Our Little Corner Of The Universe

Chapter 1

Haley knew what people thought about her. They saw her as 'the smart girl'. She would never be anything more to them. Sure she had friends, but they were basicaly thought of the same as she was. She wasn't one to worry about her reputation, but sometimes she just wanted to get totally wild one night just to show all of them that yes, infact, Haley James can have fun. But it was true, that she had never really let lose. Not that she didn't want to, but she was too afraid. And it was too late now. Everyone already knew that she was: Haley James, smart girl, who never has fun. She couldn't change it now. But sometimes she wished she could just turn back time and start high school over again more wild and out-going, like the people she only saw at school from a distance that she never even spoke to. Like Nathan Scott's crowd.

But then what would her parents think? She came from a very high class, rich family and they expected nothing less than perfection from their only child. Haley never wanted to let them down because then she would be embarrassing her whole family. But sometimes she thought her parents were too wrapped up in material things to notice if their daughter was even happy?

Once Nathan got to school he was ambushed by a big group of people. It was always like this. They all wanted to hear about the crazy things he had done over winter break. See, Nathan lived alone with his mom, Deb, his father, Dan, having gotten a heart attack when Nathan was just a small boy and he died. Nathan's mom was working day and night, and they were only getting just enough money to survive. But with Nathan's mom gone all the time, Nathan was left pretty much unsupervised for most of his life. I mean, he loved his mother and she loved him and they were somewhat close, but she was never around and never aware of his habits. He had made himself a pretty solid reputation of the bad boy. Every High School had one. You know the type: No one messes with him. Not even the teachers. But it's not like he was big and scary or anything, he was actualy nice... when he wanted to be. He had a bunch of friends and was like the popularity King at Tree Hill High. Girls would swoon over him and guys would wish they were him. Nathan didn't know any other rutine than that one so he just let everyone worship him.

He knew that eventualy he wanted to make a life for himself. He didn't plan on living his whole life poor and uncomfortable. Of course, to make a good living you need to go to school. But Nathan and going to class somehow did not mix. The only reason he came to school everyday was for basketball, which was probably his only real passion. He went to a minimal amount of classes at school to maintaine a C- average, which was the grade he needed to stay on the basketball team.

OK, January. January of Junior year at Tree Hill High. That's not too late is it? Haley thought. Everytime after winter or summer break, Haley promised herself that she would change for the better. Like start going to parties, or join the cheerleading squad or something. But she never brought herself to do it. And plus, she had no one to encourage her to, because she never told anyone that she wanted to change. She wouldn't tell her best friend, Lucas, because she knew that he would laugh at her and she didn't think she would have the guts to not laugh with him. But she was serious.

Haley sighed as she walked through the front doors of Tree Hill High and she made her way to her locker. She started getting her books ready when she heard a voice behind her:

"No way, you like Green Day?" Haley turned around and saw the last person she would ever expect to see. I mean in all the two and a half years that Haley had gone here they had never spoken to each other. She was surprised he even knew who she was? Everyone knew who he was...

"Nathan, hi." Was the best thing Haley could think of saying. It's not that she was intimidated by him, but she just didn't have much to say. She didn't want to embarrass herself. "Wait, how did you know I like Green Day?" She asked confused.

Nathan pointed to her open locker door. Haley looked back at it and saw all the pictures of Green Day that she had put up on it. Of course, Haley thought. She could be so stupid sometimes! How could she think that Nathan Scott would actualy know things about her!

"Oh, right," Haley said.

"So, look, I need you to tutor me." Nathan blurted out.

"What?" Haley asked. That came totally out of the blue, she thought. Why me? Out of all the turors in the school he chose me? Haley thought.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Nathan said. "My good pal Principal Turner just told me that the basketball requirements have gotten stricter and I now need an average grade of a C+. And since I'm practicaly retarded... I need you to tutor me. Mr. Turner recomended it himself." Nathan said.

Of course Mr. Turner recomended it himself, or else Nathan Scott would not even be talking to me right now, Haley thought. Tutor Nathan? Nathan Scott? What kind of trouble would that get her into? She couldn't possibly...

"OK, sure, why not?" Haley blurted out. OK, so she couldn't say no. Who said no to Nathan Scott? She knew that this wasn't the best idea, but something in her gut told her to go for it. This might just be the one thing to changer her for the better.

"Alright, thanks Haley." Nathan said. And the smile he gave her actualy seemed genuine. Not some fake grin, but he seemed really appreciative towards her. Haley nodded and Nathan walked away.

Only tutoring... it's only tutoring... Haley kept telling herself. Sure, he made some 'Green Day' reference and sure he smiled at her, but what could that mean? That they were friends? Riiight, Haley told herself, you keep thinking that now! So if it's only tutoring, why was she spending so long in front of the mirror before the after school tutoring session? She felt so foolish. There was no way Nathan could see her as anything other than a tutor.

