A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews once again! Didn't expect people to reply so fast! And thanks for thinking it was good cuz I really didn't think so. But anyway I'm really excited about this chapter. I actually liked writing it more than the last one. I like this chapter so much that I posted it right away for all you wonderful people to read and of course give me those great reviews! So hope you it like this one as much as I do! ENJOY!
Chapter 16
Haley groaned at the sound of her alarm clock blaring throughout her bedroom. Reality just struck through her as she realized today was going to be another excruciating day at school. As much as she used to enjoy going to school, today was not one of those days as she knew today questions about recent events would be blaring throughout the whole school just like how her alarm clock was doing now and why is that that stupid alarm clock still on! Haley groaned once more before finally getting into the sitting position. She mustered up enough strength to drag herself out of bed and made her way towards her dresser, without realizing it Haley threw her alarm clock across the room. The alarm clock beeped two low beeps before it finally died down. Haley groaned as she ran her fingers through her hair. Note to self, ask dad for a new alarm clock. She walked into the washroom for a quick shower and brushed her teeth. When she got out she grabbed any clean piece of clothing in her drawers and tied her hair up in a messy bun. She grabbed her backpack from the ground and made her way to her brother's room.
"Lucas?" The bed was empty. She checked his washroom, but still no Lucas. That was odd, especially for Lucas, usually he'd still be in the shower singing some song by Green Day or something. Haley quickly ran downstairs to check if there was some sort of miracle that he would be down for breakfast already, but then again she saw no Lucas, just her dad sitting at the kitchen table reading the daily news.
"Dad? You seen Luke?" she asked.
"Oh good morning Haley-bop, Lucas left early for basketball practice." He confirmed.
"Basketball practice? That's not until after school…." She said suspiciously.
Andy moved the newspaper down so he could see his daughter. "Oh, I don't know then…Probably off with Brooke then?" He took a sip of coffee from his mug and then continued reading.
Haley let out a big groan. "Remind me to kill him later…" she turned around and stomped out.
"Alright, have a good day at school sweety!" Andy called back before taking another sip of his coffee.
Now how the hell am I gonna get to school…She stomped out of the house, stepped down her porch steps, and sat down, placing her hand under her chin. Maybe I could just stay home! Yeah! So then I don't have to face all those damn questioning faces staring at me in the halls. Or so that…Her thoughts were quickly cut off by a car honking in front of her house. She looked up and saw none other than Nathan motioning her to get in. Great just when I thought everything would be fine, in comes my knight in shining armor to rescue my day…yippee… she rolled her eyes as she made her way to his 1966 Chevrolet Caprice that his dad worked on for years before his passing, then Nathan took over.
"Hey…" Haley groaned and let out a sigh as she got inside.
"What's wrong Hales?" he glanced in her direction before he turned the ignition off.
"Shouldn't you be in school by now?" Haley huffed.
"Me in school? And on time? I don't think so…only time I'm in school on time is when I get a ride from you guys." He explained. "And quit trying to change the subject and tell me what's wrong."
She sighed before continuing. "I'll tell you on the way to school." She sighed once again thinking about the different ways her day could go wrong.
Nathan chuckled before starting the car up again.
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"So how bad do you think this day will be?" She sighed again getting out of the car after parking in the school parking lot.
"On a scale from 1 to 10? maybe an 6, but every school day for me is like that. It use to be a 10 until you came back into my life." Nathan smirked hoping to cheer Haley up a bit.
"Nathan...Nice try...but I think I would rate this particular day a 15." Haley snorted.
"Out of 10! C'mon Hales, it can't be that bad. I'm sure everyone would be more worried about us losing the first game of the season than your problems."
"Yeah I hope so…" she wrapped her arm around his waist as he wrapped his around her shoulder and both made their way towards the school building.
"Here goes nothing…." She said quietly but loud enough for Nathan to hear. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her arm to let her know that today would be just like any normal day at Tree Hill High. But is there ever a normal day at Tree Hill High? One more loud sigh came out of Haley as they opened the main entrance of the school.
As soon as the doors open for the couple to come inside, almost instantly Haley could feel many eyes on her. A lot had sympathy written all over them but most of them said pity. What the hell is going on… She glanced up at Nathan who just shrugged at the scene presented to them. She quickly made her way to her locker, trying to not make any eye contact as much as possible. She glanced up for a quick second to make sure she was heading in the right direction and saw her brother standing by his locker. She quickly ran up to him breaking the hold with Nathan and wrapped her arms around her big brother.
