Chapter 4:

"Come on Lucas!"

"I…I...told you...I told you everything" he said shakily

"But I don't believe you!" the detective shouted

"Oh god" he held his head

"I know your covering for you friend!" the detective slammed his fist down

"Please Lucas, we really really need this" the 'good cop' whispered to him.

"I…I told you…" he cried "I TOLD YOU!" he shouted from the top of his lungs.

The detectives looked at him, one got right up in his face.

"Let me just remind you, as you sit here and cover for your best friend…YOUR COVERED IN YOUR GIRLFRIENDS BLOOD!"

Lucas sat up.

It was only the first day of school and he had already fallen asleep in class. But if he was going to have a nightmare every time, perhaps it would be an incentive to stay awake.

The bell rang and everyone evacuated the room.

He found his locker and struggled to get it open. It was stuck. Soon enough the next bell rang and he was late. Giving up, he spun around in a rush.

And there she was. Wandering the halls, completely lost.

"What room are you looking for?" he called out to her.

Willa looked up from her schedule, one of Haley's friends was speaking to her. Was it Lucas? Or was it Jake?

She hadn't been paying much attention.

"Uh…432" she looked up

"Can't be" he smiled as he walked closer to her

"Why is that?" she asked softly

"We only have 300 rooms here" he told her

She tilted her head to the side, studying him intently.

"How can I trust you?" she wondered

"I know the girl in the main office. She has a tendency to flip numbers" Lucas nodded

"Or you could be one of those mean upper class man who send me to the roof"

Lucas pointed to the door right in front of her, 234.

"Try that one" he whispered before making his way down the hall.

She sighed, stomping her foot on the floor. She slowly twisted the knob and opend the door. And their was definitely a class in their. She knew this because every last student including the teacher turned to look at her.

"Is this geometry?" she asked

"Come on in Ms. Gatina"

"I decided that this year, we would just get right to the point since we don't have much time" the health teacher bellowed.

It was only a semester class.

"Which means…it's project time, my favorite time" everybody groaned.

Rachel looked around, she kind of liked school. And projects were easy A's so…she didn't see the problem.

"I'll be pairing you up-"

There was the problem

"And you'll be doing a 5 minute presentation on your topic"

"Do we choose our own topic?" a girl asked

"You could say that" the teacher motioned to a hat, that they would pull from.

She began pairing students up.

Finally she arrived at Rachel's desk.

"You and…you" she pointed to the back of the room.

She bit down on her lip and slowly turned around.

Nathan Scott was seated in the last seat of the last row, that was her partner.

The others who had witnessed yesterdays altercation whispered and Rachel sank down in her seat.

Perfect.

"Ok ladies, single file" the teacher sat back down at his desk "than get with your partner"

Rachel slowly stood from her seat and got in line. She looked up once to see if Nathan was interested in doing this at all.

His head was down.

Finally it was her turn and she put her hand in and pulled out a sheet. She opend it up.

'Drunk Driving'

Her heart sank. She didn't know what type of car accident Brooke had died in, but she figured anything that had to do with burning automobiles was a bad thing.

"Hi…excuse me. Is there any way I can trade my pick, or pick again-"

"All selections are final" the teacher smiled

"No, I don't think you understand-"
"Sure I do" the teacher nodded.

"Please I-"

A whistle echoed through the room and Rachel turned around.

Nathan was motioning for he to come to his desk.

"Better not keep him waiting" the teacher rolled his eyes as she got back to her work.

Rachel took a deep breath and slowly walked over to Nathan. He finally looked at her when she arrived.

His piercing blue eyes stared at her, his chiseled jaw was set. He was emotionless.

"Well?" he asked her

She looked down at the paper again. She folded it up and put it on his desk.

Crossing her arms, she waited for him to pick it up and look at it.

And when he did, all the color drained from his face.

"Let's go, son" the cops walked him down a large corridor.

"My hands hurt" he whispered. The cuffs were to tight.

"That's the least of your worries" the officer laughed.

They sat him down in a chair just as a nurse was walking in.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, but nobody answered him.

The nurse opened a needle and jabbed him. He winced.

