I wanted to give a huge thanks to Mary for my beautiful banner and to Michelle for being my Beta for this story!

Thank you for the reviews! I really appreciate them! Here's the next chapter. Hope you like this chapter too!

Wake-up

Chapter 2

Stay on the trail

Keep your hands and arms inside the train

Don't stray

Watch your step

And wipe your feet

Draw inside the lines

The next Friday, after her early morning tennis lesson, Haley took a shower and got ready in a denim mini and a pink Abercrombie polo and brown flip-flops. She lightly curled her hair and put on a touch of make-up before grabbing her purse and hopping down the stairs. She walked across the street to Brooke's house and went in through the door on the side that connected directly to Brooke's home. Haley always told her she should lock the door because some pervert might try to come in there one night. Brooke would always just tell her that she hopes he's a hot pervert.

Haley found Brook in her usual position, in bed. Her head was lying on the pillow but she was tucked up in a ball so that her ass was sticking up in the air. Brooke always had a way of making her presence known, even when she was asleep. Haley pushed Brooke a little so that she would roll over on her side, but apparently she pushed her a little too hard because Brooke kept rolling until, THUD, she landed o-so gracefully on the floor. Brooke jumped to her feet and Haley tried to stifle the laugh when she saw Brooke's hair that is usually so perfectly done sticking up in every direction.

"What the hell!"

"Sorry, but now that you're up, want to do something?"

"Fine. But while I go take a shower you better go and get me some Starbucks."

"Okay." Haley began to walk towards the door as Brooke went to lie back down on her bed. "Oh no, you are getting up and getting ready or no Starbucks. No Mocha Frappuccino with drizzled caramel and chocolate and no cinnamon roll unless you get your booty out of bed and get ready." Haley stood there until Brooke got out of bed and she could hear the shower running.

Haley walked back to her house and hopped into her deep blue Cobra Mustang before speeding off to the Starbucks down the road. There was only a couple of people in front of her waiting to order, but since they each order at least eight drinks each it took a while for Haley to get out of there. Nearly twenty minutes later she had her and Brooke's drinks and Brooke's cinnamon roll and was driving back to Brooke's house. When she walked into Brooke's bedroom a much cheerier Brooke, who was dressed and finishing up her hair and make-up, greeted her.

"Oh, you are so my favorite person right now. Hand the coffee and cinnamon roll over please. So what did you want to do today? Beach?"

"No, we did that yesterday, and the two days before that."

"Oh, shopping!"

"Okay. Where do you want to go?"

"We can go to that new mall in the next town. It's supposed to be pretty good, at least better than our mall here."

"Anything is better than Tree Hill Mall."

"True, but this one is almost as close. It's only going to take like ten or fifteen minutes more to get there. Let me just finish getting ready and then we can go." Brooke finished her breakfast Haley brought her before Haley drove them down to the new mall. They went to nearly every store in the mall and left with a handful of bags each. When Haley walked into her house she was greeted with an all too familiar and undesirable sight, her mother.

"Haley sweetie. I'm so glad that you're home now, perfect timing. We are having a very important dinner with the Scotts tonight so you'll need to start getting ready. "

"Mom, I told you before, I'm going to Brooke's tonight. We had planned this a while ago, you knew I already had plans."

"Oh, that's not nearly as important as this dinner tonight. Anyways, I already picked up a dress for you, it's hanging up in your closet. The car will be here to pick us up sharply at six-thirty, so make sure you will be ready by then, we don't need to show up late now do we?" Lydia turned around and walked back towards the kitchen area where she came from.

"Nope, don't want to be late mother. Heaven forbid if we were to break some sort of etiquette rule, the world would stop spinning and we will fall into oblivion." Haley muttered before she started to walk towards the stairs.

"What were you saying dear?"

"Nothing mom. Just uh…trying to decide how I want to do my hair for tonight."

"Well whatever you decide, make sure you look nice for tonight. We don't want you looking like some sort of ragamuffin. Tonight is very important, you must look your best."

"Thanks mom." Haley finally made it to the stairs and started up toward her room. "Thanks for everything."

Haley looked in her closet and found the dress bag that contained the dress her mom had bought for her tonight. She unzipped it to reveal a long emerald dress with gathering at the end of the V-neck. It was gorgeous—that much Haley would admit. After washing her face and redoing her make-up for the evening, Haley curled her hair and pulled half of it back with a silver barrette. She put on some silver chandelier earrings before putting on the dress with a pair of silver heels. With still a half hour to spare before the car would arrive, Haley went to one of the favorite rooms in the house, the library.

