Hey all, so here's the next chapter. The story is winding down like I said before. I'm thinking about maybe five or less chapters left. Nothing is set in stone though. I only have one chapter ahead of this written yet. Also I'm so anxious for the new episode this week. WHERE IS NATHAN? He's my favorite and I'll be devastated if anything happens to him! This season has definitely kept my interest peaked so far. Well anyway please review for me and let me know what you think about this chapter. And finally thank you to those who reviewed that last!

Trying her hardest to keep her eyes forced shut for just a little bit longer was becoming seemingly impossible at this point. She wasn't ready to wake up yet, nor had she been ready twenty minutes earlier when she first opened her eyes. Since then she had refused to her open her eyes again in the hopes that she would gain just a little bit more sleep. Unfortunately for her, it didn't seem to be working. Although sleep had come particularly easy to her last night due to being completely exhausted, it had been pretty late when she actually laid down, therefore it hadn't been much sleep at all. She finally allowed her eyes to flutter open as she gave up all hope of more sleep and thought back to the events of the previous night.

She had been a total wreck after Lucas came knocking at her door. She was so worried about her boyfriend and it had taken what seemed like forever for him to contact her. Even a little phone call or text from Lucas would have been much appreciated, but instead she was left with just herself and her thoughts.

Looking at Nathan's relaxed face while he slept, she wished he could be this peaceful all the time. She let out a small sigh at everything that had been going on with him lately. It had been difficult, that was for sure. Surely, she was extremely disappointed in her boyfriend for resorting to performance enhancers to overcome the pressures that Dan Scott was placing on his son's shoulders over a silly game. However, she couldn't help but argue that it wasn't entirely Nathan's fault. He worked so hard all of the time to impress his father and make that man happy, but nothing was ever good enough for Dan. All Nathan received in return was harsh criticism and constant belittling. That wasn't to say she was condoning Nathan's actions of taking the drugs, that wasn't the case in the slightest bit, but she really felt extremely bad for him. Besides, who was she to say that she wouldn't resort to a little extra help with the kind of pressure he was under? Until she was in the same position as him, she couldn't say for sure. Thankfully, she had no idea what it was like to experience first hand never being good enough for her parents.

She hated Dan Scott with everything in her. It killed her inside to see him treat Nathan the way he did. She wondered if he knew what he was doing to his son. She wondered if he knew that Nathan had taken speed. She wondered if even if he did know, if he would even feel a speck of guilt or regret. But, that was the thing about Dan Scott, she wasn't sure he was capable of feeling anything at all. If you asked her, he was cold and heartless.

Haley reached out to trace the features of Nathan's defined face, mentally telling herself to use only the softest touch so he wouldn't wake up. He needed the rest, both physically and mentally. Looking over passed Nathan she noticed the time and thought about how he was supposed to be at practice right now. She was thankful that he had been excused from today's basketball session. A day away to relax would do him so good. She just wished that he could see it.

They hadn't really went over all the details of everything last night. She didn't blame him for not wanting to and respected giving him some time. As she thought of his confession though, she couldn't help but think if it was the reasoning behind Nathan's strange behavior recently. Now that it was done with she just hoped the normal Nathan would be here to stay for good.

"Hey you." She whispered with a small smile as she saw Nathan's blue eyes staring back at her.

In response, he closed the small space between them and placed a soft kiss on her forehead without uttering a single word.

"How are you feeling?" It was a question she was semi-nervous to ask.

"Okay." He answered groggily. "I'm supposed to be a practice right now." He mumbled more to himself than to her.

Haley nodded. "Yeah, I know, but it'll be good to just take a break. It's only one day." She tried to reason.

He looked back over at her. He knew she was right, but he still couldn't help the feeling of guilt from coming up. He felt guilty for even taking performance enhancers in first place. He felt guilty for missing practice this morning, not that it was his choice because if he had a say in this at all he would be there right now. Yet, he mostly felt guilty because he felt like he was letting everyone down.

