The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most

Chapter 1

Walking Away

Peyton held Nathan's hair in her hands as his hands traveled inside her cheerleading skirt and matching top. His lips were smothering hers as their hands explored each other's bodies. She clutched onto his open buttoned striped shirt and slid it down his arms, revealing his sleeveless gray undershirt and his slender but well-toned biceps. She grasped on tightly to his shoulders and pulled him closer while his tongue collided with hers.

Suddenly, Nathan's face fell to the floor and his hands were no longer exploring her back. Nathan didn't even attempt to chuckle lowly, ruining the passionate experience for the both of them. She gazed at him intently and unnerved.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Nathan uttered in repeat.

Peyton looked away from his grayish-blue eyes and Nathan instantly apologized once again. Without another word, she grinned slyly and threw herself into another make-out session. She grabbed a fistful of hair as he tried to please her with his scouting fingers.

The kiss was once again broken by another short snicker from Nathan.

"Unbelievable!" Peyton bellowed before sulking into the cushion of the passenger's seat.

Nathan was smiling brightly, despite the fact that his girlfriend, Peyton, obviously had no pleasure in jeering his brother's humiliation.

Lucas Scott was Nathan's illegitimate brother who attended the same school – Tree Hill High – with Nathan and Peyton. Despite the fact that they have the same father and share the same class, Nathan and Lucas were mortal enemies; and not in the he's-my-brother-and-I-love-to-hate-him type of way either.

Nathan felt threatened when his blonde-haired brother joined the basketball team. Nathan was the undeniable star of the Tree Hill Ravens and Lucas was clearly the biggest threat to him after he lost to a one-on-one game with the blonde a week ago.

Tonight, the spotlight was taken from his brother with no involvement on his part. Lucas had just finished his first game and he missed every shot he took. Nathan felt no chagrin in laughing at how horrible the other Scott's game was that night.

"What? Peyton, did you see how bad he sucked?"

"So?" Peyton shot back quickly.

"He was horrible." Nathan said with a big open-mouthed grin on his face. "I never seen a guy place so bad that he-"

Peyton cut him off sharply. "And you enjoyed that?"

"Well, hell yea." He answered in a 'duh!' tone. "Didn't you?"

Peyton scoffed and looked away. She saw no enjoyment in watching a stranger make a public embarrassment of himself… especially when that stranger was the brother of her boyfriend.

"What is this Peyton? You like this guy or something?" Nathan's pressure was rising.

"You mean more than my boyfriend who I'm trying to make out with right now?" Peyton responded with a question of her own.

Nathan honestly couldn't understand why she didn't just say "no". He was aware that Peyton shared a conversation or two with the guy but the method she took in answering his question was shady.

Peyton attempted to end the subject by placing her hands on his chest and moving in for a kiss. Nathan jerked away and inched a few spaces away from his girlfriend.

"Well put some ice on it." He spat after rejecting her kiss. She looked at him with an open mouth and startled eyes. "You ever think I might want to talk?"

"No, you don't. You want to celebrate a public humiliation and I'm sorry, that's a little played out."

Nathan glanced at Peyton with his cold blue eyes. "Oh. And being with you isn't?"

Peyton's eyes narrowed and without exchanging any banter of her own, she opened the car door, grabbed her coat, and left the car.

"Come on, Peyton! I was joking!" Nathan pleaded as she shut the door behind her.

Nathan rolled down the frosted windows and called out to his girlfriend.

"Are you getting in the car?"

Peyton looked at him through the open window and revolted a sigh of aggravation as she stuffed her coat into her tiny bag.

"Please?" he pleaded.

Peyton bit her lips and stormed off with her bag against her chest.

"Fine!" Nathan shouted, finally giving up. He threw her pom-poms out the window and picked up a CD case. "And take you lame music too." He spat before chucking that out the window as well. "Have a nice walk home!"

He started the engine and drove off, leaving Peyton behind.

"Damn it, Nathan! That CD was hard to find. It's an import!"

