More lies about a world that
Never was and never will be
Have you no shame? Don't you see me?
You know you've got everybody fooled

-Evanescence

xxxx

Sunlight hit her face, brightly illuminating the room. Peyton Sawyer-Scott slowly opened her eyes and panicked when she realized that she wasn't in her own room. She moved her arms out to stretch them as she elicited a tired yawn. Her arm collided with another and she let out a high pitched scream. She turned to her left and her eyes widened in horror when she saw Jake Jagielski lying next to her, naked. He quickly jolted up in bed when he heard her scream.

"Hey…" he whispered sheepishly as he saw the horrific look on Peyton's face.

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she finally found her voice. "Please tell me we didn't do what I think we did last night."

"Depends what you think we did," he smiled cockily, receiving a spiteful glare in return.

"Not in the mood for jokes?"

"Ya think," she rolled her eyes as she placed her head in her hands frustratedly. "Jake, what the hell happened last night?"

"Well you signed Mia to your label and then we went to TRIC to celebrate…"

"Yes I remember all of that," she growled, annoyed with Jake.

"And then we had some drinks and a few turned into a few too many…"

"Oh god," Peyton grumbled as she ran her hands over her face, trying to recollect some events of last night. It was hazy but she could remember parts of it. She was just having a hard time piecing it together.

"I think we went to leave and you asked me to stay the night with you."

"Sorry…" Jake muttered guiltily.

"Well if I remember correctly I was the one that was fucking hammered," she chuckled lightly. "I should've said no."

"Well I vaguely remember you turning me down and then I went to call a cab…"

"And I told you to hang up because I wanted to get even with Nathan," she cut in. "God I'm such a whore."

"Peyton look at me," Jake demanded as he tilted her chin up. "You're not a whore."

"Yes I am," she countered with a groan. "I cheated on my husband. And before you say he cheats on me all the time. It still doesn't make it right."

"I know." Jake hung his head shamefully.

"I sort of remember us sleeping together now," Peyton mumbled as she looked at Jake wearily.

"Same here," Jake smiled. "I know it was wrong but I wouldn't take it back because it was amazing. I just felt a connection with you, you know?"

"I know," Peyton grumbled. She was in trouble, big trouble. Because she was beginning to think that she was falling for Jake Jagielski. Over the last month they had become so close and he was everything that Nathan was not.

"I have to go," Peyton muttered as she slowly got up and searched around the room for her clothes.

"What about Nate?"

"I'll deal with him later today. He won't be home so I'll just slip in unnoticed."

"Peyton?" Jake asked once she was fully clothed and ready to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for last night. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

"Me either," she offered him a smile. How could something so wrong feel so right?

She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. "You have yourself a good day Mr. Jagielski."

Then she was gone.

A smile crept across Jake's face as he leaned back in bed. Last night had easily been one of the best nights of his life. Just being with Peyton, holding her, and touching her. It was everything that he could have hoped for. He was just glad that Jenny had spent the night with Sophia and Brooke.

"Where were you?" Peyton stopped dead in her tracks as she tried to sneak into the house without being caught.

"Nathan, I thought you were meeting with your trainer."

"I am. Later. I have to attend Sawyer's parent teacher interview since you clearly forgot."

"Shit," Peyton cursed. She had completely forgotten about that.

"I'll go," Peyton offered with a small smile as she reached for her car keys.

"No I will. I'd like to meet this Haley character you guys are always talking about," he smirked smugly as Peyton frowned. "But you still didn't answer my question. Where were you?"

"Is that really any of your business?" she hissed coldly.

Nathan held the finger that contained his wedding ring on it up and tapped the ring with a cocky smirk. "We're married Peyt. That gives me a right to know."

"I was out," she stated flatly, without even batting an eyelash.

"Out fucking some random guy you picked up at the bar?" he smirked with the raise of an eyebrow.

"What I do with my life isn't any of your business, Mr. I sleep with all the Lakers cheerleaders."

"That was one time Peyt. I told you that I was sorry," he spoke softly as he looked down at his shoes.

"It still hurts."

"I'm going to be late for Sawyer's interview," Nathan mumbled as he looked away and jogged down the driveway towards his car.

"Ass," Peyton hissed as she unlocked the door and snuck into the house.

Parent Teacher Interviews were something that Haley James-Scott always dreaded. They were usually awkward and some of the parents were abnormally bizarre. However, her next interview was something that she was actually looking forward to. Sawyer Scott was the next student on her list and that meant she would be meeting Peyton. She glanced at the clock and noticed that Peyton should've been here by now and Peyton was never late.

She heard a knock on the door and a smile crossed her face. "Come in," she hollered from her desk and the door slowly creaked open.

She looked up and her smile fell as she realized that the person at the door was not Peyton. It was her husband Nathan.

"Hey," he smiled warmly as he entered the classroom. "I'm here for Sawyer. She couldn't join us today so it's just me."

"Well come in and sit down," Haley smiled politely as she motioned for him to sit in the chair opposite her.