"The banquet is tonight." He reminded her. And himself. "They're going to give me the MVP award, Haley. I don't deserve that. Not anymore."

Attending the basketball banquet was honestly the last thing he felt like doing. He didn't want to go there knowing he was going to be on the receiving end of an award he no longer deserved. It made him sick to think about how they were going to give it to him. Right now, he really wanted to call his coach and beg him no to give him that award. Someone else deserved it. Someone that wasn't as such of a disgrace as he was.

"You made a mistake, Nathan. One mistake. Everyone does. And I can already tell it's something that you truly regret it doing. You've worked extremely hard for this all season. If you didn't feel remorseful for taking the drugs, then I would say no, you don't deserve it, but you do. Those drugs didn't make you train as hard as you did all year or make you put in those extra hours at the gym. You put your entire heart and soul into playing for this team and anyone that watches you can clearly see that. You did those things all on your own. The drugs were a one time mistake. Please, don't let that ruin all the previous hard work you've done."

"You're amazing, you know that?" He spoke before placing a soft kiss on her lips. "How did I get so lucky?"

"It helps that you're hot." She joked, trying to lighten the mood a little. It was literally taking everything in her right now not to call up Dan Scott and give him a piece of her mind. He should be ashamed of himself. He not only drove his son to use drugs, but he was also single-handedly diminishing all the hard work Nathan had done previously as well. The whole situation disgusted her.

"Well, we knew that already." He stated cockily before turning serious a second later. "No, but really, I can't thank you enough for being so incredible. You're not even holding this whole thing against me. And I just wanted to apologize for everything. I know I've been difficult to deal with recently. I'm sorry for how I've been acting. I want you to know that I didn't mean any of it."

He felt ashamed for how he'd treated Haley. She deserved way better than him. The way he had been behaving reminded him of the old Nathan, the Nathan he was before he had ever caught a glimpse of Haley. Since the day he first met her things had been completely different though. He was a better person. He didn't want to fall back into his old ways again. He wanted to be good enough for Haley and he just hoped that one day he actually would be.

She reached out and cupped his cheek in her hand. "It's okay, Nathan. You've been dealing with a lot. I just wish you could have talked to me about it..." She trailed off.

Nathan grabbed her hand from his face and kissed the back of it. "I know. You're right, I should have. And I'm sorry."

"Just don't let it happen again, Mister." She pointed her index finger at him.

The sound of her phone ringing on the nightstand broke the couple out of their thoughts. Reaching across Nathan she grabbed it. Seeing the unsaved number on the screen she quickly dropped the phone as fast as she picked it up. That was about the fifteenth call this week. She had been ignoring all of them.

"Who is it?" Nathan questioned when she didn't pick it up.

"Um, just Brooke." She lied easily while swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Don't you wanna get that?"

She flicked her wrist. "I'll call her back later. I just wanna lay here with you." She said snuggling back into her boyfriend's muscular arms.

"And, you're done." Brooke announced as she put a touch of lip gloss onto Haley's lips.

"Thanks for all your help, Brookie." Haley said, looking herself over one last time in the full length mirror seeing as Nathan was going to be there any minute now to pick her up for the banquet.

"Anything for you, Tutor-girl. Although I really wish I was going too." Brooke pouted as she spun around pretending she was all dressed up for the banquet as well.

If there was one thing that Brooke loved to do, it was take her time getting all dolled up and go to fabulous events. Although, she supposed the basketball banquet was all that fabulous, but a girl could dream.

Haley walked over and gave her a friend a hug. "Me too, Brookie. I don't really want to go alone. Rach-ho is going to be there..."

"Don't let her see you sweat, Hales. Nathan's your man."

"I just wish she knew that." Haley mumbled.

"I'll be there at the party afterwards though. Don't forget you promised to come meet me there. But for now, Lucas is waiting for me so I've got to go. Try to have a good time." Brooke said before bouncing out the door.

Haley sighed as her phone rang. She had a good idea of who it was without even looking. She had been trying to ignore the calls the best she could, but this was just getting out of hand now.

