Oh God. I can't believe how long it took me to write this! I actually started writing this chapter three weeks ago. Damn.

And something else I can't believe… I was going to post this chapter a few hours ago until someone called from my squadron and said that everyone needs to get to our base ASAP. It was awful (and never happened to me before)… I just got back half an hour ago, traveling the streets of Israel at midnight.

But enough with unimportant details. Here's the next chapter… I'm taking my laptop with me this weekend when I'm closing base. So I'm most likely going to spend at least SOME time writing.

But before I let you guys read… who's excited for OTH's season eight premiere this week? (*GASP*). I can't believe it's here already!

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Perfect Now

The silence that came after Haley's request surprised even her, but no words were coming out of her mouth either. The change in Brooke's facial expression was so dramatic.

It was true; to the outside world she and Chris had no problems. Tree Hill High would sure be amazed to find out how many issues she and Chris truly had. But really, her in particular.

The fairytale couple of the school just wasn't that anymore… nor had they ever been.

"You don't have to write it," Haley told Brooke as soon as she allowed herself to get over the surprise of Brooke's shock. "I'll create an account and write it myself. You just have to confirm it for me. You know, because you're a reliable source."

"Haley, did you cheat on him?" Brooke finally found the words she had wanted to ask. But really, even if she had, why would she want such a thing to come to light? This should be something that someone would want to keep buried; especially someone like Haley who hated attention- and this negative attention especially.

"Brooke, please!" Haley pleaded. If she hadn't been sitting up in Brooke's bed, she would have dropped to her knees.

"Haley, that's social suicide!" Brooke tried to reason with her, the shock of Haley's first request never leaving her. Haley had cheated on Chris and she wanted the whole school to know. What kind of reality did she enter?

"I'm begging you, Brooke." Haley looked at her with somber eyes.

"Who is it?" she asked. "Who did you cheat on Chris with?"

Haley remained silent.

"This isn't worth it, Haley. This won't make you feel less guilty than you're feeling. Just bury it, okay? Don't tell anyone… especially Chris. Just, just… I don't know. Don't write that rumor. It doesn't matter if you've cheated on him. No one has to know."

"I didn't cheat on him," Haley said, the statement shocking Brooke that much more. Now nothing made sense. If Haley wasn't doing this as some strange form of confession then why was she making up such a thing?

"This isn't going to make you more popular if that's what you're aiming for," Brooke finally said after some thought. Her friend had changed so much! Coming up with unthinkable plans to make herself more popular than she already was. Only she probably didn't understand that cheating on Chris would make others see her as a horrible person and a whore that no one would want to be associated with, and not some amazing and sexy temptress that everyone would want.

"I don't want to be more popular, Brooke!" This was going to be impossible. How could she explain to Brooke why she wanted that rumor spread and eventually seen as the truth?

She just desperately needed a change, and the second Brooke mentioned the gossip site she knew that it was her ticket out. It was the fastest way to get to the entire student body.

Besides, Chris wasn't an ordinary high school boy. No guy liked to be dumped, but Chris Keller's ego was four times as big as that of any Tree Hill guy. He wouldn't let any girl break up with him; especially not a Junior who, before dating him, was a complete nobody.

If this break-up wasn't going to be blown out of proportion, it wouldn't happen. With Chris and his group of friends everything had to be on a grand-scale. It was just the way they worked.

And Chris wouldn't let a girl he really liked go just because she wanted out. That is why he took advantage of Lauren, that is why he made sure that his Freshman break-up with Alyson was initiated by him and that everyone knew that it was.

Finally, Chris wasn't going to break-up with Haley unless he had absolutely no choice. She could tell he was smitten by her. Haley never heard of him before and therefore couldn't compare her relationship with him to what his previous relationships looked like. But all it took was a comment from Alyson regarding how he had fallen for her and listening to a few gossip queens talk about Chris and his ex-girlfriends to confirm her suspicions.

This was the only way to do it. And though she would hate the scale this had to come to, she accepted it for the sake of her mental health.

