A/N: As always, thanks to those of you who've reviewed. It's always awesome to see reviews in myi inbox. Keep 'em coming!
To those of you who've inquired about Jenny's physical appearance, I'm really working from the last time we saw Jenny, in season three, when she was blonde-haired and blue-eyed. I know that most toddlers have those physical characteristic and eventually outgrow them, but I'm sticking with them. It's possible that Jenny looks like one of her grandparents or even great-grandparents – it's possible. In the end, it's fiction: I get to do what I want.
And to those of you who asked: yes, I do have musical background. I've played a myriad of instruments, but the only one I've stuck with since childhood is the piano. Music is important to me, but it is also important to One Tree Hill and to this story, so I thought I'd use my knowledge to title the chapters with musical terms that relate to their content.
Sorry about the lengthy babbling, but I just have to tell you this – there is a new character in this chapter of my own creation named Jordan Lynd. I wrote this, and then went shopping the next day. I was standing in line waiting to pay at LuLuLemon, so I read the names on a sign-up sheet for an all-male yoga class. The third name on the list was Jordan Lynd. Strange, huh? Anyway. Now that I've told you my boring musical history and about my weird shopping experiences…get reading! (And don't forget about those reviews…)
L'istesso Tempo: a musical term used to signal that the instrumentalist should return to playing at the same speed as they did in the previous movement of the piece; put most simply, a reintroduction of a familiar tempo
"This…" Haley said, pausing for dramatic effect as she held the door open for Jenny, "is Tric. Peyton put a lot of work into this place. It's good that she's staying up there," she added, her eyes flicking upward as she referred to the office-turned-apartment. "Tric is CMC's base, so we'll see lots of her."
Jenny grimaced. "I love my mom, but I don't want to see her every single day this summer. I didn't exactly plan on bringing my mommy with me to music camp."
Haley smiled sympathetically, but Jenny could tell that her mentor – who was also apparently her aunt – was glad that her mother had tagged along. "There's a lot that I don't know, isn't there?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah, honey, I'm sorry. But there's a lot that I don't know, either. We'll figure it out together, okay?"
She smiled. This famous musician really did care about her. She appreciated Haley's maternal behaviour, especially since she was so unsure about her relationship with her mom now. Jenny had been taught the value of honesty. She'd always believed it was a two-way thing. She, like her mother, had trouble letting others in. When they were together, she'd always thought they'd had a sort of sacred agreement. Other people were kept out, but with each other it was full disclosure. Now she knew how wrong she'd been.
"Chris!" Haley's disgruntled voice jarred Jenny back to reality. "Get over here. Now!"
"Hey, Hales," Chris Keller greeted as he strode over.
Jenny wanted to squeal. She was standing, like, a foot away from Chris Keller.
"How could you not tell me her name?" Haley demanded, nodding toward Jenny.
"Relax, Haley," Chris laughed. "There was no way for me to know she'd bring Peyton Sawyer with her." He smirked. "I saw her earlier; she's still a babe."
Jenny frowned in disbelief. Had Chris Keller just called her mother a babe? Was she being Punk'd?
"And Chris Keller can tell that she raised you right, Jenny Jagielski" he continued, smirk still in place. "You're going to be the next big thing."
Jenny allowed herself a quick scan of the room. There were about two dozen people milling around, half of them successful and famous, half talented teenagers. None of them were Ashton Kutcher. It was all real. "The next big thing?" she repeated faintly.
"Don't scare her, Chris," Haley reprimanded, and Jenny was struck by the protectiveness in her mentor's – aunt's – voice.
Chris suddenly looked serious. "She should be scare. It is scary. You know that, Hales." He cracked a small smile. "Can you handle it, Jenny?"
She lifted her chin and spoke with more confidence than she actually possessed. "Of course I can," she said defiantly, quirking her eyebrows as she looked at him with a challenge in her eyes.
On her right, Haley exhaled, but Jenny didn't look at her. She kept her gaze fixed on Chris Keller, almost unable to believe that she'd actually just spoken to him with such assuredness.
