Chapter 2- Manic Monday

Haley made her way slowly to work. Both of her parents had to work that morning so she had to walk. She had gotten up super early to take the time to do her hair and makeup, just in case Nathan was working, and now she didn't want to get there too early and look like a dork in front of him. She had secretly been looking forward to today all weekend, and she really hoped that all of that excitement would be worth and it and that Nathan would be there.

As she walked through the parking lot towards the front door of the store she ran her fingers through her hair. Haley was grateful that it wasn't too hot out that morning so her hair hadn't frizzed during her walk. Walking in she headed towards the time clock and did a quick once over of all the cashiers. Her heart sank when she saw that Nathan wasn't there.

After punching in she walked towards the supervisor stations, an older woman walked up to her. "Haley James?"

"Yeah."

"I am Donna, I will be training you, follow me." Donna led her back to a computer room and set her up to begin. She explained that she would spend 3 days on the computer and then 2 days training on the register with Donna helping her. Haley was disappointed to hear this, if she was holed up in this room there was no way she would see Nathan. "Now, why don't you work on this until 11 and then take your 15 minutes break. Come back and get through whatever else you can and I will come at 12:45 and we can go over some things quickly before you leave."

"Okay, thanks." Haley took a deep breathe and figured she might as well get started so that this boring morning can just be over.

ooooOoooo

Leaning back in her chair Haley rubbed her eyes. She felt like she had been in there forever. She looked at the clock and saw that it was a little after 11. Hitting pause on the training, she stood up and headed towards the break room.

"Haley, is that you?" Nathan stood up from his seat and gazed out into the hallway.

"Nathan, hi. I didn't know you were working, I have been stuck in that training room." Haley started as she walked into the break room, Nathan sat back down and continued smoking his cigarette.

"Yeah, training sucks, big time. I hated it so much. It isn't so bad once you get out on the register." As Haley sat down Nathan reached into his apron pocket and held out his pack of cigarettes to her, "Do you smoke?"

"No, thanks though." Haley was a little disappointed, she had never dated anyone who smoked. She stopped herself though, she had a boyfriend, she shouldn't think about dating Nathan.

"So did you do anything fun this weekend?" Nathan wondered that Haley did in her spare time.

"Actually, I had my ballet recital Saturday and then I went to the beach Sunday." Haley hoped he wouldn't think that ballet was stupid.

"Ballet, that's cool, my sister used to dance. Who did you go to the beach with?" Images of Haley walking around in a bikini popped into his head.

"My two best friends and my boyfriend." Haley figured she had to say it, she didn't want to lie, she was a terrible liar.

"Oh, you have a boyfriend." Nathan was a little disappointed to hear this. He was surprised that he was disappointed, Nathan wasn't the kind of guy who usually cared about girls. He was the kind of guy who had girls chasing him. He had quite the reputation around Tree Hill High and could get pretty much any girl he wanted. They were all dumb and pathetic to him though. The way the showed no respect for themselves when they threw themselves at Nathan. It was rare that he actually took interest in a girl. "Is he anyone I would know?"

"Maybe, he's a senior, he graduates next week, Jeff Gifford."

"I know Jeff, we had physics together. He's a nice guy." Nathan didn't really know Jeff all that well, but didn't have any problem with him. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He definitely seemed like the type of guy Nathan guessed Haley went for.

"Yeah he is." Haley shifted in her seat, there was a new found tension in the air. She wondered if she shouldn't have said anything about Jeff, but then again, she was elated that Nathan actually looked kind of disappointed. Nathan Scott, bad boy, disappointed because good girl Haley James has a boyfriend.

A few minutes later Nathan broke through the awkward silence, "Well, I have to get back to work. It was good talking to you Haley." Nathan started towards the door.

"You too Nathan, hopefully I'll get to work with you later this week when I am on register." Haley didn't want to seem too eager but she did want Nathan to know she was kind of interested in seeing him again.

"Actually, I work evenings the rest the week. I'll be on vacation the week after that, so maybe I will see you when I get back." With that Nathan walked out of the break room.

Haley sat there a little disappointed that she wouldn't see him for a while. Then she realized that this was wrong, thinking like this was wrong. She had a boyfriend, he was graduating next weekend, she would be busy spending time with him and everything. It didn't matter if Nathan would be gone.

ooooOoooo

That night Nathan was hanging out at his best friend Tim Smith's house. Tim was kind of a goofy guy, but he was always right there for Nathan. A lot of people called him Nathan's sidekick, and most times that name was well deserved. When Nathan had gotten a job at Food Lion last summer Tim had followed suite and started there about a month after Nathan.

"Have you met that new girl that is working at the Lion?" Nathan and Tim always referred to it as the Lion, they felt like it made working as a cashier at a grocery store seem a little cooler.

"Which one? There have been a few this past week."

"Haley, she just started Friday." Nathan looked at Tim as he scrunched up his face in thought.

"No I don't think so. Why, is she smokin'? You want to get with her?" Tim was always excited to hear about Nathan's conquests.

"Na, it isn't like that, I was just curious if you noticed her, or if you knew her."

"What's her name again?"

"Haley, she was a sophomore." Nathan watched as Tim scrunched up his face once again.

"The only Haley I know is my tutor, Haley James." Tim went over and dug through a pile of clothes, finally pulling up his yearbook. He flipped through a few pages, "Is this her?" He asked, holding up the book for Nathan.

"Yeah, that's her. You know her?"

"Yeah, she is my tutor, like I said. She is one of those goody goody type girls. Why?" Tim looked at Nathan curiously.

"No reason." Nathan brushed it off. He didn't want his best friend to know that this girl, this supposed goody goody girl, had gotten under his skin. There was just something about her. "Let's go and see if we can get your brother to buy us some beer, then we can head down to this party I heard about." With that another normal night of drunken partying started for Nathan.