Chapter 2

(In Haley's room)

Haley was pacing her room frantically trying to figure out what to wear. Her mom walked in seeing the mess of clothes scattered throughout the once spotless room. "Haley?"

Haley pokes her head out from behind her closet door, "Yeah?"

Lydia looks at her in confusion, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out what to wear." she said quickly before she disappeared behind the door again.

"You have to impress this boy this much?" Lydia asked.

Haley stepped out of her closet, "Mom, his name is Nathan. And yes I do."

Haley's mom sits down on her bed, "Haley, if this boy likes you he won't care what you wear. He would love you for who you are and shouldn't care about anything else."

Yeah well who knows if he actually likes me? Doubt it. But I still have to look nice.

Haley walks over and sits down next to her mom, "I know I know. But I want to look my best anyways. It's my first date, you know."

Lydia laughs, "I know."

"If it ends up being awful, I blame you." Haley said jokingly.

Her mom laughs again, "Okay, but hurry up you don't want to be late for your first date then, that'd be a bad way to start it off."

"Why what time is it?"

"It's 7: 30 already." Lydia said as she stood up to leave.

A panicked look washed over Haley's face, "Its 7:30! Oh my gosh, I haven't even figured out what to wear!!"

Lydia turns to her daughter once more when she stops at the door, "Remember what I said."

Haley rushes back over to her closet, "Okay mom."

It was now 7:50 and Haley finally was ready for her date. She put on a pair of jeans and a pink lace top. She had curled her hair a little bit earlier and was now just brushing them out. Finally she put on some lip gloss and looked at the clock.

Only ten more minutes, I can do this. Oh I hope nothing bad happens. What if I embarrass myself? Or what if I get stood up and this is really a joke. Oh what am I going to do? I haven't been on a date before, let alone with a popular guy. Okay, I just got to breathe. Nothing bad will happen I will be just fine.

Just then the door bell rang. Haley ran downstairs as fast as she could to answer the door.

The last thing I need is one of my parents embarrassing me before the date even starts.

She takes a deep breath and then opens the door.

"Hi." she said quietly.

"Hey. Are you ready to go?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah just one second. Let me grab my bag." She disappears down the hall before coming back to the door, "Okay." Haley starts to close the front door. "Bye mom, bye dad!" she yelled before shutting the door.

Nathan laughs, "I think they know that you're leaving."

Haley laughs nervously, "Yeah."

"You look really nice." Nathan said, unsure of what to really say.

"Thanks." she said quietly. The two of them walk down to Nathan's car. He opens the door for her. "Thanks. So where are we going?" she asked as he got into the car.

"I thought we could go see a movie." Nathan said as he turned the car on.

"Sounds good, what movie?"

"You'll see. I already bought tickets." Nathan said smiling.

"Oh, okay." Haley said quietly as they drove off.

Neither of them really said anything, all that could be heard was the sound of the radio playing. There was a sense of awkwardness in the air between the two, both of them knew how different it was for them to be going somewhere together.

The two of them walked into the theater, "Want anything?" Haley just shrugged. "Popcorn it is, I guess."

Haley nods, "Okay."

They bought some popcorn and headed into the theater.

"The Exorcist? Isn't that a scary movie?" Haley asked a bit nervously.

"Yeah. Why are you scared?" Nathan said playfully.

"No…" Haley said quickly, trying to hide the worry in her voice.

"Well don't worry I'll be there." Nathan said as they sat down.

Haley laughs nervously as she sinks down into her seat.

I hate scary movies! They give me the creeps. Hopefully this one isn't too scary. I mean they are fake. They aren't real or anything, right?

Haley let out a scream, "Oh my god!!"

Nathan laughs, "That was nothing. It wasn't that scary.."

Haley nods as she purses her lips.

"Wait until the end." Nathan said as he looked back over at the screen.

"Great." Haley said as she sunk down into her chair a bit.

Haley cringed as the movie went on. She tried not to show how much it scared her but that didn't work out too well. During one scene she accidentally dropped their popcorn when she practically jumped in her seat. After that she slumped down in her chair embarrassed.

