I decided to rewrite chapter 2 and then i decided to combine chapter one with a new "chapter 2" if that makes sense hah. I will try to update as quickly as I can. Please review or give some sort of feedback, it helps a lot. Thank you!

I remember the first I met the Scott's like it was yesterday, I had been relocated in the foster care system for the third time and I was starting to lose hope that I would ever find a family that loved and cared for me. I was only thirteen, and in that naturally awkward face between teenager and child and I carried myself like a slouch. I must have looked like the lost little girl I was that morning when I arrived, with my belongings stuffed into a scruffy bag that smelled like old cigarettes and wearing a blouse that was two sizes small. I remember the lady that drove me there, her comforting smiles and the way she squeezed my hand when I walked up the steps to my new, for the third time, home. It was a nice house, with rosebushes planted around it and a large porch. I smiled shyly, it looked too nice for me.

" It will be fine." The lady assured me and I smiled again.

I didn't believe her one bit, all my life adults had given me promises after promises and they rarely kept them. Adults were less predictable than children and usually just thought about themselves and their own problems that much were clear to me. I still had that imprinted in my heart when I met the Scott's but I guessed that changed after a while, after I saw that good people do exist. Keith and Karen Scott were angels, I remember thinking that a few months later and to this day I still believe it, and had no evil in their blood. They and their son Lucas accepted me with open arms, and for the first time in my life I felt cared for. It was a new feeling and I didn't know how to handle it. Lucas and I quickly developed a close friendship, the most important relationship I had ever had with another person, we were closer than brother and sister even though he was two years older and the subject of all the schoolgirls crushes. He was to cool for me in reality, at the time he was co-captain of the basketball team and therefore king of the school, but still he always enjoyed hanging out and watching old movies and reading books. At that time I was so shy you almost had to force the words out of my mouth, but to him I opened up and revealed some of my painful past. He always listened even though he sometimes didn't understand. He was my rock and slowly he helped me reach out of my shell. Karen and Keith also helped in many ways. Keith, who owned a small car repair shop, let me sit in his office and study at times when I didn't feel comfortable with being alone. Karen let me help in the café and put icing on her cakes when I was bored or felt lonely. It was a nice routine, for the first time in my life I actually had a structure and bonds to people but I was still very closed off and quiet. I didn't have many friends, but I started to at least try after I had lived with the Scott's for about six months.

I had just come home from school, after a particularly lousy day with tons of homework waiting in my backpack, when I met him for the first time. It feels weird looking back at it, it was such a small moment and still it managed to change my whole life. It was something as mundane as me eating cocoa puffs with milk in the kitchen when the door opened and a tall boy walked in carrying a large duffel bag over his shoulder. He looked up at me, disinterested, and I saw the bluest pair of eyes in my life. I just sat there, eating cereal and staring at him in the crushed out way that only a thirteen-year-old girl could do.

" I'm Nathan." He said simply and dropped the bag on the floor before walking up the stairs to the guestroom. I figured he was one of Lucas' friends, that I hadn't met, because he looked older and definitely seemed to not care about me, which was a common trait amongst all Lucas' friends. It was only minutes after when Lucas walked into the house, obviously upset and agitated, with Karen rushing in behind him carrying two grocery bags that I snapped out of my haze and realized that something had happened.

" It will only be for a little while, Lucas. He is your cousin after all." Karen said almost angrily. I figured they hadn't noticed me yet but I didn't want to make my presence known.

" He is the biggest jerk I have ever met, and he is supposed to live here?" It was the first time I had heard Lucas saying something bad about someone; usually he was like a saint and kept his mouth shut.

" Only for a while, you know Dan and trust me when I say that poor Nathan haven't had it easy. He just needs a place to stay for a short time, until they both can start working things out." Karen said, nice as ever. She always helped everyone, believing that you could find something worth saving in every human and it made me smile.

" Fine, just fine." Lucas bit out and walked into the kitchen with anger radiating off of him. It was the first time I had ever heard Lucas and Karen disagreeing and it made me nervous, I was still very sensitive and at the slightest sign of a fight made me anxious.

