A/N's Hope everyone had a merry xmas and a happy new year! A little side note...Brooke doesn't entirely know the whole situation between Lucas and Haley. She hasn't seen them together yet, seeing as the whole thing with them didn't come to a full head until after the big blow up between Nathan and Brooke (Chapter15) Also, this chapter and chapter 26 were originally going to be one, but it was getting to be too long, and while I hate to split one game day/night and the after party into several chapters, I had to do it.

It was strange really, to feel the nerves and the anticipation beat as one in her imploding chest. She wasn't the type of girl to get nervous around a guy, to let a guy get to her like that..but then again Lucas Scott wasn't just any guy. At least not to her.

Taking a deep breath, she let her steps not falter her as she made her way over to him. He was standing there, handsome as ever talking to his best friend by her car. He was smiling...something she certainly hadn't seen him do earlier with her. She wondered if he was still mad at her.

"Hey."

Hearing her sweet voice behind him, Lucas felt his heart momentarily stop, before he shared a glance with Peyton. Clearing his throat, he turned his attention to the blonde girl, who always made his pulse race faster.

"Haley." Was all he said and she flinched slightly at his almost indifferent tone. But she wasn't about to let that deter her. Smiling her hello to Peyton, Haley came to stand right in front of them, squashing her nerves. "Are you ready for tonight's game?" she started tentatively.

Sensing the front for the pending conversation, Peyton made an excuse to leave but not before turning to Haley and asking her if she wanted to ride to the game together. Hesitating slightly, Haley shrugged and nodded and told Peyton to wait for her and the curly blonde left, but not before sharing an uncertain glance with Lucas.

Once she had left, Haley crossed her arms in front of her insecurely and looked over at the blonde basketball player who had complicated her life and heart as of recent.

"Are you still mad at me?"

Snapping his gaze away from his departing best friend, Lucas shoved his hands into the pockets of his Ravens jumpsuit and shrugged.

"Are you still not going to tell me what's going on with you and Felix?"

Opening her mouth, and closing it again, for the first time in a long time...Haley was at a loss for words.

Scoffing, Lucas shook his head as he watched Haley look at anywhere but him. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Her eyes snapping quickly over to him, she reached over and grabbed his arm, preventing him from leaving.

"No, Lucas wait. Don't be like that."

"How do you want me to be Haley?" Lucas snapped, shaking his grasp from hers and leaning against Peyton's classic Comet. "All I want is to know what's going on with you and Felix. See it from my perspective okay? What if you constantly caught me hanging around, talking to..hugginganother girl and refused to explain to you, only to state that there's nothing going on? Look, Haley I'm not that guy okay? The one that prevents you from having any male friends...talking to other guys..but when it does concern a certain jackass who's done nothing but wrong to you..well all I want is for you to be upfront with me. Is that too much to ask?"

Staring at him for what like seemed an eternity, Haley was the first one to break away from his intense, imploring gaze and she took a deep breath. "You're right. You deserve to know and I'm going to tell you but..."Biting at her lip, she ran her hand through her golden tresses. "You can't be mad at me okay? Or question my...reasons. Just understand."

"Okay."

"I'm uh...well. I'm tutoring him."

He squinted at her, in that way she always found just utterly adorable. "You're...tutoring him?"

"Yeah...I uh...he asked you know? And as much as I can't stand him...and he asked for me not to tell anyone and that's why I didn't say anything but Lucas.." Reaching out, she grasped his hands with hers. "That's it okay? I-there's no other reason why I'm hanging out with him. No ulterior motives or feelings. You believe me right?"

"Just tutoring right?"

"Just tutoring." she affirmed.

Nodding slowly, Lucas let out a breath as he let his hands fall to her waist. "Okay. I believe you."

Smiling, Haley fell into his embrace, leaning over and brushing her lips against his. He quickly responded to her kiss and didn't hesitate to deepen it, bringing her form against his even tighter. As always, the mere feeling made her heart jump and she allowed herself to lose herself completely, throwing caution into the wind and not caring that they were smack in the middle of the parking lot at their high school.

All that mattered was the way she felt in that moment.

Staring critically into the mirror, Brooke reached for her lip gloss as the rest of her squad filed out of the visitor's girl locker rooms. Fluffing her hair, she squinted and attempted to smile, but her reflection flashed back, tired and almost haunted.

