Thank you all so much for the positive reviews! Now, where were we? Oh, yes, the party.
"What's your poison?" Jake asked, pouring himself a drink.
"Nothing," Rose answered. "I don't drink. Like, at all."
"No? I've never met a teenage girl that didn't drink at parties," Jake said.
"Correction: you met me," Rose half-smiled.
"Yeah," Jake said. setting his cup down without drinking anything out of it.
"Oh, look at you two, getting all buddy-buddy," Brooke teased, walking up with a drink in hand and Peyton with her.
"Brooke!" Peyton chastised.
"It's alright," Rose chuckled. She noticed that Jake still hadn't taken a drink. "So, you thirsty or not?"
"Nope," Jake shook his head and shrugged. "Not really."
"You just poured a whole cup of drink, and you're not gonna drink it?"
"It's okay," Tim said, "I'll drink it."
"Of course you will," Peyton sighed.
Tim downed the drink in three seconds flat. He shuddered when the aftertaste hit. "That was strong, Jake."
"Really? I honestly didn't know."
"You're not drinking, Jake?" Peyton asked.
"Well, someone has to be sober at this party," Jake reasoned, winking at Rose.
Brooke caught the wink and turned to Rose. "Wait," she said, "are you drunk?"
"Totally," Rose nodded. "Wasted. Hammered. Smashed. Intoxicated. Plastered."
"You're weird, New York," Tim said, looking extremely confused.
"I'm sarcastic," Rose rolled her eyes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Peyton joked, "there can only be one Queen of Sarcasm in Tree Hill."
"Yeah, I know," Rose joked back, "Me."
"She's good," Brooke commented.
Later on during the party, Haley entered.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Peyton asked angrily.
"She can't be here," Jake said, "Nathan'll flip."
"I'll go talk to her," Brooke said. She walked over to Haley.
Rose didn't plan on talking to Haley. Like, ever.
Tim put an arm around Rose again. He was really trying, wasn't he?
"Seriously, skeevy, leave me alone," Rose snapped, getting annoyed. "You're not getting any."
Tim wouldn't move.
"Okay," Rose said. She picked her knee up and rammed it hard into Tim's crotch.
Tim yelped in pain and bent, blocking his goods.
"That's the most action you'll get from me," Rose growled at him. "Don't ever touch me again, got it?"
Tim nodded quickly, pain evident on his face.
"Hey, new girl, who said you could beat people up at my husband's party?" Haley asked.
"Man, I didn't know I needed permission to knee a guy if he's sexually harassing me," Rose said. "Aren't you the gypsy pop star that abandoned her husband for a tour? Yeah, I don't think you have the right to judge me, or even to call him your husband. Have a nice night, Miss Britney Spears." She then walked away, with Brooke, Jake, Peyton, and Haley looking after her.
Peyton laughed. "I like the new girl," she said.
Jake nodded in agreement.
Brooke had come up with Haley and seen the entire thing. "New York doesn't mess around."
"We need somebody like her in Tree Hill," Jake said.
Peyton and Brooke agreed.
Tim and Haley, however, didn't.
"Hey," Nathan saw Rose outside and decided to talk to her. "I heard you told off my wife."
"I don't exactly pity people who abandon people for selfish reasons," Rose said. "I heard the rumours."
"Unfortunately, they're true," Nathan sighed, "as you might've gathered." He decided to change the subject. "So, what brings you down from New York?"
Rose sighed. "My birth parents," she said. "They live here." She pointed to the beach house. "Well, they own it."
Nathan blinked. "My parents own this place."
"No," Rose said, "our parents own this place."
Nathan looked confused.
"Come on. I have something to show you," Rose said, leading him to her Mustang.
She unlocked the doors, opened the passenger side door, and took some papers off of the passenger seat. She handed him the papers. "If you're confused, read these."
Nathan took the papers. "What are tbese?"
"Proof of birth, proof of adoption, proof of the fact our parents hate us."
"How do I know you didn't fabricate these?"
"The official seals on 'em, smart one," Rose said.
"Wait, so, we're twins?" Nathan asked as he looked at the birth date on the certificate.
