AN: Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews: OTHlover04, Naley is L.O.V.E, Nathanlvr (no, Haley's parents aren't always gone for business, but they are very high class people, and they host a lot of business dinners, things like that.), MB, stars, and beachiegal! You guys are really nice, thank you so much! This chapter is longer than the others! yay!

Chapter 9

Nathan and Haley decided to just have a mellow, relaxed date. So they decided to just take a walk and walk up to Echo Park, where they had their first kiss and Haley's favorite place in the whole world. There was a light breeze and the way it blew through Haley's hair -which she had let down the moment she got out of her house that morning- made Nathan stare.

"What?" Haley asked, noticing Nathan staring at her.

"You're beautiful. You know that?" Nathan said seriously, gazing into her brown eyes.

Haley looked away, blushed, and laughed a little. "Stop it." She said embarrassed.

"No, seriously," Nathan said smiling at her reaction. "I can't believe some other guy didn't snatch you up before I had the chance to." he said.

"I'm glad they didn't," Haley said truthfuly, "Because then I wouldn't be here with you." Her words made Nathan's heart soar. It was weird for him to be feeling this way. Weird, but good.

Nathan looked around. This park was really beautiful. The trees in all the right places. The grass was the perfect shade of green. There weren't many people, so it was calm. He actualy felt sad that he hadn't noticed it sooner. And he probably wouldn't have noticed it yesterday if Haley hadn't been sitting there. He wouldn have just ran by it.

"How long have you been coming here?" Nathan asked.

"Oh, I used to go here all the time. I found this place when I was, I think ten or so. And I just fell in love with it. So I came here a lot, and just sat under a tree and looked around and thought." Haley said, smiling at the memories. "And then when I was fourteen or so, I just got so busy. That's when I started tutoring and my parent's had be attend all their business diners and events, so I didn't really have the time anymore. I was really happy when I came here yesterday to see that nothing has changed." Haley finished.

Nathan nodded. "Is it really that bad... with your parents?" He said. "I mean, I always dreamed of living in a big house, and not having to worry about expenses. It seems so... I don't know, like you're free to do what you want." He said, making sure to be careful with his choice of words. He didn't want to offend her of anything.

"I don't know. I mean, I used to think that. That it was The Life. It was so great and carefree. But now that I think about it. I really had no idea what being free felt like until yesterday when I got mad at my parents. I felt so relieved that I actualy did have a mind of my own." Haley said. "But then I had to go and take a step back and become my parent's little robot again." Haley sighed.

And for the first time Nathan actualy felt bad for her. He even wondered if he had the better life. At least he knew for sure that his mother loved him and would never treate him less than he was worth.

"But what bugs me the most about them," Haley continued. She needed to get this out, "is that they think that people like you are somehow beneath them. Just because some family isn't as wealthy as us, they think that we're too good for them. But Nathan, you have to know, that I don't share any of those feelings with them. I couldn't disagree with them more! You aren't as wealthy as my family is, yet you are ten times a better person than either of my parents. And that's all I care about." Haley said honestly. She was scared that maybe Nathan felt like he had to act different around her and she needed him not to.

Nathan was touched by what she had just said. He was pretty sure that she wasn't the type of person to just dismiss him because he was poor, but now he was positive. And it felt good, really good, that Haley truely thought he was a good person. Although he wasn't sure himself. He wondered if Haley were to know about him breaking the Gabriel's window, if she would still think that. She really deserved to know, and Nathan knew that. It wasn't fair for her to be saying all this to him, when really, he didn't deserve it.

"Haley, I need to tell you something." Nathan said, when just then he noticed a police car park just accross the street from the park. 'Oh crap' he thought. 'They saw me. They recognised me. This is it, they caught me.'. "Ok, you have to promise me you won't freak out on me?" He said as he watched the two police men get out of the car.

"Nathan, what is it?" Haley said getting a little worried. Nathan put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hales, I'm sorry. You're going to think so much less of me. But you have to understand, I... I was upset. My mind was somewhere else..." The cops were walking towards the park now, and staring straight at Nathan and Haley. Luckily, Haley had her back to them so she didn't notice.

Nathan's heart started racing faster, but he couldn't just run away this time. "I... I had just had a big fight with my mom. We're having a lot of financial problems and I was getting really sick of it. I just thought 'Why can't we just be rich?' you know?" Oh gosh, the cops were getting closer and closer. "So, I was walking by that guy Jared. Jared Gabriel's house... And I saw him, and I was just reminded of how much of and ass he was. And I got really mad. You know I just lost my temper..." The two police men were almost there.

Haley felt like she would die. Just right then and there, just die. She knew where this was going. He was the one who broke their window. He mother was right! And she had defended him! She was so sure that he didn't do it, but he did! How could you be so sure of something and then turn out to be wrong? Haley felt her head getting dizzy.

"You shattered their window, didn't you, Nathan?" Haley whispered and looked into his panic-filled blue eyes.

