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Chapter 4: So Bad

She knew it was ridiculous. A sane person wouldn't be thinking thoughts like this. But, as hard as she tried she couldn't help but think about Nathan Scott. Now, she knew that he was a bad guy. His attitude was cocky and arrogant and from what she heard about him, she knew to steer clear of him. But, there was something about him. Even when he was being a cocky bastard, which was most of the time, she couldn't help but be drawn to him. She hated to admit that. But he had said it himself. There was obviously something about him that she liked. If there was honestly nothing there she wouldn't have stayed with him the night before. Granted, it wasn't like she was there for long, but normally she wouldn't have stayed at all. That totally wasn't the type of girl she was.

Haley sighed as she flipped the page in her book. She was trying to focus on the words on the page, but she couldn't. She couldn't help but wonder what Nathan was doing. He had gone back to the city earlier in the day and he was gone for a few hours. When he came back he went straight to his room. She only saw him at dinner. Even then, he didn't say much. Normally he would have done something to make her feel awkward and uncomfortable. That was what he did. But not tonight. There was something up with him. That much she was sure of.

It wasn't that she was trying to be nosey, she just couldn't help but wonder what it was that had caused the change in attitude. It was obvious that something was on his mind. Something was bothering him. She would have asked, but, then she had to remind herself that she didn't care. Nathan Scott didn't matter to her. Or at least he shouldn't matter to her. If she was smart, he wouldn't matter to her.

What would her father think if he knew that she even knew him. She was sure that her father wouldn't be happy about the fact that she had spent anytime with him. He wasn't the type of guy her father would ever approve of. Even if all they had was friendship. It didn't matter he wouldn't like him. She knew that. He would scrutinize him and look at him with those judgmental eyes that Haley hated. She loved her father, but when he was judging someone, she hated it. It brought an uncomfortable air to the room.

Closing her book she stood up before placing it on the bedside table. She walked over to her window and pushed the thin white fabric curtains out of the way. She looked down at the gravel drive and saw Nathan walking towards his car. Glancing back at the clock she saw that it was almost 11:30. Where could he have been going? Not that she was all that surprised to see him leaving at a time like this. He would be the type to go out for a late night. He was a party boy she could tell.

She watched as he started his car and sped out of the driveway and kicked up dust behind him. She shut the curtains again before walking towards the door. She couldn't sleep. She wasn't even tired. She walked through the door and shut it behind her quietly. She didn't know if Karen was asleep and if she was she didn't want to wake her. She walked down the hall to the large staircase and made her way down them. When she reached the bottom she turned to the right and went towards the kitchen. The lights were off and she ran her hand along the wall looking for the light switch.

The lights illuminated the kitchen and she walked towards the cabinets to grab a glass. She filled it with cold water before sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen. She ran her finger over the cold tiles of the counter. She couldn't stop her mind from thinking of Nathan. She knew that it was ridiculous. She hated herself for it.

"Haley," she heard from the door, "what are you doing up?"

Haley looked up quickly and saw Karen walking into the kitchen. She had a robe on over her pajamas and her short dark hair was tucked behind her ears.

"Did I wake you up?" Haley asked.

"Not at all. I couldn't sleep," she said before opening the fridge and grabbing a carton of milk. She then grabbed to glasses and filled them before grabbing a plate of cookies and placing them between her and the younger blonde. "I guess you couldn't either?"

"I haven't really tried, but I'm not tired."

Karen nodded before taking a bite of the chocolate chip cookie off the plate. Haley smiled before doing the same. She was glad to get the chance to spend more time with Karen. She'd known her since she was young but she didn't get to see her as much as she would have liked. Karen was like a second mother to her. She was her best friend's mother and like a mentor to Haley. She was the type of woman that Haley would like to be when she's older. That was how much she looked up to her.

"Have you gotten the chance to get to know Nathan at all?" Karen asked.

"Not really," Haley answered, "we've talked a little, but not much."

"He's a hard person to get to know," Karen said, "sometimes I worry he won't ever show the sweet side of him."

