BROOKE'S POV

4 years, 6 months, and 2 days.

That's how long it's been since we promised each other that we would find our way back to Tree Hill someday. We stood on the River Court and promised that we would keep in touch when we all went our separate ways.

We promised that we would find our way back to each other.

We spray painted our names onto the Rivercourt to remind us.

"We were here." It read with all of our signatures.

We stood back and smiled at each other.

Friends forever, we said.

A lot has changed in 4 and a half years.

Some of our dreams have come true, others have come crashing down around us.

Lucas wrote his first novel, a story about our high school years at Tree Hill High. We saw a lot there. There were friendships and there were enemies. There were lovers and there were the heartaches that came with them. There was a hell of a lot of drama that we created around us, and there was us growing out of it and becoming closer and stronger as a group. It's so cliché to say that there were the good times and the not so good times, but looking back, that's all that it boiled down too. And Lucas captured that perfectly in his novel. And no one has read anything from him since. He's now the new head coach of the Tree Hill Ravens.

Haley graduated top of her class, which was no surprise to anyone who ever knew her, and got a job teaching at the same Tree Hill High we all graduated from. In between getting her degree from college, she raised her and Nathan's beautiful son, who I haven't even seen since he was born, but I've seen pictures, and boy, that kid is going to be a heartbreaker. Not to mention he'll be a genius seeing who his mother is.

Nathan was the star of his college basketball team and was approached by sponsors who wanted to endorse him, and scouts who wanted to sign him. He almost made it to his dream. Then in a drunken bar fight, Nathan lost his ability to walk. And it seemed his ability to want to live. Last I heard, he was depressed and sullen, drinking himself into a stupor every night trying to dull the emotional pain. I feel for him, but even more-so I feel for his family. Haley and Jaime deserve more than Nathan turning into Dan. All because of that stupid game called basketball.

The Rivercourt boys all stayed best friends, which was really no surprise to anyone. Those boys would stay friends through anything. They all live together now.

Peyton moved to L.A. to do her music thing. She's the assistant to the assistant, whatever that means. She's doing what she loves, and that's all that matters. She always loved those damn bands that no one else gave a shit about, and that's what's going to be the key to her success. She's the only one I know who has an ear to make a small band huge. She wants to change the world with music, and I believe that eventually she will. I haven't seen any of her freaky drawings around, but I can guarantee you that she could make a difference with her art to if she wanted to.

As for me, Brooke Davis, I'm living in New York City and I'm the proud owner of Clothes Over Bro's, which has become more than I could ever dream. It gets pretty lonely here, living all by myself with few true friends. In fact, there are no true friends here. Sometimes I just wish that I could be as happy as all of my old friends and leave this all behind. I mean hell, I'm only 22 years old. I shouldn't be worrying about running a multi-million dollar company by myself. On the bright side, I have all the money I want. Some things never change I guess.

4 years, 6 months, and 2 days later, and here I am hiding in the shadows of the trees lining the Rivercourt like an idiot.


FLASHBACK

"Brooke! Wait up." Millicent calls after me as I stroll through my builing with portfolios stacked up to my chin

"Millicent, I cannot stop or these will all go flying. Follow me." I instruct my adorably nerdy assistant

"Right." Millicent nods and falls into step with me

"What's so important?" I ask as we make it to my office and I dump the portfolios ungracefully onto my desk

"You have a letter."

"A letter?" I scoff. "I get thousands of letters. What's different about this one?"

"I…umm…" Millicent shoves the letter at me. "I think it might be something you personally want to open." She says and runs out of my office

I chuckle as I watch her scurry out of my office and look at the letter in my hand. It only has my name and address on the front, no return address.

"What the fuck Millie." I mutter to myself and flip the envelope over to inspect it.

My breath hitches in my throat.

IMPORTANT: GET TO BROOKE DAVIS ASAP

GO RAVENS…

Talk about a blast from the past.

I tear the envelope open and toss it aside as I read the notecard enclosed.

IT'S TIME TO KEEP OUR PROMISE.

NEXT MONDAY. 8:30.

MEET AT THE RIVERCOURT.

Fuck me. There's nothing else written on it. I don't know how long this has been sitting around before it got to me.

