A/N: Guys, I seriously love you You're all just the best! Every single one of your reviews just got me so happy!!

And I'm so glad you guys love Fin and Oli! They're like my mini project and there my, as I like to call them, babies cause I just want them to be in this story and well liked so I'm super excited you all like them and don't mind when I just have scenes with those two and none of the core 4.

A/N II: I know it's not Saturday (which would be the day this chapter is supposed to be up), but I'm actually going to be out of town this weekend and thought well since I have the most awesome readers who give me feedback that make me laugh and feel loved than I need to give them a new chapter on Friday instead of late Monday night when I come back.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Lost Without You

Tree Hill, NC

Lucas sat drumming his fingers, as if they were drums, against the wooden desk while he thought not about the lecture his Science teacher was giving the class but of what Peyton might be doing at this second. She's probably still sleeping. Eight-thirty in the morning in North Carolina meant five-thirty in the morning in California.

His book remained closed even when Mr. Clementon had ordered his class to turn to page 105 for a quick review of the anatomy of a cell. He'd heard little tidbits of mitochondria's and endoplasmic's and that was only because it reminded him of the first time he'd actually met Peyton. The little name game they had going on. Never thinking that her name could actually Peyton, but soon following the realization that the name fit her perfectly.

Feeling the slight tingling tickle of the vibration against his outer thigh he reached into his pocket and fetched the small device that was his cell phone. There on the screen held a small electronically envelope informing him that he had a new text message from Peyt; he didn't hesitate to open it.

He smiled remembering that when she was still here he'd send her a message every morning wishing her a 'good morning' and 'I'll be seeing ya'. Although now it was replaced with a 'good morning' and 'hope you have a good day'.

'Good morning to you too. I miss you.' He read her message to himself.

Abruptly standing from his seat the stool's legs scratched against the floor rather loudly.

"Mr. Scott." His teacher began to call after him. "Mr. Scott?" Looking up Lucas wasn't the least bit surprised to see that all eyes were on him. "Class isn't over yet."

That didn't stop him from grabbing his coat and walking out. He had only made it forty-five minutes into the school day and most would argue that it wasn't something to celebrate; Lucas on the other hand would have to disagree. In fact, that was forty-five whole minutes more than yesterday's school day.

He was sure there would be a note that would sooner or later be sent to his mother or father's house seeing as how he's only attended twenty-five out of the forty days of school since she's been gone. Lucas had already been threatened by his guidance counselor that if he missed even a couple more days that was an automatic fail for the year and he'd have to retake his senior year all over again. Lucas Scott the super senior.

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder he walked through the quad dialing a number he's memorized since the first day he got it.

"Hey."

"Luke!" He could hear her squeak happily through the phone. "Wait. What are you doing calling me? You're supposed to be in class."

"I just wanted to say good morning to you." Telling that she was about to protest he quickly added- "Plus, I really wanted to hear your voice."

She paused glad that he couldn't see her blush. Even almost three thousand miles away he still had the effect on her.

"I'm glad you called. I can't argue with that because it's a great way to start off my morning." Peyton spoke while she rummaged through her closet for something to wear. "Hey Luke, so this is real random, but will you do something for me?"

"Sure."

"Grunt like a gorilla."

"What?" he laughed at her request.

"Grunt like a gorilla."

"For what?"

"For old time sakes."

"I've never grunted like a gorilla in front of you."

"Come on." She whined.

"I will not grunt like a gorilla."

"If you do this I'll tell you what color underwear I'm wearing." She bit her lip trying to stifle the giggle that wanted to escape. There was silence for a good five seconds before Peyton finally broke it. "I had you considering the grunt, didn't I?"

"Yes." Lucas confessed squinting as he looked up at the bright blue sky.

"Boy-" She finally laughed. "-I'm good."

"Yes you are." He admitted. "So, how's your battle wound healing?"

The name Nathan gave it two months back had stuck. No one referred to it as a gunshot wound seeing as they had all wanted to forget that day.

"It's turning into a pretty awesome battle scar. They finally removed the last stitching last week and they say it's healing perfectly."

"Good." Lucas shook his head even if she couldn't see him. "That's real good, Peyt."

"Yeah." Peyton whispered thinking that she would trade her 'battle scar' any day to just go back to Tree Hill. "Luke, I'll call you tonight. Mick's at the door."

He's realized a while back that every time she had referred to her dad it was always by his first name. He felt bad that the relationship between father and child had been strained and seeing as Mick was the only parent she had he wasn't sure if she had anyone else to turn to. At that moment he was grateful he had a dad, a mom, and an uncle who was just like another father to him. Hell even Deb, his stepmother, wasn't too bad.

"Yeah no problem. Bye Peyt."

"Bye Luke."

He kept the phone close to his ear until he could hear the dial tone and when he finally did he reluctantly put it back into his pocket.

