Look at How the Mighty Have Fallen (Chapter six)

/It's dawning on me that senior year is half over. It's very weird to think that pretty soon I'll be off to university. University is what my parents say, but college is more likely with my grades. So much had happened during high school, I was almost afraid to leave. In ninth grade alone, I had said goodbye to my first serious girlfriend, a person who had took a major chance on me and I had crushed her in return and hello to my second girlfriend, Peyton Sawyer who I was with during and right after my first girlfriend. My relationship with Peyton seems to be more of convenience now. I cared about her, yeah, but I was more interested in basketball than I was her to tell you the truth and that's not the way it should be. The same can be said for Peyton, though. She was more into her art and cheerleading if you can believe that, than me. My ego couldn't stand it sometimes so I ended up being a jerk again. I cheated on her and she cheated on me, both hoping to illicit a response from the other but it never worked. Little did I know that the universe had decided to teach me a lesson/

Nathan stood at his locker with his brother, Lucas and best friend, Tim Smith. They were chatting about the fact that senior year was almost over. "It's so close, I can almost taste it," Tim Smith said. Nathan and Lucas both looked at him in amusement. It was a classic Tim thing to say: ridiculous and hilarious.

"So, what are you and Peyton going to that dance on Friday?" Lucas asked. Nathan nodded.

"I'm a jock and she's a cheerleader and we're dating. It's kind of expected, isn't it?" Nathan asked. Lucas shook his head.

"I guess you could put it like that. But some people would say you're going because you enjoy spending time with your girlfriend," Lucas said. Nathan shrugged.

"Come on, Lucas. You know very well that Tree Hill High's super couple is always happy to be with each other," Brooke said, coming up to them with Peyton trailing behind her. She walked over to Nathan and took his hand. He kissed her hello and put his arm around her like he always did and then turned his attention back to the rest of them.

"Well, I know I'm happy to see my girlfriend," Lucas said, kissing Brooke. After it ended, they seemed to be in their own little world and Peyton was envious of what her friend had with her boyfriend. You'd think that since they were brothers, Lucas and Nathan would be a little alike in how they treated their girlfriends but it was not true. In the beginning, Nathan had been sweet and loving even when they were sneaking behind that girl's back, but like the girl, that had slowly disappeared.

"I heard there's a new student," Tim announced. Nathan and every one else looked at him.

"Tim, Jake is hardly a new student. He's been here for half the year," he told his friend. Tim shook his head.

"No, there's another transfer student coming today," Tim said. They all looked at him in surprise and then started to talk about who the student could possibly be, not even noticing that the "new" student was across the hall from them walking up to Jake Jagielski's locker.

"Well, well, well. You are still alive," Haley said to the guy. Jake's eyes widened at the familiarity of the voice. He turned around to see Haley James' smiling face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, laughing. She went on as if she hadn't even heard him.

"I transferred here. I just had to check up on you," she said, smiling. He looked at her in disbelief and then confusion. She laughed. "You never wrote or called. You could give a girl a bad feeling, Jagielski." Jake bent down and hugged Haley.

"I've missed you, Hales. So, you're seriously coming here?" he asked. Haley nodded, showing him her new student ID card. It was vastly different from her ninth grade one. Her face had narrowed a little more and her eyes had gotten bigger and the brown in them had gotten darker. Her dark brown hair was lighter now and had blond highlights. Her sister had called the shade dirty blond. "Don't get me wrong. It's great to have an ally here. But why?" he asked. Haley frowned.

"My dad had a heart attack, Jake. I took the opportunity to come back home," she said, explaining that she had been wanting to come back for a long time.

"You were happy in Athens, weren't you? I thought you hated it here," he said. Haley nodded.

"I did back then, but I'm not the same person I was back then or when I first came to Athens High," Haley said. Jake nodded. He had to admit that that was the truth. When she had first showed up as a new student, people had questioned her stability. She seemed very depressed and it seemed like she went out of her way to segregate herself from the rest of the other students.

/I was a little nervous about returning to Tree Hill High at first. I didn't know what to expect from the other students, but in all honesty, it's amazing to see how little and how much things have changed. Sometimes it seemed like the entire school had been stuck in limbo while I was gone. I changed into a completely different person from who I was back then. At least that's what Scott said. I loved the reactions of the other students that I used to go to school with. They all knew I was a new student but they had no idea that I was actually a "returning student" is the term I guess you would use. I'm not usually the type to care what other people thought about me or their opinion or reactions at all. I had changed and developed a new philosophy: I am who I am and if other's didn't like, that's tough because there wasn't a damn thing they could do to change it. But I loved the look of shock when they found out who I really was. One student said that I was unrecognizable./

It was lunch time and Jake had made Haley promise to eat lunch with him and his friends. He led her into the cafeteria and sat down at a table Haley recognized immediately. It was the table that Nathan had sat at in grade nine, but was it still his group's table? When Lucas and Brooke came and sat down beside them, she had her answer. "Hi, Lucas," Haley said. Lucas turned to her in confusion.

"Do I know you?" he asked. Haley smiled as she realized he had no idea who she was but couldn't deny that she was familiar to him. Haley turned to Jake and her smile widened.

"You must be the new student," Brooke said. Haley and Jake burst out laughing.

"I did just transfer but I'm hardly new," Haley replied.

