GREEK TRAGEDY
::  vi. | girls, girls, boys

After the party, Brooke had a lot of sorries to give out. Starting with Nathan and Haley. It was the middle of the day, Monday and she thought the only place that she knows Haley would be is Karen's Cafe. So after taking a deep breath in and sucking it up, the burnette opened the door and headed to the counter.

Brooke stood there with Haley's back facing her, trying to figure out what to say. Before she could say anything, Haley had turned around and approached her.

"What do you want?"

"I deserve that." Brooke nodded, "I want to apologize. What I did was so uncool and I want to make it up to you."

"How?" Haley's brows furrowed.

A smile crept across Brooke's lips, "You'll just have to wait till tonight."

Haley gave her a questioning look as the burnette happily made her way out the cafe and then began to her next apology which was Nathan.

She told Nathan the same thing, she was sorry and that she had a plan to get Haley back. She was quite excited about it and she hoped it worked. From there, then came Ashely, Jake, and Ryland. Except, Ashely didn't listen to anything Brooke had to say because she was so pissed off. So during her apology to Ryland, she had to ask why one of her best friends was still mad about the situation when Brooke thought it had nothing to do with Ashely.

Ryland sighed, "It had everything to do with her, Brooke. Ashely likes Lucas."

Ryland soon walked off after filling Brooke in. She didn't care enough to stick around afterwards but also, she still really badly needed to speak to Jake. Last night, by the time she reached him, he was already gone again.

Luckily before her next class, she ran into Jake who was going the opposite direction from her. Before she can even get a word out, Jake had already rushed passed her. A major frustrated sìgh escaped ryland's lips before continuing to class. She knew this was going to be a long day.

• • •

It was around lunch time and Brooke was rushing through the halls to the courtyard to hopefully find Ashely again. During skipping her second class of the day, she heard that there was going to be a party at one of the college dorms, so what better way to make it up to Ashely than invite her to a college party.

After opening the double doors, she scanned the area and soon her eyes landed on one of the tables. There she saw Ashely with Chad, Ryland, Alexa, Jay, and Haley. She usually doesn't sit with them, but some things are more important than others.

She approached the table and squeezed in between Ashely and Ryland. Ryland had scooted over with a roll of her eyes, already annoyed by Brooke's presence.

"Hi, friends." Brooke looked around then turned to Ashely, "I want to make it up to you, so how does a college party sound? Peyton's coming."

Ashely sat there with a frown thinking for a moment before speaking, "Can Ryland come?"

Ryland leaned forward to look at Ashely, she began to mouth the word no over and over. Ashely just ignored her as Brooke continued to talk.

Brooke annoyingly sighed.

"Sure." The burnette passed her friend a smile then turned to Ryland with a fake smile. Brooke soon got up from the table and went to go find Peyton while everyone else continued to talk amongst themselves.

As Ryland was already dreading the party they were going to go that night, her eyes wandered around landing on Jake. He had been avoiding her all day and that kept growing her a bit more annoyed and angry.

Her eyes lingered on him as whatever conversation that was going on slowly muffled in her ears. It's like she was going through a trance as she stared at him. She thought she was being subtle, then he connected eyes with her. Ryland quickly fell out of her trance, her eyes blinking a few times before seeing that Jake was gesturing with his head to follow him.

So Ryland got up, telling her friends that she'll be back before going to find Jake. After wandering the halls for a minute or two, she finally found him in an empty classroom. He was standing by the window, looking out as she opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind her.

"You finally going to tell me the truth?" She slowly approached him.

He stayed, staring out the window, "How was I supposed to tell my girlfriend that I have a kid?"

Her eyes softened. They didn't grow angry. She was still confused of why he didn't say anything, "I would've understood. I could've helped."

He shook his head as he turned to face her, "That's not your job."

She walked closer to him, "What's their name?"

He stepped forward as well, "Her name's Jenny."

She closed the gap even smaller, "Well, I'd like to meet her sometime."

"I'm so sorry for not being open about this." He simply shrugged, "I just wasn't ready."

"You don't need to apologize." She mumbled.

The two were so close, inches away. It was almost like they were going to kiss. Staring into each other's eyes, not saying a word. Ryland didn't know what she wanted in that moment and neither did Jake but before anything like that could happen, the bell rang.

"Looks like that's our cue." Jake spoke softly.

"Looks like. . "

With a little smile, Jake walked passed her and out the classroom. And after a deep, deep sigh, Ryland finally left the classroom as well to head to her next class.

