Chapter 9

Haley went about her day in more of a hurry than usual, during fourth period, her only class with Nathan (other than lunch and gym which she could easily avoid him in) she tried to avoid eye contact at all costs. She had yet to read his journal, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction quite yet that he had cracked her. I mean how could one stay mad at Nathan with his beautiful eyes, signature smirk, and well, soft personality… 'Oh god, Haley. Control yourself!' she said, snapping herself out of her thoughts.

The rest of the day was fairly tame, she notice Nathan stealing quick glances at her out of the corner of her eye, obviously trying to see if she read his journal or not, but that was pretty much it. She rushed home after her tutoring sessions and locked herself in her room, sitting Indian style on her bed and placing the journal down in front of her. She just sat there and stared at it until she decided to make a call.

"Hello?"

"GiGi."

"Haley! How are you doing?"

"Better actually. Listen, do you want to come over?"

"Well, I do, but Mouth is on his way here. We're going to watch the Notebook."

"GiGi… your Notebooking him?"

"Hey, the kid's new to Tree Hill, he won't even know what hit him." Haley laughed at her friend; happy she had finally found herself a boy.

"Alright, then never mind."

"Well, hey. He's not here yet, let's talk for a bit."

"God I was hoping you would say that!" Haley squealed. "Okay so, you know my whole journal/Nathan Scott dilemma?"

"Of course."

"Well, he just flipped everything around. He's trying to make it up to me, god knows why, so he gave me a journal of his."

"He has a journal?"

"Well, uh, he just started to make it up to me."

"Oh."

"And well, I'm wondering if I should even read it. I mean, I don't want things to get even weirder than they are."

"Are you kidding me? You have to read this! Then let me know what happens."

"But of course, my friend," Haley laughed.

"Haley…"

"Oh no. What two cents do you have to add now?"

"I think he likes you."

"Well, yeah. As a friend."

"No Haley, guys do not just do stuff like this for a girl they like as a friend."

"GiGi, Nathan Scott would never see me as that," Haley said as she heard a doorbell go off on GiGi's end of the line. "And I'm guessing that's Mouth. I'll talk to you later," she quickly stated before hanging up the phone.

After she placed her phone onto her dresser, she turned back to the journal staring back at her on the bed. She looked at it in anticipation. Part of her, well actually, most of her, wanted to just open up the journal and see its contents. But a small part of her just wanted to not read the journal, stay mad at him, and keep the grudge so she wouldn't have to let Nathan in as she knew she would inevitably would… more than she already had. However, just as it had gotten Nathan, curiosity got the best of Haley. She let out a huff and picked up the journal, studying the cover. It was your generic black and white speckled journal, with Nathan Scott scrawled on the front.

She opened the front cover and look on the inside. A picture of Michael Jordan was taped to the cover with the words "My Dream," etched under it. She then looked at the first page. This is it… this is Nathan Scott.

2/1/06

Okay, I'm new to this whole journal deal, but I'm going to try. It's actually not the first of February, but this is the day it all started so I'm just going to make some past entries otherwise this journal would only have like… 3. So yeah, where to start.

Today was a normal day, hung out with the guys and Lucas, who tried to make a pass at this girl, but was utterly shot down.

Haley laughed; she remembered that. God, Lucas could be so cocky. She continued reading.

Then I went to the library. I was the first in there, so I searched for a table and saw a exotic looking book laying on top of one. It looked interesting so I put it in my bag, but I liked whoever wrote it. They had this vibrant personality I was drawn to. I had to wait till after basketball to read it though.

Speaking of, basketball was hell today. Whitey's been riding us like crazy lately. The Sunkist Tournament is coming up in a month and he wants us to win, nothing like last year. I mean, we won, but everyone was hung over and it came pretty close. Plus, my dad has been on his back. God, why can't he just get out of the freaking past? He has some grudge with Whitey and likes to play these little mind games just to spite him. I'm getting tired of it cause not only do I have to deal with it at practice, but at home too.

Sometimes I wish my dad could be more like Lucas' dad, my Uncle Keith. Keith is so laidback and doesn't hassle anyone. But I never say it to him. I made that mistake once and it just ended up with a week of non-stop workouts with my dad and him yelling at me saying that if he wanted to be a run-down mechanic he would have took his brother's lead and not gone to college.

Whatever, talking about all this is making me mad. Let's talk about something happy… so tonight I went to Lafferty's pizza to get a bite with the gang, and something interesting happened. I saved a life. Okay maybe I didn't save it, but I saved someone from embarrassment. Haley James. Yep, she just keeps popping up lately. It's weird. So I caught her in my arms, saved her a fall to the floor, and yeah.

Haley sighed to herself, remembering that moment. It was embarrassing but she couldn't help but notice how good his muscular arms felt around him. She was about to continue reading, but it seems as if the last sentence had been crossed out. But that didn't stop her from trying to read it. She squinted down at the cross out and tried to read the vague letters underneath. "It… it felt… It felt good to… arms… smells… smile… nice…," she said out loud trying to piece it all together. "It felt good to have her in my arms. She smelt like raspberries, and that smile…"

Haley closed the book, hugged it to her chest and felt the redness flush over her face. She had only gotten through one entry and she was already swooning. "Maybe he does like me…" she mumbled to herself. But then realized he had probably crossed it out for a reason. Either way, the words still made her smile. 'No matter what,' Haley thought to herself. 'No matter what, I will become nothing more than friends with Nathan Scott. I don't want to be vulnerable again.'

She continued to lay there on her bed, thinking about what she just read, noting how there was some tension between Nathan and his dad as she had noticed at the games and the fact that he noted her signature scent of Sun Ripened Raspberries, then got herself ready to continue reading on.

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