OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, WHEN FIRST WE PRACTISE TO DECEIVE! – Sir Walter Scott.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Tree Hill characters or the songs used in the chapters.

It will eventually be a Naley fic guys! Enjoy and review!

CHAPTER 2

HEAVILY BROKEN

Tightening her long light-brown ponytail, Haley James stared at the reflection of her face in the mirror of the school's toilet. She softly massaged her sore neck, ignoring all the other girls who were in there with her, and for the first time she realized how tired she looked. Splashing a bit of water on her face, Haley straightened herself out and turned to go out of the toilet and out of the noise that all the perky girls were deafeningly making. As she was grabbing her bag, she was roughly pushed aside to make way for the tall red-headed girl who, without apologizing or losing a stride, confidently walked out of the girl's room.

Knowing it was one of the cheerleaders of the Ravens' basketball team, Haley grimaced and quickly made her way out. The afternoon breeze caressed her face as she walked across the school's courtyard, unnoticed by everyone around her. She saw all the different cliques spread out in different places, and suddenly felt very lonely.

Lucas Scott, her one true best friend, had drifted apart from her, though they still get together every now and then. But ever since he had been accepted by the school's basketball team, nothing had ever been the same; he was always busy with practices and was always kept occupied by the cheerleaders who vied for his attention. So it was no surprise to Haley when Lucas did not notice her as he walked past her with Brooke. Haley wasn't even surprised that Lucas and Brooke were walking let alone talking to each other again. She knew that Brooke would crack sooner or later; she was head over heels in love with the guy after all.

Feeling out of place, she was about to return to the tutor center, the one place where she felt most comfortable in, when her name was suddenly called out.

"HALEY!"

Haley turned around to find the owner of the voice and spotted Fede, one of her students, a member of the basketball team, sitting amidst all the other players, grinning at her. She also saw the red-headed cheerleader who had pushed her in the toilet, laughing and talking with the star player of the team, Nathan Scott.

"Hales!"

Startled, Haley realized that she had been standing still and staring at the basketball team. Blushing furiously and shamed by her own reaction, Haley walked over to Fede who was still grinning his impish smile at her.

"Hey Fede, how did you think you did in the trigonometry test?"

"Alright, I guess, but you on the other hand, looked rather stress out during it. Here, have a seat Hales."

Seeing the unsure look on her face, Fede added, "It's okay, we don't bite."

Haley knew that it would be rude if she refused him so she casually sat down on the empty seat beside him, ignoring the stupid grins on all the other player's faces.

"I was just tired I guess, I didn't get much sleep last night, had a lot of things to do."

"You need to loosen up Hales, relax a bit. Why don't you let me take you out for dinner tonight, and you can unwind then?"

Haley gave him a short smile and shrugged his question away. He had been asking her out for a date for a long time, long enough to show that he was in fact, genuine but Haley still couldn't bring herself to trust him. She didn't and could never believe that a member of the basketball team could ever be interested in a girl like her; they probably had a stupid bet going on to see whether Fede could nail her. But despite her suspicions, she still taught the guy because he really needed her help. He had never tried to force her to do anything she didn't want, so she thought that he was pretty decent.

The other guys resumed their conversation and Fede joined in, sometimes trying to include her also. But she knew she didn't fit with these guys so she didn't really try to be involved in what they were talking about. As she was about to stand up and leave, she heard pieces of the conversation that Nathan and red-headed cheerleader were having behind her.

"Yes Rachel, I'm sure." She heard Nathan say.

"Finally, Nathan. I thought you'd never do it. I thought you would have come up with this idea a long time ago. Taking Brooke away from Lucas? That's brilliant! Just the kind of thing that Lucas deserves. And Peyton will be so jealous."

"Leave Peyton out of it. She wouldn't be, believe me."

"Oh Nathan, you are so clueless about these kind of things. Yes, Peyton broke up with you. But I know that she would be grinding her teeth if Brooke sleeps with you. It's the law of nature."

"You're fine with the way things are with us."

"I am one of a kind. And anyway-,"

The rest of what Rachel had to say, Haley could not hear for at that time the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break.

Standing up quickly, Haley turned and was just about to leave to ponder on the things she had just heard when once again, somebody carelessly pushed her aside, this time sending her to the ground.

Haley looked up to see the pusher, and saw Nathan's expressionless face staring down at her, and something inside her moved. There was something sad in those dark eyes, something that reached inside her heart. His eyes were cold, but at the same time vulnerable and her heart suddenly went to him. She felt two hands she guessed to be Fede's, helping her up from behind, while she and Nathan were still staring at each other.

"Nathan, next time, watch it," Fede said once Haley was on her two feet again.

Tearing his eyes away from her, Nathan glared at his teammate. As he was opening his mouth to say something, Rachel placed one of her sleek hands on his back, halting him.

"Next time, make sure she doesn't sit here. She doesn't belong," Rachel said haughtily and together, with her hand on his back, she and Nathan arrogantly walked away.

