I'm sorry I didn't mean for it to take this long, to finish this chapter and yes it has been this chapter that has delayed me so much. I didn't know how to finish it. I still don't I gave up so if the chapter feels like it is unfinished that's because it is. I hope this gives you an idea of why Lilly acted that way. Remember please that she is just a kid and she makes mistakes, and has bad judgement at times. I honestly don't know when I will get the next chapter to you. I know it will be the sit down, and starting to wrap up Dan but when I finish it is anyones guess at this point. Once again sorry it took so long to finish this chapter.

Meanwhile back in Tree Hill, Lilly had been sitting at one of the empty tables of the cafe, doing one of the many school, assignments that she had to do before Christmas break, it seemed all her new teachers, had, had the same idea, give out assignments that all required 1,000 words or more. Really, like she didn't have enough going on in her life, she needed six school assignments, it seemed that her stupid principal had a better influence over these lame teachers, and that was just great, just what Lilly needed. Butkiss clones. Placing her head in her hands she wanted to shoot every single one of them. She looked up when she heard some people chuckle. Haley and Brooke stood beside her, with their arms crossed in front of them.

"If you're looking for mum, she's gone off to do something outside the cafe, and I'm not aloud to move until my English, Maths and Science assignments are done." Haley looked over at Brooke who smirked, it was then that Lilly knew they were up to something. Both of them slid into the booth opposite her, closing one of her texts books and leaning on them so she could not reopen them while they were there.

"What would you say about lunch, out with us and yes I have checked with your mother she said it was ok," Lilly's face lit up like they had just said that they were going to do her homework for her; grabbing her back pack she quickly started throwing things into it, it wasn't until Haley grabbed her arm that she looked up.

"Wait a second, Lil you haven't heard the catch yet, and yes there is a catch. You have to talk to both Brooke and I about your actions with Lucas and Peyton, yes we know that Lucas is an ass and he shouldn't have slapped you. However, that hasn't been the only thing we have noticed and we want to talk to you about them, at lunch. This is the only reason you're getting out of this massive homework load. Lunch then you come right back here and finish it." Lilly sighed why did there always have to be a catch?

If it had been with her mum or pretty much anyone else she would have chosen homework hands down, because; she knew from experience, that "have a talk" was code for, "I'm going to lecture you on all the things you have done wrong." However with Brooke and Haley she knew that, they would actually let her talk, and more than likely; help her with anything she told them.

"Fine, but it's only the three of us right, mums not coming; because if she is, I choose homework and not the lecture," Brooke had to laugh, Karen had asked them if she could come and Haley was the first one to jump in and say no, well it seemed that even with all the time they had, had away from Tree Hill. Nathan and Haley still knew the people who they had left behind pretty well.

"Nope, just the three of us"

"Sweet," Lilly finished packing all her text and note books back into her bag, along with her laptop and picked it up, and carried it out to the kitchen leaving it with the rest to the staff bags till she came back; walking out she smiled at Brooke and Haley, nodding that she was ready to go.

Brooke and Haley had decided to go to a restaurant, in Wrightsville Beach, it was a short drive from Tree Hill to the beach side town and it gave them time to get all the nitty gritty questions that Lilly being a Scott just like her siblings would want to avoid.

"So kiddo, I know what Lucas did, a few days ago sucked and he shouldn't have done it, but it's not like you to lash out like that, and you can't tell me I don't know you very well, because unlike this one driving I never went anywhere, and when I could with school and then setting up COB tried to give you as much attention as possible" said Brooke. Just as the two of them had predicted, Lilly wanted to avoid answering the questions.

"I just did"

"Mmhmm, I believe that, as much as I believe Jamie when he says; he's brushed his teeth. Come on Lil you're with Brooke and I; not your mum spill it missy" Lilly sighed Haley had a point if she were with her mum, she wouldn't be able to speak freely, Karen would always interrupt her.

"Ok, Ok, so long as you don't tell mum, and not because she'll flip out at anyone, she'll just start blaming herself. So when Dad and Lucas and finally figured out what was going on with her, they spent a lot of times shuffling her from one doctors appointment to another, at this time I would have been about seven, I was just starting to get the hand of reading big words. I could read things like Dr. Sues easily and sometimes even without looking I could quote the books. Anyway, during this time whenever dad was busy, trying to help mum. I would get pushed off to whoever could look after me, if Luke was home, and he was a lot that year, when he didn't go with dad I was left with him." Lilly look out the car window watching as the world went past for a minute.

"I'll give Luke the fact that everything that happened, wasn't his fault and he was dealing the best way he could. I mean really who would have thought that Dan was that evil? But with mum checking out of reality, Dad looking after two businesses, and Luke having school and trying to help out where he could. I guess I was just the short straw, in all aspects. I was either put in front of the TV, Luke's doing not dad's. Given a book or sent to a friends house. I get that it wasn't anyone's fault but Dan's but still; as I got older and Dad realised that I understood more than what he thought, he got me to help out sometimes. Answering the phone at the dealership, or doing stock take at the cafe. I was there I was helping and dad would always get me something for that, even if it was tickets to a movie, or a new book, something small he always recognised that I was helping in some way. Luke just seemed to think I was getting in the way. He'd kick me out of whatever I was doing when he came home for breaks, and when he and Peyton moved back home, well I just stopped helping altogether. He'd send me home to Peyton who would just turn on some kids TV show and sit me in front of the TV, or give me a Barbie doll or something. I stopped caring after that. When friends asked me to do things I would say yes without even thinking of asking. Dad was so guilty of not being able to do anything with me, I'd just have to tell him and he was ok with it." Brooke looked over at Haley, and rolled her eyes. Lilly was so much like Haley at the same age, it was a wonder that Lucas hadn't picked up on it.

