Chapter Eleven

Haley watched out the window as two of her children walked semi-unknowingly together. This had been the first time she had seen one of her other three in anything beside pictures and this feeling in her was almost overpowering. She silently wondered if seeing the other two would be like this.

"So he found the letter?" Nathan asked, picking up on where they had left their last phone conversation.

"I had a feeling that is the real reason you came over here." She tried to tease, but the rest of the thought in her head and the look on his face forced her to get serious. "Yeah, he found the letter, but I don't know if he understands it all…I tried to explain as much as I could without compromising what we planned to tell them as a group...he promised not say anything, but I don't know Nathan…he's been mad at me. I had to ask for a non-existent hammer to get him to act remotely like himself."

"What do you expect? He's almost eighteen and they're just now getting answers." Nathan pointed out, his face trying to remain calm.

"You say that like I'm the only one guilty for that." Haley said, hinting at the fact she wasn't over him leaving in the first place, and she could see that Nathan understood.

Her voice softened, "I guess we both did a fair share of leaving, but we can't argue over what we've done, we're here now…what's done is done."

They stood there in silence for a few moments, "So, the other two are at a party?" She smiled.

"It's the start of the senior year…Gracyn been fighting for this for a week now…says that I would have ruined her entire year if I didn't let her go tonight."

"And she won you over like that?"

Nathan smiled, "That was her excuse, I think she wanted to drag Halen out of the house, he's been taking Jenny leaving a little harder this year."

"So, they're still trying to make it work? What is it three years now? They remind me a lot of…" she faded off not meeting his eyes.

"What we were like in high school." He finished.

"yeah." She whispered.

He moved silently next to her. "I had this dream the other night, we were back in high school, it was when you were watching Jenny and I came over to help…"

"Nathan, I know where you're going. I remember that night, and we're a long way from that."

"I know, but from the moment I left, I've wanted that night back."

She looked at him, before deciding quickly to pull out of the thoughts running through her head, "But Nathan we're here right now. And while it's the two of us, we should probably talk about how this is gonna work."

"Right."


"What's your story?" Bri had asked the question moments after leaving the house.

"My…story?" Mason laughed.

"Well, yeah, you're the new kid. You come from California, clearly, because unless I'm severely mistaken that was Haley James sharing that house with you here in Tree Hill. How do you get from there to walking down with me towards the Rivercourt."

"Oh, so my story?" He smiled as she nodded, "You see my mom wanted a change of scene, so this morning we stood in the living room of our huge house, clicked our heels, and said 'There's no place like home' and suddenly this giant ass bubble appeared out of nowhere and suddenly we were here unpacking our stuff."

"Wow, that's so insightful, jerk." She laughed. "No come on really, I'm trying to be nice."

"Nice or annoying?"

"I resent that."

"I'm sure you do."

"Come on."

"Alright, I surrender." He laughed. "Let's see. I was born here until I turned four then my mom and I lived there until today. Mom did want a change a pace or something. And she wanted me to graduated from Tree Hill High or something like that. She said that everyone should spend one year at Tree Hill. Something like that."

"I've spent three years here so far, and you might want to get a refund on those plane tickets real fast."

"That bad?" He looked at her,

"Not that bad, I guess. Let me explain."

They arrived at the Rivercourt and began a small one on one game, while Bri explained how Tree Hill worked,

"There's my sister, co-captain of the cheerleaders, Gracyn is all in to it the whole high school things, she's smart and a great person, and I love her to death, but she revolves around all this stuff, and most of time as long as we're in school, she barely acknowledges my existence. Then my brother Halen-Luc, it's what he's gone by for a while now, basketball god like our father and his father, and his father and so on. Who else you need to know : the Jagielskis, Ryan, let's just say Gracie would trade me over for Ryan any day cheerleading thing one and thing two, Bailey the school's resident comedian and class clown extraordinaire and natural devil's advocate any time you express an opinion. Him and Lily, my aunt-esque, have tag teamed it since birth. And Abbot, my best friend since we were four. Then don't ever mess with Julian Meyers, her and Isaac Tylers have been on and off since kindergarten. Mia Larson is a slut, and Josh Nanders is a man-slut. Mr. McFadden is one of the coolest teachers on earth, and avoid Mr. Smith at all cost…we don't know who allowed him to be a teacher."

"That's a lot to remember." Mason laughed as he let the ball go through the net with little effort.

"It's no biggie, I'll have your back." She stole the ball before he could retrieve it, dribbled a little before repeating his shot into the basket.


Until Next time this is me…signing out