Chapter Ten
Friends
Haley gathered her books and headed out of her class. It was now lunch and she couldn't wait to see Jake. He was her best friend and right now that's exactly what she needed. She needed to talk to him and get his opinion on this mornings events. He knew Brooke a lot better then she did and he would know whether or not she telling the truth.
Haley knew she was making a bigger deal out of all this then it had to be, but she couldn't help it. This really mattered to her. She figured Brooke probably didn't even care about this anymore. She probably had already forgotten all about this and had moved onto boys and shopping, the things she loved the most with her minions.
Haley walked out of the room and practically ran into someone.
"Oh shit. Sorry."said Peyton.
"It's okay. I wasn't looking myself. I have a lot on my mind."
Peyton nodded."Yeah, me too."she was about to walk off but she stopped."Okay, so I know this really isn't any of my business, but did Brooke find you this morning? She was supposed to look for you."
Haley nodded."We talked earlier."
"So?"
"So what?"asked Haley.
"Did she explain to you what really happened that night with David?"
"She told me what she wanted me to believe, yes."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It's supposed to mean exactly that. That she told me what she wanted me to know."
Peyton shook her head."No, she told you what she did because it was the truth. I even saw it with my own two eyes. If you don't believe me, then just ask Nathan. He saw everything too."
"Right. Of course he did. Look Peyton your her best friend and so is he, so of course your gonna back up whatever she says. It's just what you people do."said Haley trying to walk past Peyton.
Peyton held out her arm to block Haley from going."You people? What is that supposed to mean? Who are you to say that that's what I do? You don't know me or the things I do. What could we possibly gain by wanting you to believe it? Not your friendship because right now that's the last thing I want and I bet Brooke would say the same thing especially if you talked to her the way your talking to me right now. Brooke told you what really happened because she thought you'd like to know. There was nothing in it for her."
"Okay!"shouted Haley."Brooke said her part and now you've said yours. I think we're done here."
Peyton was about to tell Haley exactly what she could do with herself when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Nathan.
"What's going on here?"he asked.
"Oh great. Are you here to tell me about how wonderful and selfless Brooke is too?"asked Haley.
Nathan looked over at Haley like she was crazy. He had no idea what she was talking about. He then turned to Peyton as if Haley wasn't even there."Are you ready? Brooke's waiting for us. I just left her at our table."
Peyton nodded without looking in Haley's direction.
Once down the hall Nathan couldn't help but ask."So what was that all about?"
Peyton shrugged."I don't know. Haley's just crazy."she wrapped her arms around Nathan's waist and pulled him to her as they walked into the lunchroom together.
Peyton took her seat across from Brooke and Nathan sat beside her.
Brooke set down her Diet Coke after taking a sip."Well it's about time girly girl. I was beginning to think you two got lost or something. What took you so long?"
"I have on word of you. Haley."
"Haley? What are you talking about?"
"I was just talking to her. That's why we were late."
"Okay, well what happened. You seem pissed."
"Well I just asked her if you two had talked and after that she went crazy. She's a total nut job Brooke. She got all defensive and judgmental, saying things like of course you and Nathan would lie that's what you people do. I swear I wanted to strangle her right then and there. How dare she say that about us?"
"I know what you mean. She was so ugly to me earlier. I just ended up telling her that I didn't care if she believed me or not."
"Well she doesn't."cut in Peyton."Believe you, I mean. She doesn't."
"Yeah, I got that much, but really who cares? I didn't do anything wrong. I even went as far as to explain everything to her. If Haley believes otherwise, then that's her. I can't change the way she thinks about me and I don't think that I should have to try."
"Good."said Peyton."You shouldn't. Now enough Haley talk. I'm starting to get a headache. Have you thought about who you want to go to the formal with? It's only three weeks away. Tickets go on sale today."said Peyton mimicking the announcement made earlier to the school.
Brooke clapped her hands together several times."I know. I'm so excited. I can't wait."
"So who you going with?"
"I don't know yet. I've had a couple of invitations today since the announcements this morning, but nothing major. I haven't said yes to anyone, besides it's still early."
"So I take it your really just waiting for someone in particular to ask you right?"laughed Peyton.
"What she really means is, are you waiting for Lucas to ask you?"asked Nathan flat out.
Peyton frowned at him.
"Well if you must know, I might be waiting for him, but who knows who he'll ask."
