Lucas was pacing around the river court, waiting for the others to show up after school and practice had ended hours ago.
His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Brooke, and he felt worried when she didn't return to the gym, especially after Mouth mentioned that she had left.
'Brooke, what are you hiding from us?' Lucas whispered to himself as he kept pacing until he spotted the others making their way over to the court. 'Sorry It took us so long to get here,' Peyton said.
Lucas nodded and then asked, 'What are we going to do about Dan?' Nathan joined them, and he replied, 'First, we need to figure out what he's up to. But we should also talk to Brooke and find out what happened earlier.' Everyone else looked just as concerned as Nathan.
Felix suggested, 'Maybe we should call Brooke and ask her to come here so we can discuss it.' With his arms crossed, 'I can go get her.' Mouth offered to go with him.
Nathan agreed with Mouth's offer. 'It'll probably be best, because I'm sure Brooke won't come on her own,' he said. Mouth nodded and went to get Brooke. 'Where would she be at?' he asked.
' She might be at mom's café,' Lucas guessed. Mouth nodded and went to get Brooke. 'Wait, let me go with, it'll be faster with two,' Anna said as she followed Mouth to her car.
Lucas and Nathan looked at the others. 'Now what do we do?' Lucas asked. Nathan was about to answer his question when someone walked over to them. 'There you guys are,' Nathan's eyes narrowed as he watched the one person he wished was here walking over to them.
'Haley, what are you doing here?' Lucas asked, walking over to his best friend who had run off to go on tour. He couldn't help but wrap his arms around her. 'I thought about everything and I didn't want to do the tour anymore while my friends and husband are here,' Haley said.
Nathan asked Haley as she walked over, 'Are you really here for good, or just passing by?' Haley tried to hug him, but he backed away.
'I'm here to stay, Nate. I'm sorry for everything,' she said with a sad smile. 'We'll discuss this later, but for now, we have other things to deal with,' Nathan said, looking at the others despite Haley's hurt expression.
'Worry about what?' Haley asked, looking around. 'Brooke,' Lucas said. Nathan gave Lucas a hard look for blabbing about the situation to Haley. 'Brooke? Why, what did she do this time?' Haley asked, frowning at the serious expressions around her.
'It's not about Brooke's actions, Haley,' Peyton said, approaching her. 'We think Dan might do something to Brooke, and she's not saying anything.' Peyton's explanation made Haley frown. 'Why would Dan go after Brooke?' she asked.
Nathan and Lucas looked at Haley and sighed. 'It's definitely Dan, he's capable of anything,' Lucas said. 'He said he'd help Brooke stay in Tree Hill, but there's something fishy about it,' Nathan added as Felix glanced at his phone.
'Do you think he'd stoop so low as to force himself on a teenage girl?' he asked. Lucas didn't believe Dan would go that far until he remembered what Dan mentioned to Brooke at the wedding. 'He wants a dance from Brooke,' Lucas realized as he started connecting the dots.
'And he knows Brooke won't give him one unless he does something shady to earn it.' Nathan clenched his fist in anger.
'I never thought Dan would be a creep, but who knows with him now. We need to talk to Brooke and find out if that's what he's pressuring her into,' he said, feeling furious thinking about his father's intentions. Hopefully, they could get Brooke to open up once Mouth and Anna brought her.
( Brooke and Karen)
"Hey, Brooke," Karen said as she walked over to her at the café counter. "Ah, hi," Brooke replied with a forced smile, lost in her thoughts. She didn't even notice Lucas's mother on the other side of the counter.
"Is everything okay, sweetheart?" Karen asked, concerned about Brooke's distant expression. "Yeah, I'm alright, just thinking about something," Brooke whispered, gazing at her Dr. Pepper.
Karen gently placed a hand on Brooke's arm, noticing her busted lip and bruised neck. "What happened?" she inquired.
"There's nothing wrong," Brooke insisted, then fell silent. Maybe she should talk to Karen about what was happening and get advice on how to handle Dan's plans, other than just the dance.
Brooke could steel feel Dan's hands moving up and down her legs, making her squeeze them together to get rid of the feeling. Fear could be seen in her eyes.
Tears welled up in Brooke's hazel eyes as she tried to focus. "Brooke?" Karen's concerned voice made Brooke look up. "You okay?" Karen asked, "You can talk to me about anything."
Brooke nodded, biting her lip. "Can we chat somewhere quieter?" Her voice broke, unsure of who to confide in.
Deciding Karen was the safer choice, Brooks feared Nathan and Lucas' reaction if they knew their father was making advances on her. "Sure thing, sweetheart. Let's head to the back," Karen said gently, leading Brooke past the counter, visibly worried. Brooke followed her into the back room.
Brooke bit her lip but winced at the pain in her lip. 'No one should hear us talk here. Is everything okay?' Karen said as she got a small bag of ice for Brooke's lip that was swollen a bit.
The brunette took the small bag of ice. 'Thanks,' she whispered and let her thoughts go through her head.
'Can you promise not to get upset if I tell you?' Brooke asked, looking at Karen who nodded. 'If it's nothing bad then I promise, but if it's serious then I might have to tell someone.' 'Fair enough,' Brooke thought as she sighed.
'It's Dan,' she said, looking away. 'Dan? What did he do?' Karen asked, worried that Dan did something. Brooke explained about her having to leave Tree Hill, and Dan had offered to help her stay in Tree Hill. Karen listened and she couldn't help but clench her fist.
'What is he forcing you to do?' she asked. The raven-haired woman knew Dan would do a lot of things, but she didn't think he would go as far as to take advantage of a teenage girl.
"Dan asked me to dance with him at the wedding but he didn't get the chance." Brooke's body started shaking. "But I'm scared he might want more than just a dance," she whimpered.
Karen felt her fist clenching; she didn't think Dan would stoop so low as to try to force a 17-year-old girl to dance with him. "Did he do anything to you?" she asked, wanting to pull Brooke into her arms and protect her.
Brooke swallowed hard as tears streamed down her face. "He, um… he started touching my thighs and tried to go under my skirt, but he didn't do anything else besides grazing his fingers against me and kissing my neck this morning."
"Did he hurt you? Is that how you got the bruised neck and lip?" Karen asked, trying to keep her voice low. She knew Dan was capable of anything, but she never imagined he'd touch a teenage girl.
Brooke took a breath and shook her head like, 'No, he did that when he took me from cheerleading practice and didn't like how I spoke to him,' but before she could finish, she burst out in sobs.
Karen pulled Brooke into her arms and whispered, 'You don't have to say any more,' holding her as she cried. 'I didn't want to tell anyone. I don't know what he'd do if I told, especially…,' Brooke cried out, 'He said not to tell anyone.'
The raven-haired woman comforted Brooke, saying, 'Shh, it's okay, we'll figure something out, but I think you need to get some rest.' She closed up the café, took Brooke to her house, and helped her inside to Lucas's room to rest before heading to Dan Scott's Motors to confront Dan.