Two And Twenty Misfortunes

The sound of the door opening behind her made Peyton Sawyer pull her head off of her best friends shoulder. Her eyes widened in shock as Felix emerged shirtless from the bathroom. His hair was wet and he looked just as surprised to see Peyton there as she was to see him. Suddenly everything made sense.

"Oh...hey.." he said, clearly he did not try to hide his dissapointment at seeing her there.

Peyton slowly pushed herself away from Brooke, raising her hand as she brushed away the tears rolling down her cheek.

"Oh god..um..." she said, her voice cracking slightly.

"No. No." Brooke insisted as she looked at Peyton, grabbing onto her arm.

Peyton pushed herself to her feet, the feel of Brooke's hands grabbing at her arm as she continued to speak.

"No. Peyton don't go." Brooke insisted again.

Peyton turned to face her, shaking her head.

"It's cool I'll call you later." Peyton said as she headed for the door.

"No! Peyton!"Brooke yelled.

Peyton stepped outside, closing the door behind her as she chocked back another sob as it rose in her throat. Peyton reached up and again wiped another tear from her eyes, swallowing hard as she fought to regain her composure. Brooke is the only person who she will ever allow to see her cry, and now that she is outside she has to continue to fight the tears.

Peyton found herself stumbling down the driveway as she made her way to her car, climbing in the front seat she closed the door as she stared blankly ahead at the beautiful white house. The house that once meant so much to her, the house her best friend is living in..and now..now all she sees when she looks at that house is another house. It's not Brookes fault that Felix has weasled his way into her life. Ever since Felix came into the picture Peyton could feel like he was slowly pulling her away from her. She knows it is not possible, Brooke will never ever let a guy come between them...not again, anyways. Of course the last time it was Peyton's fault, but this time its no ones fault.

Peyton often felt herself wondering how is it that Brooke is still there for her. How is that after everything they have been through this past year, after all the lies that were told, all the hearts that were broken, after the friendship that was betrayed and the tears that were shed..Brooke was still willing to help her through this. She was still promising Peyton that she will always be there for her. How can she be so forgiving? Is it even natural? Peyton has betrayed Brooke in the worse way imaginable. Brooke told her she loved Lucas and what did Peyton do? She snuck around her back and she was with Lucas. And after all of this has happened..Brooke is still there for her. And now they are closer then ever..if that is possible. Its weird to think something as painful as cheating is what brought them so close..but in the same sense..it is what made Brooke stronger then ever before.

Peyton used to always convince everyone that she was too strong to need people. She used to insist that she did not need anyone to be there for her, she did not need anything from anyone. Because people always let you down in the end. They always find a way to dissapoint you. They always find a way to tear you down more and more each time. But the thing about this is, Brooke is not one of those people. She has always been there for Peyton. She has always been the one to break through Peyton's anger and make her smile when she needed too. Brooke was there for Peyton when her mother died, she was the only person that Peyton could handle to be around. There were even moments when she did not want to even see her father, but she would still see Brooke. Plus even if she didn't want to see her, Brooke would still be there. Because she knew that everything Peyton said was a lie, because while she insisted she wanted to be left alone..that was the last thing she wanted.

And now it is happening all over again...

Peyton could feel the tears rising in her throat again as she reached across the car and into the glove compartment. She pulled the tiny comparment open as she dug around, searching for her cell phone. Finally she found it, pulling it out she quickly dialed Rick's phone number. How she remembers it is beyond her.

"Hello." Rick's deep voice came through the phone line.

"Hey..its Peyton.." she replied.

"Coming back for more." Rick said, letting out a slight chuckle to show how pleased he was with himself.

"Can you meet me at the alley behind TRIC?" Peyton asked him.

"Ten minutes." Rick responded.

Peyton did not say another word as she hung up the phone. Throwing it down on the passenger seat she brushed her eyes again, resting her head against the steering wheel she let out a slight whimper.

"What the hell am I doing?" she whispered softly to herself.

After taking a few seconds to regain her composure yet again, Peyton reached in her pocket and pulled out her keys for the car, sticking them in the slot she turned it on and listened as the engine roared to life. She took one final glance up at Brooke's house before she backed out of the driveway and headed down the road, headed for Tric.

