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Chapter Nine

October 20, 2007

"Come on, Tutor Girl! Get out of the car!" Brooke said over her shoulder as she waited at the base of the step leading up to the frat house. Standing a few feet away were Bevin and Peyton, Bevin was doing most of the talking while Peyton stood there looking bored.

"I don't know Brooke… the skirt turned out to be a lot shorter than I thought it would be," Haley said, before biting her lip and looking down at her clothes hesitantly.

Rolling her eyes, Brooke walked to the car and opened the back door. "Out, James!" When Haley stayed in the car a determined look came into Brooke's eyes and she barked, "Now!"

"Geesh, okay Brooke," Not trusting the look in Brooke's eyes Haley reluctantly exited the car; pulling her skirt down as she stood. Not that it help much. Instead her skirt barely moved, and the strip of skin revealed on her abdomen became even larger. Great, I'm like hooker Barbie.

"I don't know why you are complaining Tutor Girl, I picked out P. Sawyer's outfit too and she's not upset about it," Brooke said.

Deciding to just give up trying to make her clothes cover more skin Haley stopped fusing with her clothes and turned her attention to the other girl. Brooke was thanking Bevin for giving them a ride, while Peyton stood next to them. Peyton was wearing a tight, skimpy leopard print camisole and she looked as reluctant to be there as Haley was. She had been in the backseat with Peyton on the ride over and Peyton hadn't said a word. Haley hoped that later she could talk Peyton into leaving with her. Brooke would be with Bevin, and both seemed ecstatic at the prospect of attending another college party. They would have fun together

"Come on girlies! Time to party!" Brooke grabbed a hold of Haley's hand while Bevin grabbed of Peyton's and dragged them inside.

Peyton and Haley shared a glance and both rolled their eyes.

Brooke immediately headed to the keg and flirted with the boy drawing the drinks. In no time all four girls held a drink in their hands.

"Well, let us toast to… well… toast to… um… well fuck it. Let's toast to us girlies!" Brooke came up with.

"To us…" The other three echoed.

Nathan was outside of his house shooting baskets.

It was a tame Saturday night for him, but he didn't feel like going out to the party at Tim's house. Usually he was up for everything but he didn't have it in him to go to that house and act like everything was okay. It wasn't. His whole goddamn life had turned into one never ending lie. He didn't think anyone knew the whole truth but him.

Nathan shot the ball and when it hit the back of the rim and bounced out he heard slow clapping from behind him.

Turning he saw his father standing there was a sneer on his face.

Great. More bonding time with the devil.

"Mom? What is this?" Lucas walked up to mother holding some papers, squinting at her.

Glancing over from the stove where she was cooking dinner, Karen barely faltered.

"You really shouldn't go through other people's mail Lucas," Karen said calmly as she stirred her spaghetti sauce.

"I didn't mean to read your mail mom. I was walking by and I accidently knocked it to the floor and when I went to pick it up I saw what it said. Why didn't you tell me anything about this? I didn't even know that you applied," Lucas said.

"I didn't really expect to get in Lucas; I mostly applied as a lark. I just to see if I could get in and I did. I proud of that and that is enough for me. I can't go and leave you alone for six months. That is too ridiculous to even consider."

Lucas reached over and grabbed his mom's shoulders. Turning her to face him, Lucas said gently, "Mom, you've given up so much for me. I want you to have something for yourself. This is cooking school in Italy mom. You can't pass up this opportunity."

"Lucas it's not worth it. I have the café and I have you, we have Haley and we have Keith. That's enough for me," Karen shook her head. Imagine, he really expected her to take off and go to Italy; she wasn't the type of person to do something like that.

"Mom I love you, but aren't you tired of settling?"

"Oh Lucas, I don't want you to think that I settle. Yes I had to give up things, but you are worth all that and more. I don't want to hear you talk about yourself that way again."

"I feel guilty mom," Lucas looked down after he gave her that admission. "You gave up so much to have me and I love you for it, but you deserve more. You deserve to have all your dreams come true."

"And cooking school in Italy is my dream?" Karen tried joking.

Lucas replied simply, "It's a start."

"Luke, I can't go. You are sixteen years old. I cannot and will not leave you by yourself," Karen said firmly.

