Dedication to Aiesha who when through the hassle of E-mailing me to update this story!

Chapter 16

Breaking down reality…

Haley stared at her reflection Friday night. She wore a black skirt with a pink top and some black heels. Her hair was straightened while the ends were curled. It was only 15 minutes before Pedro showed up and they'll head off to the party.

Thursday afternoon, after the beach, Pedro pulled her aside and asked her where they were going for their date. After mentioning a few places, they agreed to go out to dinner followed by making an appearance at a party.

Haley should have been thrilled of having the opportunity to go out with someone sweet, different, and foreign.

Who hasn't even had the dream of attending a date with someone who had a sexy foreign accent?

Though, instead of getting nervous and anticipating the rendezvous, she dreaded the arrival of the night. She wished time would just freeze or would just rapidly change to the following day.

'Where's a time machine when you need one?' she asked herself with a laugh.

The day passed pretty smoothly. She attended all her classes with a few remarks from some teachers wondering where her presence was the previous day. Although, everyone who came along the day before got speeches; Lucas, Peyton, Brooke, Nathan, and Maria got lectured about attendance while they tuned out the complaining instructor and rolled their eyes in bored ness. Things between Nathan and Haley looked to be getting better everyday. They were conversing, having less banter, and cooled down the name calling. Things were definitely improving for the duo and for their fresh friendship.

"Haley your date is here," announced Maria as she abruptly appeared by the door sporting a jean skirt with a red top and some sandals.

"Wow, look at you…" Haley replied as she started at her dressed up figure.

"Yeah I know…so what do you think?" she asked her as she turned around in a circle.

"You look nice," Haley answered with a chuckle.

"And Haley, I have to give some props to you…" Maria declared as she examined Haley's outfit. "Definitely have to borrow that skirt some time, but I have to say that it looks strikingly familiar," she added with a confused look.

"Yeah I kind of borrowed it," she admitted. "Thanks by the way," she said with a grin.

"Anytime," Maria replied with a laugh. "Good to know that we have gotten to know each other so well that we could raid each other's closets'," she responded. "Which means that I could loan myself that denim skirt you wore last Friday night, right?"

"Of course," she retorted.

"I think we've kept Pedro waiting long enough, huh?" Maria finally voiced, remembering why she was in Haley's room in the first place.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot," she confessed as she grabbed her purse and started walking towards the door.

"Hey are you alright?" Maria asked Haley sincerely. "You seemed kind of distant the last couple of days," she acknowledged.

"Yeah," Haley responded. "Just a lot of things going on. You know living somewhere new, even if it only for a couple of days," she quickly made up.

"Are you sure that is the only thing bothering you?" Maria questioned suspiciously.

"Positive," she answered. "Now let me get going so Pedro won't have to wait longer then he already has," she declared, trying to change the subject.

"Okay then," she verbalized with puzzlement still present in her tone.

Even if Haley and Maria have become really good friends in such a short amount of time, Haley was still uneasy and cautioned to tell her some things. Especially when she knew that Maria liked Nathan, the source of her sleepless nights.

The pair walked down the hallway, along the stairs, and to the living room. There Pedro was situated, who seemed to be pondering and a little nervous, given away by his poignant leg. He was so pensive that he never heard Haley or Maria approach.

"Hey Pedro," greeted Haley.

Pedro, finally hearing Haley's voice, rapidly got up and grinned at her appearance.

"Sorry, didn't hear you come in," he explained. "Wow Haley…you look really nice," he said as he began to examine her apparel and facade.

Haley walked over to the couch as he strolled towards her with a single red rose in his hand.

"Here you go," he told her as he handed her the rose.

"Thank you," Haley replied, amazed at his sudden motion and started to smile.

'Never have I been given a rose,' Haley admitted to herself. 'Maybe I was wrong about the outcome of tonight,' she added as she beamed.

Haley lastly gazed at his manifestation and couldn't help but liked what she saw. He was wearing some nice pair of jeans with a solid black button up shirt and a pair of black shoes. He was definitely dressed to impress.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Haley stated.

"Thanks," he replied with a smirk. "So let's get going?" he asked rather then told.

"Yeah," Haley responded as she turned around and faced Maria. "And I'll see you at the party later on, right?"

"Yeah of course," she answered. "Why do you think I am dressed so beautifully?" she declared.

"Glad to know that you are so optimistic of yourself," she shot back with a laugh. "Later."

"Bye. Don't have too much fun when I'm not around," she added before we exited the room.

"My parents let me borrow their car," he explained as they come up to a small Neon. "Ready?" he asked her as he opened her passenger door.

"Yeah," she replied as she got into the car.

'The best I'll ever be,' she added to herself.

"Prepared to have a superior time tonight?" Pedro asked as he turned on the engine.

"Yeah, we are going to have a great time tonight," she replied with a smile.

Not knowing that the night was going to bring her misery, confessions, and realization.

Slowly her mind wandered to another individual, the person who she shouldn't be thinking about. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but allow her mind to meander as she left for her date with a different guy.

