Characters:
Peyton Sawyer – 16 year old student

Lucas Scott – 21 year old teacher
Nathan Lee – Peyton's best friend
Ryan Sawyer – Peyton's brother

FLASHBACK

As Peyton walked into the bowling alley, her eyes began to adjust to the light. She scanned her surroundings looking for her friends. She laughed as she saw them waving crazily at her. She ran over to them not realizing that there was a man who was in her way. She bumped into him and her immediate reaction was to grab hold of him so she didn't fall. It was at this point that she realised that he had got hold of her. She blushed slightly, as they took her hands away from each other.

"Sorry," she said. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Oh no," he said. "It was my fault I wasn't concentrating."

They both smiled. Despite it being dark Peyton could see his grey eyes sparkling.

"Peyton, Peyton. We're over here!" they could both hear her friends calling her.

"I'd better go," she said, as she made her way towards them, still staring back at him.

"Peyton," he whispered under his breath as he walked away smiling.

Later that day Peyton was in the local café getting herself a refreshing drink. Just as she opened it she bumped into someone. Her drink had spilt all over her brand new top, she was about to confront the "offender" when she realised that she had met him earlier that day. The both smiled in recognition.

"Hey," he said coolly. "You're the one from the bowling alley right?"

"Yeah," she tried to say as casually as possible without it coming out as a squeak.

"I'm sorry about you top. Let me buy you a new drink."

"Oh no, it's fine." Peyton could feel herself beginning to blush a bright pink.

"Honestly I insist." He was so sweet Peyton could hardly believe that he was talking to her. "Look here's my name and number in case you would still like to hold me liable for your top." He handed her a bright blue tissue.

"Lucas Scott," she read aloud. "Well, I'm Peyton. She said Peyton Sawyer."

"Well Peyton Sawyer, if you don't want to hold me responsible for your top you can still call me."

Peyton could feel herself blushing even more. "Well I'll see you around," she said rushing out before he could see her geeky grin.

The next day Peyton was sitting in her bedroom, wondering what it would be like to go out with an older guy. A knock on her door broke her thoughts.

"Peyton, Nathan' on the phone for you!" her brother screamed through her door. She sighed; her brother had an irritating habit of yelling around the house. She went into the kitchen to answer the phone.

"Hey," she said coolly, but still thinking of her encounter from the afternoon before.

"Hey Peyton, mum wants to know if your still coming round tonight." Nathan was Peyton's best friend; they had known each other since pre-school. They had been through the ups and downs together.

"Umm…" she paused, thinking about whether or not she should call him.

"Peyton," Nathan said in a sing song voice. "Are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm still here," she said shaking her daydream out of her head. "Can I get back to you?" she said casually.

"Yeah, sure, talk to you later?"

"Bye," she hung up quickly before he got a chance to reply.

Taking the phone to her room she tried to find the piece of paper with Lucas's number on it. "Where is it? Where is it?" she thought to herself, praying that someone had not found it. Rummaging through her jeans and handbag, she found it right at the bottom of her pocket. Sighing with relief she began to dial the number. Pressing the green button she placed the phone against her ear. It began to ring, it felt as though she had been sitting there for ages.

"Hello?" was the gentle, kind voice that came down the phone.

"Lucas, hi, it's Peyton, you know the one from the bowling alley?" she sounded glad to hear his voice, she lay on her bed, with a huge grin on her face.

"Hi," he said, more comfortable with whom he was talking to.

"I thought I'd just let you know that I am not going to hold you responsible for my top." She paused as she moved toward her bedroom door to close it.

"Oh," he almost sounded disappointed. "At least let me take you out to compensate for your drink if not your top."

"No," she replied. "It's fine honestly," even though secretly she was thrilled at the idea.

"No, it isn't. I Insist," he said. "What about tonight? I know this great club and it's got great music and an even better atmosphere. Plus it's local"

Peyton sat there pretending that she was thinking about it. "Ok," she sighed, pretending that he had forced her into it. She then began thinking of ways to get into a club. In the small town, of Tree Hill, that she lived in there where very few clubs, but all of them were over 18. How was she going to get it? She was only 16!

"Okay," he replied. "I'll meet you outside the café at about 8 o'clock?"

"Sounds good to me," she answered, checking her watch for the time. It was 2 o'clock she had 6 hours to come up with an excuse of why she was going out.

"See you then, bye," and with that he hung up.

"Bye," she murmured wistfully not realising that he had hung up.

Sitting outside the café, praying that no one could see her, Peyton waited for Lucas to arrive. Her curly blonde locks had been carefully and skilfully tied up to make her look older. She had put on some make-up, a black beaded top and a pair of brand new jeans. She also wore a pair of black laced up boots that had belonged to her mother. Checking her watch she realized that she was 5 minutes early.

