So this is my new story and it is in 4 parts . I've tried something new with this story, as its just the key moments in the story and i would love to know what everyone thinks (as usual). Hope everyone enjoys the return to a Haley and Nathan story from me.

Last nights episode actually made me cry a little at the end when Jamie said that Keith was visiting Dan in hospital in his game. I'm also enjoying Haley actually having story lines although i would like more of her and Nathan together.

1.

"Please don't ask me to do this." Haley begged her best friend Peyton.

"Nathan needs tutoring and you are the best tutor this school has as well as being my best friend, it makes sense." Peyton said, they were both sprawled out on Peyton's bed hanging out after school when Peyton had brought up her request.

"But I hate him, I just don't think I'll be able to help him." Haley insisted.

"You don't even know him how can you hate him." Peyton argued back.

"Because he treats you like crap, that's why I hate him, you deserve someone so much better." Haley said, they had this argument a lot, Haley couldn't believe they had been going out on and off for the last year.

"He doesn't treat me like crap, all the time. It's just because he's so stressed, his dad puts a lot of pressure on him." Peyton defended him, to be honest she had no idea why she went out with him for as long as she had but she just hated the thought of being alone and there was a tiny part of her thrilled that she went out with the hottest guy in school.

"We're seniors now, he's coped up 'til now surely he will be ok for his final year." Haley said trying to find another argument.

"He's actually really close to being kicked off the team." Peyton said, he hadn't actually told her this but she had over heard his dad shouting at him.

"Oh boo hoo, would probably do his ego some good not being the king of the school." Haley grumbled.

Peyton decided it was time to bring out the big guns.

"Please if you can't do this for him do it for me, it would mean so much you're the one person I can really rely on." Peyton begged taking Haley's hand in hers.

Haley sighed, Peyton was her best friend they had been really close since they were 10 and she knew this was something Peyton really wanted so she was going to givein, she always gave into Peyton, whether it was dying her hair black when they were 13 to cueing for 8 hours to get tickets to a band Peyton liked and Haley hated.

"Ok but if he doesn't make an effort then I'm stopping I don't want to waste my time." Haley said dejectedly.

"You won't regret this." Peyton said smiling at her, little did Peyton know she was going to regret this.

"You're late." Haley said grumpily, it was only their first tutor session and he was 15 minutes late.

"Well you're the one who wanted to meet at 7.30, you know I don't normally get out of bed until 8 on a school day." Nathan said plonking himself down opposite her on the bench at the dock she had chosen.

"Well I'm sorry but this is the only time I could meet you, I have other stuff to be doing." Haley argued back, she wouldn't be able to take his constant whining.

"Look what ever I don't want to be here and you don't want to be here, we'll make it simple you do some of my assignments for me and my grades will go up a bit and we never have to see each other." Nathan said.

Haley laughed she couldn't help herself, did he really think she was going to do his work for him, he was unbelievable.

"Do you know anything about me, has Peyton not mentioned me?" Haley asked.

"She does but I just blank it out because it's not important." Nathan said smirking.

"Well if you did listen you would know there is no way in hell I would do your work for you. Either you listen and do work or just go and stop wasting my time." Haley demanded not remembering the last time she felt so mad.

Nathan rolled his eyes, he had pretty much known she wouldn't swoon all over him and do his work for him but it was worth a try.

"Fine we'll do it your way." He said sighing and pulling out his breakfast which was a packet of Cracker Jack. He looked inside and saw the prize was a cheap but colourful plastic bracelet.

"It's for you." He said holding up the bracelet for her to see
"Stop it Nathan." Haley said, she really wasn't amused and cursed for ever giving in to Peyton.
"Come on." Nathan coxed and grabbed her arm and put the bracelet on her.

Haley sighed, knowing Nathan was now trying to charm her like he tried with most women.
"Don't say I never gave you anything." He said smirking.

"Why don't you give it to your girlfriend, Peyton." Haley said not smiling.

"She wouldn't like it it's not black or emo." Nathan said still smirking.
"Do you see this book? Because this book is me. I am math." Haley said trying to work the smirk off his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked confused, usually girls were at least slightly swooning by now.

"It's supposed to mean that you can work your whole 'I'm Nathan Scott, Mr. Big shot, scoring my touchdowns' on somebody else, because I don't" Haley started glad to see he was frowning.

"I don't even play football." Nathan pointed out.

"Whatever. Look, the point is at the end of the day, all your bluster and BS don't mean anything to math because math don't care, and neither do I." Haley stated firmly.

"Well, does English care? 'Cause I really suck at that, too." Nathan said he always had to have the last word and he was actually enjoying having someone to argue with.

"Please don't waste my time. I am already taking a huge chance on you because my instincts are screaming that you're full of shit." Haley stated firmly, this was defiantly going to be harder then she thought.

Nathan laughs, he couldn't help but like how spunky she was, it was kind of nice not having a girl automatically think he was so amazing.
"Let's just get started, okay? Turn to page 81." Haley said happy that he was finally doing what she asked.

