CHAPTER 1: Tree Hill High, The Place Where Dreams Die

"Tree Hill Academy, an uplifting and nurturing environment for your male or female adolescent of ages 14 to 18." Haley James droned, as she turned over the page to continue reading aloud the next side of the severely intense coloured pamphlet. "At this boarding school we encourage academia, athleticism, compassion, and turning our students into brainwashed bimbos that will one day drown in their own obliviousness and conformism."

"It does not say that!" Quinn protested, ripping the pamphlet out of her younger sister's hands and giving it a quick once over to make sure.

"It might as well Quinn." Haley groaned. "It wouldn't make a difference if it read 'Tree Hill High, the place where dreams die.'"

Quinn ran her hand stressfully through her brown locks and flashed her two other sisters pleading looks.

"I'm sure being shipped off to boarding for the next two years won't be that bad." Taylor piped up, finally getting tired of Quinn trying to burn holes in her skull with her glare.

"Off to a premium start on this pep talk Tay." Haley remarked, nervously fiddling with a loose thread on her shirt.

"I mean think about how many boys you could shag in one day." Taylor continued, looking up from the text conversation she was having with her latest 'hook up'. "They literally live within meters of you. The possibilities are endless."

Haley took a sip of her lukewarm chocolate milk that had been in her backpack for the entire flight and screwed up her face, "Believe or not Taylor I was planning on studying, not slutting it up."

"Well leave your values at the nunnery Virgin Haley, this is your junior year." Taylor scoffed.

"Taylor quit it!" Quinn scolded, she had paled dramatically and was looking on the border of passing out.

"Just because you couldn't get a boyfriend doesn't mean we have to condemn Haley to the same unfortunate fate." Taylor teased.

"I had a boyfriend Taylor, it's not my fault you lured him away from me with promises of kinky sex in the back of your Ute." Quinn scoffed.

This fight, was a frequently visited and sore topic between Quinn and Taylor. Haley had started to fiddle with the ends of her honey blonde hair, decided that she would give her disgusting lukewarm chocolate milk another shot, and had already gotten up to Indium on the period table in her mind when the fight finally broke down.

"What do you think about Haley's new school Viv?"

Vivian made a sound that Haley thought would be heard if a cat and a whale could somehow both be put in a blender. She then unfurled herself from the foetal position she had been curled in on the floor of the airport lounge, shoved her hand through her un-brushed blonde hair, and turned to Haley with her ever present deadpan expression contorting her features.

"Well you know what they say," Vivian started, in her usual monotone voice that she had been had been using for the past six years; since she was 15. "Good times and happiness come to those who decide they want good times and happiness." She then stuck a stray wisp of hair in her mouth and started to chew on it.

"Thanks for that uplifting message." Haley said, she had almost spat out her chocolate milk when Vivian was speaking and had just now regained her composure. Taylor had snorted loudly and then had tried to pass it off as if she had inhaled a fly or something. Quinn on the other hand looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

Quinn was only two years older than Haley, at 18, and younger than both Taylor and Vivian. But when their ditzy but lovable mother had told Haley's sister's to board the plane with Haley and drop her safety in Tree Hill, North Carolina, Quinn had taken it upon herself to make sure everything worked out perfectly. Unfortunately that meant Haley being excited for her new school.

"You know what Quinny, I've changed my mind." Haley said, deciding to cut her sister some slack, "I'm sure I'll adore Tree Hill Academy."

Haley wasn't completely lying. It would be nice to settle down at a school for once, and actually be able to make some friends. She hadn't done that in six years.

Quinn face immediately lit up in delight and she embraced Haley in a tight hug. "I knew you would Haley Bob." Haley inwardly cringed at the use of her middle name, being named after an old cat had its down sides. "You'll be fine. You worked really hard to get this scholarship and Brooke will be there so at least you'll know someone." Quinn finished, finally releasing Haley who had to quickly take in a deep swig of air to fill her already withering lungs.

She then received a shorter hug from Taylor, which consisted of Taylor trying and failing to shove a handful of condoms in Haley's backpack when she wasn't looking. She even got an awkward side hug from Vivian before she shuffled away.

"Bye you guys, love you." Haley said, picking up her luggage and getting ready to walk away.

"We'll come visit you soon." Quinn waved wilding, accidently thwacking Vivian in the face, "Call us whenever!"

Haley had just turned around and started to walk away when her sisters screechy voice made her turn around.

"Haley James tell me you didn't pack the fucking ugly poncho!" Taylor yelled, completely oblivious to the fact that half of the Tree Hill residents in the airport had whirled around to glare at her.

