Chapter Four
Sorry for the delay! Have been on holidays. Thank you to everybody who reviewed. To KTxx – Maybe is on hiatus for now, but I definitely want to get it finished :)
"You know those awkward moments when you're walking down the hallway and someone is walking in the same path as you in the opposite direction?" Brooke started as she closed the door to their dorm. "And then you try to step out of their way but then they go the same way as you and you have to do that stupid laugh to not make it awkward?"
Haley smiled. "Yeah."
"Yeah, well I just ran into that Nick guy in the hallway and it happened," Brooke said. "And we both kept moving the same way so he grabbed my hands and kept me there while he walked around me."
"I'm failing to see the point of the story." Peyton remarked.
"He touched me. It was an amazing moment." Brooke replied before adding, "He's really hot!"
Haley laughed while Peyton rolled her eyes.
"It's the little things." Peyton commented to Haley.
"Anyway," Brooke interjected. "I asked him about you and Cam, Haley."
Haley's eyes widened. "What? Why would you do that? I've told you everything!"
"I know," Brooke said. "I just wanted to know what Cam had told Nick."
"Which was what?" Peyton asked.
"That Cam really liked her but he wants them to date properly." Brooke rattled off.
Haley groaned. "Why can't guys ever be okay with a non-committed relationship?"
Peyton and Brooke shared a look and then laughed.
Haley rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. The irony!"
"Would it be so bad if he was your boyfriend?" Brooke asked sensitively. "I mean, it's not like you're going to be with anyone else in the meantime."
Haley stiffened. "You know why he can't be my boyfriend."
"Yeah, I know." Brooke replied. "I just thought maybe it might make things easier..."
"It won't." Haley cut her off. "Look, can we just not talk about this? I'll be ready when I'm ready."
Peyton and Brooke nodded.
"Soo," Brooke said in an attempt to clear the air. "Who's totally psyched about next weekend, huh?"
Haley's smile returned.
"I knew we'd all be able to go." Brooke continued, referring to the Annual Duke Devil's Weekend that they'd made the team for. "It would have been even better if that Gigi girl didn't get in too though."
"What? I thought you liked Gigi?" Peyton asked.
"Yeah, I did but then she started talking." Brooke said with an unimpressed look on her face. "Everything that came out of her mouth was so stupid, and I mean, that's coming from me. Like seriously, she is so dumb. And that annoying laugh that she does every five seconds makes me want to punch her in the face."
Haley laughed. "Agreed."
"Woah, since when do you make such quick judgements about people?" Peyton asked Haley inquisitively.
"Since now, I guess." Haley responded with a shrug. "There's just something about her that's not quite right. Or maybe I just have a low tolerance for idiots."
Brooke sniggered and gave Haley a high five.
"Haley! Don't encourage Brooke." Peyton exclaimed.
"Sorry, I'm just kidding." Haley said. "Sort of."
"Well, I wasn't kidding." Brooke said flatly. "Anyway, I'm just psyched that we get to go. We have to figure out room arrangements by the way."
"Room arrangements?" Peyton asked confused.
"Yeah," Brooke replied. "You know how everybody is getting switched around."
Peyton and Haley groaned.
"Don't be like that." Brooke reprimanded. "I'm still trying to scope out who I want to be roomed with, but I'm thinking Nick is the way to go."
"Ever occurred to you that he may not want that?" Peyton asked.
Brooke gave Peyton a look that basically said 'what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about?'
"Oh, please." Brooke said, dismissing her comment with a flick of her wrist. "But back to room switching. That girl Stacy off the squad is organising it. So far she's with Connor, Jessica's with Brandon, Amy is with Jake..."
"Wait, what?" Peyton asked. "Amy is with Jake? As in Jagielski?"
"Yeah, apparently they met at the cafeteria last week and now she's obsessed with him." Brooke replied.
Peyton nodded. She and Jake had gone out in high school. It was weird hearing about him and another girl. She wasn't really sure how she felt about it.
"Anyway," Brooke continued. "As I was saying, Amy with Jake, hopefully me with Nick, Gigi with...oh, um..." Brooke stumbled on her words, realising she was too late to stop herself.
"Gigi with Nathan." Haley finished for Brooke.
"Yeah," Brooke said awkwardly. "Sorry."
"Don't be." Haley replied. "They deserve each other. Besides, it makes me happy to think about how annoyed he is going to get after spending five minutes with that airhead."
Peyton smiled. "That's the spirit."
"So Haley, should I ask for you to be put with Cam?" Brooke asked excitedly.