That same evening when we were all eating dinner the tension hadn't eased. Lucas hadn't said a word, not even a quick smile in my direction when Keith began telling one of his many stories. Nathan just sat there, sucking up the food and sometimes nodded. I looked at him closely when I thought that he didn't notice, it wasn't till much later that I realized that he probably did, and I felt my heart flutter every time he accidentally glanced my way. He was just so cute, and even though Lucas also was good looking it was just something about Nathan that made my heart race.

" Haley here is a real gem, you should get to know her Nathan, I'm sure you could be great friends" Keith continued and I blushed. I knew that Keith meant no harm, but I was still embarrassed.

" Nathan stays the hell away from Haley." Lucas muttered and looked at Nathan with a cold glare. Karen opened her mouth to speak but Nathan interrupted her.

" Yeah I don't think that staying away from her will be a problem." Nathan smirked coolly and both Karen and Keith flinched. I just looked down on my plate, trying to stop my cheeks from burning at the humiliation.

" You piece of shit." Lucas slammed his fist on the table and I couldn't help but feel a little bit happier. Lucas was sometimes my knight in shining armor, in fact he still is.

" Hey hey hey, let's cool down. Nathan apologize to Haley, and Lucas please stop with the glares and remarks." Keith meddled and Karen put a hand on Keith's shoulder.

" Holly, I am sorry but I'm just not interested in being friends with ten year olds." Nathan said and smirked again. It was something in the way he said it that almost made me want to slap him, maybe it was how is baby blue eyes twinkled in mischief. I realized in that moment that I had never hated anyone as much as I hated Nathan Scott and that feeling lasted long, but not as long as I thought.

He stayed a few weeks longer and I don't remember us uttering one word to each other, Lucas informed me later that I should try and stay away from Nathan as much as I could because he was the biggest scumbag on this side of the Atlantic. I idolized Lucas and followed his advice, not even staring at Nathan when he was walking around the house only wearing basketball shorts. I would sometimes glare at him when we ate dinner, just so that he would now that I hated him deeply. I was such a little girl then, and my poor way of stating my hatred still makes me smile. Then one morning when I was getting ready for school, a huge Cadillac parked by our house and Nathan ran down the stairs with that same duffel bag over his shoulder started walking towards the door. He turned the doorknob, and then he stopped only to turn around and smirk.

" Goodbye, Haley." He said and I just waved.

I asked Lucas a lot about him after he left, but I tried to do it as subtly as possible so that he wouldn't think about my curiosity. Nathan went to Tree Hill High, which meant that he lived in Tree Hill and I found it odd that we never had his parents over to our house since Karen and Keith basically had the whole neighborhood over for dinner regularly. Lucas just shrugged and said that Keith and Nathan's father Dan never had enjoyed each other's company. Apparently Nathan lived in this huge mansion in the other, richer, part of Tree Hill and Lucas also reluctantly told me that Nathan also was the second co-captain on the basketball team together with Lucas. Lucas just looked at me for a while before muttering that Nathan also had the habit of stealing Lucas' girlfriends and I almost started laughing. Even at the age of fifteen Lucas was a huge romantic, but the subject of his adoration changed quickly. One day he was madly in love with someone named Theresa and the next day Angie. Sometimes I would find him in his room, writing love letters or poems all promising eternal love. It wasn't until college Lucas found his first real love, and then he actually wrote a book. After our brief conversation about Nathan and the other Scott's I actually forgot about them for a while, even though I still saw Nathan regularly in school. But I was still young and he never noticed my cold stares.

It wasn't until two and a half years later that I met Nathan properly again. I was sixteen and had grown up in more than one way. I was not shy anymore, at least not in an abnormal way and I had a nice group of friends. Lucas' friends also started to notice me and invited me to Poker nights much to Lucas' dismay, he was always my protector and as soon as one of his friends glanced at me the wrong way he would threaten to slap them. I did enjoy the attention that they gave me, even though I never took them seriously. I was mostly still a geek, always studying and freaking out over test. I had also started working part time at the café as waitress so that I could save up for collage and also because I enjoyed Karen's company. You could say that my life was perfect, but in some way I was bored. I had been rootless before I came to the Scott's and even though they felt like family I was still searching for something more fulfilling. I tried dying my hair blonde and even tried to start smoking but after Lucas found me sitting outside our house with a cigarette he yelled at me for one hour and I never tried it again. Then one day Nathan arrived at our front door with a huge cut on his cheek and sour look and I found myself once again lost in his blue eyes. Karen helped him inside and sat him down on a kitchen chair whilst she looked for a first aid kit. I knew a lot about cuts, in my early years I had seen more than was normal so I approached him carefully.

