Chaper Twenty-Eight

Burnin' Up

Haley

"Haley!"

I turn to see my sister Taylor running towards me and almost fall over as she wraps her arms around me.

"Hey," I say in my best 'adorable baby sister' voice. Taylor is the last to arrive. My older brothers Benjamin, Christopher, Steven and Michael are here, and so are my sisters Lucy and Christina. Yeah, we have a big family.

"Mom told me you weren't staying for dinner tonight," Taylor says, looking at me with a small smirk playing on her lips. "Is there someone you'd rather be with?"

"Not at all, but I promised Lucas I'd go…"

"Lucas, that's your boyfriend, right?"

"No, he's my ex-boyfriend…"

"And you're going out with him tonight?"

"I'm not going out with him. We're friends and there's a big charity ball that I've been invited to and he's going too."

Taylor looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "So who's the boy involved then."

"What?" I don't know how she does it, but Taylor can always see right through me.

"There's a boy Haley, it's so obvious. You're acting all nervous and shifty, you only do that when you're hiding something from me, and I just know that something is a boy. So spill."

I take a deep breath and tell her everything, about Nathan and the whole sorry story. When I'm finished, Taylor looks like she's just gorged out on her favourite soap opera.

"Oh my god Haley! Drama!"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"What do you mean, unfortunately? This is so cool! Tree Hill was never this fun when I lived here."

Wow, my sister is clueless.

We head into the house and Taylor follows me up to my room, where she'll be staying. I have a double bed and she'll sleep in that with Christina, while Lucy, my oldest sister, will sleep on the camp bed. I'm staying over at Peyton's.

"Whoa! What's with all the greenness?" Taylor says as soon as she comes in the room.

"It's my favourite colour," I say. I must admit, it's kind of defensive. I just don't think I'm used to Taylor being all Taylor after she's been gone so long.

"Oooh! Is this Nathan?"

I turn around and see her pointing at the pictures on the wall. I lean over. "Nope, that's Lucas."

Taylor turns to me open-mouthed. "You dropped that? Haley, he is hot!"

I sigh and shrug. "I know, but I think we work better as 'just friends'."

"So, you got a picture of Nathan?"

"No, he was – and kind of still is – a jerk. I never used to hang out with him."

"But he's Lucas's brother, right?"

"Yeah, but they don't look anything like each other. Nathan's dark haired."

"Oh, I like dark haired."

I glare at Taylor. "Don't even think about it."

"I thought you didn't want him any more"

"I don't!" I take a deep breath. Taylor is okay in small doses, but I mean like, really small doses. "But… he's still out of bounds."

"Ok, can I have Lucas?" Taylor asks.

This girl is unbelievable. The surprising thing is though, that I don't really care. Wow, I am so over Lucas. But surely I like him too much to let my sister loose on him…

I don't answer.


Wow, the Mayor has gone all out to make this a pretty cool occasion. There's loads of fairground rides, like a completely unsafe looking rollercoaster and a ferris wheel. There's loads of stands, like the coconut shy and the hoopla thing, and then there's stalls selling foods and candy. I tell you, I don't think Tree Hill as ever seen anything so… well, so absolutely corny actually.

"Tutor girl!

I turn to see Brooke standing on her tip-toes and waving me over. She's wearing a tiny halter top and some tight jeans. Huh, typical Brooke. She looks perfect.

"Tutor girl?" Taylor asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Long story," I shrug. "I'm just going to go and see my friend, okay?"

Taylor shrugs and walks over to Christina and Lucy, who are cooing over baby photographs. Lucy has a three-year-old son who's staying with his dad for the weekend.

"What's up," I say, when I reach Brooke. She has a huge smile pasted on her face but there's something extra behind it. I can't put my finger on it.

"Nothing, I can only stay here a while, I promised Patchouli that I'd help set up for the ball."

"Patchouli?" I ask. Seriously.

"Yeah, the events organiser. I think her real name is Rita or something. Anyway, uh… we need to talk."

"About what?"

Brooke opens her mouth and then closes it. "Um…" she says, grabbing my arm and pulling me over to a yellow tent with picnic tables in it. She pulls me down. "In here, actually."

I narrow my eyes. There's something weird going on here. "Brooke…" I say in a low voice.

"Okay, but… look. You have to promise that you won't yell at me," Brooke says. She actually looks really scared. Does she think I'm some kind of a monster? Like I'm going to attack her or something?

"Um… I promise?" I offer, because I'm genuinely curious now. And besides, it's not like a legal contract. If Brooke pisses me off I can yell.

"Okay, so… Oh God, you're going to be mad."

"Brooke, would you jet get on with it!"

"You yelled! You promised you wouldn't!"

My mouth drops open. I close it and take a deep breath. "There, all calm now, happy?"

"No."

"What are you going to say Brooke?"

"Okay, look… you know I think Lucas is hot, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well… I think I like him. Like, really really like him. And I know what a friendship commandment no-no it is, like 'One shall not covet they friends ex,' or whatever, but…"

"Brooke, is that it?" I ask.

"Um… you're not mad?" Brooke asks, sounding so vulnerable that I pull her into a hug.

"I think that commandment only works when you still have romantic feelings towards your ex, and with me and Lucas, it's kind of platonic. Besides, I'd be a hypocrite if I got mad. I like Nathan and he used to date Peyton." Suddenly I realise my deadly faux pas. "Liked!" I correct myself quickly. "I meant that I liked Nathan. Not anymore."

"Uh huh," Brooke says. She drops it straight away, and that makes me a little suspicious.

"Are you up to something?" I ask, reading the mischief in her eyes.

"No. I've got to go though, so happy we had that chat. Now I can make a move on Lucas!"

"Brooke!" I shout after her, but she ignores me and runs on. Oh God, what have I got myself into?