After a long hiatus, which I apologize for, writer's block is a bitch. But here's the next chapter of Not the Way We Planned It.

Chapter 15 – In Trusting Reid

After what seemed like the most amazing weekend ever, Hailey wasn't quite sure that she wanted to return to the dorm, or to school for that matter. It was one of her best experiences yet. She felt like an adult being pampered by the staff at the Palace, and by her boyfriend.

She didn't have to worry about impressing anyone, or putting up with Aaron and his banter.

She woke up in Tyler's arms Monday morning and fought the urge to go back to sleep, she knew his friends would ask questions, and her friends would ask questions. She could already hear them now.

"What time is it?" The mumbled sound of Tyler's voice brought her out of her daze.

"Six thirty…" She murmured one eye open.

"I guess we should get up and get going, huh?" She felt his body move against hers.

"Mmm, I guess so…" She maneuvered in his arms, facing him as her lips met his softly.

Tyler ran his soft hands over her arms and she pulled him closer to her naked body. She felt the shivers run down her spine, those pink lips feathering lightly over her skin. The sensation was light and amazing.

"We should really get going…" She whispered against the want that was pounding in her body.

"Yeah," He nodded his head letting his lips linger on hers for a minute.

She grabbed her bag and pulled out her uniform that had been graciously packed, someone was really thinking ahead. She mused to herself as she primped herself in the mirror and came out of the bathroom to see Tyler ready to leave. He grabbed her things and walked her out to the Black Hummer that waited patiently for them in the parking lot.

"People are going to ask questions…" She mused as Tyler parked the car in the Spencer parking lot.

"Let'em…" He answered with a lazy shrug, giving her a genuine smile.

"Have I told you how great you are, today?" She asked taking his outstretched hand.

"Mmm, not this morning…" He shook his head.

"Well that's because you're better than great…" She grinned.

"You're making me sick…" Caleb's voice howled from behind them.

"Go to hell Danvers," Tyler laughed slightly giving his best friend a friendly handshake.

"Enjoy your weekend?" Caleb asked flashing a brilliant smile.

"A little too much…by the looks of it…" Pogue came up behind them dialing in to his locker.

"Oh please…" Tyler rolled his blue eyes. "Cut the melodrama…"

"Our little boy is all grown up…" Caleb sighed heavily in a mocking voice.

"I'm so proud of him…" Pogue added putting a hand to his chest.

"A man after my own heart…" A female voice cooed from behind.

The gang turned around to see Sarah and Kate smiling brightly behind them. They linked arms with Hailey and dragged her to the side trying to get as many details as they possibly could out of the young girl.

Hailey was as modest as she possibly could be, trying not to brag about how great Tyler was at everything, and she did mean everything. Their small congregation was broken up by two sour attitudes that of her best friend and that of her boyfriend's best friend.

The two came down the hall argue and shoving each other.

"Get it through your thick skull Abbott, Hailey doesn't want you ok?" Reid shoved the boy hard in to a set of lockers.

"What the hell?" Hailey started towards the two boys.

"Wake up and smell the coffee Garwin, she doesn't want you either…" Aaron argued trying to shove the other boy off of him.

"That's right because she's in to my best friend, you jackass…" Reid stated holding Aaron up by the collar of his shirt.

"Reid, chill out…" Hailey stated pushing the two apart. "Let him go…"

"Hails…" Aaron started to argue.

"Shut up Aaron…" She held her hand up. "You're not making the situation any better…"

"Reid man, c'mon…" Tyler grabbed his best friend by the arm and pulled him away from Hailey and her best friend.

"What the hell is going on Hailey?" Aaron hissed shooting daggers at the Sons of Ipswich. "You ignored my call Friday night and then turn your phone off?" He asked a bit pissed off at her.

"I was busy," Hailey stated tossing a glance back at Tyler, Pogue and Caleb who were trying to calm Reid down.

"Doing what?" Aaron pushed.

"Let's not talk about it here ok… what is going on with you and Reid?" She asked him.

"He overheard me talking to Brody and Ryan…." Aaron shrugged.

"Aaron what did you say to Brody and Ryan?" Hailey questioned in a worried tone.

"Nothing out of the normal, just that you were MY best friend and that asswipe stole you from me…" Aaron shrugged. "Garwin overheard and got offended."

"Just cool it with the name calling, ok? He is my boyfriend…"

"Whatever, Hailey this is stupid…really stupid…" Aaron stated in a low voice.

