Author's Note: I'm a little disappointed in only receiving one review. I know I've been posting chapters fairly quickly but I would really like to know what people think of it.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or any of the characters, they all belong to Mark Schwahn. I only own Jessi and any other original characters that come into the story.

Chapter 4: Destination Anywhere

Peyton stared at the sketchbook in her lap. She had a pencil in her hand but her mind was elsewhere. It had been for days. Anyone who saw her latest artwork would know that her thoughts were focused on her biological mother Ellie Harp. It had been hard enough to accept that she was adopted, something she was still dealing with. Now she had to face the possibility that Ellie had cancer. Peyton wasn't completely convinced that it was true however. It was especially difficult for her to trust this new parent in her life after the way Ellie had deceived her when they first met. In her opinion, pretending to be a reporter was not a very good way to introduce yourself to your daughter. It was impossible for her not to be cautious.

"Or maybe I just don't want to face the thought of losing another mom," she mumbled before setting the sketchbook aside.

"What'd you say P. Sawyer?" Brooke asked from Peyton's closet where she was perusing the blonde artist's clothes. The two of them were meeting Jessi for the first time and Brooke had insisted on meticulously picking their outfits. Peyton didn't mind because the less that she had to focus on these things, the more time she had to work through her parental issues.

"Nothing Brooke", she called not wanting to get into another discussion about Ellie. She knew that her best friend was so supportive of the idea that she get to know Ellie because her own mother had been absent from her life since she was a little kid. Peyton supposed that in some ways it was better to lose a mom that loved you than to have one that doesn't.

"I just don't know what to pick for you Goldilocks. What says, 'welcome to our fucked up ass little family of crazy people?'"

Peyton snorted and stood up to go help. Much to Brooke's dismay she grabbed her Sugarcult t-shirt and a pair of jeans instead of taking her time to choose.

"Peyton you just defeated the entire purpose of the last hour of my life."

"Brooke we're not going to some fashion event, we're meeting Luke's sister. And by the way, I think it would probably go smoother if you didn't give off the impression that you're completely nuts."

Brooke came out of the closet and gave her best friend a playful shove. "Why did we have to wait until today to meet her? It's not fair."

Peyton rolled her eyes and started getting dressed. Surprisingly throughout the years they'd been friends, Brooke's cluelessness never got old. It was one of the things she loved about her best friend.

"Well since it's the weekend it will be more relaxed. Besides she just got here. She needed a couple days to prepare for meeting the town wacko." Laughing Peyton jumped out of the way of Brooke's smack. "I'm sure she just wants to ease into it. I mean hell she's pretty much starting her life over."

"I wondered about that. Why would someone choose to just leave everything behind, all their family and friends."

Brooke always had a way of causally getting at the hard truths nobody wanted to deal with. Peyton shrugged and thought about it. It was a drastic move, upending your life and starting over with none of the people you're familiar with.

"I don't know. Lucas kind of did that when he moved to Charleston."

"What his move that lasted all of two days?"

"He moved there to start over. Get away from all the mistakes he made."

"So do you think this Jessi girl is running from her past then?" Brooke asked thoughtfully.

"I don't know Brooke! Why don't we just get to know her before you start dissecting her life story?"

Brooke went into the bathroom to do her makeup leaving Peyton to once again peruse her 'new parent' issues. She couldn't help thinking that Brooke had a good point. Leaving the home you'd known all your life was a pretty drastic move and it wasn't something a person did lightly. Which probably meant that the newcomer had a complicated history.

"Well if so she shouldn't have a problem fitting in with us," she muttered under her breath.

As Brooke and Peyton were heading out, Lucas and Jessi were already pulling up to the beach. Lucas put the car in park and smiled.

"Not bad. Not the smoothest car I've ever driven but it's a decent ride."

"You're lucky you know." Jessi commented with a laugh. "I don't usually let people drive my car.

Lucas grinned and opened the driver side door. "Well you can trust me. I've even driven an actual race car before."

