*~*The Locket*~*

Thank you for the feedback, putting this story on alert/ fave lists. I appreciate it all. It's great to have some new readers along with some old ones too. Thank you very much!

Okay, now I can reveal Janet's idea.

If it wasn't clear before also, Halen is Nathan and Haley's son. When I picked his name I wanted one that sounded either like Haley and Nathan's name. It sounds more like Haley's, but I think it has a touch of Nathan's in it too. It was fun giving him some of the quirks of both his parents.

Janet's Idea:

Your Name: Janet
Genre: Romance/Drama/Angst
Rating: Any
Season/Time frame: None, make this AU... 1800s or so
Reference to episode: none
Must include the phrase: "All this time I loved you but I never knew your face"
Additional requirements: I love period pieces and honestly, we don't see enough in the OTH verse so I'm requesting one specifically. You don't have to be historically accurate but nothing too glaring... like Haley using a cell phone or something. I'd like this mostly to be a romance piece dealing with social class issues... forbidden love, if you will. One specific scene, I'd like to ask for is a dance... a huge ball held in someone's honor and for N/H to dance.

So per Janet's request, this story is about forbidden love and deals with one heavy social issue of the time, along with some others touched upon. And of course…a dance, ball, of some sort will come in a future part.

This is historical fanfiction. I have done a lot of research for this story to keep it in line with the history of this time. I will of course make mistakes though and sometimes I may take liberties. I'll try to keep it to small things though. I enjoy keeping this as accurate as possible…with no cell phones! lol

You may skip this part if you like. I don't want to insult anyone, but I do want to bring you into the times of this story. So here we go…Pass by it to the part heading if you feel like.

Okay, I need all readers to forget much of modern times. Let's go back to the Victorian Times and beyond. It's a time of no cell phones, but there are some of the first telephones (invented 1876), no CD players, just phonographs (invented in the 1870's). The telegraph has been invented, popular during the civil war. Transportation is by horse and carriage, horse alone, or foot. Fireplaces are how people keep warm for the most part. For entertainment you play an instrument, sing, or read a book. There is no internet, no TV, no I-pod, no email etc. Mail actually is by pony express or messenger, and it's slow compared to today. Mass transit…well you take the railroad. Roads are of dirt. There are no malls. Most towns have the little county store that stocks up on just about everything you need, and maybe a few other shops. What doesn't come from the store, you can send away for from Sears Roebuck catalog. Got light? The electric light bulb has been invented, but not all houses have it, so those who don't have this luxury, receive illumination from kerosene lamps and lanterns. Not even basketball has been invented…though…it's coming. For now athletics are still relatively new, but they're gaining in popularity. Baseball is popular after the Civil War soldiers playing it as a break from the fighting.

The Civil War is in the past…but in the south…it still has a lasting effect. Only some years before this story starts, the northern troops left the south. Years before that, North Carolina will be accepted back into the union. The effects of war will be there for a while, burned down plantations, holes in the land. Most who farm now are not successful, with their big plantations a thing of the past. The time of factories and industrialization is growing. Those who adapt to that well are most likely doing well. Those who don't…are in a poorer state. The Civil War has left the south divided much more than before. There are those who are poor…and those who are much better off. Overall, the south is not seen as prosperous as the north. It breeds bits of resentment still between the two previous sides. School is something not seen as terribly important by many. Kids only attend about four months out of the year. It won't be until the 1900's when the school year will be expanded to nine months in North Carolina.

There is no bro's over ho's, lol. The language in this story will reflect a different time, as much as I can be accurate with that. I might mess up sometimes. But I'll do my best to show a time years before…when women wore dresses primarily and men wore suits. Children helped their parents with the chores and work. Some families were wealthy in large Victorian homes, while others lived a harsh life in small homes in need of repair. The upper class didn't really associate with the lower class, or if they did, it was with a subservient attitude. The term middle class was one yet to be studied and primarily used. You were either poor or rich, little in between.