Haley sighed and stopped figiting with her shirt as she exited the girl's bathroom and walked to the Tutoring Center. She was happy to see that Nathan was sitting at one of the empty tables. She had half-expected him not to show up.

"Hi," she said, taking a seat accross from him.

"Hey," He answered taking out his books. There was something about this girl... this Haley James... She didn't act weird around him. OK, so they barely knew each other, but when he approached her this morning, she didn't seem intimitated or anything. Most people just groveled at him and did whatever he asked but she had acted... normal to him. And that meant a lot to him.

"OK, what classes do you need help in?" Haley asked. When she looked at the guy sitting accross from her somehow she didn't see the 'Nathan Scott'. THE Nathan that everyone knew his by. Just looking at him, he had the sweetest eyes and the most irresistable smirk. For a little while Haley completely forgot that there was an inner badboy in him.

"Uh... try all of them." Nathan said laughing a little. And saying that he actualy felt... NO! Embarrassed? Here he was sitting accross from the smartest girl in the grade practicaly and he was barely getting a C- average. Still, embarrassment was not a feeling that Nathan was very familiar with.

Haley laughed along with him a little. But she wasn't laughing AT him. "OK, well we should probably meet often then."

"I guess so." Nathan said. Wow, in the next couple weeks, maybe months he would be seeing a lot of this girl. He studied her. Her hair was pulled back into a tight pony-tail (like it always was) and her face was make-up free, but it didn't look bad. Nathan tried to imagine her with her hair down. It would make her look way less preppy, he thought. "You know, you should wear your hair down more often." Nathan said.

Haley was taken aback. That came out of no where! She never wore he hair down... not in public. It was wavy and she didn't like it because she could never control it. She didn't like things to be out of control.

Nathan noticed her expression and said, "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or something. I just think that that would look more... I don't know... laid back?" Haley relaxed a little. Nathan was definitaly not what she expected. He was actualy NICE. She started to totally forget that they were there for tutoring. She wanted to know more about the real Nathan Scott, not what his reputation made him out to be.

"Oh, ya I don't know... I like it up." Haley said, "Can I aske you kind of a personal question?"

"Uh... well, you can ask. I might not answer." Nathan said. Haley nodded, did she dare ask this? She hoped she wouldn't offend him by saying it. But, what the hell?

"Why do you, you know? Smoke pot and drink and all that?" Haley asked. She wasn't sure if he actualy did those things, but it's what she had heard. And she didn't really doubt it.

"I don't know... I guess..." Nathan tried to find the words. He knew that other people just did those things just for something to do, but it was different for him. "Sometimes I just need to escape. You know? Take a break from reality..." Wow, Nathan had never opened up to someone like that. Just the fact that Haley had the guts to actualy ask a question like that kind of made him want to tell her the truth. Haley nodded. "What made you ask me that?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know. I've never done that stuff, and I've never really felt like it. I just wondered what made people do it." Haley said. How had they started talking about this? They came in for a tutoring session and now they were talking about drugs and booze? She didn't know what had possesed her to start that sort of conversation. But she liked talking to Nathan about real things, and she could tell that he was being honest with her. Nathan also was utterly shocked. He expected Haley to scold him or something for doing those things. He knew as well as she did that it was wrong, but it seemed like Haley actualy understood why he did them. She didn't take him for some druggie or alcoholic. "Do you mind if I ask you: what exactly is so bad in reality that you need to take a break from? I mean, you're popular, you have so many friends. Your life doesn't seem all that bad." Haley said, knowing that she was kind of pushing it by saying that, but she was really curious.

Nathan would normaly have gotten mad at a comment like that. What did she know about his life? But the way she said it... as if popularity and having so many so-called friends in his life was that important. He could tell that Haley was sort of jealous of the attention he got at school. "You know, it's weird that at school I'm popular and have a lot of people always around me and then at home I'm all alone." Now that just flew out of his mouth. He never talked about home to other people. He was a little ashamed of being poor. He knew it was nothing to be ashamed of, but he couldn't really help it. "Besides, all my "friends" here..." he said, using air quotes, "Well... let's just say that the most meaningful conversation I've ever had with someone at Tree Hill High, was right now with you." He said, honestly meaning every word. Haley looked down, blushing kind of. But it was true. They connected some how, and she was really surprised at how much he opened up to her.

AN: OK, well that probably was kinda boring but it will get more interesting i promise! It was just kinda boring cuz i had to set up the plot and all that! But there is more interesing stuff ahead i swear! I still hope u guys liked it and will stick around for the rest! oh and BTW, Lucas and NAthan aren't related. Although Lucas probably won't be in this fic much. It's mainly just Nathan and Haley.

please REVIEW! THX!