Chapter Seven

I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

Nathan

"Dude, it's Luke and his mouldy meat girlfriend," Tim calls out as soon as we enter Karen's. I roll my eyes and throw him a withering look. Me and the boys have been playing in my driveway all afternoon, and now we're hungry so… here we are.

"You know, She may be a dork, but have you ever seen Haley James in gym class?" Rob Klein asks. Tim and the others pull a face.

"Ugh, you like tutor girl?" Tim asks. "Huh, maybe you should start dating her or something! Oh wait, Lucas beat you to it."

"Only thing he's going to beat me at," Rob replies with a grin. "And I don't like her, just saying she has a great pair on her."

Payton suddenly appears in front of us, a hand on her hips. "Speaking of a great pair…" I say. Everyone but Jake guffaws.

"Ok, not even going to go there, but could you like, move away from the door? You're not the only people here you know."

"I know, Luke's here too, maybe we should go sit with him."

Peyton raises her eyebrows and Tim's jaw visibly drops. "Huh?" he asks.

"What? He's my brother right?"

I leave the boys dawdling behind and sit right next to Haley. She looks at me as if she didn't know I was here already. Maybe she didn't.

"What are you doing?" Luke asks, throwing me a filthy look. Filthier than usual… Actually, he looks mad.

"Eating dinner. Why, is that a crime?"

"Go away Nathan," Lucas tells me. His voice is low and kind of menacing. I look at Haley and she's staring hard at the table. Her cheeks are flushed and her hand is clenched into a fist.

"Trouble in paradise?" I ask.

Just as I say that, the others pull chairs over and sits down. Peyton appears behind them, throwing an apologetic look at Lucas.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Lucas asks. His eyes are flashing with anger.

"Hey, maybe we should go," Jake says. He's already grabbing his coat like the wimp he is.

"Why? Can you guys feel the tension too? Did Luke finally fall off his white horse Hales?"

Haley's head swivels to me and her eyes lock on mine. Suddenly everything else feels distant. I can hear Luke's sharp intake of breath, Peyton's gasp and Tim's 'Luke has a horse?' But the only thing that seems to be in the here and now is Haley, and that indescribable look in her eyes. Its like a mixture of anger and pain. It actually hurts to look at.

A sharp pain across my face brings me back to Karen's. Haley's cheeks have flushed up and her hand is still raised in mid-air.

"Whoa!" Tim yells, high-fiving Rob. "tutor girl hit you!"

"What did you do that for?" I shout.

Haley's staring at me with her mouth hanging open. "I… I'm going to go…"

"Haley…" It's Peyton, but Haley is already pushing past her and heading for the door, her chair pushed across the floor. Peyton turns to me, "Nice one Nathan."

"What was that?"

I turn to see Lucas staring at me. His eyes are still flashing with anger, only now he looks dangerous too. I shrug, trying to wipe the whole incident away. It's shook me up more than I'd like to admit.

"Your girlfriend must have PMS or something," I say.

"You know Nathan, you're a jerk."

"Well, I may be a jerk, but I'm still getting your girlfriends panties in a twist." I'm goading him, I know it. I also know that it's not a good idea to start a fight in my Mom's café, but I can't help it. It's like the words just erupted out of my mouth.

Lucas doesn't rise to the bait though. He shakes his head and stalks out.

Tim sums the whole thing up pretty well: "That was some weird crap!"


"Son, can we talk?"

Damn, I didn't make it. I was trying to get up to my bedroom without him catching me. Great.

"What?" I ask, turning round to face my dad where he's stood in the living room doorway.

"I just wanted to check in," he says, that smug smile on his face that means he's going to bust my chops about something. Oh yeah, and gloat - he's going to gloat too, about he he was and is better than me, and how he could still run rings around me on the court.

You would think that after seventeen years, these things would stop bothering me.

Huh.

"How's the game?" he asks. I shrug, staring at the stairs. "Are you still the best one out there?" My God, how is he not getting the hint?

"Dad, The only people I've got to compete against ar people like Tim and Jake. They're nothing compared to me, ok?" That's it Nathan, give him the ego.

"Well, there's Lucas too. He's got game Nate, I'd hate to see you upstaged by him."

"Not going to happen."

"Well, last year he gave you a run for your money Nathan. You've got to admit, he's good. Maybe he's even getting better than you…"

"Yeah? Well then maybe he's the one you should be unloading all your infinite 'wisdom' onto. I'm sure he'll be very grateful for it!" I yell. God, I need to get away from here. I run for the stairs.

"You get back here Nathan!" Dad shouts, but I ignore him. I've had enough of his constant crap.

I walk into my room, slam the door and turn some rap on full volume. The sound attacks my ear drums and I lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

The volume goes down and I feel a weight on the bed. I turn and see my Mom smiling down at me. I hate it when she does that.

"Hey sweetie," she says. I grunt in response. "I know he seems to be giving you a hard time, but he really does love you, you know?"

"Lucky me."

Mom smiles again. "Okay honey, I'll levae you here to cool off. Me and your dad have to go to some businessperson of the year thing. Should be fun, huh?"

I smile, despite myself.

Mom heads for the door, but just before she goes she turns back to me. "Oh, by the way, have you seen Lucas?"

I grit my teeth. "He's probably at his girlfriend's."

Mom nods and walks out. I don't bother turning the music back up. I stay staring up at the ceiling listening to the bustle below me as Mom and Dad get ready to go out. The jangle of car keys, my dad's bossy voice, Mom playing the pushover housewife. I close my eyes, just for a second…

But when I open them, the digital clock on my bedside table tells me its 8:15 - and hour since my Mom came in. I feel confused, trying to work out what's woke me up.

And then it happens again. A knock on the front door. I groan and pull a pillow onto my face. "Lucas!" I shout. He can be the one to get it. I want to go back to sleep.

Oh yeah, the life of Nathan Scott is just one long party.

"Lucas!" No answer. He still can't be in. I groan as I hear the knock on the door again.

"Alright, alright!" I yell at no-one in particular.

Who the hell's calling at this time anyway?

Oh, wait Nathan - it's just gone eight.

Ugh, I'm turning into an old man


AN: Wow, well that was a long wait, huh? Well here's two chapters anyway. I would grovel and beg for forgiveness but its just not my style lol.

Next chapter will be up by tomorrow if I can get straight home from college tomorrow. Heres hoping...