This is my newest story… tears in heaven. Enjoy and REVIEW!
Angels don't have genders. Angels are not boys or girls. They're simply… angels. They have names, just not normal ones.
Phaet was just another angel, whose job was to help every single soul that got lost on the journey and to help them find the right path. Phaet wasn't able to feel and didn't need to.
Angels are meant to last forever, for all eternity. Someone that feels never lasts, and that's the price humanity pays for feeling. Humans die and make the passage.
Flashback:
For the first time in centuries, god called Phaet.
"There's a soul that worries me. If the boy doesn't find his way, although he has a good heart, he will be doomed. He needs guidance." Examining Phaet's reaction, he continued: "I've decided to send you to his world. Your task will be to change him the best way you can. Once you're done, you'll come back. But I have to warn you though, that you will have a human body. You will feel like every other human. You will be human."
Phaet nodded in agreement and asked:
"How will I know how to behave among them? I don't know their habits or their routines… How long will I be there? What if I don't succeed?"
God simply replied: "One step at a time. You will have training in human habits and needs, but the rest, only time will tell. Whether you succeed or not, don't force his change. Always remember that you're there to guide, not to rule. Your heart will tell you what to do."
"Heart?" Phaet repeated, confused.
God smiled. "Soon, you'll know what I'm talking about. Now go, he is waiting."
End of flashback.
That was the last she had seen of heaven. She, yeah, now she was a girl. Pretty beautiful, actually. Her new name was Haley James and her old one, Phaet, had to be left behind. That had been one of the first lessons of the training.
There, she had learned the human race 101. How to dress, how to fit in, how to talk properly, but most importantly, how to react to others.
Haley looked down her body. She studied it carefully, trying to identify every part of her new anatomy. She had hands, legs, feet, hair… everything seemed to be in the right place. At least, she was a normal girl.
Examining her surroundings, Haley figured she should be in a public restroom. She had been informed she would be dropped at a school. The boy she was supposed to guide was somewhere around the place. Haley could feel him.
To feel, that sure was a new thing. It was nice to feel, smell, touch… Her hands were soft and warm, but the bathroom's tiles were hard and cold. There were so many new things at the same time, it was completely overwhelming.
Fumbling with the bathroom's door lock, Haley managed to get it open, now facing a crowded hallway.
As soon as she turned around, she bumped into another girl and almost fell.
The girl quickly smiled and apologized: "I'm so sorry! I should pay attention to my feet. You're new here, right?" Haley nodded. The girl quickly introduced herself: "I'm Brooke Davis."
Haley examined the girl. The pretty brunette had dark brown hair, green eyes and a dazzling smile.
Realizing Brooke was expecting an answer, Haley quickly replied: "Haley James. I just transferred from Europe."
"Europe? Really? That's awesome! But you don't have any kind of accent…" Haley smiled. The speech she had been practicing for weeks fit perfectly as an answer.
"I grew up in the U.S., but my father is a diplomat, so I spent the last years in Europe with him. We lived in France, Italy, Portugal, Nederland and England. But my parents wanted me to attend college here, so they sent me to their hometown to finish High School. This is my first day here."
Brooke nodded. She liked this girl. Haley had something different about her. As captain of the cheerleading squad and queen been of the school she felt compelled to help this girl to fit in. And who better for Haley's status than Brooke Davis?
"You should try out for cheerleading. I'm captain of the squad and I personally think that it would be a shame to loose such a hottie. You're too pretty to be unpopular. The tryouts are today at 4 p.m. I know you don't have time to train a routine but since I have the final word, if you manage to do a few spins, high kicks and handstands, you'll be fine. You interested?" Brooke finally asked.
Haley nodded quickly: "I would be silly if I wasn't."
Glancing at her watch, she figured that it was already lunch time. "My lunch break is now, do you mind if I sit with you? I don't really know anyone." Brooke smiled. "Sure traveler girl! Come on, my friends are already waiting for me at our table."
"Hey guys! Did you start without me?" Brooke greeted her friends, dropping her books on the lunch table. "I want you to meet someone." The other six heads immediately turned around to face Brooke and Haley.
Haley examined the group. One boy instantly won her attention. It was him, the boy she was supposed to guide. No one had showed her a picture of the boy but they had told her that she would be able to tell who he was when she found him.
The boy was gorgeous. "He doesn't look lost to me at all! I guess hot guys can need guidance too." Interrupting her thoughts, Brooke started the introductions:
"Guys, this is Haley James." Although some more enthusiastic than the others, everyone said Hi. "She just transferred from Europe."
