Chapter 1
Nathan walked out of his third period classroom and smiled as he saw his brother leaning against his girlfriend's locker. He figured they were waiting for him and he walked up and put his arm around Brooke's shoulder. She smiled up at him and nuzzled his neck. "Hey, Nate. How was history?" Lucas asked.
"Boring," he replied. Brooke nodded in agreement. "How was cosmetology?"
"It was fine. Not boring, but not really very interesting," Brooke replied. They leaned in to each other and started kissing completely forgetting that Lucas was there.
"Well, math was fine. Thanks for asking," Lucas said. Nathan broke the kiss and looked at Lucas. Lucas' cheeks were red with embarrassment.
"Sorry, Luke. Forgot you were standing there," Nathan said.
"Yeah, that much is obvious," Lucas said.
"Well, I'd never forget you were standing somewhere," his girlfriend, Anna Tegarro, said. Lucas smiled and planted a kiss on her mouth.
"How was bio?" Brooke asked Anna. Nathan caught a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Sometimes Brooke's behaviour towards Anna confused him. Anna was part of their group now that she was dating Lucas and, yeah, she was younger, but she was pretty cool in Nathan's opinion. Anna Tegarro was a grade nine student but she was very smart. Especially when it came to biology. She was in his grade ten chemistry class.
"It was fine. I'm kind of dreading chemistry, though," she said. Nathan nodded.
"You and me both," he said in agreement. Anna laughed.
"Ask me to explain mitosis and I could tell you in my sleep. But ask me to tell you how to calculate a mole and you might as well be asking me to explain mitosis speaking Ancient Egyptian. It's impossible," Anna said. Just then, Haley James walked in between them and made her way to her locker. "Oh, Haley. Thank God!" Haley turned her attention to Anna and smiled at all of them.
"Hey, Anna," Haley said as she grabbed her chemistry textbook and binder.
"Hi. Um, you didn't happen to study for today's test, did you?" Anna asked. Haley looked at her in confusion.
"I have three tests today. You're going to have to be a bit more specific," Haley replied, laughing as she closed her locker.
"The chemistry test that we have next period," Anna explained, gesturing to herself, Haley and Nathan.
"Yeah. Why?" Haley said.
"Do you mind explaining some of the stuff to me?" Anna asked. Haley shrugged and nodded.
"Sure. Which part?" Haley asked. Anna bit her lip.
"Pretty much all of it," Anna replied. Haley cracked a smile.
"No problem. Actually, Mr. Delfino said that it was ok for me to conduct a study session today in class," Haley said.
"But the test is today," Nathan said. Haley shook her head.
"Thanks to me, not anymore," Haley replied, winking an eye.
"Are you serious?" Nathan asked. Haley shook her head.
"How did you pull that off?" Anna asked.
"Well, I just explained that a lot of the students I was tutoring came to me over the week voicing their concerns with the material. A lot of them were having trouble understanding it so he said I could help everyone with it," Haley said. Nathan smiled.
"Well, thanks," Anna said. Haley shrugged it off and walked away. Anna turned to Nathan and smiled widely. "How awesome is that? She saved my life."
"It is pretty amazing," Nathan commented.
"And you're in good hands with Haley. She is a whiz at practically every subject. If she hadn't helped me in English and the physics unit in science last year, I would have failed grade nine," Brooke said. She gave Nathan a quick peck on the cheek before leaving with Lucas to their Media Arts course.
Nathan walked up to Haley. "Thanks a lot for your help, Haley," he said. He held out his hand and Haley took it. She smiled at him sweetly.
"You're welcome. And about what Neil said: he's wrong. You're not stupid," Haley said. Nathan had never really been good in chemistry but his mother wanted him to take science courses. He rarely understood any of the concepts right away. They always had to be explained to him multiple times by the teacher. So he had asked a question that turned a few heads. Neil Young had said that if he didn't understand that simple fact, he really was just a dumb jock.
"Thanks. I didn't know that that was so simple," Nathan said almost apologetically. Haley scrunched her eyebrows at him.
"You sound like you're apologizing to me," she said.
"I am. I didn't mean to waste your time," he said, nodding. Haley shook her head.
"You knew that you didn't know what that was and you asked for help. You shouldn't feel like you need to apologize for admitting that you don't know something. You'd be surprised by the number of people who don't admit it," Haley said.
Nathan smiled in surprise at her kind words. He knew that Haley was a very kind person but he had no idea she could be so nice. Everyone in the school seemed to like her in some way, but she wasn't really given that much attention. The thing that surprised him the most about her was the fact that she was friendly to everyone but had no affiliation with any particular group in the school. Most of time, you would find her in the quad quietly reading under a tree. He watched her walk out of the classroom and silently followed her. Their lockers were practically right next to each other's since he had switched with Jake Jagielski.
Nathan's original locker was next to Peyton Sawyer-Jagielski's and Jake's was in between Brooke's and Haley's lockers. Nathan wanted to be close to Brooke and Jake wanted to be close to his wife. So they had agreed to switch lockers. He then looked at the television in the hallway and was surprised to see Neil Young on the screen. There was a navy blue background behind him that seemed familiar to Nathan. As Neil opened his mouth to speak on the screen, the reason for the familiarity of the background was because he'd been in the same place that Neil was now on the screen. When he had recorded his time capsule.
