It was Monday morning, and the school elite sat at their usual table, chatting amongst themselves, while studiously ignoring all the other people at the school.
"That was some party you missed Saturday Haley." Brooke said squeezing her best friends arm.
"I bet. But you know that I'm not really in the whole party scene. I just focus on my friends, my grades, and cheerleading. I don't have time for anything else." she reminded Brooke.
"Come on tutor girl. You never come to any good parties with me." Brooke whined.
"No thanks Brooke. It's not my scene. Anyway, hear any good new music recently Peyton?" Haley asked changing the subject.
"Nothing you'd be interested in Hales. I'm kinda on a Fall Out Boy kick right now. And I know you don't like them too much." Peyton said.
"Sounds interesting." Haley said unconvincingly.
"I appreciate the effort Hales, but I know you don't like them." Peyton said.
"Well, I was just trying to appease my other best friend." Haley said smiling at Peyton Sawyer her other lifelong best friend.
Meanwhile, Nathan Scott was sitting at his usual table with his friends, and brother Lucas, subtly drooling at the sight of Haley James across the quad. It wasn't that he wasn't popular, it was that he didn't want to be popular. He was content just playing basketball and hanging out with his friends. He didn't need the parties and the drama that came with hanging out with the popular crowd. He felt Lucas nudge him with his elbow and he turned his head to look at his brother.
"You really need to stop staring, your starting to create a puddle with all your drool." he said laughing at Nathan's attempt at being subtle.
"I'm not staring at her." Nathan said before turning back around to talk with his friends. Lucas just laughed a little then joined back in the conversation, unsure of why Nathan didn't just get up and talk to her. He was by far the best player on the team, he could get away with talking to Haley James, one of the three most popular girls in the school.
A few minutes later, the bell rang for first period. Everyone groaned except for Haley who loved all her classes. Everyone loved Haley, including all the teachers, she was such a hard worker, and was nice to everyone. Pretty much everyone knew that she was a shoo-in for valedictorian for their senior year, even though it was still a year away.
"Hales, you really need to lose some of that enthusiasm for school and classes, and gain some for partying and hookups." Damien West said slapping her ass.
"I like classes and school. It's something I'm good at. I don't like partying, I don't "hook up" and I really don't like it when you smack my ass." she said.
"God, calm down Hales." he said.
"And only my friends call me Hales, you sit with us, but your not my friend." she told him angrily.
"Good work Hales. Run along West." Brooke said grabbing her best friends hand and pulling her towards their first class, with Peyton linking her arm through Haley's other arm.
Nathan's first class was health, it was his favorite class for the sole reason that Haley was in it. As was Lucas, and many of his other friends, but so were Haley's friends. Nathan took his seat near the middle of the room, chosen solely for the reason that Haley was one row over from him. Every once in a while she would smile at him, they had talked briefly on occasion since she was a cheerleader for the Ravens and he was the star player. When everyone was assembled in the class, Mr. Anderson walked to the front of the room.
"Good morning everyone. Hope you all had a great weekend. This week we're going to be trying something new. I'm going to be dividing the room up into pairs, the right half of the room is going to be writing their names on a slip of paper and putting it into this bowl here, the other half will choose a name from the bowl and that will be there partner for the rest of the week. You will be spending every class with this person, and learning all you can about them. On Friday, you will be standing up here, and telling the class what you know about this person, giving us insight into someone that you maybe don't know, or don't care to know. This unit is entitled "Relationships" I want you all to forge a new relationship with the person you are paired with. Now I know enough to know that you all stick to your cliques and all that, and I know that you probably wont go anywhere near this person when you're not in this class, but I'm hoping this assignment will open you all up to the prospect of new relationship." Mr Anderson said while passing the bowl around the room. When the bowl came back to the front of the room, Mr Anderson placed the bowl in front of Bevin Mirskey.
"You start Bevin." Mr. Anderson instructed.
"I got Skills Taylor." she said smiling. Skills smiled, officially liking this project, he got to spend a week with a hot cheerleader.
"Mouth." Rachel said, not entirely sure who Mouth was, but assuming that with a name like Mouth, it could be a fun week. Her hopes were slightly dashed when she seen the geeky, gangly boy look at her from across the room.
"Jake." Peyton called out, liking her choice. Jake turned to smile at her, before getting nudged by Lucas, because they all knew about Jake's unrequited love for Peyton Sawyer. It was very similar to Nathan's crush on Haley.
"I got Lucas Scott." Brooke called out smiling. Lucas looked shocked, he was partnered up with the most beautiful girl in school, he was so far out of her league it was ridiculous, he thought to himself.
"Um, I've got Nathan." Haley said, smiling timidly at him while saying it. Nathan couldn't believe his luck, he was getting to spend an entire week with Haley James, getting to know her. They continued going around the class, and soon all the groups were chosen.
