"So you never did call me back last night." Peyton said as she walked into Lucas's room without knocking, early the next morning. She flopped down on his bed, "That good huh?" she teased.

"Yeah, so good, I never got to find out." he muttered, searching under his bed for his high-tops.

She raised an eyebrow, "Meaning?"

"Meaning the whole thing never happened."

"You stood her up?" she said incredulously. She shook her head at him, "Dude, I knew you were nervous last night, but to the extent of bailing out? I mean how are you ever supposed to get the girl if you bail on her on the first date?"

"I never said anything about standing her up." he said defensively.

"Then what happened?" she retorted, crossing her arms and tilting her head up to look at him, "You get kidnapped or something?"

He flinched as he reached for his backpack, "Well…kind of." he admitted.

She sat up straight, "What?"

He sighed, "Nathan and his posse decided it might be kind of fun if they picked me up and left me stranded out in the middle of nowhere."

Her eyes narrowed, "They did what?"

"They surprised me as I was walking towards the Cinema." He explained, "Coming up behind me nonetheless." He shook his head, "The damn cowards." He muttered.

"And they just left you there?"

"Well bringing me back would kind of defeat the purpose of leaving me stranded." He said dryly.

She shook her head, "I cannot believe this. I mean how long are they going to keep pulling this shit on you?"

"Till I quit the team."

She shot him a worried look, "You're not going to are you?"

"And give them the satisfaction?" he scoffed, "Hell no."

"Good. But you know, somebody needs to have a serious talk with your father's evil spawn from hell. Give him a taste of his own medicine or something."

"That person being you?" He joked smiling, "And there she is…Protective Peyton to the rescue."

She shoved him playfully as they made their way out the front door, "Dude…how can you joke about this? Not only did they commit a felony…..well it should be." She added, seeing the look on his face, "But they completely ruined your date."

His face fell and he let out a deep sigh, "Yeah,about that...I hope she understands."

"You mean you didn't call her last night to let her know what happened?"

He looked up at her sheepishly, "I…well….see….calling her would kind of be a problem seeing as though I don't exactly have her number."

She didn't know why she found that extremely amusing, but she did. She burst out laughing and he glared at her, "It's not funny." He snapped.

"Oh…yes it is!" she shook her head, trying to contain her amusement, "Are you seriously telling me you didn't even to think to ask the girl for her phone number? In case, oh… I don't know, something like this happened?"

He sighed as he hopped in the passenger seat of her car, throwing his backpack in the backseat, "I know….I should've thought about that. But I didn't. And what's done is done. And now all I really want to do is get to school so I can explain what happened, and hope she doesn't totally hate me."

She let out an amused laugh as she started the car, "Leave it to your brother. To ruin, unknowingly, your semi-chance with the girl you've been crushing on since forever."

"Just like he does everything else." He muttered.

"Well…hey…it's going to be all right okay? Haley seems like the understanding type…and Nathan…well, who cares about him? Let him continue to pull his stupid crap on you. Eventually he's going to realize you're not going anywhere and he'll just have to accept that and quit being such an ass."

He threw her a look, "Are we talking about the same Nathan Scott?" he shook his head, "Yeah, I don't see him letting up any time soon…but you're right…who cares? I've made it pretty clear to him no matter what he does, I'm not quitting the team."

She nodded, "Right. Besides, he has to get bored eventually and move on to terrorize his next victim right?"

He chuckled, "You make him sound like some sort of sociopath."

She smiled, "Ah, same thing."

A couple of minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot and they both got out, making their way into the main entrance.

"Oh, God." Peyton muttered, looking around the halls, "Has this whole place gone mad or what?"

He looked around them, at the huge streamers and white and blue balloons covering up every inch of the hallways. A huge banner spelling out, GO RAVENS! hung in the middle of the ceiling and students were milling around, chattering excitedly about the upcoming game, the majority of them decked out in white and blue.

"Like I really need a reminder the whole day of what's going down tonight." he muttered, taking in the whole scene.

"Yeah." She agreed, "Look like we're a bit under dressed for the occasion." She said looking down at her simple black tank top and old jeans. She groaned as they reached their lockers. She ripped off the flyer advertising the game, and a few streamers that decorated her locker, "I swear, if confetti falls out when I open this thing, I'll scream."

