Author's notes: This story is for Peyton's Comet. It was her push that made me start this. I have a few chapters done and I don't plan on this being a long story. So here's chapter 1.

Disclaimer: One Tree Hill doesn't belong to me.

Say Something, Say Anything… - Chapter 1

Peyton Sawyer climbed onto her bed. She curled her legs up in front of her and had her arms resting on her knees. This night had been one of the worst nights of her life. Everything that could possibly go wrong had happened to her tonight. She had to go the dance by herself and all that did was make her miss Jake and Jenny more than she already did. Then she had compliment Anna on the way her dress looked and that resulted in Anna calling her gay. Her mom's dress had been completely ruined by some asshole. Her attempts to clean it had only made the stain worse. And for a second there, she felt like doing coke again. Just so she could feel something besides this overwhelming loneliness and grief. She had got as far as lining it up on a cd before realizing that would only make her feel worse.

After cleaning up the coke and hanging the wet mess that her mom's dress had become up, the only thing Peyton felt like doing was the thing she could do better than most.

Brooding. She was finally out of tears and just felt numb to everything.

Peyton picked up the picture she had drawn of Jake holding Jenny. She stared at it. How many emails had she sent him? How many hours had she spent wondering if he was okay? And out of all those times she spent thinking about Jake, did he ever call her back? Or just send an email to say he wasn't dead?

"Fuck him." Peyton said coldly and tore the picture in half.

She tossed the pieces on the bed and continued staring at the wall. What was the point in caring about someone who didn't give a shit about you? If the universe wanted her to be miserable, then she was going to be miserable. At least she could understand the misery. Sure there might be a new reason for it, but misery was the constant. She sighed deeply.

For all the changes she had made in her life, somehow she was still alone.

Lucas had pretty much been M.I.A since dare night. And her best friend Brooke Davis was absent as well. She had been spending every second with that new guy Felix. She didn't know when it happened but lately she was feeling more and more disconnected from them. Sure they would check in with her but that was it. Neither of them seemed to care what was going on in her life.

But she wasn't going to hold her breath. After all this was the same Brooke Davis who had forgotten the anniversary of her mom's death and the same Lucas Scott who was too scared to tell her he was leaving town. There was only so much disappointment Peyton could take. At this point, she barely cared. And nothing was going to change her mind.

Now, she had another night of brooding ahead of her.

She heard the side door to her house creak open and then somebody walking through her house. Knowing her luck, it was probably some psycho that obsessed with her.


A few minutes earlier…

Anna Taggaro opened the side door of the Sawyer house and came inside. She could never understand why Peyton didn't lock the doors to the house. It just seemed weird. She turned the lock on the door and headed towards the front door which was also unlocked. Anna locked it with a sigh. Clearly, security wasn't one of Peyton's concerns.

And she did too. Once she noticed that Peyton had bailed on the party at the beach house, the Latina felt like the worst person in the world. The look on Peyton's face had stayed with her for the rest of the night. She had let Felix influence her once again. And it wasn't Peyton's fault that she was too scare to stand up to him. But that wasn't the point. Regardless of her own issues, Anna got the feeling that whatever was going on with Peyton was far more serious.

So instead of going home, she went to check on her.

She climbed the stairs, walked down the hall and stood in the doorway. The blonde looked like she had been crying all night long. It broke Anna's heart to see her like this. She took a deep breath and spoke.

"Rough night?"

Peyton looked towards her doorway and there stood Anna. The Latina was still wearing her dress from the formal and she was holding her heels in her hand. From the looks of it, the after party at Nathan's beach house hadn't gone that well.

"You could say that…" Peyton answered with a sad little smile.

"I am sorry for what I said earlier. Everybody was laughing and I don't know what came over me…" Anna started to say but Peyton quickly dismissed her apology.

"Don't worry about it." Peyton said. The insult had bugged her but it was in the bottom half of her top five reasons her evening sucked. Hopefully, Anna would pick up on that. She didn't and continued apologizing anyway.

"I do worry about it. We just started to be friends and I blow it…" Anna said as she approached Peyton's bed. From the look on her face, Peyton could tell this important to her. And she was the only person that was worried about her at the moment.

"It's okay Anna. We all do stupid things. I've done my fair share." Peyton said. Anna stood there silently for a second. Like she was processing what Peyton had just told her. Then she spoke again.

"Peyton, you said at Haley's slumber party that you wanted to be able to talk about anything. Well I went into your purse earlier to borrow your lipstick and…"

God, do I have to relive every second of this night? Peyton thought.

"It's okay Anna. I already flushed the rest of it down the toilet. I only did the one time. I've just been fighting it." Peyton admitted.

Anna nodded and then got into the bed next to Peyton. She picked the pieces of the picture.

"This have anything to do with this?" She asked.

"Yeah that and everything else." Peyton answered. She looked into Anna's eyes for a moment. There was something. She couldn't exactly put it into words but she knew that there was something different about Anna. The other girl broke off the eye contact and put the torn picture down on the bed.

"I know what you mean. I made a fool of myself with Lucas tonight. Why do relationships have to be so hard?" Anna asked.

"Because the only thing harder is being alone." Peyton sighed. She looked at the picture of Jake one more time. And suddenly the thought of spending another night alone in the dark became less appealing. She looked into Anna's eyes once more.

"Look, you can crash here tonight, if you want to." Peyton offered.

"You sure?" Anna said.

"Yeah. It's nice to have some company." Peyton leaned back and stretched out on her bed. Anna did the same and Peyton turned off the lights in the bedroom.


Anna looked over at Peyton. The blonde had turned over so she was facing away from her. It wasn't fair that Peyton had been dealing with all of this on her own. She understood what it was like to be alone and it sucked.

"I'm sorry." Anna said in the darkness.

"Dude, you have already apologized enough tonight. I am over it." Peyton said. Just then she heard Anna turn on her side.

"That's not what I am apologizing for." Anna replied.

"Oh. So why are you?" Peyton asked without moving.

"I am sorry you are in such pain. And I am sorry you have been dealing with this all by yourself." Anna said.

"I'm not by myself. I have you." Peyton said back.

"Yes you do." Anna said with a smile.

"By the way, you do look really nice in that dress." Peyton said.

"Thanks." Anna said.

"Goodnight Anna." Peyton whispered.

"Goodnight Peyton." Anna looked at Peyton once more before turning back over and falling asleep.

To Be Continued…