1/ 4
NEW YORK
It was once again time for school. No one was ready to return, and it showed by the way people all procrastinated getting to class. Brooke was trying to find Faith in the crowds of people still outside the school. Brooke ended up finding her right where they had chosen to meet. Faith was sitting onthe bench, smoking a cigarette.
"You smoke? I had no idea." Brooke said as she sat down next to Faith
Faith blew out a stream of smoke. "I blame you."
"Huh?"
Faith laughed. "I'm kidding. I used to smoke all the time, but I had stopped for a while. The only time I ever do it anymore is when I'm really stressed. I kept bumming from Sydney all weekend though, so I might be back to smoking all the time." Faith made a face. "I'm not sure yet."
"I didn't even know Sydney smoked." Brooke shook her head. "You ready for class?"
"No. You?"
"No."
Faith flicked her cigarette away, and stood up. "Well let's go then."
Brooke closed her eyes and groaned.
TREE HILL
Although Lucas, Peyton, Sydney, Nathan and Haley all came from different residences, they all managed to find themselves outside, staring at the exterior of Tree Hill High together.
"This sucks." Nathan said, speaking aloud what everyone was thinking
"No shit." Sydney agreed. "Why did I have to fail 5th grade? I could be done with all this madness already."
Haley turned to Sydney. "You failed 5th grade?"
"It was a hard year on my family. Someone we were all really close to passed away, and it made getting through the year very hard." Sydney explained
"Syd! I'm so sorry." Haley said, feeling horrible for making fun of the other girl
"Me too. I miss Rover." Sydney nodded her head sadly
"Rover?" Peyton asked
"He was a great cat." Sydney said
"You had a cat named Rover?" Nathan asked
"No. I'm totally shitting you guys. I failed 5th grade because I went through a rebellion early. Hell, I think I'm still going through it." Sydney laughed
"You are so weird." Lucas kissed Sydney. "Let's go people. Tree Hill High, here we come."
"I say we just burn it to the ground so we don't have to deal with it." Peyton muttered
They all laughed as they walked up the stairs into school.
NEW YORK
"I'll be so glad when the school year is over and we don't have to deal with bitter teachers who give out shitloads of homework." Faith said from her spot lying on Brooke's bed after school
"I agree. I mean, who gives out homework the first day back?" Brooke said from her spot sitting at the desk
"You wanna hear something funny?" Faith suddenly asked
"Hell yes!" Brooke said as she slammed her history book shut
"I think I like someone."
Brooke jumped up from the chair and joined Faith on the bed. She laid on her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows so that she could look at Faith who was lying on her back.
"You, Faith Cooper, likes someone? This is huge news!" Brooke squealed
"Not really."
"Faith, when was the last time that you had a boyfriend? Or even got any action for that matter?" Brooke asked
"I haven't had a boyfriend in two years, and the last action I got was with you on Halloween."
"That explains why you seemed so rusty." Brooke said seriously. Faith smacked her upside the head. "Ow! I'm only kidding!"
"Do you want to know who I'm crushing on or not?" Faith asked impatiently
"I'm sorry. Please, the floor is all yours." Brooke waved her arm
Faith rolled her eyes. "You're gonna laugh when I tell you all of this, but I cant help it." Faith closed her eyes and made a face. "I like Brett." She said quickly
Brooke shrieked. "You two would be so cute together. Your edginess would balance out his stupidity perfectly." Brooke laughed. "So where did all of this come from?"
"We umm…we kind of fucked a couple months ago." Faith said sheepishly
"You what!" Brooke shouted. "Why haven't you ever told me that?"
"You never asked! Lately I've been thinking about him a lot, and I don't know why."
"No, no, no. Back up. I want details."
"There are none. We were hanging out, I was horny, Brett will fuck anything with a vagina, and shit happened." Faith shrugged
"That's interesting." Brooke made a face. "Well I say go for it."
"How do I know if he would go for it though?"
"Faith, you are an awesome girl. Plus you are incredibly hot, and an extremely good kisser. Why wouldn't he go for you?" Brooke laughed
"I guess. Time to turn on the charm then, huh?" Faith smiled a little
"Definitely." Brooke smiled too
"You said I was an extremely good kisser. I made quite an impression on you didn't I?" Faith smirked
"No. I only said that to boost your self esteem." Brooke joked. Faith hit her with a pillow. "Now that's just rude. Bitch."
