"I can't believe you almost beat the new kid's ass." Brooke muttered as they walked into their first period.

Nathan scoffed. "Like you didn't want to do the same thing, Brooke."

She thought about it for a minute before nodding. He was right, she had wanted to, because it involved her best friend. If someone messed with Peyton, or any of her friends, their ass was grass.

"Yo!" He called, standing up and waving his arms above his head. "Yo! Nate! Over here, man!"

Nathan rolled his eyes at his brown haired friend and led the way over to the table that Tim had saved for them.

While each lab station had three tools pulled up beside the table, the desks at the further end of the classroom were only two seaters, meaning that Brooke would have to sit behind him.

"Sorry..." He muttered, shooting her an apologetic look.

Brooke shrugged, dropping her stuff down onto the empty desk. "Hey, at least this way, I can cheat off of you whenever we have a test... Oh, wait... I forgot. You suck at chemistry."

He snorted and Nathan glared at him. Besides his brother, Tim was his best friend, though sometimes, he couldn't remember why, exactly.

"Watch it, Davis." He mock-warned, standing up. "You don't wanna mess with me..."

"Wanna bet?" The brunet replied, poking his arm. "Come on, Nate! Come at me!"

Brooke wasn't expecting him to actually come at her, but he did, grabbing her around the waist to sling her over his shoulder. She squealed and slapped his back, begging for him to put her down.

Nathan chuckled and tightened his grip on her legs. He wasn't always the hard ass that people took him for. Hi friends knew him better than anyone, and they knew that he had a soft side that he didn't always show in fear of showing weak.

Dan had taught him well.

"Nate!" Brooke groaned. "Let me go... Please?"

"Say it, Brooke." He replied, leaning against the desk. "Say it, and I'll let you go. I mean, I can do this all day. You don't weigh a thing."

She let out a long sigh, knowing exactly what he wanted from her. Haley and Peyton had been forced to repeat the words a thousand times before when they were in the same position, though for Peyton, it was usually Lucas who she had to say it to.

"Hey, Tim. Is Brooke's face red yet? What has it been, three minutes already? I think that's a new record, Davis!"

"Nathan Scott." Brooke drew out, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Is Tree Hill's best basketball player in the history of Tree Hill basketball players, and he also deserves to be voted Teen People's 'Sexiest Man Alive,' for he is the most sexy man I have ever met."

As the class erupted in laughter, Nathan swung her back over to land on her feet, reaching out to steady her when she stumbled.

"Was that so hard?"

Brooke stuck her tongue out at him, and he chuckled. Out of their group of friends, she was the most like him, she understood him the best. Which explained why she was the only one who wasn't angry at him for the stunt he had pulled in the hallway earlier.

"Hey." Tim nudged him, nodding towards the door.

There was the dork who had knocked Peyton flat on his ass. Nathan's eyes hardened.

"Tim." He muttered. "Switch seats with Brooke."

"What?" Tim demanded, glancing over at Brooke, who was silently gathering her belongings. "No way, Nate! I don't want to sit next to that loser!"

"Tim." Nathan said evenly, jerking his thumb to her previous spot. "Just do this for me, man. Please."

He continued to grumble as Brooke moved to sit beside the captain of the basketball team. The move didn't go unnoticed by Julian.

Marvin/Mouth had been right about the Scott Brothers, or at least one of them. After he'd knocked Peyton Sawyer over in the hallway, it had been Nathan Scott who had slammed him up against the lockers, and now it was Nathan Scott who had made his friend move just so he could have Brooke Davis sitting beside him, instead of Julian.

As he made his way towards the only empty seat in the class, he tried to meet the beautiful girl's eyes.

She stared down at her desk.

"Good morning, class." The teacher greeted, finally entering the classroom. "Isn't it sad how soon summer vacation ends?"

The class grunted in agreement. Julian watched as Nathan leaned in to whisper something to Brooke. She giggled and shoved him back.

"I took the liberty of splitting you into pairs of three for your lab groups."

Brooke rolled her eyes. If there was one thing she hated more than math, it was chemistry. She was going to be a fashion designer, did she really need to memorize the elements on the periodic table for that to happen?

"Nathan Scott, Brooke Davis..."

Nathan held out his hand for a high five, grateful that he'd get to suffer through the class with her instead of someone he couldn't stand. Tim was his friend, but he began to pray that they wouldn't get stuck with him, because they would end up doing all the work.

"Is there a Julian Baker in this class?"

Julian raised his hand hesitantly. The day was just getting better and better for him.

