Chapter Fifteen

Brooke stared wide-eyed at the scene in front of her. She didn't want to look – it was disgusting – but she couldn't help it.

She was spared further torment when a few seconds later Lucas stepped back from Rachel and opened his mouth as if to say something. Before he could he spotted the girl standing opposite them and his mouth opened even wider. "Brooke."

At that, Rachel turned her head and smirked at the look on Brooke's face. What seemed to be shock was slowly turning to anger, and Rachel knew full well that it wasn't all directed at her.

"Brooke," Lucas said again, stepping forward, but Brooke turned on her heel and darted out before he could reach her. He felt Rachel tug on his arm but ignored her and ran out after Brooke.

"Brooke, it's not what you think!" he called out to her retreating figure, a few steps in front of him just outside of the library.

She turned around and flashed an angry gaze at him. "I'm not blind Lucas! I could see you kissing her. Do you like her?" she asked suddenly.

"No."

"Then what were you doing?"

"I-" Lucas took a moment to collect his thoughts and work out how to enlighten to Brooke without actually telling her what was going on.

She didn't wait for his explanation. Without another word, she turned back around and pulled open the door to Lucas' left and walked inside. He quickly went up to the door but inside there was a lesson taking place. She was standing with her back to him, saying something to the teacher, and then she went and sat down in an empty seat, never looking up.

Nathan, however, was completely unaware of what had happened between Lucas and Brooke – or Lucas and Rachel – as he silently followed Haley. The only thought in his mind at that moment was that she was leading him behind the make out stacks! He knew it was highly unlikely that she was taking him here to have her way with him, but, hey, he could dream.

She led him right to the back of part of the shelves before she turned around. She gestured to the top shelf before she asked, "Would you mind getting down some of those books for me?" She smiled apologetically and explained, "I need three of the ones on the top shelf and I can't reach them. I asked the librarian for the ladder they have but apparently it's broken and –"

"I can get them down. Which ones do you need?"

Haley stood on tip-toe to point out the spines of the three books she wanted and Nathan couldn't help but notice they way her shirt rose up slightly, revealing her stomach. Underneath her white shirt was a patch of creamy flesh. Her black trousers were slung low on her hips, and peeking out above the waistband was a small, delicate beauty mark.

"Uh, Nathan?"

He quickly looked up and stammered, "Er…I thought I saw something on the floor."

She looked at him strangely and had to point out the books again as he hadn't been paying attention to her…at least not there anyway.

Nathan reached up and pulled out the three that she wanted. Looking at the cover of the last one he observed that the cover picture was of a stage. "Are these for the play?" he asked.

Haley nodded as he handed them over to her. "Yeah; you heard about it?"

"I signed up for backstage actually."

"Oh, that's great," Haley replied enthusiastically. "Last year a lot of people auditioned but there weren't many volunteers for backstage so we sort of had to rope people into doing it."

"Did you direct the play last year too?"

"No. I helped out, but it was another teacher, Mrs. McNair, who directed it. She's retired now. To be honest, I'm a little nervous about it," she admitted.

They had started walking back, so Nathan had to angle his face to the side to look at her. "Have you ever directed a play before?"

Haley shook her head. "I've acted in a lot of plays, but I've never directed one. That's partly why I need the books. To get the backdrops and sets ready. Last year Mrs. McNair hired a professional to do everything but we don't have that kind of money."

"So is the director in charge of sets and everything?" Nathan wondered, having never been involved in a play before.

"Well, Miss Sawyer is taking care of the sets. She's the art teacher," she added realizing he might not know who she meant. "And a lot of the other teachers are helping, but I needed these books to help us with some props."

"So is Mr. Keller in charge of music?" Nathan asked before he could stop himself, belatedly wondering if that was a bit rude.

"It's not a musical," was Haley's simple reply.

"Oh. Brooke will be happy."

"What?"

"Long story," Nathan laughed. "Brooke was just hoping it wasn't a musical."

"Oh. Well, we've done some musicals before, including when I was here, but this year I thought we'd do something different."

"So, you sing?"

Haley blushed. "A little bit."

"What musicals have you been in? 'My Fair Lady' or 'The Sound of Music'?"

"You like musicals?" Haley was surprised. Nathan didn't strike her as someone who would.