The end finally came and Haley grabbed onto Nathan instead that time. "Oh…sorry." she said quietly as she let go.

Nathan just smiled, "It's okay."

Haley began to feel hot, "I think I am going to go to the bathroom. I will meet you outside afterwards."

"Okay." Nathan said as she walked off.

Haley practically ran out of the theater to the bathroom. She noticed that no one was inside since most of the movies weren't over yet.

"Oh my god. I am such a dork! That pep talk to myself before it started didn't help obviously. Why the heck did he have to pick a scary movie? Ah I don't think I embarrassed myself that much. But what if he is sitting there laughing at what happened. Shoot, well I will know once the date's over. If he ignores me I will just pretend like nothing happened. It will be okay. Just don't let there be a second date. Especially not one with another scary movie!" Haley quickly washed her hands and walked out. She found Nathan waiting for her outside. "Hey." she said as she walked up to him.

"Hey." The two of them walked out of the theater, "So, do you want to go for a walk?"

"Um, sure." Haley said as they made their way down the street.

"So did you like the movie?"

"Are you kidding?! And I thought when I freaked out would be enough to show it.." Haley said as she looked away, somewhat embarrassed about bringing it up.

"You weren't that bad." he said before Haley arched her eyebrow in question. "Okay..so you freaked out, that's okay."

"I don't like horror movies, that's the whole point of me not watching them at all."

Nathan looked down at his feet, "Sorry."

"No it's fine. It's not like you knew about it or anything."

Nathan sighed, "Well are you having a good time at least?"

"Yeah…now I am I guess."

Nathan smiles, "Good."

"What about you? I mean I didn't make a complete fool of myself I guess..you're still talking to me."

Nathan laughs, "Truth be told I was kind of nervous about tonight."

"You were nervous about going on a date with me?" Haley asked in confusion.

"Yeah, I've never dated anyone like you. You're different than the other girls at school."

"How so?" she asked, intrigued now.

"Just the way you act is so much different, not like a typical girl. I like the fact that you're different though."

Haley smiled, "Well I must confess that I was just as nervous as you were."

"You were?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, I've never dated before." Haley said as she looked down at her feet. "And I never thought I would date a guy like you. I thought I would never date at all actually, at least not in high school."

"A guy like me? What, am I that bad?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just- I am one of those kids who no one ever notices and you are the one who everyone knows and wants to be friends with."

"Well I am not like that. I mean I may act like a jerk, but I don't want to."

"Really?" Haley asked.

Oops…

"No, I guess I just act like that to fit in. I know it's wrong, but they are the only friends I've got." Nathan said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well you don't have to act like them to be friends with them. If you think it's wrong then don't do it. You don't have to be mean to others just to fit in. They should like you because of who you are."

"You're probably right. I just don't think they'd see it that way." He said as he looked down at his feet. "It's getting kind of late maybe we should head back. I don't want your parents to be mad if you get home too late." Nathan said quickly as he looked back up at her.

Already? I was just starting to enjoy it; he was actually opening up to me. Well there is always the second date if there will be one…

Haley nods, "Yeah you're right."

The two of them head off to where they'd parked earlier that evening.

Nathan pulled up in front of her house. The two of them got out and walked up to the door.

"Thanks, I really did have a great time." Haley said.

Nathan smiled down at her, "I am glad you did." He looked down at his feet nervously, "Um. Would you….would you go on another date with me?

Haley's smile widened, "Yeah. I would really like that."

A look of relief washed over his face, "Okay, good. I'll see you at school then?"

Haley nods, "Yeah." She turned to go inside, but paused for a second. Turning back around she leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks again." she said smiling as she opened the door.

"No problem." he said smiling. He then turned and walked to his car.

Haley went inside and shut the door behind her. She sighed and smiled before she went upstairs.

She ran into her mom on her way to her room, "Hey Haley-bob. How did it go?"

"It was good." Haley said with a smile on her face. She walked into her room and laid on her bed thinking about the date before falling asleep.