This is a time when a woman was a lady…a man was a gentleman.

He protected her.

She respected him.

And yet…dark secrets prevailed. Ugly facts occurred that made this time be labeled the gilded age. A lot of the new inventions, mentioned above, could be found in houses of the wealthy, but not in the homes of the poor. Medicine was advancing, but yet again, those who were rich were able to get the better medical care, while those who were poor, couldn't handle the costs of travel nor the doctor fees. While some prospered enormously, others suffered, even the most innocent. The poor and rich weren't meant to meet and join together, unless it happened to do with charity, philanthropy.

But two people broke that rule.

They fell in love.

And now the continuation, the true beginning, of the story of…

*~*The Locket*~*

A story of injustice being fought…

Of deep dark secrets…

Of a young man coming to age…

Of a young woman persevering…

Of unexpected friendships…

Lost family…

Family found…

Of helpers…

Of crooks…

A story of two people and their fight for love…

Their sacrifice for it…

*~*North Carolina, Tree Hill, 1880*~*

*~*Part III…The Meeting*~*

It was said that a Cherokee named this place. A Cherokee Indian a long time ago before they were told to move westward, before the settlers came, starting their farms, turning them into large plantations. A wise old Cherokee Indian, the story went, came up here one day, looked over the lush land, and said for its abundance of trees, it should be named Tree Hill.

Haley Rebekah James smiled as she finished her climb. That was the story anyway. There was also talk that that was a bunch of hogwash. One thing was for certain though. Tree Hill sure was mighty pretty. And it sure had a bunch of trees. It was of course basically the top of a hill, but it was more too if you preferred to extend its boundaries further, which she did. Winding down below, it formed into valleys. That lower part had white laced sycamore bark trees, so white, the bark so thin, that if you were careful enough, you could peel it off and use it to make multitude sorts of things. Combined with them were the graceful stately oaks. She loved so much to wrap her arms around the rough bark and feel it prick at her face. It didn't hurt, just sort of tickled. In between them all were the lazy dogwoods, pretty white flowers tipped with little points of purple. Their petals were like hearts that didn't quite make that inward crease, and their leaf stems were full and wondrous green. Travel up away from the valleys, as she was doing now, and you came to North Carolina's southern pines, from which hung long brown colored pine cones. She liked to collect the pine cones sometimes and make things out of them. It didn't cost anything to make things from nature. And that was good.

Her brown shoes, made of thick leather, but now not so good of wear, too worn from work, slapped over the fallen pine needles, making little pancaking sounds. It disturbed her none as she walked more into the trees. She liked when she was surrounded by them, all the large pines towering over her. She could pretend she was a princess being protected by her fortress of trees. She laughed now at her thoughts. Silly they were. But Mama always told her pretend was okay as long as you remembered to come back to reality sometime. She always did. It was important to come back to reality. Mama needed help.

Mama worked so hard. The thought made her smile fade a little. Her small fingers reached up for an object that surrounded her throat. The chain tangled with her fingers, before those fingers met the object that hung at the chain's end. A pretty book shaped locket. It was the most beautiful thing she owned. It was precious. It was even worth some money because it came before…

Before…

Before the war, before Papa went away.

She missed her Papa. She looked down at the locket now, opening it carefully. It was worn, sadly. It could use some fixing. The chain sometimes came off so she had a piece of heavy rope there holding it together. Of course though sometimes that rope, more like tough string, came undone. And she would have to watch for that so she could catch it in her hands before it fell to the ground. She didn't like Papa's gift to fall to the earth. She felt safest when it was touching her heart, when she could feel its warmth. It reminded her so much of her Papa's hugs.

After Papa went away, after the war, the weird war that made it that they weren't even a state anymore…so strange. North Carolina like the other southern states left what was called the union. It departed and when it came back in it never felt normal again. It was just…weird.

