Chapter 4

"I hate school." Brooke mumbled. She, Peyton, Nathan and Tim were standing on the parking lot, looking at the school. It was Monday, the first day of school. She had had an awesome time at the party. She and Lucas had kissed, well more like made out the entire night, but what pissed Brooke off was that Lucas didn't want to tell anyone about them. He had told her that Haley couldn't know about them because she would get upset. Brooke didn't really understand but all she cared about was being with Lucas.

"Tell me about it." Nathan said. He hadn't talked to Haley since the party. He could still remember her cold voice when he told Lucas he wasn't worth the fight. He felt bad about what he did and wanted to apologize. He just had a feeling that she wouldn't make it easy. Just then he saw Lucas' truck drive to the parking lot. Haley was sitting next to him.

"I love school!" Haley said excited. She and Lucas were sitting in his car, driving towards school.

"Calm down, Hales." Lucas said smiling.

"I can't! I heard the library is twice the size we used to have and that they actually have a tutoring center! Can you believe it? A tutoring center!" Haley said. Lucas didn't answer.

"And look at the size of the parking lot! I bet you even I could park my car here!" Haley said when they got there.

"I wouldn't go that far." Lucas said grinning. "Hey, there's Brooke." Lucas said happily. "And Peyton and Tim and Nathan." Lucas quickly added when he saw Haley looking at him with weird face.

"Great…" she mumbled. Lucas parked the car next to the foursome. Haley jumped out of the car quickly without looking at Nathan. Lucas went to catch up with Brooke.

"Haley, hi!" Peyton said.

"Hey! I'm so sorry I left you by yourself on Saturday." Haley said feeling guilty.

"Oh, don't worry about it. After I puked the third time I was actually feeling pretty good. Here. I washed it, don't worry." She said while handing Haley's shirt back to her.

"Nice." Haley said and high fived Peyton. Haley turned to look at Lucas who was still talking with Brooke.

"Luke! Come on, let's go." Haley said to Lucas and linked arms with Peyton. They started to walk towards the school. Tim and Nathan stood there for a while by themselves.

"Haley's hot." Tim said. Nathan glared at him.

"What? She is!" Tim said.

"Stay away from her." Nathan said and started to walk towards the school.

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"Welcome to Tree Hill High School!" the principal was giving his speech in the gymnasium. The whole school was there.

"This year will be exciting in every way. For the first time in over 50 years Tree Hill will only have one high school. We understand that the change will not be easy but me and the whole staff are here for you, trying to make it as easy as possible. Some things will stay the same, some things will change. All I need is your cooperation. Just remember, there is only one Tree Hill High. Go Ravens!" the principal ended his speech.

"Go Ravens!" Haley mimicked the principal's voice. Jake chuckled. Since their names were close alphabetically, they had the same home room. And that was where they were heading.

"And did you hear him say 'me and the whole staff'? God, I just wanted to scream 'the whole staff and I'. I mean seriously, how hard can be it be!" Haley said annoyed. Jake laughed.

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"This sucks. Why the hell do I have to have the same last name as him?" Nathan said to Tim when they saw Lucas entering the room.

"I think it has something to do with your father." Tim said answering Nathan's question.

"Tim, it was a rhetorical question." Nathan said. Tim looked at him confused. "Never mind."

"Good morning class and welcome to Tree Hill High. I'm Mrs. Hunter and I'm your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year. Now, I understand that it won't be easy to adjust to only one high school but you're just going to have to try. The school board has thought about this situation a lot and have come to a conclusion that the only way to stay in control is to use a zero tolerance policy." the class groaned.

"That means that if you get into a fight, you will be suspended for two weeks and you can't attend any sports for the rest of the year. And since all of you are seniors and some of you may consider sports as your future-" Mrs. Hunter looked at the Scott brothers. "-I strongly advice you to keep the personal crap to yourselves." she said. "Got it? Now to the good news. The school board feels that the students should be able to celebrate the unification of the high schools. That's why they have decided to hold a ball called 'the Weast'. A word you get when you combine West and East. You will still have Homecoming and Prom so no worries. The school board feels like the upcoming weekend is too early, so 'the Weast' will be held next weekend. Friday, to be exact." the class cheered. Mrs. Hunter smiled.

