Thanks for all the great reviews you guys. It really means a lot to me. Here we go again...
The Wrong Kind of Wrong
Haley scooted through the halls of Tree Hill High, her eyes darting back and forth, trying to see if anyone noticed the change. She had been violated. Extremely violated. And her attempts at stopping the attack were ceased. She swallowed hard, holding her books closer to her chest. She should've told. In fact, the words had been right on the tip of her lips. Instead, something had stopped her from telling Brooke what Chris had done and how he had touched her. Her voice left her and all she could do was run like the wind. Cowardice wind.
She made it to her locker and glanced around her warily before taking a deep breath. Opening it, she began stuffing her books and things into it, willing herself not to scream. At least it hadn't escalated further, she reminded herself. Things could've gotten a lot worse. She swallowed and closed her locker slowly, just as Lucas approached his locker.
"Hey Hales." He greeted, eyeing her perceptively. He had noticed her awkward behavior the night
before.
"Hey." She forced a smile his way as she tried to fly past him.
"Whoa, whoa. Haley?" He took her by the shoulders, bracing her before him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Lucas. I'm just," she rubbed at her head, "I have a lot of things on my mind right now." Her hand dropped to her side.
He gazed at her, unconvinced, noticing that she wore a big, baggy sweater that looked like one of Nathan's and a pair of loose jeans. He hadn't seen her dress so concealing since the seventh grade. Her hair was in a messy pony, and the Haley he knew at least did her hair in the morning. His brow rose at her drastic change. "It's that time of the month, huh?" He half joked and half guessed, hitting her shoulder playfully and returning to the contents of his locker.
She wanted to shake her head and tell him that it wasn't that time of the month, it was something else, but when she opened her mouth, she strangled. "Yeah." She unwillingly agreed, nodding her head. "See ya." She snuck past him and made her way to class, leaving a confused Lucas in her wake.
Haley sat at the lunch table, nervously bouncing her legs under the table as she played with the grape she had between her fingers. She felt as if she wanted to burst at the seams. It hadn't even been that bad, she tried to convince herself. Was she overreacting? She dropped the piece of fruit and buried her face in her hands, tears threatening to sting her eyes. She would not cry at school, she promised. Not here, not now. The speed of her bouncing limbs accelerated, as if a tactic to fight off the tears.
"Haley?"
Her movements stilled and she clenched her eyes shut before removing her sweater-covered hands from her face. Faking a smile, she looked up. "Hey Nathan." Her voice sounded a little croaky.
He slid in across from her, a nervous smile on his face. "Hey. Did you work on a song last night?"
Her face paled and she looked down at her untouched tray. Not here, not now. "A little." She rubbed her hands against the thighs of her jeans. "But I don't think I wanna work with Chris anymore."
He didn't look as disappointed as he should've. "What? Why?"
She shook her head, still not meeting his eyes. "I just don't want to anymore."
"Why?" He was confused. She'd seemed okay with the arrangement at first.
"Nathan, if you don't trust me by now then I don't know what to tell you." She snapped lightly, gathering her books. Not meeting his eyes. "I can make music by myself. I don't need Chris to help me do it." She raised her brows in exasperation, though her face was to her books.
He frowned deeply. "Are you alright, Hales?"
"I'm fine Nathan." She sighed shakily and stood to her feet.
"Haley, hold on." He stood too, holding his hands out to still her. Something wasn't right about her. He knew her. He knew when she was unhappy or when something was on her mind. Hell, he knew practically all of her moods and this one…something wasn't quite right with her.
She finally looked up at him and met his eyes. Tell him, she told herself. Now. "Nathan…" She lost her voice in a sea of fear.
"What?" He coaxed desperately. When she didn't answer, he sighed and moved closer to her. "Haley, you can tell me things. Anything. What's wrong?" He ducked his head to try to meet her gravel-averted gaze.