They arrived at Wrightsville beached not long after that and got out of the car, deciding to take a walk along the beach before heading to the restaurant for lunch.

"So, tell me why you don't like Peyton. Come on Lil I've seen the looks you give her when she's not looking, or why you never want to seem to hang out with Lucas like you do with Nathan. It seems like when ever you two are together, you're being forced to do it, you don't choose to " Haley asked

"It's simple really, for my ninth birthday, Peyton took mum out shopping all day just the two of them. Her exact words to my face were you so aren't coming go play with your friends or something. It was a ruse so Lucas could set up a surprise for mum. The hammock in the back yard. I've never been on it, actually that's not true. I've never been on that one. I'm banned from it, by order of sir Lucas himself." Brooke looked at her strangely.

"I trashed the first one. Why? Because I was hurt and angry, I was also nine. I tried to talk to them about it I asked to speak to them alone but I was told to go play with Barbie's and let the adults talk. Peyton's exact words. I walked into mum and dads room, saw shopping bags, thought surely there had to be something in there for me. It was my birthday after all. Nope everything in there was for either mum, Peyton or Lucas. Lucas found me pulled me out by my arm told me to stop snooping and go out side and play or something." Haley smirked she remembered her older brothers doing that a few times when she was little, and she did, she'd go outside and trash something of theirs only to get in trouble for it later; but she always thought it was worth it.

"So you, went outside and played or something."

"Yep, I built mud pies on it, I poured drink all over it, I jumped on it till there was a Lilly sized hole pretty much anything to show them just how hurt and angry I was. Lucas and Peyton were ropable, mum wasn't that impressed either. I knew she'd forgotten but I also at that point understood why. Dad had sat me down every year before that, and told me that, it wasn't me and that it didn't mean she didn't love me, and not to guilt her for it. It was the depression, it made her forget somethings. Dad came home when Peyton and mum were yelling at me asking me why I had done that. He looked around, took me by the hand walked down to the hammock and asked me why I did it. I told him, exactly what happened. I've only seen him that angry once before and that was at Dan after you come home." Brooke shook her head, she knew her friends could be pig headed sometimes, especially Lucas, but to actually skip her birthday completely, everything started to make sense to her now. The only people she had been able to rely on to not let her down, were herself, Nathan and Haley. Everyone else had let her down, even if it had been unintentional like her parents. It wasn't that she didn't like Lucas or Peyton but she'd been let down by them too many times.

"Seems to me kiddo, that you've got some issues with that brother of your's that you have to work, through, both of you do. As much as people say you are like me, or even like Nathan, I can, and I'm sure Brooke can as well. See a lot of Lucas in you, you both hold onto things too long, you bottle them up until they explode. Ignoring Peyton wasn't so much about siding with me, it was another way of getting back at her for forgetting your birthday. I'm guessing that you never got an apology from either of them. Which I agree you should have gotten. Lucas shouldn't have blatantly just ignored your birthday like that. But you can't keep piggy backing off other people to get back at them. When they get back. I want you to sit down with them and I will be there and, and we are going to sort this all out." said Haley Lilly went to say something but Haley cut her off.

"I know one conversation isn't going to build up the trust that was lost, but it will be a start, and maybe we can get Lucas to pull his head out of his ass while we are at it."

Making their way to the restaurant they found a table quickly and spent the next hour talking about anything but what they had talked about on the way here. Lilly complained about a couple of her teachers and how she thought they were ass hats. That got a laugh from Brooke, however Haley didn't think it was very funny. That was until she found out that these were the teachers that had replaced her, Butkiss clones; teachers who took great pleasure in taking anything an everything out on their students. Although it angered Haley there wasn't much she could do about it. Lilly had said that they were very sly about it, and there wouldn't be anyway to prove that, they had done it. Besides who was the school board going to listen to, a hand full of students or the woman who had them feeding out of her hand, they were pretty much screwed.

Haley hated the fact that she couldn't help her little sister out, when it came to school, Lilly and her class mates had been through enough already, especially the english class she had taught, three teachers and it wasn't even the new year yet. She wouldn't be surprised half if them had fallen behind because of the constant change. She couldn't see Lilly having that problem though, Haley knew she had read all the books on the required reading list. Her sister in law was a book fiend she had read all of them several times over, she knew them so well that she wouldn't have to read them again to answer all the questions her teacher would ask. What worried Haley the most was the teacher, Lilly had told her that she was someone who didn't like know it alls; someone who thought they were better than everyone else. Lilly wasn't a know it all, in the slightest, but her willingness to answer question her classmates didn't get or understand, would come across like that. She didn't want to see the bright young woman that Lilly Scott was becoming, to be trampled on by a teacher who thought she was a know it all, purely for the fact that she liked to read, while the other kids in her class thought they had better things to do with their time.

Karen Scott looked up later that afternoon, as her daughter, Haley and Brooke walked back into the cafe, time would only tell if Brooke and Haley had gotten through to her, but knowing those two as well as she did, her guess was that they more than likely had.

"Lilly-

"I know, I know finish my homework I'm going, I'm going"