Chapter 1: It's Only Life
Four years; it had been four years since Nathan Scott's life was normal. He was one of the star players on his varsity basketball team, in love with his amazing girlfriend, partying every weekend with his friends, just enjoying the life of an average high schooler. That all changed when one person decided to tear his perfect world to pieces; the day that Chase Adams arrived ruined his family. Nathan hadn't known back then what Chase's actions would cause until it was too late, until his little sister ran away. That's right, ran away. The party at the Davis' house was the last time that anyone had heard from Haley Scott and no one knew why. At the end of the night it seemed that everything was falling back into place; oh how wrong he was.
"You who…Nathan?" Peyton asked snapping her fingers in front of Nathan's dazed face trying to refocus his attention.
"What?" Nathan said shaking his head. "Sorry I zoned out there."
"Ya think?" Peyton replied sarcastically. She smirked at Nathan's glare. "I was just wondering if you think Mia would mind performing at the wedding."
Ah yes the wedding, the reason Nathan had drifted off into his own world. Here he was sitting with his brother and soon to be sister-in-law planning their wedding. Haley should be here, Nathan sighed. She shouldn't be missing out on any of this. Ever since Haley left Nathan never really enjoyed the good things that happened in his life or when he did they were short lived. When he got his full boat to Duke University to play basketball he ran straight to Haley's room to tell her only to be reminded that she was gone or like when he was drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats to play in the NBA he was again reminded that Haley was gone when he couldn't call her and tell her the amazing news. And now with the wedding, it was just another slap in the face reminding him that his sister was going to miss out on another important day in the Scott family.
"I know that sigh," Peyton sighed herself. "You're thinking about her." It wasn't a question, Peyton knew that Nathan was thinking about Haley and to be quite honest there wasn't a day that went by that Peyton hadn't thought about her best friend. When realization hit that Haley had run away Peyton was a wreck; she never left her room, barely attend school, never smiled, it was like when Haley Scott left she took a piece of everyone with her. She never fully recovered but as the days went by things got better. She went to Duke with Lucas and Nathan and graduated with a double major in business and art. After Duke she came home to Tree Hill to open her record label 'Red Room Records' where she immediately signed Mia.
"Of course I am," Nathan spoke. "It doesn't seem right planning your wedding without her. She's our sister and your best friend; she should be running around trying to make everything perfect."
"I know," Lucas said nonchalantly not allowing himself to play into his emotions. Ever since Haley left he never got quite as emotional as he usually did, it was like he was trying to contain his emotions in fear of what would happen when they were released. He loved his sister dearly and couldn't fathom what would make her up and leave her family without a freaking goodbye.
"How can you be so distant?" Nathan asked not liking the tone his brother was taking on.
"She's the one that left us," Lucas yelled finally letting his emotions get the better of him. "She's the one being selfish by leaving without saying goodbye. It's her fault that she's not here and quite frankly I'm glad she's not."
"You don't mean that," Peyton gasped, she knew that her fiancé took Haley's leaving hard but she never thought that he would not want her at their wedding.
"I do," Lucas replied sternly. "She's our sister for crying out loud. There is nothing out there that could make her run away without talking to us." He took a deep breath trying to calm himself down, breath…save it for Haley.
Peyton sighed, this is gonna be harder than I thought. "I'm sure that whatever reason she had was a perfectly good one," she held up her hand when Lucas tried to interrupt. "I know Haley, and if she needed to deal with this alone then she needed to deal with it alone no ifs, ands, or buts." Lucas just mumbled. "Now back to the wedding. Do you think you can ask Mia if she would mind performing a few songs?" Peyton asked refocusing her attention on the less broody Scott brother.
"I'll see what I can do. She's been pretty busy touring," Nathan sighed. Mia had been touring with some big name star, he was too busy with basketball to take any notice, and he missed her desperately. It had been a month since he'd last seen her and it was starting to take its toll.
