Disclaimer: We do not own One Tree Hill or it's only characters, all we do own is the plot we so meticulously created.

Chapter 2: Kill the Messenger

"Okay Peyton, you can do this," she said to herself. She slowly punched in the numbers on her phone and paused before pressing the "send" button. She squeezed her eyes shut, pressed the button, and put the phone up to her ear. The phone rang once. Then twice. Then third. Then...

"Hello? Who the heck is calling?" A grumpy voice yelled.

Slightly annoyed, she replied, "Hi, you're not Jake."

"No shit, Sherlock."

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"Um, excuse me, do you care to repeat that?"

"No—Shit—Sherlock," the voice repeated slowly.

She could feel her anger rising up, until the point that she snapped. "I don't even know you, but I can say one thing for sure: you're a jerk. Now just tell me, is there someone named Jake there?"

"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. I guess it's one of those mysteries of life that you have to deal with."

"Are you freaking serious? What is your issue? How hard is it to tell me whether or not a guy named Jake is staying there?" Peyton questioned through clenched teeth. She glared at the wall in front of her in hopes that the source of this infuriating voice would be able to sense her current death glare.

"Oh it's not hard at all, but I don't feel like I have to tell you anything. I mean not with your attitude. It's like you got your panties all bunched up and you're bitching at me."

Suddenly, Peyton heard something shatter in the background, causing her to press the phone closer to her ear.

"Jesus Christ!" the voice yelled. Peyton listened closely as a few seconds of silence slipped by.

"Was that the lamp?" Peyton heard as the voice continued. "Aw come on, man, we just got that fixed!"

"Well, you broke it the last two times," another voice replied.

"That's Jake," Peyton stated after immediately recognizing the second voice. "Give him the phone."

As Jake's eyes began to adjust to the dark room, he realized that someone was on the phone. "Is that for me?" he asked as he skirted around the shattered pieces of the lamp that had once been inconveniently placed next to the door.

"Possibly," Peyton heard the voice reply.

"Is it Peyton?" She could hear Jake's voice becoming louder as he moved closer to the phone. "Give me the phone."

"Hold on a minute. Nobody wakes Keller and gets away with it."

Peyton stared ahead in shock. "Keller? As in Chris Keller?"

"Oh, I'm flattered that you're Keller's groupie and all, but really, this is a little extreme. I'll tell you what, at the next concert, just say you called me and I'll give you a backstage pass," Chris replied with a smirk plastered on his face.

Jake reached out to grab the phone, but Chris pulled away instantly and jumped up from the couch. "Is that Peyton?" Jake asked again, frustrated.

He watched as a cheshire grin spread across Chris' face. "Curly! I'm surprised! I didn't know you had bottled up feelings for me, all you had to do was ask."

"Keller—" Peyton began.

"Ow!" Chris yelled out. "That hurt, man!"

"Keller, give me the damn phone!"

"Why should I?" Chris asked as he backed away from Jake. "I mean, Goldilocks isn't objecting, not since she found out that she's been talking to the one and only Keller."

"You're going to regret this," Jake said as he walked to the opposite side of the room.

"Where are you going?" Chris watched as Jake opened the closet door. "Jake… what are you doing? You aren't—no, don't touch her!"

'There's a girl there?' Peyton thought to herself as she placed her hand to her forehead in utter confusion. She just couldn't digest everything that she had been hearing. "What?—Who?" Peyton finally asked.

"Jake, buddy, what are you doing? You're going to put her down, right? Jake, why are you going to the window?" Chris continued his questioning in a hitched voice, ignoring Peyton.

Jake stopped at the window and turned around to face Chris. "What? It's just a guitar," he said as he smiled innocently and unlocked the window.

"Just a guitar?! She's the love of my life! No… you are not doing what I think you're doing. I'm warning you, step away from the window and Keller won't hurt anyone."

Jake opened the window and picked up Chris' beloved guitar. He stared at Chris and held the guitar out of the window and over the bustling street below.

"So—how many stories high are we, again?" Jake inquired as he looked down at the street.

"You're going to regret doing that, Jake," Chris mumbled as he walked off into the darkness of the opposite side of the room, allowing Jake to chuckle slightly and withdraw from the window.

Peyton pulled the phone away from her ear as the sound of clattering and rummaging rang through the speaker. 'What the hell is going on?' Peyton thought. 'Why is Jake in the same room as Chris? What about Nikki and Jenny? And isn't Keller supposed to be on tour?' She jumped as she heard something fall to the ground. 'What the hell is he doing, anyway?' She heard something slam shut and the sounds of rummaging ceased.

