Thanks for the reviews guys! The category wasn't 'Angst' for nothing ;) But, it will make the NH reunion that much sweeter, I promise!

In the busy gymnasium, practice was in full swing. The boys were practicing free throws and the cheerleaders were on the side, discussing their dance routine.

'Where is she?' Brooke thought to herself, taking sidelong glances toward the door.

As if on cue, I emerged through the double doors, my gym bag thrown over my shoulder.

Nathan stopped in his tracks when he saw me. He'd been getting ready to make a free throw when he spotted me meekly making my entrance. The two of us made silent eye contact and I could tell that Nathan was completely dumbfounded as to why I was here.

At that moment, Lucas made his way over to me.

"Hales, what's up? What are you doing here?" Lucas asked, jogging over to her.

"I'm here for practice," I said, spotting Brooke on the other side of the gym.

Lucas only shook his head in confusion. "So, you're a cheerleader now?"

I looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, why not, you know? Brooke needed my help so here I am."

Lucas smiled and patted my shoulder, "That's cool, buddy. I'm glad."

"Alright ladies, the girly talk is over now so Lucas if you're finished with your makeover, maybe you want to join us back over here for practice," Whitey called across from the gym.

Nathan smirked but his eyes never left my interaction with Lucas. At that time, I hadn't realized it, but his actions weren't lost on Rachel either.

She stood in her place with the girls, continuing to watch Nathan watching me.

Lucas rolled his eyes and grinned. "I'll catch up with you later, Hales."

Lucas jogged back over to the sidelines while Nathan was getting his bottle of water.

"What is she, a cheerleader now?" Nathan asked.

Lucas continued stretching, rolling his eyes. "What's it to you?" He'd been stretched to his limits; he was done with being nice to Nathan.

Nathan shook his head, "whatever," before walking back out on the court.

I made my way over to the group of cheerleaders. Brooke grinned as she saw me.

"Hi Hales," Bevin smiled to which I returned her greeting.

"So, most of you know that Haley did an awesome job with us last season at the Classic, so she's going to be a permanent part of the squad this year," Brooke explained to the group.

"That's awesome!" Bevin said and Dani nodded in agreement.

"There's just one thing…" Brooke said, her gaze falling on Rachel.

"The routine calls for nine girls and now we have ten, so I'm sorry…Rachel, you're out."

Rachel's jaw dropped, "What, are you serious?"

"Brooke, I'm sure we can re-work the routine to keep both of them," Bevin tried to reason.

"Nope, sorry. It's finely tuned for nine girls, no exceptions."

I cringed and Peyton rolled her eyes. Bevin and the other girls looked unhappy, they had really bonded with Rachel.

I quickly realized that this was the last situation I needed to be in – I had enough people against me.

I shook my head, "Brooke…maybe I should just go –"

"—No, stop right there, Tutor Girl," Brooke said, then turning to Rachel. "Sorry, better luck next time."

The truth was, I wanted to be there but not at the expense of someone else…not even the current girlfriend of my ex-husband.

This current debacle had resulted in raised voices that had the basketball team now looking on the scene.

Rachel stepped over to Brooke, "Brooke, we can surely come to an agreement here where all of us can be on the squad…In fact, I've got the perfect plan for it."

"Yes, I'm sure you're full of all sorts of plans, Rachel…they just don't include this squad anymore," Brooke said, her tone even. "Maybe the debate team could use a new member."

Rachel narrowed her eyes and took another step toward Brooke.

"Ladies, I don't need any catfights on my watch!" Whitey called. He looked over to his team, still watching the scene unfold.

"…and the show is over fellas…get back to work!"

Peyton just shook her head at the scene. She had been one of the ones to freeze me out just like Nathan had. I didn't get it but after several attempts to be her friend again, I had finally given up trying to understand.

My friendship had clearly reached the same impasse with Peyton that Nathan's had with Lucas…and it was all because of me. That wasn't something that set right with me so the last thing I wanted to do was create more friction among even more people.

"This was a bad idea," I said, grabbing my gym bag and heading across the gym.

Brooke ran after me, "Wait, Haley, wait! Don't go!"

We ended up stopping in front of where the team was working.

"Brooke, I don't need this right now, okay? Just keep Rachel on the squad," I said.

I could see out of the corner of my eye that Nathan had heard me. He had snapped back in my direction upon hearing my statement.

"Hales…I want you on the squad, please!" Brooke said pleadingly.

"I just don't want to be here to give you reason to get rid of her…she got her spot on the squad fairly, who am I to take that away from her?"

Brooke was quiet for a second before sighing heavily, "technically you wouldn't be taking it away from her…I would be—"

"--You know what I mean…I don't like doing that to someone, it's not right…and I don't want to be any part of it."

Brooke shook her head, sighing heavily. She was silent for a moment before taking a step back toward the girls. "Fine, we'll re-work the routine for ten."

Rachel and Brooke barely spoke through practice which was probably better than voicing their thoughts. If looks could kill, they both would have been dead by the end of practice.

After practice, the girls were gathering up their bags as the guys were emerging from the locker room.

I was walking toward the gym door, telling Brooke that I would see her back at the apartment when Nathan came out of the locker room door nearby. He and I briefly made eye contact and as I made the move to walk away, he called after me.

"Haley, wait a second."

I stopped, utterly shocked. I turned back around as he jogged over to me.

"I saw what went down earlier, with Brooke and Rachel."

I only nodded silently.

"That was pretty decent, what you did – standing up to Brooke to keep Rachel on the squad."

"It was the right thing to do," I simply replied.

Nathan silently nodded and just stared at me, his expression softening by the minute until he almost resembled the way he used to look at me. If I wasn't careful, I could get lost in those eyes again as I had done so many times before.

Somehow, in that moment it seemed like he was thinking the same thing.

"Well, I guess I'm gonna go," I said after a moment, knowing I needed to get away before I acted on my thoughts to throw my arms around him and show him how much I had missed him.

"Okay," Nathan replied and gave me the smallest of smiles and for the first time since I had come back, there didn't seem to be the level of awkward tension like before.

I began to walk away, getting lost in my thoughts. In the space of an afternoon, I had gone from joining the squad so I could be closer to Nathan, to defending his girlfriend and rallying to keep her on the squad.

I almost laughed at the irony…almost.