Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

A/N: Hey guys. As always, I want to thank everyone who's reading, and especially all of you who comment. It really means a lot!!

So, any American Idol fans? As a Canadian, I can't vote, but I can still cheer. So I say, Adam Lambert for the win!!!

"Ok, let's try this again. AB is the diameter of the circle," Mouth said, pointing to the circle on the page between he and Nathan. "If AB is 10 cm and the area of the triangle," he traced the triangle inside the circle with his index finger, "is 11cm2, then what is the perimeter of triangle ABC?"

Nathan sighed and rubbed his palms over his forehead in sheer frustration. "Look, I don't know, ok! You're the genius, you figure it out."

They'd been at this for the last hour – different problems but the exact same math concepts, and Nathan just wasn't in the mood.

He wasn't in the best of moods to begin with. First there was Peyton's refusal to talk, and then when he'd gone into the boys' bathroom before leaving the school, he'd caught some lowlife writing crude remarks about Brooke on the wall by the urinals. Needless to say, that guy suffered the consequences, along with a warning that all markings regarding Brooke, or any other of his female friends, be wiped clean. Shaking like a leaf, the punk had argued weakly that he wasn't responsible for all of them, but Nathan said if there was even a trace left when he checked tomorrow, he'd come after him and show him how easy he'd been on him today. He may be angry with Brooke but he still cared about her and he wasn't about to let that asswipe get away with writing smut about her, especially since he'd caught him red-handed.

Mouth was feeling less than jovial himself. It was one thing when a student didn't understand the work, but when they didn't even try, it was so much more irritating. He knew from the past two weeks that Nathan was clever enough to grasp these concepts if he'd just put his mind to it. But, by the looks of his hands, he was clearly much more into picking fights than doing math. Of course, the aggression was learned at home as Mouth had discovered yesterday when Dan had hit Nathan. Mouth could seriously say he felt bad for Nathan. The guy still had the bruise. It was little wonder Nathan acted like a bully at school, because if his old man could hit him, even just once, in front of company, Mouth could well imagine what he could do when they were alone. He'd always assumed the star basketball player must lead an awesome life, but he'd found out differently in just a few weeks. Yesterday may have been the first of the physical harm he'd seen Dan inflict on his son, but it certainly wasn't his only offense. All his criticism and negativity surely had an impact as well.

But Mouth wasn't here to deal with Nathan's personal issues, and because Dan had stepped out to go pick up dinner, he was able to speak freely without the older man stepping in or laying into his son for his 'stupidity'. "Alright, if you don't want to learn, just say so instead of wasting both our time."

Nathan frowned at him. "Dude, the only time being wasted here is mine. At least you get paid for yours."

"Dude," Mouth returned, matching Nathan's tone. "What I get in wages, you get in grades, which you need to get back on the team. So we're both getting paid."

"Yeah, that's true," Nathan surprised Mouth by acknowledging.

"Ok, well then, we have this circle…"

"Actually," Nathan interrupted. "You think we could do something else? Who knows, maybe this'll all sink in better tomorrow, but right now all these numbers are just fucking me up."

Mouth chuckled at the crudely worded honesty. At least he could admit that his inability to process the information at this time was due to his own lack of concentration. And he wasn't saying he didn't want to work at all. He just didn't want to do math. "Sure," Mouth replied. "Like I said before, it's your call – whatever you want to work on."

Nathan nodded in appreciation, wishing his dad would be absent for all the tutoring sessions. He liked having that bit of control. "Cool," he said in satisfaction.

"So, what's it gonna be?"

"Uh, History? No wait, too many dates to remember. How about Geography?"

"Your call," Mouth repeated since Nathan had posed it as a question.

"Ok, Geography," Nathan said more firmly. "It won't hurt me to know more of the world outside of Tree Hill, right?"

"Right," Mouth replied agreeably as Nathan proceeded to take out the necessary books and binder from his bag.

"So ummm, I was thinking…" Nathan started, but hesitated.

"What?"

"I know, shocking right?" Nathan joked.

Mouth chuckled but otherwise remained silent, waiting for Nathan to reveal what he'd been thinking about.

"Ok, so anyway, I was wondering, did you, uh…yesterday when you said my English essay could be an A, were you just saying that or…?"

