AN: Okay, first conflict in the story. So far, so good. I guess. So yeah.
"Yeah…umm, I guess since she's wide awake we can't sleep." Peyton stated, staring at the bed. She didn't really care though, for some reason, Peyton felt she might need to stay up a little later tonight.
Jake replied, hoping not to make Peyton feel uncomfortable in her own house. "Well, you can, I mean, if you're tired—"
Cutting him off, Peyton put a finger on his lips to silence him. "I told you it's okay, Jake. It doesn't bother me…At all."
Sighing, Jake let a half-smile cross his face. He began to walk over to the crib, staring at his baby girl. Peyton crossed her arms and watched as Jake started playing with Jenny and shook her head. Just then, the phone rang and Peyton ran to answer it.
"Hello?" her voice echoed into the receiver and a familiar voice came on. It sounded like the person was crying and suddenly Peyton realized who it was. Brooke.
"Peyton? Oh my god, I'm so glad you're home. I need your help." From the other end of the phone, Brooke let out a yelp of pain. "Oww. I was walking home from the…Rivercourt and…ow…I was attacked by rivals…Cheerleaders…like a huge mob of them just came and beat me up." Brooke slumped down against a tree, her legs bruised, arms and face cut with a couple of black-and-blues. Shaking her head, Brooke couldn't believe she got beat up by cheerleaders! "But then again…it wasn't only cheerleaders, there were some jocks there too. Ow. Peyt, I'm about 5 miles away from the Rivercourt. They also..kinda…I don't know, my head hurts. I think they dragged me about 2 or so miles by hand or car. I'm not really too sure." Waiting for Peyton's response, Brooke stared up at the sky, holding in any tears of physical pain that came to her eyes. All she wanted to do was go home, take a good shower, eat and go to bed. She couldn't even walk, how was she to manage standing in a shower for 30 minutes or so? Thankful that she had a tub, she started to think of good things, things that could get her mind off the pain until Peyton replied.
Hearing what happened to Brooke, Peyton bit her bottom lip and looked at Jake, who was now looking at Peyton while bouncing Jenny in his lap. Jake had a curious yet concerned look on his and Peyton shook her head. She tired not to laugh as she envisioned Brooke getting beat up by rival cheerleaders. When Brooke was done explaining what happened, Peyton thought for a second and nodded. "Umm, okay, I'll come pick you up in…" Peyton paused and looked at the clock. "I should be there in no longer than 20 minutes. Hang in there. If you want, call my cell so we can stay in touch that way until I get there. Okay? Hang on." Peyton hung up. Looking at Jake, Peyton shook her head.
"Brooke's been…" She paused, trying not to laugh at the thought. "…beat up by rival cheerleaders and jocks. Or so she says. She's about 5 miles, maybe more, maybe less, away from the Rivercourt. I have to go pick her up and drop her home, or whatever. Hopefully she isn't too injured." Peyton grabbed her jacket off a chair and slipped it on, looking at Jenny who was staring at something on the floor. She looked down and picked up what the baby had been staring at, a ball. Quickly walking to the bathroom, rinsing the ball off, then walking back into the room handing the object to Jenny, Peyton let out a sigh. Jake let out a small chuckle, thinking over the situation.
"Okay, so let me make this clearer…to me. Brooke was at the court and a bunch of our school enemies ganged up on her? Sounds fishy to me." Jake looked at Jenny and smiled. "You like the ball little one? You're lucky Peyton washed it so you can use it for teething I suppose." Jenny slightly clapped her hands and both Peyt and Jake laughed. Shaking his head, he looked at Peyton. "Go, I'll be waiting here with this one, I promise I won't go anywhere." Seeing Peyton give him a look, he flashed an obvious fake smile just to lighten Peyton up. He grabbed something off her nightstand and threw it to her.
Peyton caught it and looked at it. A smirk crossed her face. "Yeah, it would be nice to have me cell phone with me, wouldn't it, especially if I told her to call me." Her cellphone began ringing. It was Brooke. Peyton picked up and walked out of the room, sending Jake and Jenny a slight wave as she left. "Yeah Brooke, I just left, sorry. I had to fix up something. I'm getting in my car, starting it up, and unparking. I'm on my way." Peyton did all those things as she spoke and began her little rescue journey to Brooke. "So tell me about your day, how'd you end up at the court alone?"
Still slumped by the tree Brooke sniffled a bit. "I just came out to get some air and I guess to kind of forget about all that's happened. Like the whole, well you know. A lot of things, moving... Just to take a little break. About an hour passed, 'cause I was actually studying for once. Yeah, I know. Haha. I was bored, Peyton. I study…once in a while. Hey. I am the school President, aren't I? So I was studying and that happened." Brooke laughed a little, though it did hurt. She was frightened, nervous, and waiting. "Hey, was that Jenny I heard at your house before? I thought they went…"
Peyton nodded. "Yeah. Ya know, I totally forgot about that. I should ask him how he got out later. It's probably only for a bit anyway. I'm pretty sure Jenny's goin' back to Florida soon too. Hmm, I really thank Whitey for what he's done. I'm proud, a little shocked, disappointed I guess, but kind of proud of Jake for not giving into Nikki. Ya know?" Peyton made a turn, only about 3 miles away from the Rivercourt. She spoke once more to ask Brooke a question, just to make sure. "Hey Brooke, are you before or past the Rivercourt coming from my house?"
"Uh, after. Well, I'm happy for you, best friend. But you do know you have to give details tomor—owww, ow, pain…tomorrow, right?" Brooke always teased Peyton about things like this. A subject popped into Brooke's mind, but before she got into that, she had to ask just one more question about he Jake-Jenny-Nikki problem. "What happened to Nikki? Sorry, it just struck my curiosity, along with other things, but I'll ask that next. She's just screwed right? That…slut." A sour look spread on Brooke's face as she thought about Nikki. Brooke had once trusted Nikki and now she practically hated it. It's funny how you can go from liking someone like a sister or brother to hating them in a day, hour, minute, second. Things like this happened a lot to Brooke, so she was used to it. At least, she gave off the impression she was. "So any news about bad boy and tutor girl? Or well….Tutor wife?"