A curly blond girl instantly introduced herself: "I'm Peyton, although Brooke loves to call me P. Sawyer. Europe, really? That's cool."
Haley started to reply, but Brooke quickly interrupted: "This girl" pointing to the blonde "is Peyton Sawyer, my bestest friend. The guys next to her…" indicating a blond boy and a dark haired one, "are the Scott brothers. The blond, Lucas, is my boyfriend. I know he is hot, but he is taken. The not so nice one is my dear friend Nathan. He's a jerk, but deep down he's a sweet guy. Plus, he's hot too!"
Nathan eyed Brooke and with a scowl, replied:
"Don't talk like I'm not here, Brooke."
Nathan Scott. That was his name. Haley could tell why he needed guidance. His voice was so empty, had such a lack of affection.
Brooke finally introduced the last three.
"Those are Bevin, Skills and Mouth."
"Hi." Haley replied weakly. Peyton instantly sensed her discomfort and motioned for her to sit beside her while they ate.
"So" Peyton started "Tell us something about you."
"Depends on what you want to know." Haley replied.
"What do you think of the U.S.?" Haley smiled. She liked everything… the human world in general. "I really like it. I've been here before, for like three years, when I was five. It's different from Europe. I can't say which one is better, because they're so different, but awesome at the same time."
Lucas also interested in the conversation, asked: "What kind of sports do you watch there?"
Peyton smirked. "I would be surprised if your question wasn't about sports."
Haley, ignoring Peyton, answered: "Soccer is the most important sport there. Everyone is obsessed about it. Here you guys have basketball, baseball or American football. We don't have any of that. I mean, we have those kinds of sports, but they're not nearly as important as they are here."
This seemed to catch Nathan's attention.
"You mean there's no basketball there? How do you guys survive?" Lucas nodded, seeming to share his brother's opinion.
Haley knew almost everything about the group. She was an angel after all. Or former angel… whatever she was right now.
She knew Peyton loved arts and music and that Brooke was much deeper than she made everybody believe. But even knowing all this, Haley had to act like a complete foreigner, so she decided that it would be best to play dumb.
"I see you're high on basketball…" Of course she knew they played basketball. Focusing her attention on Nathan, she gently asked: "Do you play it?"
Brooke just laughed. "You got to be the only person on this school that doesn't know their basketball pedigree. Nathan's been playing for the ravens since he was a freshman. He is the star of the team. Every single girl in this school drools over him. Lucas just joined the team last year. But he is just as good!"
"Thanks baby." Lucas promptly thanked, bending his head a little to give Brooke a little peck.
Haley was trying to take everything in.
Brooke and Peyton were nice girls. They could not be the most perfect beings, but they had good hearts. Considering what both of them had been through, it would be understandable if they had turned out to be little devils, or just careless and detached, like Nathan was.
Over lunch, she realized that Skills and Bevin were a couple and, although Bevin wasn't overly bright, she was fun. Mouth, Skills, Nathan and Lucas seemed to get along really well, and that made Nathan even more complex. She had seen him be broody, funny, jerk, cocky and eventually nice for half an hour.
The size of his ego was just overwhelming. He was good and he knew it.
Haley felt some kind of attraction towards those artic blue eyes, like a magnet, but he didn't seem too fond of her. She guessed he would come around. He just didn't look like a guy that trusted easily.
Towards the end of their lunch, while everyone ate dessert, Haley searched through her backpack. It contained some books, a pencil case and a random sheet of paper.
Withdrawing the sheet of paper, Haley quickly read the words on it, written in some kind of golden ink.
Haley,
Only you can read this message. There's a timetable and a number below.
Show them to the boy. He'll know what to do.
At first, he'll be the one guiding you. Soon, it will be your turn.
From now on, you are strictly human. You won't get answers from me or from anyone.
Everything you do it'll be by yourself. When you complete your mission, I'll give you a sign. It can be months or years from now.
That is yet to be written.
When you get the sign, you'll know that your time on earth is coming to an end.
Good luck. Spread good, make mistakes, have fun and…live. But never forget your mission.
I'll see you around
Shivers ran down her spine. Suddenly, she was scared. Why would Nathan guide her? When would she need to come back? Would she want to go? It was all so uncertain…
Brooke quickly brought her down from her reverie: "Haley, Nathan asked you what classes you have next?" Haley, almost ignoring Brooke, walked over to Nathan and handed him the sheet.
