OK so this is my first story and I have some great ideas for it. The One Tree Hill characters won't come into the story until chapter three.

Song by Michelle Branch.

Things you need to know:

Everything that has happened on the show has happened.

There is no Sam.

Karen is back with Andy and Lily.

Chapter One: Are Your Happy Now?

George Sand once said; "There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved." Happiness is not something that can be won. It is not something that can be fought over. It is something that we each strive for. It is something we all beg for and desire. Some people think happiness will come to them, while others go look for it.

Kimberly Jenkins did not have happiness. But it was the only thing she had ever wanted. Her life wasn't picture perfect. In fact it was far from it. She has tragedy in her life. Some she can forget and some she can't. She had hardships. Most she can't overcome.

To describe her life in three words: depressing, miserable, and lonely. She has her secrets. Secrets that may control her for the rest of her life. She doesn't have any family. They all left before the age of ten.

As of right now, Kimberly was fifteen, an orphan, a runaway and only wanted one thing out of life…happiness.

You took all there was to take,


And left me with an empty plate


And you don't care about it, yeah.

And I am given' up this game

Navassa, North Carolina

The cashier watched as the mysterious girl practically ran into the store looking for food. She looked like she hadn't taken a shower in days; he couldn't even imagine how bad she smelled. She was wearing a dirty black t-shirt that had the words Green Day printed on the front and green cargo shorts. Her bright blonde hair hung loose as she searched up and down the isles for a snack. He was intrigued by the girl for some reason.

He had never seen a girl look so carefully for something in her life. Most teenagers would just walk in and pick up a random item and buy it. But this girl she would pick a snack look at the price and then set it down and move on. He watched her study the items for a few more minutes and went back to his morning newspaper.

All day Kimberly had sat on the sidewalk collecting change. It wasn't something she was proud of, but if she wanted to eat she had to do it. She had got up early that morning to collect from people going to work and had been outside local stores in the hot sun since. The last she heard it was around six o' clock and she had collected around eight dollars. That was a lot of money for just sitting around all day.

Do you really have everything you want?


You can't ever give something' you ain't got

You can't run away from yourself

As she walked up and down the isles of the store she had to resist the urge to go jumping into the shelves and eating everything in sight. She was hungry, no, she was starving. It had been at least two days since she had eaten anything.

After about ten minutes of nothing but silence Kimberly had finally grabbed all of her snacks and made her way to the counter. She had decided on three bags of chip, two packs of cookies, three bottles of water, a pack of gum, and a muffin for breakfast. Adding up the prices in her head, the total was around seven dollars including tax. She stopped when she passed by a rotisserie filled with hotdogs. Her mouth watered as she stood there pining over them. She looked at the items she was struggling to hold on to and walked off disappointed she couldn't buy one. Hotdogs were not something you could save for later after a few bites. She needed to conserve her food.

The noise of things being thrown on the counter brought the cashier out of his newspaper. His boss had told time and time again not to read during his shift, saying it was the customers that were important. But it was Sunday and everyone in town was in church except for him and a few other people, so what could it hurt to read awhile? He put his paper down and saw the girl standing before him staring right into his eyes.

"Morning." He said, getting up from his stool. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" When he didn't get an answer he looked up to see the girl still staring at him. He looked back at her with a confused look. Her eyes were dark, almost black. You could tell, just by looking into her eyes, that she was a troubled child. He looked down to see her holding something that hung off her necklace. He went back to ringing up the items, pushing those questioning thoughts out of his mind.

Kimberly looked at the man, holding her necklace. She always did this. Stare at people until they broke eye contact. She never broke first. It was her way of reading people. The man had shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, tall, and had a well built body. Kimberly kept staring at him, getting lost in her thoughts.

"That comes to $7.23." Kimberly pulled out the money and handed him the money. The man took it, squinting his eyes towards her, and put it in the register. The man gave her her change. He watched as she stuffed the money into her pockets and grabbed the bag full of food on her way to the door.

Before he could think he reacted. He needed to help this girl someway, somehow.

"Miss?"

She had almost made it out before she heard the man call for her. Kimberly turned around to see the man standing behind the counter. "Where are you're parents?" he asked walking out from behind the counter. She didn't answer. She couldn't tell him that she was a runaway, or that she didn't have any family. Kimberly turned and pointed to the empty parking lot.

Knowing that it was a lie the man took a step towards her, as he did she took another step back. He thought about taking another step towards her but quickly thought of another idea. He turned and walked to the back of the store to the rotisserie. He pulled a hotdog out and put it between a bun. Not knowing what to do, Kimberly just stood there holding on to her necklace. He walked back to where he was just previously standing. He held the hotdog out waiting for her to take it.

"Take it." He said, now reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a twenty dollar bill and tried to take a step towards her. This time she didn't move, she just stood there. It took a few steps before they were each only a foot away from each other. "It's okay, just take it. I want to help you."

Not taking his money, Kimberly took the hotdog. She didn't want his charity. "I imagine it took you awhile to raise that money," he said, guessing that the girl had begged for the money that bought her snacks, "really what's the difference if you take my money?"

Kimberly thought about this for a few moments. He was right. What was the difference? The difference was that this guy wanted to help, he cared. The others didn't. They just wanted to get rid of loose change. She used her free hand and took the money. As she did he could see that she was holding a silver ring that hung off her necklace.

"Hey!" he called to her, "Be careful." For the first time since she walked in, he saw a small smile creep up and she nodded her head opening the door.

Could you look me in the eye?


And tell me that you're happy now, yeah, yeah


Come on, tell it to my face or have I been replaced,


Are you happy now? Ohhh, ohhhh

Are you happy now?