She searched the ground and his shoes for answers, but she couldn't find them there. She closed her eyes tightly. "I don't know." She breathed, bringing her hand up to cup her forehead. "Nathan it's…" She pressed her lips together, completely against her will. God, she couldn't do this right now. She shook her head and opened her eyes, facing away from him and dropping her hand. "I can't be here right now." She admitted, walking around him.
"Hales." He grabbed her arm, turning her to him. "Where are you going?"
"Home." She met his eyes hastily. "I'll talk to you later." Giving him a strained smile, she turned and walked away.
He watched her walk away, his hand held out in what was going to be protest. Dropping it though, he sighed. His brows knitted skeptically as she disappeared around a corner. Something was definitely wrong with his Hales and he was going to find out what it was.
She had just cleared out her locker and was rounding the corner of the hall when she bumped into him. Her initial thought was to scream, but he put a finger to her lips in demanded hush. "Haley, don't." He almost spoke threateningly.
Her yelp was caught in her throat and she backed away from him, her back jamming into the lockers behind her. "Chris, just get away from me." She warned quietly.
"We need to talk." Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he sighed and looked around the empty halls before looking back at her. "I'll leave town. I'll leave tonight." He lied. "Hell, I will leave right now. Just don't tell Nathan about what happened. Don't tell anybody." He pleaded softly, raking a hand through his hair. "I don't know what got into me last night, Haley just-" He closed his eyes, briefly enough to sigh. "I'm sorry."
"Okay." She agreed quickly, eager to get the hell out of his presence. When he stepped closer, she pressed more into the barrier behind her.
"Shit." He hissed under his breath. "Don't be afraid of me, Hales. It was a mistake. I'm sorry."
"Okay." She repeated nimbly.
He half rolled his eyes and nodded, a mixed sign of minor relief. "Okay?"
"Mmmhmm." She pressed her lips together lightly, suppressing a scream. She shifted nervously, further away from him.
Reluctantly, he backed away. "I never meant to do that."
She nodded more solemnly, closing her eyes to compose herself. "Okay, Chris. Just go."
With a defeated groan and a slump of his shoulders, he turned and left. She watched him until he was out of sight before darting the opposite way. Just as she pushed the hall doors open, she met with the worrying gaze of Brooke.
The brunette frowned. "Haley, I haven't seen you all day. Are you okay?"
"Fine Brooke." She muttered rushing past her.
Brooke stared quizzically at the spot that Haley James had left vacant before turning to look in the direction of the fleeting girl. "Wha…?" Shaking her head in confusion, she pursed her lips and continued her way down the hall.
Brooke strode up to Peyton, her eyes set in determination. "Can I talk to you?"
"If I said no, would you care?" Peyton quirked, never faltering in step.
In a split second, she thought about it. "No." Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I walked in on something particularly odd last night; I just don't know what it was." She started.
Peyton glanced at her, her interest a little piqued. "What happened?"
"That's what I want to know." Looking over to Peyton, "I think something happened between Chris and Haley."
Peyton rolled her eyes, her annoyance rising. "It wouldn't be the first time."
"No," Brooke shook her head, "Something's not right. Haley's acting really weird."
Peyton stopped dead in her tracks, shooting her friend a look of aggravation. "Look, I don't know when you got the idea that I cared about Haley's little self-inflicted drama, but to update you on things, I don't." She waved her hand through the air for emphasis of how much she didn't care.
Brooke propped a hand on her hip. "Fine. I'll use a hypothetical theory, and you tell me what you would do if you were in my carefully selected -and half off by the way, Fendi- shoes."
Knowing there was no way to get out of this conversation, she rolled her eyes. "Fine. What?"
She stepped closer, an act of secrecy. "What if you thought that one of your good friends had been…oh, I don't know, sexually assaulted? What would you do?"
Peyton tightened her lips to suppress a snort of laughter. "You think Chris did something that Haley didn't allow? I know the guy's an ass, but give him a little credit, Brooke. He's like, a big rock star now. Why would he do that to somebody?" Her smirk was half mocking, half there due to amusement.