The air outside had become chilly, the March air sparing no one and showing no signs of spring coming around. He thought of his days that were mostly spent at the Rivercourt. He knows he's distanced himself away from the ones who care about him, but somehow every time they said something it was always the wrong thing. Maybe he was just being a little touchy on certain subjects, but somehow it had always turned into a heated argument. First it was Keith, than his dad, his coach, mom, Brooke, and lastly Nathan.

Deciding to take the day to ditch, what was one more day, he walked through the town. He's lived here for his whole life and he didn't realize just how small it could be, so when he finished walking through he noticed only two hours had passed. Taking a stroll through the back roads was about to cross his mind when he could hear sirens behind him.

Tree Hill being such a small place there were only maybe five cops and two cars tops. There was never really any violence that happened; hell even domestic disturbances only occurred three times a year so when Lucas turned and watched the officer approach him he didn't know what exactly to think.

"Mr. Ayala."

"Lucas. What are you doing out of school?" When all the officer received was a shrug of the shoulders he opened the passenger door to his car. "Come on, get in." The ride back to Tree Hill High had been silent, not even the police radio went off. "Oh and just to give you a heads up Dan and Karen are waiting for you in there."

Oh yes, Tree Hill residence knew everybody's business.

The hallways were empty of students and Lucas liked it that way. He couldn't handle looking at other students that were together. It made his blood boil and that's most likely the reason why he'd get into intense arguments with Nathan when Brooke was around; it was just jealousy. Lucas had what they all did and in a split second it was taken from him.

Making his way into the administrative office he caught Nathan sitting by the door and before he was going to ask him what was going on the door to the Principal's office opened and Turner instructed the two to come in with the slight motion of his index finger.

Saying hi to his mom Lucas turned to look at Dan. "Is that dad?" He asked Nathan confused.

"Yes, Lucas, it's me." Dan had said obviously upset.

"What died on your face?" He asked squinting his eyes just slightly confused. He'd been in his own little world for a while now that he hadn't even realized that Dan had been growing a mustache, a hideous mustache to be exact. "Hey Uncle Keith I didn't know you'd be here." Keith just nodded. "Okay, what is this some intervention?"

"Now, Mr. Scott." Principal Turner began to speak.

"Yes?" Dan, Keith, Lucas, and Nathan answered.

"I meant the older…" There was a slight agitated look from the two older Scott men. "I'm sorry not old… Less-"

"Handsome?" Nathan offered.

"Less hair?" Lucas added.

"Less friends on myspace?"

"How about I just call you Mayor Scott?" Turner asked. "Now we're all here to talk about Lucas' poor attendance."

"What do you mean by poor?" Karen demanded to know. She had been under the assumption that her son was going to school every weekday.

"Well, Miss. Roe, Lucas has had more unexcused absences than he's been in class."

"What?" She asked turning her head to the side quickly facing toward Lucas and seething just a bit. "What do you do when you leave my house every morning to go to school?" He didn't say a word. "Lucas Eugene Scott. Answer me."

"I just do stuff." He spoke nonchalantly. As if it was no big deal.

"Stuff?" Dan rose from his chair. "You do realize that when you cut class you fail assignments which leads to being cut from the team which means missing out on games and future scouts looking for great players. You're a phenomenal player, Lucas and you're throwing your future away."

"Luke," Nathan intervened. "The championship is next week and coach is close to kicking you off. You haven't been to practice in over three weeks. He's let you slide for this long, but I think that you're lucky streak is over. You need to get back on the ball, man."

"He's right, honey." Karen spoke next. "Don't do something you're going to regret. Do you really want to be here the same time next year while everyone you know goes off to college? I know the shooting affected you, but maybe it's time to go back to being you again."

He listened closely, but they just didn't understand. He couldn't go back to being him without Peyton.

"I know like it seems we don't get it, Luke." Keith said gently. "And maybe we don't. But you need to think about your choices now and how they'll affect you in the long run. Come on now, do you think Peyton's going to want a high school kid when she's in college?" he joked smiling. "If you don't want to do this for yourself than do it for the both of your futures."

"And all of this for a girl." Dan rolled his eyes.

"She's just not a girl." Lucas hissed unexpectedly, standing from the chair he left the room but not before slamming the door.

"Way to go Dan." Keith gave him two thumbs up and had a cynical smile on his face. "I can't believe you lost father of the year to Mr. Johansson."

"He's just being childish." Dan stated as if he was right.

***

Later that evening Lucas ended up at his dad's house, he would have rather gone to his mother's place but seeing as how he'd been there everyday the past month he'd figure it would be nice to give his mom and Keith sometime alone.

Treading up the steps he passed by Nathan's room and could hear laughter that belonged to him and Brooke. This is the sole reason why Lucas had stayed away. He couldn't have that and it hurt too much to see what could've been.

"Whoa. Luke's actually staying here tonight?" Brooke asked curiously when she heard the footsteps outside Nathan's door. She's at the Scott household practically single second of everyday and this is the first time she's seen her boyfriend's brother outside of school.

