A/N: This is my first fic, reviews would be greatly appreciated. Co-authored with ms.marie!

Disclaimer: don't own one tree hill or anything you recognize! Don't own the songs for the titles either.

Flashback

It was a bright, sunny day, and Mrs. Smith decided that she shouldn't keep her two little toddlers inside all day, unless she wanted to deal with tow crabby little four year olds.

"Tim! Haley! Come on kids, put your shoes on, we're going to the park!" She called. It was too bad her husband was clocking in extra hours at the office; otherwise he could've joined them. But he was looking for a promotion, so he had to step it up.

As soon as she stopped the car, the kids were out and running. But before they could cross the street, their mother stopped them.

"Now you two, what did I tell you about crossing the street?"

"To, uh-to, uh…" Tim stumbled with the answer.

"To look both ways to check for cars!" Little Haley exclaimed, proud of herself for knowing the answer. Her twin brother rolled his eyes at her.

"Yes," their mother came huffing over to them, "and to wait for your mother!" She grabbed her children's hands and walked with them across the street. But it wasn't long before the three of them heard a familiar jingle. The Smith twins turned to their mother with wide eyes.

"Mommy, can we get some ice cream!" Little Haley asked.

"Pwease!" The twins said in unison. Of course, she relented. Who could say no to those faces?

After Haley got her strawberry cone and Tim his chocolate, the two took off for the sandbox. It was their favorite part of the park.

"Com on Hawey, I'll race ya!" The two raced to the sandbox, with Tim coming out the victor. But then he noticed Haley wasn't right behind him anymore, she had stopped a few feet away and was staring at the ground. He walked back towards her. "What's wrong Hawey?"

"I-I dropped my ice cream," she had tears welling in her eyes as she held out the now ice cream less cone to her brother. Her glob of strawberry ice cream was now on the ground, attracting all kinds of insects.

"It's okay Hawey, don' cry," but even as he said it, tears stared to roll down his sister's face. He was becoming frantic; he hated to see her cry. "Aw, Hawey, stop cryin'! H-Here! Have mine!" He shoved his own cone towards her. She stopped crying and they smiled at each other.

End Flashback

Present Day-Tree Hill

River Court

"Lucas, Lucas, he's our man! If he can't do it…"

"Skillz can!" Bevin shouted, interrupting Brooke's cheer.

"You know," Nathan panted as he drove past Skillz for another lay up, "our team's winning here."

"Yeah, the team of Nathan and the Tim Man is kicking some major ass here and the losers over there are getting all the love. Do you see something wrong with this picture?" Tim complained to the four cheerleaders currently sprawled out on the bench as they watched the game.

"Go Timmy!" Theresa, Tim's girlfriend, shouted with a lopsided grin on her face.

"How about you, Peyton? Any love?" Nathan teased his ex-girlfriend.

"Haha! In your dreams buddy!" Peyton laughed.

"I'm hungry, are you guys almost done?" Brooke whined.

"Girl, you're always hungry," Skillz told her.

"Bev, I think your boyfriend just called me fat," Brooke complained.

"Come on guys, aren't you done playing basketball. Who really cares how many slam-ups or lay-dunks you make anyway?" Brooke questioned innocently.

All four guys stopped playing and stared at her with their mouths open.

"Don't you cheer for basketball? How can you not know anything about the game?" Skillz questioned.

"Yeah, but I don't pay attention to the game. I'm too busy watching the hot, sweaty guys run down the court," Brooke explained, "So are you guys done now?"

"Yeah, we totally kicked their asses anyway," Nathan said giving Tim a high five.

"Good job baby!" Theresa shouted while flinging herself into Tim's arms.

"What, no love for the losers?" Skillz pouted.

"Come here baby!" Bevin said giving him a hug.

Lucas looked at Brooke expectantly.

"Eew! No way am I hugging your hot, stinky, sweaty body," Brooke cried.

"Eew…eew, get off of me!" Brooke shrieked as Lucas wrapped his arms around her.

"I thought you liked hot, sweaty guys," Lucas laughed at her.

Peyton couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as she watched the two. She had had a crush on Lucas before he and Brooke started dating, but she never acted on it. But then Brooke came along and now he was officially off-limits because you can't like your best friend's boyfriend; it's against the code.

"Aww…what's the matter? Getting tired of us being the 7th wheels?" Nathan said wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess," Peyton muttered.

"Hey! How about we all go to the café? Brooke's STARVING!" Lucas suggested rolling his eyes.

There was a chorus of "yeah, sure".

