A/N: Sorry it took so long to post this chapter. Actually, I'm already done
chapter 11 – but I haven't been posting much at fanfiction.net, mostly
because it's more of a hassle. Anyway, please tell me what you think =)
CHAPTER THREE:
Mrs. James rested her head on her palms, rubbing her eyes gently to remove the tears remaining on her face. She exhaled slowly, before reaching back down to her fork to continue eating.
"Since when did parenting become so hard?" she questioned, while shaking her head. Haley had always been an easy daughter to deal with. She had friends, a great personality, and always received top marks in her class. It had only been until lately that her image of the perfect child vanished into thin air only to be replaced with a disrespectful, foul-mouth. As much as she loved her daughter, she had no clue what to do to fix the problem that was created with the death of her pervious husband. Going to a psychiatrist had entered her mind before, but quickly vanished as she realized that it would just bring up more memories and past experiences for her to relive. "At least you have some practice at it," John replied, pulling Mrs. James back into reality. "I've never been around children in my life, never mind fathered one."
Haley's mother looked up respectfully to her new husband, and motioned him to sit down. He had really tried and sure, he made many mistakes along the way, but he was learning from them. He wanted the best for Haley, although he had funny ways of showing it.
"Oh! Haley called me dad last night," he commented, taking his first pancake from the mound of them on the center plate.
Her eyes looked up, with excitement sparkling within them. "Oh, honey that's great. You've made progress!"
He shook his head, taking another bite. "It's not as good as you think, Sue (A/N: from now on, Haley's mom will be referred to as Sue or Susan). It was during one of our classic 'you will never replace my father fights'."
Susan put one hand to her face, angered at their relationship. She hadn't ever expected that the two would have a father-daughter bond, but she at least hoped that the man she loved so much would at least be able to get along with her only daughter. It wasn't like John didn't try enough. It just seemed with each passing day, he dug himself into a deeper hole.
"Why did you do it?" she quickly said, speaking as a thought appeared in her mind. He gave her an odd glance, as he pulled another pancake off the stack to signal her to continue with her idea. "You didn't sell those cards, I did. Things with you and Haley are worse off as it is. Why did you take the blame knowing it would just get Haley more bitter towards you."
He shrugged, before looking down onto his plate. "A step parent is always supposed to be evil. She thinks I'm replacing her dad. I can't let her respect for her mom vanish as well." She smiled gratefully at him, and placed her hand on top of his free one. "Plus, I know how hard it is to have all these memories of your husband around the house. I'm just not sure Haley would understand as much."
"I love you." He mimicked her whispered comment as they shared a sweet kiss. "We'll get through this together. All we need is time."
Swish Swash Swish Swash
The green cloth moved back and forth, acting like a sponge to pick up the grime the previous customer had left behind. Looking around quickly, she made sure that no customers were looking as she made a swift shot to the counter, to get rid of the rag. She was glad too; its smell was beginning to make her feel nauseous.
Haley readjusted her forest green apron, before picking up the two plates on the deserted table. She managed to balance those, while holding two half- filled coffee mugs, as well as the scattered cutlery. Proud of herself, she strode back to behind the counter.
Just then a voice began calling out for her. "Hey! Lady, I'm waiting for my order still!" Realizing that she was the only one on duty immediately after school, Haley groaned. She called out to tell the man to hold on for a moment, politely of course, but he refused to give in. "I ordered half an hour ago. I don't think it takes that long to get a damn cup of coffee!" He grumbled on, throwing his paper down on the table in front of him. Although Haley was sure his half-hour wait was really five minutes in reality, she decided it would be wise to just serve him.
Turning around swiftly, and completely forgetting that she was holding several objects, all chaos broke loose. In slow motion, the two plates she had been balancing so elegantly on her right forearm plummeted to the floor with a load crash. Reacting fact, and trying to prevent the cutlery from falling, as well, Haley became oblivious to the fact that coffee mugs-that still held a rather warm substance-remained in her hands. She flipped them towards her in a mad attempt to clean up the mess, only to create bigger one on the floor and on herself. She cried out in pain, and frustration as she tried to get the coffee off of her.
"My coffee, miss?" the rude customer added, as he waved his newspaper around. She glared at him, before bending to her knees to remove the glass bits from the floor.
Lucas, who had witnessed the majority of the spectacle from the windows of the café, rushed in to help her.
"You okay?" he asked, as he tried his best to avoid the shattered bits of ceramic. She nodded frantically; embarrassed by the scene she created.