He laughed as he opened his locker and pulled out some books, "Not very cheerleader like there Peyton. Isn't promoting this whole school spirit thing, like your duty?"

"And isn't being pumped up and ready to kick ass, your duty as a player?" she replied playfully.

He groaned and slumped against his locker, "Yeah…thanks."

She rolled her eyes, "Dude…you'll be okay. Seriously, stop worrying. It's only going to make it worse."

"Hey…Peyton!"

They both looked up and Peyton smiled as she noticed Jake push his way through the crowd towards them, "Hey Jake."

He chuckled, "Wow this place is a madhouse huh?" he looked over at Lucas and extended his hand, "Hey, we haven't met…I'm Jake."

Lucas shook his hand a little warily, recognizing him as one of the guys from the team and from Nathan's crowd. "Nice to meet you. I'm-"

"Lucas, I know." He interjected, he chuckled at the questioningly look the blonde threw his way, "Hey, man…you're reputation follows you." he joked.

He laughed deciding then and there that he was all right, "That's not always a good thing."

Jake laughed, "So anyway…you pumped up for tonight's game?"

Lucas groaned and Peyton giggled, "Wrong question Jake." She teased.

"Uh-Oh." He smiled, "First game jitters? Don't worry man, been there, done that. It'll be all right."

"You sound like Peyton." He muttered, "Enough with the optimism."

Jake laughed and he gave him a friendly pat on the back, "I've seen you play man, you'll be okay. Anyways I gotta run so I'll see you guys at practice." He shot a quick smile to Peyton, "Take care of him will you?" he joked, "Make sure he makes it alive to practice."

She laughed and waved him off as Lucas turned to her and smiled, "Soooo…" he started.

She rolled her eyes, already knowing where this was going, "What?"

He nodded towards Jake's disappearing form, "When did that happen?"

She let out a breath, "Dude, stop okay? It's not going to happen."

"What? I didn't say anything."

"No. But you were thinking it. And you can stop, because there's nothing going on there."

"Well, why not?" he raised an eyebrow, "You don't like basket ball players, Peyt?" he teased, earning him a playful shove.

"You mean besides you?" she joked, she shook her head as she closed her locker, "He's a nice guy. And I think that he could be a good friend. But that's all." She paused, "Besides…I'm pretty sure he's into someone else."


Brooke dug inside her book bag and pulled out her favorite mascara. She looked into the small hand mirror that always hung inside her locker and carefully applied it. She fluttered her eyelashes and smiled at her reflection.

A hand reached out and landed on her hip, pulling her in close, "You don't need that." Nathan murmured, leaning in to nuzzle her neck, "You're already perfect."

She grinned and turned around to face him, "How perfect?"

"Hmm." He pretended to ponder over her question, "Perfect for me." he paused and winced, "Wait, that was cheesy wasn't it?"

She leaned up to kiss him, "It's okay baby." She winked, "Lucky for you…I think so too."

He grinned down at her, and played with the hem of her skirt, "What do you say we get out of here?" he suggested.

"But.. we have class." She protested lightly.

He leaned in and started placing light kisses down the side of her neck, "So?"

She placed a hand on his chest, "Nathan….." she said, lightly scolding him, "Stop that."

He pulled back to look at her and grinned slyly, "Do you really want me to?"

"You know I don't."

He grabbed her hand and threaded his fingers through hers, "So then what's the problem?"

"Uh…you're forgetting we have our first game tonight. You know Whitey's rules…You skip…you miss…the game that is."

He shrugged carelessly, "We'll be back in time before lunch. Whitey will never notice." He gave her a curious look, "Besides…since when has that stopped you before?"

She pouted, "I have a test this period."

"What do you have?"

"Biology."

"Baby…c'mon..." He winked at her, "I bet I can teach you a thing or two about Biology."

"Ok, Mr. Scott." she teased, "I'd probably pay more attention to you anyways than to Peterson." she patted him on the ass and winked up at him, "You're way cuter."

He laughed, "No argument there." He joked. He pulled her in for a quick kiss and she kissed him back, well aware of the fact that at that moment everyone around them was shooting them looks and murmuring, wondering when and why the famous 'It' couple had made up.