He grinned his trademark cocky grin. "Damn," he said appreciatively. "It's sure as hell clear who raised you." He winked at her before turning to the crowd as a whole and yelling, "Let's do this!"
"It's. Not. Fair!" a high-pitched voice wailed.
Lucas' train of thought, the first semi-good idea he'd had in a while, was long gone. He'd excused himself from the dinner table with the possibility of his muse returning as an excuse, much to his wife's annoyance. His mother, step-father Andy, and little sister Lily were not difficult to converse with, but it still bothered her that he'd left her alone to entertain them and take care of their sometimes-difficult daughter.
It was actually hair for her to be angry with him; had he been at the table, he would've managed to keep the conversation away from the subject of eleven-year-old Lily's recently commenced riding lessons, knowing the reaction it would spark in Mira. While Lucas hastily typed, Brooke was left to deal with the five-year-old's tantrum.
With a heavy sigh, he abandoned his writing and headed back into the dining room. "Brooke, quiet your daughter," he said with a groan.
"Oh, that's rich, coming from you," she snapped. "This is your fault for spoiling her so badly."
"Daddy," Miranda whimpered. "I want a pony!"
"No, honey," Lucas replied patiently. Her big, sad brown eyes never failed to make his heart ache, but he was not going to buy her a horse.
His little girl stared at him incredulously through tear-filled eyes. He rarely refused her anything. Okay, so he never refused her anything – Brooke took care of the word 'no' in their household.
"I hate you!" Miranda screamed as loudly as her small lungs would allow, and took off for the stairs, running to her room.
"Mira!" he called after her. With another troubled sigh, he slumped into his chair. She'd never said those words to him before.
Brooke rested a hand on his shoulder. "You know she didn't mean it."
"Lucas," his mother inputted kindly, unable to resist. "You have been too indulgent with her."
"Yeah, I know…both of those things, I know." He felt inexplicably restless and sad that evening, and confronting the fact that he'd spoiled his kid into bratty-ness was no exactly what he would have chosen for the night's activity. More than anything, he wanted to go for a run, most likely to the river court.
"It's not too late to change him," Andy told him comfortingly, in his laidback, calming manner. "She'll have forgotten about the pony by tomorrow."
"I know, I know, I just…"
"What, babe?" Brooke asked sympathetically, running her fingers through his hair and gently massaging his scalp. He loved how easily she could go from being angry with him to being so supportive. It was a surprising trait, but one he appreciated nonetheless.
"I just love her so much," he shrugged. "I don't have it in me to break her heart."
Brooke exchanged a knowing smile with his mom and winked at Lily, both gestures basically saying, Aw, look at what a sweetheart our guy is. "You're so sensitive. She'll forgive you in an hour."
"I know. I just…I worry," he confessed, "about the day when she won't be able to forgive me."
Brooke laughed. "Lighten up, Broody. That little girl adores the hell out of you. She'll always forgive you. I know it."
He had to remind himself of who they were talking about – he'd forgotten for a moment. "Yeah," he agreed, shooting his wife a smile. "Of course she will."
Peyton sat in the stairwell, sneaking a peek at CMC's meet-and-greet dinner. Five of the seven female campers had gravitated toward Chris and were hanging off his every egotistical word. Jenny sat at a small, round table with Haley and a brilliant keyboard player and singer whose music Peyton collected religiously, Lucia Marttin.
Peyton pressed her lips together as she watched Haley stroke Jenny's hair. Of course Haley would mother Jenny. It was how she was. Peyton knew she could trust Haley and Nathan to take great care of her daughter, but she didn't know if she could trust them to keep her secrets safe.
Haley and Lucia were distracted by another mentoring musician, and a boy, a cute kid around seventeen with a killer smile, sidled up to Jenny. Peyton sat upright, every instinct she had on alert. Jenny clearly had her walls up, so Peyton told herself that she didn't have anything to worry about. But then the boy said something, accompanied by that smile, that made Jenny's cheeks turn a pale pink. Peyton frowned. Of course, a boy. A charming wannabe musician. It wasn't as though the summer wasn't already complicated enough. Jenny had enough tears ahead of her. She didn't need her heart broken, too.
