Note: I don't own anything. This story may be confusing, so sorry for that.

The One Left Standing
one.

The dress Haley James wore was black, she thought it was rather fitting. She may as well be mourning the death of everything she had ever known. Her life of dreams and hope would soon be over with and she'd start a new life. A life she was dreading. She'd go on living until she ended up like the one lady down the street with nine cats. The one left alone.

She hated being alone.

Brooke picked the dress. She said it made her waist look smaller and her boobs look bigger, but Haley just thought it made her look like a tramp. Well, if her life was ending, she might as well go down in style. Sliding on her black strapped shoe, she let herself shed a tear for the life that had been hers for twenty-seven years.

Maybe she could really die at twenty-seven and relive her current life over. She could redo all the moments she treasured and correct all the mistakes she had made, like a big Band-Aid fixing all of her boo-boo's. That would be ideal because who wants to quit being a dreamer at twenty-seven? Who wants to see the death of their happiness?

"Hey," a boy cleared his throat. "Uh, what is wrong with you? Er, I mean, are you okay?" Haley looked up from her spot on the rickety old swing set to peer into a pair of ice-blue eyes. He seemed uncomfortable, slightly confused, but mostly, annoyed. He set the basketball he was carrying in his hands on the grass beside the swing set and took the swing next to her.
She sniffed, "My sister told me that I am obnoxious and that I don't fit in with my family." She blushed, embarrassed that she had just revealed so much about herself to a boy she had never met before.
"Oh," he nodded and then stayed silent for a moment. She began to worry he thought she was a baby loser, but when she opened her mouth to apologize for being a whiner, he spoke again. "Siblings are a pain. I only have one brother, but I think he's an idiot."
"Yeah," she sighed, relaxing. "I have five older brothers and sisters."
"Wow," he laughed and kicked the ground underneath him to swing him higher. "That's a lot. One time, I asked my dad how come my parents stopped having kids after me, and he said that we're all they can handle."
She giggled, letting her feet dangle, "My parents meant to stop before me." A moment of sadness passed over her little face, "That's probably why my sister says I don't fit."
He scoffed, "I'm sure you fit. Think of it this way, before you, your family wasn't finished. That's probably why your parents ended up having you and that's where you fit: as the baby." She grinned at this boy she had just met, "You're pretty smart."
He blushed slightly, "My grandpa gave me told me that once."
"Well, I guess that means your grandpa's smart then." She smiled and slowed her swing to a halt. Confusion passed over his features again, but he mirrored her and stopped swinging, too. She stood and wiped off her purple sundress.
"Are you leaving?" He asked, very quickly with a hint of disappointment.
She nodded and pointed to the sun that was setting over the river. "It's almost sunset, so I have to get home to eat dinner."
"Oh," he furrowed his brow and picked up his basketball. "Yeah, I should probably get home, too. Which way do you live?"
She pointed to the left, "Birch Street."
His eyes lit up in delight, "That's my street. Come on, we can walk together."
"Okay," she smiled. They walked across the field in silence until she pointed at the ball in his hands. "Do you play basketball?"
"Oh, yeah." He nodded, pointing behind them at the basketball court to the left of the swing set. "I go there to play. My brother was supposed to come play against me, but my mom made him clean his room."
"That's cool that your brother plays sports with you." She kicked at a rock in the middle of the walkway.
When they caught up to the rock she had kicked, he kicked it even farther ahead of them. "Not just sports, basketball. But don't your sisters play dolls with you?"
She giggled again, "I don't play with dolls, and my sisters are all a lot older than me. Taylor, the mean one, is only four years older than me, but I wouldn't want to play anything with her anyways. Sometimes, my brother, Eric, will let me do stuff with him, like yesterday we baked cookies with his girlfriend."
"I bake with my mom a lot. She owns a café." They turned down their street and he pointed to a very large brick house. "That's my house."
She pointed to a smaller house a little closer and on the opposite side of the street. "That one's mine." He nodded. There was a girl coming out of her house and getting into a car. "That's my brother's girlfriend, Lauren."
"She's pretty." He commented offhandedly, dribbling the ball against the cement. "You're cuter." Her cheeks flushed, wondering if he had really said that or not, but she couldn't help herself and a grin spread across her face. They reached her house, and he turned to her suddenly, "What's your name, anyways?"
"Haley." She spoke through the crimson blush. "Haley James. Yours?"
"Nathan Scott," he smiled and walked backwards away from her. "See you around, Haley James."
She watched him disappear into his house and let her seven-year old self gush over how a boy she had just met called her cute.