"Don't party yet. There's a catch." the students groaned. "This ball is mandatory for all juniors and seniors. You also have to have a date. And since the whole idea of this ball is to strengthen the school spirit, your date cannot be from the same school you used to go. To make it simple, if you were a West your date has to be a former East. Mrs. Hunter finished and smiled at the crushed looks on their faces. "Class dismissed." she finished and smiled. The students gathered their stuff and left the room.

"Nathan Scott." the teacher said when Nathan was about to leave the room.

"Yeah?"

"The principal wants to talk to you. Now." she said.

"Fine." he said and started towards the principal's office. When he got there, he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"You wanted to see me." Nathan said bored.

"Yes. Please, sit down Mr. Scott." Nathan sat down.

"I've been looking through your file here and I noticed that your grades suck, as you kids say these days." he said.

"So? I've always passed the classes, haven't I?" Nathan said.

"True, but I'm also aware that that was possible because of your status in the basketball team. Well, since there is only one school left that means that there are twice as many basketball players."

"What are you saying?" Nathan asked.

"This year will be different in a lot of ways. And one of them is that I will make sure that the teachers won't let anyone pass a test just because they are good at sports. I know that studying can be quite challenging, especially if you're used to getting away with it. That's why I have assigned you a tutor."

"What! No way!" Nathan said.

"Well, in that case you cannot play basketball."

"What? It's my senior year! If I can't play, I can't get a scholarship!" Nathan said.

"If you want to play basketball on the school team, you will accept the tutoring."

"Fine." Nathan said.

"Good. You will meet with your tutor every day at least till the end of the semester. I have cleared 7th period for both of you so you won't miss any classes."

"Great. Where?"

"You'll meet at the tutoring center." he said and gave him the paper where all the information was. Nathan put the paper slip angrily in his pocket.

"Great, can I go now?" Nathan asked.

"Just one more thing. I will be watching you closely Mr. Scott. It's not enough to just meet with your tutor daily. You have to work for your grades. If I don't see them get any better, it's goodbye basketball." the principal said.

"Whatever." He mumbled while getting out of the office.

Few hours later

"Hey, Luke." Brooke said and sat down next to him who was sitting opposite of Jake. They were enjoying their 45-minute-lunch break in the school cafeteria. Peyton looked uncomfortable standing there so she sat down next to Brooke.

"Hey! How's your day been so far?" Lucas asked.

"Good." She said and smiled. Jake was feeling uncomfortable. He still owed Peyton an apology but he didn't want to do it in front of everyone else. He spotted Haley walking into the cafeteria.

"Haley! Over here!" Jake yelled loudly. Few people around him turned to stare at him.

"Geez, happy to see me or what? Hey, Peyton!" she said when she sat down next to Jake.

"Hey guys, have you seen the N-man?" Tim asked behind them.

"The N-man?" Haley asked.

"No Tim, we haven't seen Nathan." Peyton said and smiled at Haley. Tim sat down next to her.

"Why doesn't he just say Nathan?" Jake said.

"Because he's a retard." Haley said while opening her water bottle and taking a sip.

"You're mean!" Tim said and stood up. He went to sit next to Peyton.

"Whatever." Haley said.

"Hey, Nate-ster!" Tim said to Nathan who was walking towards them.

"Tim, just say Nathan." Nathan said. He started to look for a place to sit. It was a table for six and there were already 4 people sitting on the other side, he had no choice but to sit next to Haley.

"Hi, Haley." Nathan said quietly.

"Whatever." She mumbled and started to open her brown paper bag.

"Whatcha got there, Hales?" Jake asked.

