What's In a Name?
Disclaimer: Do NOT own any OTH characters, but I do own Abby/Jamie and whoever else doesn't appear in the show. Lucas never went to Charleston, Haley never left and hasn't met Chris, Jake and Jenny left but Jake will be back because he wants to go out with Peyton, Brooke is going out with Felix. Mouth and Anna are also in the story. This story is set during season 1. I know it is season 3, but I started this during season 1.
Abby—longer light brown hair with blonde highlights, brown eyes, 5'7", 175 lbs
Chapter 1
Independence, Wisconsin
Abigail Winters sat on her bed listening to the new Jeremy Camp CD, Stay, which she had borrowed from her best friend, Andrea. She liked her life, but every time she was alone in her room listening to music her mind began to wander. And this time was no different, especially when she got to track eight, "Breaking My Fall". Every time she heard this song, she would start thinking about what had happened to her in the short sixteen years of her existence and think about how one person could help her. So far, her mom had died six years ago, which made her dad want to escape the pain. So they moved to Wisconsin. Then her father killed himself one year later. Everyone told her that it was his time to go, but she knew that he died from depression and she figured that it was her fault because she couldn't help him forget about mom. They never found a will, so Abby was adopted by some friends of her fathers. Dana and John were nice people who she loved dearly, but tragedy struck again. Even though she liked John, she was always scared of him. He liked to drink and he had a pretty short temper. She never knew how short it was until after Dana passed away. She hated walking downstairs and seeing him drinking because she knew what would come next. Whenever he came into the room, instead of dealing with him, Abby would drift off to a time when her mom and dad were alive, when her best friends were always there for her, and when she could play softball. Abby was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of the front door slamming.
"ABIGAIL!" John's voice shouted. She knew that if she didn't answer, it would be worse than if she did.
"Coming, I'll be right there" she yelled back. As she headed downstairs Abby noticed a lot of boxes. "What's going on? What's with all the boxes?"
"We are moving."
"WHAT, we can't move my life is here! My friends, my school, everything is here!" After she finished her little rant, she thought she had pushed him too far. But to her surprise he ignored it. Maybe he is changing she thought.
"We are moving because I got a good job that pays quite a bit."
"But you have a good job here and you have friends here and Andrea. I can't lose Andrea, it isn't fair. I have finally gotten settled here and everything is…" All of a sudden a hand slaps her across the face. She knew she was wrong.
"SHUT UP! I don't care right now. This job is so much better and we will have a huge house and you can buy anything you want. Here, take this."
By this time, her face felt like it was burning from the slap, but she couldn't show him she was hurting because that would just make him happy. She took the envelope that he handed her and looked inside. She opened it up and pulled out a driver's license for North Carolina. There was only one problem. The name on the license wasn't her name.
"What is this?"
"That is your new name. I want to start over, with everything. We are now going to be a family. But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone."
"Where are we moving to?"
"It doesn't really matter where we are going, but we are moving to North Carolina."
"Where are we going in North Carolina? Please tell me where we are going." Abby knew she should quit begging because she didn't know how much he had had to drink.
"I guess you will find out when we get there. Now go pack. We leave in two days."
Abby was so surprised to hear that they were leaving so soon. She needed to go tell Andrea, so she ran out of the house and straight to Andrea's.
Tree Hill, North Carolina
"Luke, who is this?" Nathan said pointing at a picture with Haley, Lucas, and some other girl.
"That is a girl that lived next door to me until fourth grade. She was my best friend."
"What about Haley?"
"Sorry, I guess I should have said Haley's and my best friend. We were the troublesome three; well that is what our parents called us. I haven't heard from her in so long. I don't even know where she moved to." Lucas said looking at the picture sadly.
"Oh, well, come on Luke, let's go to the river court and shoot around. Haley and Anna are going to be there." Nathan gave Lucas the look.
"Fine, let's go. Oh, and Nate, I don't like Anna in that way. We are just friends."
"Whatever you say Luke" Nathan didn't sound convinced.
--At the River court--
"Hey Hales, hey Anna. What's up?" Nathan asked.
"Nothing much babe, we just got here. What about you? What is wrong with Luke?" Haley asked not taking her eyes off Lucas.
