A/N: Even though I am slightly disappointed with the number of reviews I received for last chapter, I am still VERY grateful for the people that did review. I know it took me forever to update chapter 6, so I am working very hard to get this chapter up sooner, which will hopefully make you readers happy!

Vocabulary word:

Cavort: (verb)to leap around; to behave in a physically lively and uninhibited way

Warning: Some more bad language…

Disclaimer: One Tree Hill is not, never was, and never will be mine.

So stop, stop, stop, stop, start again

It's hard admitting you're not fitting with your old friends

It's so disarming watching all the walls come closing in,

In on you, you got no clue

Locked Doors—Jack's Mannequin

Nathan could feel his heart beating loud in his chest as he approached the classroom that he found off of his friend's schedule. If only trying to find Brooke was having this much of an effect on him, then he didn't know what it was going to be like once he found her and she was doing what he asked.

When he finally approached room 238, he let out a deep breath before going through the door and towards Brooke's homeroom teacher.

"Excuse me, but uh, Brooke is needed in the main office to uh, do some class president things." He stutters out, having to physically stop himself from shaking. He could usually lie through his teeth without hesitating, but this reaction isn't coming from the lie, but his nerves.

Nathan watched as the young homeroom teacher eyed him suspiciously, but quickly made a movement with his hand, giving Brooke permission to leave with him.

"That was miserable." Brooke commented once they found their way into the hallway and out of the classroom.

"Thanks." Nathan mumbled sarcastically, "I need your help." He demanded, getting straight to the point.

"With what?"

"I need you to go into the main office and find Haley's locked number. You can do that kind of stuff, right?"

"No, not really," Brooke began, glancing at Nathan in confusion, "Why do you need her locker number?"

"I, I wrote a note for her," He explained, lifting up the folded piece of paper in his hand, "I want to leave it in her locker."

Brooke rolled her eyes at her friend. It was only yesterday that the 'Haley drama' broke out, but she thought that he was taking it was too hard.

"Nathan, why don't you just talk to her, in person I mean. You can't avoid her forever."

"No, I'm not ready. She's not ready. Brooke, this isn't a simple situation, do you realize what happened? She's my best friend, she tried to rekindle our friendship and I couldn't even remember her. Do you realize how fucked up that is? She deserves more than that." He insisted loudly, getting annoyed at Brooke maybe too quickly. She just didn't understand.

"I get it Nathan, but in that case doesn't she deserve more than a note, too? You're upset Nathan, and she's hurt and a note isn't going to fix any of your problems."

"I didn't call you out of class to get your expert opinion on my situation, Brooke. Can you find me her locked number or not?" Nathan asked, growing infuriated at the girl in front of him.

Brooke sighed in defeat. She didn't know why she would think that she would ever be able to get through that thick skull of his.

"Come with me." She said before walking down a hallway and spotting Jake placing books into a locker.

She looked back at Nathan and smirked with pride in herself.

"Easier than we thought." She said before walking down the hall toward Jake.

"Hey Jake." She smiled coyly when approaching him.

The boy looked up from his locker and the expression on his face immediately went from indifference to disapproval the second he saw Nathan tracking behind her.

"What do you want?" He asked Nathan, bitterly, upset that he could so easily hurt his friend.

Brooke smiled at Jake before answering for Nathan, "Could you please tell us which locker is Haley's?"

"Why?"

"'Cause mister mess up here wants to send your friend a love note." Brooke explained.

"Brooke!" Nathan scolded in disapproval.

"Don't you think you've done enough damage?" Jake demanded.

Jake knew that he was probably overreacting and treating Nathan too badly, but he couldn't help but slightly resent him for what he did. Haley's been nothing but a good person and a great friend to him ever since she got to Tree Hill and the fact that someone could treat her so poorly, even if they didn't necessarily realize they were doing it, really got to Jake. Even if he didn't want to, even if it wasn't Nathan's intention, he still caused Haley to be upset.

"Don't you think you should mind your own damn business?" Nathan asked, becoming defensive. He was tired of everyone blaming him; he did it enough himself. Nathan just wanted someone on his side, and that thought only made him grow sadder when he realized Haley was the only person to ever take his side.

"My friends are my business," Jake started, "I know you don't get the concept of friendship in your world, but on earth you care about your friends, you watch out for them, and you certainly don't let people stomp around on them."