Haley sighed. "You're not going to understand this, Brooke. So please stop trying to make sense out of what I'm asking. I can't explain it to you either. The only thing I can say is that this is the only way for me not to have any nights like these. I can't be in the situation I'm in right now."

"What has he done to you?" Brooke asked her in a serious tone. "Has he hit you? Abused you in any way? What situation are you talking about?"

Haley shook her head; this was the last thing she needed. She didn't want Chris to end up being seen as an abusive boyfriend, which was also another reason why she was turning herself into the bad guy.

"Chris has been incredibly sweet," Haley told Brooke. Oh, great… the more she would talk, the more confused Brooke was going to get. "I just can't be in a relationship with him right now. I just – I don't know how to explain this to you. Just please trust me that this is the best option for me. Help me out. I rarely ask you of anything, but this is something I really need."

Brooke looked at her friend silently. She was right; she was never going to understand why Haley had requested this of her. But to see Haley in the state she was in now was more than Brooke could bear. She could tell something was up with Haley the second she had asked for two shots back in that club. Since when was Haley one to drink?

But she brushed it off, letting herself believe that it was a habit she picked up from her Senior friends. But when she was walking clumsily towards the dance floor with an unknown guy at hand, Brooke was convinced something was wrong. The Haley that was flirtatiously dancing with random strangers and snapping at her close friends was not the Haley that she knew and loved. This girl was somebody else.

That was why she had kept a close eye on the two. If she hadn't been watching, she wouldn't have found out about Haley collapsing until at least half an hour later.

Brooke called a cab and sent her friends a text explaining that she and Haley had called it a night. "We didn't like the music," was what she had said to them; they didn't need to know about any of the things that happened.

And here she was, sitting before Brooke with her dark eye make-up smudged and her hair a complete mess. She looked awful and completely broken. This wasn't just any request, this was one that, if granted, could free Haley from the pain and burden she was feeling; or so it seemed.

And who was she to deny Haley that peace of mind? What was Haley asking of Brooke to do, anyway? Just to press that button which Brooke pressed so many times before: 'confirm rumor'. Should it matter to Brooke what rumor she was confirming? At the end of the day did the rumors even matter? Should Brooke consider Chris' emotions in this? Or should she trust Haley knew what she was doing?

She had never contemplated the subject of confirming a rumor so much in the past. Before all she did was press that button and go on with her life. But tonight wasn't just an ordinary night, and this girl sitting before her was not a run of the mill high school student, either.

"I'll do it," Brooke finally said, unable to believe what she had just agreed to. But she trusted Haley and Haley's judgment. For as long as Brooke had known her, Haley has always been a mindful girl. She never rushed into things and always thought everything through. And it was this that convinced Brooke that she should use her good gossip name to confirm this rumor which Haley requested.

While Brooke was having her own thoughtful moment, so was Haley. Only Haley's thoughts were based on a shocking revelation; she wasn't asking Brooke to confirm a false rumor.

Chris Keller was, in-fact, being cheated on by Haley James. For Haley was having a secret affair with her teacher, Nathan Scott.

This realization made Haley's heart painfully flutter in her chest.

Nathan's whole decoy idea was grand for the both of them, but Chris and his emotions weren't considered through it all. Chris was being used by Haley and Nathan for the purpose of fooling the entire student body.

Haley had become what she had always despised; an inconsiderate and selfish high school girl. How could she have judged Lauren for dating Chris to get to Narayan just a few weeks ago when here she was, doing the same exact thing?

This whole thing with Chris was always an act, but for Chris it was sincere. What would he say if he ever found out about her? He sure as hell would give her the treatment she deserved.

And she needed to be treated that way by Chris. That would be her punishment.

"I'll do it," Brooke said after a long moment of silence between the two girls.

Haley looked up at her friend with tears in her eyes. She nodded.

She had no idea why, but when she saw Chris and Alyson talking to each other from across the cafeteria, Haley was terrified.