Letting out a deep sigh, she straightened up and ran her brush through her hair one more time before stepping out as well. Walking down the unfamiliar hallway, she smiled as she spotted Jake trailing after his fellow teammates. She waved and she wished him good luck and he grinned back at her. She also sees Lucas and she winks at him, but she doesn't see Nathan and she tells herself repeatedly that she wasn't looking for him anyways.

She's reached the gym double doors when she feels a pair of arms encircle her waist and she gasps in surprise. Turning around, she comes face to face with the boy she convinced herself she wasn't looking for and immediately she tenses.

"Get off me you-"

She's silenced immediately as his lips brush against hers quickly. Stunned, she pushes him away and is almost angry at the way he's grinning at her.

"Just cause' you're mad at me and pretend that you don't still love me, doesn't mean that I want to mess up my before game ritual."

Before she can even comment, or fly off the handle, he's already gone, sauntering towards the boy's locker room. She stands there for a couple of minutes, fuming at his audacity. She tries to convince herself that it doesn't completely affect her, but after a while she can't help the smile that lights up her face as she touches her lips with her fingers lightly.

To say that Lucas's head wasn't entirely in the game was a complete understatement. He tried to shake off that growing feeling of anxiousness away, knowing that he couldn't screw this up. Whitey had given him a chance to start, and after everything that had happened in the last few games and the last incident with Nathan, Lucas knew that Whitey was really putting everything out there by giving him a chance.

And he really, really didn't want to screw that up.

But damn it, every time the ball came towards him, it was like he had suddenly forgotten how to play the sport that had been his comfort growing up.

And it didn't help that everytime he looked towards the stands, either Felix was smirking at him or grinning at Haley on the other side of the gym. What the hell was he doing there anyways?

As another ball whizzed by him, Lucas cursed under his breath and clenched his fists, telling himself that he needed to shake himself out of...whatever had him like this.

"Hey Pucas!" Nathan barked, running by him as the other team caught hold of the ball. "Why don't you get your head in the game huh? And how about trying to put your hands up on the defense all right?"

Letting out a breath, Lucas jogged out towards the center of the court, where Nathan had suddenly gotten possession of the ball back, but he'd side-stepped an opponent only to get the ball swiped from his hands.

"And why don't you try not getting beat?" Lucas suggested, as Nathan ran past him again.

Pausing slightly, Nathan glanced over his shoulder and smirked. "And why don't I just beat your ass? Again?"

Getting back in the game, Lucas caught the ball that the defense had gotten hold of and ran towards their side of the court, preparing for a lay-up.

As the opponent's team's defense came up behind him and swatted the ball, it rolled out of bounds.

"Ball in!" The referee blew the whistle and Lucas closed his eyes and turned towards the bench, catching sight of Whitey's unimpressed stare.

Hearing Nathan laughing behind him, Lucas turned to glare at him.

"Nice try bastard. Keep it up yeah, and we might just lose."

"Hey, you gonna talk or are you gonna play, Daddy's boy?" Lucas snapped, trying his best to ignore his jackass of a...teammate as the ball got into play again. Nathan chuckled and he turned towards the end side of the gym, where the cheerleaders were jumping into another cheer. And he grinned, coming up next to Lucas.

"Hey, y'know who's looking really hot right now? Peyton."

Stopping, Lucas gritted his teeth as he held up his hands for a pass from Tim. "Stay the hell away from her."

"Oh, you mean like how you're staying away from Haley?" he shot back. "And speaking of man, she's looking pretty hot herself. I could steal her away from you if I really wanted to y'know. Me and her...we go way back. There's a lot of history there." He taunted, enjoying seeing the flustered look on his face. "But y'know what? Nah...besides I think Felix just might get to her before I do...I hear they've been pretty uh...friendlyif y'know what I mean."

Clenching his jaw, Lucas jumped up and caught the ball and ran towards the other side of the court, and came up right underneath the basket, shooting up in the air for a perfect lay-up. Turning towards the cheerleaders, who were jumping up and down excitedly, he leaned towards Brooke.

"Hey, so I saw Nathan in the shower...yeah no wonder you dumped his ass."

Brooke laughed and Haley and Peyton turned to look at each other, completely shocked.

And Nathan, who had just received a pass from Tyler and was heading towards that side for another play, saw Lucas leaning towards Brooke and he saw red. Gripping the ball firmly in his hands, he swung it hard towards Lucas.

Feeling the ball hit him square in the back of the head, Lucas stopped and turned towards Nathan who was glaring at him just as fiercely. Storming towards him, he pushed him back as the crowd gasped. Pushing him back with equal force, Nathan pulled back and swung straight at his jaw, sending him flying backwards into the stunned cheerleaders. Neither noticed as they knocked Brooke over, or as the crowd started shouting in protest or as Whitey and the rest of the team ran over to them.

