Chapter 2
"Jamie, come on, get out of the car. We are here and I want you to get settled before you go to school tomorrow." He hadn't said anything about the night before. He acted as if nothing had ever happened. It was a long drive down, but she had fallen asleep almost right away. She had been sleeping when they got into town so she hadn't seen the name of the city and right now she was too tired and too mad to even care. She got out of the car and headed inside. She went straight to her room which already had a lot of stuff that she had never seen before. She didn't care. All she wanted was too go to bed and forget everything that happened to her. Right before she fell asleep she promised herself that she would call Andrea in the morning.
The next morning
"Jamie, time to get up, you don't want to be late for school." She heard John's voice echo through the house. She had no idea how hard it was going to be for her to get used to this whole name thing. As soon as she walked in the bathroom she noticed how bruised her face still was. So, she took a shower and put on some make-up to cover her face. After she got dressed she noticed some bruises that were forming on her arms, so she pulled her favorite sweatshirt over her head. She looked in the mirror for what seemed like eternity. She had never been very confident in herself. She was 5'7" with light brown hair and brown eyes, but that wasn't what bothered her. It was always hard for her to start over at a new school, especially because she was pretty shy. She hated people looking at her. She knew she wasn't overly fat, but at 175 pounds she felt like she was. No matter how many times Andrea had told her she wasn't fat, she wouldn't believe her. Maybe it was because Andrea was gorgeous and pretty skinny. And now, she was going to have to start all over and make new friends. She didn't know how she could do it. Finally, she walked out the front door and started for school. She wasn't exactly sure where it was, but she saw a couple signs pointing her in the right direction. She hadn't seen the town when they drove in the night before, but now she got a pretty good look at it. She looked around and felt a sense of familiarity. She still didn't know the name of the town, but she decided to call Andrea anyway. As she was dialing the number she turned around and walked straight into someone. She fell to the ground, which did not help her ass or back, but at least she didn't try catching herself and hurting her arm again. When she looked up, a guy was standing over her holding a basketball trying not to laugh.
"Maybe you should pay more attention to where you are going or you might end up in the river." The guy said helping her up. All she wanted to do was wipe the smirk off his face, but she couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
"Yea, I'm sorry."
"That's all right. You're new here aren't you?" He asked as he helped her up.
"Um, yea" she didn't really know what to say.
"My name's Lucas, Lucas Scott." He said hoping to get her to say something more.
"My name's Ab…Jamie Bausch"
"Well Jamie, it is…" Lucas started, but trailed off.
"What?" Jamie said looking confused.
"You just remind me of someone. It is kind of weird. I haven't seen her for so long, but I guess I could just picture her. And I picture her kind of like you."
"Oh, well we have never met so I guess it couldn't be me right?"
"No, I guess it couldn't. Well, I better get going or I am going to be in quite a bit of trouble with my brother. Hopefully I'll see you around Jamie Bausch."
"Bye." She said before she realized that Andrea's voice mail had picked up. "Hey Andi, it's me. I just woke up like 30 minutes ago and I have already made a complete fool of myself. I will explain it when I talk to you so call me back. I'll talk to you later. Oh, by the way, this place is going to blow!"
Tree Hill High School
"Hey guys" Lucas said to the gang surrounding his locker.
"Hey Luke, where were you this morning? I thought that we were gonna shoot around?" Nate said looking annoyed at his older brother.
"Yea, sorry about that, I was running a little late because my mom made me help her in the café and then I literally ran into someone when I was running over."
"Who did you run into?" Brooke asked.
"Her name is Jamie and she is new in town."
"Is she hot?" Tim had just joined the conversation and without waiting for a response he started a new conversation. "Who is that girl? What a nerd! I mean can we say loser." Lucas couldn't stand listening to conversations involving Tim so ignoring him, he left. On the other side of the hall, Jamie overheard what Tim had said. She knew that he was talking about her, but she was not going to let what that guy said get to her. She finally found her way to the principal's office and made herself comfortable.
"Jamie Bausch." She heard the principal yell. She walked in and sat down in front of Mr. Turner who had some papers in his hand. "Here is your class schedule, map of the school, and of course your locker information. I think that you are really going to like it here Miss Bausch. This is a really great school with a terrific and welcoming student body."
"Yea right," Jamie thought. After what I just heard in the hall I feel really welcome.
"What was that Miss Bausch?" She thought she had said it to herself, but I guess she was wrong.
"I said…yea you are probably right."
"Well, you better get to your class. It is English Honors with Mr. Brandsman, room 217. If you don't like your schedule or if it is too difficult then come and see me and we will get you in a different class. I don't think that you will have a problem because of the transcript we received from your last school."
