Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or Pleasantville.
Chapter 1: Miles From Ordinary
October 17th, 2009
Jacob Jagelski stood in the quad of Tree Hill High. He saw Bevin Mirskey and he decided today was the day he was going to talk to her. He'd always had a crush on her, but she never noticed him. He walked over to her, "Bevin? I know this is really weird but, I've noticed you and the thing is, I really like you and I thought you might want to go out, with me, sometime?"
"What's your name? Are you new here or something?"
"I'm Jacob, but no, I've gone here for awhile."
"Well then you would have to know, that I wouldn't ever go out with someone like you." She laughed and walked away from him. Then he remembered, that was the reason he never talked to her, there was no way she would ever go out with, let alone talk to him.
He looked over at one of the picnic tables and saw his sister, Haley. Haley Jagelski was one of the popular girls at Tree Hill High. For some people it was hard for them to believe that Haley and Jacob were related. They were so different. Haley hardly ever spoke to him at school because he didn't hang out with the same people she did. Her friends thought it was so unfair for Haley to be related to him. Most of the time she forgot that he was her brother when she was at school. She was too busy hanging out with her friends and trying to get the attention of whatever guy she happened to like that week. She could pretty much get any guy she wanted and she did. This week she wanted Felix Taggaro.
That night when Jacob got home he went to the living room and sat down on the couch. He turned on the TV and turned it to the Pleasantville marathon. Jacob pretty much watched this show religiously. He knew everything there was to know about it. He planned on watching the whole marathon tonight even though he'd seen all the episodes before. He didn't know that Haley was supposed to be hanging out with Felix that night. He was coming over and they were going to watch TV down stairs. Haley walked down the stairs and saw him. "Are you planning on being here all night?" she asked. He looked away from the TV and up at her. "Yeah."
"Well after mom leaves Felix is coming over and I would kinda like some privacy with him, so you can go upstairs."
"No, you can go upstairs."
"I don't want him to think I'm easy, Jacob."
He rolled his eyes and turned back to the show in front of him. It was an old show from the 50's and you could definitely tell. The show was from when everything was perfect and simple. There was the small town of Pleasantville where the characters lived. The parents on the show slept in separate beds There was of course the small town diner where one of the main characters worked.
The show was mainly based around the James family. The Father was Dan James he was married to Karen James. They had two children. Jake and Haley Sue. Of course there were other characters that made the show what it was. There was Keith Scott, he owned the diner and worked there. Then there was Nathan Scott. He was the most popular guy at their school. He was on the basketball team and he had a crush on Haley Sue. His uncle was Keith Scott. And of course there was Brooke Davis. She was dating Lucas Roe, but Jake had a crush on her.
The show was in black and white so you couldn't see every detail of the characters, but you knew who they were.
Haley scoffed and took the remote out of his hands. "Why do you watch this?"
He grabbed it back and said, "why do you care?"
"I don't." Their mother walked out to the living room where the two of them were arguing. "I'm leaving you guys, try not to kill each other." She kissed both of them on their foreheads and walked out the door. "You need to go now," she said motioning for him to go up the stairs.
"No," he said. She tried to grab the remote again and he was trying to keep it away from her. She let go and he accidentally threw the remote across the room sending it into the wall. It broke and she looked at him, "great job Jacob, really, way to go."
"It was your fault."
"How is it my fault?"
"You let go of it!"
"You're the one who threw across the room!"
"Whatever."
There was a knock on the door and Haley said, "ok, he's here, you really need to go now!" she walked over to answer the door and when she did, it wasn't Felix on the other side, but an old man. "Can I help you?" she asked. She'd never seen the man before but she just saw him as another person that needed to be gone by the time Felix got there. She couldn't have her brother and some old guy hanging around when Felix was there.
"I'm the TV repair man."
"How did you know we needed it fixed?" Jacob asked from behind Haley.
"Well do you want it fixed or not?" the man asked. Haley rolled her eyes at her brother, "don't mind him, come on in," she said making way for the man to come in. Haley closed the door and Jacob came over to her, "don't you think that's a bit weird that this guy shows up out of no where?"
"Jacob, just stop being so weird and let him fix it."