"Why would I just say that?"

"I don't know. It's just… a lot of people say stuff just to get in good with me. That's probably cocky or whatever, but," he shrugged his shoulders.

Mouth nodded in understanding. True, everybody wanted to be friends with Mr. Popular. And while Mouth, as most people did, had always longed for that social status, he began to realize right at that moment, that it may not be as great as he'd always imagined it would be. Not if it made you question the sincerity of the people around you. "Don't you think if I was just trying to get in good with you, that I would have offered to do your work for you?"

"Yeah, I guess," Nathan responded. "So, you really meant it then? I could get an A? For real?"

"Yeah, for real," Mouth assured him. "It needs touching up though, but like I said, there's a lot of potential there. All you need to do is put in the time and effort." It seemed odd to Mouth that Nathan Scott could ever lack confidence in anything, but he clearly did when it came to his own intelligence, which was even clearer with Nathan's next statement.

"I've never gotten an A before, except in gym."

"Well it's not because you can't do it," Mouth said, unknowingly causing a flashback in Nathan's mind.

Flashback

Nathan and Peyton were sitting at her computer, playing a game of trivia.

"Ok, how is it that you're flunking out in school and yet you know almost all these answers?" Peyton asked in bewilderment. He was getting more questions right than she was.

"I don't know," Nathan said with a shrug. "Just lucky to get the right questions, I guess."

"Nobody's that lucky. Face it, Nathan, you're not failing because you can't do it. You just don't put any time or effort into your studies."

"Whatever."

"I'm serious. If you put your mind to it, you could blow everybody away with that brain."

Nathan smirked at her. "I only want to blow you away," he said sweetly, making her smile. "Or vice versa actually," he added suggestively. "I want you to blow…"

"You had to ruin it," she interrupted to chide him, although her smile hadn't faltered.

End of Flashback

"You still with me?" Mouth asked. "You kinda zoned out there."

"Yeah, sorry, " Nathan replied, still thinking of Peyton. She had always believed he was smart, always believed he was capable to do better if he tried. She never thought he was a dumb jock and would give him hell if he called himself that even though he was failing nearly every single class. He pulled out his essay and laid it on the table. "Ok so, what do I need to fix?"

"What about your dad?" Mouth asked worriedly.

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "Fuck my dad." But after a few seconds, he added, "He doesn't need to know."

"Alright," Mouth said, reaching into his own bag for a note pad to mark down a few necessary points.

As he did so, Nathan noticed an amateur picture drawn of a naked girl on the first page. Mouth hurried to rip the sheet out but it was too late. Nathan quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Girlfriend?" he teased, since it was abundantly clear that the girl wasn't a real person.

Mouth shook his head. "My friend Junk's idea of a practical joke."

Now both Nathan's eyebrows rose. "Junk? As in garbage?"

"It's what we call him, it's not his actual name."

"Ok, what is it with you losers and your freaky nicknames? Mouth, Skills, Junk. What the fuck?"

Mouth just stared at Nathan a moment, thrown off by the blatant insult, and even more so that Nathan had thrown it out there without even blinking. It was almost like he didn't even realize he'd just been incredibly rude.

"What do you call Lucas?" Nathan continued. "Pucas?"

"No, that's what you call him," Mouth said irritably. "You and your buddies. How's that funny?" he added when Nathan grinned. "It's offensive actually."

"Hey you call your friend Trash and it's offensive for me to call a guy I hate Pucas? That's messed up logic."

"It's Junk," Mouth corrected.

"Same difference."

"And you refer to the whole lot of us as losers when you don't know any of us."

"Ok, alright, I'm sorry. I meant Lucas is a loser. The rest of you are just nerds. As in you're all always into books and stuff."

"Speaking of, let's do that."

Mouth spent the next fifteen minutes pointing out the different aspects of the essay that needed changing and jotting them down. When he was done, Nathan felt like it was something he could do.

"You know, for a nerd, you're alright," Nathan told him.

"Thanks," Mouth replied to the 'almost' compliment. And as strange as it may be, considering all of Nathan's past offences, particularly to Lucas, which had been all caught on tape, Mouth felt the same way. The guy had his moments, but as Mouth had predicted a while back, there was more to Nathan Scott than met the eye. He wasn't all good…

"Oh, and I'm sorry for every time I stuffed you in a locker," Nathan said as an afterthought. "It won't happen again."

