Chapter 8: It's not me but the world that's deranged.
It had been two weeks since the earthquake at Cordelia Academy. It had shaken quite a few people up, both figuratively and literally. Haley and Nathan had been living in a constant state of denial and were continuing their days as if that night had never happened. It was nearing the end of October and Halloween was right around the corner.
"Miss James can you please come up to the board to answer this question?" Their teacher, Mrs Wainwright asked holding out the chalk for Haley.
She stood up, immediately hating the feeling of having everyone's eyes piercing through her. As she walked up to the blackboard Rachel stuck out her high heel clad foot in her path. Haley stumbled but she managed to catch her footing before she could face plant and continued to the board, taking the chalk from the teacher. She could hear Rachel and her first in command Mackenzie snickering behind her.
She knew that Nathan was going to the upcoming Halloween Bash with Mackenzie and that confused her thoroughly. Mackenzie was such a bitch, she didn't understand why he would want to go out with her. Haley tightened her grip on the chalk and shook her head to clear her head. Who Nathan went out with was none of her concern. She was going to the dance with her guy from her Algebra class. Granted she wasn't actually interested in dating Charlie West. He just looked like he was going to burst into tears if she didn't agree to go with him, so she said yes.
Haley sneezed loudly as she inhaled a gust of the chalk dust.
"I heard she came straight out of the nut house." She could hear Rachel whisper loudly to Mackenzie from the front row, "Killed her brother and father. A true sociopath."
Haley clenched her fist tightly around the chalk. A loud hacking cough suddenly erupted from her throat and she rested her hand against the board to steady herself.
Nathan and Brooke immediately made eye contact.
"Is she okay?" Nathan whispered, both of them staring at the back of Haley's body.
"Miss James are you alright?" Mrs Wainwright asked, finally catching on to the situation.
Haley spun around suddenly. Her face was ghostly pale, and there was a thin line of sweat glistening on her brow. Every time she inhaled a loud wheezing sound came out. She coughed loudly again and slid down the wall to the ground.
"Is she having a panic attack?" A girl in the class asked. Everyone had risen from their seats except Rachel and Mackenzie who had stayed seated and were watching the scene unfold before them.
A look of realization suddenly sprung onto Brooke's face, "She has Asthma!"
"Where's her inhaler?" The teacher asked, trying to remain calm and collected.
"It's in our dorm room." Brooke replied quickly, "She's never had serious Asthma. She hasn't had an attack since we were kids."
"Well go get it Miss Davis!" Mrs Wainwright yelled. Brooke hurried out of the classroom not looking where she was going as she sprinted in the direction of the Clementine Building.
In one sentence Haley felt like she was dying. She could barely remember what it felt like to have an Asthma attack it was so long ago. Her chest was feeling so tight she was worried it was going to crack open. Every time she tried to take a breath a physical pain ricocheted through her body. She started to look wildly around the room with scared eyes. Everything felt too small, and her head was caving in on itself.
"Someone do something!" A quiet girl named Millicent gave a shrill shriek.
"Hales can you hear me?" Nathan asked calmly, as he crouched on the ground in front of Haley. He was focusing everything in him to make sure his fear and nervousness didn't show on his face.
Haley nodded widely, her fingernails digging into her thighs leaving angry crescent shaped marks in her pale skin.
"I'm going to help you okay." Nathan continued calmly, as Mrs Wainwright ushered the other students out of the classroom.
Nathan then sat down beside Haley and gently shifted her so that she was sitting in between his legs with her back pressed against his chest.
"Haley now I need you to try and breathe in time with me okay?" Nathan soothed.
Haley gripped his hands with hers in an iron grip. She wanted to tell him how scared she was, how much she appreciated him helping her, how certain she was that she was going to die. And of all things from an asthma attack. How utterly lame.
She shook her head wildly, she couldn't breathe no matter how hard she tried.
"Shh Hales you're going to be okay I promise." Nathan said, "Now just try and breathe in time with me."
Haley calmed down slightly and rested her head back on Nathan's chest so she could hear the sound of his steady heartbeat.
Suddenly Brooke rushed back into the classroom and shoved the inhaler in Haley's hands.
"Haley come on you have to take it." Nathan urged.
Haley felt like she was going to pass out but raised her weak hand up to her lips and pressed the inhaler. She continued doing so until she had eventually slipped back into normal breathing.
