Disclaimer - I do not own OTH or any of its characters.
Author's Note - Thank you all so much for all the reviews. I'm going to try to update soon, but I have to work on the 5th chapter a little before I post it. Anyway, here is the 4th Chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. It's the first chapter that contains the reunion. Leave some words. -Tigger
Silence is Easy
Haley had gotten ready later that night, nerves running ramped through her body. "Haleybub, you almost ready?" Her mother asked from her doorway.
Haley turned and looked at her mom. "Yeah. I'm just so damn nervous. It's weird. I can go up on stage, night after night, and sing for thousands of complete strangers, but ask me to sing in front of all my old friends, and I'm scared shitless." Haley laughed.
Lydia walked over and put her arm around Haley. "You've sang for them before. The only difference now is that you guys don't really know each other anymore. Maybe it was easier to put it out there, when you knew that, no matter what, they would still love you. Now, it's so unknown to you."
Haley nodded. "I have to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Haley…" Her mom said before she could walk out the door. "It's a lot harder to go tonight, trying to reconnect with everyone, than it is to keep them at a distance. Let them back in, baby."
Haley laughed dryly. "Yeah. Silence is easy. It's the talking part that's hard." Haley shook her head. "If you only knew, mom." She turned and walked out the door.
The truth was, the silence had killed Haley all these years. But the thought of talking to the five people that she possibly loved more than anyone else, even still, sounded almost wonderful…if only she could get the courage to be the Haley they knew.
She pulled up outside of the school and sighed. "But that's not who I am anymore. If this is going to work. They have to see me. Not who they think I am." She took a deep breath and got out of the car, and headed into the high school that held everything.
"Nathan, let's go!" Lucas yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
"I wish your father could be here. They scheduled that stupid trip at the last minute. He was not happy with them at all."
Brooke smiled. "We'll be here a few more days, I'm sure we'll get to see him sometime before we leave."
Nathan walked down the stairs. "I don't want to go to this stupid thing. Especially as a third wheel to you two."
Brooke laughed. "If you don't want to go, then why are you ready?"
Nathan glared at Brooke. "You know why."
Lucas rolled his eyes at the two of them. "You two are already fighting like siblings, this is great. Just knock it off before we get there. I don't want to play mediator to the two of you all night."
Nathan sighed. "Fine."
Brooke walked over to Nathan. "You know you love me. You're just mad because I'm always right." She stuck her tongue out at him.
Nathan laughed. "You can take Brooke out of Tree Hill, but you can't take the cheerleader out of Brooke."
The four of them laughed. "What can I say…I'm getting into character." She turned to Lucas. "Ooh, I should have been an actress."
Lucas laughed and took Brooke's hand. "Let's go soon-to-be Mrs. Scott."
Brooke stopped and clapped. "I just had a brilliant idea."
"Here we go." Nathan said as he walked past the two and to the limo. "Thanks for coming, but I wanted to take the limo to the reunion."
"It's okay, Mr. Scott. This is what I'm getting paid for." The driver laughed as he opened the door.
Nathan got in and waited for Brooke and Lucas, who joined them later both with huge smiles. "What was her idea?"
Lucas shrugged. "She won't tell me." He lied.
Jake and Peyton arrived at the reunion. As they walked through the door into the gym, Peyton held onto Jake's hand. "Honey, if you squeeze any tighter, I'm not going to have a hand in about ten minutes."
Peyton looked down and loosened her grip. "Sorry."
"Let's go get a drink."
"Please." She walked over to the bar and ordered them both drinks. She walked over to Jake, handing him his drink and looking around. "I don't see Haley anywhere."
Jake shrugged. "Maybe she's not here yet."
Peyton nodded. "Yeah. Dad said they talked to her in the music store. She knows it was my club she played at the other night. She's going to want to know why I didn't talk to her."
Jake rubbed Peyton's back softly. "Relax, everything will be fine."
Brooke and Lucas walked into the gym arm in arm, Nathan following closely behind them. "Wow, this place looks amazing." Brooke said, looking around.
