Disclaimer: I don't own any of the main characters in this story they are the property of the WB network. The only ones I own are the ones that none of you have ever heard of because they are figments of my imagination. If I did have any ownership rights to the show you can guarantee that things with Nathan and Haley at least would be quite different.

Chapter Thirteen

Monday morning came around far too soon for Haley. She had finally left Nathan last night when he had dropped her back at her house and had been avoiding phone calls from Lucas ever since. Walking downstairs she waited for Nathan to arrive, he had promised to pick her up for school and even though she had only seen him less than twelve hours ago she could hardly wait for him to arrive. Hearing a car pull up outside she went to greet him a huge smile on her face. He got out of the car and came to greet her wrapping her in a hug and stealing a quick kiss.

"Good morning beautiful, did you miss me?"

"Miss you?" She said jokingly "now why would I miss you?"

"Ok well perhaps you missed this," he said pulling her into a kiss.

Hearing another vehicle pull up in front of her house she broke away. A look of displeasure crossed her face as she saw Lucas walking towards them.

"What are you doing here?" she asked icily.

"I've come to drive you to school" he started.

"Well as you can no doubt see that wasn't necessary. Goodbye." She added turning away from him and focusing all of her attention back onto Nathan.

"Haley I need to talk to you" Lucas tried again.

"Well guess what Luke I don't want to hear anything you have to say."

"Haley please" but she wasn't listening as she climbed into Nathan's car closing the door firmly behind her and stared straight ahead as she waited for Nathan to join her. Nathan started the engine and they drove away neither one of them sparing another glance to the frustrated young man who still stood in her driveway.

"We are going to talk Haley whether you want to or not," Lucas promised staring after the departing SUV.

"Can you believe the nerve of him turning up to drive me to school as if nothing had happened. Why would he think I would actually want to listen to anything that he has to say?" she fumed.

"Haley you know if he gives you any trouble you just tell me and I'll sort him out," Nathan told her.

"I know and I appreciate the thought Nate but I think for now I should just avoid him. He'll get the message sooner or later."

Hopefully sooner she couldn't help but think. He had already put a dampener on her good mood and she was determined not to waste any more time thinking about him.

"So" she said turning to him forcing a brightness into her tone that she didn't really feel "did you manage to sleep ok without me?" she asked jokingly.

"I managed," he said lightly "just".

The truth was that he had missed the feeling of having her body curled up with his even after just two nights spent together. They pulled into the parking lot and looked out at the students milling around.

"Are you sure you wouldn't just rather spend the day at the beach house?" he pleaded.

"Oh don't tempt me" she responded "no much as I would love to I have too much to do today and I have a shift at the café tonight so I think we're just going to have to make the best of it" she told him.

"Besides we've already run into Lucas I don't see how it could get any worse."

She noticed a girl from one of her classes Beth Jones staring in their direction, glaring daggers at Haley.

"Oh god I hadn't even thought that now I'm going to have to deal with a lot of very jealous females," she said.

Nathan smirked at her comment "well you know I am irresistible" he told her arrogantly.

"Yeah right" she said laughing "but I'm serious look at the way Beth keeps staring at us, she looks like she wants to kill me."

His head snapped up searching for and finding Beth who was indeed sending murderous looks in their direction.

"So" he said rushing to change the subject "what class do you have first?"

Haley looked at him strangely "English, remember you're in my class."

"Oh yeah of course" he said nervously "must have lost track of what day it is." Grabbing her hand he led her towards their lockers being very careful to steer clear of Beth and her possible homicidal inclinations.

"Peyton are you absolutely certain that you heard them right? You're sure that that's what they said," Lucas asked for the umpteenth time since the dance had ended.

Peyton groaned in response "Yes Luke I'm certain. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"This will be the last time I promise. Now start from the beginning and tell me again what you saw and heard."

"Ok but this had better be the last time," she conceded reluctantly.

