" Are these the pages from my book?" " The Comet, not Ravens." "I cannot be held accountable because baby and me have gone completely bed rest stir-crazy." "What?" "Oh." "Great." "I've got permanent bedhead, and you're laughing at me." "Look, I'm sorry." "I know how hard it is being cooped up in the house." "Hard?" "I have read this month's issue of b." "Davis magazine cover to cover five times." "Wow." "Just stay and tell me stories about life on the outside." "I can't." "I'm working on something." "Why have you been so weird lately?" "You're like off in the garage, and..." "You're making me a present?" "Are you making the baby a present?" "Is it a present for me and the baby?" "All right." "You know, you're right." "Well, yeah, I'm right, so just stay and let me guess." "No, no, I mean, you're right." "You're going completely crazy." "Crazy people should not be left alone." "Funny, I thought vampires didn't photograph." "Sam, remind me to buy you a garlic necklace." "Good morning, Brooke." " Being dramatic as usual." " I'm not being dramatic." "I'm being a mom, and that means keeping Sam out of harm's way." " Ah." "So I guess I'm harm." " No." "You're harm's older, decrepit sister, emotional damage." "Okay, we brought you caffeine, so play nice." "Thank you." " What are you up to?" " Nothing." "I like Samantha." " She's plucky and dark." " She's going through a really hard time." " I know all about Jack." " Not just Jack." "Sam wants a family." "She is vulnerable." "I don't want her latching onto you, so that you end up disappointing her." " I don't intend to disappoint her." " You never do." "Hi." "Well, hurry along." "We don't tip." "Do you have to be such a bitch?" "I'm wrong when I'm nice." "I'm wrong when I'm mean." " I just can't win with you." " No, you can't." "So please stop trying." "I told you this relationship is about business and that includes Sam." "Knock, knock." "I brought you this month's issue of b." "Davis magazine." "Our ceiling fan does 147 rotations a minute." "Well, that answers my question about how Mama's doing." " How's baby?" " Baby is kicking baby-growing ass." " The doctor says we're doing good." " Good." "That's what Aunty Haley likes to hear." "Good job in there, kiddo." "So I got an interesting call from the label this morning." "Let me guess." "They want Mia's album last week which is gonna be fantastic, which is unbiased even though I am the producer." " Okay." "The call wasn't about Mia." "They want to buy one of your songs." "They have an artist that heard it and fell in love with it and blah, blah, blah." "Wow, I never thought about selling my songs." "Okay, well, from the way they were raving about you you might wanna start thinking about it." "I'll come off the bench." "Hey, I'll do whatever it takes." "I just want back on the team." " Devon." " Coach." "You know how this league works." "There is always someone right behind you ready to do whatever it takes." "The roster's full." "I am sorry." "Hey, Scott." "You're here early." "I'm meeting Nino." "We're gonna run through some drills before practice." "Good." "Glad to hear that." "You two have been playing together really well these last weeks." "Thanks." "And I'm not the only one who's noticed." "I've been getting some calls about you." "Scouts." "Yeah." "Now, there's nothing concrete yet." "But as I know more, you'll know more." " Nice work, Nathan." " Thanks." "What are you shredding?" "Nothing." "Junk mail." "Well, you have two choices." "You get me the fabric on time, at cost or your little startup company that could, won't." " What now?" " It's the new line." "It's so good." "Fresh." "Some of your best work." "But you've always been a talented girl, Brooke." "Thank you." "Now, would you stop threatening our suppliers?" "It's tacky." "Nice chip at the wall." "Who says I'm trying to chip the wall?" "My daughter seems sad lately." "What gave her away?" "The "Kick me, I'm sad" sign on her Prada?" "No, it was her designs." "They're so good." "And she built a fashion empire on a broken heart." "So who's the boy?" "Julian." "CliffsNotes version." "Boy meets girl, girl falls crazy in love, can't admit it boy moves away, asks girl to come, girl says no." "And girl buries herself in work." "I've read this book before." "I hear bonding." "Back away from the innocent, Victoria." "So Haley still has to put her mojo on it, but what do you think?" "I love it." "And I love Chase for inspiring the hell out of you lately." "Well, let's just say good kissing inspires good music." "Yeah, he is a good kisser." "I mean, that one, tiny, little, inconsequential hardly memorable time