Brooke twirled her long brown hair around her finger as she pretended to pay attention in her last period for the day. Time seemed to drag on and would not release her from the slow torture of keeping her away from Lucas. She had finally decided to forgive him for all the hurt that he had put her through, and had planned to just be friends with him. But last night, after finally really talking to him once more, she fell in love with him all over again; she had forgotten how charming he could be or how easily he could make her feel special.

And now she was really confused.

Brooke turned around in her seat and stole a look at the love of her life; Lucas was jotting down notes in his book and this normal, typical scene warmed Brooke's heart. As her eyes softened, Lucas unexpectedly looked up, taking Brooke by surprise. He flashed her that warm affectionate smile that had always been just for her and her heart lifted. Maybe, after all the drama, there was still hope for her, for them. Smiling in return, Brooke turned back to the front, but not before she caught Peyton looking at the two of them, seeing the moment that Brooke and Lucas had just shared. Knowing this, Brooke felt the anger and the sadness that were not new to her, resurfacing. After all, how could her own best friend and her boyfriend do something so hurtful to her? With this thought in mind, Brooke began to think, for what seemed like the hundredth time, that maybe Lucas and she was a bad idea in any case.

She felt the tears creeping up behind her eyelids as she remembered the day Peyton and Lucas had gotten together; it was so unexpected by her! She knew that Peyton was drifting away from Nathan at the time, but never in her wildest dream did Brooke thought that Peyton would turn around and stab her back by stealing her boyfriend when Peyton knew perfectly well what Lucas had and still meant to her. Sure, Lucas and she weren't exactly on the best of terms during the time, but that wasn't any reason for Peyton to take him away from her. There is no such reason to excuse that kind of behaviour.

Blinking her tears away, Brooke tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying to keep her mind off the dilemma that never stopped plaguing her. Once the teacher turned to write on the white board, Brooke felt a paper ball hit the back of her head. Furious, she turned around to find the culprit and saw Rachel, biting her pen and smiling at her the same time.

"What?!" Brooke heatedly whispered.

Still smiling, Rachel pointed to the paper ball on the floor underneath Brooke's chair.

Irritated, Brooke snatched the paper ball and quickly unfolded it.

Potential new boy toy; Nathan Scott. He's into you.

Brooke looked up from the paper and lifted one of her eyebrows as she stared at Rachel, who smiled and winked at her. Unbelieving what Rachel had written on the scrappy paper, Brooke turned in her chair once more, saw one of the tutor girls staring, Lucas's friend or something, to look at the boy sitting two seats behind Peyton.

He was a lot better than he had been a year ago; she would know since she was practically in the same state as he was. They both had healed at the same pace so she knew that really, he was not over Peyton at all; he was in love with Peyton as much as she was in love with Lucas and a love like theirs could not simply go away, no matter how long it had been. By this, Brooke knew that what Rachel was saying was total crap.

Feeling her eyes on him, Nathan looked up and for a split second, he looked at Brooke as if he was unsure about something, but that moment of hesitation only lasted for one small second. He smiled his stupid, cocky smile so quickly that Brooke was uncertain herself whether he had that moment of hesitation or not.

Not knowing whether to smile or to wipe that overconfident look off his face, Brooke turned back around, again seeing the tutor girl looking her way who happened to be sitting beside her. Haley, Brooke remembered.

"What, Tutor Girl?!"

Before Haley could answer, the bell rang and everyone immediately stood up and started to talk to each other. This seemed to snap Haley into focus and she hastily got up along with everybody else, and quickly left the room.

Brooke noticed that Lucas was trying to make his way towards her but bumped into Peyton along the way. The two shared an awkward moment which Nathan did not fail to see and Brooke felt really tired all of a sudden.

She was spent and totally broken inside and she could not handle Lucas, or Peyton, or whoever else at that particular moment.

Grabbing her bag, Brooke swiftly left the classroom, passed Haley along the way and was almost out of the school when her name was loudly called out. She turned around for what seemed like the tenth time that day, and saw Nathan running after her, saw Rachel smiling from the doorway and watched Nathan carelessly push Haley aside until he was finally standing in front of her.

"What, Nathan?"

"Let me walk you out and we can talk then."

Her refusal was on the tip of her tongue, but at that moment, she saw Lucas walking out with Peyton. Lucas looked at her and a guilty look crept over his face, the same guilty look that she had seen on his face many times before within the past year.

"Yeah, sure."

Together, Brooke and Nathan walked out of the school, with Lucas and Peyton silently watching, with Rachel knowingly observing and with Haley, as she got up from the floor, sighing after them.

Everyday I sit here waiting, everyday just seems so long, and now I've had enough of all the hating. Do we even care? It's so unfair. Any day it'll all be over, everyday there's nothing new and now I just try to find some hope to try and hold onto, but it starts again. It'll never end.

I'm heavily broken and I don't know what to do. Can't you see that I'm choking? And I can't even move. When there's nothing left to say, what can you do? I'm heavily broken and there's nothing I can do.

Almost giving up on trying, almost heading for a fall and now my mind is screaming out, I've gotta keep on fighting but then again it doesn't end. The Veronicas.

Hope you guys enjoyed it…pleaseee review…it is vital to keep me motivated! ) Till the next chapter!!