Author's Note: Dropping by with the next update. I want to give all you guys who left such wonderful feedback, a big huge thank you. You really leave me with a huge smile on my face!

CHEMICAL LOVE

Chapter 2

You Knock Logic Right Off Its Axis

Haley lives by her routine. It's ingrained in everything she does, in how she acts, in how she is. It's a part of her, just like her right arm. Even more so, than her own family. Structure is important to succeeding she reminds herself She can look at all the negative displays in her life if ever she forgets.

Setting up a schedule for herself was any easy decision from the get go. Even easier, she found, was to stick to it, no matter what other senseless events continue to disrupt her life.

In the mornings before school, she gets up at 6:15 am on the dot. She takes her 15 minute shower, combs out her hair, brushes her teeth, dresses, and then heads downstairs for breakfast, where she eats either a blueberry muffin or a bowel of cornflakes with a tablespoon of sugar.

She walks the short distance from her home to Tree Hill High, and arrives there with about 20 minutes to spare. She checks her pre-calculus questions, or reads through her current book of the week, on a park bench by herself. She watches people like Darren Thomas, Vegas Parker and Brooke Davis float through the mass of students standing in the quad with an elegant ease. She stops to wonder if that's something you're born with, or something you acquire. She thinks it's a good question. Knows she probably won't ever figure it out.

By the time the first bell rings for first hour History, she is safely secure in her front row corner seat by the window, her books evenly displayed over her 25x25 inch desk. She dutifully scribbles down notes from the teacher's lecture unaware of anyone else in the room, until the rough click of the classroom door catches her attention. She can hear the soft swish of his pants as he walks swiftly to his seat, the rustle of his backpack as he drops it on the floor by his desk and then shuffles through it to find paper and pen. Other students around him look annoyed at this disturbance, and the teacher simply tries her best to appear oblivious. He ignores them all however, does it with a sort of nonchalance, an attitude that asks 'you going do something about it?'

His lips are slightly red and plump, and she only notices this when she flicks her head back for a second to look at him. He's been kissing Brooke, she figures, just like he does every morning before class, and after lunch. He used to play around with a lot of different girls from school and around town Now it seems, it's been narrowed down to just Brooke Davis. He sees her on occasion, they party, they socialize with their group of friends. It's sort of his ritual, his routine, if he in fact has one at all. She doesn't let this obvious display bother her though. She has control over her emotions, and she chooses to not let this affect her. After all, there are things she knows that Brooke doesn't.

........

She hadn't planned on going to the county fair that summer.

Greasy food, screaming kids, and strange looking carnies was just never her idea of fun. But her sister Kelly had been pestering her to get out of the house all week to meet her new boyefriend Brett. Apparently he was 'way cute' with 'dimples just like Scott Wolf' and a 'butt like Ashton Kutcher.' Who was she to argue with that? So off the three went, Haley inevitably feeling like the third wheel, and scolding herself every ten minutes as she saw yet another happy couple pass her by.

They did the obligatory games, and road the obligatory spinning rides, that always ended up making her feel like she'd just been stuffed in a bottle vinegar and shook up and down one too many times. Around 10 p.m. she was ready leave. She'd seen enough people from school to last her this life time, and she'd had enough fake 'how's you summer going' conversations to last her into the next. But Kelly of course wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, and Brett, keys firmly in his pocket, agreed, Which left Haley with a choice: To ride or not to ride?

"Hey you! Up in front.You in line," the grizzly and unattractive middle-aged ride operator asked her. Haley saw that when her companions had indeed walked up ahead into the next availabke seats, leaving her standing alon in the line by herself.

She decided to beg out. "Me? Oh. No I'm..... sorry," she half smiled and shook her head, moving out of the way quickly.

She watched as the ride began to cart all the passengers up in their white cagged baskets. Her sister waving to her out of the basket when her and Brett reached the top. Haley looked back at them bregrudgingly, as she stood lonesome a few feet from the ride against a small fence, sticking out like zebra in a pig pen.

The cool summer night breeze blew over her, and brushed her hair away from her face. She smiled up at the couple with fake enthusiasm and lazily waved.

"Afraid of heights," a deep yet familiar voice came from beside her.