"Can you tell me where this locker is? A lady gave it to me when she gave me my timetable… I forgot to ask her."
Nathan grabbed the sheet and replied: "23? That's my jersey number. It's kind of creepy that my jersey number is the same as your locker… Come with me, I'll take you there."
Haley nodded and he smirked. Nathan seemed awfully pleased with himself.
Grabbing her backpack, she quickly said goodbye to the others and thanked Brooke for her kindness.
Following Nathan down the hall, she nudged him lightly and asked: "What are smirking about?" Nathan's smirk just grew wider. "Does it bother you?"
Haley rolled her eyes. This wouldn't be an easy task. "Just stop it."
"Yeah?" he replied "Then why did you ask me to show your locker? You are just like every other girl, darling. You wanted me to come with you. Don't worry, I'm used to it."
Haley chuckled. He sure got some nerve.
"Please! Of course I did! You're "supposedly" the hottest guy in school. It'll be good for my reputation to be seen with you. You don't mind, do you?"
Nathan looked at her, surprised. While this girl seemed confident and experienced, her eyes told him a different story. He could see an innocence that he had never seen on a seventeen year old before. Almost childlike. With this girl, he knew he could play around a little bit.
"In fact, I do." Nathan walked over to her, forcing Haley to walk backwards, until he had her trapped against the wall. Moving one finger to lift her chin to him, he spoke in a stern voice: "Do not mess with me… If you wanna survive in this school... don't! Actually, you should just get over yourself and admit you are way into me."
Haley tried to ignore the shiver than ran down her spine when his finger touched her skin. In a matter of seconds, Haley didn't even realize what got over her. She had slapped "the" Nathan Scott square on the face. Observing Nathan's surprised look, she just replied: "If there's someone getting crushed in this school, it sure as hell ain't me! And you say I should get over myself? Please… you're ridiculous! I'll find my locker alone, thank you very much."
With that, she turned her back and walked away, leaving a furious Nathan behind.
Nathan didn't know what to think about this girl. She had spunk, he got to giver that. She was beautiful and original… but also a spoiled brat. And too virginal to be his girl. There was no way he would ever date such a goody two shoes.
Actually, Nathan Scott didn't date. He just fooled around.
This girl covered herself with a confidence wall to hide her true innocent self. He had been with so many bitches and sluts that he could recognize one within a minute. Haley wasn't that type of girl.
But, no matter what, no one messed with Nathan, and Haley wouldn't be the first to.
Haley's school day slowly came to an end. Surprisingly, Haley hadn't found any difficulties in her new subjects. She had English and Calculus with Lucas, Western civ. with Brooke, Biology with Mouth and Peyton and Spanish with Skills, Bevin and Nathan. Ph. Ed. was the only class she had alone.
She tried to avoid Nathan all day. Haley couldn't understand what she was supposed to do. How could she "save" him? What was that even supposed to mean?
He was a heartless jerk and she wasn't expecting him to get better anytime soon. For now, she just intended to go to the cheerleader tryouts. Brooke had been really nice to invite her into the cheerleading squad and Haley wasn't about to refuse.
She wanted to make real friends and Brooke and Peyton were the best candidates for the part yet.
When Haley arrived to the auditorium where the tryouts were being held, she realized that the place was packed. Brooke spotted Haley and waved towards her, motioning for her to sit in one of the nearest chairs. Soon enough, Peyton was right beside her.
"Shouldn't you be up there with Brooke?" Peyton shrugged. "I took a break. Those girls suck anyway. But actually, I'm here to help you. Come with me." Standing up, Peyton motioned for Haley to follow her.
Doing as she had been told, Haley quickly found herself in the girl's locker room. "What are we doing here?" Peyton gave her a pair of sneakers, a dark pink tank top and black Nike track pants. "You don't plan on doing high kicks with jeans on, right?" Haley smiled.
"Thank you, but I'm a little lost here… there's no cheerleading in Europe, so I don't really know what I'm supposed to do! I mean, what's a routine anyway?" Peyton looked at her, astonished: "Wow! Brooke and I thought you would be a little unprepared, but not completely clueless. Ok, let's start from the beginning. In our school, the most important school is basketball. We cheer in every basketball game. Basically, we shake our pom poms and cheer "go ravens" and that kind of stuff. But sometimes, we have cheerleading competitions, so we need to prepare routines. A routine is a mix of dance and gymnastics. So… you think you can handle it?"