"It was after you and Haley had your big fight and she had left with Nathan and you had done a disappearing act. I went looking for Jake to see if he knew where you were but when I found him he was with Tim not you. I decided to wait around till they finished their talk so I could ask Jake if he had seen you."

"Yeah and…" Luke ground out impatiently.

Peyton shot him a warning look and Luke shut up. He knew if he pushed Peyton too far she would refuse to tell him the rest of her tale and although he had heard it before he needed to be absolutely certain that he had all the facts straight before he could work figure out what to do with the information.

"Anyway" Peyton continued looking at Luke almost daring him to interrupt her again "then I hear Tim bitching and moaning about how some girl called Beth won't go out with him. To be honest he looked pretty trashed otherwise I doubt he would have even been telling Jake about this let alone speaking loud enough for me to hear them."

Peyton realising she was getting off track took a deep breath and continued "then they start talking about how Nate hooked up with her about a week ago and Jake made some comment about how she really doesn't seem like Nate's type and how come to think of it Haley doesn't either. Then Tim just starts laughing hysterically and the only word I could make out that he was saying was something about a challenge. Apparently Jake didn't know what he was saying either, because he asked him what he was talking about and Tim told him that he and Nate had been playing some game for the last couple of months. The game is for Tim to pick some girl that for some reason or other doesn't like Nate and Nate has to get them to fall for him. So that's it." She concluded. "Tim challenged Nathan to see if he could get Haley to fall for him."

"Those bastards" Luke swore, "where the hell do they get off playing with peoples lives like this? Haley is going to be devastated when I tell her."

"What?" Peyton shouted stopping dead in her tracks "what do you mean tell her?"

"Well of course I'm going to tell her, she's my best friend" Luke responded looking at Peyton as if she'd suddenly sprouted another head.

"But Lucas you told me yourself she hates you right now. What makes you think she's even going to listen to you?"

"Maybe she won't" Luke admitted "but I have to at least try".

Sitting in English Haley was finding it very difficult to concentrate on what Mr Andrews was saying. Nathan sat beside her paying far more attention to watching her then to the lesson, not that a lack of attention to class was anything unusual for Nathan. He rarely paid attention to any of his classes and with Haley there well lets just say his interest wasn't on the podgy balding man standing at the front of the room. When the bell rang he stood up picking up the textbooks that he hadn't even bothered to open and taking Haley by the hand made his way towards the door.

"Mr Scott" the teachers voice halted his getaway.

He reluctantly turned back to see what he wanted.

"I want to see you in my office after school today. We need to have a serious talk about your grades."

"Alright I'll be there," Nathan agreed reluctantly.

Damn now what. This guy has so got it in for me lately he thought but in truth he knew that his grades were really not up to scratch and was surprised it had taken this long for any of his teachers to request a meeting.

"Lets go," he said to Haley once again taking her hand. "Well since that's the only class we have together I guess I'll just see you at lunch," he told her.

"Oh Nathan I can't today I promised one of the students that I tutor that I would give them an extra session at Lunch today since we missed one last week."

"You're kidding right?" He said hopefully but could tell that she wasn't. "Alright well I guess I'll see you after school. It shouldn't take me too long to convince Mr Andrews that I'll try harder in class so wait for me by the lockers and I'll drive you to work."

"Ok sounds good" she agreed happily.

"Maybe I should think about employing you as my own private tutor" he said with a grin.

"You couldn't afford me," she teased.

"In that case" he said tracing a finger across her lips "I might have to come up with a different method of payment." He smirked the look in his eye leaving Haley in no doubt as to what method he was referring to.

Haley blushed "I'm sure we could come to some mutually satisfying agreement," she told him for the first time allowing her flirty side to come through.

Nathan's eyes darkened as he took in the meaning behind her words "I don't suppose you'd be interested in finding somewhere private where we could work out the terms?" he asked huskily.