"We'll talk about it later, ok?" Hailey asked.

"Whatever Hails, I see where your loyalties lie…" Aaron mumbled before walking away.

Hailey took a deep breath and turned around to see Reid and Tyler the only two left of their core group. She walked over and gave a small smile to Reid.

"Sorry about Aaron, I really don't know what's gotten in to him lately…" Hailey apologized.

"It's all good Hails…" Reid smirked at her. "Now love birds, lets get to class shall we?" He asked draping his arm around Tyler's shoulders and the other around Hailey's shoulders.

Hailey raised an eyebrow, what had changed Reid's tune? Why was he suddenly sticking up for their relationship, and being civil to her? She didn't know if he had talked to Tyler about everything, or if he was just finally coming to terms with the fact that she and Tyler were together and he couldn't do anything about it.

Hailey tried her hardest to keep Aaron and Reid away from each other most of the day, with great success. She knew she had to talk to Aaron eventually about what was going on, but she couldn't do it in front of any of the Sons of Ipswich or their girlfriends.

Too many questions would arise about the two. She knew it.

Aaron walked towards his locker when a firm grip tore him out of his brooding thoughts. He glanced at the small hand that was clutching on to his forearm; it was connected to a young girl. The same young girl that had been in his thoughts the entire weekend.

"So are you going to tell me what the hell is going on, Hails?" Aaron questioned with an eyebrow arched up at her.

"Not now, but I do need to talk to you…" She stated with a heavy sigh, taking a glance in every which direction. "Come to my dorm later tonight and I'll explain, ok?" She stated.

"Ok, I'll be there…" Aaron stated noticing a particular Son of Ipswich was looking their way in interest. "Care to tell me what's on your mind?" He asked her, moving in a bit closer just to piss off the younger boy.

"I'll explain tonight, ok… I've got to go…" She stated glancing at the same Son of Ipswich with a small smile on her lips.

"Sure…" Aaron responded, his tone defeated.

He watched as Hailey walked over to Tyler, the Son that was waiting ever so patiently for her. Aaron's eyes bore in to them as Tyler interlaced his fingers with her and the couple walked off to their next class together.

A low guttural growl escaped him, never in his life had he wanted to be someone more than he wanted to be Tyler Simms. Sure he envied Caleb and Reid, one was smart and responsible, the other rebellious and relentless, but neither of them had the one thing he wanted most.

Hailey Gregory.

"What was that about?" Tyler asked taking her books from her.

"I just need to talk to him later; he's been acting really strange lately…" Hailey answered with a small smile, it was half true. He had been acting rather strange the last few days and she wanted to get down to the bottom of it and find out why.

"I'm telling you it's because he likes you." Tyler shook his head and took his girlfriend's hand in his again.

"Don't be absurd," Hailey shook her head. "Aaron does not see me like that…"

"Why is it that everyone sees it but you?" Her blue-eyed boyfriend questioned.

"Because everyone else is dense; Aaron is one of my good friends, and that's where the relationship stops. Besides, it doesn't matter anyway" She smiled wrapping her free arm around his a small smile creeping on to her face. "I have you…" She stated gibing him a quick kiss on the lips.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by with ease; Aaron didn't question her anymore until he got up to her dorm that afternoon. His knocking was rapid and caught Hailey off guard. She was undressing out of her uniform when he came by.

She pulled on the grey Spencer hoodie that belonged to her boyfriend and the blue basketball shorts that hung loosely around her hips. She answered the door and Aaron was leaning against the door frame giving her a wicked grin.

"Hey Aaron," She moved so he could come in.

"So you wanted to talk, let's talk…" Aaron stated falling on to her bed.

"Alright, I really don't know how to tell you this…" She drawled out rubbing her hands up and down her arms, as if she was fighting off goose bumps.

"Well spit it out, babe…" Aaron grinned.

"I can't do this bet anymore, Aaron…"

"Well then, I win… and you can rid yourself of that jerk…" Aaron grinned happily.

"No," She shook her head. "Aaron, I can't finish this bet because I'm in love with Tyler…"

"Love?" Aaron scoffed looking at her shaking his head furiously. "You were supposed to make him fall in love with you, Hailey, not the other way around!" His teeth clenched together angrily as he stood up from the bed.

"I didn't exactly expect to fall in love with him, Aaron…" She pressed.

"I'm sorry too, because I'm not going to sit here and take this bullshit…" Aaron growled his jaw set.

