Ch-Ch-Changes (Chapter Sixteen)

TWO YEARS LATER

Haley walked into school on her first day of senior year and was surprised at how different things looked. She had been away for the entire summer and while the school itself hadn't changed much, she found that she had changed drastically. She was no longer the naïve little tutor girl that Brooke liked to tease. She was no longer the yin to Nathan Scott's yang. And that had bothered her for a long time since she left, but not anymore. She had come back to Tree Hill with one thing on her mind: Finishing high school and getting on with her life. She was not going to dwell on the past anymore. She was through with feeling like Nathan and she should still be together when that was clearly not what he wanted. He made his choice and clearly intended to stick to it.

(FLASHBACK)

"So, you've been fooling around behind my back, huh?" Haley asked. Nathan looked at her. His eyes were full of regret.

"I'm sorry, Haley. I never wanted you to find out like this," he said, holding Heather Mitchell's hand close to him. Haley laughed cruelly.

"You didn't want me to find out at all," she said.

"That's not true, Haley. I was going to tell you," Nathan said.

"Oh, really? When were you going to tell me, at your wedding three years from now?" Haley asked sarcastically.

"You're overreacting," Heather said. Haley turned to face her and smiled at her sarcastically.

"How nice of you to be so kind to point that out to me. I'm overreacting. I didn't realize being upset and angry when you find out your boyfriend of two and a half years has been cheating on you was overreacting. But it seems as if the slut has put me in my place," she said, laughing.

Nathan walked over to her and tried to put his hands on her shoulder to calm her down like he had so many times before, but she backed away. "Don't even try it," Haley warned.

"Look, I know how this must look, Hales. I know how angry you must be right now and how upset," he started but Haley just shook her head.

"Are you seriously going to try to tell me that you understand how I'm feeling? You don't understand because you're not the one who's been cheated on. You did the cheating, not me," she said. Nathan looked down. "Do you know what the worst part of this is, Nathan? I loved you and I trusted you. After everything that we've been through, and I know we've had our ups and downs, I wouldn't trade one second of it. I was actually upset about the fact that I was going to be leaving you all alone this summer. And now…" Haley started but her sentence trailed off. He looked at her expectantly. "Now I don't really care if I ever see you again," she said, turning around and walking away.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

She flinched at the memory but then headed to her locker. She put some books in it and headed straight for the tutoring centre. She felt at home again in the tutoring centre. She smiled at some of the students. Then she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around and smiled when she saw Lucas. "I thought I was hallucinating when I saw you at your locker!" he exclaimed. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a huge bear hug.

"I missed you too, Luke," she said.

"So where did you go exactly? Your mom wasn't really specific with the details," he said. Haley smiled.

"I went on tour," she replied. He looked at her in surprise.

"You did?" he asked. Haley nodded.

"With who?" Lucas asked.

"Two wonderful girls named Holly Garrett and Stephanie Hall," she said. He looked at her in confusion. "They're Canadians and I was in Canada on tour," she explained. He nodded.

"And how was touring the Great White North?" he asked. Haley laughed.

"It was great. We hit all kinds of places. Toronto, Kingston, Milton, Guelph, Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon," she started to explain.

"That's great for you, Hales. I'm just glad to have you back here. I know Tree Hill can be boring but it just isn't the same without you here," he said. Haley smiled.

"Aww. I missed you too," she teased.

"I didn't miss that so much, though," he said, laughing. Haley shrugged.

"Yeah, well, get used to it. So how is everyone else?" Haley asked.

"Everyone else?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Jake, Peyton, Brooke and Nathan," she said. He looked at her in surprise.

"Nathan? You really care?" he asked. Haley nodded.

"Of course. I assume he's still with, uh, what's her name, right?" she said.

"Heather and, no, he's not still with her," Lucas replied. Haley looked at him in confusion.

"Ok, Hales, what's up?" he asked. Haley looked at him innocently. "Why do you care what's going on with Nathan?" he asked.

"He and I dated for a while, Lucas. It's only natural for me to still care about him," she said.

"As I recall, you didn't care for him so much before you left. You hated him," he said.

"I'm over that, Lucas. Nathan and I are not meant to be. It was obvious from the start and I'm sorry that it went on as long as it did," she said. He looked at her in shock.

"You're actually serious, aren't you?" Lucas asked. Haley nodded.

"Of course I am. I'm not the type to lie. When have I ever done that?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I'm just surprised. I mean, you're a forgiving kind of person, Hales, but to forgive Nathan so quickly and easily is beyond amazing. You should be eligible for sainthood," he said, laughing.

"Ha, ha. It wasn't easy to forgive him and you know it. I just figured that there's no point in dwelling on something that I can't change," Haley said.

"If you say so," he said.

"I do," Haley said.

Nathan Scott pulled into the school a few minutes early. He sighed as it dawned on him that this was the last first day of high school he'd ever have to endure. He smiled at the thought. He grabbed his duffel bag and headed into the school and to his locker.

At lunch, he headed to his cousin's locker and was surprised to see that neither Brooke nor Lucas was there. He walked to the cafeteria and found that Lucas, Brooke, Peyton and Jake were all sitting down at the usual table. But there was someone else there. This was the one person Nathan had dreaded running into again for three months and now that Haley was back, he knew he'd have to face her sometime. He just didn't know what to do. Should he be nice? Should he just not say anything to her and sit down? Should he try to apologize again? Would it make any difference what he did?

He had blown it with Haley so many times but the last time was the biggest screw up he'd ever made. He cheated on her with someone who was only using him to get back at her old boyfriend. That relationship had lasted about two months and then it had disintegrated and Nathan had felt like the biggest fool on the face of the earth. He probably was too.

He had devastated the person that he loved more than anything in the world. He knew he had completely destroyed her when she found out. The memory of her face when she caught him with Heather was burned into his memory for all time. He had never seen her so shattered. She had been raped before- violated beyond imagination- and it seemed to him that that had been nothing compared to what he had done to her.

He shook his head with the thoughts and decided to just see what would happen. He walked over nervously and sat down beside Peyton. He smiled at everyone. For a while, he wouldn't meet Haley's penetrating gaze. When he looked up, he was shocked to see that she was looking at him. That in itself surprised him, but the emotions in her eyes completely shocked him. There was no anger, no hurt or any trace of resentment. She actually seemed concerned. For him. "Are you ok?" she asked. It took him a few minutes to get over the feeling of absolute astonishment at the fact that she'd actually spoken to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's good to see you back," he said, nodding. She smiled appreciatively.