Chapter 25- Prom Dates

"So I was thinking, we should start dress shopping this weekend. Proms only like a month away and we want to have plenty of time to find the perfect dresses." Brooke had been waiting for junior prom for just about her whole life. Sure, there were homecoming dances and formals, but nothing compared to prom. It was in a ballroom, in a nice hotel. The ballroom would be decorated to the nines. To Brooke there was nothing better than junior prom, besides of course senior ball.

"We definitely should. There's this great boutique a few towns over that we should check out. We'll find more original stuff there, the last thing I want is a dress that every other girl is wearing." Peyton thrived on maintaining her originality. She wouldn't be happy with some dress from some department store that every other girl had the possibility of buying. For Peyton, it was all about being her own person.

"That sounds good, I have to be back by like 6:30 though, Nathan has court at 7:30." Haley decided she didn't really want to think about that right then, she would rather think about prom. "I'm so excited for prom. Nathan went to his last year with some girl he didn't really like that much, so I get to show him just how great it can be." Haley wanted everything to be just perfect for that night. Her dress, the limo, the after party, all of it.

"So we obviously know that Haley will be going with Nathan, but what about you P. Sawyer, who are you going to go with?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll probably just go with one of the guys from work or something." Peyton didn't have a boyfriend, she had more important things to do. Not only was she one of the smartest girls in school, but she had her art to think about. Add a part time job to all that and there definitely wasn't any time left over for a boy. "What about you B. Davis? Who's your boy of choice."

Brooke's cheeks reddened as she opened her mouth to answer. "Well, funny you should ask that." Brooke turned to Haley, "There's something that has been going on with me that I haven't really told you about. I'm kind of going to the prom with….Lucas." Brooke braced herself for impact.

"Lucas, as in my Lucas? How did that happen?" Haley was shocked, as far as she knew, Brooke and Lucas barely knew the other existed.

"Formerly your Lucas, now my Lucas. We have kind of been dating these past few weeks."

"How did that happen and why didn't you tell me?" Haley crossed her arms. It wasn't like Brooke to keep secrets, especially boy secrets. Brooke was always more than willing to talk about her most recent conquests.

"It started a few weeks ago. Remember that day my shoe broke?" Brooke looked to Peyton and Haley who both nodded affirmatively. "Well I was looking for you at the tutoring center Haley, and Lucas was as well. I like ran right into him, literally, and almost flew off the handle at him, I mean duh, I was having the worst day ever then he almost knocks me on my ass in the middle of the hall. Anyways, he asked me what was wrong because he could tell I was upset, and after I told him he asked me if I wanted to go and get lunch with him at his mother's café. I figured that since the day already sucked so bad, I might as well get some free food out of it all. So we went. We had a great time, I swear we laughed the entire time. When we got back to school he asked me to go out with him that weekend. We did, and had a great time, and since then we have been kind of dating."

"Why didn't you tell me Brooke? I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it's great. Lucas is one of my favorite people, and obviously so are you. But why did you hide it?" Haley felt a little hurt that Brooke hadn't told her about it all. Haley had been making a serious effort to be there more for Brooke and Peyton, this seemed like it was all for nothing.

"I guess I didn't want to jinx it." Brooke shrugged her shoulders a little. "I mean, look how my relationships usually end up, always bad. But with Lucas it just seemed different, so I guess I wanted to give it time before I told everyone, make sure that it was for real and stuff."

"I personally think this is great. I don't know Lucas all that well, but from what you've said Haley, he seems like a great guy. And he obviously makes you happy Brooke." Peyton patted Brooke on the back, "I guess I'll forgive you for the withholding, since you seem so happy."

"I am so happy. He's great. We just have the best time together, he's easy to talk to too." Brooke turned to Haley, "But, I can't enjoy this fully if you are mad at me best friend."

Haley's face softened, "I'm not mad. I was a little hurt, but it makes sense, wanting to wait before you told everyone." A smile spread across Haley's face, "Just tell me that Peyton and I are the first to know?"

"Of course. Who else would I tell before my bestest friends?

ooooOoooo

"Nervous?" Haley asked as her and Nathan headed into the courthouse.

Haley had been dress shopping most of the afternoon with Peyton and Brooke and it had been a welcome distraction. Every time Haley thought about Nathan's court appearance she felt sick to her stomach. His lawyer had assured him that he wouldn't get anything more than some community service, and maybe probation for a year, but beyond that, nothing.

This didn't cause Haley to rest assured though. She knew that sometimes the worst could happen, that it was always a possibility. The worst for Nathan meant jail time.

"A little bit I guess. I just feel like worrying won't do any good ya know? Whatever happens happens, no amount of worry can change that. After all, my dad is paying really good money to my lawyer to make sure that I stay out of jail."

Nathan was thankful that his father had the resources to secure him such a good attorney. He knew that that was important, without a good attorney Nathan could be in for it. But, he had been assured that there would be no jail time and he had to believe it, he just had to.