"That's right she's touring with…"
"Uncle Natey!" A little girl yelled as she hurled herself into Nathan's lap causing him to let out grunt.
"What's got you so excited Jenny Bear?" Nathan smiled at his niece.
"Someone had too much ice cream," Rachel chuckled from behind Nathan.
"Nah ah Mommy," Jenny pouted. "You can never have enough ice cream."
"Is that so?" Rachel amusedly asked her daughter. Jenny nodded her head furiously causing the adults to break into an uproar of laughter.
"Did I miss something?" Jake asked just making his way back to the patio.
"Don't you always?" Rachel asked coyly.
"Ha ha," Jake deadpanned. "Really what happened?"
"Oh nothing," Peyton remarked before lifting Jenny from Nathan's lap. "So you had ice cream today, what kind?"
"Chocolate chip cookie dough, it was the bestest ever!" Jenny exclaimed overdramatically.
"You little one have been hanging out with your Auntie Brooke too much," Nathan chuckled seeing exactly how much his best friend was rubbing off on his niece.
"She has not," Brooke scoffed making her presence known. "If you ask me it is perfectly fine to have an overdramatic friend in the bunch, they're always the fun one."
"You would say that," Lucas quipped. He just managed to duck his head in time to miss the slap that was coming his way.
"Give him a concussion before this wedding and you'll be drinking through a straw for the summer," Peyton growled playfully.
"Not in front of the little one," Rachel said indicating Jenny who was blissfully unaware of anything that was going on. She was too busy playing with the ends of Peyton's hair.
"Sorry Mom," Peyton and Brooke mumbled playfully hating being scolded. Rachel glared but nodded gratefully. To say that everyone was shocked to find out that Rachel was pregnant was an understatement, no one expect this to happen especially after only being back together with Jake for just over a month. At first they were scared to death, what teen wouldn't be. But as the time passed the couple got used to the idea of being parents and the day the little Jennifer Nichole Davis was born was the happiest day of their life.
"So speaking of the wedding what else needs to be done?" Brooke asked taking a seat in one of the pool side loungers.
"Well for the past five minutes I've been trying to get Nathan to call Mia and see if she wouldn't mind performing a couple of songs," Peyton agitatedly sighed, at this rate things are never going to get done.
"Fine I'll call, I'll call, no need to have a cow," Nathan laughed pulling out his phone.
Peyton just huffed before putting Jenny down and pacing around the patio. Lucas grabbed her arm and pulled her into his lap. "Everything is going to be fine," he whispered into her ear before playfully nipping at her earlobe.
"I just want everything to be perfect," Peyton sighed as she relaxed into Lucas's embrace.
"As long as you're there it will be," Lucas smiled before kissing her sweetly.
"Could you two get any cheesier?" Brooke asked making a fake gagging noise.
"You're just jealous that you don't have any…" but Peyton trailed off as she saw the pain rushing to Brooke's eyes. "Oh Brooke I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"
Brooke held up her hands stopping Peyton's apology. "It's ok," she replied glumly. Despite the pain that Brooke felt after Haley left she never let her friends see her at her lowest. She would save her tears for the solitude of her apartment. She saved her pain for the poor soul that decided to piss her off during a soccer game. But most importantly she saved the heart break for the day that she found out why Haley left. The group of friends remained quiet knowing how much Haley's disappearance hurt Brooke. From what Brooke had told them, after she spent all night looking for her, things between her and Haley were going fine before she was sidetracked by Nathan. She let out a sigh thinking about that night, everything was going great.
"Ok… thanks… love you, bye," Nathan hung up his phone.
"So?" Peyton asked expectantly.
"She said that she'd be honored to perform," Peyton squealed completely thrilled that at least one thing was going for this wedding.
"This is so great!" Peyton continued to squeal as she jumped up and down on Lucas's lap. Everyone just laughed at Peyton's childlike antics. "What?"
"Nothing, just thinking that Jenny is more mature than you," Brooke giggled knowing that Peyton was about to get really pissed off.