Her eyes filled with tears and she swallowed thickly. She'd promised herself that she would be strong throughout the summer, for Jenny. It was just so hard to be a pillar for someone else when you yourself had no one to lean on. It was in moments like those that she longed, physically ached, for Jake. She just wanted him to hold her in that reassuring way of his. Even when his own life was coming apart at the seams, Jake had always been so stable in her eyes. He always seemed to know what to do. Peyton rested her head wearingly against the wall and watched Jenny smile. They didn't talk about Jake, but she knew that Jenny thought of him, too.
Senior year of high school had started off lonely and sad. She'd lost Jake – again – and a mysterious woman had appeared on her doorstep claiming to be her mother. Lucas was madly in love with Brooke and had his usual share of familial problems. They had banded together, acknowledging their history (It's always going to be there, isn't it? You and me.), and had put it aside for the sake of their friendship. It was a move made out of love and necessity.
She helped him win Brooke over again, and he was there for her as she hesitantly let Ellie into her life. Then they both had others – Lucas and Brooke grew cute and couple-y again, while Peyton forged a relationship with her birth mother. When Ellie died, she broke a little. Lucas was busy strengthening his relationship with her best friend – she couldn't get in the way of that. Brooke was there for her in the same way she had been when Anna had died, protective but willing to give space. Peyton appreciated her friendship more than she could ever express, but Brooke had Lucas and Lucas had Brooke. Her loneliness returned.
And then Jimmy Edwards shot her in the leg, and Lucas ran into the school, knowing that she was there, coming to her rescue. He'd taken such good care of her, and looked at her with such concern in his eyes. As she sat on that floor, bleeding – possibly to death – she realized that she'd never truly stopped loving him. It was, perhaps, the scariest realization that she'd come to in her life, but she knew that that only made sense…when was it time for a scary realization if not before death? So she told him, and pressed her lips to his, and when he kissed her back, lightly but genuinely, everything seemed like it was going to be okay.
She should have known better. Of course Lucas Scott, her constant saviour, wasn't going to let her die. He scooped her up and carried her out of the building; he saved her life. She returned the favour as best as she could, making sure to offer her support when it turned out that his uncle was gone. They managed to joke about the kiss, and she played it cool around him. But she ran like hell to escape what she was truly feeling. She threw herself into a brief fling with Pete Wentz, but then her father sat her down and told her to follow her heart. He mentioned his relationship with her mother in the process, and the mention of her mom, as always, made her both sad and reinforced any sense of realism she had. It reminded her of the whole life's-too-short thing. She couldn't lie to herself anymore, not after that rare piece of meaningful parental advice.
She had wanted to follow her heart, but she couldn't. She'd given up rights to what following her heart meant. So she ran to the only other boy she'd ever loved. Jake was as perfect and as in love with her as he'd ever been, and Jenny remembered her, called her mom. She felt secure, and as though she belonged, like she'd found her family. She never wanted to go back to the quiet and the fear she'd been living in, she never wanted to leave; she proposed. For short hours of her life, everything had seemed, once again, like it was really going to be okay.
But she betrayed herself in her sleep, mumbling about Lucas. Jake sent her back reluctantly, his reasons both selfish and selfless. She loved him for it but hated him, too. They could have gotten married then and saved her that last painful trip back to Tree Hill.
Stupidly, like a lovesick idiot, she told Brooke how she felt, and suddenly she was more alone than she'd ever been. Brooke wouldn't forgive her, called her a selfish bitch and whirled out of Peyton's life so fast that her best friend couldn't even try and catch her. Peyton was devastated. She'd lost her mom again. Her dad was always away. Her best friend hated her. The boy she loved was more off-limits than he'd ever been; even if she needed a friend, he couldn't be the one she went to. Nathan and Haley were understandably wrapped up in each other. She had nothing and no one left.
