Flashbacks are in italics
1/3
TAYLOR AND SYDNEY'S
The next morning, Taylor began to stir from her sleep, and rolled over. She hit another body, and felt instant dread. Shit. Do I remember what happened last night? Wait, did I even do anything last night?
"Do you mind? People are trying to sleep, and I find it very hard when there is someone in my sleep bubble." Faith said sleepily
Taylor breathed a sigh of relief and laughed. "Your sleep bubble?"
"Yes. I need a certain amount of sleep space, and you are definitely violating it at the moment."
Taylor scooted back over to her side of the bed. "Better?"
"Much."
"I didn't even hear you come in last night. Did you get any sleep?"
"Sorry. I would have just stayed on the couch, but Lucas ended up staying out there. I figured that it would be really bad if I woke up next to him in his girlfriend's living room, so I took your invite to stay in here. Hope you don't mind." Faith yawned
"No, not at all. So what did you do after I went to bed?"
"So Faith? What's your story?" Lucas asked
"What makes you think that I have one?" Faith smiled
After Brooke, Peyton, Nathan, and Haley had all left after the movie, Taylor and Sydney had gone into the room to talk, leaving Faith and Lucas alone in the living room.
"Everyone has a story. Otherwise the world would be a boring place." Lucas said
"Damn, B was right. You are a super serious guy." Faith laughed at the look Lucas gave her. "But unlike B, I don't think that it's such a bad thing."
"Please tell me that I have found someone else who doesn't only care about having fun." Lucas said hopefully
"I used to be like you, believe it or not. Kept to myself, liked reading more than almost anything. But shit happens and people change. Doesn't mean that I don't like a good serious conversation once in a while. I don't get much of them now-a-days."
"Brooke?"
"I swear that chick never slows down." Faith smiled. "Tell me about you."
"Hey! I asked you first." Lucas complained
"So bite me."
"Fine, you win. I don't have much to tell. I'm sure that Brooke filled you in on everything there is to know about me."
"Somewhat. But I want to hear your version of your life, not Brooke's."
"Fair enough. My mom, Karen, raised me here in Tree Hill. You met her at the BBQ. It was us against the world until I was about 9, and then Haley became a part of our little family. We were best friends for so long; hell, we still are, just under different circumstances. I always knew about my father, Dan Scott, but I never knew him personally. He was always just the asshole that knocked-up my mom and then left. After getting my mom pregnant, he went off to college and met Deb. She got pregnant with Nathan. Dan's brother Keith pretty much fulfilled our family, even though there is nothing between my mom and Keith.
"So Nathan and I started to see each other more during sophomore year when I joined the basketball team, and my life changed drastically after that. I started dating Brooke, and then Peyton, and Haley started dating Nathan. Well, Peyton and I never actually dated. But I'm sure Brooke told you all of that. There was so much drama between us all when we first started hanging out with each other."
"And you guys have outgrown the drama so much." Faith joked"Believe me, from where we were then, we've grown a lot." Lucas laughed
"You guys are a pretty tight circle aren't you?"
"We were. We're all starting to drift now." Lucas sighed. "Now that I have bored you to death, what's your deal?"
"You left out so much though!" Faith said
"Believe me, no one wants to hear about the rest." Lucas reassured her
Lucas and Faith were interrupted by Sydney coming out of Taylor's room. She looked as if she had been crying.
"Hey Syd. Are you ok?" Lucas asked his girlfriend
"I'll be fine. Are you staying the night Luke?" Sydney asked
"I'm not sure. I'll just crash out here if I do though, that way I don't wake you." Lucas said
"Ok. Faith, Taylor said you can just go to her room whenever you get done out here." Sydney smiled"Ok. Thanks Sydney. Night." Faith smiled back
"Are you sure you are ok Syd?" Lucas double-checked
"Yeah. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Sydney went to her room and shut the door
"Do you need to go check on her?" Faith asked, concerned
"She wouldn't talk to me even if I did. She doesn't like to talk when she's upset. She'll talk to me tomorrow." Lucas said. "Now tell me about you.""You're a persistent little guy aren't you?"
