Author's Notes: Yup, it's another OTH fic by me. I think I'm obsessed. The title comes from a line from a Philip Larkin poem I'm studying in school ('Here'). The scene in italics are flashbacks. And the song at the beginning is 'Stacy's Mom' by Fountains of Wayne. Don't ask….

Chapter One: Welcome To The Fallout

Stacy's mom has got it going on…

Brooke Davis sang along to the song blasting out of her radio. She was surprisingly upbeat considering the circumstance she was in. Sixteen years old and she was on her own.

Well, technically anyway.

Her parents, who'd never really been there for her, had been temporarily put away. Her father was in jail for fraud and her mother had been checked into a rehab centre for her drink and drug problem.

About time, Brooke thought to herself. Although she was a little sad to leave her parents, she knew that in the long run it would be better for them all. Her father had promised that when he got out, things would be better – but like all his other promises, Brooke had learned not to keep her hopes up.

That's how she ended up here. Far from her comfortable lifestyle in New York, her parents' problems had forced her to leave the home she loved and make her way to North Carolina. Tree Hill to be exact.

Her social worker had told her that since she had neither parent to look after her, she'd have to be taken care of. Brooke had assumed that meant a nanny or something, but instead she'd been given an address.

"It's all been arranged, Miss Davis" the social worker told her, "They're expecting you this week,"

"Who?"

"Your godparents. Your parents do not want you alone in New York City so they got in touch with them and they agreed to look after you until you graduate,"

"Sorry, but I can live by myself. I've been doing so for a while," Brooke handed the paper back to the woman in front of her.

"It's not legal to have a sixteen year old living by herself," she explained, "And you can plead for emancipation but I assure you the judge will tell you that this is the best option."

"I've never heard of these people. Dan and Karen Scott. How can they be my godparents?"

"It's on your birth certificate. I've checked them out and they seem nice. They are very well off, have two sons – one of which has moved out – and are excited to see you," the social worker saw the apprehension etched on the young girl's face, "Give it a shot, at least. It's either that or you end up in a children's home,"

Brooke sighed and looked at the address again, "I'll give it a shot. But if they end up being murderers or perverts, I'm out of there."

Brooke's heart raced as she passed the sign that told her she was in Tree Hill. It was certainly different from New York City. Much more… green and less traffic.

Pretty soon, she found the place her godparents lived in. When the social worker had told her they were well off, she hadn't been joking. The house was huge, the driveway had at least four cars and there was a basketball court that dominated part of the yard.

Brooke had grown up with luxuries but even she had to admit this was pretty impressive.

She turned her baby blue VW Beetle into the drive and stopped the car, unsure what to do next. All she'd been told was to go to their house, she had no idea what they looked like or what they were like and now she was a little scared.

Brooke sat in her car, wondering whether it was too late to turn back and tell her social worker they harvested the brains of young children. However, she was disturbed when somebody threw a basketball at the back of her head. She whipped around to see a guy standing behind her car.

"Hey!" she cried as she got out of the car, "Do you mind?"

"Nope," came the reply. He looked the car over, "You running somewhere?"

"It's none of your business. Who are you?" she asked.

"None of your business," he repeated. She groaned, hoping that guys weren't like him.

"Well, then do you mind leaving?" he didn't reply, "Am I talking to myself here? Back off," she told him.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I have some mace in my purse and I'm not afraid to use it. I'm sure you'd hate to ruin those pretty, blue eyes of yours," she told him. He grinned.

"You think my eyes are pretty?" Brooke rolled her eyes, "So, you moving here or what?" he motioned to the big house in front of them.

"Yeah, you from around here?" the guy nodded, "Can you tell me what they're like?"

"Dan and Karen Scott? Yeah. He's the devil and she drinks like a fish. Not to mention their sons are pretty bad too. One of them is in jail and the other… well, the other is just a bastard," he smirked.

"Ha ha!" Brooke said, "I should have known I wouldn't get a straight answer from you," she sighed as she made her way back to the front of her car, "So who are you anyway" she asked.

