Chapter Twenty-Four

"Swing Life Away"

I've got some friends, some that I hardly know
But we've had some times, I wouldn't trade for the world
We chase these days down with talks of the places that we will go

Peyton put the CD on Brooke's bedside and sat down on the bed beside her. She laid her head on the pillow and looked out the window. "How do you think everything go so screwed up?" she asked watching the rain fall.

Tree Hill was cloudy. It had been raining for three days. It was Wednesday. Brooke hadn't seen Nathan since Sunday. Peyton hadn't seen Jake either. Neither Brooke nor Peyton left Peyton's apartment the entire time. Brooke asked Karen to call the school, and Peyton spoke with her dad. They were taking a mini vacation.

"I can't believe Nathan is getting questioned for everything that happened at Tim's party," Brooke pointed out. "Why would Erica, of all people accuse him of drugging us?"

Peyton shook her head. "I don't know," she held tightly onto the pillow at her side. "The officer that came to my house said Erica's urine had 85mg of EX in it. Apparently that's an entire pill. There had to be a ton of it in there. I just can't believe I let something like this happen to me again, after what happened at that party last year."

"Nathan brought the bottle to the party." Brooke pointed out. "It does look suspicious."

Peyton sat up and looked at her friend. "You don't think Nathan did it do you?"

Brooke shook her head no. "Of course not; Why would he?" she laughed. "He can have me whenever he wants." She giggled. "Plus, if he was going to drug anyone to take advantage of anyone why would he drug you or Erica and spend the entire night with me?"

"Hey, I'm not accusing him!" Peyton exclaimed. "Have you talked to him?"

"I haven't seen him since we went to the hospital." She told her. "He sat in the room while they examined me. The police asked him questions, and then he took me home."

"It's kind of weird that he hasn't called you or anything," Peyton pointed out. "Not to mention you haven't gone to school for three days and he's not even asking about you?"

"Hey Mrs. Point our fingers at Nathan. I haven't seen Jake calling here obsessively!" she cried. "You haven't been to school in three days either!"

"True," Peyton's face grew sad. "I wonder why our boyfriends don't care about us," she wined. "Actually, now that you mention it, nobody has called us. Haley, Lucas, nobody."

Brooke laid back down on the bed next to Peyton and closed her eyes. "I guess they just don't care."

ITLTLTLTLTLTLTLTI

Lucas stood on his porch looking out at the sky. Was it ever going to stop raining? He watched as Nathan walked toward him. "Hey," Nathan spoke sitting down on the steps holding his jacket over his head.

"Come inside," Lucas motioned. He grabbed the door knob and went into his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and motioned for Nathan to sit down on his computer chair. "What's up?"

Nathan shrugged. "I came by to see how you're feeling. I heard about the hospital. Everything has been kind of hectic this week." He pointed out. "I'm sorry I didn't come by sooner."

Lucas smiled. It was nice that Nathan stopped by at all. They had been talking, but it wasn't much. "Thanks." He told him. "What's been going on?" he asked. "I obviously haven't been to school all week. The doctors said I can go back next week, my medication should be working by then."

"That's great man," Nathan stood up and held his knuckles out. "Tim had a party last Saturday." He explained. "Somebody drugged the bottle of liquor I brought. Peyton, Brooke and Erica got really sick. Erica told the police I brought the bottle and encouraged Brooke and Peyton to drink most of it. The police are trying to put this on me." He explained. "I haven't been to school all week either."

"Wow," Lucas let out. "I guess you have been busy." He agreed. "I'm really sorry."

Nathan shrugged. "I haven't really talked to anyone all week, not even Brooke. I thought I would come by and see if you were able to leave and get something to eat."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "I can leave. My mom is at work. The only thing is, Jake was supposed to come over with Jenny. He hasn't been able to go to school because Jenny has been sick. Maybe they want to go with us." He suggested.

"We'll stop at his house on the way there," he said grabbing his car keys and walking out the door.

ITLTLTLTLTLTLTLTI

Haley walked out of her second class and looked at the hallways. "What is it senior skip day?" she said aloud to herself. "Where is everybody?"

"Talking to your self?" a guy Haley had never seen before asked walking past her and smiling.

Haley looked at him confused. "Nobody is here today," she pointed out.

"Nobody you hang out with," he corrected her. "I'm here, and you're here. That's all that matters right?"

Haley laughed. This guy was a few inches taller than her with dark blonde hair. His eyes were very blue and he wore a "Voclom" t shirt over a studded belt and a pair of jeans. He looked like someone Peyton would date.

"I'm Haley," she held out her hand to shake his.

"I know," he said grabbing his books and walking away from her.

"I guess I won't get your name then," she muttered. She put her books in her locker and walked toward the door of the school. No point in being at school when nobody else was.

Haley drove to Brooke's apartment and knocked on the door. "Hey," Brooke smiled looking at her standing in the hallway. They hadn't spent much time with Haley lately. In the midst of everything Brooke almost forgot she existed. "Come in,"

She followed Brooke in the apartment and looked around. Garbage was thrown on the floor. A few liquor bottles graced the counters. "This place is disgusting!" she laughed.

"Oh tutor girl shut up. What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be at school?" Brooke asked opening her bedroom door and climbing back on the bed with Peyton.

Haley looked at Peyton and waved. "Well, I noticed that nobody has been at school all week, and I was starting to get worried I was missing out on something. I know Luke is at home because he's sick, but everyone else, what's your excuse?"

