A/N Hey, I am back with new chapter! Thank You othlover4ever, SHAUN BUCK, and 123abc for your kind reveiws, Enjoy!

Lailin

It has been five hours since Hunter left when I finally leave my post by the front door, sink onto my couch, and put my head in my hands. I had wanted to take him to the hospital, but he insisted on going alone—he "wouldn't want me to have to deal with that." I made him promise he would call one of his siblings to come get him and let him go, not saying any type of goodbye because I wasn't sure how. I had held him while he cried, told him everything was going to be okay, and I couldn't even say a goddamn goodbye. This is new for me—I have always been the type of girl that is cool and confident when it comes to boys, a strong speaker for women's rights and someone who won't let guys push her around. I have always known what the right relationship decisions are. But now, as I replay Hunter and I's encounter in my head, I have no idea what to do next. I throw myself down face-first and let a pillow smoosh flat the landscape of my face.

I obviously still have feelings for him. I have been with a handful of other guys since he left, but he was always in the back of my mind, attached to whatever part of the brain handles memories like a tic. I have never truly gotten over him. How far, though, does the extent of my feelings stretch? I cannot, of course, fall into his open arms and proclaim to be madly in love with him after what he did—I'm not Bella Swan (who, quite frankly, should have gotten herself together and done better things with her time instead of moping around and getting herself even further into whatever sick and twisted love triangle they've got going on). It will take a long process of him rebuilding my trust and extinguishing my anger before I will even begin to consider that. But there is the fact that he needs me to be there with him right now, girlfriend or not, and I honestly can't decide if I think I can do it. It's not just the matter of leaving Oppenheimer's, which I will undoubtedly have to do if that's what I choose—it's a matter of altering my whole life. I would have to go to a public high school for the first time in a long time, make new friends, try to patch up Hunter and I's damaged relationship. I would have to become someone that someone else depends on. Am I a good enough person to do that for someone else?

Afternoon fades out to dusk as I smother myself with pillows and think. My mind keeps going in circles, thoughts like a Ferris wheel circling my brain. One minute I decide I am going; the next I am convinced I am never going to come out of this house again so I won't have to see his face. I'm going, then I'm not, I'm going, then I'm not. I sigh and try an exercise my mother taught me the first (but definitely not last) time I got in a fight with another girl. It's the oldest trick in the book, really. I close my eyes and try to put myself in his shoes.

Okay, Lailin, let's think. What if you were a pathetic asshole who left his best friend behind and never called her again because you were trying to be all noble—no, no, focus, stupid, focus. What if your mother died right after you moved to a scary new place and your father killed himself a year later? What if you had to move to a new place with relatives you didn't know you had and try to fit in? What if you found out your family had been lying to you your whole life and you couldn't talk to them about it because they were gone? What if your real father was a bastard and you had to live on your own because life at home was so bad? What if you went to your best friend, the only person you had to go to when all else fails, and she turned you away in your time of need (after breaking your nose on top of all that)? What if you had to go home and spend the rest of your life wondering what might have happened?

What if you had to hate yourself for so long that you couldn't remember what if felt like to be okay?

I gasp and shake myself out the fantasy. I am sweating. I haven't lifted my face from the pillow, but I'm sure that when I am, I will be crying. Hunter is in no way forgiven, but I cannot leave him to do this alone. It's not right. No one, not even my last enemy, should have to do something like this alone.

I vault myself off the couch in one violent, sudden motion and grab my phone from where it rested on the floor. It takes only two dialing seconds and four rings for a voice to sound on the other end of the phone. "Lailin?"

I only call him when something is drastically wrong (so, never), so I can understand his concern. I try to keep my voice calm. "Hey, Whitey."

"Is something wrong?"

"No—I'm fine. But I need you to do something for me."

"And that something would be?"

I take a deep breath. "I need you to call Oppenheimer's for me."

To: sarchibald

Subject: Lailin Durham

Mr. Archibald,

It regrets me to inform you that Lailin will not be returning to Oppenhemier's in the fall. It is nothing against your school—she just feels that she'd like to spend her senior year in a different environment. We would really appreciate it if you would send her transcripts to my office at Tree Hill High so that she can get registered for the new year. Thank you for giving her a great year.

All the best,

Whitey Durham

Hope you liked it. To answer othlover4ever's question Isobel (Izzi) Scott is Nathan's twin sister. In this story Dan Scott has 4 kids, Lucas is the oldest then there is Hunter, Nathan, and Izzi. If I get three reveiws (you still don't need an account) I will try to reveiw tomorrow!