She ignored them as she slipped her hand in his. Who cared what they all said? It was their relationship. And people could speculate and talk all they wanted. But they were together again. And in that moment she couldn't have felt happier. In the end, that's all that mattered.


Jake looked up from his locker in time to see Nathan and Brooke exit the main entrance hand in hand. His face fell slightly, "Well that didn't very take long." He muttered to himself, sighing as he closed his locker, "Looks like I'll be going to Nathan's party alone after all."

Across the hall, having witnessed the same thing, Rachel silently fumed. She couldn't believe they were back together. What the hell was going on?

"Looks like your little plan didn't pan out as expected."

She turned around and came face to face with Haley, "I don't know what you're talking about." She said flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Sure, you don't." she scoffed, coming to stand directly in front of the redhead, "I'm not an idiot. I know you're the one who sent that lovely picture to my phone…" Rachel looked up surprised and Haley smirked, "Yeah…that's right…you sent it to my phone…listen, next time you want to screw over my best friend, you better make sure you cover your tracks..because if I find out you're pulling shit like this again, you'll be sorry."

She crossed her arms in front of her haughtily, "Is that a threat?"

She tilted her head and smirked at her, "When are you going give it up and face it sweetie? He doesn't want you. He's never going to want you. So just give up your pathetic attempts and find someone else to whore around with."

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "I swear if I didn't know better, I'd say you wanted him for yourself. I mean all this has got to come out of somewhere right?"

Haley rolled her eyes and let out a laugh, "I'm just looking out for my best friend. Y'know, protecting her from snakes like you."

Rachel ignored her comment, "Really? So if you're looking out for her, then why haven't you told her? Best friends aren't supposed to keep things like this from each other." She rolled her eyes, "Yeah.. nice looking out Haley."

"And give you the satisfaction?" she shook her head, "I think not. Besides, why mention anything at all, when it obviously meant nothing. At least according to Nathan."

She laughed as she saw the furious look that crossed the redhead's face, "Sorry, to break it to you, Sla-chel, but you're pathetic little plan didn't quite work out for you." She mocked, making use of Brooke's nickname for her. "See ya at practice." She added sweetly before brushing past her laughing.

Rachel took a deep breath and slammed her fist against the lockers, ignoring the curious stares from the other students. She was absolutely furious. And determined to find Felix and demand some answers from that good for nothing idiot.


It was lunch time and Lucas walked around with his tray, his eyes searching the Quad for the pretty blonde he was intent on finding. He hadn't seen her all morning and had barely had a chance to talk to her during their Literature class. He had the misfortune of arriving late, therefore not giving him a chance to so much as look at the girl, as Mrs. Herring had given him a lecture for interrupting her class, and sending him off to detention.

His eyes lit up as he spotted her sitting down at her regular table. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he noticed that she was alone. He walked over to her and set his tray down next to her, "Hey." He said breathlessly sitting down next to her, "I've been looking all over for you."

She looked over at him startled, her heart pounding in her chest, "Hey…"she cleared her throat, "So I guess you need the notes from today's lesson right?"

His brow furrowed, "What?" he shook his head, "That's not the reason I came over to talk to you…although…well now that you mention it…I probably could use them."

She picked up an orange from her tray and began to peel it, "Sure.." she said listlessly, "I'll hand them to you later."

"Well…uh…listen Haley…about last night.." he began, "I just wanted to let you know that I didn't stand you up. I was on my way, when-"

Her eyes flickered slightly and she exhaled, "Hey it's okay." She cut him off, trying to keep her voice light, "You don't have to explain. I mean it wasn't a date or anything. No big deal right?"

His eyes locked with hers and he took a deep breath, his heart sinking in his chest, "Right." He said weakly. He cleared his throat, "I..uh..I have to go…Peyton's probably looking for me and-" he stood up and paused as he looked down at her, "So…I'll get those notes from you later?"

She nodded, not meeting his gaze, "Yeah, sure." She bit her lip as she watched him walk away, her heart feeling heavy in her chest. Why, she wasn't sure. I mean it was just like she told him. Not a big deal. At all.

He sighed as he settled himself at his usual table, looking down at his tray. Suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore.