"Luke what the hell is going on here! And why are you at school so early!" she glanced around her still seeing the many eyes on her and whispers going on in the hallway. Okay now this is creeping me out…
"Uhhhh…" he scrunched up his face a bit not knowing what to say.
"Luke?..." Haley stared at Lucas suspiciously. Nathan finally caught up and wrapped his arm around Haley once more.
"What the hell is he doing here Hales?" Lucas said as if Nathan wasn't standing right in front of him.
"Lucas this is a school, Nathan is a student at this school. So it would only be natural for a student to go to school." Haley said stating the obvious, making Nathan chuckle a bit.
"You know what I mean Hales…" Lucas groaned.
"Luke we already talked about this and that's not my main concern right now. Do you know something I don't?" She gazed up her brother waiting for a response.
"Well well well… You know I would say I felt sorry for you Scaley, but in my opinion, you deserved it." Rachel snickered as she walked passed them. Everyone shot her a look but Rachel just laughed it off.
"What the-" Haley and the rest of the group was quickly interrupted as they all face the person that just joined their circle.
"Oh my god Haley! I'm SO sorry! This is all my fault! I didn't mean for all this to happen…." An out of breathe Brooke came in the circle and quickly tried to explain.
"Brooke?" Haley twisted her head to face Brooke.
"I…was just talking to… Peyton...cuz I just couldn't keep it in….and..these…stupid girls heard..and…oh my gosh…I'm such a big mouth…I'm soo sorry…" still out of breathe, Brooke explained some more with sincerity in her voce.
Haley was still confused at Brooke's explanation, but eventually put the pieces together. Pity looks, Rachel's remark and Brooke apologizing for being a big mouth…oh my god she knows…everyone knows…but how…she placed her glance back at Lucas.
"Haley listen…" Lucas quickly tried to plead for his case but Haley's eyes started to well up as her face glared at him with much disappointment. Haley couldn't even think of anything to say at this point as she quickly turned around and ran out of there as quickly as her legs could take her.
"Great work genius…" Nathan shook his head and glared at Lucas once more before he turned around and took after Haley's trail.
"Lucas… I'm so sorry…" Brooke pleaded as tears started to come down her cheeks.
"Brooke, just save it…" Lucas glared at her before storming off in the other direction leaving Brooke to cry to herself.
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The doorbell rang twice before Andy could hear and made his way down the stairs. He quickly opened it to see the woman standing in front of him.
"Karen…" he opened the door for her to come in. "The kids are at school right now….So…"
"I know…uhmmm…I actually wanted to talk to you…." She kept her eyes wondering around the house.
"Uh yeah sure…make yourself at home…lemon tea with sugar right?" Karen nodded amazed that he still remembered.
"So uhmmm what did you want to talk about?" Andy asked coming back in the living room and placing the cup on the table.
"Uhmmm...So how are things?" she patted her lap nervously before she took a sip of her tea.
"Good I suppose, considering the recent events." He smiled.
"That's good, how's Lucas and uhmm Haley?" she asked still nervous on how to approach things.
"Well Luke, he's Luke, same old. And as for Haley, she's handling things the best way she can."
"Oh, well have they said anything to you… about you know, yesterday?" Andy was unsure whether she should hear this yet, it is her husband and step-son's doing.
"Well…not really…"
"Oh…I see…" she glanced down at her cup.
"So uhmm… how are things in the Ricke household?" Karen glanced up at Andy, as tear almost automatically ran down her eyes. What the hell did he do now…
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"Haley wait up!" Nathan called out to her as she reached the courtyard but she didn't stop. "Haley! Please!" he pleaded, for such a small girl she sure could run. He finally caught up to her and grabbed hold of her from behind and held her tight in his arms as he felt teardrops falling on top of them.
"Oh Nate…" she sobbed some more.
"Hales, everything will be okay…" He tried to convince her but hell he couldn't even convince himself at this point.
"How can this be okay Nathan!" She turned around to face him. "The whole f-cking school knows about this! How could Lucas do this to me! He promised!" She started to pound her fist on his chest as more tears flooded down her face.
"C'mon let's get out of here…" Haley nodded as they made their way to Nathan's car.
Haley and Nathan drove around until they finally decided to make the beach their final destination. Both bodies got out of the car and started to walk towards the shoreline. Nathan kept his hands in his pockets as Haley kept hers crossed over her chest. They quietly waked along the shoreline, until Nathan couldn't stand it anymore.
"Haley, talk to me…" Nathan picked a spot for them and sat down. Haley took a deep breathe and sat beside him.
