Welll, hello... I'm back. (If any of you actually remember me, author of Just a Summer thing! lol) I started writing this months ago and i've now sufficiently run out of excuses not to post... So here we go!

CHAPTER 1

Peyton Sawyer smiled at the four men behind the glass wall. They were like a family to her now, spending practically twenty four hours a day with the guys had done that to her. She considered them all as practical brothers, and yet she was their manager so she had to be fair and firm on occasions. That came with owning your own record label. It was the one and only thing about her life that she was proud of herself about. At the tender age of eighteen she'd left her hometown to live in Los Angeles and follow her dreams in the music business. It took her four years to know that perfecting the art of coffee making wasn't what she'd call getting experience in the music industry.

She quit and started her life over again.

Of course anyone would have thought that those four years were simply a waste of time and usually she would have agreed but they'd taught her some valuable lessons about the music business, and sometimes, simply how fickle it could be. After all it was a money making business, just like every other industry. This wasn't why she joined though; she was just simply a girl following her dream and fuelled by her passion.

At twenty three, a year of deliberation and financial planning, 'Red Bedroom Records' was born. She now lived in New York with her best friend, fashion designer Brooke Davis. Over the course of a year her first artist, Mia Catallano, became successful and nearing her twenty fourth birthday she realised that she needed a brilliant second artist. She scouted the local clubs and bars looking for that one song that spoke to her. That one band whose lyrics and melody caught hold of her attention and inspired her.

She remembered the day clearly, sitting on an uncomfortable stool in an extremely small bar sipping a simple soft drink. She needed her wits about her in a bar like this. She didn't ask for attention, but she got it. A of people offered her drinks but she politely refused each one getting more irritated each time.

She fake smiled at the brown haired man in front of her as he tried to buy her a drink with an overbearing smirk. She shook her head a few times added with no interest in the slightest and in mere minutes the man left, looking a little dejected. Peyton sighed; all she wanted was a little hope, a little inspiration.

Was it so hard to ask?

That was when she heard The Falling Comets. The complex notes of the piano caught her interest straight away, then the simple plucking of a guitar held her gaze before the gruff voice began. She closed her eyes as the words seemed to glide over her, indenting themselves into her memory and attaching a smile to her face.

She'd found exactly what she'd been looking for.

It took her a week to get the contracts signed by all four members and another week to have them finalised. The band had officially signed her as their manager. Six months of arguments, late night heated talks and recordings later and her band had an album that she was really proud of. Now they just had to see what the rest of the world thought.

That was the scary bit.

So Peyton Sawyer's life seems pretty easy, right? Or at least a dream come true. Sure it was that, but without the dedication and hard work put in every day, 'Red Bedroom Records' would have died long before Mia Catallano.

'Right guys, that's great.' Peyton said, pressing the speaker button to project her voice into the studio. 'You can all take off now, remember-'

'- that we have a very important few months coming up so no late nights out partying. We know.' The lead member finished for her giving her a tongue in cheek grin. She rolled her eyes with a smile before saying,

'Right. So since you got that, get your asses out of my studio!'

They each waved her a goodbye and walked out. She let out a happy but exhausted sigh sitting down in her chair and closing her eyes for a little bit of peace. The buzzing of her phone made her groan. She smiled slightly at the caller ID, of course it'd be her best friend… opening the phone she let out a breath and before she could actually say a word a torrent of them flowed at her.

'…please tell me you are out with that guy from the other week and not at the studio again?'

Peyton had to stifle a laugh before Brooke carried on, '. Hey! Peyton, I know you're there. I can hear you breathing.'

Peyton couldn't keep in a laugh that time, 'And that doesn't sound remotely creepy at all!'

'Funny. So seriously, you're not at the studio are you?'

'Yes I am-'

Brooke let out a groan. 'Ok P, I know your doing your little 'music thing' with this band of yours but I'm calling on some girl time. When was the last time we had fun?'

'We have fun!'

'Eating pizza with a bottle of wine and then passing out afterwards due to exhaustion does not count as fun!'

Peyton laughed again, 'Ok, ok. What have you got planned?'

'Well I was thinking we could hit the party scene. When was the last time we went clubbing…- don't sigh at me!'

Peyton stopped midway through her sigh, 'Brooke, I'm exhausted.'

'P, we're twenty four. We- correction- you've gotta live a little!'

Peyton bit her bottom lip. She had been working a lot these past few months and hadn't really done anything else let alone partying which took an enormous amount of energy. She let out a groan at the mere thought.

'I'll take that as a yes! I'm just getting back to the apartment so get your ass down here as soon as!'

Before Peyton could protest in the slightest the dial tone sounded through the phone. With another sigh and yet a smile nonetheless she grabbed her things and headed out.

