Chapter 6: New Teacher, New Board; Nice School Year.
October 1st: 7 Weeks Left.
"Why didn't they find you yet?"
"Who?"
"The Paps." Haley said; she was on the phone with Nathan as she was chopping vegetables and putting them in for a much needed chicken noodle soup for a sick Jamie.
"Because I'm smooth like that," Nathan stated he heard Haley laugh on the other side; he too was nursing a sick Lily, something both Haley and Nathan wondered if it was a plan.
"Yeah right, I remember whenever we got home from a game there had to be a double check to make sure none of them were in our yard because you were such a reckless hider."
"Okay, okay you got me there," Nathan said chuckling, "I told them I would be in Europe for a few days to promote one of my sponsors, and then I absentmindedly switched on the last minute."
"Wouldn't they see the letterhead stating where you were going?"
"They thought they saw the letterhead." Nathan said laughing. "How long does this have to simmer?"
"10 minutes." Haley said as she started to clean up the kitchen.
Nathan had originally called Haley to help him with making a noodle soup remedy he forgot to make, they both found it a little weird to know that both of the kids were sick at the same time, but decided to dismiss it, thinking they knew better.
"Can't I put it to high?"
"Then you'll be sucking out the nutrients. Nathan for once be a little bit patient! How's Carrie doing with the job hunting?"
"Good I guess. I managed to get her a nice hotel but she still didn't leave, she claimed she "Didn't want to waste money." Please, a load of dung if you ask me." Nathan said frustratingly, he always came home to find Carrie walking around in some skimpy things, especially when Jamie came over with Haley so Nathan could babysit. Haley laughed.
"You should tell her to get lost if it's that bad."
"But seeing as I'm single, she won't leave me alone." Nathan said sighing, his eyes then widened at what he said. He was about to say something when Haley beat him to the punch.
"Don't worry about it Nate, friends remember?"
"Yeah, friends." Nathan said.
Flashback
"Mommy why can't you just drop me off?"
"I just can't sweetie okay? Now what was that change you wanted to tell me about?" Just as Nathan was going to explain, the doorbell rang.
"That must be it." Haley furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and went to open the door, realizing what he meant.
"Oh." Haley said. Nathan and Lily stood at their front door patiently, Lily in a little flower dress, Nathan in a wife beater and Khaki pants.
"Hey," Nathan said, looking down, he was trying to avoid Haley's cream silk nightgown that flowed to her feet, showing a little bit of cleavage.
"Um, Nathan what are you doing here?" Haley said breathlessly, she started to cover herself up in her robe, going over once or twice.
"I came to get Jamie. I assume he told you?" Haley looked at Jamie with her eyes narrowed. "Luke couldn't come and pick him up so he asked me to do it."
"I'm going to kill Lucas." She muttered, only Lily could hear and she giggled. Haley looked down at her and smiled. "Hey pretty girl, I like your dress."
"Thank you, daddy bought it for me, he didn't want me to be a tomboy."
"Well Nathan can't change people, they have to change themselves." She said smiling, but Nathan knew it went to him. "Come on in." Nathan and Lily walked in.
"Um guys? Can you go upstairs a second?" Jamie and Lily nodded.
"Dude, you have to see my new toy, it's awesome!"
"Cool!" Jamie and Lily ran up the stairs to Jamie's room. Haley and Nathan laughed.
"Do you need anything?"
"No."
"You sure? I have some Pepsi in the fridge if you want-"
"Haley don't try to ignore this." Nathan said sitting down on the couch.
"What? What would I possibly want to ignore?" Haley said sitting beside him. Her robe had decided to open once again, and Nathan found himself fiddling with his hands in order to not look at her cleavage.
"The argument we had. You need to tell Jamie the truth."
"Oh yeah? Tell him what? His intuition was always right? His favorite athlete is his dad? It's not that easy Nathan."
"Yes it is. You're just making it hard on yourself."
"Who are you to tell me how I feel?" Haley said standing up angrily.
"The guy who was married to you since the age of 16! Damn it Haley!"
"Was, and don't yell at me Nathan."
"Too late for that." He muttered.
"Look, this is for Lily and Nathan. Feel free to come pick him up, but as long as I know it, this is a formal friendship. When all is done we go back to our separate lives. Got it?"
"Haley-" He looked at her stern face. "Yeah." He said sighing.
"Daddy, we're ready to go." Lily said, he looked over at them and he nodded. Nathan got up and hugged Haley.
"This isn't over." He whispered huskily in her ear. Haley felt her knees get weak and she immediately let go of him, walking over to both the kids and hugging them before watching them leave.
