Authors Note –

I'll update once or twice a week, the updates should remain steady as I'm two chapters ahead and I've got a fully fleshed out plan that hopefully I won't stray away from too much. It's currently planned to be thirteen chapters although it may be a couple less or a couple more depending how much I fit into each chapter. Also, without spoiling anything this isn't going to a Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle because neither Sam nor Haley would do that. I've characterised Jess myself because unfortunately we don't really know much about her through Supernatural Verse.

Any feedback you'd like to contribute be it good or bad, please review and let me know!

Enjoy.

Summary -

A failed marriage and a broken heart led her to him – but he was already with someone else, her friend Jess. While avoiding her feelings for him and dealing with the loss of her first love she discovers her love for Stanford and immerses herself into the life she's dreamed of since she was eight years old.

But when Jess goes away for a weekend, she connects with Sam emotionally in a way she's never connected to with anyone, not even Nathan, and suddenly she's treading in forbidden waters and avoiding feelings she knows she shouldn't be having.

Sprinkle in a little Brooke Davis (Who's recovering from her own break up and transfers in as a politics and fashion major) add a weird older guy (who she's certain is stalking Sam and lurks outside campus in a Chevy Impala.) Plus a whole lot of supernatural weirdness that Haley doesn't wish to understand, and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster.

Sam/Jess, Sam/Haley, minor Brooke/Dean, Haley Centric.

Meteor Shower

Chapter One – Vanilla and Honey

"Wow Jess this is – "Haley's breathe hitches up in the back of her throat, and she runs a hand through her hair carelessly.

"Amazing? I know right. I couldn't have my favourite North Carolinian friend slumming it out in a freshmen dorm, now could I?" Jess winks and she sends a beaming smile in the direction of her friend.

Haley gives an astounded nod as she drops her duffle bag on the floor and eyes the bright and spacious apartment.

This was much more than she'd ever expected, she was content with the idea of a tiny box room with enough space for a single bed and a desk, but this had twobeds, a sofa, a wardrobe and a desk, and that was just the bedroom. She also had her own kitchenette and living space.

"How on earth did you – "

"I have my connections. I guess it helps that you were kind of a rock star." Jess interjects teasingly.

"What?" Haley had not been a rock-star – far from it. Sure, she'd gone on tour with 'The Wreckers' the summer before, but she never expected that it would influence where she'd stay when she came to college.

"I'm kidding! The dean owed me a favour for raising $8000 dollars at a fundraiser last year so she was more than happy to oblige, especially since you had a perfect GPA, was class valedictorian and had a ton of extra-curricula's. Just don't go around advertising."

Haley bit down on her bottom lip, she couldn't accept this – it was far too generous, plus there was no way in hell that she would be able to afford the rent. Although she was touched by Jess's kind gesture, she had only budgeted for a dorm room.

"Jess, I love that you did this for me but I can't accept it. I won't even be able to afford the rent."

Jess smiles wickedly, for she has another trick up her sleeve. "See I thought you'd say that."

Before continuing she momentarily pauses for effect.

"So I got my boyfriend to pull a few strings at his work, and now you're the newest waitress at the diner a couple of blocks from here. You'll have to be interviewed of course, but you'll get the job, no problem, and they'll give you hours that will fit in with your timetable."

Jess wraps her arm around Haley. "I know it's hard for you at the moment, the break up between you and Nathan hasn't been easy. I just wanted to make this as easy a process as possible."

Haley consciously circles her newly bare ring finger with her thumb, before shaking her head, disallowing herself any thoughts of her failed marriage. "I appreciate this, I truly do."

"Good, I'm glad. Now should we start getting you unpacked? Although..." Jess stares at Haley's bag and raises a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"Is that all you brought with you?"

Haley nods, when she'd finished dividing up her things with Nathan she'd had trouble picking what she'd bring with her to Stanford. It was a long and painful process, each object riddled with memories. So instead, she'd left everything behind – bringing only her clothes with her.

"Yeah, I guess it is." She shrugs indifferently.

Jess is momentarily speechless, obviously trying to comprehend how someone could bring so little to college with them.