Despite the distasteful circumstances, the current event sent a chilling breeze down Peyton's spine. She remembered the first time she talked to Nathan.

--X--

It was the first basketball game of the season for Tree Hill. It was Peyton's sophomore year and it was her first time wearing the cheerleading outfit. She was always a cheerer at most of the sporting events, mostly cheering on her best friend, Brooke Davis, cheering on the team. This time was different. This time she was standing alongside her friend and she had pom-poms and short skirts; the whole enchilada.

Brooke Davis had spent days upon weeks begging her best friend to join the squad after she made cheerleading captain. Peyton finally gave in and joined the squad. She'd never admit that she once wanted to be one of the happy-go-lucky cheerleaders back in middle school.

During the game, the then short and gangly brunette strutted over to the cheerleaders and made his daily round of flirting with the willing. He looked over to Brooke Davis and smiled.

"What's up, beautiful?" Nathan greeted.

'Beautiful' was a common term of endearment from Nathan to any of his many conquests so Brooke didn't take the "compliment" to heart. She shrugged flirtingly and batted her eyelashes.

"Not much, star player." Brooke responded. She smiled a bit and smirked. "Tell ya what… if you win this game I'll give you a goodnight kiss."

Nathan smiled.

"How about your new cheerleader gives me that kiss?" Nathan said as he pointed to Peyton. Brooke's mouth was wide open in shock and excitement. "Hey," he called out to the blonde with curls. "what's your name?"

Peyton began to open her mouth but a rough voice heard from the distance interrupted her.

"Scott! Get your ass back over here!" Coach Whitey Durham shouted across the gym.

Nathan winked at Peyton and ran into the team's huddle.

After the winning game, Peyton sat on the hood of Brooke's car and waited for her to finish exchanging numbers with the new basketball players. She took a deep breath as she rested her back on the window of the car. The hood was facing the driveway and she watched all the cars pass her through. Suddenly, a white Ford Edge drove up in front of her with the passenger's window down.

Tim Smith was sitting on the passenger's side, scrolling through Nathan's CD collection while Nathan was peering through him to observe Peyton.

"So, are you going to tell me your name?" he asked.

Nathan's flirting caught Tim's attention. He dropped the CDs to his waist and looked outside the window to see Peyton. Tim smirked a little and looked a Peyton with a grin of approval for his friend.

"It's Peyton." She said lowly. Nathan let out a cocky smirk. "What's yours?"

Nathan and Tim let out a small laughing snort. He winked at Peyton and nudged his friend beside him.

"Ask around."

Peyton was left smiling as Nathan rolled up the windows and drove off, leaving her in an aroused state.

--X--

Peyton sat in her candle-lit room with her with her sketch pencil at hand. Most of the time, her mind took over her body when she drew. She didn't think about what she drew. No thoughts about the angles or the shading. It was just her pencil and her paper and the outcome of her emotions. Today was no different.

The music in her room was extremely loud but she managed to hear the low ringing of her cordless phone through the blasting waves. She looked at the caller ID to see Dan Scott flashing across the LCD. Classically, Nathan was calling her to beg for her forgiveness. Through the months, the begging had become more of a script on Nathan's part.

She turned her "lame music" up on full blast and put the phone up to the speakers. For a minute, she forgot that the lyrics to the song were 'My love is bigger than your love'… no truer words were spoken.

She turned the phone off and continued to sketch her drawings. The phone rung again. This time, she decided to answer without her music playing in the background. She put the phone against her ear but she didn't speak.

"I'm sorry." Nathan said on clockwork. He could hear her hair rustling against the mic of the phone but she didn't respond. "Peyton…"

"Peyton's not here right now. Just her lame music."

"Look, I'm really sorry." He pleaded in an apologetic voice. "It's just… this guy's on the team now and my dad's been hammering me about it."

'This guy?' Peyton thought to herself. How would he react if he knew that 'this guy' was the one who dropped her off home after he left her in the park?

"But I shouldn't take it out on you. I know that." He finished.

