Tree Hill, NC 2068
The car door slammed with a resounding whap and then a thirteen-year-old and fifteen-year-old were running to get out of the rain and greet their grandfather on the porch of the house he'd shared with their grandmother for almost fifty years.
"Look who's here, my favorite grandchildren," the old man engulfed both children in his arms.
"You say that to all of your grandkids," Angie, the thirteen-year-old commented.
"That's true," the old man admitted as his youngest daughter stepped forward to peck his cheek.
"All right Dad, I'll be back by nine. Thanks again for taking care of these trouble makers," she smiled down at her father, "where's mom?"
"Out and about, she'll be home in time for lunch I'm sure," he replied.
"Okay, well, be good guys," she kissed her children goodbye and was soon pulling out of the driveway and down the street.
Almost as soon as she left the kids were snuggling up on the porch swing and begging their grandfather, who was rocking soothingly, to tell them a story.
"About love," Tiffany, the fifteen year old, added.
He thought about it and suddenly nodded, "how about I tell you about how I fell in love with your grandmother. But first a little background information…"
Tree Hill, NC 2004
Spring Semester, Junior Year
From the outside looking in everyone appeared to be perfect. No insecurities, no familial issues, no physical flaws, no moral dilemmas, seemingly perfect. If only whoever was looking in could know what each of them went through. They were among the most popular groups at Tree Hill High School, with the most drama.
"I still ache from yesterday's practice," Nathan Scott groaned as he sat at the table in the quad.
Brooke Davis looked up at Nathan as he sat beside her and grinned, "are you sure it wasn't the ass whooping you got from me yesterday playing Madden?"
Nathan scowled at his best friend, "you did not whoop my ass!"
"Okay, you two," Haley James ended their argument before it could begin, ever the peace maker.
Brooke stuck her tongue out in typical fashion then smacked his hand when he tried to steal one of her fries. Haley rolled her eyes and then waited as Lucas sat at the table to toss him a book, "I just finished it last night. Amazing! You were absolutely right!"
"Told you," Lucas Scott sat with unease, his muscles aching from basketball, "Howard is the writer of our time."
"You and your intelligent talk," Brooke groaned.
"You have intelligent talk too," Peyton Sawyer entered the conversation as she sat, "it just usually requires a fashion topic."
"Is anyone else still limping after that practice," Jake Jagielski questioned sitting slowly and carefully.
"You boys make basketball sound so hard! Try one cheerleading practice, you wouldn't walk right for a week," Brooke told them all.
The boys shook their heads in disbelief. Lucas even snorted, "yeah, advanced pilates with deep breathing."
"Cheerleading is an intense aerobic work out that gets the heart rate up as well as increasing muscle tone and fitness," Brooke told him with a tilt of her chin.
Everyone was quiet for a moment and then Peyton grinned, "see, listen to that intelligent conversation!"
Brooke finally chuckled with everyone else and teasingly slapped Peyton's arm.
0000
At night after a long practice with Whitey biting off all of their heads Nathan would sometimes just want to go home and eat dinner with no shop talk and no yelling or arguing. As usual his wish did not come true. He and Lucas usually drove home together in and effort to calm each other down so when Dan inevitably began his tirade neither of them would snap. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn't.
He and Lucas had walked in and dropped their duffle bags beside the door before heading toward the kitchen where the family ate their dinners. Before either of them entered they could hear Nathan's mother and Lucas' step mother, crying softly as Dan, their father, yelled at her. Luke's mother had died of breast cancer when he was twelve and since then he had lived with his father and step mother. His saving grace was basketball, his brother and his step mother. Deb was compassionate and smart and encouraged him to do whatever he wanted whether it be basketball or not.
When they walked into the kitchen Dan looked up from where he had been intruding Deb's personal space as she sat at the table. He smiled, actually grinned, "how was practice boys?"
They both looked at each other, Lucas saw the tick in Nathan's jaw. As protective as Luke was over his step mother Nathan was ten times worse. The worst part was that neither of them could help her until she decided it was time.
"Sit down and eat. There's lots of steak and potatoes, good for protein," Dan told them as he sat.