The next day, she was stared as her brother pace around the kitchen, holding the phone in one hand and a piece of notebook paper in the other. He was yelling at his best friend, Mark, through the phone about something Lauren had done, which apparently had something to do with the paper in his hand.
Lydia James appeared behind her, "Bub, you have visitors at the door. Here," she smiled, handing her a plate of watermelon, "take them some of this."
Unfortunately, Taylor appeared, too, and snickered. "Is grandma here to visit? Because it's not like Haley has friends."
Haley felt her heart drop at her sister's words, but wondered all the same who could be at the door. She watched as Eric stopped his tirade and glared at Taylor. He bit, sarcastically, "Yeah, because the people you hang out with are really your friends."
Haley scooted quickly from the kitchen, listening to the fading sounds of her mother trying to keep the peace and Eric restarting his screaming match with the phone. She stopped at the front door, nervous to find out who would be on the other side and also angry she was too short to see out of the viewfinder. Swinging open the door, she was happily astonished to find Nathan and a blonde haired boy standing in front of her. "Uh, hello."
"Hey, Haley," Nathan greeted easily and gestured to the boy next to him, "this is my brother, Lucas." Lucas smiled at her.
"Hi, Lucas." She squeaked. "My mom gave me this watermelon. Do you guys want some?"
"Yeah," Nathan nodded excitedly, "watermelon is my favorite."
"Really? Cantaloupe had always been my favorite." Haley said, taking a piece of the watermelon anyways.
Lucas brightened up at her statement, "Cantaloupe is my favorite, too."
She grinned and Nathan rolled his eyes, "Well, are you going to go get your suit or sit here and talk to us for forever?" Lucas punched him in the arm. "She can talk if she wants to."
"My suit?" She frowned, confused as to what Nathan was talking about.
"Yeah," he sighed, slightly irritated. "You know, swim suit. So that you can swim with us."
It was then Haley realized that they had on swimming trunks that were still a little damp. "Where can we swim at?"
"We have a pool in our backyard." Lucas answered, rubbing his hand on his shirt to smear off some melon juice. "We came over to ask you if you wanted to swim with us, but Nathan forgot that part." He told her, glaring at Nathan.
She laughed, "Okay, I'll go get my suit. I'll be right back." She set down the plate of watermelon and took off back inside, listening to the sounds of the bickering brothers behind her. She found her mother doing laundry, "Mom, where's my swim suit?"
"The polka dot one is in your underwear drawer, but the flower one is still in the wash." Her mother answered, pointing to the humming washing machine that held her favorite bathing suit. Haley groaned, but took off toward her room, ripping through her drawer in search of the other one. "Are you going somewhere with those boys, bub?"
"To their pool to swim." She muttered, throwing her underwear crazily around.
Her mother, placed her hands over Haley's to calm her and reached into the drawer and pulled out the suit instantly. "Who are they and where to they live?"
"Nathan and Lucas Scott and they across the street. I met Nathan yesterday at the park." She slipped her rainbow dress over her head and pulled on the blue one piece polka dotted suit then pulled the dress back on as a cover-up.
Her mother paused a moment. "Okay, bub. Be back before sundown. Eric will be here. Daddy and I are going to dinner with Daddy's boss."
"Okay, mom." She yelled back at her mother as she flew from the room. She reached the front door again and heard the brothers yelling at each other from the other side. "I'm ready." She announced, causing them both to look over at her.
"Good," Nathan smiled at her, but walked quickly away, leaving her to walk to their house with Lucas.
"So, you're Nathan's brother?" She said, nearly smacking herself for asking such an obvious question.
"Yeah, I'm older though. I'm eight. He's seven." He told her, then asked, "How old are you?"
She smiled, knowing that a boy who was her age thought she was cute. "I'm seven, too."
He chuckled, "I think everyone that lives around here is seven, or at least it feels like that." She felt at ease with Lucas, like everything in life was okay. He radiated calm and harmony, like her brother when he wasn't angry.
"Probably because you're the one that's eight." She giggled, noticing that Lucas's eyes, although the same color as Nathan's, weren't really the same at all as his brother's.
They reached the backyard and Lucas grabbed her hand, tugged her behind him, and motioned her to be quiet. Just then, Nathan jumped out from around the corner and sprayed them with a water gun. She gasped at the cold water hitting her warm body. The day, June twenty-first, was an extremely hot and humid one, just as the day before had been. She had heard the weatherman say there was a thunderstorm coming that night which would make the humidity subside. She peeled off her wet sun dress and laid it in the sun to dry.
"Really funny, Nathan." Lucas frowned sarcastically, pushing his brother into the pool angrily.
When he came up from underwater, Nathan was still laughing, "Aw, big brother, did I get you wet?" Haley laughed and sat down on the edge of the pool, letting Nathan swim over to her. "I like your swim suit, Haley. The polka-dots.. I mean, well, it's cool."
She blushed again, "Thanks." Maybe he saw her blush, but Nathan pulled her into the cold pool and Lucas looked over knowingly at his little brother and rolled his eyes.
That night, as she was listening to the storm and Eric watching TV in the other room, she couldn't help think about the raven haired boy and how the polka dot swim suit was her new favorite.