"The usual." She said and started to take her lunch out. She took out a subway sandwich, a bagel, a small Tupperware box containing mac and cheese, few pieces of brownies and an apple.

"Jesus, eat much?" Peyton asked laughing.

"You want a brownie?" Haley asked from Peyton ignoring her comment.

"Sure, but seriously. What's with the food?"

"I'm a hungry girl and I love food." She said while taking a bite from the sandwich.

"But, you're not fat. Why are you not fat?" Tim said. Haley rolled her eyes at the question.

"Good metabolism." Haley said while eating some mac and cheese. Tim looked confused. He obviously didn't know what 'metabolism' meant.

"Ooh! Mac and Cheese!" Lucas said when he noticed Haley's lunch. Haley quickly took the small container and held it closer to herself while glaring at Lucas.

"Hands off! My food!" she said.

"Oh come on, Hales! You know you make the best mac and cheese!" Lucas said.

"Why, thank you." She said and smiled. "But the answer's no." she said while eating some of the yellow food and glaring at Lucas who was staring at the food.

"Hales, can I finish your sandwich?" Jake asked while grabbing the sandwich.

"Sure, Jake. There's no mayo in it though." Haley said apologetically. Lucas looked at them annoyed. Peyton, Nathan, Tim and Brooke just laughed.

"You just gave Jake your sandwich." Brooke said smiling.

"Yeah, Luke's used to it." Haley said and smirked at Lucas while eating more mac and cheese.

"Haley always favors Jake when it comes to food." Lucas said pouting.

"Oh, cry me a river." Haley said smiling. Lucas just pouted some more.

They spend the rest of the lunch break eating and talking about school, the teachers, the Weast etc. It was about five minutes before the end of the lunch hour when they all started to leave the table. Jake looked at Peyton who was about to leave.

"Hey, Peyton. Do you have a minute?" Jake asked. Peyton looked around and saw that everyone else was already gone.

"Yeah, sure." She said quietly.

"I'm really sorry about last Saturday. I was really rude and you didn't deserve it." Jake said.

"It's ok. Like you said, it was none of my business." Peyton said.

"No, it was not ok. You were simply curious and I was a jerk. I'm really sorry about that." Jake said. Peyton smiled a little.

"You're forgiven." She said and they started to walk towards their lockers. "So, why did you have to leave so soon?" Peyton asked. Jake bit his lip and looked at the ground. He couldn't tell her.

"Just a family emergency." Jake said quietly. Peyton looked at him.

"It's ok, you don't have to tell." She said and they both smiled. They stopped in front of Jake's locker. "Besides, I'm gonna find out one way or the other." She winked and left. Haley, whose locker was next to Jake's turned to look at him.

"What was that about?"

"She's starting to get nosy about Jenny." Jake said and opened his locker.

"You gonna tell her?" she asked. Jake looked at Haley with a sad face. They both knew he couldn't tell anyone. Haley smiled and hooked arms with him.

"Let's go, Jaglieski. Algebra waits."

"Oh, the joy." He said sarcastically.

It was the beginning of 7th period and Nathan was sitting inside the tutoring center. He couldn't believe he had to do this for the entire semester. Could it get any worse?

"Sorry, I'm late! I had to get some-" Haley stopped in mid sentence. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked angrily.

"Well, nice to see you too. What are you doing here?" Nathan said.

"I'm a tutor. This is a tutoring center. You do the math." she said sarcastically. Nathan just stared at her. Then his eyes got wider and he started to go through his pockets. He finally found the piece of paper from the principal. He quickly read it.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Nathan mumbled while reading the paper.

"What?" Haley asked annoyed. Nathan just gave her the paper. She started to read it. Suddenly her eyes went wide

"Oh, hell no! This is not happening!" she yelled and stormed out of the room with the paper in her hands. Nathan watched her leave. 10 minutes later she came back.

"So, it appears that I am your tutor." Haley said and shuddered. Nathan was about to say something but Haley spoke first. "Listen to me. I don't wanna be your tutor and I'm sure you don't wanna be my tutee." Haley said and couldn't help but laugh at the word. Nathan smiled at her.

