Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have taken interest in my stroy. It means a lot. And thank you for the R&R's. I know I have said it before but I really mean it.

I do not onw OTH, sadly. :/

Chapter 7

Lucas started to come around and was not being so weird with Haley although when she didn't come straight home after school we both knew where she was. Lucas never talked about it so I never said anything about it either. He was getting close to 'Naked girl from the River Court'. I would see them talking in class and then he was talking to her in line at lunch. I wasn't sure what was going on or what she could possibly want with Lucas. Sometimes she would flirt with him, touching his arm or laughing like she was trying too hard. Not that I cared who Luke talked to or who he flirted with it was just she doesn't seem like the kind of girl who would have a steady boyfriend if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, Brooke was one of the most beautiful girls in this school but I don't know if Luke should be barking up that tree but then again he wasn't the one flirting, she was, so maybe he wasn't interested in her. I don't think he is because last time I checked he was still crushing on Peyton.

I had asked Haley how the tutoring was going, she would get all weird and say that it was like any other tutoring session with anyone else. I asked her how Nathan was and she would say fine. She said he was nice to her, respected her and didn't act like the complete ass he did with everyone else. She also said that he was getting better grades and that she may be done tutoring him soon. I could sometimes sense a little sadness when she would say this.

-X-

My mom had told Kristin and I that she wanted her and I to stay in this weekend and have "family time" with her and my dad. Apparently they think we spend too much time with our friend and not enough time with them. She said she felt as though she didn't really know us anymore. We see them every morning, to me thats enough time and I go to the Cafe all the time, I see her there.

"Well can I at least go the game before Im held prisoner in here all weekend?" I asked putting my shoes on, getting ready for school.

"Sophia, your father and I want to actually see our children for more then 5 minutes a day." My mom answered.

"And you will. All weekend. Im just asking to go to the basketball game tonight. Ill be home by 9:30."

"OK, you can go to the game but I do not want any friends here this weekend."

Kristin came into the living room from the Kitchen, "You see us all the time. Why do we have to waste a weekend? Cant it be like a Tuesday night or something?"

"No. It will not kill you two to spend some quality time with your father and I." My mother answered her.

"So I can not even have a friend over at all this weekend?" She asked from the door waiting for me.

"Nope. Not a single friend."

"And we cant leave?" I then asked.

"NO!" She yelled, "Now go to school. I want you both home by 9:30."

"Geez crazy, no need to yell." I said jumping from the couch, following my sister out the door.

Lucas was waiting at Kristin's car for us.

"Hey Luke." I said getting into the car.

"Hey." He replied climbing into the back.

-X-

"So what are we doing this weekend guys?" Haley asked sitting down with her lunch.

"I have to spend the whole freaking weekend with my parents. I can go to the game but then I have to go straight home and be a prisoner in my own house."

"What? Seriously?' Haley asked.

"Yeah. My mom and dad want to spend "quality time" with Kristin and I this weekend. My mom said no friends over and we cant leave to see friends either." I said rolling my eyes.

"That is so weird. Im guessing your mom isn't working this weekend?" Luke asked

"I guess not." I told him.

"My Parents cant wait to have the house to themselves. But when you have a big family like mine, quiet time is scarce." Haley said.

"I wish. You guys can not do anything fun this weekend. You have to be miserable too." I said with a laugh.

"Yeah Soph, OK." Lucas said being sarcastic.

"Seriously. You guys can not have fun while Im being held captive by my parents, it's not fair." I whined.

"Sophia stop whining, you look like a dog." Skill came to the table.

"Shut up Skills. I do not look like a dog." I smacked his arm.

"No, you don't look like a dog but you are acting like one." He said back to me.

"Whats wrong with you anyway?" Mouth asked.

"My parents want to have a family weekend so I was just telling these two that they can't have any fun without me" I pointed to Haley and Lucas. "Hey since you guys are my friends too, maybe you shouldn't have fun either."

They all just laughed at me. This was going to be a long weekend.

-X-

In Biology, Mrs Withers told us we would be doing a project and we would be doing them with a partner, I looked over to Lucas and he nodded, knowing that we would be partners.

"I will be picking the partners for you." Mrs. Withers then spoke. Crap, never mind.

"You will build a 3D DNA cell. This project will not be done in class. You can get together outside of school or you can have one partner do this and another partner do that, whatever you are comfortable with. You have a little over a week to do this. It will be due the Monday after next. That gives you two whole weekends."

She read off the groups. Maybe there was a chance Luke and I would still be paired together.

"Faith Dealy and Lucas Scott." Nope, not partners.

She read off a few more.

"Sophia Kramer and Jake Jgielski" Great, I didn't even know him. I mean I knew he was on the basketball team but that was about it.

"He's the one that gave me the clothes after Nathan and the other guys soaked mine in my gym locker. He's a cool dude." Luke leaned over and informed me. Well at least he as a nice person.