"What the hell do you know about Haley?" Nathan demanded, the volume of his voice growing louder. Who the hell did Jake think he was?

"A lot more than you do. About this Haley, anyway, the girl she is now. Dammit, Nathan, you couldn't even recognize her, what the hell do you know about her?" Jake asked, matching Nathan's voice, though this time, his face was met with a fist instead of a verbal attack from Nathan.

"Nathan!" Brooke yelled, trying to pull him off of Jake who fell to the floor after the surprise hit he received.

Nathan didn't know what he was doing. One minute he was trying to mend his friendship, the next he was beating up a guy who was just telling him the truth, but he couldn't help it. He knew the punches weren't really for Jake- they were just a way to get out all of his anger- but he continued to swing in a blur, not really even sure if he was hitting him.

Conveniently, the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom and welcoming all the kids into the hallway, though Nathan didn't care until he heard Haley's voice.

"Stop it, Nathan! What the hell are you doing?" Haley asked. The moment her voice reached his ears he stopped swinging and got off of the boy he had been swinging at.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She scolded Nathan, while consoling a Jake who was nursing a pretty bad nose bleed.

It all seemed to come to life and Nathan jumped out of his haze, his eyes widening as the realization of what he had done came to him.

He winced when he looked at Jake's already bruised eye and bleeding nose.

"Oh, damn, I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was doing, I…"

His ranting was interrupted when he was greeted by a very pissed off principal and coach, who he was forced to go to the office with.

Haley had somehow managed to help Jake enough to stand him up, shoo away the crowd of nosy students, and walk him to the nurse's office, with Brooke in tow, who decided it was safe to talk to Haley once Jake was sitting, speaking to the nurse.

"I'm sorry, Nathan shouldn't have done that. I don't think he knows what he's been doing lately. He's been pretty messed up."

Haley rolled her eyes before responding, "So I've heard."

"He's sorry, Haley. About everything." Brooke clarified.

"Okay," Haley started, "Is that supposed to make it all better? Because it doesn't. I can't just forgive him that quickly, Brooke. You don't know what our relationship was, so you don't get how much he hurt me, how much I just lost, you don't understand it, you can't understand it."

"Maybe I don't know about your relationship, but I do know you're being unfair to Nathan. Do you know how much shit he's getting because of this? He's miserable and so many people are scolding him and making him feel worse. What kind of a friend does that?" Brooke asked, growing angered at Haley. She truly felt that both of the people were overreacting.

Haley just shook her head, without responding. She didn't need to listen to what this girl had to say.

"Whatever," Brooke began when she only received silence, "I don't care. Here's a note that Nathan wanted to pathetically slip into your locker, but ended up in a fist fight with your friend instead. Do what you want with it, I'm done."

Brooke slipped the note into Haley's hand and slipped out of the door of the nurse's office.

++++++++++ShePaintsMeBlue++++++++

"Have you seen Haley?" Lucas asked concerned as he approached the lunch table that Nathan usually sits at, though it seems that he's absent too.

"No," Peyton answered quickly, but never took her eyes off of the boy with the black eye that was slowly approaching her table too.

"Are you okay?" She asked him once he was closer.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, thanks." He said, shrugging and taking a seat at the table.

"Where's Nathan?" He asked once he noticed his absence as well.

Jake felt bad about what he said to Nathan and hoped that he wouldn't get into much trouble for what he did to Jake, though he knew that he probably would anyway. The school has a strict no hitting policy.

"Where do you think?" Brooke responded.

"In class suspension or home?" Lucas asked, taking a seat next to Jake. He was worried about his brother and the wrath of Dan that he would face.

Lucas knew that Nathan didn't mean it, that he didn't know what he was doing and that he probably felt really bad about it now. He didn't want Nathan to get in trouble; he didn't want to face that at home.

That was another thing that Lucas grew to find unfortunate in his life. When Dan got angry, which was way too often in Lucas' opinion, he would tell off anyone who got into his path. If Nathan got suspended, if Nathan couldn't play in the Raven's next game, it wouldn't only get Nathan in trouble; Lucas would have to live in a hell equivalent as well.

"I don't know yet. The last I heard he was still in the principal's office." Brooke answered, before asking, "Wait, you can't find Haley?"

"Oh yeah," Lucas began, remembering his initial concern, "Have you guys seen her?"

"Not since she pulled Nathan off of Jake this morning." Brooke answered, as Peyton shook her head in response.