Luke nodded slightly at Nathan, telling him that later they would spar or talk, whatever it took to get the anger out.
"Practice was effective," Luke told their father as they both sat.
Dan smiled again, effective was one of his favorite words, "tell me your times for the mile lap during warm up."
Nathan took a deep breath and answered. His wish, he was certain, would never come true.
0000
Brooke walked into her house and sighed with a mixture of regret and happiness. Everyday was a trial to open her front door because sometimes her mother was on the other side of it. And worse sometimes her step father was too. Her regret was that sometimes when her mother came home alone it was okay. Sometimes Victoria Davis Mayer was a sweet woman who loved her daughter, and then it would turn all wrong. Victoria only came home alone if she and Sam Mayer had a fight. The lonely night would force her restless feet to the bar in the study and suddenly she turned into a beast, intent on destroying her daughter.
Stupid. Ugly. Useless. You only care about yourself! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! The memories of those nights haunted Brooke as much as the memories of her step father. The way he looked at her was familiar to her. She tried to illicit it from her prospective lovers. She had never once tried to seduce her step father, yet he claimed she did. She trembled as she remembered his warm breath on her ear and neck and then her stomach lurched. She had to get out of there!
0000
Peyton hated to walk into her house too. But not for the same reasons as Brooke. She hated to walk into her house because everywhere she looked her mother was there, quite literally. Peyton had been seeing her mother's ghost since a month after her death when she was ten. Anna was an amazing mother, and as a ghost she was just wonderful. Peyton's only concern was that she was insane. She had been so overwhelmed and grief stricken over Anna's death that she wasn't completely sure that she hadn't gone just a bit nuts.
"Dad," Peyton called hopefully. Peyton's father worked nine out of twelve months on an oil rig the problem was that he was back at sporadic times, never spending more than one month at home, usually less. Peyton sighed, her shoulders dropping.
"He does love you," Peyton turned to the shimmering figure beside her. Anna was now an inch shorter than her daughter with long gold hair and big green eyes. She wore a long white dress and smiled all the time.
"He has a funny way of showing it," she told her mother.
Anna soothed her daughter's hair, it felt like butterfly wings to Peyton, "one day you will understand."
"Yeah," Peyton walked away from her dead mother's spirit and went to her room, her sanctuary.
0000
Jake ran into his house dropped his duffle bag off into his room which was on the way to the kitchen. He threw a pot down onto a burner and filled it with water, pulled a box of mac and cheese out, shuffled through the refrigerator and found the chicken he had bought a few days before.
His name was called a few moments later before his little brother and sisters walked in. Their parents had gone to prison almost two years before and ever since Jake had been working over time to make sure that all of the kids got to stay together. Their parents had been into illegal drug trafficking, although they had never done the actual drugs, and had been caught by the FBI in a high profile drug bust that had included over two hundred people up and down the East Coast. The good news, both of his parents had savings account that had allowed Jake to keep up with the mortgage and the car even though he had to keep a part time job.
"I'm hungry," Riley told her big brother.
Jake ruffled her hair, "hang on kid, in a second."
Jake was the oldest at 17 followed by Daniel and Danielle at 15 and Riley who had just turned 12 the weekend before. The pressure had fallen on his shoulders to protect his family and take the status of the head of the family. Sometimes he felt as if he was suffocating.
0000
Nathan and Luke weren't surprised to find Brooke in their room when they entered after the longest dinner on record. Sometimes, without an clue of how, she broke into their house and could be found on their couch playing video games or flipping through a fashion magazine. Their room was huge since it had once been one of the attics in the mansion. The bottom floor was their play area including tv, couch, basketball hoop, and their bathroom. Up the seven stairs on the side were their rooms.
"Hey Davis," Luke greeted Brooke before heading toward the shower.
"Hey Luke," Brooke replied as she twisted her hands and bit her bottom lip, "damn, refs!"
Nathan took a seat beside her, "what happened?"
She
glanced at him, "what do you mean?"
"Did that son of a
bitch-" Brooke stopped him by dropping the controller and putting
her hand on his mouth.
"Don't say it," she begged, her hazel eyes filling with tears.
