One Tree Hill: Proving a Point

Author: L

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.


Chapter 7


Sam groaned as she shrunk into her covers. The tapping sound had become incessant and it was irritating her. She pulled the pillow out from under her head and tried to cover her ears with it.

"Sam, open the window."

Her eyes opened blearily while she tried to figure out if she had imagined those words. A louder knock sent her gaze straight to the window.

"Jack?" she murmured to herself as she dragged herself out of the bed and over to the window. Sam was still struggling to determine if this was a dream or not. Opening the window quietly, she whispered, "Jack, what are you doing here?"

"Get dressed," he whispered back. "Jo is waiting for us in her car."

"Why?" asked Sam, trying to keep her eyes open for a few more seconds. Her brain was still half-asleep. "Jack, what's going on? I'm trying to sleep."

"The party," grinned Jack. "Come on, it'll be fun."

Everything came flooding back to Sam at once although she really wished it wouldn't. It was giving her a headache which made her even more tired.

"I already told you I'm not going," groaned Sam.

"Why not?" pressed Jack.

Sam glared at him. "I'm grounded, remember?"

"Fine," Jack muttered in a disappointed voice. "I'll tell you about it tomorrow. I have to go. Jo doesn't want to be late for the party."

"Wait," Sam whispered. It had come out louder than she had intended and she made sure it was silent before she spoke again. "I'll go, but I'm only going to stay for an hour. I don't want Brooke to find out about this."

Jack grinned and turned so his back was facing her room while she got changed. Sam silently scolded herself for letting her jealousy cloud her mind and control her actions. When she was finished, Sam quietly picked up her notebook and flipped to a clean page.

A few minutes later, Sam had reluctantly climbed out the window and followed Jack to Jo's car. Jo had seemed both surprised and excited to see her, but Sam was too lost in her thoughts to pay any attention to her.

Jo drove for ten minutes before pulling into the beach's car park. The loud, pounding music startled Sam and she opened the car door slowly, shivering at the icy breeze of the night.

"This is amazing," murmured Jack, astonished by the amount of people who were there. He couldn't remember the last time he had just laughed and enjoyed himself. It was the main reason why he had been so eager to come tonight.

Sam, however, was unimpressed. It didn't appeal to her as much as her nice warm bed did. One hour, she told herself. I just have to stay for one hour.

They were trying to make their way through the crowd of Tree Hill High students, which was proving impossible because Jo kept stopping to talk to people. Sam thought back to what Jo had told three days ago and wondered how she had made this many friends in such a short time.

"Come on, the drinks are over here," Jo shouted over the loud music. She led them over to several tables lined with hundreds of cups. "So," grinned Jo, passing each of them a drink. "With a name like Jack Daniels, you must be really good at drinking."

Jack gave a small laugh and took a sip of his drink. "No, I'm actually terrible at it," Jack admitted in a quiet voice. "I get drunk really easily."

"Well, Jo is brilliant at drinking. Every time there's a drinking contest, she always wins," a tall blonde-haired boy told them. "I'm Ryan," he added.

"Jack."

Sam gave an irritable sigh and downed her drink in one go. It burned against her throat and left a strong aftertaste in her mouth. Standing here and listening to their conversation made Sam feel invisible.

Setting down her empty cup, Jo turned to Jack with a flirtatious smile and said, "Let's dance."

To Sam's disbelief, Jack started to blush. "I'm not good at dancing. I wouldn't want to embarrass you at your own party."

"You won't embarrass me. I'll probably embarrass myself. Come on," Jo insisted, refusing to take no for an answer. She reached for his hand and started to lead him down the beach.

Sam reached for another cup from the table and swallowed the alcohol in huge gulps. For a second, Sam considered turning around and heading home but she didn't see why Jack should be the only one allowed to have fun.

"Hey," said Ryan. Sam had caught his attention when she reached for her third cup of alcohol. "You look really beautiful tonight," he smiled.

Ignoring him, Sam reached for an unopened bottle of vodka in a crate that was lying beneath the table. She could feel Ryan following her as she stormed off to a desolate part of the beach, but she was too annoyed at Jack to pay any attention to him.

Ryan sat down beside her and gently nudged her arm. "Come on, you have to share," he protested lightly, his blue eyes twinkling as he grinned at her.

Her cheeks held a soft pink tinge as she passed the bottle to him. "Fine, if you're going to be such a baby about it, you can drink it first," muttered Sam in her usual sarcastic tone but it was also paired with a teasing smile.