"Tutee… It's just so funny…" She laughed but then got serious. "Anyway! But since I'm planning on staying as a tutor for the rest of the year and get the full credit, I'm gonna have to tutor you. And since I'm always professional, I will put aside our personal differences and help you the best way I can. But it's not gonna be easy. I'm not gonna do your homework or text message you the answers when you have a test. I'm simply helping. Is that clear?" Haley asked.

"Yeah." Nathan said.

"Great. So according to this paper you will need help with math, history and English." Haley said while taking a seat opposite from Nathan.

"Yeah… But before we start I gotta say something." Nathan said and continued without waiting for her answer. "I'm really sorry about what happened on Saturday."

"Let's not talk about it, ok?" Haley said through gritted teeth.

"I need you to know that I'm really sorry. I don't know why I said that." Nathan said.

"Oh, you don't? Well, I do. You were embarrassed to be seen with an East. With me. That's what happened." she said angrily.

"I'm sorry! I really am. It's just that there's all this pressure. I just can't start dating an East."

"Who said anything about dating? You were embarrassed to just being seen with me."

"It wasn't you. It was just because you're an East."

"Whatever." Haley said and opened the history book.

"Haley-"

"Stop it, Nathan. I'm not gonna start fighting with you again. Let's just forget about the whole thing and focus on history, ok."

"Ok but for the record, I am sorry." he said.

"Apology noted. Now, what can you tell me about World War II?"

"Umh, it was after the first one?" Haley smiled a little and opened the book.

"We have a lot of work to do."

It was the end of the 7th period.

The door to the tutoring center opened.

"Haley, you ready to-" Lucas stopped his sentence when he saw Nathan. "What the hell are you doing here?" he said and glared at Nathan.

"I'm tutoring him." she said.

"What!"

"Luke, just wait outside. We're almost done." Haley said.

"Huh?" Luke was still confused about the whole thing.

"Outside! Now!" Haley snapped. She wanted to finish tutoring Nathan so she could just go home.

"Yeah, I'll wait you by your locker." Lucas said and left.

"So, Lucas is your bitch." Nathan said grinning.

"No, he just listens to me. And so should you." Haley said. "Ok, I think we're about done here." Haley said. "Just read pages 12 through 16 really carefully. And finish this work sheet." She said and handed him a piece or paper before leaving the room.

"What was that about?" Lucas asked when Haley got to her locker.

"I'm tutoring him." Haley said bored.

"Why?"

"Because his grades suck. And because the principal assigned him to be my tutee. And because I want full credit." Haley said and started to laugh at the word 'tutee' again.

"It's not funny." Lucas said angrily. The trio started to walk towards the parking lot.

"Actually, it is. You do realize that Haley is his only chance of making the basketball team, right?" Jake said and laughed with Haley.

"You mean, you're gonna sabotage the whole tutoring thing so he won't make the team?" Lucas asked excited.

"No! Are you crazy! I'd get expelled if I got caught. Besides, I could never do that to anyone." Haley said. "What Jake meant that it's just kind of ironic." Haley continued. They were now in the parking lot.

"There's my car. See you guys later." Jake said.

"Hey, we're working later tonight. Come hang with us at the garage." Haley said.

"I'll think about it. Depends on Jenny. Talk to you later." he said and got in his car.

"We have to start working on the car." Haley said and put her seat belt on.

"I know. We've got less than two weeks."

"I need to win the race." Haley said.

"Don't worry, you will." he said. They drove in silence for the rest of the drive.

"Pick me up at 5?" Haley asked when they got to her house.

"Sure. See you in couple of hours."

Few hours later:

"This car is gonna rock!" Lucas said. He and Haley were hanging out at Keith's auto shop working on the race car.

"Hopefully. We need to finish this thing soon." Haley said.

