A/N: Hey everyone! Thank for all the wonderful replies. I totally appreciate them a lot. I'm glad you all like the story, I was hoping you would. And to those who are reading my other story, Underaged Love, don't worry I will be updating that soon. That story is almost coming to an end, so I really want the last couple of chapters to be really good and not rushed. I hope you understand. Anyways, here's the next chapter. It continues right where Chapter 4 left off. READ AND REVIEW. I want to know what think :)

--Annie

Chapter 5//Nothing But the Water

As I was walking away, I heard the sound of sand moving against each other behind me. I threw the bottle I was carrying out on the sand and folded my arms across my chest, dodging people as they past. I knew the moment that I stepped out of that airplane that I didn't belong here. San Francisco was a friendly place; everyone kept to themselves a lot, so I was okay with people not knowing who I was. Here, it was a different story. Since the town was smaller, people knew almost everything about everyone. They even knew who I was before I even entered town.

"Hey." I turned to my side and found Nathan walking beside me. I tried to give him a smile and slowly turned away. "Brooke's usually not like that. It's just the alcohol talking," he stated.

It definitely wasn't the alcohol. I didn't say a word. I was too upset to speak. I was also afraid that if I opened my mouth, it would start trembling and then I'd begin to cry. I got hurt a lot back in San Fran. I was rejected, I was back stabbed, and I was even cheated on. Sometimes when so many things happen to you in a lifetime, you train yourself to stop the tears from coming. Like right now, I was trying so hard to hold in all of my emotions. I didn't want to cry in front of him or any of these people.

"Haley, are you okay?" he asked, noticing the silence I was giving him. "I could bring you home if you want to."

I stopped and I looked up at him. "We just got here," I said. "And I'm fine," I lied and then suddenly I felt my chin tremble.

"But I can tell that you're upset," he replied.

My nerves were taking over and I didn't want it to. I wanted it to stop. I didn't want to cry here. That was the last thing on my list of priorities for this summer. I took in a deep breath and I forced myself to put on a happy face for him. "No, I'm totally fine," I lied again, feeling the guilt building up inside of me. "It was just the alcohol talking right?"'

I continued to smile at him as he started to observe and analyze my face. He squinted his eyes at me, detecting the façade that I was trying to pull. I knew that he saw past the smile, but he went along with it anyways. I wanted him to know that I was going to be fine, even though I wasn't.

"Alright then. Let's get another drink. Maybe it'll stop you from lying to me," he stated as I glanced up at him. He looked back with a smirk and we continued to walk. He placed his hands in the pockets of his shorts as we made our way towards the bonfire.

There were a couple of guys there, holding up a girl above a keg. One guy yelled out Nathan's name as he held the girl's leg in the air. Nathan waved at him and continued to walk with me towards the cooler. He opened it and grabbed himself a beer and then tossed one over to me. I caught it, quickly twisted the cap and sipped it. A couple more girls past by us smiling and greeting Nathan like a couple of giggly little girls.

A guy walked past us, glanced at me and then nodded at Nathan with this creepy smile, Nathan nodded back. I curiously watched the guy leave and then turned to Nathan as he sipped his drink. If that nod had some guy-ish meaning to it, I was going to be an angry girl. I quickly looked away from him and tried to search for Peyton, Brooke and Lucas. They were no longer at the site where I left them so I began to eye the rest of the crowd. I took a few more gulps of beer as I looked over people's heads. Eventually my nerves were beginning to calm down.

"Are you feelin' better?" Nathan asked. I looked up, nodded and glanced past his shoulder. I noticed Brooke and Lucas were dancing against each other, her body all over his as she laughed. I glared at the image and took another huge gulp from my bottle. On the side, stood Peyton, a beer in her hand as she chatted with a couple of people I didn't know.

Nathan noticed me staring and turned around. "Ugh," he moaned. "One thing that I hate about them being together is that when they drink alcohol they do that in public," he confessed watching as Brooke and Lucas started making out.

I rolled my eyes and we both turned away disgusted. I drank the last of my bottle and threw it down on the floor. Someone out of nowhere handed me a beer and it startled me. I heard Nathan chuckle.

"I told you," he smiled.

I opened the bottle and took a drink. Nathan grabbed a few more beers and other beverages from the cooler then took my hand and led me somewhere with less people. We kept walking away until the sound of the music began to fade and the sound of the water became clearer. He stopped at this one spot that was darkened by the sky but lightened by the moon. He dropped the few bottles he had brought onto the sand and flopped himself down beside them. I stood there, confused and turned around to see the party behind us. People were still dancing around underneath the decorated area and then I turned away.

"Are you going to sit?" Nathan asked, looking up.

I gave him a look, curious as to what he was trying to do. If his plan was to get me drunk and then take advantage of me, I was going punch him in the balls and tell him I was right about him. I hesitantly sat down, feeling the softness of the sand beneath me.

"Why are we right here?" I asked. "The party's over there," I added.

He didn't respond. Instead, he leaned back on his elbows and started staring at the stars above us.

"Have you ever heard the story about Andromeda?" he asked, randomly.

