Hi everyone, well I had hoped to have this up on friday but my niece stopped the night which put a spanner in the works, but its still here on time for you all! Thank you for reading and reviewing the last chapter :)

Faberrittana99-03: Thank you for your review, Yes it was good to see Peyton joking around again, rick is a piece of work isn't he? Theres more to come yet I'm afraid, let me know you think of this latest update!

rainbowbright108: You'll find out soon, maybe, some of what Rick said! Hope you enjoy the next update, thanks for reading and for your reviews!

Sansasawyer: Thanks for your review, yes Peyton needs to talk to someone about his creepy ways and soon, as for Rick controlling her, well this chapter is called control but maybe not for the reasons you think! Let me know what you think!

Breathbookslove: Thank you for reading and reviewing. There will be more of Jake to come soon, I loved Jeyton on the show and miss their friendship so there may be a few scenes to come! Glad you are enjoying the story, cant wait to hear what you think of this chapter!

RachelBarbraBerry: Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you are still with me for this story! Yes Rick is still out there and they need to be ready but how? Hope you like this next instalment!

Thalie57: Thank you for reading I was really glad to get you PM full of reviews! So much to respond to, expect an email back soon! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

Warnings: Scenes on confrontation and some swear words in this chapter as well as mentioned of self harm.

Rightly time for the chapter, enjoy. Dont forget to review!

Control.

She hated lying.

She always had done.

Even though it almost came as a second nature to her at times.

The lie she had told earlier though wasn't to save herself any heartache, it was to save Peyton heart ache.

She had told Peyton she had to work, she didn't.

In fact, after her absences over the last few weeks and her sudden exit last night she had been let go.

She no longer had a job, and in all fairness, she couldn't blame them for letting her go, they didn't need a flaky employee.

Though she doubted that was the reason why.

Her boss had been in the other night.

She had been standing right there as Brooke Davis shouted at her about using drugs.

It was no wonder she had been let go after that.

Peyton didn't need to know about that though, not now anyway.

The girl had been through enough already.

She didn't need to be worrying about money.

She certainly didn't need to be sitting in waiting rooms for appointments concerning news that Ellie could tell was going to be bad.

She felt it in her gut.

This was not going to go well.

The pain was meant to have been getting better, it had been getting worse.

Harder to manage, even the hardcore drugs had not been working.

That could only mean one thing.

The first course of treatment had not worked how they hoped it would, and 'it' was back with a vengeance.

Maybe this was karma? Ellie thought.

Maybe the universe was giving her the comeuppance that she had long been waited for, after all the poor decisions she had made in the past.

She knew thinking like that was not a good idea, but she couldn't help it.

"Miss Harp?" A nurse called, pulling Ellie from her thoughts.

"The doctor will see you now." The nurse continued seeing that she had Ellie's attention.

Ellie took a deep breath preparing herself, before slowly standing from the chair she had been sat in and following the nurse through a door and down the hospital corridor with just one thought on her mind – How am I going to tell Peyton?

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Jake was busy clearing tables at Karen's Café, he had been working for Karen for a few months now.

She had helped him a great deal, Lucas too, after he had the courage to tell everyone about his daughter Jenny and how he came to be an only parent.

Peyton had too, she had baby sat Jenny for him and been very understanding about the situation.

Not only that, she had been a good friend to him too, they had grown close.

He cared about her deeply, but he knew in his heart that they would only ever be friends.

If it hadn't had been clear that her heart lay with another before Larry Sawyer's death, it was now.

He had noticed for some time that Peyton may have more than feelings of friendship towards Brooke Davis.

Not only by witnessing the two together but also from the way Peyton spoke about Brooke when she and Jake had spent time together with Jenny.

After Larry Sawyer died, it was only Brooke that could break through the wall Peyton had built around herself, and Jake knew thinking back on it, that the only reason Brooke had been able to do so was because Peyton already given the brunette her heart, even if she didn't know it yet.

A bell chiming caused Jake to look up sharply towards the door of Karen's Café to see who had entered, seeing who it was made his eyes widen in suspicion.

He recognised the person immediately.

It was the same guy from before at the school that had been harassing Peyton.

