Forever and A Day | one tree hill

seven.

You're right, nice jocks are rarer than a four-leaf clover. As of right now I only know 1.5 jocks that are nice. I'm still feeling one of them out, that's where the .5 comes in. The other one is extremely nice. I've never met anyone who knows the right thing to say and doesn't do it in a manipulative manner. A jock who has genuinely good intentions? That's a terrifying thing.

"Valentina."

Valentina folds up the letter and shoves it into her locker as she turns to see Peyton walking toward her and Valentina smiles at the blonde.

"So last week sucked, but you were there for me, so I wanted to say thanks," Peyton tells her, and Valentina shrugs it off.

"It's not a big deal. You needed a friend, and I was happy to be one."

"So, we're only friends when I want to talk about my dead mom?" Peyton asks and Val's smile slips away.

"That's not what I meant."

Peyton smiles, "Relax, I'm messing with you. I know we're just friends, even though Nathan and I are broken up now, which means that if you wanted to sleep with me, you technically could."

"But I'm not going to because we are friends," Valentina says her face becoming more serious as she asks, "So you and Nathan are officially done?"

"He didn't even know that it was the anniversary of my mother's death last week," Peyton says softly, "There was only room for one person in our relationship and that person was Nathan, so yeah we're officially done."

"Good," Valentina says, "There's someone better out there for you. I know it."

Peyton smiles at her and tucks a strand of curly blonde hair behind her ear.

"I have something for you," Peyton says as she reaches into her bag and pulls out a CD. She hands it to Valentina who accepts it with a smile.

"Aww you made me a mixtape," Valentina says as she looks at it, "You must really want me to sleep with you."

Peyton rolls her eyes, "Look, I had free time and when we were talking, you seemed passionate about music and music is something I happen to be passionate about as well, so I thought why not give a gift that has some thought in it."

"Well, I love it," Valentina tells her, "See you at the game tonight?"

"I'll be the one with a gun to my head, forced to cheer you on," Peyton says as she walks backward and makes a gun with her fingers and pretends to shoot herself. Valentina laughs at the action and looks back down at the mixtape with a smile.

On the bus, Valentina takes a seat in the back of the bus, knowing that no one would bother her back there. She pulls out her CD player and takes out Peyton's mixtape before putting it in the CD player. She pulls the headphones over her ears and presses play.

Just Like Heaven by the Cure fills her ears and Valentina glances out of the window as the bus starts to move.

While warming up for the game, Valentina tried her best to ignore the cheers of the other team's crowd. Valentina hated playing Pickerington because the girls on the team never knew when to shut up and the same went for the crowd.

Valentina looked at the crowd and was relieved when she saw the face of her brothers and the rest of the men's basketball team. With most of the Tree Hill adults at the business meeting gala thing, the crowd supporting the Ravens was going to be thin.

Valentina shot a three, watching as it went in with a swish. She casually glanced at the crowd, not in search of anyone or anything. She was simply looking. In her simple search, she finds Haley sitting in the crowd. Haley's eyes find her, and she gives her a wave.