Charlotte Bronte once wrote: "you are good to those who are good to you…when we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard…-so as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again."
Nathan Scott sighed heavily as he pulled his car away from the curb where it had been parked for more than an hour. The lights in the apartment were still on, but Nathan was sure that didn't matter. Darkness had settled no matter…
"Have you talked to Nathan?" Lucas asked sipping his coffee as he eyed Hailey over the rim of the heavy cup.
Hailey turned and pretended to wipe something off of the immaculately pristine counter. "No," she whispered.
Lucas sighed. "You have to talk to him, Hales. He deserves that much."
Hailey turned to Lucas, unusually upset that he always had to be so…right. "I know. It's just a big misunderstanding anyway."
Lucas took another sip from his cup. "Kind of like Brooke and Chris ending up in bed together?"
It was the first Lucas had mentioned of the incident and Hailey knew that it hadn't been easy for him to say that. But he was here, trying to help her even through all of his own turmoil. She had to love him for that.
"Hales?" he asked. "You need to call him."
Hailey nodded her agreement. She knew what she had to do, but that didn't make it easy by any means. Nathan was angrier than ever and Hailey doubted any explanation would make that go away.
"Promise me you'll call him today?" Lucas pushed.
"Will you talk to Brooke?" Hailey asked.
Lucas shook his head. "We have nothing to say. It's done."
"She really cares about you, Luke," Hailey confessed. "She's been devastated since this all went down."
"There's nothing I can do about that, Hales. Brooke made a choice and now she's got to live with the repercussions."
Hailey watched Lucas finish the last of his coffee and walk out of the café. He looked deflated; his shoulder hung lower than before. Hailey wished she could make things better for her friend, but she was the last person to help out with relationships!
"You talk to Hailey?" Peyton asked Nathan as the two sat in the quad enjoying the cool breeze and quiet atmosphere.
Nathan tried to smile at Peyton, but couldn't manage to get it out. Smiles eluded him lately. They probably would for a while.
"Maybe it was a misunderstanding?" Peyton suggested.
"I love ya, Peyton, but you're a little delusional if you think, after all Hailey and I have been through, that this could be anything but a clear sign she's into Chris. I should have known."
"But you let yourself get hopeful that things could work out between the two of you."
Nathan smiled at Peyton. "I told myself I wouldn't and I couldn't help myself. Now look where I'm at."
Peyton wanted to reassure Nathan in some way, in any way, but she couldn't. In her own personal experience, relationships sucked no matter how hard you tried to make them right!
"You talk to Brooke?" Nathan asked.
Peyton sighed. Her last conversation with Brooke hadn't been a good one.
"How could you?" Peyton yelled. "With Chris? That piece of slime is the reason Hailey and Nathan aren't together, you do know that, right?"
"I know. I know. I don't know how it happened," Brooke lied.
Peyton knew her enough to see through her transparent lies. "I thought that you and Luke were starting to get things straight? Why would you risk something you want so much for someone as creepy as Chris Keller?"
Brooke wanted to crawl away with her tail between her legs, but she knew that Peyton would never let her get away that easy. "Spare me the lecture, and just tell me how to fix this."
"I don't know that you can, Brooke. Lucas isn't mad at you. He isn't furious. He isn't going around crying. He isn't cursing you. He's just done, Brooke. He's done with you," Peyton explained.
"No one is 'done' with Brooke Davis until Brooke Davis says so," Brooke said flatly. "Lucas and I have hit a pothole, but we'll get everything patched up and then be back on the road in no time."
And that was when Peyton lost it and let Brooke have it. "Lucas is a decent person, Brooke. He came to you weeks ago and told you that he wanted to be with you. Months ago he told you he loved you. You think it's okay to toy with him the way you've been doing? Do you realize how lucky you are, or were, to have someone like Luke want to be with you? And what do you do? You go out and get busy with the one guy who gives Dan Scott a run for his money! You're not even remorseful! Maybe you don't deserve Lucas."
"You and Brooke have a fight?" Nathan asked.
"I told her that she didn't deserve Lucas after what she did," Peyton admitted. "I was angry. It was all pretty much misguided anger, but she's really pissed at me. She hasn't talked to me since."
"Bummer," Nathan said. "Hey, it could be worse."
"How?"
Nathan put his arm around Peyton's shoulders lightly. "You could be me."
"I still don't get how my sleeping with Chris, as earth shattering as that apparently is, can make Nathan mad at you," Brooke said aloud.
Hailey looked over at Brooke, who clearly hadn't left her bed all day by the look of her wrinkled clothes and tousled hair.
"I reacted."
Brooke sat up, giving Hailey a confused look. "You reacted?"
Hailey, too, sat up. "I don't even remember exactly what I said, but it came off the wrong way."
"Like you were jealous?" Brooke asked.
Hailey nodded her head, flopping down hard on her single bed. "And now Nathan doesn't want to talk to me or see me. And we were making progress, Brooke. We were finding our way back to each other. Now who knows if we'll ever get there."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot," Hailey said.
Brooke seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "Were you jealous?"
Hailey sat up again and shrugged. "Maybe a little. Chris is definitely not someone I want to be with, but he sort of made me remember that I'm still a sixteen year-old girl and not just someone's wife."
"So you liked the idea of still be appealing to someone else?" Brooke asked.
"I guess so. But how stupid is that when I had all of that with Nathan a few months ago? And I threw it all away. And just when things were starting to get back to good, I went and ruined it all again. No offense, but Chris Keller may very well be the devil," Hailey pointed out.
"You don't have to tell me that."
"Um, excuse me?"
Nathan turned around and saw an attractive blond, tall and slim, standing in front of him. "Yeah?"
"Could you tell me where I could find Coach Whitey's office?" she asked.
Nathan squinted his eyes. "You're looking for Coach?"
"Yeah. He's the basketball coach, right?" she asked, checking a paper in her manicured hand.
"Yeah. We don't have a girls' basketball team here," Nathan pointed out.
The girl laughed. "No girls' team, huh? That's okay. I'm here to try out for the boys' team anyway," she said.
Nathan's eyes grew large. "What?"
Whitey walked up just then, taking this unfamiliar girl into his arms and giving her a tight squeeze. Nathan stepped back and watched the scene unfolding in front of him with curiosity.
When the two separated, Whitey finally acknowledged Nathan, his arm still around the young girl.
"Don't you have class, Scott?" he asked.
"Aren't you governed by some rules, specifically those regarding relationships with students?" Nathan shot back.
The girls' face broke into a wide grin and she began to laugh. Whitey removed his hat and swiped Nathan in the back of the head.
"This is my niece, Jordyn," Whitey explained. "This is my star player and the biggest pain in my ass, Nathan Scott."
"The Nathan Scott?" she asked. "My uncle's told me about you. You're the one who wasn't even playing any organized ball until last year?"
Nathan's face fell, especially seeing the grin break out across Whitey's face. "That's my brother, Lucas Scott."
Jordyn shrugged. "Sorry."
Nathan chose to ignore the obvious insult and looked instead at Coach. "Since when do we let girls on the team?"
"Girls on the team?" Whitey asked. He looked at his niece and smiled. "You already causing trouble?"
"Just shaking things up a bit," Jordyn admitted. "I'm not here to play, Nathan. But if I was, I could definitely make the girls or the guys team and I'd give you a run for your money."
Nathan watched Jordyn walk off with Whitey. He shook his head and turned to walk the other way down the long hall. "Chicks," he muttered under his breath.