She had already put the rumor up on the site, but it wasn't confirmed yet. Brooke decided that the rumor needed to spread first before giving it the kiss of death. Well, Haley's kiss of death.

Besides, if it wasn't necessary to involve Brooke and to actually confirm the rumor, then why do it? Maybe Chris would break up with her without making her go through all the trouble. She doubted it, but the thought alone was enough to calm her fears a little bit.

That was, until now.

Haley pulled on her bag uneasily and took a deep breath before making her way to what had become her usual seat over the past few weeks. It would sure feel weird when she wouldn't need to make that way across the cafeteria anymore.

Haley James is cheating on Chris Keller, Haley James is cheating on Chris Keller, Haley James is cheating on Chris Keller… please Chris! Don't make Brooke confirm it.

"…we've never had reason to believe that stupid site so don't start now," she could hear Aly's voice. Haley made sure to slow down her pace. "Let this rumor die down like the rest of them and then-"

Damien cleared his voice signaling towards the approaching Junior girl. Alyson and Chris immediately turned around to look at Haley.

Haley was expecting to see Chris in a more bewildered state, it sure sounded like Alyson had to do some convincing to keep Chris from inquiring further. But Haley was surprised to see him smile. That was, right after he got over the shock of seeing her there.

"Hey babe," Chris got up and gave Haley a quick peck.

"I-uh, hey," Haley replied. She looked between all of her Senior friends for what must have been a little too long because Chris had to pull on her hand to get her to sit down. She must've forgotten that was usually done during lunchtime; sitting.

When she took her seat, she scolded herself. She couldn't act like something was wrong; that wasn't part of the plan. Right now she needed to act as if she was completely clueless to anything on the rumor site.

Maybe it was a good thing that Alyson and Chris had talked about it. She was afraid that perhaps Chris hadn't even heard about the rumors; kind of like him not reading the gossip site would make him immune to it. If this was the case, Chris would never find out about the rumors and the words in the halls of the school would just stay there and die out.

Things were going according to plan; Haley should've been glad. But something stopped her from feeling this joy. And at this point in time, she had no idea what it was.

She didn't even realize she was staring at the table until Alyson was trying to get her attention. "Are you alright?" the blonde asked concerned, resting her fork on the plate.

"What?" Haley looked up at her. "Yeah, fine," she faked a smile. Ugh, snap out of it Haley!

So Chris knew about the rumor but decided to ignore it. After all, rumors were just rumors. He had no reason to believe that site.

But that just meant that once the rumor was confirmed, Chris would know about it. And then Alyson's convincing wouldn't be as helpful.

Haley looked around the cafeteria and could see that many people were looking towards the group, whispering. No one was being really discreet.

The Seniors at her table were having a conversation, but Haley couldn't hear a word of it. But she felt like Chris was forcing himself to participate.

It was all so frustrating.

There wasn't supposed to be an in-between! There was supposed to be a pre-Rumor, which was what was before, and a post-Rumor which was Chris breaking up with her. This in-between was going to be absolute torture.

"Haley, what's up with you?" Alyson stopped mid-conversation to ask her friend.

"What?" Haley snapped out of it. Jeez, this was the second time she was being called out on acting spacey. She really needed to stop this zombie act. "I'm so sorry. I got like four hours of sleep," she lied.

"What were you doing up so late? Or did you wake up early?" Alyson asked, curious. Just in case there was something suspicious after all.

"Homework," Haley replied naturally. It was the first thing to come to her mind, and very plausible too with all of her classes.

"Are you really that much of a nerd?" Damien joked. Haley just smiled in response.

"Okay, so how about an interesting subject change – what do you think of being part of the Hottest Threesome this year?" Alyson smirked.

"Wh-What?" Haley asked, shocked. These Seniors were not supposed to be reading the gossip site or even discuss it! They told her that multiple times.

"You know: Chris, you and me?" Aly continued. "On the gossip site."