I lifted my eyebrow at him, confused and shook my head.

"She was the daughter of the King and Queen of Ethiopia," he began. He looked at me, hoping that I was paying attention and then turned back up towards the sky. I just sat there confused, but intrigued by the story that he was about tell.

"She was extraordinarily beautiful," he continued. "Her mother, Cassiopeia bragged about how beautiful she was. She even said that she was even more beautiful than the sea nymphs. But when the sea nymphs heard about Andromeda's beauty, they told Neptune to send the monster, Cetus, to destroy their city of Ethiopia. Andromeda's father, Cepheus, tried to negotiate something to stop the monster from killing their city. And he realized that the only way to protect his city was to sacrifice his daughter to calm down the monster. So she was chained to a rock by the sea to be eaten, but the brave Perseus arrived and killed Cetus with the head of Medusa, turning him into stone." He finished. Then he looked at me with glazed eyes. He wasn't drunk yet, at least I didn't think he was.

I let out a chuckle as he continued to look at me. "Why did you tell me that?" I asked.

"Were you listening to the story?" he replied.

"Yeah, but. . . "

"Haley, you're a great girl. You've accomplished a lot in your life. Your grandmother is pretty proud of you especially since she spoke on your behalf about how great you are," he began. "And people are going to attack you for being almost perfect, hence Brooke. But-"

I scoffed. "I am not even close to perfect."

"Probably not, but don't hold back," he advised. I furrowed my eyebrows as he continued. "Don't feel defeated when someone decides to disrespect you. Stand up for yourself. If you don't, you're only feeding them more and making them stronger."

"Cetus," I said.

He slowly curled the corner of his lips and nodded.

"So you're saying that I should've saved myself back there instead of walked away?" I questioned.

"Pretty much," he said.

"But she was rude!" I snapped.

He started to chuckle. "Yeah, she was rude which is why you should've turned her into stone."

I glared at him and started to smile. "So what makes you such an expert at this?"

"I've been in your position before Little Miss San Francisco," he replied with a smirk. "I've had a few Brookes in my lifetime. I learned from those situations and I stood up for myself. Once I grew up, I didn't let it phase me anymore."

I nodded as I remembered Peyton telling me that Nathan was never affected by his growing popularity in town. He must've had a few jerks call him out a few times for accomplishing so much and for being so kind.

I took the beer that I was holding and lifted it up for a sip. Then I decided to lean back on my elbows like Nathan and stare up at the stars. And we just laid there, looking up at the dark blue sky as he pointed out all the constellations that he knew. I asked him how he knew so much about the stars and their stories. He replied, looking at me with his dark eyes and said he really didn't know why. He said it could be the stories that were behind each constellation that interested him so much and that somehow in those galaxies, someone out there could be looking up at us – just like we were looking up at them.

For about fifteen or thirty minutes he showed me the Chained Woman aka Andromeda, Hercules, Pegasus and a few others that I haven't heard of since my tenth grade Literature class. I couldn't help but realize that I completely forgot about the whole Brooke situation. The problem seemed so small that I just didn't care about it anymore. Lying here, drinking a cold one with Nathan washed away all my stress and thoughts. I felt like I was in my own world lying next to him as he told me more about the stars. A bonfire didn't even exist right now.

After a while, we were silent. We both sat up from the sand and looked at the moving water before us. It made little ripples as the wind brushed against it, leaving us with wet toes when it reached the shore. Nathan had stopped drinking because he remembered that he had to drive us back home later. He was a little tipsy so he wanted to wait a while before he was ready to drive.

I looked away from the shore and noticed the bonfire was dying down. Everyone at the party were still dancing against it each other, but more erotically. And people were still playing drinking games and doing the keg stand. I tried to search for Brooke and Lucas, but they were no where in sight. Then I suddenly started to feel tired and sleepy. And somehow I found myself leaning over toward Nathan's shoulder and resting my head against it. I felt his head move and my eyelids slowly closed.

When I thought I had been sleeping for a couple of hours, I heard someone mumble something above us. I twitched out of my slumber and looked up, noticing Peyton standing beside us.

"Decided to have your own party, I see?" she stated. I noticed that Nathan wasn't sleeping at all, he had grabbed another drink from the pile next to him.

"How long have I been sleeping? I asked.

"About thirty minutes," Nathan answered, sipping from his bottle.

Peyton settled herself next to me with a red, plastic cup in her hands. "I wanted to see if you were okay. Brooke's a bitch when she can be," she said, glancing over at me.

I nodded, and started playing with sand in front of me. I didn't say a word.

"She's not really used to having a new girl hang out with us," she added. "It's always been the four of us and I guess she sees you as a threat to the group."

"She shouldn't see me that way. She doesn't even know me."

"Yeah, I know, but Brooke's always been the kind of person who likes the center of attention. I guess ever since you've arrived, everyone's been talking about you," Peyton replied.

I sighed deeply and placed my chin on my knees as the blurred vision of the ocean moved before my eyes. If only my grandmother didn't speak so highly of me. And I wish she didn't introduce me to Nathan or Peyton because they obviously had a huge reputation in this town too. I'm not too fond of getting attention, and being friends with them makes it ten times worse.