"I wasn't aware he had one," Haley said and then looked up at Karen. "Sorry," she said before tucking her hair behind her ear.

"No," Karen said, "I know that Nathan has… a rude stubbornness to him. Unfortunately that comes from his father. He doesn't ever like to be vulnerable and so he puts a wall up. It takes a lot to get him to break that down."

"What about his mom?" Haley asked, "I mean is she like that?"

Karen shook her head. "Nathan's mother… she passed away when Nathan 12. His parent's divorced when he was 11. It effected him in a way I never thought it would. He started acting out, talking back. It got worse when his mom got sicker. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 9. She just got sicker and sicker and Nathan couldn't find a healthy way to deal with it. When she died… it was like he completely shut himself off from everyone around him."

Haley didn't know that about his mom. Haley had known Lucas and his parents since she was young, but she had never once met Nathan or his parents. She didn't even know about him up until a few months ago. She definitely had no idea that he lost his mom when he was so young. No wonder he was the way he was. It couldn't have been easy to lose someone that important to you. She just hoped that she would never have to lose someone she loved.

"I never knew that."

"Nathan doesn't really like to talk about it."

Haley nodded. She was sure that it was a sore subject. She wouldn't have wanted to talk about it either.

"Then when his dad re-married, Nathan hated that. Plus, Rachel isn't the best influence in the world. Of course I'm not saying Nathan was the perfect angel before she came around, but I'm sure she doesn't help anything."

"Who's Rachel?" Haley asked.

"Nathan's step sister. I've never liked her to be honest. She has a bad attitude and acts like everyone should give her what she wants whenever she wants it. It's annoying."

Haley laughed, "hopefully I won't have to meet her anytime soon."

"I hope you don't either. It would be unfortunate."

Haley smiled before taking a sip of the milk in front of her. "I know I've already told you this," she started, "but thank you again for letting me stay with you until school starts. I really appreciate it!"

"It's my pleasure. You know you're always welcome here."

Haley smiled again. She hoped that was true. Sometimes she felt like she really needed another place to go besides home. She loved her family, but sometimes she felt so alone. But not here. Not with Karen. She'd never felt uncomfortable with Karen. She was like her family and the feeling of comfort always surrounded her when she was around. She hoped that feeling would never go away.

Nathan shut the engine off and opened the door. As he walked around his car he saw a red truck parked in the driveway. It was Lucas's. He looked at the car and shook his head. He couldn't believe that Lucas was the one who was bad mouthing him. What had he ever done to him? He sure as hell wasn't going to let him get away with it, that was much was certain. Lucas would curse the day he messed with him. If he was smart, he never would have opened his mouth to Haley. Nathan would make sure that he would regret it.

He walked up the lawn towards the front door. When he reached the door he bent down and picked up the mat. Grabbing the key from under it, he couldn't help but smirk. He put the key in the lock and walked in. The lights in the house were dim. He looked over at the table and saw an open bottle of tequila. He went over to it and picked it up before taking a swig. He felt the burn in his throat as he swallowed it down. He kept it in his hand as he walked up the stairs.

He could hear sounds from behind the door. Damn, Chris worked fast. He shook his head before grabbing the handle of the door and turning it. He threw it open and walked inside the room. Sure, seeing his cousin fucking with a guy was really the last thing he wanted to see. In fact, it made him want to throw up. But, unfortunately it had to be done. He need to be able to hold this over Lucas. It was just the way things had to be. If Lucas hadn't opened his big mouth- figuratively- they wouldn't be in this situation.

Nathan saw Lucas scrambling to grab his clothes off the floor. He couldn't help the laugh that escaped his mouth as he leaned back against Chris's desk. Chris seemed completely unfazed by the fact that Nathan was there. Lucas on the other hand was mortified. He couldn't believe his cousin was seeing this.

"Well," Nathan said, "what the fuck do we have here?" he asked before taking another sip of the tequila.

