2003 ― Tree Hill, North Carolina

"That's going to leave a mark."

Brooke, Peyton, and Aurora were lying in bed in Peyton's room. Peyton and Aurora were watching a movie. The girls talked last night, Peyton called Aurora, and Aurora figured that she shouldn't ignore her, so they talked. Aurora told her that she figured Lucas would pick Peyton in the grand scheme of things because he's had a crush on her since 8th grade. She told her no hard feelings, they were just becoming friends again, and she didn't want a boy to ruin that.

When one of the actresses in the movie screamed, that jolted Brooke awake, and she took in her surroundings to see she was in Peyton's room, then she turned to the girls. "So, what am I doing here?" Brooke asked.

"Brooke, that's two weekends in a row where you don't remember what happened the night before," Peyton said, and Brooke sighed.

"Oh, please tell me I didn't make a fool of myself with Lucas," Brooke said.

"Nope, that would be me," Peyton said.

"Wait... I thought Lucas and Aurora were totally hot for each other." Brooke said.

"Well, you thought wrong," Aurora mumbled while keeping her eyes on the TV.

"So then what happened?" Brooke asked as she turned to Peyton.

"Halfway through ripping each other's clothes off, I panicked and bailed," Peyton said. Brooke looked at her with wide eyes.

"Because?" Brooke asked.

"I don't know. He got all serious about intense commitment, and I just panicked." Peyton said while shaking her head.

"Well, I don't want to live in a world where three fine and willing girls like ourselves can have such a lame Friday night. I have to change my karma. Maybe the two of you should make some changes too." Brooke said to them.

"We didn't wake up with a foggy memory," Aurora said.

"Neither of you woke up with Lucas either," Brooke said as she shrugged her shoulders. Aurora and Peyton rolled their eyes, and Aurora grabbed a pillow and hit Brooke with it, even though she was still smiling.

"Bitch."

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"So, explain how this fixes your karma?" Peyton asked as the girls stood inside Brooke's favorite lingerie store. Brooke was in the dressing room, trying different things on, while Aurora and Peyton were outside the dressing room, and then Brooke walked out.

"It doesn't, but it's a total pick me up, don't you think?" Brooke said as she pushed her breasts up to get her point across. Peyton rolled her eyes as Brooke held out two tops. "Now, try these on." She said to them. She held out a black top corset to Aurora and a leopard print one for Peyton. The girls took the corsets from her and went into the same changing room.

"Only because you asked so nicely," Aurora said as she started taking her shirt off. She's been friends with Peyton and Brooke for years, and they all have the same body parts. She didn't care about changing in front of them.

"Now the karma thing comes next. I figured out a master plan. If I can fix the damage I've done to certain people's love lives, maybe the universe will kick in and fix mine." Brooke said.

"It's a pretty long list," Peyton said. She had her top on, fastening the back of Aurora's corset. Brooke was outside of the dressing room waiting for them.

"Yeah, Nathan and Haley are at the top of it. I screwed them over royally last night. Double karma points if I can undo that one." Brooke said as Peyton and Aurora stopped out of the dressing room. "Fabulous! You know, Peyton, not everyone can pull off skeezy in the jungle vibe. Now, I can fix the both of you up too." Brooke said, and Aurora shook her head.

"No, thanks," Aurora said.

"I am done with the drama of dating. I just want to have fun." Peyton said, and Aurora thought that was fair. After getting out of her drama-filled relationship with Nathan, it makes sense she wouldn't want to hop into another relationship immediately.

"Then you'll be happy to know I got us invited to a party at Duke tonight," Brooke said, which made Aurora shake her head.

"So much for changing your ways." Aurora teased, and Peyton laughed.

"What? Peyton promised to have fun, and I promised to indulge in boys, not booze. And now, we have something to wear."

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Once the girls got to Duke later that night, Aurora was a little nervous. She's never been to a college party before, but she knew her brother went to Duke. She didn't know if Alex was very into parties, but she thought maybe if she saw him, she'd be less nervous. "We're young; we're fun. Let's do some damage." Brooke said as they walked inside the house. Aurora realized that she was standing at Nathan's dream school.