Nathan looked around and couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. "Yeah, it does." He was taken back to his high school days, playing ball in this gym.
It was only a matter of minutes before people started coming up to the three of them. "Dude, back off." Said a tall, lawyer looking man.
"Tim?"
Tim smiled at Nathan. "Hey man, how have you been?"
"Good. What about you?"
"I've been great. After graduation, I went to community college and found out that I wasn't being challenged enough here. I worked hard and eventually made it to law school. Harvard Law, actually. I'm supposedly a big shot lawyer in D.C." He said with a laugh.
Nathan smiled. "Good for you man. So have you been to see Whitey since you've been back?"
Tim's face fell. "Yeah, I did. He's really sick."
Nathan shook his head. "How sick?"
"From what the doctor's told me. He only has a few more days. A week tops."
"Wow. I'll have to make sure I go see him tomorrow." Nathan looked off into the distance for a minute before looking back at Tim. "Look, can I catch up with you later?"
Tim nodded before walking away.
Brooke had just gotten drinks for her and Lucas when she saw them. She nudged Lucas' arm.
Lucas turned and looked at his fiance. "What?"
Brooke nodded her head in the direction almost in front of her. "Is that Peyton and Jake?"
Lucas followed her gaze and smiled. "It is. You ready for this?" He asked, putting his arm around Brooke.
Brooke took a deep breath and nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."
The two walked over to Jake and Peyton. Brooke smiled as she stepped in front of them. "Hey, didn't I know you once upon a time?"
Peyton smiled at Brooke and Lucas. "I think so. You two still together? I thought that would have blown up years ago." She laughed.
"Well, it kind of did. But we found out way back to each other somehow."
Lucas smiled at Peyton. "Hey." He said softly.
Peyton moved her eyes to Lucas. "Hey, Luke. How you been? I hear the new book comes out in a few weeks."
"It does. What about you?"
Peyton looked down at her hand then held it up with a smile. "I'm married, with two kids."
Brooke's eyes widened as she took Peyton's hand to look at the ring. "Who's the unfortunate guy?"
Jake walked up and handed Peyton a fresh drink. "That would be me. And I'm actually really lucky." He leaved over and kissed Peyton softly.
"Jake!" Brooke hugged Jake then stepped back. "So two kids? I'm guessing one of them is Jenny?"
"Yeah, I adopted her right after we got married."
"That's great." Lucas offered.
It was awkward. They had all been so close for so many years, and now, they didn't know anything about each other. Brooke felt a sadness invade her heart as she thought about the fact that she missed Peyton's wedding, and the birth of her child.
The others could feel the tension, which only multiplied when Nathan walked up. "Does anyone know where I can get a drink?"
Brooke pointed to the bar. "Over there. Will you get me another one?"
Nathan nodded. "Sure. Hi Peyton, Jake." He walked past the others towards the bar.
Peyton watched Nathan go then looked at her husband. Jake put his hand on the small of Peyton's back. She smiled and turned back to Brooke and Lucas. "So, I heard you have a shop opening soon. That's so great."
Brooke nodded. "Yep. It opens in a couple of months. I'm so excited. I mean, I've had my clothes in hot stores worldwide. But this is my very own."
Peyton nodded. "That sounds exciting."
Brooke nodded and leaned into Lucas, who pulled her tight. Brooke sighed and looked at Peyton and Jake. "Okay, this is stupid."
Peyton looked at Brooke, a little offended. "What?"
Brooke rolled her eyes. "This." She motioned between the four of them. Nathan was now back at her side, handing over her martini. "Thanks, Nate." She turned back to the others. "Look, none of us can deny the fact that we've all lost touch. But I really don't want our reunion to be filled with pointless small talk like we don't mean anything to each other."
Nathan poured his drink into his mouth before speaking. "Brooke, you may be right that this is stupid. But the fact is, none of us really know each other anymore. Our lives are different now. And as much as we might have meant to each other before, it's just not like that anymore." He looked at Peyton and Jake. "It was nice seeing you guys again." He said before walking off.