that I kissed him, you know." " You too?" " It was twice." "I mean, honey, it was only to make Lucas and Brooke jealous." "Great." "I'm still trying to forget that he kissed Brooke." "BTW, not going so well." "Why are you worried about the kissing part?" "I thought you'd be more concerned with the virginity part." "The what part?" "And you didn't know that." "So Uncle Skills, it's been a month and you still haven't talked to Miss Lauren." " Hey, ask her to the dance tonight." " I'm good." "Just trying to hook a brother up." "So all you guys got dates to the dance?" "Not me." "Q always said don't bring sand to the beach." "Is the dance at the beach?" " What about you, J. Luke?" " Hey, guys." " Hey, Madison." " Hey, Jamie." "Madison, you're late." "One lap around the park." "Go." " I bet Jamie's gonna ask Madison." "Madison." " No, I'm not." " Chuck, Andre, no teasing." "One lap around the park." "Go." " I thought you were feeling Madison." " I won't be the only guy with a date." "Besides, you said all women are no good." "No, I said Nanny Deb was no good." " Is there anything you don't remember?" " Genius." "Who cares what people think?" "I mean, you're a leader, right?" "So if you wanna ask Madison, I say go for it." "My man." "Open your eyes." "I told you you had one last graduation gift." " The Cure?" " Tonight in Atlanta." "I'm supposed to be leaving today with Brooke." "Yeah, I know, but Brooke and Chase are having their own extended goodbye." "Brooke says you can leave in the morning." " I mean, unless you don't wanna go." " No, no, no." "I'm going." "And you are gonna get into a hell of a lot more than a concert with these tickets." " So, what do you got for me?" " Congratulations, Nathan." "You got an offer." " From the NBA?" " From a European team but the money is really good and it's a two-year deal." "Wait, Europe?" "A lot of really good players are leaving the NBA to go to Europe." "Great, give me one of their spots." "I know this is not the offer that you were expecting." "But this is still a good offer from a good team." "Well, when do they need to know?" "They'll move on another choice tomorrow." "How lame is my life that my only friends are a 5-year-old and my foster granny?" "Language, Samantha." "Brooke would totally freak if she knew I was hanging out with you." "Well, you're a young lady." "You need to look like a young lady." "Language, Victoria." "Brooke will learn she can't pick her daughter's friends." "That's a lesson I like to call the "Peyton Sawyer Debacle. "" "Oh." "Um, I can't go in here." "The salesperson kind of hates me." "Since when?" "Since the salesperson caught me shoplifting." "You got caught shoplifting?" "Do you know how much Clothes Over Bro's lost last year because of shoplifting?" "Millions." "That's why those prices that you're always complaining about are so high." " Okay." " You are a member of this family now." "Theft is common." "We don't do common." "Okay." "I don't do it anymore." "Well, why did you do it at all?" "I don't know." "I got a high from it." "Well, find another way to get high." "Okay, your words." "And as for this salesperson if she wants you out, she'll have to deal with me." "Let's go." "Nice day for carrot sticks, huh?" "Speaking of the dance, wanna go with me?" "I'm sorry, Jamie." "Chuck just asked me." "Chuck?" "Chuck." "Did you know that Chase lost his virginity to Brooke?" "Ha-ha-ha." "Yes." "And I'm guessing from the look on your face, you did not know that." "Well, welcome to Tree Hill." "I challenge you to find a boy that did not lose his virginity to Brooke Davis." " But she's Brooke Davis." " And you're Mia Catalano." " But she's Brooke Davis." " And you're Mia Catalano." "And I'm getting off this train." "I just feel stupid." "Like everyone knew but me." "All right, I can relate to you." "Nathan lost his virginity to my sister." "Wow, you win." "Look, I know the way Chase looks at you." "He probably didn't tell you because he's not thinking about anybody but you." "Chop, chop, let's make a record." "I'm a high school graduate and I can't read a fricking map." "Look, Atlanta is just a straight shot down 74 to 95 to 20 to 75 to 85." " Six hours." " Show off." "You too." "Maybe if you would have studied more instead of just making out with me in the back seat of this car." "No way." "I got an A plus in back seat." "So you're not the only one with one more graduation gift." "And I was gonna wait to tell you till I got to L.A. In case you freaked out, but I sent copies of Unkindness of Ravens to a bunch of publishers in New York." " You THUDed me?" " Mm-hm." "Payback." "And right now there