"Uhh, no I don't think so." Haley said scrunching up her face.
"Why not?" Brooke demanded.
"We're not even going out Brooke." Haley replied. "Besides, I'd rather just room with Peyton. She doesn't have anyone either."
"Uhh yeah, but I'm sure any guy off the team would be happy to room with her." Brooke replied in her bouncy tone of voice. "Come on Haley, its college. This is what it's all about."
"I'll think about it." Haley said.
"Good." Brooke nodded in triumph. "Okay, now get your lazy asses off that couch, we have practise!"
Peyton groaned before lifting herself off the couch and dragging herself to her room to get changed. Haley remained sitting on the couch cross legged with a pout on her face.
"You know," She said. "I'm really beginning to regret this whole cheerleading thing."
Nathan felt a large thud against his head and jolted in his bed.
"What the..." He said, squinting his eyes at the harsh daylight to see Lucas above him. He had obviously thrown a pillow at his head.
"Get up." Lucas ordered. "We have practise."
"Lucas, it's Tuesday." Nathan said in an annoyed tone, rolling over in his bed to put his face in the pillows. "We don't have basketball practise on Tuesday's."
"Yeah usually, but this week we do." Lucas replied. "Did you not read your emails?"
"Who the hell reads the school emails?" Nathan asked.
"Uh, everyone that goes here." Lucas responded with raised eyebrows. "Coach wants to put in an extra practise this week to prepare for the game this weekend."
"Why?" Nathan whined. "We are going to crush them, everybody already knows that. Even they do!"
"I know." Lucas said, heading towards the door. "But we still have practise."
Nathan groaned into his pillow.
Nathan followed Lucas into the gym with a hoodie over his head. He really didn't feel like being here. He wasn't in the mood for running or dunking or talking. He just wanted to go back to bed.
Across the gym, Haley, Brooke and Peyton were enduring a painful conversation with Gigi.
"So, this weekend, who are you rooming with Peyton?" Gigi asked with bright eyes and annoyingly high pitch voice for a Tuesday morning.
"Uh, well I was thinking about..." Peyton began to respond, completely uninterested.
"Because I'm rooming with Nathan." Gigi, gushed cutting her off. "Just in case you were thinking about him."
Gigi giggled although everyone knew she was completely serious. Haley rolled her eyes at Gigi's obviousness. She had heard her telling the story of how she was rooming with Nathan this weekend about twenty times already. She just wanted to turn to Gigi and say 'Shut the fuck up!' - and Haley hates to swear.
"Yeah, you've told us." Brooke said bluntly, with a sarcastic smile on her face.
Haley tried to hide her laughter. She was grateful for Brooke's natural bitchiness in situations like this. Sometimes people needed to just be put in their place.
Peyton smirked also as Gigi's face fell.
"Oh, right." Gigi said, trying to recover. "Well I know that everybody else wanted him and he chose me so I just wanted to make sure nobody embarrassed themselves by asking him or something."
Peyton looked at Gigi with utter disbelief and craziness. Who was this girl kidding?
"Yeah well, if you're that secure in the fact that he asked you then you shouldn't be worrying about him shacking up with some other girl this weekend." Peyton said to Gigi, fed up with being nice.
Haley sat in between Brooke and Peyton in delight. She knew she'd chosen her friends well. Gigi frowned at Peyton, scrambling to find a reply as she looked over and saw Haley smiling. Gigi narrowed her eyes at Haley then got up and walked to the opposite side of the gym to start talking to the guys.
"Oh, thank god." Brooke said. "P. Sawyer, I hail you. You made her leave!"
"Somebody had to." Peyton replied as Haley nodded. "I actually felt myself getting dumber as I listened to her speak."
"Yeah, well you have her 2.4 GPA to thank for that." Haley said nonchalantly.
Brooke and Peyton gave her sideways looks. "What?"
"What?" Haley said, sitting up straight. "So I looked up some stuff. I can't figure out how the hell she got in here."
"Looked up some stuff?" Peyton asked with a smile. "Since when are people's GPA's just floating around on the internet?"
"Okay, looked up some files while that front desk lady wasn't watching." Haley said. "Same difference."
Brooke laughed. "That's my girl! Good to see I'm rubbing off on you Hales."
"You've been rubbing off her for months, Brooke." Peyton said a little too seriously, causing Haley to give her an inquisitive look. She didn't want to question what she meant though. She was too afraid of what Peyton would say.
