This is a long chapter, but you guys like those right? LOL... anywho... enjoy and I'll try and get the last (hopefully) chapter done within the next few days... :)

Chapter 24 - Apologize

The next week seemed to go by awkwardly for Hailey. She seemed to be on the outside looking in when it came to her group of friends. She felt like the one person who wasn't in on the "inside joke".

The tension was unbearable sometimes and she found herself pulling away from the group. She didn't like to feel uncomfortable and she felt that way whenever they ate together at lunch, or hung around in the halls. She would make up some excuse to get out of it and hoped that she wasn't hurting her relationship with them in the process.

"Hailey, where are you going?" Sarah asked as the blonde walked in to the cafeteria just as the brunette was walking out.

"Uh, I was going to go to the library and catch up on some homework…" Hailey stated jabbing her thumb in the general direction of the library.

Sarah nodded as Hailey snuck past her and walked towards the library, she was almost there when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to a lean, warm body. She rested back against the brunette and smiled.

"You're always disappearing at lunch," He muttered in to her ear.

Hailey turned around and looked up in to those familiar dark blue eyes, "Sorry babe, but I got a lot of homework to catch up on… I'll see you after lunch ok?" She asked.

Tyler gave her a slow kiss, not wanting to break away from her. She placed her hands on his chest and gave him a quick peck.

"I'll see you after lunch then…" He rolled his eyes and winked at her.

Hailey smiled and slipped in to the library without being caught by anyone else. Hailey finished up some of her homework but decided to pull out her book of the moment.

The bell rang signifying that lunch was over; Hailey put her book away and walked towards her locker. Just as she was walking out of the library she collided with a body, she fell backwards and her things went all over the place.

She let out a huff and glared up at the person who had knocked her down, seeing the familiar face her lip curled down in a scowl as the lean boy bent down to help her pick up her things. She hurriedly gathered her things and looked up as he held out her book she had been reading to her.

"Hailey," Aaron said her name barely above a whisper as she snatched the book from him.

"Thanks," Hailey muttered before brushing past him.

Aaron grabbed on to her elbow and she glared at him, "Hailey, can we please talk?" He asked.

"I think you've done your share of talking for a while, Aaron…" She stated yanking her arm out of his grasp and disappearing around the corner.

Aaron watched her walk away. He had thrown everything away for his own ego, his pride. He cursed out loud, running a hand through his dark curls. He had been completely miserable since he lost his friendship with Hailey.

He had been stuck dating Kira and she was already driving him mad. She wouldn't shut up about Hailey, and what Hailey was doing; and how Hailey was dating Tyler, and best friends with Reid.

Aaron had seriously thought about strangling the red head, but chose against his better judgment. He walked towards his locker and slowly opened the metal door, on the inside was a picture of him, Brody, Ryan and Hailey. It had been taken over the summer and they had stayed out at Hailey's parents' beach house in Florida for a week.

They had great times together as just friends. He no longer had a girl to go to for advice on relationships, he had Kira. He didn't have anyone to play pool against that didn't suck, like Brody and Ryan. He missed his best friend.

Aaron slammed his locker door shut and came face to face with Kira. She started immediately talking about Hailey and what a bitch she was. Aaron felt his blood boil and he instantly knew what he had to do to get things on the right track.

"Kira," Aaron looked at her, stopping her in mid sentence. The red head looked at him confused and was about to get smart with him about interrupting her when he held up a hand to her. "It's over…" He stated simply.

"What?" Kira's face turned red, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"We're over…" Aaron stated simply.

"Are you kidding me?" Kira asked scoffing. "This is a sick joke Aaron…"

"It's not a joke, I'm serious…" Aaron stated with a lift of his shoulder to her. "I've decided to turn over a new leaf…" He gave her a sympathetic smile. "I never really cared about you Kira, it was all physical for me…"

With a that Aaron Abbott left Kira Snider looking like a fish out of water.

The day seemed to drag on forever for Aaron, the news of his and Kira's break up spread like wildfire, just as he expected. But every time he tried to talk to Hailey something got in his way.

First, it was Kira. She tried to talk some 'sense' in to Aaron, telling him that she was the best thing he had ever had, and he didn't know what he was missing. Second, was Ryan and Brody, they asked him if he was crazy, and Aaron told them like it was, neither of them dared to argue with Aaron.

Next, was Tyler himself, baby boy had worked up the gall to tell him that he had better stay away from Hailey. Apparently, the youngest Son of Ipswich heard about his break up with Kira, and was a bit worried that Aaron would try and move in on his girl.

And several girls decided that now was the best time to throw themselves at Aaron Abbott, right in front of Hailey who seemed to not even notice, or care about the new rumors that Aaron and Kira were off.

He fought with himself the entire day to get to talk to her, but never found the chance.