is some stuffy old publisher reading your words and falling in love with them." "And he's gonna buy them and he's gonna fly you to New York and make you very, very famous." "Thank you for doing that." "I mean, I wanted to, but I..." "You were afraid." " Yeah." " I know." "But someone once told me your art matters." "Mm." "I wonder who that was." "You're not gonna get off that easy with just a thank you either." "When they turn your brilliant novel into a movie you are gonna have to cast, like, a hot, rocking-body kick-ass P. Sawyer." "Hey, only if I can play Lucas." "So this Julian, where is he?" "Los Angeles, and I really think she wanted to go." "I know I did." "It was the closest I've ever come to a real family." "I'm sorry she didn't think of you." "My daughter can be selfish." "Hey." "No bagging on Brooke." "It's my friendship-with-the-devil deal breaker." "Yeah." "Really?" "You're following us?" "I know everything about retail and who you should be watching and it is not us." "It's actually that girl over there about to stuff the clutch into her knockoff." "Ah." "As for Samantha..." "Sorry about the shoplifting thing." "It won't happen again." "Satisfied?" "Now you can go back to being completely and utterly incompetent at your job." "Why are you such a bitch?" "This bitch defended you." "A thank you would be nice." "Thank you, now why are you such a bitch?" " Maybe I get a high from it." " You know what, I stopped shoplifting." "Maybe you could stop being so mean." "I said, "No bonding. " I told Victoria to keep her talons away from Sam and then there they were having a fricking Tree Hill shopping-palooza." "Look at her face." "She's so smug." "I just want to throw that magazine across the room." "Okay, um, maybe it is because I'm hormonal or maybe it's because I've been locked in this room so long I have lost touch with reality but is it the worst thing in the world for Momzilla to be nice to Sam?" " Yes." " Okay, what if she hated her?" " Wouldn't that be worse?" " Yes, but..." "She never took me shopping." "Am I interrupting?" "No." "Just looking at who I can pull up to take your place." "Devon." "You come here to talk to me about Devon or the European offer?" "Both, actually." "But first I need to ask you a question." "Okay." "Do you think I'm good enough to make it to the NBA?" "Are you good enough?" "Yes, Nathan." "You're good enough." "But it takes more than talent." "It takes timing and luck." "Look, you have an offer on the table." "And a two-year contract to play professional ball does not come often." "So you think I should take it." "Yes, I do." "Yeah." "No, that's really great." "I think that adjustment helps a lot." " Cool." " It sounded good to me." "Sorry to interrupt." "The recording light wasn't on, so I thought I'd come in." "You're Nick Lachey." "And you're Mia Catalano." "See, I told you." "So what's a guy gotta do to get your song on his album?" "Um..." "Wow, when the label said they had an artist who was interested in recording one of my songs, I really..." " Didn't picture me." "Yeah, at all." "Nick Lachey." "You really love using first and last names." "It's a Tree Hill thing." "Sorry, Nick Lachey." " Okay, just go." " Bye." "So, what are the magic words?" "Because I really want you to say yes." "Your song is great, and trust me I've listened to a lot of new songs for this album." "I'm sorry. "All in my Head" wasn't supposed to be one of them." "The label just screwed up." "I'm glad they did." "I really am flattered that you came all the way out here but there are no magic words." "The answer is just no." "What if I told you I had a really rough flight?" "Standby." "Middle seat." "Coach." "I'm sorry." "I'm just not interested in selling my music." "Oh, but would you sign this for my son?" "He's a big fan." "His name is Jamie." "Can you believe that Nathan and Haley are married with a baby?" "Yeah." "I think they were ready to get married and have a baby on their second date." "I think they did." "I really hate that I'm gonna miss Jamie getting bigger." "By the time I come home to visit he'll already be walking and talking." " Not with Nathan and Haley." "He'll be reading and dribbling first." "They are gonna be amazing parents." "And you are gonna be an amazing mom." "You should have that one day." "And you will." "What's Chuck got that I don't?" "Better timing?" "A date with Madison?" "I don't get it." "I thought me and Madison had an unspoken connection." "Look, nothing is unspoken with women." "You can't let this thing with Madison ruin the dance tonight." "It's not, because I'm not going." "Jamie, you gotta go to your