"Oh really?"

Lucas explained to his sister about the trip he and Nathan had made to see Nathan's uncle Cooper where they had been given the chance to race around the track. He also, somewhat reluctantly, added in the part about Nathan's accident.

"Wow I really should start writing this stuff down so I can remember it all. Heck it would probably make a good book. This town seems to have more drama than a soap opera."

"I guess we do have more than our fair share of it."

A loud honk cut off Jessi's reply and the twins turned to see Peyton's car pull into the parking lot. The sight of the truly classic car caught Jessi's breath. She had been around plenty of classic cars but she had never seen a Mercury Comet in person. When Peyton got out Jessi smiled and said,

"Nice car."

She stepped forward and offered Peyton her hand.

"Jessi Bradshaw."

"Peyton Sawyer."

Lucas smiled at Peyton and then turned to Brooke. She grinned and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Jessi this is Brooke. Brooke, Jessi."

"Nice to meet you." Brooke said as they shook hands.

"Same here."

The four of them walked down to the beach and set up towels to sit on. Brooke immediately grabbed Lucas and pulled him towards the water. He sent the others an apologetic look but he didn't seem to be very displeased as Brooke started stripping down to her bikini. Peyton shook her head and sat down.

"You know she spent over an hour picking an outfit just so she could take it off as soon as we got here."

"I take it you didn't put quite so much effort into it?" Jessi asked with a smile as she sat on the towel next to Peyton.

"Not quite."

"I'm more of a throw on whatever's clean."

Peyton laughed as she took in her new friend's choice of clothing: baggy khaki shorts, flip-flops, and a New Found Glory band tee. The shirt intrigued Peyton, making her wonder how many of the same bands they liked.

"New Found Glory?"

Jessi nodded as she pulled the shirt off so that she was only wearing a tanktop, her idea of swimwear.

"Yeah you heard of them?"

Peyton nodded and the two of them started to talk about music. They discovered that they had similar tastes in music although Jessi liked some of the newer hard rock and metal bands that Peyton wasn't really into. After a while Brooke called out to them and they decided they wouldn't be able to avoid swimming much longer without facing her wrath.

Peyton pulled off her shirt and held up a bottle of sunblock. "Do you mind?" she asked. Jessi shrugged and accepted the bottle, popping open the cap and squirting a blob of lotion into her hand. Peyton turned around and Jessi began to rub the lotion on her back. Unseen by the blonde, Jessi blushed furiously. When she was done she turned around before Peyton could see her face.

Not noticing the other girl's embarrassment Peyton picked up the bottle and said, "Your turn. A couple minutes later they were both on their way down to the water where Brooke was repeatedly trying to dunk Lucas. Peyton stopped a few feet in and turned back to Jessi. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Jessi replied. She smiled and stepped into the water, immediately enjoying the cool flow across her feet. "This is just my first time going in the ocean." She looked hesitant though as though she would be swallowed up if she went in any further. She wasn't exactly afraid of swimming in the ocean. It was more the vastness of the water. The seemingly never-ending depths intimidated her.

Peyton laughed and walked back over. She threw an arm around Jessi's shoulders and said, "Don't worry, I've been swimming here my whole life and I've never been attacked by a shark or anything."

"Wait you don't really get sharks around here do you?" Jessi asked with a laugh as she allowed herself to be pulled deeper into the water. Earlier in the day she had been nervous about meeting Brooke and Peyton. She had worried that she would make a bad impression with two of her brother's closest friends or that her presence would make things awkward. Instead she had a good time and got the impression that her new friends genuinely liked her.

After a while she and Peyton went to lay down and let the sun dry them. While they lay there they watched Brooke tease Lucas over and over.

"That boy is hopelessly in love with her isn't he?" she asked.

"Yeah it's almost sad. Like watching a little puppy chasing after something."

After sharing a laugh they lapsed back into a comfortable silence. When Brooke showed no signs of stopping her antics Jessi decided to start up another conversation.

