Haley was at her locker before school the next morning to prepare for her tutoring session when Brooke Davis walked up to her. "Hello," she said.

Haley looked around for one of Brooke's minions, and to her surprise, no one else was there. "Hi," she said warily.

"Listen, Holly Johnson—"

"It's Haley," she interrupted her. "James."

Brooke shook her head. "Whatever. I'm not sure what kind of game you're playing, but I know that something is going on with you and Nathan."

Haley's stomach dropped to her feet. "Yeah, I'm tutoring him," she said with a half laugh.

Brooke shook her head. "You're doing a lot more than that," she said, watching Haley for a reaction. She got one.

Haley swallowed nervously and then sighed. "What do you want, Blake?" she asked impatiently.

Brooke gave her a dirty look. "I saw the sweatshirt you put on after try-outs last night."

Haley sighed again as she pulled a book out of her locker. "And my wardrobe is your business because…"

"Nathan's sweatshirt."

Haley ran a hand through her hair and then sighed. "How did you…"

"I bought it for him for his last birthday," she said, answering Haley's unfinished question.

"So, I'm meeting yet another of the infamous Nathan Scotts conquests? First Peyton, now you. I wonder who fills the other hundreds of slots on that list."

Brooke laughed as if Haley were an idiot. "I'm not on that sorry list. Peyton had a birthday party for him last year, and I was invited. I don't step on another girls toes by hitting on her guy."

"It's not what you think," Haley said quickly.

"You have no idea what I think," Brooke informed her primly. "But lucky for you, if you going after Nathan means that he and Peyton are through, I'm all for it. He treated her like crap." Brooke shrugged. "Now he can treat you like crap."

Haley slammed her locker shut and turned to face Brooke. "Actually, Nathan can't treat me like crap. He can try, but it's not something I'd let him get away with. And as for the sweatshirt, Nathan let me wear it home the other day when it was cold, and that's all there is to it. I just haven't returned it yet," she said in a chilly tone. It was a straight lie, of course, but the girl standing in front of her didn't know that.

Brooke smiled knowingly. "Seems to me that tutor girl has a little bit of a crush."

"And it seems to me that prying girl doesn't know what the hell she's talking about."

"I want a date with Lucas," Brooke said abruptly.

Haley stood there for a minute and then started laughing. "Oh, you're…are you…" Her face sobered. "You're serious?"

Brooke cocked her head at Haley. "And you're my in."

"I…I can't get you a date with Lucas. I'm not his keeper. He doesn't do whatever I tell him to do."

Brooke shrugged. "Fine. I only want to get him into bed anyway, and I'm sure I can do that on my own. But as far you and Nathan go, there's something going on. And I love a good mystery."

Haley pasted a fake smile on her face. "Good for you, Nancy Drew. And have a great day," she said with fake enthusiasm, turning around and heading for the tutor center.

777

"So, maybe we could go out this weekend," Nathan said to Haley that afternoon when their session was finished.

Haley quickly shook her head and stood up, pulling the strap of her book bag up onto her shoulder. "Nathan, I'm your tutor. That's all I'm ever going to be."

"We both know that there's way more than tutoring going on with us," he told her.

Haley sighed. "Why did you give me a sweatshirt that Brooke Davis bought you?"

Nathan stood there for a moment in surprise. He took a deep breath. "I gave it to you because I thought it was the last time I was ever going to see you. And you gave me the only picture that we had of us together, so I wanted you to have something to remember me by." He shrugged. "I didn't want you to forget me," he said softly.

Haley took a deep breath. "Nathan, listen to me. High Flyers…was another lifetime ago."

"Not for me," he argued.

She sighed. "It was for me," she said softly. "Look, I'm not saying the memories aren't great, because they are. But those memories…are not of you. They're of a boy who doesn't even exist."

"I'm standing right in front of you," he told her.

She nodded. "Right. The boy who won't pass his brother a stupid basketball because he wants to prove that he's better is standing in front of me. But the boy who told me that he would give anything to have had his brother around while he was growing up? Where is he, Nathan?"

Nathan sighed. "He's long gone, Haley."

"Oh, I know," she sadly. "Because I miss him more and more every day."

Nathan rubbed a hand over his face. "You know what, Haley? You keep playing hard to get long enough, and I might stop chasing you."

"I'm not playing hard to get!" she said in frustration. "I don't want to be gotten! And I don't know how many times I have to tell you that!"

"You could say it forever, Hales, and I still wouldn't believe you."