Now they were becoming a state again, originally the 12th state to join the union. She knew that well. She was proud of that. She learned it in school and from all the books she read.

She liked school and books, even though most of the books were old and the teachers were few. School was interesting and they taught a lot of good things. Those few teachers were nice and seemed to understand most the time when a child missed school because they had obligations at home. There were a lot of kids who didn't even go to school, helped on the family farms instead or worked in other ways. None of the kids she knew had much money, and so earning it was really important to a lot of families, getting enough to be able to eat.

Some days she had to miss school. Mama did everything she could though to make those days few. Mama always told her she was smart like her Papa and that it was important she go to school. She could see Mama's sadness the days she had to ask her to stay home because she needed help with the chores, needed her to go into town to do an errand, because that day she was feeling a little sicker.. It was hard for her too the days when she couldn't go to school. But she didn't complain. Oh no. She had to help Mama. And she could always read about things in her books. She had a few of them at home. Her nice teachers had given her some as gifts.

Mama worked in the mill. A bunch of them started up after the war.

She didn't remember it, the war. She was not even alive during it. She only saw what effect it had later. At first it hadn't been too bad. Papa and Mama did quite well. They bought her all kinds of pretty things and they had this beautiful piano that stood in the front room. Papa had liked playing the piano. So good at it he was and he could sing too. When she was a little girl she would sit on her Papa's lap and he would play with her, interlacing their fingers so she could learn the keys too. They'd even sing together. Papa said she was a pretty singer, the prettiest he ever heard. She had liked hearing that from Papa, but mostly she had just liked sitting on his lap.

But then Papa got sick. Years ago the war had hurt him, but it didn't start to cause him to be ill until right before he went away. It made her sad then. She cried and cried. Soon there was no time for crying though. Things changed after Papa went away to that place in the clouds, that place Mama told her was Heaven. The money disappeared. They had to get rid of a lot of things, put so much up to sale. Worst of all, she could remember the day they had to sell the piano, that piano she and Papa had played together, she hugged it so tight with her arms, stretched them as far as they could go, begging them not to take it. Please don't take it. Papa lives in it.

But it done no good. They took it anyway.

But not her locket. Oh no. Mama promised her no one would ever take that from her. That was Papa's gift. Mama cried too the day they took the piano, but she promised her.

No one would ever take her locket from her.

Haley bent down now, picking up a pinecone and weighing it in her hand, finding another one. Hmmmm…what pretty thing could she make with these she wondered, before she stepped further, away from the canopy of pines to look out at the land that surrounded Tree Hill.

It was like two different destinations. Tree Hill stood right at the center, beautiful and sweet. Surrounding it, she thought, though were the two ugly places. One was her home now. She looked down at the small worn looking houses in the tiny little valley, not even a town, called Old Oak. They weren't too pretty, those small peeling paint houses, though Mama made their home still look pretty. And she helped too. It may not be rich with things, but it was rich in how pretty it was. She liked their home. It was not ugly. She even liked most of the homes around them. Too, she liked the homes on the other side, the part called New Bern. Actually, some of them awed her, all tall and graceful, so dignified and prestigious. Those houses she imagined probably had a thousand things in them, maybe even useless things, but things that were oh so beautiful. The homes were all nice. It was the land that surrounded them she thought was ugly, the separation. It wasn't as bad as the division between the former slaves and their old owners who all lost their plantations. But it was still no good.

She didn't get it. What good did it do to treat others as lesser just because they didn't wear as pretty things as you did, just because the money in their pocket caused less jingle jingle.

Why couldn't it be like here on Tree Hill? Here, nothing was separated. All the trees, pines and leafy ones, blended and made such a fantastic picture. Different colors of flowers. All kinds of birds and small squirrels and other tiny creatures. All nature all together and alive. She liked that so much. Nature was such a pretty thing. It wasn't as selfish as some people could be.