Brooke gaped at Nathan. "He is so off base."
Peyton shook her head. "He's not really. A lot of what he said is true. We are all so different now. We live different lives and you can't think that anything will be the same now. It just won't."
Brooke glared at Peyton. "I can't believe you just said that." She turned and walked off as well.
Jake watched Brooke go and felt Peyton walking away. "Peyton, leave her be."
Peyton turned and shook her head. "No. Not this time." She walked off and followed Brooke into the halls of the school. "Brooke, wait up."
Brooke turned and looked daggers at Peyton. "What?!"
Peyton walked up to Brooke. "You know, you can stop the high school drama queen act anytime now."
"Go to hell, Peyton."
Peyton smirked. "As much as I know you would love that. This is one thing we are going to finish."
Brooke crossed her arms. "Fine, but not out here." She turned and walked into an empty classroom. She stood by the teacher's desk, not looking at Peyton.
"You know you can't argue with what Nathan or I said. You can't come here, after nine years of silence, and expect everything to just go back to the way they used to be, Brooke."
"Don't you think I know that?" Brooke turned and looked at Peyton. "But is it so much to ask, for us to be nice and remember that we used to all be very great friends? You and I used to be best friends. BEST FRIENDS, PEYTON."
"I realize that. But things have changed. You haven't been there, Brooke. You don't know anything that has happened in my life since high school. And that is not my fault."
"And you think it's mine?" Brooke looked at Peyton like she was joking. "Do you think I wanted any of this to happen?" Brooke walked over and leaned against the desk. "I thought that Nathan and Haley would be married with kids now. Living larger than life with their amazing careers. I knew you and Jake would be together. And I never thought me and Lucas would have been on and off again the past ten years. I'm not married. At least not yet. I don't have a great family to go home to every night. And Lucas and I didn't get back together until a couple of years ago. And he just proposed to me the other day. Do you really think this is how I wanted my life to turn out?"
"You and Lucas are engaged?"
"That's not the point, is it? I figured that I would have been the first person you called when you and Jake decided to get married. I would have been your maid of honor. I thought I would have been at the hospital when you had your first kid. I would have been Auntie Brooke. I just wish that everyone would stop worrying so damn much about how much we've missed, and realize that this could be the chance for us to get it all back. Is that so much to ask for?"
Peyton sighed and looked up into the glistening eyes of Brooke Davis. "No. It's not. But you can't get it all back overnight. You have to give it time."
Nathan was standing over by the bar, on his third drink. Jake walked up beside him and nodded. "I get what you said back there, Nate. But there was once a time that we were each other's family. That has to count for something." Jake ordered a new drink and walked away.
Lucas was sitting at the table, waiting for Jake to come back. When Jake sat back down he looked over at him. "How's he doing?"
Jake shook his head. "What do you think the woman are up to?"
"Probably screaming at each other, then hugging each other, crying their eyes out." Both men laughed.
"You know, I think you might be right." Jake looked around the gym. "You know, Peyton has wanted to call you guys, since before we got married."
Lucas looked over at Jake, surprised by the random comment. "Why didn't she then?"
"She was scared. She figured it was too late. It has been too long to try to get it back. And the years just soared by, before we knew it, we were on our way here."
Lucas understood what Jake was saying. "Maybe we could all do with a little courage and try to make sure all this doesn't happen again."
Jake smiled and lifted his glass. "I agree. You guys should come to California sometime and check out Peyton's club. It's pretty awesome."
Lucas laughed. "She doesn't seem like she's changed that much. But she has. You can tell by the look in her eyes." He noted before looking for Haley.
"I haven't seen her, yet." Brooke said as she and Peyton walked up to the table.
"You ladies work everything out?"
Peyton laughed and sat beside Jake. "I think we have."
Brooke raised her glass to Peyton, who followed suit. The guys looked at each other and laughed. "Okay." Lucas said, pulling Brooke onto his lap.
"We just decided that we all needed to get to know each other again before we can become the way we used to be." Brooke said, looking at Nathan at the bar. "But what are we going to do with him?"