"The gos- I don't go on there," Haley said. What was Alyson trying to get at? Wasn't she the one who was trying to convince Chris not to believe what they read on it? Why was she bringing up information from the gossip site? "I didn't even know there was one until Chris and I started dating and my friend Brooke told me about it."

Alyson nodded, "Then let me fill you in…"

Haley could feel her heart twist in her chest. It says that you're cheating on Chris… she could just hear Aly complete her sentence. She wasn't prepared for this anymore. She couldn't have everyone at the table ask her about the unconfirmed rumor and then attack her. She wasn't ready for that. She needed a whole night of mentally preparing herself for this torture before coming to the cafeteria and turning into a steak thrown into a lion's den. She couldn't face them now. Please not now!

"… each year the gossip site votes for 'The Hottest Threesome' based on a few nominations. And guess who won this year?" Alyson smiled.

"Chris, you and me," Haley repeated Alyson's words from two minutes earlier.

Aly nodded. "It's the only part of the gossip site I ever follow or believe in."

Haley could hear Alyson stress the word 'only'. Aly didn't believe the rumor, and she was telling her this story just to let her know that. Haley wanted to hug Aly for calming her nerves. She didn't know why she was so grateful about Alyson not believing the rumor, but she just was.

"Why do you believe in it?" Haley asked Alyson after getting over how thankful she was.

Alyson leaned forward and whispered, "Because I'm always part of the threesome."

Haley laughed. "You think that Chris, you and me would be the hottest threesome?" she asked, and took a quick look to Narayan. Poor guy… he had to go through this too often: Alyson's flirtations with Damien seemed to never end, and now the entire school chose Chris as the guy in the threesome with Narayan's girlfriend… who just so happened to be Chris' ex. Well, maybe that's the price he had to pay for being one of Chris Keller's best friends; in the mind of the high schoolers' Chris was always going to have the upper hand.

Alyson shrugged. "Well, don't you think it's messy when two of the three are in a relationship? I think it could be less problematic if it wasn't with Chris, you know? What with him dating you and having a past with me. But the worst part would be him becoming overly jealous when he realizes we're more hot for each other than we are for him," Aly looked towards Chris and winked.

"Get over yourself, Aly," Chris put his arm around Haley's shoulders and pulled her towards him. Finally, Haley thought.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hit your 'Jealous Boyfriend' spot," Alyson mocked.

Haley looked up at Chris and smiled. This was going to be so much harder than she thought it would be. Why couldn't these Seniors just be assholes like she had originally thought they would be? If only they were, this would have been so simple. But she got attached to them and to the feeling she had when she was with them.

But now really wasn't the time to back out. She had to remember how sick she had become during these past few weeks. She was going to have complete hell after this breakup, but hopefully things would calm down afterwards and she would have a normal life again.

Chris smiled back at her and gave her a peck.

I'm so sorry Chris…

"And why is one source not enough?" Haley asked confused. Having more people involved in this was never her intention. Why couldn't this be as easy as it was in her head?

Besides, she really didn't want to include her. Since the Upperclassmen trip she knew exactly who she needed to avoid. And this girl was definitely on the top of her list.

"Because in the history of the gossip site, a rumor is only considered fact when two people confirm it- cheerytiger3, which is me, and RunnerChick297, who I'm ninety percent sure is Jenny Huston."

"Isn't the whole thing supposed to be anonymous? How do you know it's Jenny?" Haley began to panic. If it wasn't anonymous, and it was common knowledge that cheerytiger3 was Brooke, and Brooke would confirm the rumor then it would be as if Haley would tell Chris, through Brooke, that she was cheating on him. She liked that even if the rumor was confirmed, it would still not be a one hundred percent true fact. If she wanted it to play like that she could've just uploaded a video message onto the gossip site in which she would declare "My name is Haley James and I'm cheating on my boyfriend, Chris Keller".

She felt like there still needed to be a certain anonymity in this. Or else it just

wouldn't work!

