Here's My longest chapter EVER! lol.. thank you for the reviews by the way:)
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own one tree Hill or any of the sings used in this fanfic, nor do I knwo any of the characters...
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Chapter Thirteen: Losing Faith
Haley glanced down the hall at school, banners were flooded around, reminding them what tomorrow was, the big day. Graduation. The supposedly best day of their lives. The most exciting, heart quenching, biggest day of their lives. And it made Haley stomach sick. The thought of taking that step, of being on her own, was rotting in her. She had no idea what she wanted to do, or who it was that she wanted to be there with her when she did it. She had her plans before, they were engraved in stone, and now that stone had seemed to shatter on the night she met Lucas, it was like that was the night it all changed. Before the plan seemed full proof, go to Stanford with Nathan, as best friends of course, study psychology, and take it all from there. But now the plan was, go to... some place she never heard of, with Lucas. Study... god knows what, because Psychology isn't offered there, and she had no idea what was coming next. But this wasn't her dream, and now even her dream wasn't like it used to be. Her dream was now, to go to Stanford with Nathan, not as best friends, go into singing while Nathan played basketball and just live her life one step at a time, with Faith also, right next to her. But as she stared down the endless halls filled with her fellow graduates, all hopping with excitement, her dreams faded into just what fit in that instant, what seemed right , not what was right.
"Hey!" A voice whispered from behind her, breathing on her neck, making the scary feeling in the pit of her stomach fade as she turned around and hugged him.
"Hey best friend." She whispered back as she kissed his cheek. She stared up at Nathan, smiling, so happy that he was with her through everything that was going on with Faith. They just stared at each other for awhile, until Haley felt that unfaithful feeling in the pit of her stomach again, it was now surfacing even when she just looked at Nathan. Breaking the eye contact, she looked down at her feet nervously. But the awkward silence was broken when A voice startled her.
"Alright little brother, stop flirting with my girlfriend." Lucas laughed, as he kissed the side of Haley's head. AS soon as his lips touched her skin he got a sharp feeling of guilt in his stomach, almost making him lose his breath, it was like every time he came in contact with her he got that same feeling, as she stood there so innocently, not knowing what he had done to her, how he didn't deserve her. Nathan eyed Lucas fiercely, remembering the night before.
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"Where have you been?" Lucas asked as he flipped through a magazine on the living room couch late that night, trying to be quiet enough to not wake his parents. Nathan looked up at the clock, seeing that tonight him and Haley had spent even more time reminiscing, as it was becoming a habit.
"Haley and I were with Faith." Nathan said casually, not wanting to make Lucas think that there was something going on between them, because there definitely wasn't. He began to walk up the stairs when he felt Lucas's eyes on his back. It was this weird connection he had with his brother, he always knew when he was watching him, waiting for him to turn and talk to him. Nathan turned around, expecting to see a jealous look on his brother's face. "No Luke, there's noth-" He stopped himself when he saw the look on Luke's face. His eyes squinted with pain as he stared at him with a helpless look. Nathan just stared at him, waiting to see what was going on, why he was so hurt. Was it Brooke? Was there something wrong with Brooke? Nathan began to panic as he waited for Lucas to say something, anything.
"I cheated on her..." Lucas whispered as he wrapped his arms around himself, wishing to find it to be some sort of comfort, but it wasn't. Nathan's face twisted fiercely, it was one thing to be dating her at all, but not only did Haley deserve better, she needed better. Since Faith's incident, Haley had been falling apart, though she was trying to hide it from everyone. "With Brooke." This hurt Nathan even more, Brooke was one of Haley's closest friends, how could she do such thing to hurt her? "Don't blame her, she stopped it. She didn't think it was right, it was me." Lucas whispered, knowing what Nathan was thinking. Nathan wasn't sure what to say to Lucas. This was his brother, the responsible one with all the answers, how could he be so irresponsible, so backstabbing.
Nathan shook his head, feeling all the betrayal he knew Haley was going to soon feel when she found out. "Why did you have to tell me this?" Nathan asked him harshly, he didn't want to tell Haley, he didn't want to make her feel that pain, but he had never once kept anything from her, how was he supposed to do it now?