Jake was pretty sure that he had heard the girls call him Rick, right now though he didn't care who the guy was, he didn't like him.

He didn't like his attitude at the school, nor his attitude now.

He seemed arrogant and entitled.

He was walking in Jake's place of work as though he owned the place.

He had a calculating look in his eyes.

To Jake it seemed as though he was trying to size the place up, figure out the best way to get what he wanted.

If he wanted Peyton, or Brooke for that matter, Jake was not going to let him get what he wanted.

The only thing Jake would give him was a coffee, anything else was not happening.

Jake finished wiping down the table he had been cleaning before moving to go behind the counter that Haley James was already sat in front of doing some homework from school, he could see Karen was in the kitchen preparing dinner for herself and her son Lucas.

"What can I get for you?" Jake asked civilly, knowing he couldn't be out right rude to Rick as much as he wanted to be, not when both Haley and Karen were in.

Not unless he wanted to alert them to the situation and without talking to Peyton to Brooke first he wasn't sure if he should do so or not.

"You? What are you doing here?" Rick asked surprised.

He hadn't noticed till Jake spoke to him who he was, as soon as he heard Jake's voice though he knew that he was the kid that got in his way earlier.

"I work here." Jake responded, not adding the 'what are you doing here?' that was in the back of his mind.

"Small world." Rick commented.

"Well, I guess you will be able to help me then. I'm looking for Peyton." He continued, not noticing that Haley was now watching the interaction with interest from where she sat further along the counter.

"She's not here." Jake responded.

"I can see that. Any idea where I can find her?" Rick pushed.

"No. Even if I did know I'm not telling you. Do you make a habit of harassing school girls?" Jake asked crossing his arms in front of his chest, his eyes narrowing towards Rick.

"Listen kid –" Rick started getting annoyed.

"-Are you Rick?" Haley asked interrupting him.

"What's it to you?" Rick spat out in Haley's direction, angry at being interrupted causing Haley to look surprised at his outburst and at how quickly the interaction turned.

"Do you know Peyton?" He continued turning to walk towards Haley as Jake walked back around the counter swiftly to stand next to where Haley was sitting.

He had already seen this guy in action once today, he wasn't going to stand by and watch another friend of his be treated the way Peyton had been earlier.

"We are good friends." Haley confirmed with unease.

"Good. You can tell me where to find her then." Rick said, smirking to Jake in victory.

"Actually, I was only going to tell you to leave her alone. She doesn't want anything to do with you. Neither does Ellie." Haley replied confidently.

She knew this for a fact, the four of them had spoken about the situation with Rick at breakfast this morning. Haley knew she was not meant to talk about what they had discussed and she wasn't going to, but she knew without a doubt that both Peyton and Ellie wanted nothing to do with Rick and upon meeting him here she could understand why.

"If you want a coffee or something to eat that's fine, but if you only came here looking for information on Peyton then we can't, no - we won't help you." Haley continued her voice sounding final as stood to look Rick in the eyes.

"You high school girls, you're all the same." Rick said menacingly, stepping towards Haley, only to be stopped for the second time this day by Jake pushing him back.

Seeing red Rick grabbed the collar of Jake's shirt to pull him towards himself as Jakes hands instinctively went to pull Ricks hands away from himself but finding he couldn't as Rick was a lot stronger.

"You're really starting to piss me off Do you make a habit of getting in the way all the time?" Rick said slamming Jake's back into the counter as Haley tried to help pull his arms back trying to pull Rick off her friend and work colleague.

"Get your hands off him" Karen Roe said loudly from behind them, causing Rick to loosen his grip as he pulled away to look at who spoke.

This allowed Jake to push him off himself and step away rubbing his neck where the grip Rick had on his shirt collar had been starting to choke him.

"I don't know who you are and I don't care. Get out of my Café before I call the cops. Now!" Karen said pointing towards the door a very serious and angry look on her face.

"This place looks rubbish anyway." Rick muttered before stalking off slamming the door behind him as he went.

"Can one of you grab the door, then tell me what the hell was going on there" Karen ordered confused and worried at what she just witnessed in her Café as both Jake and Haley looked at her with guilt for bringing trouble to her business.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Peyton could feel eyes on her, watching her cautiously with concern.

