Title: Made Easy

Author: gigi2

Genre: Naley

Rating: PG-13.

Etc: sorry if the story is slow for some of you. But that's how I like it :)

Chapter 3 :::

"Miss James you're a lucky winner today!" Mr. Grabaldi exclaimed.

Haley looked up to see a smiling English teacher and a bewildered looking Nathan Scott. She knew something was up.

"I don't understand?"

The smug man clasped his hands together over the desk and looked between the two adolescents. "Miss James, you know Nathan Scott, right? Captain of the basketball team?" He said this to her as if she should've been aware.

She smirked and shaked her head. "Actually, no. I don't." responding casually. Of course she knew of him, she just didn't know him. Picking up her notebook and planner, she sifted them into her backpack. "I'll see you next week Mr. Grabaldi. Have a nice weekend." Haley attempted to walk down the aisle of desks on her way out when she heard the clearing of a throat.

"Not so fast Miss James. Since you don't know Mr. Scott, don't you think it would be a great opportunity to get to know him now?"

"I'd decline it any day Mr. Grabaldi."

He frowned at her response and saw Nathan's winced look. "Miss James, you're being judgmental. I would expect differently from an exemplary student of mine."

"I'm not judgmental, just biased."

At that comment, the elder just had to let out a laugh. For a girl who didn't say much at all in class and produced meaningful papers, she was proving to be difficult. "Well that's a shame Miss James. You're rejecting the unfamiliar."

Nathan couldn't help but observe the quick with of the petite girl. She had sized him up, but not in height. Nonetheless, he was a bit annoyed and offended --- after all, some girl clearly insinuated he wasn't worth getting know.

"That's ok," Nathan spoke up, "it's not like I'd want to associate myself with people-…"

 "Beneath me." Haley finished off. "Right. Mr. Grabaldi, sorry. But I do have to go." She bit her lip and was on the ball of her hell when Mr. Grabaldi got up and put his hand on her shoulder to spin her around.

"Miss James, please sit down. This will be very quick and very brief. Mr. Scott, please do the same."

The girl and the boy took a seat in the front, with one desk separating each other.

"Miss James, this is Mr. Scott."

Haley stared straight ahead at the chalkboard while Nathan took a glance at her. So far so good.

"Miss James, please don't be difficult. I don't want to be sorry that I gave you a grade you deserved and then take it back." Haley turned to look up at Mr. Grabaldi and arched her eyebrows. "Now that I have your attention, I will say it again. Miss James, this is Mr. Scott."

"Ok." She gave a half-wave in the boy's direction.

"And Mr. Scott, this is Miss James." Nathan nodded his head in her direction. Mr. Grabaldi paced in front of his pupils and began to speak. "As you know, there's another research paper due in another 3 weeks. I expect no less effort on this than any of the other assigned papers. However, I'm going to make an exception for the two of you."

Haley's eyes nearly popped out at the word 'exception', while Nathan feared not only was this paper going to be difficult, but extremely difficult. They didn't expect to hear the following.

"You will not turn in a paper on Charles Dickens' selective oppression or submit an analogy of why you think some of Mark Twain's work was banned. You, my students, are going to be spending a lot of time together."

"But why?" Haley exclaimed. It came out as a whine but merely shrugged off by her English teacher. "I think I can speak for both of us –" looking nervously at Nathan, "when I say that it wouldn't work. I mean, he's got his basketball to think about."

Nathan looked down at the smeared surface of the plastic desk. There it was again. People assumed that all he thought about was basketball. "She's right. I do have to think about that."

It was clear he wasn't getting through to the stubborn crowd and he knew he had to turn into the teacher most students love to detest.

"You're failing, Nathan.", he said sternly.

"Nice way to put me on blast, Mr. Grabaldi. We've gone over this already."

"Well you're going to hear it repeatedly until your ears bleed or until you show me some kind of progressive change in your grades. Frankly, you don't have a choice and it would be very unfortunate for you to pass this up. Now, Miss James-" turning his attention to her, "you are one of my brightest students. I'm not doing this to discredit your integrity or to undermine your generosity. I want you to help Mr. Scott because I think you can help him get his ball moving into the right direction."

Slumping back into his chair, Nathan looked over at Haley's unreadable expression.

Part of her didn't want to agree to this sudden proclamation but who was she to turn down help when she willingly offered it all the time? "What's the assignment Mr. Grabaldi?"

He smiled, seeing that he had somehow made her mind, if only briefly. "You mentioned earlier that you didn't know Mr. Scott and you were very quick to reject the notion. For this assignment, I want you two to get to know each other. Per say, it's a freshmen activity but it has proven in the long-run to be a very effective way of learning to understand a person, maybe perhaps, accept that person. I'm not asking for a 10-page report but I am asking for a truthful, meaningful paper with insight. I'm asking two people to be open-minded with a sense of clarity. You might even make a friend." He added the last comment, hoping it would solidify Haley's 'ok'.

She hoped she wouldn't regret it, seeing as there was a lot at stake. A lifetime friendship with her best friend. Her grade. Her pride. A chance.

There's no going back now, James. Reluctantly, she stuck her hand out to her newest assignment: "Haley James."