All I can say is that I am IMMENSELY sorry for taking this long to update.. I really lost interest for a while and the inspiration wasn't exactly there. I'm sorry to those who may have lost interest, but hopefully I can make up for it. Please don't lose faith in me. :(

A huge thank you to those who reviewed! One of the last reviews that I got really pushed me to finish this chapter :) So to answer your question: I haven't stopped writing .. Just a brief (more like longgg) hiatus lol!

And I can't forget my Lynn! You've been amazing! Thank you so much for the support and your latest stories really boosted my inspiration! I'm back in my awesome BL mood:D

Here's chapter 7 guys!

Disclaimer: You know I don't own it!

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Chapter 7: One Person To Waste Your Time

Someday we might find

some sacred place in time

But until then

all we'll share

are dreams we left behind

Has it always been that time passes more slowly when you watch it? When you're waiting for every movement of the slim arm, holding you're breath until you finally notice it change. Why is it then, that when we look back over the time already passed, we wonder how it went so fast?

Time. It's a funny thing really. It limits us to the things we do, and the number of moments in our life we get to experience. Time is said to 'fly when you're having fun', but is time really that vindictive to let you suffer through the sad moments and hard times of your life? Maybe it's just us and how we choose to linger and dwell on those moments.

More importantly, can a certain amount of time change our lives? If an opportunity isn't taken as soon as it is given, will it be lost to us forever?

I guess only time can tell…

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Brooke dug through her closet, making sure no article of clothing went untouched or unanalyzed. It was critical that she get the perfect outfit. Perfect.

Two days had passed since she had her 'minor accident', and as it was now Monday morning, she needed to dress to impress because who knew what kind of rumors would be circulating the school about her today. Brooke was still considered the 'new girl', and it would take very little to ruin her un-defined image. She had to show people that no matter what was being said about her, she was better than petty rumors… even if they weren't exactly all rumor.

Everything that she tried on seemed to be all wrong.

A dress certainly would not do. It was far too flirty and would probably give most people the wrong impression.

She couldn't wear anything too conservative, people would think she was stuck up.

A skirt would be too slutty.

Black was definitely a no-no… hello, emo much?

Instead, Brooke opted for a white oxford with a navy and sky blue argyle sweater vest, matched with a pair of dark skinny leg jeans and knee-high boots.

She judged herself in the mirror and gave herself an acceptable nod.

Perfect.

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Her car was still in the garage, as Lucas had generously offered to mend the 'minor' dent in the hood. So that would mean a ride to school with Haley.

Lucas had dropped her off on Saturday morning after watching the sun rise together on the beach. Nothing had happened between them. In fact, after Brooke's explanation of the night's events and her past history, they didn't talk much at all. They both stayed silent, but not in an awkward silence, it was comfortable actually. It was like for that one moment, they completely understood each other and felt no need to communicate through words.

So when he did bring her home, she bade him goodbye with a dimpled smile and a sweet kiss on his cheek. If only her parent's reaction to her arrival had been as sweet.

They yelled a lot at first, and Brooke agreed with herself that yelling back would only make things worse. They seemed to be more upset about her car being damaged than their daughter running away and getting into an accident, but this didn't shock Brooke in the slightest. This was their routine; they would be mad at first, then, when Brooke would assure them that the car was being taken care of, they would go back to being the absentee parents that they always were. And in true fashion, they did not disappoint. By Sunday morning, they had practically forgotten about accident and were back to ignoring Brooke to the very best of their abilities.

For once, Brooke had never been happier for things to go back to normal. Now, instead of having to worry about her parents, she had time to worry about school the next day. She hadn't talked to Lucas since he brought her home, and who knew what was going on between them. Right now, Brooke couldn't decide whether she still hated him or not. She would just have to wait until Monday….

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"Haley James!" Brooke yelled as she jumped into the front seat of her best friends old car, "What in the world took you so long?"

Haley's face lit up with a grin and she dipped her head, evidently trying to hide her reaction from Brooke, "Umm… I'm sorry. I just got held up with something."

"Or someone. Do not try and hide that silly grin from me young lady! You were talking to Chris weren't you?" Brooke knew she was going to win this battle. Haley was horrible at keeping something from her.

"Maybe a little." Haley's cheeks were flushing pink and Brooke could tell that her friend was majorly crushing on this guy. Possibly more than crushing.

"Oh my god J! That's really great! I would never have pegged you for the type of girl to go for Chris Keller, but I guess you've known him longer than I have," Brooke let out a chuckle then added, "So is he good in bed?"

The look in Haley's eyes was absolutely priceless, "Brooke?! What the… I've… We haven't… I haven't even… thought about that yet."

Brooke erupted into laughter, "Haley, calm down! I'm only kidding! I know you would never do that… yet!"

Haley gave Brooke a deathly glare but then also began to laugh.

