Thanks for all the wondefrful reviews... replies at the end. Uhh... The song in italics is by Bethany Joy Lenz and the music playing is Holiday by Doktor Cosmos. I do not own One Tree Hill or Bethany Joy Lenz... or Doktor Cosmos. Enjoy and don't hate me at the end. It needed to end that way. Only one or two more chapters left! I miserably failed the goal of trying to get 6 reviews. Let's keep the goal and EXCEL it. Thanks. Alison
Chapter 9: Leaving Town Alive
Oh, do you wonder where she's from
Where she goes
No one knows
Now and then you wonder
"Ready, yet?" Peyton asked for the twelfth time in twenty minutes.
"No," she stated simply.
"Don't make me drag it out of you," she said while playfully hitting her on the shoulder and letting out a small chuckle.
Brooke showed no emotion to anything Peyton was saying. She stared at the road blankly. Silence swept over the two best friends.
Peyton played with her bracelet, trying to act like she was busy doing something constructive, but it definitely wasn't working.
"Ready to talk yet?" she said, still playing with Ellie's cancer survivor bracelet.
Once again Brooke didn't answer, remaining lifeless and still. It wasn't the best way to handle the situation or her emotions, but it got the message across. To tell the truth, Brooke didn't even know why she had opened up so much to Peyton, or at that time. Peyton was finally happy and Brooke just cried her eyes out, but she wasn't going to express those feelings at any other time. Peyton would think she was some needy, whining bitch.
"I understand." Peyton was now looking out the window, avoiding direct contact with her friend.
"What?" Brooke asked with a slight turn of her head towards Peyton.
"Not wanting to show your emotions one minute and spilling them out the next ," she said letting the "friend telepathy" get a hold of her. Peyton touched Brooke's shoulder slightly to let her know that she really did comprehend what she was going through.
"If you understand so much about what I am going through, then why are you pushing it so much?" she retorted with a slight bite to her words.
"Because you do this to me every time you know something is wrong with me and," she let the 'and' out unnecessarily long, "it makes it a lot easier when you get it off your chest."
Brooke stayed quiet for the next few moments. "If this is some ploy for me to open up to you, forget it," Brooke said after a long sigh. Without another word Brooke put a tape into Peyton's cassette player and pressed play. Lucas had given it to her when she told him the whole spiel about how she was worried about Peyton and what she was doing for her life. Lucas said that it was official road trip music and made her promise that she would listen to it, no matter how controlling Peyton was about the radio.
What was a better time to play this than an awkward silence between them. She was waiting for the tape to start playing, but still watching the road. When the song finally did start playing, neither of them could believe the awful tone coming from the stereo.
Holiday
Holiday
It's the best day
Ice-cream day
I am only happy
When I have
Holi...Day
They both turned to each other simultaneously. A smile tugged at the sides of Brooke's lips. Peyton was letting out wild giggles and said, "What the hell is this stuff?"
"I believe it's music, hon ," Brooke said, fully unaware of the road in front of her.
"That isn't music," Peyton pointed to her own stereo. "And believe me, I should know."
Brooked rolled her eyes at her best friend. She knew that Peyton was right, but one thing she would never do is let her have the satisfaction of being right.
"Get this shit out of my stereo. It's contaminating it." Peyton pressed the stop button, but all she kept hearing was,
Holiday
Holiday
It's the best day
Ice-cream day
I am only happy
When I have
Holi...Day
"It won't stop, Brooke!" she shrieked. Brooke kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other was consistently pushing the stop and power buttons.
"What if it doesn't die?" she said , half-sarcastic and half-serious. Peyton started to shake Brooke wildly. "S-stop," Brooke stuttered because Peyton was shaking her so hard. Peyton ceased shaking her for the moment.
"Well, make it stop," she whined .
"You're the music guru," Brooke said as she slammed her fist against the speakers and let out a low curse.
"Yes, I am," she stated proudly. "But that doesn't mean I know how to fix this. Oh, and get your paws off my stereo."
"Do I really have paws because Lucas and I were watching a movie and he grabbed my hands. Then he said that my hands look like paws. Of course then I stormed-" she said quickly as she always did when she got nervous or excited.
"Brooke, I think we have bigger problems than talking about your," she thought for a second, searching for the right words , "twisted relationship. We have to get this "thing" that is poisoning my car."
