Note: Italicized words are flashbacks.
All Haley could do was shake her head, there was no way that she was going to tell Brooke what happened, she did not want to relive it any further anyways. But it was not going away as easily as she thought or wished it would, she could not get the image of Gavin's hand around her neck. She never felt so scared in her entire life, and she was the youngest child, so that said a lot. But not only that, she could not get the image of Peyton out of her head. Did Peyton's life really elevate to drugs? However, she knew Gavin way to well, he hurt Taylor, and as much as Haley hated to admit it, Taylor was the strongest person that she knew.
Haley remembered it quite vividly actually. Taylor was a rebel; she did everything that her parents told her not to do. They told her that she was not allowed to go out with Gavin, he was two years older then her, and he just gave off this bad guy image that their parents did not like. So Taylor sneaked out but before she did Haley caught her and threatened to tell their parents, "I'm telling," she remembered telling her.
But Taylor begged and begged, "Haley, please if you do not tell this one time, I swear that I will not pick on you in school anymore. I know that you hate it, I will leave you alone."
That was not enough for Haley, "I am still telling Mom, you always say that you are not going to pick on me anymore in front of your friends and you always break it. Why should I believe you now?"
"Because I really like Gavin," she pleaded with Haley, and that was the first time that Haley had ever since her so serious about a guy.
"Mom and Dad don't like him Tay. I don't know, he doesn't exactly yell boyfriend material," Haley told her what she thought, trying to be as sisterly as possible.
"Haley, please, you can even give me I told you so if he is not the guy that I thought he was okay?"
That was the final straw, Haley let Taylor go, "Okay I won't tell anyone, and I will keep this to myself. But if Gavin is a bad guy, I get to tell you I told you so."
"If that would make you happy, then go right ahead, just let me leave, Gavin is waiting for me."
"Bye Taylor, I hope you have a good time."
"Me too, don't wait up little sister."
"I always do." It wasn't like their parents did not care about them, they loved them more then anything. This was just their way of showing each other that they really did care about each other deep down there.
Haley read a book until she heard a car door slam; this startled her at first because Taylor was careful not to bring any attention on herself, so Haley already knew something was up. She rushed to the closest window to see what was going on. Gavin had a grip on Taylor's upper arm and he was in her face, Haley could not really make out what was going on. The two of them were walking towards the house when all of a sudden Gavin pushes Taylor to the ground and leaves her there while he runs back to his car and sped off. Haley quickly rushed down the stairs and opened the door. Taylor had made it to the front stoop but that was as far as she had made it. Haley bent down to see what had happened at Taylor's level, but before she could even ask a question, Haley's attention was averted to Taylor's eye, "Tay what happened?"
Taylor looked at her sister's concerned eyes, "What happened?" Taylor saw Haley nod and then continued, "what happened is that you won."
"Won what Taylor, this was not some sort of contest, or win/lose situation."
"If that is what you think then whatever, I win then, if you aren't playing."
Haley did not understand how Taylor could be laughing about something like this. It was her life and she had been hurt by Gavin, she had the bruises around her eye to prove it. "Let's get you in the house Taylor."
"I actually like it out here, it is a lot quieter then it is in my head."
"Well that is not going to work right now, we need to get you back in the house before Mom and Dad find out. What are you going to do about your eye? What are you going to tell them?"
"Well I hadn't really gotten that far, but thanks for reminding me. Oh I got it; I am going to tell them that I fell out of bed. I am so rough in my sleep, they know that. I think I am good to go."
"Yeah that looks a whole lot like you fell out of your bed; you better sell it, because only idiots will believe that one."
"Are you calling our parents idiots, little sis?" glad that the conversation seemed to be going into a more lighthearted direction.
"No, I am calling Gavin an idiot for doing that to your face. He is the only reason that you have to cover up for Mom and Dad."
"Well if you really want to call anyone an idiot, you are looking at one, shout away. I am idiot," she yelled a little louder then she probably should have.
"You are not an idiot Tay. You just made a bad choice."
"Okay Haley I did not ask you to be a temporary parent, I get enough of that from Jimmy and Lydia, I do not need to hear things like that from you."
"Fine, then I am done. Let's get you in the house so we can both go to sleep."
"Not before you say it."
"Say what Taylor? I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Yes you do, I am ready for my big fat I told you so."
"Well you are not going to hear it from me, c'mon lets go, please?"15 minutes later Haley accomplished putting her older sister to bed. She went into her room and shut her light off and then looked at the clock, it read, 3:53, she had 4 hours until she needed to get up. Oh well if sleep needed to be sacrificed so be it, it was for Taylor, and that is all that mattered.
Haley was forced back into reality with the constant callings of her own name from Brooke, who was trying to get her attention. And as much as Haley knew that this was out of her best intentions, Haley really could not bring anyone else into the mess she called life.
Brooke caressed Haley's hair once more, "Hales, please tell me something, just let me know that you are okay."
Haley knew that Brooke was being the friend that she needed but at the present time she wanted to be alone. But Haley realized that she does not always get what she wants, life does not exactly go her way. If it did then she and Nathan would be together and she would not need to be playing Friday nights at Tric, and she would have never had run into Gavin again. This was not Brooke's fault, she was one of the only people who were still there for her, there was no need to make her suffer. She turned around to finally confront Brooke, she could not possibly tell her that Gavin nearly killed her, there was no way that Brooke could keep that in, and Haley did not want to worry Lucas or Karen.
