"What did you wish for?"

"You"

Those words kept ringing in Nathan's head as he tossed and turned in his bed early in the morning. He was so shocked that that was her answer he hadn't even been able to reply or comment. All he had done was drive up to Brooke and Haley's apartment and mutter a "bye".

"Nathan…" Deb walked into his room. "Nathan, sweetie, its time for school"

"Already?" Nathan grumbled.

"Yeah…and you need to stop turning your alarm off" Deb laughed, throwing the covers off of him.

"Mom…"

"What?"

"I'm cold" Nathan complained.

"That might have something to do with fall coming in" Deb laughed. "Come on, up or you're gonna be late for school"

"Fine, fine" Nathan grumbled and sat up in bed.

"Ok, breakfast will be ready downstairs when you're done" Deb smiled and left his room. Nathan yawned…he had had a very restless night. All he dreamt about was Haley; all he could hear was her voice, and all he could see was her. He was seriously hung up on her. He glanced over at his side table where a picture of him and Haley on their wedding day was framed. Shaking his head, he walked sleepily into his bathroom.

Over at Haley and Brooke's…

"Brooke, will you stop the blow drying?" Haley whined. "We have 40 minutes before we even have to leave for school"

"I'm sorry that I wanna look good!" Brooke said. "It's important"

"Why? Because Lucas will be there?"

"No, because I am student government president and I have to set a good example" Brooke explained, shutting off the blow dryer and plugging in her hair straightener.

"Right" Haley rolled over and closed her eyes. She would be right there with Brooke doing her makeup and her hair if she knew it would change Nathan's mind. Even with Nathan being the macho guy that he was, somehow she knew her appearance wouldn't compensate for her huge mistake. But she decided to get up and at least fix her hair.

"Tutor girl! I am going to teach you how to do your makeup and hair and then you can look gorgeous!"

"Yeah…like Nathan's gonna care" Haley said.

"I'm sorry…you know he still loves you, right?"

"He doesn't"

"He does, and I'm positive…he's just playing hard to get- maybe you need to play hard to get too- maybe he doesn't realize how much he's hurting you by playing games"

"I'm doing playing games with him, Brooke" Haley said, watching as Brooke skillfully applied her makeup. "I just wish he'd be done with them, too"

"Come on Haley, you look fine"

"Brooke, you made me look like a whore!" Haley cried.

"A little makeup isn't gonna make you look like a whore, sweetie" Brooke laughed, grabbing Haley's arm and dragging her out of the car.

"MAROON EYESHADOW!" Haley shrieked. "I might as well already claim my whore of the year award!"

"Haley calm down I knew what I was doing…plus the boys will love it" Brooke winked. Haley sighed and shook her head. There was no use fighting against Brooke.

"Hi…whoa, Hales" Lucas said, looking at Haley.

"SEE!" Haley glared at Brooke.

"No, you look very nice" Lucas said. "Its just different"

"See! I did a good job, didn't I?" Brooke chirped.

"Yes, a very good job" Lucas laughed. In his opinion, she always did a better job on herself…Brooke Davis looked gorgeous everywhere she went.

"See, Lucas thinks I did a good job…hah" Brooke said.

"But Lucas just wants to plea-"

"HALEY!" Lucas cut her off.

"Please you" Haley finished, sticking her tongue out at Lucas and marching off to her locker. She particularly dreaded going to her locker…she was prone to run into Nathan at least once or twice during the day and they awkwardly avoided each other and passed by. As usual, to start off her day, Nathan was messing with something in his locker that was keeping him unusually well occupied.

"Hi" he said when Haley reached her locker and was busily twisting in her combination.

"Hey" Haley said warmly. If you cant beat em, join em, she thought. Two could play this being friendly then cold game that he had initiated.

"What's up?" Nathan said. He couldn't take his eyes off of her- she had done something differently, but whatever it was, she looked great. And it didn't help that he had spent the last day and a half wanting her back.

"Nothing much really…you?" Haley felt like they were having an online conversation.

"Nothing really…I'll see you later?"

"Yeah" Haley shut her locker and left. Ok, so she was pissed off, Nathan reasoned. He had done his fair share in messing with her and sending mixed signals. Maybe now was the time to stop and start trying to work on their relationship.

Haley stomped down the hallway, trying to find Lucas amidst the huge crowd of talking and laughing students.

"Hales!" Lucas called. She turned around and sighed thankfully when she saw her best friend making his way down the hallway to her.

"Lucas…Nathan is being so stupid again, he was all friendly to me this morning and then the next time we see each other he's gonna act like I don't exist and these games are messing with my head!" Haley cried.

"Haley…I would kick his ass for you, but since our relationship is on tenterhooks as it is, all I can say is that he's a jerky asshole"

"He is" Haley buried her head in Lucas's chest.

"I'm sorry…when I'm a world famous boxing champion, I'll kick his ass for you" Lucas said. Haley laughed. Lucas's absurd solutions to all of her problems made her laugh and feel better about them.

"Ok" she smiled and hugged Lucas one more time before walking down the hallway to her first class.

Lucas sighed as he watched Haley walk down the hallway…Nathan was being so mean to her, but what could he do? Just be there for her, he reasoned. He was also fighting his own battle…whether Brooke was really worth his heartache or not. He eyed her chatting some new surfer boys and wished he could toss each and every one of them out the window and pull her into his arms. But of course, Brooke Davis didn't give in without a fight.

Great, Haley thought. Nathan's at his locker AGAIN. She sighed wearily and appeared at her locker.

"Hey" Nathan greeted.

"Hi" Haley said shortly. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and checked her reflection in the locker mirror. She threw her math book in her locker and pulled out her history.

"I was wondering…do you wanna go to dinner with me tomorrow night?" Nathan asked.

"Whoa…that was unexpected" Haley laughed nervously. "Um…sure, I guess"

"So I'll come by at 7?"

"That works" Haley said, smiling to herself. Well, this opened whole new doors.

"Ok…I'll see you later then" Nathan said, smiling at her and shutting his locker door.

"Bye" Haley whispered. She couldn't believe this was happening! "Brooke!" Haley called.

"What?"

"Nathan asked me to dinner"

"See, I told you he would love the eye shadow!" Brooke said triumphantly. "I rock…but seriously Haley, that's great" Brooke linked her arm through Haley's "Come on roomie, lets go plan what you're gonna wear!"

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter! Review!