A.N Hey guys well I'm having to use an internet cafe to post the new chapter so it will have to be a short and sweet authors note and I won't be able to give out individual shout outs for all those amazing reviews. However I will take the time to tell you how much I'm enjoying reading your reviews at the moment. So many of you are so annoyed with Haley and her behaviour at the moment and while I can see where you are coming from I'm afraid that you will find that this story is already planned out a long way in advance and I actually have several of the next chapters typed and ready to upload so unfortunately you're not going to be able to influence me to change anything. I will say though for all you die hard Naley supporters that there is hope around the corner. Although she won't be returning just yet there will be an event in the next few chapters that leads her to re-evaluate where her priorities are and return to Tree Hill. SO hang in there salvation is coming. Lol. Anyway this hasn't ended up being all that short after all. Oh by the way I won't be able to give you any spoilers at the end of this chapter so you're just going to have to make do with the general one I just gave you. Looking forward to hearing what you all think of the chapter. So please anyone out there who is reading but not reviewing drop me a line I'd love to know what you think. This chapter is dedicated to all my loyal reviewers you know who you are.

Chapter Thirty-one

Nathan stood in the gym watching the multitude of young athletic males warming up. Today was supposed to be one of the more exhilarating days of the year for him and yet he found himself at best disinterested and at worst completely uncaring of the spectacle before him. It was try out day for the Raven's basketball team and today would be the day that he would select those that he felt may one day have what it takes to be a Raven and possibly even in the future make it at Varsity level. Ordinarily the idea that maybe amongst this group of boys there could be a future NBA champ would have him practically chomping at the bit to start putting them through their paces but not today. As he looked at the group of boys before him he couldn't help but notice that perhaps he was not the only one who felt this way.

Jason was there half heartedly stretching and limbering up for what would surely be an important day for him and his possible future success as a basketball star. Nathan had known for a long time that this kid was good but that however did not automatically qualify him for a place in the team. Jason just like all the others would have to go through his paces and prove himself in front of Nathan and the other two selectors.

Dragging his attention away from Jason, Nathan blew sharply on his whistle. "Alright guys time to see what you can do. We're going to start by splitting you into groups and giving you some basic drills to complete then after the first round of these we'll narrow down the group slightly. As each round is completed you're going to find that the drills get progressively more difficult so don't any of you expect a free ride. If you think this is going to be some easy little game of catch then you're wasting my time and your own. So I'm telling you now if there is any one of you here not willing to give one hundred and ten percent then you may as well leave right now because there is no place on my team for anyone who isn't fully committed to this game. The only way you are going to be on my team is if you're prepared to work damn hard for your place on it. Right lets get started." He blew sharply on his whistle once again and stood back with his arms crossed to see what talent would present it.

But although his eyes were fixed firmly on the youths in front of him anyone who glanced at him closely would immediately have been aware that although he was present in body his mind was somewhere far, far away.

He truly didn't know how his life had become so fucked up lately but he did know that Haley was gone and that was the way it had to be. She may not be to blame for what happened with Tim but she had lacked the courage to allow him to know about it and help her and that in his mind was a worse crime, because her selfishness had led to him missing out on knowing his daughter and there was nothing she could do or say that could possibly change that now. It wasn't even as if he was really angry with her it was more a case of being extremely disappointed that she had not been the perfect creature that he had always believed her to be. Deep down he knew that it was unfair to her to have placed her on this pedestal but he couldn't help that he had always somehow expected more from her than what he knew other guys could expect from their girlfriends. They'd had their chance and they'd blown it and there was nothing more for him to hold onto.

The frown on his face was noticed by one of his fellow selectors. "Not impressed coach?" he asked.

Snapping his attention back to the court in front of him "Nah they're doing fine I've just got other things on my mind. I'm fine now, so let's see what these boys can do."

Watching the boys he grimaced as he watched Jason miss an easy lay up. What the hell is he doing? "Jason get over here. What the hell are you doing? You should not be missing a shot like that."

Jason walked over to where Nathan stood with his head down waiting for the rebuke that he was sure was to come his way.

"Would you mind explaining to me just what the hell is going on with you because at the moment it doesn't even look like you want this at all? I thought this is what you've been wanting all these years and now you're in the process of just throwing it all away. Well congratulations because if you don't get your act together then you can consider any chance at Varsity level to be in the trash." Looking at Jason he was shocked for a moment to see him apparently not even really listening. "I think you better get into my office. You and I need to talk." Opening the door he ushered him through. "Right take a seat and then you can explain to me why I went out of my way to get you into the tryouts today only to have it thrown back in my face."

"Coach," Jason tried to interrupt him.

"No you can wait your turn. Technically you shouldn't have even been trying out today you're younger than these other guys but I stuck my neck out for you and this is how you repay me." Nathan threw his hands up in disgust and stared at the youth waiting impatiently for him to give his side of events.

"Look Coach I know what you've done for me and I really appreciate it but I've just got a lot of shit going on at the moment."

"Yeah well bad luck," Nathan said "shit happens but you've just got to learn to deal with it. If you really want this then you can't let anything get in your way." Nathan could see that his words were not having the desired effect. "Alright well obviously you need to get this off your chest or you're going to completely screw up your chances. So lay it on me."

Jason looked at him in shock.

"You heard me," Nathan said "tell me what the hell is going on and let's see what we can sort out. Because from what I've seen of you, you have the potential to go a long way. You don't want to screw this up now."