She had felt eyes on her all night, but the last half an hour it seemed the eyes were practically glued to her and not the movie they were meant to be watching.

"Brooke!" Peyton exclaimed loudly.

"Stop looking at me, you are the one that wanted to watch this movie anyway." She continued turning to face her best friend on the couch.

"I need to talk to you." Brooke said reaching for the remote and turning the tv off before moving on the couch to mirror the blondes position so they were sat facing each other.

"Well, actually I need you to talk to me." Brooke continued honestly while keeping eye contact with Peyton.

She watched as different emotions passed over her best friends face as she sighed.

"Okay." Peyton said quietly looking down to stare at the couch pattern.

She didn't want to talk, but she knew she had to.

It was unfair to Brooke not to.

Brooke had witnessed part of what happened and it was painfully obviously that it had worried her.

In all honesty, she was surprised that Brooke had let it go for as long as she had done this evening.

Peyton had been expecting to be bombarded with questions as soon as they left the school in Brooke's VW bug, but that didn't happen.

Instead Brooke had squeezed her hand before putting the radio on and instead asking her how the therapy session had gone.

Peyton had been both relived and grateful for this as she at that moment in time was still shocked and didn't know how to talk about what had just happened.

It really shouldn't have surprised her that Brooke could see that, and could tell it wasn't the time to talk.

What had surprised her is that Brooke had managed to go five hours before bringing it up.

Brooke could see that Peyton had become lost in her own thoughts and was not going to willingly tell her what happened at the school today without some prompting questions.

Sighing the brunette leaned forward and took Peyton's hand in her own causing her to look back up at her.

"I need you to tell me what happened Peyton. When I saw him holding your arm like that it scared the hell outta me, and I wasn't the one who he had hold of. I know it scared you too. Why was he there? Why wouldn't he let you go?" Brooke asked worriedly.

"I – He. I don't know why he was there Brooke, not really." Peyton started unsure as Brooke waited patiently for her to continue.

"I guess he just wanted to talk…but, I didn't want to listen, I kept trying to move away from him…so he got annoyed." Peyton finished shrugging.

"What was he trying to talk to you about?" Brooke asked.

"Ellie." Peyton replied.

"What, was he trying to get you to talk to her for him? Make her take him back or something?" Brooke prompted.

"No, not really." Peyton said with a sigh.

"Then what?" Brooke continued watching Peyton carefully.

Peyton could tell Brooke was watching her closely, trying to see if she was telling her the truth or not.

She knew she couldn't lie, Brooke could always tell when she was lying.

She didn't want to lie, maybe she could tell Brooke what happened without having to tell her everything that has happened.

"He said it was my fault that she kicked him out, that he had a good set up and its gone because I didn't keep my mouth shut and told you about the drugs they were doing." Peyton said truthfully.

"He said he's lost money because of me, and… I owe him." She finished holding her breathe for Brooke's response.

"You owe him?" Brooke said in disbelief.

"He said you owe him?" She continued anger seeping through causing Peyton to bite her lip, an angry Brooke was not the best Brooke to be around.

"You don't owe him a thing! And he can kiss my ass if he thinks he's getting anything from you!" Brooke exclaimed her anger rising, she couldn't believe this guy.

"He wants ten grand, by Friday." Peyton said quietly looking down again.

"What?" Brooke shouted not liking that she caused the blonde to flinch with her outburst.

"He can go to hell Peyton, you owe him nothing, you know that, right?" Brooke said trying to control her anger, worried for her best friend's state of mind at the moment.

"I know that, but, I think he really believes that I do owe him. I don't have that kind of money, any money my dad, Larry, left me is tied up until I turn twenty-one…. I really thought I wouldn't have to see him anymore after Ellie said she was through with him…but now it's worse than before. He won't leave me alone…he was at the school, he keeps texting me, he just won't go away!" Peyton explained getting frustrated pulling her hand away from Brooke to hold her head in her hands pulling at her hair.

"At the school, he had my phone… he had got it from the flat, the flat he doesn't even have keys to anymore as Ellie kicked him out. There's all these messages on there from him." Peyton confessed as Brooke moved a little bit closer to her on the couch so they were sat next to each other.

