Chapter 10
Just to let you guys know, I'm starting this chapter with a flash into the future, and then explaining it through the chapter, just for effects. So I hope you don't get confused or anything.
Last Chapter…
"Brooke, Rachel's missing" I hate to say it, but drastic times call for drastic measures.
"… what?"
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"You bitch! We told you not to hurt her!" Peyton screams at me as she tackles me to the floor in her and Lucas' living room. Okay, that actually hurt.
"Peyton, get off her!" Lucas says as he tries to pull his girlfriend off of me. Wow, Peyton is a lot stronger than I remember. All of a sudden I see Rachel jump onto Luke's back and tries to pull him away from Peyton, to help her continue fighting me. I get a hard slap across the face as Peyton continues to wrestle me to a pulp.
I look up at Brooke who's clutching her cheek with my hand print in it. Yeah, I slapped her. I look to my right to see Nathan standing in the door way with a digital camera and flashes going off every few seconds. Figures he'd take pictures of this.
So you're probably wondering how we got here… well it all started yesterday when I told Brooke Rachel was missing.
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"what do you mean she's missing?" Brooke asks me.
"I mean she's missing. Peyton said she took off after you talked to her about everything and she can't get a hold of her anywhere and her agent doesn't know where she is."
"what do you mean she's missing?" Brooke repeats, this time only with more enthusiasm. What doesn't she understand about missing?
I ignore her repetitiveness and continue with what I was saying. "we think she might be in Tree Hill because there's no where else she would be, but we're not too sure yet."
"where's Peyton?"
"still out looking for Rachel"
"She's back in Tree Hill" she states.
"what makes you say that?"
"Rachel returns to the place where she feels safe, and right now that place is probably Tree Hill"
"Are you sure?" I ask and I see Brooke walk towards the door and open it up just enough to stick her head out.
"Millicent!" she yells and within seconds we see her assistant hustle into the room. "get me three first class tickets on the first flight back to Tree Hill" she says to her. "and you" she says looking at me. "pack a bag for a few days"
"wait, who's the third ticket for?"
"despite the fact I'm not talking to her, Peyton should be included in this"
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We all meet at the airport. Each of us with our sunglasses on avoiding all sorts of press and what not. It's weird how just a pair of sunglasses can hide who you are.
"Haley James!" I hear someone yell behind me. Or not. Peyton, Brooke and I all turn around to see everyone staring back at us, and soon enough running towards us.
"oh my god it's Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer!" we hear another person yell.
"run" Peyton mutters as we all take off in the opposite direction running down the extremely long hall and straight to our gate. We quickly hand our tickets over and we watch as several security guards block the unwanted guests. We walk onto the plane going straight for first class just as Brooke planned. We take our seats all next to each other in the middle row with, me in the middle and the girls on either side of me. That's probably for the best.
Since we've met up Brooke and Peyton haven't said two words to each other. It's small things like that, that start to worry me. It's also small things like that, that show me how much work this is going to take to get them back together. First thing first, get all 3 of them in the same state.
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As soon as the plane took off I decided to make use of my time. I pulled out my song book and brought the tray down so I could write. Now where was I in this song? Oh right… 'Sometimes crazy's alright'. Yeah I think that'll fit perfectly. I start humming the tune I have in my head and immediately I see a head lean forward at my side. I quickly shut my book and turn to Brooke who's trying to get a peak.
"whatchya doin?" she asks casually.
"working on a song… You weren't trying to get a peak were you?"
"me?" she scoffs. "of course not. But now that you mention it, maybe I could look it over"
"hm, I don't think so"
"and why is that?"
"because the song's about you" I say with a smirk, knowing that's just going to make her want to see it more.
"oh, now I have to see it" she says trying to go for the book.
"maybe you should just let her finish the song" Peyton says with a hint of anger in her voice. And cue Brooke's retaliation in 3…2…1…
"who's going to make me?" she snaps back. Okay, wow, these two are really… I don't even know how to explain it.
"as her manager I need her to finish this song" Peyton says leaning forward to look at Brooke.