Brooke laughed a little. "We're sick too," she lied. "It's actually a long story."

Haley shrugged assuming nobody wanted to tell her the story. "Well, since none of us are at school, are you hungry?"

Brooke looked at herself in the mirror. "I'm not going anywhere, I look like hell." She was dressed in a Black track suite. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

"You look fine," Peyton laughed. She was in a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. "Let's go eat, I'm starving."

"Good," Haley smiled satisfied. "Let's go."

ITLTLTLTLTLTLTLTI

Jake set Jenny in her high chair and sat down next to her. Lucas and Nathan sat across from him. The decided to go to a place called "Bonanza" located in the mall.

"Wawa," Jenny yelled at a cup of water on the table. Jake reached over and helped her drink out of it.

"She's getting so big," Nathan pointed out.

Jake nodded, "She's almost one." (Sorry, I can't remember how old she is for real.)

A man in a long sleeve white shirt came over to take their order. Lucas sipped his water slowly when he noticed a group of girls coming in the front door. He almost choked when he saw who it was. "Look!" he exclaimed pointing at them.

Haley was handing the man at the register a piece of paper and Lucas assumed it was an autograph. The girls sat down at a table in the back. "I wonder why they aren't at school?" Nathan asked.

Peyton was laughing and Brooke was making a face at her. Haley sat next to them staring into space. Jake stood up and started to walk toward them. He was going to find out exactly what they were doing.

"Hey," Jake smiled sitting down at the table.

"Hey," Peyton smiled back. "What are you doing here?" she asked. She looked across the room to see Nathan and Lucas staring at them also.

"Oh," Brooke shrugged. "I guess everyone decided to skip out on school today." She was disappointed that Nathan skipped school and hung out with Lucas and Jake instead of her. He hadn't even called.

"Lucas is home because he's sick. I'm home because Jenny's sick, and Nathan, I don't know why he's home."

Peyton and Haley started to get up to join Jake's table. "Where are you going?" Brooke called.

"To their table," Peyton laughed. "Come on," she grabbed Brooke's arm.

Brooke reluctantly followed them. "So much for just hanging out," she muttered. She sat down next to Nathan but didn't speak.

"What are you doing out of school?" Nathan asked Haley.

"Nobody was there, so I decided to leave," she explained. "What? It's not like I've never skipped school before. I threw up on your dad remember?"

Brooke closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Nathan hadn't even so much as said hello and now he was flirting with his ex wife.

Lucas laughed and looked at Brooke and smiled. He knew she stayed home because his mom called her out of school. He knew why, it was because of what happened with Nathan and Tim's party. He assumed that was why Peyton wasn't at school either.

Haley looked away from the table for a second and noticed the guy with the "Volcom" shirt sitting down with a group of his friends at another table. "Hey!" she exclaimed. She stood up with out telling everyone where she was going and marched over to the table. "Are you stalking me?" she asked.

The guy looked up at her and laughed along with her friends. "Um, no," he paused. "Are you stalking me?"

"Yeah right!" Haley yelled.

The guy stood up and pushed her away from the table. "Haley," he smiled. "All I did was say hello to you at school. Then I left with my friends to eat. I had no idea you were going to be here."

Haley laughed feeling stupid for her accusation. "I'm sorry," she started to turn away and go back to her friends.

"Haley wait," he called pulling her back. "I'm Jason." He shook her head.

She nodded, shook his hand and went back to the table catching a very interesting look from Brooke.

Lyrics- "Swing Life Away" (Rise Against)

Next Chapter- You'll find out who drugged the girls. CAN ANYBODY GUESS?

So I hope you like this chapter. It's a little longer than the others. I took my time writing it, because I wanted it to be good. It didn't come out how I planned, but I hope that everyone likes it. The next chapter will include mostly Brathan I promise, I just wanted to give everyone else a chance to have some drama too. Even though I don't like Haley, she deserves something-haha. Please review.

OTHbaby08- I'm glad you liked the last chapter. You know that I update usually about a chapter a day, so yes it's pretty soon. If I got reviews faster I would update sooner, but I want to give everyone a chance to read what I write 

Cindyvietkutie10- Yup Brooke is alright, we don't want everyone on the show in the hospital haha.

LucasnHaley-Haley deserved to hear it from Lucas. I love their friendship. At least I did, before she left. I totally get that you think they're cute together and not like DC that's just the way I see it. It's cool though, no problem with opposing views. Yes, I was a Joey/Pacey fan. Maybe I'm biased.

Mellie- Thanks for the info about Ex obviously I don't know a lot about it, I did a little research and tried to cover it in this chapter. Hopefully I did okay. I also love Atmosphere, they're from Minnesota where I live. I like to use songs as my titles, its fun.

Mony19-This chapter didn't really cover if Nathan get in any trouble, but I promise you'll find out soon.

l-a-c-18- Nathan staying with Brooke was the best part of the whole last chapter in my opinion. I wanted to write him taking care of her because I thought it would be adorable.

LivingintheOCsucks- Thanks for saying the last chapter was the best chapter so far. I appreciate you reviewing all the chapters while you got caught up. You're great!

Brucasbrathangrl- Yup, twists are a lot of fun. Sorry you didn't find out yet, but you will!

Othbaby08- It was a cute "Awe" chapter. Brathan is of course awesome, and yes Lucas is going to be okay  I hate writing about dying. Even though that's pretty much what my other fic is about.

Mony19-Tim & Skills were just for you!

I don't think I missed anyone, but if I did, thanks for your review!