A/N I hope my portrayal of college is semi-accurate because I'm not in college yet, but oh well. And as for the name of the chapter, you will understand it when you're finished reading it.

Quote of the moment:

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a dark spark that creates extraordinary results.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I own nothing, Nothing, I own. Yeah, you get the picture.

Chapter 6

'I've got croissants and coffee here, hot and ready to be eaten.'

Rosie exclaimed as she barged into the room causing Peyton to hide the sketch she was drawing hurriedly under her pillow.

'Great! I'm starved.'

She ran over to the coffee table and grabbed a croissant.

'So, anything interesting happen while you were on your morning walk?'

'Not much. What did you get up to while I was gone?'

'Uh, you know, just, took a shower and finished unpacking.'

'Yeah. So uh, you'll never guess who I saw at the café.'

Peyton's heart rate immediately increased.

'Who?'

'Sadie!'

'Sadie?'

'She went to High School with me!'

'Cool.'

'It's great to see a familiar face.'

'Yeah, sometimes.'

The two continued talking over the coffee table for most of the morning.

At around four Peyton headed off towards the sports' complex, making sure to be dressed in a large hooded sweater and sunglasses, which caused a lot of questions from Rosie.

'Peyton? Why are you carrying sunglasses?'

'It's a bright day.'

'No it's not.'

'My eyes are very sensitive to the light.'

'Uh huh? Where are you even going anyway?'

'Around. I'll seeya later.' She said, leaving the room before Rosie could ask any more questions.

Once outside Peyton pulled her hood up and put on her glasses.

She reached the sports' building and went straight to the information desk.

'Excuse me does your gym have a punch bag?'

'I'm afraid not, but there is one in the boys' locker room.'

'Fine, where is it?'

'Down the corridor first left.'

'Thanks.'

She made her way to the locker room thankful to have an outlet for all of her pent-up energy and stress.

When there she pulled off her sweater sweat pants so she was just wearing a white tank top and mini shorts.

She pulled her boxing gloves and iPod out of her bag and began boxing.

It felt good to be able to let it all go away. Let her problems be destroyed by her anger.

She was so occupied by her thoughts that she didn't notice the figure staring at her from the doorway.

'Well well well, no wonder you were such a bitch to me, if you're that angry you've gotta have a pretty messed up life.'

Peyton turned around to see Shayne staring at her.

'What are you doing, Perv?'

'I'm sorry. We got off to a bad start. Let's try again. Hi Peyton, I'm Shayne. How are you today?'

'Why should I tell you?'

'Oh come on, I'm a sarcastic, charming, handsome young man and you could use a friend, just a friend, to listen and provide a source of humour in you apparently not-so-perfect life.'

Peyton laughed at his bluntness.

'I'm ok.'

'That's very reassuring to hear, now would you like to take a walk with me?'

'Sure, what the heck.'

'OK then, let's go.'

Peyton shoved her stuff into her bag and walked over to Shayne.

'Uhh, you might want to put those sweat pants on.' Shayne said, staring at her legs.

'Oh My God, you're right.'

They both laughed.

'By the way, nice boxing.' He winked and she slapped his arm playfully.

Peyton and Shayne had been walking for about an hour and were now walking through the park eating ice cream.

'So let me get this straight, you were able to program a computer by the age of eleven?'

'That's the truth.'

'No way!'

'What can I say? I'm a genius.'

'You're a Geek!'

'I guess you could say that. You know I used to be one scary kid.'

He said, handing her a photo. She laughed out loud at his large glasses and long curly dark hair.

'This was you?'

'Yep, I never dated anyone 'till my senior year of high school.'

Peyton laughed some more before he spoke again.

'Hey that's not the worst of it. I had some ugly ass nick names.'

'Oooh tell me!'

'No way.'

'Pleeeease…'

'Fine. There was… Wud.'

'Wud?'

'It stands for Wild Ugly Dog.'

'Aww Wud? That's cute.'

'Listen I've gotta run. I'm doing some pre-semester tutoring in a few minutes.'

'Pre-semester tutoring? I didn't know that even existed.'

'Trust me, neither did I. But hey, I could use the spare money.'

'Couldn't we all!'

'Talk to you soon Peyton.'

'I hope so.'

He winked and turned back towards the school.

'Bye Wud!' She called after him.

She giggled to herself and walked back towards her dorm.

She made her way to her room humming one of her favourite songs to herself, still happy at the thought of having made a new friend.

But once she opened the door to her room, she dropped the ice cream she was carrying in her hand.

All happy thoughts instantly vanished.

A/N Yeah, I know, still no LP interaction. But I'm just trying to give Peyton a little stability in her life before it all falls apart. OK I'm exaggerating a little. But in case you haven't guessed, the next chapter definitely will.