Summary: They promised each other they'd be friends forever, overcoming every obstacle they had to face. But when trust is gone and tears fall, promises break.

Rating: T

Italics are flashbacks.

"Haley, please…I'm sorry." He said, his arm reaching out to her, but I flinched at his touch.

"Just leave. I can't be around you." I felt the tears become unstoppable. I held my arm tightly.

"Hales…" He said. I hated when he called me that. He wore it out.

"Leave!" I shouted, my cheeks soaked with tears.

As soon as he left, I pulled out my cell phone. As I dialed the numbers, I examined the bruise on my arm in the mirror. I didn't bother to fix my hair or make up. What was the point anymore?

I heard the line go busy. I hung up and tried again, but still nothing.

"Where are you?" I whispered to myself. As soon as I put my phone down, it began ringing. I immediately picked it up.

"Hello?" I said, my voice on the verge of another breakdown.

"Haley? What's up?" The voice said, not noticing the pain in my voice.

"I…" I felt my throat go dry. "It happened again."

"What do you mean?"

"Chris hit me…again." I felt my eyes burn with tears. The other line fell silent.

"Haley, are you at your house?"

"Yeah." I said, softly.

"Don't move. I'll be right there." I hung up the phone with a goodbye, and waited for at the door.

He came to my door, worried as hell. "Haley?" He called out, ringing the doorbell repeatedly. As soon as I saw him, I went into his arms. He held me and soothed my tears.

I stood again at the doorstep, wiping away my tears.

"Okay, you were right. You don't need to say 'I told you so'." I said, smiling weakly.

"Where?" He asked simply, and I knew what he meant. I turned and a bruise was visibly forming. He clenched his fists, enraged.

"Haley, I swear to God, if he ever comes near you again –"

"He won't. You'll have killed him by then." I said, laughing. He smiled, embracing me in a hug. He kissed my forehead.

"I'm always here, Haley James."

"I love you, Nathan Scott."

"Haley, you okay?" Nathan said to me, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I said, smiling. Brooke stood in front of us, watching.

"Ohhhh! This is exactly why you two should get together now." She said, squealing. I rolled my eyes.

"We're best friends, Brooke." Nathan said, obviously tired of all the comments.

"I know, but you ought to be more." Peyton said, coming by Brooke's side. I didn't say anything, knowing that the dynamic duo that was Brooke and Peyton would overrule me anyway.

The bell rang, which meant lunch was over. Brooke and Peyton went the opposite way as us, while Nathan and I headed the same direction to our lockers.

"They can drive you nuts, huh?" Nathan said, wrapping his arm around me.

"Ah, yeah, but as long as I have you." I said, smiling. "My only source of sanity." He laughed.

"Seriously? I didn't know I was that normal."

We got to our lockers, turning our combinations. "What do we have next?" He asked.

"Get a schedule, loser. We have…" I paused, looking at the schedule in my locker. "Gym."

"Wait, gym?" I nodded my head. "Dance unit starts today." I rolled my eyes. Partner dancing always got Nathan's nerves up.

"Come on, you can't tell me you're not the least bit excited to be dancing with five different girls in one period." He smirked. That was the only thing that bugged me about him. His smirk.

"Okay, fine. You got me there. But you know, one of these days, you're going to need to get a boyfriend so I can say the same thing about you." I laughed.

"Right." I said, shutting my locker. The locker door hit my arm before it shut and I flinched. "Ow...!" I said, grabbing the bruise. Nathan came over to me.

"It's still there?" He said, softly. I nodded my head.

"It still hurts." He pulled me into a hug, even though I hated the pity.

We walked to gym together, dropping our books off on the floor before entering it.

"Okay, kids, sit down for attendance – it's your favorite unit of the year." Whitey said, smugly. Everyone groaned, sitting in alphabetical order.

As soon as attendance was done, everyone stood up. "Okay, for the waltz, boys stand on that side of the gym," Whitey pointed to the bleachers, "And girls, stand by the score board." Everyone did as told, and he started to pair people off.

"Hey, tutorgirl!" Brooke said, enthusiastically popping up beside me.

"Hey," I responded.

"I hope I don't get stuck with a horrible dance—" Before she could finish, Whitey yelled, "Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott!"

She looked at me, with her eyebrow raised and headed over to Lucas. I smiled.

"Nathan Scott and Haley James!"

Peyton laughed, not too far away from me.

"It was destined to be." She said, smiling. I rolled my eyes and headed to Nathan.

"Sorry I didn't get to be one of the five girls of your dreams." I said, getting into dance position with him.

"Who says you're not?" He responded. Before I could question it, the music began and the lessons started.

I spun the combination on my locker, Nathan coming up behind me.

"Hey, Haley." He said, looking absolutely exhausted.

"Whoa, are you alright?" I asked, as my locker opened.

"Yeah, just tons of homework that I do not understand." I laughed.

"Tonight at six?" I replied.
"Yes, please." He said, grabbing his books out of his locker. It was a traditional thing for us, I guess. If he didn't understand something, I'd come over and tutor him on it.

"Maybe…" He started, as we walked out of the school together. "You want to go for dinner or something after?" I was a little surprised.

"Dinner?" I repeated. He nodded his head.

"Yeah, and a movie or something. If you're not busy." He sounded nervous. Since when was he nervous around me? No, it was probably all in my head.

"Um, sure. Okay." I said. "As long as dinner is burgers and a Coke." He laughed.

"Deal."

We walked separate directions after saying our goodbyes, and I went home confused, but let it go. It was probably nothing.

At six, I began walking to Nathan's house. It was about three blocks away, not too far. I brought along money, because it's not like it was a date. It wasn't…wait. Was it?

I rang his doorbell, putting my hands in my sweater pockets.

"Hey," I said as he opened the door.

"Hi," He replied. He let me in and I made myself at home on his bed upstairs.

"Okay, get out your homework. This is serious business here." I said, crossing my legs.

"Serious business?" He said. I laughed.

"Just get your stuff out."

He put his books and papers on the bed in front of me and then sat in front of me as well. "First up…history." I opened the text book. "Okay, so you know all the World War II stuff?" I asked, patiently. He shook his head, slowly. I smiled. "That's where I come in, isn't it?" He nodded his head.

After a bit of summarizing, I didn't realize I had been going on and on. "On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland according to a secret agreement with the Soviet Union. Then, two days later, the United States, Australia and New Zealand responded by declaring war with Germany. Soon, South Africa and Canada followed alon—"

And then it happened. He just kissed me. I just sat there, confused as hell, my pencil still in my hand. His lips were on mine, and I didn't know how to respond to it. He pulled away and looked at me, for my reaction.

I can safely say I looked surprised, confused and zoned out. I looked at him and didn't know what to say. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Haley, I know that wasn't very –" And then there I went, practically jumping him and kissing him on top of all the books and pencils and notebooks.

I was on top of him when I stopped the kiss. I looked at him unsure, and he didn't care. He pulled me back on him, and I knew from then on that I'd never forget that moment.

Okay, you know the drill. Read and review it, I love hearing your thoughts. Oh, and don't worry, we'll get into the Chris storyline soon.

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