Disclaimer: OTH belong to Warner Brother's studios. Al tough, I know two brothers that I would like to own.

Hey! This is my second attempt for an OTH fanfic. Sorry I didn't continue with the first one, but don't worry I'll try to finish it. I just wanted to try something else. In this one, Lucas is not on the team yet, Haley is going to tutor Nathan, but they won't fall that easily for each other. There will be some complications…

Nothing compares to you

Having the last word

Tuesday morning- Tree Hill High

Haley woke up knowing what she had to do. She had to go see Tree Hill High's principal to clear things out about her tutoring Nathan Scott and quitting tutoring. She hated, dreaded the fact that she was giving up something that loved to do in order to get rid of him and is arrogant behavior. She knew he wasn't worth it, but liked she had said to Nathan the previous day, her friendship with looking was more important than tutoring and getting extra credit from it. She took her shower and did as usual; she got dresses, took her breakfast and walked to school.

Haley entered the school, a couple of students were already there and she had hoped that nobody was with the principal; she had to talk to him. She went straight to the secretary's office and asked to see Principal Walters. She had to get things clear with the Principal and she was hoping that this second visit will prove to Mr. Walters that she was serious about not wanting to tutor Nathan Scott. Mrs. Campbell, the secretary nodded at her, and Haley immediately entered the office, but at her surprise Nathan was sitting in one of the two chairs that were always displayed in front of Principal Walters' desk.

She advanced, sat in the comfy chair and shot a furious glare in Nathan's direction. He just chose to ignore it and brought up his façade by looking cool, calm and collected, while she, on the other hand was definitely not hiding her anger. He was used to Haley character toward him and he had learned to pretend not to be affected by it.

She was sitting next to Nathan with a determined gleam in her big brown eyes and an unwavering look on her once soft features. Even though Haley James always seemed to be the girl next door, the nice and adorable friend, she had hidden inside her a side of her that the people who stood in her way should fear. Principal Walters saw the exchange between the two of them and he knew that he had in front of him a problem that was quite uneasy to resolve. He cleared his throat and directed his attention on the rather furious brunette.

"Miss James, as you can see Mr. Scott also had the idea of paying me a visit this morning. He explained the situation to me; I must admit that I'm disappointed by your behavior toward him." stated the principal to the now shocked Haley sitting in front of him.

"I'm sorry that my choice of quitting tutoring deceives you, but it was the only to make HIM understand that I didn't and still don't want to tutor him, and frankly I don't see where the big deal is? His father is rich; he can afford paying his son a professional tutor. Tutoring is not my job, I was just volunteering and I willingly want to stop." said Haley getting mad at the Principal's cold stand on what was happening

"Miss James we've established that you would tutor him last Friday. Now, I learn that you've change your mind. You are an asset to this school." defended Mr. Walter.

"Don't feed me this BS. I'm out of here!"

"Do you really need to act this dramatically?" asked Nathan, who had finally decided to speak. He looked at her, his eyes blue and intense blue eyes bore into her, fiery brown ones.

"Well, if I would consider you being something else than a complete pain in the ass maybe I'd be less dramatic. Principal Walters, I don't want to tutor him, seeing that I'm obliged to do so; I see no other solution than to quit. I know that Nathan Scott's father had something to do with it; I know that you wouldn't normally waste your time on something so insignificant." said Haley smiling slightly in principal's direction. She walked out of the room as fast as she entered it.

When she walked out of the secretary's office she saw Lucas pass by. She followed him and walked in his direction, but she saw him have a playful conversation with none other than Brooke Davis. The two of them were talking by the lockers and Brooke flirtatiously touched Lucas' fore arm. She took a deep breath, still shaken about what happened in the principal's office. She had given on something that meant a great for her. Her gut told her that it was for the best, and that she will no longer be a pawn in Nathan's game plan to hurt Lucas.

Since the way that led to her locker was this hallway, she had no choice but to walk and make as if she wasn't disturbed by seeing this. She felt tired and all she wanted right now was to avoid was another encounter with a haughty and popular student form this school. Her eyes were stinging, she tried to keep her tears for her, but she failed. When she passed by them, Lucas noticed her hunched head and the way she had willingly ignored his presence. He interrupted his conversation with Brooke and he followed his friend. Haley felt someone walking behind her and he gently touched her shoulder, she knew who it was and she felt secure.

