Author's Note – Hey guys, sorry for the wait on this chapter. My weeks are going to be a little hectic between now and Christmas what with starting a part time job and my studies. I am of course still going to be writing as I can't not! But if there are delays I apologise in advance.
Thanks to everyone for reading the first chapter and for the support. Today marks a year since I started writing on FF. Writing has been something I always wanted to do; I have always had an over active imagination but didn't know whether I was good enough. Being on here and having the feedback I have has been just awesome. It's helped me to experiment and perfect my writing style, so thanks guys!
One reader asked why Jimmy would be so depressed at the beginning of Season one if he was still best friends with the River Court boys; all I can say for now is since Lucas joined the Ravens he did become more distant from Jimmy and the others as he adjusted to playing for the team. And Jimmy also was dealing with some problems earlier than he probably did on the show. Any questions please do ask; and I'll try to answer best I can. Enjoy!
Eye of the Beholder
Chapter 1 – Somewhere I Belong
How long does it really take for our lives to change? Can one split second alter our life and our thoughts and reason? Can one event or a single action spark chaos into our lives and our hearts and leave us questioning everything we have ever known and believed in? Can it truly leave us questioning our faith and searching for answers in our world now seemingly full of nothing but tragedy and disbelief?
It was just another day, students arrived and teachers began their day with coffee in the teacher's lounge. No one saw it coming. No one was ready for what was to come. No one was ready for their lives to be altered and changed in the split second it takes to pull a trigger......
The day before had begun with heavy seasonal rain pelting down on the parking lot. The students had traipsed in wet and cold and just wanting the day to be over before it had even begun. They had been uninterested in their surrounding until they saw one another on the school's monitors and communications system. As secrets were spilled from the mouths of "strangers" suddenly interest and conversation sparked amongst them. It was fun for some, it was humiliating for others... for one it was disastrous.
"Everyone here is a loser. And the truth is; every day I have to come to this school, is one less day I have to come back......."
The look etched across that boy's face betrayed his anger as much as his words of contempt had done. His resentment over being mistreated and ignored and the fury he directed at the school made him someone no one would ignore or forget any longer.
However today was a new day. It "game day", a chance to celebrate and compete united as a school. It was a chance to move on; an opportunity to forgive and forget. The Ravens vs. the Pirates and the majority of the student body had hoped they would be distracted by the game. Everyone had just wanted to forget the humiliation and shocks the release of the time capsule had caused yesterday.
Peyton Sawyer presently walked down the corridor, her iPod on loud; she tried to remain captured by the beat and the angry vocals supplied by her artist of choice. Music had long since been her comfort and her salvation from reality. Today was no different as she attempted to deal with the fact that last night she had broken up with her long term boyfriend.
She was now trying unsuccessfully to ignore the curious stares; the stares of pity. She was a target of gossip; the girl whose boyfriend had cheated on her with her best friend. As the song on the iPod flicked from one and onto the next she realised she hadn't been at all focused on the music she'd spent the night before tracking down and downloading. Her head and heart both remained locked in the hurtful betrayal of two of her closest friends.
As Peyton rounded the corner to go to her locker she laid eyes on the one person she really did not want to see that day. Taking a shallow breath she attempted to keep her frustrations from boiling to the surface. She gripped tighter at the strap of her bag and quickened her step in a vain effort to avoid any communication with Brooke Davis.
"Peyton," the brunette uttered pleadingly. "Can we talk about this?"
Peyton abruptly stopped the girl's search for forgiveness as she shot her down with an icy stare. "Seriously Brooke? You sleep with my boyfriend and now expect to be instantly forgiven?"
"Just let me explain...." Brooke began as Peyton manoeuvred past her and headed off to her locker. "You were broken up...." she uttered after the retreating form and then with a huff Brooke swallowed both her pride and irritation and strode off after the feisty and fuming blonde.
"Peyton..."Brooke called and caught the arm of her best friend. Her chocolate brown eyes gazed curiously at Peyton as the blonde stood rigid and frozen in motion.
He has a gun....
