Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than my other ones but it is action packed. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or its characters

Chapter 15

Haley coughed awkwardly and reached for the milk that was situated in between Nathan and her brother. Nathan sighed for what felt like the millionth time and Travis continued to stab his eggs with his fork vigorously.

She stared and Nathan and willed him to make eye contact with her, when he did she nodded towards her brother and looked to him expectedly.

Nathan turned to Travis and sighed. "Hey, man…I really appreciate what you did last night, it was more than embarrassing and I just – thanks."

Travis looked over at Nathan thoughtfully before turning to Haley. "Mind giving us a minute, Hales?"

Haley looked over at her brother curiously before shaking her head. "I'm good here."

"Haley."

She rolled her eyes and got up from her spot at the table. "Behave." She pointed towards Travis and sent Nathan a reassuring smile before disappearing into the living room.

Travis turned towards Nathan and sighed. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" He asked nervously.

"Nathan, I'm not going to get mad…I just want the truth. Obviously, judging by the conversation with your Dad last night you seem to have been spending an awful amount of time here."

Nathan sighed. "I'm sorry, I've just been having problems with my Dad. Haley insisted that I stay here this past weekend."

Haley rolled her eyes good naturedly from her hidden spot in the living room at Nathan attempt to blame their constant sleepovers on her. Chicken.

"I'm not even going to ask if you slept in her room, because I'm actually starting to like you." Travis gritted out. "Are things with your Dad really that bad?"

Nathan looked at him for a moment before nodding softly.

Travis sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe I'm actually going to say this but if you ever need a place to stay, you're always welcome here." He mumbled lowly.

Nathan looked over at the brunette curiously. "Why would you do that?"

"Because you're important to Haley, and Haley is important to me." He answered simply.

Haley smiled softly from her spot behind the wall. She loved her brother.

Nathan smiled in appreciation and nodded. "Thanks, but I don't want to impose. I'm going to have a talk with my Uncle Keith today."

Travis nodded letting out a relieved sigh. "The offer still stands, I'll also try to give you more hours at the garage from now on."

"Did Haley talk to you?"

Travis nodded. "Last night. Listen, the last thing I want you to do is take it as pity, but you're going through a lot. I can't imagine living with a parent like that so I want to help you, Scott."

Nathan smiled in surprise. Travis was most definitely the last person he would be expecting this from. "Thanks, man. That means a lot."

"Haley." Travis called out. "You can come out from behind that wall you dork."

Haley smiled sheepishly while making herself seen. Travis chuckled while getting up from his spot at the table and picking up his empty plate. "You always were a shitty spy. You two should get going before you're late for school."

Haley slowly walked around to the back to Nathan's car once he had pulled up to the school. She hadn't really had a chance to talk to him since last night considering Travis was watching their every move. He slowly made his way towards her and smiled sadly before shrugging. "Isn't it interesting dating the son of a control freak?"

Haley looked at him knowingly before taking a hold of his jacket and pulling him towards her. "I'm sorry."

He rubbed her back comfortingly silently thanking whoever was responsible that he had Haley James in his life at this exact moment.

Haley leaned up and brought his face towards hers and Nathan parted his lips in anticipation. He smoothly moved his lips over hers darting his tongue into her mouth gently. He knew Haley wasn't one for PDA so he wasn't surprised when she pulled away moments later a smile laced on her face.

"God, kissing you never gets old." He smirked leaning his forehead against hers.

"I hope not." She teased. "We're gonna be late to class." Haley moved to intertwine their fingers and she lead him towards the front entrance of the school.

Nathan pulled her hand back slightly, halting her movements and sighed. "I think I'm gonna skip out today."

"Nathan." She shook her head.

"I just can't be here today, Hales."

She looked at him knowingly. Today would be his first day back since at collapsed in front of a gymnasium full of people. "You go." He reassured bringing her hand up to his lips and leaving a lingering kiss on her palm. "I know the tutor girl inside of you would hate to miss class."

Haley looked at him concerned before he chuckled. "I'm fine." She knew he was putting on a brave face. Nathan was not fine. "I'll catch you later." He let go of her hand and walked back towards his black SUV. Haley silently cursed not knowing what to do. She turned back towards the school and rolled her eyes before calling out his name.

"Nate!"