first dance, man." "I mean, what happens at your first dance becomes the building block of the rep that'll follow you all the way through school." "Me?" "My first dance?" "I walked in Antwon, but I left Skills." "So, what, you're just gonna sit on this couch?" "You sit around pouting about Nanny Deb." "I'm gonna sit around and pout about Madison." "Cool." "You wanna roll like I roll?" "Then I'm going to the dance." "Now." "Oh, man, this is killing me." "Least the punch is good." "My wife just had a little girl." "I told myself I'd be called up by the time she got here." "I'm sorry about what happened, man." "It ain't your fault." "And I wanted to tell you that." "All me." "So, what are you gonna do now?" "Work harder." "Try and get picked up and if I do I'm gonna do things differently." "Funny thing is I told you not to throw your shot away." "But I should've been telling myself that." "Because you only get one." "Sam?" "Well, her broom's not parked outside, so I guess Victoria's not here either." "Hm." "Maybe I'll do some filing." "Oh, my God." "Thank you." "What?" "Amazes me how much you can eat." "It's kind of like you're eating for two." "You eating for two?" "Trust me, this will be the tip of the iceberg when I'm pregnant." "By the way, you said it was our last hurrah." "So how can that not include stopping for "World's Best Pie?"" "By the way, how do you think they determined that?" " Well, I'm sure they do studies." " Mm-hm." "Damn good last-hurrah pie." "The way I see it is, as soon as that car pulls out for L.A. Tomorrow I'm officially an adult, which means no more being spontaneous no more shoveling pie." "Well, if this really is our last hurrah, how about we go out in style?" " We can't..." " Mm-hm." " Are you serious?" " Oh, yeah." "Dine and dash." "I dare you." "I will see you on the outside." "There's an extra 5 in it if you run out behind me screaming." "I can't believe we just did this." "Don't." "Don't." "What are you doing?" "Dances suck, huh?" "Wanna get out of here and get some ice cream?" "Sorry, bro." "I met someone." "Come on, now." "A lot of girls out there you could be having fun with." "Why do I have to try?" "You're not." "It's not the same thing." "I know you like her." "I think you're chicken." "Am not." "Look, I'm not scared." "Prove it." "Hey, you're home." "You missed Jamie on his way to the dance." "He was so cute in his little suit." "Just looked like a little Lucas." "What's going on?" "I got an offer to play." "In Europe." "And I don't know, Hales, maybe we should consider it." "It's good money." "It's a two-year contract." " But you wanna play in the NBA." " I know." "But so does every person on my team." "And every other player in the B league." "Okay." "Um..." "All right, let's say you take this two-year contract and then the NBA comes calling." "What if I don't take it and then they never call?" "I mean, I've been working on this comeback for a long time now." "Maybe this is my chance and I'm just too focused on the fantasy of the NBA to notice." "It's not a fantasy." "That's your dream." "There's nothing wrong with pursuing it." "To what end?" "I don't know." "Whatever you decide, you have a wife and a son who love you and we're behind you 100 percent." "Thanks." "Yeah." " What do you call this again?" " The Chaser." "Really?" "Because it tastes just like a bad Long Island Iced Tea." "Why didn't you tell me you lost your virginity to Brooke?" "I didn't." "Why, did she say I was a virgin?" "Nice." "Peyton told me, but it should've been you." "The losing-virginity topic isn't something a guy likes to bring up to his girl." "Or himself." "But then again, your premiere starred Brooke Davis." "Stay out of it, Nick Lachey." "So, what's Brooke been up to anyway?" "You have really out-bitched yourself this time, Victoria." "Explain." "Or, no, don't explain." "I'm sure it'll just be more of the same self-serving, manipulative B.S." "Oh, just stop the histrionics." "We could lose Samantha." "We?" "She's not yours to lose." "Samantha and I have gotten very close." "And that woman gave her up." "She made her mistakes a long time ago." "It's a little late to try to show up now." "I'm sorry, are you kidding or am I being punked?" "This is different." "I never abandoned you." "Not physically." "And maybe that's worse." "You think I'm so bad?" "I destroyed those letters for you, Brooke." "I see how much Samantha means to you." "No." "Don't do that." "You have never done anything for me." "This is about you trying to have some half-assed do-over with Sam because you screwed up completely with me." "And it is so obvious and so damn