They walked into Lucas's mom's café and headed straight for the booth in the back, otherwise known as "their" table. It had been their table for the past four years now. Bevin, Brooke, Theresa, Peyton, Lucas, Skillz, Nathan, and Tim. The eight of them are Tree Hill High's elite. They're the popular clique, the jocks and the cheerleaders. They're the ones who were loved by everyone and envied by all. But more importantly, they are best friends.

Bevin is the ditzy one. Sure she could be a dumb blonde, but she was one of the best friends you could have. She is loyal and caring. She's someone who you could call for help, and she would drop everything to come help you. She's someone who could make you smile even when you're having a bad day.

Brooke, captain of the cheerleaders, could be a bitch, but she's someone you would want in your corner in a fight. She's probably the most outgoing of the group. She's the party girl with a heart of gold.

Theresa is the mother hen of the group. She's the responsible one that takes care of everyone. At parties she's usually the one driving all her drunken friends home.

Peyton is the brooding artist. Her and Brooke are as different as night and day, but maybe that's why they're such good friends. They balance each other out.

Lucas is the protector. He looks out for all the girls. He's the one you go to for help. He's the smart one that's always helping everyone else get out of trouble from their crazy schemes.

Skillz is the one who can always make you laugh. He's always cracking jokes and getting himself into sticky situations.

Nathan is the player. He's got a different girl each week. He's the guy every girl wants. He's the king of the school and quite the partier.

Tim is the goofball, but deep down inside he's really just a big momma's boy. He's usually the stupid one, but you can't help but find it adorable.

The eight of them have been best friends since the 8th grade, when they were thirteen. But some of them have been friends for longer. Like Nathan and Tim who met in preschool and then became best friends.

Flashback

"Hey can I play with you?" A four-year-old Tim asked a young Nathan who was playing with a miniature basketball and hoop.

"I don't know if you want to," Nathan told him.

Tim looked puzzled. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I'm Nathan Scott, future NBA star," Nathan told him with an air of superiority.

"Oh yeah?" Tim asked as he stole the ball and made a basket.

"Ha!" Tim exclaimed sticking out his tongue.

"What's your name?" Nathan asked.

"Tim Smith."

End Flashback

And the two were best friends ever since. Peyton and Brooke had been best friends forever. They met Bevin in 6th grade through cheerleading. But their group didn't really become best friends until Theresa moved to Tree Hill from Illinois.

Flashback

It was already the middle of her 7th grade year when Theresa's dad announced they were moving. He got a job promotion in Tree Hill, North Carolina or, as Theresa liked to refer to it, the middle of nowhere.

She was nervous for her first day at a new school where she didn't know anyone. She was sitting in her first class all alone when a group of four guys walked in. The first one to walk in was an African American boy, who apparently had just told a joke because his three companions were laughing hysterically. The next boy was a blonde haired boy who looked oddly similar to the dark haired boy behind him. And the last member of the group just came sprawling into the classroom after the dark haired boy tripped him. After laughing, the boys walked to their seats, which happened to be right by Theresa. The tripping boy's eyes widened upon seeing her.

"Oh my god! Is there a ninja in your pants?" The boy exclaimed.

"No?" Theresa responded puzzled.

"Are you sure? Because your ass is kicking!" Tim amazingly managed to say with a straight face.

Theresa and the other three boys just looked at him and burst out laughing.

"That was Tim speak for 'nice to meet you'," The dark haired boy explained, "I'm Nathan. Are you new?"

"Hi, I'm Theresa. Yeah, I just moved here from Illinois."

"Well it's nice to meet you. That's Skillz and that's Lucas. And the ninja here is Tim," Nathan introduced them all.

Throughout the day, Theresa hadn't met that many people, they all seemed to ignore her. That's why she was so nervous walking into the cafeteria. Who was she going to sit with?

"Hey Theresa! Come sit with us!" Nathan shouted when he saw her standing in the middle of the cafeteria looking around.

"Hey guys!" Theresa greeted as she hesitantly dropped her lunch bag on the table. She sat with Nathan on her right, Skillz on her left, and Lucas and the ninja across from her.

The five sat in an uncomfortable silence for about a minute. No one really knew what to talk about. Theresa was usually really outgoing with her friends from back home, but most of them were girls and she was uncomfortable with the weird looks that ninja-boy kept sending her way when he thought she wasn't looking. Finally, Skillz couldn't take the silence any more and decided to break the ice.

"Wow! I didn't know people still used those anymore," Skillz commented about Theresa's Spice Girls lunch bag.

All of them just looked at the bag and busted out laughing.

"Hey! I like this bag," Theresa tried to defend her favorite lunch bag.

After that the five were talking like they were old friends, which most of them were.

