I thought I posted this chapter up already, but I suppose not. Anywho... we're getting down to the end here... I think it'll only be two more chapters, and then I will get started on the sequel. :)

Chapter 23 – Tension

The weekend was gone and over with before Hailey knew it. She had offered to help Reid clean his house, but the blonde strictly refused. He told her that the guys were coming over and they were making a day out of it.

She didn't twice about it until she went over with Tyler after school on Monday and the house was absolutely spotless. She looked around confused as Tyler held the door open for her.

"Hails?" Tyler waved a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Hailey…" He tried to get her attention.

She shook her head and looked over at Tyler, "You did all of this yesterday?" Hailey asked looking over and Tyler, her attention cutting to the blonde who was walking out of the kitchen.

"With four people it's easy to clean up quick…" Reid stated before Tyler could even open his mouth.

Hailey raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Tyler, "Impressive…" She smirked walking in to the house. "So what's up?"

"I just thought that we'd take you out for coffee tonight," Reid smirked grabbing his coat.

"Oh, and why is that?" Hailey asked curiously.

"Just feel like being extra nice…" Reid grinned as Tyler rolled his eyes.

"For some reason I don't believe you…" She stated shaking her head.

Reid grinned as he stole the keys to Tyler's Hummer and the two younger kids got in the backseat. Reid smiled over at Tyler who simply shrugged his shoulders and put his arm around Hailey's shoulders.

"You're up to something Garwin…" Hailey decided as they arrived at the Starbucks in town.

"Ok, and if I am?" Reid asked.

"I want to know what it is, so I can tell you no… now…" Hailey grinned as the three of them walked inside.

"Ok, so I was talking to my mother, and she's going to be back in town in a week…" He rolled his eyes. "My mother is one of those moms that has her hand in everything with the Upper Class…" He rolled his pale blue eyes ordering the three coffees.

"And?" Hailey asked as Tyler tried to hide his laughter.

"She's having this huge ball type thing for all the debutants and yadda yadda…" Reid continued.

"Get to the point Blondie…" Hailey stated waiting for the punch line.

"And we were talking, and I told her that I wasn't going to go because I felt like they were to precarious and I didn't want to be a part of it…"

"Reid…"

"She begged me, Hailey, begged… my mother doesn't beg for anything…" Reid stated biting his bottom lip.

"Reid Garwin, get to the point…" She stated as the three of them sat down.

"I kind of told her yes, and when she asked if I wanted her to set me up I said no because I had a date…" He looked up at her with baby blue puppy dog eyes.

Hailey's eyes widened with realization, she looked at Tyler and he looked over at the blonde. Reid gave her his look and she shook her head.

"I had to beg and plead for Tyler to even let me ask you…" Reid stated.

"You could have gotten any number of girls at Spencer to do it, why me?" Hailey asked.

"That's what I asked…" Tyler stated glaring at his friend for a moment.

"Besides you, Sara and Kate are the only decent girls at Spencer, besides my reputation with a good percent of the girls there isn't so great…" The blonde looked at her and she sighed. "Please, Hailey, will you do me this one last favor?"

"I'm sure it won't be the last…but ok…" She sighed and nodded her head taking a sip of her coffee.

Reid grinned," Thanks babe…" He took a drink of his coffee and Hailey snapped her fingers.

"That reminds me…" She stated. "Chase wanted me to tell you guys that he said Hi…" She smiled looking at the two.

Tyler's eyes bugged out of his head, as Reid spewed his coffee all over the table and all over Hailey. Hailey scooted her chair back and stared at Reid like he had lost his mind. Tyler and Reid both grabbed their napkins and started to help clean up the mess.

"Did you say Chase?" Tyler asked carefully dabbing her face.

"Yeah, what's wrong with Chase?" Hailey asked standing up and brushing off her clothes.

"Um, n-nothing… just haven't heard that name in awhile…" Reid stated cleaning up the mess on the table. "I'm sorry; you just caught me off guard…"

"It's ok…" Hailey laughed taking a seat.

"How… how do you know Chase?" Tyler asked being very, very careful with his tone.