"Keller, why are you holding my guitar?" Peyton heard Jake ask in a panicked tone.

"It's just a guitar, 'Jakie,'" Chris replied sarcastically.

"No—Chris, my grandfather made that for me… that—don't," Jake stammered as he reached for Chris' guitar again.

Chris continued to walk over to the other window and opened it. He held the guitar through the window, as Jake followed suit. "I think we're 34 stories high."

Jake glared in response to Chris' comment. The men continued to stare at each other icily, daring each other to drop their guitars.

Peyton pressed the phone closer to her ear, trying to listen, but finding nothing but silence. "You guys! What is going on?!" She yelled through the phone.

They turned their attention to the phone, which Chris had been holding down at his side.

"Okay," Jake began, "I'll put your guitar down on the floor gently if you do the same."

Chris looked at him skeptically and watched as Jake brought the guitar back through the window, prompting Chris to do the same. Reluctantly, Chris followed Jake's actions and they both set the guitars on the floor.

"And the phone," Jake said as he walked towards Chris, reaching for the phone. Chris set the phone in Jake's hand and picked up his guitar.

"You know, I could have been sleeping right now," Chris said as he laid down on the couch, cradling the guitar in his arms. Jake shook is head at his roommate and took a deep breath before putting the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is a routine survey for Thud Magazine. Would you care to participate?"

"Uh—" Jake's brow furrowed.

"If you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be?"

"Um… a whisk?"

"What Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle do you identify with?"

Jake paused. "Michelangelo."

"Have you ever held a guitar out of a 34-story window?" Peyton smiled, knowing that Jake understood what was going on by now.

"Ha, well, I guess I have, now," he replied, laughing at the previous events.

"Have you ever had a neurotic roommate?"

Jake looked over at the couch, where we spotted Chris Keller's sleeping form. "Yes."

"Why the hell are you in the same room as Chris Keller?"

"I—well, it's sort of complicated. But—not really—see, I got this lead on Nikki. So, I went into a few bars, asking if anyone had seen her. It was getting late, so I asked the bartender if there were any places to stay around here that were cheap. The guy said, 'Ask that,' and pointed at Chris, saying that he knows New York City like the back of his hand. So—long story short—we started playing some gigs together for some much-needed cash—and he found us a place to stay in the mean time," Jake finished and sighed.

"I don't trust him, Jake," Peyton stated as she leaned back against one of the many pillows on her hospital bed.

"Look, I know he's egotistical. And I know about the things that he's done back in Tree Hill… but he's helping me right now," Jake took a deep breath, "He says that he might be able to help me find Jenny."

"Oh," Peyton responded, "it sounds like you guys are friends."

"Yeah… I guess so. He's the only face that I know in New York."

Jake heard Peyton yawning softly through the phone, reminding him of the nights that they used to share during their short time together back in Tree Hill. He smiled to himself and looked over at the clock, which read 1:03 AM.

"Oh, wow, Peyton, it's late. You've been injured, and you really need to get some rest. I'm so sorry to keep you up like this."

"Don't worry about it. Hey… Jake?"

"Yeah?" Jake replied as he walked over to a vacant couch, which served as his bed.

"I miss you."

"I miss you too, Peyt. Let's not let another six months go past before another phone call, all right?"

"All right," Peyton agreed, closing her eyes and smiling.

"Goodnight."

"'Night, Jake." Peyton closed her cell phone and set it on the table next to her. She slumped in her bed and pulled the linen sheet up around her, as if trying to create a shield. She tried to sort over the day's events…and the memories came flooding back.

It was all supposed to be a normal day…I got up, my dad's gone…walked to class with Brooke. And then we looked up and there was Jimmy standing right on the other side of the doors holding up a gun…not with anger, but terror…he looked lost, confused and scared. I thought maybe if we just look long enough, he'd put down the gun. And then the gun went off…and chaos erupted in the hallways around me, everyone searching for a way out. I staggered toward the library—the closest room I could find.

I didn't want to look down, I didn't want to find out if it was glass or a bullet that hit me, I just thought it would be best to not know. And all in that moment I heard the school go quiet…and that's when I came to fear the most, what if I die alone, what if I'm left alone in agony? Living life alone is hard enough, but to die alone…is my worst nightmare.

I had closed my eyes trying to bear the pain, but that voice, the one I've grown to hate: 'People always leave.'

And then Lucas had to come in to prove me wrong. Maybe they do comeback, there is always hope. In a way I had a second chance for my mother to come back, but in the form of Ellie, and there was last year—when Jake came back. And in my mind I recalled what I wrote last year—that brief period I had pure bliss—'sometimes they come back.'