Peyton immediately tightened her hand protectively over Brooke's arm in caution. Her heart pelted painfully in her chest and the terrified swelling forming in her throat cut off her words of warning. The brunette however let her eyes wonder onto the sight that had captured Peyton's attention. Both then felt the true realisation and impact on what was rapidly unfolding.
The kid, Jimmy, from the time capsule.....he was pointing a gun....
Trying not to panic and trying to get away from the scene as quickly as possible both girls turned in their bid for safety. The sound of a metallic click rang out behind them.
Bang!
Chaos ignited quicker than flames. The bullet sped through the unoccupied space and shattered the glass of a nearby door.
Principle Turner burst into the office amongst all his confused and wide eyed colleagues and he pointed his attentions at a secretary. "Call nine-one-one," he instructed urgently. He reached for and pressed down hard on the button of the microphone which was linked to every available tannoy in the school. He leaned down and spoke into it.
"Code red," he paused to control the shaking that betrayed his own voice. "This is a code red. This is not a drill. All students should report to a designated lock-down area. I repeat this is a code red."
Brooke began to pull herself unsteadily onto her feet at those stern words of instruction. Her legs were weak and a fellow student helped her up and hurriedly directed them both to the door. Brooke's head was a mass of fear and confusion as her body remained terrified. Once outside however another cold realisation dawned upon her.
"Peyton? Peyton?" The brunette glanced behind her as she tried to place her friend's whereabouts. Peyton was supposed to be right behind her. But presently as her eyes scanned the students as they ran to safety her eyes couldn't place the curly haired blonde. Blinded by the threat of tears Brooke made for Nathan Scott.
"Someone's I got a gun inside," Brooke, the usually perky and sometimes bitchy cheer captain sobbed as she ran up to Nathan and the rest of the basketball team. "Someone's got a gun and they're shooting."
Nathan braced Brooke up right holding her by the elbows; his eyes spanned the students stampeding from the doors of the school building. He tried to remain calm as he watched the situation unfold with a sense of surrealism. He watched Principal Turner vacate the building accompanied by teaching and administration staff.
"Peyton?" Brooke murmured as she focused her wide frightened eyes up onto his own. "I lost her. She was right behind me."
Nathan's already uneven breaths caught painfully in his throat. He couldn't allow himself to fully think of all the implications of what Brooke was telling him. His girlfriend could be inside. Inside the school with someone with a gun.
"Being popular? I guess I'm popular. I mean I'm in that circle. I'm a cheerleader. I'm surrounded by friends and dating the captain of the basketball team. And yet I feel so alone. And he doesn't even know me. And yet when he came into my life...I don't know....it's just he really sees me. And that scares me. I mean, I don't really know this guy and yet when I talk to him it's like he really understands me."
They'd been fighting since the morning before; since Nathan had seen Peyton on the time capsule and learnt that his true thoughts, jealousies and fears were not far off the mark. He'd learnt that indeed his girlfriend did secretly have some feelings towards his brother. Nathan had been so angry at her. He'd felt so betrayed and had acted out to betray her. He had slept with her best friend to get back at her. However any ill feeling washed away from him as focused his dazed mind into action.
"I'm so sorry," Brooke sobbed. All she could do now was hope that her friend would come out of the school unharmed and keep all the negative and fearful thoughts, which were swimming in her sub conscious, at bay.
"No," Nathan whispered in disbelief before he moved forward from Brooke's hold and barged through the crowds of frightened students. He couldn't just stand outside on the concrete waiting. He had to act; if Peyton was inside and hurt he had to do more than just wait and hope.
"Nathan," Coach Whitey Durham caught him by the arms. "There's nothing you can do."
Nathan struggled to get free but Whitey held him firm to the spot unwilling to let him go back to the school.
"Coach," Nathan uttered almost pleadingly. "Peyton's in there. She's still in the school."
Whitey's expression softened. So often at practice Nathan Scott slipped into the same mould as his father Dan Scott who Whitey had coached years back. Nathan could be such a frustratingly difficult player but every so often the young man surprised him.
"She'll be ok son," the old coach replied. He just hoped that she would be; that they all would be.
---x---
Peyton lay slumped against the wall as the corridors emptied. The screams and commotion had filtered away outside and left her alone in silence. She rested her head against the cool stone wall and breathed in deeply. She told her dizzying mind that she needed to remain calm and assess the situation.
