Helping Someone Out (Chapter Fourteen)
AN HOUR LATER
After Peyton dropped Haley off, she made her way back to the school, so she could talk to Lucas about what Haley had confessed to her. Peyton advised Haley to go to the police. Haley had chuckled and said that she had gone to the hospital on Saturday to get tested for any possible STDs that Brian could've given her. Haley had confessed what happened to the nurse who then talked her into a rape kit. After that, the police had been called and Haley had given them a statement. They had asked her if she wanted to press charges and Haley had said that she needed a few days to think about it. Peyton had asked her if she had made up her mind and Haley had decided not to press charges. Peyton had tried to talk her into pressing charges but Haley had remained firm saying: "Peyton, I don't want to make a big spectacle out of what happened. I've already given my statement and now I just want to forget it ever happened and get on with my life."
Peyton had tried once more to talk her into pressing charges, but Haley had remained adamant about not doing so. So, Peyton had come up with a plan. She was going to go to Lucas and Brooke, tell them what happened and hope to God that they could help her convince Haley to press charges. Peyton herself had never been raped, but she had come close and she knew other friends who had. She had never once encountered someone who had never wanted to see her rapist go to jail. She had seen some of her friends who had been afraid of their rapists, but they always wanted to make sure he got what he deserved. The state could prosecute Brian Chase for statutory rape, but without Haley's testimony, it was doubtful that the jury would come back with a guilty verdict. She pulled into the school driveway and parked. She grabbed her pompoms and headed towards the gym.
"P. Sawyer, you are thirty minutes late!" Brooke exclaimed.
"I'm sorry. I was kind of busy talking to Haley," Peyton said. Brooke rolled her eyes and an expression of annoyance slowly came across her features.
"Well, talk to the slut on your own time from now on," Brooke said.
"She's not a slut, Brooke," Lucas said as he came into the gym with some other guys from the team, including Nathan.
"Fine. The cheater," Brooke said, smirking.
"Give it a rest," he said. Brooke looked wounded, but shrugged it off.
"I need to talk to the two of you after practice," Peyton said grimly.
"Is everything ok?" Lucas and Brooke asked in unison. They gave each other a weird look, but then gave their attention to Peyton. Peyton shook her head.
"No, far from it," she said, widening her eyes as Nathan came into view.
"What're you guys talking about?" Nathan asked, as he came over.
"Peyton has something that she needs to talk to me and Brooke about after practice, that's all," Luke said. Nathan looked at her quizzically and in hurt. He must be wondering why she didn't need to talk to him about it.
"It's nothing you'd be interested in, Nathan," Peyton said.
"Try me," he said. Peyton shrugged.
"It's about Haley," she admitted. Anger came down on Nathan's face like a thunderstorm. He nodded. Lucas looked at her worriedly.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Later," Peyton said.
ABOUT A HOUR LATER
Peyton, Lucas and Brooke walked to a hallway where there was no one. "So, what's the big secret, P. Sawyer?" Brooke asked.
"Haley didn't cheat on Nathan," Peyton announced.
"Uh, Peyton, I was there when Nathan walked in on Haley and Brian together. There was no mistaking what we saw," Brooke said.
"What you saw was the end of Brian attacking Haley," Peyton said. Brooke's eyebrows creased in confusion. Peyton looked at Lucas and she could tell that he had an idea of what she meant; he had an expression of disbelief on his face. Peyton sighed. "Brian raped Haley," she confirmed. Brooke's mouth dropped open in shock.
"That son of a bitch!" Lucas exclaimed.
"Hold on, Luke. I didn't tell you so you could fly off the handle and go attack Brian," Peyton said.
"Then, why did you tell me?" he asked.
"Because I need your help. Haley won't press charges against him and I want you two to help me try to convince her," she said.
"She hasn't pressed charges?" Brooke repeated. Peyton shook her head. Brooke raised an eyebrow in a suggestive matter.
"Maybe because it's not true, Peyton," Brooke suggested. Peyton shook her head in shock.
"You know, sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with you," Peyton said. Brooke looked at her in hurt.
"Brooke, Haley would not make up a story like that," Lucas said. Brooke scoffed.
"Please. Nathan dumped Haley once he found her in bed with Brian. Haley is devastated that Nathan dumped her. What better way to win her man back than to cry rape?" Brooke shot back.
"You know what? Maybe I just want Lucas' help," Peyton said. Lucas shook his head and turned to Brooke.