Peyton fled back to Savannah and gave her heart to Jake. She got her GED, started working in Savannah, became acquainted with Jake's friends, and loved her small family with everything in her. There had been weeks and months and years of a pure sense of…okay. Of everything in its right place. Contentment. Perfection.
But as always, in their relationship, no matter how reluctant his departure was, Jake left her. That last time, he left her with Jenny, her saving grace and reason to move forward. She built a new life for the two of them, one she was proud of and happy with, as long as she had her daughter. She'd never even dreamed that she'd end up lonely in Tree Hill again, but that was exactly where she was.
"So, what do you play, Jenny?"
She eyed him as subtly as she could. Jordan Lynd had introduced himself to her minutes ago, and she didn't yet know if he was worthy of her trust. He was, however, pretty hot. "Guitar," she replied coolly. "You?"
"Mostly guitar, but I play around with a lot of other stuff."
"Jordy's super talented," a raven-haired beauty gushed, draping herself over the boy.
He gently extracted himself from her grip, shooting Jenny an apologetic look. "Thanks, Ry. Um, Ry, this is Jenny; Jenny, meet Ryanna Parker. We study at the same conservatory in Washington."
"We've known each other practically forever," Ryanna contributed. "It's nice to meet you, Jenny. How old are you, twelve?" she asked, fully aware that one had to be at least fourteen to attend the camp.
Jealous bitch, Jenny fumed. "Fourteen," she answered evenly.
"How cute," Ryanna commented icily.
Haley and Lucia turned back to them. "Hey, look, it's my student!" Lucia said happily. "Haley, Jenny, this is Ryanna, the best unknown pianist in the country."
Ryanna put on her modest face and Jordan rolled his eyes. Jenny smiled at him.
"And you're Jordan Lynd," Haley said, easily remembering his name from the introductions. "Nice to meet you, I'm Haley James Scott."
"I'm a fan," he admitted, a bit shyly, "so it's really nice to meet you, too."
"You looking forward to his summer?" Lucia asked.
Jordan shot Jenny a quick grin. "Yeah. I can't wait."
Lucas upped the speed on his treadmill as Run DMC pounded through the speakers of his at-home gym. He had never thought that he'd live such a decadent life, but he couldn't really complain. Everything was just so…easy. It definitely wasn't difficult to get used to.
"Lucas Scott!" the door slammed open as she spoke.
"Brooke Davis-Scott," he returned weakly.
She looked positively murderous. She was supposed to be at work and was still dressed in a work outfit. Whatever he'd done was clearly bad enough to prompt her early departure from the job she so adored.
"Get off that treadmill right now," she bit out.
He slowed down gradually before stepping off the treadmill and taking a long drink of water as he awaited her wrath.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?" she screamed over the music.
"E-excuse me?" he spluttered.
"The pharmacy called to ask why I'm still paying for medication you're no longer taking. For prescriptions that you don't pick up. What the fuck, Lucas?!" she shrieked.
"Listen, Brooke, I don't really need –"
"I couldn't care less what you need, I really couldn't! I care about what I need, and what your daughter needs, and what your mother needs, and Haley and Nathan and their kids and your sister and Andy and the entire team you coach and your editor and the readers of your stupid books! Do you know what we all need?" she asked him fiercely, her eyes glistening with tears. "You! Alive!" She took three bottles of pills out of her purse and flung them at him. "Start taking those again! Today!" She turned to march off, and then whirled around, an elegant clip flying out of her hair, causing it to fall in soft waves onto her shoulders. "I love you, Luke. So much. But I have never been able to understand you," she whispered.
"Brooke," he began, but he didn't have the words to explain. He certainly wasn't trying to kill himself. He had a lot of live for, as she'd just pointed out. It was just the reckless sense of restlessness that he was feeling lately, like the onset of a midlife crisis a good decade and a half early. His current inability to write was agonizingly frustrating, and he'd through that if he took a risk, let go of a little safety, he might find whatever he was searching for.
She was looking at him expectantly through misty brown orbs. His choice hadn't been fair to her. "I'm sorry," he finally said. It was weak, but it was genuine, and it was all he had. "I love you, too."