"OK, now you can get together with your partners and talk." said as the students started getting up. Jake made his way over to me.

"Hey, Im Jake." He said putting out his hand.

"Hi, Im Sophia." I shook his hand.

"Well its nice to meet you Sophia."

"You too." I said as he sat down in Lucas' seat that was now vacant. "OK so this project, how are we going to do this. Got any ideas?"

"Off the top of my head? No." He laughed which then made me laugh.

"Well we know it has to be a 3D model, right?"

"Yeah."

"OK so we have that much." I said writing that down.

"We are off to a great start." He laughed again.

"So we know what the cell looks like." I began drawing it out on the paper.

When I was finished he looked at it and then to me. "I hope you are not in any kind of drawing class because that is he worst drawing I think I have ever seen. If this is any kind of indication of what our model is going to look like then I want a new partner." He teased, raising his hand acting as though he was trying to get the teachers attention.

"Oh whatever, then you do it." I pushed the paper over to him. He began to draw. "That looks just like what I just did." I said snatching the paper from him.

"Its way better then that chicken scratch." He said handing over the pencil.

"Lets get to the real task at hand. Seriously what are we going to make this out of? We need ideas." I began tapping the pencil and looking around. Everyone else seemed to be off to a great start.

"Five minutes, guys." Mrs Withers called out.

"We could use Play Doh." He said with raised eye brows.

"What are we five?" I giggled.

"Got a better idea Kramer?"

" Not really."

"Then Play Doh it is."

"There has to be something else we can use."

"Times up." The teacher said.

"Well since we don't have anymore time, how about we get together this weekend and we talk about it then." Jake said as he was getting up to go back to his seat.

"I guess." I answered.

"Where do you want to meet?"

"We can meet at my house."

"OK, where do you live?"

"Do you knew where Lucas lives?" I asked him. I was pretty sure he did.

"Yeah."

"Im right next door. Yellow house. Can't miss it."

"K. Ill see you at noon?"

"That works."

-X-

I got home from the game at 9:15 and Kristin was not home yet.

"Hey Dad." I said when I walked in seeing him sitting on the couch.

"Hey baby. How was the game?" He asked.

I sat down on the couch next to him. "Good 37 to 46, Ravens won."

"How did Luke do?"

"14 points."

"Good."

"Where is mom?"

"In the bath. She should be out soon."

I sat for a few minutes longer before I got up and went to my room to put on something more comfortable. Once finished I came out of my room to find my mom coming out of her room.
"How long have you been home?" She asked.

"I got here at 9:15." I answered her.

"Is your sister here?"

"She wasn't when I came up here."

"Hmm."

We walked down stairs. Entering the kitchen I told my mom that I would be having someone from school over tomorrow.

"But it's for school. It's not a friend. We have a project to do."

"OK honey, thats fine. What time?"

"Noon."

"OK. What the project?"

My dad entered the kitchen. "Anyone want popcorn?" He asked.

"I want some." I said.

I looked back at my mom who was waiting of me to answer her question. "We have to do a 3D model of a DNA cell."

"Sounds fun." My dad said waiting for our popcorn to finish in the microwave.

"I just don't know what to do though."

"What about clay or something like that or maybe balloons or what about paper mache?"

"Hmm, Ill bring those up to Jake."

"Who is Jake?" My dad asked.

"He is my partner for the project."

"And Jake is coming here to do the project?" My dad asked raising his eyebrows,

"Well we won't start it tomorrow, we are just going to get an idea of what we are going to do but we will probably be doing it here or at his house. We can't do it in class, it has to be done outside of school."

"Seriously?" My dad didn't look happy.

"Jason." My mom said looking at him.

"What? She is too young to be having boys over." They were talking about me like I was not sitting right here.

"Dad, really? It's for school. Besides, Luke's over here ALL the time and you don't say anything about that."

"Luke's different, he's just a friend."

"And this boy is a partner for a Biology project." I was getting annoyed.

"I don't like it." He said kissing the top of my head and passing me with the popcorn.

"Hey, I though we were sharing that?" I called after him.

"You have to come in here and get it." He called back.

I looked over to my mom who looked up at the clock. Leave it to Kristin to test the limits. It was 10:05 and mom said to be home at 9:30.

"Im going to kill her." Was all my mom said when she walked to the living room. She picked up the house phone to dial my sisters cell, as it started to ring my sister walks in.

"Right here." Kristin said putting the phone in her bag.

"Kristin, it is 10:05."

"I know mom and Im sorry I was watching a movie at Quinn's and there was only like 20 minutes left so I wanted to finish it. Im sorry. Im here now."

With that she went up stairs to change. When she came back down me, her, my mom, and my dad sat on the couch ate popcorn and watched a movie. Neither my sister or I complained at all. It was actually kind of nice. It would have been nice to be with Luke or Haley but this was fun too.