"You don't know Haley like I do. Haley is the most honest person I know and she has very strong morals and she sticks to them. They're as important to her as shopping is to you," Lucas said.
"Haley hasn't told Nathan and I get the feeling that she won't," Peyton said.
"Why? It would explain everything," Lucas said.
"Well, she probably thinks that since he's so angry at her, he won't believe her and like Brooke said, he'll probably just see it as a way to get him back," Peyton said.
"Haley's working at the café right now. We could talk to her there," Brooke said.
"We can't ambush her like that," Peyton said.
"Then, we'll do it at my house. She's supposed to meet me there after her shift to study," Lucas said. They all nodded in agreement.
KAREN'S CAFÉ
Haley sighed as she lifted the heavy tray of dirty dishes. Her shoulder was aching as she attempted to carry it, but Brian had injured it and she couldn't handle the weight, so all of the dishes went crashing to the floor. All of the customers looked up in alarm. Deb Scott came running out. "Haley, what happened?" Deb asked. "Oh, I just dropped it by accident. I'm sorry. You can take it out of my pay," she said.
"Nonsense. If you remember correctly, I probably broke a hundred dollars' worth of dishes when I first started working here," Deb said, smiling. Haley chuckled. Her sleeve on her shirt had been pushed up when she was picking up the broken plates revealing a few small purple bruises from where Brian had held her down tightly with his hand. Deb looked at it in concern. "Oh, Haley, what happened?" she asked, pointing to them. Haley laughed nervously and shoved her sleeve down.
"Oh, nothing. You know me; I'm such a klutz!" Haley said. Deb nodded slowly and chuckled.
"Where are you and Nathan going tonight?" she asked. Haley stopped moving and looked at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Well, Nathan told me he had a date tonight," she said. Haley gulped.
"Well, it's not with me. He and I broke up on Friday," Haley replied. Deb gasped.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, I had no idea," she said. Haley shrugged.
"I guess it just wasn't meant to be," Haley said, shrugging and taking the tray to the back. Deb followed her.
"You know, I saw Nathan while the two of you were together; I've never seen him happier. He was so happy to have you," Deb said.
"Well, not anymore," Haley said. She looked at Deb pleading her to drop it. Deb nodded and left. Haley fought back tears as she thought of Nathan. Then, anger crept up inside her. She wasn't going to waste her time crying over someone who clearly did not care about her anymore. He didn't trust her anymore and she couldn't be with someone who didn't trust her. Although, she knew that in his mind, he had every reason not to trust her, but he didn't even let her try to explain. She had given him a few days to cool down after he broke up with her, but apparently, he was moving on now.
TEN MINUTES LATER
LUCAS' HOUSE
"Hey, Haley," Lucas said as he let her into his room. Haley frowned when she saw Peyton and Brooke sitting on his bed.
"What's going on?" she asked suspiciously.
"Haley, they know," Peyton told her. A look of shame and anger came onto Haley's face.
"You know when someone tells you something in confidence, it's generally understood that you'll keep their confidence," Haley snapped at Peyton.
"I'm sorry. I just thought that they could help," she said. Haley scoffed.
"How can they possibly help?" she asked.
"Haley, why haven't you agreed to testify for the state?" Lucas asked. Haley turned and glared at Peyton and then looked at Brooke and Lucas. She laughed bitterly.
"What is this, an intervention?" Haley asked.
"No, we're just trying to understand," Brooke said. Haley scoffed.
"Like you even care," Haley said. "You're only here because you want to be near Lucas. You don't give a damn about me," she snapped.
"That's not true, Haley. I sympathize with what you're going through, I really do," Brooke said honestly.
"The big brown eyes say 'sincere' but the fact that you called me a slut is throwing me," Haley said. Brooke looked down. "You've got a pretty interesting concept of sympathy," she added.
"I'm sorry," Brooke said. Haley shook her head.
"You know what? I don't even care anymore," Haley said.
"About what?" Peyton asked.
"What people think about me; I might as well testify," she said, leaving and slamming the door with a thundering crash.
"Well, that was kind of easy," Peyton said. Lucas shook his head in annoyance and amusement at what Peyton said.
"Yeah, we didn't really have to do anything," Brooke said.
"I think she was going to decide to testify the whole time. She was just looking for a sign that it would be the right thing to do. And us ambushing her like this was probably that sign," Lucas said.
AN HOUR LATER
KAREN'S CAFÉ
"Hey, Mom," Nathan said as he walked into the café and sat at the bar.
