Pretending (open)

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

Rebecca loved to use the family limousine. Especially on school days when people would turn and speculate about who was arriving. Though most people knew that Rebecca loved using it so there wasn't a need for the speculating, but it was still very entertaining to see their faces whenever she would step out. This day wasn't any different. When the limo driver opened the door for her to get out she waited a few seconds before getting out.

While adjusting her skirt and fixing her hair she turned around to look for the group of army. The group of army was created by her and joined by three other girls. It wasn't a cult or anything like that. They didn't do any freaky stuff but they liked to think that they ruled the school, or well the sophomore year. Girls were known to bicker and fight but the group of army wasn't like that, not yet anyway.

Rebecca was usually the one running late but today the other three girls were nowhere to be found. She decided to send them a text message while moving towards her locker. Rebecca wasn't going to be late for class just because they decided to sleep in or vanish from the planet. Besides being late for class meant getting detention and she had enough of them.

When she made it to her locker she heard some girls talking about the new guy. Rebecca had no idea who the new guy was but he was sure getting a lot of attention from the girls. She heard from another girl that his name was Lucas. Ah, gossip at its finest. A few seconds later her group of army decided to show up. Annoyed she closed her locker and turned to them. "Where have you been? I waited for like years."

"Gah, quit being a drama queen. We had some things to do. Like finding out who the new guy is..." Her friend went on and Rebecca decided to stop her. "And what did you find?" The other girl shook her head with disappointment. "Nothing, nada, but I hear that he's hot." Then Rebecca got lost in her own little imaginary world and said something that only made sense to her. "Well, his name is Lucas and he is hot. I met him while I was waiting for you three to show up. He flirted with me but I don't know...I don't think that his my type."

The girls looked at her with a shock but they seemed to have bought it. They wanted to know all about her encounter with the new guy on their way to class and after class, and Rebecca kept feeding them information. Poor girls had no idea that it was all lies or like Rebecca would say; it was all a pretend.

Soon though she realized that she had to escape from the group for a while because she was running out of imagination and if they ever met the new guy they would realize that nothing really happened. So, she made her way to the school gym because there was always someone there. The school gym had some really hot guys there running around and Rebecca loved to watch them run and doing any kind of practice.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

It was only his second day of school at Branson and already the rumors were out in full force. Everything from him being a spy to him being gay was making its way through the hallways of the school it seemed. More notably though was what some girls were saying as they were passing by his locker, not noticing that he was right there. It was about how he had flirted with some girl he did not know anything about just that morning. Lucas would not have had much of an issue with it if it did not have these girls trying to figure out why this said girl did not think he was her type. They kept going on and on about it, and he knew that before long someone was going to start taking it too seriously. Still he had better things to do and worry about, so he figured it would be best to try to forget about the whole thing.

Luke closed his locker after getting all his books in place for his morning classes. Although his first class that morning was not going to require much other than his doctor's note informing the physical education teacher he could not participate in sports like activities until further notice. He hated that his shoulder still had to heal and that there was still I chance he would never be able to play basketball how he use to ever again. Still he hoped that one day he would be back out playing basketball on the court one way or another.

As he made his way towards the gym people kept looking and staring at him. Part of him could not help but wonder what rumor or rumors they had heard about him, but he just kept on walking. Besides come tomorrow he would be back in Health class again first thing in the morning like his schedule called for every other school day. Once he arrived to the gym there were a bunch of guys in there playing a pick up game before class. Lucas found the teacher and handed her a copy of the note from his doctor, the school nurse already had a copy. She then told him to go sit down in the bleachers.

There was a girl watching the guys play that he walked in front of as he walked over the bleachers. Lucas sat down not too far from where she was. He placed his backpack down next to him and started to watch them himself. Curiosity about who these guys were and if they were on the school's team was starting to float around in his mind. Luke watched on taking notes on how each of the guys was playing. It was as if he was Mouth watching him and the other guys play for a moment, but it was only time before he realized what this all really meant.