"Oh, come on Brooke. If Lucas takes anyone to the formal it'll be you."
Brooke couldn't help but smile. She wanted to believe that, but at the same time she didn't want to get her hopes up. She knew they were getting close, but who knew who else he was "getting close" with. The school was big and she didn't always see him around."You don't know that Peyton."
"Brooke it's pretty obvious that he's into you okay."added Nathan wanting the conversation about Lucas to end."I don't really know the guy, but I can still tell. I'm a guy myself so I know these things."
"Well I hope your right. I don't know what it is about him, but I really want him to ask me. I've never really cared this much about someone asking me out. Look if he doesn't ask though, is it alright if I go with you two?"
Peyton looked at Nathan who just shrugged."Well if he doesn't ask you I guess you and I can go together because as of late, I too don't have a date. Nobodies asked me."said Peyton.
Nathan nudged her."Hey, what am I?"
"I don't know, somebody that hasn't officially asked me yet."
"Well I didn't know I had to ask you. I just thought it was known that we'd go together, you know just like it's know that nobody better ask you, but me."laughed Nathan.
"It is known, but it would be nice to actually be asked too."said Peyton fake pouting.
Nathan leaned over and kissed the side of her head."I'm sorry baby. I was being inconsiderate."he grabbed her hand and held it in his own."Would you please go with me to the winter formal?"he said with the cheesiest smile he could muster up.
Peyton laughed as did Brooke. Nathan was being corney, but at the same time very sweet. It was cute.
"I'd love to go with you. Thanks for asking."laughed Peyton as she placed her hands on both sides of his face and pulled him to her for a quick kiss."But just so you know I come as a package deal. You get me and Brooke."
Nathan wriggled his eyebrows."Well that's got to be the best thing I've heard all day. So I get you and Brooke as a packaged deal? I've been waiting to hear that for as long as I can remember and now I have. How lucky am I?"laughed Nathan.
Peyton elbowed him in the stomach."Get your mind out of the gutter. That's not what I meant."
"Oh, sorry."
"You should be. Just so you know, there is more of a chance of me and Peyton hooking up then there is of all three of us hooking up."laughed Brooke.
Nathan broke out into a big smile and shrugged."Hey I don't mind, just as long as I get to watch."he laughed.
Peyton and Brooke rolled their eyes. There was no changing Nathan and his twisted mind."Don't worry Brooke, Lucas will ask you and then you won't have to worry about Nathan and his perverted tendencies. I'll be the one stuck with him. Great."
"Man, I hope so."said Brooke."Just think about all the fun we would all have. I bet the four of us would have a blast the whole night."
"Oh great. Now your already making plans for all of us to hang out together. That's just great."said Nathan sarcastically.
"Hey, what's this? You said you'd try with him. Are you taking that back now?"asked Brooke.
Nathan shook his head."No, Brooke, I'm not, but I still can't picture us all hanging out and actually having fun."
"Well I can."
"Yeah, so can I."said Peyton.
After Haley went to her locker to drop off her books she went straight to the lunchroom. She saw Jake sitting at their usual table. Without bothering to grab any food Haley rushed over and sat down next to him and put her head down on the table.
Jake laughed."Well that was a pretty dramatic entrance."he quickly stopped laughing when he saw Haley was seriously upset."Hey babe, what wrong? Are you okay?"he rested his arm on her shoulder and pulled her to him.
Haley quickly pulled herself away."Am I a bad person?"
"What?"
"Do I really judge people before getting to know them?"
"What? No. Haley where is this coming from?
"Brooke. She said I have a bad habit of judging people without knowing them and maybe she's right."
"Look I'm sure she didn't mean it that way. Brooke wouldn't say something like that to hurt you. She isn't like that."
Haley threw up her hands."There you go too. Having nothing but nice things to say about her. I'm apparently the only one who thinks she's a boyfriend stealing slut and now I find out I might even be wrong about that. She didn't try and take David away from me. In fact she says she didn't even like him at all. He was just a stupid jerk I never should have gone out with."
"Well I could have told you that Hales."said Jake."You definitely were way to good for him."
"Brooke said he kissed her, not the other way around. She said she pushed him away."
"I always thought that might be what happened, but you told me you didn't want to talk about it so I left it alone."
"So you think she's telling me the truth?"
Jake shrugged."Why would she say it if it wasn't true?"
