Chapter 12

Haley stood at her locker, staring inside. It seemed strange after everything that had happened, but she still expected there to be a note inside. Something that would remind her of the good days, when she was happy, when she had no idea who she was writing to, or any knowledge of the pain she now felt. She looked up when she heard Lex approaching, she needed to snap out of this.

"Hey." Lex greeted her, oddly quiet for her personality.

"Hey." She whispered back. Lex put her arms out and Haley welcomed the friendly gesture.

She had been thinking, staring into her locker had made her realise something. She alone had to fix this problem, she had to pick herself up and dust herself off, and she was finally ready to do so. She needed to get back into her old routine, schoolwork, tutoring and hanging out with her best friend. She slammed her locker shut, causing Lex to jump.

"You wanna do something after school?" Haley asked turning to her friend.

"Me…sure." She replied not sure she was talking to the same Haley. "Like what?"

"I don't know, what we use to do before this whole mess started. I just want to get back to the way things were."

"We could go to the mall, make fun of all the popular kids and their wannabes." Lex said poking her slightly with her elbow, a smile spreading across her face. "Huh, how about it?"

A small smile soon worked its way across Haley's face.

"Great." Lex replied, putting her arm around Haley's shoulder. "And if you're good, we might even get ice cream."

"You're paying." Haley replied.

"That's what I'm here for, the occasional sarcastic comment and all the ice cream you can eat." The pair laughed as they made their way to class.

Lucas looked on from the corridor. It had been a week since Haley had told him to leave her alone. He had even tried talking to her at school, but every time she saw him coming she managed to escape him. He had no idea what to do, he had been an idiot, he had lied to the one person he ever cared about. Everything he had told her had been true, there was no doubt about it, but he had still lied to her about her journal. How could she ever believe what he had written if he had lied to her about that. It was no longer a case of wanting, he needed Haley in his life. And he would do whatever it took to get her back.

Haley and Lex sat at the water fountain in the centre of the shopping mall. It was late Friday afternoon, and the mall was busy with students. For the first time in a week Haley genuinely smiled.

"Okay what happened to Haley, because I'm sure the girl I arrived here with, did not know that facial expression. At least not for a while anyway."

"I'm just happy that things are back to normal, you and me hanging out, like the old days. I missed this."

"Me too. Do you know what else I missed?" Haley shook her head. "Mint chocolate chip."

Haley laughed, as Lex got up.

"You wait here, I'll be right back with ice cream."

Lex joined the queue at the ice cream stand, fishing the change from her pocket.

"Lex." She turned to Lucas standing next to her.

"What do you want jackass?" she asked, counting through her change, paying very little attention to him.

"I need to talk to Haley."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen."

"I need to explain. Everything I wrote to her in those letters was the truth. And yes I did read her journal, but I never gave Brooke the letters. I have no idea where she got them from."

"And what, I'm suppose to believe that?"

"It's the truth." Lex looked into his eyes, for some reason she almost believed him.

"You really hurt her you know."

"I know, and I want to make it up to her, please. I just need to explain to her what happened, and if she wants nothing to do with me then I'll leave her alone."

"I don't think she wants to see you. She smiled today for the first time in a week, its like I'm finally getting the old Haley back. And now you want to bring up what happened. I don't think she could handle that right now."

"I promise, I'll leave her alone if she wants nothing to do with me. It's, I just can stand not seeing her everyday."

Lex sighed. "What do you need?"

Haley checked her watch and sighed.

"I guess there's a queue." She said to herself.

"Ice cream stand gets kinda busy at this time of day." A female voice replied, just above a whisper.

Haley looked up, a little shocked.

"What's the matter Brooke, you here to set me up again? Who are we using this time, Nathan?"

"I came to apologise." Haley stared at her, but soon her features softened ever so slightly. Brooke took this to mean continue. She took a seat beside Haley.

"I'm not very good at this, probably because I don't really do this. I guess I'm just use to having everything my own way." She said with a weak smile. Haley didn't reply.

"I was jealous, of you. Because no matter what I do, Lucas will never look at me the way he looks at you. Nothing was ever good enough, I was never good enough." She whispered as it finally dawned on her what she was saying.

"I got your locker combination and photocopied the letters. I stole your song, and I was the one who wrote the letter telling you to meet Lucas after the game. He had no idea, I left him the same letter. It was never about you, I just wanted to hurt him, the way he hurt me. What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry, and as much as I want to hurt Lucas, I can let him take the blame for this."

Haley sat there stunned. She had no idea what to believe any more.

Brooke stood up. "He really cares about you, I can see it in his eyes." She replied sadly, turning she left.

"Sorry I took so long the queue was….Haley are you all right?" Lex questioned as she saw Haley's look of confusion.

"Huh?"

"What happened?"

"I think Brooke just apologised."

Well let me know what you guys think!