"Thank you, I don't think that this will be too much of a problem for me." She said as she got up to leave. She walked out the door and started to head for her class. She hated to be late for class because everyone looked at her when she walked in, but she knew that she couldn't skip anything because she was already behind. She finally found her classroom and walked in. As soon as she walked in the room everyone stared. She felt her face become crimson with embarrassment. Mr. Brandsman stopped class and started with an introduction. "Class, this is Jamie Bau…"
"Bausch" Jamie pronounced for him.
"Jamie Bausch. Welcome to English Honors. You can take that seat. Now, where were we?" Class seemed to drag on for what seemed forever. She didn't know why, but she couldn't stop thinking about the guy she had run into earlier that morning. Finally the bell rang and she packed up her bag and started walking out of the room. As she looked down at her schedule to find her next class she slammed into someone for the second time that day.
"Oh my gosh, I have got to start looking where I am going." Jamie said starting to sound really frustrated.
"We should probably stop meeting like this." Lucas said laughing.
"Wow, I am so sorry, again." Jamie said feeling even more embarrassed than she had that morning.
"Hey don't feel bad. I could have watched where I was going or said something to you before we hit, but I wanted to run into you again."
"Oh, I….um…I don't know what to say to that." Jamie said looking quite confused.
"Well, just say that you will let me show you around the town."
"Well, I don't know." Jamie said nervously.
"Come on, I promise that I will stay on one side of the sidewalk and we don't have to talk about anything dealing with your life or anything." Lucas said trying to convince her.
"Okay, I guess that would be nice to know where I am going in this town."
"Great, I'll see you in a couple hours then. I'll meet you by your locker at 2:30."
"Bye Lucas."
"I'll see you later Jamie Bausch."
After school
Jamie was putting her books in her locker when all of a sudden her locker door was practically slammed on her head. When she pulled her head out of her locker there was Tim and a bunch of other guys from the basketball team laughing. "Oh sorry, I guess I didn't see you there. How I didn't see you is beyond my comprehension, but whatever. Now, move, you are in front of my friend's locker there."
"I'm sorry; I didn't know I was in your way." Jamie said moving to the side.
"How could you NOT know that your fat ass was in the way?" Tim said with a little chuckle. Jamie couldn't take anymore, but she knew that she couldn't do any thing to this guy. So instead she tried to ignore him. She looked past him and saw Lucas standing there laughing. She slammed her locker shut and ran out right past Lucas.
"Jamie, wait up. Why are you running?" He asked catching up to her pretty easily. "Hold on" He said grabbing her arm. He felt her flinch, but he ignored it.
"WHAT, WHAT DO YOU WANT? DO YOU WANT TO MAKE FUN OF ME TOO? WELL, HERE'S YOUR CHANCE. C'MON, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY?" She yelled.
"What are you talking about? I thought I was going to show you around the town? I just saw you run out of school so I followed you. What is the matter?" He asked, noticing the tears starting to come down her cheeks.
"Don't act stupid Lucas. I saw you laughing at what that kid was saying."
"What are you talking about? I was laughing at my friend's face when she ran into her locker door. I didn't even see you until you ra…wait, who was making fun of you?" Lucas asked finally understanding what she was so upset about.
"I don't know some guy with a letterman jacket on. I didn't catch his name, but don't worry about it. It is not a big deal. I can handle it."
"Okay, if you say. So, are you ready to get this tour on the road?" Jamie was still trying to catch her breath from crying so she shook her head. "Well, let's go then." Lucas said sticking out his hand. Jamie thought about taking it, but decided not to. Lucas put his hand down and started walking not wanting to feel any more embarrassed than he already felt. As they walked around town, Jamie began to feel the same sense of familiarity she had felt this morning.
"So, why did you move to Tree Hill?" Lucas asked. He hadn't gotten her to say too much since they had started. He wanted to get to know her. He had never felt so much for a girl that he had run into only a couple of times.
"Jo…my dad got a job here…wait, did you say Tree Hill?"
"Yea, I did. So, where did you move from?"
"Wisconsin. That is why this place seems so familiar." She said the last part under her breath.
"So you moved from Wisconsin because your dad got a job here?" Jamie shook her head yes, but didn't say anything. He didn't want to push her to talk to him so they just walked in silence, except when Lucas described things around town. They walked into this little café and walked to the counter. There was a young girl taking orders at the counter and a young man sitting by watching her intently. Lucas walked over and started talking to them. "Hey Jamie, come over here." Jamie walked over and sat on the nearest stool. "Jamie Bausch this is my best friend Haley and my brother Nathan. Hales, Nate, this is Jamie Bausch she just moved here with her dad from Wisconsin. This is the girl I ran into this morning. Oh yea, Haley and Nathan are married."