He turned at the sound of her voice, a questioning look in his eyes. She skipped towards him and pulled him into her once he was within reach.

"Catch me now."

"Peyt!" Lucas ran to catch up with his blonde friend in the crowded hallway.

"Hey Luke." She greeted. "I'm just headed to the quad for lunch right now."

"You have 3rd period with Hales right? I haven't seen her all day."

Peyton looked at him confused. "I have 3rd period with her but she never showed."

"That's weird." Lucas commented. "She would've called me if she was sick and asked me to pick up her homework."

"Actually…" Peyton spoke up.

"What?" Lucas questioned expectedly when she did not continue.

"You're not gonna like this." She warned with a small laugh.

"Peyton, just tell me." Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Nathan wasn't in homeroom this morning either."

Lucas shook his head. "I can't believe him, making her skip class?!"

"She's a big girl Luke, I'm sure she can make decisions on her own." She looked at him knowingly. Truth was she was worried about Nathan, she hadn't had a chance to talk or see him since the game but she figured he was finding solace in Haley. "Nathan needs her right now."

Lucas sighed and nodded. His cousin needed his best friend and he just had to accept that. Something caught Lucas' attention out of the corner of his eye. A bunch of people were crowded around Haley's locker.

"What is going on?" Peyton questioned uneasily.

Lucas ignored her questioned and made his way hastily to his best friends locker. Pushing as many people as he could out of the way before he saw what everyone was staring at. Written wide across Haley's locker were the words orphan, druggie and slut. He stared at the words horrified for a few moments and thanked his lucky stars that Nathan had convinced Haley to skip class. He realized that the degrading words were still visible to everyone around him so he moved quickly taking off his jacket and covering up her locker as quick as he could. "Everyone fuck off." He yelled out into the crowd.

His peers looked at him intently before fleeing from the locker he was fiercely protecting. Lucas Scott was at the top of the social ladder. They weren't about to test his temper.

Peyton slowly walked up to her friend and noticed that he was shaking slightly. "Luke." She called out cautiously.

He turned to the blonde with rage in his eyes. "Get Rachel and find out who the fuck did this." He turned the lock on the locker and popped it open draping his jacket over the top so that the words were not visible.

"Lucas."

"Now, Peyton." He stalked off towards the janitors closet and Peyton sighed and shook her head. Her usually evenly tempered friend was fuming. She had never seen him yell at anyone, yet alone most of the student body. Lucas Scott was livid.

"Nathan, I hate heights!" Haley called out clinging to his hand tightly as he lead her up a pretty steep hill.

"I'm here to protect you." He chuckled glad that she had decided to skip with him.

"And yet I'm still afraid of heights." She retorted unamused.

"We'll we're here." Nathan smiled pulling her besides him and bringing her down to the grass and into his arms.

"Oh my gosh, Nate." She whispered. She was pretty sure she could see all of Tree Hill from where they were sitting.

"Told you it'd be worth it." He smiled cheekily at her.

"It's gorgeous." She leaned into him, not wanting to loose physical contact.

"I like it up here, just you and me."

Haley looked up and him and sent him a soft smile. "Yeah."

"You know Hales, for most of my life I've gone through stuff like this on my own. But having you, I feel like I've finally found someone I can depend on when life gets like this."

"I'm glad. You can always talk to me, Nathan."

"I guess I just question whether or not my Dad would even love me if I didn't love basketball."

"Do you love it?" Haley questioned curiously.

"Honestly?" Nathan questioned. "Yeah, I love the game…I may resent my Dad for a lot of things but introducing me to the game that has been my one saving grace throughout the years isn't one of them."

Haley smiled softly. "Then do what you love Nate. Do it for you and because you want to. I would hate to see you love something you love so much out of anger for your Dad."

Nathan nodded while mulling over her words. "You know the same goes for me, Hales." He sighed and chuckled slightly. "I've never been the guy that's wanted a girl to open up to him. But I want to be that guy for you."

"You are." She smiled up at him and nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck gently.

"Tell me something about you nobody else knows." He whispered into her ears. They were alone but Nathan wanted her to feel safe with him.

Haley stayed silent for a moment before turning to face him. "I'm still really afraid of being vulnerable."

"What do you mean?"

