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Chapter 7: Perfect

Lindsey walked into the school behind Nathan. She didn't know why she had to come to school with him. Technically she was 19 but she looked like she could pass for a 17 year old. "Why am I here?" she asked again.

Nathan turned to look at her, "because, people have heard me talk about my sister and if you don't ever show your face then they're gonna think you're not real. Plus I need as many people as I can to look out for Haley. Who knows where Felix could be."

Lindsey rolled her eyes and continued to follow Nathan. She knew how much Nathan loved Haley but she couldn't help but think he was over reacting. He could just change her and then he wouldn't have to worry. She knew he didn't want to "own" her but she just saw it as the easiest thing to do.

Haley stood with Lucas at his locker. For a while now Haley had been having doubts about her and Lucas. But she just couldn't bring herself to break up with him. But she also couldn't deny her feelings for Nathan. She knew that was a terrible thing to think but she couldn't help it.

"Hales," Lucas said trying to get her attention. She looked up at him, "what? I'm sorry."

"I just asked you if you were ok. You were kinda… out of it."

She nodded, "I'm fine, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to zone out on you."

"Don't worry about it. Really."

She smiled at him then saw Nathan walking down the hall. There was a girl standing next to him. She was tall and had golden blonde hair. She was really pretty. Haley was beginning to think that maybe Nathan found a new girl. She didn't recognize her though.

Nathan saw Haley and smiled at her. She smiled back. Lucas turned around and saw Nathan walking over. He rolled his eyes and turned back to look at Haley. "Hey," Nathan said. Haley looked away from Lucas and over at Nathan.

"Hey Nathan," she said.

"Um this is my sister Lindsey," he said and motioned to Lindsey who was standing next to him. Haley couldn't deny the relief she felt when he said sister.

"Oh Lindsey," Haley said and stuck her hand out towards her, "I'm Haley. Nathan's told me a lot about you."

Lindsey smiled at the familiar looking girl, "yeah, he's told me a lot about you too." Nathan looked at Lindsey and gave her a sharp look and then looked at Lucas. "Lucas, Lindsey, Lindsey, Lucas." Lucas stuck his hand out and shook her hand, "it's really nice to meet you."

"Thanks, you too."

Lindsey didn't remember Lucas. But she'd heard about him from Nathan.

Haley couldn't help but notice the way that Lucas looked at Lindsey. It was different than the way he looked at her. Nathan noticed too. He didn't mean to bring Lindsey around to mess things up with them. But looking at the way Lucas looked at Lindsey, Nathan could see that Lucas didn't treat Haley right.

He saw that at the party on Halloween when Lucas danced with all of those other girls in front Haley. It was like he didn't care if he hurt her.

"Um I have to get to my first class," Lindsey said.

"What is it?" Lucas asked.

She looked down at her schedule, "um Calculus."

"I have that too," he said, "I'll walk you to class." She smiled and Lucas kissed Haley on the cheek before the two of them walked down the hall away from Haley and Nathan. "Well he seems to like her," Haley said and started to walk towards her locker.

Nathan hurried after her. "Yeah seems like it."

She stopped at her locker and then turned to look at him. "Nathan can I ask you something?"

"Yeah sure."

"Ok, this is probably gonna sound crazy but… there's something about you. I mean you and Chase and Jake. And probably Lindsey. You guys are… it seems like you're perfect. I just want to know what it is that makes you like that."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Yes I would."

"No."

He didn't think that right now was the best time to talk about it. He didn't want to say anything that was going to make her think he was crazy. He couldn't let anything happen that would ruin things with them.

"Nathan… there's something you're not telling me and I want to know what it is."

"You want the truth?"

"Yes."

He took a step closer to her and said in a low whisper, "the truth is, we're no different than anyone else. Maybe it looks like that, but it's not true. We're no different."

She looked up at him and didn't know what to say. Her mouth opened but she couldn't form any words. "I don't know what you were expecting to hear."

"Just that there was a reason…" she trailed off, "a reason you seem so perfect."

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "it seems to me that the only thing that's perfect around here, is you."

The bell rang again and Haley realized they were the only two people left in the hallway. He looked around also and then walked down the hall to his first class. She watched as he walked down the hall. It was like she was frozen to the spot and she couldn't move. She knew she wasn't just imagining things. There was something about him. Not just him, but his whole "family."