"Haley's parents left her by herself and she's okay," Lucas pointed out.

"Haley is alone, but she shouldn't be Luke. I mean, I love Jimmy and Lydia to death but they never should have left. She's only fifteen, Lucas. That is another reason why I don't want to go; I would worry about Haley too much along with you. You know her parents count on me to look out for her."

Lucas thought about the situation for a minute, "What if Uncle Keith came to stay with me? He could look after me, the house, and he sees Haley all the time. He can check on her for you."

"Well……"

Seeing that Karen was hesitating Lucas jumped in and said, "Mom, please."

Karen looked up at her son, and felt herself swell with pride. Lucas would always be her little boy, but standing here before her was a man and she couldn't be prouder over how he turned out. He had fulfilled all her dreams and then some. It gave her confidence that if she did go to Italy, Lucas would be fine. And if she did end up going to Italy then she needed that confidence.

Karen said slowly, "Deb did offer to watch the café for me." Glancing up and seeing Luke's confused expression Karen went on to explain, "Yesterday at the party we got to talking. She seems like a really nice woman, and I told her about the school and how I couldn't close the café for six months. She generously offered to manage it while I was away. I turned her down because I couldn't leave you, but I have a feeling that if I left you would be fine. I would miss you like crazy but you would do fine."

"Oh, okay mom. So? Are you going to go?" Lucas asked impatiently. He wished that his mother would just say yes, but that was too reckless for her.

"I'm going to call Keith and talk to him about it. If he says okay, then I will call Deb. If I can get both you and the café situated, then yes I'll go.

Lucas grinned and reached down to give his mom a hug, "You aren't going to regret this mom. I'm sure that you are going to have the time of your life."

Karen smiled back at him, "It'll be fun Lucas. I will miss you, though."

"I'll miss you too mom," Lucas replied.

Karen pulled back from the hug and walked to the phone, "Hi Keith? It's Karen; I need to ask you for a big favor……"

Peyton stared at Haley, who was about to do the shot that Brooke had just handed to her. She really wanted to get Haley alone so that she could finally tell her about the bet. Hell, forget about the consequences; she was going to do the right thing. Nathan and Mike could both shove it.

"Ah… that was horrible Brooke. Tell me again why I want to get drunk?" Haley asked. Her tolerance for alcohol was low, and she was already feeling the effects of the two shots she had. The beer didn't count since she had only sipped it since she couldn't stand the taste.

"You want to get drunk because it is fun Tutor Girl! This is your first Duke party! You should be exited! Oh and you should be drunk! That is a must for your first Duke party," Brooke said enthusiastically.

Haley tried to drum up some enthusiasm, "Alrighty then!"

Seeing through Haley's façade Brooke rolled her eyes, then squealed, "Peyton, that guy is totally checking you out, to your right," Brooke instructed.

Dutifully Peyton looked to her right and saw a emo looking guy standing there, looking at her. Peyton turned back to her friends and said shortly, "Not interested."

"You sure? He's not my type, but he has that whole rocker slash emo thing that you like. It might be fun," Brooke shrugged.

"No, leave it alone!" Peyton bitched.

"Christ, don't claw my eyes out Peyt. I'm just trying to help," Brooke turned to Bevin and asked her when she had to leave. After they had made their toast Bevin revealed that she had to go meet her boyfriend soon, but Brooke had told the girls that they would just take a cab since they were all drinking anyways.

Peyton didn't want to get drunk of go hook up with some random loser. She wanted to get Haley alone and tell her about the bet. She had to do it now, before she changed her mind again. She had fortified herself with alcohol and she was going to tell Haley tonight. Glancing quickly at Haley again Peyton pulled a shot glass closer; maybe a couple more shots wouldn't hurt.

Haley looked at Peyton and noticed that she looked miserable, doing shots in quick succession.

Leaning over laid a hand on Peyton's shoulder and said sincerely, "I'm sorry things aren't going to work out with you and Lucas."

Glancing up she felt a surge of anger toward Haley. That was NOT something she wanted to talk about. Peyton just shrugged, not trusting herself to speak.

Haley took the hint and excused herself to go to the bathroom.

Still fuming about Lucas, Peyton barely noticed that the guy who had been checking her out earlier was at her elbow.