Brooke had sunk to the floor across from them, madly wiping away the tears that were leaking from her eyes.
Haley then fell back against Nathan's chest, entirely exhausted. Without really thinking she turned her body slightly so that she could rest the side of her face against Nathan.
"Good job Hales." Nathan whispered, remotely feeling like crying himself, "You did so good." He then ran a hand gently through her curls and continued stroking her hair softly, as she relaxed against his chest.
"Next period just started, but you two can stay with Miss James until the nurse comes." Mrs Wainwright said.
Brooke was staring at Nathan intently, almost as though she was trying to read him. Nathan ignored her questioning stares and focused his attention on Haley's now sturdy breathing. In that moment he came to the conclusion that he would be fine with whatever happened to him as long as Haley could continue being safe.
"Hey Carmen." Nathan greeted, as Carmen walked into the room with her first aid kit.
"You two again?!" Carmen exclaimed in incredulity.
"What can I say? I'm exceptionally talented at being challenged in the area of living normally." Haley joked, laughing briefly at her own joke before breaking into a small coughing fit.
Carmen shook her head, "I don't think even I have enough popsicles to fix this."
Nathan stood up, practically lifting Haley up as well.
"You two can go back to class." Carmen motioned to Nathan and Brooke, "I have to ask this one some questions about why she didn't have her inhaler on her." Haley winced.
"You scared me Hales." Brooke whispered, stepping forward and hugging her friend tightly, "Don't do that to me again."
When Brooke pulled away from Haley, Nathan started to follow her to the door but changed his mind half way and quickly crossed back over to where Haley was standing. He wrapped his arms tightly around her for a brief moment, before hastily pulling away and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Be safe Haley James." He then left the room without looking back.
"Can you tell me what my costume is yet Brooke?" Haley asked, lying on her back on her bed on the night of the Halloween Bash.
The Halloween Bash was a dance that was held on the night of Halloween for every student at Tree Hill. Brooke had decided that she was going to put her love of designing fashion to use and make hers, Haley's and Peyton's Halloween costumes. Unfortunately for Haley, Brooke wouldn't actually tell her what she was going as.
"Not yet Miss Impatient." Brooke chided, sowing the last trim on Haley's costume.
"Please tell me it's not to revealing." Haley pleaded, sitting up on her bed.
"Don't worry we scraped the Grease idea remember." Brooke responded, "I promise you'll like it."
Peyton whose outfit was already finished was sitting in front of her mirror applying dark makeup around her eyes. She was going as the Angel of Death. This required extremely large raven black angel wings and a long white and black wig. She actually looked extremely kickass.
Brooke herself was going as the devil. When asked about her costume she replied with a 'what else would I go as' and a hair flick.
"So Peyton are you going to tell us who this mysterious guy you're going with is?" Haley asked. Peyton had a date to the dance. However, she had yet to slip the identity of this mystery date yet.
"Okay…I'll tell you." Peyton said, turning away from the mirror and facing both Haley and Brooke, "No squealing." This was followed by a pointed glare in both their directions. "It's Jake."
"Oh my god! Why didn't you tell us? Are you together now? Did you kiss? Oh my god did you kiss!" Haley rambled, her voice raised slightly with excitement for her friend, whilst Brooke was making happy giggling sounds as she jumped around the room.
Peyton smiled at her friend's reaction, "Yes we are together now." Cue a loud drawn-out squeal. Peyton glared at them, and they both silenced instantly.
"Wait, so how did this happen?" Brooke asked making sure to keep her voice on a normal level.
Peyton retold the story of how she and Jake had gone out for a late night walk when he had finally grown a pair and told her how he felt, before they kissed and he asked her to go to the Halloween Bash with him. Okay so that wasn't exactly how Peyton had told the story, but it was how Haley had processed the information.
Peyton had just gone back to completing her makeup when she and Brooke exchanged a glance before turning to Haley.
"Haley, who is this Charlie guy you are taking to the dance?" Brooke asked. She was honestly disappointed that Haley wasn't going with Nathan, she was certain after last week that they would have buckled to the obvious sexual tension. But no.
"He's in my Algebra class. It's no big deal." Haley said, she really didn't want to talk about her upcoming date with Charlie because she didn't particularly want to go with him and she was pretty sure the only reason he asked her out was to make his ex- girlfriend jealous.
