Prologue
Haley James sat on the front porch watching the snow fall as it gently covered the grass. To Haley snow had always been a sense of comfort and calmness. She could always tell when it was going to snow; she could feel it even before it came. But today, Haley didn't feel calm or serenity. She saw snow as what it truly was; cold, frozen rain. The magic of it was gone and seemed to be lost forever. Haley was hoping that the snowfall would give her a glimpse of hope and comfort but tonight it seemed as though snow was giving her the cold shoulder. Go figure, Haley thought. All she wanted to do was sleep but even that seemed like a challenge at the moment. When she had first arrived 20 minutes ago, she had been bombarded with questions that she didn't want to answer. It was all too much at the moment; she was exhausted.
"Hales," A soft voice said. Haley looked over to see her sister giving her a comforting look. "It's freezing out here, and you know that you always get cold; maybe you should come inside." The brunette gave Haley a pleading look, and she sighed. "Alright I'll be in, in a minute." The brunette nodded and walked back into the house. It took a few seconds for Haley to regain her composure but she ultimately followed the girl inside.
"Haley, I had Clay move your stuff into the guest bedroom, and I know it's kind of late so I figured you'd want to go to bed."
"Thanks Quinnie." Haley gave her a small smile. "I appreciate you taking me in for a few days; I'll be out of your hair in a few days I promise."
"Haley-bub, don't be silly, you can stay as long as you need." Quinn sighed. "I'm your big sister and I'm always got your back, although it would help if I knew what I'm trying to protect you from." Quinn hinted at the subject.
Haley sighed, "I promise to tell you everything tomorrow Quinn. I just need time." Quinn nodded, "Take all the time you need baby sis."
"Okay. Your stuff is in the guest bed room." Clay said entering the living room, "Anything else I can do for you princesses?" Clay asked jokingly. Haley shoved him playfully, "I want my bed to be drawn for me and Mr. Waffles waiting patiently on my bed," Haley played along. Quinn laughed at the two, she was happy that Haley was laughing. After their phone call she didn't know what to expect when Haley arrived.
"You two are such nerds," Quinn laughed. "So Haley if you're still tired I'll show you your bedroom." She stated getting up as her sister followed. "If you need anything to eat or drink the food, the kitchen is through there." Haley nodded and walked up the stairs. "That's the bathroom down the hall, and your bedroom is here." Quinn opened the door and let Haley walk in.
"Thanks again Quinn, for letting me stay here." Haley felt bad when she called at the last minute to see if she could come here.
"Haley-bub don't worry about it. This is what family does for each other." Haley nodded and bit her lip nervously. "Hales, I'm not going to push you into telling me what happened, because I know how you get. But just know when you're ready to talk, cry, or scream; my ears and arms will be open." Quinn gave her a comforting smile.
Haley gave her another small smile in return, "Thanks Quinnie." When Quinn shut the door and left Haley alone to her thoughts. Might as well try to sleep, Haley thought and unzipped her suitcase to get her pajamas. When she had them on she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She made her way back to her room and lay in bed, praying that sleep would come, although she knew it wouldn't. Haley tossed and turned, knowing that something was missing, but she pushed those thoughts out of her head and sighed. She finally gave up and looked at the window and noticed it was still snowing. As she watched the snow fall her eyes grew heavier until she was finally asleep.
"Toaster pastry, you taste so good and yummy, Toaster pastry, get into my tummy… Frosting doodle, on my strudel, and now I'm gonna eat you up!" Quinn sang as she put the frosting on her toaster strudel. When she was done she heard clapping and turned around.
"That was amazing, Quinn. You could be a pop star!" Haley teased as she sat at the counter.
"Don't be mean," Quinn stuck her tongue out.
Haley rolled her eyes jokingly, "I'm never mean; you seem to forget that I'm the nicest of all the James' siblings."
Quinn laughed, "Because that's such a hard contest to win." Haley laughed with her knowing that was true. The James' siblings were all so different but Haley was definitely the nicest and least rebellious. "So how'd you sleep?" She frowned when Haley groaned in response. "That bad, huh?" Haley nodded, "I tossed and turned all night."