"We're taking some blood. To find out how much you've been drinking"

"But I already told you-"

"Save it" he told him.

"Anything else you need?" the nurse asked him.

"No" he shook his head

"Because I can exchange it" she informed him.

"What?" he asked her

"I can exchange it"

"I said, I can exchange it, if you want" Rachel said for the third time.

Nathan looked up at her.

"Now why would I do that?" he asked

She stood their, she had no freaking idea what to say.

"I just thought-"

"Come over around 7, the quicker its done, the better" he whispered.

"Ok" she nodded

She sat down in a nearby chair. Wondering if he had anything else to say.

He put his head down.

Apparently he was done talking.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Willa asked

"I think challenging him would be worse" Rachel explained what happened in class.

"But he's a monster" Darcy reminded her

"It was just a misunderstanding" Rachel shook her head

"But he's-"

"Listen!" Haley said loudly, the girls looked at her, shocked.
Haley took a breathe, she couldn't let them speak this way.

"Nathan…is harmless" she shrugged "She'll be fine…you'll be fine" she nodded.

"We're sitting here" Lucas announced as he appeared at the table and Jake sat down.

"Do you think he'll come over here?" Jake wondered

"We'll find out in a minute"

Lucas, Jake and Haley watched as Nathan exited the kitchen with his meal. He made directed eye contact with them.

It seemed as though he was walking towards them, but at the last minute he turned and sat at another table, with another guy.

"Who is that?' Jake asked confused

"His name is Stephen" Haley informed them "He works for my dad" she added

"At least he's not alone" Lucas watched.

Late in the day Haley had managed to earn herself a bathroom pass. But she found the most unlikeliest of people in the hall.

"Stephen right?" she smiled

"Yea" he nodded as he looked up.

"I uh…I have your shirt in my locker" she tried to make conversation

"Oh, ok" he nodded as he leaned against his locker.

"Anyways" she shook her head "I was just wondering…did…Nathan…say anything-"

"About you?" He asked

Did she like him.

"Well not about me specifically," she laughed "Just…anything in general" she blushed.

"Um…" he thought "I don't know, it would be helpful if I new what you were looking for" he told her

"Ok" she crossed her arms "Anything about the past couple of months…about his sister?" she whispered

"I didn't know he had a sister"

"Well he doesn't…I mean he does, it's just-"

"How can you have a sister…and than not have a sister?" Stephen asked confused

"You know what, this was a mistake. I'm sorry" she laughed as she turned away.

But Stephen grabbed her hand and she stopped. They were standing closely.

"If he, says anything…about…anything…I'll let you know" he said softly.

"thanks" she smiled as she slipped out of his grasp.

Stephen watched her go, her hips swaying side to side.

The boss would not appreciate this.

Rachel stood at the curb, in front of Nathan Scott's monster of a house. It had at least three stories. She could see the swimming pool from where she stood.

The basketball hoop swayed with a gust of wind.

She slowly made her way up the steps and hesitantly rang the bell.

The door quickly opened, a petite blonde looked shocked.

"Hi, I'm Rachel…I'm looking for Nathan?" she asked slowly

"OH" Deb said with excitement "Come on in, come on" she waved the girl inside.

It had been a long time since anybody had been in the house, let alone since Nathan had brought home a friend.

"Um..he's up in his room. Second door on your left" Deb nodded

"Ok, thanks" she smiled as she made her way up the steps.

She glanced over her shoulder. Deb was still at the bottom of the steps, smiling. She nodded in approval.

Rachel found this whole situation to be a bit awkward. As she climbed the stairs she noticed things…that were…off, about the home.

Pictures were face down. The walls had discolored squares were pictures had been removed. There was a dying plant in the corner.

She came to the second door on the left and lifted her arm to knock.

"Mom!" the door swung open before she touched it, she jumped back

"Oh" Nathan stared at her and than his watch. He looked over his shoulder, Rachel followed his glance.

His room looked as though it had exploded, clothes thrown about, posters have ripped of the wall, the curtain rod was hanging off on one side.

"We can work down stairs" he said as he closed the door behind him.