" Does it hurt?" I asked and gently placed my cold fingers on his cheek.

" No." He was drunk and proud but he still flinched when I moved my fingers closer to his wound.

" Liar." I smiled and he looked up at me.

" So you're all grown up." His eyes roamed all over my body and I quickly removed my fingers from his face. I suddenly remembered the pact I had with Lucas about Nathan and the way he had treated me that dinner.

" Yes." I said coldly. I put some ice in a cloth and put against his cheek to try and stop the swelling. His body was tense and I wondered why he was here. It wasn't like he was a regular guest at our house and if Lucas told the truth, which I knew he did, Nathan still hated Lucas as much as Lucas hated him. Even though they hung out with the same kind of people, all jocks with no sense of humor, they still held their distance. Apparently Nathan had hooked up with Lucas' girlfriend at the last party, and I could vividly remember the conversation Lucas and I had when we both cursed Nathan Scotts name. But standing there in the kitchen next to Nathan sent a thrill through my body. Nathan was a player, it was all over his attitude and not to mention all over the school toilets, and I usually despised people like him, heartless jocks that treated girls like nothing, but he was still to pretty to ignore.

" Why are you here?" I asked him curiously.

" It was close and I was bleeding." He said coolly and disinterested. His earlier roaming of my body stopped and his body tensed. It was apparently a touchy subject so I decided not to push him and just released the hold on his cheek. Karen returned with her forehead wrinkled in worry and a huge first aid kit box. I quickly left the kitchen only to linger behind the door.

" Did your father do this to you?" Karen's voice was laced with suppressed anger; which surprised me because Karen was possibly the calmest woman I had ever met. The more I heard about Dan Scott the more he seemed like this cartoon like villain, from what Lucas told me he was always snooping around at basketball practices and had long "pep talks" with Nathan before every game. Keith never talked about him, and when a neighbor mentioned Dan he would always tense up and change the subject. I knew that Keith never would dislike his brother without reason and that only made me more scared of Dan. It also made me feel more sympathy against Nathan, I had spent my early years in a highly dysfunctional family and I knew how hard it could be.

" No." His answer was short and dethatched.

" Stay here for a while." Karen commanded and I knew that Lucas would throw a fit when he found out.

" Are you sure?" It was the first time I heard any kind of uncertainty in Nathan's voice and it shocked me.

" Stay."

That same night I couldn't sleep. I just lay there, tangled in my sheets and with my thoughts in a jumbled mess. I had spent the entire evening in Lucas' room listening to his ranting about how much Nathan Scott screwed up his life and why he couldn't just crash someplace else. I nodded sometimes but mostly just sat there and I think that Lucas noticed my annoyance because he said that he needed to sleep, they had a game tomorrow, and I left relieved and returned to my room to do some homework. The homework couldn't keep my thoughts from drifting so I decided to call it an early night. It was a midnight when my door opened. I first thought that it was Lucas, sometimes when he couldn't sleep he would talk to me for a while, but it was Nathan. The bruise on his cheek was blue now, but he still looked hot and I to this day curse him for it. He looked at my intently and I just stared at him from my bed. He approached me and sat down on my bed and I scooted closer to him and once again ran my fingers gently across his cheek. It was like my common sense flew out of the room and all I could feel was the rush in my veins when he moved closer to me.

" What do you want?" I whispered so quietly that I almost couldn't hear it myself.

" I think you know." He smirked and I wanted to slap him, but I didn't.

He looked at me for a while, and the tension grew. I didn't know what to do, I was young and inexperienced and having a boy that wasn't Lucas, a very good-looking boy at that, in my room past midnight wasn't really a normal occurrence. So when he leaned down and kissed me I responded like in a haze. Nathan had that power over me already and even though my brain shouted " stop" but my body couldn't. It felt like a fire inside of me and that rootlessness, that boredom that plagued me disappeared as his hands touched my body. I knew that it was all kinds of wrong, that the responsible Haley never would do something like this. But when his lips gently kissed my jaw and his muscular body pressed down on top of mine I knew that I would never regret it.

