Author's Note: Well, for those of you that are starting school tomorrow like me, I thought I'd give you all an update to make you feel better. Thanks for the great reviews on the first chapter, and I hope you all enjoy this one just as much. Enjoy and don't forget to review.

---OTH---

"Yes, we have three classes together!"

Brooke, Peyton, Haley, Lacy and Tim were standing in front of Haley's locker, looking over what would be their daily schedules for the next five months. The girls had meet up with the newlyweds as soon as they entered the school just as Lacy was coming out of the office. She and Nicki had both been registered, her for her junior year and Nicki as a senior. Nicki was able to take the hint when she saw Haley and Peyton both glaring at her and went in search of her first class.

"Well, you did copy my entire opinion sheet last year," Haley reminded the bubbly cheerleader in front of her. Brooke was doing her annual class check to make sure that she had at least one of her friends in all her classes.

"And it was for this very reason," Brooke countered, smiling at her and bumping hips with her before turning to the curly haired blonde. "What about you, Pey? What's your homeroom?" When Peyton didn't answer, Brooke realized that she was staring at something behind. Brooke quickly turned around and spotted Jake walking into the building with Skills at his side. "Oh."

"What?" Peyton asked, snapping out of her daze and looking at Brooke in defense. "I don't care. I can be around him, I can." Brooke and Haley didn't believe her for a second but both nodded their heads while Tim and Lacy remained silent.

"Okay, then I'll just call them over here," Brooke countered with a devilish smile. She knew Peyton was lying, she was still mad at Jake for lying to her, but she would definitely get some amusement out of this.

"Brooke, don't you dare," Peyton warned, but it was too late. The boys had already spotted Brooke waving them over and were making their way towards them. Peyton cursed under her breath and made sure not to make eye contact with Jake.

"Hey, guys," Brooke greeted them with a winning smile. Jake nodded his head at everyone, but didn't say anything because he knew that Peyton didn't really want him there.

"What's up?" Skills pounded fists with Tim and smiled kindly at who he could only assume was the wife. "Hey, Brooke. Skinny Girl." As much as Peyton did want to, she had to look up and acknowledge his presence.

"Hey, Skills." She gave him a small wave. She risked a short glance at Jake and was surprised and slightly irritated that he was looking at her. Brooke watched the blonde and shook her head.

"Hales Baby," Skills cheered when he spotted her. He opened up his arms wide for her. "Gimme some love, girl!" She laughed and buried herself into his chest letting him warp his arms around her. Brooke, Peyton and Lacy smiled at how cute they looked together.

"Oh, yeah," Haley remembered, pulling out of his hold slightly. He still had his arms wrapped around her and she hung her arm loosely around his waist. She turned so she was looking at Lacy. "You guys haven't met have you?"

"Nope," Lacy answered with a shake of her head. She would like to say that she'd heard a lot about him, but she had no clue who he was. She could tell that he was friendly with the group, but most definitely with Haley from the way they were hugging.

"Not yet," Skills answered, smiling at the blonde. "But from what Haley tells me, you must be the girl lucky enough to marry Dim over there." All three girls laughed and Haley swatted him in the chest.

"Be nice," she scolded him. "And yes, this is Lacy aka Mrs. Smith." Lacy couldn't help the smile that came to her lips at the name. It still made her feel all giddy when she thought about it. Skills smiled and reached around Haley to shake Lacy's hand. "Lacy, this is Skills. He's another one of my best friends. Me, Lucas and him have hung out together since we were five."

"I'm her ex-boyfriend," Skills added as an after thought. "I see that she thinks that's not worth mentioning any more." Haley rolled her eyes and shook her head. She didn't think he was ever going to let that go. He acted as if they were engaged to be married or something. Though, if he asked back then, she'd be lying if she said she wouldn't have said yes. She was so in love with him.

"You guys went out?" Brooke and Peyton asked at the same time, both equally as surprised by the information. Haley winced at their volume and closed her eyes.

"Thanks, buddy," she mumbled, moving out of his embrace and shutting her locker door. "I'm gonna get to class. I'll see you guys later." With a tight smile, she quickly hurried off in the direction of her homeroom.

"Oh, no you don't!" Brooke called after her. "Later, guys." She waved at the group absently and chased after Haley. The group laughed at her until she disappeared around the corner.

"Well," Skills began, feeling a little uncomfortable being around them without having Lucas or Haley there. "It was nice meeting you Lacy." Lacy nodded and smiled politely at him. "I'm gonna bounce. See you around."

"Bye," they all called at the same time. And then there were four. Lacy could see that Tim was about to suggest that they leave, but she quickly elbowed him in the stomach to keep his mouth shut.

"We were just talking about our schedule," Peyton finally spoke up. She was uncomfortable around Jake, but she didn't want him to know that and the best way to do that would be to act like nothing was different. "What do have?"

"Me?" Jake couldn't believe that she was actually willing to talk to him. Peyton nodded. He glanced at the paper in his hand. "I got Math, Science, Gym and English."

"I think I'm in your English," she answered, making sure to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "What about lunch?" He held up two fingers and she felt a little better. She had first.

"Well," Tim started, about to tell them his schedule even though no one asked. Before he could say anything though, the bell rang, singling that it was time to get to class.

"We better get to class," Lacy suggested, pulling out of Tim's arms. "See you at lunch, baby." She kissed Tim, waved to Jake and Peyton and went on her way. Tim watched her leave before turning back to Jake and Peyton. This was uncomfortable. He shoved his hands in his pockets and waited for one of them to speak up.

