You & Me Against the World (Chapter Six)
Haley walked out of class and noticed a few girls gathered by her locker. She was confused. She didn't know who they were. In fact, she'd never seen them before. She carefully approached her locker and winced when one girl started to laugh. She opened her locker door and put some books in and took other ones out. "So, Haley, exactly what is the point you're trying to make?" A girl asked. Haley turned around.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Haley said. She laughed.
"Sure you do. But allow me to clarify: You're dating Nathan," she replied.
"And?" Haley asked. Now she remembered the girl. Her name was Julie North. Julie smiled at her sarcastically.
"Well, what are you trying to prove? That you're one of us because you have him?" she asked.
"One of you?" Haley asked. They looked at each other knowingly.
"Yeah. One of the rich and popular. Nathan's group," Julie said. Haley couldn't help but crack a smile.
"I'm not trying to prove anything, least of all that I'm one of you," she replied.
"Could've fooled us," Julie said.
"What exactly is your problem, Julie? Are you bothered that I have Nathan because I'm not like one of the girls he usually dates? Or is it because he stayed with me but dumped you?" Haley asked. Most people thought she was a perfect little angel. They didn't realize that she could be just like all of them. Julie laughed.
"Oh, please. You're not special to him and you know it. You and Nathan haven't been dating that long. Once he gets what he wants from you, he'll ditch you," she said. Haley shook her head and laughed. "What's funny?" Julie asked.
"You," Haley replied. Julie raised an eyebrow. "It just amazes me that you think you have everything figured out, when the sad reality is, is that you're completely clueless," Haley said. Julie looked mad. "For your information, Nathan and I have been dating for three months," Haley announced. The girls were speechless. Haley felt satisfied and walked away.
Nathan was the first one in the locker room after practice and he was already changed into his jeans and a random hockey team's jersey by the time the others got into the locker room. His friend, Tim Smith walked over to him and looked at him for a few minutes. "What's up, Tim?" Nathan asked.
"What's the deal with you and that nerd?" he asked. Nathan glared at him.
"Her name is Haley, Tim, and what are you talking about?" Nathan asked.
"Well, the word around school is that you and she have been dating for three months," another team mate, Joel, said.
"And?" Nathan asked.
"We're wondering if it's true," Tim said.
"It's true," Nathan replied.
"You're kidding," Joel said.
"No," Nathan said.
"But it's Haley James," Tim said. Nathan glared at him warningly.
"What's your point?" Nathan asked.
"What exactly is it between the two of you? You don't seem to have a whole lot in common," Joel said.
"Is she really that good in bed?" Tim asked. Nathan glared at him.
"Watch it," he warned. Tim and Jake looked at him in surprise. "It's not about sex with Haley," he explained.
"You're saying you haven't with her?" Tim asked. Just then, Lucas looked at him. Nathan found this amusing. For someone who claimed not to care about her anymore, Lucas sure took a very keen interest in conversations that Haley was mentioned in.
"Not that it's any of your business, but, no, we haven't had sex," Nathan said.
"Why not?" Joel asked.
"Like I said, it's not about that," he said in annoyance.
"Then, what is it about?" Lucas asked. Nathan looked at him.
"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked. Lucas walked over.
"Are you using Haley just to get to me? If you are, I swear," Lucas demanded, raising his arm.
"Whoa, you need to calm down," Nathan said, backing away.
"I don't like it when my friends are being taken advantage of," Lucas said. Nathan laughed.
"Here's a sad dose of reality for you, Lucas: Not everything I do is part of this supposed plan you think I've created to drive you crazy. Especially not Haley," he said. Lucas looked at him warningly for a minute and then nodded. "And, besides, I'm not that one that's hurting her right now," Nathan said. Lucas turned around and looked at him.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lucas asked.
"Why did you walk away from her? That really hurt her," Nathan said.
"She lied to me about what was going on between the two of you," Lucas said.
"And how is what goes on between me and Haley any of your business?" Nathan asked. Lucas looked away for a minute. "That's exactly what I thought. Haley's a good friend to you, Lucas. In fact, she kept it from you because she knew how you'd react and she didn't want to hurt you," Nathan said.
"And I bet that blew a huge whole in your plan," Lucas said.
"If that were true, then, I would've insisted of not hiding it. But I didn't. Because it's not about you," Nathan said.
"What is it about then?" Lucas asked.
"It's about Haley and how I'll do anything to make her happy. I don't want to see her hurt anymore than you do. But you're the one who turned your back on her, not me," Nathan said.
Haley leaned against the brick wall of the gymnasium. She was waiting for Nathan after practice. He was going to drive her to work and hang out at the café with her. A few minutes passed and the doors finally opened. A few of guys looked at her and shook their head. Haley got a bad feeling as one of them approached her. "Just exactly who do you think you are?" he asked. Haley looked at him as if it were a joke.
"What do you mean?" Haley asked.
"Do you really think you're going to be able to stay with Nathan? You're from different worlds. You look down on the things we do, but Nathan has a blast. You're delusional if you think you can pull him into your world," he said.
"I have no intention of doing that," she said.
"I think you should just dump him," he said.
"You want me to dump Nathan?" she repeated slowly. She was amazed that this guy wanted her to hurt Nathan.
"In all honesty, you'll be saving yourself a lot of pain," he said. Haley rolled her eyes and the guy laughed. "We know who Nathan really is. The fact that he's with you now doesn't change his past and you know what they say about the past," he said.
"And what do they say?" Haley asked.
"That you can run from it and even try to ignore it but in the end, the past will always come back to bite you. And you're naïve if you think Nathan's won't," he said, and then walked away. Just then, Nathan came up beside Haley and put his arm around her.
"Hey, Hales," he said and kissed her on the top of the head. She relaxed in his arms and smiled up at him.
"How was your day?" she asked.
"The team was giving me a hard time," he replied.
"About me?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, but it was because they didn't understand. I explained, though," he said. Haley nodded.
"What about you? Did you have any annoying encounters?" he asked.
"More like warnings," she replied. Nathan looked at her in concern.
"From?" he asked. Haley smiled.
"Some jealous girls and ex-girlfriends. They told me that you'll never change and that you're just after one thing and once you get it, you'll throw me away," she replied.
"Oh," he said. He looked down at her cautiously and she smiled up at him.
"And I told them to go to hell," she said. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and amusement. She hugged him tighter as they walked to his car. "I know all of those things about you, Nathan, but I also know something else," she said. He looked at her.
"What's that?" he asked.
"I know that you care about me," she replied. He laughed and kissed her on the lips.
"You better believe it," he said.
"I also know that you're not stupid enough to treat me like that," she said. This made him smile.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I have three older brothers, Nathan. How do you think they'd react if you messed with their sister?" she said. He stopped to think for a minute. "Their baby sister," she reminded him. Nathan laughed.
"They'd probably hurt me," he said, remembering that one of her brothers had been on the basketball team and was now a player on the university level and the other two were in the military.
"Yeah and my sisters would finish you off," she said.
"Well, I guess I'm stuck with you then," he said. Haley looked at him in shock and he started laughing. She punched him on the shoulder a few times. She had a good right hook.
"That's not funny," she said, laughing as he grabbed his arm in pain. They sat down in the car and he pulled her onto him in the driver's seat.
"I can't imagine anyone I'd rather be stuck with," he said, and kissed her. Haley smiled and kissed him back. Then she got into her seat and put her seatbelt on.
"Me too," she replied.