Hey everyone! I'm glad everyone seems to like the idea of this fic and I hope everyone likes the chapters to come! By the way – flashbacks are written in italics.
I am going to try and update as often as I can but you know how busy our lives get… Thanks for all the support! Please read and review!
Chapter Two:
Haley rolled her eyes as Brooke continued to knock fervently on her bedroom door. She dramatically exhaled as she turned down the music and got off of her bed.
"Tutor Girl! If you don't open this door right now i am going to-"
Haley unlocked the door and swung it open. There she came face to face with the fists of Brooke Davis, ready to pound on the door once again. "You're going to what Brooke?"
Brooke huffed and breezed through the doorway. She plopped herself onto Haley's neatly made bed and examined her perfectly manicured nails. "You know what I'm capable of Hales."
Haley shook her head and walked over to her closet. She reached up to the top shelf and pulled down an old shoe box. She then sat down cross-legged on the floor and stared longingly at the cardboard.
"Where's Peyton," Haley questioned while glancing up at Brooke.
"Well after you and he-who-shall-not-be-named stormed off, Luke said he was going to follow him and I said I would follow you. Peyton offered to come too but it looked like her and that other guy were vibing off each other so I told her to just stay there. We are supposed to meet up with her later tonight though- before tryouts."
"Brooooke! I told you. I don't want to do cheerleading this year!" Haley had made it clear on several occasions that cheerleading last year was just a one-time thing.
"Hales! Come on! You were so great last year! And you looked totally bitchin' in that cheer skirt - almost better than me!" Brooke threw Haley an exaggerated wink in hopes to change her mind.
Haley chuckled at Brooke. She always wanted to have her own way. But Haley wasn't having it this time. "Sorry Brooke. Not gunna happen."
"Ugh! Haley!" Brooke crossed her arms and let out a huff. She looked down at her feet and began to mumble incoherent profanities.
Haley ignored Brooke's dramatic antics and lifted the lid off of the box in front of her.
A flood of memories hit Haley hard and she had to remind herself to breath. She picked up the plastic bracelet and stared wistfully at it. Though the colours were beginning to fade it still gave her the same feelings it had that day so long ago. "Don't say I never gave you anything" she thought to herself. Haley placed the crackerjack prize back into the box and pulled out a picture. She gazed at the 5 friends when they were their happiest.
"I miss that," Brooke commented from behind Haley's shoulder. "Remember that day? When we ran out of gas on the highway and we had to wait for hours just to get a tow truck?"
Haley chuckled. "Yeah and then everyone got mad at Luke for not stopping to fill up earlier."
"Yep! And we ended up missing that entire concert!"
"It wasn't bad though. We were all together and we had fun anyways." Haley peered back down at the picture in her lap. Tears welled in her eyes when she noticed the arm that was draped across her shoulders.
Brooke rubbed Haley's arms. "It could be like that again you know," she whispered.
"How Brooke? You saw what happened today- how could it ever be like this again?" She waved the picture in front of Brooke's face to prove her point. Haley shook her head and then placed the picture back into the box to bury all of her emotions once again.
Nathan turned towards Lucas. His eyes narrowed and his voice was dangerously low.
"What the hell is she doing here?"
Lucas put his hands up in front of his body to surrender. He shifted himself further away from his brother and closer to Jake.
"Excuse me but she has a name you know," Haley spoke roughly.
Nathan turned his attention back to her. "I know you do. Its princess right?" He gave her his signature smirk and crossed his arms over his chest.
Haley was fuming. "Well I see you're still a jackass. Tell me, have you screwed over anymore girls or was that just me?"
"No actually I just screw girls. I figured out a while ago that that was so much better than all the relationship bullshit I had with you."
"Nate - cut it out alright. She doesn't need to hear this right now." Lucas spoke up as he saw the pain flash across Haley's face. No matter what happened between them he never wanted to see her hurt.