"Not really. But my Mum does, so I've had to sit through a lot of them though. Especially 'The Sound of Music'."

"We did that here when I was a junior," Haley told him.

"Were you Maria?"

"No, I was the Liesel, the eldest daughter."

"Oh," Nathan said as he remembered the character. "So you were 16 –"

"Going on 17," Haley finished. "Yeah. There's actually a funny story there. The teacher who directed it really loved the film so in the scene with that song he wanted us to do the dance the same way it was in the film with the benches and everything. But the guy who played Rolf was a really terrible dancer and he kept dropping me," Haley laughed as she told him. "We kept holding up practice because we didn't get it right."

"He didn't drop you on the actual day did he?"

"No. In the end, they changed the dance so that he never had to pick me up."

Nathan become aware of the fact that they had reached the tables where they were sitting earlier, meaning, sadly, it was time to part ways.

"Thanks for helping me with the books," Haley said as she put them down on her table.

"No problem." After standing there uneasily for a moment, Nathan moved to turn away, but then she stopped him.

"Oh, Nathan. Could you just wait a second?"

"Sure."

She moved about the papers on her desk until she picked up one with his name at the top. "This is your essay."

He took it from her and noted the grade; C-minus. Oh, well. He had expected worse.

"It's definitely an improvement from when you didn't hand in anything, but I really think you could do better. I could tell from your essay that you understood some things, but in parts you sounded a little confused."

"I was," he admitted. That, and the fact that he had done it in a rush so he'd have something to give in.

"I was going to give them back in class anyway, but I just thought I'd show you yours now. If you want to have a look at it and then need me to discuss it with you just ask."

"Um…would that be okay?"

"Sure. If you're having trouble with any of the work then you can always ask me, and we could schedule a time to meet if we're both free."

"Okay. I'm actually free now," Nathan began, "since my teacher is off sick."

"Didn't you get a substitute?" Haley frowned.

"Um, Mr. Keller sent us to the library."

"Oh." It was clear she wasn't going to say anything more, but Nathan could tell from the look on her face that she didn't exactly approve.

"Are you busy now?" he gestured to the books and papers on her desk.

"Actually, no. I had just finished up here and I was going to take these books for the play home. Do you want to discuss your essay now, then?" Haley offered.

Yes! "Uh, sure," Nathan said casually.

"Alright, just bring your stuff over here," Haley told him. He quickly went to grab his bag and books while she made space for him at her table.

Putting his bag on the floor, he sat down on the chair next to hers. He saw another book on the table and turned it over in his hands. "Are we going to be looking at this in class?"

Haley glanced at the book and then shook her head. "No, that's one of mine. I'm just reading it again."

"Again?"

"It's one of my favourite plays," she explained.

"A Streetcar Named Desire," he read the cover, with a question mark in his voice at the strange title.

"No, not that one. Well, I like that one too, but, the book's a collection of three of Tennessee Williams' plays. I'm re-reading The Glass Menagerie."

Flipping to the page, he asked, "Is it good?"

"Oh, it's amazing," Haley gushed. "I love a lot of his work, but The Glass Menagerie is probably my favourite because I acted in a production of it when I was in college."

"What was that like?" Nathan prodded, wanting to keep her talking. It was nice watching her get so animated about a subject that obviously meant a lot to her.

"It was such a great experience. There are only four characters in the play – I was Laura, the daughter – and so we became really close. We had this thing where – you know how in theatre it's bad luck to say good luck? So most people say break a leg, but we had this thing where one of us would say 'break a leg' and then someone else would say 'break both legs' and the other would say 'fall down the stairs'. I guess it's not that funny, you just had to be there. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," Haley sobered, "here I am babbling when we're supposed to be doing work."

"I don't mind," Nathan said honestly.

"There's no point me reminiscing; we have to get some work done. Hand that essay over," she said with mock sternness.

Smiling, Nathan did as he was told. She looked over her comments and started to speak, but Nathan found himself concentrating more on her than what she told him about his work. He didn't know it then, but it was something he would do in all the lessons that followed as well, as he tried to learn as much as possible, not about literature, but about his teacher instead.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! A lot of you have been asking for more Naley, so I hope you liked this update. Please leave a comment even if you didn't! I want to know what everyone thinks of this story – good and bad!