She smiled now as she looked down at the pretty pine cones in her hand. Oh yes…they would make a nice little decoration, or maybe she could make another bird feeder, or maybe…

That smile still on her face, despite the hard times she and her Mama faced…did no good to fret over things you can't control her Mama always told her, better to enjoy what you have and laugh a little, Haley lay down , in between the tall wild grasses that stood in the clearing. She loved this almost as much as walking under the pines because the grasses hid her so well. They made it as if she were not even there at all.

As if she were invisible.

I*~*I

"Okay, Joseph's it!"

Hearing that, he rounded the tall oaks, looking for a good place to hide. "Better not cheat Jo!" He called out first. Joseph Curry was known to cheat at just about every game he played.

"Better find a good place to hide Nate!" Nathan Daniel Scott heard his friend call out with annoyance. He laughed, a slight smirk touching his lips before he went further through the trees, right upon where the sycamores started and then onto the outline of the pines. He ran through the trees quickly, but carelessly too. It was good to be done with school for the day. Fun to just be playing around in…uh…this place called Tree Hill. Yeah, Tree Hill, that's what they called it. The old Cherokee Indian story was what supposedly brought it its name. He frowned. Hogwash. No Indian named this place. More like some cheeky first settler making up the story so people would pay him to hear it or whatnot.

Still, Tree Hill, no matter who named it, was the best place to play hide and go seek and right now he was determined to find a good place for his friend to have to seek. He could imagine the others stayed down lower. Maybe a few came up here this far too. He didn't mind going too far. He didn't even mind when they exercised sometimes in school. Kind of liked it. And when they played games with the ball too. That was the best part of school. He knew all the games so well now though. It would be fun to have some new games.

His father even played ball games with him sometimes. His father was big and tough. He had to be. Before the opening of his clothing factory, his father had owned a big farm, a plantation. It was grand and magnificent and all those big words they taught in school, but that he only spent about half his time bothering to learn.

Too boring, school could be a lot of the time. Too much talking and books and all. Half the kids didn't even go regularly. A few didn't come at all. They were schooled at home or didn't even bother with it. They learnt it from their parents or a governess, or they learnt even more importantly the family business, what most of them would probably be taking over anyway. If it wasn't for his mother, he probably would barely go to school. His mother's family was from England and there they were more particular about schooling. She insisted he get an education and so there his father gave in. Insisted though that he would go less when it was time to learn the family business. Then he wouldn't have to go to school so much. More practical important matters would have to be taken care of. He could get away from all the books and writing. Didn't like any of that. Only the small amounts of sports and games they played he liked. Didn't seem that important to have school anyway, considering they only went to it for about four months a year. The rest of the time, he was free.

Free to help his father. He didn't mind that. His father would send him on errands for the factory and give him small chores to do. It wasn't too bad. Didn't last that long. A lot more interesting than school. And he still had plenty of time to go out and play and all.

Before the opening of the factory, before the war, the home his parents had lived in had been surrounded by a big plantation. The war and the fires from it though burnt most it down. That didn't hold his parents back though. They didn't get all lazy like all those people down lower, across the way. They lived in all those small ugly houses because they wanted to moan and sulk, not work, after the war. His father worked and worked, and he made them a good living, and they had a nice house. Oh they had a fine house. One of the best houses in New Bern. A real nice house all decorated in front because his mother always made sure it looked good and so did the lady who cleaned for his mother.

For years it would make him frown to see all those troops around too, those troops from the other side, the North. They were gone now though, left about three years ago, leaving reconstruction to all the southern states, like his state, North Carolina. It had made him feel like a prisoner for a while, even though the troops barely were noticeable, barely bothered with anything. He knew for sure his father hadn't liked it. He would ask things like, when them yanks going to go back to their home? Huh? Making us feel all bad for the war. They had a part in it too. Could have minded their own business…damn billy yanks.