"Well it must be some kind of deal if you agreed to go with him." Peyton argued.
"Alright!" Haley cracked, "He's a nice guy, but a little boring. I didn't want to hurt his feelings and he looked like he was going to cry if I turned him down."
"Everything makes sense now." Peyton replied.
"I still don't understand why you didn't go with Nathan." Brooke grumbled.
"I don't know if you forgot but Nathan is going with Mackenzie." Haley reminded her friend.
"Yeah but he's not going with Mackenzie because he likes her." Brooke said, "I mean god who could like Mackenzie Payne. I'm pretty sure he's just doing it as a favour for one of his friends."
This was actually news to Haley but she tried her hardest not to let that show upon her features.
"Are you seriously going to deny that you like him?" Peyton asked. If was obvious to everyone except apparently Nathan and Haley that they completely into each other.
"We're just friends." Haley snapped, surprised at the sudden weight in those words as she spoke them.
"Haley James you spent the entirety of last Friday night curled up on his lap." Brooke said, pointing her pin cushion at Haley.
Haley felt a sudden heat rise to her cheeks, "There was an earthquake!"
"He literally started carrying around one of your inhalers in case you ever have another Asthma attack." Brooke said, "You're practically married!"
Haley scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous."
"Alright, I'll drop the topic for now." Brooke finally gave in knowing her ever stubborn friend wasn't going to change her stance, "But only because you amazing friend Brooke Davis has finished your exceptional and professionally made costume."
Brooke held up the long lilac blue princess dress for Haley with a smile. Haley held it up against her body as she stood in front of the full length mirror.
"Cinderella?" She questioned softly.
"Just like when we were kids, huh Hales." Brooke replied.
Nathan's date was going shit.
If he could have thought of a word that exceed the meaning of the word shit he would have used it, but unfortunately for him English was really not his thing. Well actually most school subjects weren't his thing.
He hadn't even wanted to go to this dance with Mackenzie but had practically been forced into a date with the girl. Tim had been wanting to go out with Mackenzie's friend Theresa since freshman year and she only would have agreed to go with Tim if Nathan went with Mackenzie.
It wasn't like there was anyone else he would have wanted to take. Except Haley. The obnoxious voice in his head jeered. Nathan knew she had had a date to the dance already.
He had spent practically the first portion of the evening standing awkwardly in his batman costume trying to avoid Mackenzie as she tried to practically molest him on the dance floor. It was weird because just last year Nathan would have been all for sleeping with any random girl that showed interest in him. But now her floozy attempts made him feel a bit uncomfortable and annoyed.
It had taken an hour but Nathan had finally successfully ditched Mackenzie and was taking shelter at the entrance to the Mirror Maze. He knew no one would show up there as no one ever actually used the Maze at the Halloween Bashes. Probably because it really just was what it sounded like; a maze full of mirrors. It really wasn't that interesting.
On the other side of the hall decked with every Halloween decoration ever, Haley was having an equally horrible night.
Firstly Charlie hadn't shown up in a costume. Which made him the only student, out of hundreds of others in costume, who had decided to wear jeans. Granted he had taken the liberty of writing 'Costume' across his t-shirt in wonky permanent marker lettering. And after only a few awkward rambling math related conversations Charlie had ditched her to grind against his ex-girlfriend who had come dressed as a literal Tardis.
She was about to go find her friends when she saw Rachel stalking in her general direction dressed in a slutty rendition of The Evil Queen's outfit. Fitting.
Without thinking Haley scooped up her long lilac blue dress and ran as fast as she could over to the section of the enormous hall that seemed practically empty. She glanced briefly at the sign 'Mirror Maze' before ducking into the entrance.
"Haley?" Nathan asked in shock, staring at the girl in front of him with an awed expression present on his face. She was dressed in a lengthy mauve blue dress, her long honey blonde hair was down in loose curls and Nathan had to literally bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something about how insanely beautiful she looked. She always did, but tonight it was a different sort of beauty. A more regal kind. Nathan wasn't sure which he preferred.
"Nathan what on earth are you doing here?" Haley asked, recognizing him instantly as soon as he pulled off his Batman mask.
"I would assume the same as you." Nathan replied, "Hiding."
"Was Mackenzie that bad at kissing?" Haley joked. Not at all finding Nathan putting his face anywhere near Mackenzie Payne a laughing matter but joking with him about it anyway. She had to assume that Nathan had kissed her tonight, she knew he had been with a lot of girls.