"So you want to know about me. Fine. I will tell you the unvarnished truth. I am Neil Young and I hate high school. I don't mean in the usual 'this-is-something-I-have-to-do-so-I-hate-it' way. I mean I actually hate it. Or rather I hate the people here because they're all so fake. Nobody tells the truth anymore. And I mean no one. The people in this school need to stop hiding themselves because they don't realize that everyone is doing it. People claim to know their friends so well when their friends are only portraying the person that they think people will like which is pointless because the people who they're trying to impress are doing the same thing. It just gets on my nerves because when I meet someone, nine times out of ten the face their showing me is not their real one. Take Tim Smith, for example. Tim fits your basic jock persona. He's dumb, he's an ass, he acts like he's God's gift to women. But it would probably interest you to know that he actually goes for his own kind, if you know what I mean."
He went on to reveal that while at her old school, Anna Tegarro, Lucas' girlfriend, had an abortion at her old school. People found out about it, called her a murderer so her family packed up and moved to Tree Hill. He also made fun of some of the "dumb jocks" as he called them, including Nathan himself. He could see some his friends were pissed off, but Nathan just shrugged it off. It was no secret that Nathan wasn't very smart. He had never claimed to be a genius. Sure it sucked that everyone knew he was failing some of his classes but at least he was doing something about it. It was his next words that shocked Nathan.
"Haley James has a reputation as being one of the nicest girls in the school. She accepts everyone for who they were but it's only because her parents didn't accept her for who she was. When she was born, her parents took one look at her and died just to escape her. For her entire life, Haley bounced around from foster home after foster home and every time they would send her on her way because she's unwanted. Now she lives alone."
Nathan turned his head towards Haley who was leaning against her locker, staring up at the television in misery. Tears were trickling down her face. Haley just didn't understand why Neil had to be so cruel. She had never, ever done anything to warrant the way he insulted her. She was always nice to him, had even tutored him and this was how he treated her in return? She shook her head in disappointment at him. She took a deep breath as it switched to Holly Parison talking about how she dreamed of being an actress. Haley smirked at the girl's enthusiasm. The next one was Nathan.
"I am happier than I've ever been. I am finally getting help in school after years of not admitting that I needed it. I have a great girlfriend and even though I would never admit it right now, I am proud to call Lucas my brother. He'll make a great best man at mine and Brooke's wedding. So right now, life is good. I have no complaints."
Haley caught Nathan looking at her sympathetically. She smiled at him appreciatively. "Aww," she teased. He laughed, rolled his eyes and looked at the screen again. Peyton and Jake did a joint time capsule.
"So I'm Jake Jagielski," Jake said.
"And I'm Peyton Jagielski," Peyton said.
"And we're married," they said together. Jake put his arm around Peyton and pulled her closer. Peyton leaned down and put her hands to lift something up. She revealed a small infant. "This is our daughter, Jenny Jagielski. She is our whole world and we hope that in ten years, she'll have a few siblings."
"I also hope that I've won the lottery by that time," Jake added. Peyton laughed and kissed him on the cheek.
Haley burst out laughing. Jake was probably the funniest guy she knew. His humour was expected but each time, she still found herself shocked at some of the things she said. The she gulped as she recognized the blue t-shirt she had worn that day. It was her time capsule now.
"I'm Haley James. I have ups and downs just like everyone else. I tend to have a lot more downs than ups but I try not to let all that bother me because I figure: what's the point in worrying about something that I have absolutely no control over?"
Nathan looked at her and nodded. Then he turned back and watched the rest.
"A lot of people in the school know who I am and yet no one really knows me. But that's fine because I don't really know myself right now. I don't know where I'll end up in ten years. This may come as a shock but I don't have all the answers. Mainly because I'm still trying to figure things out."
Then Lucas Scott appeared on the screen. He muttered something about his aspirations in basketball and how he'd even be happy to coach a team because he looked up to Whitey. Then he talked about the girl he loved. A lot of people cooed about that. Haley turned around and smiled as Anna was walking down the hall beaming.
"Hopefully in ten years, I'll be married to the girl I love: Brooke Davis," on camera Lucas said.
Then Brooke's time capsule came onto screen.
"Right now I'm happiest I've ever been and I'm also the saddest. See there's this guy that I really love. He's always been there for me; supported me, comforted me, done every thing I've ever asked of him no matter how ridiculous or silly. He's my boyfriend. But I've betrayed him. See, cause there's this other guy that I am in love with who just happens to be my boyfriend's brother. I wish that we didn't have to hide or sneak around. Does that make me a horrible person? I am in love with him and I can only hope that in ten years, we're married and have started a family. I dream of having Lucas Scott's children."
Silence enveloped the hallway as Lucas and Brooke walked towards Nathan. Brooke put her hand on his shoulder but Nathan pulled away. He turned around to look at them. His eyes were full of anger and betrayal. "Nathan," Lucas began. Nathan just shook his head.
"Don't bother, Lucas," Nathan spat. Then he looked at Brooke who looked away after a second. He sighed. "I trusted you two. I loved you and I looked up to you. How could you do this to me?" Then the principal came on to the PA system.
"Given this afternoon's events, classes are dismissed for the rest of the day and school will be closed tomorrow. Have a safe weekend," the principal said.