"Want to get a drink?" He asked with a smirk

Throwing caution to the wind Peyton nodded and walked off with him.

"I thought you were going to work on that girl, Nathan? It's going to be pretty hard to seduce her from a damn basketball court," Dan said unpleasantly."The practice wouldn't hurt you, your conditioning is crap."

The instant it had left his mouth Nathan had regretted telling his father that he was going to seduce Haley to get Lucas off the team. It had been a moronic act of desperation on his part, because now he was going to have to keep up a pretense around his father; that he was going to seduce Haley to make Lucas would quit the team. If the devil really thought it through then he would question the plan. It was a stupid fake plan; he didn't even know how it was supposed to work. There was no guarantee that having sex with Haley would make Lucas quit. It was even more likely that it would give Lucas even more incentive to stay on the team.

After a long night of thinking Nathan figured that he would have to pretend that he was going through with the plan. He would have been spending time with Haley regardless of what he told Dan the previous night, and he might as well use that to his advantage.

"She's busy tonight." Nathan said shortly, it was the truth. Haley told him she was going to a party at Duke with Brooke and some other girls.

"She's too busy for you? Slipping Nate; not even dating and she's already got other plans," Dan maliciously spat at him. "I should have known better than to expect that you would be able to pull this off. You are such a screw up Nathan."

"It'll work dad. I barely know her," Nathan lied, sighing he continued. "She's not easy dad. If I just go up to her and ask her on a date she is going to be suspicious. She's his best friend and she knows who I am. I have to get to know her and she has to know that I'm not a total dick to convince her into going out with me."

"Good luck on that one, son," Dan smirked.

"Thanks for the support dad," Nathan bit out sarcastically. He had been truthful about getting to know Haley before going out on a date with her. It was the same principal he was using to win his bet. It was no hardship being around her though; she was turning out to be fun. A lot more fun than other girls he was used to being around.

"Anytime Nate, anytime. Just remember don't screw this up. Get that kid off the team," Dan ordered before he turned around and went inside the house.

Fucking asshole. Nathan tried to get back to practice but his thoughts where getting away from him. Frustrated he sat down at the table at the edge of the court and took a drink of water. Picking up his cell phone he scrolled through his missed calls; seeing that it was just the usual guys and knowing that he wasn't going out tonight he decided not to bother to call them back.

Sighing Nathan laid his head on the table.

"You know 'The Descendants'?" The guy, whose name turned out to be Gabe, asked Peyton.

"Oh yeah, their album 'Milo Goes to College' was great," Peyton replied.

"Okay, I was wrong about you. The clothes threw me. Don't get me wrong, you look hot. They made me notice you, but I did not expect you to actually know music."

Peyton smirked, "I'm into the music, not the uniform."

Gabe moved closer to her, "What else are you into?"

Peyton smiled up at him through her lashes, "Oh many, many things…"

"Oh, yeah?" Gabe smirked at her.

"Yeah," Peyton breathed out, before pulling Gabe's head closer to hers.

Across the room Brooke was saying goodbye to Bevin. Glancing over she saw Peyton making out with the emo looking guy. Smirking she turned to find Tutor Girl.

"Look, I'm not interested, just let me pass. My friends are waiting for me," Haley bit out, irritated. So far college parties had turned out to be a lot like high school parties, complete with drunken assholes. She didn't even think the guy in front of her knew what she was saying.

"But don't you wan-," Abruptly cut off, he stumbled back.

"Tutor Girl! Come with me," Brooke said brightly, as if she hadn't just pushed over a guy almost twice her size.

Holding in her laugh Haley followed Brooke.

Haley looked around, "Where are Peyton and Bevin?"

"Oh, Bevin went to meet her boyfriend and Peyton is right over there, "Brooke explained and pointed out Peyton, who was sitting on some guys lap making out.

Haley eyes widened, "Wow, well that was quick."

Brooke giggled, "Sometimes we get like that."

Haley glanced around the party and then hesitantly asked Brooke, "Do you think it would be okay if I call a cab and leave now? I'm really not having any fun and I don't want to drink anymore."

Brooke's face fell, "You don't want to stay?"

"Well, no not really. But I promise that next time you want me to go out with you, I'll go with no argument. Deal?"

