A/N: Alright, so my schedule is going to be incredible 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.
Not my best chapter, but I hope all of you still like it.
When Brooke got home from school she was surprised to see her mother sitting on the floor with a plastic tiara sitting on her head. Sophia was sleeping on the floor with a pillow and a blanket. Spending the day with her grandma had made her pretty tired.
"That's a good look on you, mom," Brooke says with a grin.
Victoria looks up startled.
"I didn't hear you come in," Victoria says as she takes the tiara off of her head. "Sophia fell asleep about a half hour ago."
Brooke nods her head as she places her bag on the floor and takes a seat on the couch.
"Where's Lucas?"
"At his moms, apparently Whitey needed to talk to him, but wanted Karen and Keith present for it. He'll be home soon."
Victoria picks up the folder on the table and hands it to her daughter.
"These are really good."
Brooke's eyes widen in surprise.
"Um, thanks I guess. I just get these ideas."
"Have you made any of the dresses?" Victoria asks with interest.
"A few, but they were mostly for my friends and of course Sophia."
Victoria stands up from the floor and takes a seat next to her daughter.
"You could go places with this Brooke. I have some contacts in New York, let me show them these sketches and after high school, maybe we can set something up."
"Really?" Brooke asks. "I mean I already have a website, but I had to shut it down because there were a lot of demands, but only one of me, plus Sophia was more important."
"I have to go to New York in a few days. Let me take these and I'll get back to you."
"Okay," Brooke says with a smile. "Let's do that."
~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~
Lucas walks into his childhood home and sees Keith, Karen and Whitey sitting at the kitchen table.
"Where are Levi and Lily?" Lucas questions before taking a seat.
"Sleeping," Karen says with a grin. "Thank god."
"Do you guys want to tell me what's going on? I do have a family to get home to."
Whitey grins and pats Lucas's shoulder.
"Whitey, your mom and I have been talking about you rejoining the Ravens," Keith says.
Lucas looked at them shocked.
"If it happens there will have to be rules," Karen says. "I already talked to your doctor and he says that you can play, but you have to keep taking your pills and we limit you to fifteen minutes a night."
"I'd be getting you off of the bench, but you'll get to play," Whitey says with a smile.
"I don't know," Lucas finally says. "I'd only play fifteen minutes. That's not a whole lot of time."
"But you love to do it, Lucas. Just think about it," Keith says to his son.
Lucas nods his head.
~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~
A few days later and Lucas had a long sit down with his wife about playing basketball again. Brooke said that he should do it. She had said he loved the game and it shouldn't matter how long he played as long as he played and he played it safe, meaning he had to take his pills.
Victoria had left for New York with Brooke's sketches. Brooke was really hoping that something would come of it, but she wasn't holding her breath.
Jake was getting more and more worried about Peyton and Derek. He had a real bad feeling about the guy.
Peyton had been spending a lot of her free time with Derek talking about her life all the while setting up a concert at Tric for Lupe Fiasco.
Nathan and Haley were having slight money problems and Nathan was busy looking for a job.
~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~
Haley, Lucas, Brooke, Peyton and Jake were all standing in the front of the school waiting for Nathan to show up. Haley had said he had to do something earlier this morning.
"What exactly is Nathan doing, Haley?" Brooke questions.
"I don't know. He's been so worried about our financial status lately," Haley says in a worried tone.
"Things will be fine," Lucas says with enthusiasm. The gang finally spots Nathan pulling up into the parking lot on a motorcycle. "Or maybe not," Lucas says before slowly walking away.
"Nathan, are you stupid? Where is our car?" Haley scolds her husband.
Peyton, Jake and Brooke follow in Lucas's suit and walk away as well.
~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~
Rachel runs up to Brooke who was busy at her locker grabbing her books.
"Guess who got hometown hottie," Rachel says with a smile.
Brooke turns to her friend in shock.
"No way, really."
"Yep, I have the photo shoot later today. Mouth was extremely happy for me, plus I'm hot," Rachel says with a grin.
Brooke rolls her eyes playfully.
"Let's go to class and then you can fill me in an all the details between you and Mouth."
~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~
After school, Jake had finally made up his mind and decided to speak to a detective about Derek Sommers. He was worried about his girlfriend and he wanted to make sure she was safe.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Derek Sommers, he says he's Peyton Sawyer's brother, but I just don't trust the guy. I was hoping you could help me out with this situation."
The detective scratches his chin.
"Do you have any proof that this guy isn't who he says he is?"
Jake shakes his head in a huff.
"No, but my gut says something is off."
"I'll see what I can do and if I get anything, I'll give you a call."
"That's all I can ask for, thank you," Jake says while shaking the detective's hand.
~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~/~~~
After spending his day with Peyton, Derek steps into his hotel room with a smile. He enjoyed hanging out with her. He was getting really irritated about the boyfriend though. He swore he was going to do something about it.
Derek took a look at all the photos he had taken of Peyton.
Peyton Sawyer was going to be his.
"You ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. How many moments of other people's lives have we been in? Were we a part of someone's life when their dream came true? Or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in? As if we were somehow destined to be there? Or did the shot take us by surprise? Just think. You could be a big part of someone else's life, and not even know it."