Maybe it would be fun to get out for a while.

Lucas Scott tapped on his manager's door. She waved him in and he opened the door, giving her a nod and a smile before she indicated the seat in front of her. She told him she had something to attend to but that he should wait for her.

So that is what he did.

Rubbing his jaw with his hand he looked around the office that he'd spent a lot of time in, getting into argument situations mostly. He wasn't a troublemaker but he was a reporter, a writer he preferred to call himself and he didn't like changing his work. He knew that his bosses knew the industry and knew what would sell, but they always tried to bend his work, to make it less tortured and less cynical. He refused to change the articles he wrote because they came from his heart and he couldn't change that. His philosophy generally got him threatened to be fired on many occasion, but they always kept him in the end. After all, he wouldn't admit it, but he was the best writer they had and his articles sold well.

He didn't start off as a writer.

In fact he was a small time basketball hero, in a small town named Tree Hill. But that changed when, at eighteen, he found out he had a fatal heart condition. It crushed his dream and his spirit. It took him another year to discover his love of writing and then another hopeless three to make himself recognised in the extremely critical world of literary. He'd written for a small section of a local newspaper when he was picked up by the huge organisation he was working for now.

Two years later and although he wasn't writing the top articles he was still regarded as a mainstream reporter. And a good one, at that. It wasn't top of his dream list, he still wanted to become an author rather than a reporter, but it was close and he got to do interesting things as part of research for articles.

He couldn't say he didn't miss his family though because he did. His mother, Karen, was travelling the world with her boyfriend Andy and his sister Lily. His best friend, Haley, his brother, Nathan, and their son, James, were the only constant family he had and they lived in New York too, although they also had a house in Tree Hill which they visited as often as they could. Both parents wanted Jamie to be familiar with where they'd first started out. They would have preferred to live in Tree Hill where they grew up but Nathan's budding basketball career was growing by the day. He'd had setbacks in his life regarding basketball, as had Lucas, but he grew into a better man because of that. Lucas was proud of him and was glad that at least one Scott brother was living their basketball dream. Haley had been his best friend for over fifteen years and was now a teacher at UNC, which she loved. James, or Jamie as everyone liked to call him, was Lucas' godson and he adored the little kid. He was four years old going on forty. Lucas sometimes felt like he had a better intellectual conversation with Jamie than he did with Nathan.

At twenty four, nearing twenty five, he was proud of his accomplishments. If there was one thing he envied it was the Scott's. He loved them all but sometimes he wished he had what they had. Nathan and Haley were in love and had a son; he on the other hand hadn't had a serious relationship in years.

He'd given up chasing and left it all to fate. Turns out fate didn't do much for him. Either way he was happy on his own…okay maybe not happy. He was content being alone.

It was obviously how it was meant to be.

The door opened again and he looked around quickly, 'Lucas. Hi. Sorry to keep you waiting.'

'No problem.'

'Well, you've been bugging me for months about getting you a bigger article to write about. The good news is that I've found one that is going to have to be big.'

A smile grew on Lucas' lips the more he listened, was this his big break into the literary world?

'It's about a band that is coming into the music industry soon and critics are saying they are going to be the next big thing, so I want our paper to have the scoop on them.'

The look on Lucas' face stopped his boss who looked at him questioningly, 'I'm going to be working with…rockstars.'

'Yes. There's no need to thank me.' His boss smiled and he gave her a weak one in return.

Turned out fate was dealing him his worst hand yet. Rock stars… he really didn't like them. In fact he hated the whole music business. He preferred bands or people from small town record labels; big corporations just fed a load of commercial rubbish.

'I want you to get to know all of them and get the scoop on their songs, their personalities…whatever you can. Then write an article on their music and their manager. The manager is apparently one to look out for. Her first artist was Mia Catallano who was hugely successful. So I want you to spend eight weeks with her and her band, just ready for their first single release…'

She passed him a folder and turned away from him. He honestly felt like quitting there and then. Why oh why did nothing go his way?! Music, rock stars and a commercial organisation… All the things he hated in one article. The fact that he had to spend two months with these people was just the icing on the cake.

'Read the folder and get up to date with backgrounds. I want you to start tomorrow.'

He nodded and sighed, life really did hate him. His boss opened her door and went to walk out before coming back and saying quickly,

'Oh and by the way; google the manager to get a taster of what she's like. Her name,… Peyton Sawyer.'

There it is... it's not a very 'meaty' chapter. But the backgrounds kind of necessary. Hope you liked!

I'm nervous, if i'm honest!

If you did like the beginning and want to read more please tell me in a review :) Thank you for reading! Oh and if you have any questions about anything then feel free to ask, and i'll answer as well as i can!