At the same time across the parking lot, Rachel strode over to Felix, who was walking off with Tim and Brad towards his car. She pulled him by the arm to stop him, "I need to talk to you." she said in a biting tone, pulling him along with her.

He looked down at her laughing. He shrugged and waved to his friends calling out, "I'll see you guys later."

They laughed and threw him the thumbs-up sign, obviously taking Rachel's urgency to mean something else. At the moment, she didn't care. She just really wanted to give her partner a piece of her mind.

She stopped as soon as they weren't within earshot of anyone and shoved him, "I knew I couldn't count on you." she snapped, "You are such an idiot."

He held up his hands to stop her movements, "Whoa…what the hell is wrong with you?"

"You're really going to stand there and ask me that? Or have you not heard that Tree Hill's Perfect Couple is back on?"

"Yeah..okay…so?" he scoffed, "What the hell does that have to do with me?"

"It has everything to do with you! If you had actually done what I had asked you to, this wouldn't have happened."

He looked at her confused, "What are you talking about? I took the picture and I sent it to her. How is it my fault if she didn't care and decided to forgive him anyway?"

"It is your fault when you sent it to the wrong person!" She snapped, "She never got the picture dumb-ass. You accidentally sent it to Haley instead. If I'm supposed to believe that." she let out a breath, "Something so simple as sending the damn picture to Brooke, and you couldn't even follow through."

"Fine, whatever. My bad. It was an innocent mistake." He shrugged carelessly.

"A stupid mistake." She corrected him angrily. She ran her fingers through her hair, "The worst thing is that little bitch decided she's not going to show it to Brooke at all." She looked at him, "I need to get my hands on that phone."

"Why? It's not like she still has it." he paused, "Or does she?"

She shrugged, "I'm pretty sure she does. She showed it to me this morning." She paused as she looked at him thoughtfully, "How's the conquest with the tutor going anyway?"

He shrugged his shoulders, a little irritated, "It's not."

She raised an eyebrow, "Giving up already?" she laughed, "What happened to 'she'll be putty in my hands in a week tops'? You're week's almost up, Tagaro."

He glared at her, "So what? I never said it was over." He smiled smugly, "Besides…I've got a plan."

"Do tell."

"In time, baby, in time."

She rolled her eyes, "Well it better be soon. Listen, you need to figure out a way to get to Haley and fast. I need to get my hands on that phone and you're going to help me." she thought for a moment, "I've got it. Get her to come with you to Nathan's party tomorrow."

"Okay…and then what?"

"Then we got to figure out a way for you to get that phone. Like, get her really drunk or something and snatch the phone and give it to me. Afterwards, you can take her home and have your way with her, or whatever it is that you do with your dates."

He shot her a smug grin, "Please. I'll have you know I don't have to get my dates wasted for that. Trust me, they're always more than willing. And soon, she won't be the exception."

"Whatever. Just make sure you don't screw this up the same way you did the first time." she paused, "But first, you've got to get the prude to agree to go with you."

He shrugged, "Eh. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Right." She scoffed, "Cause, you've had luck landing a date with her so far."


"I love it when we fight." Nathan murmured as he leaned into Brooke, pushing her against the wall behind the gym, "Because when we make up, it's always so much fun. And plus, you can never get enough of me. Of us." he added, trailing light, feathery kisses down the side of her neck.

"How's that any different from any other time?" she teased pulling back to kiss him sensually on the lips, "I want you all the time, Superstar. I thought you'd have learned that by now." She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly and pulled him back into her, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss. He groaned against her lips softly and pulled her as close to him as he could, his hand traveling from her hip down to the smooth outside of her thigh. She giggled and snaked her hands inside the back of his shirt, her hands traveling sensually down his smooth back muscles.

Just when things were getting really heated between them, they were interrupted by the vibrating of her phone, from inside the pocket of her jacket. He stopped her hand from reaching for it, instead threading his fingers through hers, "Ignore it." he murmured against her lips.

A couple of seconds later, it vibrated again and he sighed in annoyance, pulling away from her. He reached for it before she could protest and snapped it open, staring down at the text message she had received.

His brow furrowed and he looked back at her, "Who the hell is Tommy?" he demanded hotly.

She couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips, "Oh..Tommy…"

He narrowed his eyes, "Yes…Tommy…who the hell is that idiot? And why does he have your number?"