Haley dropped her arm, and looked over at the figure beside her. Nathan Scott, in all his magnificent tanned glory.

"No. Not that I'm aware of." She hadn't the faintest idea why he was talking to her, or bothering to show any form of attention toward her at all. They weren't friends or acquaintances or any thing other than occupants of the same school and town. Part of her had always wondered though, what it would be like to be in the presence of "Greatness". If the rumors were really true. Could he charm any girl with a smile, make anyone his friend in the matter of seconds? Haley, being a cynic at heart, thought the whole idea was just laughable.

"Then why aren't you up there," he queried, looking honestly interested, and she figured she could go ahead and muse him, if for nothing else than a good story to tell her sister on the ride home. She broke her eyes away from Nathan and blew a breath out, staring up at the Ferris Wheel wryly.

"I don't know. It just seems so wrong to ride a ride like that by yourself. Something that was so obviously made for only two people. It's like you're stating to the entire world that, yes, you are alone. It's depressing."

He sort of nodded and shrugged, the kind of action that implied he'd never really thought about it that way before. As if something as simple as being the odd man out, had never really occurred to him, and of course it wouldn't. He was Nathan Scott. Just a name by all means, but in Tree Hill it meant something big. Haley knew it, just as much as the person who passed her by in the local supermarket knew it. He was practically a celebrity, always surrounded by his friends, his wannabe friends and the like. Some could outwardly appreciate it, others were indifferent, but most were secretly envious.

"Well aren't you stating the same thing, by standing here by yourself?"

"No. I'm making a choice. And besides you don't know I'm here by myself. I could be waiting for someone in the . . . bathroom," she said, grabbing for words.

Haley liked to think she was impassive when it came to Nathan Scott, but somewhere deep down she also found it all a little intimidating. Not so much him as a person, but rather this, "larger-than-life" reputation he carried around with him everywhere he went, and this attitude that you should only speak when spoken too. She thought it was a load of bullshit, and she figured that part of Nathan probably agreed with that as well.

The thought didn't do anything to ease her nerves at the moment though, or help her to hide the irritation that was growing, as he continued to tease her.

"Well if that's true, then who were you waving to a second ago?"

Busted.

She hated her life sometimes. She truly did. Somehow she'd gotten herself into a no end situation and was now trapped. It's not like she could just walk away, Brett and Kelly would be waiting for her when they got off the ride, and besides they had the car. She couldn't play it off and be cool, and now that she thought about it, she didn't know why she was being so jumpy about all of this anyway. Nathan Scott, was Nathan Scott. Just another all-star jock who was very good-looking but a complete asshole. He just liked to mess with people's head for fun, because he could. And that's what he was doing now. Tim Smith and Michael Egnar were probably waiting around the corner to jump out and give her a wedgie or something impossibly inane like that. She just had to stay calm, and remember to breathe in and out.

"Nobody!–I mean–I mean . . . is there something you want," she blurted out spastically, and decided then and there that she desperately wanted to bury herself in a deep black hole.

Nathan studied her face, her seriousness, and her nervousness. It was quite endearing actually. Something he hadn't come across in awhile.

"Not really. Just wanted to get away from my friends."

He had to be joking, right? This was all some big prank to get her to flirt with him, so that he could make fun of her when school started in the fall. That was the logical answer. That was the rational view point. Still she couldn't help but wonder.

"Is that right," she asked, trying to make her face expressionless as possible.

"Yeah that's right," he said, his eyes sparkling a bright blue from the white string lights that were hung above them. His smile was big and beautiful, and she found it was hard to tear herself away from it. Damn him and his looks! She would not be duped, she would not be tricked or charmed or swept away, or any of those silly things that happen in the false romantic movies her sisters always made her watch.

"Well I don't believe you," she uttered before she even realized it, and those pretty eyes of his, grew wide. He couldn't help but let out an amused laugh.

The audacity of this girl was amazing. He'd never had a female so blatantly disregard him before. He was trying to have a nice conversation with her, and she was challenging him the entire way. Nathan decided right then and there that if he wanted to talk to this girl again, he was going to have to prove her wrong.

"It's all good. Come on," he said and shot his arm out, grabbing a hold of her hand and pulling her with him as he started walking.