"Yeah, and they gave one of us up," Rose said, shutting the passenger door. "Bet it feels good to be wanted." She got in her car. "I wouldn't know!" She slammed the door and drove off, wheels screeching in her wake.
Nathan watched his long-lost sister speed away.
"Is it true, guys?" Nathan asked Dan and Deb the next day. "Do I have a sister? I don't have much trouble believing you would give a kid up, Dad, but I need to know for certain if it's true because if it is, I want to get to know her."
Dan answered "no" at the same time Deb answered "yes".
"Which one is it?" Nathan asked. "Because these-" he slammed the documents Rose had given him down on the kitchen island in front of them"- look pretty convincing."
Dan didn't bother to look at the papers. "It's a no," Dan said, "this girl just wants money off of us."
"Come on, Dan!" Deb shouted. She turned to her son. "Yes, Nathan, you do have a sister. Rose is your twin."
"Deb.."
"How could you keep this from me?" Nathan asked, his voice raised. "How..." he choked on his own anger, "how could you do this to Rose?"
"I didn't want to, but your dad convinced me to give her up," Deb admitted, looking very ashamed of herself.
"Whatever, Deb, you didn't want her, either!"
"That's a lie and you know it, Dan!"
"Enough!" Nathan yelled. "Just...enough. Neither of you will speak to me ever again!" Nathan stormed upstairs to his room.
Rose sat on one of the picnic tables at the River Court. Dan pulled up. He got out of the car. Rose recognized him and pretended she didn't see him.
"Hey," he said. "Rose Gallagher?"
"What do you want?"
"I'm Dan Scott."
"I know," Rose said coldly.
"So, how much money do you want?"
"Oh," Rose laughed as icily as before, "you think this is about money? My mother is a major designer who probably designed half your wofe's wardrobe. My father is the CEO of a multimillion dollar five-star hotel chain that your sons have probably stayed at a couple of times with their team. So, I don't need your money, nor do I want it."
Dan was temporarily taken aback by someone standing up to him and felt a strong need to shut her down.
"Here's what you'll do," he said, "you'll skip town and I'll forget any of this ever happened, or I'll take you to court."
Rose scoffed. "For what?"
"Harassment."
"Like you'd win."
"I'm Tree Hill's Mayor," Dan said smugly, "I'll win anything."
Rose stood, looking Dan directly in the eye. Dan saw his own eyes glaring back at him.
"Fine," she shrugged. "Take me to court, Mayor, but I can guarantee that all that Jury would see is a man who, once again, refuses to own up to his mistakes." She then gasped mockingly. "Yeah, I heard about Lucas."
"What's it going to take to get you to go away?" Dan asked.
"Nothing. You're stuck with me," Rose shrugged.
"We'll see about that," Dan said before walking away.
"Thanks, Dad. Glad we had this talk," she called after him sarcastically.
He stopped in his tracks for a moment, then continued walking. Rose smirked.
"Hey, was he bothering you?" A voice behind Rose asked. She turned around.
"Whoa, Jake, you startled me. Hi," Rose said as Jake walked to stand beside her.
"Hey. You didn't answer my question."
"No, he wasn't really bothering me. Just a good ol' conversation with Pops," Rose sighed.
"Yeah, Nathan told me about that whole thing."
"Did he? Who else knows?"
"Lucas knows."
"Oh, so that's why he was avoiding me at school today," Rose nodded.
"And Tim knows...for some reason," Jake added.
"Good," Rose said, "maybe he'll be more inclined to stay away from me."
"He should if he ever wants to have kids. Remind me never to make you angry," Jake said, feeling the pain vicariously through remembering Tim's expression the previous night.
Rose laughed. "By the way, why didn't you drink at that party?"
"I guess you inspired me," Jake smiled. "I'd never met a girl thar didn't get crazy drunk at parties, and with you there, it was pretty fun partying sober."
"Glad I could make it fun for you, Jake," Rose smiled also.
"So, I know a cool place downtown with good food," Jake offered, "you want to go see if anything can satisfy your New York palate?"
"I'm not that picky," Rose chuckled.