Without Nathan.

"Want some while it lasts?" A random girl asked as she held out a red solo cup towards Brooke, but Brooke shook her head.

"No, thanks. Designated driver." Brooke said as she walked off to find some guy to talk to. Aurora looked over at Peyton, and they had the same looks on their faces. They thought they wanted to come, but now that they're here, they want to go home.

"I'm gonna make sure Brooke doesn't...-" Aurora cut her off.

"...-Yeah, go ahead. I'll stay close." Aurora said. Peyton nodded and walked off while Aurora made her way around the party. She refused any drink offered and went to make her own drink so that she knew it wasn't spiked.

"No way. AJ?" She heard a voice behind her. She was hesitant to turn around, but when she did, she wore a smile when she saw who it was. And she should've guessed because not many people call her AJ.

"Alex!" She exclaimed when she saw it was her older brother. "I didn't know whether or not you'd be at this party. I could only guess." Aurora said as she hugged her brother.

"Yeah, which brings me to my question of, what the hell are you doing here? And that better not be alcohol in that cup." Alex said, and Aurora rolled her eyes.

"It is alcohol, but I am drinking it very slowly, and two. I got dragged here by Brooke Davis." Aurora said, and Alex laughed.

"I thought that was her voice that I heard earlier," Alex said, and Aurora smiled.

"Yo, Alex! You gotta come see this!" Aurora and Alex heard one of his friends shout. Alex looked at his sister, and Aurora nodded her head.

"Go, I'll be around," Aurora said. Alex nodded his head before kissing his sister on her forehead and going to find his friends. Aurora continued to walk around the dorm lounge. As she passed one of the rooms, she noticed the door was open, and a boy was lying on his bed and reading a book. "Hmm... the tragedy of Macbeth, how poetic, considering the tragedy that is this room," Aurora said as she stood in the doorway. The boy looked up and laughed a little.

"I am but a simple man." He said as Aurora walked inside of his room. She noticed his bookshelf, walked over to it, and started to browse his collection.

"11/22/63. This is a great book." Aurora said as she picked it up and looked over it. When she looked back at the guy, his eyes widened.

"You know Stephen King?" He asked, and she laughed.

"Of course I do. He's in my top 3 authors. I'm Aurora." She introduced herself with a smile on her face, and he smiled back.

"I'm Gabe... do you wanna, I don't know, read it while listening to my tragic music in my tragic room." He said, and Aurora laughed.

"Yeah, sure." She said as she sat down on his bed and opened the book. She was thinking about how jealous Lucas would be because they had a pact to read Stephen King's books together.

But they hadn't gotten around to it yet.

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"Okay, there's no way you have this one." Gabe said to Aurora as he held up a copy of 'The Great Gatsby,' which made her laugh as she shook her head. She couldn't believe the irony since that's her favorite book.

"Are you kidding me? First edition, I have it in paperback, hardback, and audiobook. It's my favorite book." Aurora said, and Gabe looked impressed. Aurora didn't know that she looked like a person who didn't read. She didn't even know what kind of person that looked like.

"Okay, I was wrong about you. I guess the, uh... clothes threw me off." Gabe said. Aurora nodded her head. She had on the corset top that Brooke picked out for her at the lingerie store and a pair of skinny black jeans to go with it.

"I'm into the story, not the uniform," Aurora said.

"Same as me," Gabe said.

"Yeah? Well, maybe some of us can love the story without painting our fingernails black." Aurora teased, which made them both laugh.

"Let me get you a drink." He said, and Aurora shook her head.

"I'm not really drinking tonight." She said.

"Ah, so that's why we've never met before. You're still in high school." He said, and Aurora laughed as she nodded her head. There was no point in lying.

"Guilty. A regular cheerleader." Aurora said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Right, right. You're a straight edge?" He asked, and Aurora laughed.

"Not really," Aurora said because she knew what he was asking. If she was a virgin, who didn't do anything like drink, drugs, party, and that kind of thing. She didn't often, but she had done all those things before.

"How about it, then? One drink. We haven't even gotten to my stolen collection." Gabe said. Aurora rolled her eyes but still laughed because she knew he was teasing.

