A few weeks later...

FLASHBACK

The evening before had been a blur, but all she could remember was the warmth of Lucas's body in and around her. She checked her watch; it was 8:00am. She was late for school. The house was empty, her brother had left over half an hour ago and so had all of her friends who lived on their road. Grasping the single pearl drop that lay around her neck, brought back fond memories. From when he placed it around her neck using a single sliver thread, to when they kissed, to when they touched each other so intimately that Peyton was getting shivers just thinking about it, now.

It was 8:45am by the time she strolled into school. Morning registration had just ended, as she walked into her form room for History. She could hear her name being called for roll call.

"Sawyer, Peyton? Where is Peyton Sawyer? Is she in school today?" It wasn't her usual history teacher calling her name. It was a man's voice, a familiar voice, a curious voice.

She put her head down as she walked towards her place, next to Nathan, trying not to get caught by the teacher.

"Excuse me miss?" came the familiar voice. "Can you please come up to my desk and tell me your name and the reason for you being late."

Still keeping her head down she walked towards the desk, thinking where she had heard the voice. She looked up. "Lucas?" she choked. She said it quietly so that nobody could hear.

"Peyton?" he hissed. His face was in utter shock.

Peyton had to think on her feet fast, "I'm sorry I am late sir, I was out last night and did not return home until quite late." Which was true and surely Lucas knew that. He saw the pearl hanging out from her under her shirt. His eyes fixated on it. She followed his eyes, realizing what he was looking at; she quickly hid it back under her shirt.

"What is your name?" he asked, pretending that he didn't know.

"Peyton, sir," she paused. "Peyton Sawyer." This reminded her of when she first introduced herself to him.

"You're the missing Peyton Sawyer," he commented, marking her in the register. "Well, I'm Mr Scott and I shall be taking you for History until the summer whilst Ms Stasey is on maternity leave, as I'm sure you're already aware."

Peyton wasn't sure whether she wanted to smile or cry. On one hand she got to see Lucas everyday, but on the other hand he had found out about all her lies and may never want to see her again. He motioned for her to go back to her place. As she turned a tear began to form in her eye, she quickly wiped it away before Ryan or Nathan noticed anything was up. She placed herself next to Nathan, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the classroom.

At the end of the double lesson Lucas called her up to the front desk again.

"Do you want me to stay?" asked Nathan. He was so sweet and kind-hearted, she hated lying to him, but she didn't have a choice. She shook her head as she made her way towards Lucas.

"I can't believe you lied to me!" he exclaimed angrily, once the classroom was empty. She could see the anger beginning to boil up from inside of him, she shrank back in fear. "You told me that you were 19 and that you went to university. I cannot believe I trusted you," he paused as he turned away from her he couldn't bare to look at her. "What about last night? What about the club I took you to? You knew it was an over 18 club and you didn't say anything! Did you have any alcohol?" Peyton stayed quiet avoiding the questions that he kept firing at her.

"Answer me!" he yelled, a little too loudly as faces began to appear in the glass of the door.

The second bell rang, for end of changeover, as Peyton scuttled out of the classroom trying hard not to cry. She ran to her locker and ripped out the note that Lucas had written to her a few days ago. She walked back into the classroom, luckily it was empty, and placed it in his top draw. She quickly made her way to biology before anyone noticed that she was late.

END OF FLASHBACK