What it meant was that he would be lucky if he could ever play like he use to play ever again. Maybe if the doctor gave him an okay come Summer he could play basketball over the summer and hopefully get back into shape for come Fall. Lucas refused to think that his basketball career was over for good because he loved the game so much. He had been playing it since he could dribble the ball. Maybe it was not always as part of the school's team, but it was always on a court.

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

Rebecca found it very relaxing to watch the guys running around. She would pretend that they were all looking at her but the truth was that they didn't even notice her and kept talking with each other instead. Not that she cared or well she did care, she just didn't let it bring her down. They probably had some serious practice going on and didn't want to be distracted and she had some serious staring going on because she didn't even notice the guy who walked in. She only noticed him when the guys started to turn around and whisper.

She pretty much knew who everyone was in Branson High, but she had no idea who he was. Rebecca looked at him and tried to figure out who he was. She was starting to think that she was losing it, her power of knowing everyone and everything, when he made his way to the bleachers. He didn't look bad, though what was up with the shaved head, and she was sure that he was someone worth knowing. She got that from all the whispering and turning.

The stranger was looking at the other guys while they were practicing and she wondered why he wasn't there with them. She figured that he wasn't looking at them because they were hot, so she wondered why he was. It was then that she remembered what her group of army had told her; there was a new guy in town and he was hot. Something told Rebecca that the new guy, Lucas, was sitting just a few steps from her.

The thought of that made her smile and she remembered her earlier work of pretending. She had told her group of army that she met the new guy and that he flirted with her, but that was a lie. The day was still young though, and she had the opportunity to have him flirt with her for real. With that in mind she grabbed her purse and walked over to him. "You must be Lucas. I'm Rebecca," she said and took a closer look at him. She then sat down.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

Lucas came back to a sense of reality when he heard someone say his name. He looked towards the voice and found a girl that introduced herself as Rebecca. She was the same girl he had passed in front of to come sit on the bleachers. The name seemed familiar, but Lucas put that thought aside for the moment. "Yes, I would happen to be Lucas. Although I'm better known to most as the new kid still." As he spoke to her he noticed that a lot of the people nearby were watching and gossiping. Even the pick up game seemed to be breaking up, the guys glancing over from time to time to see what was going on.

It was right about then that Lucas realized why the girl's name seemed so familiar to him, it was the same name he had heard those girls saying earlier. He studied her for a moment trying to figure out how to handle the situation. She had made up some rumor about him flirting with her and now everyone was watching them to see what would happen. Luke did not appreciate the pressure that put on him given the situation, but at the same time he was curious why a girl that looked the way she did felt a need to make up such fiction.

"Although aren't you the girl that rumor has it around school doesn't think that I'm her type?" Lucas figured that at the very least he could catch her at least a little off guard by asking Rebecca that question. "It's just kind of weird because I don't remember ever speaking to you before now, and supposedly I flirted with you just earlier. Or at least I'd assume that's why practically everyone's watching us and gossiping away." His tone was calm but also had a touch of annoyance in it due to the fact that they had such an audience. "I'm still trying to figure out why you made up such fiction." Luke was tempted to ask her if she was stalking him, but felt it was better not to in case she had not thought to do that just yet.

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

Rebecca noticed that the other guys were looking at them and it made her happy. They were finally noticing her and it didn't matter why they were looking. Though she wasn't happy to realize that Lucas heard about the rumor that she spread and that he knew that it was her. She had no idea how to explain it to him but she was sure that she would think of something. After all her imagination was running high.

She gave him a smile before explaining things. Hey, maybe he wanted to play along. "Look, it just slipped out. I heard some girls talking about you and then my friends came over and started to talk about you, so I told them that I already met you. I figured that you wouldn't mind." In her opinion he should have been thrilled that Rebecca was even talking to him. She was a Bartlett after all.