Brooke narrowed her eyes and said teasingly, "You know I could probably get you to go to the next party anyways, but if you really don't want to stay then go."

Haley smiled, "Great!"

Brooke pouted, "I'm going to be bored."

"You aren't going to find a guy too?" Haley questioned.

"Nah, I'm still holding out hope for your buddy," Brooke grinned and then shrugged. "It's not a big deal, we'll call you taxi and then when it's almost here we'll go out and wait for it. Then I'll come in and find some people to hang out with. Plan?"

"Plan," Haley agreed while pulling out her cell phone to call the cab service.

"Mom, are you going to tell me what Uncle Keith said? And Nathan's mom said?" Lucas asked as they cleared the table.

Karen smiled at him, "It looked like you are going to have a fun time with your Uncle Keith for the next six months."

Lucas swept his mom into a hug and twirled her, "This is so great mom. I'm sure that you are going to have a great time. And don't worry about Uncle Keith and me; we are going to be fine."

Karen agreed, "I'm sure you guys are. Just remember that your Uncle Keith is now me."

Lucas blinked, "Wow that was a weird image. Thanks for that."

"Haha, what I meant was that Keith is taking my role in your life. What he says goes, got it?"

"Mom, it's Keith; of course I'm going to listen to him," Lucas said slightly exasperated.

Karen grinned, "Then you boys should have no problem.

"I'm going to head out Brooke, my cab should be here," Haley told Brooke; it had been about 20 minutes since she called for the cab. "You don't have to walk me out.

Brooke nodded, "I'm getting slightly out of the party mood myself. I'm going to see if Peyton is ready to go. Since your cab is here just go ahead and take it, you don't have to wait for us."

Haley waved as she headed outside; not realizing that the entrance she was heading to was the side one that was invisible to the street.

Brooke found Peyton about ten minutes after she left Haley. Peyton was still making out with that guy. Waving a hand she caught Peyton's attention and motioned to the door.

Peyton nodded understanding that Brooke was ready to leave and pulled away from the Gabe. Walking to Brooke, "You want to go already? This is an early night for you B. Davis."

Brooke gave Peyton a self-deprecating smile, "You never know I might be getting more mature."

"Might be," Peyton agreed. "I'm ready to go too; this guy is starting to get way too grabby."

"You didn't look too bothered by that slut," Brooke teased.

"Haha," Peyton returned dryly. "Where are Haley and Bevin?"

"Bevin went to meet the boyfriend and Haley already took a cab home. It looks like it just you and me again babe."

"Just the way I like it," Peyton winked at Brooke. "Look I'm going to say goodbye to this guy, Gabe, and I'm going to the bathroom. Meet me back here in ten minutes?"

"Sure," Brooke said. She watched as Peyton made her way to Gabe and turned to find something to amuse her for the next ten minutes.

"Hey Gabe, I'm going to go. See ya," Peyton told Gabe, and she walked away without waiting for him to say goodbye.

Finding a bathroom Peyton quickly used the facilities and then exited to find Brooke. Once she walked out the door she saw that Gabe had followed her and was waiting with two cups.

"I said I was going," Peyton bit out, annoyed.

"Sure, I just thought we could have a drink before you did," Gabe offered through clenched teeth.

Already tipsy Peyton didn't notice that Gabe didn't seem pleased, and just shook her head dismissing him. "I'm not going to drink anymore tonight."

"Right… are you a straight edge?" Gabe asked derisively.

"Not really."

"Then how about it? Just one more drink." Gabe held the cup out to her.

"Sure, why the hell not?" Peyton grabbed the cup and downed the whole thing.

"There, happy now?" Peyton said irritated.

Gabe drew Peyton into conversation about music for a couple more minutes.

"I really have to go now, my friend is waiting for me," Peyton walked by him and started to feel unsteady. Reaching out she braced her hand against the wall and held herself upright.

"Oh hey, you okay? Maybe you shouldn't have had that last drink. Let me help you find you friend." Gabe assumed a helpful position and walked her down the hallway.

The next time Peyton opened her eyes she was laying on a bed and she could see a blurry Gabe locking the door and walking to the stereo and turned the music up loud. She reached in her pocket to get her phone and he turned to her while slowing pulling off his shirt.

