Haley fiddled with the door handle of Brooke's powder-blue bug. She glanced at her watch and groaned. She had been waiting outside for at least twenty minutes.
"Need a ride?" Nathan asked, unlocking his black mustang. Haley shuddered at the thought and quickly shook her head.
"No thanks," She snapped.
Nathan laughed. "Come on, I don't bite." He looked at Haley and raised his eyebrows. She shook her head again and turned away. "Fine, suit yourself." He mumbled getting into the car. Haley cursed as it started to rain. She pulled her hood over herself and wrapped her arms around her body to try to keep warm.
"Who the hell does she think she is?" Brooke's angry, pissed off voice came from afar. Haley squinted to see Brooke and Peyton coming out of the gym looking pretty peeved.
"I don't know, but if she thinks she can get away with this then she's crazy!" Peyton commented. Brooke unlocked the doors and threw her backpack in the backseat. The girls bitched about the situation for another two blocks before Haley spoke up.
"Will you two shut up! You're giving me a headache. Who cares if Claire is the new captain, it's not the end of the world!" Haley said rolling her eyes. Brooke immediately stopped short and turned around to face her sister.
"Get out." She yelled, pointing to the street. Haley looked at her in disbelief.
"Brooke, you're not serious-"
"Get out!" Brooke yelled louder. Peyton watched in shock as Haley grabbed her back and got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Brooke, there was no need for that." Peyton said as Brooke sped away.
"Do you want to walk too?" She glared. Peyton sighed and shook her head. Sooner or later she was going to have to fix this little problem Brooke was having.
The rest of the car ride was silent. Brooke dropped Peyton off at home and quickly sped off. She got into her house and immediately slammed the door.
"Bad day at the office?" Mike asked, coming into the living room to see what the bang was.
"Don't talk to me," Brooke said, walking up the stairs.
"Where's Haley?" He asked, looking around the room.
"Don't know, don't care." Brooke said from up the stairs. She went into her room and slammed that door shut. Throwing her bag in the corner, she went sat on her bed. Sighing, she reached underneath her bed for her black notebook and shoebox full of pictures.
Brooke flipped to a new page and fished around the box for a picture of her. Settling on the one of her taken before her Junior Prom, she pasted it in the middle of the page. The smile she had on her face in the picture made her feel disgusted. It was a fake smile, a smile to make it seem like she was happy. She took the black marker off her nightstand and began to scribble furiously underneath it.
I tried to be perfect
But nothing was worth it
I don't believe it makes me real
I thought it'd be easy
But no one believes me
I meant all the things I said
She didn't look satisfied with the lyrics she had just written. She thought about it for another minute or two and added the following:
This place is so empty
My thoughts are so tempting
I don't know how it got so bad
Sometimes it's so crazy
That nothing can save me
But it's the only thing that I have
But she wasn't done yet. To the right of the picture she wrote:
Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than anytime before
I had no options left again
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
And finally, on the top, she wrote in big letters:
I'm tired of hiding behind these lying eyes.
I'm tired of this smile that even I don't recognize.
She quickly put the book away when she heard a knock on the door. Mike appeared at the doorway with an unsatisfied look on his face.
"You made her walk home in the rain?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.
Brooke rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Why did she melt?" She mumbled, looking blankly at the blanket on her bed. It definitely wasn't hers, Haley's maybe, but not hers.
Mike let out a little laugh. "No, but she's pretty pissed off. But I'm sure she'll get over it." He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. He looked at Brooke, but Brooke turned away. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired." Brooke put on a fake smile, but it turned into a frown when she thought about the lyrics. Mike nodded and got up from the bed, shutting the door halfway as he left the room.
Haley stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, all tangled and frizzed. She held the hairdryer in front of her, but was too pre-occupied staring at the photo on her dresser. It was of her and Brooke on Halloween 7 years ago. They were both dressed up as princesses, each waving a wand in the air.
"It helps if it's actually plugged in." Jen said from behind Haley. Haley turned around let out a small laugh. "Oh, I was just thinking." She put the hairdryer down and sat down on her desk chair.
"Anything special?" Jen asked, sitting on the bed. A mother figure she was not, but it didn't hurt her to try.
"Can I ask you a question?" Haley asked as Jen nodded. "You have an older sister right?"
"Five actually, but that's probably beside the point. Is something wrong with you and Brooke? Or Taylor?" She added in, remembering their newest houseguest.