"What am I suppose to say Nathan?" she huffed, obviously still angry for the betrayal.
"I don't know. I just want you to be able to lean on me, y'know?" Nathan grabbed some small rocks nearby and started throwing them in the water.
"Yeah last time I did that to someone, they ended up stabbing me in the back." She squinted as the sun got in her eyes. why didn't I bring my sunglasses today?
"Look, Lucas may have done that to you but you know I wouldn't. C'mon how many secrets have we told one another in the past and not one had gone out." Nathan stated.
"Yeah I told Lucas a whole bunch before too and look what happened. People change Nate, even the ones you thought you knew like the back of you hands." Haley glanced down and started to twirl her index finger around in the sand.
"I'm sorry he did that to you okay, but you didn't even hear him out." Nathan was practically contradicting himself going against Lucas one minute then defending him the next. He didn't get it himself but deep down he still felt bad for Lucas even though he hurt Haley that bad.
"Hear him out! What's there to hear out? That he told Brooke after promising me that he wouldn't tell anyone! What else is there to explain Nathan?" Haley glared at Nathan a little pissed off for taking Lucas' side.
"Okay maybe not, but Brooke is his girlfriend…"
"And that gives him the right to betray his sister? And Brooke, she's suppose to be my friend, but she ended up stabbing me in the back too."
"Brooke didn't mean for it to get out, she was just telling Pey-"
"She has no right Nathan. She wasn't even suppose to know in the first place and for her to go around telling people."
"She didn't exactly tell"
"Stop defending them Nathan! Who's side are you on anyways?" Surely Nathan knew there was no winning this battle so he just got up, dusted his pants off and held his hand out to Haley.
"How about we get ourselves some smoothies to cool ourselves off?"
Haley sighed and took his hand. "Whatever…"
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"Brooke, I just got your text message. What happened?" Peyton, Brooke's one and only best friend came out into the courtyard to meet her.
"Oh god Peyton! Everything's has gone so wrong!" Brooke ran up to her and cried into her arms. Peyton slowly led them back to sit on the bench and talk.
"I'm guessing Lucas didn't take it so well…" Peyton rubbed her friend's arm.
"He hates me Peyton! And to make matters worse Haley found out and now she hates me! And who knows, probably Nathan too. God I'm the worse person alive." She exclaimed as more tears dribbled down her face.
Peyton took out some napkins out of her backpack and handed them to Brooke. "Here" Brooke took it and blew her nose as loud as she can and took another piece to wipe her tears. Peyton laughed a little before continuing.
"You're not the worse person alive. Dan, Chris and probably even Rachel are tied for that place." Peyton chuckled trying to lighten things up. Brooke just stared at her as she wiped her nose.
"Yeah and I'm not that far behind…"
"Brooke it's not your fault okay…"
"If I hadn't told you about Haley, those girls wouldn't have heard…"
"I'm your best friend Brooke, best friends are suppose to tell each other everything." Peyton smiled.
"But still…" Brooke sniffed.
"Come on cheer up. I'm sure they're going to have to forgive you sometime. Plus Lucas is completely in love with you, just give him time, I'm sure in no time you guys will be back to grossing us out." Peyton laughed causing Brooke to playfully slap her on the arm and giggle a bit.
"Now let's get through this one day, then after school we'll go get our nails done and do some major shopping, my treat." Brooke struggled to put on a vague smile.
Brooke took out her compact from her bag and checked herself. "God, I look horrible…"
"Now that's the Brooke that I know." Both girls finally got up and walked arm in arm back into their reality.
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"Hey Luke! Wait up!" Lucas turned back to see Jake struggling to keep up with him.
"Dude! I've been calling your name so many times now." A breathless Jake struggled to keep his composure.
"Sorry man, I guess I was in my own little world for a while…" Lucas kept his eyes on the ground with his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah I can tell, so uhmm anyway Peyton told me about this morning. How you taking it man?" Jake tried to console his friend.
"Well let's see, Haley hates me, Brooke, I'm just upset at her, but I guess I'm more mad at myself. It's complicated." He let out a snicker.
"Sorry about that. I heard Brooke's been really bumming about it though." Jake said remembering Peyton telling him to make a note to himself to convince Lucas to forgive Brooke.
"Yeah, I don't know. So, you heard from Haley?" Lucas glanced at Jake.
"Nope, Peyton said she wasn't in homeroom, so I'm guessing she's off somewhere with Nate cause he wasn't in our homeroom either." Jake confirmed.
