I'm finally back after two very long weeks in cottage country hell! Luckily I managed to get a far amount of writing down there and now I come to with this chapter! Hope you enjoy guys!

Chapter 5

"Hey! How was your first day? We missed you at lunch."

"Somehow I doubt any of your friends even noticed I wasn't there," Haley muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Lucas asked as he quickened his pace to match Haley's.

"I said it was fine and I wasn't hungry at lunch so I read in the library."

"You didn't have to do that. You could have sat with us even if you weren't eating anything."

"It's fine, Lucas. I didn't feel like being around anyone so just drop it, okay?"

Lucas threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright! I just want you to understand that you're welcome to hang out with me and my friends."

"I get it, Lucas! You've invited me to do stuff with you guys every day for the last three days."

"Yeah, and every time you said that you didn't feel like it," he countered and once again increased his speed to match hers.

"Since when is it a crime to want to be alone?" Haley asked, becoming fed up with her cousin.

"Since you've barely said two words to anyone even though you should be opening up about what happened so you can try to heal and move on."

Haley scoffed in outrage. "You really think you know what's best for me right now, Luke? Don't be so god damn patronizing when you've never been close to being in my situation."

"Okay, I'm sorry. We're all just worried about you. Tell you what, I'll leave you be if you agree to come to the party at Nathan's house on Friday after the basketball game."

"Fine, whatever," she conceded.

"Great!" Lucas exclaimed, extremely pleased with himself.

"Wipe that stupid smile off your face before I smack it off."

The smile instantly fell from his face and Lucas slowed down his pace slightly so he was always half a step behind the feisty blonde. He quickly learned in the short time that they had known each other that Haley had a temper on her. She could be a spitfire when she needed to and was definitely not afraid to fight with Lucas already.

Shaking her head as she turned onto the short walkway leading to her new home, Haley swung open the front door and marched right up to her bedroom. To her relief, both Karen and Keith were still at work so she would have some time to herself before receiving the fifth degree about her first day at Tree Hill High. Thinking about it, Haley knew her day really hadn't been that bad. Each of her classes had Lucas or one his friends in it with her so she felt a little less uncomfortable.

Smiling, Haley remembered walking into two of her four classes and seeing Nathan Scott sitting in the back rows. When Nathan saw her timidly walk into the class rooms, he smiled politely at her and gestured to sit in front of him. That had really made her look forward to going to those two particular classes each day. However, in her last period class with Nathan an annoying red headed girl named Rachel seemed to already dislike her. She had made it a point to send her dirty looks from across the room and flirt with Nathan right in front of her.

Haley tried to push thoughts of Rachel and Nathan to the back of her mind. She stuck her ear buds in and turned on her iPod and laid flat on her stomach. Haley sang quietly under breath while she read over her class notes from the day and decided to start on her English homework. Although it was only the beginning of the second month of school, Tree Hill seemed to be a lot farther along in the curriculum than they were in California and she needed to catch up as fast as possible.

What seemed like hours since Haley had cracked open her English book had really only been forty five minutes. Haley sighed; she really was not getting into Catch-22 right now. Throughout the time she had been trying to start reading the novel she had failed to make it past the second chapter. For the first time in her academic career she just didn't understand. There were already too many characters to keep track of, the conversations between them seemed irrelevant, and the plot was confusing.

Haley shook her head in agitation and ran her hands down her face. A sudden strong knock on her open bedroom door startled her and caused her whole frame to jump. She heard the person chuckle softly and she turned her eyes to them and shot an icy glare. Her face dropped at the sight of Nathan Scott standing in the doorway.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" he asked jokingly after she was silent for a few seconds.

"Oh, yeah, come in," she said, finally snapping out of her daze. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I have plans with Lucas but he's trying to finish up some project and told me to go away until he finished."

"So you come to my room?"

"Yeah, I was going to ask you something, but seeing the mood you seem to be in just now I'm second guessing myself."

Haley shrugged indifferently. "Feel free to ask away."

Nathan scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Well I noticed in the classes we have together that you understand everything we're doing pretty well so far. It's no secret that I'm not the smartest guy out there and I was just wondering if-"

"If your best friend's new housemate would do all your home work for you?" Haley cut in angrily. "I get it, Nathan. You're a jock that sucks at school and need to keep your grades up in order to be allowed to be on the basketball team. The answer is no, though. I refuse to be walked all over and help you skate by just to be able to play on a team."

"What? No, Haley you got it wrong, that's not what I was gonna ask!" he proclaimed.

"Sure it wasn't," she scoffed and stood up from her bed, walking over to the door. Haley pulled the door open wider than it already was. "You can go now."

