It had been 5 days. No news. The police had gotten nowhere, and Lucas didn't know what to do.

He was driving home from school, with the radio playing on load. School was tough for him lately. Everything was. Of course, he had Haley, Nathan, Brooke and the rest of his friends, and they were all very worried too… but he couldn't just sit there and be worried. He needed to do something, but he didn't know where to start. Lucas had to face it, he didn't know anything about this Derek guy. He didn't know his real name, where he came from, what school he had went to. How was he supposed to find a guy he didn't know anything about? A guy who didn't even want to be found…

Suddenly a song started rocking on the radio, and it gave Lucas chills. "Linoleum" by NOFX had just started playing. He had mentioned that song to Peyton the first time he spoke to her by the lake.

"That's me on the beachside combing the sand

Metal meter in my hand…"

Lucas tried not to think of it. He tried not to think of Peyton, who was probably terrified for her life right now. Peyton, that dark, feisty, sarcastic, brave girl he had come to know, who had already gone through too much, but still always managed to stand up after a fall.

"That's me on the street with a violin under my chin

Playing with a grin…"

Would Peyton be able to get through this? Would she be strong enough?

Lucas kept worrying. Why were all these things happening to Peyton? Why her?

"That's me on the back of the bus

That's me in the cell…"

When he first met her, it was hard for her to let him in. It was always hard for her. Why was she being punished for letting someone new into her life? And what would happen to her now, after all of this, if they managed to find her? Was she going to lock herself up forever?

"That's me inside your head

That's me inside your head…"

Peyton was standing by her car, looking anywhere but at Lucas, while the wind was flowing through her hair, making it tangled and messy. She was holding a sketchbook in her hands, with the logo "NOFX" printed on the front.

"That's me inside your head," Lucas said.

"What?"

"NOFX." He pointed to the sketchbook.

"That's me inside your head," he tried singing. "It's the lyrics from Lin-"

"I know the song," she said, looking at him like he was some freak.

Lucas smiled to himself as he pulled over to his house. Someone were standing there though, waiting for him.

It was Brooke.

She got into the passenger seat next to him and closed the door. "Hey, Luke," she said and smiled weakly. Brooke had also been very broken up ever since Peyton disappeared, and was very quiet compared to her usual self these days.

"Hey. How you holdin' up, girlie?" he asked.

"Oh, you know.. So and so."

"What's up Brooke?"

"Honestly, I'm here to talk about us." She looked at him.

"Okay..?" Lucas replied, surprised.

"I just wanted to make sure… that none of us gets the wrong idea. We've been spending so much time together lately, and I just wanted to make sure that it was as friends only, nothing more. You see, Peyton is the one who needs me now… And I can't let anything else get in the way of that. Do you understand, Luke?"

"Yeah, of course Brooke! I didn't see this as anything different, just friends. We've both had other things on our minds, and well…" Lucas swallowed. Lately he had imagined him and Peyton together so many times that he couldn't really see himself with anyone else. Friendship or love, he didn't know what it was… All he knew was that he needed Peyton to come home to him, and then everything would be better.

The radio suddenly went over to the news, and they could hear the known opening melody.

"The police are still looking for Ms. Peyton Sawyer, who was kidnapped from her home in Tree Hill five days ago. So far, the police haven't got anything new to report, but they ask you all to let them know if you saw anything suspicious last Friday night. Ms. Sawyer-"

Lucas turned the radio off, so he wouldn't have to keep listening. He could feel his hands shaking. He didn't know if it was from anger or sadness. Maybe both.

Brooke looked at him. "You like her, don't you?"

"Who, Peyton? Of course I like her. She's my friend…"

"That's not what I mean… Oh Luke. It was never gonna work out between us, was it?" Lucas looked over at her, and noticed she was smiling.

"No, I guess not. It just wasn't meant to be, I suppose."