"You know what Luke? I don't need you to save me anymore! And I sure as hell don't need you to save me from your ass of a brother! You lost that role a long time ago so don't worry about me! And you-"Haley turned towards Nathan and pointed her finger directly in his face. "—just stay the hell away from me."
With that Haley stormed off back towards her new apartment. Nathan scoffed and turned in the opposite direction and stalked off towards the gym. Lucas and Brooke just looked at each other and sighed. It was going to be a long year.
Nathan Scott watched the basketball soar through the air and fall through the hoop. He stared at the orange ball as it bounced on the pavement and then rolled onto the grass.
Basketball was the only thing he knew – the only thing in his life that he could count on anymore. He shook his head as he thought of the person that he used to be able to count on for anything and everything.
"Hi." She said once she entered his room.
"Hey. Thanks for coming."
Haley smiled and sat down next to him on the bed. "Thanks for calling me. What's wrong?"
Nathan sighed. "My mom's gone back to rehab and my dad thinks it's a great time to hound me even more about basketball. I'm just so sick of him pressuring me constantly. It's getting to be too much."
Haley scooted closer to Nathan and held his hand. "I'm so sorry Nathan. You don't deserve the way your parents treat you. You are the strongest and bravest person I know for living the life that you do."
Nathan stared lovingly into her chocolate brown eyes and adoringly smiled. "You know for most of my life I would have gone through this alone - but then I met you. And I finally found someone I could depend on when life got this. So I guess I called you 'cause I wanted to know if that was still there."
Haley took Nathan's face in between her hands and placed a soft tender kiss on his lips. Once she pulled away she looked into the depths of his eyes. "You can always call me Nathan. Always and forever."
He smiled back at her and leaned in for more of her heavenly kisses.
Always and forever my ass Nathan thought bitterly to himself. He tried in vain to get rid of the memory that had overwhelmed his thoughts. Now was not the time to dwell on his mistakes. He did enough of that while lying in bed at night. The past was in the past and basketball was his only future.
Nathan jogged over to the edge of the court and picked up the ball. He dribbled it a few times in front of him and then barrelled down the court and went for his signature dunk. He hung on the hoop for an extra few seconds but dropped when he heard someone clapping behind him
"Nice one. No wonder they call you Hot Scott." Lucas clapped his hands together and complimented his brother. The best way to get on his brother's good side was to stroke his ego.
Nathan briefly smirked at that. "That's not the only reason. You know I'm hot on the court and off it Luke."
Lucas shook his head and laughed. Nathan was one of a kind. He stepped onto the court and approached him. "So you wanna talk about it?"
In a split second Nathan went from amused to angry. He clenched his jaw and gripped the basketball harder in his hands. "What do you think?" Nathan said harshly.
"Okay okay. I got the hint. But just so you know, I had no idea that she was going to be coming here."
Nathan scoffed. "Oh please. You practically talk to Brooke every day and there is no way she kept that to herself for this long! You know how she is."
"I swear she didn't say a word." Lucas said. "I was just as surprised to see her there as you were."
Nathan sighed loudly. "I just…I just don't understand why she's here? I mean she always said that she wanted to go to Stanford –was she lying the entire time or something? Or is she just trying to mess with me."
Lucas balked. "Well I highly doubt Haley would do either of those things Nate. You know she's better than that."
"No actually I don't Pucas. I don't know who she is at all anymore and I doubt that you do either."
Nathan dribbled the ball again and headed down the court. He went for the layup and watched the ball sail through the net. "Now are you ready to play some one on one or are you still being a girl?"
Lucas looked at his brother and shook his head. He will never change. Nathan will always be the one to close himself off whenever he's hurting. It's just the way it was and there was nothing Lucas could do to change it. The only person that could was someone that Nathan pushed away long ago.
"You're on little brother."
"Honestly Brooke. Just leave it alone already." Haley said for what seemed like the 10th time in the past 20 minutes.