"What poncho?" Haley feigned dumb, the poncho had been the only clothing item she had actually brought from home. As her mother had spent quite a lot of the money she had making sure that Haley could pass off as your average preppy high schooler.

Knowing her sister would make her leave the poncho behind she sprinted out of the airport and quickly boarded the bus that would take her straight to iron gates of Tree Hill Academy.

"This one is the shampoo and this one is the conditioner, should I label it? Do you think you'll remember?" Dan Scott drawled in a slow and patronizing tone.

"Dad, I have a brain you know." Nathan replied angrily, adjusting the strap of the bag on his shoulder and praying that his father would decide to leave soon.

Dan raised an eyebrow at his son, "Well your grades sure don't show it. Thank god you're attractive and good at basketball."

Nathan rolled his eyes but let the comment trundle over him like the wave of abuse that usually leaked from Dan's mouth.

"Now make sure you to tell your brother that I have taken the curtesy of emailing him his workout schedule." Dan said, "I put yours in your bag."

"I'll tell Lucas." Nathan responded, already knowing that there was no way in hell his half-brother was actually going to follow the work regime Dan had set up for him.

A horn sounded a couple metres away from the pair, as a sleek black car moved into Nathan's eyesight.

"I have to get going." Dan said, he placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder and Nathan tried with everything in him not to recoil away. "You have a lot to live up to son, don't let me down. However, it doesn't matter how well you do in basketball, you'll never be as good as me."

Dan grinned maliciously before allowing the driver to open the door of the car for him and then driving away.

"Good to know Dad." Nathan murmured, before picking up his many bags and suitcases and moving them into the school grounds.

"Hey Nathan." A group of girls giggled whilst the leader winked seductively at him.

"Good to see you Rachel." Nathan tried to keep the grimace out of his voice. There was no denying that Rachel was attractive but she was also an A class bitch.

"Damn little bro, something must have gone to your head in the last few weeks of summer if you're considering hooking up with Rachel Gatina." A deep voice appeared from behind Nathan.

"Three months Luke." Nathan reminded, "You're older than me by three months. And like you should be reprimanding me about Rachel, you were the one that dated her."

"What can I say, I was an idiot when I was fourteen." Lucas responded, as they both started to slowly walk over to the check in table to receive their building name and dorm room. "You should be scared, she's totally after you now. How was the rest of your summer?"

"It was actually a living hell." Nathan said and ran a hand through his dark hair, "You're so lucky you only have to stay with Dan for half the summer. Also he sent you your workout schedule."

As Dan never ended up marrying Lucas' mother Karen, it meant that both Dan and Karen had joint custody of Lucas. Which meant that unlike Nathan who had to spend all his time drowning in misery at the Scott estate, Lucas got to spend half his time with his mother.

Lucas chuckled, "He knows I'm not going to do it."

"What about you?" Nathan asked, "How was the rest of your summer."

"It was fine," Lucas said, "The gang misses you."

"Name dears?" The lady in charge of the check in table asked politely.

"Evelyn lovely to see you, is that a new hairstyle?" Nathan said charmingly. He heard Lucas scoff beside him.

"Why yes it is Nathan, thanks for noticing." Evelyn smiled and preened her hair, "Both of you are in Clementine Building. Lucas your dorm number is 112, and Nathan yours is 113." Evelyn passed them both the keys to their rooms.

"Who's my roommate?" Lucas asked, attempting to lean over the table to see the sheet of names.

"Lucas Scott you have Jake Jagielski. And Nathan Scott…" Evelyn said scanning the sheet, Nathan inwardly sighed that meant he would be stuck with some random, "It seems it's your lucky year. There was an extra room in the building so it's appears you have your own room."

"Oh god." Lucas said, as they walked away from the table, "I feel like the number of girls you're going to sleep with this year has amplified." Nathan smirked widely.

"Scott! Hey Scott!" An obnoxious voice suddenly piped up from behind them.

"Which one?" Lucas asked, as they both turned around to face Felix Taggaro.

"Both of you." Felix said, going for intimidating but with his cream coloured pants and light pink sweater it was kind of hard. "I'm going to take over this year in basketball. I'm coming for you, especially you Nathan. And then everyone's finally going to realize what a little bitch you are."

"Nathan…" Lucas warned. But it was too late, Nathan's vision had darkened and white hot anger had already started to pulse through his veins. He had slammed his fist into Felix's jaw with a satisfying crack before he even had time to think.

