I felt a sharp tug as somebody gripped my body and started to move it from the deep waters. Why would they do that? The water underneath the surface felt so comforting that all I wanted to do was slip further and deeper into its hallucinating depths. But before I knew it, somebody yanked me out, depositing me on the banks making my body feel so cold and out of place. It was just so cold outside despite the shining sun. The person put their ear to my chest to hear my heartbeat, or maybe my innermost thoughts. They pressed on my wrist and exhaled as they felt a weak pulse.

"Brooke! Brooke!" I heard that person call out to me as they slapped my face to try to make me wake up. "Brooke, come on, wake up!" they yelled. I felt somebody shaking me vehemently and I tried to respond too, but the darkness was so comfortable that I didn't feel like opening my eyes at all. This was all just so peaceful and nice and cool! Maybe, I could respond after five more minutes, I thought before slipping deeper into the dark cavern.

"Brooke! God, she is ice cold! Just please wake up!" The voice continued to beckon. Why couldn't they understand? Couldn't they see just how comfortable I was that they had to keep pushing me to wake up?

He gave up the futile pursuit after a while as I felt my body being picked up. I had no energy in me at all as my head and feet dangled from between his arms as he carried me bridal style. The water drops slowly fell from our soaked bodies as he carried me to his car leaving behind a breadcrumb trail for somebody to follow. I felt a jacket cover me as the car blasted hot air onto my face.

I stirred and mumbled something incoherently as I felt the full effect of the chills that had set themselves into my body. I missed the darkness of the lake, maybe if I could get my eyes to cooperate, the person would allow me to go back to the darkness of the lake.

"Oh God, what am I gonna do! Brooke, just hang on!" The person yelled out to me before beginning to navigate across town in a hurried frenzy. I opened my eyes weakly at that moment to see what looked to be the blurred silhouette of Lucas Scott. Fatigue again overtook all my senses as I submitted to it, falling into the dark abyss of oblivion.

"Nathan! Haley! Help! Brooke is frozen!" I heard Lucas scream as he lay me on the carpet in front of the fireplace at the Scott homestead. The couple was sitting at the breakfast nook having a tutor session. Pencils and paper went flying as they ran towards me.

"Oh my God! How did this happen! She is hypothermic!" Haley yelled as she laid eyes on me. "Details later, first we need to strip off all her wet clothes and generate body heat! Lucas, get out of your clothes and strip her off! Nathan, help him!" she yelled as she began to pace around ready for action.

Nathan looked from Haley to Lucas to an unconscious me, confused as to what his girlfriend was asking of him.

"Strip her right now! I don't care! Lucas, out of those clothes! She is one of my best friends and hypothermia could kill her! Come on!" Haley affirmed. "I'm going to run up and get a blanket!"

The boys quickly got into action as Lucas pulled down his pants and shirt while Nathan worked on my top and pants.

"Lucas!" I felt myself yell out as I felt somebody working on pulling off my clothes. Why couldn't my stupid eyes cooperate and open already! Could they even hear what I was screaming?

"Brooke! Come on, open your eyes!" He said to me as Nathan gently placed me on his lap. Haley wrapped a thick blanket around us as Lucas pulled out my underwear, taking away the last vestiges of my modesty and leaving me physically vulnerable. My skin had pruned and was turning blue from the cold. He began rubbing my hands and feet, his hands trembling as he desperately tried to generate some body heat. Nathan and Haley got to work as well, rubbing my skin, desperate to wake me up and generate heat and blood flow.

I stopped shivering after a good hour as I regained more consciousness. I looked around me at my compromising position and began cursing myself internally. How was it that I always wound up naked in a man's arms with zero recollection? I was just so tired of it all.

"Brooke! Thank God!" Haley cried as she saw my eyes flutter open. She handed me a cup of steaming hot chocolate but my fingers were still trembling so much that I failed to hold the mug that she tried to pass over.

I clutched onto the blanket as I tried to get up from Lucas' lap. My knees were too weak to hold up my body weight and I tumbled onto the floor with a thud.

"Penny!" Nathan screamed as he darted towards me to help me up.

"Uh-a-I-I-I am f-f-f-f-fine N-Nathan!" I slurred. "H-H-Haley, c-c-could I borrow a pair of c-c-clothes!" I tried to speak, but the trembles made it extremely difficult to get the words out.

"Penny, just sit by the fire in the blanket for a bit. You're still as cold as ice!" Nathan said to me as he lifted me in one swift motion and deposited me in front of the fireplace again. "Also, Lucas, what the hell happened, man!"

"No, I don't like this. Leave me alone. Just give me some stupid clothes so I can get out of here already!" I wailed.

It was now Haley's turn to be the voice of consolation. She cupped my face and brought it to her chest while trying to get the knots out of my wet hair.

"Lucas, please can you explain this to us?" She said looking at him while still holding onto me.