"Are you okay Hales?" asked Lucas, worried about Haley's sudden sorrow. "What's wrong?" The young girl turned to face her friend and she sadly smiled at him.

"Nothing Luke, I just- I know that I'm probably overreacting about this. You're going to laugh at me, well; on second thought you'll be mad at me. And I have-

"Why would I be mad at you Hales?" Lucas slowly bowed his head; his eyes were at the same level as hers, now he definitely knew that something was wrong.

"All you have to know is that now, everything is okay." answered Haley wanting to avoid explaining to Lucas everything that happened over the past few days. She broke eye contact with him.

"I know I'm not the smartest one between the two of us, but I know that if everything would be okay you wouldn't be on the verge of tears."

Then the bell rang and Haley immediately took the opportunity to blow him off by saying that she didn't want to be late for class. A couple of meters away, Nathan had witnessed the scene between the two friends and down the pit of his stomach he felt a twinge of regret, but he ignored it like he had ignored any emotion. After all it was the only credit that he could give to Dan Scott; he had raised a fine cold son, an exact duplicate of Dan Scott.

Haley had tried her best at avoiding Lucas the whole day; she wasn't ready to confront him. She was sitting outside, reading her book. She hoped that he wouldn't look for her during lunch time. Unfortunately for her, Lucas was determined to find out the reason why Haley was having such a bad day.

"Hales, are you going to talk to me?" asked the young man that was standing behind her. He slowly sat next to her; he once again bent his head to look at her in the eye. They always looked into each other's eyes when they were talking; their trust had been built by their facility to be honest toward one another.

"I'm your best friend and I've lied to you." said Haley with a guilty look on her face. She had the bad habit of repeatedly putting a piece of her behind her ear when she was nervous about something.

"I'm sure you had a good reason for it Hales." Lucas tried to reassure her.

"That's the problem. It wasn't a good reason because it could have cost our friendship."

"What are you talking about Hales?"

"I'm so stupid that I got myself trapped in this situation where I was obliged to tutor Nathan."

"You're not stupid because as I know you, you brushed him off." said Lucas not liking this story.

"Trust me, I tried many times, but I was obliged to and this isn't the worst thing. I gave him chances Luke, how could I do that? How could I believe for one second that he could be worth it? I'm so stupid, I've lied to you because of this jerk! Also because of your beloved father, can you believe that? Like he didn't know that I was your best friend!" raged Haley to her friend. She hoped that Lucas wouldn't perceive this as a betrayal. Lucas, by the look on his face looked mad.

"And now you feel guilty! Hales, it is not your fault!"

"Maybe, but because of that I can't tutor anymore. I thought that by telling Nathan that I would quit in the name of our friendship that he would understand, but I miserably failed." Lucas looked at his friend, he just smiled at her. He was thankful to have such a loyal friend like her by his side.

"How could think for a second that I would be mad at you?" asked Lucas.

"I don't know, but my guess would be that stressful situations put people into position in which they are not very comfortable. It was stupid of me to overreact, but it was for a good cause. I didn't want our friendship to figure on the list of the species in danger." joked Haley, suddenly feeling the weight on her shoulders disappear. Lucas quickly took her as a prisoner in his arms and gave her a tight bear hug.

"Yeah well, I know that that there are too many Scotts in this town."

"And that if a few of them would leave, nobody would complain about It." continued Haley who once again had read into her friend thoughts.

From afar, Nathan watched the scene. He completely blew with Haley. He was in the parking lot, and he came back to his sense when Peyton kissed him in the neck. Hwe was hanging out with his friends and his girlfriend. He was sitting on the front of car with Peyton behind him, her legs on each side of him and her arms over his shoulders. The two of them were comfortable, and Peyton was smoothly whispering in his ears. It has been a long time that he and Peyton were ever this close, thanks to the fact that, lately, his girlfriend was in a good mood.

Hope you liked this chapter.

You know the drill…..R&R. I appreciate feedback.

Angel Oscura :)