Haley was getting increasingly annoyed as the evening went on. In spite of the fact that she was in close quarters with Chris Keller, he was not the one annoying her. She was annoying herself, and she couldn't stop.
She was dying to pull Jenny aside and launch a full-on, hardcore inquiry. Jenny couldn't answer all of her questions, but to Haley, she was an incomparably precious piece of Peyton, and Haley was reluctant to let her out of her sight for fear that she'd slip away.
Jenny's musical preferences and her basic attitude both screamed of Peyton. But while Peyton was definitely appreciative of good music, she'd never actually displayed any talent – Haley never knew whether it was because she didn't want to, or because she didn't have any. Either way, Jenny's musical gift had clearly been inherited, and from her father. Her father was a constant in Haley's train of thought. Jake Jagielski. The sweetest – not to mention most attractive – single dad around. A great musician and pretty strong basketball player, he'd been nice to Lucas when he'd first joined the team. He fell head-over-heels in love with Peyton, even when she was still brooding over Lucas, and Haley had sensed that his heart would always belong to her. Without even realizing it, Peyton had won him over with some kind words and a pretty smile hidden behind the curtain of her curls.
It was a relationship that Haley had always encouraged and secretly cheered for. Jake was so good for Peyton. He pulled her out of depressive moods, loved her deeply, and took all-around good care of her. He made her happy. Haley approved of his musical tastes and his priorities. Jake and Jenny gave Peyton what she had been missing for years: a family. Her immediate maternal instincts toward the adorable little girl surprised them all, but it was such a positive change that Haley wished the three of them could get lost in that world together forever. Peyton with Jake, as an added bonus, left Lucas for Brooke, which made everything seem even and perfect.
And now, Haley was left to wonder: what the hell had become of Jake? When Peyton took off, basically minutes after her wedding, Haley had been bewildered and hurt, but things had become much clearer when Brooke theorized that Peyton had left to be with Jake. All year, what with Ellie's death and the school shooting, Peyton had been struggling. The year before, it had been Jake that saved her. It made sense that she would need him again, and Haley was happy for her. Brooke was with Lucas, Haley was married (twice over) to Nathan, and Peyton now had Jake. She missed them both, but she was happy. She sent Peyton a couple e-mails, letting her know about the accident and assuring her that all was well and updating her on daily life in Tree Hill. She'd fully, perhaps naively, expected a reply. She thought the e-mail would be full of happiness and good news, with a bit of concern over the accident thrown in. She thought maybe she and Nathan could take a road trip to visit the two of them, since they didn't make their honeymoon. She dreamed it all up in her head, looking forward to seeing Jake and Jenny, and most of all, Peyton with a smile on her face.
But she never got a reply. She waited about a week, figuring that Peyton must be busy figuring out the new life she was living, but she got nothing. So she sent more e-mails. And a couple more. Eventually, she'd had to come to terms with the fact that Peyton wasn't going to write her back.
She didn't understand. This was one of her closest friends. Why would she break contact so abruptly, without explanation? She quizzed Nathan, who knew less than she did, and then moved on to Lucas and Brooke, who she'd expected to have answers. Luke was hesitant and casually unconcerned in his replies: Peyton tended to be a sore subject around Brooke. Brooke seemed just as unconcerned, insisting Peyton was fine with a frown on her face. Clearly, Haley had missed a Peyton-related fight between the two of them.
Now, twelve years later, she could only look at Jenny Jagielski with an infinite number of questions running through her mind. What had gone wrong, when and why? Haley longed for her friendship with Peyton back, and she was determined to get it. She'd missed something before, whatever Peyton's reasons for fleeing Tree Hill had been, and her lack of information had caused the loss of a friend.
This time, neither of the Sawyer/Jagielski girls would be escaping Tree Hill until Haley knew everything. Absolutely everything.
It never occurred to her that she may not have wanted to know it all.
A/N: Did I mention that I used to be a cheerleader, also? Give me an R-E-V-I-E-W!