"Oh." He took his glance back down.
"I'm sure she'll forgive you Luke. She can't avoid you forever. You guys are stuck forever as siblings." Jake let out a chuckle, as he put an assuring hand on Lucas' shoulder.
"Yeah…I guess…Thanks man…" Lucas nodded his head and gave Jake a smile.
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"See didn't I tell you smoothies will make you feel better?" Nathan smiled at his still frowning girlfriend, as they sat at the café table.
"Not really now all I have is a big headache from the brain freeze." She pouted, making Nathan chuckle a bit.
"I told you not to drink so fast." Haley glared up at him.
"I was mad and when I'm mad I don't pay attention."
"WAS mad? Meaning not anymore?" Nathan kinked his eyebrow at her.
"I still am, I told you this headache is getting to my brain." Haley tried to push back a smile.
"Whatever Hales, admit you're having fun with me." He gave her his oh so famous smirk.
"NO. I'm just more calm…" she blushed. "Ugh…okay fine…Thanks Nate, this means a lot, even though you're making me skip all my classes today. Dad isn't going to be too happy about this." She gave him a slight nudge.
"I'm sure your dad will understand." Nathan chuckled. "So how are you feeling about forgiving Lucas now?"
"Why are you defending him Nate? You know he hates your guts right now and if the roles we're switched he wouldn't recommend me to forgive you."
"I don't know cuz I guess I kind of feel for the guy. He is or at least was my best friend, he's got me out of tough situations before. Everyone makes mistakes Hales, don't tell me you haven't done that before."
"Why Moe…I never knew you could be so…intuitive." She mustered up a small giggle.
"Why thank you…I think…" he smirked.
"But seriously, I'm sure I'm going to eventually forgive Lucas for this whole thing. But right now it just hurts too much. I just need some time I guess." Haley sighed before taking another sip of her strawberry and banana smoothie.
"Understandable…" Nathan nodded his head and also took a sip of his Monster energy drink.
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"Karen? Is there something bothering you?" Andy asked as he placed his hand above hers.
"No, I'm just I don't know. I'm all over the place I guess." She sniffled as she took a piece of tissue and wiped the tears off her face.
"Does this have anything to do with Dan?"
"Uhmmm… we had a fight today…" she sniffled again dabbing the side of her eyes with the tissue.
"About what?" Andy asked.
"Haley. He told me how we needed to get back to New York because he has to close this big deal. But I told him that I needed to stay to make amends with Haley but he could go if he wanted. And then he just blew up at me. Saying that I don't care about his needs and what he needs to do for our family. I couldn't take his yelling anymore after a few minutes and before I knew it I ended up here." She frowned and continued to look at her cup of tea.
"I'm sorry…" Andy didn't know what to say.
"God, I'm so pathetic huh?" Karen scoffed.
"No don't say that. Look Dan needs to understand why you have to be here. Haley is your daughter, of course it's natural for wanting to be with her through this tough time." He rubbed his hand on hers.
"But she hates me Andy, I don't know what to do."
"She just needs some time. She'll get over it eventually."
"I don't even know what I did. I wanted to tell everyone the good news too but now it's gone so terribly wrong." Karen's eyes started to well up again.
"What good news?"
"Uhmmm…" Karen was baffled.
"Karen..?"
"I'm sorry I can't do this right now." She took Andy's hand off hers and placed the cup on the table as she started to get up. "Could you just try to get Haley to talk to me?" she grabbed her bag and started to head towards the door.
"Uhhh yeah sure, Karen." He opened the door for her and she quickly left without a goodbye.
What was that all about? Andy scratched his head as he closed the door behind him.
A/N: So what you guys think? Huh! Huh! I tried to add some humor in there so hope you guys liked it. I actually wanted to keep it going but I finally ran out of ideas…lol…so hopefully this will be long enough for you guys until the next update. Unfortunately there won't be a special comment box this time, cuz well I'm just too lazy…lol…so sorry about that but do keep posting cuz you'll never know my lazy bum might not be so lazy next chapter! I will leave this though…
THANK YOU TO MY HOMIES FOR THE WONDERFUL REVIEWS: hotforjensen101, JeniRose, Anna, AngelLuva, Missy, TVHollywoodDiva, Silent Me, hazbo, JPNeverlosetheButterflies, mistydm, lilmonkeygirl31, mary-023,babyxbxgurl
--Oh and btw I'm trying to go for my next goal, which is 200 reviews! So please help a little girl out and keep them reviews coming and I'll keep the story going!