"That's what Scott's are known for." Lucas smiled
Faith laughed and shook her head. "Ok. So you want to know about me? Well, I was adopted when I was 5 after living from place to place. I don't remember all the places I lived those 5 years, which is sort of sad. I mean, I don't even know where I was born. Its sad to grow up not knowing where you were and who you were with the first years of your life. But I'm over that. My biological mom was a junkie, and my biological father ran off with some whore. So I'm told at least. My 'parents' now are actually my aunt and uncle, who both need serious help. My 'mom' is literally psychotic, and my 'dad' is an abusive bastard. They could care less about what I do, which makes me wonder why they adopted me in the first place.
"As a kid, I basically lived in my room, reading books that I stole from 'Goodwill' when my parents wouldn't give me money to buy them. It stayed that way until sophomore year of high school when I fell in with the wrong crowd. See, when I was a freshman, I moved to California to stay with another aunt because my parents were dealing with a bunch of shit I wasn't supposed to be a part of. I stayed a good kid through freshman year. I got good grades and kept to myself, reading in my spare time. Then when I finally started meeting people sophomore year, it went downhill. I started doing drugs, sleeping around, skipping all my classes, normal delinquent things. When my best friend died from a heroin overdose, I chose to clean my life up. I didn't really have a lot of good friends besides her, so it wasn't hard to break all ties. I got back on track at school, and pretty much kept to myself again. I caught a ride back to New York with one of my friends, partially hoping to get together with him. Then I remembered that I was trying to straighten out, so I ditched him and moved back in with my parents.
"When I got back to New York, I started to get to know Elisha, Brett, Jeremy, and Scooter, and realized that I didn't have to live my life alone. We have been friends for about a year and a half now, and they are great. Then Brooke came along, and she's been the best friend I've had since my best friend in California. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do when she moves back here." Faith smiled"Oh my God. Faith, I'm so sorry." Lucas said, guilty that he had pushed her to talk
"It's alright. So that's my life." Faith shrugged
"If you don't mind, can I ask why you've never turned your dad in for abuse?"
"Because he makes the money. I would be out on my ass if he were gone. Besides, bruises heal."
"Does he still?"
"Only when he's drunk. But I try to never be home, so it doesn't happen often.""Faith, you need-"
"No offense Lucas, but you have no idea what I need. Have you ever watched your so-called dad beat the shit out of your mom? Have you ever woken up one day, naked and laying next to someone you had never seen before in a place you've never been? Have you ever walked into that abortion clinic feeling completely empty, and walking out feeling even emptier than you could have ever imagined? Have you ever had someone else's blood on your hands because you needed your fix? Have you ever held your best friend in your arms as she took her last breath with a fucking needle still in her vein? Because until you can answer yes to any of those questions, you have no idea what the hell I need." Faith exploded
Lucas sat there, stunned. He stared at the girl before him, seeing her in a completely new light. He saw past the tough shell into the very core of a broken and hurting 17-year-old girl. No one should have to experience that. But she's so young. Lucas thought.
"Faith." Lucas was at a loss for words
"I'm sorry Lucas. I didn't mean to go off on you like that." Faith apologized quickly, feeling bad for unloading on him
"Don't apologize. I should be the one apologizing. You're completely right. I don't know what you need. But I can tell you one thing."
Faith looked at Lucas. "What's that?"
"You are an extremely strong girl. No one deserves that kind of life, but you have still come out of it. You overcame things that any normal person would have failed to even make out of alive. There's an amazing girl sitting before me, and although I don't know you that well, I just want to tell you that I am proud of you. You turned your life around to make it worth something. Most people in your situation would have just given up. You've accomplished more than most people ever do."
"No one has ever said that to me before." Faith said as a tear fell from her eye. "Thank you Lucas. That means so much to me."
Lucas smiled at Faith, and gave her a hug.
"I talked with Luke for a while. He's a really cool guy." Faith smiled
"Sometimes." Taylor laughed
"Well now that you've woken me up from my beauty sleep, I need some food. Do you have anything worth eating?"
"We can always go to the donut store across the street if we don't have anything."
"Awesome."
PEYTON'S
"Brooke, it's time to get up. You have a plane to catch in a few hours." Peyton said as she brushed some hair from Brooke's face with her fingers
Brooke slowly awoke to Peyton's touch. "I don't want to leave."
"I don't want you to either. But school starts tomorrow."
Brooke groaned. "Don't remind me." She yawned and stretched. "Alright Girlfriend, I'm up. Let's get ready and go get some breakfast."