"You are the new guy and the whole school is talking about you. It wouldn't hurt your rep to be seen with me. I'm Rebecca Bartlett. If you don't know what it means you should google it. Or ask around." And really, it was good for her too. She had the chance to be in the spotlight. It was a win - win situation. Or that was at least how she saw it.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

All of a sudden he realized why this girl had made that rumor up. To put it simply she was so full of herself. Lucas knew all too well that they had been talking about him before her rumor even started circulating around the school. He also figured that a girl like this was only as popular as others thought she was and not the other way around. Truth be told she probably had the potential to become a stalker if given the chance. "Given that I've been hearing more circulating around the hallways about myself than about you since I've gotten here, I think that me talking to you is helping your rep a lot more than it's helping mine." It was true, this was only the second time he was hearing about her. Him on the other hand, he was hearing more about himself than he heard about himself when he was in Tree Hill.

"I think the only thing that's going to come up if I google it is something about some spoiled rich girl that goes around creating fiction as if it's truth," he told her looking her square in the eyes. "And I do mind because I never flirted with you." His voice was raised now, just enough for others to hear what he was saying. If she did start stalking him he at least wanted witnesses regarding what he was telling her right then. "I don't know you, and I don't know what exactly your problem is, but maybe you should think before you speak."

Lucas was not necessarily trying to be mean to her, but too many other people were just letting her carry on with her ways. He figured probably just for entertainment purposes at that. The sad part is that she seemed to like the role she played, and that was worrisome in of itself. "I don't hate you and you might be a really good person under all of it, but you have some stuff going on that I don't want to have anything to do with. Mainly, I don't want any part of this freak show that you're a part of." This time he spoke in the form of a whisper. "These people that you see as being an audience don't think highly of you."

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

As Lucas started to talk Rebecca realized that he wasn't going to play along. No, he decided to make her life difficult and took it all too serious. And then people called her a drama queen. She found it very annoying and she didn't like his tone. The new guy was too uptight and she didn't like it. What she had told her group of army turned out to be true. He wasn't her type.

He sure liked to complicate things for her and she couldn't believe that he just told everyone that he never flirted with her. The other guys were looking at them and she noticed that one guy was texting someone. Oh great, she thought. Sure, this would give her the spotlight but not the right kind of spotlight. She would have to explain to everyone why she made it all up.

It also confused her when Lucas went from being mean to being nice. She took a quick look at the other guys before turning to him. "Things would have been so much easier if you had just played along. I would have left you alone and never bothered you again. Trust me on that. Your spotlight will last for a week or maybe not even that, and then people will gossip about something else," she told him. "I don't have any use for someone who will become irrelevant and like I said, you are not my type." He wasn't her type, but he was someone who made things complicated and now she had to think of a way to explain it all to the others.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

There was just something about Rebecca that Lucas just frustrated him. It was the way that she did not even seem to care about what the reality of everything was. All she was worried about was things being easy and being popular, or her fake sort of popularity. Lucas understood that she did not realize that her popularity was based on fictions and therefor her popularity was fiction itself. "You're irrelevant unless you're telling lies. To be honest I'd rather be living truths and be irrelevant than lying to everyone including myself just to feel like I'm relevant." He highly doubted his words would get through to her, but it was worth a try.

"How would you know if I'm your type? Have you ever actually had a real boyfriend?" He stared into her eyes to make sure that if she lied he would notice it. "We're not talking figments of your imagination either, just to make that clear." Sure he was not being all that nice, but she seemed like she really needed a reality check. Maybe some people just played along but he was not going to. He liked reality and he was going to live in it. If she wanted to live in a world of make believe she would have to find someone else to play with.

Lucas had then just thought of something. It was something that had applied to Brooke. Part of him figured it was why she had fallen for him. Still it would be the only chance to probably get through to this girl if she was anything like how Brooke had been. "Have you thought that perhaps someone might be interested in getting to know the real you, the version of yourself that you bury with every lie you tell?" Maybe this girl was no Brooke, but he did feel like perhaps maybe he could help her just a little.

