Chapter 18

It had been a hard car ride to the station, but at least Mr. Leamon helped her take her mind off leaving. She figured the train ride would be even harder because there would be no one to distract her. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Lucas, Nathan, and Haley. She had watched Lucas until she couldn't see him. Once on the train, Abby couldn't hold her emotions in any longer. She hadn't cried all day and the tears wouldn't stop. She felt alone. She finally fell asleep, but a restless five hours was not enough. She knew that she needed to hear Lucas' voice. As she dialed his number she realized it was 1:00 in the morning, but she really wanted to talk to him and hear his voice.

"Hello…"

"I'm sorry Luke. Were you sleeping?"

"Abby?"

"Yea, I'm so sor…"

"Don't worry, I'm awake now." He sounded much more awake. "How's Wisconsin?"

"I'm not actually there yet. I just needed to talk to you. I miss you so much already."

"This is going to be a difficult two years isn't it?"
"Yea, probably" They continued talking for three hours. Abby finally fell asleep while on the phone. She was woken up a couple hours later by the conductor yelling the arrival in Wisconsin within the next five minutes. Abby got all her stuff together and was off the trains as quick as she could. When she stepped off she noticed a young lady holding a sign with her name on it. She walked over.

"Welcome to Wisconsin Miss Winters. My name is Cheryl Korey. I work for the state."

"Hello"

"So how was the train ride?" Abby just shrugged and hopped into the car. They arrived at the children's home and walked inside. Abby had never been to a children's home, but she quickly found that it wasn't anything special. They walked up two flights of stairs and then headed into a room at the very end of the hall. She had noticed that all the rooms they had passed were occupied by teen-age girls, but she was probably the oldest.

"This is your room. You will be sharing with Darcy. That is your bed, dresser, and desk. We eat breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 1:00, and dinner at 6:30. You are required to eat lunch and dinner, unless you are out of the house for a good reason. You will be given a weekly allowance of $10 for the chores that you will be doing throughout the day. Curfew is 10:00 for teenagers with lights out at 11. If you want to leave, you must get it okayed by myself or other workers." She paused to make sure Abby was listening.

"Keep going, I'm listening." Abby said as she stared out the window.

"There are no boys on this floor and they cannot be in a girl's room past 10:00 and the same goes for you being in a boy's room. Do you have any questions?"

"Um, no I don't have any questions."

"All right, well the bathroom is down the hall. I will let you get settled in. If you need anything my room is right next to the bathroom. If I'm not in there I will be downstairs in the office." After Cheryl left, Abby shut the door and fell to the ground. She couldn't believe where she was. After about 10 minutes there was a knock on the door. Abby quickly dried her eyes and opened the door.

"Darcy are you...? You aren't Darcy." A young boy asked as soon as the door opened.

"No, I'm not Darcy. She isn't here." He shook his head.

"Well, my name is…"

"JUSTIN!" Abby had never heard anyone squeal like that.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was coming up to talk to Cheryl when I thought I heard you crying in your room, but it obviously wasn't you." Darcy finally noticed Abby standing in the doorway.

"You must be the new girl."

'Well duh' Abby thought to herself.

"Let me introduce you to some people. We will start with the important ones. My name is Darcy. This is Mary and Katie and I see you have already met my boyfriend, Justin."

"It is nice to meet you all, my name is Abby…"

"Whatever" Darcy said interrupting. "I don't care who you are. This is my domain. I rule this place and you better not get in my way Chubby." Abby couldn't believe it was starting already. She hadn't even been there an hour and people hated her.

"Oh, and stay away from my boyfriend." She pushed past Abby and sat on her bed. "Do you mind? My friends and I are trying to have a conversation." Abby was so tempted to say something back, but decided that she would just call some people. She grabbed her bag and walked outside. She found a quiet spot and dialed Brooke's number.

"Hey this is Brooke Davis. I'm not by my phone so leave me one." Abby missed Brooke so much.

"Hey B…it's me, A.J. Well, I'm in Wisconsin now. I miss you, Lucas, and Tree Hill so much. I just got here and people already don't like me. It feels like that first day or so with Tim, but this time there is no you, Haley, Luke, or Nathan to help me out. Well, give me a call when you get this. I'll talk to you later. Love ya much. Bye B" She hung up. She tried to call everyone, but she had to leave a message for every single person. This was going to be a hard week and a half. She was actually excited for the trail because she knew that Karen and Lucas were coming.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?"
"I was…I don't have to explain what I was doing to you. Why don't you leave me alone?" Darcy was surprised. She hadn't realized Abby could be just as bad as she was. "Look, I know you don't like me for some strange reason, but I didn't and wouldn't hit on your boyfriend. I will stay out of your way if you stay out of mine." With that she got up and walked back into the house leaving Darcy and her posse outside in shock. For the next week and a half Abby kept to herself and only talked when someone asked her a question or when someone from Tree Hill would call. Darcy hadn't said anything about her, but Abby knew she was pissed at what had happened that first day. It was finally time for Lucas and Karen to come and Abby was over excited. No one had ever seen her smile except when she talked to this guy or someone else from Tree Hill.