Thanks for reading and for all of the wonderful reviews! It's nice to know what everyone thinks about the story and it gives me ideas for the future. I plan to include more of Nathan and Haley at some point, but it's difficult considering Lucas and Peyton are my definite favorites. Well, here's the next part – hope everyone enjoys it!

Chapter 8 At last, Evensong

Peyton walked up the stairs and knocked softly on Jenny's door, which she was amused to find newly plastered with band posters. This was most likely a result of Brooke detesting band posters as forms of home decoration. The door clicked open and Peyton was facing with an incredibly angry looking teenager garbed in a Tree Hill High School cheerleading uniform. It was major déjà vu for the older woman.

"Hi," Jenny said shortly. Her expression, much like any sixteen year old, was uninviting but she did step back from the door to allow the older woman entrance; only after looking carefully to make sure no one else had followed.

"Not having the greatest day?"

"You could tell?"

"The whole town could probably tell from the way you slammed that front door."

"Sorry," Jenny said sheepishly.

"It's not my door," Peyton said easily as she sat down on Jenny's desk chair.

"Brooke's probably mad."

"Brooke doesn't usually get mad about stuff like that, does she?" It was true; Brooke had taken enough tantrums in her life to be completely immune to them coming from a different party. Normally, she didn't get angry with Jenny at all; she had never felt it her place to do so. In fact, the first time Jenny gotten into trouble at school, it had been Peyton and Lucas who had convinced Jake and Brooke that there might be a problem and they might want to consider actually treating her like a real kid and grounding her. Peyton knew that those two weeks hurt Jake more than they bothered Jenny.

"I guess not." Jenny flopped down on her bed and busied herself with studying the beaded fringe on a satin maroon pillow. She had no intention of making eye contact with Peyton; that would only mean leaving herself completely unable to lie.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or should I start guessing?"

"Did you ever just have a bad day?" Jenny asked testily.

"Yeah," Peyton answered honestly. "A lot of bad days. And I was a pretty angry teenager. But I don't ever remember being as upset as you were when you came in."

"It was just a really long day and I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure?" Jenny nodded, her eyes still cast down as unwanted tears dripped from the corners. "Well, I am sorry you had a bad day," Peyton said sympathetically as she crossed the room and pulled the young girl into a hug. She felt warm tears hit her neck as Jenny hugged her back, sobbing a bit.

"It was a really bad day," she said as she pulled away.

"I can see that. And you're sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"You're really persistent, you know that?"

"I know. It's a quirk. So, you're really, really sure you don't want to talk?" At this point, Peyton was merely teasing her.

"Yes," Jenny answered resolutely with a playful roll of her eyes. "It's okay. I promise. What are you gonna tell Dad?"

"I'll make something up," Peyton said flippantly. Her voice changed back to a serious tone, "as long as you promise to talk to one of us if you need to. We're always here for you—"

"I know," Jenny said with a sniffle. "I promise. Love you."

"Love you too," Peyton said softly. She hugged the sniffling teenager one more time and kissed her on the forehead before leaving the room. Wiping the tears from the corners of her own eyes, Peyton trudged back down the stairs and found Jake and Brooke waiting for her in the kitchen.

"She's fine," Peyton said as nonchalantly as possible. "Bad practice. You remember those, Brooke." If the two had any doubts in what Peyton told them, it didn't show. She hoped she had done the right thing but she had known Jenny her entire life and trusted the girl's judgment. If she didn't want to share the day's travesties with the rest of the world, that was her prerogative as a teenager. By the time Peyton reached her own home and tucked her kids in to bed, she wondered if four days might have passed instead of a mere sixteen hours since she had gotten out of bed that morning.

She walked into her bedroom and found Lucas ready for bed and almost falling asleep with a book in hand. "That interesting?" She asked lightly as she closed their door.

"Huh? Oh," he said once he realized what she was talking about. He set the book down and she saw that it was the Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles. "It's not the book. I'm exhausted."

"Yeah," she agreed as she removed her top and threw it in the hamper. "I didn't think this day was going to end." She slipped into a silky, lilac colored nightgown and crawled into bed next to her husband. "I think I hate the first day of school," she whispered.

"The good news is that it only happens once a year," he said reassuringly as he wrapped his arms around her. "And there's more good news."

"What's that?"

"Only one hundred and seventy nine days until summer vacation."

"Keeping count already?"

"That's what's great about teaching high school seniors," Lucas said with a chuckle. "They never let you forget." He changed positions a bit and leaned over to kiss his wife for what felt like the first time in days instead of hours. "How was your day?"

"It started out sad, was peaceful for a while, then it got strange, and then stranger from there."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really," she said with a yawn. "I'm ready for this day to be over."

"You really want to sleep?" His voice gave away his immediately disappointment.

"I really do," she said with an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"Can't really blame you," he said as he reached over to turn out his bedside lamp. They were sleeping a mere ten minutes later, left hands intertwined and her head resting on his chest.

The title of the chapter comes from this quote:

John Heywood (1497-1580)
Be the day never so long,
Evermore at last they ring to evensong