I woke up in the middle of the night and I blushed as all the memories flooded back into my head. Nathan was on his way out of my room, I could see the shadow of his muscular back and I longed to touch it again. He turned around when he heard me move, my bed was squeaky, and I could see his blue eyes stare into mine.

" Don't tell anyone." I whispered. I don't know why I said that, but I was scared of Lucas's reaction, that he would hate me. I couldn't lose Lucas; that was probably the only thing I was certain of. He tensed and put a tired hand through his messy hair.

" Don't think so highly of yourself." His voice was mocking, and it hurt. I didn't know what I expected but it was disappointing all the same. I knew that Nathan was a jackass and I knew that Lucas had good reason to hate him, but still I fell for his charm and his touch. It was a bit embarrassing that I, always the level headed and smart one, acted like such a slut as soon as a pretty boy looked at me.

" Whatever." I tried to sound indifferent but failed miserably and I think that Nathan noticed because he smiled a small smile that made my heart pound.

" Goodbye Haley." He said and this time I thought that it was for good. Back then I had no idea that my story with Nathan had barely begun.

I figured that people at some point during their lives did something completely out of character only to feel a thrill, and that "that one time" with Nathan Scott was my thrill. It didn't stop me from feeling absolutely petrified of someone finding out about it, I could only imagine Lucas' face when he found out and that alone kept me from even glancing at Nathan when he passed me in the hallways at school. I knew that he looked at me though, I could feel his smirk from a mile away and I knew that he liked having some sort of power over me. It was his last semester before college, and in a way I was relieved that he would be out of sight, it was less dangerous that way. But one part of me was sad, Nathan Scott was my escape and with him gone I would have to forget about the lust filled Haley and go back to being one hundred percent responsible. With him I felt wanted and even a bit mysterious. I figured that was how a bad boy worked, he gave you an adrenaline rush and then he disappeared. I didn't tell anyone about my little escapade except my good friend Gemma. She was the opposite of me, tall and sexy with a constant smirk etched on her face. I don't really remember how we met, she was a popular girl and I was more band-geeky, but we liked each other instantly. I remember that she was proud of me, she always told me to take risks and Nathan Scott was a risk she wouldn't mind herself. She bluntly asked me how the sex was and I blushed and mumbled " great" and that seemed to please her and I was named "Slut-Haley" which I despised and she loved. I even think she was a bit jealous, Nathan was a legend in Tree Hill with his basketball talent and movie star looks, and I was just the same old plain Haley James with printed t-shirts and baggy jeans. It gave me a little confidence boost, but I was still scared about the possibility of Nathan telling Lucas about us, thankfully he didn't and I figured that he must have some sort of decency.

And even though I tried my hardest to think about Nathan as something done and over with, I still woke up regularly at the middle of the night craving his calloused touch.

My life continued on its slow pace, tests and band practices filled up my days and even though I was beginning to feel restless I pushed away those thoughts. I knew that they would inevitably lead me to Nathan, a boy who probably just thought about me as a simple conquest, and I had promised myself that I couldn't do that to Lucas or myself. Lucas was my best friend and my brother in every way except blood and betraying his trust was something I couldn't live with. At least that was what I thought back then. Soon they were both graduated and it was summer. I cried many nights when it finally sunk in that Lucas wouldn't live with me anymore and that his guidance and warmth would be far away from me, in Duke to be exact. I pretty much hijacked him that summer, wanting to spend as much time as I possibly could before he would " disappear". He would laugh at me but he still complied with my wishes and we spent many days together just being Lucas and Haley. With Lucas I felt safe but with Nathan I felt like I was on fire.

" Haley are you happy?" Lucas asked me one night when we sat and played cards in his room.

" In this moment, yes." I said and smiled.

" Why?" He looked at me and squinted his eyes.

" Because I just won." I smirked at him as I lay my cards on the bed. I could kick some serious ass when it came to card games and Lucas knew it all to well. He chuckled and shook his head.

