Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill. It belongs to Mark Schwahn and the CW.

Summary: Haley James is an aspiring musician. Her life is going nowhere until she meets Nathan Scott at a college party. Haley takes an instant attraction to Nathan. However, when Haley is in trouble Nathan springs to her rescue. Haley begins to realize that there might be more than meets the eye. But the pressures of Nathan's job leaves him blind to Haley's affections, she takes up music to distract herself. Along the way, Haley meets mysterious musician Chris Keller, the two form a bond. But when he threatens to come between them, Nathan must act fast. Will they get the love their heart's desire?

Author's Note: Hey guys, this is my new story. I've been writing for some quite some time now and thought I would hop on Fanfiction and write something for y'all. I've had this idea for a few months already. The first couple of chapters are gonna be a backstory to everything that happened, they will be taking place at Duke University during their sophomore year and the rest will be in present time but also with a couple of flashbacks here and there. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this story. Let me know what you think by reviewing this story! Couples are: Naley, Brucas and Jeyton

Chapter 1

October 10, 2008

Haley James stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had never been the one to particularly care about appearances. She always thought that a person's character was what mattered most. As far as tonight was concerned, it was a different story. This time she was concerned with her appearance as it was the first college party of the semester, she did not want to stick out like a sore thumb. It was the night the Duke Blue Devils finally defeated the Seattle Redhawks, so to celebrate the victory his friends Clay Evans and Tim Smith decided to throw a party at Nathan's parent's beach house and basically, everyone who attended Duke was invited. Haley was never the partying type. She preferred to just hang out with her small group of her friends either at the cafe where she worked or possibly catching a movie. Haley liked to have control over the situations. She liked to know what could happen, and could not happen.

Parties, however, were the exact opposite of what Haley considered a 'good time'. They were crazy and rather spontaneous sometimes too crazy for Haley's liking. One minute people would be standing around having a good time, and then the next there would be a bunch of drunk people streaking or dancing topless. She was determined to some fun tonight though.

The only reason she had decided to go to this party was that she had been invited by association; she was neither a cheerleader nor someone's girlfriend, but because she was the best friend of Lucas Scott, Nathan's half-brother. A year ago, it would have seemed crazy to think that Lucas and she would be going to a party held by the star player, but after spending quality time together on and off the court both Nathan and Lucas had decided to put their differences asides and become friends and at times brothers. It was crazy to her how a year really could make a difference.

Haley intensively looked at herself once again in the mirror, as she examined herself. Her golden locks fell perfectly on her shoulders. She proceeded to glance further down at her top. She was wearing a long sleeve black, mesh top. It didn't show any cleavage but it seemed to fit her curves perfectly. The skinny jeans she was wearing also appeared to hug her petite, yet slim legs in all the right places. However, when her eyes landed on her shoes, she sighed while shaking her head. These are not right. Considering they were just her plain black flats she came to the conclusion that they had not seemed to complete her look nor add any spice to it. Before deciding on the right pair, she looked over at the clock on her wall. It read seven forty-five, she had less than half an hour before she had to leave. I wonder if Brooke would have anything to complete this look? Just as she thought, her bedroom door sprung open and there waltzed in the bubbly brunette with a wild smile plastered on her face. She had held a few large boxes in her hand.

"Thank god, I caught you, do you really think as your best friend I would let you leave the house in those hideous shoes?" Brooke declared. The two had been friends since they were in high school. From the second they met Haley had known that Brooke wasn't your average cheerleader. She was different, she had the biggest heart out of all her friends.

"For once Brooke, I think I actually agree with you," Haley replied.

"Well, I guess today's your lucky day then. I had a feeling that this would happen. So I thought I would bring over some of my shoes and you can see what you like," Brooke stated. "However, once the semester is over, you and I are going shopping. You seriously need to upgrade your wardrobe, Hales."

"We'll see," Haley kidded. She knew Brooke was right she seriously needed to upgrade her wardrobe, especially if she wants to get the attention of Nathan Scott.

The sad truth was that had a crush on him. Despite, the way he acted towards Lucas, Haley could not help but wonder if there was more than meets the eye when it comes to Nathan. Even if it meant risking her friendship with Lucas, if she ever got around to admitting it. There was no way in hell she could ever tell Lucas that she had indirectly fallen for Nathan.

As a result, she had decided to keep it to herself confiding in no one, not even Brooke Davis nor Peyton Sawyer. Peyton and Haley had become close friends after her boyfriend Jake Jagielski had decided to join the Ravens back in high school and befriended Lucas. She had tried to forget about it since she knew that there was no way in hell Nathan Scott would ever be interested in her, despite her best efforts, it was merely impossible for her to forget about him. Even when he would flirt with the other cheerleaders, it would cause Haley to develop a pit in her stomach like she was jealous that would even give these girls a second look, but it didn't surprise her as she knew she would never be his type.

