A/N: I have serious writers block and I'm bored. So this is what happened…

Quote in the summary is by Elisabeth Foley. Also, I couldn't decide which banner I liked better so, I'm posting both. Just take out the spaces:

h t t p / i m g 8 7 . i m a g e s h a c k . u s / i m g 8 7 / 2 1 9 9 / e v e r y p a 4 . j p g

h t t p / i m g 5 1 3 . i m a g e s h a c k . u s / i m g 5 1 3 / 7 6 6 4 / e v e r y y o u e v e r y m e y o 0 . j p g

Chapter 1: No Problems

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. —Soren Kierkegaard

-x-

There is a beginning and an end to every song.

Even when the player skips and you feel you're stuck on the same verse. Eventually, someone will hip bump the stereo and the music will soon after meet its end. So perhaps you can say life is almost like a song, it's all just one huge lyrical lie.

For some, the song is short and to the point. For others, its long and emotional. Then there are those, like Haley James, who tend to skip to the next track and the next until she found one that suited her. Yet just when she thought she was satisfied with the choice she'd made… she changed her mind.

For her sister Taylor, life was so much more than a mere song. It was a blank canvas, desperate for her colors and creativity. Life had no limits and held endless possibilities. People like this are never truly understood and are often seen as strange or troubled by those who lived inside a box.

Haley was one of those people.

Like the clouds above her head, she felt dark and gloomy. She watched the rain roll down the window beside her and traced a drop as it slid down the glass with her forefinger. With a sigh she pressed her face close and blew her warm breath against the smooth clear surface, she drew her name and added a simple smiley face. How ironic, she thought. She exhaled out her mouth and sagged her shoulders, draping herself across her chair. While the rain outside picked up, her thoughts raced like a roller derby.

What else could she be doing with her time that was more productive than sitting here like a log? She watched her sister cross and re-cross her legs at the knee and run shaky fingers through her long dark blonde hair, suddenly she couldn't help but realize that they were practically strangers.

When they were young they has been virtually inseparable. Well, that was until their eldest sister Quinn went off to college and Taylor decided she wanted to be wild and free. Haley never saw much of her faithful sidekick after that.

Looking at her now and saw bits and pieces of their mother, with her long dirty blonde hair and wide doe eyes. She also noticed that Taylor had their fathers prominent chin and small straight nose. Her sister was beautiful in the more obvious sense; she wore trendy clothes and expensive makeup that accentuated most of her best facial features. Her smile could light up a room, it was always so sincere no matter the situation that was at hand. Her voice was low and calming and her eyes warm and soulful. However, it was her personality that seemed to lure people in.

"It's gonna be different this time Hales, I promise." Taylor said to Haley, suddenly drawing her sisters attention from her fidgeting legs to her pinched expression. "Okay?" She gulped, looking every bit the jaded young woman she was.

Haley nodded and looked away from her quickly to distract herself with the falling rain outside her window. For the past fifteen minutes they'd sat there in that cold and damp hall waiting for their parents to come for them. This would be Taylor's third stay at the Tree Hill Rehabilitation center. Their parents were inside the administrators office admitting Taylor that very moment.

"Hales, you believe me right?" Taylor asked setting her hand down on Haley's knee, "Hales," She said again wanting desperately for her sister to look at her, "you believe me…" she paused and took a deep breath through her nose, "right?"

Its never different. She goes in. She comes out. She goes back in. Yeah. But this time is different. Haley knows better. It's never different. No matter how badly she wants to believe her sister, she wont. She can't. She'd let hope blind her way too many times before in the past only to be let down again. She's done. She's over it. She has to be. Graduation is just around the corner. College. A new life. Its right there in her grasp. She can see it, taste it, smell it…

"But, you believe me. Right Hales?" her eyes knew the truth but her voice begged for a lie.

She can't tell her sister how she really feels, so she lies. Haley didn't lie. Not without purpose, not unless she had no choice. But seeing the desperate look in her older sisters eye she felt she was given no other choice. "Yeah," she smiled over at her tightly and nodded her head stiffly, "sure Tay, I believe you." She whispered painfully gulping down the lump in her throat. She hated to lie to her, but the alternative would have been so much more worse.

You don't tell someone you don't believe in their full recovery the minute before they start the long, hard process. You just don't. Especially when the person you don't believe in is your older sister, the one whom you'd shared a room with for 14 years before she moved out for college.

Simply put, Taylor was a screw up. She never thought before she acted on her impulses. She moved through life without acknowledging the consequences. In college she partied instead of studied, she did drugs and slept with random guys instead of going to class. She'd been kicked out of the University of Phoenix, Arizona for coming to class drunk and passing out in the middle of class before her second semester was over.

She didn't eat, she didn't sleep. She drank. She partied. She had sex.

For three years Haley had watched as her parents scurried around trying to make sense of Taylor's erratic behavior. Things around the house were intense and toxic whenever Taylor was home, it was as if her presence set everyone in the family on edge. So it was no surprise that she'd been put into a rehab program. She even passed with flying colors.

Yet every time she got out she went right back to the way she was. Shattering the quiet and comfortable environment the James family had worked hard to perfect while she was away. The eldest sister Quinn wasn't even speaking to anyone but Haley and their brother Sam. She was sick of the way everyone babied Taylor for her immature behavior. Sam went to school in California and was never around long enough to completely understand the whole "Taylor" situation.

As for Haley, she was vastly meeting the end of her rope. She had promised herself that morning that if Taylor did not make it through this last attempt at her recovery, she was done. Haley was about to start her senior year in High School and soon after would be off to Stanford. She couldn't afford all of drama Taylor came with, the third time around. She'd sacrificed too much of her life to her already. She was desperate to live her own life, just for her. Was that so wrong?