Brooke didn't buy it. "I live with her. I know when she's acting weird and when she's not and something's definitely weird with her, Peyton. And it all started last night when I picked her up from Chris' house. She ran out of there like a bat out of hell."
"Probably because she almost got caught." Peyton proposed, shaking her head. "People act weird when they do something wrong." Her shrug was conclusive.
Brooke sneered at the blonde. "You would know." She half joked, though there was more seriousness than not.
"That was low." Peyton grinned, though she was mildly wounded.
"I'm sorry, but you're not believing me!" Brooke whined, stomping her feet. She pointed her finger in the girl's face. "Something's definitely wrong with her and I'm going to figure it out. What if that little freak actually touched her?"
Peyton sighed tiredly, dropping her head to the side. "Then it wouldn't be the first time." She began walking.
"Peyton, you don't get it. I have a feeling that something happened." She tried to persuade. "And I'm this close," she put her thumb and forefinger centimeters together, holding her hand in Peyton's face, "from telling Nathan that something happened."
"And you do know if Haley did do something with Chris again, it'll break Nathan's heart." Peyton reminded.
She gave Peyton a tired look. "You know Haley wouldn't do that again."
"I also thought she wouldn't leave her husband here while she went to take on her wild dreams with a guy that she kissed while still married." She spoke flatly, moving her head for prominence. "But then again, she did."
"You so know that she wouldn't do that again." Brooke told her quietly.
"I'm leaving, Brooke. Call me when you're done with dealing with Haley's redundant melodrama." Flashing an empty smile, she walked away.
Brooke set her jaw and marched away, determined to find out what was going on.
Lucas scratched at his temple, leaned against Chris' front door when he walked up. He eyed the boy curiously, as he stepped in front of him. "Chris." He greeted evenly.
"Lucas." He poked his hands in his pockets. "To what do I owe this visit?"
He pushed away from the door, stepping closer to the boy. "I know what you did."
Chris' pulse quickened and he looked away, trying to hide the guilt in his eyes. "I've done a lot of things, Luke. You'd have to be more specific."
"To Haley." He told him squarely. "At the masquerade."
Chris looked back at him, hoping the relief that washed over his features weren't evident. A slow grin spread over his lips. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Luke poked a finger in the chest of him, bringing his face inches away from his. "This is your last warning, Keller. You touch her again, I'm gonna be touching you."
Chris smirked. "You don't have to worry about it, Luke. She's made it perfectly clear who she wants to be with." He assured with an innocent shrug. "I'm just here to help her with her music."
Giving him a disgusted glare, he walked around him.
Deb opened the door, an inquiring brow rising. "Brooke, hey."
"Misses Scott." She greeted pertly. "Is Nathan around?"
"Actually he's in his room doing homework." She moved out of the way and let the girl come in. "Nathan!" She called.
Brooke smiled sweetly before the blonde woman walked away. She waited patiently, hesitantly taking a seat on the clean cream-colored couch with a loud sigh. She looked around the house, remembering a time when she lived just as well as they did. Not so much with all the family drama, but she had once lived well.
Nathan appeared in the hall doorway, frowning. "Brooke?"
She stood up, a pursed half smile on her lips. "In the flesh."
"What's up?" He came closer to her, crossing his arms over his strong chest.
She opened her mouth and took a breath, her hands clasping before her. "Look, I don't want you jumping to any conclusions or anything but," she walked closer. "I think something happened to Haley last night."
He frowned, his heart dropping into his stomach. "What?" Alarm attacked his features. "What do you mean?"
She dropped her gaze and shook her head, putting her arms out in confusion. "I went over to Keller's last night after we left the restaurant and…something was wrong."
"What was wrong?" He urged, worry, anger, everything etched in his face.