Jason looked taken aback and coughed nervously as if unsure whether he could really talk to Coach Scott about what it was that was bothering him. He could feel the older man watching him but try as he might he could not bring himself to look up and face his eyes, terrified of what his coach might see. There was no way Coach Scott would let him onto the team if he saw some sign of weakness and surely telling him that he was distracted because of a girl could only be of detriment to the coaches opinion of him. But almost as if his mouth had a will of its own he felt it opening and the words came spilling out. "Um well you see there's this girl," he heard Nathan's sigh at his words and for a moment considered forgetting all about being on the team and instead making a run for it but he knew deep down that he needed to talk to someone about this and he knew his friends would not cease to tease him about it and his father hadn't been around for years. His mother would probably listen but he didn't really believe that she could be of any real help it wasn't like she had any experience of being a teenage boy. He could feel Nathan's eyes boring holes into the top of his head as he continued to look at his feet, taking a deep breath he continued. "I've liked her for ages and for a while I thought she liked me too and then a few months ago she all of a sudden went really cold on me. For a while I thought maybe she was just having issues or you know going through female stuff so I just gave her some space but then yesterday I tried to talk to her and she completely froze me out. I guess I just don't know what's going on."

"Welcome to the club," Nathan muttered under his breath.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

Nathan looked uncomfortable for a minute having not intended Jason to hear his words but then shrugged aside his inhibitions. If the kid was going to get anywhere in life then he had to get some sort of clue what the female race was like. "Look Jason basically as men we don't have a hope of ever understanding how women's minds work but the one piece of advice I would give you would be that if you do really like this girl then do whatever it takes man. You don't want to end up in my situation one day."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason queried.

"I really don't want to get into it but what I will say is that when I was your age I had a girl that I really cared about to but things didn't work out. We both made a lot of mistakes and were too stubborn and scared to talk things out and it resulted in us losing whatever chance we may have had of a future together. There is no way in hell we're ever going to be together again so I guess what I'm saying is don't leave things unsaid between you and this girl whoever she is."

"Kelly, her name's Kelly," Jason told him quietly.

"Yeah well if this Kelly is really what you want then you better do something about it. Now I hope you're ready to concentrate on your game man because I want to see you go out there and tear up the court. You can talk to Kelly again after tryouts right now your mind has to be on the game."

Jason nodded confidently. "I'm ready." he said.

Walking out to the gym Nathan couldn't help but feel a certain pride that he had been able to help the kid sort through what was going on in his head. When he had first said he was going to be working at the high school almost everyone that was closest to him had met the idea with skepticism. They all knew he could play basketball but at the same time most had had their doubts about his ability to be able to communicate well with the youths who would no doubt look up to him for leadership. It was no secret that he had not exactly been a prince during High School although he had done his best to keep his lairizing to a minimum out of respect to his relationship with Haley because at that time nothing was more important to him than her but somehow despite the low period he had gone through after Haley's sudden departure he had managed to grow into a man that almost everyone was proud of.

His smile of pride in himself dissipated somewhat as he realised that yet again his thoughts had led to Haley. As much as he had spent all of his time lately trying to avoid all thoughts of her she was still there ready to creep into his subconscious the moment he let his guard down. Sighing he thought back over his words to Jason, he hoped for the kid's sake that he was able to make things right with this Kelly. He didn't want the kid to go through what he had with Haley. Just because he no longer had any hopes of a happy ending with her didn't mean Jason should give up on Kelly. A little voice inside his head told him Just like you shouldn't have given up on Haley. He pushed the voice aside it was too late for him and Haley now. Too much had happened and there was no way they could ever go back to the way things were. Besides the only reason he had ever gotten involved with her again was for revenge he had wanted to hurt her the way she had hurt him but it was a cold comfort knowing that Haley was now just as miserable as he was.

By the time the tryouts finished Nathan had once again managed to push all thoughts of Haley aside and was actually happy with the way things had panned out. After their little talk Jason had seemed to get his mind back on his game and had blown away the majority of the competition for the position of Shooting Guard.

Pushing the door to the teacher's lounge opened he nodded at a few of his colleagues but didn't pause to chat. Walking quickly through the room he glanced at the notice board and after finding nothing of particular concern to him turned to leave. It was then that he heard the voices of a couple of the older women teachers gossiping in the corner.

"Did you hear about that Professor from Strayer University?" one asked the other as Nathan couldn't help but overhear.

"Yeah what was his name Joshua something or other wasn't it?" the other replied.

Nathan's interest perked as he heard the mention of the name that had plagued him for the past months. Surely they couldn't be talking about the same Josh? Pretending to see something he was interested in on the bookshelf he paused in front of it listening intently.

"Imagine a man of his age being caught sleeping with a student," she said indignantly.

The other woman clicked her tongue disapprovingly "and with a male student no less. That's just disgraceful. It would never have happened in my day."

"I don't know if that's necessarily the case," the other woman said "but in our day people knew how to be discreet about such things."

Nathan turned away he had heard enough. He had wondered how long it would take for Josh's little secret to be exposed or perhaps not so little he amended to himself and now it was out in the open for everyone to know. For a brief moment he allowed himself to wonder how Haley was dealing with this news but then resolutely pushed those thoughts aside once again. It didn't matter to him anymore. She didn't matter. Whatever happened to her now was none of his damn concern.