Chapter 13: Lies My Mother Told Me

"Like, oh my gosh! You'll never guess what happened today in Chemistry!" Charlotte, a brunette sophomore girl, says excitedly to her best friend.

A young girl with long straight blonde hair rolls her eyes and says sarcastically, "Oh my gosh! Like what totally like happened in Chem?"

Charlotte glares at her friend and says, "Shut up, Paige! This is important information that might just be valuable to your living condition!"

Paige, with bright green eyes, laughs at her best friend.

"Oh yeah? Oh please tell me, Char. I'm practically dying here."

Charlotte rolls her eyes and says, "Okay. Since you're practically dying-"

The bell suddenly rings for fourth block. Charlotte has a sad expression on her face. It really must have been something good.. For once, Paige thinks to herself while gathering up her books off of her Art table.

"I guess I'll tell you after school.." Charlotte says with a frown as they both exit their classroom.

Paige laughs and waves at Charlotte before they both go opposite directions. Paige and Charlotte are both sophomores at a high school. Not just any school.. Tree Hill High.

"I wonder if-" Paige starts to say to herself before someone nearly runs her over.

She falls over, facedown, causing her books to fall in different directions.

"Look what you made me do, Peyton! I nearly ran over a freshman!" a raspy voice says with amusement.

Paige scoffs and looks up at the two juniors.

"I'm not a freshman. I'm a sophomore." Paige snaps while gathering up her books.

Brooke snickers and says, "My bad. Look, I'm sorry. Peyton and I were just about to-"

Peyton interrupts, "head to class, like good students."

Brooke sends her a knowing glare. Peyton laughs at her best friend and attempts to help the sophomore, who's still attempting to get her books in order.

"I'm fine. It's fine. Now I have to go before I'm late to gym." Paige snaps once again.

Today hasn't been a good day for her. Missing the bus, forgetting her lunch at home, failing an English test. No, today definitely has not been a good day for Paige.

"Wait! You look familiar.. do I know you? Are you on the JV Squad?" Peyton asks looking confused.

Paige suddenly realizes who Peyton is and shakes her head frantically and says, "Uhm… n-n-no.. I got to go."

She nearly runs down the hallway, without looking back at the two confused looking teenagers, the only ones left in the empty hallway.

"What crawled up her butt and died?" Brooke asks with amusement.

Peyton rolls her eyes and says, "I don't know, she looks very familiar.. Do you think she's on the JV squad?"

Brooke shrugs and says, "I don't know.. she did look oddly familiar. Maybe the new Paris Hilton?"

They laugh until they reach the parking lot, which is when the real fun begins.

"What are you doing here?" Brooke snaps.

Chase looks at his ex-girlfriend and sighs.

"I wanted to see you one last time."

Brooke rolls her eyes, "You've got to see me one last time. Now. Go. Away!"

Chase walks towards her, trying to make amends. Brooke moves backwards in an attempt to avoid touching him.

"Get away from me, Chase!" Brooke yells.

"Come on Brooke, I just want to talk.." he tries.

"There is no talking with you, Chase! When we have a stupid fight you go off and find another girl to make out with! I told you, I'm done! Now, go away before I sick my Kong Fu on you!"

Peyton had to laugh at this. Brooke glares at her, while still backing up from Chase.

"Brooke… " Chase tries again.

"Don't you Brooke me, Chase! I told you, leave me alone!"

Chase stops walking towards her and backs up. Brooke walks forward a little to avoid climbing on someone's car. Peyton takes this opportunity to say, "Brooke.. you ready to go?"

Brooke nods, not taking her eyes off Chase. That night flashing vividly in her mind.

Flashback:

Brooke sighs as Chase continues to stare down at her.

"What do you want me to say? I'm sorry. I had a basketball game to go to! Plus, with Haley's dad-"

Chase shakes his head in amazement, "This isn't about Haley or anyone else for that matter. This is about us! For once in our relationship, can it just be about us? God, Brooke! It's always 'guess who's going out with who' or whatever! I'm sick and tired of it!"

Brooke rolls her eyes, "You're being such a drama queen! So everything's not about us! Big freaking deal! Why don't you tell me the real reason you're so freaking angry at me?"

"I'm mad that you didn't tell me that you couldn't go see a movie. I'm mad because you never tell me things! I'm freaking mad because you're in love with Nathan!"

Silence fills the air, until Chase decides he's had enough.

"I'm going to get some air." He says and storms out of Brooke's apartment.