"Oh Peyton, I gave up that problem hours ago." She waved her arm as if she was defeated. " Holiday...Holiday...It's the best day... Ice-cream day." She was trying her hardest to make her voice shriek and hoarse. Brooke knew that it would drive Peyton insane.
"Oh my God, I don't think I can last one more second with you in this tiny car." Peyton put her hand to her hand to her forehead and let out a heeded sigh.
"Oh shut up, you know you are having fun."
All of the sudden Peyton was pointing her finger up to the sky and waving it back down to the ground again.
"Were not in the seventies P. Sawyer." Brooke let a small chuckle escape her lips. "This is how you break it down." Brooke started to mover her arms up and down with one pointed finger. Her hips swayed back and forth furiously in unison with her hands.
"Umm, what are you doing?" Peyton asked confused.
"Getting my freak on, duh!" she said matter-of-factly with her eyes wide.
"Whatever you say, but I hope you're better at directions then you are at dancing, for our sake. It looks like we're in the middle of nowhere," she said while pointing out the window at a desert like area with no signs of life at any corner.
"Don't worry P. Sawyer, I'm great at directions." Brooke winced at the sound of the "road trip" song starting at the beginning once again. "As long as we shut this thing up."
"This is going to be a long day," Peyton said while resting her head on Brooke's lumpy shoulder.
xxx
After an hour had passed, Peyton finally figured out how to turn the volume down on the broken stereo. They could have turned it all the way down, but they had come to terms with it and turned it into a quiet, enjoyable listen.
"You and Jake looked pretty cozy when we left," Brooke said in her usual cheery voice.
"Yeah, we did, didn't we?" She smirked a little, recalling the events of the night before.
"What no details?"
"Nope." Peyton knew that there were certain things that you shouldn't tell 'The Brooke Davis'.
"C'mon, just one teensy detail," she begged. "Please." Peyton couldn't stand it when her friend whined, and Brooke never stopped bellyaching.
"He has some things to take care of, but he's going to come back to tree Hill someday. We're ready for a real relationship."
"Oh my God." Brooke's eyes became wide and her mouth gaped open. She knew they were in love, but she never thought he would come back to Tree Hill for her. Maybe this road trip was working after all.
"I really love him, Brooke." She twiddled her fingers. She was really happy. What was there not to happy about? She was surrounded by her best friend and she was in love. Yes, she still was feeling ill, but right now she didn't even notice anymore. The whole thing was becoming normal to her. "Thanks for taking me there, Brooke. I don't know what I would do without you." she smiled sincerely.
"Sorry that I interfered, Pey." Her head was down and the words came out in a hoarse whisper. "It's just …" Brooke was having trouble finding out the right words to say. Who knew that it would be so hard to know that you were going to disappoint your best friend of ten years. "Well, see I…"
"It's okay, let it out, Brooke." Peyton knew that Brooke was ready to talk. She was ready to listen and be the friend that Brooke always to her. "Maybe you should pull over."
"No!" She yelled in a sudden rage. Brooke slammed her hands onto her steering wheel. Peyton placed her hand on her shoulder . Brooke immediately flinched and let out a small sob of pain. Peyton brought her arm back to her side quickly.
"I went to go see her. I know I shouldn't have, but... I don't know. I just did, okay. It was wrong and I was stupid." Brooke was miserably failing at keeping herself from letting tears fall. Brooke never cried in front of anyone. She never showed her true emotions. You could say that she hid her feelings by her "cheery" exterior. Why on earth was she so open and crying her eyes out everyday to Peyton and she was the one person who she hated to see her cry the most. Maybe she and Peyton had more in common then she thought.
"What happened?" she wasn't sure if she should ask this, but she wanted to help. She hated to see her friend in pain. It broke Peyton's heart to hear Brooke cry herself to sleep every night.
Brooke swallowed the large lump in her throat. She tried to ignore the burning sensation and the tightness becoming harder. "She... she...uh,"
"Hit you." Peyton finished her sentence while not taking her eyes off of her.
Brooke shook her head quickly. "No, she... she," Brooke couldn't seem to express what happened that night. The only person that would understand what was going on was her. She felt like she was now alone in the world. Brooke was now separated with everyone else.
"It's okay, we can take a break and discuss the rest later, babe." Peyton placed her hand on her shoulder and this time Brooke didn't wince.
"Okay," she whispered in her husky voice.