"Aaron, please don't do anything stupid… I really, really care about Tyler… I can't hurt him like this…"

"You don't have to, I'll do it for you…" Aaron grinned evilly, almost menacingly.

"Aaron, please… don't tell him about the bet… I would die…" She held a hand to her chest as Aaron fled to the door.

"I gave you everything, Hailey…" Her eyes rimmed with tears. "I picked up the pieces when Reid Garwin broke your heart the first time… I did…" Aaron yelled at her.

"Aaron, I told you… I don't see you like that…" She whispered sadly.

"That's right because you're in love with Tyler fucking Simms!" He grabbed on to her upper arms tightly looking her dead in the eye.

"Aaron, you're hurting me," She felt the tears falling from her eyes.

"Well, you hurt me the moment you chose those imbeciles over me…" He growled letting her go and throwing the door open and storming out of her room.

Just as Aaron left her view, Reid appeared just as quickly, his usually light-blue eyes were dark and narrowing in on her. A look of anger pained his usually handsome features.

He didn't hear all of that, did he? She asked herself, seeing the way the boy was standing, the look on his face, he heard just about everything.

"Reid, I can explain…" She started but he cut her off before she could say anything further.

"What the hell was that about?" Reid's voice rose, and attracted a few onlookers from the dormitory hallway.

"Could you keep your voice down?" The brunette girl asked harshly looking around to see who was in the hallway.

"Keep my voice down?" The blonde asked glaring at her.

"I'll explain everything if you come inside," She chewed on her bottom lip.

"No, you tell me now." Reid demanded stepping in to the doorway.

"We made a bet…" Hailey whispered, her gaze shifted to her feet. "Aaron and I made this bet the night I first started talking to Tyler at Nicky's…" She started to explain. "It was stupid really; I told him that we should up the stakes in our game of pool… make things a little more interesting," She paused looking back up at him, he took a step in to the room. "I told him if I won he had to be at my beck and call for a month, and he came up with this ingenious idea that I had to make one of you fall for me…"

"I knew it; I knew there was something else behind all of this…" The boy shouted. Hailey hurriedly closed the door behind him, trying not to have any attention drawn to them.

"Reid you have to promise me you wont' say anything to Tyler…" Hailey pleaded with him, her green eyes shedding tears.

"You want me to keep a secret for you?' Reid scoffed. "Hailey this is my best friend we're talking about here…" Reid stated shaking his head furiously.

"I mad the bet with Aaron before I really knew Tyler, before I fell for him…" Her tears escaped faster at the thought of losing the blue-eyed boy to this stupid bet.

Reid stood back against the door and stared at her long and hard, he ran a gloved-hand through his blonde hair. He had finally come to terms with Hailey and Tyler together, only to find out about this. Oh, how the tides had changed.

"I really love him, Reid." She whispered softly.

Reid let out a heavy sigh, "How do you expect me to keep this from my best friend, Hailey?"

"Reid, I know you and I don't get along usually… and we don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but I'm begging you…." She stated looking him dead in the eye.

Reid felt a small lump form in his throat; he didn't want to have to tell his best friend that his relationship with Hailey was a lie. And Reid believed what Hailey was saying about not knowing Tyler before, and that she really loved him. He could read it all over her face.

"I'm not doing this for you, ok?" Reid stated letting out a heavy sigh. "Tyler is my best friend, my brother and I don't want to see him hurt…"

"I understand," She whispered. "I'm grateful for this Reid… I've never felt like this about anyone before…" She wringed her hands nervously.

Reid gave he a skeptical look, she was pretty head-over-heels for him last year, "Oh really?"

"Not even you," She stated giving him a glare.

"Could've fooled me…" He gave her his trademark smirk.

"You're a pain in the ass…" She muttered as he opened the door.

"I'm just fuckin' around with you," He grinned shortly as she gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, Reid…" She stated wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "I really appreciate it…"

"Don't mention it…" He shrugged his shoulders. "But don't you dare hurt him, you got me?" He warned.

"I don't plan on it…" She whispered as he disappeared down the hall. "Reid Garwin, if I had things my way none of this would have ever happened…" She said sadly before closing the door to her room.

How had she gotten herself in to this mess? Why would Aaron get so angry with her over this stupid bet? Why had she told Reid the trust? Could she really trust Reid not to say anything? Would he tell Tyler?

What was she going to do if Tyler ever found out the truth?

Should I continue with the reverse psychology? DON'T PUSH THE BLUE BUTTON, DON'T REVIEW... ;)