Peyton sighed. She was on the webcam, as usual, and she didn't want her viewers to see her get emotional on this level so she threw a sweater over the lens of the cam. She fiddled her pen against the edge of the desk.

Nathan always apologized for his mistakes whenever he needs someone to talk to. His dad was horrible and Peyton, despite how many hoes he had, was his only friend. His only confidante. He was pretty close to Tim but he had too much pride to show how much his dad affected him on a daily basis. Peyton was the only one.

"Nathan, I'm tired of this." Peyton said, choosing her words carefully.

"I know, it's just… Look, I haven't been very good to you lately and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. K?" Peyton didn't respond.

She closed her eyes to keep them for watering. Half of her instant sadness was sympathy and the other was for her weakness. Nathan had done this to her many times before and every time he makes a sad voice then she falls right back into his grasp.

"Just say it's okay so when I see you tomorrow, we can start being us again. OK, Peyton?" He pleaded once more after a short wait for a response.

Peyton look to her ceiling and back to her sketch. Her eyes were moist but not watered.

"OK."

She looked down to her sketch to see a picture of Nathan's car leaving her behind. Words were bannered on top of the sketch and Peyton traced the words with her pencil as she held the phone against her ear, hearing Nathan's sigh of relief.

It's Not OK

--X--

Peyton walked into the hallway outside of homeroom and spotted her best friend, Brooke. Her light-brown hair glimmered in the hallway lights and Brooke flipped her hair as she looked in every direction of the hall. She was a high-fashion model in every way imaginable. Even in her soft, whisper voice.

As Peyton began to walk towards her friend she felt a firm grip wrap itself around her arm and pull her back. Her back fell against the locker and her lips were covered in those of the brunette teen whom she was dating. Peyton wrapped her arms around Nathan's slender waistline and kissed him back aggressively. Their make-ups were usually that way.

"I missed you, Peyt."

Peyton smiled and stared into those blue eyes of Nathan.

"I missed you, too."

The rest of their hallway's make-out session consisted of Nathan's teammates wolf whistling as they passed the couple in the hall. Usually, softcore porn was ended the second it began in the hallways of Tree Hill but the hall monitors and teachers had a habit of breaking rules when it involved their star player. Nathan could steal a bus and the city police would let him go… of course, that isn't exactly hypothetical now is it?

"Early in his career, Hemmingway was frustrated. He was a good writer who wanted to be great but eventually he discovered that less was more." The English teacher, Mr. Kelly, lectured to his class. "Peyton…"

Peyton looked up quickly. Her head was in the clouds during class and she was really hoping the teacher wasn't going to ask her a question about what he was just talking about.

"Describe Lucas in one word." He demanded.

'Shit! I'd rather take a questionnaire on the lecture.'

Peyton glanced over at Nathan, who turned around with his eyes glued to his illegitimate blonde brother. Then, she looked over at Lucas who had an undeniable fixation on her.

'Nice.' 'Sweet.' 'Cute.' 'Blonde.' 'Better.' 'Than.' 'Nathan.'

Many words came to Peyton's mind but she picked the short end of the straw.

"Choke."

Lucas clenched his jaw and swallowed his tongue. Nathan laughed – along with the rest of the class – and turned to face the front of the class.

"Lucas, care to respond and describe Peyton?"

Lucas turned into his seat to see the curly blonde glaring at him silently. She tried her best to hide it but there was sadness in her eyes.

"Lonely."

Nathan sighed. He tried his hardest to be upset with the blonde who sat directly behind him but his anger was directed towards himself. He couldn't help but feel like he failed Peyton in some way. It was pathetic that someone who was nearly a stranger to her can see through her blank expressions.

He raised his hand.

"Yes, Nathan." Mr. Kelly called on him.

"Describe Lucas in one word?" Nathan paused dramatically. The entire class took in a breath as they all knew the following word wasn't going to be a nice one. "Bastard."

Peyton's eyes widened. She had no place to care about Lucas the way that she may have but her stomach hurled every time Nathan referred to his brother as a piece of trash. He's a horrible person.