"Hello?" She reluctantly answered. It wasn't something she wanted to do, but it was clear if she didn't take action that the calls would not be stopping any time soon. The faster that she was able to end this, the better, that was for sure. "What's this about?"..."Congrats." She spoke dryly. ..."No."... "I'd like you to stop calling me." Haley said before abruptly hanging up.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door signaling that Nathan was there. Plastering a smile on her face, Haley opened the door. "Hi."

"Hey. You look beautiful. As always." Nathan greeted.

"Why thank you. You don't look so bad yourself either." She teased.

He offered out his hand to her. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She muttered under her breath while grasping Nathan's much larger outstretched hand with her own smaller one.

The banquet had been nice, but both Nathan and Haley were glad it was over for their own separate reasons. For Nathan, it was because he didn't want to continue feeling the guilt that was inside of him over receiving the most valuable player award. For Haley, it was because she could escape the conniving looks and sarcastic comments that had been continuously coming her way from Rachel every second Nathan wasn't by her side. She knew there was no way that the red-head would have left her alone tonight.

Now the pair was currently on their way to the after party. Nathan had suggested not going at all when they made a stop at the dorms to get changed. The idea of skipping it did sound very appealing to Haley and she would normally go for it except for the fact that she had made a promise to Brooke to see her there. Ultimately, they decided to show up and make a quick appearance before leaving. The plan was to stay for about an hour, say hi to all their friends and then slip out the door discretely.

"We don't have to go in, you know." Nathan spoke as they walked up towards the party, giving them one last chance to back out.

"One hour?"

He nodded. "One hour."

"Haleyyyy!" Brooke yelled over the music once she spotted her best friend walk in. It was about damn time the girl got there.

"Hey Brookie. What's going on?"

"You will not even believe this!" Brooke said, pulling Haley in another direction from Nathan.

Haley looked over her shoulder longingly at Nathan. 'Help me.' She mouthed at him. Parting from him had not been part of the plan. That was only going to make it that much harder for them to leave as quickly as planned now that they would have to go looking for each other first.

He shrugged his shoulders at her, knowing better than to mess with Brooke. "One hour." He called out to her.

"Look at that hoe-bag!" Brooke exclaimed and pointed at the center of the room.

Right before Haley's eyes was Rachel dancing on top of a table looking like she was practically half naked based off the very little clothing she was sporting. Well, it was more like a striptease if you asked her. Haley knew she shouldn't even be surprised by Rachel's behavior.

"Typical." Haley mumbled under her breath with an exaggerated eye-roll as Rachel finally hopped off the table top, receiving cheers from the drunk boys surrounding her.

"Got a problem, Holly?" Rachel asked getting in the shorter girl's face.

Haley sucked her teeth. "Nope." She answered shortly, trying to ignore Rachel the best that she could.

"Where's Nathan?" Rachel questioned. "Oh that's right, I told him to meet me upstairs. I wouldn't want to keep him waiting, but don't worry Holly, I won't keep him out too late..."

Enough was enough and Haley had finally been pushed to her limit. Haley abruptly snatched the cup that Brooke was holding out of her hand. In a matter of seconds she tossed the beverage in Rachel's face drenching the red-head with some kind of alcohol. "That is for being a manipulative bitch!" Haley reached up and slapped the taller girl's cheek immediately afterwards. "And that is for trying to sleep with my boyfriend!"

Brooke's eyes widened as she gasped loudly. Never in a million years had she expected Haley to do that. As soon as the shock wore off, a smile appeared on her face. She was so proud of her best friend for finally standing up to that slut.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" People began chanting loudly as they gathered around the two girls, not wanting to miss a thing of what was about to unfold.

"You little bitch." Rachel growled as she reached out to shove Haley. However, before she could even lay a hand on the shorter girl in front of her she felt someone grab a hold of her arm and push her back.

"I don't think so." Nathan warned. He let go of Rachel's arm and stepped in between her and Haley. "That's enough, Rachel. Leave her alone." He growled while glaring at the annoying cheerleader.