"Oh, I pointed out a picture from when you were little. I guess I hit a nerve or something." Haley shot Nathan a quick glare.
"Don't worry; I didn't do it on purpose this time. I was sincerely curious. I had never seen the picture before." Nathan said as he saw Haley's look.
"What was it a picture of?" Anna piped in feeling left out of the conversation.
"It was a picture of you, Lucas, and some other girl sitting on the counter of Karen's café." He said pointing at Haley.
"That was the last picture we took with her."
"Who is she and what happened? Did she die?" Anna asked interrupting Haley.
"No, she didn't die." Haley said remembering the day.
Flashback
"Thanks for the cake Karen. It was delicious." A little girl with light brown hair and brown eyes said. "It reminds me of the cake that my momma used to make me." A single tear rolled down her eye. Not just because her mother had died two weeks earlier, but because her father was making her move. He wanted to get away from the horror that haunted him every time he opened the front door. She didn't understand why he wanted to take her away from everything that reminded her of her mother. Everything that she knew was here, but she knew she had to leave. "Can you take a couple pictures of Lucas, Haley, and I sitting on the counter? Please, I know you don't like us sitting up there, but it will be a cool picture." Karen knew that she was leaving in the morning, but she didn't tell Lucas or Haley because she had promised the little girl.
"I guess I can let you guys sit up there one time while I take the pictures." Once the three kids got situated Karen took three pictures (one for each of them).
"Don't worry guys, I will send you these pictures after I get them developed."
"Why don't you just bring them over to our houses?" Haley questioned. She had always been the smartest of the three
"I won't be here when they get developed actually. Daddy and I are leaving tomorrow morning for Wisconsin or something." Tears almost started to fall, but she couldn't let them see that she was crying.
"WHAT!" Lucas and Haley said at the same time.
"Why are you leaving?" Haley asked with tears starting to come down her cheeks. They had been best friends since before they could remember.
"I don't know. Daddy said something about not being able to get Momma out of his head. He said that he needs closure and being here isn't getting him any."
"When did you find out?" Lucas was on the verge of tears, but he was too upset to let them out
"He told me last week." Before she could finish Lucas took off. "Luke wait up!" She ran after him. "Luke, don't walk away from me."
"Abby, I'm not walking…I'm running."
"LUCAS! Please stop. What's wrong?"
"WHAT'S WRONG! Abby…you are leaving tomorrow and you didn't even tell us. I'm surprised that you didn't just write a letter from your new home. I thought we were your friends."
"You are my friends. You are my best friends and I don't want to leave, but I have to."
"If we were your best friends then you would have told us earlier."
"Lucas, I couldn't. I didn't know how."
"Why don't you just leave then? You must not want to be here. I hate you for not telling me sooner. Go start your life over.
"Luke, that's not fair."
"Well, life's not fair I guess."
"You're such a jerk. I'm leaving tomorrow and you are getting all mad at me. If that is the way you want to be, fine, I'm going home. Good bye Lucas, have a nice life."
End Flashback
"Hales, are you okay?"
"Yeah Anna, I'm fine. I was just thinking back. I remember that day pretty well. Luke was mad at Abby for not telling us. I went over to her house that night and all she could do was cry and say that she was sorry for not telling us sooner. She was also mad at Lucas. She sent me the pictures a week later. So, I gave one to Lucas. I didn't know he still had the picture. He was still mad when I gave him the picture. I figured he had thrown it away by now."
"Can we just drop the subject? I don't want to think about it right now. Damn, it was like six years ago. She left and she hasn't written since. Let's drop it now." Lucas walked away, but Anna followed.
"Lucas hold on. Do you want to talk about this? I know there is something wrong. You can talk to me. I promise I won't tell anyone." Lucas stopped walking and sat down on a bench. He looked like he was about to cry.
"I wasn't mad at her. I was mad at myself that I had let her go; especially without telling her I loved her. She was the first girl that I ever liked like that. It was weird because I didn't think that I liked girls like that at that time, I mean besides just being friends with them. But I just couldn't stop thinking about her." He paused for a moment and saw a surprised look on Anna's face. "I have never told anyone that, not even Haley. I just feel like there has been a whole in my heart since then. Even when I was going out with Brooke, I was happy, but I still felt like I couldn't give her all of my heart."