Nathan nodded, gently kissing her fingers, and pulled her into his arms. Brooke melted into Nathan's strength hoping he would pass some of it on to her then maybe one night she'd be able to sleep in her own bed again.
Lucas came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, a towel wrapped around his hips. Suddenly Peyton had materialized and was sitting on one of the chairs writing out something, probably their English assignment.
"Hey Sawyer," Luke greeted her. He shook his head at Nathan, who was dozing off with Brooke tucked between him and the couch, her head on his chest.
"Scott," she replied without looking up, "Hales called and told me to tell you that she just bought the new Howard and is going to read it all tonight and then ruin the story for you if you don't come over and do the little book club thingy with Jake tonight at his house."
Luke swore, he had forgotten all about the book club, and he had been planning to finish his Spanish essay but he'd just have to do it tomorrow morning after the morning run and before classes started.
0000
Jake let Danielle come to the book club because she loved to read and she and Haley had always been close, probably because of their statuses as the official geniuses in their families. The club consisted of him, Haley, Dani, Luke and Skillz, who was an exceptional basketball player and an unexpectedly avid reader.
"Hey Haley," Jake moved aside so she and Skillz could enter, "hey Skillz."
Before he could even close the door Danny was walking toward the door with Riley, "we'll be back before curfew."
"No movie over PG-13," Jake warned his brother and pulled Riley to him for a hug.
"I know," Danny rolled his eyes, "come on Riley."
Haley smiled at Jake as he closed the door and finally sat, "your so cute when you're being a big brother Jagielski."
"Not from where I'm sitting," Dani grinned.
Lucas burst through the door, "I'm here!"
"Well thank God," Jake said dryly but smiled at his friend.
"Let's get started," Haley pulled out her book and everyone followed suit.
At the end of the club Skillz hitched a ride from Lucas and Haley ended up standing at the kitchen sink with Dani doing the dishes which was her chore.
"So are you excited about sophomore year," Haley asked.
Dani shook her head, looking so much like Jake that Haley couldn't believe it, "not if it means one more year with a bunch of kids making fun of me because of my parent's stupidity."
"Kids have been teasing you," Haley asked in surprise. It was very odd because Jake was such a popular basketball player and all around student and because their group of friends were very popular.
She shrugged, "they just make comments. I've never told Jake, he'd just be angry."
"Why would I be angry," Jake asked walking into the kitchen with the snack tray.
"Nothing," Dani quickly said.
Jake looked at his sister, "you sure?"
"Yeah," she whispered.
"Hales," Jake questioned.
Haley took Dani's cue but vowed to look into the situation, "yeah, we're okay."
0000
Haley walked into her house and was bombarded by people despite the fact that it was nearly ten at night. Her mother and father were throwing another party. Honestly, she'd never met a couple with seven kids who partied so much. They were good parents with goals that included saving the humped back whale and training twenty puppies to be Seeing Eye dogs.
"Haley-bop," Lydia James kissed her daughter's cheek.
"Hey honey," David James spun Haley around and landed her in his arms bent backward in a tango position.
Haley kissed her father's cheek, loving how silly they both were, but really hoping for peace and quiet so she could concentrate on studying.
"I'm going over to Brooke's house," Haley told them and lifted her back pack again.
"Okay, have fun," Lydia turned back to her guests.
0000
Haley climbed up the tree that Brooke had chiseled a makeshift ladder into and pushed open the always unlocked window that Brooke had taken the lock off of. Honestly if Brooke ever decided against becoming a rich man's housewife she would have a real career in breaking and entering.
Lucas looked up from his bed where Peyton was sleeping soundly and sighed, from his spot on his bed he could see the window Haley climbed through perfectly past his open door, "you want in too?"
Haley smiled and inched past Nathan's room, neither boy ever really closed their doors, where she could see that he and Brooke were both sleeping. Everyone ended up sleeping in the bed that didn't contain Brooke because she was the fitful sleeper who would kick you and shove you off the bed. The only one who put up with it was Nathan.
"I want to study for a while," she told him.
"Go ahead, you know where the computer is down there," he offered.
As Haley headed toward the down stairs in their makeshift apartment she heard Lucas mutter that he'd save her room as he turned on his stomach and started to fall asleep.