"Hey! Hey, what are you doing? Let go of me," she called but he didn't respond. "Nathan," she finally cried, and that caught his attention "What are you doing?"

He turned around with a smirk. "Making you a believer," he said, and she had to hold back her gag reflex. He really didn't think cheesy lines like that would seduce her, did he? Was he even trying to seduce her? Maybe this was just some elaborate scheme, where she would end up looking like the town loser. Surprisingly enough, she found her curiosity was winning the battle over her fight or flight response, and so she held onto Nathan's hand as he pulled her forward.

As they came around one of the tinker toy booths, they could both hear the distinct and obnoxious voices of Nathan's male friends. They were pushing each other back and forth jokingly, oblivious to anyone else in their path and would be directly in front of them in a matter of 10 seconds.

Quickly Nathan steered them in another direction, taking them both to the other side of the park completely. Blindly she let him lead the way, her mind too focused on his rough fingers wrapped around her hand. They were rubbing up against her skin in the most delightfully pleasant way that despite the fact that she was basically running beside him to keep up, she didn't much care. The tips of his fingers were all calloused and smoothed over, but they caused her whole arm to tingle in a funny way. She tried to shake the feeling off, but by the time she'd gotten to a point where she could concentrate on doing that, he'd already let her hand go.

"You coming," he called, standing on a wooden platform in front of what looked to be another ride.

In her distraction with his hand, she'd barely noticed that they'd arrived at their apparent destination. She looked around for a sign to tell her what the ride was, but couldn't find one. Only three other people were getting onto it, and they were all staring at her. Quickly, she glanced down at the ride and felt her stomach tie up into knots. "What is it?"

Nathan laughed that amused laugh again, and hopped into the seat car. "It's called a roller coaster. You know, those things tha--"

"I know what a roller coaster is," she huffed with indignance. "What do you want me to do?"

"Get in. I thought that was pretty obvious," he said, and waved for her to sit down beside him.

Haley could feel his and everyone else's eyes on her, waiting for her to make a decision. It didn't feel like she had much of a choice though. She could say no, walk away, go back to watching her sister ride the Ferris Wheel. Or she could take her own ride. Just this once it could be easy. It could be fun.

She knew Nathan wasn't asking the world from her, actually he wasn't asking her anything at all. He was simply giving her the option to sit with him or not, the rest was up to her.

Deep breath in, deep breath out, and she slid into the seat beside him and pulled the safety belt on top of her. She bit down on her lip and waited for something spectacular to happen.

It was silent between them as the engine began to roar beneath them, pulling the car they were in back a bit and then pushing them forward on the tracks. The slow clicks of the wooden wheels were deafening amongst the backdrop of the quiet, and Haley started to wonder how safe this ride really was.

"I thought you said you weren't afraid of heights," Nathan eyed her with curiosity, her hands tightly wrapped around the safety handle that was connected to the belt that held her in place.

"I'm not."

It was the truth, she wasn't afraid of heights or roller coasters, it was the ability to fall that terrified her the most. No one was ever there to catch you, no one even paid attention. And as much as she'd like to be able to catch herself, Haley knew that was as impossible as someone like Nathan Scott having a heart. She wasn't about to let him know any of this though.

He searched her face, and could tell she was only being half-truthful. He could tell when someone was feeding him a line of crap. He'd done it enough in his life to spot it from a mile away. "Then why are you holding on so tight?"

The train of cars descended up the wooden tracked mountain. The click, click, click, of the wheels still booming the background. The clear night sky sparkled with stars, and the wind blew cooly over them at their growing altitude. It was by all means a beautiful night, but Haley couldn't really appreciate it for what it was at the time. She was to annoyed at this boys' unnerving persistence to knock her off her feet. She would not let him or this strange experience get underneath her skin. Whatever he was playing at, she could give back in return.

"Why do you ask so many questions," her voice was irritated, and distant, but Nathan took no notice.

"Why do you do so many weird things?"

Click. Click Click.

The higher they got the harder she squeezed the handle. The more her patience with him and his attitude began to dissipate.

"I don't know, because I can. If you think I'm so weird why are you here with me?"

"I like variety in my life." He looked up at the sky and stretched his arms out wide. He seemed oddly at ease and she didn't know why.

