A/N: This chapter is longer then the other ones. Enjoy!
With a new vow to start things over with Haley, Nathan slowly got out of bed and went to change. Then he swallowed four Advil for his headache and left.
Nathan purposefully looked for Haley as he entered the school. He wanted to make good on his vow.
He saw her chatting away with Peyton. They both stopped at the sight of him. That made Nathan think a little. Were they talking about me? He wondered.
"Oh hi, Nathan," Haley said. She tried to be cheerful to him, but Nathan could tell it was fake.
"Hey, Hales," Nathan said calling her by her old nickname. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Haley looked at Peyton.
"Sure, go ahead," Peyton, said. "Call me." She said that directly to Haley. Haley smiled at her friend.
"Sure, thing." Then she turned to face Nathan.
"What's up?" Haley asked intrigued by the fact that Nathan had sought her out. They hadn't really talked in months, but this was the second time in two days. Then she remembered, she wasn't supposed to be thinking about him. You stopped that a long time ago, she reminded herself.
"Listen, Hales, I know you probably want nothing to do with me, but I was thinking, can we at least be friends? After all we had, and we don't even talk anymore." Haley looked at him.
"Be friends with you?" Haley asked.
"Yeah. Why not?" Nathan asked.
"Nothing," Haley said quickly, "Its just that I don't know if I can handle that."
"What do you mean?" Nathan demanded quickly. "Do you still care? I know you do."
"Nathan," Haley started, "We were never really friends, its not that easy. We don't have anywhere to go from."
"So?" Nathan argued, "We can start fresh. Come on Hales, give me this chance."
Haley looked into his eyes. His tired, drawn eyes full of anger, hurt, and pleading.
"I don't know, Nathan," she said.
"We can start new. Forget about the past. That was months ago. You threw it away. It might even be fun." Nathan pleaded. Thanks for reminding me, Haley thought, bitterly, but it was you who threw it away by cheating on me with my cousin, out of all people!
"We can be friends on two conditions. One, nothing about our past is mentioned. In fact we don't know each other at all. You want fresh we'll start fresh with a clean, blank slate."
Nathan smiled. "Sure." Then he extended an arm to her.
"Hi. I'm Nathan Scott." Haley smiled back. "Glad to meet you, Nathan. I'm Haley James."
"Well I got to go to my first class," Haley told Nathan, "But it was nice meeting you. Thanks." Then she turned and walked away, Nathan starring after her. Lucas came up from behind him clasping a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, man, what's up?"
"Nothing much," Nathan said to Lucas. They started walking towards their first class, which they had together. Nathan was silent the whole trip there.
"You okay?" Lucas asked Nathan when they had sat down at the back of the classroom.
"Yeah, why?" Nathan said puzzled.
"No reason," Lucas said, "Did you get some sleep for once?" Nathan shook his head no. He wasn't really in a talking mood, and Lucas noticed it.
"You seem kind of quiet, you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah, Luke. I have a terrible headache. That's all." Besides I'm all talked out from Haley. The plan worked, but for how long? Nathan didn't know, but he wanted Haley back. If being friends was going to help him, Nathan was going to take it.
Nathan put his head down on the desk. Man, do I not feel good, he thought. Hope I'm not getting something. The lecture from his teacher was hard to pay attention to. But Nathan tried to take notes anyways because of his promise to himself. It was all part of his plan to win back Haley.
The rest of his day passed in a blur until basketball practice because he knew Whitey expected him to show a lot better then he did yesterday. Nathan sighed. His head was still aching.
Nathan had kept a low profile, throughout the day, not in the mood to talk to anyone. He only wanted to talk to Haley. In class they had talked a little, but it was not enough to satisfy him.
He saw Lucas and Anna holding hands and laughing as they made their way towards gym. What Nathan wouldn't give to have that with Haley again.
"Hey guys," Nathan said.
"Hey," Lucas said.