"Maybe she's talking to Nathan." Lucas said, hopefully.

He knew that the two avoiding each other wasn't good for either. He desperately wanted his brother and his new friend to work things out.

Brooke scoffed, "Yeah right. Like Haley would be big enough to do that."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Jake spoke up, growing offended. When were people just going to leave Haley alone?

"I mean she's being such a damn baby about this. She has to just grow a pair and talk to him already. She's hurting him." Brooke explained, receiving a look of disbelief from Jake.

"You're kidding me, right? Would you talk to him? Would you be ready to happily speak to someone who you cared about so damn much but couldn't give you the fucking time of day to remember you?"

"Damn, don't get your panties in a bunch, I just think she's ridiculous." Brooke retorted, questioningly. "God, why do you care so much?"

"She's my friend, that's why I care so much, just like you're sitting here defending Nathan, I'm going to sit here defending Haley. What he did to her wasn't okay, it wasn't right, and I'm not going to sit by and let people judge and criticize her because she's upset."

Jake waited for a response that he never got before standing from the table and leaving.

++++++++++ShePaintsMeBlue++++++++++

Haley sighed as she made her way to the detention room, certainly a place she never thought she'd be going.

She looked back down at the crumpled sheet in front of her and read it again, for what she thought had to be close to the hundredth time that day. It didn't say much, but it meant something to her. He was willing to skip lunch with his friends to meet up with her, that meant something right? She didn't really think so, but what Brooke said got to her this morning and right away she made the decision to listen to the slip of paper and go meet up with Nathan and talk to him. She didn't think that she was ready, but she never thought that she would be.

I'm sorry, Haley. Please come talk to me at lunch in the tutoring center. I already packed us lunch- peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I'll be waiting.

-Nathan

She sighed once again as she approached the door with the bolded word 'DETENTION' written across the glass.

Once she read the note and witnessed the fight between Jake and Nathan, she cut class. She knew that they wouldn't send Nathan home since he already came to school that day and that he would be sent to the detention room for the day, resulting in her only time to see him being detention.

When she opened the door she looked right at the teacher, avoiding the students in the desks, wanting to make sure that she gave the note to the teacher before anything went down with Nathan.

Haley sighed in relief when she recognized Mr. Johnson at the desk and heard the quiet talking of the kids in the detention room. Haley had heard about Mr. Johnson, the coolest teacher in the building, who claims he only became a teacher so that the kids who had him would have a period to relax. His apathy toward obeying the rules of the classroom appeared to spread to his detention duty, seeing as he was absorbed in a book and letting the kids who were supposed to be dead silent talk as they pleased.

When Haley reached Mr. Johnson's desk and dropped down the detention slip, she slowly turned her head and surveyed the room. There were a considerable amount of kids there, but none that she particularly cared about.

Though, she felt herself get filled with regret the second she spotted Nathan in the corner of the room with Rachel draped around his shoulder. She couldn't believe she got detention for him. Was he just playing her?

She was about to take a seat in the front row, as far away from Nathan as she could get until she heard him call her name.

"Haley! What are you doing here? Come here." He yelled out quickly. He appeared to be nervous. Yeah, he planned on speaking to her today, but not now, not in detention, not with Rachel on top of him. He wasn't prepared right now.

Not wishing to cause a scene, Haley obeyed Nathan's request and walked toward him, taking the desk in front of him.

"What are you doing in detention?" Nathan asked.

Haley only shrugged. She didn't want to tell him that she cut class and got detention for him.

"What are you doing in detention?" She settled on, challenging him. Maybe he would understand that she didn't want to discuss it, just like she knew he didn't.

"I think you know." He said back, hesitantly, not wanting to relive the events that took place earlier that day.

During his day in detention Nathan got a lot of thinking done and he worried about how Haley would take it. She would never have approved of him fighting, especially not fighting for her. When they were younger she would constantly stick up for herself and Nathan, leading him and protecting him. And he knew that Haley certainly couldn't condone him beating up her friend. He thought he royally screwed it up more that he already did, but Haley was talking to him right now. That's a good sign, right?

"Why did you beat up Jake?" She asked, looking seriously confused.

