All the King's Women

Prologue

"Hey, Peyton!" Julian greeted her through the phone.

"Alright, what do you want?" she asked him as she was drawing on her sketch pad.

"What makes you think I want something?" her ex-boyfriend director-and-producer asked her.

Peyton and Julian had been in a relationship for a year while Peyton was in California because of an internship she had gotten for a record label but they ended up breaking up because they seemed much better off as friends. So, now, Peyton was back home in Tree Hill where she belonged. She had her own record label, Red Bedroom Records, and she was surrounded by all her friends: Nathan, Haley, Mouth, Fergie, Junk, Chase, Mia, Derek, her half-brother, and Jake, her on-again off-again boyfriend. And right now, they were off. They had gotten into a stupid fight over Nikki, the mother of Jake's daughter, Jenny. So, as usual, they broke it off… again.

This morning, Peyton received a text from Julian saying he needed her help and that it was urgent. And, that's how she knew he wanted something.

"I got your text this morning… at six in the morning!" Peyton answered.

"Oh, yeah." he mumbled. "Well, I'm directing this play about Elvis Presley and I thought I'd gather all my friends to help out. And I was wondering if you would help out with the sounds and the artwork for the play…"

"Elvis Presley?" she questioned.

"Well, I was thinking that we should bring back the King of Pop in the theatre. You know, we could call it 'The Return of the King'. Everyone will go crazy for it! It's going to show Elvis in the eyes of other people during his time!" he explained. "Don't you think it's great?"

"Well, yeah, Elvis does have some pretty good songs…" she stated. "But why do you want me to help out with the sounds and artwork?"

"Well, let's face it. No one knows music like you do and your drawings are fantastic!" he complimented her.

"Thanks, but I don't know if I have time for it. With the opening of my art gallery coming up and I wouldn't want to ask Haley to look after Red Bedroom. I just don't think I can come down to California, Julian, I'm sorry." she told him.

"But that's the thing! You won't have to come down here to Cali! We're coming to Tree hill!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she asked, baffled.

"Well, I thought, that there's always a play going on here so why not take my play to a suburban area? So, it's going to take place in Tric! Isn't this great? I already got the permit and everything!" he said, excitedly. "So, what do you say, Peyt? Please? For me?"

"Well, I guess I could help out…" she said, reluctantly.

"Yes! I knew you'd come through!" he beamed. "So, I already sent you a copy of the script with details of other staff members in your mail, it should be there by now. Check it out, and I'll be there this weekend! Bye!"

Peyton put down the phone and put her drawing aside on the table to go get the mail. Truth was, she didn't really feel like getting involved in the play. She already had so many things to do and she wasn't sure if it would be too much for her and she just had this strange feeling that something would happen. What? She didn't know…

She brought the mail back inside the house and flipped through them. Phone bill, utility bill, some more bills, letter from her dad, letter from Mia on her tour and there it is! Julian's mail. She ripped it open and started flicking through the script. It was pretty good, though, Elvis doesn't even appear in the play. Oh, well. Then, she scanned the page with the names of the people working on it. However, they still needed some more people. There, on that paper, was the following.

Behind the Scenes

Director:Julian Baker

Director:Lucas Scott

Art Work:Peyton Sawyer

Costume Designer:Brooke Davis Scott

The Crew

Production Manager: Haley James Scott

Props:Nathan Scott

Antwon Charles Taylor

Clay Evans

Jake Jagielski

Elvis Ushers: Fergie Thompson

Chase Adams

Junk Moretti

Sounds and Music: Peyton Sawyer

Mia Catalano

Lights: Marvin McFadden

Millicent Huxtable

Gigi Silveri

As she went through it a second time, she finally saw it. Her eyes bulged out as she read the name again. Lucas Scott, her high school sweetheart was directing the play with Julian and Brooke Davis, her best friend from high school who she had lost contact with, was designing the costumes.

Lucas and Peyton. They were in love… He wrote a book about her and he even proposed to her in his second year of college when she was in California, but she turned him down in favor of her career. She didn't want to break up with him but he ended it. And it turned out, that he went to New York to see Brooke and ever since, he and Brooke had been together and that was when Peyton had stopped talking to Brooke. Lucas and Brooke were married a year later and then they had a son who is probably about four years old now. They live in New York.

After Lucas ended it with her, she met Julian, but after a year with Julian, she found out Lucas was marrying Brooke and Julian couldn't handle the fact that she still had feelings for him so they both decided to end it and she came back to Tree Hill as she felt she wasn't accomplishing anything and soon, she was reunited with Jake who helped mend her broken heart. And she hadn't seen or heard from Brooke or Lucas ever since she and Lucas were over.

Of course, she couldn't blame Julian. She had told him over a million times that she was fine with what had happened with Lucas and he didn't know Brooke or any of the other people he had hired, so how did he get them to help out? But either way, she had tried to avoid both Brooke and Lucas…

And now, she was going to have to face the both of them. She was going to have to work with them for who knows how long and get along with them and she wasn't sure if she could handle the heartache again…

Hey guys! This is my first One Tree Hill story and I am a major fan of Leyton amd I've been working on this for a while now... I recently had a play in my school about Elvis called 'All the King's Women' which is where the name of the story came from and I helped out in the management and I felt inspired to write a story about it…

Let me know if you liked it and if you think I should continue it or not. Because if you don't like it, then, I would have no reason to continue it…

R&R!

Peace! =D