Jess and Haley had known each other since they were five and had once been inseparable, until Jess had moved to Illinois when Haley was ten and Jess was twelve. The girls were heartbroken to be separated but had kept in contact through letters, phone and email ever since.

With her bubbly and bright nature, Jess reminded Haley of her best friend from Tree Hill named Brooke, and she felt a pang in her chest as she wondered what Brooke was doing at that moment, three thousand miles away. She had been the maid of honour at her and Nathan's wedding and she'd believed in their love, when others had doubted it.

Although now, Haley had succeeded in proving everyone else right – they may have been too young and too foolish, but she had loved Nathan. Did she still love him? That was still to be decided, not that it mattered now anyway, with Nathan playing basketball at Duke University and her studying at Stanford.

"Anyway -" Haley began, wanting to cut short her thoughts about Nathan. "Tell me about this guy your seeing. What did you say his name was?"

Jess's blue eyes brighten as she opens her mouth to speak. "Sam."

On a deserted highway about 91 miles away from Palo Alto and just outside Modesto two men are stood squaring up to one another, faces scowling and voices raised. Another man – acting as the mediator – stands inches away from the two, his hands behind his head and an uncomfortable look upon his face.

"God damn it Sammy, you can't just turn your back on us." The older man of the three reasons loudly, his voice rough with a slight southern twang.

Sam, the man in front of him is much younger and stands at about six foot four. "Dad, I have a life now – I have Stanford and I have an actual future! There is no way in hell that I'm leaving."

"So, what, huh?" The other man suddenly pipes up, an anguished expression blazed upon his face. "That's it? We're no longer your family? We're supposed to stick together!"

Sam sighs heavily. "Dean – "

"No, Sam! What about mom?"

Sam throws his hands in the air defensively, this time squaring up to Dean, instead of his father.

"Don't you dare! We've been chasing the damn thing for the past twenty one years and we're no closer now than we were when we started!"

"Hey!" The older man interrupts gruffly.

"What, Dad? I can't do this anymore, I can't. Why can't you just leave it alone?" Sam turns on his feet and begins to walk away from the two. John, his dad, begins to follow him, but a heavy hand grips his arms and pulls him back.

"Let him go, we can't force this situation now anymore than we could two years ago."

And as Sam continues to walk, an inner battle going on inside his brain, nobody bothers to follows him.

Two days later it was her first lesson – English, a subject that she had enjoyed very much when she was in high school and she was rather looking forward to it. She'd spend the past weekend with Jess, catching up and watching the occasional movie. They'd even gone to San Francisco for the day and Haley had loved the new culture and city life – it was like a dream world - vibrant, pretty and buzzing. Being a small town girl, she'd never experienced a big city before, she'd briefly visited New York with Brooke and her other friend Peyton but she'd had absolutely no time to explore before they were leaving again. She also vaguely remembered going to New Orleans with her family when she was about six or seven, but the memory was hazy. So all in all this was an entirely new and enjoyable experience for Haley and she felt like she would adjust easily into the Californian way of life.

Haley was yet to meet Jess's boyfriend Sam – they'd apparently been dating about eight months and Jess was very in love with him, but was often very puzzled with his brooding ways. Haley laughed, before sympathising with her and telling her that she'd had a similarly brooding friend named Lucas, and sometimes it was best just to leave him to pout for a little while.

They'd bonded, but she wasn't Brooke or Peyton and there was the occasional moment of silence when neither knew how to fill it. Jess was also a complete social butterfly and had many friends, some of which were very welcoming of Haley and others, who weren't really interested in her as she was a freshman.

To kill some time Haley had gotten involved in several freshmen orientation activities but she couldn't seem to meet anyone she felt she could become great friends with, and she was starting to feel a little isolated.

On her first day that feeling had only heightened and soon the bright lights of San Francisco were fading and the cream and orange coloured campus seemed intimidating instead of inviting.

It had all started to spiral downhill when she'd gotten lost.

The hallways seemed intricate and winding and she convinced herself that the stairways were moving around and tricking her like they do in Hogwarts.

