A/N: Wow this is the first story I updated this week…I've just been tired…god so tired, but I have stuff written for the chapters of my other stories…anyway, hope you enjoy this update. It's a little on the short side, but I can barely keep my eyes open for this.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Say a Little Prayer

"I have a serious problem," Sam says as soon as she enters the Scott house. Sam knew that Peyton would be at home so Sam had walked right in. Lucky enough, Peyton was sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing.

"What serious problem would that be?" Peyton asks with an amused grin.

She had watched Sam enter her house in a huff and throw her bag on the floor.

"I'm going to fail Math. I already know this."

"Sam, you really aren't making any sense right now. Tell me what is going on."

Sam turns to Peyton with a frown.

"Do you remember dad's ex girlfriend?"

Peyton's face shows an amount of disgust.

"Yes, I remember. She was such a bitch to you. I wanted to kill her."

"She's my math teacher," Sam deadpans.

"Can you switch classes?" Peyton asks wanting the answer to be yes so bad.

Sam shakes her head.

"I'll have to deal."

"Sam, last time you tried to deal things got bad."

Sam snuggles into Peyton's side.

"I know, but I have to stand on my own with this woman. She pissed me off and turned my dad against me for some time. I don't want that to happen again so I'm going to do all I can for that not to happen."

"I think you should tell your dad about Melissa being your teacher," Peyton says as she curls her arms around Sam.

"No, despite how she treated me, dad was happy with her until he realized how badly she did treat me besides he's happy now and planning a wedding. I don't need to distract him from that."

"You're a good kid Sam."

"I know," Sam says with a small grin.

-WLOM-

Melissa Harris had only been in love once in her life. The only man she had ever loved was Julian Baker.

The first time she had met Julian Baker was actually in a grocery store. He needed to know where the cereal was. She had showed him and things went from there.

They dated for awhile and when awhile turned into a few months, Julian dropped the bombshell. He finally told Melissa that he had a daughter. She had said it was no big deal, that she loved little kids. She wasn't prepared for that little kid to be 12 years old, a bratty one at that.

Melissa walked into her apartment after teaching for the day. She liked most of her students. She didn't like Sam though. She hated Sam. Sam ruined everything for her.

Melissa dropped her bag onto the couch and headed to her bedroom. She flipped on the lights and smiled at everything that was around her room.

Pictures upon pictures of Julian Baker, she even had some of Sam with a red X over her face.

-WLOM-

Sam walked into the house and raised an eyebrow. Brooke and Julian were sitting on the couch and looking at her.

"You guys are creeping me out. Do something else, but stare at me?"

Brooke blushed and looked away. Julian got off of the couch and hugged his daughter tightly.

"I missed you Samantha."

"Dad, I'm okay and it was just school. I'm fine."

Julian pulls away from his daughter sheepishly.

"Sorry," Julian quickly apologizes.

"I'm going to go to my room and call Aunt Kadyn."

Sam excuses herself from the room and goes into her bedroom. Julian sits back on the couch and sighs.

"When she got home, that wasn't what I imagined would happen."

"Julian, Sam is probably missing her mom right now. We missed her for a day, but she came back. Sara doesn't have that luxury and Sam knows that. She's going to call the one person beside herself that has a real connection to her. Let her be."

Julian looked at his fiancé and all he could see was the love in her eyes.

"You make everything all better. What did I do to deserve you?"

"I could ask the same question," Brooke states before kissing her fiancé with a small amount of passion.

-WLOM-

"I miss her," Sam states over the phone.

"I know you do, sweetie. We all miss her, but you have your dad and Brooke and Peyton there for you, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do, but they aren't mom."

"I know they aren't. Every day I wake up and wait for the phone to ring because every morning your mother would call me. I keep forgetting that my phone hasn't rung in the morning for awhile. It's not something you can just get used to. You just have to deal."

Sam lays her head on the bed and sighs.

"I just want my mom. Is that so hard to ask or want? Why did god have to take her away? She was a good person, why did it have to be her?" Sam cries.

"I don't know. I wish I knew, but I don't and you're right your mother is a good person, she was a good person."

Sam sniffles into the phone and wipes her tears away.

"I just wanted to call you Aunt Kadyn. I should let you go now, but I'll call you later."

"I love you, Samantha."

"I love you, too," Sam replied before hanging up the phone.

Sam dropped her phone and the bed and closed her eyes. Today hadn't really been her day at all and she thinks it's because her mom wasn't there with her and she was pissed at that. There was really only one person she could talk to about that.

Sam folded her hands and did what she had never done before.

She prayed.