Hearing the angry customer bellowing again from the far-left corner, Lucas growled and picked up the pot of coffee from the end of the counter. He calmly walked over to the middle-aged man. However, he abruptly changed his mood when he fiercely poured the hot substance into the male's cup. Coffee splashed everywhere, even landing onto the suit of the rude businessman.
"Hey! That's hot!" He jumped up from his seat, angered.
"Well now you know how she feels," Lucas growled, sort of enjoying playing the role of the protective older brother. "Now here's your coffee, to go!" Without another word, he was gone, and the rest of the customers looked at the owner's son with astonishment. The few who had been watching the whole time clapped, and eventually the rest joined in.
Haley laughed, while gleaming her infamous smile. She was still cleaning up the mess, but had the common sense to remove her apron. After letting his male ego grow just a tad, Lucas bowed comically and walked over to help his best friend.
She was frantically picking up the pieces, knowing that there were other customers waiting for her assistance. Even with Lucas's help, it took another ten minutes or so before the shattered pieces were thrown in the trash. Finally at 5:00, Haley's shift was over.
"You sure you alright?" he asked her again, as they both leaned against the counter of the café. Haley pulled out a donut, and held it up to ask Lucas if he wanted one. He nodded in response, and she grabbed the glazed one for him. "Hales?"
"Oh. Yea, I'm fine. Just having a clumsy day. Did I tell you I fell again today?" Lucas leaned on his elbow while raising an eyebrow. She was going to start rambling; he just knew it. "I wasn't watching where I was going, and then out of nowhere a curb appeared. To say the least, it wasn't pretty. Got this." She pointed to a band-aid covered cut on her elbow. Lucas chuckled and placed his fingers to his mouth. Slowly moving them down, he placed them onto her elbow.
"All better." He stared at her for a moment, before Haley's comment broke it.
"It's times like this that I wonder if we've been watching too many Dawson Creek re-runs," she informed him, trying to stay as serious as she could. "Dawson." She drew out the name, making it sound as lovey-dovey as possible.
He shook his head and laughed, while taking a bite into his sugar delight. "Anyway, Joey, how was your day?" She looked at him, attentively as if she was going to say something important, but instead bit her lip. He didn't want to hear her complain.
"Well, I think I did good on Mr. Peterson's history test. But I have to tell you, you're one lucky guy to not have that dude for a teacher. He could most likely win the biggest ass award. "
"Hey! What happened to Perfect James and her respect for teachers." Haley laughed, while playfully slapping him on the chest.
"That's Miss. Perfect James to you!" Lucas chuckled before throwing his and Haley's napkins into the trash. By now they were both done their 'dinners' and silently decided to head up to the roof.
"So, when do you have to head home?" he asked, tentatively. Haley looked at her watch and groaned.
"I was supposed to be there 10 minutes ago. Apparently I'm grounded," replied Haley, while she rolled her eyes. Lucas scratched his brow. He knew it was last night that got her in trouble, and regretted causing more family strife than what was already there. "Don't worry about it. He'd find a reason to be a jerk either way." Although she was trying to help, her words of wisdom just seemed to make things worse.
He never really understood why she hated John so much. He was a lawyer, and although he wasn't extremely successful, he supported the family fairly well. He seemed like a nice guy and wanted the best for Haley. If anything, he made Lucas's job as her protector a bit easier. Or at least he thought it would be. Instead she put up walls and made every conversation between the new family member and her worse than it should have been. Lucas didn't blame Haley completely, because John was being just as stubborn as she was. Both Mrs. James, and the new Mr. James should have understood that it was too quick to get married. At least, that was his opinion. Haley was over her dad's death and all, but they could have given her more time to adjust to her new lifestyle.
"Luke?" He looked up, snapping back to reality. "Glad to have you back, man. Where'd you drift off to?"
"Oh, I was just thinking about basketball season starting up again," he lied through his teeth. He hated doing it, but sometimes talking about things didn't fix them. To be completely honest, he hadn't spoken about his thoughts of Haley's relationship with her step-dad. She seemed so hurt from it, and as her protector, he couldn't bare to bring up such a hurtful topic.
"Oh. Well, I guess I should head home. Want to give me a ride?" Lucas smiled, nodding in response, as he placed his arm around Haley's torso to walk her down the stairs.
They caught up a bit on the short ride home. Lucas promised he'd call Haley later to make sure everything was okay, and that he didn't get her in trouble twice in a two day span. Haley gave him a quick hug, while he kissed her forehead. Then, she was off to complete more history homework that was assigned after the mini-exam. Haley guessed that would take up at least 3 hours of her night.
"Damn Peterson," she growled to herself, before falling onto her bed. Her day had been long, and she had to use her strong will-power to prevent herself from falling asleep. Grabbing her side bag, she turned her room light off and walked down the hallway. Maybe the attic would cheer up her boring day.
