Author's note: Just wanted to thank all the readers and those few of you who review. I especially want to thank thetroublew/loveisi'm2lostinU for reading the whole story and bringing to my attention a small mistake, and reviewing twice. I also want to thank ggfan01, 1ThNalEy23, NaLeYBaBiixo, and cherrymfzb who have all taken the time to review recently. I really do appreciate the reviews. Let me know what you guys think, any questions you have, things you might like to see, especially with the other characters. A lot of the Naley stuff is already written, but I still don't really know where I want to take the lives of Brooke, Peyton, Lucas and Jake.

Chapter 23- Black and White?

Brooke walked towards the tutoring center hoping that Haley would be there. It was only lunchtime and Brooke was already having what seemed to be the worst day ever. Not only had the heel broken off of one of her favorite shoes, but she had gotten assigned Saturday detention because she forgot to turn in a paper in English.

There was nothing that Brooke Davis hated more than Saturday detention. There were so many better things she could do with her time on a Saturday morning, like sleeping.

Brooke had tried to talk to Peyton, but Peyton hadn't been willing to dish out the sympathy that Brooke was desperately in need of. Instead, Peyton told Brooke that her teacher was right in giving her detention. After all, the paper in question was weeks late, not just a day or two. Peyton reminded Brooke that it should have been turned in forever ago, and that her teacher had already been nice enough to grant some leniency.

That was certainly not the response Brooke wanted, and it caused her to get even more upset. She wanted someone to tell her it was okay, that she would find a new pair of shoes to be her favorite, and that her teacher was way out of line. Brooke knew that when she wanted sympathy, Haley was the one to talk to.

Haley wasn't as judgmental as Peyton. Everything wasn't black and white. Haley would consider people's feelings rather than just assigning right or wrong to something.

Brooke walked into the tutoring center and gazed around. She filled with disappointment as she realized that Haley wasn't there.

Brooke turned on her heel and began to head out of the tutoring center when she ran right into someone, a pretty muscular someone. It almost knocked Brooke off of her feet.

Starting to let the anger that had been boiling inside of her all morning take over Brooke looked up to see who her assailant was and let them have a piece of her mind. She was thrown off guard when she recognized them.

"Lucas?"

Brooke knew very little about Lucas, besides the fact that he was pretty close friends with Haley. Lucas played basketball, and because of that was more friends with all the jocks. It was a totally different crowd than Brooke's.

"Brooke. Hey." Lucas eyed the tiny brunette. He had seen her around before, even with Haley a few times, but he had never realized just how pretty she really was. "I was looking for Haley, have you seen her?"

"No, she is totally MIA. I was looking for her too." Brooke sighed loudly, hoping that it would entice Lucas to ask her what was wrong.

"Is everything okay Brooke?"

'Success,' Brooke thought to herself. Lucas had taken her bait.

"It's just that I'm having the absolute worst day of my life, and I really wanted to talk to Haley about it, and she isn't here." Brooke crossed her arms over her chest and shot Lucas a look of frustration.

"Worst day ever huh?" Lucas chuckled to himself. It was obvious that Brooke was over exaggerating, and not just a little. But she looked to cute standing before him all frustrated, so he was more than willing to listen to her problems. "What's going on?"

"Well, first off, I broke the heel on my shoe while I was running up the stairs this morning." Brooke threw up her hands in exasperation.

"And why were you running on the stairs in the first place?" Lucas teased.

"Because I was running late for first period, obviously."

"Of course." Lucas looked thoughtful for a moment, "Can you get another pair?"

"Yeah but no other pair will compare to this pair. They are like seriously my favorite. I mean, look how well they go with this outfit."

Lucas laughed out loud as Brooke struck a pose to show off her outfit. Even though he knew absolutely nothing about whether or not her shoes matched her outfit perfectly, he did know that her little plaid skirt was just short enough to show off her nicely tanned, shapely legs.

'That is a problem. Anything else bothering you?" Lucas knew he was in for it.

"Want to know? Good, cuz I'll tell you. I have stupid Saturday detention." Brooke threw her arms in the air again, "My stupid teacher is so unfair."

"Well, I think I know that you need."

"And what's that?" Brooke crossed her arms over her chest once again and looked expectantly towards Lucas.

"Lunch, with me, at my mom's café. She makes a killer grilled ham and swiss." Lucas hoped that his invitation wouldn't be laughed off.

"With french fries?"

"With french fries." Lucas confirmed.

"Sounds perfect." Brooke squealed. "Let's go."

Brooke started to walk off towards the exit to the parking lot. Lucas just stood there for a minute, watching her walk. He was amazed that he had never realized just how hot Haley's friend was until now.

Brooke turned around, realizing that Lucas was not with her.