"I didn't kiss her you dork." Nathan nudged Haley in the side lightly, "She's just kind of a bitch, and I'd rather hang out here all night then continue my date with her."
"Harsh." Haley replied, silently knowing Mackenzie deserved it.
"What about you Haley James?" Nathan asked, "Where's Prince Charming?" He was slightly scared of the wave of jealously he felt when he thought about Haley on a date with some random guy.
"Probably continuing to dry hump his ex-girlfriend on the dance floor." Haley responded.
"What a dick." Nathan said, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Haley smiled, "I never actually liked Charlie. I just didn't want to hurt his feelings when he asked me."
"Well aren't you just a model citizen." Nathan teased.
"Shut up." She poked her tongue out at him, not caring that she looked like an over grown five year old.
"Haley I've been meaning to ask you something. Remember when I promised that I wouldn't tell anyone about you keeping your cat on campus? Well I kind of need to call in my favour." Nathan ran a hand nervously through his hair and looked down almost like he was…embarrassed. "I really need to pass my subjects this semester, and you're like the smartest person I know. If it's not too much of a hassle, do you mind tutoring me?"
Haley stared at Nathan in surprise. She didn't think he actually cared about his grades in the slightest. She wasn't sure if she had time right now to take on a Nathan's work as well. But she did really want to help him. Haley bit down on her bottom lip and was about reply when she was interrupted.
"Nathan!" A Mackenzie sounding screech suddenly signalled from remarkably close to where they were standing.
"I think that's your cue Batman." Haley said.
"Which way is she coming from?" Nathan asked quickly.
"Left…" Haley replied.
"Then I'm going right." Nathan said, "See you later Cinderella." He winked at her before leaving with a swish of his dark cape.
Haley walked slowly out of the entrance to the Mirror Maze. However, she immediately sprinted back inside when she saw Rachel coming in her direction. She did not need her torment tonight. Then without another thought she ran directly into the dreaded Mirror Maze.
Within seconds Haley was unmistakably lost. She had already walked into three mirrors and couldn't shake the constant feeling she was being watched.
She was beginning to think she was properly losing her mind when she heard it. A low pitched psychotic giggle. Haley whirled around and immediately came face to face with the worst thing she could have imagined coming out of that maze. She would have preferred it be Rachel she was currently facing, and that was saying something. A clown. An inhumanly grinning clown holding a large knife dripping with crimson blood.
Haley had let out a large high pitched scream and punched it in the stomach before she even had time to think. She then turned and started to sprint madly through the maze. She had one arm wildly waving out in front of her so that she wouldn't bash into any mirrors, and the other was rapidly wiping away the stray tears of fear that were leaking from her eyes as she ran.
Nathan had managed to loosely escape Mackenzie, but unfortunately for him avoiding her meant spending the rest of his evening at the exit for the Mirror Maze. That's when he heard the scream and stood up from where he was previously crouching on the floor. Suddenly a petite blonde girl in a long blue dress ran into the larger space at the exit to the Mirror Maze.
"Haley?" Nathan called in confusion.
Haley reeled around as soon as she heard Nathan's voice. A rush of relief pulsed through her and she could not remember a time she had been happier to see him. Thinking the clown was still gaining on her she made a split second decision before barrelling into Nathan's chest and throwing her arms around him tightly. Some might call her 'avoidance' of clowns childish, but those things were terrifying goddammit. And this one had been carrying a freshly used knife. Haley pressed her face into his muscular chest and tried to block out the current situation.
Nathan was momentarily taken aback for a brief second before he tightly wrapped his arms around Haley's smaller frame. He absentmindedly started to rub comforting circles on her back through the fabric of her dress. She was breathing quite heavily against his chest, and Nathan could feel her whole body clench up with each breathe. He knew she had been crying.
"Haley." Nathan murmured, "Hales what's wrong?"
Inside of replying she started to continuously shake her head back and forth against Nathan's chest and refused to pull away.
Nathan squeezed her gently in his arms before resting his chin on top of her head, "You're okay Hales you're okay. Nothing can hurt you. I promise I'm not going to let anything hurt you. You're safe." He soothed softly, rubbing his hands up and down her back. He wasn't sure what she was so freaked out about but whatever it was, what he had just said would remain the same.