"Whore. What are you going to do about it?" Faith stuck out her tongue
Brooke quickly sat up and hit Faith with a pillow, starting an all-out pillow fight. Faith laughed when the pillow she was hitting Brooke with exploded in a cloud of feathers. Brooke tackled Faith and pinned her arms on the bed above her head. They had been laughing, but the laughter immediately stopped. They looked each other in the eye, searching for what the other was thinking.
"I, umm…" Faith cleared her throat. "I should go. School tomorrow."
"Yeah. School." Brooke let go of Faith's arms and climbed off the other girl
"Catch you later Brooke." Faith said as she walked out of Brooke's room
Brooke groaned and collapsed onto the bed. What the hell was that? First I was flirting with her, and then I was straddling her as I pinned her arms to the bed? What the fuck has gotten into me? Brooke sat straight up. Oh my God. She felt it too. She called me Brooke, which she only does when something is up. Lucas was right, there is a lot of sexual tension between us. "Dammit!" She muttered to herself
TREE HILL
After school that day, Peyton had gone over to Taylor and Sydney's because the two other girls had wanted to talk to her. They had all stopped for food on the way, and they were all now sitting in the living room, chatting and eating.
"It's disgusting how much fat is in this one burger." Peyton said as she looked at her Big Mac after taking a bite
"No kidding. That's why I prefer Subway." Taylor took a bite of her McChicken. "But sometimes McDonalds is a nice treat."
"So how does it feel to be back in little Tree Hill after being in New York for 2 weeks?" Sydney asked Peyton
"It was awesome there, but I missed it here. I just wish Brooke could have stayed." Peyton sighed
"Peyton, we're worried about you." Sydney blurted
"Nice way to ease into it Syd." Taylor rolled her eyes
"I figured it was like pulling off a Band-Aid; it's just easier to do it quickly." Sydney explained. "Peyton, you're into this drug thing way too deep, and I'm a horrible friend for not noticing it sooner. I think it was mainly because I was in the same place."
"Same with me." Taylor picked up where Sydney left off. "Pey, how many times a week do you use?
"Guys, thanks for the concern, but I'm fine. When did you two go all serious on me?" Peyton said
"When we ran out of money for rent because we blew it on coke." Sydney said. "We hadn't realized until that point how bad everything was."
"If you guys are so 'clean', how come you both had stashes in your rooms?" Peyton asked, starting to get defensive and angry
"Just because we are trying to stay clean doesn't mean that we are going to be all great and perfect right away Peyton. I didn't even know that Syd had any, and honestly, I had forgotten about my stash." Taylor said. "But apparently you found it."
"You just caught me on a bad week." Sydney said. "I had bought it, but I didn't even have a chance to do any before you found it. I see that you didn't take it though. By the way, I flushed it when everyone left. I didn't even do any of it."
"It was just a bad week for me too. I'm sorry I took yours Tay, and I will pay you back. I didn't take yours Sydney, because as bad as it looks, I really am trying to get over this. It was just a really hard week, and I couldn't even function anymore. I didn't do it for the pleasure of the high." Peyton sighed
"How the hell could you have had a bad week? Were you not just with your girlfriend for 2 whole weeks? Were you not happy at all?" Sydney asked
"It's complicated." Peyton waved them off. "Thanks for the concern girls, but I'm fine. Now if you'd excuse me, I have homework." Peyton stood and quickly left the apartment. When she got outside, she leaned against the doorframe and closed her eyes. I want to beat this, so why didn't I just tell them that? There was no reason for me to get so defensive with them. They're only being good friends. After taking a few deep breaths, Peyton pushed off the wall and walked to her car.
Back in the apartment, Sydney and Taylor were left sitting on the couch, dumbfounded.
"This is so far beyond bad." Taylor said
"Unfortunately, I have to agree." Sydney shook her head. "Do you think that she even wants to get over this?"
"I would like to think so. Peyton is a smart girl; hopefully she'll figure it out before something really bad happens."
"I think she will. She has so many people to support her and who care about her, and I dont think that goes unnoticed. She'll come around." Sydney said with confidence
"Yeah, I think she'll be ok." Taylor agreed. "And so will we."
"Damn right." Sydney smiled and both girls laughed