Nathan had been standing at the bar almost the entire time. He hadn't seen Haley anywhere and wondered whether she ran away again. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he heard her voice. He turned and saw Haley standing on the stage.
"Welcome back, Class of 2007."
Everyone's face in the gym turned and looked at Haley.
"I think everyone can agree with me when I say that these past ten years have gone by, both, too slow and too fast. I myself was completely surprised when I got the invite."
The crowd laughed. "Well, now is your chance to make up for lost time. Reconnect with old friends, and remember what we all once had. I'm not talking about youth, or any of that. I'm talking about our lives. It's now that you realize, you're an adult, and it's time to grow up. That is, if you haven't already. I know I've been trying my hardest not to."
She laughed and waited for the other's laughter to die down. "This week, we remember what is was like to be carefree. What it felt like to fall in love for the first time, and to fall out of love the week after that. We remember old friends and people who may or may not still hold a place in our hearts. We find the love of life we once had and remember from now on, that we need to share that love and life, with those that mean the most."
She took a deep breath, and looked around the crowd. "I know there are a few people in this very room that I have lost along the way. And I hope to have the chance to bring them back into my life. Now, to really kick off this party. I have been asked to play a few songs."
Haley stepped aside and sat at her keyboard. She started paying her song.
It's October again
Leaves are coming down
One more year's come and gone
And nothing's changed at all
Wasn't I
Supposed to be someone
Who could face the things that I've been running from
Let me feel
I don't care if I break down
Let me fall
Even if I hit the ground
And if I
Cry a little
Die a little
At least I know I lived
Just a little
I've become much to good
At being invincible
I'm an expert
At play it safe and keep it cool
But I swear
This isn't who I'm meant to be
I refuse to let my life roll over me
Let me feel
I don't care if I break down
Let me fall
Even if I hit the ground
And if I
Cry a little
Die a little
At least I know I lived
Just a little
I wanna be somebody
I
I wanna be somebody
I wanna be somebody
I
I wanna be somebody
Who can face the things that I've been running from
Let me feel
I don't care if I break down
Let me fall
Even if I hit the ground
And if I
Cry a little
Die a little
At least I know I lived
It's October again
Leaves are coming down
One more year's come and gone
And nothing's changed at all
She finished her song to loud applause. She stood up and grabbed her guitar. She walked to the mic. "This is a song I wrote, on my way here. You are the first people to here it…and maybe the only people. But I'm sure, being back now, each one of you can relate to this song in one way or another."
She started playing and sang her new song…Leaving Town Alive. After she was finished, she put her guitar aside and grabbed the mic once again. "So are you all ready to hear what we've all been up to these past ten years? Okay, so no details, only what we each are now."
She pulled a list out of her pocket and started down the list.
"Tim Smith. He was voted most likely to go to clown college." Everyone laughed. "Well, you couldn't have been more wrong. What he was always hiding behind that goofy exterior, was a very intelligent man, who has wowed the world with his legal skills. Tim is the D.A. in Washington D.C. He lives in a beautiful house with his wife of five years and his handsome sons, Thomas and Alexander."
It wasn't long until she got to the last six, herself and her friends. She took a deep breath before starting.
"Lucas Scott. You all voted him most likely to become a teacher." She laughed lightly. "Well, in a way, he's taught us all. Through the books that he writes. One of which, comes out next week. Lucas is now an author, and an incredible one at that."
Lucas stood up and smiled. Haley smiled back at him before continuing.
"Next, Brooke Davis. Voted most likely to become a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. Well, I think we will all remember the perky and friendly cheerleader that was Brooke Davis. But she went on to do bigger and better things. She now has her own fashion line, which is in many of the best stores around the world. A line of which I try to wear as much as possible. What can I say, she had a huge influence on my fashion in high school. Brooke Davis Fashions - Clothes over Bro's will be opening in New York City in a couple of months. Make the trip, I can almost guarantee it will be worth it."
Brooke stood up and waved. She winked at Haley before sitting down.