"Damn it Nathan Royal Scott!" Haley yelled. Nathan smirked as he walked to the car.
End of Flashback.
"Yeah I know, I got to go right now I hear mom. Bye." Jamie said turning off his walkie-talkie and hiding it under his pillow as he saw his mom come in. He sneezed as Haley entered the room putting the soup on his bedside table.
"Gesudheit- No Nathan not you, I'm talking to Jamie. Yes you were supposed to take it off- I did tell you! - I have to go-Yeah okay- Bye." Haley said. Jamie looked at her with a confused expression. "Your best friend is sick too, so Nathan needed help." Jamie looked at her with a face. "Look, Mr. Love Connection eat your food."
"Yes mommy Scott." Haley looked back at him.
"You're so lucky you're sick." Haley said laughing as she walked back into the room.
Nathan walked out of Lily's room, encountering the night after he and Haley had an argument over Jamie the first time they came over.
Flashback
"I've got to go. I'll see you later Nathan." Haley got on the other side of the car and turned on the engine. Nathan stopped leaning on the car and watched as Haley drove off. He sighed and walked back in the apartment and took the spare key out from his pocket Haley gave back to him, walking into the house.
She was right, she did try, all he did was push her away and sleep with other girls, which was what, stopped him from going after them the first time. Hearing it all from Haley made it worse than when he heard it from Lucas.
"Damn it." He muttered, he walked over to the cabinet and opened it to see all the alcohol staring at him, the big jugs in the back, the short ones up front. He didn't originally plan this destination, but it came to this.
"Nathan?" He turned to see Lily rubbing her eyes. "Where are Jamie and Haley?"
"They left Lil'." Nathan said, closing the counter quickly before walking to her.
"Were you going to drink again?"
"How do you know about that?"
"Carrie said that you were going through a tough time, and that's how people handle it." Nathan was now on the couch, as Lily climbed onto his lap, she leaned her brown head of hair on his chest with her pink bunny, Mr. Pancakes; Nathan chuckled to himself remembering Mr. Waffles, the teddy bear Haley had always slept with, even when they were married.
"Yes, but I'm glad you stopped me."
"So if I wasn't here would it be worse?"
"Probably; don't think about that though. I'm glad you're dad left you here." He felt his shirt get wet; he lifted up Lily's face to see her crying. "What's wrong?"
"There was a note from him, he said he's going to be gone longer than he thought, there was a voyage on the Mediterranean he wanted to be in. Daddy doesn't love me; it hurts him to see that I look like mommy."
"Lily, don't say that he's just-"
"Going through a hard time right now? Nathan she died when I was born." Lily said, sobbing some more. Nathan started to rock her back and forth until her sobs quieted down.
He then made the promise to never drink again, there were better ways to deal with sadness, and it's not by hurting yourself or the ones you love.
End of Flashback
Haley was sitting at the piano, it was about 5PM and she got a call.
"Hello?"
"Hales?" Haley's heart jumped at her nickname.
"Yeah Nathan, what's up?"
"Retrieve the walkie-talkie from your son."
"What?" Haley said half-laughing.
"Just do it."
"Okay, okay, Mr. Bossy."
"Hey!"
"Expect me to act this way when you decide to be mean." Haley said walking into Jamie's room, him sleeping. Haley smiled and walked over to his bed. "I don't see it."
"Look under the pillow."
"What? Jamie's sleep-"
"Haley."
"Fine." She said a little annoyed, she bent down and felt under the pillow for a walkie-talkie, and instead felt hard metal hit her hand. "Ow!"
"What?" Nathan said a little alert.
"I hurt my ring finger!" She whisper yelled, soothing the finger.
"Oh."
"Oh? Nathan is that all you're going to say?"
"Yeah. . . ."
"Ugh! Men." Haley felt under again and took the large object. "James Lucas Scott. Wake up!" Jamie's eyes widened and he felt under the pillow discreetly.
Uh oh.
"Why is there a walkie-talkie under your bed? Were you even actually sick?"
"Y-Yes. Me and Lily just wanted to talk. Like you and Uncle Lucas didn't do it."
"It's Lily and I, and we didn't! We snu- That's not the point," Haley could hear Nathan laughing on the other side of the phone, "Shut up Nathan!" It immediately stopped. "Look, just, at least tell me you're sick."
"Yes mommy." Haley smiled and bent down to kiss Jamie's head.