"I guess I'm just afraid of the world hurting me. It's just really hard for me to open up when I've been so badly burned before." She shrugged. "It's weird though."

"What?" He questioned confused.

"Ever since my parents died I've felt really alone, you know? I mean I had Travis and Brooke and Lucas but for a really long time I wished that I was in that car with them."

Nathan shook his head. The thought of Haley not existing was too much to think about.

"But with you." She smiled softly. "I've never felt safer, and it's scary for me to open up to you but you make me brave."

Nathan closed his eyes and rested his hand underneath her chin pulling her lips towards his. He kissed her gently nipping at her bottom lip every so often pulling away when air became an issue.

He leaned his forehead against hers, his lips just barely touching hers. "I'm in love with you, Haley James."

Haley bit her bottom lip and looked up at him after his confession. "I'm in love with you, too."

Lucas paced around his room frantically not knowing what to do. He was grateful that Haley and Nathan had decided to skip out on school today because he couldn't bear to see the look on his best friend's face if she saw what was on her locker before lunch. He had opted to skips the rest of his classes much to the disapproval of Mr. Turner their high school principal. He needed to get those degrading words off of Haley's locker. He knew that Haley was guarded about her past, so that fact that all of Tree Hill High was talking about her, speculating about her…he wanted to kill someone. So he spent the rest of the day scrubbing the sharpie off of her locker not wanting any trace of the words present come the next day.

Mr. Turner said he would investigate and find out who did it, but Lucas knew that was a bunch of crap. Whoever did it wasn't going to turn themselves in and too many people were talking about it to know who was actually responsible. Lucas had just hoped that Peyton and Rachel were able to use their social standing as leverage to find the scumbag that would expose Haley like that. Lucas had no idea how they found out about her parents, her drug problem or her sexual assault but it didn't matter. What mattered is that they did find out and then used it against her to humiliate and demean her. That was something that Lucas wasn't going to stand for. He picked up his phone and looked at it for what felt like the millionth time.

Still no word from Rachel or Peyton.

Lucas looked up sharply at the sound of the door to his room opening. He let out a breath when a laughing Nathan and Haley entered. They obviously hadn't heard anything about the events from the day. Just as quickly as Lucas felt relief, dread filled his stomach. The fact that he was going to be the one that broke the news to Haley killed him.

"What's up loser?" Haley laughed plopping down on his bed. "I know, I know. You're disappointed in me but we're only seventeen once Luke."

Lucas sighed and tried to smile but he was sure it looked more like a grimace instead. "You okay, man?" Nathan questioned clasping a hand over Lucas' shoulder and then moving to take a seat next to Haley on his cousin's bed.

"Hales…"

Haley looked at him alarmed for a moment. She knew Lucas. She could read Lucas like an open book. And she didn't like the look he was giving her right now. "What's wrong, Luke?"

"There's something I need to tell you."

Nathan looked on worriedly. He had never seen his cousin so somber. And Brooke didn't call him Broody for no reason. The sound of Nathan's phone going off interrupted the tense atmosphere in the room and he pulled it out of his jacket pocket reading the text that was sent to him. The moment he opened his phone he regretted it.

"What the fuck."

Haley turned to look at Nathan when she heard him cursing silently. "What?"

He looked up at her sharply, shaking his head. "Hales…"

"Jesus, will you too just spit it out?" Haley questioned annoyed reaching for Nathan's phone the source of their distress obviously being present there.

"Nathan." Haley stated sternly when he wouldn't let go of his grip on the cell phone. "Let me see the phone." She tugged it out of Nathan's hand and looked at the screen, the need to projectile vomit immediately taking over her body.

"What?" She questioned shakily. "Who…" She shook her head and willed the tears not to fall. The image of her locker tagged with the words orphan, slut and druggie slowly burning itself into her memory. She didn't miss the tag line of what she could only assume to be a mass text. Guess we know how Haley James made her way to the top of Tree Hill's social ladder. With no parents to discipline her it must've been easy to sleep and snort her way there.

"Haley." Lucas looked at her pained. This was not how he wanted her to find out.

She dropped the phone on the bed and shook her head. "I need to be alone." She whispered shakily.

"Hales." Nathan stood up and reached for her arm but she pulled it back sharply.

"Just leave me alone."