She stood there for a moment looking into his eyes, searching. "I'm putting our past where it belongs, Nathan. Behind me. You should do the same," she whispered, leaving him alone in the room.

777

"So tell me again what this Burning Boat Festival is all about," Haley said into her phone as she carefully applied her mascara.

"Well, you burn something that supposedly brings you bad luck, and it's supposed to get rid of it," he told her.

"The bad luck?" she asked.

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Can you burn more than one thing?"

Lucas laughed. "Got a lot of bad luck, James?"

"You don't know the half of it," she said sarcastically as the doorbell rang. "Is that you?"

"It's me," he told her.

"Come on in," she said, closing her phone.

"Where are your parents?" he asked a few seconds later as he walked into her room.

"It's date night," she told him. "Which means that they're going to an Italian restaurant and then to the movies. To sit in the very back row so they can make out," she told him rolling her eyes.

"Ever heard of TMI, Hales?"

She grinned. "I was conceived in the backseat of my dad's old Camaro," she told him.

He sat down on her bed. "I don't know why I keep you around," he teased.

She laughed. "It's because you love me," she reminded him.

He smiled at her as she sat down next to him to tie her shoes. "So, what are you going to burn?"

She took a deep breath. "Two things," she told him. She reached over him and grabbed a sweatshirt off her pillow. "This," she motioned with her head at the worn basketball by the door. "And that."

"You're burning a basketball?"

"It's from an old flame," she informed him.

"Hmmm…then it's fitting that you should burn it."

"Ha-ha," she said at his play on words. She nudged him with her shoulder. "And what are you burning?"

He pulled a t-shirt out of his jacket pocket. "This."

She took it from him and held it out in front of her. It was a maroon T-shirt with a Nike logo on it. "This brought you bad luck?" she said doubtfully.

"Yeah," he said with a deep breath.

"Uh-oh," she said, tossing the shirt at him and standing up. She grabbed his hand and gave it a tug, pulling him to his feet. He stuffed his t-shirt in the pocket of his hoodie with the other one. "What's the story?"

"That's the t-shirt I was wearing when I kissed Peyton."

"Oh," Haley said in a small voice.

"Yeah," Lucas said. "You don't kiss another guys girl. Even if she does belong to your jack ass of a brother."

Haley grinned at Lucas.

"What?" he asked.

"You just called Nathan your brother," she said.

"My mistake," Lucas said quickly, leading the way from the room.

777

"So, what do you think, best friend?" Lucas asked. "Are our names going to be on the list Monday?"

"Hell, yeah!" Haley said with conviction. She wrapped an arm through his. "And do you know how I know this?"

"How's that?" he asked.

"Two reasons. Number one, we burned our bad luck tonight," she told him.

"And number two?"

"We totally rocked try outs!" she said.

Lucas laughed. "You did anyway," he said. "I can't believe Nathan is even letting you tutor him after you scolded his ass on the basketball court."

Haley laughed. "Oh, please. I'm sure I earned heaps of respect with that move," she teased.

"How is the tutoring going, anyway?" he asked.

She sighed. "It's too early to tell. But…he seems to really want to do well."

"Yeah, he probably just wants a locker on the AP wing with all the cool kids," Lucas teased.

"He's not stupid, Luke," she said heatedly. "He just has a hard time learning!"

Lucas pulled away, coming to a stop and gave her a surprised look. "I didn't say he was stupid, Hales." He studied her face for a minute. "Why are you so quick to jump to his defense, anyway?"

Haley sighed. "I just think…if you could just sit down with him. And talk to him. Even if it's only for a few minutes—"

Lucas picked up his pace again, forcing her to follow him. "Forget it."

"Lucas—"

"I said forget it, Haley," he said. "It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't bring up Nathan again."

"Lucas—" she tried again.

He stopped and put his hands out by his sides. "What do you want me to say, Haley? The friggin' asshole has lived a charmed life for the past seventeen years while my mother has scraped just so we could get by!"

She lifted a hand to his arm and his expression immediately softened. "I'm just saying that…maybe you're mad at the wrong person," she said quietly.

"Yeah? Well maybe I don't care!"

Haley nodded. "I'm sorry," she said gently. "I—I didn't know about your mom's circumstances. And—I shouldn't have said anything."

Lucas sighed. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I just…I don't like him, Haley. And for seventeen years, I haven't had to explain my reasons for that. I don't want to have to start now."

She nodded again. "Ok," she said quietly as they started for home again. She took a deep breath. "So, what do you think of Brooke Davis?"