A/N: So I thought of this chapter as I was sitting in health class listening to my teacher drone on about the reproductive system. Yeah I know…it was productive ;) Hope you like it. Thanks for all the amazing reviews!

Thanks to my beta Addie ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any related characters.

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Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Robert Frost-Fire and Ice

Risky Business

Haley James bounded down the stairs, launching off her backpack in a lazy fashion next to the front door. Turning towards the wooden table that was set up in the small, cozy dining room she reached over to pluck an apple out of the bowl sitting in the middle of it.

She was surprisingly in a good mood this morning. Sighing contently, she heard the crunch of the apple as she practically wolfed it down. Haley grinned as she was suddenly ready for this day, thinking that nothing bad could possibly happen at this particular time.

A car horn honked loudly several times from outside the house and Haley scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion. Usually when Lucas arrived at her house, he knew he only had to make the sound once before she came barreling through the front door. Something must be up his ass this morning Haley concluded in her mind scornfully, shrugging at the small thought of dealing with a pissed off Lucas.

"Bye Mom!" Haley yelled up the stairs swiftly, chucking her messenger bag over her shoulder as she closed the front door behind her. The light brown-haired girl grinned happily once she was out in the sunshine, still feeling like it was going to be an incredible day.

Man, life had to be a bitch.

Haley stopped dead in her tracks as she saw who was behind the wheel of the car instead of her best friend like usual. Growling menacingly under her breath, Haley drew a deep breath in, all thoughts of it being a good day flying out the window. As Haley got closer to the car she noticed that Nathan had rolled down the window for Lucas, who was now leaning over the seat to speak directly to Haley,

"I'm sorry Hales. My car broke down last night so it's in Keith's shop." Lucas looked at his best friend apologetically, who seemed to be having a hard time controlling her emotions. Haley just gritted her teeth and kept repeating vigorously in her head to remind herself to speak to Luke later about not having warned her before hand that her day was going to turn out like shit.

"Could we maybe get this show on the road?" Nathan snapped, keeping his icy gaze forward in an attempt to keep his cool himself. He didn't like this anymore than he could tell she did, but he certainly didn't want to be late to school because of her.

Rolling her eyes, Haley yanked the car door to the back seat open then slammed it shut behind her. She huffed to herself and continued her act by dramatically flipping her hair over her shoulder and crossing her arms thickly. Haley realized that the car still wasn't moving as she sat there in complete disdain. Glancing up to the rearview mirror she could see Nathan's nerving eyes locked on hers.

"What?" Haley snapped venomously, annoyed at the way he was looking at her, mostly because she couldn't help but feel distracted and slightly uncomfortable by his eyes.

"Just fucking put your seatbelt on James, and then we won't have a problem."

Raising her eyebrows at the cold tone he had chosen to take with her, Haley made no argument as she quickly slipped her belt on. She wasn't going to lie; he frightened her sometimes, most days actually. Although, Haley felt some security that he waited to make sure she was safe in the car before he took off. However, that thought merely switched to repugnance as she pushed the toe of her shoe into the back of Nathan's seat.

Haley smiled smugly in accomplishment as she heard him breathe in tightly and hiss under his breath, knowing that he was trying as hard as he could to not crack.

That girl seriously knew how to get under his skin. Nathan has resulted into biting down hard on his lip to keep himself from pulling the car over to the side of the road and kicking her out. Looking towards Luke, he gave him a threatening glare which told Lucas that he wasn't about to take anymore of her nonsense.

Lucas understood and nodded, turning to throw Haley a warning glance, silently telling her to knock it off. Haley responded by ignoring his look and breezily looking out the side window. Yes, she knew she was acting like a child. But, somehow enjoying Nathan's bitter remarks and hostile stares helped her get through this morning that was slowly turning to hell.

Turning back to the front, Lucas noticed his brother's knuckles turning white from his firm grip on the steering wheel in front of him. He was enjoying the pleasures of seeing his face darken every time he snuck a glance back at Haley and amused at the way he sometimes looked curious, as if he were wondering what was really going on in her head.

Or in Nathan's mind, he would call it her very, messed up head.

--

Haley slammed her locker door shut loudly, turning to look at her best friend Peyton in fury. "I swear to God, Pey…" She began to babble endlessly, quickly Peyton put a finger to her lips before she barely even got started.

"Uh, uh. No. There's no way in hell you are going off about him again" Peyton muttered towards Haley, however more to herself. She had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes over how she had to listen to Haley rant on and on about Nathan Scott and how much she resented him.

The two friends began walking down the hall towards the cafeteria and Peyton silently groaned to herself, knowing that she was about to witness possibly another outburst between Nathan and Haley. She had already seen one this morning; all of them were in the same 2nd period English class. Peyton was still oblivious as to how the argument even began, knowing it had to do somehow with him calling her a "nutcase on reading" and her throwing back at him with how "he doesn't understand nor care about the true values reading can bring." Instead, he apparently is a no-good basketball player whose only talent is on the court. Regardless, their fight ended with them having to be put on opposite sides of the room from each other. To add to the irony of it all, Peyton ended up sitting smack dab in the middle of the room, like she was shielding them both from throwing spit balls at each other's heads. Peyton laughed at the silliness of their spat, knowing that they both knew what makes the other tick…and not in the good way.

