Chapter 9

"Hey Jamie, were you listening?" Jenny said walking up to him.

"Not if you didn't want me too." Jamie said as they started to walk towards the school, smiling a little.

"Stop it." Jenny said pushing Jamie to the side.

"No it was cute." Jamie said bumping her back. Both of them laughing when they tripped over a rock, landing side by side on the ground.

"Why are you guys laying on the ground?" Lily asked walking up towards the school. Jamie and Jenny just laid there and looked up at her.

"We tripped." Jenny said.

"Well, why don't you get up? Hey, Madison's pulling up." Lily said laughing. "Are you guys ready for the opening today?"

Jamie got up, then putting up his hand to help Jenny up. They wiped off their pants and Jamie handed Jenny her backpack.

"Thanks." She said still laughing a little at their fall. Jamie laughing too.

"I'm excited. I wish we could be there though." Jamie said as Madison reached them.

"Be where?" She asked.

"At our parent's center's opening." Jenny answered.

"We should be there." Lily said with a weird smile.

"Yeah you should." Chuck said from behind them making them all jump. "I mean its only the first day of school what would we miss."

"You want to ditch school?" Jenny asked.

"Well why not its a great way to start 6th grade. I mean we're in junior high, none of the teachers know us here we can leave now."

"Chuck I don't know about this." Madison said shaking her head.

"Well I want to go to the opening." Lily said walking over to stand next to Chuck.

"Me too." Jenny said grabbing Lily's hand. "Jamie are you going to come?"

Jamie thought for a minute. "Yeah, but we have to come back right after okay?" He said walking towards them.

"Jamie, your parents are going to be so mad. All of them are." Madison said still standing her ground.

"Hey Madison, you never saw us." Chuck said leading the way towards the opening.

"You are going to get in trouble." She yelled to them when they were almost out of sight.


"I think that's it." Karen said looking at Haley and Jake hanging up the grand opening sign. Then Jake's phone started ringing.

"It's the school. I wonder what she could have done already." He said to Haley and Karen laughing a little. "Jake Jagielski. Really? Yeah. Who with? No that's okay I think I know where she is. I can tell them if you want they are standing next to me. No you can just pull them out for today."

"What did the school want?" Haley asked when he hung up the phone.

"They wanted to tell me Madison came to the principal's office saying Jenny skipped school."

"I thought you said she seemed ok with going this morning." Karen said.

"Wasn't she meeting Jamie?" Haley asked.

"She was fine and she did meet Jamie and Lily and Chuck they all ditched school to come to the opening."

"They did?" Karen asked.

"Jamie didn't say anything about wanting to come. I never asked him though." Haley said thinking about it. "I bet it was Chuck's idea."

"I never asked Lily either. I thought she would have been bored."

"I told them to take them out of school today and we will deal with them here." Jake said.

"I never really had to ground Lucas. I usually just gave him a big lecture, like the one time you two and Faith skipped school and went to the beach all day when you were in 8th grade." Karen said laughing at Haley.

"I remember that lecture you talked for like two hours straight and made us promise not to skip school again without telling you where we were going." Haley said laughing a little. "I'm gonna call Chase and warn him."


"Mia Catalano?" The nurse called.

"Right here." Mia said standing up. "Thanks for bringing me Chase. I can find a different ride home if you need to leave."

"No, Chuck is in school and the bar is taken care of. I'll just wait here."

"Okay thanks Chase."

Ring ring ring

"Hey Haley, what's going on? They did what? Great. Can you watch him for me I'm kinda of busy? Thanks Haley you are the best."

"What did Haley want?" Mia asked before following the nurse.

"She just wanted to tell me something I'll tell you about it when you are done." Then she walked through the door after the nurse.


"Ms. Catalano what seems to be the problem?" The doctor asked as she is walking into the small room.

"I think I have the flu or something. I have been sick for the last couple weeks."

"Its to early for flu season, what are your symptoms other than getting sick? Do you know what makes you sick?"

"Usually it was just random smells. At first I thought it was some kind of stress from deciding to not go on tour this year. Things have been crazy the past couple weeks getting settled back in."

"Like what smells?" The doctor asked setting down her clipboard.

"I walked into my friends café the other day and the smell of onions from a burger were just disgusting and I had to run out of the room."

"Anything else?"

"I have been tired a lot."

"Well lets run a couple tests and I can let you know in a few hours."


"Do you see them?" Karen asked.

"I see them they are over there." Jake answered pointing across the room.

Haley looked around. "I don't see Jamie."

"That's because I am right behind you." Jamie said walking up to his mom.

"I'm going to get them." Jake said walking away.

"Madison told didn't she?" Jamie asked.

"Yes she did. If you guys wanted to come all you had to do is ask." Haley said wrapping her arm around Jamie.

"It was kind of a last-minute decision. You're not mad are you."

"We'll talk about it later. Right now I want to know how your talk with your dad went."

Jamie laughed a little and looked at his mom who was wearing two baggy shirts. "It was great mom. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"We haven't told anyone."

"Except me." Karen said walking over to them.

"You told Aunt Karen before me?" Jamie said hugging Karen as she joined the conversation.

"Well, she guessed." Haley corrected.


"That's all the test Mia. I will call you in a couple of hours with the results. Have a good day."

"Thanks. You too." Mia looked around to where she had left Chase sitting, he wasn't there. "Great." Mia said starting to pull out her phone when she heard a laugh coming from the corner of the room. Mia turns her head and sees Chase playing with a couple little kids in the corner.

"Aw Chase, do you have a soft spot for babies?" Mia asked walking over to him.

"Oh hey, I didn't hear you come out." Chase said looking surprised. "Their mom had to run to the restroom I offered to watch them."

"That was nice of you." She said as Chase hands the littlest one to the mother who was walking up behind Mia.

"Thank you." She said taking the baby from Chase and they started to walk away. "Excuse me? Are you two from around here?" The woman said trying to stop them before they got too far.

"Yes." Mia said turning back around.

"Sorry are you guys in a rush? I just moved to town and was wondering if you know of any daycare centers around here?"

"No, We have sometime." Mia said as they walked over to a couple of seats.

"Thank you. It's great to meet nice people. I'm Emily."

"Actually a couple of our friends just opened a center today. It's a parents center. They have a daycare that has rates for siblings." Chase answered smiling. Mia looked at Chase and smiled. He noticed her staring and whispers. "I read the brochure while waiting for you." Realizing he still had the brochure. He pulls it out and hands it to Emily.

"Thank you again." Emily says waving looking down at the brochure. Tree Hill Parents Center where every child deserves the best life and every parent deserves the best help.

"I'm Chase and this is Mia by the way." Chase said taking Mia's hand. "You ready?"

"Yes. They are going to call we in a few hours with the results." They said walking out of the office.

"So, what did Haley call you about?" Mia asked as Chase opened her car door for her.

"Oh, yeah you are going to love this." Chase said laughing, closing the door.