20 minutes later

"So let me get this straight. You two are half-brothers, but your dad is married to Nathan's mom and pretty much ignores Lucas. Except your moms became best friends and made you guys become friends. And Nathan and Tim have been best friends since preschool. So then all three of you guys were friends and met Skillz playing basketball?" Theresa paused to get confirmation.

"Yup, that's pretty much it," Nathan nodded.

"Wow!" Theresa gasped, "This is like an episode of General Hospital!"

End Flashback

The four boys were Theresa's first friends in Tree Hill, and she didn't make any more friends until she went to cheer camp that summer where she met Brooke, Peyton, and Bevin.

Flashback

Theresa was extremely nervous for her first day of cheer camp. She had been living in Tree Hill for a couple of months, but so far she hadn't made any girl friends. Sure she had her new best friends Nathan, Lucas, Skillz, and Tim, but she missed doing girl stuff. Like going shopping, having sleepovers, watching chick flicks, and doing each other's nails. Sure the guys tried to help her with her girl stuff by going shopping with her, but there was only so much they would do before they drew the line. Besides, it's no fun to gossip with a group of guys. So she decided that going to cheer camp might help her make some new friends. Plus the fact that she had been cheering practically before she could walk. So it couldn't be that bad. Besides the guys would be in the gym right next door for basketball camp. So she wasn't really alone.

Here goes nothing – Theresa thought to herself as her and the guys got out of the car.

"You're going to be fine," Nathan whispered reassuringly in her ear as both Scott brothers slung their arm around her shoulders.

Theresa smiled at him. "Walk me?"

The four guys walked her up to the door of the cheer gym.

"Remember, we're right next door if you need us to kick any cheerleader butts," Tim reminded her.

"Tim, you couldn't even if you tried," Nathan poked fun at him while the rest of them laughed.

The five of them walked into the cheerleading gym. Scattered throughout the room were groups of cheerleaders in cheer shorts and tank tops in various colors.

"Damn, is it too late to sign up for cheerleading?" Tim asked eyeing a leggy blonde.

"Come on Tim, we got to go to basketball. Have fun Theresa!" Lucas said giving her a hug.

After the guys left, Theresa was left standing awkwardly near the door with her cheer bag slung over her left shoulder.

"Well, looks like there's a new whore in town," sniped some snarky redhead in the shortest cheer shorts Theresa had ever seen.

"Excuse me?" Theresa snapped back.

"Aww…What's the matter Rach-ho? Is someone trying to take your title as Biggest Slut of Tree Hill?" a brunette spitfire stood up to the redheaded bitch.

"Brookie-Cookie that's your title," the redhead told her condescendingly.

"Why don't you go back to your lackeys and get the hell out of my face," Brooke demanded.

"This isn't over," the redhead said as she turned and walked away.

"Don't worry about her. She's a bitch," Brooke said acknowledging Theresa.

"Thanks," Theresa muttered as she fiddled with the strap of her pink tank top.

"Come on, let's go stretch," Brooke told her. She grabbed her hand and dragged her over to where a curly blonde and another blonde were sitting.

"Let me do the introductions," the brunette bubbled, "Obviously I'm Brooke. Chicken legs there is P.Sawyer or sometimes Goldilocks."

"Hi, I'm Peyton," the curly blonde interrupted.

"Right, and the other blonde is B.Mirskey or Spanky-buns."

"I'm Bevin," the other blonde interrupted.

"Could everyone stop interrupting me," Brooke complained, "Everyone, this is…what's your name?"

"I'm Theresa."

"Right. Ooh, where'd you get your tank top?" Brooke squealed.

But before Theresa could speak, Brooke started talking again. "Ladies, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Brooke said flinging her arms around the three of them.

End Flashback

Theresa introduced her best friends to her new girl friends and, as they say, the rest is history. The eight became best friends and now they were about to go into their senior year. It was their last year to all be together before they all went their separate ways. And that's what they were currently discussing as they sat at their stable at the café.

"It's going to be our last year of high school, our last year together. And then it's all going to be over and we're all going to go our separate ways and never see each other again," Brooke whined.

"Drama queen much?" Peyton laughed.

"Guys, promise we're all going to spend our last year together," Brooke pouted.

"Of course we will," Lucas reassured her.

"I'm going to go get drinks," Tim told them. He got up and went to sit at the counter. Seconds later Nathan appeared in the seat next to him.

"You know Haley's fine at school with Jake," Nathan told him.

"Yeah, I know. I just wish we were spending our senior year together. I miss her sometimes," Tim confessed.

"So do I," Nathan replied.