pathetic." "Just stop." "And you never took me shopping." " Okay, wait." "Just hear me out." " You're just in time." "For what?" "I have the instrumental track for "All In My Head" cued up." "Go sing." "Now?" "Hey, Joe Perry said "Let the music do the talking. "" "An Aerosmith reference." "I knew I liked you." "I turned down the offer." "Yeah, I know." "I just got off the phone with the scout." " Nathan, I..." " I'm going to the NBA, Bobby." "I was going to say that European league missed out on a great player." "And I hope the NBA doesn't." "Thank you." "Oh, and I want you to know I told the scout about Devon." "He's a good player." "He just made a mistake and that doesn't mean he shouldn't get a second chance." "I told the scout the same thing." " I'll see you in practice tomorrow, Scott." " See you at practice." "Antwon "Skills" Taylor crashing a 5-year-old's dance?" "I was hoping to see you." "I wanted to ask you out, but I was kind of hesitant because I just got out of a relationship." "Me too." "Bad breakup." "It broke my heart." "So I guess neither one of us should really be dating right now, huh?" "Probably not." "So you wanna dance?" "No." "But I could go for some rebound S-E-X." "I'm kidding." "A dance would be nice." " It was good." " It was great." " The song, I mean." " I know." "Okay." "I'll let you record it." "One condition:" "I wanna produce." "Hey." "Sorry I've been sneaking around with your mom." "It's just she's not bad once you get past the royal bitch of it all." "No." "She's worse." "You know, she'd really like another chance." "Sam..." "I have a letter for you." "From your birth mother." "I guess she's been sending them to the store, hoping that I could help her get in touch with you and somehow they ended up in junk mail." "Yeah, I don't want it." "Sam." "No." "She gave me up." "She doesn't want me, right?" "What does she want now?" "To say she's sorry?" "Maybe." "Well, then she should have said it." "Every time I sat there in that coffee shop right in front of her she didn't even know that was her own daughter." "So screw her and her "I'm sorry's" because all that ever got me was a sucky life." "And there's nothing she can say to fix that." "Samantha, you've been going to that coffee shop for months." "You must want something from her." "Even if it's just closure." "Yeah." "Okay." "How about "why?"" "Why wasn't I good enough?" "Why didn't she love me enough?" "Why could she just throw me away?" "Maybe..." "Maybe she wants to tell you why giving you up was the hardest thing that she ever had to do." "Sweetheart, I have no idea how you feel." "Even on her worst day, Victoria never gave me away." "But if you want to know why she's the only person who can answer that for you." "I should have told you about Brooke." "Did you love her?" "Thought I did." "That's before I fell in love with you." "Madison's been talking about you all night." "Really?" "I'm sorry I hosed you, man." "She's waiting for you over there." "No." "Hey, you have fun tonight?" "Hello." "This is he." "Yes, sir." "A tryout." "Yes, sir." "All right." "Thank you." "Babe, a tryout." "Oh, God." "What if I just gave away my last chance?" "Your chance is coming, baby." "I really believe that." "I'm gonna be right here." "It's okay." "Peyton." "Hi." "Close your eyes." "I knew you had a surprise for me." "Open your eyes." "Where did you find this?" "It's the best concert we never went to." "I still can't believe you pretended to like The Cure all those years." "I never said I loved The Cure." "I said I loved kissing you to The Cure." "This was one of the best days of my life." "Really good pie." "We had our whole lives in front of us." "Hey." "We still do." "I know." "Well, The Cure is playing." "Where's my kissing?" "I can't believe I kept those tickets for six months and I lost them in six hours." " Well, you know what?" "Maybe we can just go back to the doorman and explain that we really did have two." "Yeah, yeah." "I'm kind of thinking he probably heard that one before." " I'm sorry about the concert." " Who goes to a sold-out show anyway?" "And besides, I only have one last night with you." "Unless you show up tomorrow with, like, another surprise." "If that's what it takes to keep you from leaving." "I'm gonna miss you." "You better." "Because I have a lot of dreams wrapped up in you." "And it's kind of hard to have a happily ever after all by yourself." "We're gonna have that, Lucas." "We are gonna get married and we're gonna make a lot of babies in the backseat of this car." "Mm." "I promise." "And I always keep my promises." "Good." "Because I'm gonna hold you to it."