X

Haley sat down at lunch and looked out the large window in the cafeteria. She saw that it was now raining outside. It wasn't just a drizzle but it was pouring. Ever since her talk with Nathan earlier that day, she hadn't been able to focus on anything. Everything was a blur for her and they day just went on slowly.

She didn't even notice as Brooke, Peyton and Lucas sat down next to her. They started talking about things that had happened during the day but all Haley could do was watch as the rain fell. "Haley!" Brooke yelled getting her attention.

Haley turned and looked at her, "what?"

"I said look at Rachel," she said motioning to her standing next to Nathan. "She is such a slut. She is totally throwing herself at Nathan. Not that he even cares. He's totally not into her!"

Haley looked at her and felt jealously bubbling up inside of her. She wanted nothing more than for her to get away from him. But she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She was just being stupid.

X

Nathan walked into the cafeteria and saw Haley sitting at one of the tables near the windows. She was staring out at the rain. He wished he could tell what she was thinking. He wanted to be able to tell her the truth but he couldn't yet.

He walked towards the table where Jake, Chase and Lindsey were sitting. Rachel saw him and walked between him and the table. "Hey Nathan."

"Rachel."

"You left my party so earlier on Halloween. I was hoping you would have stayed longer."

He looked down at her hand and it was resting on the top of his arm. He wanted to push it off but he didn't want to seem rude. "Oh," he said, "sorry about that. I was giving Haley a ride home."

"Haley? What are you into her?" she asked.

"We're just friends."

"Good because, I don't think you really have a chance. I mean, you're hot and all but she and Lucas have been together a long time. I think that's love." Nathan looked away from Rachel and over towards Haley. He saw her smiling at Lucas while they talked.

"See," she said, "love."

"It doesn't matter. Like I said we're just friends."

She smiled with approval and said, "well since you're free and I'm free we should hook up sometime."

He looked away from her and over where Lindsey was sitting. She was looking at Haley and Lucas. Nathan looked back at Rachel, "I gotta go."

"We'll talk later then."

He nodded and walked over to the table.

"What was that about?" Lindsey asked.

Nathan shook his head, "she likes me."

"Obviously." She smirked at him then sat down, "Haley's thinking about you."

Nathan looked up and over at Haley who had been looking at him. She turned her head quickly and looked somewhere else. He smiled when he noticed the blush coloring her cheeks. "And Brooke was talking about you too," Chase said, "I heard her."

X

Haley walked out of the cafeteria with Brooke beside her and Brooke said, "have you noticed that Nathan, Chase, Jake and Lindsey are a little different."

"How could you not notice that."

"What if they're vampires," Brooke joked. Haley rolled her eyes and laughed, "yeah Brooke I'm sure that's it."

"Hey, you never know. I mean you said you saw his eyes change color, that's a clue. He's gorgeous, that's another. Him and his entire family seem perfect. I mean come on Haley, don't you think that those are clues to something?"

"Brooke vampires don't exist. They just don't."

"How do you know. I mean is there proof."

"Ok, lets say you're right. Vampires do exist. What makes him a vampire. Maybe their different than how they are in books. Maybe they're really evil and manipulative and they trick people so they can kill them."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "In all the time you've known Nathan has he done anything mean or manipulative or tried to trick you?"

"No."

"See?"

"So that doesn't prove anything. The only thing this proves is that you're absolutely crazy and I can't even believe I'm having this conversation."

The bell rang for their 6th hour class and Haley made her way towards her locker, "I don't think we should tell anyone about this talk we had. People will definitely think we're crazy."

X

On her drive home she drove through the rain on a street lined with pine trees. They were tall and blocked out any chance the sun had at shining down. Not that it would be shining in this rain. She looked in the rear view mirror and saw that there was one car behind her. It was a black Range Rover.

She couldn't tell what the driver looked like and she looked away from the mirror and back out at the road. She turned the corner around the trees and saw that there was a large truck coming towards her. It was hauling large logs on the truck bed but it was on the wrong side of the road.

The driver tried to swerve so they wouldn't hit her but couldn't do it in time. Haley closed her eyes and gripped the wheel tightly. She was ready for the hit. When it came it wasn't as bad as she expected it to be. There was still enough force to jerk her around and cause her head to hit the window.