"Sounds like a plan. Why don't you hop in the shower, and I'll go make some coffee." Peyton suggested
Brooke kissed Peyton. "You are a goddess." She giggled. "But this is the last morning I'm going to wake up next to you for another month and a half, so I just want to lay here with you." Brooke said as she kissed Peyton again
"Do you want to lay with me or take advantage of me?" Peyton mumbled against Brooke's lips
Brooke pulled back to look Peyton in the eye. "I want all of it Peyton. More than ever. I love you so much."
Peyton smiled. "I love you too Brooke."
While Brooke was in the shower, Peyton went into the kitchen where she came face-to-face with her father. Well that's a great way to start the day.
"Morning Pumpkin." Larry smiled when he noticed Peyton
"Dad." Peyton greeted shortly
"Where's Brooke?"
"Shower." Peyton went to the fridge and pulled out the orange juice. "You went shopping?"
"Yeah. I saw we were running low on food."
"You're leaving again aren't you?"
"It's only for two weeks Sweetie." Larry said, somehow trying to make it better
"Ok." Peyton said as she poured her juice
"Ok?"
"That's what I said. Have a good trip." Peyton grabbed her cup and started to walk out of the kitchen
"Peyton. Stop. What's the matter?"
Peyton turned around to face her father. "Do you really not know?"
"No baby, I don't."
Peyton scoffed. "You attacked my girlfriend last night. After you acted like everything was fine. And you had the nerve to send me away so you could attack Brooke alone!"
"Peyton, I'm sorry. I just-" Larry started, trying to redeem himself
Peyton held up a hand. "Save it. I really don't want to hear what you have to say right now. Have a nice trip."
Peyton turned her back on her father, and walked out of the room. Larry was left alone in the kitchen, worried about his only daughter. She's never acted like this before. I know that I am not home all that much, but Peyton has never been so…rude. Then again, she had a valid reason. Larry sighed, at a loss of what to do, and went back to making the plans for his trip
TAYLOR AND SYDNEY'S
"Hey girls. Sleep good?" Sydney asked from her spot next to Lucas on the couch-bed
Faith yawned. "I did until Taylor rolled her fat ass over on me."
"It's not my fault. I didn't know you had a damn sleep bubble." Taylor mocked Faith
"Sleep bubble?" Lucas laughed
"Shut up." Faith walked into the kitchen. "Wow. Looks like someone already hit the donut store."
"We didn't have any other food. I had to make sure that our guests got fed." Sydney laughed
"I appreciate that. I'm starved." Faith shove half a donut into her mouth
"Holy shit!" Taylor laughed at Faith. "Slow down Miss Piggy. The rest of us need food to function too."
A knock at the door made everyone jump. Taylor, who was right by the door on her way to the kitchen, stopped to open it.
"We brought breakfast goodies." Brooke smiled as she held up a box of donuts
"Add them to the bunch. God knows we'll need another box if Faith keeps chowing down on them." Taylor rolled her eyes
"Did you by any chance bring any-" Sydney began to ask. Brooke held up a carton of chocolate milk. "Chocolate milk. My kind of girl." Sydney smiled
"I'm glad someone else likes chocolate milk. I was beginning to think that I was the only one." Brooke laughed
"So how did it go with your dad?" Faith asked Peyton
"Horrible! I don't even want to talk about it." Peyton groaned
"So what time do you guys leave?" Lucas asked Brooke and Faith
"Three. Hey Faith, what do you say we forget New York and just stay here?" Brooke joked
"I'm down." Faith started on another donut
"Please! Take her back! She's gonna eat all the food in Tree Hill!" Lucas said to Brooke about Faith. "How many donuts is that for you now?" Lucas turned to Faith
"Hmm…let me think." Faith acted like she was thinking and then flipped Lucas off. "It's only my third, thank you."
"Damn girl!" Sydney laughed
"I see that you two made up." Taylor pointed to Lucas and Sydney
"Be glad that you two didn't come out of your room five minutes earlier." Sydney winked
"That's more than I ever needed to know." Peyton shuddered
"So are you all ready for school tomorrow?" Taylor snickered
Everyone groaned.
"Why did you have to remind me?" Brooke huffed
Taylor gave a little laugh. "Because I'm evil."
"That's an understatement." Sydney said seriously
"Uh oh, someone forgot to take their bitch pills this morning." Taylor said as if she was talking to a three-year-old
"Are you guys ever nice to each other?" Faith asked
Sydney and Taylor shared a look and answered in unison. "No."