"Come on, Tim," Peyton said suddenly, latching on to his arm and pulling him towards her. "We should get to Art." Without another word to her ex-boyfriend, she started dragging Tim down the hall. He twisted in her grip to see Jake.

"See ya, Jake." He stood there alone for a moment later, watching as all the other students scattered off to class. He sighed, repositioned his bag and started towards his class. He hoped it wasn't like this all year.

---OTH---

"Hales," she heard from behind her. She tried to ignore the annoying voice and listen to the teacher, but it didn't stop. "Hales!" It was louder this time and if she didn't answer, the teacher was going to hear and they'd get in trouble. Haley twisted in her seat so she could see her.

"What?" Haley mouthed back. Sensing that Haley didn't want to get in trouble, Brooke ripped a piece of paper off the sheet that was in front of her and quickly wrote her question down. She crumpled it up and tossed it to Haley. Haley couldn't wait until the teacher let them pick their own seats, then Brooke wouldn't have to yell across the room. She uncrumpled the note and read it.

Hales -

Have you seen the dick yet today?"

-Tigger.

Haley didn't see the point in writing her own note, just to answer the question. She turned back around and shook her head. She saw the look Brooke was giving her and she knew she expected more. She rolled her eyes and turned back around to write on her desk.

Brookie –

You better not plan on doing this crap all semester.
I haven't seen him, when would I have?

-Tutor Girl.

She crumpled up the note and gave it to Leanne, asking her to pass it to Brooke. Waiting until the teacher was facing the board, Leanne quickly passed it to Brooke just as he turned back around.

"Alright, class," Mr. Baker began, opening the book in front of him. Brooke knew better than to write something when he was teaching, so she waited until he was done to write back to Haley. "I'm going to start this off really quickly, and go right into our first project." There was a collective groan heard around the class.

"Can we do it in groups?" someone asked and everyone quickly agreed with the idea. As much as Haley hated working with others, she was hoping he would say yes. She hated getting in front of the class and presenting alone.

"There really isn't a need for groups," he answered. "But I will allow you to work in partners. I'll even let you choose your own." The class all thanked him. "I'll give you all a book to read, one that has a movie version. You can decide who's going to read and who's going to watch the movie. You'll have a week to work on this."

"Do we have to present anything?" Haley asked.

"Yes," he answer and she sighed. "Each pair will have to put together a presentation outlining the major differences and similarities between the two versions. It would be good to point out any symbols or themes that aren't present in the movie that are in the book."

"We get it," Brooke answered, never the patient one. "Can we just pick our partners now?" Mr. Baker nodded and everyone started moving around the room. Haley didn't bother getting up, just waited for Brooke to come to her. Just as she expected, Brooke bounced over to her with her books, bags and chair in hand. "Hi, best friend."

"Hey, Tigger," Haley greeted back. She wasn't looking forward to having to do all the work, but it beat working with a perverted boy that just wanted to get into her pants. At least with Brooke, she'd be able to hang out with her best friend. Once everyone one was settled and everyone had a partner, Mr. Baker started again.

"Okay, everyone have a partner?" There was a choir of voices confirming his question. "Alright, I'll start assigning the books and movies." He glanced around the class to see the different pairings. "Maria Collins and Tommy Parker, you'll be doing To Kill A Mocking Bird. Nicole Lee and Tracy McDowell, you have The Great Gatsby. Haley James and Brooke Davis, you'll be doing Lord of the Flies."

"Ah, man," Brooke moaned, hearing the title of their book. "That sounds like a lame nature book. Why do I always get the worst one? Why couldn't we get the first one? At least that one has some killing in it."

"Tigger, Lord of the Flies is about little boys turning into savages on a deserted island and killing each other," Haley informed her, finding it amusing that her friend didn't know anything about literature. Didn't she date Lucas Scott for over a year?

"Oh," Brooke answered. "Sounds good. I'll watch the movie."

"Of course you will." Haley was starting to think that this might not be so bad. She had already read the book, so she didn't have to worry about that, and Brooke seemed interested enough in the movie to actually watch it. Maybe she wouldn't have to work as hard on this as she originally thought.

Mr. Baker was still in the middle of assigning the projects when there was a knock at the door and a late student entered. Haley groaned inwardly as she saw his jet-black hair and piercing blue eyes catch her's.

"Mr. Scott," he greeted in a sarcastic tone. "So nice of you to join us. I was starting to think you forgot where the school was."

"Sorry, my alarm clock didn't go off," he lied. It was obvious to everyone in the class as well as the teacher that he wasn't telling the truth, but no one said anything.

"Very well." Nathan moved towards one of the empty seats at the back of the class, making sure he didn't look at Haley or Brooke. "We were just about to start a project." Nathan stopped in his tracks when he realized the Mr. Baker wasn't done talking to him. He turned around. "Everyone already has a partner, so I guess I'll have to make a group of three."

"He better not do what I think he's about to do," Brooke whispered to Haley, glaring a hole in Nathan. Haley didn't say anything though, which Brooke found weird.

"You can work with Ms. James and Ms. Davis." Brooke immediately started cursing the teacher out under her breath, while Haley just watched Nathan reluctantly walk over to them. He wasn't happy about this either. He pulled an empty chair over with him and plopped down in it.

"Don't. Say. Anything," Brooke warned him. He rolled his eyes at her, more than used to her attitude. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper that he had taken from Luke's house. He risked a look at Haley and was surprised to find that she didn't appear to be angry with him.

"So, what are we doing?"

---OTH---

All done. I know, nothing excited, but what can I do. I'm just getting everything started, right? Okay, well, please tell me what you think. And hey, I just noticed that this was their first day of school as well! How perfect is that? Please review.