She stared down at the motionless body of her best friend and felt panic well up inside her, they were in some strange guy's dorm room in the middle of a college party and she had no idea how she was going to get Peyton out of there.

The guy who had drugged Peyton had disappeared when Haley had barged into the room, obviously scared of getting caught. Haley didn't know what to do, it was 1.30 and she didn't know who she could ring at this hour, sure they had other friends but not ones she felt she could ring like this. If she hadn't been panicking she wouldn't have done it but she picked up Peyton's phone and called Nathan.

She had explained the situation and he had arrived 20 minutes later, swept Peyton up into his arms and driven the two of them back to Peyton's, which was luckily empty as her dad was away working at sea as normal.

Haley had actually been surprised by Nathan's tender side, she had expected him to complain the whole time and to leave as soon as he left her in the bed. They had been having tutoring sessions for three weeks now and Haley was surprised at how well he was progressing, although when they talked it was still only ever about work.

"I'm really sorry I called you, I just didn't know what to do." Haley said apologising to Nathan, she thought she'd feel calmer once they left the party but if anything seeing Peyton passed out on her own bed was worse.

"It's ok, don't worry." Nathan said, to be honest he was worried to, he may not love Peyton but he did care for her, even though he didn't really show it and he hadn't hesitated in coming when Haley had called him. It was unnerving to see Haley so scared she was the most put together person he knew and it was weird not seeing her in control.

"I tried to find Brooke and Bevin at the party but I think they must have left." Haley said pacing up and down on the floor.

"It's just a good job you weren't drinking and found her in time." Nathan said as he sat on the edge of Peyton's bed.

"I don't drink." Haley said "She is going to wake up isn't she." Haley asked and suddenly had horrible feeling of deja vu of when her mum had been in hospital in a coma and she had asked exactly the same question to her dad, he had told his 10 year old daughter that of course she's going to wake up. That's how the two of them had become friends, both their mums had died in the same train crash, the only two deaths, and they had met at the hospital, Peyton's mum had lasted 2 days in the hospital while Haley's had lasted a week in a coma.

"Of course she's going to wake up." Nathan said and then was dismayed to see Haley break down in tears, he was quickly at her side and pulled her into a hug.

Haley felt stupid crying in Nathan's arms but she couldn't help herself, she needed some comfort and she was kind of surprised that she could get that from Nathan.

"I'm sorry." Haley said pulling away from him after a few minutes and sitting down on the edge of Peyton's bed and Nathan joined her.

"It's just this is a bit like when my mum died." Haley said, she didn't know why she told him, she never talked about her mum with anyone but Peyton, most people knew Peyton's mum had died but Haley guessed that was because she was more in the public eye because she was a cheerleader and dating Nathan Scott while many people were surprised when they found out about Haley's mum.

"I didn't know your mum died." Nathan said, he cursed himself slightly, she probably didn't want to talk about it.

"It was actually the same time as Peyton's mum, that's how we met." Haley said fiddling with her pinkie ring, it had been her mothers.

"So that's why you two are so close." Nathan said.

"Yeah she's like a sister to me." Haley said "You know you don't have to stay. I'm not going anywhere." Haley said.

"It's ok I want to make sure she's ok." Nathan said, knowing it was half true but also he wanted to get to know Haley while she was in this more open state then usual.

"So what does your dad do?" Nathan asked, he had been intrigued by Haley during their tutoring sessions she wasn't like any other girls he knew, although he wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing yet.

"I have something to show you." Nathan said as he sat down at their usual table for tutoring it had been a couple of weeks since Peyton had been drugged and she had woken up in the morning and been doing fine since, even though they had vowed no more college parties.

"What is it?" Haley asked slightly nervously, she never knew what to expect from him, ever since the night when he had helped her with Peyton and he had been so sweet but since then his normal façade had gone back up but after seeing a different caring side of Nathan she couldn't hate him any more.

"I got a C." He said proudly pulling out his English paper.

"Oh, well that's good." Haley said giving him a small smile.

"Surely you should be happier then that I normally get D's, this is a passing mark it'll make my dad and Whitey happy." Nathan said frowning at her.

Haley bit her lip nervously, she could see this conversation not going well and she didn't want to dishearten him.

"As I said it is a good mark but I just think you could do better." Haley said honestly.

"Haley I did do better I got a C. What's your problem I've seen you give Tim a hug after he's got a C." Nathan said disbelievingly.

"That's because he's Tim and that's the best he can do, Nathan I've seen you work and I know you can do better then a C. I'm not saying your not trying I'm just saying you get distracted easily in class and that if you tried harder I recon you could be getting straight B's maybe even a few A's. So until that happens you don't get any well done hugs." Haley stated hoping he wasn't going to get cross.

"oh." Was all Nathan could say, no one had ever told him he could do well academically, he was used to just being encouraged with basketball. He was disappointed that she hadn't been wildly happy with him but he also found that he was grateful that for once someone was seeing more then basketball in him.