Haley was pretty sure she had been dropped off on an alien planet. Everywhere she looked there were people carrying suitcases that probably cost most than her house. She had just passed a guy that was wearing so much gold he might as well have been Midas from the Greek myth. A girl that looked around her age had been reduced to a sobbing mess of dripping mascara and tissues as she had her miniature Chihuahua taken away from her.

She had never been around so many people at once that looked like they belonged in a royal family. If Haley hadn't gotten a full academic scholarship here, her family wouldn't have been able to pay for even one tenth of the tuition money.

She started to make her way over to the lady who was perched at the check in table.

"Name?" The woman smiled kindly at her, Haley squinted down at her nametag which read Evelyn.

"Um Haley James." Haley replied.

"Alright Miss James, you are in Clementine Building. Dorm room number 114. Your roommate's names are Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer." Evelyn gushed, handing her the key to her room that looked more like the decorative kind than the kind that actually worked.

"Thank you." Haley responded, taking the key. Thank god for her roommates! At least she knew who they were.

"We'll have Mr Rosenberg over here deliver your bags to your dorm." Evelyn added, gesturing to the man in a suit standing beside her at the table.

Haley nodded, kind of weirded out over all. She then walked away from the table in search of her building. She had passed Wisteria Building and Beatrice Building when she was stopped in her tracks by the exceptionally large crowd ahead of her. After taking in the large clamour and the people gathered in two separate clumps on either side of the pathway, Haley came to the conclusion that there was a fight going on.

A loud cheer went up in the air as the attractive dark hair, blue eyed boy delivered a blow to the other boy's stomach. Haley could already tell that the fight was rather unbalanced. Despite the fact that both boys were similar in diameter, the dark haired boy obviously had a higher aggression rate and more experience. Haley wondered if he had a criminal record. The other boy with caramel skin was wheezing loudly and she knew it was only a matter of time before he gave up. Both boys were covered in dripping scarlet blood, however Haley was pretty sure the dark haired boy was mostly covered in the other boy's blood.

A loud crack pulled Haley out of her inner monologue. She looked up just in time to see the caramel skinned boy crumple to the ground in an unmoving heap on the floor. If she hadn't been able to hear the swearing she would have thought he was dead. She could see boys in an array of blazers and letterman jackets passing around money.

Haley then focused on the dark haired boy. His navy blue shirt was now covered in droplets of blood, as were his hands. It was weird, he almost looked regal standing there. Suddenly his deep cerulean eyes flickered to her chocolate brown ones and she almost lost her footing on the ground. Did this mean she would be next on his hit list? However, instead of acting violently he simply raised his eyebrow at her as if trying to figure out if he knew who she was.

A group of teachers in crisp suits swarmed him a few seconds later.

"Already Scott!" Brian Durham better known as Whitey exclaimed gruffly, as Nathan was dragged into his office by another teacher.

Nathan closed the door to the office after the teacher left, "I think we've had a good run so far coach."

"You've been back at school for less than an hour and you've already been in another fight." Whitey said, passing Nathan an icepack. "You're one of my best players Nathan but I'm not going to stand for what happened last year. Tone down the fights, and you need to improve your grades."

"Coach!" Nathan shouted.

"That's enough Scott." Whitey said, "I've spoken to the principal and he has decided that if you cannot pass all your subjects by the end of the semester you're off the team."

Nathan sighed and brought the icepack up to rest on the side of his face.

"How's your father?" Whitey asked. He knew how Dan could be and no one deserved that kind of pressure.

"Same as always." Nathan responded curtly.

"This is what's best for you Nathan. You can go now." Whitey said.

Nathan left the office without another word.

"Dan Scott what have you done to that boy." Whitey murmured to himself, "He's a ticking time bomb. And sooner or later he's going to go off, and leave everyone in his wake."

"Haaaaaalllllllleeeeeeeeyyyyyy." The elongated squeal could be heard across the entire school, and was closely followed by Haley being tackled into a bone crushing hug.

"Brooke…need to breathe." Haley rasped.

"Oh sorry." Brooke immediately released Haley before grinning widely showing off her dimples, and bringing her into a less destructive hug.

"I missed you Hales." Brooke whispered.

"You too Brookie." Haley replied softly.

She had known Brooke since they were kids and it was good to see her again. Her mother had been close with Brooke's mother Victoria. And when Haley had been a kid they had visited Tree Hill every summer as her grandparents lived here. However, it had been a while since she had seen Brooke.

"What the hell happened here?" Brooke asked suddenly.

