AN: Thank you guys so much for the fantastic replies. I absolutely love hearing from all of you. Thanks to: Conaleigh Leonhart, naleyluv, dots27, Nathanlvr23, naleysocute23, chelle2911, Youre Undeniable 09, Lorilozz, itsDMFkids, jr forever, JPNeverlosetheButterflies, mayra23, Tanoha, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06!!

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CHAPTER 3

Nathan's POV

"She's short, has brown hair…" I said for the millionth time, trying to describe my mystery girl. After I had run off on Lucas at lunch, I ran straight to St Catherine's to find her. Now, they wouldn't actually let me inside the school, so I waited outside the gate, desperately hoping to see her in the yard and yell out to her. But she was nowhere to be found. And not knowing her name or grade, it wasn't exactly easy to find her.

"Never mind," I said, giving up and looking down at my watch realizing that there were only 10 minutes left in the lunch period. Not wanting to go back to school just then, back to Lucas who would be wanting to hear about my romantic reunion with my dream girl, I decided to head to the Rivercourt.

I don't know what even made me think I would ever see her again. And even if I did, what made me think it would be some magical moment? I had my first kiss when I was twelve, and since then I've kissed my fair share of girls. So why was this one kiss, this one girl so… different? For all I knew she could be a psycho. Or worse, she could have a boyfriend. All these thoughts would not stop clogging up my mind, and I was thankful that I was almost at the Rivercourt by now. Nothing helped to clear my heard more than shooting a few hoops and just being alone.

But before I could even reach the court, I stopped at the sound of music. Someone must have left their car radio on, was my first thought. But then I realized that it wasn't coming from any sort of radio; it was coming from someone's voice. I stepped a little further, but stayed out of site from the singer, who I realized, as my heart skipped a beat, was in fact the girl I had just spent 50 minutes trying to find, the very same girl that had invaded my thoughts ever since I first laid my eyes on her.

"I love the time and in between

The calm inside me"

A notebook sprawled out in front of her and a pencil in her hand, she sang those sweet words straight from her heart. And maybe it was the fact that it was only us two there, but something in the way she sang made me feel like she was singing directly to me, serenading me with those beautiful lyrics.

"In this space where I can breathe

I believe there a distance I have wandered

To touch upon the years

Reaching out and reaching in

Holding out holding in"

Half because I was being drawn by her song, and half because I was convinced I had the courage to go up to her, I started walking towards her. But of course something had to ruin this potentially grand romantic moment, and that something had to be me. More specifically, it was the basketball I didn't see lying on the ground in front of me that I managed to trip over, not only making a huge fool of myself, but also creating a loud noise, instantly making the singing stop.

She turned around, frightened at the loud ruckus my clumsiness had caused. I pulled myself up and took the basketball with me, giving her a small smirk. Embarrassing moments do not happen to me that often, and when they do, they of course have to happen at the worst possible time. But for some reason I wasn't too embarrassed.

"You're the guy from this morning?" She said, more as a statement than as a question. So she remembered me! That's a good thing, right?

"Nathan Scott," I said, jumping at the chance to introduce myself, and holding out my hand, which she accepted.

"Haley James," She replied. Haley. "Hey, are you OK? That was a pretty bad fall," she said with a hint of a smile upon her lips. Of course, she had to bring that up. And of course, she thought it was funny.

"Oh, that? Yeah… no, that was on purpose," I lied, improvising as I went along.

"Mhm," She said, not convinced, "So that was, what? To impress me?"

"No," I replied, "to impress you, I'm about to show you some of my basketball skills," I said, spinning the ball on my finger . If there's one thing that always works with the ladies, at least in my experience, this would be it.

"Well, are you sure? I mean, I wouldn't want you to trip and hurt yourself again."

"Haha, you're funny," I said sarcastically and right before shooting the ball with ease straight through the net.

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Haley's POV

What the hell am I doing? I'm acting like one of those girls in the movies; one of those girls who can say whatever they want to guys and not be intimidated. I'm flirting; I'm laughing; and the weirdest thing is that I wasn't embarrassed at all when I found out that the guy I had just been dreaming about for the past three hours had just heard me singing to myself. This is not like me. What was it about this guy that makes me say and do things I would never under regular circumstances do?

"Nice shot," I said grabbing the ball as it rebounded, and taking a shot myself. Now, I have no idea what I was thinking, the last time I played basketball was in the seventh grade, and I was always picked last on the teams, so I would just stop. The only class I've ever skipped was PE. I would never have considered attempting to play basketball, because I knew it would end in complete humiliation. Yet, for some reason, my instinct told me to shoot the ball, so I did.

And of course the ball missed the basket by about two feet, and I was left humiliated, with the thought 'Why did I do that?' ringing through my head. Nathan chuckled lightly, but didn't jump at the opportunity to make fun of me, which I was thankful for.

"Alright," he said after grabbing the rebound and coming back to stand next to me. "We may need to fix this."

"Just tell me what to do," I said, eager to learn. Well, not as much excited about the learning, but rather about the teacher.

"OK, first you have to bend your knees," He said, showing me exactly how, and I did as instructed, "And you have to hold the basketball up like this," He said holding the basketball in front of his face. I put my hands up as if I had one too. "And then you just shoot," He said demonstrating, and of course making it in.

"You make it look so easy."

"Years of practice, that's all," He said, shrugging, and handed me the ball, "Here, you try." I caught the ball and tried to remember the steps he had just taught me. My head went a little cloudy when I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was coming closer to me, and positioned himself right beside me and laid his hands right on my hips. I tried hard not to jump or squeal, and as my insides were partying, my outside was completely calm and collected. Way to go, Hales!

"Now, bend your knees," He said, and I did as I was told. I remembered the next step, so I brought the ball up in position to shoot and waited for his signal. "Good. Now shoot." I shot, and to my surprise the ball actually made it inside the net.

"I did it!" I let out, before I could contain myself.

"There you go, that was beautiful," He said in a completely casual tone, yet his hands remained firmly placed on my hips, and I didn't dare move them. Why did this feel so… right?

"Yeah," I said, turning my head to look at him, my voice getting caught in my throat a little at the sight of his gorgeous face. Had I forgotten of nice it was? "I-I think I'm getting better…"

"Definitely," He said huskily, starring at me so intensely, I suddenly forgot where I was, and what was going on. What was going on? What on earth was I doing here, with a complete stranger? Fumbling to look at my watch, I mumbled something about being late for class, which I actually was, ran to pick up my notebook and pencil and ran off.

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Nathan's POV

Great, moron, way to scare the poor girl away! I said to myself. What now? So great, I got her name, but there was still no way of knowing if I would ever see her again. It just occurred to me that maybe getting a phone number would have been smart. Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it now. And her running off hurriedly like that, made me realize that I was late for class as well.

When I got back to Tree Hill High, it was already half way through my English Lit class, so I decided to skip the rest. Soon after, the period ended and through the swarm of people walking down the halls, although I tried to avoid him, Lucas found me.

"Dude, did you just get back?" He asked.

"Kind of," I said, not wanting to go into details.

"So… what happened?"

"I didn't find her," I said shrugging. "I was just at the Rivercourt for a while." Not telling Lucas just yet felt right. For some reason, I felt like I wanted to keep me and Haley's world separate. It seemed almost unreal, but it was the greatest feeling in the world. Haley James. I didn't even get to tell her how wonderful her singing was…

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AN: Ok guys, I'm actually pretty proud of that chapter, so hopefully you guys will like it! I love hearing what you think about this story, so please leave a review! Thanks so much for reading! Song credit: Elsewhere, by Bethany Joy Galeotti