Another dull but necessary chapter. And that's what I'm here to do Marit, make you have a crush on Chris! P

I hope to have a longer one up for you tomorrow!

"We'd have better luck the second time around, Its always better the second time I hear."

"So what are you gonna do now Haley?" Chris asked as they both sat on a bench near Washington Park. She looked up, her eyes squinting from the bright sun. It was kind of cold outside for March even though the sun was out, but then it was New York, a lot more North than Tree Hill.

"I'm gonna go back tomorrow." She sniffled from the cold. "I have to talk to Nathan, I have to hand in a paper, and I have to figure out how to finish this school year." She looked over at Chris. "I'll be back for the meeting next week, don't worry." She half smiled.

"You sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah, I signed the contract. I'm in…"

"You also said the vows." He couldn't believe what he was saying, it was like he was talking her out of it, but he really didn't want her to make a mistake in her mind.

She looked over at him kind of shocked. He'd never even really recognized her marriage before. "Yeah, I know. But it's not like I'm breaking it off, I'm just seizing an opportunity, just the way I expect Nathan to." She was for minute sure of herself, she knew she'd lose it when she got home, but if she could just keep it together now, maybe she'd be alright.

Day 7: Thursday

It sucked getting up at 4am, but it sucked even more to sit on a bus for nine hours. She went over and over in her head what she was going to say to Nathan, but getting off the bus she still didn't know if she had the courage to say it all. She called Luke to pick her up from the bus station, he looked happy to see her, and when she told him what happened he wished her luck and told her to call him if she ever needed anything.

Walking up to the door of the apartment, she couldn't tell if she was supposed to walk right in. What the hell, it was her apartment. She pulled out her key and started to open the door, when someone from the other side turned the knob. Nathan opened the door before she couldn't finish getting her key out of the lock. He looked her in the eyes, hurt. She just looked right back at him.

"I'm sorry." She looked down at her feet and then back up at Nathan, "I just don't want to live my life pretending."

"And I don't want to live my life without you Hales." he didn't break his gaze with hers as he opened the door for her to come in.

"Nathan, don't you ever wish for something different. Don't you ever wonder what could happen to you if you go to High Flyers? I just don't want either of us to have regrets forever."

"I wouldn't ever regret it."

"Nathan! Yes you would! Look at your dad! Look at what happened to him, he's turned into an evil scheming bastard, all because his didn't get the opportunity…he didn't get the opportunity you have!" Nathan hated to be compared to his father. "Nathan I don't want to be without you, I just want both of us to live with our decisions we make now." She hugged him, she leaned her head against his chest.

Nathan pulled away for a second, "When do you have to leave again?"

"Sunday," she replied.

"Then I guess I'm going to have to live with it, even if that means you'll be gone for a while."

It was like everyone had given in, it almost seemed too perfect.

They talked for what felt like hours, Haley was starting to feel that her decision would actually bring them closer together, even if at times they'd be further apart.

Sunday rolled around way too fast. It was going to be her last day in Tree Hill for at least a month, and that scared her a little. She'd managed to hang out with Nathan for a majority of the time, but also wrote two papers for school. She'd be able to write the remainder of her papers from New York and email them home, she was ahead enough in the courses to just complete a final paper instead of a final exam for most of her classes. She'd wanted to hang out with Brooke, Peyton, and Luke a little before she left, but it seemed like Brooke and Luke were together 24/7. She finally decided to call Peyton on Sunday, and headed over to her house 4 hours before she was supposed to leave for New York.

"Hey Peyton," she smiled, slowly walking into her room. "Your dad is home, that's weird…"

"Yeah, he's home for like a day, first time in what, a year?" Haley could tell Peyton was feeling kind of pessimistic. Peyton looked down at the unopened letter which looked like it had her name perfectly written in calligraphy on the outside. "I can't believe I never opened this…it's one of the last things from my mom that still remains a mystery." She stood up and threw the letter back onto her vanity.

"When'd she give it to you?" Haley sat down on the edge of Peyton's bed, and Peyton sat down next to her.

"She didn't, my dad gave it to me. He says he found it with her stuff. I don't think I'm ever gonna open it though, I don't know if whatever she wrote even matters anymore, it's not gonna bring her back." Haley rested her hand on Peyton's shoulder, and then put her head down on top of her hand. "I forgot about opening it on my 16th birthday, and since then have kinda just decided if I had forgotten it on the day it said to open it, it's just better off unopened."

"What? Your 16th birthday?" Haley's head popped up, she looked kind of nervous.

"Yeah, on the back it says I was supposed to open it when I turned 16, my mom must have written it a while ago. You always read about those parents who write those what if letters when their kids are like three, she must have gone through some phase." She looked over at Haley, who had turned kind of a pasty white. "You ok?"

"Yeah…yeah, sorry…" That was too weird, but Peyton was right, lots of moms do that when their kids are little. It wasn't possible that the letter was the same one from Chris's song, that's be too weird.

"I can't believe your leaving Haley!" Peyton attempted to take the focus off herself, feeling kind of selfish. "I couldn't believe it when Lucas called and told me! You got a record deal, that's too insane!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited, it'll be fun." Her reply was definitely not as enthusiastic as Peyton's.

"You ok Haley? I thought I also heard you worked stuff out with Nathan." Her look turned from enthusiasm to concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm just gonna miss all of you." She gave Peyton a half smile.

"Aww, we're gonna miss you Haley James."

Nathan pickedHaley up from Peyton's house less than an hour before her bus was scheduled to depart They didn't say much on the car ride there, except for Haley's usual warnings. When they did get there Nathan looked over at Haley, "So this is it?"

"Nathan, you know it's not, so stop acting like it is…" He placed a piece of her hair that had fallen out of her clip behind her ear.

"I know, I'm kidding." He kissed her on the lips, not wanting to let her go and lose her for that month.

"You promise to call High Flyers, right?" He looked the other way. "Nathan, you have to promise me."

"I'll do it, alright…I promise." She smiled and kissed him before she grabbed her stuff out of the backseat. Getting out the car she started to walk towards the terminal, but she turned around.

"I love you!" she called to him and blew him a kiss. He just smiled as he watched her walk away.

Too bad we're not all good that good at good-byes.