" Dammit I suck at this stupid game." He gave me a playful nudge. "But seriously Hales are you happy? Sometimes you just seem to be somewhere else, in Haley-land I guess, and I just want you to know that whatever you do I will always support you and always be there for you. Just do what makes you happy and I'll beat up anyone that stands in your way." He looked at me so seriously that I got a lump in my throat.

" Why are you telling me all this, Luke?" I swallowed hard and fiddled with the hem of my sweater.

" Because I'm leaving Haley. And even though I'll still visit you guys all the time, it won't be the same."

" I know. But I'll be okay and I've read that all that poetic crap that you're into is a major turn on for collage girls so I think you'll have a blast too." I tried to sound cheerful, but it sounded a bit fake. I missed him terribly already, but I didn't want him to hold back for me. I couldn't be selfish about Lucas, because I knew that he could accomplish so many amazing things if he just got the chance.

" Oh like High School girls didn't fall for my charm?" He laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood.

" Not because of the fact that you like to read Steinbeck and look all broody, that's for damn sure." I snapped.

" It will always be you and me against the world Hales." He was suddenly serious again and I smiled.

" Always."

When Lucas left it was like the void in my heart woke up. I was a broken person before I came to the Scott's but somehow they mended me, put all of my pieces together. But there was still an open wound hidden beneath my geeky exterior. Lucas would call me all the time though so it wasn't like he deserted me or anything. He was still the same old Luke, the one who I could play mini-golf with until the early hours and bicker with until I smacked him on the arm. He visited a lot and brought home a couple of girls as well, saying that he found love but then ended up dumping them a few weeks later. During Lucas early college years he was a searcher, one day he would call me and talk about an amazing yoga class he attended with his fellow scruffy poet friends and the next he would talk about the importance of freedom of speech. Sometimes he made me laugh with all his pretentiousness but I knew that he put up with my endless ramblings so I just chuckled quietly. I had heard from Luke that Nathan had gotten a full scholarship to Duke University and I couldn't help but wonder how he was. He was still a common topic back here in Tree Hill, at Karen's café you would constantly hear old men chatting about our own "NBA promise" and how he completely dominated the court as a Duke Blue Devil. I would watch all of his games on the TV in my room and quietly admire the way he looked on the court. I really didn't want to admit it to anyone, least of all myself, but I had a crush on Nathan Scott. It was a bit pathetic, sure, but nonetheless he was my first kiss and more and that counted for something. I was still completely clueless of what would happen between Nathan and I; back then I was just a girl with a crush on a hot, arrogant basketball player.

I was lying on my bed, reading some weird romantic novel that I had found in the back of a thrift store, when I heard Keith and Karen yell downstairs. Keith and Karen were the most stable, loving couple I had ever met and it was probably the first time I had ever heard them yell at each other and it made me anxious. I was still afraid of arguments, especially the domestic kind. But this argument would be the starting point of a new chapter in my life.

" It's your brother god damnit. He may be a bastard, I know that, but he is your goddamn brother. You are not a fool Keith, stop acting like one." I raised my eyebrow and bit my lip. Every time someone mentioned the other Scott family my interest peaked and I couldn't stop myself from eavesdropping.

" I know that he's my brother Karen, but I also know what he has done to that poor wife and boy of his. I'm not in the position to forgive and forget about that. No matter how poorly his heart is. He may be my brother but I lost hope in him many years ago. You know that Karen, as well as I do. So I can't believe that my own wife decides to tear me apart over something concerning Dan Scott." Keith voice was low and hurt. I wondered what had happened to Dan and immediately my thoughts went to Nathan. Was he okay?

" It's not all about Dan." Karen's voice was suddenly soft." It's not all about him at all. We haven't visited Deb and Nathan in years and in times like this I really think they need our support. Just because Dan is a jerk doesn't mean we should punish the entire family. Besides Nathan could use another father figure in his life, that boy has got some problems and having you buy his side could be of great help. You always stick up for others, why not for your own family?" Karen pleaded. Keith sighed loudly.

" My wife the good Samaritan." He chuckled." I guess you do have a point… maybe we should pay a visit to the Scott household then after all."