Part II

The dinner went by gradually, but good. The couple talked about different things in their life and got to know each other better. She conversed about her large family back home as he chatted about his crazy, carefree younger brother and talkative but brainy younger sister. Haley found out a lot more about his parents, the family business, and how it got started. She added that she worked in a café back home owned by none other then her best friend's mother. Overall, Haley had a fine time, but was unpredictably worried about the party.

Pedro opened her passenger door as they pulled up to the noisy house. The music inside was blasting and partiers could faintly hear it as they approached the street. However, the good thing was that there were no nearby houses so there wouldn't be any complaining neighbors asking the music to be turned down.

"You sure you don't just want to skip the party and go to the movies or something?" he asked her as she got out of the vehicle.

"Nah, it's fine," she responded. "Already told Maria that I'll be here and I kind of don't want to go back on my word," she reassured him.

"Okay then," he replied as he shut her door and joined Haley.

They walked by each other, passing all the teenagers that were in the front of the house, and entered the house. Pedro tried one instance to hold hands, but Haley shrugged of his hand and he never attempted again.

"Do you want me to get you something to drink?" Pedro voiced.

"Yeah a coke would be fine," she retorted with a smile.

He walked away to grab the refreshments while she left behind the teenagers in the living room and looked all around, at last noticing a set of blonde curls that only belonged to one person. Haley move toward the individual.

"Hey Peyton," she greeted her friend who had her back towards her.

Peyton turned around with a smile, but as she become aware of whom it was, slight panic filled her face. Haley gave her a puzzled look as she gazed beyond her and observed that she appeared to be conversing with another person. She followed her stare and recognized someone's tousled blonde hair; that of her best friend.

"What are you two doing all the way over here?" she asked. "Making out or something?" she added jokingly.

She then observed her friends' speechless figures and finally everything made sense. She noted his messy hair, her flushed face and alarmed face, and their wordless forms. Within moments, her grinning face was replaced with a hurt and astounded facial expression. The two individuals that she trusted the most, her two paramount friends have hooked up behind her back. She felt hurt and angered.

"How long?" she demanded.

"It just happened," Lucas said as he got off the wall and move toward his best friend.

"How long?" she claimed more strongly.

"Just a couple of days," he confessed.

"I asked you yesterday if there was anything going on between you two and you explicitly said that there wasn't," she stated with anger. "'Hopefully something, but not yet,' you specifically alleged," she quoted him.

"We didn't want to tell you yet so we decided to keep it to ourselves," he replied as he grabbed her hand.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled, shrugging off his oncoming offer. "What would have been the problem if you told me yesterday? Why didn't you guys tell me?" she continued on questioning them.

"I don't know…" Lucas began. "I didn't know how you'll react so we were going to wait," he professed.

"But going behind my back and showing everyone else at the party is alright?" she asked them with more rage.

"Well…we…" he started again, but was cut off by Haley's harsh voice.

"You know I would have been alright if you two got together. Hell I would have been dancing in circles and congratulating you guys because you finally got together. I noticed the chemistry between you two so I knew that there was something going on, but to go behind my back and not tell me…is just…" she verbalized with hurt.

"I know, we shouldn't have," Lucas responded as he tried to get closer to her.

"Yeah, you shouldn't have," she repeated flatly. "So Peyton planning on saying something or you just going to stand there and be quiet?" she questioned her.

"I don't regret anything that we did," she told her. "I just regret that you had to find out like this," she added.

"Thanks for the consideration," Haley forcefully answered. "I…really can't deal with this right now," she declared as she initiated to leave.

"Haley…" Lucas said as he approached her retreating figure.

"Don't Lucas, just leave me alone right now," she warned him with fury and a bit of understanding in her voice.

Haley passed the groups of teenagers drunk, dancing with each other while others were making out. Her eyes were beginning to get watery, but she held off from crying. She didn't want to cry in front of all her peers and especially not at a party. So many thoughts were running through her head that she just wanted to leave the party and go to her safe haven.

"Where are off to a hurry?" asked a feminine voice.

Haley wiped her eyes before turning around and faced her friend who was accompanied by a tall handsome looking guy.

"Just looking for Pedro," she quickly made up as she plastered a fake smile on her face.

"Haley are you alright?" she asked her again seeing her pale face and watery eyes.

"Just got some dirt in my eyes," she rapidly lied. "I was outside and it was windy and you know…ended up getting some dirt in my eyes…" she added with a laugh. "So who is this?" she asked changing the attention from her.

"If that's your story…" she told her with cautioning eyes. "This is Alfonso," she introduced him. "He goes to another Preparatoria then us," she stated.

"Well nice to meet you Alfonso," she responded as she shook his extended hand.

"Hola," he replied.

"Well Maria I have to go find Pedro so we can go," she announced.

"Leaving so soon?" she asked her with disappointment.

"Yeah I at least made an appearance like I said. We want to go somewhere else so we really have to leave soon," she lied again.

"Okay then…" she said as she tried to smile. "See you at the house and then you'll let me know the real reason," she added gravely before she left with her friend.

'Great…' she told herself, defeated.