"Relax," Brooke said when she saw the horror in Haley's eyes. "No one knows I'm cheerytiger3. I'm very discreet about it. Even my friends don't know that's my gossipname – just you."

"Then how do you know about Jenny and her… gossipname?"

"Because…" Brooke started, and from her tone Haley could tell this was going to be a story as opposed to a short explanation, "once when I was at this party and got relatively drunk, and randomly decided to sleep with the guy I was making out with… well, the second before that, we were outside and someone had just run past us. No one else saw us. But the day after that, my exact words were posted on the gossip site. 'Before having sex with Danny Laguardia, Brooke Davis drunkenly said that the stars were telling her the time was right'," Brooke recalled. Haley could tell she had read this specific piece of gossip dozens of times. "All I could remember from the running girl was the pink Nike sports bra she was wearing. I remembered thinking that it was cute and I wanted one just like it – don't judge me I was drunk. Well, anyway, a week after that I was sitting in the park and guess who I see running on this exact pavement? Jenny Huston wearing that too cute pink Nike sports bra."

Brooke remained silent contemplating the rumor she had repeated to Haley. "God, I hate her."

Haley allowed Brooke to dwell on that hate until she asked her next question, "What did you do about Jenny's rumor?"

"I confirmed it," Brooke replied looking into Haley's surprised eyes. "To keep my cover. I mean if I confirm a rumor that paints me in a negative light, no one would suspect that the girl who confirmed it was me."

Wow, this whole gossip site was like some business world combined with politics. Who knew people actually put thought into which rumors to confirm and what that would do to advance their Gossip careers?

"So we need to get her to confirm that I'm cheating on Chris?" Haley asked, still not liking the sound of this. But she had to trust Brooke, she was the Gossip Queen after all.

Brooke nodded.

"And how do we get her to do that?"

Brooke took a few more seconds to think. "You sit on this bench right here," she put both her hands on Haley's shoulders and lowered her down by pushing her gently until Haley was sitting. "You take out your pretty little cell phone and talk to me on it; only it's not me, it's your Fake Secret Boyfriend."

Haley looked at Brooke, terrified. "I can't do it, Brooke."

"Sure you can," she assured her sitting down next to her friend. "I'm going to tell you exactly what to say. All you need to do is act, okay? I'm sure you got a few pointers from your Senior Actress friend."

Haley shook her head fervently, "No, Brooke. I can't act. Acting isn't like a virus! I didn't 'catch' Aly's talent just by sitting next to her! I can't – there's no… I can't convince her. This is impossible. Why can't you just confirm it like we planned and that's it? You never told me about this part of the plan!" she began freaking out. This wasn't necessary!

"Calm the hell down Crazy Girl. Take it one step at a time. This is Jenny Huston. It won't take much to convince her you've been cheating on Chris Keller. You remember how much she hated you. She doesn't want anything more than to out you; she's practically praying for an opportunity like this."

"But I'm nervous Brooke," and she really was. Her voice would break in the middle, or her hands would shake too much. It would be too obvious she was lying.

"Perfect," Brooke smiled. "You're not supposed to be calm when you're talking to your Not-Supposed-to-Be-Fake-Boyfriend in a public place. Correct or incorrect?"

"Correct," Haley nodded, looking down at her hands. "How long until she passes through?"

Brooke looked down at her watch. "Three hours. Okay? So you have enough time to calm down and get your act together."

After the two parted, each to her own house, and Haley contemplated what she had to do alone, she requested Brooke not come with her. She would be able to concentrate better if she put the element of truth into it. That was why she told Brooke she would not talk to her on the phone, either. She couldn't base this on her actual life with Brooke whispering into the phone every single word she had to say.

She wasn't going to call Nathan, but she was going to pretend like she was talking to him. After all, she was great at pretending now. She had become a master of it.

She could act out any number of her conversations with Nathan, and each roll play would be convincing enough for Jenny to believe. Though the conversation she had in mind wasn't one that had happened with Nathan.