"It is nice to meet you both. So, you're married? How does that work? Aren't you still in high school?" Lucas was surprised. He hadn't heard Jamie talk so much.
"Maybe I should have told you that earlier. It seems to have been the way to make you talk." Jamie looked a little embarrassed at his comment, but she let out a little chuckle.
"Well," Haley said "Nate is emancipated and I got my parents' consent and we got married."
"Oh, that is insane." Jamie wanted to know everything, but she figured she would ask Lucas later. "Shoot, what time is it?" looking at her cell phone. "I have to get home. Jo…my dad is going to kill me if I am late. Thank you for the tour Lucas. I had a great time. I think I am going to like it here. I'll see you at school tomorrow." Jamie said. She turned around and started to run to the door when she heard Lucas.
"Hey, I can give you a ride home so you aren't late. I mean, I guess that I am the reason that you would be late so it is the least I can do."
"Sure that would be great. I would really appreciate it seeing as I don't actually know where I am going." They got in his car and headed for her house. She didn't know how to get there, but she did know the address. When they got there Lucas recognized the neighborhood as Haley and Nathan's.
"Haley and Nate live right next to you. That is so weird. They are in number eleven in the white apartment complexes if you need anything. I will tell them that you live there."
"Thanks Lucas, hey do you want to come in for a little bit? Maybe just hang out for a while?"
"I thought your dad was going to kill you if you aren't on time?"
"Well, he is calling me at 5 to make sure that I am home, but he won't be home for another couple of hours. So, what do you say? Do you want to come in?" Lucas thought about it for a little while.
"Why not, I would like to know more about you."
They headed inside.
"Do you want anything to eat? I make a mean mac-n-cheese."
"Sure, if you say it is good. I had a friend who made macaroni and cheese every time I came over after playing basketball. I hope yours is just as good."
"Well, I will try to outdo your friend. So, tell me something about yourself."
"Ok, well, I was born in Tree Hill; my mom is the owner of Karen's café. I love playing basketball. I am a junior at Tree Hill. I love to read. I have a half brother, a jackass father, an awesome uncle, two screwed up relationships, a best friend who has been there for me forever and now a new friendship. That is my life in a nut shell." He went on answering all of Jamie's questions about what happened with his brother and best friend. Pretty soon she knew almost everything that had happened in the past year or so of his life. Now it was his turn to ask the questions.
"Okay, your turn to tell me something about yourself." This scared Jamie, she hadn't thought about any stories for her new life, but she figured it would just come out.
"Well, I am an only child. My dad and I moved here from Wisconsin after Dana died."
"Wait, who is Dana?"
"Oh, Dana was my mom. Sorry, I forgot. I love softball, but I can't play it anymore. I don't mind reading, but I love to watch movies. I am not a partier in any way. I hate when people go to parties and drink, but that's because my mom died from a drunk driving hit and run."
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to bring up sad subjects."
"Don't worry, I have gotten over it. It was a couple of years ago." They kept talking about almost everything except their pasts. They didn't go to deep because Jamie always changed the subject. All of a sudden she heard the front door slam shut. She realized that they had talked for almost five hours. "Shit, that's my dad. I don't think he will be too happy that I am alone in the house with a guy. You better go out the back door." Lucas snuck out quietly as Jamie cleaned up his dishes. She turned around just in time to see the door closing as John walked in.
"How was your day Jamie?" She could tell that he had been drinking, but the name thing was still bugging her. She had also realized why he had changed her name. This is the town that she had lived in with her mom and dad. She had realized it when Lucas told her the city name. But she wanted to hear him say it.
"My day was fine John, but there is one thing that has been bugging me since this afternoon. Why did I have to change my name? Is it because this is where I grew up with my mom and dad? Why do I have to keep who I am a secret? Why don't you want me to find the people that I grew up with? To tell you the truth, I think I already found them. Do you want me to be miserable and lie to people?"
"You better watch it. I heard you talking to a guy in here before I came in. What have I told you about bringing guys into the house without my permission? I have already told you why I changed your name. I want to start over as a family and you better not be going around telling people you changed your name. You are my daughter now and I expect you to keep your past a secret. If you don't I swear you will never see Lucas or whatever the hell his name is again."
"Are you threatening to hurt Lucas if I tell anyone the truth?" He wasn't, but that sounded like a good way to get her to keep everything a secret.