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

Rebecca couldn't believe him and his manners. Who did he think that he was? And she didn't need him to lecture her and she certainly didn't need his help. "I know the difference between fiction and reality," she told him with a grin. "I spread a rumor about you and truthfully it doesn't make me a bad person, and you don't know me." The guy thought that he had her all figured out but he didn't know a thing about her. If spreading rumors made her delusional and crazy then 90 percent of the students were crazy and delusional.

"I made up a rumor and said that you flirted with me. That's it. I didn't plan on stalking you and I didn't spend my time in class writing your name all over my notebook." Rebecca thought that Lucas needed a reality check. "I'm not really sure why it's relevant to know if I ever had a boyfriend or not, but I think that I have my type figured out. I don't date people who want to help me. If I did I would be dating my old therapist. And no, I never had a boyfriend before. Satisfied?"

Rebecca had no idea why she continued to talk with him. He just annoyed her but at the same time she found it impossible to just leave. She couldn't leave without figuring out what she was going to say to her friends. "I'll never spread another rumor about you. You don't have anything to worry about, new kid. Just remember that this is High School and people are going to talk about you and spread rumors. And it doesn't have to mean that they are delusional and crazy."

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

Luke was starting to feel kind of confused and he was not sure why. There was just something about Rebecca that was confusing him, and not in a way that was easy for him to explain. Four words echoed in his mind you don't know me. What he knew about those words was that usually they meant that someone was hiding scared behind them. Lucas could only start to imagine what she might be hiding behind them.

In his mind just being compared to her old therapist was kind of disturbing. Mainly because he wondered if that was the only other person that had ever expressed a need to help her. "Maybe it's not my place to, but I do care. I care enough to tell you that these people that decide who's relevant and who's not just see you as a form of entertainment. Sue me for telling you what others don't have the nerves to. I don't care if you think I'm your type because what you need is a friend that cares about you, and is willing to be honest with you."

Part of him was just growing so frustrated with Rebecca not understanding enough of what he was trying to tell her. At least if she was one to keep her word she would never spread a rumor about him again, which he found some comfort in. "Well maybe I just think that they should be spreading rumors with a little more truth to them than something you make up just to try to impress your friends."

Lucas spent some time thinking about all of what she had said to him. While thinking back on things he started to smirk and looked over at her. "You know, the last girl that told me that I didn't know her I ended up making out with an awful lot in the end." He then shook his head some. "So even if you don't think I know you and that I'm not your type, I still wouldn't rule you being wrong out."

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

"Why do you care?" she asked simply. It seemed like had some white king complex and she didn't want to become a charity work for him. Someone he can help and fix, like she was broken. Well, she wasn't. His later comment made her wonder what he was more upset about. Her spreading that rumor or her saying that he wasn't her type.

"I think that you have me confused with someone who wants your help and who wants to be taken care of. I'm not your charity case and I don't need to be fixed," she told, her voice firm. "I apologize for spreading that rumor but really I have no idea why you are so upset. Is it because of the rumor or the fact that I said that I wasn't your type?"

Rebecca then thought about what he said about her trying to impress her friends and the whole thing about them ending up kissing. He was very confusing and annoying. "The girl sounds like a fool. I'm sure that after making out with her you got to know her and then you two probably did more than making out," Rebecca said. Of course she was just speculating about what happened with him and the girl but she knew that she was close to the truth.

"Which was foolish of her because here you are single and she's not your girlfriend. And that makes you like every other guy in High School. I'm sure that you wanted to be friends with her and all the other crap that followers. But trust me, I don't need your friendship and I sure as hell don't need to be kissing you. I admit that I like to spread rumors and if that makes me broken then so be it, but you are just like any other guy here in High School and that makes you a jerk."