"Maybe I shouldn't be friends with you guys then."

"What?" Nathan snapped, looking away from waters for once. He was being quiet the whole time Peyton and I were talking. "Why would you say that? Don't let Brooke stop you from being friends with us just because you're afraid of her."

"I'm not afraid of her."

They both gave me a look and I looked down.

"Stop lying," Nathan ordered. I hated how he knew when I lying. But they were right. I was sort of scared of Brooke. I feel like if I continued to be a threat to her, then she'd probably try to do something worse than talk shit.

I glanced at Nathan and noticed the expression on his face. He looked almost defeated like me. Then I turned to Peyton who was looked stunned. Then I continued to play with the sand beneath me.

"I just don't want to cause any trouble."

"You're not; Brooke's the one who's starting it. You're not doing anything wrong," Nathan stated.

"Whoooo said my naaaaaame?" We all turned around and found Brooke stumbling as she walked towards us. She had no flip flops on or Lucas around her, just the bottle of Patron in her hand. I somehow knew something was about to happen, especially since she was drunker than she was before.

"Whaaaa aree ya biiitches doin?" she asked, her eyebrows arched as she finally found some composure.

"We're just hanging out, Brooke," Peyton replied.

Brooke paused as she gazed at us, looking totally smashed, as she took another swig from her bottle. Then she turned her full attention towards me. " You'rrreee hangin out wit hurr?" she asked, making an over exaggerated expression. "Sheee's a lil pussyy whoo can't take a joke"

My eyes widened as she spoke. "Excuse me?" I asked her.

"AHH! Nooow she's speaks!" she cried out, throwing her arms out. "Are youuu gonna cry now?" pouting, as she asked.

My blood was boiling at that moment and I knew that I was going to cry. With alcohol in my system, I wasn't sure how it was going to make my body act. Tears might fall, words might fall out of my mouth and maybe my arms will do something it has never done before. But this girl, this really trashy girl in front of me was really pissing me off.

"I am not going to cry because of you," I spoke. "You don't even know me and I'm not going to waste any of my words on your drunken ass especially when you probably won't even remember it in the morning." I stated as I stood up from the sand, feeling a little dizzy. Nathan lifted up from the sand and helped me. I guess I had a little too much to drink, but at least I wasn't wasted like Brooke was.

Brooke stood there, angrily glaring at me. "Whyy are you even here?" she asked.

Peyton gave me an apologetic look and then walked over to Brooke. "I'm going to take her home."

"NO!" Brooke whined. "Why is she here?" she repeated. Peyton pulled the bottle out of her hand, and started guiding her away from us.

"I'll see you guys later," Peyton called out as she wrapped Brooke's arms over her shoulder.

We both nodded as they started walking towards the parking lot. As they reached it, I noticed some guy passed out on the ground. I squinted my eyes to see who it was, but my vision was a bit blurry. But I figured it was Lucas. His hair was blonde and I recognized the gray shirt.

"Is that Lucas right there?" I asked Nathan, pointing towards the figure on the ground near the cooler. I heard him chuckle and nodded.

"That's my brother alright," he smirked as he guided us towards the bonfire.

We both settled on both sides of him as we stared at his sluggish face. Nathan poked his cheek to see if he was still alive. Lucas moaned and we both laughed for a bit.

"I'm still a bit tipsy. So let's wait a while and drink some water before I drive," Nathan stated. I nodded as he reached over to grab two water bottles; one for me and one for him.

In the next hour or two people began to leave the party. The crowd was getting smaller and smaller. People left their cups and bottles on the ground; I even spotted a bikini top somewhere buried in the sand. I was slowly getting a little less drunk, but I knew I was going to feel it in the morning.

Eventually, Nathan was stable enough to drive so we both got up, lifting Lucas off the ground gently. He was much heavier than I could hold.

"Heavy?" Nathan asked as he propped one arm over his shoulder.

"Kind of," I replied, struggling to wrap his other arm on me.

"Where's Brooke?" Lucas moaned as we started dragged him towards his car.

"She went home with Peyton," Nathan replied.

"Oh."

We both found Nathan's car and noticed the empty space where Peyton's vehicle used to be. I thought about Brooke and all the things she said to me. It hurt a little bit then I thought about what Nathan and Peyton said. I shouldn't let Brooke defeat me especially when she didn't even know me at all.

We carefully put Lucas in the backseat and drove back home. I fell asleep against the window until Nathan finally made it to my grandmother's house.

"I'm sorry about tonight," he stated as I slowly removed my face from the window sill.

"Oh, it's fine," I replied,

"You're lying again," he smirked.

I smiled back and decided not to talk about the subject anymore. "Thanks for the night anyways," I said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nodded and I climbed out of the car and walked towards the front door. I looked back one more time, saw him staring from the window, and then I went inside. Maybe I left the house tonight thinking I wasn't going to be attracted to Nathan Scott, but somehow I feel a little different arriving back home. Was I suddenly feeling something for him or am I just fooling myself?

R&R