"Peyton Sawyer. Well come on, that's not right. The way I hear it, she married our very own, Jake Jagielski. Of course, we all knew that would happen. She and Jake were voted most likely to get married. But we all saw it. They had love beyond any, and a family of there very own at the age of 17. Jake is now a father and a husband. He and Peyton have two beautiful children. One of which is wanting to follow in my footsteps. From what Jenny tells me, Jenny, the baby we all loved, is now twelve. She's a bright, talented young lady, who loves to play guitar and listen to good music. Ellie Brookelyn Jagielski is 8, soon to be nine. And she got the artist gene too, only not so much for music, but for art. Peyton owns a music store, and a club. If you're ever in the Bay area, check them both out. Sawyer-Jagielski Music, and P.E.S., which is a fabulous club. Hey, what did you expect, she ran our very own Tric for years."
Peyton and Jake stood, took a dramatic bow and sat down.
Haley took a deep breath. "Well, you guys were right about another. Voted most likely to become famous by way of the NBA, Nathan Scott. Not only did he go on to Duke and rule the college leagues, he was offered a spot on the L.A. Lakers right out of college. He has been one of the top scorers in all of the NBA for six years now. I for one have made sure I had a spot in front of the T.V. for all of his games. I've actually been to a couple of them. You think he was cocky in high school…you should see him on T.V." She laughed
Nathan's mouth went dry. "She's been to my games?"
Nathan stood up and gave his famous Scott smirk.
Haley nodded slowly, making herself keep talking. "And last, but hopefully not least. Haley James. Voted most likely, to marry…Nathan Scott, have an amazing career, and an even better family. As you probably know, I've been on tour and have put out many albums in the last 8 years. Music has been good to me…what can I say." She laughed lightly, although she was ready to get out of the spotlight. "So let's give it up for ourselves. We've done great things with our lives. Class of 2007!" She raised her glass and took a sip before walking off stage.
Nathan turned and watched Haley walk off stage. "I have to talk to her." He got up and headed towards Haley.
Haley got backstage and put her face in her hands, trying to will herself not to cry. She soon felt arms around her. Her breath caught in her throat and she leaned on his chest. "How did it all go so wrong?" She asked almost too quietly.
Nathan sighed as he held Haley in his arms. He pulled her face up so that he could look into her eyes. "Maybe it didn't."
Haley stepped back. "I'm sorry." She turned and walked back out to the celebration. She quickly spotted her other four friends and walked over. "Hey guys." She said quietly.
Brooke stood up and pulled Haley into a tight hug. "Hey yourself, Rockstar."
Haley laughed before looking around at the others. "I've missed having you guys in my life so much."
"The feelings mutual." Jake said as he stood up and hugged Haley as well.
"Does that include me?" Nathan asked from behind her.
All of them looked at each other. Jake grabbed Peyton's hand. "Let's dance."
"Good idea." Brooke jumped in and pulled Lucas up.
The four of them walked away, leaving Haley, once again, alone with Nathan. "Does it?"
Haley turned and looked into his amazing blue eyes. "You know it does." She whispered, allowing herself to get lost in his gaze.
At that moment, a spotlight hit the two of them, making them look around. "And now, a special dance, for our 2007 Prom King and Queen."
Some People, by Leann Rimes started playing. The very same song they had danced to at the Prom. The same song that helped Haley to realize that she loved Nathan.
Haley looked down at Nathan's hand, which was held out for her to take. She looked up into his face before putting a shaky hand into his. He led her onto the dance floor as they dance, staring into each others eyes.
Brooke leaned her back onto Lucas' chest as she watched the couple dance. "I don't understand how they were the ones that didn't make it."
Peyton and Jake smiled. "I wouldn't give up hope yet."
Haley couldn't take it anymore. It was too much. "I'm sorry." She said, stepping back. "I really am." She turned and walked out of the gym.
"Are you sure about that?" Lucas asked as they watched Haley nearly run out of the gym.
A/N - Okay, I hope you all liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you think.