To Haley, the library had always been a sort of magical time machine. Since she was a little girl she loved to read, being transported to different eras and different lands. To her, books always held some sort of hope that things will work out. That everyone has some sort of happily ever after; you just have to get through the whole evil stepmother and ugly stepsisters part of life. Haley looked along the shelves for her next book to read, but before she had a chance to pick it out she heard her mother's voice calling her to come downstairs. The car would be there any minute and she didn't want to be late.

When they arrived at the restaurant, they were lead to a table where the Scotts were already seated. The Scotts stood up upon seeing the James arrive, and after the fake pleasantries, everyone sat down. Jimmy took the seat next to Dan while Lydia took the seat next to Jimmy, leaving Haley the only seat that was left…the seat between her mother and Nathan.

After the small talk and salad, the conversation took a very interesting and surprising twist. Turns out, Dan was diagnosed with Hypertrophy Cardiomyopathy, also known as HCM. While he is on treatment right now, there is still a chance that something severe could happen. If that's the case, then they wanted to make sure that the future of Detour is secure. Nathan will inherit Dan's shares of the company, leaving Nathan and Jimmy to be the leaders of the company. This, however, could create some problems. One being how this inherited power will be observed by the clients and competitors of Detour. Another more internal, the concern that company will be pulled in different directions due to a conflict of interest—Jimmy and Nathan's. Both of these could be taken care of through one simple action.

Turns out a few months ago an illegal deal went south. Detour had been selling weapons to an over-seas group, but when there was a misunderstanding between the two sides over the transaction, all hell broke loose. There were many threats on Dan Scott's life, and some of those threats were nearly carried out. A poisoned bottle of Scotch was sent to Dan, and after he had ingested some of it, his office was set ablaze. Jimmy happened to stop by the office to grab some documents when he saw the flames. He broke down the door to Dan's office and pulled him out of the blaze before calling the fire department. Thus, leaving Dan in debt to Jimmy. And now that debt would be repaid.

"You see, Jimmy and I have decided how to fix any possible problems when Nathan takes over. It seems in everyone's best interest to keep this company in the family. So, next fall, Nathan and Haley will be married."

"What!"

"Haley, keep your voice down. That is very inappropriate."

"Oh, and marring your daughter off isn't inappropriate. That might have been how they did things in like the nineteenth century, but hello, welcome to the twenty-first century."

"Haley! Stop being so disrespectful."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Haley rolled her eyes at this fake manner, "but I'm going to have to agree with Haley. I don't understand how you can force us to get married."

"Well see son, we aren't forcing you, it's more of a suggestion. if you don't take this suggestion, however, then there are consequences. You will be cut off, both of you. No money, no stock in the company, no inheritance, nothing. So basically, you can stay in this lifestyle you are accustomed to, or not. The choice is yours, but I'm sure you'll make the right choice."

"You can't do that. This is ridiculous. I'm barely twenty-two, not even close to being ready for marriage."

"Well you were ready to take the company over, so you are certainly ready to be married. But like I told you before, this is your choice, so choose wisely."

"Daddy, please tell me you aren't serious. You wouldn't honestly do this to me. What about college? I'm supposed to start in a few months. I can't be married."

"It's in your best interest sweetheart. You can still go to college. You were accepted to Duke, that's just a twenty-minute drive from here. You can still go to college, and when you are out there will be a job waiting for you at Detour."

"But what if I don't want a job at Detour. This isn't fair."

"Haley, please. This is not how a lady should act at dinner." Haley slumped down in her chair determined to hash this out with her parents when they got home. "Sit up dear. A slouching lady is not very becoming." Haley sat up and glared across the room. While waiting for the check to come, Haley decided that it was time to excuse herself before her pent up anger blew up.

"Um, I'm not feeling to well right now, so if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to have the car take me back home so that I can lay down while you finish your meal. Thank you for dinner Mr. Scott."

She shut her bedroom door before she fell against it and pulled her knees into her chest. Her body racked with sobs. This wasn't fair. She wasn't some naïve little girl who thought that everything in life was right. She understood that life wasn't fair, but she always thought that everything happened for a reason. But where is her reason? She put up with playing the part of the perfect daughter because she knew once she was eighteen she could break away from it. Now she was just dragged farther into the façade that she wanted so badly to escape.

There was no way that she would be able to be independent of her parents right now. She had no problem getting a job and supporting herself while going to college, but there was no way that it could happen. She would be starting out from scratch, and there was no way that in the three months before college started that she would be able to get enough money for a place to stay, food, and all the other expenses that she wouldn't be able to escape. She had gotten scholarships, but none of them covered rooming and food. The only real friend that she had was Brooke, and although Haley was sure that she would offer to help her with the expenses, there was no way she could ask her. Haley had a stubborn streak in her the size of Texas, and there was no way she was going to start asking for charity. So, she only had one choice left, to become Mrs. Nathan Scott.

Oh, if only everything did happen for a reason.

Thank you so much for reading! I would love to know what you thought of it!