Nathan took a deep breath. "Yes." He said, just as the police men reached within talking distance of them.

"Please put your hands on your head," One of the cops said. Haley turned around to find the two police men looking at Nathan and not at her, so she just stood there and watched as Nathan did what he was told. 'Oh God,' he thought 'This is it.'

"You have a right to remain silent," The other police officer said as the other one hand-cuffed Nathan. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." Haley felt tears stream down her face, but there was nothing she could do.

"I'm sorry, Hales," Nathan muttered as his eyes started to watter as well.

"Nathan..." Was all Haley could say. She was mad at Nathan for breaking the window. She was mad at Mrs. Gabriel for calling the cops. She was mad at Jared for being the ass that he is. She hated her mother for telling her about it. But staring infront of her, she didn't see the Nathan that was the bad boy. The Nathan that commited a crime, the one that her parent's hated. She just saw the Nathan, the one that had been so sweet to her. The one that was all she could think about all week. And right now, all she wanted was to get him out of this mess. But how?

She wanted to follow them to the cop car but her legs couldn't move. She felt so numb, she couldn't believe this was happening to her. She watched as Nathan got dragged away by the two police men. He looked back before entering the backseat of their car and Haley could see a single tear roll down his cheek, and she knew that he never meant to hurt anyone. God, what was her mother going to say when she heard that Nathan Scott got arrested! She would probably say something like 'Well, good. Tree Hill doesn't need kids like him roaming the streets freely.' It made Haley sick.

xXxXxXx

The next day, when Haley got to school, she immeadiately looked for Tim to see if he knew any details on Nathan's arrest. She found him and the rest of the gang all just hanging out in the hall way. She felt weird walking up to them, but when she did she immediatly relaxed after seeing their nice smiles. She didn't even have to ask to get information.

"We don't know how long he's in for," Tim said.

"Yeah, but we're all going there after school to visit him." Peyton said. "So, if you want to come..."

"Actualy, I'd love to. Thanks." Haley said, giving them a warm smile. She didn't know what on earth she was going to say to him when she went to visit him, but even just to see his face... She couldn't wait till school was over.

xXxXxXx

The day passed by so slowly for Haley. But at lunch she actualy hung out with Nathan's whole gang. And it helped that Lucas was there because he's dating Brooke. They were such a nice group of people. They didn't ask her anything about the arrest even though they knew she had been there when it happened. And Haley was thankful for that. She didn't know if she was ready to talk about it yet.

After school, Lucas, Brooke, and Haley rode in Brooke's car to the Juvinile Hall and Jake, Peyton and Tim rode in Peyton's car. The whole group pretty much arrived at the same time.

Even as they were walking up the steps, Haley already got teary-eyed. Just being there to visit him, it made everything so real.

When they got in they were disapointed to hear that his visiting hours would end in five minutes so he could only see one person. But they all agreed to let Haley see him. They knew that he would most want to see her and that she would want to see him the most out of the whole gang. Haley muttered a thank you to the whole gang and walked into a room that was seperated in two by basicaly a window and then there were some chairs and a phone on either side. Haley saw Nathan right away. He had bags under his eyes and was wearing the same thing as yesterday, but his eyes lit up when he saw Haley standing there.

Haley took a deap breath and walked over and sat down as the chair accross from him. She grabbed the phone off the hook and so did Nathan on his side.

"Hales," he said, "I'm so sorry. It was stupid. I have never regreted doing something more."

"It's OK, Nathan. We don't need to talk about it. Look, I knew that you did this kind of thing when I agreed to go out with you." Haley said.

"But I don't want to do that stuff anymore. Haley, I really want to be a better person for you." Nathan said, and at that comment a first tear rolled down Haley's cheek.

"I just want to get you out of there, Nathan." Haley said. "I'm going to get you out of there." She said confidently.

"Hales, I don't want you to go out of your way. I have to do this, I have to pay for what I did. They say I might still be here for a couple weeks." He said. Haley kept crying at the thought of having him in there for a couple more weeks. She didn't think she could stand it.

"That's ridiculous! Nate, I've got to do something. You know very well that if it were someone like Jared Gabriel in your place, they would only give him one night in here." Haley said.

"Yeah, I know. But there's nothing I can do. I mean, my mom, you should have seen her face. She was so disapointed. Anyway, I have to stay here as long as they tell me to. My family can barely pay the water-bill, I can't ask my mom to bail me out. And even if I did, she wouldn't be able to." Nathan paused, as a man tapped him on the shoulder and told him something. Nathan nodded. "I have to go. Be strong for me, Hales." He said and he hung up the phone, but kept his eyes locked on hers.

Haley bit her lip and stoped crying, but her cheeks were still stained with the tears she had just shed. She was trying to be strong, she really was. But she was still shaking as she got up out of her seat and walked out the room.

xXxXxX

AN: OK, that's all for now. A little dramatic... I'll update soon! Please review!