"I don't really know him per se, but he came up to me a few weeks ago here, and then again the night before Reid's party…" She gave them both a strange look. "He was at your party Friday; he said you invited him…"

"I did?" Reid asked looking at Tyler; he faked a light bulb and smiled. "That's right, I did…" Reid stated. "It was just a text message though. I uh- didn't want him to feel like I left him out…"

Tyler coughed uncomfortably and looked at Hailey, "I asked him to come say hi to you on Friday, but he said it would be a good idea, any reason why?"

"Remember the fight Caleb got in to with a friend of ours?" Reid asked finally speaking up again. Hailey's eyes grew wide and she nodded. "That was Chase…"

"I remember he said that the first night I met him… he asked me if I went to Spencer, and I said yeah… and he said that he used to go there but got expelled for getting in a fight…" Hailey snapped her fingers. "I don't know why I didn't think about it earlier…" She shook her head.

"Yeah," Reid looked at Tyler raising an eyebrow.

Tyler reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone, "I've got to make a call; I'll be right back…"

Tyler got out of his seat and walked outside. He dialed a familiar number and waited for the person to answer.

"Ty, I'm a little busy…" Caleb stated sitting up in his bed. The white sheet hanging low on his waist.

"Why did you even answer the phone?" Sarah whined next to him, letting her fingers trail over his well defined chest.

"Caleb, I'm sorry… but this is important…" Tyler stated pacing in front of the coffee shop.

"It had better be…"

"It's about Chase…" Tyler whispered in to the receiver.

"Excuse me," Caleb nearly fell out of his bed.

"Chase, he introduced himself to Hailey…" Tyler stated leaning against the brick wall. "He was at Reid's party on Friday…"

"You're shittin' me…" Caleb stated glancing over at Sarah; he instinctively pulled her closer to him with his free arm.

"No, man… I wish I was…" He sighed. "What are we going to do?"

"Call Pogue and Reid and meet me at the Colony house in twenty minutes…" Caleb muttered throwing the covers off of his body. He hung up the phone and Sarah looked up at him.

"He's back, isn't he?" Sarah asked.

Caleb avoided eye contact and stood with his hand on his hip and his cell phone pressed against his chin. He didn't say anything he just simply nodded his head. Sarah's large blue eyes turned glassy at the realization.

"Hailey," Tyler came back inside. "I'm going to go drop you off at the dorms, Reid and I have to go meet up with Caleb…"

"Why?" Hailey asked concerned. "Is he ok?"

"He's ok… he just had one of his migraines, and Pogue is…" Tyler trailed off trying to find a good excuse. "He's at the shop waiting for ah- his bike to get finished up…"

Hailey frowned and nodded her head, "Ok, well we'd better go…" She stated getting up and looking over at Reid who was giving Tyler a look.

They walked out to Tyler's Hummer and the ride back to the dorms was silent. Hailey climbed out of the truck as Tyler came around to her door. He took her face in his hands and looked down at her.

"I'm sorry for rushing out on you, but…"

"It's ok… I understand…" She smiled up at him. "Just call me later, ok?" She asked.

"I will," He kissed her softly and she looked up at him with a small smile.

"Goodnight Ty…" She whispered.

Tyler felt those three little words tickle his tongue but he decided against using them. He nodded his head and gave her one last peck before climbing back in to the truck, Reid had climbed in to the driver's seat, and Tyler was stuck as the passenger.

Reid waved to Hailey as he pulled away and she watched the SUV pull away and sighed. She wasn't sure what was going on with the Sons, but she didn't know if he was telling her the truth or not. She wanted to believe them, but something itched at the back of her mind that something wasn't right.

The next day at school Hailey saw Caleb walking in with Sarah looking a bit melancholy. The usually bubbly blonde had never looked so down. Hailey's brow furrowed, walking over to them she noticed that Pogue and Kate who were walking from a completely different direction were looking to be in the same boat.

"Hey Caleb, how are you?" She asked giving him a hopeful smile.

Caleb looked at her for a moment, and tried to play off his confused look, "Oh, I'm ok… just these damn migraines, you know?" He gave her an uneasy laugh.