But neither was he all bad.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Well, he's certainly easy on the eyes," Haley said as she and Peyton sat on the blonde's bed flipping through pictures in the photo album. There were several pictures of Nathan and Peyton together and from what Haley gathered from them, the couple had had their happy times at some points. She now indicated the picture of the two at the beach – the very same one that sat framed on the mantle at the Scott family beach house – Peyton in her blue bikini, and Nathan behind her, arms wrapped tightly around her waist, wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks himself, which were basically just a pair of shorts.

"Yeah," Peyton agreed, smiling sadly as she traced his frame with her finger. That had been a good day. "But hard on the heart," she said softly.

"You miss him?" Haley inquired gently.

Peyton took a moment before replying and then she nodded. "I miss the good times," she said. "And the sex," she admitted sheepishly. It was true, her mind was set, but her body had yet to catch up. "Other than that, I'm fine," she continued. "I feel so, I don't know, liberated. Like I'm free. It's nice not having to worry about being cheated on, or lied to, or argued with."

"Yeah, it would be," Haley agreed.

"Not to mention I don't have to deal with all the jealousy and the fighting and the temper tantrums. I just want to put it all behind me. Ya know?"

Haley nodded. "I don't blame you." What else could she say? Peyton really just needed a listening ear.

"Now if only Nathan would cooperate, it would make it a lot easier," Peyton said with a half smile.

"He's not giving up, huh?"

Peyton just shook her head in response.

"Well, he'll have to eventually," Haley stated reasonably.

"I don't know," Peyton said doubtfully. "He's not one to give up on something he wants. He probably assumes I'll eventually give in, which makes total sense, since I always have. This is actually the longest we've been apart."

"A week?"

"A week and a day," Peyton corrected.

"Oh, pardon me," Haley said with a laugh. "And a day," she amended in amusement.

"Hey, it makes a difference when you're going one day at a time. That's my new motto."

Haley shot her a quizzical look so Peyton went on to explain. "Ok, every time we break up, I always say I'm never gonna take him back. But I always do, so clearly that's not the way to go and really just makes me feel like a fool every time."

"You're not a fool, Peyton. You're just in love."

"Thanks," Peyton said. "But wait, I'm not done."

"Ok."

"From now on, instead of putting forever into the equation, I'm gonna make it easier on myself and say tomorrow I can take him back if I want, but today I'll be strong enough to stand my ground and push him away."

"That's an interesting motto," Haley said.

"Sounds crazy, doesn't it?"

"No, not at all. Whatever works for you."

"It's working so far. I've never been able to resist him this long. I'm kind of proud of myself, actually," Peyton said smugly. "I know a week's not that long, but at the same time, it is."

"A week and a day," Haley corrected, smiling. "And I'm proud of you too. I think you're a lot stronger than you know."

Peyton nodded in appreciation. She was thankful for Haley's friendship and support. If only Brooke could back her up as fully as Haley did. True, Haley wasn't friends with Nathan so it made it easier for her, but Brooke just didn't get it. Much like Nathan didn't get it.

"Is this you?" Haley asked, indicating a particular picture of an adorable little girl with blonde curls standing next to a woman with dark brown hair. Off to the side stood another woman, with straight blonde hair.

"Yeah, me and my mom," Peyton replied. "I was six at that time." Two years before her perfect little world had come crashing down on her with her mother's sudden death.

"You look just like her," Haley said in awe.

Peyton chuckled. The girl was nice but she was taking the support thing way too far if she had to make things up. "I was adopted," Peyton revealed.

Haley's brows furrowed in confusion as she took a second look at the picture. "Really? Seriously, you look alike," Haley insisted. "A lot."

Peyton rolled her eyes, but then her mind went back a few months in time.

Flashback

Peyton sat at her desk, working on an assignment for her arts class, while a bored Nathan sat on her bed, flipping through the pages of the photo album he'd taken out to pass the time.

"Babe," he said. "I hope when we have kids, they're all just as cute as you."

Peyton laughed. "Getting a little ahead of ourselves, are we? Who says we're having kids? You don't even like them."