All either could concentrate was on the gratifying sound of fist smashing against face, over and over again.

The referee was blowing his whistle like crazy as the rest of the team struggled to pull Lucas and Nathan apart.

"You two!" He shouted, once Jake pulled up Lucas and Tyler and Tim restrained Nathan. "You're out of here!"

"You're throwing them both out of the game?"

"I have to, Coach. Sorry, I got thing's rolling."

As the referee ran off, Whitey stared after him aghast.

"They're on the same team!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Oh my god pain!" Brooke was still on the ground, rubbing her ankle and wincing. "Ohh..."

Stopping for a second, Nathan looked over towards her and leaned down towards the brunette beauty. He frowned in regret, watching as she struggled in pain to stand up. "Baby, don't. Here I'll help you out. I'm sorry..."

"Don't!" She swatted his hand away angrily. "You're sorry for what? For being such a classic man-whore? Or for trampling me over?"

"Brooke…"

Ignoring him, Brooke looked past him and smiled sweetly up at Lucas. "Can you help me up Lucas?"

Stiffening, Nathan looked over to his side at Lucas who had suddenly appeared next to him.

Son of a bitch...

The rest of the team, sensing that another fight was about to break out grabbed a hold of both Nathan and Lucas and pushed them towards the locker rooms.

"Ow, damn it that's too tight!" Brooke complained, watching as the team's doctor's assistant tried to wrap the bandage around her ankle "Uh no, now it's too loose."

Sighing, he looked over and shared a glance with Haley, who had accompanied the beautiful brunette. Trying his hardest not to roll his eyes, he asked, "There, how about now?"

"Better." Brooke admitted, tilting her head as she regarded him. Not bad. He couldn't be over 22 and he was pretty cute. "So, you're in college right? What's your name?"

"Colin. And uh...yeah. I'm a junior."

"Oh...y'know...I love college guys." She paused and she sat up a little straighter, smiling up at him flirtatiously. "Just to think...two more years and you'll be a doctor."

"Uh, yeah not exactly." he laughed.

Tilting her head back, Brooke smirked as she moved herself enough to where her legs where on perfect display. "So tell me, Doctor College Boy. If you wanted to give me something for the pain, you could right?"

Sensing where this was going, Haley spoke up for the first time. "I think it's time to take you home." Giving her life-long best friend a look, she stated quietly, but determinedly. "Stay here okay? I'm going to get our stuff. I'm driving you back."

"Excuse me?" Brooke tore her gaze away from college boy and burned her glare into Haley. "But I'm not an invalid y'know? I can drive myself thank you very much."

"She was sprained pretty badly." Haley directed towards Colin, ignoring Brooke's outburst. "Don't you think she needs to stay off that ankle for um..a while?"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not in the room, backstabber." Brooke snapped, making Colin look furtively between the two. "And I'll be fine, right Colin?" she asked sweetly.

"Uh...well." He paused and he winced as he felt both girl's eyes burning on him. He didn't know what was going on, but he could feel some serious tension between the two girls and he felt as if his answer would prove one of them right. Give them a victory over the other of some sorts. "Actually, you should stay off it for a while. A couple of hours max."

"Okay then!" Haley smiled, that infuriating See-I-Told-You-So smile and Brooke willed herself not to reach over and smack it off her face. "Stay put Brooke and I'll be back."

"I don't think so!" Brooke hissed. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Get Bevin or Theresa, they did come with me after all."

"They umm..left." Haley blinked innocently. "With Rachel." Turning back to Colin, she smiled and asked. "Keep an eye on her for me please? I'll be back in just a couple of minutes."

"Thanks a lot!" Brooke fumed, turning her rage to an unsuspecting Colin. "I was wrong about you Doctor College boy. Or should I just say College boy? "Hopping off the bed, Colin tried to protest but Brooke wasn't done yet. "Because even an idiot can see that I'm fine and I don't need that..that lying backstabber to take me home."

Who did Haley think she was anyway? Did she really think that just because she'd taken her to get some help for her sprained ankle that things would immediately be okay between them again?

Stopping for a moment, her hands searched around her cheerleading jacket, and she smiled triumphantly when she felt the pair of keys there. Thank god, she had pocketed them.

As she looked to find the nearest exit, her smile widened as she spotted an obviously pissed off Lucas Scott heading towards her.