She persisted to walk through the crowd of teenagers and looked on, not seeing Pedro anywhere. She was growing impatient as minutes passed by and she couldn't locate him. Lastly, she approached the kitchen and glanced if he was still grabbing the beverages, but his presence wasn't there. She hurriedly walked out, but noticed some familiar dark hair from afar.

The figure stood in the living room with his back towards her; never aware of her gaze. He had a hand on the wall as he smiled to the figure he was conversing with. Haley moved more to the right and observed that he was talking or rather flirting with a small brunette girl. The girl just laughed at something he said and suddenly, Haley started to get even sadder then she already was.

'Why is everything turning out so wrong today?' she asked herself as her eyes started to get runny again and rapidly began to cry.

She had never felt so betrayed and distraught in just a matter of minutes. Her best friend didn't confide in her enough to tell her that he got together with her other top comrade and the guy she thought liked her, was off flirting with another girl.

She ran out of the living room towards the backyard never seeing the dark haired boy turn around suddenly and stared off into the crowd, puzzled at why he got an unexpected feeling. He shrugged it off as he persisted to talk with the girl in front of him because it seemed that Haley moved on from him.

'Why should I sit around and wait for her to come around?' he asked himself.

She bumped into different partiers, all wondering what the problem with her was and letting out little remarks, causing her to acknowledge where she was at.

'I should have known better then to attend this type of party. I never belonged at this kind of party, not in Tree Hill, or anywhere else,' Haley yelled at herself mentally. 'Just because you got the attention of the hottest guy in the school doesn't mean that I am accepted in this kind of place.'

"How could I have been so stupid?" she yelled at herself as fresh tears fell from my eyes.

Abruptly she tripped on a rock and harshly fell down onto the ground causing additional tears to descend from her eyes.

'I shouldn't have come today and I should have never become friends with Nathan. I know the type of person he is and because of my stupidity I caused him to hurt me this much by a simple action,' she screamed to herself.

Haley hugged her legs and rocked back and forth as tears fell freely from her eyes and different thoughts flew in her head. Though, the one reflection that stood out the most was the one of Nathan.

'How could I have trusted him and let him hurt me this easily?' she repeatedly asked herself while she persisted to rock herself back and forth as oncoming people gazed at the 'drunken' emotional girl and laughed.

AN: Okay my friends, after a hella long hiatus my story is back and with a very emotional chapter I have to say! I didn't really expect for the chapter to turn out like this, but it kinda did…lol… but oh well. I haven't had like an emotional chapter so i guess this will have to do...

For those of you wondering why Haley is overreacting like the way she is, you'll know why in the next chapter, even though some of u should already know why. You know how sometimes you have so many thoughts and problems inside yourself, that in one instance with more problems you explode? Well that is what kinda happened with Haley, but it'll be explained more in the next chapter. I promise!

Also, did any of u guys notice the similarity between the girl Nathan wuz talking with and Haley… 'small brunette girl…'

Sara- Glad that u liked the chapter and thanks for the congrats on the award…even though u didn't know how it wuz called! LOL…and this wuz a pretty lengthy chapter….So what do u think?
NaLeY-LoVeR-23- Sorry for the long wait on this chapter! Happy that u like my writing and I hoped u liked this chapter!
Volleygrl710- So you left also? That's kool and I hope u had fun wherever u went! Sorry for the long wait on this chapter!
Lysser8312- Yeah u guys had to wait a pretty long time…sorry bout that. Well the Naley wuz slightly affected by the date…but just wait and see what happens in the next chapter! Definitely going to be less emotional and funnier and crazier! LOl.. Thanks for the congrats on the award!
Sundaym0rning- Glad that u like the story…did u barely find it? So Haley just kisses him even though they get interrupted? LOL…maybe. Sorry for the long wait!
CMMJL4EVR- Wound to tight? OMG laughing so hard…Yeah that is no reason to stop the game…but after it happens simultaneously…I think that might be a problem! LOL… Yeah I love Naley moments also!
LockerRoomBandit17- Happy that u liked the last chapter and I hope u liked this one also! Tad emotional or whatever…but it wuz needed, don't u think?
Aiesha- I am really sorry for the wait. But I hope this update made up for it! And that is so kool that u print the long chapters and read it before u go to bed! That is so awesome!
Onetreetheoc73- Glad that this story didn't die off at the sixth or so chapter! I try to keep it interesting and glad that I am actually doing so. Though, this story has about 10 or so chapters left… So thanks for the reply and I hope u liked this chapter!
Republican- Glad that u like it! Hope u also liked this chapter!

Spoilers:



-Talking with Maria…
-Going clubbing…
-Drug in someone's drink!
-Wild and crazy Haley…

Who would of known that going to club could of been so dangerous?

So i am So sorry for the very long wait. I just checked when i last updated...and damn it wuz a hella long time ago! So thanks for everyone being so patient with me! U guys rock! And as always my beautiful readers review!!

With much love,
Sleepneeded911

And an update should be up next week, on schedule. Oh and I Updated The Eye of the Beholder: A Nathan Story and Prohibit Love should be up tonight or tomorrow night.