"Yes I am. And you know that I keep my promises. Now go to bed."
"I have homework to…" She really needed to learn to keep her mouth shut as she sat on the chair holding her already bruised face in her hands. She walked to her room and locked her door. She didn't think that he would come in, but she still wanted to keep him out if he tried to apologize. She didn't want him to see her cry.
Outside
"Hey Lucas, our apartment is over here. Why are sneaking around the new neighbor's?" Nate yelled over to Lucas. They had seen him standing outside the house, but they hadn't seen him leaving.
"Oh, I'm not sneaking around; well technically I am, but…anyway, this is Jamie's house. She invited me in and then her dad came home and she didn't want to get into trouble so I snuck out the back door. We seriously spent like five hours talking. I haven't talked to anyone like that since…well, for a long time. Hey, I have to get going. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Bye." He said as he left to go call Anna. He needed to talk to her about this girl. As he got in his car he started dialing Anna's cell phone number.
"Hello," came a voice from the other end.
"Hey Anna, it is Luke. What are you up to right now? I kind of need to talk."
"Is something wrong Luke?"
"No, but I do need to talk to you about the thing we were talking about yesterday."
"Sure, I can meet you at the River court in five minutes."
"Yea, I'll be waiting for you. See you soon. Bye."
River court
"Thanks for meeting me Anna. This means a lot to me."
"Yea, anytime Luke, I like talking to you believe it or not. So, what is it? Have you heard from Abby?"
"No, I wish, but I did meet someone today that sort of reminds me of her. I mean it was weird. Do you remember the girl that I ran into this morning on my way to meet Nate?" Anna shook her head. "Well, I ran into her after second period and I asked her if she would like a tour of Tree Hill. I don't know why I asked her, I just felt like I wanted to get to know her. Well, after the tour of the city I took her home and we sat in her kitchen and talked for like five hours. It was amazing. I don't ever remember just sitting and talking to anyone except for Haley and Abby. The weirdest part was that she made me macaroni and cheese, which she said was her specialty. That is what Hales, Abs, and I always ate for a snack. I mean all of these little quirks that I remember Abby having Jamie has a lot of them."
"Do you think that…no, it couldn't be Abby. She would have no reason to change her name plus you knew her dad so…"
"Yea, I thought about that too, but my mom and her family were really close. They would have contacted us. But it was an amazing night Anna. I really like her already and I really don't even know that much about her. We talked for so long, but we never got into the past or into anything really personal. I'm sorry you probably don't need to hear all these things. Do you want to play a couple games of hog?"
"Do you really have to ask Luke? Oh, and I don't really mind listening to you go on and on about your newly found crush." Anna and Luke shot around for about an hour and then headed for home seeing as they still needed to do homework. When Luke walked in the house he was stopped by his mother.
"Shit mom. You scared me. Why are you just sitting there? Are you okay?" He asked noticing that she was crying.
"Yea, I'm fine. It is just the anniversary of Kelly's death. Did you know that it has been six years since she died?"
"Yea, I remember mom. It has also been six years since I have heard from Abby. I don't get it, I thought we were friends. She has never written. Not even after I wrote to her." Lucas couldn't help it; he couldn't keep his emotions in anymore. He wanted his mom to know how he felt. "Mom, why couldn't they have just stayed? We could have helped Roger 'escape his pain' or whatever he said to Abby to get her to move. I miss her so much. I haven't forgiven myself for just letting her go. I really liked her and I mean more than just my best friend. I never said good-bye to her and she left on bad terms with me." Lucas burst into tears at the thought of losing one of his best friends.
"Honey, I didn't know you felt that way about losing Abby. You never told me any of this. Does Haley know how you feel about Abby?" Lucas just shook his head no.
"I have never told anyone about this, well, until recently when I told Anna. I actually just told her yesterday and then I talked to her about it again today." Lucas and Karen just sat there crying over losing two people that they cared about so much. After about ten minutes of letting go of all his feelings he remembered his homework. "I hate to say this mom, but I should probably go do some homework. Wow, I can't believe I just said that. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight. I love you."
"I love you too Luke. Goodnight. Honey, I'm sorry about Abby."
"Don't be mom. It was my fault." Lucas said as he shut the door to his room. He went to sit at his desk, but got distracted by the picture that Nathan had pointed to the day before. He grabbed the picture off his dresser and went and sat by the computer. He stared at the picture and thought about the way things were before she left.
Flashback
"Come on Lukie don't be stubborn. It is not our fault that you fell off your bike trying to impress us and scraped your knee. You have to go tell Karen so that you won't have to get your leg cut off." Seven year-old Abby told a crying, yet stubborn Lucas.