"What, and Candy, Lesley, and Courtney weren't enough for you," she blew out at him and paused at her own words. He didn't even flinch. Simply turned his head to look at her, his face calm and relaxed.

Click. Click. Click.

"No. Not even remotely," he spoke seriously. And Haley had the urge to roll her eyes at his words, but held it back. He was in fact, being honest when he said this. To what degree, she hadn't clue. Maybe he was just saying he needed more women around him, or different women? She was almost positive Nathan didn't share information like this with just anyone. He didn't seem the type. So that he was telling her this meant something huge. She tried to unpuzzle it all in her head, his behavior his words, his actions, but she came up against a wall. She was befuddled. Nathan Scott, of all people had, officially befuddled her. It was laughable. Yet she couldn't wipe the shock from her face. Nathan caught this and grinned.

".......What? Not the answer you were expecting?"

"No," she simply answered, and looked over to her other side, averting her eyes from the conundrum that was his being.

"Don't look so surprised," he said a second later, and Haley saw that they were almost to the top.

Click. Click Click.

"Trust me, I'm trying," she squeezed tightly onto the handle, her knuckles turning almost completely white. She had the urge to close her eyes, but knew that would only further Nathan's theory that she was indeed afraid of heights. So instead she kept them open, and focused on the differing shades of her hands as they grew more pale the harder she held on.

The train of cars reached the top and quickened their pace, pausing right before the gigantic drop in front of them. Haley could feel her stomach begin to bottom out at the thought of falling by herself.

Nathan leaned toward her, his arm brushing against hers momentarily. Her eyes jutted up and connected with his. Sparkling and deep blue in the dark evening glow of the night, they were absolutely entrancing.

"Try harder," he whispered to her, causing her to shudder as his breath hit her bare neck.

She made to say something else to him, but by the time any words came to her mind, their car had already spilled over the mountain, speeding its way down the track at a fast even pace.

When they came to a stopping jolt at the end of the track, Haley noticed her hands had returned to a normal shade of pink, and Nathan was rubbing the side of his ear with fervor.

"You've got one helluva scream," he stated a bit disgruntled.

She laughed out loud at this, her blood flowing quickly through her body like an electric current. "Thanks."

"Have fun," he asked, sincerely curious, and she nodded in compliance. A giddy wave over taking her.

"God it's been years since I've been on a roller coaster. I forgot what it feels like. That adrenaline rushing to your brain and then bam, you feel like you can fly! It's amazing," she laughed some more, unable to break the smile from her face.

Nathan watched her with interest. "So I take that as a yes then?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I had fun."

The ride clipped forward a little more, and the passengers at the front jostled around in their seats anxious to get off. Her and Nathan sat relatively still. Nathan staring at her intently. A small smile playing on his own lips.

"I"m glad," he added, and Haley thought that was all he was going to say. Until he started to lean over to her, the carefree grin fading away into a lecherous smirk.

"You have a beautiful smile, you know that," he was in her personal space now, inches from her face.

Haley tried to come off disgusted by his complete attitude change, but found it was even hard for her to resist his charm. As bastardly and self righteous as Nathan could be, and most of the time he was, he still had this inner spark to him that captivated you. Made you want to be the center of his attention.

So as he began to lean forward toward her, his mouth coming near hers at a fast pace, Haley had the insatiable urge to push her lips against his. Let him devour her and take her away from everything that her crappy life left over for her. She wanted so badly to be special to someone, and have them be special to her. But this wasn't it. Nathan wasn't offering her anything other than a one night escape from it all. And she wouldn't let herself cheapen the experience.

Moving her head away from his, Haley felt Nathan pause in his place and then quickly retreat back to his upright position. There was a distinct hissing noise as the cars came to a final stop, unlocking the safety belts. Haley jumped out of her seat and watched as Nathan got out of his. She didn't know what to expect now that they were free from the confines of the roller coaster seats.

When Nathan grinned at her, that same self-involved grin covering his mouth and spreading out all over his face until it reached the corner of his eyes, and said, "We should do this again some time," her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

Nathan clearly saw her reaction and just kept on walking. Haley watched him descend down the steps and back out onto the fairgrounds, her head spinning, and her skin still tingling.