Hailey walked in to the familiar cafe and smiled at the barista behind the counter. The young girl took Hailey's order without even bothering to ask her what she wanted and took her card. Hailey signed for her drink and waited patiently as the other barista finished making it.

They called her name and Hailey grabbed her drink and took a seat in the large love seat in the corner of the cafe. She pulled out her book by James Patterson and began reading where she left off in the library that afternoon.

"Fancy seeing you here," A familiar voice came from behind her.

She turned to look behind her and saw his handsome face, "Chase, hey..." she forced a smile.

"How are you doing?" Chase questioned.

"I'm ok, how about you?" Hailey asked him back as he took a seat next to her.

"Alright I suppose," Chase gave her a once over and sighed, "You sure you're ok?"

"Kind of..." She looked up at him with a forced grin.

"So what's up? A pretty girl like you shouldn't have any problems at all," He gave her a charming smile.

Hailey smirked, "We've got more problems..."

Tyler laid across his bed completely worn out, he had started working out with Pogue and Caleb after swim practice. It was getting him in better shape, and getting his mind off of the entire Chase situation. He let out an exhausted sigh when the door to his room swung open and a smirking Reid entered the room.

"What's with the smirk?" Tyler asked as Reid shut the door behind him.

"No reason," The blonde grinned resting back on to his bed with ease.

"Liar," Tyler flipped on to his stomach. "What's up? I haven't seen you smirk like that since you started harassing Hailey..."

"I found someone else to harass, is that such a crime?"

"Maybe, maybe not..." Tyler shrugged rolling back on to his back and staring up at the ceiling. After a short silence between the two friends Tyler glanced over at the blonde, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Ty, you can ask me anything..." Reid gave him a grin.

"It's about Hailey," Tyler stated.

"What about her?' Reid asked.

"I feel like things seem to be drifting us apart again... what do you think?" Tyler asked.

Reid paused for a moment and opened his mouth to speak, "Its this whole Chase situation, we're all bent out of shape about it and Hailey is confused, she doesn't know why we're all tense and up each other's asses..."

"You think so?" Tyler asked.

"I'm pretty sure man, I mean she's got to be uncomfortable, no one is acting like themselves, and we're giving her these stupid excuses as to why and she's probably just frustrated..."

"My god," Tyler shook his head. "It's sick how insightful you are sometimes..."

"What?" Reid asked in a mocking surprised tone. "You didn't think I was a complete idiot, did you?"

Tyler shook his head, "Do you think I should tell her?"

Reid bit his bottom lip, "It would probably make things easier, but she would probably freak out," The blonde turned to his side and looked over at his best friend. "You might want to talk to Caleb and Pogue about it before you let out our secret..."

"You're probably right..." Tyler stated taping his finger to his chin. "I want to tell her that she shouldn't talk to Chase anymore, but I can't think of a way to put it without her asking questions."

"She's going to ask questions, she only thinks the beef is between Chase and Caleb..." Reid negotiated.

"This is so hard..." Tyler muttered. "I love her, and I can't tell her. I have powers, and I can't tell her... Jesus Christ what is wrong with this picture. I should be able to tell her anything..."

"Why can't you tell her you love her?" Reid asked after a short silence fell between the two brothers.

"I don't want it to make things weird between us... and I don't want to be hurt again..." Tyler rubbed his hands over his face.

"You need to tell her that might be what she needs to pull her back in, you think she's drifting away, don't let her..." The blue eyed blonde stated rolling his eyes. "And they say you're the smart one..."

Tyler looked over at his best friend and then back up at the ceiling, he was right. He needed to make things right between them. And he was going to tell her how he felt and hope for the best.

"So you lost your boyfriend, you lost your best friend, and you lost all your other friends over this bet?" Chase asked after listening to Hailey's long spiel.

"Yeah, pretty much..." She sighed. "But Tyler forgave me, and we're back together, but things are so awkward right now..."

"Awkward how?" Chase asked.

"Everyone in the group is all tensed up about Caleb's migraines or something... I think there is more to it than they say, but no one is telling me what's going on..." Hailey shrugged. "Did he ever get those headaches when you went to Spencer?"

Chase smirked and nodded his head slightly, "Yeah, they started when I got to Spencer... from what I remember"

"Hmm," Hailey shrugged her shoulders. "It's just weird; everyone is so uptight right now… I feel completely out of the loop with them…"

"Maybe you should confront them about it…" Chase lifted a shoulder in indifference.

"I don't want to attack them, I just want some answer, and they're supposed to be my friends, right?" Hailey sighed. She glanced over at Chase who was giving her a small knowing smile. She blushed slightly and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm babbling on about something you don't want to hear…"

"Nonsense, we're friends right?" Chase asked with a lopsided grin.

