Life on the Flip Side

By scarlet

Chapter Two:

Nathan couldn't say he was totally surprised when he was slammed up against the locker…by himself. But it still made for a surreal experience.

"Didn't know I was your type," he smirked.

"What did you do?" the guy he could only assume was Lucas snarled back at him.

Nathan's eyebrows rose, "I wished on a star. Really hard. Wish I may, wish I might be school's biggest reject in history tonight? Old classic. Worked like a charm," he rolled his eyes, "You think I wanted to be you?"

"Well, you're about the last person that I want to be."

"Sure," Nathan smirked, "Hey, could you back off a little, I'm feeling a little fragile today."

'Lucas's' eyes lit with fury and Nathan couldn't help grinning.

"What the hell is so funny?" Luke glared at him.

"You just look so good I couldn't help myself, stud."

Lucas backed away in disgust.

"What's going on here, gentlemen?" their English teacher interrupted the discussion.

"Talking about the assignment," Lucas told him quickly.

"Is that true?" the man turned to Nathan, giving him a soft, sympathetic look that Nathan would swear crossed all boundaries of student/teacher relations.

And what did he need to confirm his answer for anyway, it wasn't like he had a gun on him. Like he would pull shit like that at school, he wasn't a fucking amateur. "Homework it is," he shrugged helplessly.

Disturbing-pedophile-man backed away slowly, as though waiting for Nathan to blink out a distress signal in Morse code. What the hell? Short. Short. Short. Long.-

"The hell are you doing?"

Uhh… "Do you have some kind of thing going with him?"

"WHAT?" Lucas's mouth dropped.

"Man, you can tell me," Nathan grinned.

"If you could stop being an asshole for once in your life, we could figure this out."

"What's to figure out?" Nathan shrugged, "We didn't do this, so either it will undo itself or we're screwed."

"You honestly want to stay in my body for the rest of your life?"

Nathan grimaced, "Hell no."

"Then we have to get out of this."

"No shit, Sherlock, I'm open to any ideas you have," Nathan smirked.

"We can't tell anyone."

"Too late."

"WHAT?" Lucas's eyes widened.

"Already told your little girlfriend, Haley."

"She's not my girlfriend."

Nathan's eyebrows shot up, "Interesting aspect to focus on, but relax, she didn't buy it. Thought I was funny, but didn't buy it."

Lucas glared at him, "Just leave her alone."

"Or what?" Nathan raised his eyebrows, honestly curious.

"I'll ruin things with Peyton."

Nathan laughed, "Do your worst, man. I can get her back."

"In that case, I'll just enjoy the benefits of your relationship, then," Lucas smirked.

The guy had only been in his body for a few hours and he was already starting to think like him, it didn't bode well. "Don't even think about it," Nathan growled.

"What should I tell her? That I'm not in the mood?"

"Tell her you're sick. If we switch back and you did something, you're a dead man. And you can't imagine what I'll do to your life if I find out before we switch."

Lucas raised his hands in surrender, "So what do we do about the game tonight?"

"Shit," Nathan muttered. "You have to score at least 25 points or my dad will kill me."

"And that is my problem because…?"

"I'll kiss Haley if you don't."

Lucas scoffed, "We're not even like that!"

"But she is your best friend and it would be pretty awkward trying to talk your way out of that, wouldn't it?" Nathan smirked and smacked Lucas's shoulder, "That's 25 minimum."

***

Haley plopped her tray down next to him and immediately launched into speech, "You'll never guess who I saw in the library today!"

Good lord, if this was a good sample of their typical conversation, he was going to fall asleep in his spaghetti. "Unless it was Nikki Tyler, I really don't care."

"Don't you mean Taylor?"

Nathan gaped at her. Was she possibly this innocent? "Really really don't."

Haley gave him a weird look, but shrugged it off, "Nathan!"

"What? Oh…I mean, what about him?" he grimaced.

"He was in the library, aren't you even listening?"

"Why would he be there?"

"That's the freaky thing, he was reading!" Haley shook her head as though this were the craziest thing in the world and Nathan started to get a little irritated.

He did know how to read, after all. "So?"

"FAULKER!" Haley added.

"What?" Nathan glared over at his normal table, where Lucas and Peyton were talking. Was it not enough that the freak was going to flub up his game and his relationship, did he have to sneak around, reading classic literature? In the library of all places? Who knows what nerd would see him and start spreading vicious rumors.

"You think it was a dare or something?" Haley smirked.

Case and point. Nathan glared at her, "Probably just an assignment," he shrugged it off.

"Maybe he's trying to impress his girlfriend," Haley nodded to Peyton, "Stop you from stealing her?"

"That'll never happen," he muttered.

"Come on, I see how you look at her."

"But do you see how she looks at him?" Nathan gestured to Peyton, who was whispering in Lucas's ear. Bitch. Couldn't she tell it wasn't him?

"So they have a lot of sex," Haley shrugged, "That won't last forever."

Nathan frowned at her, there was more to him and Peyton than sex. There were like…parties. "Who cares about forever? She wants him now." So hah.

"He's a total ass, Luke, she's sure to recognize that eventually."

"Oh, he's not that bad!" Nathan pouted.

Haley raised her eyebrows, "Are you feeling okay?"

Peyton took that moment to bite Lucas's ear and Nathan's eyes narrowed, "Aww, Hales," Nathan put his arm around her, "I'm just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. You know me, Mr. Good Guy," he whispered in her ear and caught Lucas's eye across the room.

Lucas immediately leapt from the table, backing away from Peyton.

"Whatever, Luke," Haley rolled her eyes and Nathan let his hand drop.

"So you going to the game tonight, Haley?" he grinned, "Promises to be interesting."

TBC