Hey guys, I've got some bad news for you, good for me. I'm going away yet again from tommorrow till Sunday so I'm not going to be able to update. But, lucky for you I have this story written quite a few chapters ahead so I'm going to leave you with four. Yes FOUR updates! I hope you enjoy and leave me really really really awesome reviews to come back to! YOu guys are really great when it comes to reviewing. Keep up the good work, I love your input! Bye! - Katie

Chapter 10

Haley opened the journal yet again, eager to read the rest. 'God, I hope that I don't analyze and contemplate after ievery/i entry. See, this is when I shun myself for being an over thinker,' she thought as she began looking over the second entry.

2/2/06

So today I needed a ride to school from Lucas because my car was in the shop, and on our way to pick up Brooke he basically gave me the low down on all these hot girls he'd "hit on but was too good for," a.k.a. they laughed in his face and walked away. But hello… on the way to Brooke's house? The girl who he is supposedly "madly in love with." Yeah right. I really don't think Lucas would know what love is if it hit him the face with a shovel. I know I'm supposed to be Mr. Macho, let's bump fists and say "yeah Dude, she's a hottie," whenever Lucas or any of my friends gets a girl, but really, I'm so over that.

What I'm about to say will make me look like a sap, and pretty much ruin my reputation of having that bad boy 'Scott Dynasty' (did I mention how corny that name is?) edge, but I don't think girls should be treated like meat. So yes, I've used some pick up lines before, but it was half joking, half trying to charm, and nothing sleazy. More along the lines of "Are you and overdo library book? Cause you have fine written all over you." Yeah it corny, but the girls laugh. And that my friend, is what I want to do. Get into a girl's mind… and heart… not her pants. Granted, I am in ino way/i not a fan of affection, it's just not my main priority. I don't go after girls just to nab them and run like some of my buddies do. But enough preaching, I probably look like Dr. Phil right now.

Haley smirked at herself. She knew that Nathan was different than his whole crowd, and she was happy of that. He was sweet, and actually cared about whoever he was with, unlike some of his counterparts. She couldn't help but melt at what he just wrote, but also made a note to laugh in his face for that cheesy pick up line. "Let's see what Nathan Scott has to say next," Haley mumbled under her breath as she flipped to the next chapter.

2/3/06

Okay, so today I had one of my most embarrassing moments ever. I know I know, I'm Nathan Scott, that can't be possible. But alas, it's true. I was walking in the hallway with Lucas, Brooke, and Peyton when out of nowhere I trip on some spilt soda. That's not even the worst of it. Being an athlete and all, I used my supposed good reflexes, and went to grab for something. Too bad while I was flailing my arms in the air the only thing my hands grabbed was Peyton's hair. Yeah. Let's just say a large chunk was taken out, tears were shed and she's at the hair salon as we speak. To make matters worse, when I fell I twisted my ankle so now it hurts like hell, and my lucky Air Jordon's got sticky from the soda so when I walk it makes this really annoying sound. I guess I'm just complaining now, but it was still so embarrassing. /i

Haley chuckled as she skimmed through Nathan's entry. She liked his humble personality and the fact that he too could have klutzy moments, which it seems she had all the time. She ended her laughter and continued onto the next entry.

i2/4/06

So today had a very interesting chain of events. We were assigned partners for an assignment on decades in history class and after switching around I was paired up with Haley James. Which is not a problem, she seems nice and quirky… but in a good way. Anyway, after school, I go to basketball practice and a teammate of mine finds that journal I've been reading and reveals whose he thinks it is. Want to know who? Haley James. How weird is that? It's like recently she's been popping up in my life a lot or at least I'm noticing it a lot more, and this time it's not even intentionally.

I'm going to finish the journal tonight, and give it back tomorrow. I know I shouldn't read it but there's something about her that makes me want to know everything and anything I can. She makes me laugh, feel sad, basically every emotion under the sun. And maybe it's not her, but her journal, but whatever it's practically the same thing. I hope she's not mad at me for taking her journal. It's just, there's something about it that makes me never want to put it down. And once I give it back, I'm kind of hoping we can be friends, because I think we'd make great… friends. If her personality is anything like her writing, which I know it probably is and more, than I want to know her. And I want her to know me.

It's me again. Just a couple of hours later. I finished the journal. I love reading it, it's sad to see it come to an end. But it had too, I need to give it back, plus there's nothing left to read but that's beside the point. There's one thing that seems trivial to me though. She talks about Chris Keller, this guy who was going to help her with her music, but there is something more to him. Just from the way she rights about him I get this bad vibe and it makes me want to smack the guy. Then when I read he kissed her, what a sleaze. There is definitely something more to their relationship than this journal is telling, and I really want to know. Maybe, if we ever become friends, she'll trust me enough to tell me.