The bell rang to signal their next class and the spell was broken

"Not right now but maybe after work," she told him standing up on her tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on his lips before hurrying off to class. "I'll see you after school," she called back over her shoulder

"you definitely will" he responded under his breath watching as she darted into her classroom, before turning and casually walking off to his own class.

It was Lunchtime and Lucas was wandering the school desperately trying to track down Haley. He had seen Nathan in the cafeteria and knew she wasn't with him, he had also checked the library to no avail so he could only think of one more place that she might be. Pausing outside the tutoring centre he spotted her through the glass in the door. Pushing the door open he entered causing Haley to look up from what she was reading. She barely glanced at him before she returned her attention back to her book and uttered a firm

"Get out," in his direction.

Focusing his attention on the other occupant of the room Lucas smiled nervously

"hey Susie would you mind giving us some privacy?"

As Susie went to stand up Haley's voice sounded "Don't bother Susie he's not staying."

Lucas gave the blonde cheerleader a pleading look and Susie stood, gathered her books and turned to Haley, "actually Haley I have somewhere I have to be. I completely forgot but we'll finish this some other time ok?" and left. As she walked away down the hall she shook her head what is it about that girl? That's both Scott boys in one week. I have got to find out her secret.

Meanwhile Haley was thinking that this was one Scott she could have done without. "Lucas I told you earlier I don't want to speak to you. So why don't you just leave me alone."

"Haley there is something I have to tell you," he began "and I already told you that I don't want to hear it" she cut him off angrily.

"Its about Nathan" he said.

"Look Luke I know you don't like him but that really doesn't matter to me anymore. I have no interest in your opinion on anything anymore least of all my love life."

"Haley please,"

"no Luke you completely betrayed me and now you expect me to let you tell me that I shouldn't be with Nathan well its not going to happen. He's a much better person then you will ever be. I know he has his faults but I don't care."

Lucas' anger started to grow as he listened to her defend his asshole of a brother. "You were just a game," he shouted.

"What?" she responded looking mystified.

"Tim challenged Nathan to get you to fall for him," he told her more calmly watching her avidly for her response. Haley stared at him for a moment and then began to laugh nastily

"you really expect me to believe that?" she asked. "If you were going to make up some story to try and make me hate him you could have at least tried to make it believable," she said confidently.

"I'm not making this up Haley" he told her firmly.

"Yeah well I don't believe you Lucas and if you think this is a way to repair our friendship then I have to wonder if there is even a friendship to repair," she added spitefully.

"Fine Haley don't believe me," he said "but before you make up your mind you might want to have a chat to Beth Jones and ask her about Nathan's winning ways with women."

Haley froze remembering the way Beth had looked at her that morning. Her mind flashed to her disagreement with Nathan the other day he had said something then about Tim but she hadn't been able to make out what he said. It can't be true she tried desperately to convince herself but deep down she couldn't help but acknowledge the possibility that Lucas was telling the truth. It would certainly explain why after ignoring her for so long Nathan had suddenly seemed to notice her and why he had come on so strong. All of a sudden it all began to make sense but instead of being upset she was extremely angry.

"Haley," Lucas' concerned voice filled her ears as he came to stand beside her putting a comforting arm around her shoulder "are you ok?"

Haley violently shrugged his arm off and whirled around to face him. "How dare you" she spat the words at him. "First you betray our friendship and now you have the nerve to come here and tell me that the guy I've fallen for was just using me as part of some sick game. What is it with men? Why can they never just be honest?"

"Hales" Luke tried once more

"Just get out" she screamed.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that her anger probably shouldn't be directed at Lucas he was after all just the messenger but at that moment she was beyond rational thinking and she needed to release this rage that was building up inside of her and Lucas just happened to be the closest person making him the perfect target. Lucas hesitated he truly didn't want to leave her alone when she was in such a mood but he also knew Haley well enough to know that when she got like this she really needed time and space to cool down and him staying at the moment could only make things worse.

Sighing heavily he walked to the door turning he told her "you know where I'll be if you want to talk." Haley didn't even glance in his direction in acknowledgement of what he had said she just stared at the window. Sighing again Lucas left.