Haley nodded. "It's Brooke. I don't know what's wrong with her. Some days she hates me, some days she loves me, some days she wants nothing to do with me, some days she does. It's really beginning to get on my nerves."
"Oh, honey, I'm sure Brooke's just having a rough time right now. I'd give her a few days, she'll come around eventually." Jen said, getting off the bed. Pretty easy question she thought. But boy she was in for a reality check.
"It's been like this for four years, she's not coming around." Haley muttered, running her hands through her tangled hair. "Today she invited me to sit with her at lunch, but when I came back someone had took my seat, and my stuff was no where to be seen." Haley sighed and twiddled her thumbs. "Am I an embarrassment?"
Jen quickly shook her head and knelt down beside Haley. "No, you're not an embarrassment! Who told you that?"
Haley got up from the chair and walked over to the window. She saw Taylor stumbling out of a car. "No one told me, I figured it out myself. I mean look at me." She turned around and stepped into the light. Jen looked at her and found nothing wrong with her.
"Haley, there is nothing wrong with you. You don't need to be so hard on yourself."
"Whatever," Haley muttered. She threw the hairdryer down and sat on her bed. "You can go now if you want." Jen sighed and left the room. She met Mike halfway down the hall.
"Something's going on," They both said in unison. "We'll get to the bottom of this." Mike muttered as himself and his girlfriend walked into their room.
Taylor quietly shut the door behind her. She went out the previous night to clear her head. She visited her parent's grave for the first time in years. Her visit was mostly silent; she still didn't have anything to say. Sure her parents weren't perfect, but they were still her parents. She tiptoed up the stairs and walked quietly into her room.
Haley bit her lip as she stared blankly at the ceiling. Most of her anger towards Brooke had subsided and she was ready to go make peace. She was just about to leave her room when her cell phone rang.
Nathan Scott flashed across the screen. She rolled her eyes and picked it up.
"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed. Nathan was the last person she wanted to deal with.
"Look, Little Brooke, you need to stop snapping at me. Would you believe me if I said I was sorry?" Nathan said, his voice shaky and somewhat sincere.
"No," Haley replied curtly. She wanted to hang up, but something was telling her not to.
"I really am sorry. I never meant to hurt you, things got out of hand and I should have stopped myself. I understand why you're upset-"
"Upset?" Haley roared through the phone. "Nathan, you almost raped me! Of course I am upset. God you are so ignorant sometimes." There was silence on the other hand. "Nathan? Nathan? Nathan, are you there? Stop playing games with me!"
"I'm not playing games with you, Haley." Came Nathan's voice. Haley turned around to see Nathan in the doorway. Her whole body felt numb as she watched Nathan walk over to her.
"How did you get in here?" Haley asked.
"Your sister let me in." Nathan slurred.
"Get out right now," Haley yelled. "I'll get my brother in here."
Nathan put his hand up. His hair was in his face and his breath reeked of booze. "I've been a bad man, let me make it up to you." He leaned in and tried to kiss her neck, but Haley pushed him away.
"I'm giving you five seconds, if you don't get out I'll call the police."
Nathan swayed back and forth. "You can't deny your feelings for me. You know they're there." He stumbled out the door, blowing her a kiss on his way out. Haley shivered and poked her head out her door to make sure he was gone. She quickly ran down the hall to Brooke's door.
'Should I go in there?' Haley thought to herself. She contemplated whether or not to go in. She peered through the half open door and looked shocked when she saw Brooke. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and she was sobbing.
"Brooke?" Haley asked in a barely audible tone. She gently pushed the door open and made her way over to the bed. Brooke didn't seem to notice until she felt a weight on her bed. "What's wrong?" She gently asked, brushing the strand of hair that fell on her sister's face.
Brooke simply shook her head and turned away. Haley tried to hug her, but she quickly recoiled by getting off the bed.
"Did something happen?" Haley asked again, walking over to her sister. Brooke ignored her again and sat on the bed, tears pouring down her cheeks.
"Brooke, Lucas is on the phone," Taylor said coming into the room. Her voice grew lower when she saw Brooke. "Lucas, she's going to have to call you back." Taylor placed the phone on the dresser and walked over to the bed.
"Brooke, what's wrong?" Taylor asked.
"I, I don't know." Brooke managed to get out. And without even thinking she fell into her older sisters arms. Haley felt a tinge of jealously as she watched Taylor comfort Brooke. Haley was always there for Brooke when she needed her the most, Taylor wasn't.
