Nathan Scott woke up to a pillow hitting his face and let out a groan.

"Time to get up, Nate."

He heard his father's voice through the cloud of haziness in his head. "What do you want?" he asked.

"It's time for a run," his father said.

Nathan opened his eyes and looked at the clock. "Dad, it's four in the morning. Monday morning," he reminded his father. "I ran with you yesterday. Today—I need sleep."

"You can sleep tonight. This morning—we run."

"No, Dad. This morning, I sleep." He grabbed the pillow from his fathers' hands and pulled it over his head.

"You're playing Pontiac this Friday."

"I know," Nathan mumbled.

"Do you remember how pitifully you played last year? You only scored 12 points."

Nathan sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Dad, I had mono," he reminded him.

"Excuses, excuses," his father taunted.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Will you just get out of my room?"

"Don't you want to break my scoring record?"

Nathan sighed. "I don't need to run with you this morning to break your scoring record," he said in a bored tone.

"Well it would certainly help if you were in better shape. Scoring titles aren't just given away. They're earned. I bet Lucas has been doing some heavy training."

"I'll earn it Friday night," Nathan said lying back down. He chose to ignore his fathers comment about Lucas.

"That's what you think," Dan said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're being lazy."

"I'm being 17," Nathan argued.

"Well, let's see where it gets you Friday night," Dan said, leaving the room with a slam of the door.

Nathan lifted his head off his pillow and gave it a frustrated punch.

777

Later that morning, Nathan yawned as he sorted through the books in his locker and picked out the ones he'd need for his first few classes. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. Haley was standing there with a smile on her face.

"Hey!" she said cheerfully. After scanning the hallway, and seeing that no one was there, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm going to tell Lucas about us," she said anxiously. "Today. After practice, actually. What do you think?" she asked.

"Do whatever you want, Haley," he said with a scowl.

"Nathan, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I have bigger problems than worrying about you hurting my brothers' feelings," he said, slamming his locker door shut.

She visibly flinched at his tone. "What is wrong with you?" she asked. The fact that he'd actually referred to Lucas as his brother didn't escape her attention.

"The same thing that's always wrong with me, Haley. My dad."

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Nope. I don't want to talk about it, and I don't want to think about it."

"Well, OK," she said apprehensively. "Let's just…get to the tutor center then."

"I'm not going to make it to my session today," he said abruptly.

"Nathan, don't be crazy. You have a test today and you need a good grade to stay eligible."

"I'll manage," he snapped.

Haley stared at him for a moment as if she was seeing him for the very first time and then spun on her heel and walked away.

777

"Jake, that's not your seat."

"I know it's not my regular seat. But Peyton really wanted me to sit next to her," he said with an ear to ear smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her head snap up from her sketch pad.

"I—" she started.

"Fine," Mrs. Wilson said. "Let's get started." She proceeded to get on with the days lesson plan.

"What the hell was that?" Peyton hissed. Having attention drawn to her was not something she liked.

Jake grinned at her. "How did I do Friday night?" he asked in a whisper. "Do I have a job or what?"

"Friday night was fine," she snapped. "But Monday morning is another matter entirely."

"Admit it," Jake said, trying to charm her with a smile. "You missed me."

Peyton's eyes widened in disbelief. "Missed you? Until this weekend, I had no idea you existed!"

"And now that you do?"

Peyton licked her lips in frustration. Immediately, she knew it was the wrong thing to do, because his eyes flew to her mouth and she watched as he swallowed past the lump in his throat.

"Now that I do," she said, "I'm beginning to miss the peacefulness of before I did."

"Because you can't get me out of your mind, right?" he teased.

"Mr. Jagielski?"

Jake's head flew up to meet his teachers' eyes. "Yes?" he asked.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I think Peyton Sawyer has a crush on me."

There were a few giggles as Peyton gasped and her eyes immediately filled with fire.

Liquid fire, Jake thought. Sexy liquid fire.

"Ms. Sawyer?"

Peyton lifted her eyes to the older woman's.

"Anything you'd like to say to that?"

"No," she squeaked. And hated herself for it. Peyton Sawyer did not squeak.

"Now, back to the stages of grief," she started.

Peyton's hand flew up. "Mrs. Wilson?" she said in a concise tone. That's more like me, she thought. "I actually do have something to say."

"By all means, Ms. Sawyer…"

Peyton sighed dramatically. "Jake and I had an amazing time together Friday night," she said in a breathy tone. Here she was drawing attention to herself, but she figured that desperate times called for desperate measures. And after that little crack, well, she owed him one.

"That's wonderful, Ms. Sawyer."

Peyton nodded enthusiastically. "It really was. We were able to really…share things." She turned to Jake and gave him a sweet smile.

He gave her a nervous one in return. What in the hell was she doing?

"For example, Jake has a crush of his own. But…do you think Tim Smith would be interested in him?"

The classroom was abuzz with excited conversation as Peyton turned to Jake and gave him a triumphant smile. Laced with more than a hint of 'don't mess with me.'

777

Nathan put his hands in his pockets as he walked into the tutor center that afternoon. "Hey," he said softly when he finally saw Haley.

"Hi," she said without looking up. She was filing a stack of papers.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you today," he told her.