Haley placed her head in her hands."Oh god! I am a horrible person. I blew up at her and Peyton today for no reason. If they didn't hate me before I bet they do now."
Jake shook his head."I don't think so. I mean we're not that close, but I don't think they would hold this misunderstanding against you. Maybe you should go over to them and talk about all this. I don't mean try and be friends, but maybe after all this is settled you could be civil to each other."
"I don't know. I wouldn't even know what to say to them."
"Well you said you blew up at them right?"Haley nodded."Okay, well you could start off by apologizing and I bet they'd do the same. They are good people Haley. They are just stereotyped at not being so."
Haley nodded."Your right. I know you are, but I don't think I can do that. I know I should apologize, but what if they don't accept and laugh in my face. I can't say I'd blame them. I was pretty terrible, but it would really hurt if they did."
"Brooke and Peyton are not like that Haley. Even if they don't accept your apology, which I don't think will happen, they wouldn't laugh in your face."
Haley again nodded and this time stood up."Okay I know what your saying is true. I should go over and apologize to them. I was awful to the both of them, Nathan even."she leaned down and gave Jake a kiss on the cheek, lingering a little longer then she should have, but she couldn't help it. She quickly walked away hoping that Jake hadn't noticed.
Jake watched Haley as she walked away. He absentmindedly stroked the area her lips had just touched. He cursed himself for the feelings he was starting to have for her. Lately he began to wish they were more then just friends. There were times he'd thought she'd felt the same way, like this one, but then he would start to think it was all in his head and he would shake it off.
Jake wanted more than anything to kiss Haley. He figured if he could just kiss her once it would be enough and he'd get over it. He even came close to doing so, but then would chicken out. How could he tell his best friend he wanted more with her? How would she react? Could she possibly want more too? All these questions circled his head and he didn't know what to do.
Haley walked away, not daring to look back. She knew she should have pulled away from Jake sooner, but she couldn't help it. His cheek wasn't the place she wanted to kiss, but that was the only place she could kiss him. They weren't together. They were just friends just as they had been forever.
Lately though, Haley had begun to find herself very attracted to Jake. When she would see him in his basketball jersey she just wanted to melt. Those feelings couldn't be acted on though. They were only friends and would always only be friends. That's what he wanted and that's what she had to want too.
Late at night in the comfort of her room she let herself fantasize about how things would be if they were together. She saw them holding hands and walking each other to class, and then kissing each other goodbye. In her fantasies there was a lot of kissing. In her mind their kisses were wonderful and so full of love it was breath taking, but even so it was all in her head and she would have to stop herself from thinking any further. They were just friends.
Haley shook all thoughts of Jake from her head as she approached Brooke's table. Peyton and Nathan sat across from her.
Lucas stood next to the table and watched what had just happened. Could two people like each other more? It was funny to him. He was new and didn't really know them that well, but he could already see they were hot for each other. If only they would tell the other how they felt. Lucas took a seat across from Jake and cleared his throat to let his presence be known.
Jake removed his eyes from Haley's retreating form and turned to face Lucas."Hey man, What's going on?"
Lucas laughed."I was just about to ask you the same thing. What' going on with you and Haley?"
Jake looked at him surprised."What are you talking about? Nothing is going on with me and Haley. We're just friends."
"Yeah I know that, but what I just saw looked like more then just friendship. It actually looked to me like you two were going to kiss."
"Your crazy man. That's not what was going on. We are seriously just friends."
"Okay, whatever you say."said Lucas deciding to cut him some slack."So where'd she run off to anyways?"
"Over to talk to Brooke and Peyton."Jake saw the confusion on Lucas' face so he explained."I guess they all talked earlier and apparently it didn't end too well, due in part to Haley. She's going over to apologize to them."
Lucas nodded."Wow. That's pretty big of her."
"Yeah I know. I'm proud of her."
Lucas let out a laugh."Yeah, I can tell your more then just proud of her. You should do something about it too. Dude you should ask her to the winter formal!"said Lucas as if that was the best idea he had ever come up with.
"I was actually thinking about doing that. Do you think I should?"
"Yeah I do. I also think you should tell her how you feel. I bet she feels the same."
"I don't know about that, but I could ask her to go with me just as friends. If we don't go together we'll probably just end up going alone and hanging out together anyways."
"Hey, you do what you gotta do, but I still think you should tell her."
Jake nodded."Your one to talk man."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, just that maybe you should follow your own advice and tell Brooke how you feel about her."