"Seems fun. Can you give some tips so I can ace this thing?" Peyton smiled. "In fact, I can. Watch a bit of this in Whitey's office. It's a tape from one of ours last year's routines. You can totally copy that it. I have the music on my ipod so don't worry about it. There are so many girls out there that you must have a good couple of hours."
Haley nodded. "Thank for doing this." Peyton shrugged and replied: "It's nothing! I gotta go now. Don't worry we won't be too tough on you."
Haley changed into the clothes that Peyton had given her and stepped in Whitey's office. In the next two hours, Haley did her best to memorize the choreography and tried to synchronize herself with the music.
When Brooke waltzed in to tell her she would be next, Haley was already ready to go. She was nervous, but the dance wasn't too hard and the song was catchy, so Haley felt somehow confident.
Besides, the others girls had sucked and she was their last hope.
Positioning herself in front of the table where Brooke and Peyton were sat and asked: "Can I start?" Brooke smiled. "We are ready when you are." Haley breathed slowly in and out a couple of times and started her routine.
By the moment Haley finished, Brooke and Peyton were completely surprised. They figured that they would be doing Haley a favor by letting her join the squad, but she totally deserved it. The choreography was well coordinated and Brooke was honestly surprised that she had learned it in a couple of hours. Shyly, Haley asked: "How was it?" Peyton beamed and replied: "Girl, you are so in!" Brooke nodded. "Yeah!" They both got up and hugged Haley. "Welcome to the squad!"
Exactly in that moment, Lucas approached them and congratulated Haley: "Really good, Haley. I surely won't mind to see you cheer for us." Haley blushed, embarrassed.
"Oh…"Said a voice from behind Lucas. "Isn't that cute? She's blushing! I got to give it up to you Haley; I never saw a cheerleader blush… and I've seen cheerleaders doing almost everything. If you know what I mean…" Brooke snorted.
"Yeah Nathan, 'cause you blush everyday… Don't be such a jerk! We don't need to know what happens beneath your sheets. Just trouser it!" Haley turned to the other side, trying to avoid eye contact with Nathan.
"You should know me by now Brooke. It's not because you tell me to stop that I will. I'm not whipped like Lucas."
"Please…" Lucas said with exasperation. His brother loved to joke with his relationship with Brooke. Turning to Haley, he advised: "Don't pay attention to my little brother, Haley. He's used to being a spoiled brat and a jackass."
With a smirk, Nathan replied: "Only with girls that blush around me."
Haley's cheeks turned into an even deeper shade of crimson. She simply spat: "Or maybe with girls that slap you in the middle of the hallway."
Nathan's cocky smirk quickly turned into a scowl. Brooke, Peyton and Lucas laughed their asses out.
"Dude" Lucas said, turning to his brother "You got slapped by Haley?"
Brooke and Haley high fived and Peyton congratulated the newest cheerleader.
Nathan got furious. They should be defending him, not congratulating the skank. "Thanks for the support guys" he said to the others "I'll be sure to return the favor." And walked away.
"Oops" Lucas said "I guess we pissed him off! We'll grovel for forgiveness later." Haley chuckled. "He is so easy to tease… although he tries to get on my nerves every five minutes."
Brooke nodded and replied, still laughing: "I've known Nathan for a long time and I've never see him loose a fight, let alone get slapped by a girl. Well, at least before he even kissed the girl… I guess you really hurt his ego."
"And his ego is pretty big." Peyton piped in. "Yeah" Haley giggled "I've noticed!"
"But he's not a real jerk. He just doesn't trust easily." Lucas calmly stated.
Suddenly, a petite old woman approached them. "Haley James?" The woman asked.
"It's me." Everyone wondered if Haley had already gotten in trouble in her first day of school. "Your father called."
"My father? But he's in Europe." The lady smiled. "He called to tell you that this is the address of your new apartment." She handed Haley a sheet of paper and continued. "He also asked to tell you that the real estate guy put the front door keys under the mate." Haley smiled, confused. Her father? She guessed god's staff had taken care of that too. She knew she would be living alone, so that wasn't a surprise. "Thank you."
"You welcome honey!" The lady replied, before walking away.
As soon as she left, Brooke shrieked excitedly. "Wow, you'll live alone. That's pretty cool."
"Why? You guys don't live alone?" Brooke shrugged and said: "Nate is the only one of us that really does, he is emancipated. Lucas lives with his mother. Peyton and I live with our parents in theory, but the majority of the time we are alone: Peyton's dad works at the sea and mine mostly ignore me."
