Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of the characters!
The best of friends can be right in front of you. You just have to come to realize it before they vanish out of your life. Just be careful with who you choose to become friends with. Sometimes your best friend will be the unlikeliest person.
Haley James was a smart but shy young girl. She did not have many friends and mainly focused on her schoolwork. She would though, make a point to say hey or smile at everyone she came into contact with, but that would be as far as her conversations would go. She kept everything to herself because she did not think she could trust anyone with her secrets. She was now a senior in high school but things were still the same. People would try and get her to hang out with them but she would politely say, "Thanks but I can't." She felt like she would be a bother to everyone, but truthfully many people enjoyed her warm smile every morning.
There was one person that especially enjoyed her presence. Coach Scott was a new teacher just out of college and very attractive. He was fairly new to the area so did not know anyone at the school. He taught Government/Economics as well as being the new coach for the basketball team. Haley was the first student to actually welcome him to the new school. He had been walking down the hall on the first day trying to find his classroom. She smiled and said her usual hey in the hallway and also helped him find his room. He was very impressed with this new student. He did notice though, that she did not talk very much and this puzzled him.
Haley was put into his second block class. He began to notice during the first week of school that she did not talk to anybody during class. She would always be working on something while the other students would be chitchatting and goofing off. Time went on and she still acted the same everyday.
Well, one day Haley did not show up for class. It was unusual because she was there everyday but Coach did not let it get to him because he figured she might be sick. After a week though of no Haley, he began to worry. He tried to ask her other classmates but they all said the same thing, "She never really talks to anyone. So there is no telling." This bothered him that nobody seemed to know anything.
Finally she came back to school a few days later; however she was more distant than before. She stopped smiling and saying hey and Coach even noticed her grades beginning to slip. He decided one day though that he was going to help her. He offered to stay after school for tutoring if she was having trouble but her reply was, "Thanks, but I can't."
A/N: Please review! More to come...