Here is the next Chapter for Complicated. It's a bit of a filler, but the next chapters should get interesting (I hope).

Chapter 2 – Uncover

Classes started shortly after and the group seemed to be really busy over the next few weeks. They had the sporadic class together, but not like when they were in high school. There schedules conflicted and the friends found that their only down time was over the weekends.

Hailey sighed as her last class of the day was dismissed, who knew that English 102 could be so boring. At least the topic on American Poets was starting to make her very drowsy so late in the afternoon.

She glanced at her watch and huffed seeing that he had let them out ten minutes early, and Tyler's last class wouldn't be over for another twenty minutes. She bit her bottom lip and opted to go to the Starbuck's that was just off of campus grounds.

She took out the spare key to Tyler's Hummer he had given her and unlocked the doors, crawling in to the driver's seat. She adjusted the seat and the mirror as she pulled off and drove the short distance to the coffee shop, realizing that she could have just walked.

Shrugging her shoulders, she parked the car and headed inside. She ordered her normal drink, ordering one for Tyler as well; she waited patiently as the baristas behind the counter worked diligently to get the mochas completed.

Hailey felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out from her pocket, she had just received a text from Sarah.

If my profess doesn't shut up I'm gonna shoot him. : )

The dark haired girl grinned as she looked up to see the man that had just walked in the door. Her heart leapt to her throat as she recognized the man as Chase. She shook her head and his face morphed in to a completely different person.

"Miss… miss your drinks are done…" The barista stated trying to snap her out of her daze.

Hailey cleared her throat nervously, grabbed her drinks and hurried out of the store, causing the man at the counter to look back a wicked smirk on his face as he paid for his drinks.

The young girl climbed in to the oversized SUV and stared in to the Starbuck's. She wondered if she had just seen things or if her mind was playing some sort of sick joke on her. She shook her head and started up the car, hoping that maybe Tyler would be open to talk about this Chase guy again.

She pulled up to the parking spot she had left and saw Tyler coming towards her. He hoped in to the passenger's seat leaning over and placing a thoughtful kiss on her mouth. She tossed him a nervous grin before handing him his coffee.

Tyler thanked her and took a sip of the steaming hot liquid when Hailey decided to pull out the Chase card.

"Tyler, I want to know about this Chase guy…" She stated.

Tyler nearly dropped his drink in his lap as he swallowed roughly, the hot liquid scalding his throat and tongue. He coughed and put the drink down, "What?" He asked.

"I could have sworn I saw him walk in to the Starbuck's today… and then he morphed in to some completely different looking guy…" She rushed out without further thought that she might sound completely crazy.

"Hails I thought I told you not to worry about that…" Tyler stated shaking his head.

"Ty, you're hiding something from me… what is it?" She asked giving him a very stern look.

"I'm not hiding anything, babe… I think you're just tired." Tyler stated shaking his head. "Let's just go home… it's our night to cook…" He grinned.

Hailey gave him another look but shook her head; she would have to just ask him about it later. He didn't seem to like this subject… maybe she would ask one of the other guys or perhaps even Kate or Sarah… they must have known this Chase guy.

The trip home was silent and Hailey didn't bring up the subject of Chase throughout the preparation of dinner. It wasn't until after dinner when they were cleaning up that she asked Caleb, who happened to be in the kitchen at the time.

"Hey Cal…" Hailey looked up from the soapy dishwater that her hands were plunged in to at the moment. Caleb looked up and gave her a genuine smile.

"What's up Hails?" He asked.

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked.

Tyler grabbed the next wet dish and dried it casually, not thinking anything about what his girlfriend was about to ask his best friend.

"Of course, what's up?" He asked popping the top of a Mountain Dew.

"Since you had more to do with him, what do you know about Chase?" She asked carefully.

Tyler's grip on the glass he was holding released and it fell to the ground with a very loud shattering following after it. Hailey pulled her hands out of the sink and turned to Tyler as he stared over at Caleb who was trying to hide his shock.

"What has gotten in to you?" Hailey asked kneeling down to start picking up pieces of the broken glass.

Tyler's eyes widened at Caleb in question, the older boy shook his head as they started having a silent conversation back and forth in the heads. Hailey looked up just as Tyler's eyes turned back blue and she glared at him.