Nathan stared at the girl in shock but obliged in her request and exited the room. He tried to catch her eyes once he was in the hallway again but she had already slammed the door in his face. He sighed dejectedly and walked back into Lucas' room, not caring if he was finished his project yet or not.

No more than an hour later Haley heard another knock sound on her bedroom door. She ignored it and continued to focus on the calculus homework that she had moved on to. The door creaked open slowly and Nathan poked his head in.

"Uh, hey. Me and Lucas are going down to the River court and he wanted me to ask if you wanted to come."

"Why couldn't he ask me himself?"

"I don't know. He said something about you getting mad at him if he asked you to do something with us?" Nathan said unsurely.

"Well, the answer is no again. I don't feel like watching you two play basketball for hours," she clipped.

"Alright, suit yourself," Nathan conceded and began to back out of the room. He stopped just before he was completely out the door and re-entered. "Haley, about earlier-"

"It's fine Nathan," she cut him off.

"No, it's not. You misunderstood what I was going to ask. I wasn't going to ask you to just do my homework for me or whatever. I wanted to know if you'd be willing to help me a bit. You know, like tutor me?" he finished quietly, clearly embarrassed.

Haley looked at him in surprise. "Oh. Well, what subjects to you need help with?"

"Pretty much everything. I'm an idiot."

Walking across the room to him, Haley hesitantly put her hand onto his arm. "I'm sure you're a lot smarter than you think, Nathan. I'll help you though. Just come over after school tomorrow and we can start then."

"No."

"What?"

"We can't do it here."

"Why not?" she asked confused.

"I-I don't want anyone to know that I'm getting tutored. We have to do it somewhere no one will see us."

Haley nodded sympathetically. "Okay, how about we meet tomorrow morning on the River walk before school?"

"What time?"

"I don't know, how's seven?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. See ya tomorrow bright and early then," he said and directed a rare but dazzling smile at Haley.

"Mm-huh," Haley responded, mesmerized by the happiness displayed on his face.

"This really means a lot to me. Thank you, Haley," he said sincerely and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Haley stood rooted on the spot, incredibly confused as to how a simple smile from Nathan Scott could have her turn into a pile of goo in a second. Suddenly feeling an enormous want to spend more time with Nathan, Haley unglued her feet from the soft carpet and bolted to her bedroom door. She yanked it open just as Nathan began moving down the stairs. He stopped and turned back to look at her curiously.

"I change my mind, I guess I'll come with you guys," she said timidly.

Nathan smirked contentedly and waited for her to catch up to him. They walked down the stairs side by side and met Lucas in the kitchen. He looked pleasantly surprised to see Haley walk in behind Nathan but thought better of saying anything about it. The trio left the quiet house and hopped into Nathan's sports car.

It didn't take long to arrive at the court and Haley saw that they weren't alone. Julian and Tim were already playing one on one and Brooke and Peyton sat atop the picnic bench off to the side of the court talking and only glancing at the boys periodically. All their heads turned when Nathan's car pulled up and parked. Haley shyly followed Lucas and Nathan over to where the group was gathering. Although she had already met each of them, she still felt slightly uncomfortable around Lucas' friends.

Haley found herself walking back to the picnic bench alongside Brooke and Peyton as the four boys started playing their game. She watched them move back and forth across the court intently as she half listened to Brooke and Peyton dive back into their previous conversation.

"So Haley, how was your first day at Tree Hill High?" Peyton's question made her turn to the two girls she was sitting with.

"It was alright, I guess. Almost everyone was really nice."

"Almost everyone?" Peyton asked curiously.

"Yeah. There's this one girl in my last period class, her name's Rachel. All I did in the class was talk to Nathan once and then she was a total bitch to me for no reason."

Brooke laughed softly and shook her head. "Don't let that hag Rachel bother you. She was probably jealous that Nathan doesn't think you're an annoying freak like he does her. Rach-hoe is obsessed with Nathan and is convinced that he wants to sleep with. She even tries to hook-up with him when he's drunk and he always blows her off."

"I take it you don't like her either?"

Again, Brooke laughed. "Peyton and I both hate the bitch. Ever since she transferred in sophomore year she's been trying to take over the cheerleading squad and steal my captain position. She's also the most annoying girl I've ever met, I just can't stand her."

"Anyway though, do you have any good classes?" Peyton changed the subject.

"They're okay. I have English first period with Lucas and Julian, then calculus with you two, chemistry with Nathan and Tim, lunch, and history with Nathan."

"Well at least you know someone in every class."

"Yeah, it's good. I'm just worried about catching up in all my classes."

"Why, you can't be that far behind?"