CHAPTER THREE:
Mrs. James rested her head on her palms, rubbing her eyes gently to remove the tears remaining on her face. She exhaled slowly, before reaching back down to her fork to continue eating.
"Since when did parenting become so hard?" she questioned, while shaking her head. Haley had always been an easy daughter to deal with. She had friends, a great personality, and always received top marks in her class. It had only been until lately that her image of the perfect child vanished into thin air only to be replaced with a disrespectful, foul-mouth. As much as she loved her daughter, she had no clue what to do to fix the problem that was created with the death of her pervious husband. Going to a psychiatrist had entered her mind before, but quickly vanished as she realized that it would just bring up more memories and past experiences for her to relive. "At least you have some practice at it," John replied, pulling Mrs. James back into reality. "I've never been around children in my life, never mind fathered one."
Haley's mother looked up respectfully to her new husband, and motioned him to sit down. He had really tried and sure, he made many mistakes along the way, but he was learning from them. He wanted the best for Haley, although he had funny ways of showing it.
"Oh! Haley called me dad last night," he commented, taking his first pancake from the mound of them on the center plate.
Her eyes looked up, with excitement sparkling within them. "Oh, honey that's great. You've made progress!"
He shook his head, taking another bite. "It's not as good as you think, Sue (A/N: from now on, Haley's mom will be referred to as Sue or Susan). It was during one of our classic 'you will never replace my father fights'."
Susan put one hand to her face, angered at their relationship. She hadn't ever expected that the two would have a father-daughter bond, but she at least hoped that the man she loved so much would at least be able to get along with her only daughter. It wasn't like John didn't try enough. It just seemed with each passing day, he dug himself into a deeper hole.
"Why did you do it?" she quickly said, speaking as a thought appeared in her mind. He gave her an odd glance, as he pulled another pancake off the stack to signal her to continue with her idea. "You didn't sell those cards, I did. Things with you and Haley are worse off as it is. Why did you take the blame knowing it would just get Haley more bitter towards you."
He shrugged, before looking down onto his plate. "A step parent is always supposed to be evil. She thinks I'm replacing her dad. I can't let her respect for her mom vanish as well." She smiled gratefully at him, and placed her hand on top of his free one. "Plus, I know how hard it is to have all these memories of your husband around the house. I'm just not sure Haley would understand as much."
"I love you." He mimicked her whispered comment as they shared a sweet kiss. "We'll get through this together. All we need is time."
Swish Swash Swish Swash
The green cloth moved back and forth, acting like a sponge to pick up the grime the previous customer had left behind. Looking around quickly, she made sure that no customers were looking as she made a swift shot to the counter, to get rid of the rag. She was glad too; its smell was beginning to make her feel nauseous.
Haley readjusted her forest green apron, before picking up the two plates on the deserted table. She managed to balance those, while holding two half- filled coffee mugs, as well as the scattered cutlery. Proud of herself, she strode back to behind the counter.
Just then a voice began calling out for her. "Hey! Lady, I'm waiting for my order still!" Realizing that she was the only one on duty immediately after school, Haley groaned. She called out to tell the man to hold on for a moment, politely of course, but he refused to give in. "I ordered half an hour ago. I don't think it takes that long to get a damn cup of coffee!" He grumbled on, throwing his paper down on the table in front of him. Although Haley was sure his half-hour wait was really five minutes in reality, she decided it would be wise to just serve him.
Turning around swiftly, and completely forgetting that she was holding several objects, all chaos broke loose. In slow motion, the two plates she had been balancing so elegantly on her right forearm plummeted to the floor with a load crash. Reacting fact, and trying to prevent the cutlery from falling, as well, Haley became oblivious to the fact that coffee mugs-that still held a rather warm substance-remained in her hands. She flipped them towards her in a mad attempt to clean up the mess, only to create bigger one on the floor and on herself. She cried out in pain, and frustration as she tried to get the coffee off of her.
"My coffee, miss?" the rude customer added, as he waved his newspaper around. She glared at him, before bending to her knees to remove the glass bits from the floor.
Lucas, who had witnessed the majority of the spectacle from the windows of the café, rushed in to help her.
"You okay?" he asked, as he tried his best to avoid the shattered bits of ceramic. She nodded frantically; embarrassed by the scene she created.
Hearing the angry customer bellowing again from the far-left corner, Lucas growled and picked up the pot of coffee from the end of the counter. He calmly walked over to the middle-aged man. However, he abruptly changed his mood when he fiercely poured the hot substance into the male's cup. Coffee splashed everywhere, even landing onto the suit of the rude businessman.