Nathan knew his parents sometimes missed their big plantation farm, but the slavery thing he never understood. He'd not been born until after the war, but he had seen some of them now leaving to the north, or trying hard to make their own lives in the south. Sometimes he felt a little bad for them. Sometimes when he really thought about it, he didn't get what would make people want to own people. But he didn't think about it too much.

He was a kid and it was before he was even born. Not much he could do about it now. Nothing more like that going on now anyway. No, just the south having to feel all bad for the war, having to rebuild and all. It wasn't that bad though. He didn't see all of that destru…uh…destruction that had been in pictures in the papers. Sure, still places that were holes, that needed fixing up again, that shown what the war done, but where he lived it all looked nice again. It all was good again. And that was what mattered.

So what about the lazy ones…too bad for them. Shouldn't be lazy. His father was a good man though. Some of those lazy people even worked for him. They worked in his clothing factory. His father was smart. After the war, people needed clothes, all kinds of clothes, and it wasn't done the way it was before, so his father worked hard and started up his own factory. It was one of the most popular ones in New Bern now. Nathan was proud of that. And he knew one of these days, when he was older, he would be the one in charge. He'd take over for his father.

For now though, it was time to find a good hiding place. He moved through some of the pines, his brown jacket brushing by a few tree branches. He wore it now because it was fall time. The weather was mostly warm, but there were some tiny chills still, as the leaves of the sycamore and oak turned to all kinds of bright colors. He didn't pay those colors much mind though. He wasn't one to stop and look at things. He was like his father, always active.

And his mother? She was pretty. That was one thing. He knew even his friends thought she was pretty. One of the prettiest mothers in New Bern. She always had a well made up face, always had the nicest dresses, always looked good. She went out a lot to make her social calls and all. It was like his father too though, hard at work a lot, going out of town to expand the business. Of course there was always someone with him though. They usually went away at separate times, but if it so happened they went on a trip together, they left him with a lady who was…well she was all right. And she was easy to fool.

Nathan smirked now as he left the pine area. It was easy to fool adults a lot. He liked playing pranks sometimes even on the teachers at school. Not bad as long as he didn't get caught. All he did when it was a pretty lady teacher was give her a sweet smile. Usually worked. When it was a man, he talked about his father and compared him to the teacher. They usually liked that. His father was well known and well liked. He was one of the non lazy people who after the war brought back some uh…prosperity to the south. He gave people jobs and made lots of money. Nathan liked that. It meant at home he had a nice big comfortable bedroom and he got pretty much whatever he wanted.

Some would argue it wasn't as rich as being a person from the north, but didn't matter. The north had poor people too. And they were nothing near to poor. He was rich and he liked it. Meant his parents gave him his best gift of all. One that when he wasn't playing games, like hide and go seek with his friends…he was spending time with.

Nathan debated now, seeing the tall pines standing in back of him, their canopies thick and the perfect hiding place, so perfect though that someone like Jo would probably go searching through first. And on this side were the tall wild grasses. They didn't reach taller than him of course, him being nine years old already, but if he got down in them, well, they would cover him good. And they weren't that far from base either. He could wait till Jo got close enough and then go running for it. He could even holler out when Jo found him and scare the willies out of his friend, get him all startled, and then getting to base would be all smooth sailing.

Hmmmm…yeah…

I*~*I

Haley stretched her arms out, feeling the tall grasses blowing in the wind against her. She giggled as some of the tall wild grass tickled at her nose. Closing her eyes, she let out a happy sigh, before she opened them again and saw that the sun was down a little lower in the sky now.

It made a small frown come to her face. She should be going home now. Mama would need her to help with getting the water ready for supper and to help prepare the vegetables and everything. She shouldn't be selfish just lying all lazily here in the grass.

But Mama had been the one who sent her up here. Mama did that. Whenever she thought she was not having enough fun, not getting out to play, Mama sent her to do just that, play, find pine cones, run through the grass, lay in it. Mama told her that she was only seven years old and a little girl like her had a right to have fun. She would always quietly correct her Mama, saying she wasn't only a little girl anymore. Being seven was a big thing. At school the teacher even asked her to help some of the little kids too, the smaller ones. Whenever she did that, corrected her, her Mama would have to agree with a small laugh.