"I actually am. Either we were moving slowly in California or you guys move through the material really quickly, but I haven't started any of the stuff you're doing here," Haley shrugged.

"That sucks. I'm right up to speed in all my classes and still barely understand what's going on," Brooke commented.

The other two girls laughed and Peyton shook her head at her friend. "That's because you don't pay attention in class Brooke. You're too busy day dreaming about Lucas."

"Kinda like you with Julian, huh P. Sawyer?" Brooke retorted.

Peyton shrugged unabashedly and the three girls giggled together. They briefly turned their attention to boys' intense game before diving back into animated girl talk again. Haley smiled to herself happily, feeling like she could have real friendships with the two girls beside her and become close with them really quickly.

"Good morning," Haley greeted Keith and Karen as she walked into the kitchen.

Her aunt and uncle offered a greeting of their own and smiled happily at her cheerful mood. They watched as Haley grabbed a banana and headed to the door with her bag slung over her shoulder. "Haley, where are you going?" Karen asked puzzled.

"Oh, I just need some air so I was gonna take a walk and then just head to school after that."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? We don't want you to get lost."

"I think Tree Hill is a small enough town that Haley will be fine, honey," Keith pointed out and Haley smiled gratefully at him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she reassured quickly and bolted out the door before either of them could stop her.

It took Haley only ten minutes to arrive at the exact spot Nathan had told her to meet him at last night before dropping Lucas and Haley back off at their house after the River court. She leaned back comfortably against the wooden support rails and checked her watch, 7:02. Nathan should be there any minute now.

Fifteen minutes later, Nathan's form finally came into view on the River walk. When he finally made it to Haley he offered her a dazzling smile much like the one he had given her the previous night. "Hey," he greeted and began leading her to a small wooden table a short distance away.

"You're late," was Haley's only response to his greeting.

"Sorry, I got sidetracked getting us a little breakfast," he apologized and held up a small box of Cracker Jacks.

"That's your idea of breakfast?" Haley laughed incredulously. "No thanks, I already ate anyway."

"Suit yourself, it's the breakfast of champions," he replied and took a seat opposite her at the table.

Haley shook her head. "Just don't be late again, okay? I'm doing this as a favour to you. I don't want to waste my time because you can't be bothered to actually be on time, mister big shot basketball star."

"Alright!" Nathan held up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again, okay? For he record though, I don't think I'm better than you or something just because I play a sport. People just think I'm like that because that's how I've always been told to act by my dad."

Haley looked at him stunned. She had no reply to his short speech and resorted to cracking open her chemistry text book. "Before we even start, tell me how much you know."

"Pretty much nothing. I don't understand anything that any of my teachers are saying," Nathan admitted.

"Alright, so we'll start with the basics then," Haley said and jumped right into explaining the most basic aspects of chemistry she could think of.

Over half an hour later, Haley found herself making headway with explaining physical and chemical properties and reactions. Nathan seemed to be following what she was saying and asked questions to clarify every so often. She smiled at him when he successfully stated the difference between qualitative and quantitative physical properties and glanced at her watch.

"It's almost eight o' clock. We should probably head to school now."

"Yeah, sure," Nathan replied and the twosome began packing up their books. They walked to Nathan's car together that he had parked further down the boardwalk. "So, same time and place tomorrow then, right?"

"Yep. Don't be late this time though."

"I promise, I won't be," he confirmed and they both hopped into the car when they reached it. Nathan started the engine and they cruised down the streets of Tree Hill, quickly making it to the high school.

Nathan smoothly parked his car and they exited it together. Lucas spotted them from across the parking lot and made his way over to them.

"Hey! I thought my mom said you were walking to school, Haley?" he questioned.

"Yeah, I was, but Nathan saw me on his way here and offered me a ride."

Lucas accepted her reply and Nathan nodded at her appreciatively when his friend had turned his head. The trio walked into the school and met up with Brooke and Peyton as well as Tim and Julian along their way to their lockers.

After only several short days in Tree Hill, Haley found herself quickly forming friendships with Lucas' group of friends and felt herself being included with them. Last night at the River court she had a lot of fun just hanging out with all of them and they all seemed to not pity her because of what happened with her parents. She was beginning to feel comfortable and more at home in the small town. These feelings of happiness however were not failing to block out her ever present feelings of guilt for being happy when her parents had died only just over a week before.

Having friends and being included did not stop her from thinking about Jake and her other few friends back in Wasatch either. And it definitely did not stop her from crying herself to sleep every night for the past week and a half.

Walking down the hall with her new group of friends, Haley suddenly became very aware of how fake her newfound happiness really was. After that, she just couldn't wait to finish school for the day and find some way to make herself feel better.