TROUVAILLE | BROOKE DAVIS

thirty-five

"She freaking left," Parker says pacing through the living room. Grace, Jesse, and Brooke watch her with concerned eyes, but Parker doesn't try to clarify their confusion, she just continues ranting, "I told her that she was becoming Lucas, and what does she do? She does what Lucas did! She leaves! And now Lucas has moved in with the antichrist and I lost my best freaking friend!"

"Oh this is about Haley," Jesse says nodding his head, "Yeah, this really sucks. She was helping me in Biology."

"Screw Biology!" Parker exclaims, "I just lost my best friend. Haley and I have never been apart. We've spent every summer together since I moved to Tree Hill and now, I'm alone."

"Hi, girlfriend sitting right here," Brooke says waving her hand at Parker.

Parker sighs as she looks at Brooke, "It's different. You go to Peyton for all that friendship stuff. I went to Haley and now I have no one and nothing."

Grace raises an eyebrow, "Well there's Lucas-"

"Lucas is a traitor," Parker quickly spits out, "He left Karen to stay with Dan. That's like us leaving mom to stay with Derek."

"Dad's not that bad," Jesse says, "He's just busy a lot."

Parker rolls her eyes, "Whatever. I've lost both of my friends and now I have to make new ones," Parker's eyes light up as she thinks of the perfect person to befriend, "Nathan Scott."

"What?" Jesse, Grace, and Brooke say in unison.

"Nathan is perfect! Haley abandoned him too and Lucas stole his bedroom. We were abandoned by the same people! It was destiny."

"Not destiny," Grace says, "Just means you run in the same circles."

"Besides, Nathan is in a dark place. He's missed weightlifting. He never misses weightlifting," Jesse points out.

Parker stares at her siblings and Brooke, "Well what do you suppose I do?"

Grace looks at her thoughtfully, "Well since Lucas also lost his best friend, then you should probably spend time with him."

Parker throws her head back and lets out a groan, "Fine, I'll settle for Lucas."

"Great," Brooke says, "Now can we go to school?"

"Fine," Parker says, "Haley used to love school. We actually have a project in English that we were working on together, but she decided to go on a world tour."

"I'm leaving," Brooke says standing up from the couch, "Jesse?"

Jesse jumps up off the couch, following after Brooke, "I'm coming."

Parker rolls her eyes as she watches Brooke and Jesse head out the front door. Grace shakes her head as she glances at her younger sister, "I thought you were mad at Haley?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want her to leave. It's always been me and Haley, no matter what. Now she's gone," Parker says softly. She had been overreacting earlier, but now the realization was really hitting her. Haley was gone.

"She's gonna come back," Grace tells her, "This is a great opportunity for her."

"I know," Parker says with a sigh, "I guess I'm gonna go."

"Great," Grace tells her, "Cause your car was blocking me in the driveway."

Parker rolls her eyes but heads out the front door and to school. She trudges onto campus where she sees Lucas talking to Mouth, but she doesn't approach them. She couldn't help the weird sense of betrayal she felt from Lucas.