"Where in the HELL is my cab?" Haley muttered to herself. She had been waiting outside for almost 15 minutes and the cab had never showed.

Whatever

Maybe Lucas would come pick her up. Haley pulled out her cell phone and dialed Luke's number. It rang for awhile before going to voice mail. Great

She didn't really want to call a cab again, who knew if it would show up this time. She had already called Brooke and Peyton a couple times but it went straight to voicemail.

Haley bit her lip and twirled a strand of hair around her finger, he did say if I needed help I could call him… Rolling her eyes at her indecisiveness she scrolled through her phone book and selected the number that she was looking for and pressed 'call'.

Putting the phone up to her ear she listed to it ring, and grinned when she heard the answering, "Hello?"

Relieved she said, "Hi."

"Haley?"

"Yeah, it's me. I need your help; well really I need a ride. See Brooke took me to this party at Duke, but I wasn't having a lot of fun so I decided that I wanted to go home. Peyton was with us so Brooke stayed with her. I went outside to wait for my cab, but it never showed. I don't want to call another one. It might be forever, and I don't have a ton of confidence in that company now. It's the only cab number I have on my phone so I can't call another one. I could go back in the house and look in the phone book, but I really don't want to go back in that house unle…… I digress; to make a long story short; can you pick me up at Duke and drive me home?"

She heard an answering snort. "You passed short about two minutes ago Hales. Why didn't you call Luke?" He questioned.

"I did, he didn't answer," Haley revealed, still slightly peeved about that.

"Second choice, oh it hurts Hales, it really does that I'm not your first choice."

"Haha, very funny. So are you going to pick me up?"

"Sure, I'll be there in twenty minutes. Don't leave where you are now, I'll come to you."

"Okay. And…thanks Nathan, I really appreciate this."

"No problem. Hey I did tell you that if you needed anything…"

"Uh-huh, that's very interesting," Brooke said in a tone that made it obvious that it was anything but.

"Yeah, pretty soon you'll be hearing about me everywhere. Any day now I'm going to forfeit my collegiate eligibility and qualify for the NBA. You could say you knew me when."

"I'll be sure to do that."

"So what's your name?"

Brooke thought fast and smirked, "Haley."

"Pretty name for a pretty girl, my name is A-," He said as he moved closer.

"Oh hold on Abercrombie, that's close enough." Brooke pushed her hand to his chest and moved him further away from her. Bringing her arm back she looked at her watch. Peyton should have been there five minutes ago.

Brooke glanced around and decided to go find her, "Bye Abe."

Walking down the hall she didn't see Peyton so she decided to call her.

When Peyton answered her call, Brooke listened but all she could hear was music. Sure she dialed the wrong number she was about to hang up when she heard Peyton's voice faintly say, "Stop...get off me………owe!"

Brooke screamed into her phone, "Peyton!"

Brooke was walking further down the hallway when she passed a room, and blaring out of it is the same music that was coming through her phone.

Brooke put her phone in her pocket and started banging on the door.

"Peyton!"

"Peyton, come on. Please open the door!"

Further down the hall a guy and a girl were walking towards her. "Are you looking for someone?"

Brooke nodded, "Yeah, well no I know where she is." Pointing to the door, "My friend is in there. Get it open now."

The guy looked unsure, "This is one of the rooms that is reserved for pledges, are you sure that your fri-"

"Yes! I know my friend is in there. Now open the door or I will break that goddamn door down!"

The guy nodded, slightly afraid of Brooke, and opened the door.

The guy, Gabe Peyton had said, turned around and bit out, "Get the fuck out."

Seeing Peyton's shirt unbuttoned and Gabe leaning over her; Brooke rushed in and pulled him away from her. "You sick freak, get away from her!"

"Get out!"

"You attacked my friend, you dickless perv!" Brooke yelled at him as she hurried from the room, almost fully supporting Peyton.

"She's just wasted; you should tell her she shouldn't drink so much."

Throwing a glare over her shoulder Brooke got Peyton to the front of the house.

"Come on P. Sawyer, wake up."

Pulling out her phone she called Lucas. "Come on please pick up…please!" Brooke breathlessly said into the phone as it continued to ring.

"Please pick up…

Disclaimer: I own nothing; not OTH or its characters.