"Nathan-" Lucas's started, "I swear to God this isn't what it looks like!"

"I'm sure you're right," Nathan said, "I mean you were just really drunk and blah, blah, blah. But really Lucas. I mean I'm surprised. I never knew that this was what you were into. But, what do you think all of you're friends are gonna say when they find out? What will the rest of the family think?"

"You can't say anything!" Lucas said, panic stricken.

"Really?" Nathan said and laughed, "because yes, I fucking can. And trust me it would be my pleasure to tell everyone that you're a fudge packer."

"What the fuck did I ever do to you?"

"What did you do to me? What did I ever do to you?" Nathan asked. "I mean you are the one who's been talking to Haley James about me."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're the only one that she knows that knows me. You're her fucking best friend."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Lucas yelled.

"Haven't you been telling her what a horrible person I am? All the shitty things you can think about me? You expect me to believe that it wasn't you?"

"I swear to God I've never said anything to her about you! She never even knew who you were until she met you at my mom's! I've never told her anything about you!"

Nathan set the bottle down and looked at Chris. Chris told him that it had to have been Lucas. But seeing Lucas now, Nathan could see it wasn't him. Chris shrugged his shoulders. "You know," he said, "come to think of it… it probably wasn't him. He's not creative enough to be a backstabber. He's too sweet for that."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Nathan asked angrily, "you told me it was him!"

"Guess I was wrong," Chris said and shrugged again.

Nathan couldn't believe this. He had paid that bastard 100 dollars for nothing. Lucas obviously wasn't the one who wrote to Haley. He could see it on his face that he had no idea what he was talking about. Now Nathan was left 100 dollars poorer and he wasn't making any progress with Haley. And he had absolutely no idea who wrote that God damned letter. This was a fucking nightmare.

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Lucas asked.

"Someone sent a letter to Haley telling her all the bad things about Nathan and now he can't get in her pants," Chris said, "I told him that it's a waste of his time anyways."

"You honestly think I would do something like that?" Lucas asked looking at Nathan.

"Well apparently you do a lot of things I would have never thought you would."

"I swear to God Nathan I wasn't me."

Nathan leaned back against the desk. He was raking his brain trying to think of who would send her that letter. Suddenly an idea came to his head. "I know it wasn't you," he said, "but you're gonna find out who it was."

"Tell him you think about him all the time. Tell him you're too shy to tell him in person about the feelings you have for him."

"Won't he think that's weird?"

"Why would think that's weird? Just tell him the way he makes you feel."

Rachel rolled her eyes when Bevin's back was again facing her. God Bevin was so damn annoying. She couldn't wait for the day when she didn't have to be around her all the time. She was sure that if she had to hear her voice anymore she was going to slit her wrists. But the torture was worth it. When she had ruined her reputation this would all be worth it. She just needed to speed up the process. And soon.

She wondered if Nathan would still be apposed to helping her with this. It wasn't like it would distract him from whatever it was he was doing with Miss Seventeen Magazine. She couldn't help but get angry when she thought about it. She didn't like to admit that she was jealous person, but she was. Nathan was hers. He shouldn't be spending time trying to get with other girls. It was ridiculous and it needed to stop. Rachel had even considered just giving up the bet and sleeping with him. At least then he wouldn't be focusing on that other girl.

But she knew that would make her look weak. And she never looked weak. And she never lost a bet. She knew that by the time school started that his car was as good as hers. He was stupid if he thought that she would ever sleep with him. Obviously she wasn't the type. He should just stop wasting his time. It was ridiculous.

"Do you think he likes you?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," Bevin said and turned to face her. She was sitting with her legs crossed near the wall on Rachel's bed. Rachel sat on the couch by the window while she wrote her letter to Skills. "I hope so but I have no idea!"

"Well you'll never know if you don't tell him how you feel."

Bevin was so unbelievably naïve. Rachel couldn't understand how someone could function on a day to day basis being this stupid. It made no sense to her. Of course she would have to tell him how she felt if she wanted to know how felt. He knew that he wasn't allowed to have feelings for her so he wouldn't make the first move. It was up to Bevin. Or Rachel, considering she was the one who had to orchestrate the whole thing. Without her, Bevin would be nowhere.