Nathan's jaw tightened, Tim pouted, and Brooke slowly turned her head to look at the new boy, her other lab partner.

"Brooke."

She whipped her head back around as Nathan's hand landed on her shoulder. One by one, everyone else in the class was paired off, and then they were assigned their lab stations.

Nathan ended up in the middle, trying to put as much distance between the two as possible.

"Let's do something tonight."

Julian glanced up from the microscope. "What?"

"Does it look like I was talking to you?" Nathan replied harshly. He turned back to Brooke. "What do you think, Davis? Just the five of us, after practice."

"Sounds fun." Brooke told him. "Nate, maybe we should help..."

"Scott!"

He groaned, knowing that voice all too well. It was Whitey, his hard ass basketball coach. Someone must have tipped him off about the attempted fight.

"I'll be back." He muttered, squeezing her shoulders. Passing by Tim's table, he stopped and leaned down to whisper in his friend's ear. "Keep an eye on her until I get back."

Tim nodded gratefully. He was more than happy to abandon the work he wasn't doing, in order to do something for his best friend.

"So." Julian muttered as soon as the scary Scott boy was gone. "Those are your friends, huh?"

Brooke rolled her when she caught Tim staring at her, leaning so far forward that he was sure to fall off his stool eventually. Leave it to Nathan to entrust the dumbest boy in Tree Hill to look out for her.

"What do you know?" She replied coldly. "You called Mouth a geek this morning. Why don't you look in the mirror sometime."

He sighed, remembering the way Mouth had described Brooke as being fiercely loyal to her friends.

She'd kill for the people she loves.

"Look... I didn't mean it like that..."

"Yeah, well." Brooke refused to look at him, suddenly interested in what her chem book had to say. "You said it, you can't really take it back. Mouth is my friend, alright? He's also the best guy I know, without including Nate and Luke. You had no right to judge him when you don't even know him. You also knocked my best friend on her ass."

Julian ran a hand through his hair. "About that..."

"Whatever." She muttered. "Just watch where you're going next time, okay? If Peyton had been hurt, at all, you wouldn't be here right now. You'd be in a body bag at Tree Hill hospital."

"Yeah..." He laughed nervously. "What's with that guy, anyway? Nathan, I mean."

Brooke sighed. Where to begin?

Why was she finding herself trying to defend her friend to Julian? Nathan had already made it clear that the new boy was public enemy number one, she shouldn't have even been talking to him.

"Nathan..." She began, glancing over at the door. He was still in deep conversation with Whitey. "Look, again, you can't judge a person who you don't know, okay? Like I said, Nate, Mouth, and Lucas are some of the best guys I know. Nathan is just overprotective with the people he cares about, namely, me, Haley, and Peyton. It's really sweet, and also very annoying, but I love him just the same."

A little overprotective? With the way Nathan had slammed him into the lockers, it had knocked the wind out of him.

"Whoa!"

Brooke pressed a hand her mouth, trying to suppress her giggles. She'd been right, Tim had been so focused on watching her every move that he'd leaned too far forward, falling flat on his face.

"You alright, Dim?"

Tim groaned in response.

"Brooke?" Nathan asked, reappearing. He glanced down at his teammate, extending a hand to help him up. "What the hell happened?"

Brooke glared at him. "Next time you assign someone to watch me when you can't, you might want to make sure it's someone who knows how to sit on a stool."

She turned back to her notes, doing her best to ignore him. Julian couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face.

"What are you smiling at, freak?" He demanded. "Davis... Come on... Deep down, you know you still love me."

Nathan moved closer to her, reaching out to poke her waist. She squealed and shoved him back, her smile slowly started to form again.

"Nathan..."

"C'mon, Brooke." He teased, poking her again. "You know you still love me. Say it! Say that I'm still your best friend."

"Peyton, and Haley are my-"

Nathan grinned and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, leaning against her heavily. "I know we're still friends, Brooke Penelope Davis."

"Of course we are, Nathan Royal Scott." Brooke replied, finally giving in. "Now get off me, fat ass! You're crushing me!"

The bell rang, and Nathan shot her a dark look.

"You're gonna pay for that one, Davis." He warned. "Five... Four... Three... Two... One."

She squealed again and took off running for the door, her books in her arms. Nathan was quicker, he had his arms around her before she could even get to the first row.

Julian watched her leave, still laughing. Somehow, he knew that Brooke Davis was different, and though they had only had that one conversation, he actually kind of liked her.

She was beautiful, she was loyal, she was smart, and she was funny. Her only flaw was that she hung out with Nathan Scott, Tree Hill's number one asshole.