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Disclaimer: Neither One Tree Hill or James Lafferty belong to me, unfortunately.
Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?
A Summer to Remember
Chapter 7
"Who's out there?" A loud masculine voice yelled through the darkness.
"Shit." Nathan muttered as he tried to gather up all the evidence in the dark.
Haley watched him with a smug smile on her face. It was about time Nathan got into trouble for something.
"What's going on out here?" The voice said again with a heavy southern accent.
Before any of them could say anything, not that they would have, a bright light entered the courtyard followed by an older man and fell upon Nathan's face.
"You there, what are you doing out here?" The man demanded.
"I…um…I was…" Before Nathan could come up with a logical excuse, he was interrupted by a small giggle from beside him.
The man heard the giggles as well and quickly moved the flashlight until it was shining directly at Haley.
"Do you have a problem, miss?" The clearly agitated man spat out.
For the first time, Nathan looked around and noticed that Tim was nowhere to be seen. The son of a bitch must have run off, Nathan thought with a frown. Great, now they'll pin everything on me.
"No, I was just…um…" Haley had just realized that there was no proof that Nathan actually did this, what if she got blamed for it?
The old man was growing more impatient by the second and quickly moved his flashlight away from Haley's face and pointed it towards the surrounding ground.
The man's eyes widened when he read what had been painted on the grass in fluorescent pink paint. "Who did this?!" The man looked so furious that both Nathan and Haley thought he was going to have a heart attack.
"Both of you come with me!" He yelled in response to the teenagers' quietness.
Nathan and Haley followed the man out of the courtyard and around to the front of the building.
Nathan had his hands in the pockets of his black sweatpants and an annoyed look plastered on his face. This could not be happening. Who did this old geezer think he was? There was no way that this stinky old man had the right to bring them into this weird looking room. He's probably going to kill us, Nathan thought as he glanced at Haley who apparently had just though the same thing. What the hell was Haley's problem? This was all her fault. If she would have kept her damn mouth shut in the first place, they wouldn't be here. Now they were both probably going to get in trouble.
Haley crossed her arms in front of her chest as she followed the short and stubby old man into what appeared to be an office off the side of the building with Nathan close behind. This was all his fault. She didn't even do anything! If I get blamed for this I'm going to beat his ass, Haley thought as she threw him a look that said exactly that.
"Have a seat." The man commanded sternly.
Nathan and Haley walked over to the chairs the man had pointed to and sat down.
Nathan couldn't help but think that this felt pretty much like every time he had ever been sent to Principal Turner's office, which was a lot of times. This guy, if he even had the power to do so, would probably be silent for a few minutes to 'consider the punishment' and then he would yell when Nathan tried to get out of it.
He was right. After about a minute of uncomfortable silence and the old guy just staring at them, Nathan finally spoke. "Ok, I'm sorry if this is rude, but who are you?"
"My name is Mr. Durham, and my wife and I own these condos." The old man scowled.
Shit, Nathan thought.
"Right now I'm trying to decide whether or not to press charges on you delinquents for destroying my property."
"What? I didn't even do anything! I was just-" Haley started as she realized that Mr. Durham was being very serious about this whole thing.
"What are your names?" Mr. Durham asked gruffly, interrupting Haley's pleas of innocence.
"Nathan Scott."
"Haley James." Haley was starting to get a little scared. What if she was sent to jail? Don't be stupid, Haley. You can't go to jail for spray painting some grass, she mentally told herself. "Mr. Durham, I honestly had nothing to do with this. I was running and I-"
"Why should I believe you? If I was in your position I'd be lying my ass off right about now." Mr. Durham's cold grey eyes looked into Haley's soft brown ones and she could tell that she was going to get some of the blame for this.
"Mr. Durham, Haley had nothing to do with this." Nathan said, surprising the other two. Haley looked over at him with wide eyes. Was he actually saying something nice? "I did this alone, she heard me and started yelling at me, that's probably what you heard."