The man opened up a red tool box and Jacob came and sat down on the couch near by him. Haley leaned against the chair while she waited for the man to do whatever he was going to do. "Is this going to take long?" she asked and tucked her hair behind her ears. "It's kind of an important night for me," she said. Jacob rolled his eyes and looked back at the man ignoring his sister. "What's the special occasion?" the man asked while looking through the red tool box.
"Pleasantville Marathon," Jacob answered.
"No I have a big date tonight," Haley said like she was correcting him.
"Pleasantville huh?" the old man asked, "I used to watch that show when I was your age." Haley rolled her eyes while the man talked to her brother about the show. She listened to him quiz Jacob on different things about the show. What was even worse was that Jacob was getting them all right. She couldn't believe that he was really bonding with this guy over a stupid TV show. One that had been on over 50 years ago. "Are you almost done?" she asked impatiently.
"Well you did shatter that old remote," the man said, "but I have a replacement for you. Its got a bit more… oomph to it," he said and handed Jacob a large silver remote with big buttons on it. Jacob looked down at it. "What do you mean more oomph to it?" he asked curiously.
"Well you want something that'll put you right in show." The man stood up and fixed the hat that was on his head.
Haley and Jacob looked confused. The man hadn't been here but 5 minutes and he was already done with the TV. All he did was replace the remote. Haley shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the TV and took the new remote out of the Jacob's hands. "Thanks," she said, "how much is this going to cost?"
"No charge," the man said and smiled at the two of them. He walked towards the door and turned back, "enjoy your night," he told them. Jacob nodded and shut the door behind the man. "That was weird."
"I know," Haley said, "whatever. You can go upstairs now."
"No."
"Yes."
Haley turned towards the TV and pressed the large red button on the top. The TV clicked on and she looked through the channels. Jacob grabbed the remote from her hands and looked through the channels until he landed on the channel planning the Pleasantville marathon. Haley tried to grab the remote out of his hands and the two of them fought over control of the remote. They accidentally pressed one of the large buttons under the power button and when they opened their eyes they were definitely not in their living room. Everything around them was in black and white. Even they were in black and white. "What's going on?" Haley asked anxiously looking around the small living room.
"I don't know," Jacob said, "but this is not normal."
"Really?!" she said with sarcasm. She looked down at her hands and saw that she was in black and white. "I'm pasty," she said.
"Kids," they heard from the next room, "breakfast is ready."
A women in her late 30s walked into the room. She wore a dark colored dress with dark curly hair. She obviously wore dark lipstick but you couldn't tell what shade. She smiled at the both of them and walked back into the kitchen. "Who is that?" Haley asked.
"Karen," Jacob answered.
"What you know her?"
The TV they were kneeling in front of suddenly turned on and the old man who had fixed their TV appeared on the screen. "Welcome to Pleasantville." He smiled at the two of them and Jacob's eyes grew large. "We're in Pleasantville?"
"What's Pleasantville?" Haley asked.
"It's the show I was going to watch earlier."
"What the hell are we doing here?" Haley asked angrily looking at the old man on the television screen.
"Hey you can't talk like that here," the man said. "Besides I figured since your brother here knew so much about Pleasantville, you two would fit in here nicely. It only seemed fitting."
"What?!" Haley yelled, "Felix is coming over!"
"Oh no he was there, but he left."
"No!"
"Look," Jake said, "we do not want to be here! We just want to be back home!" he yelled. The old man crossed his arms over his chest and said, "you don't know how long I've been waiting for someone like you guys. I thought you would want to be here and here I am trying to do something nice and good for you kids and you don't even appreciate it."
"No," Jake said, "we do. We really do, but we just want to go back home now!"
"I'm very upset about this. I think I need some time to think this over. Maybe I'll be better in a week or two."
"A week or two?!" Haley asked, "oh God!"
"Kids come eat your breakfast!" they heard a cheery voice yell from the kitchen. The two of them stood up slowly and walked into the kitchen. The same woman from earlier stood next to the table and put down a plate of food. A man with dark hair sat at the end of the table reading the newspaper.
"What took you two so long?" the women asked with a smile.
"Sorry mom," Jacob said. Haley turned and looked at him. "Mom?" she whispered. He shrugged, "just play along."