Shooting her another grin, Ryan opened the bottle with ease and took a quick swig. He let out a satisfied breath and smirked, "Your turn."

Sam rolled her eyes and took the bottle from him eagerly. She could taste the sweetness of his lips before the vodka roared through her mouth. Dropping the bottle, Sam started spluttering and coughing uncontrollably.

An alarmed Ryan rubbed her back soothingly and waited for the coughs to subside. "Don't worry, the first time is always like that," Ryan told her with a wink.

Her lips twisted into a small grateful smile and she reached for the bottle again. It felt like her throat was being set alight but she tried to block it out. When Sam set down the bottle, she felt something else crash against her lips.

Ryan's hands were holding her close to his body and Sam resisted for a second before throwing her arms around his neck. Her alcohol-induced mind allowed Ryan to gently push her backwards into the sand and she was only vaguely aware of Ryan's hands creeping under her shirt.

When Sam felt his lower body press tightly against hers, she instantly pushed him off of her, suddenly aware of how fast this was going. A confused expression spread across Ryan's face and he sat in silence, breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry," he murmured with the same boyish grin.

Sam avoided his gaze and it wasn't long before she heard him get up and walk away. To her surprise, Ryan sat down beside her again after less than a minute.

"You can have the rest of it," Ryan smiled, holding out the vodka bottle.

With a light roll of her eyes, Sam downed the final contents of the bottle and felt it rush straight to her head. She felt Ryan pull her to a standing position but she couldn't support her own weight and fell onto the sand. Fear washed over Ryan as her body started to shake vigorously.

"Sam!" yelled Jack, sprinting over to them with Jo by his side. They pushed through the crowd that had started to form around Sam. "Sam, can you hear me?" he asked.

Jack could hear Jo talking frantically into her cell phone and out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a panicked Ryan edging away from the scene. Jack took deep breaths to refrain himself from attacking Ryan and focussed on Sam instead.

"Sam," Jack whispered. "It's going to be alright. I promise you. You'll be okay."

Jo knelt down beside him and murmured, "The ambulance is on its way."


Brooke rushed through the hospital, turning corner after corner until she saw a familiar figure sitting with his head in his hands. When she had received Jack's phone call, her heart had nearly stopped. Her heels skidded to a halt in front of the distraught teenager.

"Jack! Where's Sam?" asked Brooke frantically. "What happened? Where is she? Is she going to okay?" She was struggling to keep her voice down but she fought successfully against the tears that were threatening to spill over in her eyes.

"I don't know," Jack mumbled. His voice was thick with emotion and his eyes were red from crying. "They won't tell me anything."

"Samantha Walker?"

Brooke spun around instantly at the name and saw a doctor standing in front of her. "I'm her mother," Brooke told him in a panicked tone. "What happened? Is she going to be alright?"

"We've had to pump Samantha's stomach to remove the vodka in her system but that's not the reason why she collapsed," the doctor explained. "We found strong traces of a date-rape drug in her bloodstream. When it is mixed with pure vodka, it can have an adverse reaction. We've managed to stabilise her but she is in a coma at the moment."

The tears were falling freely down Brooke's face as she tried to take in the information. "Date-rape drug?" she repeated in a whisper. Brooke tried to steady her shaking voice as she asked, "When will she wake up?"

"Hopefully within the next two days," the doctor replied. He smiled comfortingly at Brooke and added, "I'll be back to check on her later."

"Thank you, doctor," Brooke whispered. She was still waiting for it to fully sink in.

She pushed the door open and slowly walked inside, hearing Jack's quiet footsteps behind her. Brooke sat down in the chair next to the bed and brushed her fingers against Sam's forehead, gently sweeping her hair out of her eyes. Reaching for Sam's hand, Brooke clasped it tightly in her own and finally broke down.

"Sam, please wake up," sobbed Brooke, trying to choke back her tears. "I'm not angry at you or disappointed in you, I promise. No matter what happens, I will always love you, Sam. I just want you to wake up. Can you do that for me? Just wake up. That's all I'm asking. Please."

Brooke's gaze instantly shot up when she felt Sam's arm move. Panic flooded her face when Sam's body started to go into a fit. Jack rushed out of the room and returned with the doctor by his side almost immediately.

"She's having a seizure," the doctor explained hurriedly to Brooke. "You need to wait outside while we work on her."

The nurse started to lead Brooke away from the bed while the doctor called out various instructions to his colleagues. As Brooke reached the door, she felt fear wash over her; the colour drained out of her face and the sound of a continuous beep rung loudly in her ears.