Fingers snapped in front of Peyton's face and she suddenly realized that she had to come back to Earth. Jake stood in front of her and that was all it took for Peyton to grin widely and throw herself into her boyfriend's arms. She had barely seen him all morning and after the day she was having, it felt good to be around him.

Haley couldn't help but feel excited whenever she saw those two together; it was honestly like they were Romeo and Juliet. Sighing happily for her two friends, Haley made a wish to herself that she hoped to find a love like theirs one day that could last for an eternity.

Someone pushed themselves hard against her back and Haley sputtered as she tried to control herself from falling flat on her face from the impact of the hit. Turning to see who the culprit was, Haley felt her eyes narrow as she mentally smacked her head, not surprised that it was the one person she hated the most.

"Nathan!" Haley spun around swiftly, her long, light brown curls spinning around from one shoulder to the other. Nathan stood in front of her with a group of his basketball friends, all of them chuckling to themselves at her reaction. "Why do you always have to be such a jerk?" She muttered, attempting to shove past him. He was too quick for her, she concluded, as he grabbed a hold of her passing shoulder,

"Why do you always have to be in such a pissy mood?"

Both of their bodies were now facing each other, silently changeling and taunting the other with their eyes, neither daring to make sound nor movement. To their peers around them they had become noticeably close, their noses not far off from touching. There was no need for an argument; there was too much fire in both of their eyes to set it free using words. Instead, Nathan and Haley took more to glaring each other down and breathing heavily.

Peyton and Jake stood off to the side, stunned at the scene before them. No one had seen them around each other absolutely quiet, without any smart remarks or snide comments. The silence of their friends was deafening and no one spoke as they switched looks wordlessly between Nathan and Haley, anxious for the outcome to be revealed.

"Alright, alright break it up" Lucas Scott roared as he pushed through the crowd with Brooke and frowned at his brother and best friend. Shaking his head, he placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder and shoved him as far away from Haley as possible, "Man, for your own good just give it up."

Nathan stared grimly at his brother but nevertheless strode through the cafeteria doors without another word to Haley. She followed his path with her eyes, narrowing them so far that she could very well slit his body into two parts.

"Move along now! Nothing else to see here, since I am far too clothed to put on a show right now" Brooke smirked as she idly snapped her fingers in front of people's faces. Students groaned at Brooke's attempt to receive all the attention and Lucas winced at the faint cat calls of the men coming from all the way down the halls.

Haley snorted and rolled her eyes over to Lucas, who seemed to be having a hard time from giving up and going to kick the asses of the guys who kept hitting on his girlfriend.

"Come on Hales, we've waited at a safe distance. Now let's grab some lunch!" She tried to lead her best friend away from the scene excitedly, locking elbows with both her and Peyton. Peyton glared back at her boyfriend reluctantly, like she was getting the death sentence.

Both Jake and Lucas laughed together, waving mockingly to Peyton and watched as they all strut into the cafeteria. Chuckling to himself, Jake reached out a hand and patted Lucas on the back and smiled, "You and Brooke are looking good. I think you suit each other well."

Lucas grinned at the thought. "Yeah well she can be, you know, Brooke sometimes, but I love her" He laughed briefly before returning the compliment over to Jake, "So are you and Peyton. God, I couldn't think of anyone better for her."

Jake muttered a quick 'thanks' and the two men lost themselves into their minds about the women they loved. "Hm" Jake began, an interesting thought coming to his head, "it's too bad that Nathan and Haley hate each other, huh?"

--

Haley cursed as she reached down to the lowest level of her locker to retrieve her calculus book from underneath her large stash of heavy books. Her day was not going in the way she had originally planned and she should have known that as soon as she saw that Nathan Scott was her ride to school that things would end badly.

Trying to shake her visible thoughts of her worst enemy out of her head, Haley slammed her locker door shut with a bang, startling her curious peers around her. Haley was more than aware of the amount of people who witnessed their confrontation just before lunch and she had successfully avoided him thus far to limit herself from making an even bigger scene than before.

Someone wrapped their arms around her middle torso and Haley jumped reflexively at the gesture. "Why hello there, baby" Chris Keller's voice whispered huskily into her ear and Haley had to retrain herself from throwing up inside her mouth.

"Chris, stop it, I'm not in the mood" Haley grumbled quickly, shaking out of his grip and attempting to start heading down the hallway to her next class.

"What's the rush Hales?" Chris questioned as he intertwined their hands against her will. He was oblivious to the way she was struggling to break their connection and kept babbling, "I mean you have Schroeder, right? I'm sure he wouldn't care if you skipped."