Brooke felt like she was getting somewhere when Haley turned around and though she felt she might be badgering her, she was concerned, she felt like she needed to ask her again, "Haley, did something happen tonight that caused you to run out of Tric?"
"I just had a rough night Brooke, I thought that I could handle it all, but I was wrong, like always."
"Hale, you cannot possible think that you can carry the weight of the world on your shoulders."
"Well that is what it feels like for awhile now."
"And I know that, I feel bad that you have been dealing with it alone though. Not anymore though, you have me, whenever you feel like you cannot deal with anything anymore, I am here for you."
"That means a lot to me Brooke, it really does."
"Am I sensing a but coming along?"
"But this is something that I think that I might have to deal with on my own. I do not want to drag you into this mess."
"Haley, did you miss the part where I voluntarily offered to be there for you? This is not something that I am being forced into doing, I want to do this for you."
"Why, Brooke? I don't understand."
"For being a tutor girl, you aren't that smart some times. Haley, you are always there for everyone else, whether they ask for it or you are just genuinely kind to others and care about them. You have done so much for others; you deserve to have someone there for you sometimes. But I am not even talking about other people, I am talking about me. You have always been there for me, even when I didn't deserve you to be. You have stood with me through this Peyton catastrophe; I am not backing down from you."
"Thanks Brooke. There are not a lot of people that have been on my side since I went on tour last spring; I appreciate you being here for me. But to tell you the truth I hadn't let anything out in a long time and it was all bottled up, so I exploded, it is not something that is going to reoccur."
"Well if it is, I am here for you," Brooke told her as she got off her bed and went to go call Lucas. Brooke dialed Lucas' number and waited for him to pick up.
Lucas did not even say hello, he went straight to, "How is she?"
"Hello to you too," Brooke really did not mind, she knew that even if Lucas and her got back together there would always been competition in her life with Haley, he loved her more then anyone, other then his mom. "She told me that this was a one time deal, she had a lot bottled up inside and today was just her breaking point."
"Do you believe that that is all?"
"Of course not Luke, but she is not giving me anymore details right now, so I am not going to tamper with her already fragile heart."
"Do you think that I should come over there and talk to her?"
"Do you want what I think or what you want to hear?"
"Haley has a shift tomorrow at the café; I will talk to her tomorrow. Thanks Brooke, you are an amazing friend."
She was a little disappointed with the last comment, but the year was still young, there was still time for Lucas to change his perception of her…and she was willing to wait.
Gavin had dragged Peyton to his brother Noah's apartment, she was in no state at all to be anywhere then her own bedroom, but Gavin was not the kind of boyfriend to care about the state of his girl. Noah was having a party, and Gavin was not affected enough to be out of it, he put Peyton in another room and went to party with his brother and his friends. He did not look out for Peyton at all and he did not see the guy that walked into the room that she laid on the bed unconsciously.
Lucas was still up when Karen came back from Tric, all he could do was think about two of the girls that he cared about the most. "I will bet you one choclately brownie that I can tell you what you are thinking about."
Lucas looked up at his mom and he had to smile, he loved his mom more then anyone in the world. He put her through a lot in the previous year and he knew how much it pained her to have moved in with Dan. When Lucas moved back home he realized his mistake. He went to live with Dan to get some incriminating evidence on him to help him and his mom, but upon his return home Lucas realized he hurt his mom more in the process. Karen was a good person, she never caused pain to another person, and Lucas had to think of his three friends: Haley, Brooke, and Peyton, Karen was more of a mother to all of them then their own. Some might wonder how some one could mother so many other children and still mother the one she brought into the world, easy she was Karen Roe, and that was enough.
"Bring on that brownie then."
Karen brought over a box of brownies that she brought from the café and sat down across from her son, "Is she okay, Lucas?"
Before he answered he looked at his mom, "I don't think so Ma. Brooke just called and said that Haley said that she was fine and that it was something that she had been building up, but I do not think that is it."
"Well Lucas, we are talking about Haley James, she is a pretty stubborn girl when it comes to someone else helping her out."
"I do not understand though why she does not let others help her out; it is not like it is a hassle."
"I know that Luke, but that is just her scar tissue, she has been hurt before and she afraid to let someone in and help her because she is afraid that it will happen again."
"But it won't Ma, I won't let it."
"And I know that, but if you cannot paint Haley her future she is not going to believe you."
"You are right. I am just going to have to accept that she might not accept my help right now. But I am not going to give up on her."
"That is all you can do Lucas."
"No, that is not all; I am going to make sure that she does not cry again."
"That is very noble on you son, but sometimes you just need a good cry, you cannot take that away from her. Just be there for her, if she needs to cry, then be the shoulder she needs, if she needs a laugh, crack a joke. If she needs to be alone, then be alone together."
"Haley still has a shift tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah at noon."
"Okay, well I am going to try and talk to her tomorrow."
"Okay Luke. But if she is not ready to talk, give her time, she does have a broken heart and she more fragile then you think. Be careful with that heart of hers."
By 2 a.m. the heartbroken and fragile members of Tree Hill were all asleep, all wishing that when the sun rose the next morning, it would bring a ray of happiness…even if that ray was small.