• • •

It was after school hours, Peyton and Brooke were getting changed in Peyton's room for the college party while ryland and Ashely were getting ready at Ashely's house. The plan was that Peyton would swing by and pick up the girls and that's exactly what happened within the next thirty minutes.

She honked that she was outside when Ryland just came back in the room from the bathroom.

"We're going to have so much fun." Ashely spoke with a smile, reassuring Ryland.

Ashely grabbed Ryland's hand on the way out the bedroom, heading downstairs to the front door. The two grabbed their jackets and bags as they exited the house. Ashely locked the door as Ryland headed to the car.

Soon enough Ashely met them at the car and got in the backseat next to Ryland. Then were off to this college party.

Around ten minutes later, Peyton pulled up in front of a campus, parking the comet on the curb. Everyone soon got out the car and began to make their way inside.

Brooke grabbed Ashely's arm, dragging her inside, with Peyton and Ryland following behind. The music was loud, everyone was either dancing or making out. It was everything Brooke hoped it would be.

Eventually, Brooke drifted off somewhere, dancing around with whatever dudes that got her attention. Peyton sat on a couch, drinking, and then there was Ryland who was having a good time up until she couldn't find Ashely anywhere. She was growing worried for her friend. So when she saw Peyton by herself, she immediately walked over there.

"Please tell me you're not wasted."

"Not yet, but what's up?" Peyton held the blue cup in her hand.

"I can't find Ashely. I've been looking for her for like ten minutes." Ryland was getting to sound a bit more worried.

Peyton shook her head, "I'm sure she's having a good time." Ryland had a worried expression on her face that she couldn't shake, which Peyton noticed. The Sawyer girl stood up, "But if you're that worried, I'll help you look."

As the two began to look for Ashely with now Brooke because she ran into them when she walking around with some guy, Ashely was in one of the dorm rooms with some random college guy.

"I should probably be getting back to my friends now." She stumbled to the door. Then all of a sudden her eyes were beginning to slowly close as the guy caught her from falling.

"Yeah, I don't think that'll be happening." He mumbled, his voice muffling in her ears.

• • •

The girls soon resorted to asking around and luckily enough, someone gave them reliable information finally.

Brooke knocked on one of the doors before her Peyton used every once in their body to push the door open. Call it adrenaline if you like.

As soon as they saw what they saw, the three girls barged in, pushing the guy off of Ashley who was completely out of it. They carried her out of the building and in front of the campus to get some fresh air. They all sat on the steps, as Ryland pulled out her phone and called Chad.

Ten minutes later, a car pulled up and Chad ran up to the three girls. He examined his sister before asking what happened. He then ran back into the building, Brooke showing him the dorm room. He kicked it in and approached the guy who tried to harm his sister.

He asked through gritted teeth, "What did you put in her drink?"

"Nothing you should be worried about." The guy's back was still turned to Chad.

Chad grabbed him, turning him to face him before grabbing his shirt and slamming him into a wall. He whispered in his ear, "If you don't tell me what was in her drink, I'll kill you."

"Just a roofie. That's all, man." He began to sound nervous, "She'll sleep it off. I swear."

Chad aggressively let him go with a push, "Asshole." He then left the room with Brooke following behind, back to the girls who waited outside.

Once he and Brooke returned to them, he suggested that Ashely stay at Peyton's because their parents would kill them if she came home like that. So everyone drove back to Peyton's house. Brooke feeling guilty, Peyton worried, Ryland nervous, and Chad — pissed off as ever.

• • •

"I appreciate you calling." Chad whispered to Ryland, as they both stood at the open door, watching Ashely sleep.

She simply shrugged, "I didn't know who else."

"I'm just glad nothing too bad happened." Brooke chimed in, as she approached the two.

"Too bad? He roofied her." You can sense the anger in his tone.

"You know what I meant." She pushed passed the two, entering Peyton's room.

Peyton approached Chad, her hand resting on his shoulder, "We'll call you when she wakes up."

He gently placed his hand on top of her's, "Thanks."

Chad soon exited the house, returning back to his car to get back home. Soon after that, Ryland and Peyton fell asleep on either side of Ashely who has been sleeping for a little over an hour now.

Brooke however, she was still awake, watching them sleep. She couldn't sleep because she felt all this guilt of what happened to her friend. Her actions in trying to do something nice, ended in the complete opposite. Even though, she knew her friends would convince her otherwise, she would still feel like this was her responsibility.

a/n:
Finally updated !!