"Now go to bed, and no walkie-talkie, it's mine now." Haley said sticking out her tongue and walking out of Jamie's room. "And tell Lily the next time you guys want to pretend to be sick to use the lamp! It's more effective!" Haley yelled back as Jamie slumped into his bed.
"Nice job Mama James!" Haley laughed at the nickname he gave her.
"Thank you Papa Scott. Now I have to get back to writing."
"Ooh, what's it about?"
"A nosy guy who's trying to find out about what I'm writing."
"That's weird. Hey!"
"James 2, Scott 0." Haley said laughing. "I'll call you later I have a ton of stuff to finish up."
"Alright, bye Mama James."
"You too Papa Scott." Haley said smiling and hanging up the phone. She turned around to see Brooke leaning on the doorway smiling. "Oh shut up Brooke."
"I didn't say anything Tutor Mom, more like Tutor Slu-"
"Don't! Finish it!" Haley said laughing as Brooke came to sit down next to her.
"Okay, so you're all probably wondering why in the world you're here right here now so early right?" The principal asked as the staff of teachers nodded and grumbled. "Well, I have some news for you, the Social Studies department should definitely be happy about this, where's Ms. James?"
"Oh! She had to drop off her son to Nathan, she should be here soon." Lucas said.
"Okay then." The principal nodded and went along. "Anyways, staff, I'd like to represent Ted Barker, the new Social Studies teacher and assistant coach for the Tree Hill Ravens." A man who was fairly tall brown curly hair with brown eyes had on khaki trousers and a blue and white striped shirt; he had his hands in his pocket nervously and smiled.
"No disrespect, but we already have an assistant manager-"
"No you don't. He's going to be next year; Antwon is going to be supervising the football team next season." Principal Jackson said smiling.
"Oh, well nice to meet ya Ted." Lucas said nodding.
"You too." Ted said smiling his pearly whites, the female teachers swooned, even the married ones. He was a good thing to look at, and he didn't even see it.
"Mr. Jackson I'm so sorry I'm late, Jamie had a little problem and-"
"It's okay Haley; actually you're just in time for my news. This is Ted Barker; he's the new teacher in placement of Mr. Walker's class."
"Oh yeah he retired right? Well it's nice to meet you Ted." Haley said smiling and shaking his hand.
"You too." Ted said smiling widely. Haley looked down from the flush in her cheeks and went to stand next to Lucas.
"Someone's got a crush." Lucas muttered, earning an elbow in the ribs. "Ow!"
"Mr. Scott? Is there a problem?" Lucas glared at Haley as he saw her trying to stifle a laugh.
"Nope. None at all." Lucas said hoarsely. Principal Jackson nodded and kept on going. "I'm going to kill you." He muttered.
"Good luck." Haley sing-songed.
"Carrie, we need to talk." Nathan said looking at the floor.
"What is it Nathan?" Carrie said walking up to him, standing dangerously close to him, Nathan backed away.
"Um, about you staying here, I know you said you had to get on your feet but it's been 2 weeks. You sure you don't need me for reference? I can just-"
"No!" Nathan looked at her. "No. I just- there's a lot going on right now." Carrie said.
"Oh."
"Yeah, my parents just got a divorce and I thought maybe if I just stayed here I'd forget about them for a little while." Carrie started to sob.
"Carrie, I'm so sorry, I know how it feels." Nathan said walking over to hug her. Carrie sobbed some more.
"So you understand then? Why I have to stay here for a while?" Carrie said sniffling.
"Yeah, but just try to find a job okay?" Carrie nodded and stayed silent. Then she kissed Nathan full-fledged on the lips, managing to straddle him in the process.
"Carrie what are you doing?"
"Just let it go Nathan, just let it." Carrie said diving in again. Nathan pushed her off. Then he heard the door slam.
Haley.
"Haley." Nathan whispered; he flew out the room not paying attention to Carrie's smile.
"Haley!" Haley stopped, "It's not what it looks like."
"I shouldn't be caring Nathan. I'm not your wife remember?" She said coldly.
"Haley, I'm serious."
"Nathan, I uh, I got to go."
"Haley!" Nathan ran after her and caught her arm.
"Nathan what are you-" Nathan pulled Haley in and kissed her passionately, caressing her cheek and putting his other arm in her hair, Haley's eyes fluttered closed and wallowed into the kiss and put her arms around his neck. Nathan pulled away and looked at her.
"Please believe me. It was nothing." Nathan said looking into her brown eyes, Haley (Who was in a trance) snapped out of it.
"I have to go." She said shortly and got into her car. She turned on the engine and drove off.