Haley read through his entry again. God, she hated him. Okay, she didn't hate him, far from it actually. She just hated the fact that he was knocking down the walls she set around herself so she wouldn't get hurt again. Nathan Scott was getting to her, and Haley had no way to stop it. He actually cared about her, Haley James the person. Not Haley James the tutor or Haley James the wannabe singer. Just Haley James. He even cared enough to feel anger toward someone who had hurt her, even though he's never met the guy or knew anything about him. She couldn't help but warm up to everything Nathan had written. She's glad he wants to be her friend, because she wanted to be his too. And more of course, but she pushed the feeling to the back of her brain a long time ago.

2/5/06

Okay, so things today did not go as well as planned. It was pretty much one of the worst days of the year. Where to start? First off I totally crushed someone today. When I gave the journal back to Haley, and after we talked she looked at me with the disappointed eyes I've ever seen. She couldn't even stay in the same room as me. After she left I just put my head and my hands and tried to push her face out of my mind, but I couldn't. She was crushed. That journal was hers and she made it for a reason. So she could tell it what she didn't want to tell everyone else but I was selfish and looked at it anyway. That was probably on of the most "assy-est" moments of my life.

So then, to make it even worse, my dad decided to pay a visit to basketball practice today. Let's just say that did not end well. We had him yelling at Whitey, trying to get under his skin, Whitey yelling at us to get my dad off his back, and then my dad yelling at me because I was not living up to the "Dan Scott pedigree." So, after already being in a crappy mood, my dad ragging on me didn't make it any better so I told him off. I don't do that a lot because my dad is really good at bringing on a nice can of whoop-ass, and I have yet to see someone dish it out as good as him, but I couldn't take it anymore. Needless to say, my outburst ended with me being pushed up against the wall, my whole team staring at me, and my Uncle Keith having to pry my dad away from me. Yeah, my dad's an ass and an embarrassment. I'm sick of having to live up to all these things which really are not who I am. Whatever. Today was just crappy.

As Haley read through the entry she felt a multitude of feelings. She felt angry, remembering that day, yet at the same time she felt bad. As if she had overacted. If only she had looked at it from his point of view and not been so stubborn. However, her feelings soon lead to horrible once she saw what happened at practice. She felt for him, she knew what it was like to just want to be yourself, but you can't. And she knew what it was like to embarrassed in front of a whole group of people by a family member. Not in the "haha, that's so funny" embarrassment. But the, "I'm so sorry" pity embarrassment. That was the worst. A single tear shed from her eye as she blocked out the memory she had tried so hard to forget. She sat there for a moment, collecting her thoughts, trying her best not to let her emotions get her, and then pressed on.

2/6/06

Haley has been avoiding me all day. I mean, we were never really friends but at least I saw her around sometimes. Now, there's not a single trace. I tried to talk to her friend Georgia? Gina?... oh wait, GiGi. Yeah, GiGi. I tried to talk to her but she gave me the silent treatment and that new kid, Lips? Face? … no wait, Mouth. Yeah, he gave me the evil eye. So it looks like I hurt her pretty bad. Hopefully she'll come to class tomorrow. We have to present our project and then she'll be forced to talk to me. All I want to do is tell her how sorry I am. I never meant to hurt her, she was just so interesting… so intriguing. Either way, I hurt her and I need to make it up to her. And that, my friend, is why I'm writing you. Plus, this writing thing actually isn't so bad, but that's so not that point. I'm going to make it up to Haley James, and I'm going to get this journal to her whether she wants it or not. I want to see her smile. That's all I want. I want to make her smile instead of crushed into a million pieces like she was the other day.

Haley sighed to herself. Despite how much she tried, Nathan had wedged his way into her universe, and her reading his journal was just roping him in even more. She had to admit, he did have his way with words that just made her want to hug him, but she couldn't do that or admit that, because then she would be vulnerable. And that is the last thing that she would want to happen. She turned the page to find the last entry, dated the day before.