"Well how bout I make it up to you?" Quinn replied, "I think I see a mug of hot chocolate with your name on it."
Haley's eyes widened, "With extra mini marshmallows?"
Quinn laughed, "Of course. The marshmallows are the best part of the drink." she proclaimed and went to start the water. A few minutes later she put a mug in front of Haley and herself. "Drink up sis."
The pair fell into a comfortable silence until a shout interrupted it. "Damn it!" Clay exclaimed.
"Clay honey, what's the matter?" Quinn asked calmly. "I can't find the shovel and I need to shovel the driveway if I want to make it to the agency on time!" Quinn rolled her eyes, "Did you check the front porch?" Clay chuckled, "Honey I highly doubt that it's going to be…" Clay drifted off, "You were right, hun." Quinn chuckled, "Imagine that." she added sarcastically.
Haley giggled at their banter, "What would he do without you?" she joked.
"He'd probably be dead by now." Quinn shrugged. "I remember one time, I left him home alone and I came home and the house was trashed." she shook her head at the memory.
"That reminds me of…. never mind." Haley looked away and Quinn looked at her sympathetically. "I think I'm going to go for a short walk." Haley stated standing up, "Okay do you want me to go with you?" Haley shook her head, "I just want to clear my head." Haley went to her room quickly to get her iPod, and quickly noticed her phone, she hadn't had it on, and she was sure that everyone was wondering what happened with her. She sighed and went down stairs. "Quinn?" Haley called out.
Quinn walked into the room and saw Haley had tears in her eyes; she rushed over and quickly brought her in for a hug. Haley's sobs echoed through the room. "Shh, everything's going to be okay." Quinn cooed as she made her way to the couch still holding on to Haley. She hated seeing Haley like this, whatever happened had hurt her so badly, and she wasn't the same Haley. Quinn heard Clay come in and she asked him to get the tissues from the bathroom. "Hales come on, I promise everything's going to be okay." She rubbed her hair softly trying to get her to calm down. "I know you're upset, but in order for me to understand, I need you to tell me everything that happened." Quinn grabbed the tissues from Clay and silently thanked him.
"If I tell you everything it would take hours." Haley mumbled through sobs. "Well luckily for you, I've got days." Quinn cracked. "Come on Hales open up."
Haley looked up at her sister; she knew it pained Quinn to see her like this and not being able to do anything about it. "Okay," Haley nodded. "You can tell me as much or as little as you want and you can stop whenever you want." Quinn reassured her.
"I think it would be easiest to start from the beginning and there's a lot for you to know." Haley started to back out.
"Like I said, I've got nothing but time. How about before you start I make Clay get us some ice cream and whip cream." Quinn suggested. "Ice cream always fills the cracks in a heart."
"Yeah okay, I could go for some ice cream." Haley didn't mind prolonging her disastrous story. Quinn sent Clay out for ice cream, promising to make it up to him for being late to work.
Clay returned 15 minutes later with everything they needed. "Thanks babe," Quinn winked flirtatiously, "I'll keep my promise tonight."
"Okay ewwwww, I did not need to hear that." Haley cringed.
"Oh please, you've heard much worse, remember that time Taylor told us that she-"
"Stop!" Haley cut her off. "I don't want to remember anything Taylor said."
Quinn shrugged and gave Clay a quick kiss, "Have fun at work, baby." Clay groaned, "Have fun being a caring big sister." Clay gave her one more quick kiss then headed for the door, "Bye, Haley."
"Okay, no more prolonging it, spill everything."
Haley sighed, "Okay, it all started when I went to visit Nanny and Papa…"
Hey, so this is another story I had been working on, and then gave up on, so now I'm sort of revamping it to my liking. This is the prologue obviously, but next chapter you'll hear the start of Haley's story, and it will go on from there. This is going to be a naley story, with brucas and most likely jeyton. I'll give you a low down, Haley goes to live with her grand parents, meets the Tree Hill gang, fights with/but has an undeniable attraction to a certain someone ;) and it takes place while they're all Juniors in high school.
So please read and review, like I've said before I love feedback and such so thanks :)