Chapter Five ...
"Strong Enough To Break"
Hanson
Things keep coming and I keep wondering
I start feeling the walls close in
Things keep coming and I keep stumbling
I start feeling I'm strong enough to break
Oh, I start feeling I'm strong enough to break
Been running through my mind today
Scenarios to add to your hypocrisy
No one ever takes the blame

But everyone is looking for a cure to the pain

I sat in my room, alone and upset. At that moment in time I really felt like the most idiotic person in the world. I knew how cliché it sounded but, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was ready for something to change in my life. There was no way I was ever going to stop loving Nathan, but there was a way that the love I felt for him could change.

As hard as it was, I stood up, walked over to the mirror, looked at myself and said, "Now is the time." My strawberry blonde hair, which fell past my shoulders, was knotted from lying around. As I was walking into my bathroom to take a shower and clean up, my cell phone rang. It was Lucas. "Hey." He said. "I have been trying to call your house for an hour. I kept getting a busy signal."

I looked at my phone, which was still off the hook. "Oh yeah. Sorry." I picked the phone up and put it back on the carrier. "I talked to Nathan and..."

"How did that go?" Lucas and I had always been friends but since the whole Nathan/Haley thing, he had really been there for me. I was starting to enjoy him more than I liked to admit.

I rolled my eyes. "He and Hales are moving away for the summer." Lucas said oh. "That's more than I said." I told him. "I just don't get it Lucas. Moving away? I mean could they make one more stupid mistake?"

Lucas sighed. "I hate to say it Madison, but did you every think that what they are doing is making them happy? Maybe this was supposed to happen. Maybe something good can come out of this."

"I know one good thing that came out of this." I thought to myself. "Lucas." I nodded my head, "Ya know Lucas, and maybe you're right. Everything does happen for a reason. This is no exception." I picked the outfit I had decided on earlier off of the floor. "Do you wanna go do something?" I paused. "Let's go to the beach. All of us."

"Are you sure you are up for that?" He asked me politely.

I smiled, "Right now, I am up for anything.

----- A car full of teenagers was always a recipe for trouble. Especially when those teenagers included a previous love triangle, a hostile ex-best friend, and a newly married couple. We all headed to Wrightsville Beach. Wrightsville was 20 minutes from Tree Hill and full of old memories. It was the place where the girls finally defeated the boys in volleyball weeks earlier. It was the place where Peyton thought she got stung by a jellyfish, but really just stepped on an old piece of glass, and it was the place where Nathan and I shared our first kiss.

Although we never dated, we were very close. We did everything together before Haley came into the picture. Now don't get me wrong, you will never meet a sweeter girl than Haley, but Nathan and she were too different. I know Nathan changed, but not enough to be with her.

Brooke drove her fathers 2004 Cadillac Escalade. We all piled out at once. Lucas took my hand and helped me out. I smiled at the gesture. He winked back. Lucas made me feel good. If it weren't for him, I would have been at home balling my eyes out. But I wasn't. I was at the beach having a good time with my friends. For a moment I felt like a normal high schooler who was just glad to be out of school.

I grabbed my towel out of the trunk. I nonchalantly walked toward the ocean, threw my cover up and towel onto the sand and said, "Last one in the ocean buys meals!"

Once in the water, I felt arms around I waist. It was Lucas. He had the most perfect blue eyes. His smile could make anyone feel better, even me. I kissed him on the forehead and said, "Thank you."