A/N: Hey guys Thanks again for all the reviews. Anyway sorry for taking awhile to spit out this new chapter. I got some relatives over so I don't really have much time to update this. But we are all just a chapter away until all secrets are revealed. Next chapter will be a little filler like a little Naley fluff. Then the chapter after that will be the revealing, so please get my reviews up so I can update as soon as possible. The reviews are what keeps me from being too lazy at this so please review some more whether it's good or bad. Thanks again and as always ENJOY!

Chapter 11

The next day Rachel went out for her daily run before school started. She goes through the same route everyday and most of the days she would see the exact same thing, people getting their morning coffee at the cafes, other joggers, and same old people sitting at the bench feeding the seagulls, but today she spotted something different. As she jogged towards Rivercourt, she saw two familiar figures shooting the ball into the hoop and having a deep conversation. She quickly ran closer and found a spot behind a tree. She took the earphones out of her ear, turned off her ipod and crouched down to have a closer peek at the two without being noticed. Whatever they were talking about it seemed serious by the look of their faces. Rachel got a little bit closer until she could finally hear what they are saying. She missed the beginning part of it but you didn't need a genius to figure out what they are talking about. A big grin came across Rachel's face as an idea popped into her head. They should have never crossed paths with this red-head. She thought to herself. As they finished off the first conversation, Rachel was about to stand up and continue her running until the second conversation caught her attention. She crouched back down and listened some more. This next conversation Rachel didn't like too much, actually she hated it, the more she listened to it the redder her hair gotten, like they we're on fire. More thoughts came passing through her mind until they we're interrupted by a familiar voice behind her.

"Uhhh Rachel…What are you doing behind a tree?" The dark hair figure said. Rachel jumped up and glared at the person for interrupting.

"Tim! What the hell is wrong with you! Trying to give me a heart attack!" Rachel said in a whisper, still trying not to get noticed by the two playing.

"Sorry…But what are you doing behind a tree? Playing hide and seek cuz I don't mind playing…actually why don't you come back to my pl-" before Tim continued Rachel took her fingers and stapled Tim's lips shut.

"Listen Dim if you know what's good for you, you would never EVER finish that sentence off or say anything relatively close to that to me EVER!" Tim just nodded a little afraid of what Rachel would do to him. Rachel finally let go of Tim's lips and continued her morning run. Tim held his hands to his lips as he watched Rachel leave. He looked around like a lost little puppy until he saw Lucas and Nathan shooting hoops at the Rivercourt and decided to join them.

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"Okay…So tell me again why you woke me up so damn early and brought me here?" Lucas glanced over at Nathan barely keeping his eyes open.

"Cuz the season is about to start and we need all the practice we can get. Plus I need to talk to you about something." Nathan explained as he made a shot.

"Okay so what is it? Whitey say something?" Lucas asked as he caught the ball Nathan passed to him and made a shot himself.

"No has nothing to do with Whitey, actually it's about Haley." Nathan said.

"Haley? Don't tell me you're going to ask her out on a date are you?" Lucas asked a little afraid of what he would say.

"No it's not about that." Nathan said not really denying the fact.

"Okay so what is it?" Lucas asked.

"Have you noticed something different about her ever since she came back?"

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked confused.

"I mean did she have like different mood swings?" Nathan asked.

"Haley always had mood swings it's natural for her." Lucas chuckled.

"No that's not what I mean." Nathan said annoyed at the fact he couldn't really explain the situation properly.

"Well you're going to have to be more specific." Lucas retorted.

"Well last night when we took a break from tutoring I was looking around her room and I saw a picture of us with our parents when we were kids. And when I asked her how her mom was she started to act all weird on me." Nathan tried to explain.

"Okay tell me exactly what happened." Lucas said still confused.

"Well like I said we were looking at a picture of us as kids with our parents and first we started off talking about my mom and how she was doing and then when I was asked her about your mom she got all teary eyed and depressed like something terrible has happened." Nathan explained some more. "You should've seen the look in her eyes Luke. She looked so hurt and helpless. She kept muttering something about how she should've been there to protect her and how she should've been stronger. She wasn't really making any sense and everything I asked her what was wrong she just kept saying the same thing. I had to do something but I thought I should go to you first."

"Oh man… I never really saw her like that. But the week she came back here I saw her having some kind of bad dream and when I woke her up she brushed it off making up some dumb excuse. I knew it was a little bit off though. She was lashing out so much in her bed like she was trying to get out of something. But I couldn't get it out of her either. You know Haley she's so stubborn. She hates it when people worry about her. So being the best big brother I could be a let it go until something happened again but it never did, well I guess until now." Lucas replied.

"You think her dream and what happened last night was connected?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know but when started to talk about mom and stuff she got pretty intense about it. I think maybe that may be the problem. Plus ever since she came back every time our mom called she would always make up some dumb excuse to not talk to her." Lucas explained.

"Well we have to do something. I mean you really should've seen her Luke, I don't ever want to see her like that again." Nathan said with much worry in his eyes.

"Yeah tell me about it. But I'll talk to my dad about it or maybe even call up my mom and find out for myself." Lucas said trying to ease to worry on the both of them.

"Yeah, maybe I could call Karen up too, I mean she was close to mom, maybe she can help both Haley and my mom." Nathan suggested back.

"Yeah, I bet mom would love to see Deb again and maybe she can get through to your mom too" Lucas smiled back as he passed the ball to Nathan.

"Yeah maybe…" Nathan shot the ball and it made nothing but net. "So changing the subject a bit I was actually meaning to ask you something if you remembered."

"Oh yeah…Forgot about that sorry man. What was it about again?" Lucas asked.

"Well…" Nathan said a little hesitant. "Haley…." Nathan said drifting off a bit in the end.

"Again? What about this time?"

"Well you know earlier you asked if I wanted to ask your sister out on a date?"

"Yeah…and…?" Lucas grabbed the ball and held it in his right arm as he glanced over at Nathan looking anywhere but at him.

"Well…." Nathan finally looked at him with a little half smirk on his face.

"Oh no no no…" Lucas retorted knowing exactly what he was going to say.

"Aww c'mon Lucas. You know I care about her. I wouldn't even be asking you for permission if I didn't. And you're my best friend you know I'd never hurt your sister."

"But that's my sister man!" Lucas exclaimed. "And your history with girls..."

"You know I'm over that. That's why I broke it off with Rachel." Nathan countered.

"Yeah with Rachel, but what about those other girls?" Lucas argued back.

"You know I haven't gone out with anyone since your sister came back to town." Nathan countered again.

"Okay maybe…But..."

"Luke c'mon man we've gone way back when and Haley too. You know I'd never do anything to hurt her in any way." Nathan interrupted before Lucas could say anything back knowing he's about to cave in.

Lucas gave one last groan before responding. "Okay fine… But if you hurt one hair on my baby sister's head I don't care if you're my best friend you will get hurt." Lucas threw back.

"Yeah. Yeah…Thanks man..." Nathan responded relieved at Lucas' approval.

"Yeah and thanks for coming to me first before making any moves." Lucas held out his hand to Nathan which Nathan gladly took and pulled each other into a manly hug. Both separated when they felt another pair of arms around them both.

"Tim! What the hell! Get off me!" Nathan yelled out.

"What? Can't a brother get some love too?" Tim pouted at the two.

"Tim, first of all you're white, and second don't ever, EVER do that again!" Lucas called back.

"Man that's the second time today!" Tim said more disappointed as both boys just stared at him confused. "Yeah… you are never going to guess who I just saw…"

The three boys played a round of HOG before they headed back home to get changed for another day of school.