-X-

I woke up the next morning on the couch with a blanket over me. I must have fallen asleep here last night. I looked at the clock on the cable box, 7:23. I stood up to go to my room. It was far too early to be up on a Saturday. I notice my dad on the other couch. I guess he fell asleep here too. He was snoring away. I made my way upstairs, climbed into bed. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go back to sleep but I was going to try. I closed my eyes for a minute or so I thought. When I opened them again my alarm clock said 10:30. Good Lord, I slept for another three hours. I got up and went to the shower. Once dressed and ready for the day I walked down stairs, my sister was on the couch watching TV.

"Good morning sleepy head." Kristin said to me.

"Morning." I walked to the Kitchen. It smelled like bacon. I wonder if there is any left.

"Morning honey." My mother said coming out of the laundry room. "There is a plate in the microwave for you. It's going to be cold so you may want to heat it up."

"Thank you." I walked over to the microwave and started it.

My dad came in from the back yard. "She's alive."

"Morning dad." I said getting my food.

I sat at the bar and ate. "What's on the agenda for today?" I asked.

"Don't talk with you mouth full, Elizabeth." My mother called me by my middle name when she was serious.

"Sorry." I said again with my mouth full. My mom just shook her head.

"Well you have your project thing to do so your sister and I are going to go downtown and have lunch so we wont be in your hair."

"Fun." I said taking a bite of my food.

"But tomorrow we are renting a boat and we are going to go fishing." My dad said very excited.

When we lived in Maryland, Kristin and I would go fishing with my dad all the time but since we have been here we have not gone once. I could tell he was so excited but I know that fishing was the last thing on my sisters mind and mine too but I was not like my sister, I could have fun. With that being said, it was awfully cold out to go out on a boat.

"Dad, it is like 40 degrees." I said to him, this time without food in my mouth.

"We will wear layers and besides, thats the best time to fish." He was getting the fishing rods ready.

"Mom, your going too right?" I asked her.

"Yup, sure am." She answered.

Once I finished eating I joined my sister on the couch. She was watching re-runs of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. I absolutely hated reality TV shows especially this one but I sat down anyway.

"I can't believe they are making us stay in all weekend." Kristin said when it went to commercial.

"I know but its one weekend." I looked over at her.

"Yeah but there is so much going on this weekend." She let out a long sigh.

"Well it doesn't look like we have any options so we may as well make the best of it."

"Well at least you get to have some contact with the outside world. You get to have someone come over."

"Yeah but thats for school and its not like he is a friend."

"Whats his name?"

"Jake."

"Jake what?"

"Jgielski." I said

"The one from the basketball team?"

"Yeah" I looked at her, "Why?"

"Cuz he's a hottie."

"Seriously Kristin? Hottie? Who says hottie."

"I just did." We began to laugh. "Isn't he 2 years older then you."

"I don't know, is he?"

"Yeah, Im pretty sure he is in 11th grade. I know he drives so yeah I think he's a Junior."

"Really? I wonder why he is in my Biology class then? Isn't Biology something you take your first year of high school?"

"Normally but some don't take it until they absolutely have too. Guess he is one of them."

"Hmm." Was all I said to her and then we started to watch the show again.

-X-

12:00 on the dot the door bell rang.

"Hey Jake." I said opening the door.

"Hey." He said back to me walking through the open door.

I led him to the dining room table where we would be doing our work.

My mom came in from the kitchen. "You must be Jake." My mother said shaking his hand, "Im Trish, Sophias mom."

"Its nice to meet you, Mrs Trish." He said to her.

"You too." My mother looked to me. "OK, well I will be around if you guys need anything."

"Thank you mom." I called after her.

I sat down and Jake sat next to me.

"OK, so have you thought of any other ideas other then Play Doh?" I asked rolling my eyes.

"Honestly? No. Sorry, its just with the game and stuff I haven't really thought about it but thats why Im here now, right?" He asked.

"Yes, that is why you are here now." I gave him a small laugh. "OK so what about using balloons?"

"Thats an idea."

"Pipe cleaners and pom pom balls?"

"What the hell is a pom pom ball?"

"I think thats what they are called. They're the fuzzy balls, they're little, come in all different sizes." I looked at him to see of maybe it was ringing a bell. I know if he saw them he would know what they were. "Anyway, its just an idea,"

"What about some sort of clay."

"Yeah, or paper mashe."

"Whats going to be the easiest to use but will also give us a good grade?" He asked.

"Probably the clay." I answered.

Once we had decided that we would be using clay, we talked for over an hour about how we would do it, what it would look like, and how we would get it to stand on its own. I found it odd that it was so easy to talk to him. Before yesterday I had not even muttered a word to him and here he is, in my house and we have been talking not stop for almost two hours. We began talking about other things besides the project.