Haley loved it when Mama laughed. She didn't laugh as much now, well not for as long as she used to. It wasn't that Mama lost her sense of humor. She still had it, more than most adults. It was just that Mama had gotten a little less happy after Papa died, and then after working in the mill so much, Mama started getting sick more sometimes.

She went with her to the mill one time. She didn't like it there.. It was a big dark place with machines that looked like monsters. She didn't like that place at all, and asked her Mama sometimes why she had to work there. Her Mama would tell her that it was needed for them to have food on their table and clothes to cover themselves, shoes to wear on their feet. That made sense, but still she didn't like that scary mill.

Looking up now, Haley could see the sun was lowering more. Definitely time to go home. She started to reach for her pine cones. She dropped one though. Getting up on her knees in the tall grass, she bent over to get it.

I*~*I

He ran down low now in the grass, turned around and backed up quickly, before getting down on his knees and moving rapidly that way too. Looked like the perfect hiding place just a bit yonder there. He moved toward it.

I*~*I

"Ahhh!" She cried out as she felt it all of the sudden, something bumping right into her back end, making her tumble down to the grass.

I*~*I

"Whoa!" Nathan called out, realizing he hit something. Looking downward, he saw a small girl lying on her side in the grass.

Haley got up quickly, barely noticing the big boy, not wanting to know the big boy, just wanting to get away from him. She clutched her pine cones near her heart, and started to run away.

Nathan paid no attention to the girl now, noticing something in the grass, something shiny. He started to pick it up.

Haley was halfway to the pines when she felt it…felt that something was missing…it wasn't warming her heart like it did always.

Her locket!

Papa's gift, the string had come loose again and the chain had broken once more and she dropped it.

She dropped it!

She turned around, seeing the tall grasses, multitudes of them over and over again. Oh no. She lost her locket in the tall grasses. Oh no! It would be so hard to find it in there. It could take hours and she didn't have that much time. It would be dark in just an hour and Mama needed her to come help with the chores. Mama would worry about her. But she couldn't leave Papa's gift here on the ground. She couldn't. Oh no, what was she going to do?

He looked at the gold colored object, shiny, except for some dull darker spots. It was pretty neat, pretty neat find. The clasp looked all worn and some stupid string was tied around it, but the book part opened up pretty well and whoa, had pictures too. It looked like something his mother wore sometimes. A necklace, but this one was a lot more unusual and a lot more interesting. With a smirk on his face, not even caring about the hide and seek game anymore, he started to put it in his pocket.

"That's mine."

The high pitched voice startled him, but he looked up coolly anyway, seeing that small little girl standing over him now, her face determined, and a hand extended as if getting ready to grab at something. He noticed she wore dark tights like most the rest of the girls, except for the ones who wore white ones, but her dress was a dull color and her hair was not all neatly braided like most girls had it, or all neatly pulled back. Instead, strands of it were hanging in front of her face, covering part of her eyes. Looking downward now, he grimaced at her worn shoes. She was one of those. "What did you say?" He asked, tauntingly waving the chained locket necklace now with a mischievous smirk on his face, right in front of her.

She tried to breathe a little more evenly now before she spoke. She had been so afraid she lost it, but then she saw that older boy looking like he had found something in the grass. He had found something all right, her locket. She could see it shining in his hands even from the distance from where she stood. Right then she had come back to him, to get back the gift Papa gave her. Seeing the boy not looking nice at all though now, dressed richly in black pants and a white shirt and brown jacket, she frowned at his taunting question. It made her angry to see him waving Papa's gift that way. "I said it's mine. Give it back to me."