"So how is it that you two got together anyway?" Brooke asked once the laughter had ceased, "I mean, I only disappear for one night, and suddenly your best friend finds a love interest."

"Actually, it did happen kind of suddenly. I went to Nathan's party looking for you, and it was no secret that I was pretty upset. Chris came up to me and told me that he'd help me look for you. He was really sweet. We talked in his car and got to know each other, and I really like him Brooke. The timing was just... right." Haley smiled at Brooke.

"Well I'm glad to know that my disappearing brought you some happiness."

"Shut up!" Haley hit Brooke's arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

"That was for practically giving me a heart attack Friday night! I was terrified that you were going to end up getting hurt, or worse, killed."

"But I didn't. Luckily I ended up fine."

"Yes, luckily. If it hadn't been for Lucas, I might have lost you. I'm really grateful to him," Haley, realizing what she just said, gave a small shudder, "God, I never thought I'd hear myself say those words. So have you talked to him since?"

"Not a word," Brooke gave a tight-lipped smile.

"Ohh, so I guess we'll see how that plays out today?" Haley replied, as she pulled her car into the school's parking lot.

Brooke reached for her bookbag in the backseat, "I guess we will."

"P.S. I really love what you're wearing today! It looks perfect on you!"

Brooke smiled as she stepped out of the car, "Thanks. It was the first thing I grabbed out of my closet this morning."

The car doors shut and the two girls began walking towards the day that was only just beginning to unfold.

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Brooke stepped towards her locker and turned the combination lock. At times, she looked over her shoulder, hoping for the possible sight of Lucas. But when she didn't see him around, she grabbed her books and headed for homeroom.

She found Haley sitting in her usual seat, waiting for her to come sit behind her. Brooke also noticed that Lucas' spot was empty and she felt somewhat disappointed. She crashed into the seat next to Haley and laid her heavy books upon the desk.

"Hey B, what's up?"

"He's not here." Brooke replied simply, with an obvious pout playing across her lips.

Haley glanced towards Lucas' empty seat and back towards Brooke, "And you're disappointed?"

"Yeah, a little." She responded as if her answer surprised her as well.

"Wow, there has certainly been some development since last week's, 'I think I hate him',"

"Well, he did sort of rescue me and I didn't really get a chance to thank him… properly." Brooke traced the contours of her math book, purposely not looking at Haley.

"Is this going to get sexual?"

"No! It's just that, maybe I was wrong to believe that Lucas Scott was completely soulless. Maybe we could even be friends." Brooke smiled to herself for the idea of getting closer to Lucas gave her a warm feeling.

Haley replied, cocking one eyebrow, "I still don't believe that you only want to be his friend."

A laugh escaped Brooke and she replied, "We'll see."

With that, the bell for the dismissal of homeroom rang. Brooke gathered her books and ventured to her first class, feeling somewhat sad that Lucas wouldn't be bothering her from his normal seat behind her.

It was going to be a long day.

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"…So this wave refraction makes it so that waves hit the shore parallel to the shoreline. Does anyone know how or why this happens?" Brooke's geography teacher droned on about a topic Brooke could really care less about. What did wave refraction or the "straightening out" of a shoreline have to do with her life besides reminding her that she needed to buy a new straightener. It was only the first class and it still felt as though the day had been going on forever.

She took her pen which was marvelous shade of pink and began to draw on the inside cover of her textbook. She used her loopy, curvaceous writing to spell out her name, carefully placing small hearts around it decoratively.

She looked at her name and suddenly felt the small impulse to add another name to the end of it, just to see how it looked together. 'Brooke Scott', she thought… it sounded right. As her pen was placed at the end of her first name, she stopped herself before she could write the 'S'. Seriously… Brooke 'Scott'? Was she twelve?

And plus, she supposedly 'hated' this guy… why the hell was she suddenly wanting his last name? God… boys and high school could be so complicated sometimes.

Brooke was jolted back into reality with the sound of the teacher greeting a student that had just walked through the open classroom door.

"Mr. Scott, it's so great of you to honor us with your presence…" The teacher paused and glanced towards the clock on the wall, "… Forty minutes late. Do you have a late slip for me?"

Brooke watched with wondering eyes as Lucas strutted towards the front of the class and handed the petite teacher a small slip of paper. The teacher gave a nod and Lucas turned to walk towards his seat.

Brooke quickly looked towards her paper, trying to appear as though she hadn't been watching him. As he passed her desk, a set of keys was dropped heavily on her book, right next to her written name. She looked up to meet Lucas' eyes, but he wasn't looking at her. Actually, he didn't seem to be looking at anything, and his face wore an expression that didn't seem to convey any emotion.

He took his seat behind Brooke, and stared to the front of the class. Was he seriously paying attention in Geography?

"Hey," Brooke spoke quietly as to not be heard by the other students, or god-forbid, the teacher.