2/7/06

Alright, should I share the good news or the bad news first? Let's go with good news cause everything else just kind of spirals off of it. Okay, so good news is that I saw Haley today. And we talked. Well, it was mostly just like whispering and Haley yelling at me, but hey, it was some form of communication. Bad news, we were talking because neither of us finished the project we had to present… today! Needless to say, we got a D and now my grade in history is well… history. Wow, I'm lame. HaHaHa. Sorry, just trying to lighten up this situation. Because here's the bottom line, if I don't keep my grade up in history which is a borderline C/D then I can't play basketball which will not only affect me, but the team, my dad, Whitey… everyone who counts on me. Yeah, no pressure, Nathan. None at all. Ms. West said I should get a tutor though, so she set one up for me, my first session is tomorrow. I hope this tutor is good, because I really need to get my grade up. And since history is not exactly the most exciting subject, I hope my tutor is hott so I pay more attention. Man did I seriously just write that? I sound like Lucas. On that note, I think I'm going to go. Got to get to my studies so I don't need tutoring in any other classes.

Haley couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt as she read his last entry, I mean, she was the reason he did bad on the project. Their first day he seemed so excited, but then she just skipped out on him because she couldn't face him after he read her journal. Oh well, she was his tutor now, she'd help him get his grade up. She then felt another tingle in the pit of her stomach as she finished the entry. Almost like sadness, because this was his last entry. She had enjoyed seeing his thoughts, knowing his feelings like no one else. It was sad to it end. She laid on her bed thinking about everything she had just read and eventually fell asleep that night on her stomach, her face resting on the open page of Nathan's journal.

Haley was jerked awake that morning by the sound of her smoke alarm going off. Seems as though her sister Taylor left the hair straightener top close to a towel in the bathroom, and had caused it to smoke.

"Taylor!" Haley screamed into her sister's room.

"What?" Taylor said from her seat at her nightstand, fully dressed.

"Next time use that itty bitty brain of yours and unplug the straightener when you're done. And also, keep it away from things that can catch fire easily!"

"Whatever. Sorry." Taylor replied with a noticeable attitude.

Haley looked at her sister, scoffing, and then noticed the time. "Taylor. I've just been woken up an hour before I usually get up. It's five in the morning, what the hell are you doing already fully dressed?"

"Uh… nothing. Nothing. Just going out, bye," she said as she pushed past Haley and went down the steps to the front door.

After already being woken up, and too frustrated to fall back asleep, Haley decided to just get dressed and go down to the pier for an early breakfast before school. She went into her room, threw on some clothes that were sitting in a pile, ran a comb through her hair and was out the door. However, she did not leave without placing Nathan's journal in her bag.

As she walked through school that day keeping an eye out for Nathan, she felt as if everyone was staring at her. "Oh god, did Nathan say anything about my journal to someone?" she mumbled to herself, now starting to get paranoid. She finally spotted Nathan walking through the quad with his band of buddies. He immediately noticed her, said goodbye to his friends, and then approached her, not noticing the curly blond with the new bob haircut following him.

"Hey Hales," he said smiling at her.

"Nathan," she said, trying to hold in a smirk.

"I uh-" he began but was cut of by someone else.

"Hey Tutorgirl. You've got a little something on your face," Peyton stated, looking from Nathan to Haley, and pointing to Haley's face.

"Wha- What?" Haley said, suddenly turning red.

"Yeah, you've got something on your face," she stated again. It says… nahtaN."

"What the heck?" Haley said, pulling a mirror from her bag, and as soon as she saw it she looked in horror. "Nathan," she whispered to herself as she looked at herself. There on her face, written in smudged ink was Nathan backwards. 'Damn, I must have drooled when I fell asleep on his journal last night! And that's why everyone's been staring at me!' she thought, wanting to smack herself in the head.

However, it seemed she didn't whisper "Nathan" as quietly as she hoped. "What?" he said, answering her.

"No Nate. She wasn't talking to you. On her face, it says Nathan."

"What… no. Noooo," Haley said getting nervous. "Why would my face say Nathan?"

"I don't know you tell me," Peyton said skeptically. "Whatever, Brooke's calling me. But do us all a favor Heidi and wash your face."

"It's Haley," she yelled at Peyton's retreating figure.

"So, I guess that answers my question…" Nathan began.

"What question?" Haley inquired.

"If you read my journal or not," he snickered.

"Oh shut up!" Haley giggled back at him, as he looked on and smirked knowing that he put that smile on her face. "But I've got a question for you now."

"Alright, shoot."

"Was your tutor hott?"

"What do you mean?" He said, getting flustered.

"Don't play dumb with me Nathan. You said in your journal that you hoped your tutor was hott… now was she?" Haley said with a sheepish grin.

"If you must know. Yes, she was. But my tutor's are even hotter when they have my name smudged across their face," Nathan stated with a playful tone as he lead her into the school. Haley just rolled her eyes at his comment and tried to hold in the smile that was begging to show across her face. Nathan looked down at her, still smirking, and extremely happy that his journal writing seemed to do the trick.