After hanging out at the apartment the rest of the day, Peyton drove Faith and Brooke to the airport.
"I'm just going to go get our bags checked in." Faith said as she stepped out of the car. "It was very nice meeting you Peyton. Hopefully we can hang out again sometime."
"I'd really like that." Peyton smiled. "Keep an eye on my girl, will ya?"
"Count on it. You take care of yourself." Faith waved good-bye and left Brooke and Peyton alone in the car
"She's a really cool girl." Peyton said
"She's an awesome friend. I'm really going to miss her when I come back here."
The girls sat in silence for a moment, both captive to their own thoughts.
"Brooke-"
"Peyton-"
They both started at the same time. They both laughed, and the air in the car was much lighter afterwards.
"Go ahead." Brooke said
"I was just going to say that I am really going to miss you. I know that it's been weird, everything's that been happening these 2 weeks, but I really wish you were home and we could get back to normal." Peyton said
"Whatever normal is." Brooke laughed
"No shit."
"I know what you're saying Goldilocks. I feel the same way." Brooke turned to look Peyton in the eye. "Peyton, I'm worried about you."
"I'm going to be fine Brooke. I just need to sit and sort out all my thoughts. I've been surrounded by people for 2 weeks, and I think that I just need some alone time. I promise; I'm going to be fine." Peyton tried to convince Brooke
"I wish we had more time to talk about this, but we don't." Brooke sighed. "I love you, and I don't want to lose you Peyton, and I'm really scared that I will."
"Baby, look at me. You are not going to lose me." Peyton leaned in and kissed Brooke. "Come home to me soon, ok?"
"As soon as I can, I'll be back." Brooke looked at the clock. "I want to talk to you more, but I cant. I'll call you when I get home ok?"
"Actually, can you just give me a day or two? I just need some time to myself without any distractions."
"Of course. Anything you need." Brooke smiled
"Well right now I need you to kiss me." Peyton smiled mischievously. "I mean, how can I go-"
Peyton was interrupted by Brooke kissing her hard
"Final boarding call for Flight 218 to New York." A voice echoed through the empty lobby "Come on B. Where are you?" Faith muttered to herself
Brooke suddenly appeared around the corner, running towards Faith. Her face was flushed, and her hair was a mess, not to mention she was completely out of breath.
"I take it you parted well?" Faith smirked
Brooke just laughed as they handed in their tickets and boarded their flight.
PEYTON'S HOUSE
After dropping Brooke and Faith off at the airport, Peyton went home to find an empty house. Her father had left her a note, but other that that, there was no evidence he had even been home.
Peyton-
I'm sorry that I didn't get to say a proper good-bye, but I had to leave for my next job. I'm so sorry for the way I treated you and Brooke last night. I hope that you won't stay mad at me for too long. I left some money for you on the kitchen counter. I should be home in about 2 weeks.
Love,
Dad
"And once again, I'm all alone." Peyton sighed as he set the note down
Peyton went into her room and laid down on her bed. After staring at the ceiling in silence for a while, she jumped off the bed and put some music on. She grabbed her pencils and some art paper, and sat back on her bed to draw.
"Hey." Lucas said softly from Peyton's doorway as she was finishing up her drawing
"Lucas. Hey." Peyton said, startled
"Sorry. I rang the doorbell, but I think your music is too loud for you to hear it."
"It's fine. Come on in." Peyton set her drawing down on the bed and got up to lower the volume on the music
"It is your choice you know." Lucas said when she turned back around
"Are you always going to snoop through my drawings, Scott?" Peyton rolled her eyes. "You've been doing that since I first met you."
"You always leave them lying around." Lucas retorted
The drawing Lucas was now referring to was the one that Peyton had just completed. It was a picture of Sydney standing in a doorway, with the caption "IT'S YOUR CHOICE".
"What's up Lucas? Is there a reason you stopped by?" Peyton asked, sounding harsher than she had intended. "Sorry, that sounded kind of bitchy."
"It's ok. There's no specific reason. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing."
"I'm ok. Brooke left, my dad left, school starts again tomorrow…other than that, everything is good." Peyton smiled at Lucas
"I can see through that smile, you know." Lucas said seriously
"Luke, please. All that I want right now is to be alone and be able to think."