"So you are originally from Maryland, right?" He asked me.

"Yeah, we moved her when I was 11, over three years ago." I answered.

"Do you miss it?"

"I miss my family."

"Just your family?"

"Well yeah I mean I had friend and stuff and when we first got here I really missed them but then things changed."

"Like what?"

"Well I had gotten knew friends and when I would go home to visit I would try to get together with my old friends but life got in the way and we drifted apart but I was 11 so."

"I couldn't imagine not being friends with the people I was friends with when I was 11."

"Well when you move 400 miles away from them you kind of lose touch, ya know?"

"Oh yeah, Im sure."

"So do you like Tree Hill?"

"It took a little while to get used to. Things are very different here but I couldn't imagine being anywhere else." I let out a chuckle, "My sister and I hated our parents for making us move here. We were so mad but then I met Luke and Haley and my other friends and that was it, I knew I was going to love it here and I did, I do."

"Im glad." He smiled to me and I smiled back. "So you and Luke are pretty close?"

"Yeah. Me, him and Haley are very close."

"Thats good."

He looked over at the clock on the wall, 2:15. "Alright well I guess I better get going, don't want you to get sick of me yet since we will be spending a lot of time together over the next week." He said winking at me putting his jacket on.

"Oh yeah, wouldn't want that." I said being sarcastic.

"Well I have practice everyday until 5:30, I can come over after that on Monday say around 6:30?"

"Yup. Works for me." I said to him following him to the front door.

"Well I will see you Monday then."

"See you Monday."

When I shut the door I noticed I had a huge smile on my face.

"He's a nice boy." I heard my mother say coming down the stairs.

"Yeah, sure, nice." I went to the dinning room to get my school stuff off of the table.

"Want me to make you a sandwich or something for lunch?" My mom asked walking into the kitchen.

"No, thank you. Im not really hungry. I ate breakfast late, remember?" I said to her.

"Oh yeah." My mom was now wiping down the counters with a sponge, like the counters could get any cleaner. "So did you guys decide what you were going to use for the model?"

"Yeah we are going to do it out of clay."

"What kind of clay?"

"I don't know. We are going to go the the craft store Monday I guess and get it."

"Well that sounds like a lot of fun."

"Yeah, it should be fun."

-X-

The next day was actually pretty great. We got up early which I didn't like but it was OK. We went on the boat and went fishing. Kristin was in a bad mood at first but then she warmed up a little. We were actually having a good time. It was a little cold but not to bad. My mom had packed us lunch and we stayed out there for most of the day. We didn't catch much and what we did catch we just threw back. I enjoyed fishing but I hated to eat fish, too fishy for me. It was nice to actually spend some time with my mom and dad and my sister. Kristin and I rarely saw each other besides in the morning when she would drive me to school and even then she didn't really talk much because Luke and I would talk to whole time. I really missed her. I know she has her friends and her life and I have mine but it would be nice to spend a little more time with her. I see my parents more then I see her. She would be going to college next year and I am pretty sure she wants to go far away. I vaguely remember her saying something to my mom and dad about going back to Maryland for school. Secretly I hoped she wouldn't, I wanted her to go to a school closer to here. I mean I rarely saw her now as it was but I still saw her, if she went to Maryland I would never see her.

"Earth to Sophia." I heard Kristin say. I didn't realize but I was staring at her, lost in my thoughts. "Want your sandwich?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry." I said taking it from her.

"You OK?" She asked.

"Yeah, yeah Im fine."

"Jason, want your lunch?" My mom then asked my dad.

"Yeah." He said reeling in his fishing rod.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kristin screamed at the top of her lungs. I jumped almost three feet into the air. I looked over and she was being swarmed by birds. They were trying to get her food.

"Put it in the bag, Kris." My dad told her while trying to swat away the birds.

"I can't, they wont let me." She was trying to grab her food. "I don't think I want it now."

There were more birds coming. I shoved the rest of my sandwich into my mouth so that they couldn't get it.

"Jason, start the boat. GO. GO. GO. NOW." My mother screamed. They were now attacking her. My dad and I were laughing so hard at Kristin and my mom trying to get away from the bird who were awfully brave. They were trying to get the food that they were holding in there hands. My sister threw her food into the water. She ran over to my mom and snatched her food right out of her hand and threw it into the water as well.

"Kristin!" My mom looked at Kristin like she was crazy but now the birds where over with the food and not with us.

"Mom, let it go. I saved your life. The bird are gone now." Kristin told her sitting back down.

We all began to laugh so hard that there were tears coming down our faces. The rest of the boating adventure was eventful because anytime any of us wanted to eat anything we had to do it discreetly, keep it in a bag. At one point my sister actually had her head in a bag eating chips. It was a great day to say the least.

A/N- I know in OTH Jake is the same age as the rest of the group but for my stroy I wanted him older.