Hailey blushed a deeper red and nodded her head slowly, "I guess we kind of are, aren't we?" She asked.

"I think three conversations makes us friends…" He turned to look at her. Hailey turned to face him and nodded her head.

"I guess so,"

"Well, I should get going," Chase got up and gave her a small pat on her bare knee. "We should have lunch sometime…" He pointed out. Hailey gave him a skeptical look and he gave her a reassuring grin, "As friends of course…"

She smiled, "Sure, I'd like that…"

Chase gave her a wink before getting up and leaving the Starbucks. Hailey rested back in the seat and felt a little relieved that she had someone to talk to about what was going on. She couldn't voice her problems to Tyler because that would make things weird between them.

Hailey thought about him for a minute and smiled.

She could close her eyes and see that genuine smile, his intense blue eyes, and the way his dark brown hair hung down in his face. She smiled just thinking about him, she couldn't possible feel the way she did for him for anyone else.

She loved him. She had loved him for a long time. She smiled feeling a warm feeling in her stomach; she wanted to be with him and no one else. She had to tell him.

Hailey stood up from her seat and gave a polite wave to the baristas before exiting the café. She got in to her car and drove towards the dorms. She was driving down a winding road which wasn't uncommon in Ipswich.

What she wasn't expecting was a car barreling towards her lane. Her eyes grew wide and her foot jammed on the breaks as the car swerved back into its own lane just before hitting her SUV.

Hailey gripped her steering wheel steadily and gasped for air. She watched as the car disappeared around another corner just as violently. She mentally said a small prayer as she gathered her composure.

She glanced around looking for what could have caused the driver to make such a horrifying move around the corner, but nothing. No animals, nothing in the road… absolutely nothing… they must have just been a terribly driver.

"They'll give anyone a license these days…" She mumbled before a honk came from behind her.

She glanced back and saw a fancy Mercedes behind her, laying on their horn. She lifted her hand as a sort of apology and gave a meek smile in her review mirror before stepping on the gas.

What she didn't notice was a familiar smirk standing out in the forest surrounding the lonely roads.

Hailey made it back to the dorms in one piece, which she was thankful for. She headed to her room and found a sticky note with a time and a place, the initials TAS. She smiled those were Tyler's initials.

The Lobby 8:00

TAS

Hailey glanced down at her watch and smiled it was 7:30 so she had just enough time to change her clothes and look presentable to her boyfriend. She wondered what the occasion was but didn't read too much in to it.

She was used to Tyler being sweet to her for no apparent reason, which was one of the many things she loved about him.

Disrobing, she found a suitable pair of relaxed fitted jeans and a navy blue tank top with white stars scattered around it. She slipped in to her navy blue keds and slipped in a white headband to hold back her sometimes unruly hair.

She glanced at the clock and she had only wasted fifteen minutes, there was no harm in being early. She grabbed her phone and slid it in to her back pocket as she walked down to the Student Lobby.

She walked down and didn't see Tyler any where around, she felt a bit disappointed at first, but then realized that she was fifteen minutes early. She took a seat on one of the large plush couches that accented the large room and curled her knees up to her chest.

A lot of things had happened this year that changed the way Hailey lived her life. At the beginning of the school year she was best friends with Aaron Abbott, along with Brody and Ryan. Now the three of them wouldn't even look her way. She had heard what Aaron had told Brody, Ryan and Kira.

He had told them that while dating Aaron she started to date Tyler, and strung Aaron along. He also went on to tell them apparently that she only came to him when Tyler wouldn't give in to her. After she had heard this she confronted Aaron and he just gave her one of his cocky smiles, but after listening to her bitch finally apologized for his wrong doings.

At the beginning of the year you would have never caught her communicating with any of the Sons of Ipswich, especially not Reid Garwin. But over the last few months Reid had become one of her closest friends and one of her only confidants.

And most importantly, she had met the love of her life. She had lost the love of her life, and then got him back. She smiled at how lucky she was to have him. That was until her short lived memory was interrupted.

"Hails," The voice didn't belong to her boyfriend Tyler; it belonged to her ex-best friend Aaron.

She looked up and then back down, "Aaron…" She stated barely above a whisper.

"Mind if I sit down?" He asked pointing to the couch.

"It's a free country…" She stated dryly.

Aaron took a seat and let out a small sigh, he had just gotten out of the shower she noted. He was in his black track pants with the dark blue and white stripes coming up the side and a white wife beater. His brown curls were all wet and his face was cleanly shaved.

"Hailey, I just wanted to…" Aaron started as Hailey looked over at him cautiously.

"Yes?" She asked.

"I wanted to apologize…" The blue eyed brunette stated solemnly.

"For?" She inquired.