"there you go, always looking out for number one" Brooke says, also leaning forward to see Peyton. This can't be good.
"you know I was looking out for you!" Peyton whispers harshly as she points an accusing finger at Brooke.
"no, all I know is what you did wasn't right!" Brooke whispers harshly back. Okay, I better stop this from getting out of hand.
"okay, you two, sit back, and don't talk to each other for the rest of the flight" I say, pushing them both back into their seats.
"fine" they both huff out at the same time. I'm still amazed that two girls so alike can fight like this. Thank god this is a short flight. To pass time by I pull out my song book again and flip open to my current song page. I see both Peyton and Brooke lean forward out of the corners of my eyes. They're both trying to get a peak in my book. I immediately shut my book and fall back into my seat. So much for getting some work done.
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We're out of the airport and finally back home. I have missed this place so much. I haven't been here since last Christmas when I stayed with Lucas and Karen. I've become so close with him and his mom, it's like they're my family. It's now I realize something. I'm back home and I haven't even told Lucas.
"Peyton, does Luke know we're back in town?" I ask her quickly as we hand our luggage to the cab driver and get in the car.
"no" sweet. Can you say surprise visit? "but I was about to call him to let him know"
"no, wait, can we surprise him? I haven't seen my best friend in like a year"
"alright, but remember he has that heart condition. No heart attacks, got it?"
"yeah, yeah"
"where to ladies?" the driver asks us.
"167 Sunshine Boulevard" wait, that's not Karen's address. Oh wait, I forgot Peyton and Luke moved in together.
"aww! You guys live on a street called Sunshine Boulevard?" I ask excitedly. That's just too cute. "do you guys have white picket fence and a golden retriever? Oh no wait, you must have the prize winning rose garden and a balcony that overlooks the whole town!" I say thinking of the most stereotypical American dream things I can think of.
"oh, you're so funny" she says sarcastically.
As soon as the car comes to a stop I jump out the door, leaving my luggage behind, and going straight into the house.
"where is he?" I ask out loud, to Peyton.
"try the bedroom" she says and I continue to run into the gorgeous house. I open the door quietly, not even closing it behind me. I quietly run up the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible and I feel like a little kid on an Easter egg hunt. I pass by a few rooms, none of which are his bedroom. There's the guest bedroom, office, bathroom, another guest bedroom… wait that's not a guest room. And is that Lucas Scott I see, still lying in bed? Aw look, he's still sleeping. Well let's see what we can do to change that. I creep inside the room and without hesitation I jump on the bed and straight onto him, quickly knocking him awake.
"Haley?!" he asks as she jolts up from the bed.
"Lucas!" I yell happily as I wrap my arms around him, pushing him back into the bed.
"where's Peyton?" I feel offended here.
"I, Haley James, your rock star best friend, am here sitting in your bed after not seeing you for like 10 months and the first thing you ask is 'where's Peyton?'?"
"no…?"
"good, because I might have to hit you if you did do that" I say wrapping my arms around him again. This time I feel him wrap his arms around me back.
"so wait, what are you doing here?"
"Brooke, Peyton and I are in town looking for Rachel because she went missing and we thought this would be the best place to look, because no one else has seen her" I say all in one breath.
"okay…" he says, trying to comprehend it. "….can I ask where Peyton is now?"
"ugh, fine, she's down stairs" I say sliding to the side and getting off of him.
"thank you" he says with a smile as he kisses my forehead and heads down stairs to see Peyton. I swear if they weren't so in love I'd be pretty angry right now.
I exit the bedroom and look over the railing to see Lucas and Peyton hug each other and kiss. Can you say ew? The pull back and Peyton spots me at the top of the stairs.
"hey, Brooke's lugging in your crap, so you might want to go help" she says pointing to the door. I bet she just wants some alone time with Lucas. I head down the stairs and out the door to see Brooke rolling two suit cases in, and struggling at that.
"aw, thank you" I say giving her a kiss on the cheek and grabbing my suit case from her hand.
"sure thing" she says as we both enter the house to see Lucas and Peyton, in fact making out.