Finally alone Haley felt her anger start to dissipate she needed to think and she couldn't do that here and she knew there was no way she could face any of her classes that afternoon. Walking quickly out of the tutoring centre she went to her locker and grabbed her bag avoiding making eye contact with anyone. Then praying that she wouldn't get caught she snuck out of the school grounds and walked in the direction of Karen's café. As she walked she thought about everything that had happened in the last week and was overwhelmed by sadness. She had lost her best friend and just as she had started to believe that there could be something real between her and Nathan that fantasy had been cruelly shattered. Why was I so stupid to fall for such a stunt I should have known Nathan would never have truly been interested in a girl like me. I mean we couldn't be more different from each other. Oh why didn't I see it sooner? You are so stupid Haley she berated herself. Because above all when ever things went wrong Haley's main instinct was to find a way to blame herself for it. Her thoughts continued until she finally reached the haven of Karen's café hoping that Karen would not question her too much on why she was not at school.

"Haley" Karen's voice held more than a hint of surprise but as she opened her mouth to question her early arrival she caught sight of the unshed tears that filled her eyes and decided now was not the time.

"Have you eaten Honey? The lunch rush is over so why don't you settle yourself in one of those booths and I'll fix you something to eat."

Haley smiled gratefully at the older woman not because she welcomed the thought of food but because Karen had understood Haley well enough to know that she really didn't want to talk about whatever it was that was troubling her. She walked to a booth and sat down absorbed in her own thoughts until the time came for her shift to start. The food Karen had brought her remained untouched.

Nathan meanwhile was completely oblivious to the earlier events and the only thing troubling him at this time was the fact that instead of being able to meet Haley he had to first report to Mr Andrews. Walking casually into the office he looked directly at his teacher and without a word of greeting asked

"Can we make this quick I have someone waiting for me?"

"Sit down Mr Scott" came the response from Mr Andrews "we have a lot to talk about".

"Look Sir I know what you're going to say you want me to try harder etc so how about I save us some time and tell you that I will and you can let me get out of here."He said already moving towards the door.

"Mr Scott you will sit down right now and listen to every word I have to say unless of course you no longer have any interest in playing basketball?"

Nathan sat realising that Mr Andrews was no longer going to allow himself to be brushed off by Nathan. He sighed why do I have the feeling that I'm going to be here for a while?

It was close to 45 minutes later before Nathan was finally able to get away from Mr Andrews and race back to the lockers.

"Damn" he cursed seeing no sign of Haley "I hope she's not pissed with me for being late."

Hurriedly collecting his belongings from his locker he headed for his car driving slowly towards the café he kept his eyes peeled for Haley walking by the side of the road. She must be a faster walker than I thought he conceded to himself. Pulling into a parking space directly in front of Karen's he caught sight of Haley busily serving customers and smiled to himself. He hadn't realised how much he had missed her until he saw her again. Man I must be getting soft if I can't even get through a day without missing her. Still smiling he got out of his car and entered the café his smile widening in anticipation of her welcome.

Haley looked up as she heard the bell above the door jingle announcing a new customer. The fake smile she had adopted all afternoon disappearing as soon as she saw him to be replaced by a glare. Nathan stopped for a moment shocked by the look she was giving him. He knew he had screwed up but he hadn't expected her to be this upset about it.

"Hey beautiful," he greeted her "sorry about taking so long, Mr Andrews was a complete pain in the ass."

Haley turned away without a word and went back to serving customers.

"Ok well I can see you're busy" he added "so I'll just take a seat until you're able to talk."

Finally breaking her silence she glared at him once again before replying icily "Don't bother I have nothing to say to you".

"Ah Haley don't you think you might be slightly overreacting to me being held up and not able to drive you to work?" he asked truly puzzled as to why she would be so pissed when he had already explained what had happened.