"I am not going to tell my mom. She will get mad at me for riding out in the street without her. And I won't have to cut my leg off. Where in the world would you come up with a stupid thing like that anyway?"
"I heard it is true Luke. I saw a guy with one leg the other day. My mom had a guy come in for a check-up and she asked what happened and he said that he fell off his bike on the highway." Haley said matter-of-factly. Little did they know that it was a motorcycle and he was going over 90 mph. The trio had been playing around the café when Lucas decided that he wanted to show off his brand-new bike to his best friends. As he was riding around the street (of course there were no cars) he hit a little crack in the road and went tumbling off his bike. He scrapped up his knee enough for it to start bleeding, but nothing terrible happened. "Luke, if you don't tell your mom Abby and I will. You do want to be able to be in the NBA with Skills when you are older don't you?" Luke shook his head at Haley's comment.
"Well then Lukie let's go tell your mom together. Haley and I promise that we will hold your hand through the whole thing." So the three walked, well Lucas limped, into the café where his mom was clearing away a place for them to eat lunch. When she saw the three walk in she ran over to her little boy and a hundred questions flew from her mouth. Lucas couldn't do anything but cry so Abby took the reigns. She thought about lying to Karen, but the lies that she had thought of didn't sound like they would work (pretty much like every other lie the three had thought of in the past couple of years). "Well Karen, this is what happened. I was telling Luke that he was a baby because he still had training wheels on his bike. And then he showed us the new bike that you had gotten for him and I told him that I didn't believe he could actually ride it without you holding on. So I triple-dog dared him to ride it down the sidewalk a little ways. He told me that he wasn't supposed to, but I wouldn't listen to him. I called him a chicken and then a baby and so he got on the bike and started going. He was doing a really good job and then there was a big crack and I mean a gigantic, monster…"
"I think I get the point there Abby, continue with the story." Karen said with a little chuckle at the little girl's view of the crack.
"Sorry. Anyways, there was a humongous crack in the sidewalk and when he hit the crack, the bike toppled over and he scrapped his knee. He wanted to come in here and tell you, but I told him that he was just a big baby if he did."
"Okay, are you finished?" The little girl shook her head. "Well, I think your mom and dad have told you about daring other people to do things and then calling them names. So I am going to call your parents and have them come pick you up. I will tell them what happened so that you don't change your story. Now you just sit there. Lucas…"she said looking at the now puffy-eyed boy. "Would you like to add anything to what may have happened?" He looked at Abby who was shaking her head vigorously and shook his head no. "Okay then, I am going to go get something to clean your knee out after I call Abby's parents. You two (she said pointing at Haley and Luke) go sit over there." As soon as she left the room Lucas and Haley went over to where Abby was sitting.
"Why didn't you tell her the truth about what happened?" Luke asked.
"Well, I figured that I probably owe you one from the last time when I actually did dare you. So, are we even now?"
"Of course we are."
"Luke, she's coming hurry up sit back down." Luke and Haley ran back to their sits and sat down just as Karen came back in.
"Your parents will be her in five minutes. Now Luke, hold still, this will hurt a little, but you have to be a big boy and not yell too loud."
"Can Abby and Haley hold my hands?"
"I guess so. Are you ready?"
"No, but you are going to…Owwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Luke screamed. "I wasn't ready mom. That isn't fair." As Karen finished cleaning the scrap on Lucas' knee, Kelly and Roger Winters walked in to pick up their daughter.
End Flashback
Lucas started laughing remembering that day. He still had a scar from the scrap. Abby couldn't play with Lucas and Haley for a week because of that day. He remembered it was one of the longest weeks of his life. He hated not being able to hang out with both of his best friends for a week. As soon as they saw each other again they sat and played for hours on end just trying to get back the lost week. Lucas began to feel sad again wishing that he could just sit and talk with Abby and try to get back the last six years that he had been without her. Little did he know that across town there was a girl sitting on her bed remembering and wishing the same exact thing.
Jamie sat on her bed wondering if Lucas and Haley even thought about her. She wondered if she could ever have the same friendship with them as they used to have. She never could understand why they had never written back to her. She knew that when she left that Lucas was mad at her, but she didn't think that Haley would never write. She wrote to them for three years after her father had died. She couldn't even understand why they hadn't come to the funeral. All of a sudden she heard her door trying to be open. She quickly went to unlock it so the blows wouldn't be as bad as if he would have to break the door down, which he would.
"Why the hell was the door locked?" John yelled.
"I was changing and it is a habitat that I have had since I was little and…" she couldn't even finish her sentence.