Finally, when she'd arrived at her first English lesson after thirty minutes of sheer panic and misdirection, she'd scurried into Professor McNally's class, a quick apology on her lips as she struggled to find an empty seat.

"And you are?" The middle aged professor asks her in an unimpressed tone.

"Haley James, I'm really sorry that I –"

"Out."

Haley blinks, her mouth becoming dry as she wonders if she'd heard her correctly. "Sorry, what did you say I didn't –"

"If you cannot be bothered to turn up on time, then I do not want you in my class. Out" The professor's voice was firm and Haley felt herself get very hot as she felt the stares of all her other class mates boring into her.

Haley begins to ramble, something she's always done when she is nervous. "Please, I got lost, I've spent the last forty five minutes trying to find the classroom, I even wanted to be fifteen minutes early, you know to show that I'm studious and ready to – ."

McNally threw her hand in the air to silence Haley while opening the classroom door. "Everyone else managed to make it on time, unlike you. So, I shall see you Thursday at eleven am, and if you're a second later you'll be forced to leave again."

McNally shooed her to just outside the door, and as Haley began to protest she slammed the door in her face while proclaiming 'Goodbye Miss James!'

Unable to control it, a sob escapes her lips as humiliation washes over her.

Why did she have to come all this way to go to college? She got accepted into Duke too which was still a very prestigious school, probably just as much as Stanford. At least then she'd have all her friends, Nathan and her old life.

Maybe she could transfer out? Was that even possible so early on in the year?

She sighs, of course she couldn't do that, her life was different now, in these short few days her whole outlook had changed and there was no going back.

This, however, doesn't reassure her and she begins to cry again as she realises the huge mess she's created.

"Hey are you okay?" She jumps; startled by the fact she hadn't noticed the man in front of her. He was very tall, much taller than Haley and a few inches taller than Nathan was. Height aside, his demeanour wasn't intimidating and he was looking at her with big and kind brown eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just being silly." She shakes her head, her honey blonde curls covering her eyes as she looks to the floor.

He notices the classroom she'd walked out of."McNally, huh? She's tough; I guess you were the person she decided to make an example of. She does it every year; don't take it too personally though." He offers reassuringly.

She nods, feeling a little bit better until she realises she's missing a whole hours worth of work and she's going to have to spend the next lesson catching up.

As if he could read her mind, he tells her that she shouldn't worry as the first lesson is always about meeting and greeting – and all she'd miss are people introducing themselves and telling everyone where they're from.

She instantly likes him; it's as if he has this genuine goodness about him that makes her feel a little bit easier. Maybe she'll make some friends after all.

He asks her if she'd like to go to coffee and upon seeing her hesitant expression he explains that he isn't trying to come onto her, he just has a free period and wondered if she'd like to join him.

She wants to say yes, but something's telling her to refuse – she's only just broken up with Nathan and she's doesn't want to start seeing anyone else. Although it is only coffee, and he doesn't look the type to try and take advantage of her, however looking up at his big brown eyes and floppy dark hair, she's positive she wouldn't be too bothered if he did try and make a move.

Even if she is eighteen years old and a soon to be divorcee.

She smiles at him. "Sure."

Sam doesn't know why he didn't ask her for her name, and he figures that should have been the first question out of his mouth. Instead of asking her for coffee and then having to correct himself because it seemed like he was asking her out. Damn, what was he doing? He had a girlfriend, one that he loved no less.

But when he'd seen her, her face crumpled up and shiny eyes glazed with tears, he felt such an intense pull towards her and he had wanted, no he had needed to see if she was okay.

She was pretty in a natural, girl next door kind of way and she was wearing a white shirt, blue shorts and sandals. Her hair was similar to Jess's except Jess's wasn't as curly and more of a vanilla colour, rather than the honey hue that this girl's hair was.

Maybe it was just his natural instinct to protect, or maybe it was just seeing a pretty freshman looking helpless that made him want to reach out and help her. But asking her for coffee didn't seem entirely inappropriate at the time – until her face had fallen and it'd given him a funny feeling in his stomach to think that she may not like him.

However when she'd smiled that full pearly smile and agreed, he had found himself feeling a little lighter, happier.