"Yeah, well I'm glad you're doing ok…" She smiled and looked at Sarah. "Sarah, are you alright?" She asked.

Sarah looked up at her with sad blue eyes and forced a smile, "Sorry, just been in a bit of a rut this morning…" The blonde answered.

Hailey looked from one to the other and nodded holding her books to her chest. She gave them both a meek smile before heading towards her locker. She glanced back and saw the two couples meet up, there moods not shifting at all.

Hailey shook her head and noticed Tyler leaning against her locker, what appeared to be a forced smile adorning his face. Now she knew something was up, Tyler never forced smiles.

"What's going on?" Hailey asked looking at Tyler who stepped aside so she could get in to her locker.

"What are you talking about?" Tyler asked confused.

"Everyone is so melancholy…Sarah – SARAH of all people is not smiling… at all…" She stated looking at Tyler.

"Everyone's just concerned about Caleb, he hasn't had these headache's in awhile so … we're all just kind of on edge about what's causing them…" Tyler covered.

"But he said he was ok…" Hailey stated shaking her head.

"He's trying to be Mr. Tough Guy… he does that…" Tyler shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry if we're all a bit tense but he thought he was rid of them a about a month or two ago, and now they're back again… and what appears to be in full force…"

Hailey looked up at him after switching out her books and looked him in the eye, she chose to believe him. But a small part of her wanted to call him a liar, but she had to trust him, he was after all… her boyfriend.

Well, she guessed he was her boyfriend, they hadn't technically stated what their status was. They were seeing each other, and they did all the normal things that couples did, but he hadn't called her his girlfriend, and she didn't dare say it first.

"Ty," She looked up at him as he took her books and her hand in his.

"What's up Hails?" He asked.

"What are we?" She asked looking up at him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.

"I mean our status… in our relationship…" She asked.

"Like?" Tyler raised an eyebrow at her.

"Last time you asked me to be your girlfriend; this time… it just kind of happened…" She explained. "So am I your girlfriend, or…"

Tyler pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head, "What else would you be babe?" He asked her cutely.

Hailey shrugged, but for some reason felt relived. She gave him a peck on the cheek and walked in to first period together.

The group was sitting at lunch, when Caleb grunted and made a disturbing sound as he stood up quickly, Hailey's eyes grew as she dropped her fork and watched as everyone around them started to panic silently. Sarah's eyes said it all, she looked almost terrified.

"Caleb, are you ok?" Reid asked looking at his friend.

"Ah," Caleb sucked in a breath and held the heels of his palms against his eyes as sweat began to appear on his brow.

"We should get him in an empty classroom, c'mon…"

Just as Pogue said this, the cafeteria doors burst open and a massive gust of wind sent papers, books, and everything loose in to the cafeteria. The gust was strong enough to knock someone over.

Hailey grabbed on to the table as Tyler's head snapped up looking at Reid, Caleb and then Pogue. All the boys looked panicked, as Kate let out a loud yell and Sarah clutched on to Caleb's arm instinctively.

"That was odd…" Hailey stated loudly as the gust died down.

"Yeah," Tyler nodded looking at Caleb who was calming down, though pain was apparent on his face.

"I've got to go to the library and do some research…" Sarah stated suddenly getting up from her seat. "Caleb will you come with me?" She asked.

Caleb didn't say anything he followed his girlfriend out of the cafeteria and the table went silent. Hailey looked around, Kate looked completely frightened, Pogue looked paranoid, Reid looked irritated and Tyler… Tyler she couldn't read.

No one said another word until the bell rung and Tyler muttered a 'Let's Go' before they got up to leave the cafeteria. They scaled over books, papers and people's belongings as they exited the cafeteria.

Hailey looked up at her boyfriend and bit her bottom lip, something was going on. Something that he wasn't telling her and she wanted to get to the bottom of it. She had to get to the bottom of it.

She could tell that they wanted to say things; each one of them had opened their mouths on one occasion or another to say something, but would stop themselves. If Hailey asked them about it they would simply say that they forgot.

The tension among the group was unexplainable. She had to find out what had everyone all wound up.

You know what NOT to do, don't you?