"What about Peyton? I mean you cheated on Brooke with Peyton, so did you feel better with her?"
"Not really. I mean, I guess, I don't know. I don't think that would have made a difference either. I thought Peyton might have been more like Abby, but she wasn't."
"Is that the reason why you didn't want to go any further with me? You didn't want to hurt me like you hurt Brooke and Peyton and possibly Abby."
"I couldn't do that to you. I liked Brooke and Peyton and I will admit that I screwed up, but every time I looked at them I tried to picture what Abby looks like. I have never told anyone about Abby, not my mom, not even Haley. Please don't tell anyone what I said."
"Lucas, you are keeping a secret for me, so I will keep this secret for you."
"Thanks Anna, you're the best." Lucas gives Anna a hug. "Let's go back and shoot some hoops now." Lucas and Anna walk back to Nathan and Haley and nothing was said between the teens.
Independence
"Andrea, I really don't want to leave you. I have actually gotten used to this place. I actually like it here. This sucks so much; I can't believe John is making me move now. I only have two years of high school left and I'm not very good at making friends." Abby was ranting about moving to her best friend Andrea. Andrea couldn't believe that he was making her leave either.
"Did he tell you why you were moving?"
"He said that he got a better job in North Carolina or something. He said that we would have a big house and I could buy anything that I wanted because we would have money."
"I think that is a stupid reason. He has a good job here. Does he know that you used to live in North Carolina? I mean you lived there until your mom died right?"
"Yea, we did. It was really nice there. I haven't kept in touch with anyone though. I wrote letters to them, but they never wrote me back. So, I guess it is just as well because I will probably never see them anyway." A phone rings in the background and Andrea's mom yells up the stairs.
"Abby, your father's on the phone. He says that you need to come back and finish packing because you are leaving pretty early tomorrow."
"Tell him I'll leave in ten minutes because I am done packing. Thank you. Great, I hope he hasn't been drinking, I don't want to have to deal with him tonight."
"You will call me when you get there right?"
"Of course I will call you. I don't understand why I had to change my name, I mean, how stupid is that?"
"That is kind of bizarre I think. Well, you better get going or it will be a long drive to North Carolina tomorrow."
"Yea, I suppose. I am going to miss you so much Andrea. You have been a great friend for the past three years. I'm glad we had a locker next to each other. I'll give you my address when I call and you have my e-mail address and cell phone number." They are both on the verge of tears so they stop talking and just give each other a big hug. They promise that they will keep in close touch so Abby leaves. As she walks back home (because she only lived a few blocks from Andrea) she hears a car coming up behind her. The car pulls up next to her and she sees that it is John.
"Get in the car, NOW!" She heard the voice that she always dreaded to hear so she got in without saying a word. When they got in the house Abby went straight to her room and to her discontent John was right behind her. "The next time I tell you to come home you had better come home right away! You do not tell someone else's mother to tell me that you will leave ten minutes later! Do you know how bad of a father that makes me look?" She didn't mean to say it, but it just slipped out.
"YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER! You will never be my father!" After she said that she knew she shouldn't have. She didn't even have time to react to what was coming next. All of a sudden a hand slapped her across the face, hard.
"You do not talk to me like that you ungrateful slut! I have put a roof over your head for the past three years! I have put food on the table and nice clothes on your back and this is how you repay me! Without me you would probably be in some foster home or orphanage trying to remember what your parents were like. I don't know how they put up with you for so long. You are a little slut!" All while he was saying this, the punches were flying. He didn't even take the time to catch his own breath. Finally after about ten minutes, he finally got too tired to punch anymore so he threw her across the room. Her back hit the desk and she fell to the ground. She couldn't breathe and she felt this sharp stinging pain, but she couldn't do anything about it. When she went to the bathroom to clean up before she got in bed she noticed how bad it was. John had never hit her so much or so hard before, it had always been just a couple of slaps, but not this time. She finished cleaning up and went to bed. Abby couldn't fall asleep because her side and back hurt so much. She also didn't want to wake up late for the trip to hell.