She opened her eyes slowly and waited for her vision to stop being blurry. She was still out of it. The driver's side door swung open and she felt someone undo her seat belt and pick her up in their arms. Who ever it was set her down on the side of the road and continued to hold her in their arms.

She opened her eyes when she heard someone whisper her name. "Haley," the low whisper came again. She looked up and was met with a pair of midnight blue eyes. "Nathan?" she asked still in a daze. He smiled at her and then said, "are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?"

He chuckled and looked towards the cars. She did as well. She saw the large truck she'd seen coming towards her. The logs that had been on the back had fallen off and were scattered around the road. Her car was slightly damaged. The hood of her car was pushed up and dented and so was her fender. There was smoke coming out from the hood.

What she noticed after that was the black range rover wedged in between her car and the truck. She looked up at him with shock evident in her eyes. "Were you driving?!" she asked. He could hear the concern in her voice. "No," he told her and he felt her release a sigh. "Jake was, I was in the passenger seat."

"What?!" she yelled, "that's not any better!"

"We're fine."

"Where's Jake?" she asked and looked around for him.

"He's over there with the driver," he said and pointed toward him. She looked over towards him and noticed that Jake looked completely fine. Not just fine for someone who had just been in a car accident. But he looked completely normal. He didn't even look shaken up. He was fine.

She looked up at Nathan and he, too, was fine. Not a scratch on him. She didn't care what he said, that was not normal! "Nathan…" she said and he looked down at her. "That is not normal," she said.

"What?"

"You, you don't even have a scratch on you. How is that possible?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do."

"Haley don't get yourself worked up."

"I'm not," she said in a defensive tone and tried to move away from him but he wouldn't let her. "You should go to a hospital."

"I'm fine."

"Haley you're bleeding."

"I'll be ok."

"You could have a concussion."

"I don't. I'm fine."

"Haley, please just go and let them look at you."

"On one condition."

He didn't know what she was thinking but he had a feeling it wasn't good. "What?" he asked.

"You and Jake get looked at too."

"Haley we're fine. We're not even hurt."

"But look at your car," she said and tried to stand up. She did and by the time she did he had been standing too. He grabbed her arms gently to steady her then wrapped his arm around her to steady her. "Jake's car is completely totaled. You can't expect anyone to believe you were in the car and nothing happened."

"You're being ridiculous."

"I am?!"

"Yes. I'm fine. Jake's fine, but you're not. You really need to see a doctor."

X

He'd finally managed to convince her that she should go to the hospital. He told her that He and Jake would both get checked out. But he knew they were fine and that they didn't need to be seen by a doctor. When the doctor took her to a different room they left. He then went back to her house.

He wanted to see her when she got home. Even if it meant he had to be a dog when she got home. He was fine with that.

When she got home a few hours later her mom helped her upstairs to her room even though she kept telling her she didn't need help. Her parents had been home for two days and when they heard about the accident they hurried down to the hospital.

"Haley, who took you to the hospital?"

"Nathan Scott."

"I don't know him."

"He's my friend."

"Was he involved in the accident?"

"He was in the black car."

"Oh my God. Is he ok? That car was destroyed."

"He's perfect."

X

Haley laid in bed for awhile and watched a CSI: Miami marathon. She'd been in bed for a few hours since she got home from the hospital. The door opened and Lucas walked in. he was wearing a sweatshirt and an old pair of jeans. "Hey babe," he said and sat down on her bed next to her.

Nathan saw him walk in and looked up at him from the end of the bed. He couldn't help but glare at him. "Hey."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. I didn't even get the message til a little while ago. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

He kissed her forehead softly and looked at the screen and watched TV with her. Nathan looked up at them every once in awhile. He made sure to watch him extra careful. If there was anytime he thought he was getting too close he growled.

"Duke," Haley scowled.

"I don't think he likes me very much."

"He's just protective of me."

Like you should be Nathan thought.

Lucas stayed for awhile before Haley told him she was getting tired. When he left she laid in bed until she fell asleep.

While she was asleep Nathan kneeled down next to her bed and whispered in her ear, "please don't scare me like that ever again."