"Nathan is emancipated? But thought Nathan and Lucas were brothers…"
Lucas replied: "We are. But we just share the same dad, who is an ass. I live with my mother and Nathan used to live with his mother and our dad. But he kept pushing Nathan and he got sick of it. He emancipated himself about two months ago."
No wonder he's so messed up, Haley thought. "Complex family! Guys, it was really good to hang out, but I got to go. I'm so excited to see my new apartment!" Giggling, she turned to Brooke and Peyton. "Thanks for everything girls. See you tomorrow?"
"Definitely." Both girls replied. After saying her goodbyes, Haley left towards the school entrance, intending to grab a taxi to meet her new home.
Ten minutes later, Haley was already examining the neighborhood. It seemed nice and quite. Climbing the stairs, Haley checked her apartment's number. She lifted the rug and retrieved the keys. Opening the door, she noticed that the house was completely furnished. The decoration was young and tasteful and agreed with her personality.
She could almost see the entire house from the front door and she loved every bit of it. The kitchen and the living room were connected, but pretty and spaceful. Haley noticed four other doors.
The first she opened was a bathroom, the second was a closet, the third was her bedroom and the fourth was some kind of study.
It had shelves in every wall (except the window) with loads of books, DVDs and CDs all over them. Near the window lay a desk with school books on top of it. On the floor, there was a big fluffy with rug and two orange beanbags. Haley had a feeling this would be her favorite division. It was cozy, comfortable and it felt very intimate, almost like a happy place.
Haley wondered through the house again and found that the refrigerator was stocked and that her closet was full of clothes.
After finishing her homework, Haley searched through the DVD's in her study and picked one called "The Notebook". She felt that she still didn't know a lot from the human's world and she figured books and films would help her understand. Brooke and Lucas, for example, they were a couple. She knew what that meant in god's eyes, but what did that mean through human eyes? How did it felt to be in love? What are lovers supposed to do? She knew married people had a certain kind of relationship that created other human beings, in order to keep the human race alive.
But that was what she had been told. Haley doubted that she knew the whole truth. She knew the romanticized version of the world. She needed to know the whole truth.
Inserting the DVD in the living's room player, Haley sat on the sofa and enjoyed the movie.
Little did Haley know…
"I hate that chick!" Nathan fumed around his apartment. Lucas laughed: "Nathan sit down and eat something. What did Haley do that bothered you that much? You usually don't get so worked up over a slap. And you know you've received millions of them."
Nathan shrugged. "Yeah, but normally they slap me after I've dumped them or after I say they were nothing more than a one nightstand. But this girl slapped me even before I kissed her. I wasn't even being a full jerk. To top it all, you guys laughed in my face." Lucas smiled again. "Sorry bro, but it was irresistible! You got to admit that the girl has balls." Nathan scoffed. "I just don't like her."
Lucas got up and headed towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow at school. Oh, thanks for the dinner. And about Haley… you two will get used to each other pretty soon." Nathan picked up a chip and replied: "See you tomorrow." Lucas got out, closing the door behind him.
"Don't worry Lucas. I'll tame her pretty soon, and when I do, she won't know what hit her." Nanthan said, with a Scott tradeamrk smirk.
The next day, Haley hurried towards school. She had fallen asleep at the end of the film. The first day of her human life had been exhausting, and the film hadn't helped one bit. Haley was amazed by the amount of stuff she didn't know. Couples did a lot more than hug, there were diseases that made people their own lives and love was much more than she thought it was. It seemed surreal that two people could be connected by such a strong bond. Haley wondered how that felt like.
She wondered if Brooke and Lucas felt that connection in its purest form and if their relationship was real. Haley made a mental not to ask that to Brooke later on.
She walked towards school quickly, glancing at her watch every now and then to assure she wouldn't be late. Her mind was everywhere, running a thousand miles per minute.
When she crossed the road in front of Tree Hill High, Haley didn't notice a car heading towards her.
Nathan bobbed his head to the beat of the newest Eminem CD. "You don't know" blasted through his car and Nathan hummed along with it. When he made the last turn he was supposed to do before he arrived to his designated spot in the parking lot, his keys fell to the floor in the passenger's seat. Nathan bended to grab them, when he heard a big thud against the car, making him instantly hit the breaks. Luckily, he had slowed down the car to grab his keys.
Looking around he found Haley lying on the floor, completely passed out.
So, did you like it? Do you think it's worth continuing? Tell me all your thoughts, by reviewing!
The more you review, the more I update. ( And I can assure you that the next chapter will be juicy).
Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language…
Take care
Coheny