"I guess." Nathan shrugged.

Hearing the slam of the opposite door Brooke peaked through. A sign from Lucas' childhood hung on his door.

"Come on." Brooke pulled Nathan off the bed, or at least tried. "Let's go check up on Broody."

"His door's closed and in case you're confused, Brooke, closed means 'go away, stay out'."

"Yes, in the negative language dictionary. Which is clearly your only edition." She rolled her eyes. "But in the positive language edition, closed means 'come in, step over the chain, there's so many less people that'll trample over what you're looking for. Plus when has a closed door ever stopped us before?"

"You've got a point there, but that's Luke in full broody angst stage. He got pissed when Dan had called Peyton just some girl."

"I think it's sweet that he got angry. I mean wouldn't you get mad at Dan if he just called me some girl."

"Yeah." Nathan felt his hands turn into fists already by just thinking of it.

"Okay than. Come on its damage control time."

And that's one of the reason's Nathan Scott loves his girlfriend.

They stood next to each other waiting for the other to be the first to knock on the door unsure of what exactly was behind it. Of course Lucas, but what Lucas? Happy Lucas? Broody Lucas? Angry Lucas? or Upset Lucas? The possibilities were endless.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Knock on the door, Nate."

"This was your idea."

"He's your brother."

"Fine." Giving in Nathan lightly thumped on the door.

"What kind of knock was that?" Brooke wondered. They had been light taps on the surface that would be hard to hear even if the room was dead silent. "If you want something done you got to do it yourself." She knocked loudly. "Luke?"

Silence.

"Lucas?" She rasped out. Still no answer, but she got laughter from him. "Well than I'm taking that as a come right on in." Turning the knob she was glad that it hadn't been locked and slowly opened the door ajar. Slowly poking her head through the small crack she smiled when Lucas waved them in. "Sweet, Peyton's on the phone." Came the response to Nathan while she opened the rest of the door wide open.

"How do you know?" Nathan asked, but when he walked in he knew she was right.

"Because he's smiling of course."

The two sat in the middle of the bed while Lucas sat on the swivel chair to his desk. Sitting there silently they watched carefully as Lucas talked into the phone and would stay quite while he listened to Peyton retell him of what her day was filled with. The smile never faltering and when he agreed he shook his head; little movements that he would do as if she was facing him and telling him all of her adventures in person instead of just on the phone.

"They're so cute." Brooke stated and a brilliant idea popped into her head. "We should do something for them." She whispered in a low sultry voice.

"Like what?"

"Send him to visit her?"

Their voices were low, almost mumbled, but Lucas didn't seem to noticed as he listened to Peyton tell him about the 80 degree weather in March and the day at the beach when Oli got stung by jellyfish and Peyton trying to convince Fin to pee on their friend to release him of his pain.

"You do realize he's still paying for that last trip with Karen. It's basically school, practice, and home. Not to mention that she just found out that Lucas isn't going to those first two places. She'll kill him and us if we try to do something without her knowledge."

"And this is one of the many reasons I'm glad dad and Victoria are hardly ever home." She sighed. "Oh, we'll talk about this later Luke's about to get off the phone with Peyton."

True to her word not more than three seconds later the call had ended. Nathan would tell her she had a knack for these sorts of things, but Brooke would just reply and say that she doesn't. Lucas' face gave it all away; the way his smile didn't reach either ear or the way the sparkle quickly left his eyes.

"So, how's Sawyer doing?" Nathan asked even though he's spoken to her already.

"She's doing pretty well." Lucas stated. Suddenly it was as if he sunk a little deeper into the hole he was digging himself into. Was she really doing better without him?

'Oh crap.' Nathan thought.

"Way to go boyfriend." Brooke nudged sharply. He had asked the wrong thing. Even though recently everything had been the wrong thing to say or ask this here was the worst because it led to doubt.

He had no reason to doubt and he knew that, but for some reason he couldn't stop it. It was brought up in almost everything, or so it felt like. Lucas had been wondering the same things that he was reassuring Peyton of.

"Can you both just leave?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah sure."

"No problem."

It was indeed a major problem. Walking out of the room they could feel the cold gust of wind from the door being slammed shut.

"I'm tired of his crazy bipolar-"

"Crap." Nathan finished.

"I was going to say attitude, but yeah you pretty much summed it up."

"Something needs to be done." They spoke in unison as they threw themselves back on the bed.

A/N: So there you have it. I myself am not too sure about this chapter. But I hope you all like it ! Drop me a line cause those always make me smile no matter what! It makes me feel appreciated and who doesn't want to feel that?

So now I'm off to work than straight after work it's time for that mini Road Trip. Two hours in the car to get there! I wish I would have made an awesome Road Mix. O'well I have the Glee soundtrack lol.

You guys have a fun weekend and expect the new chapter up on Tuesday (the original day it would be posted)!

Name of Title is a song by Robin Thicke