A/N: Alright, so my schedule is going to be incredibly busy for the next two months so updates for my stories will be at random and hopefully once a week. If you don't see an update for this story one week, plan on seeing it the next week. I can't keep to a schedule right now, my apologies, but volunteering is kind of important to me so my writing comes second. I hope you all understand.

"Who exactly is this Jake guy?" Derek asks as he takes a seat on Peyton's bed, his blonde hair flopping in his face.

Peyton came out of her bathroom with a smile.

"Jake is my boyfriend and I love him."

"He's the one with the kid and recently married right?"

Peyton shakes her head.

"No, that would be Lucas. He and I had a thing, but then it got very complicated. Now he has a three year old daughter and is married to my best friend Brooke."

Derek smiles and nods his head.

"Your little group has history, I take it."

"A History you wouldn't believe even if I told you. It's horrible, but we all make the best out of our situations," Peyton states as she walks back to her bathroom, not knowing that her brother was watching her the whole way.

Derek grins.

"Everyone has secrets," Derek whispers.

~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~

"If you go to school, where does Sophia go?" Victoria asks as she watches her daughter prepare breakfast for Sophia.

"Grandma Karen!" Sophia yells excitedly.

Brooke smiles gently at her daughter.

"She said it all. I drop her off at the Café while I go to school, why?"

"Has Karen been doing that since Sophia was born?"

Brooke places a plate of eggs in front of her daughter.

"Eat up, baby," Brooke looks at her mother. "Yeah, Karen and Keith have been there, you and dad haven't."

"I deserved that, but I would like to take care of Sophia for the day."

Brooke looks at her mother in shock.

"Mom, I don't think that's a good idea."

Victoria nods her head and gets a saddened expression on her face. Brooke looks over at her daughter who had gripped onto Victoria's hand and smiled brightly at her. If Victoria couldn't have been a good mother then maybe she could be a wonderful grandmother.

"Alright, here is the deal. This is your chance to show me that you mean what you mean. You only get once chance, so don't blow it."

Victoria smiles at her daughter.

"Thank you Brooke. You don't know how much this means to me."

"I'm beginning too."

~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~

"I had fun the other night. That doesn't usually happen like that."

"What usually happens?" Mouth asks as he and Rachel walk down the school hallways hand in hand.

"Usually, I just end up having sex and then bailing, not staying the night, but with you it's different and I like it. You make me feel like a human."

"Rachel, you are human. What are you talking about?"

"I've been numb for so long. After my son I just…I felt like nothing else mattered, that I was horrible because he died."

"It's understandable that you feel that way and I'm here if you ever need to talk to me, okay?"

Rachel and Mouth had stopped walking and were currently in front of Rachel's locker.

"I'm glad I have you Mouth," Rachel says before leaning in and kisses Mouth softly on the lips.

The hallway cheered as they watched Tree Hill High's Geek get kissed by Tree Hill High's single hottie, who isn't single anymore.

~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~

"I can't believe it," Nathan says in shock. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Haley laughs at her husband and looks at the brochures in front of them.

"Nathan, you got full basketball scholarships to both Stanford and Duke."

"I know that's my point. I can't choose. We might not have to. We can't afford these schools."

"With you being on full scholarship we would only have to pay for my tuition plus there are grants and things. We can make this work. We just have to decide where to go," Haley says before putting the brochures in her bag. "Nathan, I'd be happy to go to school with you at Duke just keep that in mind."

Nathan stands up and grabs his bag by the door.

"We should get going. We don't want to be late for school."

"Nathan, you hate school," Haley points out as she follows her husband out the door.

"Yeah, but you like it. And besides I have a scholarship to maintain."

~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~

"Alright Sophia, what would you like to do?" Victoria asks her granddaughter as soon as Brooke leaves the apartment.

"Can we play princess?" Sophia asks cutely.

"How do you play princess?"

"We wear pretty dresses and tiaras."

"I think I can handle that," Victoria says with a smile.

"Yay!" Sophia yells as she runs to her room. She comes back out with a pink dress. Sophia hands it to her grandmother. "Help me, please."

Victoria smiles and grabs the dress.

"It's very pretty, Sophia," Victoria compliments as she helps her granddaughter into the dress. "Where did you get it?"

"Mommy made it."

"Honey, I think you mean mommy bought it."

Victoria finishes putting on the dress and Sophia runs to the living room drawer and pulls out a folder.

"No, mommy made them, see."

Victoria grabs the folder from her granddaughters hands and looks inside. There were pages full of sketches of clothes. The sketches were done by Brooke and Victoria was amazed at the talent that her daughter possessed.

"Can we play now?"

Victoria looks up from the sketches and sees Sophia with a pout on her face.

"Yeah, we can play."

~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~

"I've got a bad feeling about this guy, Lucas," Jake says while passing the basketball to Lucas.

"Is he acting weird or anything like that?" Lucas questions before taking a shot at the free throw line.

Jake and Lucas were in the school gymnasium. They had a half hour before school started.

"I don't know, not really from what I can tell. I just got a bad vibe from him."

Jake grabs the abandoned basketball and goes for the lay-up.

"Jake, man, I don't know what to tell you. I would say trust your gut, but tread lightly. Peyton doesn't let people in as fast as she let Derek."

Jake passes the ball to Lucas who shoots it and makes it in.

"That's what I'm afraid of. If this Derek turns into some freak, it's going to take awhile for Peyton to trust someone again. I don't want that to happen."

"No one does, man."

At the entrance to the gym, Whitey was leaning against the wall and was watching Lucas play basketball. Whitey smiled when a plan formulated in his head.