"You know what we haven't done in a while." Peyton said to Haley as Haley finished cleaning up at Karen's café. They were going to head back to Haley's in a bit where her dad was making them all tea and taking them bowling.

"What haven't we done in a while?" Haley asked distracted by a sticky mess on the counter.

"Talked about how rubbish Nathan is." Peyton said looking over at her friend. It had suddenly occurred to her that in the last three weeks Haley had not said one word against him.

"Oh well I'm sorry, you shouldn't go out with Nathan Scott he's a rubbish boyfriend." Haley said, it was true she hadn't said much about him lately it was because she was torn, Nathan Scott Peyton's boyfriend and Nathan Scott her tutee were two very different people, and she actually found she enjoyed spending time with him but at the same time she didn't like how he treated her best friend, she knew he often kissed and maybe even slept with other girls behind Peyton's back, even Peyton knew but tried to deny it.

"That's more like it. Although lately he's been better, I think he even occasionally listens to what I say." Peyton said thoughtfully.

"Wow that's great." Haley said sarcastically and Peyton stuck her tongue out at her.

"How is the tutoring going?" Peyton asked, she knew his grades were up a bit but she wasn't surprised Haley was a great tutor.

"Yeah he's listening to me a bit. He's doing well." Haley admitted.

"Wow was that you saying something positive about him." Peyton said in mock shock.

"Yeah well he is." Haley said putting up the chairs on tables.

"You'll be defending him next." Peyton said teasing her and Haley just rolled her eyes.

"You just have to promise you'll never pick his side over mine." Peyton joked laughing and Haley scoffed at her.

"So I had an idea." Haley said interrupting Nathan from the maths book he was reading.

"What?" He asked surprised she normally just let him get on with his work during tutoring sessions, they didn't really talk about anything else in the sessions but out of them they now occasionally talked at parties or in the corridors at school. Peyton had been teasing her that she didn't hate him any more.

"Well there was something that you could do that might help with your basketball and maybe with your life in general." Haley said, not sure if she should go on or not, she was about to over step some boundaries and she was pretty sure he was going to get angry but she thought she may as well try.

Nathan stared at her mystified he had no idea what she was going to suggest. Normally when Haley told him something it was right, he found it frustrating that she was always right.

"I was thinking maybe you could go easier on Lucas." Haley said, she worked for his mum and she occasionally hung out with him and the river court guys out of school and she knew how he loved playing basketball but suffered from Nathan and the other players ignoring him on the court. Haley knew this was mainly due to the pressure Dan, Nathan's dad, put on him.

"What?" Nathan asked too surprised to say more.

"I'm not saying you have to suddenly be brothers but I just think you two getting on might help you. The teams not on top form because he's not included as much as he should be and maybe it might help outside of the court too." Haley said waiting for him to explode at her any second.

"How out of basketball?" He asked.

"Well with your dad, I mean I know I don't know much about it but it might be nice for you to have someone who you can talk about him with someone who understands what its like. I know you didn't grow up together but he's treated Lucas pretty awfully too and it may make the two of you stronger against him." Haley said.

Nathan sat there for another second in silence then suddenly stood up and began gathering his books.

"How dare you, you know nothing about me or my dad. I didn't know when I signed up for tutoring I got a counsellor as well." He sneered at her as he grabbed his bag.

"I may not know you but I know that it's Dan that's made you into this jerk and that you don't have to be like this, you can get good grades and do well in basketball and be a great person." Haley said passionately.

Nathan just stormed off, he was steaming mad he hated people talking to him about his dad and his 'brother' but the funny thing was for the first time he kind of felt that she was right.

Haley watched him walk off and sighed, that was the last she was going to see of Nathan Scott.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Haley spun round, it was the end of the day and she was at her locker putting books away, she hadn't seen Nathan since their last tutor meeting when he had stormed away and that had been two weeks.

She had still kept going to the docks every morning just in case but he had never shown, not that she was surprised and she had made a big show in front of Peyton telling her how happy she was she didn't have to tutor Nathan Scott any more, even though she hadn't told Peyton why they fought.

"I shouldn't have shouted at you the other day." He said then looked down at his feet "You were right."

Haley almost died of shock, he had actually said she was right.

"Um well that's ok." She said unsure what to say.

He looked back up at her, surprised she hadn't rubbed it in his face that's what Peyton did every time she proved him wrong.

"I played with Lucas a bit at the River court the other night we kind of talked." Nathan said and Haley couldn't help but beam.

She took both of them by surprise by hugging him and they both enjoyed the hug for a few seconds.

"What was that for I didn't get that B yet?" Nathan asked, never knowing it would be this good to admit being wrong.

"This is equally as good, I'm so glad, wow that must have been so hard for you to do. This will really be good for you in the long run." Haley said smiling at him some more, she was so proud of him she knew how hard it must have been for him to do that.

"Well it was just a little basketball really." Nathan said, not fully understanding why her praise was making him so happy and why her smile was making him feel funny.

"So I'll see you tomorrow morning at the docks then." He said smiling at her.

"Yeah see you then." And for some unknown reason her day was suddenly a lot brighter.