Nathan pulled off his hoodie and dumped it on the side bleachers of the gym. Just as he bent down to grab his water bottle, he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned to see just about the last person he wanted to at this hour. Or at any hour really.
"Oh, hey Gigi." Nathan said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Or at least mildly friendly.
"Hey!"Gigi replied. "Where have you been?"
"What do you mean?" Nathan asked confused.
"Well, I've called you a couple times and you said you were going to James' party on Saturday night and you never showed." Gigi replied, still sounding annoyingly cheery.
Nathan frowned. Who was this girl? She was acting like some possessive girlfriend and they weren't even going out. Hell, he didn't even like her.
"Oh, yeah." Nathan said, trying to come up with some excuse. "My phone broke and I just didn't feel up to it the other night."
"Oh," Gigi said with a smile. "Well we'll make up for lost time this weekend then."
Nathan grimaced. "Yeah...okay, I have to go warm up. See ya."
"Bye!" Gigi called after him.
Nathan proceeded to grab a basketball and start shooting around with the others on the court while they waited for the coach to come out. The cheerleaders assembled on the side of the gym to start practising as Coach K made an appearance.
"Suicides!" The coach yelled without bothering to greet any of the boys. The team immediately put down the basketballs and began running up and down the court.
"Eugh," Brooke said with a disgusted face as she watched the boys run. "Thank god we're not guys. I couldn't deal with all that running or sweating."
"Neither." Haley agreed as she watched the boys continue to run up and down the court, bending down to touch the lines as they went. Nathan was ahead of the rest of them by a mile, but Haley tried not to notice. She averted her eyes to Cam who was running in the middle of the pack. He gave her a smile which seemed to be the best he could manage considering he was running suicides. Haley smiled back and gave him a small wave. She then focused her attention back on Jess who was instructing them on the next moves in their routine.
"Okay, now let's try that again from the top." Jess said to the girls.
They weren't allowed to play music in the gym while the boys were training so Jess called out the counts to the beat instead. As she began to count, the girls heard the booming voice of Coach K from the court again.
"Stop!" He shouted. "Lucas, Nathan. Choose teams, we're having a practise match. Whoever's on Nathan's team, shirts off and keep them on if you're on Lucas'. Quick!"
The team quickly split in two and did as they were instructed.
"That's what I like to see." Gigi said into another cheerleader's ear as she eyed off Nathan. The girls around her giggled.
"Girls!" Jess yelled, getting their attention. "Focus please. I know it's hard, but it's possible."
Haley smiled at Jess. She liked her. She was serious about cheerleading without being too serious. She also seemed to share her disdain for Gigi as well which helped.
The girls continued to run through their routine as the boys played their practise game. On the court, Jake tossed the ball to Nathan who began dribbling it around his feet. He saw that Cam was open but he didn't want to pass it to him. He didn't even want him on his team but he was the last one left so he had to take him. It wasn't that he was a bad player, Nathan just couldn't deal with anything affiliated with her. He shook his head, trying to push the thoughts out of his brain and focus back on who he was going to pass the ball to.
"Nathan!" Cam called out waving his arm.
Nathan rolled his eyes. Yes, I can see you dickhead.
He looked for an opening, getting frustrated with his team members.
"To Came, Nathan!" Coach K yelled.
Nathan groaned then threw it Cam's way. He couldn't have the coach thinking he wasn't as good as he was. Cam caught the ball and threw it to Jake, who was on the opposite side of the court. The side were the cheerleaders were practising. Simon, who was defending Jake, tried to tap the ball before Jake caught it but Jake grabbed it and pulled the ball back while Simon's hand was still on it, causing Simon to fall into Jake. The two boys fell over the side of the court and into the cheerleaders.
"Shit!" Brooke yelled as she was pushed over. Haley fell beside her, as well as Peyton, Gigi and Sarah.
The coach blew the whistle. "What the hell was that!"
Jake and Simon hastily got up and mumbled sorry to each other. They both turned to help the girls up.
"Wait," Jess said noticing Haley wasn't getting up. "Is Haley okay?"
Brooke quickly whipped her head around to see Haley beside her with her eyes shut.
"Shit!" Is she knocked out?" Brooke squealed in fear for her friend and kneeled down beside her.
"Haley! Haley, wake up!"
Peyton was by Haley's other side in a flash doing the same thing. Very quickly the cheerleaders crowded around as well as the basketball team.
On the court, Nathan had been standing in frustration after Simon and Jake fell for them all to get up so they could get on with the game. Although, as soon as he heard that head cheerleader say "Is Haley okay?" his ears pricked up. Nathan lifted his head up trying to see past everyone as to what was going on. As soon as he noticed her on the ground he rushed over.