They went and sat down at the table. "Haley Sue," Karen said, "I got your report card in the mail, excellent grades as usual."
Haley smiled, "thanks… mom."
Dan James looked up from his paper. "Jake, how are things down at the diner?"
"They're great," Jake said, "just great."
Haley turned and looked at him. How could he possibly act so normal about all of this. It was like he belonged here or something. But she knew she didn't. All she wanted was to go back home, where she belonged. Karen stood in front of Haley and began to pile food on her plate. She put about 5 pancakes, sausage, eggs, bacon and ham on her plate and then did the same for Jake before putting syrup on top. Haley looked up at Jake and he could tell she was about to gag. "Well eat up kids," Karen said. Haley looked up at her and said, "actually, I'm not that hungry?" Karen laughed and said, "You both need to have a big breakfast in you, now eat up." The two of them at as much as they could but Haley thought she was going to throw up.
"Well you two better get going, you don't want to be late for school," Karen said and smiled at them again. Haley stood up quickly and rushed out of the room. Jake saw her bag on the ground by the front door next to his and grabbed it. He walked outside and saw Haley standing on the sidewalk.
"What the hell is this?!" she asked loudly. "I'm seriously gonna hurl Jacob."
"Shhh!" he scolded and saw the old man who lived next door send an odd look in her direction. He smiled at the man. "Hi Mr. Henderson."
Haley looked at him, "you know him too?"
"I know who all of these people are."
"You seriously have no life."
"Thanks Hales."
"Jacob this is weird, we shouldn't be here! We don't belong here!"
He started to walk and she quickly went to follow him. "Where are you going?" she asked him. "We're supposed to be going to school."
"We're supposed to be back at home! We're supposed to be in color!"
He continued to walk down the street and stopped on the sidewalk when a car pulled up next to them. It was a light 50's Mustang. "Hey there Jake, Haley Sue," the boy in the car said and smiled at both of them.
Haley stopped in her tracks and looked at the cute boy in the car with the good smile and great looks. "Hey Nathan," Jake said. Nathan smiled again and looked at Haley. He sent a shy smile in her direction. "I should get going to school, do you need a lift?" he asked.
"That's ok," Jake said, "we were gonna walk anyway." Haley shot a disappointed look in Jake's direction before looking back at Nathan.
"Ok," he said, "well I'll see you around later. Bye Haley Sue." He smiled at Haley again and drove down the street.
"Who's that?" Haley asked.
"Nathan Scott."
"Does he like me?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact her does."
"He's cute."
"No Haley, he's off limits."
"Why?"
"Because, if you go out with him it's just gonna throw everything off track. Just stay away from him."
She rolled her eyes and continued to walk down the side walk and he quickly followed her. "You don't know where you're going."
"I figured I'd just follow the rest of the kids headed towards the school," she said and pointed to the large building with the kids out front of it. "Wow," he said, "I guess I never realized how close to the school they lived."
"You out of all people would know."
She continued to walk away from him and she walked inside the school. She soon realized she had no idea where she was going. "Haley!" she heard. She turned around and saw a girl with long hair pulled back into a pony tail running down the hall towards her. She wore a light sweater and a dark skirt. "Haley Sue, are you deaf or something, I've been calling you for a few minutes."
"Oh sorry," Haley said to the strange girl in front of her. She had no idea who this girl was, but obviously she knew who her. "I guess I didn't hear you," Haley said in the cheeriest tone she could muster. She turned to keep walking down the hall even though she had no idea where she was going. "Haley Sue," the girl said and giggled, "are you feeling ok? Your locker's this way, next to mine." Haley looked around before following the girl down the hall until she stopped at a locker and opened it. The girl looked at her and laughed again, "you must be sick or something."
The girl opened the locker next to her and Haley looked inside of it. There were black and white pictures of an actor in her locker. She looked at them closely and realized who it was. She had pictures of James Dean in her locker. She couldn't deny the fact that for someone for the times he was pretty hot. She was also glad to see that she had her class schedule taped up on her door, next to one of the pictures. "You know," Haley said, "I think you may be right. I'm not feeling that well today. It's like for some reason I just can't seem to remember anything."
