Disclaimer: I do not claim any idea, character, etc. related to the show, One Tree Hill, as my own.

Sorry for taking so long to update. But, it took a lot of thought to come up with the next chapter, so I hope you all like it and the story, thus far. The events in this story are all fictional, of course but the opening scene is based on a true event. Anyway, enjoy!

"What about that favor?" She sarcastically asked.

"So, prom is coming up…" he said as if she were the last one on Earth to hear.

'Don't even think about it, Haley. Why would he ask you? Even if he's not going with that stupid slut, meaning he does have some sort of taste. Wait, he'll probably just take someone better looking with maybe just a few more brain cells. Maybe,' Haley thought inwardly.

"Uh… yes, it is,"

'Lame. That was utterly and completely lame."

She didn't mean to sound sarcastic, but it sure came out that way.

Nathan paused for an instant, as if her sarcasm caught him off guard. But then, just as unsurprisingly slick as he was, he rebounded quickly, seemingly tossing her dry wit out the door.

"Yeah well, you know my friend, Tim?" he asked hurriedly.

"Huh?"

"You know, that guy over there,"

He pointed out the shortest of his friends who happened to be smiling idiotically at one of the many unresponsive cheerleaders.

"Tim?"

She couldn't believe it. Dim; that's what his friends called him in the U.S. history class she shared with him.

"Yeah, um, my favor was if… you'd be his prom date?"

She tried not to gag while compiling a mental excuse list for why she couldn't, no, why she wouldn't. She accepted the fact that not in a billion years would Nathan Scott ask her to the prom but, to go with Tim? It was a bit overwhelming.

"Um… so, is that a 'yes'?" He asked carefully, based on her quiet demeanor.

"That's a hell no," she grimly answered.

"What? Come on!"

"You want me to go to prom with Tim? As in 'it's Tim-time' Tim?"

Nathan held a straight face. As goofy as his best friend could be, he wanted to help him out. But he was unsure of how to approach Haley with his request.

"Look, you owe me one, don't you?"

Haley averted her eyes to the gymnasium floor, but finally nodded.

"He's not a bad guy, Haley. To be truthful, I feel bad for him because… because he's been asking a lot of girls and of course, they all rejected him,"

The two glanced over at Tim who had just shot a three-pointer and was kissing his biceps.

"It's 'Tim-time', baby!" he yelled directly into one of the players' faces.

Haley couldn't help but to crack a laugh. Tim noticed her laughing, which he took the opportunity to make eye contact and threw his version of a seductive wink. She immediately stopped. This time, Nathan tried to hold back his laughter.

"Is Nathan Scott actually showing some kind of good will toward mankind?"

He smiled broadly at the sassiness of her remark before reminding her,

"I've definitely shown some good will towards the Haley James-kind, don't you agree?"

He crossed his arms with that oh, so familiar cocky grin on his face, waiting for her response.

The expression on her face fell. He was too damn good at this game of flirting, teasing, blackmailing, more flirting, and more teasing. After taking a few seconds to accept his win and her loss (Nathan: 1, Haley: 0), she hopefully asked,

"How about a compromise?"

"Depends…"

"Depends on what?! I'm pulling the favor here, aren't I? Although, it is because I owed it to you. But, whatever! You're going to listen to my compromise or else I'll—"

"Haley! I'm just playing," he interjected with amusement.

"Oh… ok. Anyway, just hear me out. Personally, I'd rather go single… but, I'll ask Tim for a dance, one dance, and pretend like I actually wanted to. I mean… he seems nice enough," She said the last sentence as if trying to convince herself as well.

Nathan considered this for a while as he looked at his relentless teammate staring bug-eyed at Haley. Suddenly, he imagined Tim and his typical crude behavior, dancing totally inappropriately with her. But as soon as Tim seemingly lost interest, focusing on another random cheerleader, Nathan unconsciously smirked.

"But—"

"But, what?!" She whined.

'What more could he possibly want?!' she wondered.

"Chill out, James,"

She clamped her mouth shut, pretending to bite at him, which he found adorable.

"Like I was saying… but, you've got to save one dance for me, and we're even,"

'Oh.'

She answered her own question dumbly and amidst her own thoughts. Taken aback by his additional request, she fumbled with her words.