"Please let no-one see me, please let no-one see me," she thought. Everyone on her road knew each other so if she was caught, dressed like she was, sitting by herself at this time of the evening , word would quickly spread back to her family. She became tense as she saw a black car pull up. Was it Lucas? The windows were rolled down and sure enough it was Lucas. She sighed with relief. Checking that nobody was around she got into the car.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," he replied smiling at her. "Let's get going." She smiled back at him. It felt like one of those old cheesy romantic films that she watched so often. She sat back and relaxed, watching Lucas as he drove them to the club.

A large crowd had formed outside the club; she could feel herself becoming tense again. What if she didn't get in? She could see people getting turned away. Her face must have shown panic because Lucas slid his hand into hers. She could feel herself begin becoming calm once again, as her heart skipped a beat.

Holding Lucas's hand and walking into the club felt like the easiest thing that Peyton had ever done. She began to feel a strange feeling in the depth of her jeans pocket. Placing her free hand over it, she realized that it was her phone. "Damn," she thought. "I forgot to call Nathan!" She could feel herself trembling as she went to answering. As she moved away from Lucas she couldn't stop thinking about what she was going to say.

"Hello?" she gulped slowly.

"Peyton? Peyton, its Nathan. Where are you?"

"Umm…" unsure of what she was going to tell him she hung up. She tried to erase the conversation from her head so that she could just enjoy the evening.

Just like Lucas had said the music and the atmosphere were great, but never the less she still stuck to water, because she was 16, even though Lucas didn't know it.

"So what university do you go to?" Lucas yelled over the music.

Peyton had to think of an answer very quickly. "I'm at NCU, Charlotte, I'm studying Music." She smiled slightly; it was partly true she had done a course there that summer.

"Really?" he raised his eyebrows. "That's pretty far, so what are you doing down here in Tree Hill then? It's not reading week already is it?"

Peyton froze, "um…I'm just back for a few weeks to visit my family." She quickly tried to change the subject. "So what do you do?"

"I'm a teacher, actually. I just moved from Raleigh, because I'm due to be starting a new post in a couple of weeks."

"Oh? Which school?"

"I'm not sure of the name, but it is somewhere local." It was at this moment Peyton noticed that he looked sad and upset.

"What's wrong?" She now began to realize that he wasn't genuinely upset; it was just cute puppy dog eyes that always caught her out. She laughed as she stared into his glistening grey eyes.

"You're so wonderful," he said. Cupping her face in his hands he lent forward, so his warm lips pressed against hers. Her arms began to wrap around his neck as he pointed up on tiptoes. Slowly they both pulled away from each other but still intertwined.

"Shame," she laughed. "You're so terrible." She laughed jokingly now pressing her lips against his. She inhaled his warm, musty scent. She was in such a dream, that everything, including the loud music began to fade into the distance.

The next day Peyton lay in bed. It was 11:00am and luckily it was a Sunday. The warm sun was beating down on her face. The window was open from when she'd snuck in the night before. She wasn't in a rush to get up because she knew that her grandparents would be waiting to give her a sermon, on her last night's whereabouts.

"Peyton, Peyton," she could hear her grandmother calling her. "Peyton, are you awake yet? Ryan, Ryan put on your best clothes or we're going to be late."

"What was happening to today," she thought. She got up so she could check her calendar. The date was circled. Sunday 16th May 2009. It was her parents' and sister's death anniversary. A tear trickled down her cheek as she remembered the news of a car crash, six years ago today. All her happiness from the night before slowly began to melt like an ice cream left in the warm summer sun.

She quickly got dressed leaving her bed unmade. She walked out of the room ready to go to the memorial service that was held every year. When she first saw her brother all smartly dressed in a suit, she ran up to him squeezing him tightly.

"Promise me Ryan that you will never leave me," she whispered in his ear.

"I promise," he whispered back. "I promise."

Later that afternoon Peyton sat in the café with a mug of steaming hot coffee. She began to reflect over all the things that her parents had missed out on: her first crush, her first boyfriend, her first kiss. She began to feel alone and deserted. No one in the café disturbed her today. They all knew why today was a quiet day for Peyton and the rest of her family. She could hear the bell by the door ringing in the background as it opened and closed. She ignored it just like she was ignoring the chattering around her. She smiled remembering her happy memories from the night before. She could still feel Lucas's hand in hers. She wished that she could have told someone about him, but her best friend would never understand. Her smile slowly began to fade, sipping her coffee quickly she placed her change on the table and headed towards the door. Keeping her head down she could not see where she was going. It was at this point that she bumped into someone. Mumbling the words, "sorry" she continued towards the door.

"Peyton?" inquired a voice.

She looked up to see Lucas; she blinked twice, because she thought she was dreaming. Realizing that wasn't she quickly wiped her tears away.

"Lucas, Hi," she said cheerfully, even though her eyes told another story.

END OF FLASHBACK