"Me? I'm nobody you need to know,"

"You know the mysterious stranger thing is getting kind of old." Brooke said having had enough of his ambiguous answers.

"My name is Joe."

"Joe?" Brooke repeated looking at him up and down, "You don't look like a Joe,"

"You shouldn't judge somebody just on their appearance. Didn't your mother ever teach you that?" he asked her.

"Whatever," she told him, "I'm going in,"

She turned away from him just in time to see the front door open and a brunette woman come out.

"Brooke? Is that you, sweetheart?" Brooke nodded as the woman approached her, giving Brooke a big hug, "Look at how you've grown," she said admiring the young woman in front of her. "Last time I saw you, you were only a little baby."

Brooke smiled only half-sincerely. She was still unsure about this move and nervous about living with people she couldn't even remember.

"Well, let's get you inside," the woman told her, "I see you met my eldest son, Lucas." Before Brooke could reply, the older woman turned to the guy behind Brooke, "Lucas, help bring Brooke's suitcases into the house and then do some homework,"

Brooke shot a look at Lucas, who grinned like a Cheshire cat and gave her a wink as she was dragged inside by the woman.

Brooke nursed her almost cold cup of tea as she listened to Karen talk about her parents. The living room was huge and had a big family portrait of the family above the fireplace. She looked at it intently.

"That was taken almost a year ago," she explained, "Before Nathan got married,"

"Married?" Brooke repeated, she knew Lucas was the older son and he was almost two years older than she was. Nathan was supposed to be the one her age.

"Yes, he wanted to marry his girlfriend and so got himself emancipated to do so," Karen explained, clearly hurt by her younger son's actions.

"Oh," Brooke said unsure of how to approach the subject. She thought it was sweet personally but it had obviously hurt his family.

"Dan wants us to get a new one done… without Nathan," Karen cleared her throat, "How about I show you to your room?" she suggested. Brooke nodded and followed Karen around the house.

They stopped at a bedroom near the far end of the hall. Karen opened the door and Brooke looked around. The room had been furnished almost for her. It was in girlie colours, had a huge walk-in wardrobe, her own computer, TV, DVD player and all sorts of things she would have had in her own house.

"When we heard you were coming, Dan and I hired an interior decorator to do up the room for you. He managed to do it in three days. But if you don't like anything, we can always change it,"

"Oh, Karen, it's beautiful. I hope you didn't go to any trouble," Brooke gasped.

"Well, Dan and I have always wanted a daughter and so we thought that since you were going to live we us, we may as well treat you as if you were our daughter." Karen explained.

Brooke smiled, "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"No problem. Dan will be home for the dealership in an hour or two, just before dinner. Do you mind if I leave you alone for a little bit? I need to go get dinner ready, and it'll give you a chance to unpack and make yourself at home," Karen said leaving Brooke to her own devices.

When Karen was out of earshot, Brooke squealed to herself. Maybe this was going to be a pleasant experience after all.

She opened up the walk-in wardrobe and screamed when a figure jumped out at her.

Lucas laughed as he saw the expression on her face.

"Man, I knew that it was a good idea to hide there," he said as Brooke just glowered at him.

"Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'coming out of the closet'. Want to tell me something?" she retorted, still recovering from the shock. He ignored her comment as he looked around the room.

"Wow, this is sweet. My parents went all out for you,"

"I didn't ask them too," Brooke told him.

"Whatever. They like to take care of strays. Although this is the first time they've let one into the house,"

"I'm not a stray," she told him, offended by his remark. He shrugged.

"Well, you're not part of the family, but you live in the family home. I sure hope you don't expect preferential treatment just because of it," he sat on her bed.

"Look, I didn't choose to come here. I was forced to so the least we can do is to get along or keep out of each other's way, right?" she suggested. He nodded.

"Okay. I choose the latter," he headed for the door, "By the way; I'll see you around, neighbor," he said as she watched him disappear out of the door. She followed his movement and her jaw widened as she saw where he'd gone.

His room was directly opposite hers.

He shot her a look from his doorway before slamming it. She shut her own door and rolled her eyes.

This was most definitely going to be interesting.

To Be Continued…