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

As Rebecca started to lecture him and scold him, he could not help but think of Peyton and why he was in Branson. He was trying to be a better guy, someone that resembled who he had started out as being before things got complicated. The guy that had wanted to be with Peyton so badly that when she pushed him away he did not know how to react to it. Peyton had been the one that he had had a crush on and then when he met her he really fell hard for her. When she had rejected him he started to spiral out of control and somehow that brought him to here and now. Lucas was a confirmed jerk, at least two times over now. He still could not get it out of his mind how Peyton had told him that he was one. It had hurt to hear it come from those lips that he had kissed with care and passion, and not the kind that could be faked. If he could just kiss those lips and make it all better he would.

Then all of a sudden he felt his lips pressed up against someone else's. It did not feel bad, but he knew that it was most likely bad. As he came to the realization of what was actually going on he knew the only person close enough to him for him to kiss that suddenly would of been Rebecca. Somehow he figured trying to plead insanity was not going to work with her. She practically hated him and something like this was just going to make her flip out on him most likely. Especially given what she had told him prior to it. Maybe her having called him a jerk was putting it kindly. Truth be told Lucas was rather well broken himself. Maybe he needed someone to help fix him.

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

Rebecca was caught off gourd when he leaned over to her and kissed her. She was shocked and couldn't think straight. She had no idea what was going on or what caused him to kiss her. He was pretty lost in his own world before he leaned to kiss her so he was probably confused. What confused her even more was that this was her first kiss ever and it was with a guy who had lectured her and wanted to get to know her.

She always thought that her kiss would be with someone who thought that she was pretty and hot, and not with someone who thought that she needed to be fixed and that she was crazy. Sure, she pretended that she had been kissed before but in her head it was like in the movies. With the rain falling and the guy kissing her and she would know exactly what to do, but it wasn't like that. She was clueless and even if he's lips felt warm and nice against hers, it wasn't like the kisses in the movies.

With that in mind she pulled away from the kiss and looked at him. She then remembered where they were and realized that the kissing wasn't that bad. It would give her some days in the spotlight but it still felt weird. "Why did you kiss me?" she asked, her voice low.

[Lucas Eugene Scott]

Lucas was a bit surprised by her reaction. Rebecca did not bite his head off or slap him. At that point he felt that he probably at least deserved a slap across the face. The question that was asked instead was one he was not sure how to answer. Luke was not quite sure why he had kissed her to begin with. One moment he had been thinking about Peyton, kissing Peyton, and the next thing he knew he had kissed Rebecca. Was he even interested in Rebecca that way? She frustrated and annoyed him, but what did that mean? To say the least he was confused. "I'm not sure," he informed her softly.

It was only then that Lucas started to realize what he had gotten himself into. He saw people texting and he had a rough idea what that meant. Maybe that was why she was being so nice to him. The only thing better than a guy flirting with her was probably a guy kissing her, and with witnesses to boot. That was not what he wanted and that was not who he was or at least not who he use to be. Luke than studied Rebecca's lips, recalling how they felt. The kiss had felt nice given the situation. Still he could not place how he felt about it. "I feel confused." Lucas spoke the words quietly and more to himself than her, but he figured Rebecca probably heard them.

[Rebecca Jocelyn Bartlett]

Rebecca started to laugh when she heard his response. If he was confused then what was she? She was sure that he couldn't possible be as confused as she was. "Great, you are confused," she said and looked over at the other guys. They were whispering and text texting people. At least Lucas managed to get her in the spotlight and she didn't even plan it to happen.

Though even if it felt great to be in the spotlight she wasn't happy, and it bothered her. She should feel like dancing and texting her group of army but all she could think of was the kiss and the fact that it was her first kiss, and that it was with the new kid. "Thanks for the kiss...I guess." She could feel a uncomfortable silence building up so she decided to say something to end it. "Look, we can just forget that it ever happened. It doesn't mean anything. Sure people will talk and gossip about it but that's it," she said with a smile. "We can make up a story and stick with it. I'm good with stories."