"Why don't you let me drive," she said while gesturing towards the steering wheel.
Without saying anything, Brooke pulled the Cadillac over to the side of the road. She opened her car door and walked slowly over to the other side with her head down in shame. It was very obvious that she had been crying. Her eyes were rimmed with red and her cheeks puffy. Brooke stepped into the car and said, "The directions are in the glove compartment."
"You just get some rest and we'll be at a hotel in a minute." Brooke was already starting to doze off. She gently put her head on Peyton's shoulder. "Peyton?"
"Yessum?" she said with a slight turn of her neck.
"Promise me that you will never leave me." Her voice was still shaky because of her crying.
"I promise that I will always be there for you." With that Brooke was already snoring.
xxx
After three hours and an ounce of drool on Peyton's shoulder, Brooke and Peyton switched back places so it seemed that everything was slowly getting back to normal.
The car ride after Brooke's nap was awfully quiet, but it was not the least bit awkward.
Peyton was nodding to the music and Brooke was tapping on the steering wheel along with the beat. Neither one of them had figured out to shut off "Holiday", but both of them had learned to enjoy the sound.
"Can we stop at the next exit? I have to pee," Peyton half-lied. She did have to go to the restroom, but not to pee. Peyton was feeling ill again and she didn't know how much longer she was going to be able to hide it.
Brooke slowed the car down to a sudden stop. "Here, go, " she commanded, while handing Peyton a tissue from her pocket.
"Are you serious?" she asked softly. Peyton certainly did not have time for these games. She felt like she would fall to the ground any second.
"So you think I would make you pee outside?" she chuckled.
"The scary part is I don't know." she was feeling sicker and sicker each second. The car started to accelerate and was now getting off an exit, which Peyton didn't even want to glance at.
"There's a BP station up in about a mile." Brooke made a wide turn to the right.
"Okay," she whispered. Peyton was feeling as if everything around her, including Brooke, was spinning quickly and flashing wild colors.
They were now turning into the gas station. Peyton felt a slight bump against her bottom while passing the curb. Peyton was out of the car before it even started to slow down.
"Well, I am going to go get a new Cosmo Girl ," she mumbled the last few words to herself, as Peyton was apparently running to the bathroom.
Peyton finally reached the bathroom of the gas station. The management made her buy something, so she threw five dollars on the counter and sprinted as fast as she could. She slammed the door behind her. Peyton's head was already buried into the white toilet. It felt like her guts were coming out. She was sick of this, Peyton just wanted one day where this didn't happen.
Brooke had been waiting for almost twenty minutes and was getting extremely bored. She finished her magazine in a matter of ten minutes because she didn't bother to read any of the sob stories about real life situations. The fashion icon pictures did her justice. Brooke couldn't tolerate this boredom anymore. She entered the gas station doors and approached the restroom. She knocked on the door twice as loud as she could. Brooke twisted the handle to see if it was locked. Surprisingly it was open and she slowly walked in horrified to see what came next. Peyton was sprawled out on the dirty bathroom floor with blood surrounding her coiled body.
"Peyton, Peyton!" she shrieked. Brooke quickly turned to see if anyone was around to help. "Someone call 911. Someone call 911 !" she shouted even louder. "Help me! Help my friend!" Brooke pleaded. She shoved her trembling hand down her pant's pocket and found her cell phone. She tried to call 911, but all the phone returned was , "Call failed, please try again."
"Dammit," she said in a low voice. Brooke threw her voice at the wall in spite of having no reception. "Help, I need an ambulance!" she screamed with the last bit of energy she had left. "Stay with me, Peyton." Brooke checked Peyton's pulse and let out another rage of anger. "Someone better get an ambulance ! My best friend has no pulse…"
Oh, do you wonder where it starts
where it ends
what you find around the bend
Life is for the living, the forgiven and for leaving town alive
jeytonbrucasnaley: Very glad that you liked the chapter... Thanks for the other reply over at OTHwriters. Hope you like this chapter just as much
HaleyBub: I am so glad you liked Jeyton because I was slightly nervous about how I wrote it. I know how you feel with opening your email and finding out about a story because that's exactly how I feel about your stories.
OTH.daddy'sgurl.06: Glad that you like it. In chapter seven we saw or read that Brooke had a meltdown about her mom abusing her. That's what was reflecting Brooke going to Jake's house to get Peyton. Is that what you were confused about?