He had to admit, she was acting a lot braver than he thought she would. A tiny little thing, smaller than most of the girls at school, probably, younger than him, and yet she wasn't giving up, staring him straight in the eye. He got up slowly, waiting to see her cringe as it became clear how much taller he was than her. A whole head taller. "Ahh…that's not very nice. I found it. You should sound grateful."

Haley's face scrunched up some at that. She bit down on her bottom lip nervously, but clenched her fists angrily at the same time. He was making her very sore. She didn't care he was taller than her. Right now all she wanted was her locket. "You give it back to me now."

He smirked once more, dangling the locket still. "No…I think I'll keep it. You have no proof it's yours anyway."

"My Papa gave it to me!"

"That ain't proof!"

"Isn't, no such word as ain't!"

The smirk fell flat, replaced by an angry look of annoyance. Dumb little school girl, dumb little poor school girl trying to make him look bad. Ha. "Shouldn't be correcting other people…Peasant Girl."

Her eyebrows narrowed crossly at that. "My name is not Peasant Girl!"

He laughed slightly, taunting her with the necklace again, before he slipped it in his pocket. "And now you have no locket either…Peasant Girl." He snickered meanly and started to walk away.

That did it. He called her Peasant Girl twice. That was bad. But the worst of all was him taking Papa's locket. He couldn't have it. He couldn't have it!

She picked something up from the tall grasses and threw it hard.

"OW!" He hissed out in surprise... and pain as he felt something hit his back…hard. Turning around, looking down, he saw a pinecone. "Little Peasant Witch!"

He started out, but never finished as suddenly that annoying little peasant girl was swinging her arms at him, her fists pounding his chest. "Hey, cut that out!" He tried to grab her fists, but then felt it, a foot come underneath his ankle, and before he knew it, he was tumbled onto his back in the grass with that little peasant witch on top of him.

She thought he was stupid for not figuring out that she would trip him. Now she did everything she could to find her locket, starting to dig through one jacket pocket…

"Hey, get off me and get out of my pockets!" He yelled at her, pushing her tiny little hands away. She was a girl. Darn, if she wasn't a girl he would push her away, push her down into the grass and let her have it for going after him like that, but darn. She was no boy. She was a little girl…a little girl who was one wild little thing,that was for sure. And to top it all off, his head was feeling a bit dizzy still from being tumbled into the grass.

"Hey Nate, what's going on?"

"Whoa! What's that little urchin!"

"Mmhhhhmmmm…ohhhh…" She struggled to push away his hands, finally bringing her teeth down on one of them.

"AHHH!" He screamed in pain, his hand quickly moving upward and ceasing trying to push her away. "You stupid Peasant Girl! You bit me!"

Haley smiled in victory as she felt it, her locket, she reached into the alternate pocket and grabbed it, holding on tight. "Got it!"

Her smile didn't last though as suddenly she felt herself being pulled upward. Hands held onto her wrists and brought her to stand. She grimaced as she saw now a bunch of boys, big boys surrounding her. She bit at her bottom lip nervously, trying her best to be brave. They didn't look that scary anyway. Well not too scary. And if they were as dumb as the one she made trip, well then.

"Oh well what do we have here?"

"NO!" She yelled as she felt the locket grasped out of her hands again. She tried to grab at the boy's hand who took it, but he suddenly raised her shiny locket, the beautiful present Papa gave her, and threw it high in the sky so it landed in the other boy's hand. She kicked at one, causing the boy to swear and hold his hurt shin.

Nathan smiled at that a little, even though it was one of his friends. Little Peasant Girl was pretty tough.

It was only temporary though. They succeeded in getting far away enough from her and yet at the same time sending the locket up higher and higher, way out of her reach. Haley screamed out as they kept passing it back and forth, higher and higher, further and further. She tried running from one to the other to get her locket back, but they would just throw it to the next boy when she got too close. If she looked like she was going to kick one, another boy would grab at her to prevent her from doing it. Panting and breathing hard, she fell down to the grass and whimpered. She wasn't hurt, not on the outside, but inside…inside her heart felt cold. Papa's locket…they were going to hurt Papa's locket. Papa…

"Give it back to her."