"I'll like ours," Nathan told her. "And considering you can never get enough of me, it's bound to happen eventually."

She turned in her swivel chair to face him, not surprised to see the smirk planted firmly on his face. "Me? You're the one who can't keep your hands to yourself."

"Right, so with both of us being horndogs and going at it constantly…"

"Wow," Peyton interrupted to tease, clutching her heart dramatically. "Your romantic nature is so moving. Just what every girl wants to hear," she said sarcastically, batting her eyelashes.

"Oh sorry," Nathan said, laughing at his girlfriend's theatrics. "That was meant to come out as…we're two people so lost in each other's love so therefore we must 'make love' so many times or else we'll just die because we can't bear not to be together. Better?"

Peyton frowned, but her eyes sparkled in amusement. "Not really, no. You totally suck at that," she said lightly.

"Oh, is that right? You think you can do better?" he challenged.

"We're two sexual people who are also in love, so therefore are unable to resist the passion within us and the longing to be as close as two can be…heart, mind, body, and soul," she said triumphantly.

"Huh," he replied begrudgingly. "That's just corny."

"Only because you didn't come up with it," she returned with a smile, turning back to her assignment.

They were both silent for a while, each doing their own thing, until Nathan spoke a few minutes later. "Hey, who's this girl?" he asked, holding up the album so Peyton could see. He knew the dark haired woman beside Peyton was her adopted mother because she'd shown him other pictures before, but he was curious about the blonde.

Peyton, once again, swiveled around. "Just somebody who got caught in the picture," she answered reasonably. "But leave it to you to check out the chick in the background."

"I wasn't checking her out," Nathan argued. "She is hot though," he added.

And that was all it took to change Peyton's mood from lighthearted teasing to broody anger. "It figures you'd notice," she mumbled, turning her chair around again.

"No, babe, don't get mad, ok. It's just…she looks almost exactly like you, only a bit older and with straight hair."

"Uh huh."

"Peyt, I'm serious. She looks like…"

"Like me, I got it," she cut him off with a snarl.

"Yeah" he said, used to her swinging moods. He stared at the woman in the photo with amazement. "I mean, she could be…maybe this is your real mom, Peyt."

"It's not," Peyton snapped at him.

He blinked in surprise, expecting her to want to take a closer look, not outright deny the possibility. "How do you know?"

"Because Anna was my real mom."

"You know what I mean," Nathan said. "But Peyton, look," he said, rising from the bed and taking the few steps toward her, album in hand.

"Nathan, stop it. She's just a girl who happened to be going by," she said when he set the album in front of her.

"Just look at her, Peyton. You'll see what I'm talking about."

Peyton rolled her eyes and took a quick glance. "She looks nothing like me, other than the hair color," she replied dully, shoving his hands away.

"You barely even glanced at it," Nathan pointed out. "Take a good look," he said, bringing the book closer toward her. "Her eyes are like yours, and her nose and…"

Peyton shot up from her seat angrily. "Would you give it up, already!" she shouted. "She doesn't look like me and she's not my mother! So just drop it, ok!"

Nathan sighed. He hadn't meant to upset her. "Ok," he agreed with a nod. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly, setting the photo album down and reaching out for her.

She stepped away from him. "Look, this assignment's gonna take me all night, so you should probably just go."

"Peyton, I'm sorry," he repeated, knowing this had nothing to do with her schoolwork. "Please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not," she told him. "I just…have a lot of work to do."

He knew she was lying, especially when she didn't respond to his goodbye kiss.

End of Flashback

Peyton pointed out the woman beside her in the picture. "That's my mom," she told Haley.

"Then who's she?" Haley asked, indicating the blonde woman who bore such a striking resemblance to Peyton.

After Nathan had left that day, Peyton had put the photo albums away, refusing to even play with the ridiculous idea that her birth mother had kept tabs on her throughout her life. And Nathan had never brought it up again. But now, the same situation arose and her curiosity was suddenly piqued. After all, it was now two people who had noticed the similarities. Like Nathan had wanted her to then, she took the picture from it's wrapping and brought it up for closer inspection. Her stomach clenched in a tight knot as she did so. There was no denying it. She felt the truth in every fiber of her being.

"That's my birth mother."