It's Not OK

--X--

Nathan and Peyton had been dating for a few months now and their relationship turned a bit rocky. They got in an argument last night over something Peyton had forgotten by the next day.

She paced herself in the hallways, waiting for Nathan to exit class so that she can wrap her arms around his slim figure and tell him how much she missed him over the weekend. The school bells had rung and his class all filed outside the room in a ramble. She looked over everyone who ran exited the door but the brunette haired boyfriend wasn't in the crowd.

She took a gander inside the assumed empty class to see Nathan's arms wrapped around an unfamiliar, petite, raven-haired scholar. It wasn't a small hug, either. He held her close and his face was buried into the nape of her neck.

He glanced up at the door to see Peyton standing there with drowning eyes and her teeth sinking into her bottom lip.

Peyton stomped off into the hallway and tried her best to get as far away from Nathan as possible but he was right behind her in every step.

"Peyton!" he called out to her as she pushed aside students in the hall to rush through them. "Peyton! Please stop!" he called out again, this time with a hint of remorse in his voice.

Eventually, after chasing her down the hall, he managed to grab her arm and turn her around to face him.

"It's not what it looks like."

Peyton snorted in disbelief and looked away from his regretful gaze.

"Really, Peyt." He pleaded lowly. "She was helping me with my math and I gave her hug as a thank you." He explained convincingly.

Nathan cupped her chin and forced her to look him in the eye. He winced a bit when he saw a waterfall of tears streaming down his face. He admired Peyton carefully (as if she was delicate glass) and clenched his jaw tightly.

"It kills me to see you like this." Nathan ran his thumb across her eyes to catch her falling tears.

"It kills me to see you… with…" Peyton couldn't finish her sentence. She was already speaking through sobs and recapping the previous vision was painful enough.

Nathan wrapped his arms around Peyton tightly. Her cheek rested upon his hollow chest as he comforted her in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Peyton. God, I'm so sorry." He apologized repeatedly as the hallway grew empty. "It's OK."

As Nathan finished his last sentence, Peyton looked at him and grinned. She locked her lips with his and fell into the first of many of his apologies.

It wasn't OK. It's never OK.

--X--

Peyton sat on her bed with her back against the headboard. Her eyes were buried in Kabuki Scarabs as her toes were being glazed by her boyfriend. He tinkered with her long toes and looked up at her with a smirk.

"You got some ugly toes, girl."

"No I don't." she responded with her eyes still fixated in the book.

"Yeah, you do. They're like practically fingers." He laughed.

"Then just focus on the middle one." She said, taking a flirtingly angry glance at Nathan.

"Aw, come on. I was just joking. I love your toes."

'Love'. That was word was an iffy word when concerning her relationship with Nathan. They exchanged 'I Love You's occasionally but they both made it a deal not to force that word into their relationship. They both liked the idea of being in love without reinforcing it all the time... or maybe they weren't in love at all.

"So, I'm thinking about quitting the team." Nathan announced after a brief silence.

"Right…" Peyton retorted in disbelief.

"No, I'm serious. I don't even like it anymore. Whitey can't stand me. It's never good enough for my dad."

Nathan looked at her without any hint of joking. Peyton dropped the book into her lap as her hands grew weak. She let out a small smile and waiting for Nathan to announced he was joking. He didn't.

"I think you should. Why not, right? You can quit the team and I'll quit cheerleading and then we can just walk away from it. Nathan, let's do it."

Peyton's eyes studied Nathan for a reaction. He was emotionless and blank. Her muscles tensed as she was expecting Nathan to laugh it off and walk away, but he didn't. She rose from her seating position and looked Nathan in the eye.

"Let's do it!" She repeated with a little more enthusiasm.

Nathan's emotional face and his straight lips began to curl into an approving smile.

A/N: Yup, so this is the end of chapter one (episode two in OTH world). I haven't decided yet if I'm going to add storylines for other characters but if I do I'll try to find a conventional way of doing so. In the meantime, inspire me please! Tell me how good (or awful) my idea is. Is the writing good? I'd like to know. I appreciate any and all comments. Thanks!