"Ok, I'm confused," Brooke said, which didn't really surprise Haley. Brooke wasn't exactly known for her intelligence.

"She used to come here in ninth grade but left near the end of the year," Jake said, giving them a hint. Lucas' eyes narrowed. He was trying to place her.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who you are," Lucas said. Haley laughed.

"I don't look that different, do I? Come on, Luke. Think of ninth grade math class. We sat next together," she said. His eyes widened in recognition.

"No freaking way. Haley?" he asked. She nodded and he and Brooke exchanged looks of shock. "What the heck are you doing back here?" Haley scoffed but then explained why she had returned.

"I can't get over how different you look," Brooke said, looking Haley over. Haley frowned and observed her clothes. She was wearing a black t-shirt and blue flared jeans. Haley hadn't really realized that her wardrobe had changed. Then Brooke shook her head. "I'm talking about your hair," Brooke added. Haley looked at a strand of her hair and laughed.

"Oh," she said, still laughing. "My sister dyed it for me a few years ago." Then, Peyton Sawyer sat down at the table and looked around the table. Nathan followed behind her. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her. Haley watched in detached amusement that they were still together and she could tell that neither one was happy just by looking at their body language. Nathan's eyes rested on her.

"Haley?" he asked. Haley turned from her conversation with Jake when she heard her name. When their eyes met, hers narrowed into slits. He could feel that she had changed on the inside as well as on the outside.

"Nathan," Haley said, repeating his name mockingly. She got up and walked away from the table, waving goodbye to Jake. He had heard rumblings about the fact that the new girl was actually an old student and that caught his interest. But never in a million years did he think that Haley James would re-enter his life. She now had an almost confident heir about her that had not been there the last time he'd spoken her which was when he had broken up with her.

"She's back?" he asked, looking to everyone else. They nodded. "Why?"

"Her father had a heart attack, Nathan. Haley came back because she was homesick," Jake explained.

"How is it that you know her so well?" Brooke asked, referring to their sudden friendliness. Jake smirked.

"Haley's my best friend from my old school. You know, the one I told you about," he said. They all looked at him in shock. Jake had described his old friend as someone completely different from who Nathan knew Haley to be. He described her as a sometimes sarcastic girl. She had been known well throughout the school because she set up a learning lab there and was one of the leading tutors. Okay, that sounded like Haley, but the getting along with the popular kids, having a lot of friends, being outgoing as well as daring did not.

/So it was interesting for me to see Nathan unhappy with Peyton. Don't get me wrong, I don't like that he's unhappy. I still care about him, of course, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten what he put me through. Seeing him like that brought it all back and I was overcome with the memories of our past. But what bothers me is that its really obvious that he and Peyton are not happy together. And if it's obvious to me, as a person who's not really fond of either one of them and as a person who's been away for about three and a half years, it must be blatant to everyone else. Why would Nathan stay with her if he's unhappy? I wondered that for a few seconds until he opened his mouth and said my name. What I neglected to question is why I cared/

A week later…

Peyton woke up and sat in up in Nathan's bedroom. She heard the shower running and realized where he was. She got up and changed into clothes she brought over. She found a blank piece of lined paper and looked around for a pencil. She couldn't find one. She opened the drawer and found a pencil. She picked it up but her hand brushed against something. She looked down and realized it was a photograph. It seemed weird to find a picture in Nathan's drawer so she picked it up and sat back at what she saw. It was a picture of him and Haley. They were holding one another. She turned it over and sighed at what Nathan had written:

"Haley and I at our three month anniversary dinner." She sighed as she realized something that had haunted her ever since Haley had come back. Nathan was not over her. He had kept this picture in his top drawer and probably sneaked looks at it whenever he could. Not many realized it, but Peyton was deeply threatened by Haley. Though, she had won the battle and Nathan had chosen over her, she knew that he really did love Haley and now knew for sure that he still did, Haley had been Nathan's girlfriend first and she had had a profound effect on him because she "believed in him" as Lucas had said. That was something Peyton could never compete with. She cared about Nathan still, but she had never believed in him like Haley had. Now it dawned on her how much it had probably hurt Haley to learn that Nathan and she were dating behind her back.

"Peyton, are you awake?" he asked, coming into the room. He studied her. "What's wrong?" Peyton shook her head.

"What happened with us, Nathan?" she asked sadly. She handed him the picture and the love that flashed across his face was all the proof Peyton needed now. He looked back up at her.

"That's what this is about? Haley?" he asked. She looked up at him sadly and nodded.

"Clearly you still have feelings for her," she said. He shook his head.

"Peyton, she means nothing," he said unconvincingly. Peyton scoffed and looked at him in disbelief.

"Okay, if that's the case, then, you're an ass. And even if I believed you when you say that, you're still an ass. And what's really sad is that you're too stupid to realize that she was the best thing you had. So, thanks for being such an amazing asshole. You're making this so much easier," Peyton said. He looked at her in confusion. "We're through."

"Peyton, come on," he said.

"I mean it, we're done," she repeated, getting up and leaving.

/So that's when my girlfriend of three years dumped me. It's funny; you'd think I'd be upset about it, but I wasn't. Yeah, my ego was bruised but only because a girl had dumped me not because Peyton had dumped me. It was strangely liberating because now I was free to get the girl of my dreams back. An even funnier thing about that is that it was easier said than done/