"And again, why should I believe you? How do I know that you're not lying to keep your little girlfriend out of trouble?" Mr. Durham narrowed his eyes as if trying to read Nathan's thoughts.
"She's not my girlfriend." "I'm not his girlfriend." They both corrected at the same time.
"It doesn't matter. Miss James, you were at the scene of the crime so I can only assume that you had a hand in it."
"But I didn't!" Haley protested.
"Therefore, you will share in Mr. Scott here's punishment." Mr. Durham continued. "I have decided not to press charges."
Nathan and Haley both breathed a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't have to go to court over this.
"But, I am in need of maintenance services here." A small grin spread across the old man's face as if he had just told some hilarious joke and was waiting for the other two to catch on.
Haley looked at him in confusion as Nathan asked the question that was on her mind. "I don't get it. What does that have to do with us?"
"It has everything to do with you Mr. Scott, seeing as how you two are it."
Haley's mouth fell open as Nathan's face showed the confusion he obviously felt.
Mr. Durham noticed the expression on Nathan's face and decided to clarify. "For the rest of the summer, to payback the moral debt you both owe, you two will be my maintenance crew. You will do the cleaning, change the light bulbs, and even unclog any overflowing toilets. Do I make myself clear?"
"You cannot be serious!" Nathan yelled. There was no way he was cleaning someone else's toilet.
"Oh, but I am." Mr. Durham responded as he scribbled on a piece of paper and then tore it in half.
"Will this go on my permanent record?" Haley asked as she felt tears start to build up in her eyes and Nathan rolled his. She had worked so hard to be a good student and role model, and now that was all going to be gone because something she didn't do?
"No, not unless I call the police, which won't happen as long as you two uphold your end of the deal." Mr. Durham smirked at his logic. It would only cost a couple of bucks to remove the paint from the grass, but now he was saving a bundle by having these two work for free! I'm a genius, he thought.
"This has got to be some kind of joke. I don't have to do this." Nathan protested.
"Yes you do, unless you want vandalism charges pressed. And you can start with removing that hideous paint from my front lawn." Mr. Durham smiled sweetly as he handed them each a half sheet of paper with numbers scribbled on them. "These are your working hours, 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, starting tomorrow."
Nathan grabbed the paper and stormed out of the office with Haley following.
After cleaning up the spray paint from the grass in the courtyard in silence, Nathan and Haley returned to their condos.
"Tutor girl! What took you so long? I have some amazing news to tell you about Lucas!" Brooke whispered in a high pitched voice as the tired girl finally re-entered the comfort of her home.
"Let's hear it." Haley smiled.
"Ok, well, after you left, Lucas and I were watching some scary war movie on TV so I cuddled up next to him and he put his arm around me!" Brooke was so excited that she was jumping up and down.
"That's it?" Haley almost laughed, but stopped herself when she saw the stern look on Brooke's face telling her that this simple gesture meant a lot to her. "I mean, that's great!"
"I know!" Brooke squealed. "So, where were you?"
Haley sat down at the table next to Brooke and proceeded to tell her the whole story.
"I can't believe you got clean up duty, Nate." Tim laughed as his friend finished the somewhat painful story of how he and Haley had been stuck with maintenance duty for the rest of the summer.
"I can't believe you left me hanging out there." Nathan shot back.
"I'm sorry, I got freaked out!" Tim defended himself.
"This is priceless." Peyton said as she erupted into laughter. "I think you totally deserved it."
"Peyton, what the hell is your problem? Did you not hear what I said? I have to clean floors and fix toilets all summer and I have to do it with Lucas's best friend!" Nathan said in an annoyed tone. How could she say that he deserved it? Lucas had started it by coming here in the first place.
"Never mind, jeez." Peyton responded as she went into her room and slammed the door.
"I'm going to bed." Nathan stated before entering his room as well, leaving Tim to play his PS2 in peace.
Nathan pulled off his black t-shirt and sat down on his bed. I can't believe I have to clean this freakin place tomorrow, he thought as he pulled his alarm clock into his lap and set it for 6:30 AM.