A/N: This is my brand new story... i'm so excited! Since I got great reviews on other boards... I thought I'd post it here too! Please R & R!
Summary: Everyone told me it was too late. I had never known my real mother, something I had always resented. But on a journey to recover the lost souls of Tree Hill, I proved it was never too late.
Chapter One
A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words
I turned the small, slightly faded picture over in my hand. Here I was, staring at my mother's face for the first time since I was too young to recall. Even a picture meant the world to me. I hadn't been able to take my focus off it for the past two hours, after recieving it in the mail from an old friend of my mother's. I had recieved an email from Peyton Sawyer less than two weeks ago. In in, she stated that she had known about me all along, and after my mother died she had been keeping tabs on my life and how I was doing. Recently, she explained, she had heard about the passing of my adoptive father, Chris Keller, and finally decided to contact me after a long, dreadful 14 years.
I didn't know this woman. I had never met her. And I had no proof that she was who she says. But for some reason I believed her. In the past two weeks, we emailed back and forth constantly, as she told me all about my mother and why she gave me up in the first place. My father had left with the news of his knocked-up girlfriend. He ws only 15 at the the time, much to young to start a family. And so without warning, he fled. Never to be heard from again. It was tough decision for my mother, but she had decided out of love to keep me. Her parents, her siblings, most of her friends... they all turned on her. Calling her degrating names in the hallways of Tree Hill high... banishing her from the home in which she had grown up in. When I was just a few monthes old, my mother decided to hand me over to another couple... a slightly older couple who were unable to have their own children. I'm sure she thought it was better this way. I would have a better life... a happier, healthier life. I may be healthy, but one thing's for sure... I have never been less-happy than I am at this moment.
My eyes fogged over with tears, as I stared down at the picture of the beautiful woman in her youth, a huge smile plastered on her face, standing in-between two other woman, one of which a curly-blonde I assumed was Peyton from her description. They were all wearing gorgeous gowns... I remembered Peyton explaining their homecoming dance. How I wish I had a picture of my father. I so wanted to find what my mother saw in such a cold-hearted man. I'm sure he was stunning, just like Peyton had said. My love of the game, my blue eyes and long, silky auburn hair I had inherited from him. Sometimes that fact alone frustrated me so much I wanted to dye my hair and never touch a basketball again.. I just didn't understand how I could have so much in common with such a ruthless, uncaring person.
I looked up, hearing the pound of my mother, Nikki Keller's, footsteps down the hall. My eyes darted to the doorknob, relieved to see that it was locked, as usual. "Aubrey?!" Her stern voice called from outside. I rolled my eyes and reached for the remote to my stereo, turning the volume up to an ear-peircing level. Hawthorne Heights blasted through the speakers. "Aubrey!?" My mother's aggitated voice traveled faintly throught the door. "Aubrey! Turn that down!"
She finally gave up and left. Thank god. I had never liked my mother. I never really liked my father either, come to think of it. We always fought, all three of us. Her mother and father were always disloyal to eachother... well not so much her dad as her mom. After my father's car accident three months ago, my mom had moved on quite quickly. The grieving process was short, for both of us. In fact, the two of us had an argument right after the funeral. She wanted to leave-apparently it would help her to get "out of the house"-and leave me to deal with the guests by myself. It was bad enough that she had already been drunk during the sermon... and brought a date. She was enough embarassment for the both of us.
Basically, I hated my life. My parents could hardly be considered that at all. My mother always wanted me to be the preppie that I was raised as... wealthy, beautiful, and popular... were all the things I was. I was not, however, preppie. My father on the other hand, had always hoped I would choose to follow in his foot steps. I had a lovely voice for singing, and I could surely play the guitar... but my heart was for only one thing. Basketball. I was a natural, and everybody knew it. But it was that one fateful afternoon when I brought a permission slip for me to join the school's team that I realized as the daughter of Christopher and Nicole Keller, I held no future in sports.
I glanced at the picture of my real mother again, smiling at the thought of meeting her one day. My smile faded. It was too late. She was dead, and I would never know her, something I would always resent. I recalled the day when I first learned of her. It was a gloomy day for me... but in a way, it was also one of my happiest.
Flashback
"I hate you! I hate you both!" I screamed at my parents. I was a moody twelve-year old with quite the attitude.
My mother shook her head and softened her gaze slowly. "Honey, Aubrey. You don't mean that. We're you're parents. We know what's best for you." Nikki replied, reaching out for my shoulder.
I pulled away abrubtly, causing mymom to step back in humiliation. I hated being told what to do all the time. I hated them running my life... telling me what to wear... what to do... who to be friends with. Who to date!
"No! I hate you! And you know what? I wish..." I stuttered over my words, making sure I meant them before I said them. "I wish you weren't my parents!"
"Huh!" Nikki half-choked, half-laughed. Chris, who was sitting on the sidelines, stepped up to his wife, in warning. Nikki just pushed him away and turned back to me, her faced hardened and her eyes turned cold. "Your wish.. is my command."
My father and I watched nervously as she spun around and left the room. A moment later she returned, carrying a folder of documents in her hands. She pointed her index finger as Chris, and handed the manilla folder to me with a smirk. I stared down at it. The cover read "Aubrey Elizabeth Keller" in Nikki's handwriting. I carefully opened it, my eyes widening in disbelief. My eyes scanned the first page. It was an adoption form. At the bottom, the signatures of both of my parents, and one unfamiliar one. Haley James.
"This can't be true..." I swallowed, not taking my focus off the paper. I looked over at Chris, who's eyes seemed to be watering up. Then to Nikki.... she held a smirk of satisfaction. "Oh, no? It's funny, how people seem to change their minds so quickly."
She raised her eybrow in return, her hands crossed under her bosom. I just glared at her for a while, and then ran up the nearby flight of stairs to my room.
End Of Flashback
I sighed and reached across to my nightstand for the envelope from Peyton. I snagged it with the tip of my finger and manged to land it on the floor. I growled under my breath and stood from my bed to retrieve it and noticed the back of a second picture i hadn't saw before sticking out. I curiously squatted down and grabbed the envelope, pulling the picture out and gasping in awe. My mother, in the same dress as the other picture, this time standing beside a tall, very handsome brunette sporting a black tuxedo. He held her back his stomach, his hands wrapped protectively around her petite waist. Her head was cocked in an upward postition as he held her gaze with an adoring smile. This wasn't the smile of a man willing to abandon his child and the woman he loved if necassary. This was the smile of a man in love. Truly, in love. And for a moment, just a moment... I found it hard to almost impossible to resent this man. This man, who was my real father.
A/N: The next chapter should be up in a couple of days... that is, if you guys liked it! Again, please review!!!