"Um… uh… yeah, sure. I mean, deal!"

"Deal," he reconfirmed.

As Haley regained full consciousness from his little I-can-make-you-melt proposition, she then reached out her hand.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Scott,"

She firmly shook his hand. Despite her efforts of giving him a professional handshake, his grip loosened to a gentle grasp.

"Pleasure's all mine," he then smoothly stated.

"Ahem, excuse me! I need my new cheerleader!" Brooke demanded fiercely.

Nathan allowed his hand to linger a fraction of a second longer than he needed to before the two interrupted individuals pulled away from each other. He raised his arms in mock surrender as the feisty brunette linked arms with Haley.

Just loud enough that it was audible to Nathan, the head cheerleader then advised,

"By the way, Tutorgirl, business is business and pleasure is pleasure. Can't have both,"

--

"Peyton?"

Haley sat tensely on her bed, clutching her cellular phone closely to her ear, speaking in a low voice.

"Uh… yeah?"

"You're not with you-know-who, are you?"

"Number one, why are you whispering and two, who the hell is you-know-who?" The blonde asked nonchalantly.

"Don't play dumb with me! Is Brooke there with you?" Haley hissed.

"What do you mean by you-know-who?!" Brooke squawked.

Haley gasped.

"It's called speakerphone, welcome to the twenty-first century, Tutorgirl!"

"Sorry, Haley!" Peyton apologized in the background.

"Brooke, I can get ready by myself, thank you very much!"

"Well, of course you can," she began sweetly, "and that's why I'm Brooke Davis, Fashion extraordinaire, and you're Haley James, Tutorgirl. Anyway, this is prom! Live a little! Especially because now, you have friends other than Broody—"

"Please don't use Lucas' pet name in front of me, Brooke,"

"I second that," Peyton sing-songed.

"Peyton, you're not helping! Like I was saying! Now that you have friends other than Lucas, who are girls deemed with some credible fashion sense, actually, maybe just one friend with fashion sense, you have no choice but to let us help you. That's just the way it goes!" She stated matter-of-factly.

Haley let out an exasperated sigh. There was no such thing as winning with the stubborn Queen Bee Davis when she knew exactly what she wanted. She recalled the pep rally where she had had to perform after only practicing for about two and half weeks. Brooke didn't care if Haley had only had two and half hours to practice because she was determined to make the number of girls work just like the original choreography asked for. The captain of the cheer squad certainly wasn't going to make exceptions for Rach-ho, just so that the team felt more comfortable.

Initially, Haley had been nervous. With all of Tree Hill high school questioning her sudden accompaniment to the squad and Rachel's dismissal, she had no choice but to feel uncomfortable. Stepping out into the center of the gym in front of the entire school, who wouldn't be? But once she noticed their cheering and felt surrounded by an overwhelming feeling of camaraderie, she couldn't help but to get even a little excited. After all, the crazy school year was pretty much over.

"Fine," Haley reluctantly pouted.

"You'd think we were planning for your funeral…" Brooke sarcastically commented.

"Well, since I don't own my life anymore, it might as well be!"

"5pm, it is! Bye, Tutorgirl," and with that the phone call ended.

For someone who didn't care too much about school, that girl had amazing skills in, well, a few things:

1. Organization in maintaining a schedule

2. Debate

3. Persuasive speech

Haley could imagine her eccentric friend as some politician's wife, eventually building a reputation of her own as the next—Hillary Clinton? No, Brooke didn't even need the husband. President Brooke Davis? She feared the day.

Her phone began wailing again and she bit her bottom lip, deciding whether or not to answer. But then, she sighed with relief, seeing Lucas flash on the outer screen of her cell phone.

"What's up, Luke? Or shall I say, Broody?"

"Hales, don't call me by the pet name!" he moaned.

"Don't deny how much you actually like it or else Cheery might not appreciate it," she teasingly threatened.

"Fine. Just don't tell anyone, okay?!"

She giggled before stifling out, "Okay!"

"Anyway, I was calling to see if you wanted to grab some lunch at the Café. Sort of a pre-prom treat from your bestest pal in the whole wide world?"

