Nathan is lying on her bed and he has one of the juggling balls that Haley used to practice with when she wanted to be a clown. He's throwing it up and catching it and throwing it up and catching it. Haley is sitting next to him on the bed, Calculus textbook in her lap, pencil drumming on the page.
"So," says Nathan, not looking at her, but staring at the ceiling, "Are you really going to be doing a project with Brooke?"
"Yeah," Haley says for what was perhaps the fourth time, "I'm really going to be doing a project with Brooke." She closes her textbook in an I'll-do-this-later defeat, and puts it on her bed stand.
Nathan finally turns his head to look at her.
"And you…and you want to?"
"No Nathan, of course I don't. I don't want to be in that class, remember? I should be in AP Lit. It's not fair."
"No, I know," he says, throwing the ball into the air and catching it. "I'm asking you, do you really want to do his project with Brooke?"
"Um, well…" says Haley. She shifts uncomfortably.
She does. She just doesn't know why.
"You do!" Nathan exclaims. "Haley, the only reason she even asked you to do the project with her was so that she could use you. She always does. You know that. Or," he paused, "at least, you should."
Haley says, "Um."
Nathan turns away and goes back to throwing his ball at the ceiling. Haley leans back against the bed. She wonders why she does want to work with Brooke. For the past few days her thoughts about Brooke have been…nothing short of bewildering.
Haley remembers how Brooke smiled at her when Haley said she watched Brooke cheerlead, and how she had smiled back; she remembers the fluttering, sick feeling she had gotten when Lucas had told her that Brooke was coming to dinner; she remembered the pleasure she felt when Brooke asked her to work with her on the project; and on top of all that, she had just defended Brooke to Nathan.
She wonders what's going on with her. She thinks she might be going crazy.
Without turning over, Nathan asks, "What poem are you doing, anyway?"
"I don't know. I gave her a couple of poems and she's picking."
"Really?" Nathan says, still not looking over at her.
"Yeah, really. Come on, Nathan, even she's capable of picking out a poem."
"What did you give her?"
"Two Byron, two Shelley, Keats. Romantic stuff. You know."
"Love stuff."
"No. Not Romantic stuff like that. Like the philosophy and the literary movement and well…" She stops. Nathan isn't interested.
"So what are we doing tonight?" he asks, throwing the ball into the air again.
"I thought we could stay in. Order a pizza. My parents are away this weekend."
"Really?" He pulls her down and into a deep kiss. And, for some reason, she is slightly irritated by this.
There are five Davises is the phone directory, and after the first one yields nothing, Haley decides to call Lucas. He answers, "Yes?"
She feels obligated to explain. "Hi, yes, it's me. I need, um, I need Brooke's phone number…because of - we've got – you know – the project."
"Yeah," says Lucas. "Do you have a piece of paper?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. It's 555-0621."
"555-0621. Got it. Thanks."
"All right. Bye."
"Bye."
Haley calls Brooke and when Brooke answers, she forgets everything she had planned to say. She even forgets to say, "Hi, this is Haley." Brooke, on the other end is saying, "Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?"
Finally: "Yeah, it's me, Haley."
"Oh, hi, Haley." Haley could hear her smile.
"Look, I was wondering, when do you want to come over to do the project?"
"I can come over right now if you want."
"Really?" says Haley, a bit excited.
"Yeah, sure. Just give me a couple of minutes."
"Okay," Haley breathes.
Fifteen minutes later, Brooke and Haley are sitting on Haley's bed, a book of English poems between them. Brooke is wearing a low cut black top. Haley likes it.
"So, did you pick one?" Haley asks, looking at Brooke's top.
"Yeah," Brooke grins. "I really liked them – "
You did?
Haley looks up.
"But this was the one that I liked the best." She flips through the pages to one she had bookmarked with a post-it note.
"She walks in beauty, like the night," Haley breathes. "That's my favorite."
"Yeah. And I guess it's my favorite too."
"So what are we going to do?"
Brooke shifts. "Well. I was wondering what your creative strengths were. My only ones are…well, I dance. I guess you knew that, though, 'cause you watch me cheerlead. But I mean, it doesn't stop there. I used to take ballet and modern and stuff. And I'm beautiful," she adds, as an afterthought. "But it should be something we both come up with, you know?"
Nathan is completely wrong about Brooke. Brooke is actually doing work.
Haley is silent for a moment. "I sing. And I play piano."
"Really? Can you sing something for me?"
Haley blushes. "Right now?"
"Yeah, right now."
Haley hesitates. "Well…"
"Go on. Please. For me," Brooke says, in a whining, pleading voice that Haley found hard to resist.
"Okay." Haley takes a deep breath. "It doesn't mean much, it doesn't mean anything at all, the life I've left behind me is a cold room. I've crossed the last line from where I can't return, where every step I took in faith betrayed me and led me from my home."
"And sweet, sweet surrender is all that I have to give," Brooke finishes with her. "I didn't know that you liked Sarah Mclachlan."
"I love her."
"So do I. And you, Haley James, have a wonderful voice."
They smile at each other. The smile seems to go on forever. Haley doesn't know why, but her heart keeps skipping a beats.
Brooke checks her watch. "Look I've got a date with Lucas."
"Oh. Yeah. That's fine. I mean – yeah, that's fine. Ok. So, I'll see you – "
"Next weekend," Brooke says. "I'll come over next weekend."
That's not soon enough.
Haley walks Brooke to the door, and just as Brooke breezed out, Nathan calls, and says, "Do you want to got to a movie?"
Yes. Anything to distract me from –
From what? Anything to distract you from what?
"Yeah, sure."
They see the movie – it is an action movie because Nathan wants to see it and Haley has given up on trying to argue with him. He holds her hand and makes out with her half way through it and she is irritated again and can't seem to concentrate. She thinks about the project and how they'd be able to combine their talents.
I used to take ballet and modern and stuff. And I'm beautiful.
She is, Haley thinks.
And you, Haley James, have a wonderful voice.
She wonders if that was the nicest thing that anybody had ever said to her. She concludes it probably is.
After the movie, they go out to dinner. Haley picks at her macaroni and thinks of Brooke.
"So," Nathan says, "How's the project going?"
"It's going good. Really good. She picked out a poem. 'She walks in beauty like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies, and all that's – '" She stops. Nathan wasn't listening.
"Basketball try-outs start soon."
Is that all he ever thinks about?
"That's how much practice we have. It's not even time for basketball season to start and already Whitey's making us work." He snorts.
"Yeah…" said Haley.
She wonders when the rift between them grew.
She wonders how big it is. She wonders if they could ever repair it.
She wonders if she wants to.