Haley moved her face up cautiously. Nathan smiled at her softly, a smile he found himself only ever giving her. He then brushed his thumb gently under both her big brown eyes, ridding them of the tear tracks.
Haley was just about to tell Nathan what had actually happened when the sound of sadistic cackling filled her ears. As soon as the clown clutching the knife shifted into Haley's line of sight, she couldn't stop the embarrassing squeal from leaving her mouth. She then pulled herself away from Nathan and slammed herself into the mirror behind him, trying to create as much distance between her and the psycho clown as possible.
As soon as Haley was safely behind him Nathan surged forward and thrust his fist straight into the 'clowns' face. A crack was heard and before the boy even had time to react in pain Nathan had him slammed against a mirror.
With the free hand that wasn't grasping the scarlet stained knife, the boy reached up and yanked the clown mask off his face. Once the mask was off the bloodied face of Felix Taggaro was revealed.
"Nathan man, it was just a joke." Felix spluttered, "Just trying to make some bitch scream."
Wrong word choice Felix.
Rage cut through Nathan like a sharp knife and he brought his fist angrily across Felix's face in answer to his statement.
"If you ever and I mean ever mess with her again I will break more than just your nose." Nathan growled, his voice dangerously calm but Haley could hear the slight tremble of fury pulsate through. He then dropped Felix to the ground, who sprinted off with his hand covering his face.
Last year he probably wouldn't have let Felix go. He would have beaten the shit out of him until someone physically separated them and Nathan got suspended again. But it was different now. What fuelled his anger was different. And now there was something that could stop his rage immediately in its tracks.
Nathan turned to look at Haley, dreading the disappointed look he was bound to get. However, she didn't look disappointed. Maybe a little shocked, but mostly like she was weighting up her options.
"I'm sorry." Nathan raked a hand through his dark hair, "I shouldn't have done that."
"You're right you shouldn't have done that." Haley said, she then paused briefly weighing her choices in her mind quickly before coming to a decision, "But I'm really glad you did."
Then almost on a whim Haley launched herself at Nathan and hugged him tightly. Nathan's arms automatically went around her waist but barely had time to register what had just happened before Haley leaped away from him, and started looking at everything in the room that wasn't him. A faint blush started to tinge on her cheeks.
"I sorry about being so freaked out before." Haley muttered, toeing the wooden floorboards with her shoe, "I know it's really stupid that I'm still scared of clowns."
"It's not stupid." Nathan answered immediately. He couldn't believe she was actually apologizing to him for this. "Everyone is scared of something."
"Is your hand okay?" Haley asked softly, hesitating for a moment before going against her better judgement and gently taking his hand in hers to inspect.
"It's fine." Nathan winced, "I should probably stop punching people."
"Please." Haley replied.
Haley looked up at Nathan through her long eyelashes and was about to say something else to him when two people barged into the Mirror Maze. This caused Nathan and Haley to spring metres apart.
"Haley thank god we've been looking for you everywhere!" Brooke exclaimed loudly, not even noticing Nathan's presence, "The dance is basically over. Do you want to head back to the dorm room with us?"
"Um yeah." Haley said, fiddling with a lock of her hair.
Peyton looked back and forth between Nathan and Haley for a moment before speaking, "What happened here?"
Nathan looked over at Haley briefly who had suddenly become transfixed with a miniscule spot on the wooden flooring. The last thing Haley wanted to do with her already crappy evening was explain to Brooke and Peyton her embarrassing fear of clowns.
"Haley was just helping me." Nathan spoke up suddenly, "There was this massive spider in the maze and I freaked out. She helped me kill it." The lie slipped off his lips effortlessly.
Brooke and Peyton chuckled loudly. "There goes a point for masculinity Nathan." Peyton teased.
"Come on Haley lets go." Brooke said, motioning for Haley to follow her as her and Peyton said goodbye to Nathan and left through the exit of the maze.
"I'll do it." Haley murmured, finally making up her mind.
"Do what?" Nathan asked.
"I'll tutor you." Haley said, before briskly walking in the direction of the exit.
AN: Damn that was a long one, I hope you all enjoyed it!
Thank you to all the people who reviewed last chapter, it really motivates me to keep writing.
Please let me know what you thought of the chapter and what your thinking of the story so far.
Thanks!
-Rosie