"alright you two, no PDA in front of us" I say breaking them apart.
"yeah, don't make us upstage you two" Brooke says wrapping one arm around my waist.
"alright, alright" Lucas agrees. "so I guess it looks like we have two more guests to add to the list"
"what do you mean list?" Peyton asks.
"didn't I tell you? Nathan's coming into town for a few days"
"Nathan?!" I yell excitedly. "I haven't seen that guy in forever!" wow, total Tree Hill reunion!
"yeah, well professional basketball players tend to get busy"
"so do rock stars, fashion designers, novelists and music producers, but here we all are" I point out, making everyone laugh out loud.
"oh, how I've missed you" Lucas says wrapping an arm around me and pulling me towards the kitchen.
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"okay, so explain to me again why we're going to Charlotte?" Lucas asks. We're all piled into Peyton's car with Lucas in front and Brooke and I in the back.
"We're going down to Charlotte because Rachel's house was empty" Peyton starts.
"and Rachel's son, Alex, still lives down in Charlotte with his parents" I say.
"so, we're thinking Rachel went down there to visit him and get away from everyone else, but we're not sure. So we're going down to see" Brooke concludes.
"okay… and why did Rachel run away?" ooh, he doesn't know. Well I'm not telling him. The car goes silent because none of us want to say anything. I see Luke turn around to look at all of us as if none of us heard the question. "… alright, what happened?"
"fine… I'll tell him" Brooke says, with a hint of anger in her voice. "Peyton and Rachel decided it would be 'best' to tell Haley to stay away from me so I wouldn't be happy"
"we didn't mean for you to be unhappy!" Peyton counters from the driver's seat. "we just didn't want you to get hurt!"
"by keeping the person I love, away from me?! I'm no genius or anything, but I'm pretty sure something's screwed up in your logic!" Brooke yells as she leans forward to get closer to Peyton.
"we were trying to keep you from getting hurt again!" Peyton yells back.
Brooke is about to yell something back, again, when Lucas cuts in. "okay, wow! I didn't think a simple question would spark a huge fight like that"
"try sitting through an entire flight with them" I mutter quietly and I see Brooke and Peyton glare at me. Maybe it wasn't as quiet as I thought. "so how old is Alex now?" I ask in hope of a quick subject change.
"6 I think" Brooke answers.
"wow, can you believe it's been 6 years since he was born? 7, almost since Rachel was pregnant" Peyton comments as her gaze falls directly onto the road.
"we probably won't even notice him. I mean, last time we saw him he was just a little baby. Now he's 6. He's already in school" Brooke says.
"God I hope Rachel is there. Because once I get there I'm going to want to see that kid. And if she's not there it's going to be kind of weird."
"yeah, speaking of weird, isn't it kind of odd that Alex's adoptive parents would let Rachel and all of you see Alex all the time?" I ask.
"you'd think so. But in high school the parents understood that Rachel might still have an attachment to her own son. But as time went on Rachel visited less and less, and now it's only like once a year that she sees him" Peyton says.
"the parents wanted their son to know their biological mother" Brooke adds. Makes sense I guess.
"okay, I know this is a little off topic, but how did four of the most powerful women in New York manage to get away from work for a few days to come back to Tree Hill?" Lucas asks randomly. And he's right about the powerful women part. All four of us were featured in People magazine in the top 100 most powerful women in New York. Brooke being the most powerful of the four of us.
"I brought my work with me" I say holding up my song book.
"hey, me too!" Peyton says jokingly as she looks back to me through the rear view mirror. Everyone else starts laughing.
"Brooke?"
"told Victoria I was working on Haley James' special dress for her award show and needed a few days" Brooke tells us all.
"What about you Luke?" I ask.
"oh, I'm a writer, I can bring my work with me" he says pulling out his lap top.
"I hear that" I say giving him a quick high five. We are so coordinated.
So I know that was kind of an odd way to end a chapter; totally not my style. But I'm hoping to have the next chapter up soon. I know it usually takes me forever to post and trust me, I hate myself for it. But I'm working on my a couple of new Spashley stories for SON which should be out soon.