Synopsis:
Two girls meet at an anonymous counselling centre group. What happens when anonymous turns into best friends, and soon they become closer than they ever thought possible?

Haley James was diagnosed with leukemia, Peyton Sawyer lost her mother to leukemia just a few months ago. As Peyton finds herself in a group with people trying to help, she finds one girl extremely odd, and surprising. Haley James has a passion for life, and Peyton doesn't understand how she can still believe so much about so many things after what's been thrown at her.

Haley will teach Peyton that just because life throws you curve balls, doesn't mean it's a good enough reason to fall down and not get back up.
Chapter Rating:
PG
Pairing: Peyton/Haley (slash - relationship)


Symphonic
Chapter One: The Start Of Something New

"Hi. I'm Peyton Sawyer." a slender curly blonde girl introduced herself to the circle of people in the room. There were ten people, and in a ratio of girls to guys it would be six to four. The blonde scanned the room as the rest greeted her.

"So, Peyton. Why don't you tell us why you're here?" the elderly woman, obviously the one who ran the program spoke up.

"Well, my father's forcing me to be here." Peyton muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. She didn't even know why she was there though, her father had left the day before to head out to work millions of miles away again. It's not like he'd know whether or not she went.

The woman, who needed some new clothes that matched this century (and didn't have floral print), and maybe even a new hair cut, laughed softly at her response and shook her head. "Well, other than that." she added.

"Well, my mom." she corrected. "She just died of cancer." The group offered their sympathies, while Peyton couldn't care less.

"Well, welcome to the group Peyton. We're here to help, you can talk to us and nothing goes out of this room. It's an anonymous group designed to help those effected by cancer." she explained.

"So, Haley, tell us how your appointment went." she moved on to the subject at hand. Peyton shot a glance to the girl who now had the group's attention. A petite dirty blonde haired girl, with wavy hair that cascaded a little further than her shoulders. She looked healthy to Peyton, but then again, she wasn't very good at judging people was she? Her mother, well her biological one, looked healthy… so much for that opinion.

"Uhm, well." Haley nodded her head with a small smile and Peyton wondered how the girl could smile. "Kind of nerve wracking, but I'm happy to say that so far so good. Blood tests turned up negative." she confidently announced as the group smiled and congratulated her.

Peyton didn't have cancer, at least not that she knew of, not yet. And ever since her mother died, she wondered whether things would get better. After pushing everyone she knew out, Peyton's father was fed up and told her to go see somebody. Instead of seeing a psychiatrist or some therapist that really didn't help, she chose this group reluctantly. It was based in the hospital, something she wasn't too keen on having to go to every Wednesday during her week when she'd much rather brood in her bedroom. It had a better smell, and a better atmosphere.


Haley punched her best friend, a toned blonde boy in the shoulder as he tried to feed her an old sandwich that he had just found in his locker. "Ew, put that away Luke." she exclaimed, pushing his arm away from her face as students walked past them.

"Aw, come on Hales." Lucas complained, "You're such a party pooper." he pouted before putting it back into his locker, and replacing the sandwich with a book he needed for his next class.

"When I said put it away, I didn't mean in your locker. I meant in the garbage can!" she made a disgusted face before adjusting the strap of her book bag.

"So, how was the Doctor's, Hales?" he asked, changing the subject. Lucas Scott, Haley James' best friend. And even that didn't really describe their relationship. They were more like family. Lucas and Haley had been friends since the age of five, when Haley's jacket had been stolen from her and Lucas got it back for her. The two then hung out on the playground everyday before their parents, Karen Roe and Lydia and Jimmy James met and started to plan play dates almost everyday. Then as time went on, Haley and Lucas still had sleepovers, despite the fact that they weren't exactly two girls painting each others nails during the night. Of course, their friendship was just that, a friendship and nothing more. After you see a boy in his head gear, it kind of gets rid of any chance of anything more coming out of it.

"It was alright. After all, it's the Doctors." she responded making another disgusted face with the famous scrunched nose. Haley had been attending doctors appointments since she was nine and had been diagnosed with leukemia. Lucas had been by her side during her first chemotherapy treatment. It was a horrid experience, and something she had to go through again when she was thirteen. Now, after being cancer free since the age of fourteen, Haley takes it upon herself to help out those who are going through what she went through. That and having to go through that same scared feeling every month during doctor visits.

"Hales, you know what I mean." he told her. Lucas was always worried about his friend, especially when it came to the thought of losing her. He had once told her that they belonged to a club. And that club didn't allow anyone to leave, so she better not be breaking the rules.

"I'm fine, Luke." Haley told him as Lucas shut his locker relieved. "Now, lets go to smart English class." she joked, calling the AP English class the 'smart' one, as Karen used to call it. Or, still does call it.


"Onomatopoeia." Haley answered after being called on.

"Correct! Looks like at least someone's been doing their homework. Good job, Haley!" their English teacher answered.

Haley? Peyton Sawyer sat behind the blonde boy who high fived the girl beside him. Haley? Wasn't she the girl from that group? The blonde hadn't noticed the girl before to be perfectly honest. Then again, Peyton and Haley ran in two completely different circles. One was popular, the other… wasn't even remotely close to the word.

It surprised Peyton to see Haley smile so much. It seemed like every time she noticed the girl the blonde would be laughing or smiling. Peyton hadn't had cancer, she hadn't been through those horrible chemo sessions and yet she couldn't even manage a smile. She pushed people out of her lives like they were nothing. She broke up with her boyfriend - which was probably a good thing seeing as how he was an ass - and hadn't spoken to her best friend in weeks after her mother died. Peyton had a hard time letting people into her life to begin with. People always leave.


"Hi, Haley?" she spoke up after the class had ended and Haley and the blonde boy had departed ways.

Turning around, Haley smiled and stopped in her tracks. "Hey… uhm, Peyton right?" she asked as Peyton nodded in response. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering if you were the Haley from Wednesday… at the hospital."

"Oh yeah." she nodded, "I go there every week." she told Peyton. "I'm sorry about your mom."

"Thanks." Peyton responded absentminded. She had heard that too many times to actually trust anyone that said it to her. It was just a default response when anybody died.

"So, will I see you on Wednesday?"

"Uhm, yeah. Maybe. It depends if I have something else to do." Of course Peyton wouldn't have something to do. Unless you call watching television or being stalked on web cam was something more important than dealing with something that was itching to come out sooner or later.

Haley nodded. "Okay. Well, I'm around if you ever want to talk, you know, outside of the whole group thing. Personally, it took me three months to start going to that group weekly, well actually it took me five months to actually talk." she added a short lived laugh. "But, it really does help. They really understand what you're going through, because everyone there has either been touched by cancer or someone close to them has. They're a great group of people."

"But, anyway," she stopped with a laugh, "I'll stop seeming like a commercial for the place. Uhm, here's my email." she ripped off a piece of paper and wrote it down. "You know, throw it away, rip it up, use it. Whatever. I'm just around if you want to talk." she told the girl, surprising Peyton on how forward she really was.


Author's Note: Please let me know what you guys think and whether I should continue or not. Next chapter'll be more interesting, promise ;) New chapter of The Best Years is coming up soon!