Haley wanted to help comfort Brooke so she tried to hug her from the back. She was quickly pushed away by Taylor.
"Don't crowd around her, Haley. Give her some space." Taylor said in an annoyed tone. Haley moved to the head of the bed and looked down at the floor. Besides the small sobs of Brooke, the whole room was silent.
Like Brooke, Haley thought it would be funny to crack a joke. But unlike Brooke, she went ahead and actually did it. Not knowing the possible outcome. "What's the matter? Did Lucas leave you for another woman?" A smile crept upon her face. Taylor looked shocked. Brooke lifted her head up and stared at her sister. She started to cry harder at the thought of Lucas leaving her.
"Haley!" Taylor yelled. "Can't you keep your mouth shut? Look what you did!" Brooke buried her face into her pillow and Haley bit her lip.
"I was only trying to help," She whispered, not knowing what was going to happen next.
"You know how you can help? By leaving," Taylor snapped, grabbing Haley's wrist and dragging her to the door. Haley winced at the pain as Taylor dug her thumb into her bruise. She practically threw Haley out the door and slammed the door in her face.
Haley sighed and hung her head in shame. She walked downstairs and flopped on the couch. She watched as Mike groaned and threw his glasses on the table.
"Something wrong?" She asked timidly, Mike shook his head furiously.
"I'm just trying to figure out this case." Mike said in a rushed tone.
"What's it about?" Haley asked, trying to make small talk with her brother, but he wasn't having any of it.
"Look, Haley, I really need to get this done, so if you don't mind could you just leave me alone?" He snapped, putting his glasses back on, scanning the court documents over and over.
Again, she sighed and headed back up the stairs. She went into her room and flopped down on her bed. She lay in the dark, holding Mr. Waffles close to her chest. She trembled as she listened to the thunder boom, and the lighting light up her room.
Haley crawled into her bed and threw a pillow over her head to try and block out the noise. She tried to be strong, and avoid going into Brooke's room, but somehow she couldn't fight it. The thunder boomed yet again, this time triggering the memory of parent's death.
12-year-old Haley James sat in the front room of her piano teachers house. She watched the rain fall hard on the ground as she waited for her parents to come pick her up from her lesson.
"They'll be here soon," Her teacher Mrs. Renner, said, handing Haley a cup of hot chocolate.
Haley swung her legs back and forth underneath the chair. She sipped the hot chocolate, careful not to burn her tongue and watched in amazement as the lighting lit up the dark winter sky.
An hour passed and Haley was starting to get worried. The storm had knocked the phone lines out and she had no way of reaching her parents.
"Mrs. Renner?" She asked shyly, walking into the kitchen where Mrs. Renner sat.
"Yes, dear?"
"Did my parents forget about me?"
Mrs. Renner looked into the little girl's scared brown eyes and sighed. "No, honey, I'm sure they'll be here any minute."
Haley nodded and walked back into the front room, gazing out the bay window. She saw a car pull up and watched as her 22 year old brother ran up the walkway, his hood over his head.
Haley quickly ran to the door and her eyes lit up when she saw her brother standing there. "Mikey!" She yelled in excitement. She jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. "I was afraid everyone forgot about me."
Mrs. Renner came into the room and smiled. "She was beginning to get a little worried there."
Mike put his sister down and forced a smile. "I'm really sorry about that."
"Where are mom and dad?" Haley asked, looking up at her brother. Mike sighed and knelt down.
"Haley, there's been an accident." He told her bluntly. She looked at him in confusion.
"What kind of accident?" She asked quietly.
"I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad are dead." He said, tears welling up in his eyes.
Haley snapped out of the flashback and huddled close to her pillow. There was no way she could do this alone. She needed Brooke, she needed her right now. She crept down the dark hallway and stopped at Brooke's door. She peered in and saw both her sister's fast asleep. She ran in and crawled towards the end of the bed. She practically had Mr. Waffles in a death grip as she forced her eyes shut, hoping to find comfort in the breathing escaping from her sister's mouth.
The first song I used was 'Pieces' by Sum 41. The second song is 'Breaking the Habit' by Linkin Park and the last two lyrics is from 'The Good Kind,' by the Wreckers.
Sorry it took so long to update. I had it halfway done on Thursday but i didn't really like where it was going. And on Friday I went to the One Tree Hill Concert and I got to meet Bethany Joy Lenz after the show which was awesome. Anyways, I'll shut up and if you're wondering, Brooke's meltdown will either be in the next chapter or the one after it.