"Alright, everyone you know who your partner is, so disperse. I don't want to see you all again until Friday. You don't need to come back to class unless, you need guidance on how to do the project." he told the class, who immediately began filing out of the room. Nathan waited for Haley in the doorway while she talked to Mr. Anderson.
"Haley, you guys can talk about anything. It doesn't matter what you two talk about during class. You do know, there is such thing as being too prepared." he said chuckling.
"Yeah, I know. But what kind of stuff do you want us to learn?" she asked panicking slightly over the assignment.
"If you flip to the other side of the handout Haley, there are some guidelines and ideas of how to divulge the information, other than you firing questions at him constantly." Mr. Anderson said lightly to his favorite student.
"Thanks Mr. Anderson." she said smiling, at him more content now that she had some idea of what she was doing. When they left the classroom, they started wandering down the halls.
"So is there anywhere you would like to go?" Nathan asked.
"Anywhere is fine with me." she said awkwardly.
"Okay." he said leading down another hallway, until he finally found one that was deserted.
"How's this?" he asked.
"It's perfect." she said smiling at him. She sunk down to the floor and he imitated the action.
"Okay, how about we take turns asking a question that we both have to answer. That should get the preliminaries out of the way." Haley suggested.
"Sounds good to me. Want to go first?" he asked.
"Um, sure. Full name?" she asked.
"Nathan Royal Scott. You?" he said.
"Haley Elizabeth James." she answered.
"Favorite food?" he asked.
"Macaroni and cheese. You?" she asked laughing.
"Prime Rib. Macaroni and cheese? Seriously." he asked laughing.
"Hey, its food of the gods." she defended.
"Yeah, if your gods are five year olds." he replied laughing.
"Oh shut up." she said smacking his arm good naturedly.
"This is going to be a good week. I can feel it." he said smiling at her.
"I think you're right." she said looking at him.
"So today is just supposed to be getting to know little facts right? Tomorrow we start going into detail right?" he asked slightly confused about the project.
"Yeah. Today we find out little things like birthdate, family, favorites. That kind of things. Tomorrow is childhood memories. That'll be a fun day." she said smiling.
They talked back and forth, laughing repeatedly. Nathan couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to Haley James, he added that to the already very long list of things he loved about Haley James.
Meanwhile, Mouth and Rachel were talking. Rachel was trying not to snub him based on his looks, but was having troubles. Mouth was trying to tell her about himself, and she was having a hard time paying attention.
"Rachel? Rachel! Rachel!" Mouth called to her.
"Oh. What is it?" she asked.
"I asked you a question. We're supposed to be learning about each other." he said.
"Look, I'm sorry. What's your full name Mouth?" she asked, not wanting to hurt him.
"Marvin Leo McFadden. Your's?" he answered.
"Rachel Virginia Gatina." she answered, trying to pay attention.
Brooke and Lucas were currently sitting in a empty classroom talking animatedly.
"So Lucas, what is you're full name? I bet it's something awesome." she flirted.
"Lucas Eugene Scott." he said reluctantly.
"Eugene? Are you serious?" she laughed.
"Ha ha. Laugh it up. Now what's yours?" he asked dryly.
"Brooke Penelope Davis." she said proudly.
"Damn, that's not so bad." Lucas thought to himself. The only person that possibly had a worse middle name than Lucas himself was Nathan. He was cursed to have their paternal grandfathers name as his middle name, Royal.
Jake and Peyton were sitting in the music room, just talking. They left the format and all the behind and just started talking about nothing and about everything. They used their common love for music bond them, and even after only working with him for an hour, Peyton couldn't imagine doing this project with someone else. Peyton wished she had spent more time with Jake before this, he was really easy to get along with, unlike some of the boys in their group.
Soon enough the bell rang, and everyone filed in opposite directions. Haley smiled at Nathan and walked towards her next class, hoping to meet up with Brooke or Peyton on the way. The rest of the day went by quickly, and when the bell rang, Haley was on her way to her car. On the way she found Peyton who was rambling on and on about how great Jake was, and how she didn't realize that they had so much in common.
"That's great Peyt." Haley said smiling at one of her best friends. By this time they had reached Brooke, who was standing beside her car waiting for her best friends.
"So how does everyone like their partners?" Brooke asked enthusiastically.
"Oh my God, mine is great. I mean, he likes all the same things I do. He loves music, he's a little artistic. He's a perfect match for me, this is gonna be an awesome week." she said happily.
"Mine is good too, we had a lot of fun this afternoon talking." Haley admitted.
"Well, mine was great too. I could almost picture me dating Lucas, he's hot, he's funny and he's kind." Brooke said dreamily. Haley and Peyton looked at each other with expressions of shock on their faces, Brooke Davis had just said the word "date." Eventually the girls went their separate ways and for reasons that were unexplainable to Haley, she couldn't wait to see what happened in tomorrows class with Nathan.