"That's different. We actually are just friends."
"Whatever. Are you going to ask her to the dance?"
Lucas' face fell slightly and he shook his head."Na, I don't think so. I know there are going to be a lot of other guys asking her. I'm sure she'd rather go with one of them."
Jake rolled his eyes."Okay, let me see how I can put this. You've been here for a couple of weeks now right?"Lucas nodded."Well in all the time you've been here I haven't seen Brooke with one guy other then you and Nathan and that's saying a lot about Brooke. I think she'll probably be waiting for a certain someone to ask her."
"I don't think so. We're just friends."said Lucas repeating what Jake had earlier said about himself and Haley.
"Well like I said, you should follow your own advice and ask her to the dance then tell her you like her. I know you do."
"Well like I said, we're friends so of course I like her."
"Then ask her to the dance."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because last night my mom told me we might be going back home already. I probably won't even be here in three weeks for the dance. I wouldn't want to ask her and then have to leave and she won't have a date."
Jake shook his head."Wow. Dude that really sucks. Do you have to go?"
"Well yeah. If my mom goes then so do I."
"Have you told anyone?"
"You mean have I told Brooke?"Jake nodded."No. It's not like it's very important. She doesn't need to know right now. It's not like we're dating or anything."
Jake nodded."I see your point. Man, it's really gonna suck here without you. I was really starting to get used to having you around. The teams gonna miss you too."
"You see. That's what really sucks. I barely got on the team and already I have to leave it. I probably won't even be here to play in my first game."
"You really think you'll be gone by Friday?"
Lucas shrugged."I don't know yet. I have to see what my mom says today. She has an interview with some lady today and if it goes well then we're leaving."
"That really sucks."
"Tell me about it. I was just getting used to Tree Hill."
Peyton looked up from her conversation with Brooke and Nathan and saw Haley coming toward them. She rolled her eyes and nodded to Brooke in her direction.
Brooke looked up and sighed when Haley stopped at their table."What do you want Haley? I really don't feel like hearing about how horrible you think I am again. You don't like me, I get that, but I don't have to sit around and hear all about it. I shouldn't have bothered trying to explain myself. I won't do it..."
"I'm sorry Brooke."interrupted Haley. Off the shock on Brooke's face she continued."I was wrong. I know now that if you say that's what happened, then that's the way it did. David was a jerk and I believe you. I'm sorry for looking down at you for something you didn't do. All of this is my fault."
Brooke softened."No, Haley it isn't."said Brooke.
"Yes it is. If I would have just asked you about all of this when it happened then I wouldn't have disliked you so much and I wouldn't have bad mouthed you every chance I got. Again I'm sorry for that. Your right. I do judge people without knowing them and I have to work on that."she turned to Peyton."I owe you an apology too. I said you would lie for Brooke because she was your friend and I guess in a way that was me being judgmental. I shouldn't have said what I did. I've made a lot of mistakes and I'm sorry for them. I hope one day we can all get passed this."
Brooke nodded."Me too and thank you. It means a lot to me that you believe me. I wouldn't do anything like that. I should really apologize to you too though. I was pretty harsh."
"No, everything you said was true. It gave me a lot to think about. Your a good person Brooke. If all this has taught me anything, it's that."she looked at Peyton."You know Brooke, you have some pretty amazing friends. Your lucky."
"Hey, what about you? You have Jake and Lucas and they are pretty amazing too."said Brooke.
Haley smiled at the mention of Jake."Yeah he is."said Haley only thinking of Jake."Well I should get back. I guess I'll see you guys around."
"Bye Haley."said both Brooke and Peyton.
Haley turned around and walked back to her table feeling a little better now.
They weren't friends or anything, but this was a start.
Thank you all for the reviews. I love reading every one of them. I'm sorry for the delay in this chapter, but hey I remembered to post a chapter this week at least.lol. My next update won't be until after Wednesday. I'll have some free time then. Anyways I hoped you all liked this chapter. I don't know how I feel about it. This was pretty much just a filler chapter letting everyone know what's going to be happening in the next few chapters. The next one is going to be better. It has some cute Brucasness. I know I've been lacking in the Brucasness and I'll be making up for it. Anyways please let me know what you think. Read and review. Thanks.
Coming Up:
Lucas overhears the guys talking about Brooke in the locker room.
Lucas wonders about something he hears.
Lucas asks Brooke a question.