Perfect.

Pretending not to see the blonde, Brooke took a few steps and faltered, almost slumping down to the floor before she heard the sounds of quickening steps and felt a pair of strong arms rush to catch her.

"Are you all-right?"

Looking up innocently into his concerned eyes, Brooke winced and shook her head. "No. Oh, gosh." She whimpered in pretend pain as she threw an arm around his shoulder, letting his strong grasp on her waist hold her up. "I thought I'd be able to walk out of here fine. But Colin did warn me about staying off it for a couple of hours..."

"Who's Colin?"

"The rival's team doctor's assistant..." Trailing off, Brooke shook her head and winced again as they slowly started to make their way towards the exit. "I uh...oh gosh and everyone's left and I don't know how I'm going to get home."

"Why don't you wait here?" Lucas suggested. "I'll go look for Peyton and you can ride with us. Whitey kicked me off the bus and I'm sure Peyton won't mind." He hesitated slightly. "The only thing is...well she came with Haley and I know things between the two of you are...well not right."

Rolling her eyes, Brooke flinched at the thought of spending an unnecessary moment with her ex-best friend. "Her and Peyton left." She came up with quickly.

"What?" Lucas's brow furrowed. "But I just saw Peyton...and I asked her to wait for me. I don't-"

"I'm sorry Lucas." Brooke smiled innocently at him, fishing out her keys and dangling them. "Looks like it's just you and me."

He looked around him briefly, before he nodded and accepted her keys. She grinned widely, but quickly erased it to replace it with a pout. Looking down at her...sprained ankle, she winced. "Oh...I hate to ask you this but.."

Looking down at her, Lucas only gave her a friendly smile and hoisted his gym bag over his shoulders, before he swooped down and gently picked her up in his arms as he took them towards the nearest exit.

To say that Nathan Scott was angry was putting it mildly. He was furious and as he slammed the locker room door behind him with such force, it seemed the building shook. How the hell was he supposed to get home now? Whitey had made it perfectly clear that neither he or Lucas were allowed back on that bus. His options were pretty limited and he fished around his bag for his cell phone. He had no choice, he was going to have to do some serious groveling if he expected to get home. There was no way in hell he was walking and he didn't have his wallet on him.

When Brooke's phone went straight to voice-mail, he slammed it shut angrily and stormed out of the school.

As soon as he did, he stopped in his tracks and his veins turned ice-cold. He caught the sight of Lucas carrying Brooke..his Brooke bridal-style towards her car. Before he could even react, Lucas had already jumped into the driver's seat and had taken off.

Clenching his jaw, Nathan tried Brooke's cell one more time. He didn't know what the hell was going on but all he could think of was the way she had looked up sweetly at Lucas back in the gym and has asked him for help.

She had some serious explaining to do.

When again it went straight to voice-mail, he fought the urge to throw his cell on the ground and watch it shatter.

Instead, he scrolled down his contacts and took in a deep breath to control the fury building up in his chest. "Where are you?"

Looking down quickly at her watch, Peyton blew a puff of annoyance as she looked about the almost empty parking lot. She wondered once again what the hell had happened to Lucas, as she had promised to wait for her idiotic best friend, since he had managed to get himself get kicked out of not only the game, but the team's bus.

"What a night huh?"

Looking up, Peyton managed a smile as she saw Haley approaching her. "You could say that." Looking behind her expectantly, she frowned as she realized she was alone. "Where's Lucas?"

Haley shrugged as she threw her gym bag into Peyton's backseat. "He found another ride apparently." At Peyton's questioning look, she elaborated. "He left with Brooke. Of all people."

Peyton stared at her perplexed,"What?"

"Um yeah. I left her with Colin.." at Peyton's questioning glance, she waved her hand. "The other school's assistant doctor. Anyways, I left her to get our stuff so y'know I could drive her back, with sprained ankle and all. But I get back and she's not there and Colin tells me he saw her leave with the blonde guy that got into a fight and..." she paused, and she blinked rapidly. "If you can believe it."

Glancing briefly at her, Peyton nodded as she proceeded to jump into the driver's seat. "Never would've thought...but yeah."

"I can't believe both Lucas and Nathan got kicked off the game..."

"Well, Nathan's the one who started it." Peyton replied. "He's a jackass and..well Lucas is not..I mean Nathan's always provoking him."

"Maybe you're right. But...Nathan's well...he's really threatened by Lucas y'know? That's how he works. He reacts, and does stupid things.."

