A Single Moment

Leyton w/ some Brase & Naley

Chapter 1: A Graduating Ceremony

"Mom, would you just give it up already?!" Brooke Davis rushed around her bedroom, holding the phone to her ear. She got down on her hands and knees and looked under the bed for the shoe which she couldn't find.

"Brooklyn, darling, you are a young girl. You need parental guidance," Victoria Davis insisted.

"Mom, I've been living on my own for an entire year! Don't you think if I needed 'parental guidance' you would already know about it?" Brooke reasoned.

"That was different, you were still in high school," Victoria replied, "This is college we're talking about."

"I'm staying in Tree Hill and that's final," Brooke told her.

"But there are much better schools in California," Victoria said. Brooke rolled her eyes.

"My friends are here, in Tree Hill," Brooke said, "I know people here. I love Tree Hill."

"But Brooklyn . . ."

"No, Mom," Brooke reached under the bed and grabbed the shoe she'd been missing, "I'm eighteen now, I can make my own decisions. And I'm staying in Tree Hill, whether you like it or not. As far as I'm concerned, this conversation is over."

"Broo–"

Brooke groaned and hung up the phone. Quickly slipping on her shoes she grabbed her keys and purse and went out the door. Once in the car, she headed toward the school. She knew she was late. The graduation ceremony would soon start.

Screech!

Brooke gasped as headlights blinded her eyes and an SUV smashed right into her car . . .

~*~

"Luke, I'm worried," Peyton Sawyer lightly touched her boyfriend's arm. They walked into the door of Tree Hill High School to get checked in.

"She'll be here," Lucas Scott assured her.

"But she said she wanted to get here early so she could get into a good gown that wasn't, as she put it, 'used'," Peyton said.

"Maybe something came up," Lucas said.

"I guess," Peyton sighed, "Where're Nate and Hales?"

"Nathan called and said he's having a hard time getting Haley to get dressed. He said she's in one of her moods again."

Peyton rolled her eyes, "I cannot wait until she has that kid already. She's really starting to piss me off."

Lucas chuckled, "I can't wait to see what you're like when you're pregnant."

Peyton raised an eyebrow, "Who says I will be?" Lucas just laughed again.

"Why'd don't you try calling her again?" Lucas suggested.

"Okay," Peyton shrugged, pulling her cell phone out her pocket.

Lucas pointed, "Hey, there's Bevin and Skillz!"

~*~

The first sound Brooke became aware of was a buzzing in her ears. She couldn't see or feel anything but she could hear the buzzing in her ears.

Then Brooke felt the pain: the horrible, gut-wrenching, nauseating, pain in her head that just would not go away.

"Miss?"

Brooke blinked, ignoring the pain, aware that someone had spoken to her. Then that awareness went down the tube as an even bigger pain exploded in her arm and knee.

"Miss?"

This time Brooke started to open her eyes, her lip quivering and eyes watering from the pure anguish. She saw a man above her, his hands on her shoulders. From this, Brooke could tell she was hanging upside down. She started to fidget despite the pain, wanting to get out of this horribly terrifying position.

"No, no," the man said. She now could see that the man was a police officer in a uniform. Brooke stopped, staying still, "Can you tell me our name?"

"Br-Brooke . . ." she stuttered.

"Brooke?" the officer said.

"Yeah," Brooke was feeling a little woozy.

"What about a last name?" the officer asked.

"D . . . D . . . D—" Brooke's eyes rolled back in her head and the world went dark.

~*~

Lucas held his cell phone to his ear, calling Brooke for the tenth time since the graduation ceremony had begun. In front of him, Nathan and Haley were standing in their place in line, "Come on, Brooke!" A little ways in front of Nathan and Haley, Peyton was looked back at Lucas, worry on her face.

"Brooke Davis!" Principal Turner read off of the next name on his list. There was no reply or reaction. Among the crowd, people started to talk amongst themselves, "Brooke Penelope Davis!"

Principal Turner looked out at the line, shaking his head. He set the diploma down on the table and picked up the next one, "Reggie Earland!" And the line kept moving . . .

"Peyton Sawyer!"

Peyton went up to the stairs, going across the platform to Principal Turner. She shook his hand while simultaneously taking her diploma. She continued across the rest of the platform, while moving the tassel.

Lucas, Nathan, and Haley clapped, "Yay, Peyton!" Haley yelled.