The girl giggled again and smiled a dimpled smile. "Well then I can help you remember. You have world history with me and Lucas first period," she said and smiled again. Haley saw a tall boy walk towards them. He obviously had light colored hair. He wore a pair of jeans with the cuffs rolled up a little bit. He wore dark tennis shoes on his feet and a lettermen's jacket over a white t-shirt. He came up to them and put his arm around the girl's shoulder and kissed her cheek. "Lucas," she said, "not in public!" and pushed at his chest. Haley was about to roll her eyes. This girl thought a kiss on the cheek was too much PDA? Well good thing she didn't go to school with her back home.
"Brooke," Lucas said, "it's not that big a deal." Haley smiled. Now she at least knew who this girl was. She had a name, Brooke. That was good to know. Haley turned and looked in her locker for some type of history book. She saw WORLD HISTORY printed on the side of a book and she kinked an eyebrow. Well everything seemed pretty simple and easy in Pleasantville so far. She grabbed the book and held it in her arms. "Don't you want your pen and notebook Haley Sue?" Brooke asked and looked at her.
"Right," Haley said and looked in her locker again. She turned her head and looked at Brooke. "Hey Brooke," she said, "do me a favor? Drop the Sue, just call me Haley." Haley smiled and looked back in her locker for her pen and notebook. She settled on grabbing a random notebook and a pen. She shut her locker and she was glad she didn't have to worry about a lock and a combination. "Oh," Brooke said, "ok!" she said cheerily. Haley shook her head. How was this girl so damn happy all the time? Brooke and Lucas began to walk down the hall towards their next class and Haley hurried to catch up to them. She walked into the classroom with Brooke next to her. Brooke sat down in a seat next to Lucas and motioned for Haley to sit next to her in the desk next to her.
Haley was glad that Brooke seemed to just take to showing her around like it was no big deal. Even though Haley was supposed to know where everything was automatically. Haley put her books down and sat down next to Brooke. She sat sideways in her chair and crossed her legs and leaned back. Brooke sent her a glance and Haley caught on to the fact that maybe she shouldn't be sitting like that. She sat up straight and rested her chin against her palm. "Haley!" Now what? Haley thought to herself. She looked towards the class room door and saw two girls rush in with books in their hands and smiles on their faces. Haley could only imagine that these girls were friends with her and Brooke. One of the girls sat down in front of Brooke and the other in front of Haley.
"Haley!" one of the girls said, "you'll never believe what me and Lindsey heard this morning," the girl in front of her said.
"Yeah!" the other said, "you'll be just as excited as we were, if not more!" the other girl, apparently her name was Lindsey, said.
"Peyton, Lindsey," Brooke said, "what is it? I think I'm dying to know more than Haley is!" Brooke said and giggled. Haley looked at Brooke before looking back at the other girls sitting in front of her. It was obvious that Peyton, the girl in front of her, had bright blonde hair. Her curls bounced when she spoke and moved her head. She wore a dark colored sweater and matching skirt. Her shoes were black and white. The other girl Lindsey wore lighter colored clothes and her light hair was pulled back into a pony tale that rested on her back past her shoulder blades. "Ok," Haley said, "just tell me."
"Nathan Scott's going to ask you to go steady with him!" the two of them said at the same time. Go steady? Haley thought to herself. She inwardly rolled her eyes and then smiled at the girls. Brooke had a bright and happy smile on her face. Haley didn't know what to say. She'd only seen the guy once this morning and she'd gotten strict warnings from her brother to stay away from him. Brooke, Peyton and Lindsey all looked up at the door and smiled. Haley turned her head and saw the boy who'd been the topic of conversation walk into the class room. He wore jeans much like Lucas's with white tennis shoes on his feet. He wore a black t-shirt that was tight across his chest and showed off a lot of his muscles. He had his lettermen's jack over his shoulder and he held it with one finger. Haley chewed on her bottom lip and watched him. She couldn't deny the fact that he was hot. A lot hotter than any of the boys she went to school with back home.
He saw her looking at him and sent her another shy smile much like the one he'd given her this morning before sitting in the desk behind her. She really didn't see what the big deal was? What terrible thing would happen if she just flirted with him a little? Was it truly going to be the end of the world Jacob had made it seem like? She highly doubted it.