a/n: So here is the first chapter of a new story. Its my first real fan fiction, I hope you enjoy! If you like the movie A Walk To Remember then shouts to you, because its my favorite movie and I decided to just insert it in here because the whole popular/not-so-popular issue shown in that movie parallels Nathan and Haley in this chapter, as well as this story. Enjoy, and please review it would mean a lot!

Nathan Scott was Tree Hill High's "it" boy. He was the star of the basketball team, and the most popular guy in school; guys wanted to be him, and girls wanted to be his girlfriend. However, Nathan was not necessarily the guy everyone thought he was. He was constantly pressured by his dad to do his best in basketball, as well as beat his legendary record, and was sometimes unable to accept the pressures that came with his status. There was one person that he could truly be himself around though, Haley James. The only problem, Haley wasn't exactly popular and was what most considered a "nerd." She worked in the tutoring center, and that's how Nathan knew her-she was his tutor.

One day, after tutoring, Nathan decided to ask Haley if she wanted to go to the movies; they had become friends and he was beginning to have feelings for her. However, he kept putting those feelings to the back of his mind, because it would never work out, he was popular, she wasn't… no one would accept it. As they walked up to the movie theater, Nathan and Haley joked around and then bought tickets. Being a gentleman, Nathan purchased Haley's ticket. She couldn't help but question herself on if he considered her, "more than a friend." She had never really thought about it until recently. I mean, yea she tutored him, but their relationship never really went beyond that. Besides, Lucas would kill her if he found out she was hanging around with Nathan, he didn't even like the fact that she was tutoring him; it probably had to do with the incident last summer, but Nathan had changed so much since then.

Haley was snapped out of her daydream as Nathan guided her into the theater. They saw a movie entitled, A Walk To Remember, and Nathan couldn't help but think how the main characters mirrored his relationship with Haley. He liked her a lot, and being popular was the only thing holding him back. He had expectations to uphold, and going out with the girl who has been wearing the same funky ponchos and black converse since as far back as he could remember would definitely not go over well with his buddies. But who knows, maybe people aren't as cruel as he expects them to be.

After the movie ended, Nathan and Haley walked outside the theater, where Nathan deeply contemplated telling her his feelings. Things had been going great and could only get better. I mean he was kind of like Landen Carter in the movie, and in the end Landen's friends accepted the relationship, maybe Nathan's would too. It's not like the notion of going out with Haley James was that absurd. That thought soon came to a halt however, when Nathan noticed a couple of his basketball buddies hanging out across the street at the ice cream parlor.

"Hey Nate, want to go grab some ice cream?" Haley inquired; sure she had some candy in the theater, but who could ever pass up on ice cream!

"Err… no, its okay. I'm stuffed from all that popcorn," Nathan replied, grabbing her by the arm and hurriedly escorting her to the car. He was almost out of the clear when it happened.

"Yo, Nathan!" Tim Smith exclaimed. Nathan pretended not to hear him. "Hey, Nathan over here!"

"Oh, hey Tim. Didn't see you there," he replied.

"Apparently not. What's all this about?" he questioned.

"What?" Nathan inquired, although he knew what Tim was referring to.

"You, here, with her."

"No, Tim it's not what it looks like. Haley, she's just my tutor," Nathan replied, though he was lying through his teeth. Haley was not just his tutor. She was his friend, and he longed for her to be his girlfriend. He tried not to look to his right, in fear of seeing the emotion that lied in Haley's hazel eyes.

"Are you sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure the movies don't have anything to do with tutoring," Tim said.

"Yea, I'm sure. I just needed to uh... I needed to just get away from all the stress from my dad and uh, Haley was the only person around after our session. This is definitely nothing more. You think I would actually be friends with someone that below me?" Nathan felt horrible. How could he be saying this? Haley was special. She was the only person he could be himself around; yet she was too much of a risk for his popularity. He needed to keep his status… it made up who he was, or so he thought.

As Tim stood there looking between his friend and the girl, Nathan did the inevitable- he turned to look at Haley, and what he saw was worse than expected. She was staring at him, mouth opened, with sadness in her eyes. How could he say that about her? Weren't they friends? I mean, especially after all the help she had given him both scholastically and emotionally. To think, just two hours before she had been thinking about what it would be like to be his girlfriend. I guess he really was the egotistical jerk he was known to be.

Nathan was about to say something to Haley but she spoke first, "Am I that embarrassing to be seen with?"

"No Haley, it's not that... its uh," Nathan couldn't think of an excuse fast enough.

"Nathan save it. Congratulations, you have just proven the smart girl wrong. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and thought you could be a good guy, but you have now shown me I was clearly wrong about you," Haley seethed, and with that she turned her foot and strode down the sidewalk, her long brown hair flowing with the breeze as the tears began to fall.

"Look man, she's nothing. Let's go meet the guys across the street," Tim stated. And with that, Nathan followed his friend, but not without looking back at Haley's retreating figure. She had looked so hurt, so disheveled; it broke his heart. The moment he saw her cry, he knew he had ruined something. Something he wasn't even sure had exsisted, and the same something that made him want to run over there and comfort her. To think he had put those tears in her eyes. What had she ever done to him besides being kind? She even put her relationship with her best friend Lucas on the line just to tutor him. Look's like Nathan chose the bad over the good again. Letting his risk of losing his popularity take over his true feelings and pushing away one of the best things that strode into his life.

Review please. Leave the good, the bad, the happy, the sad. I can take it !