Aaron sighed and looked up at her, "Everything…" He shook his head and turned his lip up in to a scowl. "I should have never forced you to go through with the bet; I shouldn't have made you choose between them and me…" Aaron pursed his lips together and looked Hailey in the eye. "I shouldn't have turned my back on you and told Tyler about the bet…" The boy chewed on his bottom lip nervously and squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm sorry for ruining your life…"

Hailey was shocked. She had never heard Aaron apologize like this before, she could tell he was having a hard time, but before she knew it the words were spilling out of his mouth. She smiled slightly and looked over at him.

"I miss my best friend," Aaron whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

"Aaron…" Hailey looked at him meaningfully. She had missed their Thursday nights together, she missed joking around with him and beating him at pool at Nicky's. She missed her best friend, too.

"I know you're back with Simms, and I can handle that… but I just want to be back in your good graces…" The brunette stated grabbing her hand and holding it tight between his.

Hailey smiled and pulled Aaron in to a tight hug, she wanted to cry, things were finally falling back in to place. She was ecstatic; she had her best friend back, her boyfriend back and a few more friends along with that.

"I broke up with Kira, and told her that I never really cared for her…" Aaron reported with a small smile.

"Oh?" Hailey asked.

"Yeah and…" Aaron glanced around the room. Something stopped him from talking and Hailey looked up to see Tyler standing behind the couch adjacent to them, his hands stuffed in to the pockets of his jeans.

"Tyler, hey babe…" She smiled giving him a genuine smile.

"What's he doing here?" Tyler asked nodding his head to Aaron.

"Hey man, I come in peace…" Aaron held up his hands defensively. "I'll talk to you later, Hails…"

With that Aaron got up and high tailed it out of the lobby, Hailey smiled and looked up at Tyler who didn't seem the least bit pleased.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"What was Aaron doing talking to you?" Tyler asked.

"He came to apologize…" Hailey stated. "He apologized for everything he did and he wanted to make things right between us again…"

"Hailey…" Tyler narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Tyler, he was my best friend for over a year, just like you can forgive Reid and me… I need to be able to forgive him for this…" She whispered as he sat down next to her.

Tyler was quiet for a minute and slowly nodded his head, "I can understand that I suppose…"

"So, what are we doing here?" She asked him with a small smile.

Tyler let a small smile slip on to his face and he pulled her off of the couch. "Come on, I've got something I want to tell you…"

The brunette guided her towards the front doors of the campus and were about to leave when a police officer and a Spencer Security guard came rushing towards them trying to stop them from going further out of the dorms.

"I'm sorry, but you cannot leave the premises…" The officer stated his hand on Tyler's chest.

Tyler looked around and saw four sets of flashing lights, an ambulance and a fire truck. Hailey noticed all of this and tightened her grip on Tyler's hand.

"What's going on?" Hailey managed to get out.

"There was a severe car crash involving a silver Mustang and a red Eclipse…." The Spencer Security guard stated.

"Silver Mustang?" Tyler asked carefully.

"Yes," The Security guard nodded his head.

"Caleb…." Hailey whispered looking up at Tyler.

"Can we see, please that could be one of our friends…" Tyler asked the security guard and officer.

"Sure, just be careful where you step…" The officer nodded.

Tyler grabbed tightly on to Hailey's hand and pulled her down the steps, the crash was right at the entrance of the dorms, which normally wasn't a busy road at all. Hailey's throat tightened at the sight of the accident. The Mustang was in terrible condition and the red Eclipse was completely destroyed.

"That's Caleb's car…" Tyler whispered in horror. "Do you know where the driver is?" He asked the officer.

"The driver has been taken to the Gloucester Hospital…" The officer next to the damaged vehicles stated.

Hailey's heart stopped as she looked at the red Eclipse, she put a hand to her mouth and whispered an 'Oh my god' and Tyler let go over her as the officer looked up.

"Is there something the matter ma'am?" The officer asked.

"That's the car…" She whispered.

"What car?" Tyler asked. "Hailey what's wrong?" He asked.

"That car… that car almost ran me off the road this afternoon…" She whispered her eyes wide with shock. "But it was going in the totally opposite way less than an hour ago…"

Tyler's face fell pale as the officer's and the Spencer Security guard looked from one another to the young couple. After a short moment of silence the officer looked at them and offered to give them a ride to Gloucester to see their friend.

Tyler nodded his head and he and Hailey headed to the hospital, hoping that maybe it wasn't Caleb's car. Though, both of them knew better, they knew that it was Caleb's car the moment they saw it. The chrome 20" wheels gave it away, and the pink lei that was hanging from the now crooked rearview mirror, belong to Sarah from a luau they went to a few weeks ago.

Don't review... please... it kills me... (again with the reverse psychology... it's great.)