"We will." He said. "So, what happened at the party?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it was clear that you were pissed at Nathan. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Haley, you know I can tell when you're lying." Lucas said.

"Nothing happened. I hung out with him and he turned out to be a jerk. Big surprise." Haley said.

"What did he do?" Lucas asked angrily.

"Just forget it, Luke! I'm tired of talking about Nathan Scott." She said.

"Ok, relax! Don't get moody on me." He paused for a second. "Just be careful when you're with him."

"Whatever."

"Oh, by the way. Keith fixed your car." Lucas said.

"He did? Awesome! I love that guy!" Haley said. "So I can drive home tonight?" Haley asked.

"Yeah, just don't speed or anything. Remember, Wests can't find out you're the driver."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"So, you excited about the Weast?" Lucas asked and chuckled at the name.

"Yeah, can't you tell?" Haley said sarcastically. Lucas suddenly started to laugh.

"What? Do I have oil on my face?" Haley asked while wiping her face. It was clean before she started to wipe it. But not anymore. Lucas decided not to mention that.

"I just realized that I've never seen you in a dress." Lucas said.

"And you won't." Haley said.

"Haley, you can't wear jeans or sweats to the dance. They're gonna make you change."

"I know." Haley paused. "Which is why I'm not going."

"What? But all seniors have to go."

"I so do not care. I'll call in sick or whatever. I'm not going."

"It's gonna suck without you." Lucas said.

"Thanks. But still not coming." Haley said. Lucas was about to argue when he saw someone coming their way.

"Jake!" Lucas said surprised. Haley turned to look at him.

"Jenny!" Haley said excited when she noticed the small baby in Jake's arms.

"She has grown so much!" Haley said excited while holding the girl. Then she continued with a baby voice. "How's my god-daughter doing? Have you grown? Yes, you have. Yes, you have. Aren't you just the cutest little thing?" Lucas and Jake burst out laughing. They did it every time they heard Haley talking like that. Usually she was such a tomboy but Jenny seemed to be able to bring out the inner girl in her. After all, Haley was Jenny's godmother.

"Don't mind the A-holes, my little princess. They're just being lil' biatches." Haley said in a baby voice. Jenny chuckled as if understanding what she was saying.

"So, she doesn't have a fever anymore?" Haley wanted to make sure.

"No, it was just that one night, thank god." Jake said remembering how scared he was that night. He sat down on a bench.

"Good." Lucas said and took the little girl carefully from Haley's arms.

"So, how are you doing? We haven't gotten a chance to really hang out for a while. How are things with Jenny?" Haley said while sitting down next to Jake on the bench.

"It's a lot of work and responsibility but I manage." Jake said quietly.

"You sure? You look really tired." Haley asked concerned.

"I'm fine." Jake said quietly.

"You know, I could baby sit Jenny sometimes." Haley offered. Lucas heard that and came to sit next to them, still holding Jenny.

"Yeah, me too. You should have a night off, you know. You deserve it."

"Thanks guys, I'll keep that in mind." He said gratefully. Jenny started to cry.

"Looks like someone's hungry again!" Jake said and took Jenny from Lucas. "I swear to god, she eats more than I do."

"Hey, she's like Haley!" Lucas said. Haley smacked him across the head.

"I do not eat much!" Haley said. Jake and Lucas looked at Haley with a 'yeah right' look.

"Guys, I gotta go home." Jake said.

"Ok, thanks for stopping by. It was nice to see you and Jenny." Lucas said.

"Yeah, and don't forget that we can help you. Just ask." Haley said and waived Jenny goodbye.

"Bye guys." Jake said and then turned to look at Jenny. "Say bye to your uncle Luke and aunt Haley." Jenny smiled a big smile and drooled on Jake.

"That's her way of saying she loves you too." Jake said and left. Lucas and Haley stood in silence still watching after Jake.

"I love that girl." They both said at the same time. They turned to look at each other with weird looks on their faces. Then simultaneously they turned back to the car and continued to fix it.