Nathan tried to swallow the lump that had just quickly formed in his throat. She didn't know? He didn't want to tell her, make her hate him more, but he couldn't lie…

"Jake was yelling at Nathan for not talking to you. You know, how you're just a helpless, pathetic little girl and Nathan should be more careful with your feelings of unrequited love to him." A previously silent Rachel answered for Nathan.

Nathan started to panic when he realized Rachel answered for him. He completely forgot that she was there in the first place and he was quickly growing tired of her pathetic attempts to hurt Haley and tarnish his relationship with her.

"No, that's not why." Nathan quickly clarified, watching Haley roll her eyes and turn back around in her seat.

Nathan saw Rachel smile before rolling his own eyes and telling her to get off of him. He didn't want to be near her.

"Whatever." She said before hopping off and cavorting over to a boy on the football team.

Nathan sat anxiously in his desk. The last thing he needed was Rachel hurting his progress further. He was desperate to get Haley to talk to him so they could work this through.

It was last night when the realization that Haley was in Tree Hill hit him. Since he realized that it was Haley and that he at first didn't recognize her, all of his concern was on making her feel better- he never had the full opportunity to rejoice in the fact that Haley was in Tree Hill and that she was going to school there. That was a good thing, right? That meant a permanent settlement. Nathan couldn't help but hope that this would mean he was be getting his best friend back, that is, once he was able to get her to forgive him.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Haley questioned, interrupting Nathan's thoughts.

By the confused expression that appeared on Nathan's face, Haley clarified was she was talking about, "You gave me a note. You wanted to talk to me."

Nathan gulped. While sitting in detention, Nathan did a lot of thinking and ultimately concluded that he was glad that he didn't give Haley the note. It seemed too corny and pathetic to him, and he didn't want Haley seeing him like that, like he was when they were younger.

Sure, he was still vulnerable and sad, but that only expanded as far as inside of him. When he came to Tree Hill, he was confident to change, so he did. He was no longer timid and weak, like he used to appear.

"How'd you get that note?" He asked, still slightly confused. He never dropped it in her locker, hell, he never found her locker.

"Brooke gave it to me. I'm sorry, I guess it was a mistake." Haley said, shrugging and moving to turn back around in her desk.

Nathan quickly began berating himself. She was talking to him, that was a start, and he was making it appear as if he didn't want to speak to her.

"No, wait," Nathan began quickly and waiting until she turned back around to speak again, "I did want to talk."

"Okay." Haley said, after waiting for Nathan to elaborate and getting no response.

Nathan sighed before continuing. He didn't know exactly what to say to her.

"Look, Haley, I'm sorry," He started, but stopped once he watched her roll her eyes, "I am. I really am. Haley, I miss you, I mean I missed you, okay, I did. Moving here was hard, being without you was hard. And I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, but I'm glad you're back and I want you to forgive me, I want you to be my best friend again. I need you in my life Haley, please."

Haley shook her head, not trusting her voice. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. Speaking to Nathan about what happened just made it all too real. This was really happening, she's really abandoned by her parents, in Tree Hill and without her best friend.

"Stop, Nathan, now's not the time." She whispered before turning back, only to be interrupted by Nathan grabbing her arm.

"Fine, what about tonight? We can go out to dinner and talk things through." He asked, desperately.

"I don't know…"

Nathan could hear the hesitance in her voice and he knew of the argument that she was having with herself in her head.

"Please, Haley, I really need to talk to you. We really need to talk."

Haley sighed, before nodding slightly. Nathan was always able to get Haley to do what he wanted, he was her weakness.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Nathan asked, making sure he heard her right. Once he saw her nod her head, he continued, "Okay, how about I pick you up tonight, at seven?"

Haley nodded despite the nervousness she could feel building in her stomach.

Just then, the bell rang and Haley picked up her books, and carefully turned back to face Nathan, before leaving, "I guess I'll see you tonight, then."

"Yeah, see you tonight then."

Nathan smiled as he watched her leave, and pushed aside the flutter he felt in his heart as he watched her go and he thought about their date that night.

A/N: Longest chapter yet, though I have mixed feelings. The whole interaction between Jake and Nathan was not at all planned when I went into this chapter, but what do you know? Here we are.

Because of this, there is less Nathan and Haley interaction than I originally planned there being, but next chapter will definitely have a lot of Naley, including their "date" and more arguing and working this out, and blah blah blah…

Please review! Thank you so much!

Oh, and for those who celebrate, have a very Merry Christmas!

-Megan AKA ToBecomeAClown