She ran her hand down his chest, "Are you jealous Nathan Scott?" she teased.

He rolled his eyes, "Answer the question, Brooke."

"Oh…" she shook her head, "He's just someone that I met yesterday at the bar me and Haley went to."

"Wait, what? You went to a bar? And Haley, went with you?"

She looked up at him innocently, "What? You didn't expect me to stay home after our fight did you?" he shot her a look and she giggled, "Anyways….it's no big deal….he's not important." She brought her arm around his neck again, toying with the collar of his shirt, "I won't be needing him to make you jealous anymore." She grinned at him playfully.

He smirked, "Playing games Babe?"

"Who me?" she blinked up at him innocently.

He rolled his eyes and scrolled down her phone, hitting the delete button on her contacts, "Well…let's just say…you won't be hearing from this moron anymore."

"Awww…baby…you have nothing to be jealous of. You know I'm all yours."

He grinned slyly as he pulled her back to him, working his hands down the side of her hips again, "Yeah…about that…"he teased, leaning down and capturing her lips with his once again.

She closed her eyes and let out a low moan. No, doubt about it. He was right. Their make-ups were always so much fun.


Right after cheer practice Haley filed out of the gym wanting to go home as soon as possible. Usually, she waited for Brooke and Nathan and they would drop her off home. But she also knew the brunette had just made up with her boyfriend. And Haley, more than anyone knew how those two were after a reconciliation. And she honestly didn't think she could make it through the full ride, forced to watch their lovey-dovey sweetness. At least not without getting sick.

Not today. Not after everything that had happened with Lucas. She sighed to herself as she trudged over to her locker and pulled out her books. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out, why she was still so bothered by the whole thing. She had bumped into him right before practice, and he had asked for her notes. And nothing more. He had barely said a word to her. She couldn't help but feel just a little peeved that he had been able to just brush off the incident like that. Sure he had tried to explain. Once. But that was it. And she wasn't sure, but she kind of got the feeling that he was a little upset with her. She didn't understand why. She wasn't the one who stood him up.

She shook her head to clear it, Stop it. she said to herself. You, yourself told him it was nothing. So stop acting like you're hurt when he acts like it meant nothing.

Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't see Felix until she was almost on top of him. He called out her name to get her attention and she looked up at him, "Sorry…I didn't see you." she mumbled absently.

"You look a little out of it there Doll." he grinned, "Daydreaming about me?"

She sighed, "Felix…"she said wearily not wanting to deal with him just then, "Didn't we have this conversation already?"

He shrugged, "We did. And you keep insisting you don't totally want me." he grinned, "Lucky for you. I don't quite believe you. Also, lucky for you. I'm not one to give up easily when I really want something."

She rolled her eyes, knowing it was useless to rebuke his comment, "And that something is me this time? Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why me?" she repeated, "Of all the girls in this school, why are you so insistent on pursuing me? Especially after I've brushed you off time and time again?"

He shrugged, "You're different."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that you're not like the other girls. You're really smart…and pretty…and just really sure of who you are." He grinned slyly, "And maybe, I sort of like the chase."

She just stared at him, not really sure how to respond.

He cleared his throat, feeling a little uncomfortable under her gaze all of a sudden, "So…anyway.. I was wondering if you'd let me take you to Nathan's party tomorrow night?"

"Like a date?"

He grinned, "Well, yeah, baby girl, that would be the idea."

She opened her mouth to say for the last time No, when she spotted Lucas and Peyton stepping out of the gym, laughing together.

She paused and she wished she knew what compelled her to lean over to place a quick kiss on Felix's cheek. She wish she knew what drove her to smile at him brightly and say, rather loudly, "Sounds great. It's a date."

She doesn't know why she did that. But she did.

He looked over at her in confusion for a fraction of a second. But in the next instance, he grinned, "I knew you couldn't resist me for long Doll." He reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze, pulling her towards him. He winked at her, "C'mon. I'll take you home."

She nodded and closed her eyes momentarily, not protesting when he took her books from her and threw his hand around her shoulder casually.

She fought the urge to glance over her shoulder to catch Lucas's reaction. She knows she doesn't need to turn around to know that the look of hurt is there on his face. And maybe, that was the most confusing part of all.