"So what's the high school like?"

Peyton rolled onto her stomach so she could prop her head up and said, "It sucks most of the time I guess. Like you would expect any high school to. But seriously I don't think it's that bad. There are the usual cliques and most people tend to stick to them but every once in a while you'll find someone who's cool to hang out with."

"Well I guess it can't be much worse than my old school. How bad is it on rumors?"

Peyton rolled her eyes at this. "The worst. And I don't mean to scare you off, but I should warn you that you'll probably be a popular topic for a while."

Jessi shrugged. She had expected that. After all, what more juicy gossip could there be than a long lost twin suddenly showing up?

"So what do you think of Tree Hill so far?" Peyton asked, growing more and more curious about the new girl in town. Jessi seemed open and friendly in general but being one who knew what it was like to be guarded and reluctant to let people in, Peyton could see that there was a lot more than what could be seen on the surface.

"It seems like a nice town. Small but not hickville small."

Down in the water Brooke finally stopped running and let Lucas grab her and dunk her underwater. When she came up she playfully splashed him a couple times and then looked up at the beach. She was somewhat surprised to see the two almost-dry teens talking the way they were.

"They seem to be getting along pretty well."

Lucas laughed and wrapped his arms around his girl's waist. "You almost sound jealous."

"I'm not believe me. I'm just surprised with the way Peyton's been lately. Making new friends hasn't really been on the top of her to do list."

"Well they have a lot in common."

Brooke snorted. "Yeah like listening to weird indie bands I've never heard of."

Lucas faked a hurt expression and stuck out his bottom lip. "Hey I listen to those bands too."

Brooke turned around and gave him a heated kiss. She allowed herself to enjoy the mostly naked makeout session then broke the kiss and smiled up at him. Lucas stared back at her with love in his eyes, his heart all but melting at the smile on her lips.

"Well in your case it's hot so you get away with it." She kissed him again feeling slightly guilty about not agreeing to an exclusive relationship. "But I do think it would be cool for them to be friends. They can relate on the whole being adopted thing."

Lucas thought for a moment about all the issues that were sure to come up in the near future, not only with his sister but with the whole gang but instead of dwelling on it he decided to let it go for now and have fun. With a sly grin he wrapped his arms around Brooke's waist and jumped backwards, taking her into the water with him.

While they were hanging out at the beach, Karen was busy explaining the situation to Deb. As a business partner and friend Karen wanted her to know the truth before it got out to the rest of the town, specifically to Dan.

"Oh my god Karen. I don't even… wow."

"Do you think I'm a terrible person for hiding it all these years?"

Deb shook her head and patted Karen's shoulder. "Of course not. I know what it's like to be a teenage mother and I can't even imagine how scared you must have been."

"Do you think I should tell Dan?"

That wasn't a question Deb could easily answer. "I don't know Karen. He's going throw a tantrum no matter what. Hell if I thought it were possible to keep the truth from him indefinitely I wouldn't tell him at all."

"I know he's going to find out eventually. There's nothing I can do to stop that but… I just wish I could keep him out of Jessi's life entirely."

"She'd definitely be better off."

Karen sighed heavily and took a drink of coffee. "Isn't that the truth."

She knew that the father of her children was going to be furious with her but that wasn't what she was truly worried about. Her biggest concern was how Dan would affect her daughter's life in Tree Hill. Jessi knew the story of Dan abandoning her all those years ago but she had chosen not to go into too much detail about what a despicable person Dan was most of the time. Whether or not she chose to get to know her father was up to her and despite her worries Karen wasn't going to stand in her way if that was what she wanted to do. That didn't mean she was going to give Dan the opportunity to hurt their daughter. She made a silent vow that if Dan were given a chance to be a part of Jessi's life, he would only have that one chance and if he blew it she would stop at nothing to protect her daughter.

Author's Note: Please review and let know what you think. Chapter title is a song by Sugarcult.