"Oooooohhhh you are soooooo in for it Davis," Peyton warned as she lunged off of Lucas's lap towards Brooke. Brooke, being the soccer star that she is, swiftly moved off her chair and started running towards the backyard. "This is soooooo not fare," Peyton yelled as she tried to catch up with Brooke. "Some of us don't play soccer professionally."
"Sucks to be you," Brooke yelled over her shoulder.
The others continued to watch Brooke and Peyton running around the yard like first graders.
"So has Peyton driven you up the walls yet?" Jake asked Lucas as he took a seat next to Rachel.
"It's not that bad. The only thing that she's been really crazy about is the music for the reception," Lucas chuckled. "You know Peyton and her music, she'd die without it. Quite honestly I'm surprised that she didn't stow away in one of Mia's bags when she left for tour."
"I wouldn't put it past her," Rachel laughed. "Speaking of Mia how's the rock star doing?"
"She's doing good, absolutely loving it quite honestly," Nathan replied. "She says that she should be on the radio any day now with the way that…" but Nathan trailed off when he heard a familiar voice on the radio. The others gave him a puzzling look after he didn't continue.
"Crap I forgot how fast she could run," Peyton panted as she slumped into Lucas's lap. Brooke came over, not even breathing hard, doing a victory dance. Peyton glared at her friend before noticing that Nathan seemed to be in a far off world. "What's with Nate?" She whispered into Lucas's ear.
"He was telling us how Mia was doing when he just kinda trailed off," Lucas said looking at his brother suspiciously. He followed his sightline to the radio and tilted his head. "Anything good on?"
"What?" Nathan asked finally coming out of his daze. Lucas nodded towards the radio. Nathan let a small smirk play on his lips. "Only the best thing to happen to music."
"Hannah Montana?" Jenny asked finally clueing into the conversation.
"No sweetie," Nathan laughed as he got up to turn the radio up. "Auntie Mia."
"What?" Peyton practically screamed with delight.
"Tears are forming in your eyes The end of the world it seems Don't look away You were always playing hard But you can't win Don't look away Take your hesitance Don't look away
A storm is warning in the sky
You bend down and you fall on your knees
Well get back on your feet yeah
Don't run away
Hey baby it's only life
Don't lose your faith
Don't run away
Hey baby its only life
Yea it's only life
Never could let down your guard
If you never give in
To that voice within
Saying pick up your chin
Baby let go of it
Don't run away
Hey baby it's only life
Don't lose your faith
Don't run away
Hey baby its only life
Yea it's only life
And your self-defense
Leave them behind, it's only life
Don't be so afraid
Of facing everyday
Just take your time, it's only life
I'll be your stepping-stone
No, don't be so alone
Just hold on tight, it's only life
Don't run away
Hey baby it's only life
Don't lose your faith
Don't run away
Hey baby its only life
Yea it's only life
"And there you have it," the DJ started. "The debut single from Mia Catalano 'It's Only Life'. Mia is currently touring the U.S. with Rock Princess Taylor James. The duo is making their next stop…" Nathan turned down the volume on the radio. He turned back to his friends with a beaming smile.
"She was great!" Peyton gushed.
"Totally amazing!" Rachel agreed. "I just wonder how she managed to land a gig with Taylor James; she's been like the talk of the music biz ever since she step foot into it."
"No idea," Nathan said not really caring how Mia got where she was; he was just pleased that she was living out her dream just like he was. "All I know is that Taylor saw something in Mia and asked her to tour with her, it seems like they've grown really close."
"That's great to hear," Jake said with a smirk, if they only knew.
There it is the start of FA.
Sorry for the cliffhanger-ish ending but I needed to give you guys a reason to come back ;) Anyways more will be explained and revealed as the story progresses so don't worry if you think you've missed out on something.
The song is "It's Only Life" by Kate Voegele.
Like always hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think by leaving a review.
=]