"Go, Sawyer!" Nathan yelled. Peyton smiled while in the back of her mind thinking about Brooke. Lucas, ever the proud boyfriend, clapped and smiled.

"Haley James-Scott!" Principal Turner said. Haley, now very close to her due date, waddled up the stairs to the platform, smoothing her yellow valedictorian sash. Nathan, however, had to help her a little bit at first. She took her diploma and moved to the other side of the platform, looking at the other set of stairs impossibly.

"Nathan Scott!" Nathan strutted up the stairs, taking his own diploma before rushing over to help Haley down the stairs.

"Lucas Scott!"

Lucas went up to get his own diploma, shaking Principal Turner' hand. He went over to help Nathan and his sister-in-law down the stairs. Out in the audience, Peyton silently chuckled.

~*~

"Good morning, graduate class of 2007," Principal Turn stood up at the podium. All the senior graduates were seated and had their diplomas, "I am proud to introduce this year's valedictorian. This student has far exceeded any and every expectation her teachers or I could have. She's intelligent, resourceful, talented, compassionate to others, and has accomplished much. I am pleased to welcome Haley James-Scott to the podium!"

Everyone clapped and Nathan helped Haley back up the stairs, all the while beaming proudly. Haley went up to the podium, stepping up onto the foot stool Principal Turner had already put there for her before the ceremony had even started. Once she was up there, Nathan went back and sat down. She took a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and took a deep breath.

"As you all know, not long ago I was one of the many on the tutor staff. Due to unforeseen circumstances I was asked to resign my position." Haley read, her voice a little shaky. Principal Turner looked down at the ground, "It's okay, though, because I'll always remember just how good it felt to see the face of someone when they understand something for the first time." She paused for a moment, put her hand on her stomach. She inwardly winced, trying not to let it show on her face. She took a few slow, deep breaths before continuing, "Very soon my husband and I will welcome our son into this world for the first time. I hope, I pray, that he has as best as experience that I've had in these past four years of high school. Not to say, though, that there weren't times when it wasn't so great, because there were." Everyone in the crowd chuckled, of few of them nodding their heads in agreement, "But I think that's what life is about, facing the good and the bad and being able to get past it. There has been a lot of pain and hurt in the past four years, for everyone. But high school is over. We are now able to put our past behind us and create a new one. The sky's the limit, my friends." She felt another pain in her stomach and a grimace flashed across her face.

Students and parents in the audience looked on in confusion, not sure of what was going on. Peyton looked down the row at Lucas and Nathan, worried. Nathan's brow was furrowed, all of his focus on his expecting wife.

"I look out at this graduation class and I'm proud. I'm proud of every single one of them because they made it. They faced the halls of high school and they won. We all won. And–" Haley stopped, putting her hand under her stomach. Looking down at the ground beneath her, she saw water dripping. She laughed, "I'm sorry. I have more to say, but I think I'm having my baby . . ." She held on to the podium tightly with one hand, while still holding on to her stomach with the other.

The crowd gasped, collectively sighing dramatically. Nathan just stared in disbelief. Lucas elbowed is younger brother, "Nate, man, wake up!"

"Nathan . . ." Haley whimpered in pain. The microphone squeaked. Nathan jumped up, eyes wide, practically running up the stage with Lucas and Peyton not far behind him. The three of them hurried Haley off the stage to car they'd all come in. Within moments, they were en route to the hospital.

~*~

Megan Sanderson, a nurse at Tree Hill Hospital, dug through the purse of the young woman who'd just been brought in from a car crash. Megan was looking for anything and everything that would help them identify the young woman as something other than just the first name she'd given them before passing out.

In the young woman's purse, Megan dug around until she found a date book. Opening to the first name she found, Megan went over to the phone on the wall and dialed the number.

"Hello?" A woman answered.

"Hi, I'm a nurse at Tree Hill Hospital. Do you know something someone named Brooke?"

"Oh god, what happened?" The young woman was frantic.

~*~

"Oh god, what happened?" Peyton said frantically, "Is Brooke okay?" She listened, her jaw dropping. Then, "Davis. Her last name is Davis." She listened some more, "And I'm Peyton Sawyer. Okay, I'll be there shortly." Peyton hung up the phone and turned to the others, "Brooke was in a car accident!"

T.B.C.