Can't be anyone else

S01E23

Episode: Change

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and the motivation to keep this story going =) I'm actually really proud about how this episode turned out - and i hope you'll like it as well.. anyways, hope you'll all have a great weekend =)

Every beginning is a consequence - every beginning ends something.

~Paul Valery

Change seems to happen so quickly, and it happens all the time... all around us... Things can happen in a split second: A car crash, or a heart attack.

Change can be feared - But change cannot be changed… which was probably why Haley feared it so much!

Yes, things around her had changed as abruptly as the weather. Before she had even time to look around, it had changed from summer, to fall. And now, before she even realized it – winter was knocking on the door. Instead of leaves dancing around her, it was now snowflakes that fell from the sky.

She looked out if her bedroom window: The snow had melted away, only to return again in the dead of night.

She ran her hands through her dark locks of hair and tied it up into a ponytail. She then proceeded to find her red hat and pulled it down; making sure it covered her ears.

Haley knew it was time to leave. It was time to take the same walk that she took every day to school. Haley sighed at the thought as she grabbed her backpack and ran down the stairs.

Her own footsteps sounded too loud in the silent house.

Her mother had left as quickly as she came. But it had been nice. It had been needed. They didn't need to talk, they just sat and enjoyed each other's company in silence – while watching yet another chick flick.

She put on her black coat and immediately felt the warmth surround her. After she had put on her clothes and shoes she ventured outside.

Each step repeated the step before. Left, right, left, right. Marching on to what had become her new life.

The cold air pinched her cheeks. It still huffed and puffed to her like a playful puppy, but she just didn't feel in the mood today.

She reached the school, found her locker, found her books, and went into her class. She took notes, and was the ever perfect student.

The class ended, only to be replaced by yet another one: Math.

The math teacher sent her yet another glare from behind his horn rimmed glasses. He had never quite gotten over the first meeting with her, where she disrupted his precious class. She wanted to roll her eyes at his lame attempts to terrify her.

She had gotten all A's in this class, so she definitely had nothing to prove to him.

That class ended way too slowly in her opinion.

Haley looked to the floor as she reached her locker. She opened it and threw in her math book.

Stupid Geometry and Trigonometry! She scoffed.

The sound of commotion came from down the hall.

Oh great.

She knew what this meant. She quickly hid herself behind the locker door.

As predicted the Scott brothers and their posse came into view.

She didn't know how they could stand be surrounded by so many people all the time. Haley would absolutely hate it; to be so… scrutinized… all the time. To have so many eyes on her would freak her out.

She peeked out from her locker to observe them: Lucas Scott stood rather quietly and leaned up a locker. He wore an overbearing smile, as he heard Nathan Scott tell yet another story about his "rice to fame".

Nathan Scott was loud and cocky as he illustrated how he threw the jump shot that had made the winning goal.

The guy's around him looked at him with admiration as they high-fived each other, and complimented him.

Soon the focus was turned to their next game, and the other guy's began to loudly declare how they were going to kick ass.

Haley watched as Nathan's demeanor changed as the focus was no longer on him. The larger-than-life attitude seemed to evaporate as he stared straightforward.

He seemed oddly like a boy trapped in a man's body.

She couldn't quite dissever the look in his eyes. She just knew that there was something more.

As if he sensed someone observing him, he started to look around.

Haley quickly ducked behind her locker again. Her heart beat a little faster. She just hoped he hadn't seen her… and that he didn't recognize her if he had.

After a while she dared to quickly look again. They were all laughing again - making everybody around them jealous of their carefreeness.

Nathan seemed to bear the same smirk as before. Maybe it had all been something she had imagined? She shrugged and found the books she needed. As she closed her locker she noticed just how many was observing the pack, just like she had before.

She wanted to laugh at the sight before her. Those girls were too obvious.

That's when she realized she had probably been just like them, just two seconds before.

That thought made her scowl.

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~…~

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School had finally ended, and now she sat in her room once again…. And once again, it was way boring.

She looked to her computer – she had to wait 15 minutes before she could harvest her corn in Farmville. Haley sighed. Unless there was a sudden bear- or snake attack in the game, she had nothing to do but stare for 15 minutes.

She scrambled through some of her papers on her desk; underneath them laid her phone. She picked it up, and briefly wondered if she should text Brooke.

She decided against it, as she knew what the answer would probably be. Her heart ached slightly as she thought about how their friendship seemed to have changed.

It didn't used to be like this. Before she didn't even have to text her, Brooke would just automatically turn up.

Haley forced herself to push her sad thoughts away. It was a good thing, right? Brooke had gotten lots of new friends. She should be happy for her… right?

She looked over to see her beloved guitar standing there in the corner of her room. Music had always been her saving grace.

Haley walked over and picked it up. She sat on the bed and stared out the window, as her fingers strummed knowingly down the strings. Nice, cool, and familiar.

She quietly played a few notes as a song came to mind. She absentmindedly began to sing it, while playing the guitar:

There's a girl - Who sits under the bleachers
Just another day eating alone
And though she smiles - There is something just hiding
And she can't find a way to relate
She just goes unnoticed - As the crowd passes by
And she'll pretend to be busy…. When she just wants to cry.

Take a little look at the life of miss always invisible

She allowed the music take her away from her life, from this place, from this town. No matter what happened, she would always have this.

She vaguely heard the computer "pling", which probably meant that she could harvest now!

And one day, just the same as the last - Just the days been in counting the time
Came a boy that sat under the bleachers just a little bit further behind...

She sang the last few lines, before smiling to herself. She carefully sat down the guitar to its rightful corner, and walked to her computer.

That's weird, she thought to herself. The crop wasn't even finished yet. She scrolled up the screen only to notice that she had received another private message from Nathan Scott.

She bit her lip. She gazed towards the empty room as she contemplated her next move.

She knew what she should do... and she knew what she wanted to do…

Before she could regret it, she quickly wrote back:

"Hey Nathan…."

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~…~

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So maybe change isn't necessarily a sudden death – but rather a disease which is slowly killing what used to be – to create room for what is going to be.

You see, life is about change: Sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's beautiful. And most of the time it is both.

~…~

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