Chapter One-Say Hello To Old Habits.

The chalky white powered sat on the table forming itself into a small pile. The glass pressed hard into the table as tears mixed in with the wood. Peyton snorted the line and closed her eyes. She never imagined she could resort back to this. She walked to her bed and lay down. She knew she wouldn't sleep for days. She didn't care.

Jake was gone. Once again he had left her on his quest to find Jenny. She knew he wasn't coming back. He had to go. She understood that.

Brooke was in California for the summer. She missed her. Not as much as she thought she would. That was only because when she was in Tree Hill she was spending most of her time with Jake instead of Brooke anyway.

Lucas was in New York. When Dan was killed he went with Haley on tour for the summer. Nathan and Haley's marriage had been annulled. Nathan wouldn't take her back. Lucas was just trying to get away.

Karen was out of the country with Andy. She had been desperately trying to find away to bring him back into the states.

Deb was managing the café. She had hired someone to help Peyton with Tric until Karen returned. Peyton hadn't met her yet.

Keith hadn't returned since his wedding. Nobody knew where he was. People stopped questioning it.

Larry had lied to her. He said he was only taking local jobs. She hadn't seen him in months. He was working.

Nathan was the only one left in Tree Hill. She hadn't seen much of him. He was living with Deb and didn't leave the house much. He was really depressed after everything that happened with Haley.

Peyton was alone. Tree Hill never felt so lonely. She spent most of her days crying, but today that would end. Today she would be happy. She suppressed her loneliness with Coke. She knew what she was doing was wrong. She didn't care.

She remembered the day in the beginning of the summer when she was told she was adopted. Her father had gotten another woman pregnant. Peyton's dead mother wasn't her mother at all. She was her adopted mother. That was the day she started doing coke again. The woman who was her real mother didn't stay in her life. She had given her up for adoption the day she was born. She wanted to see Peyton, but she didn't stick around. Why would she? Nobody else ever did.

Peyton decided to go for a walk. The river court was empty. Peyton had never seen a sight like that. Not even skills or Mouth were there. Nobody was. Everybody was living their lives, enjoying their summer, and happy, everyone but Peyton.

Deb was turning the lights to the café off when Peyton entered. "Hey." She smiled. "What are you doing here so late?"

Peyton shrugged. She was really jittery. She had never had such an effect from a line of coke. She felt scared. She had no one else to turn to. "Deb, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked.

Deb nodded. She let Peyton take a seat at the counter. "Do you want something to eat?"

Peyton shook her head. "No." she knew she couldn't eat. Everything tasted like glue when she on coke. She was loosing weight rapidly, and she was starting to feel as if she needed it every day to live.

"You should really eat something. You're becoming so thin." Deb noticed.

Peyton nodded. "Deb?" she asked her quietly. "I need your help."

"What is it?" Deb asked worried. She sat down next to Peyton and held her arm. "You're freezing!" She ran to grab a blanket from one of the couches. "Here, cover yourself up." She said wrapping the blanket around her.

"I've been doing Coke." She admit. She was shaking uncontrollably now. "I don't know what to do." She cried. "I thought I could talk to you. I mean, since you were in rehab and everything."

Deb's eye lit up. She never expected a confession like that out of Peyton. She had to do something to help this poor girl.

Peyton let Deb hug her. She was nervous, at the closeness between the two. She didn't know Deb the best. She knew her from Karen and the Café but she had hardly even met her when she was with Nathan.

"You're coming home with me." She instructed Peyton. "Nathan's home, but he doesn't venture out of his room much. He won't even know you're there." She told her. "We have to get you some help."

Peyton let this happen. She had no idea why now. She wanted to get off the drugs.

Nathan was rummaging through the fridge when he heard his mom come in. "Mom?" he called. "Don't you ever think about grocery shopping?" he walked to the door where he saw his mom helping Peyton to the couch. Peyton was shaking and crying. He quickly ran to help his mother.

"I thought you said Nathan never left his room?" Peyton questioned looking up at the two of them from the couch.

Nathan glanced at his mother in question. Deb shrugged acting as if she didn't know what was going on.

Peyton kept the blanket wrapped tight around her body. She watched Deb take Nathan into the kitchen. She knew she was going to tell Nathan about the coke. She didn't even care anymore. She needed the help.

Nathan came back and sat on the couch next to Peyton. "Hey." He said pulling her close to him as she shook.

"Hey." She said back vulnerable. "Sorry to bother you and Deb." She whispered.

Nathan shook his head. "You're not bothering us." He looked into her scared dark eyes. "Peyton, why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged and closed her eyes. "I'm alone Nathan. I have nobody to talk to. You have been trying to deal with everything in your own life. I wasn't about to bother you with my problems."

Nathan shook his head. "You can always talk to me Peyton. Do you want me to leave you alone so you can sleep this off?" he asked.

Peyton shook her head no. "I won't be able to sleep for days." She wined.

Nathan had heard coke kept you up a lot but luckily he had never tried it. "I'll stay with you." He promised her. She nodded her head and laid it on her shoulder. As awkward as she expected the situation to be, it wasn't. It was rather comforting.