"Why not?" She said. Gabe got off his bed to make her drink, and she returned to looking at the Stephen King book she was holding. 11/22/63. It's the story of a man who goes back in time to prevent JFK from being murdered, and then a ripple effect shows the man that even though he did a good thing, the outcome of what happens after wasn't better.

Aurora really loved the story.

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"Hey, are you okay?" Gabe asked Aurora, who was sitting on his bed without the book in her hand because she had dropped it. She didn't know, but Gabe slipped something into the drink he gave her. When Aurora looked up, Gabe saw that her eyes were slightly glazed over, and he knew that it was the perfect time to carry out his plan.

"I don't know. What's in this?" She asked as she gestured to the cup in her hands.

"Why? You like it?" He asked.

"Did you slip me something?" She asked. Her fight or flight response started to come in, and she knew she needed to get out of this room, but she felt like she could barely stand. She tried to stand up, but Gabe shook his head. "Oh, my gosh... I...-" Gabe cut her off.

"...-Should lie down? Good idea." He said as he pushed her back down onto his bed. He took the cup out of her hands, put it on the nightstand, and then walked over to his door and closed it. When he walked back over to Aurora, she was still trying to get up, and he pushed her back down and got on top of her.

"Leave me alone..." Aurora's words were slurred. "Get off of me!"

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"Are you two looking for someone?" Alex James asked Brooke and Peyton when he saw they were trying to get inside Gabe's locked room. When Peyton turned around, she recognized him immediately. "Peyton?" He asked.

"Oh my god, hey Alex. Um, wait, have you seen your sister? That's who we're looking for." Peyton said, and Alex shook his head.

"I saw her about an hour ago. You think she's in there?" Alex asked, and Peyton nodded her head. Alex grabbed one of his friends, who he knew had a key, and told him to unlock the door. Once he did, Alex was immediately enraged to see Gabe over his unconscious sister.

"Hey!" Brooke yelled as she, Peyton, and Alex ran into the room.

"Get out!" Gabe yelled. Alex grabbed Gabe off his sister and threw him on the ground while Peyton and Brooke ran to the bed to get Aurora. They were relieved to see that she was still fully clothed, so they knew they got into the room right on time.

"This perv attacked our friend!" Peyton yelled at the crowd that was starting to form at the door.

"She's lying. Her friend is just wasted." Gabe said. He had stood up from the ground, and Alex punched him hard in the face, which sent him back down.

"Shut up." Alex snapped, and then he looked at Brooke and Peyton. "Come on, girls, let's get her outside," Alex said. He walked over to the bed, picked up Aurora in his arms, and led the girls outside to a set of stairs. "Do you guys have someone to call? I would offer to take you guys home, but I've been drinking..." Alex said once they got outside.

"Um, I'll call Lucas," Brooke said as she took out her phone.

"Hello?" Lucas's voice came through after the second ring.

"Lucas, Aurora's in trouble. Somebody drugged her drink. Me, Peyton, and Alex can't wake her up." Brooke was speaking fast, but Lucas picked up most of it.

"Okay, Brooke, slow down. Where are you? Alex, her brother?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, her brother. We're on the steps of Chapman Hall." Brooke said.

"Alright, call the police," Lucas said.

"We can't. We're minors, and she's been drinking." Brooke said.

"Right, okay. I'm on my way." Luca said, and then he hung up the phone. Alex had Aurora's head resting on his lap while Peyton and Brooke sat on the step below her.

"Is your friend okay?" The three heard a new voice and looked up to see another student approaching them.

"We don't know; she can't stay awake," Peyton said, and then the student looked at Aurora, who had her head on Alex's lap, and then she looked at Alex, and he could tell what she might've been thinking.

"This is my little sister," Alex said, and the student nodded. Aurora slightly lifted her head and looked at the student, but she could tell that Aurora wasn't all there.

"Do you know where you are? Do you know your name?" She asked. When Aurora's eyes opened, they were still glazed over.

"Just... dizzy." Aurora slurred before putting her head back down on her brother's lap as Lucas's truck pulled up to the stairs. Lucas quickly got out of the truck and ran to the girls and Alex.