The mischievous grin on his face made Haley cringe. It was particularly creepy to her how he knew her class schedule. "No thanks" She refused politely, finally able to release their hands.

Without warning, her back was suddenly drawn up against a random set of lockers, her books toppling to the ground. Haley heard her own intake of breath as Chris's face was just inches from hers. The warning bell sounded, in both her head and reminding her that she only had a minute to rush to her next class.

"Chris come on, I'm going to be late" Haley pleaded, uncomfortable with the way he was pushing himself up against her pelvis.

"Don't sweat it, Haley James" Chris grinned and Haley knew that he figured he was going to get his way whether she liked it or not.

She tried to squirm and break free out of his arms but he was too much stronger than she was. "Chris come on, let go" Haley growled, shoving an elbow into his ribs, making him wince momentarily. His lips attacked her neck furiously and Haley struggled wildly against him, ferociously attempting to remove his face from touching any part of her skin.

"Chris, seriously!" She yelled once more, her eyes searching the halls for any signs of life. But no one was there to witness this event since everyone had retired to class. Haley clamped her eyes shut and continued to fight against Chris, making her lips scarce enough so that there would be nothing to kiss if he would happen to try.

"I'll be damned if you lay one more finger on her, Keller" A deep voice boomed from behind them and she felt Chris's body tense up. Relief washed over her whole body and Haley opened her eyes to glance around Chris's body she was hiding behind.

Chris almost immediately jumped off of Haley and her grateful smile changed quickly into shock as she saw Nathan Scott standing there, his lips pursed, dangerously glaring at Chris.

"Skipping class, Scott?" Chris grinned momentarily but shut up at the threat that was evitable in Nathan's eyes. "Uhm, yeahI'dbestbegettingtoclasstoo…" He fumbled his words around, almost too fast to understand, and tried to run backwards, tripping over the set of Haley's books. That didn't stop him for long as he turned and took off sprinting down the long hallway.

Nathan snorted at the easiness of taking care of Chris Keller. He paused as he looked at Haley's expression that showed clearly across her face and she stood frozen, not removing her back from the lockers. His eyes moved downward to her stuff that was scattered across the floor and moved easily over towards her, bending down to gather them up for her.

Haley stared unemotionally down at the books that he held out for her with one hand and Nathan cocked an eyebrow as he realized that she wasn't going to take them from him. He moved them into her hands forcefully and was surprised that she suddenly gripped onto them by her own effort after that. "You okay?" He asked, not sure if she was even human at this point…or breathing.

Haley shook her head unbelievably and Nathan could tell it was not in response to his question. "Wh-what, where in the hell did you come from?" She finally spoke, amazed that only moments before he had arrived the hall had been completely deserted.

Nathan pointed to a classroom a few steps down the hall. "I was heading to the bathroom from Physics and on my way I found you with Heller" He changed his name bitterly, it rolling off his tongue knowing that he deserved it.

Haley's eyes grew dark and a bad feeling rumbled deep down in Nathan's chest. Great, that look is never good. The light-brown haired girl straightened suddenly and shoved her books tightly up against her body, "Thanks but I really didn't need a hero."

The iciness in her tone made Nathan raise his eyebrows, not convinced. "Yeah, it really looked like that" He muttered sarcastically, making Haley just growl at him. Raising his arms in surrender, he fought back, "Hey, I was only trying to help. It looked like you needed it."

Nathan was ready to let go of the argument there and get back to what he was originally planning to do, but he should have known that she wasn't going to give up that quickly. "No, I didn't" She protested angrily. Haley crossed her arms stubbornly and clamped her lips shut thickly.

Nathan rolled his eyes. He knew what she had wished. She had wished that it was someone else, anyone else that had saved her, but him. If it was Lucas or Jake, sure, but she never would want it to be him.

"Come on Haley" Nathan sighed tiredly. For some reason, the great Scott was too exhausted to fight it out with Haley, even though there are many things he wishes he could snap at her.

"I don't need saving, and I sure as hell am not that delicate. You of all people should know that. I don't even know why you would bother anyways, if he were about to hurt me" Haley made sure to emphasize on 'were', "I would never expect it from you."

Nathan frowned suddenly at her and Haley immediately knew that it wasn't in anger. "Is that what you think?" His tone sounded so flat, so defeated, that it made Haley regret for a small second what she had said.

"You think that I'm so heartless that if I saw you, or even anyone else, being abused that I wouldn't help if I could?" Haley eyes softened at Nathan's choice of words. She couldn't ignore his gaze that was slowly penetrating into her eyes. Nathan scoffed suddenly and shook his head, "Yeah well, I guess you would just never expect it from me anyways."

She had hit a nerve. Haley watched as Nathan walked away from her without a word and she couldn't push away the weight that was slowly crushing down onto her chest. Sure, he was angry by the time he left, but it was the last thought that was on Haley's mind.

Maybe, just maybe, she had misinterpreted her best friend's brother…

… Maybe, she was wrong.

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Wow that was long. I hope you all enjoyed this! I'll try to have the next chapter up soon!