"How'd the date go?" she asked. Nathan groaned.
"It was awful," he said.
"You didn't like the girl?" Deb asked. Nathan shook his head.
"No, she was perfectly nice, good looking, and all of that," Nathan said.
"But…" Deb started.
"She wasn't Haley," he said in misery.
"Nathan, why did she break up with you?" Deb asked. Nathan scoffed.
"That's just it. She didn't. I broke up with her," he said. Deb looked at him in disbelief.
"Why on Earth would you do a stupid thing like that?" his mother exclaimed. Nathan filled her in. Deb shook her head. "I'm speechless," she said.
"I know. It's hard to believe," Nathan said. Deb shook her head.
"I don't believe it, Nathan," Deb said. Nathan looked at him and glared at her.
"I'm not lying. Do you think I want it to be true?" Nathan said angrily.
"There's got to be an explanation, Nathan," Deb said.
"What possible explanation could there be? What, he tripped and fell onto her and she just happened to be half naked?" Nathan asked.
"I don't know, but I do know that when I saw Haley today, she was miserable when I brought up your date tonight," Deb said. Nathan felt a sharp pang at the thought of Haley being hurt.
"Why would you tell her that?" he asked.
"I thought you were going on a date with her, but she quickly corrected my mistake and dropped the bomb that the two of you had broken up," Deb said.
"I thought I had told you," he said. Deb shook her head.
AN HOUR LATER
Nathan walked up to Peyton's door and knocked lightly. No one answered typically and Nathan walked upstairs to Peyton's room. He knocked lightly on the doorframe and Peyton turned around and widened her eyes in surprise. "Nathan, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I haven't seen you in a while," he said.
"You saw me this afternoon and at practice," she said.
"Yeah, but after practice, you guys went to your secret meeting and that was hours ago. Thought I'd stop by to talk," he said. Peyton shrugged.
"About what?" she asked innocently.
"What've you guys been doing without me?" he asked.
"We were, uh, helping Haley with something," she said. His eyes narrowed in anger.
"Thanks. Your loyalty to me is overwhelming," Nathan said.
"Nathan, I'm not on anyone's side here. Haley's just been going through a rough time," she said.
"And I haven't? I'm the one she cheated on, if you remember correctly. The only reason she's upset is because she's guilty," Nathan said.
"I know that Haley didn't cheat on you and deep down you know it too," she said.
"Then how the hell do you explain what I saw on Friday?" he asked.
"You're wrong," she said.
"No, I'm not, Peyton. Haley cheated on me with that jackass," he said.
"No, Nathan, she didn't," she insisted. Nathan looked at her doubtfully. Peyton sighed. "That jackass raped her," Peyton said.
"He raped her?" he repeated. Peyton nodded.
"That's what Haley was trying to tell you earlier," she said. Nathan turned around and left. "Where are you going, Nathan?" she called after him.
HALEY'S HOUSE
Haley lay on her bed and tried to get some sleep. She couldn't help but feel nervous about her upcoming testimony. She wouldn't be there for the entire trial. She didn't think she could face him every day after what had happened. Then, she heard a knock on her window. She groaned as she went over to it. She pulled the curtain away and was shocked to see Nathan. "We need to talk," he said. Haley thought about shutting the curtains, going back to her bed and blaring her music so she wouldn't have to hear him knocking on her window, but the fact that there didn't seem to be any trace of anger in his voice made her open the window. She walked to her bed and sat down on it. He sat down. His eyes travelled to her arm and Haley quickly hid it behind her back. "Haley, I already saw the bruises," he said. Haley looked at him.
"I know that you didn't cheat on me," he said. Haley looked at him in shock. She could barely believe she had heard him right. But then that left only one other possibility. She looked at him and as if he read her mind he confirmed her suspicion. "I know what really happened," he said as he cupped her face. He looked at her with love in his eyes.
"Are you ok?" he asked. His voice with low and filled with genuine concern and love. Haley couldn't help it. She broke down and leaned into him.
"No, I'm not. Not really," she said into his shoulder. His arms came around her as he pulled her closer to him. He didn't say that she would be fine and that she would be able to put it behind her; he knew that that was condescending. He just held her and kissed her head.
"It's ok," he whispered soothingly. Haley was still crying as she moved her head and looked up at him.
"Thank you," she choked out through her tears. He shook his head saying that there was no need to thank him. He kissed her softly and pulled her closer.