Brooke, after a couple hours of calming down, decides to go find her boyfriend. She goes to the one place she knows he'll be. Brooke gets out of her beetle bug and sees her boyfriend leaning against a wall. Thunder fills the air as rain starts to pour down.

"Chase!" She calls out.

When Chase doesn't turn around, she runs toward him hoping to explain that she's not in love with Nathan. Or at least, that's what she's trying to convince herself. She gasps when she sees a red haired cheerleader making out with her boyfriend. Rachel.

"Chase!" Brooke screams.

Chase turns to see his girlfriend-soaking wet with tears streaming down her face. He looks back to the girl and his eyes widen.

"Oh god. It's not what you think!" Chase pulls away from Rachel and makes his way towards Brooke.

Brooke slaps him in the face, "We're so over, Chase! I was going to apologize to you about missing our date, but no! We're over!"

Brooke runs towards her bug and climbs in quickly. Chase tries to open her door, but she locks it and drives away with tears down her face.

End flashback

"Bye, Chase." Brooke says softly as the two girls walk away and into Peyton's car.

"Brooke.." Peyton says as she starts her car.

Brooke turns away from her friend and replies, "Don't Peyton. I'm fine."

Peyton just shakes her head and they pull out of the parking lot.

--

Paige sits in the bathroom attempting to calm down. She just met Peyton. Peyton Sawyer. Paige turns on her cell phone and dials a number.

"We have a problem. I just met my sister."

--

Haley sits in her bedroom with bags under her eyes. It's been like this for a few weeks. Everyone says their so sorry and they feel for her and her family. Haley scoffs. No one knows how it feels to lose someone who you talked to one morning and that very night their gone. Haley is tired of crying alone in her room, hiding her pain from her friends and family. She's tired of having to take her little sister to school while her mother drinks in her room. She's tired of having to be strong for her sisters when all she wants to do is hide away from the rest of the world and pretend the accident never happened. Frankly, she's tired of being tired. A knock on the door brings her back to the present.

She whispers, "Come in"

The door opens slowly and her best friends come through the door.

"Hey Hales." Peyton says quietly.

Haley says nothing as Peyton and Brooke sit down on the bed next to her.

"Tutor-Girl, you need to talk to us." Brooke says after a few minutes of silence.

Again, Haley says nothing. Brooke and Peyton share a sad look. Haley hasn't been to school since the accident. Everyone's worried about her, especially Nathan. The three teenage girls sit there in silence.

"I've got an idea!" Brooke says excitedly.

Peyton looks at Haley, who looks at her bed spread.

"Let's go shopping!" Brooke continues with a smile on her face.

"B. I don't think that's a good-" Peyton starts.

"Let's do it. I need a make-over." Haley is the one who interrupts, surprising Peyton and Brooke.

Brooke squeals, "Really?!"

Haley laughs a little and nods. Peyton just smiles and puts a hand on her stomach.

--

"Where do you think they went?" Lucas asks as he and his younger brother exit the school.

"I don't know…" Nathan trails off, obviously something's on his mind.

"What's wrong, Nate?" Lucas asks as they stop in the hallway by Lucas's locker.

Lucas opens up his locker.

"Nothing.. just got things on my mind. Tomorrow I start Chemo." Nathan says while looking at the ground.

Lucas looks at his brother and puts his books in his locker.

"It'll be okay, Nate. You have Hales. She'll be there for you."

Nathan looks at Lucas skeptical.

"I don't know, man. Ever since the accident, she hasn't been the same. I haven't talked to her since last weekend. Even then, it was a thirty-second conversation. She won't let me come over anymore."

Lucas looks at him, confused as to why his best friend is avoiding her boyfriend.

"What? Why?"

Nathan looks into the distance and says, "Maybe she's getting tired of having a sick boyfriend. She deserves someone who's healthy and not stuck to some disease."

"I'm sure that's not it, dude. Look, just talk to her. I'm sure it'll be okay." Lucas replies and opens his door to his car.

Nathan nods and pounds fists with Lucas.

"I'll see you later."

Lucas just nods at his brother and watches him walk away.

AN: Uh-oh.. drama! Haha, please review! What do you think is gonna happen between Peyton and Paige? Is Paige really Peyton's sister? What's Haley going to look like with a new make-over? Will Brooke ever come out of the mall with less than 10 shopping bags? Will Nate be okay after Chemo? What about Leyton? Review/ answer some of the questions