He didn't flirt with her, he had genuinely wanted to make sure she was okay; he'd known what it was like to walk the halls feeling invisible and wondering how he'd ever adjust to the strange and new life.

"It'll get better. I promise." He'd reassured her.

They'd quickly and easily begun a conversation, sharing hobbies and interests and chatting about their love for fiction. He'd never been able to talk to Jess about this kind of stuff, her eyes would glaze over and she'd give the impression that she was sleeping with her eyes open, and he didn't have any friends that truly shared his passion for knowledge, unlike her.

They seem to talk about anything and everything, the conversation remaining steady and fluid throughout the half hour that they were chatting.

He was however, very surprised that she'd blurted out some personal information about herself, they'd been on the subject of young people getting married (it'd been a hot topic in his debate class) and she'd told him that she had gotten married at sixteen.

"Really? I mean are you still married, now?" He'd asked curiously although he was rather taken aback. How could she be married? She looked so young, maybe she was a mature student, he'd wondered, even though she didn't look much older than eighteen.

"I guess – kind of. I mean we're not together now, he's at Duke University playing basketball – ." She shrugs her shoulders, twiddles her hair and then looks up at him. "We do silly things for love sometimes."

"Wow. I mean... but you're only – "

"Eighteen." She replies softly.

He's silent for a moment, taking in the information, unsure of what to say and it's then that she speaks.

"You must think I'm crazy, right? The crazy, crying, soon-to-be divorced freshman." She jokes, although her eyes aren't in on it and they're holding that shiny look again.

"No, I don't. You obviously didn't care what anyone else thought of you and you wanted the whole world to know exactly how you felt. I think it's brave." He tells her sincerely and for a moment their eyes lock, and without warning he looks away and blurts out that he has a girlfriend.

She winces, and then her cheeks flush red when she realises that he noticed.

"Girlfriend?"

"Yeah – I was just saying, 'cause, uhm, I dunno if I could do the marriage thing with her, not this soon in the relationship anyway. We've only been together for eight months."

Her whole body straightens and she gnaws down on her bottom lip. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't say, we've been talking all this time without any formal introduction, weird huh? I'm Sam and you are?"

She closes her eyes and shrinks into her seat. "You're with – "

"Jess!" Sam exclaims as the familiar blonde figure approaches them.

"Oh goodie, the two of you have met!" She leans down and plants a soft kiss on Sam's mouth and guilt's sweeps over him. Of course, it was Jess's friend Haley, how could he have not known? She'd said Haley had gotten married young – but the Haley she'd described was a brunette and not a blonde.

He wonders if he had been leading Haley on unintentionally? He should've come clean straight away and admitted that he had a girlfriend – but, then why should he have done?

After all he wasn't making a move on her; he was merely enjoying a conversation with someone who just happened to be a girl.

"Sam was really helpful; I had a run in with one of the professors and was stood outside class on my own." Haley explained, not meeting Sam's gaze.

Jess turned to Sam, her unsuspecting face showing genuine curiosity."Oh, who?"

"McNally."

Jess grimaces. "Ouch." Her face brightens. "Well I'm so glad the two of you have met. It'd be cool if you both became friends, apparently Haley's got a broody friend at home just like you!"

"Yeah, I guess that it would be cool." He answered, but Haley wasn't looking in his direction, her gaze was instead on the palm of her hands.

What a mess. She'd thought. She was so stupid for thinking that a guy that just happened to be nice to her would like her.

A guy that also happened to be her only friend's boyfriend.

In that moment she had wanted to repeatedly bang her head against the table in the cafe - she had felt so foolish and she prayed to God she hadn't been flirting with him.

Why was she even trying to get a guy to like her anyway? The last thing she needed was a new relationship, or as this might've panned out – a Brooke/Lucas/Peyton trifecta of death situation.

She shook her head fiercely, Stop it Haley, she had a bad habit of continually over analysing everything and it was getting tiresome. She didn't like Sam, she was just confused and he reminded her of Lucas, although Lucas wasn't as hot...Stop...She sighed.

It couldn't really get much worse than this.

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