No way was he going to let someone lay a hand on Haley. When one of the guys on the team came over and told him Haley was in a fight he didn't believe it for one second. Not his Haley. But, sure enough here she was in the center of the room about to throw down with Rachel. He was completely shocked to say the least.

"Whatever." Rachel let out a frustrated scoff before shoving her way through the crowd.

"Hales, that was awesome!" Brooke commended, jumping over to hug her best friend. "That slap had to have left a hand print!"

She shot Brooke a small smile as she pulled away before turning to Nathan. "Can we go now? Please!" Haley begged.

"After you, Rocky." He smirked while grabbing her hand and letting her lead the way to the door.

"I cannot believe I did that!" Haley exclaimed as she plopped herself onto Nathan's bed once they made it back to his room.

Nathan could no longer hold back his laughter at the entire situation.

"It isn't funny!" She swatted at his arm.

"Oh come on, Hales, it's kinda funny..." Nathan bit back a smile.

Haley covered her face with her hands. She was never one to believe that fighting solved anything and that was exactly what she did tonight. Even though Rachel did have it coming, that didn't make it exactly okay. Not to say she regretted it because she would do it again in a heartbeat. She was tired of Rachel's little digs at her and the girl's crazy obsession with her boyfriend. The girl had pushed her past her limit and Haley never believed in letting people walk all over her.

Nathan chuckled. "My girl is badass." He said pulling her hands her away from her face and holding both of them in just one of his above her head. "That's hot." He smirked as he climbed on top of her and ducked his head down to capture her lips with his in a passionate kiss.

He caressed her lips with his own before tracing his tongue over hers. She instantly granted him permission into her mouth as her tongue battled his. With things heating up quickly, Nathan's hands made quick work of discarding Haley's shirt, only breaking their kisses to pull the article of clothing over her head. His mouth made its way down to her neck placing open-mouthed kisses on every spot he reached. She let out soft moans at the contact of his lips against the skin on her neck. Nathan could already feel himself growing harder at the small noises his girlfriend was making. She unintentionally was driving him wild.

Haley slid her hands up Nathan's back underneath his shirt, feeling all of his toned muscles as she did so. They parted briefly once again only so that Nathan could pull his own shirt off once Haley had began pushing it up, signaling that she wanted it gone. Her hands continued to roam his now naked upper body while Nathan continued his ministrations on her neck, slowly making his way closer to her breasts. Reaching behind her, he expertly unclasped her lacy bra in swift move and then quickly discarded it by tossing it to the side.

Their lower halves were grinding together creating an intense friction due to still being clothed. One of his hands slid down in between them to top of her jeans and easily popped the button open before moving on to her zipper.

"Oh my God, my eyes!" Lucas shrieked as he walked through the door, instantly placing a hand over his eyes, not that it would help much considering he was pretty sure he was already blind from what he just witnessed.

Nathan and Haley jumped at the sound of the door and Lucas' cries. A dark blush immediately graced Haley's face as she tried to cover herself up. While she grabbed the sheet on Nathan's bed to hide under, Nathan on the other hand, let out a frustrated groan before flopping over onto his back next to Haley. Leave it to Lucas, to disrupt them. He was going to kill his brother.

"Oh. My. God." Haley muttered from under the sheet, completely mortified by the situation. "This is so embarrassing."

"I've been blinded. I'm sure of it." Lucas whined, peeking through his fingers to see Haley and his brother both now wearing shirts, much to his liking.

Ew, that was definitely something he could have gone the rest of his life without seeing, he thought. On the positive side of things, his brother and friend were at least still half clothed so technically it could have been way worse. Nathan saw it as Lucas having terrible timing by walking in on them, but as far as Lucas was concerned he had great timing seeing as if he would have been any later then who knows what he would have saw. He shuddered at the mere thought of seeing more than he already did. It was disgusting if you asked him. That was his brother and he viewed Haley to be like a little sister to him. It was just wrong on so many levels.

"Shut it." Nathan growled unhappily at his brother.