Ordinarily, giving someone she hated the satisfaction of outing her would not be something that Haley would want to do. But for some reason, she didn't care about that now. She was more than willing to give Jenny that satisfaction. Because by outing Haley, Jenny would actually be doing her a favor.

Haley took the seat on the bench she sat in earlier that day and looked at her cell phone's time. Brooke told her Jenny was pretty exact, almost on the second. She hadn't asked Brooke how she knew the exact second Jenny Houston would pass by this specific bench, but she didn't need to know either.

All that mattered now was to get this thing over and done with; to convince yet another person in Tree Hill that she was cheating on Chris.

Some people had already confirmed her rumor, but there would always be those random people who confirmed rumors for the heck of it. Or at least that's what Brooke had told her.

It was true what Brooke had said about Jenny, though. She would look for anything to screw over Haley. The girl had it in for her, and all because she was popular. And that was definitely something that Haley wasn't before.

Funny thing, too. If she wasn't dating Chris, she and Jenny could have had some common ground. Not that that was something Haley had wanted with Jenny, but it was just interesting to think about; how different her life would've been if she wasn't Chris' girlfriend… if she didn't say 'yes'… if she didn't go inside that closet… if she didn't attend that Senior party…

Now the question that begged to be asked was: would she take it back? It was clear to Haley that she wanted to break things off with Chris, but did that mean she didn't want them to ever exist? Would she take back the time she spent with her Seniors? She did still call them her friends, after all.

Haley looked to her cell phone a second time, and turned her head to the left. A figure had just turned into the pavement leading to where Haley was sitting.

She took a deep breath and put the cell phone to her ear.

A few more seconds past before she began her one-woman act.

"No, no I can't. They caught onto us," Haley made sure to say loud enough so the approaching figure could hear, but not too loud as to not make it obvious. "I can't Friday, that's when Chris and I are supposed to meet…" she made sure not to look at Jenny as she was passing by her. She had obviously slowed down her running pace to hear the rest of the conversation, "yes… fine…No, Sunday's fine. Just don't tell anyone. It's a good thing you don't go to my school, then. Bye."

She closed her phone and watched Jenny Houston disappear into the distance.

Haley wasn't quite sure when exactly was the point of no return. But after her conversation with Brooke that night, she was sure it was sometime then.

"She confirmed it twenty minutes ago," Brooke told her without any form of 'hello' once Haley had answered the phone.

Haley knew what this meant. This meant Brooke was waiting for Haley's okay to confirm the rumor herself.

"There's no going back, Hales. Are you sure about this?"

The 'yes' Haley was supposed to say caught in her throat. This wasn't just any rumor, and both Haley and Brooke knew that. This would change Haley's, and Chris', world.

She didn't want to lose Alyson as a friend, either. She enjoyed spending time with Narayan, Damien and even Chris. But none of them compared to who she was and the way she felt with Aly.

She was the friend that Haley believed she would never have in this school. Sure she was shallow and superficial most times, and Haley was extremely disappointed to find out that Aly's breakthrough conversation with her was just an overdramatic act that she had played with everyone just to make them feel special. But there was still something in this relationship that was very hard to give up.

This rumor wouldn't just break her and Chris up. It would break her off from the rest of his friends, her friends.

She was about to officially dub them as her only friends in that school until she remembered the girl on the other line.

Brooke had really come through for her, in a way she couldn't even imagine. The way she had taken care of her the night they went out as if it was the most obvious thing; her support with her friendship with the Seniors; the way she stood up to those girls in their cabin when they started saying horrible things about Haley; and now this.

Perhaps Brooke wasn't a younger version of Alyson, but instead Alyson an older version of Brooke.

Alyson was the less complicated friendship because Haley could start from scratch. With Brooke she had a friendship story with a history, with many complications already instilled. There were other people involved that Haley had felt came between the two, with Alyson there weren't.

She didn't want to lose Alyson, but she had Brooke… which was more than a girl could ask for, even if she did come with a rather annoying group of friends.

Reaching that conclusion, and finally coming to the realization that she couldn't go on like this she gave Brooke her final word of consent. "Yes".