"Brooke, Peyton!" Lucas exclaimed as he ran over.

"Sorry, we didn't know who else to call," Brooke said. Lucas looked at his best friend, whose eyes were closed as her head was still down, but she was still breathing. Then Lucas looked at Alex.

"Is she okay?" He asked.

"She's not drunk. I think he gave her a sedative. We just need to know what it was." The other college student said. Lucas looked down at her, and she saw the look in his eyes. "I'm a med student." She said, and Lucas notably relaxed and nodded his head.

"Brooke, Peyton... can you watch her while I go back to that jerk's room?" Alex asked. Peyton nodded and helped Alex shift Aurora over so that Aurora had her head lying on Peyton's lap, and then Lucas walked up to Alex.

"I'm going with you." He said. Alex nodded his head, and he looked at the med student.

"Can you stay with them too?" Alex asked, and she nodded her head.

"Of course." She said, and Alex nodded his head before looking at Lucas.

"Alright, come on, Luke."

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Alex James and Lucas Scott made their way back inside the party, and Alex took Lucas to Gabe's room and pointed to it. "This is the one," Alex said. Lucas nodded his head and knocked on the door.

"Piss off." Gabe snapped. Lucas looked at Alex, and they both started laughing. Not because they thought what Gabe said was funny, but because that's how pissed they were.

"Piss off," Lucas repeated as he nodded his head. Then he turned to Alex's friend, who had let them into the room earlier. "Is this your dorm?" He asked, and he nodded his head.

"Yeah." He said.

"Go get your R.A.," Lucas said. Alex kicked down the door, and Gabe immediately jumped out of his bed as soon as the door came down.

"Hey, man!" He exclaimed, and then he noticed it was Alex. "What the hell are you doing back here?" He asked.

"I decided to bring a little backup," Alex said as Lucas rushed into the room and grabbed Gabe by his shirt before pinning him against the wall.

"What did you put in her drink?" Lucas snapped.

"I didn't put anything in her drink." Gabe lied, which only made Lucas angrier.

"You can tell me, or you can tell the police." Lucas snapped.

"It was nothing, man. Alright? It was one roofie." Gabe said, and Lucas shook his head.

"Where are they?" Alex asked. Gabe didn't answer; he just started laughing. Lucas let him go and punched him hard in the face before he grabbed him again and pinned him up against the wall.

"He said where are they?" Lucas snapped.

"They're over there. In the box." Gabe said. While Lucas kept him pinned against the wall, Alex walked to the dresser and looked for the pills. Once he found the sheet, he nodded at Lucas, who let Gabe go, then punched him again.

"You better hope to God she's okay."

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When Aurora woke up the following day, she was a little confused as she took in her surroundings and recognized that she was in her room. The last thing she remembered was being at the Duke party, and everything was fuzzy from there. She didn't know how she got back to her room.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" Aurora jumped when she heard the voice, but she relaxed when she saw it was Alex and Haley sitting at the foot of her bed.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" She asked her brother.

"How much of last night do you remember, AJ?" Alex asked, and Aurora sighed.

"I remember the party, and I remember seeing you there. Oh, dang, I said I was gonna catch up with you again, and I didn't. I'm sorry, but you didn't have to come all the way home." Aurora said, and Alex shook his head.

"Aurora... a guy slipped something in your drink. Brooke and I had both been drinking, so we couldn't drive you back, and we had to call Lucas." Alex said. Aurora's eyes widened as she sat up. When she heard that she had been drugged, her thoughts immediately drifted. Haley saw the look on her face, and she knew exactly what her sister was thinking, so she grabbed her hands.

"No, no, nothing happened. Peyton, Brooke, and Alex busted into the room in time and stopped him," Haley said. Aurora nodded and let out a breath of relief because that was her primary concern.

"Oh my god... thank you, Alex. I should probably let Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas know I'm okay." Aurora said, and Alex shook his head while Haley spoke.

"We already covered that. It's Saturday, no school; you just need to rest. I'm sure they'll come by later." Haley said, and Aurora sighed, but she nodded her head.