Lucas stood from the bed. "I get that. And I'll leave you alone; but you have to promise me something."
"And that would be?"
"Don't push everyone away again. There are a lot of people who care about you Peyton. Don't distance yourself from them."
"Ok Luke." Peyton smiled, a real smile this time, but she couldn't hide the sadness, and Lucas could see it. But he left without another word, like Peyton had wanted
ON THE PLANE
On the plane ride back to New York, Brooke and Faith were both silent. Brooke continued to look out the window, not being able to shake the bad feeling about leaving Peyton. Faith sat reading a book and listening to her iPOD.
About an hour into the flight, Brooke turned from the window to look at Faith. Realizing the girl was engrossed in her book and listening to her music, Brooke just sat staring at her.
"Is there something you wanted?" Faith asked, not looking up from her book
"I'm bored."
"I'm so sorry." Faith said non-sympathetically
"Faith! I'm bored! Entertain me." Brooke whined
Faith sighed as she closed her book and turned off her music. "You really should find some way to start amusing yourself."
"Why do that when I have you?" Brooke smiled
"Did you do any of the homework assigned to do over the break?"
"Please! I had no time!"
"Bad B." Faith slapped Brooke's hand. "How do you expect to succeed in life if you don't do what you are told missy?" Faith said, acting like a parent
Brooke scoffed. "Right. Did you do the homework?"
"Are you kidding? I don't think of school on my breaks!"
"You're a loser." Brooke rolled her eyes. "So what did you think about everyone?"
"They're all really cool. Except Taylor. She was odd." Faith joked
"You two seemed to be getting along pretty well the past few days. Care to share what that was about?"
Faith shrugged. "She's a cool chick. We just clicked."
Just then the stewardess came by with the drink cart.
"Plus she's a pretty good fuck." Faith whispered to Brooke right as Brooke was taking a drink
Brooke spewed the soda out of her mouth. She apologized to the few people who gave her weird looks, and turned wide-eyed towards Faith.
"Tell me you're joking." Brooke said
"I'll never tell. But I got the reaction I was going for." Faith chuckled
"You suck." Brooke pouted
"Cheer up B. I'm just messing with you. I didn't add myself as statistic on your 'Psycho Tree Hill Love Tree'."
"Love Tree?" Brooke asked with a laugh
"Yeah. You guys are so past the triangle stage."
"I'm worried about Peyton, Faith. I don't know what to do anymore about the drug situation. I mean, you have no idea how hard it is to watch someone you love go through this. I don't want to lose her. I'm not ready to deal with that." Brooke suddenly blurted
"I know more than you think Brooke." Faith admitted
Brooke turned to the other girl. "What do you mean?"
Faith sighed. "This isn't really the place that I want to talk about all this, but I'll deal. I think it's time that I caught you up on some 'Faith History'."
Faith went on to tell Brooke everything she had told Lucas the previous night. When she had finished, Brooke looked at her in shock.
"Faith! I am so sorry. I feel like such an ass that I didn't know all of that!" Brooke said. "We've been friends for months, and I had no clue!"
"It's not your fault. I usually keep all that to myself. I'd never shared all of that with anyone until the other night when I talked to Lucas. I realized that holding all of that in made everything so much worse." Faith admitted. "You didn't know about any of that because I didn't want you to. But now felt like the right time to share it."
Brooke placed her hand over Faith's. "I'm so sorry."
Faith smiled. "It's cool. I'm pretty much past it all. There comes a point where you just have to let it go."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Brooke said softly. As much as I love Peyton, would it be best to let her go? She has so much to deal with; am I just making it worse?
"She still needs you Brooke. Don't give up on her yet." Faith said as if she could read Brooke's mind
"It's just so hard Faith. I don't know what is best for us anymore."
"Do you love her?"
"More than anything."
"Love is enough to get past anything."
"That's such bull shit." Brooke said
"Maybe in some cases; but not with you and Peyton. Trust me. In the end, it will be you and her." Faith reassured the troubled brunette
"I hope you're right." Brooke sighed heavily
"I always am." Faith said confidently
A/N- I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'm still going to wait until I hear some more people's opinions about the drug issue until I update again, but it shouldn't be too long. I know that I added more drugs in here with Faith and all, but I have a reason, I promise. And no, Faith won't start using again, the only reason I even threw it in is for a future reference. : )