The trek down memory lane had ended and Haley had rebuilt the wall around herself once again. Ever since senior year had started, she had been very careful at keeping her emotions to herself. It was bad enough that Brooke had to practically feed her during the summer it happened; she didn't need to keep putting herself out there like that.
"Hales! There is something going on there. I can feel it." Brooke said exasperated.
Haley buried her face into her pillows. "I know Brooke. You think something is going on between Peyton and Jake." Haley said from beneath the pillow.
"No tutor girl. I don't think – I know! I just don't know why she wouldn't tell us. I mean we tell her everything."
"Brooke you know just as well as I do that Peyton has become even more closed off this past year so why would she tell us if she had a crush on a boy?" Haley pointed out as she rolled over onto her back.
Brooke sat up and looked at Haley with a pout on her face. "Becauseeeee we are her best friends!"
Haley laughed at the expression on Brooke's face. No matter how much time you've spent with Brooke Davis you never get use to her dramatics.
"Don't worry Brookie. She'll come around eventually."
Brooke nodded her head and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by an incessant knocking at the door.
Brooke stood up and began to walk towards the door. "Ugh could you just wait for one second please! Brooke yelled when the knocking continued.
"It's annoying isn't it?" Haley commented with a grin.
"Can it Tutor Girl." Brooke said while looking over her shoulder at Haley and narrowing her eyes.
"Oh Tigger! It's probably our other roommate." Haley said remembering that they had yet to meet her.
"Yeah you're probably right Hales."
Brooke smiled at Haley and turned to the door. She glanced at herself in the mirror and smoothed out her clothes. She then opened the door and stared wide-eyed at the person on the other side of the door.
"Oh hell no!" Brooke said passionately and slammed the door in the girl's face.
"Brooke!" Haley yelled. She stepped forward and shoved her best friend towards the couch and went to re-answer the door. "Sorry about that. Brooke can be a bit rude sometimes."
The tall and skinny red head pushed her way into the apartment with several suitcases. She flung her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her stomach. "Whatever. I met Brooke earlier and she was a bitch then too."
Brooke stood up and went to stand next to Haley. "She's the red haired slut I was telling you about earlier Hales. You remember? She was the one that got in my way when I was trying to look at the lists that were posted."
"Well I hate to break it to you girl but this isn't Kansas anymore and you can't use your big ass to get what you want."
Brooke took a step closer to the red head. "Alright listen hunny –"
"Whoa Brooke. Calm down." Haley stepped in front of Brooke and waited for her to relax. When she did, Haley took the initiative to find out information about their new roommate.
"So I'm Haley, and you are?" Haley smiled and reached out her hand.
"Rachel Gattina." She curtly replied and walked passed Haley's outstretched hand.
Haley awkwardly put her hand back down and shot an annoyed look to Brooke. What a bitch they both mouthed and then laughed with each other quietly.
Rachel carried all of her suitcases into her room and then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "Do either of you know where the cheerleader tryouts are tonight? Oh wait, why would you guys know. You're both clearly not cheerleaders! I mean look at you." Rachel took the time to look up and down at both girls. She then made a face of disgust and took a sip of water.
Before Brooke even had the chance to reply Haley had already began to speak. "First of all stop checking us out-" Haley stuck a finger in her mouth and imitated a gagging reflex. "- And second of all, Brooke and I are in fact cheerleaders and we will be at the tryouts later tonight."
"Well isn't that cute." Rachel sneered.
Haley gave her a cold stare. "Yeah well you better step up and hope that you even make the team or else it's going to be a tough year for you."
Rachel laughed sinisterly. "You don't scare me little girl. If anyone should be worried about making the team it's you and your girlfriend."
"I guess we'll see tonight then huh Rach-hoe!"
Rachel scoffed and shook her head. She grabbed her bottle of water off of the counter and stormed down the hall. A few seconds later the girls heard her door slam shut.
"You changed your mind Hales? You're going to cheerlead again?
Haley shook her head and cracked her knuckles. She looked at Brooke and nodded. "That bitch is going down Tigger."
