Chapter 2

A couple days had passed and not much had changed. Jake and Peyton would only exchange a couple polite words when they saw each other first period but other then that they hadn't gotten any further. Peyton really wanted to get to know this guy. There was something about him that set him apart from the rest of the guys. He seemed humble. She liked how he smiled at her every time she sat down next to him and how he would glance over casually to look at what Peyton was sketching, thinking that she didn't notice, then jerk his head away to focus on the teacher when Peyton would look up at him. Of course, she always noticed him, and he knew that she did. It was a whole wordless flirting routine they had going. But whenever Peyton got up the courage to talk to him, she had no idea what to say. She wasn't used to this feeling. Hell, her and Nathan were practically opposites and she could even talk to him when they were together. But with Jake, she didn't even know a thing about him. When she asked him about his past and where he came from he was always really vague. She always thought that he must hate her and want her to stop talking to him... Until he did that cute little smile of his and Peyton could tell that he was honestly interested in being her friend. Were they even friends? She didn't even know. They were more like... acquaintances. She hoped that that would change soon... She didn't need him to be her boyfriend. But at least friends, she just wanted him to let his guard down, and that was normally her problem.

Jake was a mess. He tried to do his Trig homework but found no point in trying to concentrate on it. Besides, he had covered that material last year at his old school. He tried to put his books back in his bag but they would not go in. He pushed harder and his books still just would not go in. He slammed the books down next to him just to see that his back pack in fact, wasn't unzipped. Jake sighed. Why was he so unconcentrated? Something was taking up all the space in his mind, he couldn't even think of how to open his own back pack. What was it? Peyton, he thought. He used to be smooth when it came to girls, but this one was different. She wasn't like Nicky, and Jake was thankful for that, but she was just so hard to read. For all he knew, she might not even remember his name. He wouldn't blame her; he had said maybe three words to her since the first day of school.

He felt like he could understand her if she opened up to him. Like once, when he looked over to his left to see what she was sketching that day, he saw an illustration of a traffic light. The top read: "People Always Leave". When he read that, he immediately thought of Nicky. Maybe Peyton had gone through or was going through something close to what he had gone through. Probably minus the Jenny part, thought Jake.

He was woken from his thoughts by Jenny crying. He glanced at his watch, which read: 4:10 pm. It was Tuesday and he needed to be at school in 20 minutes for his first basketball practice. He hurried to feed Jenny and to calm her a little. His mom came home when he only had about 5 minutes left. There was no way he could get to school that fast. Great! Jake thought, way to start off the season! He ran out of the door only to find that he had forgotten his gym bag. He fumbled through his pocket for his key and ran back in his house, to his room, grabbed his bag and left again. What on earth was going on with him today?

Jake rushed through the gym doors to find two dozen guys already in there, doing lay-ups. He silently cursed and walked up to Coach Duhram.

"Hi Coach Duhram, I'm sorry I'm late." Jake said, out of breath from all the running he did to get in there.

"Look, Jegelski, I don't know how the hell they did it in wherever you came from, but here at Tree Hill High, we like our players to be on time!" he said in his Texas accent. He was basically scolding Jake, but Jake could still tell that he was going to be a nice guy, with a big influence on his life.

"I know, I know. It's just I'm kind of having problems at home…" Jake tried to reason.

"Well unless your house burnt down, I don't see why I should cut you anymore slack than the rest of your teammates who, by the way, seemed to get here on time." Coach Duhram stated.

"Coach, look, I'm a single father. My daughter, Jenny, she's only 6 months old and my parents weren't home today to take care of her. Please, just give me another shot. I will try harder not to be late, but you know how babies are. They are unpredictable. But Coach, I'm just trying to make my way through high school, and well, it's not that easy being a single father and doing that. I really love basketball. Please, can you just help me out?" Jake pleaded. He hadn't planned on telling anyone about Jenny but he needed to in this case. Anyway, it's not like he would tell anyone. From the look in Coach Duhram's eyes (a mix of shock and pity), Jake could tell that he would help in out.

"OK, Jegelski, no more staling though! Go get changed and get out here and join your team."

"Thank you Coach Duhram. You won't regret it!" Jake said, ecstatic.

"Oh please boy, call me Whitey." Whitey smiled and Jake nodded and jogged off to the boy's locker room to change.

Soon after Jake left to get changed, Peyton came rushing into the gym. She didn't need to deal with Whitey yelling at her because she knew that he couldn't care less about the cheerleaders. It was Brooke she had to deal with. She walked over the where the girls were stretching. Brooke got up with a frown.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Peyton blurted out before Brooke could scold her. "My car ran out of gas half-way here and I had to run the rest of the way." Peyton finished.

"OK, I forgive you!" Said Brooke, in a cheery voice. "But only 'cuz you're my best friend, and I need to ask for a favor." Brooke said.

"Alright, shoot." Said Peyton, thinking that Brooke just needed a shopping partner or something like that.

"I need you to be Luke's partner for out History project." Brooke said, with a pleading look in her eyes.

"You need me to what? Brooke, what? Aren't you the one that likes him? Can't you be his partner?" Peyton asked, really confused.

"No, Peyton come on! I really like Lucas and I think that I might have a shot with him. But first, I need you to talk to him about it. You know, investigate a little." Just then Jake came out of the locker room and into the gym. He saw Peyton and waved. She waved back and smiled, getting an idea.

"Tell you what Brooke: I'll ask Lucas to be my partner for the project if you be with Jake." Peyton stated.

"What? Why would I be partners with… Oh My Gosh! You like Jake! You are falling for the new guy!" Brooke said a little too loud. Thankfully for Peyton, Jake didn't seem to hear.

"Shhhh…" Peyton shushed Brooke. "I dunno, I just feel comfortable around him. I don't know if I like him, I'm just… interested. And if I'm gonna investigate on Luc then you hafta at least try to do the same for me!" Brooke's face lit up.

"Yes! Oooh! It's so on! You and Jake, me and Lucas, Nathan and Haley! This is sooo awesome!" Brooke said jumping up and down with excitement.

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a sec. Nathan and Haley? Since when is there a Nathan and Haley?" Peyton said shocked. She knew that they had spent a lot of time together lately, but she had no idea that it was anything other than tutoring. How could she miss something like this?

"Oh my gosh, Peyton! Where have you been? You have been so spaced out this week, you didn't even notice Tree Hill's 'It Couple'! OK, we need to have some serious gossip time. Luckily, I have been hanging out with Haley a lot lately; I have all the great details on how they hooked-up!" Brooke said, even more excited now. Peyton was still shocked. She must have been really absorbed in the whole Jake thing this week to not have noticed that two of her best friends got together! Wow, Nathan and Haley… Peyton never noticed it before, but now that she thought about it, Haley was perfect for Nathan. Back when Peyton was with Nathan they had gotten into countless fights but she never was able to change his stubborn ways, but once Haley came into his life, even if it was just for tutoring, she had seemed to have become a better guy.