"Hey! That's hot!" He jumped up from his seat, angered.
"Well now you know how she feels," Lucas growled, sort of enjoying playing the role of the protective older brother. "Now here's your coffee, to go!" Without another word, he was gone, and the rest of the customers looked at the owner's son with astonishment. The few who had been watching the whole time clapped, and eventually the rest joined in.
Haley laughed, while gleaming her infamous smile. She was still cleaning up the mess, but had the common sense to remove her apron. After letting his male ego grow just a tad, Lucas bowed comically and walked over to help his best friend.
She was frantically picking up the pieces, knowing that there were other customers waiting for her assistance. Even with Lucas's help, it took another ten minutes or so before the shattered pieces were thrown in the trash. Finally at 5:00, Haley's shift was over.
"You sure you alright?" he asked her again, as they both leaned against the counter of the café. Haley pulled out a donut, and held it up to ask Lucas if he wanted one. He nodded in response, and she grabbed the glazed one for him. "Hales?"
"Oh. Yea, I'm fine. Just having a clumsy day. Did I tell you I fell again today?" Lucas leaned on his elbow while raising an eyebrow. She was going to start rambling; he just knew it. "I wasn't watching where I was going, and then out of nowhere a curb appeared. To say the least, it wasn't pretty. Got this." She pointed to a band-aid covered cut on her elbow. Lucas chuckled and placed his fingers to his mouth. Slowly moving them down, he placed them onto her elbow.
"All better." He stared at her for a moment, before Haley's comment broke it.
"It's times like this that I wonder if we've been watching too many Dawson Creek re-runs," she informed him, trying to stay as serious as she could. "Dawson." She drew out the name, making it sound as lovey-dovey as possible.
He shook his head and laughed, while taking a bite into his sugar delight. "Anyway, Joey, how was your day?" She looked at him, attentively as if she was going to say something important, but instead bit her lip. He didn't want to hear her complain.
"Well, I think I did good on Mr. Peterson's history test. But I have to tell you, you're one lucky guy to not have that dude for a teacher. He could most likely win the biggest ass award. "
"Hey! What happened to Perfect James and her respect for teachers." Haley laughed, while playfully slapping him on the chest.
"That's Miss. Perfect James to you!" Lucas chuckled before throwing his and Haley's napkins into the trash. By now they were both done their 'dinners' and silently decided to head up to the roof.
"So, when do you have to head home?" he asked, tentatively. Haley looked at her watch and groaned.
"I was supposed to be there 10 minutes ago. Apparently I'm grounded," replied Haley, while she rolled her eyes. Lucas scratched his brow. He knew it was last night that got her in trouble, and regretted causing more family strife than what was already there. "Don't worry about it. He'd find a reason to be a jerk either way." Although she was trying to help, her words of wisdom just seemed to make things worse.
He never really understood why she hated John so much. He was a lawyer, and although he wasn't extremely successful, he supported the family fairly well. He seemed like a nice guy and wanted the best for Haley. If anything, he made Lucas's job as her protector a bit easier. Or at least he thought it would be. Instead she put up walls and made every conversation between the new family member and her worse than it should have been. Lucas didn't blame Haley completely, because John was being just as stubborn as she was. Both Mrs. James, and the new Mr. James should have understood that it was too quick to get married. At least, that was his opinion. Haley was over her dad's death and all, but they could have given her more time to adjust to her new lifestyle.
"Luke?" He looked up, snapping back to reality. "Glad to have you back, man. Where'd you drift off to?"
"Oh, I was just thinking about basketball season starting up again," he lied through his teeth. He hated doing it, but sometimes talking about things didn't fix them. To be completely honest, he hadn't spoken about his thoughts of Haley's relationship with her step-dad. She seemed so hurt from it, and as her protector, he couldn't bare to bring up such a hurtful topic.
"Oh. Well, I guess I should head home. Want to give me a ride?" Lucas smiled, nodding in response, as he placed his arm around Haley's torso to walk her down the stairs.
They caught up a bit on the short ride home. Lucas promised he'd call Haley later to make sure everything was okay, and that he didn't get her in trouble twice in a two day span. Haley gave him a quick hug, while he kissed her forehead. Then, she was off to complete more history homework that was assigned after the mini-exam. Haley guessed that would take up at least 3 hours of her night.
"Damn Peterson," she growled to herself, before falling onto her bed. Her day had been long, and she had to use her strong will-power to prevent herself from falling asleep. Grabbing her side bag, she turned her room light off and walked down the hallway. Maybe the attic would cheer up her boring day.