"Okay, fair enough. But will you guys stay here with me?" Aurora asked her siblings. Alex and Haley nodded before adjusting themselves in Aurora's bed, which made her smile. She loved spending time with her siblings. "What did you guys tell Mom and Dad?" She asked.

"Luckily, by the time Lucas got you back here, they were already in bed, so we didn't have to tell them anything," Alex said, and Aurora let out a breath of relief. "And when they saw me this morning and asked what brought me home, I just said I missed you guys, which technically isn't a lie." 

"Perfect," Aurora said.

"Okay, now I have something to confess," Haley said. Aurora and Alex looked at their sister and raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" Aurora asked.

"Nathan kissed me," Haley said, and Aurora's eyes widened.

"What the hell? When?" Aurora asked, which made Haley laugh.

"Earlier this morning, while you were still asleep. He was throwing rocks at your window, thinking it was my window, and I told him if he kept it up, you might come outside and kill him." Haley said, which made Aurora laugh.

"Wait, Nathan Scott. Aurora's asshole best friend?" Alex asked, which made the twins laugh.

"Yeah, that's the one," Aurora said, turning to Haley. "Wow, how do you feel?" She asked.

"Well, it definitely caught me off guard, but... maybe he really is trying to change," Haley said, and Aurora started smiling.

"Well, let's find out," Aurora said as she grabbed her phone from her nightstand, and Haley's eyes widened.

"What the hell are you doing?" Haley asked.

"I'm calling my best friend, so both of you, shut up," Aurora said as she dialed Nathan's number and put it on speaker.

"Ari, hey. I was gonna come by and check on you later. Peyton told me what had happened. Are you alright?" Nathan's voice came through the phone after the second ring.

"I'm fine, seriously. Nothing to worry about. I'm calling because a little birdie told me you kissed my sister." Aurora said, and when Nathan fell quiet, she started laughing. "Nathan, it's just me; it's okay." She said.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" Nathan asked, and she laughed.

"Of course not. I think you two are cute together and you'd be good for each other. And it'll definitely be better than whatever the hell you and Peyton were." Aurora said, which made Nathan laugh.

"Believe me, me too. I'm so over all the drama... and being with Haley, it's so different, in a good way, of course. And it's refreshing. I knew you guys were twins, but it's almost like you're the same person. She's always pushing me to be better, just like you do." Nathan said, which made Aurora and Haley smile.

"I've always known you could be better, Nate. I also knew you had to want it for yourself before any real change happened." Aurora said, and Nathan laughed a little.

"And I do. But it's also nice to have the James sisters in my corner." He said, and the twins knocked their fists against each other.

"And you always will, I promise," Aurora said.

"Hey, I'm really glad you're okay, though. I would've driven to Duke myself and hunted that guy down if he hurt you." Nathan said, and Aurora laughed.

"I don't doubt you would. So I am going to spend the day with my siblings, but I'll call you later?" Aurora said and even though she couldn't see him. Nathan nodded.

"I love you; talk to you later," Nathan said, and Aurora smiled.

"I love you too, Nate." She said, then she hung up the phone and looked at her sister. "Sounds like he's serious about you too." She said, and Haley laughed.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day. Between the two of you, if someone was going to date Nathan Scott, I thought it would've been Aurora." Alex said, which made the twins laugh.

"Trust me, I thought it was going to be Aurora too, and now I'm glad it's not," Haley said, which made them all laugh.

"Trust me. I'm glad it's not either. Nathan and I have always known that we're in love platonically if that makes sense." Aurora said while laughing, and Haley nodded.

"Most people would think you're insane for putting it that way, but I get what you mean," Haley said, and Alex laughed.

"It's simple. Nathan is Aurora's platonic soulmate, and Haley, he may or may not just be your soulmate. It's still too early in the relationship to tell." Alex said, which made Aurora laugh.

"I think it's gonna be Naley forever," Aurora said, which made Haley laugh.

"Naley?" She asked.

"A combination of your names. I think you two are going to go all the way. I'm calling it right here, right now." Aurora said, and Haley laughed as she shook her head.

"Alright, I guess we'll see what happens."

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─── AUTHOR'S NOTE
don't worry, alex will be back later.

don't forget to vote/comment. 

xoxo.