Nathan stood up now. Little Peasant Girl had at first looked like she was about to cry, but it impressed him how she seemed not wanting to let them see it. It bothered him now though…he didn't know why, but it bothered him, the look on her face as they kept throwing her locket and kept it from her, playing a pretty vicious game of keep-away. Her eyes were so big and so sad now. She was sitting there so still, but clutching at…her heart. It bothered him. He didn't know why. It just did. Seeing how desperate this little girl was about such a simple thing, a dumb book chain. He shouldn't even care, but hey, she knocked him over, she looked him straight in the eye, and she even reached in his pockets before biting him. At least she hadn't broken the skin, though she left a few teeth marks. Maybe annoying, but for such a tiny little thing, she had spunk. And now…those big eyes…

Hurt haunted eyes…

The boys continued to throw their new prize, laughing as Haley half-struggled to get it back, and the rest of the time just sat there, lost, clutching her heart.

"I said give it back to her!" Nathan yelled out now with annoyance, fiercely. Couldn't watch those haunted eyes no more. He advanced on his friends, jumped up high and grabbed the chained book locket out of the air as it was in mid-throw. He could hear the little girl panting still…see her clutching her heart…her haunted eyes. Feeling kind of bad now, he walked the few steps and handed her back the locket. "Here…"

Haley looked at the boy, at his face, but didn't say anything. Finally grabbing the locket out of his hands, she started to turn around quickly. She needed to go home. She had her locket back! And now all she wanted to do was see Mama. Now that her heart didn't hurt so much. It hurt terribly as they kept throwing it…back and forth…

Nathan smiled at her a little. The haunted eyes were gone. She looked happy and…uh….like she was leaving! Ungrateful little witch! His smile died, replaced by a grimace as he realized she was just going to go without even bothering to thank him for his kindness. "Don't say thank you and all!"

Haley turned back around at that, frowning. "My Papa taught me that you don't have to say thank you if someone STEALS something from you."

"I didn't steal it!"

She came back at him quickly. "Yes you did. You took it from the grass and when I told you it was mine you still kept it. You're a thief! And I don't like you. You're all mean boys." She looked around a bit, but then focused just on him.

"And you're nothing but an ungrateful peasant girl."

Haley stared at him for an angry moment before she turned away now and started down the hill. All she cared about was that she had her locket back. And she didn't need to say thank you. Not to a rude boy like that.

Nathan watched as she took a tumble halfway down. He started to move, a foot advancing involuntarily, but then she got back up, just brushing herself off as if she on a routine basis fell down. Maybe she did. Maybe she was clumsy. He saw her look back for a moment.

"Hey Nate…come on! Let's go play again! Forget about that stupid dirty little girl!"

He nodded his head, even though he didn't really agree with the dirty comment. Her hair had been kind of messy, but she hadn't been marked with dirt or nothing. He faced his friends to appease them for the moment. "Yeah, okay, okay." He turned back around after to see if she was still looking at him, but her tiny form was already disappearing from sight as he could now catch only a blur of her backside running through the trees.

And then she was gone.

I*~*I

More to come…

Thank you for reading. Feedback is adored.

For Janet's Idea, the south was the perfect place for this story. That of course meant North Carolina the perfect state. So then I decided I wanted to give a background to the fictional Tree Hill. I thought it would be interesting to say a Cherokee Indian named the place years before it became a developed town. For the fictional purpose of this story, it was once just a simple wooded hilly area with different kinds of trees, like the prevalent Oak, Sycamore and Pine.

Now the story is of course made up, but the Cherokee did live in North Carolina before the move westward of the Native Americans.

Slavery: I will touch on this topic in this story quite a few times, but also like I said another big issue is on the way.