"Well, I needed to tell someone." Lucas breathed, though he understood why Nathan didn't want to know, he didn't understand why he was acting so hurt. He looked down, so angry at himself, but was startled to hear Nathan laughed.
He just laughed, and kept laughing as he spoke. "You're unbelievable." Nathan snapped at him, as he walked up the stairs.
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"Nathan?" Haley laughed as she waved a hand in front of his face, Lucas's arm wrapped around her shoulders. Nathan broke from his memory, and stared at Lucas, his eyes gleaming with hate. Why did he have to put him in this situation. Nathan was afraid to speak, afraid that everything was going to burst out of his mouth. He couldn't handle this now, not with graduation tomorrow, with the thought of going to Stanford alone as Haley went with his cheating brother, blinded of all his imperfections. Not with Faith in the hospital, with her baby gone, and with her struggling for her life. Before Nathan could even think about what he was doing, he was walking away from them, his anger pouring out over all of them especially Lucas as he felt that feeling once again in the pit of his stomach, creeping into his throat and into his head, taunting him.
"What's up with him?" Haley asked sadly, watching Nathan's image fade around the corner. She watched the space where he had just stood, the smell of his cologne still lingering around them, almost leaving her breathless with the look of pain that was on his face before he left.
"Probably thinking about Faith." Lucas whispered, lying. He knew exactly why Nathan couldn't stand to be around them. "He's been having a really hard time you know, he just doesn't want you to see it." Now that, was the truth. Faith was a really big part of Nathan's life, and he felt the need to be able to help her, and so useless not being able to do so. Haley sighed as the truth in Lucas's words hurt her. "So are you going to play at Tric tonight, fort he grad pre-party." Lucas asked her, wanting to change the subject, to at least get that guilty feeling out of his body, as it now crept into his bones.
Haley rolled her eyes, she definitely wasn't in the grad/partying mood. "Yeah, I guess, whatever. Make sure Nathan comes okay, I have a feeling he may need a night out." Haley nodded to herself. Smiling sadly as she still stared ahead. Nathan was now visible, and obviously having an intense conversation with Brooke, who was crying outrageously. Haley watched as Nathan pulled Brooke into a hug and kissed the top of her head, comforting her. She decided not to question it, thinking that they were talking about getting back together, and wondering how serious they really were. Though as she watched them she got the most painful feeling of jealousy in her body. "I have to get to class." Haley sighed as she turned around and smiled at Lucas, kissing his cheek and dashing away before he could see the pain on her face.
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Haley darted around backstage at Tric, trying to prepare for her second appearance on that stage. But as she did, she couldn't help but glance at the crowd, at the table in the front row, at Lucas, Nathan and Brooke, all sitting around having a weird conversation.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Haley asked accusingly as she plopped in an empty chair next to Lucas. They all shifted nervously.
"Alright, next ladies and gentlemen, is the one and only, Haley James!" Peyton said into the microphone on stage, waving at Haley to come up. Haley also found Peyton weird. For the past couple days Peyton was always smiling at her, but not your usual friendly smile, a smile filled with pity. And she was unusually nice to her, asking her if she needed anything, and how Faith was, and anything else she could think of to see how Haley was doing.
Haley sighed and looked back at Lucas, giving him a sad look. "I hate secrets." She whispered. Before getting up she kissed Lucas's cheek and darted to the stage. Hoping that whatever everyone was talking about, it wasn't about her. But she had no idea how wrong she was.
"Hey everyone. So are you excited to be graduating?" Haley asked in a fake enthusiastic tone. She jumped in surprise as the crowd went nuts, and only then had she realized how many people were in her graduating class, while she knew only about thirty of them. "Alright." Haley laughed. "This one, is for well... you'll see, he'll know." Haley smiled as she glanced down at Lucas and Nathan.
"When you're all alone,
and you need a light,
someone to guide you.
Through the night."