Haley opened her eyes slowly hearing Brooke and Peyton's voices shouting her name. She saw all the cheerleaders and the basketball team above her as well as Coach K.
"Haley! She's opening her eyes!" Brooke said, with a sound of relief.
Haley tried to pick herself up off the floor. As she began to lift herself up, she felt a familiar rough hand grab her around the waist and lift her to her feet. Once standing, she looked to her side to the last person she was expecting. His blue eyes were so close to hers she could see every emotion running through them. He was worried. Haley became hyper aware of his hands on her body as she looked into his eyes in wonder. As soon as Nathan noticed her looking back at him, his eyes faded back to stone and he let go of her.
"Right, so everyone's fine now?" Nathan asked in an annoyed voice. "Can we get back to it then?"
He then ran back onto the court while everyone else stood looking at each other questioningly for a moment before parting ways. When Nathan picked her up off the ground, they were all confused but after he spoke they put it down to him wanting to get back to practise. Haley looked after Nathan as he ran back onto the court. Maybe he did just want to get on with practise but he was worried for a moment there. She saw it.
"Hey, you need to go the nurse." Coach K said to Haley. "You might have concussion, no more practise for you today."
Peyton and Brooke nodded and took Haley by the hands.
"Go on down," Jess said to them. "Don't worry about the rest of practise today."
"Thanks." Brooke said to Jess as her and Peyton walked Haley out.
"Are you okay?" Peyton asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah," Haley said drowsily, speaking for the first time since she fell. "I think so. My head just hurts a bit."
"Come on," Brooke said seriously. "Let's go to the nurse."
Brooke wasn't serious about a lot of things but when it came to her friends and their safety, she was fiercely protective. They were all she had and she cherished them. She gave Haley's a hand a squeeze as they walked down the corridor. "You'll be fine."
Haley looked in her full length mirror in her room later that day. She had a small concussion and the nurse advised that she rest so Peyton and Brooke had shut her in her room to sleep and weren't letting her out. She examined her head in the mirror. She had a small bump on her forehead that should go down in a couple of days. She sighed as she looked over the rest of her body. She was in a white singlet with her pyjama pants on and her long blonde hair was down and flowing over her shoulders. She began to stare at herself in the mirror, picking her features apart, trying to see what was different about her. Haley couldn't stop thinking about what Peyton had said before.
"You've been rubbing off on her for months, Brooke."
What had she meant by that? Haley knew she was different from the person she was last year. Looking in the mirror she listed everything that was different. She was blonder, thinner, her hair was longer, she more tanned and she wore more make-up. But Haley knew Peyton wasn't talking about the way she looked. Her physical changes were only to due to the changes that had occurred on the inside. They protected her.
Haley continued to stare at herself. She was nicer last year. She never had a bad word to say about anybody and there wasn't a single person she would ignore. Now she was bad mouthing Gigi every chance she got and passing people by in the hallways as if they were nothing. There were so many people she didn't even know the names of. Haley used to pride herself in high school on knowing everybody's names. It disgusted her that there were people that didn't bother to acknowledge others, and now she was one of them.
They weren't the only changes. She cared more about her school work last year. She smiled more last year. She was more carefree, more openly loving, she was quirkier. She was different to everybody else, now she blended. Most of all she was a lot less vain last year. When she would get dressed up she would look in the mirror and think "Yeah, I look okay." She would have things done the way she wanted them and that would be it. She would leave the house and go out and have fun. She never thought she was anything special to look at, she was just Haley. But now she would look in the mirror and admire herself. She was like Brooke in that way, she could point out the things that looked good about herself and say them out loud. She wasn't as direct about it as Brooke was but she still did it. As Haley looked at herself in the mirror now all she wanted to see was her dark hair and average clothes. Maybe she looked better now, but at least she liked the person she used to be.
Haley thought of Nathan picking her off the ground before and shut her eyes to stop the tears from coming. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she opened her eyes and continued to look in the mirror. She couldn't think about that. She couldn't feel good that he was worried, even if it was only for a second, because she knew it was bad. It was bad that he cared anything for her at all, he wasn't supposed to. He hated her. It was the way it was meant to be.
Haley took one more deep breath blinking away any final tears. She had to suck it up and stop feeling sorry for herself. This was who she was now. She ignored some people, she was vain, she liked going to parties and she was seeing Cam. This was who she had to be now.
Please Review :)