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Ellie Nash stepped over the threshold of the house she once shared with Sean Cameron, the man who had convinced her to move in with him. She looked around the tiny house, the house once so full of happy memories, full of laughter, full of the love they shared..was no almost as empty as the eyes of a serial killer. She walked over to the couch as she fell down on it, tears began to well in her eyes. Sean had promised her he would stay with her, he had told her he would never let her down and now..now..just a mere two and a half hours ago he had told her he could no longer stay with her. Stay in Toronto..stay in this house they shared..and she had no choice but to leave him..leave him in Wasaga Beach with the two people he once swore he would never forgive..his parents.

Ellie knows she should not be shocked that Sean would want to get out of Toronto. Recent events have made it difficult for even Ellie to step foot in Degrassi without wondering if everyone is still disgussing what happened there just weeks ago. It was not as if Ellie fully blamed Rick for bringing that gun to school, no she would never do such a thing but everyone is different and Rick was ridculed and tormented every day since he returned to school, and the fact that he actually thought people would want to hear what he had to say..after what he did to Teri? He hit her, he threw her so hard on the ground that she hit her head on that cement block and he landed her in a coma. He actually thought that a few months away would give everyone enough time to forgive him for what he did? He never should have returned to school.

But the facts are the facts. And the facts are that Rick was not welcome here anymore, and as he walked down the halls he was reminded of that every day. The kids did not want him around and they made sure that he knew this. Of course the prank that those morons pulled on him was something so unspeakably evil that it drove Ellie to want to yell at whoever it was that did that. Making sure Rick stood alone on that stage, after winning the game show..whatever it is called..and dropping all of that yellow paint and feathers..it reminded Ellie of that movie Carrie. It was the cruelest thing she had ever seen..and it was the final straw for Rick. Of course no one thought he would come to school later that day with a loaded gun in his backpack...and no one thought that he would attempt to shoot Emma Nelson..but what was worse is that no one thought Sean would jump to the role of hero..and no one thought that he would fight with Rick for control of the gun..and that it would go off..no one thought that Rick would die.

For days after the shooting Ellie had noticed the daze Sean was in, but as time went on the daze slowly faded and denial kicked in. Sean would deny time and time again that nothing was wrong with him. He would continue to pretend like the fact that Rick was killed by his hands was no big deal. But Ellie knew him better, she knew that it was eating him away inside...she knew that he would not be able to hold it in forever.

Finally Sean was able to stop the denial. Ellie was still shocked earlier today when Sean pushed Jay aside and told her to get in the car, she was even more shocked when herself, Emma Nelson and Jay Hogart climbed into the car only for Sean to tell them exactly where they were going. Wasaga Beach. Home. To his parents.

All day today Ellie had witnessed as piece by piece of Sean's rough exterior was torn down to reveal the real vunrable scared person who he was on the inside. When Sean finally broke down and told his parents..Ellie was not as shocked to hear that as she was for Sean to approch her and tell her he could not go back to Toronto. As they said their goodbyes..or..shared their goodbye look..Ellie's heart broke, but she knew it was what he had to do.

And now..here she is..alone in the house they shared. They are only sixteen years old and yet they live together. Well..they LIVED together. Sean knew how horrible her life with her alcoholic mother was and he was there to save her and pick up the pieces of her shattered life. And now was her turn to do him the same and he would not let her do it. But it is too late now and Ellie is all alone..in this empty house.

Ellie looked down at her arm, as she rolled up her black sleeve, her eyes locked on the healing scars. She used to have rubber bands around her wrist to prevent her from cutting. Mrs. Suave, the school psychatrist had told her it was a way of therapy, coping. It was supposed to stop her from cutting again. When she felt the urge to cut she would just snap the rubber band and the slight pinch would give her the same rush the feel of a cold blade would. Or so she said.

Ellie grabbed the blue rubber band as she snapped it several times, her leg bouncing up and down while she fought the tears in her eyes. The feel of the rubber band pinching her skin did used to give her exactly what she needed, it did use to make her feel just as good as she did when she was cutting. But now? Now the feel of the rubber band did nothing for her. Who's stupid idea was it that the feel of rubber pinching your skin would give you the same satisfaction as the feel of a cold blade dragging across your skin? Of course it did nothing for her, and as Ellie continued to snap the rubber band more and more, each time quicker and quicker..all it did was make more tears roll down her cheek and make the urge to cut even more unbarable.

Ellie's eyes wandered to the pair of silver sissors as they glisnted on the table in front of her. The shiny metal made the temptation harder to resist. Ellie reached down and grabbed the sisors, staring at them in a trance..she slowly lowered the sissors..allowing for them to hover above her wrist, a stray tear rolling down her cheek.

"No..." she whimpered softly.