Haley couldn't help but notice how gorgeous he was with his shaggy dark brown hair, ice blue eyes, and athletic physique. He had his hands jammed in the pockets of his jeans nervously as he took at seat.

"You look nervous," Haley commented as she noticed how fidgety he was.

"Well I usually get bad reports about Sawyer from her teachers so I'm a little nervous about what you have to say," he admitted with a small chuckle.

"Well don't worry because Sawyer is an excellent student. She has some issues with her attention span but she seems pretty pleasant for the most part…"

Nathan let out a sigh of relief. "Well that's a first."

"I'm Haley," she smiled kindly as she stuck her hand out for Nathan to shake.

"I know. Peyton talks about you all the time," he grinned as he accepted her gesture.

Haley didn't know why she felt obligated to be nice to Nathan but she was a teacher and she couldn't exactly be hostile to him while she was doing an interview.

"Anyways, here's Sawyers report card," she quickly spoke as she let go of Nathan's hand. She just wanted to get this over with and quit pretending to be nice to him because she had to.

He quickly scanned it. "You must be a really good teacher because Sawyer has never had marks this good."

"Well I do my best to give the students the grades I know they have the potential to get," Haley shrugged as he folded the report card up and shoved it in his pocket.

"Peyton will probably want to put this up on the fridge," he laughed lightly.

"I'm actually impressed with Sawyer. I looked over her grade transcripts from LA and I see a huge change."

"Well maybe it's because she has a good teacher," Nathan winked at Haley. What the hell? If Haley didn't know any better she'd say he was flirting with her.

He seemed to have noticed the awkwardness that had surrounded them and quickly smiled. "So any behavioral issues?"

Haley shook her head. "She seems to be making some friends quickly and she hasn't given me any attitude."

He glanced at the clock quickly. "Well I'm glad to hear that Sawyer has progressed so quickly but I have to go. I have a meeting with my personal trainer in 10 minutes."

Haley nodded. "Well it was nice to meet you Haley. I can see why Peyton likes you so much," he grinned widely as he stood up and headed towards the door. "Just let me know if you have any problems at all with Sawyer."

Haley nodded again. "I will."

He shot her a quick smile before disappearing out the door.

Okay that was weird. Nathan Scott was an arrogant asshole. He was absolutely gorgeous but still an asshole. She found it odd that he would flirt with someone like her. It must be to make Peyton jealous or something.

Meanwhile, Nathan Scott was smiling to himself as he left Haley's classroom. She was cute, he'd admit that. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous like Brooke or had a perfect body like Peyton but she was still very pretty and it would definitely make Peyton jealous if he started getting close to her best friend from High School. The trick would be getting Haley close to him because she was friends with Brooke and from what he'd heard she was a pretty loyal person. But he was Nathan Scott for crying out loud and he could get any girl he wanted.

Jamie watched the basketball soar into the net and a smile washed over his face.

"Wow, you actually got skills. I'm impressed."

Jamie whipped around and saw Sawyer smiling up at him. "Hey…" he greeted awkwardly as he shifted his feet. "You play?"

Sawyer shook her head. "I'm more of the cheerleader type."

"So is Sophia but she still plays and she's damn good," Jamie grinned cheekily as she tossed the ball to her. "Let's see what you've got."

"Well isn't Sophia just great at everything," she mumbled sarcastically with the roll of her blue eyes as she lined up for her shot. The ball wasn't even close to hitting the net.

"Here, let me show you how it's done," he offered with a small smile as he stood behind her and grabbed her arm to position her. "And you just lift up like this and…"

He watched as the ball sailed towards the net, hitting the rim and bouncing off. "That was closer. You'll get better with time."

"Thanks," she smiled fakely as Jamie's phone rang.

"I gotta go. My dad wants me to meet him for lunch. See you around," Jamie grinned as he gave Sawyer a pat on the back. "Keep practicing."

As soon as Jamie was out of view, Sawyer reached for the ball and flung it at the net, watching it swish in perfectly. "Nothing but net," she smiled to herself as she recollected the ball and watched it swish into the net again. Was Jamie really that much of an idiot to think that she was Nathan Scott's daughter and didn't know how to play basketball? It was in her blood and from a young age, Nathan had been adamant on her becoming a basketball player. She leaned down to pick up the ball only to see that someone's foot was resting on top of it. She looked up and saw a frowning Sophia Davis.

"Stay away from my boyfriend," she growled. "He's mine."

"For now," Sawyer smirked as Sophia shot the ball and watched it swish in. "And basketball is my game by the way. I may not play on a team but everyone knows that it's my sport. I mean it's in my genes."

Sophia's lips curved into a smile. "Well it's in my genes to bitch." She grabbed the ball and watched a perfected shot swish into the basket. "And like I said stay away from Jamie. He's mine."

She shot Sawyer a devious smile before turning and stalking off the court.

"We'll see about that," Sawyer whispered under her breath as she watched the ball swish into the net one last time.