"Show me." Brooke said gently, she was still angry but knew that Peyton was in a fragile place right now and her anger would not help, she needed to be gentle with the blonde and not push her to far now she was talking to her freely.

Brooke waited, her one hand unconsciously resting on Peyton's leg near her knee, as Peyton pulled the phone out of her jean pocket and passed it to her.

Peyton watched Brooke's face as she read through the messages on her phone, both girls in silence for some time as Brooke read through all the messages which totalled over forty.

"Have you read all these?" Brooke asked with worry after she finished reading, the cell phone still in her hands as she looked to Peyton.

"Most of them." Peyton replied.

"What am I going to do Brooke?" She asked, a small amount of fear in her voice.

"Com' ere." Brooke murmured pulling the blonde into her arms, Peyton fitting into her side perfectly as Brookes chin rested on top of her curly hair her one hand rubbing up and down her back comfortingly.

"You're going to let me help you with this. Okay?" Brooke said softly, feeling relieved when she felt Peyton nod against her shoulder agreeing with her.

"We'll deal with the creep together… Firstly, we're going to let Ellie know about what happened today and the messages. She brought this jackass into your life, she can help us get rid of him at the very least." Brooke said confidently, taking charge of the situation.

"Okay." Peyton agreed quietly pulling away from the embrace but staying close to Brooke

"Just, don't stab her in the eye with a knife. We might need her alive to help." Peyton quipped with a small smile.

"Can't hold any promises, that woman annoys me." Brooke joked back.

"You need to keep these messages." Brooke continued seriously refereeing back the cell phone.

"In case the police need to see them." She finished noticing Peyton's unease at the police being mentioned.

"Do you think we will need to go to the police?" Peyton asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yes." Brooke said simply.

"Are you okay with that?" She asked in return, noticing that Peyton seemed to be closing up again after the topic of police being raised.

"I –" Peyton started but cut off as the doorbell rang loudly disrupting their conversation causing both girls to jump slightly and look towards the hallway of Brooke's house towards the front door.

"You should get that." Peyton directed at Brooke.

"I might go get changed?" Peyton continued, saying the statement as though she was asking for permission.

Brooke looked back towards Peyton weighing up her options in her mind as the doorbell rang once again.

"Okay." Brooke said getting up from the couch and holding her hand out for Peyton to take and pull herself up with as well.

"But, we are talking more once you are done." Brooke finished as they walked into the hallway together.

Brooke didn't let go of Peyton's hand until they got to the stairs, she stayed to watch as Peyton disappeared around the corner up to the top of the stairs towards Brooke's bedroom before moving to the front door to look through the peephole checking who was on the other side.

Seeing who it was Brooke opened the door.

"Haley, hi." Brooke said in confusion.

"Are you guys okay? Jake told me what happened at the school today." Haley said stepping into the house as Brooke closed the door behind her.

Sighing Brooke ran a hand through her hair, she should have expected visitors after what had happened, especially has Jake had witnessed it.

"Peyton's a bit shook up, understandably." Brooke answered honestly, looking behind her up the stairs where her best friend had gone earlier.

"Who else knows?" Brooke asked concerned for Peyton.

Brooke could tell earlier that Peyton was struggling with everything that was happening, she was worried this latest setback would cause her to stop eating again. People asking her questions all the time about Rick would not help either, it would make Peyton close up more, that was the last thing they needed.

"Just me and Karen." Haley said.

"Karen made him tell us everything after Rick tried to choke him at the Café earlier." Haley admitted.

"What?" Brooke shouted in shock at the revelation not realising that Peyton had been listening to the conversation the whole time, standing just behind the wall up the stairs.

Peyton could feel tears pricking at her eyes.

She felt it was her fault that Rick went after Jake.

He was trying to protect her at the school earlier without even knowing the situation and now he had been dragged into it because of that.

Sighing she made her way towards Brooke's bedroom, not wanting to hear the rest of the conversation, wishing she hadn't heard any of it in the first place.

Her mind began to race with different questions.

What was Rick even doing at Karen's Café anyway?

Was he looking for her? Or was he just after Jake for getting in his way earlier?

Did that mean Brooke was in danger too?

Would he go after Brooke and her other friends just to get to her and what he wanted?