So it looked like I wouldn't face my worst fear—I wouldn't die alone. I had someone to hold my hand, someone to help erase the pains. And in the last moments when I thought I couldn't survive any longer…I did the unbelievable. I tilted my head to kiss Lucas—as an attempt to feel some love before departing. A chance to feel wanted…I just wanted someone to make me feel that I belonged.

After that brief moment, I let all the energy I've been fighting to hold—drain and leave me empty. I close my eyes and felt warmth enclose me and everything went black.

This time I woke up to a cold blinding room, expecting to be alone only to find Brooke right there. I could never ask for a better friend. She's always been there for me through the good and the bad times, she's seen me at my lowest. Brooke knows all the right things to say, and when I needed to be reassured—she was there to take my mind away from my father's absence.

And in that instant when Brooke told me she called Jake, I felt overwhelmingly guilty that I had kissed her boyfriend. I felt the need to confess—and when I did, it was like a weight off my shoulder. I swear in a flash of a second I saw hurt in her eyes, but her concern for me took over. And let it be…she forgave me without hesitation. And to prove she felt no resentment toward me she left me a message, while I had drifted of to sleep for a second time that day.

If I thought the first message made me forget the day's event…I had never expected what came next. Jake called—and my heart caught in my throat when I heard his voice. I felt the hot tears flood my face—as he told me he missed me and asked me to call back.

In those moments that I dialed his number, I felt a tightening in my stomach. And I wondered would he answer? Would he be there? What will he say? And then someone answered and it was not Jake—of all people it was Keller. Chris Keller. I don't think I've been so speechless in my life then I was at that time.

And to make my confusion worst, Jake and Chris went through an argument. Involving their guitars? I couldn't figure out how this day went from the normal to the unexpected. And most of all I couldn't figure out why in hell Jake was Chris' roommate. Then I finally got to talk to Jake, and I couldn't be even more mystified. Keller was helping Jake find Jenny—I didn't even know Keller had a heart.

Peyton knew she wouldn't be able to answer all her questions; she still needed time. And for the second time that night she yawned. As she pulled the sheets further around herself, she felt her eyes try blink off the in coming sleep. But Peyton eventually lost the battle and fell into a deep slumber.

------

"Holla back if you're awake."

Peyton began to laugh as she turned her head toward her right, where two new visitors were sitting, with their arms wrapped around each other. "Holla," she responded without the enthusiasm that they had been hoping for.

"I thought that we were going to have to leave a post-it note saying that we were here," Haley commented as she pulled herself out of Nathan's grasp and sat up in her chair.

"Yeah, we were beginning to think that visiting hours would be over before you even woke up," Nathan added.

"Ha-ha. You guys are hilarious today, really," Peyton groaned as she sat up in her bed and picked up her cell phone to find out what time it was. 12:36 PM.

"So what's with the late wake-up?" Nathan asked.

"Oh, I… got a call from Jake last night. Well, a message, actually. But then I called him back—and Chris Keller answered…which was really weird, by the way. Apparently, Jake is staying with him now and they're 'friends,'"—Peyton used her fingers for air quotes—"I don't really know what to make of any of it. I mean, Chris is helping Jake find Jenny. It doesn't make sense—"

"Wait—" Haley interrupted, "Pause. Rewind. Subtitles."

"Okay, when I called Jake back last night, Chris Keller picked up the phone. They had this whole argument when Jake tried to get the phone from him. When I talked to Jake, which was definitely like a half hour after I called, he told me what was going on. Apparently, Chris is helping Jake find Jenny in New York. But yeah, now they're living together and doing some gigs."

"He got his guitar back?"

Peyton and Haley looked over at Nathan. "What?" they questioned him.

"Well—," Nathan looked down as he started, "—a while ago, Chris pawned off his guitar… so we could pay for Haley's record…"

He looked up, finding Peyton staring at him with her mouth parted, as if she were dumbfounded. His gaze shifted over to Haley who was looking up at him skeptically.

"What?" Haley inquired in a soft whisper.

"When did Keller become such a saint…" Peyton muttered under her breath.

"I—" Nathan began with his eyes locked on Haley's, but was immediately interrupted with a knock at the door. He stood up, thankful for the interruption, and walked over to the door to open it.

"Nathan, haven't seen you in a while."

A/N: This is an old story we started a long time ago, and we have yet to update it. We hope to finish the story someday, but as of now we're not sure when. Please feel free to leave feedback, both praises and constructive criticism welcomed.