"That sounds like fun… I need all the relaxation I can get. Your girlfriend insists on dressing me for tonight. I guess I'm like her life-size doll she can dress up and drink her freakin' tea with!"

"Better you than me,"

"Lydia James/Brooke Davis, sometimes I just really can't tell the difference,"

"I can. Your mom hasn't dressed you since you were like four years old and I'm dating Brooke, not your mom,"

"Five."

"Same difference."

"Oh, and Lucas?"

"What's up?"

"'Bestest' is definitely not in the dictionary,"

"After a decade of being best friends with a damn dictionary, why am I not surprised? I'll pick you up in a half hour!"

"Haha… okay, see you!"

--

"Lucas? Haley? What are you two doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Mom," Lucas jokingly greeted his mother as he gave her a quick hug.

"I just thought you guys would be getting ready for prom,"

"That's not for another five hours, Karen," Haley said amusingly.

"When I was in school, that wasn't nearly enough time,"

"Karen, you've known that for the past ten years, I have been just as boyish and careless about my looks… as… well, as Luke is. Actually, now that I think about it, I think Luke does take about half an hour longer than I do in the mornings,"

"Not true!" Lucas yelled out.

Karen chuckled.

"So, I guess there's still not a chance for you two to go together? You both know Lydia and I would have loved that,"

"Ew! And anyway, Mom, you know I'm going with Brooke,"

Haley landed a soft punch on his arm before sarcastically saying,

"Thanks, Lucas. But, I definitely agree, ew! Brooke really isn't that bad, Karen,"

"Oh, I know she's not bad, but maybe I wouldn't worry so much if Lucas, here, would introduce us. I'd like to meet this new woman in his life that he's been coming home late and devoting a lot of his time with,"

This time, Haley hit her friend a little bit harder.

"Ouch!"

"Lucas, I can't believe you haven't introduced them to each other,"

"I… I just haven't gotten around to it,"

And the two continued arguing as they headed to their usual table.

Karen shook her head with laughter before returning behind the counter.

--

"Why haven't they met?" Haley inquisitively asked.

"Oh, Brooke and my mom? I don't know… I'm being honest; I just really haven't had the time or place to do it,"

"How about 6:00pm, tonight, at your house? You know, when the limo comes to pick you up?"

"Okay, okay!"

"I mean… what's the big deal? I know that this is one of your more serious relationships but come on, it's been a year! I know Karen deserves it and Brooke does too,"

"I know, I'm just nervous,"

"Nervous? About what?"

Watching her friend release a deep breath she didn't know he was holding, she gasped to herself.

"Lucas, you're not embarrassed to introduce Brooke to Karen, are you?"

"What? No. Hell, no! I care about her a lot and… you know that my mom is all I've got… well, besides you,"

"I know that they both mean a lot to you," she added.

"They do! And that's the thing… I want my mom to like her, a lot. I want them to get along. I know that Brooke is different than most girls, but that's what I lo—I mean, like about her so much,"

Haley's eyes instantly widened, having heard the word that her best friend was about to use. No wonder he was so edgy about it. Deciding not to push it any further she placed her hand gently over his and offered a comforting smile. He understood and smiled back.

"So, you excited to see Brooke in her prom dress?" Haley asked cheerily, changing the subject.

"Damn straight. Not to mention, I can't wait to be taking off her—"

"Shh! Then, don't mention it!"

Lucas threw his head back, laughing at his friend's seriousness.

"I can't wait to see you in your dress either, Hales,"

"I'll never be able to thank Cheery, quite enough, for that gift. She really is a sweet person beneath all that over enthusiastic, Queen Bee-attitude, as I like to put it,"

"Haha… you're right about that attitude,"

"You got lucky with a great girlfriend,"

He looked at her questionably, surprised by the direct compliment. It meant so much coming from his best friend.

"Hey, I thought I was your best friend! Just kidding. Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"Just don't tell anyone or I'll have to kill ya," she lightheartedly threatened.

He brought his forefinger and thumb together, tracing his mouth, as if zipping it shut.

"Save me a dance?" he asked.

"Well, you are like my bestest friend in whole wide world, duh!"

She joked, trying her best to exaggeratedly impersonate him from earlier. He feigned shock before grabbing a crumpled up napkin and tossing at her.