"Hi," Anna replied. Then she turned to Lucas, "I got to get changed for my basketball practice in the other gym. See you later."
"Yeah. Bye," Lucas said, kissing her. She smiled and waved, and walked out of the doors to the other gym next door.
"Ready for another day?" Lucas asked.
"Sure," Nathan said with a hint of sarcasm, "I'm as tired as hell." In the locker room, Nathan rummaged through his bag, looking for some medicine to help ease his headache.
He took two this time, swallowing them with the water he had from lunch. Lucas looked at his brother.
"All right?" he asked.
"Yeah." Nathan picked up his bag. "Come on, let's go." Despite not feeling well, Nathan knew he was showing a lot better then he did yesterday. He was exhausted, but determined not to let it show.
He was hitting shots right and left in the scrimmage. Whitey barked praises at him.
"Good job Scott!" he yelled. The practice was ended with free throws and lines if the player missed. As a result the team only had to run 4 lines, compared with yesterday's 20. Whitey came up to Nathan after practice.
"Now that's more like it," he growled. Nathan hoisted his bag on his shoulder.
"I expect to see that every practice. And more during the games!" With that, Whitey clasped a hand on Nathan's shoulder. Then he whispered quietly, "Good job today. It's not official yet, but I'm making you and Lucas captains for this year." Nathan grinned.
"Thanks coach." He punched Lucas in the shoulder. A friendly gesture.
"Coach is making us captains." Lucas grinned too.
"Nice." They went to the locker rooms to shower and change. Nathan just sat there leaning against the lockers, not doing anything. He closed his eyes briefly. Then without another word, and without telling Lucas he was leaving, Nathan walked out, still in his basketball clothes.
When he reached his house, Nathan plopped down on his couch. He thought briefly of changing and maybe moving to his room but he didn't really have the energy or strength. But for the first time in a long time he slept.
The clock read 12:05 when Nathan finally woke up. This time he got up and took a shower and changed and crawled into his bed. It took him an hour to fall asleep though because he noticed there were 3 messages on his cell phone. One from Haley and two from Lucas.
The one from Haley asked him if he wanted to go with her to the café for breakfast on Saturday. Nathan smiled while listening to her message. Lucas's first message just told him to call back whenever he got the home.
The second, Nathan noticed was at 12:00, right before he woke up, asking where he was and if he was okay. So, Nathan called Lucas back.
"Hello?" Lucas asked on his cell.
"What are you doing up so late?" Nathan asked him.
"Nothing. You're up too." Lucas replied, "Where have you been all this time?"
"Sleeping," Nathan replied, "I'm not feeling well."
"Oh," Lucas said. "Yeah, you didn't look well at practice." Lucas hesitated for a moment. He wanted to know if Nathan was okay, not health wise but about Haley and everything. Then Nathan surprised him.
"I'm going to breakfast on Saturday with Haley."
"Really?" Lucas said.
"Yeah."
"You coming to school tomorrow?" Lucas asked Nathan.
"No."
"Feeling that bad huh?" Lucas asked him. His tone was a bit sarcastic. He thought Nathan was faking his illness just a bit even though he did look tired and sick.
"I guess." Nathan paused. "Listen when you see Haley, tell her I'll meet her at the café at 8 on Saturday."
"Sure." Lucas said. "Well anyways bro, I hope you feel better. I got to go though."
"Hey, thanks." Nathan replied. "See ya."
"See ya." Nathan clicked off his cell. He turned off the light and closed his eyes. Man I'm tired. His last thoughts were of Haley. What a powerful spell she held over him. Enough so that he thought of her so much it affected his sleep and his health.
Nathan stumbled over to his bathroom the following more, searching for medicine and a thermometer. He was running a 101-degree fever. Damn, Nathan thought, seeing the reading.
He sighed. Coach would be pissed at him for missing practice. But what can I do, Nathan thought. I'm as sick as hell.