The cell phone buzzing in her hand brought her out of her thoughts.

She must have taken it back from Brooke on auto pilot.

Looking to the cell she realised she had one new message that was unread.

No ID.

You're so called friends have pissed me off curly. Now Friday seems too far away, Wednesday sounds better. You have till then or we will think of another way you can make it up to us. Greg misses you and those pretty curls.

Tears started to blur Peyton's vision as she stared at the message.

She didn't want this.

Any of this.

It was too much.

She felt like she had no control again just like before.

She wanted to be sick just like before.

She knew couldn't, but she badly wanted a way to be in control again.

She wanted it all to go.

Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she looked up into Brooke's mirror.

All she could see was them touching her hair.

Them drinking and laughing while she tried to make herself disappear.

His disgusting smile as he commented on how pretty her curls were.

She shivered at the memories feeling disgusted.

Seeing a pair of scissors in a pen pot on Brooke's work table she quickly picked them up and grabbed a handful of her hair.

She needed to gain control back, she needed to change it.

If she got rid of the curls he wouldn't have control over her anymore, right?

Peyton paused for a moment looking in the mirror at what she was about to do, before quickly and roughly cutting the handful of hair, cutting her curls and disgust away before moving on to cut the rest away.

She kept cutting till most of the curls had gone, till her hair was short from what she could see through her tears as she stared in the mirror.

She used to love the girls, as a child her hair was very curly naturally.

She used to love them being played with by the woman she thought of as her mother at the time.

When she started getting older she had started using curling irons to keep her hair curly, always keep enough length to curl her hair properly so it looked the same as when she was little.

Now she hated the curls.

She wanted them to go.

After she finished cutting her hair she looked down to the floor and dropped the scissors to the ground leaving them on the floor surrounded by her chopped off curls.

She stared at her reflection as tears started to fall faster, she hated herself for cutting away one of her favourite memories of Anna Sawyer.

She could feel a pressure building up in her chest, she wanted to scream and hit something.

The pressure kept building as the last few months started to reply in her mind to the point she couldn't take it anymore.

Peyton screamed loudly punching the mirror, smashing the glass and cutting her hands till blood started for trickle down her arms as she fell to floor sobbing, her cell phone and the floor next to her.

She could hear Brooke calling her name from downstairs probably having heard her scream and the smashing but she couldn't stop sobbing long enough to reply.

She could hear loud rushed footsteps as Brooke and Haley ran up the stairs.

Brooke and Haley had been mid conversation when they heard Peyton's scream and the smash. The noise had terrified Brooke, she had never heard a scream sounding so broken before, so full of despair.

Quickly Brooke ran into her room, stopping in her tracks at what she saw.

Peyton was sobbing hysterically on the floor, there was glass and hair cuttings all over the floor.

Brooke wanted to ask so many questions right now, what the hell had happened? Why was Peyton's hair all cut off? Was that Blood? Has she hurt herself? Why?

The answers to those questions was not what mattered at the moment in time.

Peyton was the only thing that was important and she was in emotional turmoil right now, to Brooke it looked as though Peyton was finally letting go of everything she had been holding in since Larry Sawyer died.

Quickly Brooke dashed to her best friend's side as Haley came up behind her in the door way.

Brooke knelt on the floor, pushing glass debris away, before sitting on the floor next to Peyton and pulling her toward herself to hold her tightly not liking how she could feel her best friend tremble with the force of her crying.

She didn't tell her it was okay, it wasn't.

She didn't tell her to shhh or not to cry, as she had every right to cry.

She didn't even promise her it would be okay, because honestly she didn't know if it would be, and she wasn't going to lie to her and promise her things she could not guarantee.

She just held her tightly.

One hand holding the blondes head to her chest, her thumbing stoking what was left of her hair gently, wondering what the hell happened to cause Peyton to cut off her curls. While her other hand rubbed up and down her best friends back.

"I've got you Peyt. Let it out. Just let it all out." Brooke said softly, tears in her own eyes as she looked at Haley stood in her bedroom door way and mouthed silently for her to ring Ellie.

Woah poor Peyton! Why does going to the police make her nervous? Why did she want to get rid of her curly hair so much?

Review and let me know what you thought, what you think will happen next!