"Are you going to help me with this or not?" She asked.

"Of course, babe… let me go get the broom, just be careful…" Tyler stated as he went to the closet in the hall, Caleb following behind him.

"Where did this come from?" She could hear Caleb ask Tyler.

Hailey crawled on her hands and knees to the edge of the wall in hopes of getting a better listen to what Caleb and Tyler were talking about. She didn't see Pogue coming in from upstairs and giving her an odd look.

"She dropped the bomb on me in the car on the way home…" Tyler whispered back.

"Hailey, what are you doing on the ground?" Pogue asked.

Hailey's head snapped in his direction and she was stuck staring at him. He was shirtless and only donning a pair of basketball shorts. She swallowed and her mouth opened but nothing came out.

The young brunette pursed her lips together and slammed her hands on the linoleum floor and closed her eyes, trying to tear her gaze from his impossibly buff physique. She started to mutter something about missing Caleb and Tyler's conversation and Pogue helped her off of the ground.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, "Could you put a shirt on, you're distracting…" She simply stated getting a quirky smile out of the dishwater blonde man.

Pogue lifted his chin and ran upstairs as Caleb and Tyler came back in to the room; Tyler with the broom and Caleb with the dust pan.

"Why don't you step back… we'll finish up in here…" Caleb gave her a small smile.

Trying to get out of talking about Chase. Hailey thought as she walked to the stairs in the kitchen. Something is definitely going on here that no one is telling me… She decided.

Hailey walked in to her room she shared with Tyler and pulled out her lap top, sitting down on their bed. She pulled up a google search and typed in the name Chase Collins. She saw several useless sights before she saw the Ipswich Today article archives.

She clicked on the link and several articles popped up any that had Chase Collins name in them. One was from a swim meet where they noted that the newcomer was making quite an impact. Then several related Spencer Academy articles, one in particular caught her attention about the kid they found dead at the Dells at the beginning of their senior year.

She then saw the article about the Putnam barn burning down, and how Caleb and Sarah were found at the scene. She pursed her lips together and continued to read when the article continued to say that the Caleb had said he thought someone was inside when he saw the barn go up in flames, that person being Chase Collins.

Hailey's mind began to tick. Did they fight in the Putnam barn? Did Caleb try to kill Chase? Is that why everyone was so uptight about the entire ordeal. She copied down the address for the Putnam barn and decided that she would make a special trip back to Ipswich tomorrow.

She heard someone coming down the hall and exited out of her google search. She pulled up her email and smiled seeing Tyler come in. He placed a kiss on her lips and apologized for his weird behavior.

"The subject about him… it's just a very sensitive subject for everybody…" He looked as though the smile on his face was forced. "It's still kind of fresh in our memories… and well I really don't like talking about it…"

"It's ok… I understand…" Hailey tried to comfort Tyler.

Maybe she was right. Maybe Caleb did try to kill Chase, and that is why there was so much resentment when it came to him. But what did Chase do to make Caleb do this? Level-headed Caleb try to kill someone? That just didn't seem so logical after she thought about it.

"I've got to go back to Ipswich tomorrow to see my mother, I should be home around the afternoon time… is that ok?" Hailey asked glancing down at her fingers, hoping that Tyler would buy what she was saying.

"Is everything ok?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah… everything is great… I just…" Hailey paused. "Her and my dad are having some problems so I thought I'd go have lunch with her or something…"

"That's sweet… not a problem… I think us guys were talking about going to the gym for a while tomorrow anyway… we haven't seen a pool since school started so… I think we're all a bit rusty…"

"Alright, great…" She gave him a small kiss and the two went back down stairs, the subject of Chase Collins was avoided all night.

In the back of her mind, Hailey found herself trying to trace her steps for tomorrow. First she would visit the Putnam barn, or whatever was left of it, and then maybe she would contact the Ipswich Fire Department or Police Department and see what they might remember about that night.

She thought that everything that seemed to happen was all within a week's time. She sighed trying to think of other things that she might need to investigate.

She carried on light conversation throughout the night but her mind was set on her busy schedule tomorrow. And how she was going to process whatever she was about to uncover.

You know what you should do... hit that little blue button.