"So," Rachel said, "have you ever been with a guy?"

"What do you mean?"

Rachel struggled to not roll her eyes at her last comment. What the hell else would she have meant. "Have you ever had sex with a boy?"

"Of course not," Bevin said.

"Maybe you should. I mean if you're with Skills, don't you want him to enjoy being with you. I don't know for sure obviously, but if I was a guy I'd want a girl who was confident and knew what she was doing and knew how to please me."

"You think he won't me because I'm a virgin?"

"I don't know," Rachel said, "but guys are all the same. They all want sex. Sure they can be the nicest guy on the planet, but a part of them wants sex. Maybe it would be in your best interest to… practice."

"I'm not gonna be some kind of slut."

Rachel sighed, "it doesn't make you a slut. And besides, everyone does it. Just not everyone talks about it."

"Who do you think I should… practice with?" Bevin asked and looked down at her hands in her lap.

"I'm sure I can think of someone," Rachel said with a smirk on her face.

Haley sat at the table waiting for the waiter to bring her drink. She was also waiting for Lucas to make his way into the restaurant. He had called her that morning out of the blue wondering if she wanted to meet him in the city for lunch. She quickly accepted his offer. She loved Lucas and she felt like she hadn't seen him in a long time. She didn't even know that he had been in the city. She thought he was still in California. Apparently, she'd been wrong. But regardless, she was excited to see him. He was one of her oldest friends.

The waiter came back and set down a glass of pink lemonade in front of her. She thanked him before taking a sip of it. A minute later she looked up towards the door and saw Lucas walk in. He saw her and smiled before hurrying towards where she was sitting. She stood up quickly and met him halfway. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He held her back, slightly picking her up off the ground in their hug.

Lucas smiled at his old friend before sitting down at the table. He was happy to see her. It had been forever since he last had talked to her and it was nice to be in her presence. She always gave off a comforting vibe and he had missed that. He hoped that she wouldn't ever find out that he was there because Nathan was making him. He knew that she would be pissed at him. Not that he could blame her. But he had to do what Nathan was telling him to do. Who knew what would happen if he didn't.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he said.

"It's ok," she replied with a smile, "I'm just glad you called me. I haven't even been into the city yet so it's nice to actually be here."

"That reminds me," he said, "how is staying at the house?"

"It's great. You know I love you're mom. And she's been really great to me since I got here."

Haley hoped that he wouldn't ask anything about Nathan. She didn't even know if he knew that he had been staying there as well. She just didn't want to think about him. She felt like that's what she had spent the last few hours doing and if she could have a time where she didn't do that, she would appreciate it.

"My mom loves you, you know that." Lucas smiled and took a sip of the water that had been on the table waiting there when he got there. He then looked up at Haley before clearing his throat. "I heard my cousin is also there."

"Yeah," Haley answered, hoping that would be the end of that part of the conversation.

"How's he been?"

"I don't really know," Haley said, "we haven't really talked all that much. Just when he got there."

"Well he's a really cool guy," Lucas said. "I mean he was practically my best friend growing up. He still is one of my good friends."

"Really?" Haley asked, "he just seems so different from you. I don't know it's just kind of weird to think that he's even related to you and your family."

"Nathan's had a bit of a rough life."

"Yeah I heard about his mom."

"It was really hard on him," Lucas said, "but he's really a great guy. You should try to get to know him better."

"I don't know," Haley said, "I mean just the things I've heard about him. He's really not the kind of guy I would want to spend time around. He's pretty much the exact opposite of the kind of guy I'd like. I just don't trust guys like him."

"What have you heard about him?"

"Just that he plays girls a lot to get them into bed with him. And that he manipulates everyone around him. Trust is a big thing with me and from what I've heard, he's a person I should never trust."