There's only one way to find out.

"Millicent!" I scream out the door

Millicent pops up from around a corner where she was most likely waiting to hear what the letter was about. "Yes? Is everything ok?"

"What's today?" I wonder aloud. My days all run together.

"Thursday. Why?" Millicent looks at me in concern

"Book a plane ticket to Tree Hill fro Monday afternoon."

"Tree Hill?"

"I have some business I need to attend to." I turn around and walk back into my office. "Oh." I pop my head out to look at Millie. "Use my personal credit card. I don't want Victoria to know about this."

"Yes Ma'am." Millicent says, a confused look on her face that makes me laugh


So here I am. Good ole Tree Hill.

Peering out onto the Rivercourt, I spot almost everyone.


PEYTON'S POV

I never thought I'd come back to this place. I've wanted to. I mean, I've thought about what it'd be like to come back, but I didn't think I actually would.

But here I am, sitting in my car, ducked down in my seat, hiding. I know, I'm such a badass. Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm parked a half a mile down the road from the Rivercourt?

I glance at the notcard propped up on my dash, staring at me, taunting me.


FLASHBACK

"Sawyer. Letter. Looks important." One of the mail guys says as he passes by my cubicle and smiles as he tosses it at me

"Aren't they all?" I joke. "Thanks Rudy." I smile. I don't get many letters unless it's a demo cd, and I haven't gotten one in a while. I've been itching to hear something new.

I flip the envelope over to open it, and bold letters stand out against the white, and I drop the envelope in shock.

IMPORTANT: GET TO PEYTON SAWYER ASAP

GO RAVENS…

Obviously I'm the only one who realizes how important this is. Every letter coming into this office is dubbed "important", and you come to realize that its just people trying to get discovered. But this, this is from back home. Ravens. Anyone else would think it's a band…I know better.

The note is short and straightforward, and it gets its point across.

Walking to my bosses office, I take a deep breath. He isn't going to like this.

"Excuse me." I knock gently on his door with a smile as I stick my head in his office

"Peyton! Come in." He waves me in. "What can I do for you?"

"I, uh, need to take some time off." I smile hopefully

"Is everything ok?" He sits forward and laces his fingers together on his desk in concern

"Yeah. Yeah, everything is fine."

"Well Peyton, I hate to say this, but if it's not an emergency, I'm going to need you to stay here. It's a busy time for us right now. We can really use you."

That's the same bull shit line he's been feeding me for three years.

"Ok. Thanks anyway." I say and stand up

And for the past three years, I've been buying into that bull shit.

I start to walk out of the door, but I suddenly stop. "Actually, you know what? I quit." I say and turn around to look at him

"Excuse me?" His mouth drops open. "Peyton, there are a lot of opportunities here for you."

"Right. Because I haven't been hearing that since I started here. Good luck with everything." I smile sweetly and walk back towards my cubicle with a bounce in my step


Now that I'm sitting here in Tree Hill, my moment of clairty seems like a moment of stupidity. But I did what I did, and now I need to make the best of it.

I finally get out my car and decided to walk the rest of the way to the Rivercourt to scope the situation out. Walking along the outskirts of the trees, I suddenly smile.

"Boo." I whisper in Brooke's ear as I creep up behind her

She screams.

Loud.

Next thing I know, I'm sprawled out on the ground and I hear voices yelling, footsteps pounding towards us, and Brooke freaking out.

"Peyton!" Brooke yelps. "Oh my fucking God!"

"Ow." I groan and wipe my lip, smearing blood on my hand

"What the hell is going on?" Lucas asks wide-eyed as everyone gathers around us, assessing the situation

"I am so sorry." Brooke says and reaches her hand out to help me up

I accept her hand and pull myself up to my feet. "Fuck that hurt." I grimace

We all look around at each other and burst out laughing.

4 years, 6 months, and 2 days later, and we're all home.


A/N

I'm back! Anyone remember me? So, I've tried and tried to work on World Falls Away, but it's just not happening. Maybe I'll go back and finish it some day, but I've lost all focus for it.

This season of OTH inspired me to write again, so here's my new story. Hopefully it's to your liking.

It's good to be writing again. :-)