Haley turned and followed her gaze to where the caramel skinned boy was still lying on the ground, "Oh there was a fight? Who are they?"

"The one on the ground is Felix Taggaro." Brooke stated, "Rich parents, but has an ego bigger than his body. Don't do that, I learnt the hard way."

Haley chuckled slightly as Brooke continued, "The guy attempting to scrap him off the ground is Jackson Grey." Brooke gestured to the boy with an angular looking bone structure and dirty blonde hair. "Who was the other guy in the fight?" Brooke asked.

"Not sure," Haley said, absentmindedly twisting a lock of her hair around her finger, "He was tall, had dark hair and blue eyes. He was attractive and belligerent."

"God already Nate." Brooke sighed, "That was Nathan Scott. He's always like that."

"Does he have a criminal record?" Haley asked.

Brooke laughed, "Not that I know of. I promise he's not as bad as he seems. Here we are, Clementine Building."

Haley's jaw dropped as she scanned the massive building in front of her. The building was extremely tall, pristine white brick and white trimming. There were marble pillars outside at the large wooden entrance to the building. Ivy had wrapped itself around the building. It was beautiful, but felt a little suffocating. Haley wondered briefly if the vines would end up snaking through her window and suffocating her in the night. They walked into the building and Haley was momentarily stunned again. Crisp white and dark wood interior. They had walked into the common area of the building. This consisted of endless comfy dark leather couches, televisions, a kitchen, and a pool and foosball table. There were two large spiralling staircases that Haley assumed led to the dorm rooms.

"One leads to the boy's side of the dorm rooms, and one leads to the girl's side." Brooke explained. "However, we are exceptionally lucky as we have the room that boarders on the start of the boy's rooms."

Haley then started to follow her up the right staircase. They walked pass lots of girls loading their things into their rooms. Brooke waved at a few people as they continued down the corridor. They finally reached the room that had the number 114 on the dark wood displayed in silver numbering. Brooke opened the door and Haley stepped into the room that would be hers for the next year.

She was surprised at how large the room actually was. "It's bigger than the other rooms as we have to fit three people in here." Brooke said.

There were three beds positioned in different sections of the room. A large chest of draws at the base of each one, and two doors that Haley could see lead to a bathroom and a large walk in wardrobe. One bed already looked like an explosion had gone off on it, as literally hundreds of outfits were littered on the fluffy pink comforter. The bed at the back of the room near the left wall was bare and Haley could spot her trunks sitting on it. The last bed was considerably darker than the other sections of the room, and was covered in a dark plaid comforter and the curly blonde girl sitting cross legged on it was sorting through her records.

"Peyton!" Brooke exclaimed.

The girl looked up immediately and smiled slightly when she saw Haley. "Good to see you James. It's been a while." She embraced Haley in a hug.

As Peyton was Brooke's best friend, Haley had hung out with her in the summers when she visited as a child. However, as she hadn't been back in Tree Hill for a while she hadn't seen Peyton in years.

Just as Haley pulled away movement at the doorway to the room caught her attention. A red head was stalking past their room and when she caught the three girls looking she pinched up her face unattractively and flipped them off before storming away.

"Wow, Satan has taken residence in that one." Haley remarked.

Peyton laughed as Brooke continued looking at the door with an enraged expression on her face, "Fucking bicycle!"

"Bicycle?" Haley questioned.

"Yeah," Brooke replied, "Because everyone gets a ride."

"Says you Davis." Peyton teased.

"At least I have morals." Brooke replied.

"Brooke and Rachel don't get along." Peyton clarified.

"No shit." Haley whispered, both of them looking to where Brooke had fumed over to her bed and was angrily packing stuff away whilst mumbling under her breath.

Haley walked over to her bed intending to unpack her things. She then noticed that the zipper on the side of one of her trunks was slightly unzipped. She quickly pulled the trunk onto her bed and quickly opened it. She immediately located the destroyed piece of clothing in her bag. It had been stained in what looked like grape juice and permanent marker and had been cut into a million pieces by someone who kind of sucked at using scissors. Not the poncho! She inwardly screeched. Haley reached forward and ripped the pink post it note off her destroyed article of clothing.

Welcome to Tree Hill Academy!
xoxo Rachel

"Satan!" Haley exclaimed angrily, scrunching the post it note up in her hands and throwing it on the ground.

Welcome to Tree Hill Academy. This year was going to suck.

So that was the very first chapter!
I'll try to update soon.
This is my first fanfiction, so let me know what you think!

-Rosie