"I believe you." She said again, squeezing her hand around Taylor's.

The older of the two brought their hands up to her lips and kissed them softly, "Thank you." Taylor's voice cracked. "I wont let you down this time, any of you. This time I…"

Haley stopped listening after that last part. She'd memorized it by now.

But for her sisters sake she nodded and smiled at the appropriate times and seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. This was her third time at the facility, and it wouldn't be her last. Haley knew her sister all too well, possibly even better than she knew herself.

By the time Mr. and Mrs. James came back into the hall Taylor was finished with her 'this is the start of a new me' speech. They followed them down the foyer and pass the lobby until we got to the dorms. Haley half expected the staff to tell her sister they had saved her old room and bed for her. It had only been six months since the last time she'd been there after all.

After climbing a wooden flight of stairs they finally stopped in front of a door with a bumper sticker stuck to it. I am the keeper of my destiny. I am the master of my own fate… it read.

"And here we are, room 317." Mr. Hidalgo smiled politely before lightly knocking on the door above the sticker.

"What." A gruff voice snapped from the other side before the door swung open to reveal a light colored brunette girl about Taylor's height and build. "Oh, yeah. I forgot." She sighed and stepped back. Mr. Hidalgo cleared his throat and she rolled her eyes then plastered the biggest fake smile Haley had ever seen across her face. "Welcome roomie!" She grinned wide showing them all a set of perfect sparkling white teeth, "My name is Chloe!"

"Taylor," Haley's sister answered and stole a look past Chloe into the room, "Oh good," her shoulders sagged in relief, "You left the window side for me."

Chloe merely shrugged, "Whatever. I got group." She waved off Taylor's comment and brushed past them into the hall where she stopped suddenly and spun around to add very enthusiastically, "I guess we'll catch up later roomie! I just know we'll become life long friends!" She gave them all a thumbs up before spinning on her heels and trotting off.

The remaining party turned to look back at Mr. Hidalgo who was sweating profusely from embarrassment. He pulled a handkerchief out form his back pocket and swiped it across his forehead, "I apologize for that. She uh… has her moments. But don't worry," he was quick to add, "she will not interfere with your treatment in any way—"

"I should hope not." Mr. James interrupted and pushed past him into the room to set Taylor's bag on the bed. "Well sweet pea this is where we leave you." He smiled over at her and pulled her into his arms for a hug. "I love you honey." He muttered in her ear and said other soft words that made Taylor smile.

Haley rolled her eyes and stepped backwards out of the room, "I'll be in the car." She whispered, knowing no one heard her. As soon as she was in the hall she ran for the stairs and took them down two at a time until she was back in the lobby. The smell of ginger filled her nostrils alongside the bitter taste of cigarette smoke as she made her way out of the building.

She hated this, every time they did it she hated it more. In the distance she could hear people chanting and people singing, she imagined that soon her sister would be among them. Her arms held up high as she belted out some ridiculous verse to some ludicrous sonnet they were encouraged to participate in once a day.

Haley sat there on the bumper of her parents car for what felt like an eternity when suddenly her cell phone broke her from her thoughts. "Yeah?" She answered on the second ring.

"Hey tutorgirl." Brooke Davis chirped cheerfully from her end. "What's up? You miss me yet?" She teased playfully.

Haley sighed in relief, "We just dropped my sister off at Rehab… again," she snorted. "When does your flight get in?" she asked curiously.

"Oh it got in like an hour ago, I'm still waiting for my dad or step-mom to remember to come get me." Her friend replied nonchalantly.

"Brooke!" Haley gasped, "You've been waiting at the airport for over an hour? Where the hell are your parents?"

"Your guess is as good as mine shortcake," Brooke laughed. "Ohhh, Orlando Bloom is on the cover of People magazine," she panted. "He is so hot."

"Am I the only one who is extremely concerned by the fact that you have no ride home?" Haley scoffed.

She waited as Brooke pondered this thought, "Umm… yeah," Brooke answered truthfully with a small laugh. "But I am a little anxious to see how Luke is doing."

Haley sighed and waved her parents over when she saw them walk outside the center. "What gate are you at? I'll have my parents swing by on our way home." She pulled the phone from her mouth, "Brooke's plane landed an hour ago and no one's gone to get her," she told her mom.

"We're on it!" Mrs. James clapped her hands together, "Come on John we got a man down!" She joked and held a hand out for the keys.

"We'll be there in a bit." Haley told Brooke, "Hold tight." She added playfully.

"Oh don't mind me sugar," Brooke chuckled huskily, "I'm perfectly well entertained, they did an entire article on Orli Bloom. I'm all set."

Haley laughed as she pulled her seat belt across her chest and snapped it, "Well don't drool too much, I'd like to read it after you."

"No promises," Brooke turned a page. "Later," she chuckled again before turning serious, "oh, and Hales?"

"Yeah?" Haley tucked a strand of hair behind an ear.

"Thanks." She breathed.

Haley glance up into the front of the car to see her mom and dad already morphing into their regular selves now that Taylor was gone. For the next few weeks things would be a lot less tense, Taylor was getting help. They'd know were she was now, which beat the alternative of staying up into the early hours of the morning worrying if she was laying in a ditch somewhere.

Mrs. James laughed heartedly at something her husband said and winked back at her daughter from the rearview mirror, Haley existed once again. "No problem hooter girl." She sighed into the phone.

"No problem."