She scrounged her face uncertainly, one shoulder rising in a wary shrug. "I don't know, maybe like, he touched her or something."
The color drained from his face. "Wh…why would you think that?" He stammered. He remembered Haley's words from earlier. I don't think I wanna work with Chris anymore. He gulped.
She held her hands up in urgent defense. "I don't want to go around accusing people of things like that, I just, Haley's been acting really strange. She even left school early today. I didn't want to ask her because maybe she's taking it pretty hard but, I think something happened. Something that Haley is really depressed about." She pointed at him, remembering an example. "Like last night, she was getting her things together so frantically that she almost fell and when Chris grabbed her to keep her from falling, she nearly fell trying to dodge his touch."
I just don't want to anymore. More of her words grabbed his attention. Maybe that's what was wrong with her. Swallowing, he grabbed his keys from the table. "I gotta go."
"Nathan!" She called him before he bolted out the door.
He turned to her, wordlessly.
"Don't force her into saying anything. She's probably just scared." She warned softly.
He nodded one solemn time before restarting his mission out the door. If Chris had touched her, oh man, he was going to crush his skull in. Five hundred times. And then maybe five hundred times more.
"If only you could hear me calling for you," Haley sang sadly, strumming the chords of her guitar. Her eyes fell on to the empty paper as she stopped, contemplating on writing that piece. She just didn't possess the strength to write it. When she decided to, three urgent knocks on her door spooked her. She stared at the door, not really in the mood for company.
Dropping her guitar to the side of her, she got up and slowly sauntered to the door. She opened it slowly, surprised to see Nathan standing there. Straighten up, she told herself. "Hey Nathan." She stiffened her back.
"Hey Hales. Can we talk?" He questioned, hoping the hurry wasn't heard.
"Sure." Pushing a stray of her unruly hair behind her ear, she moved to let him in and shut the door.
He walked in and turned to her. "What's wrong with you?"
"What do you mean?" She asked, puzzled. But not too puzzled. She wasn't surprised he knew something was wrong with her. He was one of the only people who knew her inside and out.
"Did Chris do something to you?" He blurted, clenching his fists at his sides. "If he did, Haley…"
Her eyes widened and she looked away hurriedly, hoping he couldn't see her perplexed face. She felt her face reddening feverishly. She felt his stare hardening in disbelief on her face. He knew, he was figuring it out. She covered her face with her hands, hot tears stinging her eyes. This time, she was going to cry. She knew it.
"I'll kill him."
The words were venomous and laced with certainty. They way he spoke, she had no doubt that he was actually going to go over to Chris' and rip his head off. In a panicked rush of thoughts, she remembered Chris' promises to stay away if she kept quiet. She swallowed hard and dropped her hands, meeting his eyes.
I will leave right now. Just don't tell Nathan about what happened. Don't tell anybody
Absently shaking her head. "No. No, he didn't do anything, Nathan." The taste of the lie in her mouth almost made her throw up. "I'm just really stressed out right now." The strained lie escaped in a hoarse whisper.
Something was wrong. "Haley, don't lie to me." His eyes narrowed as he thought about how she had to be feeling. Violated. By Chris Keller. He was going to violate that bastard. Violently violate him.
"I'm not!" She snapped, more tears rimming her lids. "Don't…don't do this."
He closed his mouth and breathed labouredly, the anger clouding his senses. He did do something to her. "Why are you lying for him?"
"I'm not. Just please," she begged, rushing towards him. "Just forget this whole idea, Nathan. You're crazy." She waited until that accusing frown on his face left.
"You sure?" He asked finally, his brows raised in question.
"I'm sure." Not sure she could stand his presence anymore, she rushed past him and to the room. She prayed, prayed that hadn't heard her choked sob as she slammed the door to the empty bedroom, pushing her back against it. She covered her mouth, shocked that the lie had even come out. From her. To Nathan.
At least, she thought to herself, Chris' is leaving and this will all be done.