"Whatever. Now get your boney ass over here and try on some of these shoes," Brooke ordered playfully. Haley had rolled her eyes, before proceeding to make her way to the bed where Brooke was standing. She searched through the boxes endlessly before she landed on a pair of cute black heels.

"What do you think of these?" Haley asked while she tried them on.

"Those Manolos heels you mean?" Brooke questioned.

"Um, yeah," Haley replied, slightly confused. She was never into designer things like Brooke was.

"Tutor Girl you look bitchin'," Brooke exclaimed.

"So I take that as a yes then?" Haley inquired.

"Yes, you can never go wrong with a pair of black heels. Not only are they classy, but they are very sexy and sleek plus they cost me a pretty penny so be careful with them," Brooke stated matter-of-factly, "So yes I approve."

"Thank you," Haley responded.

"Is that how you're gonna do your makeup though?" Brooke asked as she looked over at Haley's face.

"Yes-please don't start Brooke," Haley replied sternly.

"Fine, be like that but Nathan's not gonna fall for you looking like that," Brooke declared.

Brooke was the one only that found out about Haley's little crush on Nathan, she had just always known that Haley had a thing for him, just by the way she talked about him, and acted around him when they were together as a group.

"Who said anything about me impressing Nathan?," "Have you ever thought that maybe I want to look this way for myself?" Haley stated.

Before Brooke could respond to Haley, they were interrupted by Haley's roommate Melissa, "Hales are you guys ready yet?" She questioned, before popping her head through the door. "We're leaving in two minutes." If Brooke had not stopped by, Haley would have been ready to leave now, but since Brooke was finishing up her makeup, she was stuck.

"We'll be down in a few," Brooke assured her.

"You better hurry up, or we're leaving your asses behind," Melissa said before leaving.

"Now let's go before we miss the party, and all the hot college guys are taken," Brooke replied excitedly. Haley just laughed before she grabbed her purse and headed downstairs with Brooke. She was thankful that Brooke was coming tonight. Since parties aren't really Haley's scene it would be nice to have someone to talk too, or if things got out of hand Brooke would have been there to soften everything.

Brooke and Haley arrived at the party. Much to her surprise was already crowded and it was only nine o' clock. Haley made her way through the crowd with Brooke to go look for the rest of her friends, but somehow before she knew it she was already caught up in a game of seven minutes in heaven, with none other than Nathan himself. Haley needed someone to blame for being caught up in this mess. She was inclined to blame Tim after all since he always had the tendency to pull these kinds of things, it wouldn't be surprising if it was his idea to play this stupid game. Tim had decided to switch it up this year, instead of couples going into the closet and making out for seven seconds each. He blindfolded Nathan earlier and locked him the closet. Nathan had been stuck in there, blindfolded already on, and every seven seconds that past by, a different girl would go in and do whatever she pleased to Nathan. Somehow in the midst of all the chaos, Haley had become one of those girls.

She had only intended to see if it was real—after all, she had told herself, who wanted to go make out with him when he had just made out with a bunch of girls already. But when she had searched around for a bit, having told Brooke, and the others that she was going to the bathroom—only to discover that it was real, she had realized that she was only kidding herself. Who wouldn't want to make out with Nathan Scott? Which brought her to where she was now; locked in a closet with the boy of her dreams–literally. Despite that, she did not have the guts to get within 2 feet of him.

She had entered, checking every spot carefully making sure that no one she knew was around, as it was already embarrassing enough and locked the door behind her. The closet was dimly-lit enough that she was able to make out the figure that stood on the other side of the closet, not that far away, looking handsome as always. Her favourite feature of Nathan's was his piercing blue eyes, and for a split second, she had wished that she was able to see them. Then again, it was best if the blindfold remained on.

It dawned on Haley that she realized what she was doing. She was actually locked in a closet with Nathan Scott—for seven seconds, with the expectation of locking lips with him. Haley often wondered what it would be like to be kissing Nathan, guess she was about to find out. However, Haley had never been kissed before. She was nervous that she might do something stupid in front of him, or somehow end up missing half of his lips and instead kiss half of his cheek. Why do you have to such a natural born klutz?

Instead, she had no experience and being stuck in a relatively dark closet with a boy who had already excelled in more than she expected considering his age, she probably was expected to make the first move. Haley remembered that none of her friends been there when she entered the closet, but what if they passed by looking for her, and instead of it being Clay beside the door, it would be Tim. How mortifying would it be if they thought it was Tim in the closet with me instead of Nathan? Haley was never the type to make rash decisions and act on pure adrenaline, but she knew it was now or never. She was sorta of happy that even in this weird way, she would get her first kiss by Nathan.

She smiled at the thought of that, Maybe this isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Who am I kidding? I know for a fact this kiss is going to be electrifying, that I will be able to feel it in my toes.

Suddenly snapped out her thoughts, when she heard Nathan speak four words, "Um, is anyone there?"

Here goes nothing...