"What the HELL did I just do? Haley Bob James get a grip on yourself!" She yelled accidentally honking the horn.
"All your twisted thought free flow,
To everlasting memories
Show soul . . . ." Haley sung softly as she made her coffee.
"You like to sing to yourself?" Ted said, Haley jumped and smiled, pouring milk into her cup.
"Yeah, one of the songs I wrote." Haley said smiling.
"Well, what's it about?"
"About finding the one." She said.
"Well who did you write it for?"
"My hu- friend." She said smiling uncomfortably. She walked over to get bread and butter on a roll, not noticing the glare of her fellow female teachers, and one male one.
"Well your friend must be very special." Ted said sitting down next to her.
"Yeah, I got a question, why aren't you sitting with anyone else?"
"The ladies freak me out, and the guys are cold to me." Haley laughed.
"That's us!" Ted laughed along with her. Staring at her, she stared back as he tucked a strand beneath her hair.
"Ms. James? There's a man here for you." Haley stared at Ted for a minute then her cheeks went bright red, Ted blushed a little too before chuckling softly.
"Uh, yeah." She said standing up; ignoring the glare the old woman was giving her.
Seriously it's a guy!
She walked to the door. "Nathan what are you-"
"I wanted to say I'm sorry for what I did, because I knew you weren't ready, but it's not even cool to not tell me you're involved with someone else."
"Nathan what are you-"
"No, just- forget what happened." Nathan said starting to walk away, Haley felt silence overwhelm her as her heart started to break in two.
She walked back in and got her stuff, muttering an apology to Ted and walked into her classroom, she locked it and slumped down the door.
"What did I just do?" She whispered.
"I don't know, but you can tell me." Lucas said getting up from her desk.
"What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to get away from the female gossip of two of Haley's loves. Care to explain?"
"Where do I start?"
"You got half an hour."
Nathan got back into his apartment to find a furious Lily.
"Lily? When did you get here?"
"Ask her." Lily said glaring at Carrie.
"She got in a fight with a girl at school." Carrie said.
"Lily, is this true?"
"Only because she was bothering Jamie!"
"Is that blood on your sleeve?"
"It's not mines, it's the other girls, and I punched her in the nose."
"Go upstairs and change, I'll talk to you young lady." Lily stomped off to her room and slammed the door.
"She should at least be grounded."
"Bit she was sticking up for her friend."
"And? Nathan it's that then it's going to be about a boy! She'll think its okay."
"Yeah but that's not Lily."
"Fine then, don't take my advice." Carrie said walking up the stairs in her skimpy skirt and tube top.
Nathan sighed and walked up the stairs and knocked on Lily's room.
"Leave me alone."
"Lily, we need to talk."
"Fine." She said grumpily pushing away her toys to make room for Nathan.
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Let me off the hook?"
"Ha-ha," Nathan said, Lily smile then turned back into a frown. "Look Lily, I know you were protecting Jamie but still you have to remember that he can take care of himself and fighting isn't always the answer."
"Yeah I know, so what's the payment soldier?"
"Grounded, a week."
"What? You never gave me a punishment!"
"Well this is serious!"
"This isn't fair and you know it Nathan!"
"Well I think it's fair and what I say goes!"
"Then I can't wait to leave!" Lily said, immediately regretting it.
"I guess I can't either." Nathan said getting up and closing the door.
I think I just lost the two most important girls in my life.
Nathan went into his car and drove.
Haley sat on the piano bench reciting another song.
"On my knees
Dim lighted room
Thoughts free flow try to consume
Myself in this
I'm not faithless
Just paranoid of getting lost or that I might lose
Ignorance is bliss cherish it
Pretty neighborhoods
You learn too much to hold
Believe it not
And fight the tears
With pretty smiles and lies
About the times
A year goes by
And I can't talk about it
The times weren't right
And I couldn't talk about it
Choris Romance says goodnight
Close your eyes and I'll close mine
Remember you, remember me
Hurt the first, the last, between
Choris Romance says goodnight
Close your eyes and I'll close mine
Remember you, remember me
Hurt the first, the last, between."
"You never told me."
"What do you mean?"
"You never told me Nathan was my dad!"
"Jamie-"
"No, mom. Goodnight." She sighed and banged her head on the piano.
I just lost the two most important men in my life.
"Breakable girls and boys." She whispered.
This is the end of it.
There's definitely a lot more drama then this.
I'm probably not going to go over 30 chapters to the least.
So I Thought by my favorite band, Flyleaf 3
Breakable by Ingrid Michaelson (The little quote at the end)
See you guys!