"That's an understatement." Peyton cut her off, shaking her head as she pulled into the nearest highway. "And that's where the jackass part kicks in. He does or says thing and he never takes into consideration how it's going to affect the other person."

Pausing, Haley shot her a funny look. "Do you...like him?"

"Who? Lucas?" Peyton cringed and she shook her head firmly. "No. Gosh, how many times do I have to answer this? We're just friends."

"Well, I hope so." Haley smiled. "But I actually meant Nathan."

Peyton didn't answer for a moment as her hands gripped the steering wheel fiercely. She refused to look at Haley as she answered, "No. I don't."

"Really?" she shot her a dubious look. "Well, I think he likes you."

"I don't like him. At all and..what?"

Sighing, Haley ran her hand through her blonde locks as she stared at the passing scenery. "You didn't answer my question."

Peyton shook her head. "What does it matter?"

"Because of the whole rivalry thing he's got going on with Lucas?"

"Exactly. I mean, it'd be incredibly disloyal. Plus, even if hypothetically I did like him…it would never work."

"Why not?"

"We're so…different. And he's a jackass. Not to mention a cheater."

"Maybe, but he obviously cares about you."

"How can you even tell?"

"Nathan's got a soft side, a vulnerable side that he never shows to anyone. Brooke, Jake and I…well we grew up with him, so we know him better than he wants us to and we've seen that side of him. You on the other hand, haven't known him that long and already from what you've told me, he's revealed that side to you whether he wanted to or not. He talks to you and tells you things. Things he usually keeps hidden deep inside. And I…well I think that speaks volumes on the way he feels about you."

Haley looks over at her. She's fidgeting with the steering wheel and she's looking intently at the road ahead of her, though her mind is obviously somewhere else, she decides it's not her place to pry and changes the subject, knowing that she shouldn't even be pushing it.

"Dan's a great father huh?

Peyton scoffed, "To which one?"

"Yeah." Haley chuckled lightly. "That's screwed up don't you think?"

"Lucas… he's over it."

"Unlike Nathan." Haley responded softly. "I feel for him sometimes. I've seen how Dan treats him. Nathan…he acts like he doesn't care, but I just know him y'know?" she smiles "Does he ever talk to you about that?"

"Why would he?"

"Well, I know you guys kinda talk and I just wondered. If he ever opened up to you about that."

It seemed like forever before the curly blonde answered. "He's made jokes about it." she finally admitted. "But…I guess…I can tell he doesn't really find it funny."

Peyton falls silent and her mind flashes back to that moment in the gym when she first caught glimpse of the sad little boy Nathan tries to hide

"I'm glad he sort of talks to you about it." Haley finally spoke up, breaking through whatever thought was running through the other blonde's head. "He needs that. And I think it's kinda sweet."

Peyton looks over at her and kinda smiles, "Yeah, I somehow doubt a certain someone will find that sweet."

Haley shrugs "Maybe not." She admits "But so what? You shouldn't care."

"Says the ex-girlfriend's best friend."

Haley stays quiet for a moment then laughs, "This whole thing is not going to end well is it? Talk about a tangled web huh?"

Peyton looks over at her and they laughed

Oh, if only they really knew just how tangled things would soon become.

"Oh! Here it is." Brooke exclaimed, pulling a CD that she'd been searching for and holding it triumphantly before slipping it into her stereo. "Better, don't ya think?"

Lucas tried not to frown as he felt Brooke's arm snake around his shoulder. Lady Gaga's Bad Romance bounced around them and he tried to smile at her, but he couldn't help but feel that the whole situation was strange and just...wrong. How had he ended up driving back with his half-brother's ex-girlfriend...not to mention the girl of his dreams estranged best friend?

He sneaked a quick glance at her. She was slinked over her side and she was singing sofly along the lyrics and he couldn't help but smile. She looked so...carefree and he couldn't help but wonder if she was on her way to being okay. Yes, he didn't know her very well, and she'd always been sort of...obnoxious and maybe a bit cruel towards him but he didn't want to hold that against her. She was dating Nathan Scott before and he knew he couldn't expect less from his half-brother's girlfriend at the time.

The rest of the car ride wasn't as uncomfortable as he thought it would be and he even found himself singing along with her, to which she turned and grinned at him happily.

I want your loving and I want your revenge. You and me could write a bad romance...ohhh ooohh ohhh.

Before they knew it, he was at the front of his house and he turned to thank her, only to feel shock course through his entire being as her lips pressed against his very briefly.