"Nathan this has nothing to do with you not driving me to work" she told him doing her best to remain calm it would be completely unfair to Karen for her to bring her personal problems into work.

"Well then what the hell is the problem" Nathan demanded clearly becoming frustrated with not knowing what was going on.

"Nathan please just leave and don't come back. I don't want to see you again."

"Haley I'm not leaving until you tell me what is going on," he said determinedly.

Haley was hit with a sense of déjà vu anyone who thought that the Scott brothers were nothing alike had obviously never taken into consideration their innate stubbornness. Her reaction to Nathan's stubbornness though was quite similar to how she felt with Lucas'. To put it simply it was making her blood boil.

"Fine Nathan you want to know what my problem is I'll tell you. You are my problem now why don't you just get out," she said pointing at the door.

"No way. I'm not leaving until you give me a straight answer."

They were now completely oblivious to the stares they were receiving from the customers and their voices had risen steadily throughout their argument so that they were now shouting at each other. Changing tack for the moment Haley looked at Nathan and asked

"Nathan do you know anything about a challenge that Tim set up?" Nathan visible paled at her question

"What are you talking about?" he asked nervously.

"I'm talking about how this was all just some sick game to you."

"Haley" Nathan tried to interrupt.

"Nathan I really don't want to hear it," she told him her voice losing its anger and instead taking on a tone of resignation "and I don't ever want to see you again. So will you please just go?" she added and Nathan could hear the finality in her voice. He knew there would be no point trying to talk to her now so he turned and walked away closing the door quietly behind him.

"Haley" Karen's soft voice full of concern sounded in her ear "I can manage for the moment why don't you go and take a break?"

Haley returned half an hour later and quietly went about her work until finally she saw that it was time to close up. She turned the sign on the door around to show they were closed and started wiping down the tables. Karen was in the kitchen cleaning up so Haley was left alone with her thoughts. She could hardly believe the day that had just happened. She wished that she could just wake up in her bed or better yet Nathan's and find out it had all just been a bad dream but realistically Haley knew that that wasn't going to happen. Hearing the bell above the door once again she called out in a flat voice

"We're closed. Come back tomorrow."

But the sound of footsteps continued towards her and she looked up to see Lucas approaching. This day really can't get any worse she thought.

"Can we please talk?" his voice asked hesitantly.

"Luke I'm really not in the mood for another argument" she told him.

"Good" he said, "because I haven't come here to argue. In fact you don't need to say anything. Just hear me out."

"Fine" she replied too tired to argue "but I really don't think it's going to help."

Lucas came and sat at the counter and proceeded to tell her all about how his relationship with Peyton had began.

"Lucas I really don't want to hear this right now. All I want to know is why you lied to me for so long."

So Luke explained his side of things how originally he hadn't really expected it to last so had seen no reason to upset Haley by telling her. Then by the time he had realised that his feelings for Peyton were genuine he couldn't find a way to tell her.

"You were always talking about how much you hated that whole group" he said "and I didn't want to upset you by telling you that I genuinely liked one of them."

As Haley opened her mouth to refute his explanation she was struck by the thought that what he was describing was exactly how she had felt about telling him about her budding relationship with Nathan. She had tried to hide it from him just as he had kept his relationship with Peyton hidden from her. She doubted that she would have allowed things to go on for two months without telling him but she had no way of knowing for sure. How can I hate him when he was only trying to protect me the same way I was trying to protect him? And she realised how hypocritical she had been toward him. She was still hurt by his actions but at least now she could understand why he had felt the need to keep it from her. She allowed a small smile to come to her lips as she turned to him.

"I'm so sorry" she apologised "I've been a hypocrite."

"So am I forgiven?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes" she said "but don't ever do that to me again." She told him.

A.N Well I know this was a really long chapter by my standards but as you've now read there was a lot that I wanted to happen. The next chapter will probably be the last so if you want to know how it finishes up please review. I've been thrilled by the reviews I've received so far so a big thank you to everyone who has let me know what they think. Keep them coming.