"Are you guys okay?" Lindsay asked bravely as she pushed her way forward, "We're really sorry about that, it was a total accident."

"Accident? Well if you guys learned to watch the freaking road, there wouldn't have been an "accident"," The brunette fumed, crossing her arms tightly against her chest.

"Hey now," Ryan stepped in front of Lindsay protectively, "We just want to make sure you guys are okay."

"Yeah," Summer threw in, "I mean it wasn't our fault. We were trying to dodge a squirrel, and-"

"Great, I'm glad Mr. Nutterbutters is fine," She narrowed her eyes, "But as you can see there's a baby in our car. Do you really think the life of a squirrel is more important then that of a child's? She could have serious physical and psychological damage for the rest of her life!"

"Cool it Brooke," A blonde, curly haired girl emerged from the car holding the completely calm baby, "Jenny is just fine."

"Okay, how about my car?" Brooke asked, walking around to the front of her bug. "This is going to cost hundreds of dollars to repair!"

"Our insurance will cover it," Seth assured immediately but then glanced over his shoulder at Ryan, "right?"

Ryan nodded, "of course, your dad made sure we had insurance on the car. Everything is taken care of."

"Now that all of that is taken care of," Marissa stated, "Where the hell are we?"

"There's no major city in a 50 mile radius," Zach informed, he'd taken over Summer's navigating an hour into their trip when she proved to be horrible at it.

"I'll call triple A and see if they can bail us out of this God-forsaken nowhere land," Summer responded immediately pulling out a cell phone.

"Wait just a second," the Californian's turned their attention back to the blonde they'd completely forgotten about.

"Yeah?" Seth asked.

"There's a auto body shop in Tree Hill, they'll tow you're car and can fix it there if you want," the blonde suggested as her friend talked harshly into the phone.

"Dammit Nathan," the angry brunette's voice rose before anyone could respond to the blonde's offer. "I need a tow truck now, not 45 minutes from now. Yeah there's another car too but you better bet your ass you're towing mine first. Well their's but...well I didn't try but...fine whatever 45 minutes."

"So we're waiting here for another 45 minutes?" Marissa questioned, growing restless in the humidity that she was by no means used to.

"Unfortunately, yes," Brooke nodded after flipping her phone shut and turning to Peyton, "Nathan's going to come pick their car up but he said mine sounds like it's drivable. So I'm thinking we should get going before anything else can go wrong."

"Wait," Peyton said, bouncing Jenny to keep her quiet, "We can't just leave them all here. We should wait until Nathan comes."

"Fine, whatever," Brooke shrugged but made her way to the drivers side of the car anyway, "But I'm waiting in the car with the AC pumped." Brooke slammed the door, leaving everyone to stare at each other awkwardly.

"We're really sorry about all of this," Seth offered again, unsure of what else to say.

"It's fine, really," She reassured them with a smile, "Brooke is just...Brooke. I should be apologizing to you guys. But I'm Peyton by the way, and this is Jenny." Peyton grabbed Jenny's fist and waved it at the others jokingly.

"Hi, Jenny," Summer cooed, suddenly taking on a maternal instinct. After tickling the baby for a couple of seconds, she stood back up and introduced everyone, "I'm Summer, the tall skinny chick is Marissa, the tall skinny dude is Seth, the broody guy over there is Ryan, and that's his girlfriend Lindsay, and lastly this here is Zach, my boyfriend." Summer patted Zach's shoulder, but didn't turn to face him.

"So where are you all from?" Peyton asked, squinting from the sun.

"Orange County, California," Ryan answered, "We were headed for Miami."

"Orange County, wow," Peyton laughed, "So you guys must be the wealthy kids,
huh?"

"Yeah, for the most part," Marissa admitted as she picked at her manicured nails, "don't be fooled by it though. People with money are just like everyone else, except they have more to lose."

"Not quite as much to lose out here," Peyton grinned, "Tree Hill isn't wealthy
like Orange County, but we're not exactly bad off either. It's basically a toss up. But everything is pretty comfortable, and we all get along...for the most part."

"You can, you know, go," Marissa suggested half an hour into the hot wait as Jenny began to fuss.

Peyton waved her off, "Really it's fine. Jenny's just ready for her nap, she'll probably fall asleep soon."

"Is she yours?" Seth inquired bluntly.

"No," Peyton shook her head. "She's my boyfriend's."

"Oh," Seth nodded and with the rest of the group. By then everyone had either settled on the grassy median or continued to stand.

"What the hell is up with this weather?" Summer snapped, tugging at her dark hair that was taking on a curly look, "I mean how in the hell can there be this much humidity, I don't think I can breathe."

"Can you bitch some more?" Brooke had finally stepped out of her car, "God spoiled rich kids.

Peyton couldn't help but shoot her best friend an amused glance through her scolding, "Come on Brooke, cut them some slack."

"Slack?" Brooke arched an eyebrow, "They hit me remember? And yet somehow
I get stuck waiting for their tow truck, when I should just being taking my poor car in to be fixed."

"Your car?" Summer demanded, "Our minivan isn't even drivable."

"And whose fault is that?" Brooke questioned.

"The squirrel..."

"Oh God here we go," Brooke moaned. Before the two petite brunettes could continue to go at it, a tow truck pulled up to the median.

"Thank God," Zach muttered; even he was tired of Brooke and Summer's arguing. As the driver of the tow truck climbed out, Marissa couldn't help but openly stare at him.

"Hello salty goodness," She breathed, not even realizing she'd said it out loud.

"Don't bother," Peyton commented, shifting Jenny in her arms, "He's married."

"Married?" Marissa's eyes went wide, "But he looks like he's our age."

"He is."


A/N: I'm ecstatic to hear that you guys are liking this so far! Slowly but surely it's moving along, bear with it, lol! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews though, we appreciate them and they really help boost our productivity!

Love Always,

Ali and Steph