Haley glanced down as she sang, noticing that Brooke was now crying, but their words were muffled through Haley's music, and though she wanted to stop and listen, find out what was going on with everyone, she had so much she wanted to say, and she could only say it in a song. That was the way she was now, since everything had changed, the only way she could speak was through her music.
Just remember that I am here,
to hold you close and dry your tears.
Oh. Just when you thought you were falling,
you know I always be right there.
When you're all alone and you need a friend,
someone to help you, to the end,
when you need someone, to catch you when you fall,
Ill be there through it all.
Oh, just when you thought you were losing,
you know Ill always be right there.
And Ill be there, through the good times and the bad,
And we'll be there, for each other,
cause you're the best friend I've ever had."
Haley winked at Nathan as she sang that part of the song, the best friend I've ever had, because it made her so happy, to see him smiling down there, and to know that he was still her best friend, through it all, and he'd never betray her, even if best friends was all they'd ever be. When Haley finished her song she stood up to walk off the stage, glancing down to notice Nathan and Lucas missing from the table, as Brooke sat there alone, crying hard as she held her head in her hands, Peyton rubbing her back and wiping her tears.
As Haley walked back stage she could see Lucas waiting for her nervously, his hands shaking as he rubbed them through his hair. But the image faded as she saw Nathan walking up to her, his arms outstretched as he scooped her up, whispering in her ear. "I've missed you best friend." He put her down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and smiling at her.
"Me too." She smiled back. She glanced back at Lucas, still standing nervously.
"Im sorry I didn't tell you." Nathan whispered, but before Haley could get a chance to ask him what he was talking about, he was interrupted by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He darted off to the side, as Lucas approached her.
"You were great." Lucas whispered, looking at her sadly. Haley smiled, as Lucas continued.
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As Nathan answered his phone, he barely paid attention to the voice on the other line. "Mm hmm. It's him." Nathan respond, watching as Haley's face twisted into hate as Lucas spoke, reaching his hands for her's, wanting to comfort her as she slapped his chest angrily. She glared over at Nathan, and he knew she was angry that he hadn't told her. He could then see Brooke, rushing up to her, tear stained eyes, wanting so badly to be forgiven. But from the look on Haley's face, forgiveness wasn't coming easy as she pushed them all away, and ran over to Nathan, ready to yell at him too.
"I know it must be confusing Mr. Scott, and if you need someone to talk to, our facility offers help." The voice continued, as Nathan realized that he had blacked out everything they had said.
"What?" Nathan asked as he watched Haley slowly make her way to him, anger written all over her. When Haley got to him, she opened her mouth to speak, just as Nathan realized who he was talking to.
"If you and Ms. James could come by, we have to speak to you, and we have some of her belonging also, if you guys would like to discuss it, we've already contacted her parents, they're on their way also." The voice continued, oblivious to the fact that Nathan had no idea what he was talking about.
"Who?" Nathan asked, putting his hand up to Haley, motioning for her not to speak as she was just getting ready to yell once more, tears pouring off of her chin.
"Are you hearing me Mr. Scott?" The voice asked in confusion.
"No Im sorry, I was distracted." Nathan said, giving Haley a worried look when he figured out he was talking to the doctors at the hospital.
"It's your friend. Faith. We've contacted her parents, they're on their way." The doctor tried again.
"Oh, is she that bad? Has it gotten worst?" Nathan said quickly. Haley heard his words and forgot how angry she was at Nathan for keeping such a thing from her, instead becoming even more worried about Faith.
"Mr. Scott. We couldn't keep her stable any longer, Im sorry." The voice whispered sadly, realizing that Nathan hadn't known about Faith's death. Nathan's voice got caught in his throat as his phone fell to the floor, crashing as the battery broke and scattered around.
"Nathan?" Haley asked, her tears becoming heavier as she saw that look on his face. Nathan pulled Haley into his chest and cried in her hair. And Haley knew, as she heard Nathan's sobs, she knew that Faith was gone.
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Alritey! There ya go.. REVIEW PLEASE!... LOL...
MichelleyP.