She nodded, following him back down the stairs.

"Are you hungry sweetie?" Deb put her arm on Nathan's shoulder and he shrugged her away.

"No" he grunted

"How about you Rachel?" Deb followed them.

"No Thank you, I-"

"She's fine" Nathan stated as he grabbed Rachel around the waist and shoved her through a door, slamming the door shut behind them.

Rachel stood still in the dark. She didn't know what she was supposed to do.

Nathan flicked a light switch and light revealed that they were in a stairwell.

"It's just a basement" he told her

He nudged passed her and went down the stairs, she followed. To her surprise, it was just a finished basement. A pool table in the corner, a couch. Normal.

"Here" he handed her a lap top and she sat down, opening it up.

She began to boot up the computer, she watched as he grabbed a beer.

"Want one?" he asked her

"uh, no" she shook her head.

He shrugged opening his and taking the seat across from her. He than turned the television on.

"You know" she whispered and he looked at her "I can just do this myself-"

"What you think I can't do a stupid project?" he asked her

"No, I just thought that because-"

"Because of the accident I wouldn't want to?"

"I don't know anything-"

"Right, you don't" he whispered

She bit down on her lip. He clicked the television off.

"Do you have any ideas about the presentation?" He asked her.

"Um…I figured, probably a power point or something?" she asked

"Sounds good" he nodded "You look up statistics, I'll find penalties. Or something" he whispered as he sat down at another computer in the corner.

Rachel nodded to herself, opening the web browser. She typed in 'drunk driving', clicking the search button.

Numerous links pulled up, but one caught her eye.

Fatal Crash in Rural North Carolina dated June 6. The subscript was ominous.

Teenage girl killed in Tree Hill.

She looked up at Nathan, he still had his back to her. She clicked on the link.

It took a moment to load because their was a picture. She watched as the picture downloaded, from what she could make out, it was a horrific scene none the lease. Their were ambulances and cop cars in the background. But the focal point was as Black Expedition wrapped around a tree…twice.

She wasn't sure if she would have time to read the whole thing so she quickly skimmed it, certain things catching her eye.

Driver and three passengers

Joy ride.

Drunk.

No seatbelts.

Dead on the scene.

Driver…arrested.

She scrolled down, there was another link, to a related story. She clicked it.

She looked up, Nathan was still busy.

The page took forever to load. But when it did. It revealed one thing and only one thing.

Nathan's mug shot.

She gasped. Nathan turned around.

"What?" he asked her

"Nothing" she slapped the computer shut.

"You look like your going to pass out" he told her

She ran a hand across her forehead. She was drenched with sweat.

"I'm burning up" she laughed nervously.

Nathan stood and walked over to the thermostat, lowering the temperature. When he turned around she was removing her heavy sweat shirt, revealing a spaghetti strap tank top.

He looked the other way.

"Did you find anything?" he asked her

"Nothing helpful" she held her head.

He nodded. It was than that he saw her arm, a purple handprint had surfaced on her skin.

"Sorry…about that" he pointed.

Rachel looked down at her arm

"It's nothing, I bruise really easily" she nodded

Especially when manhandled.

"Sometimes…" he whispered "I just loose it and…I cant control my temper" he explained softly.

He sat back down on the couch.

"You probably thing I'm a monster" he chuckled.

"I don't judge" she shook her head.

In her line of work, it would be impossible.

"It's not normal, is it? To have rage black outs? Is it?" he looked at her.

"It's probably just a symptom of-"

"Trauma?" He asked her

She shrugged.

Apparently he wasn't interested in her opinion.

"That's what the doctors said, the gave me medicine, but it doesn't really work, just makes me tired" he shrugged.

Why was he opening up to her? He didn't know, perhaps it was her heavy brown eyes, ridden with sadness, that compelled him. Perhaps she could understand his plight.

"Sometimes I just…I must be a bad person" he shrugged as he sat back.

"I doubt that" she shook her head.

"Oh yea?" he smiled

She had guts.

"Your not a bad person" she whispered

"How do you know?" he sat forward again.

She looked up

"Because I know bad people"