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte Music Academy

Haley's alarm woke her up at nine in the morning. With a groan, she reached out to slam her hand against the offending object, successfully turning it off. Haley had never been a morning person, and on most Saturdays she would never have even rolled out of bed until noon. But today she was supposed to go out with Jake to breakfast. It was a little ritual of theirs, the last Saturday of the summer they would go to this quaint little café for breakfast.

She had been going to Charlotte Music Academy boarding school ever since seventh grade, when she became interested in being a singer. The school was specialized for musicians. It wasn't that far from her hometown of Tree Hill, so the trips her brother took to come visit her weren't that long.

When she first came to school she was nervous about leaving the safe familiarity of her home. She was worried that her and her brother would drift apart, that she wouldn't make any friends because no one would like her, and that she would get stuck with a horrible roommate. Well, she lucked out on 2 of the 3. Her and Tim were still as close as ever, she had made many new friends, but she hated her roommate.

Emily, her roommate, was just a stuck up snob. The only reason she was there was because of her parent's money, she really had no musical talent whatsoever. Ever since Haley moved Emily had never even said one nice thing to her. So what if Haley's family didn't flaunt their money?

Walking past her sleeping roommate, Haley grabbed some clothes and hopped in the shower. As soon as she was showered and ready to face the public, there was a knock on her door. Running over to their wooden door, she threw it open. A brunette boy was standing in her doorway.

"Jake!" she exclaimed, happy to see him.

"Hey, you ready?" he asked. She grabbed her jacket from the closet.

"Yup, let's go." Her and Jake left her dorm and started their short walk to the café. Haley and Jake have been best friends ever since they started school together. They had some classes together and they immediately hit it off. He was her confidante, the closest person to her, besides her twin, of course. She smiled thinking about her brother. She hadn't seen him in awhile; he went with his friends to spend most of his summer vacation down in Mexico.

The little bell clanged above them as they entered the café. They sat at their usual table that was tucked in the corner, where they could have some privacy. An elderly waitress approached them.

"What can I get you dears?" Then she looked up and noticed it was the two of them. "Oh, your usuals?"

"Yes, please," Haley answered for the both of them. They had been coming around so often ever since they stated school there and they always ordered the same thing. They knew most of the waitresses by name.

"Coming right up, hon." She left, leaving the two friends alone. Haley looked over at Jake and noticed the forlorn expression upon his handsome face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.

"Ah, it's nothing…"

"C'mon, spill," she demanded. He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"Cindi and I broke up last night. I found her fooling around with that drummer. She said I just wasn't enough for her."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Jake. She was never good enough for you anyway. Besides, now you get to start off your senior year single. You'll easily be able to find someone else, someone better," Haley told him. She didn't want to say I told you so, but she had never really liked Cindi and she knew that she just wasn't right for Jake. But she tried to be supportive of his relationship and to get along with Cindi, because that's what friends are for. But, now all bets were off. Cindi was no match for Haley Smith, and she was going to regret hurting Haley's best friend.

Back in Tree Hill

Tim burst through the door of the Smith's lavish home after hanging out with his friends.

"The Tim-Man's home!" He called, announcing his presence to all in the house. He dropped his bag by the front door and entered the living room. Looking up he saw his mother hurriedly brush a few tears away and wipe her eyes. She hurriedly shoved a piece of white paper into her pocket. He stopped to look at her in concern.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Eleanor Smith looked at her only son, her firstborn child. Telling him was going to be hard, but she knew it had to be done. Gathering her courage, she began to speak.

"Tim, honey, there's- there's something I have to tell you," she swallowed back the tears that were threatening to come. "Tim, I've been going to see a doctor for some time now. They-they found some lumps, and they ran some tests. I…I got the results today. Tim, sweetie- I've been diagnosed with breast cancer," she looked towards her son to see his reaction. Disbelief was written on his face. There was a pause, and then he cracked a smile.

"Ha ha, that's a good one man! I'll have to try that sometime. 'Cept you know- I'll have to change the breast cancer part…" he trailed off, thinking that this was all one big joke. There was no way that his mother could have cancer. He didn't believe it.

Eleanor sighed; she knew that Tim wasn't going to take this well. She pulled the crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket, handing it to her son.

"It's from the doctor. My-my test results," she wiped away a stray tear that escaped while her son looked over the paper. His eyes started to tear up and he roughly handed the paper back.

"No-no!" he broke off as the tears were threatening to come full force, "You don't have cancer! You can't," he said the last line in almost a whisper. With one last look at his mother, Tim stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Hearing the door slam behind her son, Eleanor finally broke down, crumpling to the ground in tears.