"Don't worry about it," she said briskly, making her way to another filing cabinet.

"So, when are you going to tell Lucas about us?" he asked.

"I'm not," she said.

"Why not?"

She finally lifted her eyes to his. "Because I don't know what I was thinking, Nathan! Today you made it very clear that you're capable of treating anyone the way you treat Lucas. I thought this was a silly little…vendetta between the two of you perpetuated by your father. But as it turns out, I really think the problem…is yours. I'm not willing to subject myself to the way you treated me today. So I'm not telling Lucas. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to tell."

"Look, I said I'm sorry."

"How long are you gonna hide behind your father, Nathan? You did it at High Flyers and you're doing it now. Are you really going to let who he is shape who you are? Or are you going to try and be your own man?"

"That's the plan eventually," Nathan said quietly.

"Yeah, well eventually is too far away and way too uncertain for me," she said.

"Haley, you don't know my dad," he said.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "You're right. And for about the millionth time, I'm realizing that I don't know you, either."

777

After an intense basketball practice, an angry and frustrated Nathan made his way home that night. He was lying on his bed tossing his basketball in the air and catching it again when an the thought that had been stuck in his head since this morning just wouldn't go away. He put his ball on the bed beside him and pulled out his cell phone. He hit four on his speed dial.

"Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"Is your brother still dealing?" Nathan asked.

Yeah," Tim told him.

"I want some performance enhancers," he said.

"For what?" Tim asked in surprise. Nathan's game was fine.

"For my game."

There was a short pause. "Nate, this isn't a good idea."

"Did I ask if you thought it was a good idea?" Nathan asked.

"No, but I thought I'd let you know," Tim said quietly.

"I'll be fine," Nathan said angrily, snapping his phone shut.

777

"I'm so nervous!" Karen said that Friday night as she handed her fee to the person at the door.

Haley laughed and flasher her student ID. "It's going to be fine."

Karen looked at Haley. "I'm about to see my son in a Ravens uniform," she said dryly. "It's going to be like going back in time."

"Makes you want to pull out your cheerleading skirt and pom-poms, doesn't it?" Haley teased.

Karen laughed as she scanned the bleachers for an empty spot. "It's packed in here!"

"We probably should have left earlier for the first home game," Haley agreed.

"I didn't realize that it was going to be so full in here," she said, making her way up the middle steps to a few empty spots. She sat down and Haley followed suit. She looked down at the table on the sidelines and caught Mouth's eye. She gave him a little wave and then turned back to Karen.

"I can't wait to see Lucas play!" Haley said. "I've seen him at practice before, but never on the court in an actual game."

"Me, neither," Karen said quietly.

Haley reached over and gave her a pat on the arm. "He can hold is own," Haley assured her.

Karen nodded uncertainly.

The young men from the opposite team made their way out onto the court in a single file line and grabbed some balls, starting to shoot around.

A few minutes later, Tree Hill's team made their way out amidst stomping and cheers. Karen looked at Haley and grinned as she clapped her hands. "I'm feeling a little bit better," she admitted.

Haley smiled back and then her eyes went to the court once again. Immediately they found Nathan, and she felt herself frown. He hadn't been to one tutoring session all week and she hadn't spoken to him since Monday after school. Forcing them away, she found Lucas and watched as he took some lay up shots and then did some rebounding. After they'd shot around a bit, the buzzer sounded and both teams made their way over to their own benches. Mouth started to announce the Tree Hill starters one by one and each one received cheers and clapping. But it was no contest. It was clear that Nathan was this towns' hero when it came to basketball. Haley watched him as he ran out onto the floor and her eyebrows came together as she studied him. Something didn't' look right. He looked off. Agitated, she thought, and then sighed. Of course he was off. Apparently he was at it with his father yet again.

Haley felt someone's eyes on her across from the gym and looked up. Peyton smiled at her and gave a small wave. Haley waved back and almost rolled her eyes when she saw Brooke Davis sitting next to her. Whatever had happened on her date with Lucas Saturday night, he wasn't talking. Of course, this only served to increase Haley's curiosity, but she wasn't about to hound her friend for details. Especially with the secrets she'd been keeping.

Tree Hill earned the ball on tip off, and it was clearly their game from there. Haley had an earphone in one ear, listening to Mouth announcing. She was surprised to hear that Nathan was trying to break his father's scoring record against Pontiac and wondered if this was where some of the pressure he was feeling came from. Even above the cheers and applause, she could hear murmurs coming from all around the gymnasium saying how much the Scott boys complemented each other on the basketball court. At one point, Haley looked over at Karen and swore she could see tears in her eyes.

In the last quarter, Lucas was bringing the ball down the court looking for the open man and threw it to Nathan.

This was it. With this shot, he would break his father's scoring record. Her eyes followed the ball and she looked at Nathan. He was covered in sweat, which by itself wasn't a bad thing when they were playing ball, but even from where she was sitting, she could tell that he was shaking like a leaf. Just as he put the ball up, his eyelids drooped and he fell backwards onto the court, The noise level in the gym escalated and before she could think about the consequences, Haley sprung up, made her way down the bleachers and flew onto the court.

Across the gym, Brooke looked at Peyton. "Well, well, well," she said. "What have we here?"