The deafening applause, followed Chris Keller and Haley James backstage, after another sold out concert at the Charlotte Stadium.
"That was amazing Chris. You were awesome out there again. Like always," she enthused.
"No, your awesome" he retaliated.
The tour manager came in, and said "I have some bad news for you."
"What happened?" Haley asked.
"You tutor Mrs. Blake, was in a car accident, and is now in a coma. With several broken bones."
"Is she gonna be okay?" Chris asked.
"Well, lets just say, what do you think of Tree Hill?" he asked.
"What about Tree Hill?" Haley and Chris asked in unison.
"Um, the school." he tried to dodge the question.
"We're going to public school!" Chris exclaimed.
"Yeah. You'll like it. Your starting there tomorrow." he explained before leaving the room.
A few hours later, they arrived at the Tree Hill airport. They put on dark glasses to try to disguise who they are. But that didn't stop throngs of crazed teens, and the occasional old guy from demanding autographs. Eventually they made it to their hired car, which drove them directly to Tree Hill High.
"This sucks Haley." Chris whined.
"Chris calm down. This wont be too bad, we were in high school before." she reassured him
"Yeah, that was a few years ago, before we were famous, and we were in Charlotte, not Tree Hill" he whined.
"Whatever. I'm kinda excited for this experience." she said.
The black car pulled up at the front doors of the school, they got out of the car. All the freshmen ambushed the singers and demanded autographs. The dutifully signed the names for the kids, until the principal came out to escort them into the school.
"Hey man, have you heard about the rock stars coming to school here? Heard the girl is pretty hot." Tim said to Nathan.
"We'll see" Nathan said with confidence.
Brooke is finally home from Charleston, after giving birth to her first child. She missed Tree Hill. But she didn't want her daughter to have to deal with the drama that came from having a child in high school. She walked across the quad, and sat down at a table. She missed Faith like crazy. Faith was currently sitting at home with a nanny. Brooke was relieved she only had to spend a couple hours away from her baby girl. From across the quad, she saw Lucas. Her breath caught in her throat, when she saw him for the first time in over a year. She was remembering that night she was with Lucas. She fell for him the moment she saw him, then she found out she was pregnant. The news of the pregnancy had scared her to death, she couldn't tell Lucas. She ran away in shame, and didn't return until she had Faith. She left because she wanted to hide the pregnancy, she wanted to protect her daughter. She continued to stare at Lucas, still not able to breathe.
Lucas saw Brooke for the first time in a year. He couldn't believe she was back. He fell for her instantly. Lucas stopped and stared at her, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak. He still wanted her, even now when she returned from an unexpected absence. He walked over to where she was sitting.
"Brooke" he said.
"Lucas" she said.
"Why did you come back" Lucas asked.
"Because it was time." she answered dodging the question.
"I'm glad your back. But why did you leave in the first place." he asked her.
"Um, my dad got a job in Charleston, but now we're back" she lied.
"Oh well. I'm glad to see you though" he leaned in to hug her, but she backed away. Confused, Lucas got up and walked away. As Lucas is walking away, Lucas runs into Peyton, his best friend. He starts to talk to her, but then Skills walks up and starts making out with Peyton. Lucas shakes his head and walks away, thinking that love is crazy.
"Hey babe, I was just thinking about you" Skills said.
"Well, should I give you a minute" Peyton joked.
"Oh your hilarious" he said before kissing her again.