"Coming?"

"Yeah, I'm right behind you."

ooooOoooo

As Haley and Nathan walked towards his car to head out to lunch, Haley thought she saw Brooke and Lucas walking through the other side of the parking lot. Figuring she must be seeing things she shrugged it off, the two barely knew each other after all.

Haley flipped through the radio as Nathan drove towards McDonalds. When he pulled into the drive thru he ordered himself his usual double cheeseburger and french fries and Haley her usual chicken salad.

"It's so nice out Nathan, why don't we go and eat at the park? It's right on the way back to school."

"Sounds good to me Hales."

Minutes later they pulled up to the park and walked towards a park bench. Haley sat down and took in a deep breath of fresh air. It was finally spring time and Haley couldn't be happier about it.

"Let's do something fun this weekend Nathan, something outside enjoying this gorgeous weather."

Haley's parents had finally lightened up on her and Nathan seeing each other. It had been a little over two months since the whole arrest ordeal and Haley's parents, only a few weeks ago, finally told Haley that she was free to see Nathan as she pleased.

Haley knew that the only condition of that was that she kept being up front with her parents. It had been rough couple of months, but Haley had started being more open with her parents and she was rewarded for it accordingly.

"That sounds perfect, what did you have in mind?"

"I don't know. Maybe we could drive up to the beach and have a cook out or something. That would be nice."

"That would be nice. We can cook out at my father's beach house. He has this awesome grill." Nathan paused for a minute. "Why don't you invite Brooke and Peyton to come with us?"

Haley smiled, "I'll ask them."

Haley had stayed true to her word and had been hanging out with Brooke and Peyton much more these past few months. The girls did things just the three of them, and then sometimes Brooke and Peyton joined Nathan and Haley. The four had had some movie nights and Nathan had done quite well. Haley was proud. She knew that sometimes the three girls together were a bit much to take, but Nathan handled it like a pro. He had endured more than his fair share of chick flicks.

Nathan and Haley finished eating and Haley looked down at her watch. "We should get back, I don't want to be late to history again."

"Yeah, let's go."

As Nathan walked Haley towards her class Nathan remembered his appointment. "Oh yeah, Hales, do you think you can get a ride home from someone else today? I have to meet with my guidance counselor after school."

"No problem, I'm sure Brooke will take me. What's the meeting about?"

Haley hoped that Nathan wasn't in any kid of trouble. Everything had been going so good lately, she didn't want there to be any major bumps in the road.

"Jut about picking a college, nothing bad. I got into two different schools and my guidance counselor wants to talk about the pros and cons with each."

Haley realized just how little she knew about all of this. Nathan hadn't really talked about applying, it had all been done months ago and he hadn't said anything since. With all the drama with her parents and being grounded and the arrest, she and Nathan hadn't ever really gotten around to talking about next year.

"What schools did you get into?"

"UNC Greensboro and Syracuse."

Haley felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Greensboro was only a few hours away, but Syracuse was all the way in New York. She had known back when Nathan had applied that he was considering applying to that school, but she hadn't really thought much of it at the time. After all, she had only been with Nathan for a few months at that point and she really had no idea just how serious things were going to become.

"Are you leaning more towards one or the other?"

"Not really, I mean obviously Greensboro is close to home, and to you so that is important. But if I went to Syracuse I would get away from all this here. As much as I hate to admit it, word travels. Everyone knows about the drug dealing and the arrest, and if I went to school nearby then word would spread to there. I mean, there would obviously be other Tree Hill kids at Greensboro. And, I don't know, I kind of just want that part of my life over and done with. I go to court next month and my lawyer says that I will just get community service and probation. After that, I just want to move on ya know? I know that if I went to Syracuse I would really get a fresh start."

Haley nodded but didn't say anything. She was trying to digest everything Nathan had just said, and digest it quickly. She knew that she had to say something before she went into her class, that she understood or didn't, just something. Nathan kept looking at her awaiting some kind of response.

She did understand what he was saying, wanting a fresh start and everything. It made sense. If he went to school somewhere nearby there would be kids from Tree Hill there. Nathan's mistakes would follow him.

It wasn't that easy though. She didn't want him to leave her. She didn't want him to go far away. Haley knew, deep down in her gut, that Nathan would probably choose Greensboro. Despite the fact that he couldn't walk away from his past if he stayed, she knew that he would choose to stay and be with her. She just knew it.

Haley wasn't sure that that was what she wanted. She wanted Nathan to decide what was best from him, even if it was New York.

When they reached Haley's class she turned to Nathan. "It's your decision Nathan, all of it. No matter where you go we'll break up, long distance relationships never work. Make the decision that's best for you, we'll be over so don't let me be a factor in your decision."