When they entered the court room Nathan looked around for his father and lawyer. Spotting them he took off in their direction.

"Nathan, good to see you." His lawyer extended his hand to Nathan, who shook it. "Let's go and talk for a minute."

The lawyer eyed Nathan's father who took the cue, "Come on Haley, let's go and sit down."

"Okay Mr. Scott." Haley turned to Nathan, "Good luck, I'll see you after."

Haley sat there watching all of the people go up and talk to the judge. This wasn't how she thought court would be. I guess that she imagined it to be like a trial, where everyone would hear what was going on. But that wasn't the case at all.

After what seemed like hours Nathan was called to the bench. He and his attorney stood there talking to the judge for only about 10 minutes.

Finally, Nathan turned around and headed towards Haley and his father. When he got to their row he reached out and shook his lawyer's hand, "Thanks for everything." Haley could hear Nathan say.

As he approached her a smile broke out on his face. Reaching out he scooped her into his arms and hugged her tightly to him, "It's all going to be okay Haley."

Nathan took her hand and led her out of the courtroom, Nathan's father followed.

"Son, what happened?" Mr. Scott asked when they were outside of the courthouse.

"100 hours of community service and no probation. The only catch on the probation part is that I have to attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings once a week for a year."

"Son that's great. No probation. That's a load off of my mind." Mr. Scott patted Nathan on the back.

Haley was a little surprised about the meetings part, she hadn't even ever heard of Narcotics Anonymous, plus, she didn't think that Nathan had any addiction. Since he had been arrested he hadn't done drugs or even drank once. He didn't want to risk any more problems.

"Are you upset about having to go to these meetings? Since you don't have a problem I mean." Haley asked as she and Nathan got into his car.

"Not really. It's better than probation. Plus, I think I did have an addiction of some kind. Not to the drugs, but definitely to selling the drugs. Stopping that was really hard for me. I think that seeing people there who are addicted to the stuff I sold, well I'm pretty sure that that will be enough to show me how me selling can actually affect people negatively. It'll just be more reason to never do it again."

"I guess. I'm just surprised is all." Haley looked over to Nathan, he smiled at her and winked. Haley giggled, "This is good. Sorry, I'm just being weird. I'm glad it worked out this way Nathan, no jail, how great is that?"

"So great. Now, let's go and celebrate. Dinner on me, anywhere you pick."

ooooOoooo

After dinner Haley had Nathan drop her off at Lucas'. She had some talking to do with him.

After knocking on his door she stood there waiting as she heard footsteps approach.

"Hey Hales. What's up?" Lucas asked as he opened the door.

"Just came by to offer my congratulations." Haley walked past Lucas into his house. She turned around and faced Lucas, "Brooke told me."

"Pretty crazy isn't it? Me with Brooke Davis. It's amazing Hales, she's amazing. She really is like no other person I have ever met before."

"I know, she's a totally original person. I was kind of surprised when she told me because she's a little different than the normal blonde bimbos you date. Brooke will actually give you a run for your money." Haley teased.

"Oh she does that, has from day one. Trust me. The first day I took her out, we went to lunch at my mom's cafe. My mom comes over to take our order and stuff and introduces herself to Brooke and says how it's nice to meet her and all that. So guess what Brooke says?"

"What?" Haley knew it was going to be good.

"Brooke asked my mother if she had a pair of size seven stilettos she could borrow because the heel had broken off of one of hers." Lucas laughed just remembering it. "Well my mom says no, she doesn't have any stilettos, but she has an extra pair of flip flops. So my mom goes to get them and brings them back over to our table. Brooke says she's sorry, she can't wear those, they wouldn't match her outfit."

"That does sound like Brooke, she really is something. What did your mom say?" Haley knew that Lucas' mom was a little judgmental when it came to the girls that dated his son.

"She just laughed. That's the crazy part. She wasn't mad or thought Brooke to be ungrateful, she just laughed. That night when I came home I thought my mom would say something bad about her and the shoe thing, but she didn't. All she said was that Brooke was like a breath of fresh air. That's kind of how I feel too."

Lucas was grinning just talking about her and Haley thought it was so cute. Lucas didn't usually get like this, all giddy, when he was talking about girls. Haley was pretty sure that Brooke had gotten him hooked.

"I'm happy for you, both of you." Haley stood up to head home, it was starting to get late. "I have to get going, I'm beat."

"Okay, do you want a ride?"

"Nope it's a nice night, I'll walk. See ya later Lucas."

Haley walked over to the door and just as she started to walk out she turned around, "Break her heart and I'll kill ya." Haley said, winking.

Lucas laughed, "I'll keep that in mind."

Haley walked down the street towards her house thinking about how well things were going now. Nathan's court date had come and gone. Haley's parents had loosened up. Prom was coming. Brooke and Lucas were happy. It seemed, right then, that everything was right in the world for Haley James.