She knew she couldn't walk; her leg had been injured and as everyone had rushed from the scene she'd had to drag herself from their path and into a darkened corner. Now as she chanced a look at her bloodied leg she tried not to cry. The knee of her dark blue jeans was stained dark with blood. The pain in her leg was overwhelmingly intense; as she attempted to flex the tender limb she bit her lip against the sparks of agony the simple movement caused her.
Being out in the open like this wasn't good. She needed to find somewhere to hide. She remembered his face; he didn't look angry or crazy like she'd imagined a student coming into a school with a gun would do. No, the boy had looked alone, desperate and scared as he'd held out the gun and pulled the trigger.
But she still didn't want to take the chance that he or another student might come back. Slowly and painfully Peyton began to crawl towards the school library. It was the closest room available and she figured she could hide amongst the stack until help arrived.
---x---
Being popular and trying to fit had been something Lucas had forgotten at an early age was of any real importance. He and his closest friends were outsiders; a close little unit united against all the coldness of popularity. Lucas hadn't cared one bit what the elite students of Tree Hill High had thought about him. That was until he had joined the Ravens Basketball team and Peyton Sawyer had come into his life.
He'd known her as his own brother's girlfriend; the broody cheerleader he used to watch because she was different. Because she was special. Since he had joined the team the two of them had talked, only a little and to him their conversations had all been exchanges of shyness and insignificance on his part. But since the time capsule had been released he had learnt that Peyton saw him more than just the strange boy who read far too much and watched her when he thought she wasn't looking. He was the boy; that in Peyton's very own words, seemed to really know her.
Her "secret" time capsule confession was common knowledge now. It had left Lucas feeling both elated that she had truly noticed him and more confused than ever as Nathan and the team continued to give him a hard time. Well, a harder time than they'd been giving him before as they stepped up with their relentless hazing efforts.
Lucas dribbled the ball on the hardwood court in the Raven's gym. He needed to be on top form tonight. His mind cast back to the day when Whitey had first offered him the position on the school's Varsity team. Lucas had immediately disliked the quietness of the gym; to him basketball was about friends coming together and bonding over a sport they loved. That is what his days at the River Court had been all about. But now as his world had become altered he found himself appreciating the empty, clean gym just as the wise Coach had said. Here away from his team mates he had hoped to have the opportunity to focus on the game.
He had his iPod on full as he tried to make his shots. Shots that even on his worst days like when he was sick or upset he would have easily have made. Now however his occupied mind continuously trailed to the one girl he knew he couldn't want. As the ball missed the net by mere inches once again Lucas narrowed his eyes. All he could think about was her and her glittering emerald eyes as she spoke her words into the video camera; the words that he had so longed to hear. That she had noticed him too.
Lucas caught the rebounding ball and stole a glance at the clock on the wall. He sighed heavily realising he was late for class. Lucas scooped up his bag from the bleachers and slinging it over his shoulders he pushed through the doors and into the school.
He immediately knew that sometimes was wrong as he left the sanctity of the gym. His brow furrowed and he slowed his step and began to move cautiously along the isolated corridors. He saw the each and every class room he passed was empty. The entire building was eerie and deserted; something wasn't right.
He rounded the corner to the locker area, his heart had quickened in its pace and his eyes surveyed all the books and bags laid strewn across the floor. His gaze stopped sharply at the shattered glass littered across the floor. The air dried up in his lungs as he noticed the spatters of blood.
Something bad had gone on here. Someone was hurt. Lucas's stomach churned with fear and alertness. He should really try and vacate the school, he knew that. He had his mom to think about. His mom and him had been a close little team; a tight little family unit. He had to think of her as he was all she had. If there was a chance that there was someone in the school with a gun he should try to get out. But Karen Roe; the good and selfless woman that she was had raised a good son.
As his eyes strayed back down to the familiar khaki school bag his heart skipped a beat. He crouched down and saw that there was blood smeared at its edges. His sickness over the terrifying situation was replaced by an instinct that was so strong as he finally noticed the trails of blood carrying off towards the school's library.
She was hurt....
Lucas firmly made up his mind then and there that he was staying.