"Your car got finished this morning, so I drove it here for you," Lucas barely glanced at her as he spoke.

Brooke was taken aback by his lack of… well any type of emotion what-so-ever, "Ohh… Thanks. I'll pay you for that later."

"You don't need to do that. It's all taken care of."

"No Lucas, I can pay for it… I-" Brooke was interrupted by her teacher.

"Ms. Davis, if you insist upon talking in my class, I will have to give you detention. There will be plenty of time to flirt with boys outside of class time. So please stop wasting mine."

Brooke turned around to sit straight in her seat and bent her head low. This day was not turning out well at all. But at least now she had something besides her name to think about for the remainder of her Geography class.

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Haley was exiting the girl's washroom when Brooke popped up behind her and linked arms with her.

"Okay, this is like the worst day ever!" Brooke whined.

"What happened now, B?"

"Nothing. Everything. It's just, my Geography teacher was being a complete bitch to me today, Lucas came in late and has barely spoken two words to me, let alone look at me, and I sat in gum during recess"

"First of all, I'm going to ignore that you just called a teacher something that I will not repeat. Second of all, I thought you and Lucas were fine after he brought you home? I thought there was this whole 'mutual understanding'?"

"I thought there was too… But I guess not. He just dropped my car keys in front of me and refused to let me pay for the repair costs."

Brooke and Haley had just rounded a corner when Haley had to pull Brooke back from what was in front of them, "Whoa, speak of the devil."

Lucas was stood next to Nathan and a crowd of guys in a circle. They were all unaware of the two girls who had just walked into their territory.

A few of the guys were laughing and Nathan was nudging Lucas, who seemed to have found his normal cocky grin again. Brooke silently moved closer to hear what they were saying.

"… All night, Dude?"

"You're my hero, you know that right?"

"What about Peyton?"

All these questions seemed to be directed towards Lucas.

Lucas grinned and scratched the back of his recently buzzed head, "Well yeah, there still is Peyton to consider, but it's all good."

It was then that Brooke heard her own name roll off the tongue of Tim Smith and her eyes widened in shock, "So you're telling me that you spent the entire night on the beach, alone, with Brooke Davis and you never did anything with her?" Haley's hand reached out and grabbed Brooke's, gripping it tightly.

"Well you know a guy can never kiss and tell." Lucas said with a smirk, "Just let me say this, She's good."

The crowd of guys burst into cheers and Brooke could distinctly hear one of them say, "I knew she was easy," It was then that she knew she must make her presence known.

She controlled her rapid breathing and spoke up, "Excuse me?" She didn't care about the rest of the guys, her voice was directed towards Lucas, and only Lucas.

When he turned to look at her, his breath caught in his throat and the cockiness was wiped from his eyes instantly.

"Brooke… I-"

"Don't even bother. You can go to hell!" Brooke shook free from Haley's strong grip and angrily walked past a speechless Lucas Scott.

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Say it to my face

Look me in the eyes

And say what you have to say

You know we can't erase

These words before they bind

And turn the final page

Ah, here comes alone again

Brooke walked through the parking lot, trying to find where the hell Lucas parked her car. She didn't care about the rest of the school day, it's not like she would've been able to pay attention anyway. She could hear distant footsteps running towards her; most likely Haley's.

She wasn't shocked however when it was a much deeper voice that called her name.

"Brooke! Please, just wait!" Lucas sounded desperate, but Brooke wasn't going to take it.

She turned to face him, and all the hatred she could generate was glaring up at him, "What do you want?"

"Just give me five seconds to explain!"

"Explain what Lucas? How big of a fuckin' jerk you are? Or how stupid and pathetic I was to actually believe that there was a person inside of you?" When Lucas didn't immediately answer, Brooke let her anger roar, "Come on, now's your time. Explain it to me, 'cause I would REALLY love to know."

"Brooke… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Sorry Luke, time's up." Brooke turned away from Lucas to shield her tear-filled eyes from him. She stormed away, making sure that he would not see the fact that she was crying. He didn't deserve to know that he had gotten so deep under her skin.

"Why are you walking away?" He yelled after her.

She stopped in her tracks, but did not turn to face him. She spoke just loud enough so that he could hear her, "Because you don't mean anything to me, Lucas Scott, and you never will."

Brooke inhaled sharply, and continued to walk away from the guy who definitely meant something to her.

Sometimes all you need is one person who will waste your time, leaving you to discover that time is only a cruel substitute for a life you should be living; lies being your only escape through the day.

And so we leave this stage

And all our best written lines

and all the acts we played

Everything's wasted time again

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Wow, I actually didn't mean for this chapter to be as long as it is! I hope you enjoyed it and maybe it'll make up for my awful lack of updates lately. I'm really hoping to get better at that!

Song lyrics are Wasted Time by Fuel 3

Review Guys! They're what made me finish this chapter!

Britt xoxo