"Mom, I'm freaking out here. I need the designs done by tomorrow morning and I still have a long ways to go. Everything needs to go smoothly because I need the new line to be amazing," Brooke panicked as she paced the store frantically.

"Breathe Brooke, just breathe," Victoria encouraged as she placed her hands on her daughters shoulders. "Everything will go just fine. You'll do great. You always do."

"I just… UGH," Brooke groaned as she placed her head in her hands.

"Does this have anything to do with the Lucas situation?"

"No!" Brooke growled quickly as she sent her mother a glare.

"Come on Brooke, you're stressed because of the whole Lucas situation and with Nathan being back in town and Sophia finding out she has a sister…"

When Brooke didn't respond, Victoria sighed. "I think you need to take some time off work dear to sort yourself out. When the new line is done I will stay in Tree Hill and run the store."

"And what about New York?"

"Well Millie can be in charge there. It's not healthy for you to be working that much under so much stress," Victoria answered concernedly.

The bell above the door jingled and the two women turned to see Sophia standing in the doorway. "Hey mom. Grandma Victoria," she nodded at the mother daughter duo as she slid herself up onto the counter.

"Call me Victoria or Vikki. Grandma makes me sound so old," Victoria whined as she fixed some clothes on a rack.

"Well you are kind of old mother," Brooke teased and Sophia let out a small laugh.

"Watch it. After all I am the queen of mean," Victoria joked back with a smile on her face.

"Wanna grab some lunch? Jamie and Julian invited me to go with them and I was gonna bring you along mom. Oh and grandma you can tag along if you want," Sophia grinned, emphasizing the word grandma.

"Gee thanks, I feel so loved," Victoria replied back as she looked at her granddaughter. "I could use some lunch. You in Brooke?"

Brooke shook her head, "You two go ahead. I think I need some alone time."

The door jingled again and Brooke turned to see Rachel Gatina standing in the doorway, smirking. "Oh. My. God," she covered her mouth. She hadn't seen Rachel in probably five years. "Miss me slut?"

"I thought you'd fallen off the face of the planet bitch. What the hell is with you, not contacting any of us for like five years?"

"I've been busy," Rachel shrugged. "Is that you Soph? You've grown so much," she winked at Sophia. "You look just like your mother."

"Aunt Rachel!" the teen squealed as she threw herself at Rachel. "Wanna come for lunch with me and grandma?" she asked, putting an emphasize on the word grandma again.

"Actually, I think I'm gonna talk to your mom for awhile but I will come over and see you later. Okay, kiddo?"

Sophia nodded and followed Victoria out of the store.

"I've missed you so much red," Brooke grinned as she pulled her former best friend, aside from Lucas that is, in for a hug.

"You to Penelope."

"It's been way too long."

"That it has," Rachel agreed as she took at seat on the counter. "So how's life been treating you Davis? Or have you gotten married in the last five years?"

Brooke let out a small chuckle as she showed Rachel her bare ring finger.

"Still haven't found Mr. Right yet?"

"I guess not. How about you Gatina? Finally settle down?"

"Hell no," Rachel laughed. "I'm still young and single."

"Some things never change."

"Nope," Brooke grinned. "So did I mention that Sophia has a sister?"

Rachel eyes widened. "I think you left that one out. Please do tell. I'd like to hear all about you getting knocked up."

Brooke shook her head, "Her sister is only a few months younger than her."

"Well then how? Adopted?"

Brooke shook her head again. "Nathan."

Rachel gasped. "That asshole knocked up another girl?"

"Yeah, Haley's best friend Peyton from High School. And now they are back in town."

"Nate's back?"

"Yeah."

"Brooke, I'm so sorry." Rachel leaned in and placed her arms around Brooke.

"It's okay. I'm not letting it bother me."

"How about Luke? How's he doing?"

"Fine," Brooke replied as she looked at the ground.

"Something happen? Please tell me that you and Luke didn't get in a fight and are no longer friends," Rachel prayed as she looked at Brooke with concern.

"Not quite. Let's just say there are some feelings involved and lots of stuff has happened."

"Well I'd love to hear about it."

"How about tonight at TRIC?"

Rachel nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Okay well Haley, Lucas, Julian, Jake, and Peyton will definitely meet us at TRIC and we will have an old reunion."

"I'd like that."

It was so good to have Rachel back. Brooke missed her more than anything and she was always Brooke's shoulder to cry on. Aside from Lucas, Rachel understood her better than anyone.

AN: So this chapter pretty much sucks and I'm not too happy with it. It was just a filler to tone the drama down but don't worry more drama will come. The group hangs out at TRIC next chapter and a Lucas/Nathan showdown will happen. Also, they fly to LA for Julian's movie premiere in the chapter after that. Trouble is also ahead for both Sophia/Jamie and Nathan/Peyton but don't worry everything will all work out in the end. And if you want someone for Rachel to end up with, I was thinking maybe Julian. Let me know if you guys would like to see that. Please review because it makes the updates come quicker!