She had made her decision, and she knew she wasn't going to back out of it. But she would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she was afraid.

Today was different. She saw it everywhere. Where yesterday the students who were looking at her and whispering were the ones who were more involved with gossip and were concerned with the popular crowd's lives, today it seemed that at least ninety percent of the student body were in on it.

Haley didn't want to make her way across that cafeteria. She didn't deserve to, and now the entire student body knew it too.

Brooke's confirmation really was the kiss of death. But it wasn't the nail that shut the coffin. That would be Chris' break-up, which she guessed would happen sometime in the next five minutes.

Haley pulled on her bag nervously, something that had become an unbreakable habit of hers.

Her heart was beating quickly as she approached the Senior table.

She played and replayed this situation in her mind multiple times. Chris could choose to be polite about it and break-up with her quietly, or he could choose to play it nasty and make a great big scene. She really couldn't blame him if he was going to yell at her in-front of the entire cafeteria. She deserved it, too. And taking into account how big his personality was, he was most likely going to embarrass her as much as she embarrassed him. After all, when he found out Lauren was using him, he used her right back.

There would be no reason for this to be any different. Chris sure believed in the principle 'Eye for an Eye'.

She was expecting to see their hate-filled eyes look up at her and for one of them to begin yelling at her, but instead she saw the group's fallen faces, as if begging her to tell them something else.

She found Chris among them and locked eyes with him. "Can we talk?" he asked her, to which she nodded.

Chris stood up and went out of the cafeteria through the door that was conveniently located right next to their table. He pushed through it and held it open for Haley.

There was silence as he closed the door after him. She waited for him to speak.

"I trust you more than I listen to stupid rumor sites," he began, taking Haley by complete surprise. "All you have to say is that you haven't been cheating and I'll believe you."

The silence continued, and she swore a more deafening silence never existed in her life.

She thought she would have to step up her performance in order to pull off this break-up, but the tears that covered her eyes didn't even give her the chance to complete a thought.

There he was, standing before her, begging her to tell him differently. He would've taken her word over the entire school's. He took her away from everyone's accusing gaze to a more private location to talk to her; he told her that all those other girls who talked badly about her weren't worth it. Here he was, willing to believe anything she would tell him. And here she was, cheating on him and spreading rumors that could break him.

She didn't deserve him as her boyfriend. She didn't deserve to even have him in her life.

If she hadn't met Nathan maybe she wouldn't have gotten sick when she kissed Chris. Maybe it really was all in her head.

But even if it was, he didn't deserve to be her decoy. He deserved a girl who would love him and want to be with him because of who he was. No one who would want him because he's Chris Keller, no one who would want him just to get to his best friend, and definitely no Junior nobody who was using him to cover up her relationship with her teacher. He didn't deserve any more Lauren Tayses and Haley Jameses in his life.

Haley's sharp intake of breath almost made her choke, as tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"Haley, can you tell me that? Can you tell me you haven't been cheating?"

She could tell that all he needed in order to run to her, to be by her side and to hug her tightly to him was her word of confirmation.

Haley couldn't look up at him; she has seen enough of the pain she had caused him. But she forced herself to do it. She had to push herself through this break-up.

She shook her head, but couldn't say a word.

Chris looked at Haley in absolute astonishment. She could tell that he wouldn't let himself believe any of it until this moment. He would've believed anything she would have told him, no matter how absurd.

She thought nothing mattered more to him than his ego. She thought that his reputation was all that mattered in his world. But she was wrong. The one thing that was above all of that to him was her.

"I guess this won't come as much of a surprise to you," Chris said, not bothering to cover up the hurt in his voice, "but we're done."

He wiped at his eyes and then turned his back to her and walked back into the cafeteria, leaving Haley alone in the hall, full of sorrow and regret.

A/N: I'm really sorry for the lack of Nathan. I promise some Nathan in the next chapter!

Please let me know what you thought! Even if it's critical.