad at Lucas in the first place? Yeah, why didn't he just try to find that out…

Thanks for reading everyone!