This made me stiffen as I decided to take charge. I got up and trembled as I walked over to Keith's liquor cabinet. Grabbing the first thing that I could get my hands around, I gripped the bottle firmly with both hands which were still visibly shaking. Trying to shake the nerves away, I took two big swigs of the hot liquid. The burning sensation that I felt in my throat made me feel so much better.

Once my nerves had steadied some more, I held the blanket with one hand and with the whiskey bottle in the other, I walked towards Keith and Deb's room to get myself a freaking pair of clothes.

Nobody followed me as I came out momentarily in a black turtleneck and mom jeans. I still had the bottle on my lips as I sipped on the burning bitter liquid.

"Brooke! Lucas? Somebody, please explain what is going on," Nathan demanded.

I ignored him as I continued to sip onto the bottle, already halfway through it. I was beginning to lose myself and get lost in the drunken haze.

"Brooke, stop!" Lucas cried as he tried to pull the bottle out of my hands. A single tear escaped his lips. "Please stop."

I saw the sad look on his face. He was hurting too. All of this was killing him just as much as it was killing me.

"Lucas, all of this was stupid. What were we thinking! That two sixteen-year-olds could just live together and fix each other up? Look at where it got us! I am more hurt than I was when we began! And it hurts so bad!" I cried. "You said you loved me and you would always be there for me and I believed that, Lucas-"

"I still do Love you, Brooke!" He interjected.

"And now what? Now what? What are we gonna do? I hated having all the control, right? That's what I said to you…. Now, look where it got me? This was a stupid mistake, Lucas. We shouldn't have done what we did. I mean playing house at sixteen dealing with all that complicated nonsense! We bit off more than either of us could chew. We're done," I said looking down to hide my face and all my remorse.

"But I love you," he whispered to me.

"Yeah, but what are we gonna do about it!?" I responded coldly.

He began sobbing uncontrollably at that point. I got up and started walking out of the older Scott house. Looking back, I saw Nathan and Haley crouched near Lucas, going to school long forgotten. Haley gave me a sympathetic look which made me instantly tear up. I quickly brushed them away as I began walking back to my house.

I reached home to find my mom in my bedroom with Genevive, our housekeeper. She was yelling at her, making her toss Lucas' things into boxes.

"Jesus Christ, that girl! Even her choices are so plebeian! I wouldn't even donate this stuff to goodwill! Can't even trust that stupid child to live with platinum credit cards!" she was yelling.

I quickly made a beeline down the stairs and into our liquor cabinet. I grabbed as many bottles as I could hold and went down to the basement. Last year, I had the basement remodelled into a home theatre as a gift to myself complete with soundproof waffles, the comfiest chairs and a projector. I settled myself in the chair in the far corner of the spacious room as I finally let my guard down.

Heavy sobs racked my body as Lucas' broken face replayed in my head over and over again at the moment I told him that we were done. I uncapped one of the many bottles that I had placed at the table beside me. I started to take large sips, watching nothing else but succumb to the darkness. I had no idea when I passed out.

"Oh my!" I heard somebody yell as they shook me awake.

"Who the heck are you?" I asked the lady who was towering over my frame. My head was pounding.

"The realtor. I just wanted to check out the basement before the open house tomorrow," she said giving me one of her fake smiles. "You're the daughter who lived here, right?"

"Lives here," I corrected while rolling my eyes. "So are the parents of the year still here?"

I already was pouring some more alcohol into a glass for myself. "Oh, where have all my manners gone? Do you want some?"

"Uh, no," she responded rather quickly. "Your parents left mere moments ago to catch their flight. They left a package for you in your room though."

That was different than usual. The Davis' had never felt the need to give me gifts before. They didn't even know my age, let alone my tastes. I took a big swig of my drink and shoved the lady to the side to make my way up the stairs.

My room looked very different than what it had merely a day ago. All of Lucas' stuff was gone as if it had never existed there. My stuffed animals were missing from their shelves and it looked more like a show flat for Elle Decor than a place that actually housed sentient people.

My study table had a big box on it. I opened it to find three pairs of school uniforms along with a welcome kit for whatever nonsense boarding school I was being shipped off to. I picked up the brochure to throw it in the trash and that was when I saw something else lying in the bin.

Victoria Davis had thrown away all my designs into the trash can. I gingerly lifted them from there as the paper began to dampen from the barrage of tears that fell onto the crumpled paper.

I threw the glass of whiskey that I had been carrying, letting it shatter into a thousand pieces. I began to tear all my designs, what was the point of any of them after all? It wasn't like anything would ever manifest out of it? It wasn't like I was good enough for anything. Otherwise, why would my parents do this to me? Was I so unlovable that they downright had to hate me? I was, otherwise why would I break Lucas' heart the way I just had? My heart ached at the fact that I had entrapped him and ruined his life in the process. How could I ever have been so selfish? I had hurt him so bad and it was all my fault. I was selfish and unloveable and good for nothing. Maybe I deserved to go to that boarding school and stay out of everybody's way.