"Who told you that?" Lucas said, "that's ridiculous. They clearly don't know anything about him."

"I can't really say," she said, "but I have no reason to think that they'd be lying to me."

"Come on Haley, it's me. You can tell me anything! I'm your best friend remember?"

"I know it's just-"

"Do I look like I'm about to go and tell the world?"

Haley smiled, "no."

"You can tell me."

"Ok," Haley said, "do you know Katherine Mirskey?"

"I've met her a couple of times."

"She was one of the people I met after orientation and she wrote me. She told me that I should look out for him. That I shouldn't trust him. The way she described him, it's like she thinks he's the most dangerous thing on the planet."

"Nathan's my cousin Hales and trust me I know what he's really like. You can trust him. He's always had my back."

Lucas hated telling her these things. He knew he was lying to her and he knew that she was going to end up hurt. In any other case he would be protecting his best friend from his cousin. He knew what Nathan was like. Hell, he was lying to her right now because he knew what Nathan was like. But he just couldn't risk it. He knew that Nathan would hesitate to tell everyone that what he'd found out. He didn't mess around with things like that. Lucas knew that he couldn't mess around this time either. He had to do what Nathan was telling him.

Through the lunch Lucas continued to tell Haley as many great things about Nathan that he could think of. He didn't know what was going to happen now, but he was worried. Nathan wasn't the best guy around. Anyone could see that. Haley would have seen that clearly without the letter from Katherine. But Lucas knew that he had to tell her what a great guy he was. She had to believe him.

After lunch he walked her out and waited with her while she waited for a cab. She was going back to Karen's and he had to call Nathan. He knew that his job was done. He just hoped that Nathan would leave him out of this from now on. He didn't want to be apart of her getting hurt. He said his goodbyes to her and watched her get in the cab that would drive her back to the country. When she was out of site he pulled out his cell phone and called Nathan.

Nathan sped down the street on his way back to his house in the city. He was listening to what Lucas was saying on the other line. Nathan couldn't believe that it was Katherine Mirskey. Well, actually he could. She had hated him since the day she met him. She would be the one to tell Haley to stay away from him. He was just so pissed off. He wanted to find a way to get that bitch back for what she'd done to him.

Pulling in front of the building her shut the car off and hurried out of it. He heard the voice of the doorman telling him, yet again, how he wasn't supposed to park there. He told him this every time he parked there and obviously it wasn't having any impact on him. Why would today be the day that he decided to listen to him?

He hurried through the doors and towards the elevator. He could feel the anger just rushing through his body. Who the fuck did she think he was. He walked into the apartment and went to the living room. He saw Rachel sitting on the couch with a magazine in her hand. "You'll never believe what I found out," he said as he made his way closer to where she was sitting.

"Good to see you too," she said.

"Yeah, whatever," he said, "that nosey bitch Katherine Mirskey is the one who sent the letter to Haley."

"I'm shocked," Rachel said her voice thick with sarcasm.

Nathan rolled his eyes as he paced around the room. Then suddenly he remembered something. "Do you still need someone to hurry things alone for Bevin?"

Nathan knew how pissed Katherine would be if she found out that he was the one who took away Bevin's virginity. She would never get over that. The fact that it was Nathan Scott, the boy she hated more than anything in the world might just send her to an early grave. Nathan wouldn't be too upset with that. He really had no interest in Bevin. If he could he wouldn't sleep with her, but part of him wanted to. Just for the fact that he knew she would hate him even more. She would regret the day she ever messed with him.

Rachel put the magazine down and looked at him. "Why?" she asked, "are you suggesting that you might know someone?" She smirked as she stood up and walked over to him.

"I can think of someone," he said, "and I know it would be their pleasure."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. "Thank you Nathan. I knew you'd come around."

"I'm not doing this for you," he said and grabbed her arms and unwound them from his neck. "This is purely for me."

"You're so selfish," she said with a scowl. "But either way, you'll be doing a service for me also. So thank you."

Nathan smirked. He couldn't wait to get her back for what she'd done to him.