Chapter Five: The Cheerleader and the Competition

Nathan groaned as he lifted Haley's bag onto his shoulder and followed her to the bus. "It's too early for this."

"I know." She said as he placed the bags down in the pile of other's things and then she relaxed against his chest. They stood their as Brooke argued with Whitey and it of course it ended with her winning.

"Gooood mooorning." Brooke said perkily walking over.

"Quiet Brooke." Nathan said.

"Hales, aren't you excited?"

"It's too early for this." She said repeating Nathan's words as she grabbed Nathan's hand and dragged him onto the bus. The two got situated and fell asleep on one another for the three hour ride.

Once they arrived everybody piled out of the bus, grabbed their things, and gathered around to listen to Whitey's rules for the weekend. They were all used to it, curfew was eleven, no re arranging bed arrangements, and don't break any laws. "Alright, go get situation, boy practice is in two hours, sharp!" The old man shouted.

Nathan reached for Haley's hand once more. "What's your room number?"

"314"

"I'm 319." He smirked.

"Great but we both know Brooke has masterminded some plan for us to be together."

"Great." Nathan said, punctuating his statement with a kiss to the top of her head.

"Let's have fun this weekend." Haley smiled up at him.

"As long as I'm with you I'll have fun." He smirked down at her. He accidentally walked into someone. "Oh sorry." He said looking up.

"Not a problem." The blonde smirked seductively.

"Oh, hi Claire." Nathan said as he felt Haley grip his hand tighter, he could practically feel her anger.

"How have you been?" She questioned.

"Fine, we have to go actually."

"Oh Haley, hi, I didn't even notice you there."

"Funny." Haley said snarkly, "Come on babe, let's go have sex." She said pulling him away from Claire.

"Hales." Nathan laughed as she practically ran them down the hall.

"Come on I want to get as far away from that slut as possible." She said pulling on his hand as he stopped walking.

"Hold on a minute." Nathan smirked pulling her against him. "Do you know how sexy that was?"

"It was huh?" She smirked leaning her head against his.

"Seeing you so jealous has got me a little hot and bothered."

Haley leaned in to kiss him. "Well maybe we should do something about that then." Haley then pulled on his hand once more leading him down the hall, this time he followed.

"She is here?" Brooke shrieked later that night. "I thought she moved."

"Me too!" Haley said in response as Nathan rolled his eyes, sitting on Haley's bed.

"That skank."

"It's not that big of deal, we will just avoid her." Nathan groaned lying down.

"It is, and it's all your fault you just had to fuck her freshman year and she's been all over you since." Haley complained. It wasn't really his fault, she accepted the way he was before her and wasn't mad at him for it, but of all people why her? He had made it clear to her many times and she trusted him without a doubt.

"She also stole our music, put a cockroach in Bevin's room last year, and tripped Theresa down the stairs so she broke her ankle. She is a bitch, no mercy." Brooke ranted pacing back and forth.

"Well then you would like what Haley said to her earlier." Nathan said as Haley blushed.

Tonight was the first game of the classic, the Ravens against the Bear Creek Warriors. Nathan smirked seeing Haley in her uniform standing just inside the gym. He walked down the hall and snuck up behind her, slapping her ass.

"Hey!" She started to say before he walked to stand in front of her with a smirk, also noticing that Claire was headed down the hall. "Hey."

"Sorry pregame ritual."

"I'll give you a pregame ritual." She said licking her lips before leaning up to kiss him.

"Hey, stop having dry sex in the hall, I need my cheerleader!" Brooke shouted at them.

"Shut up Brooke." They both said in unison.

"Go kick some bear creek ass." Haley said quickly kissing him once more.

"Only for you." He said before turning around with a wink.

Haley bit her lip before leaning to smack his ass. He turned around surprised. "Sorry pregame ritual." She said holding her hands up.

"Hey Claire." Brooke said snottily as she walked by. "Ready to get your ass kicked?"

"You wish, although Nathan was looking pretty hot tonight." The blonde then skipped off with a smirk as Brooke held a feisty Haley back.

Haley eyed Claire from the opposite side of the court with fire in her eyes. She normally wasn't like this but if their was one thing she was protective over, it was her boyfriend. She watched as he gained possession of the ball and dribbled down the court. He, of course, made the open lay up and just as he did the final buzzer went off. The Ravens had won by a landslide. Haley ran onto the court and into her boyfriend's open arms as he swung her around in circles out of pure joy.

Nathan lay on his side simply watching Haley sleep, thinking, when he saw her eyes open.

"What are you doing?" She asked quietly.

"Just thinking."

"About what?" She questioned rolling onto her side.

"How lucky I am to have you." He saw the rose colored blush cover her cheeks but continued talking before she could protest. "You are always by my side, supporting me. Pardon the pun, but you are my biggest cheerleader. You love me no matter what, no matter what anyone says about us or how my dad acts. You love me for me and accept me for who I am, faults and all. I am so lucky to have you and love you more than you could ever know."

Haley looked at him with such love in her eyes before running her hand over his cheek. "I do, because I love you just the same."

"I can't wait for you to be my wife one day when we are older, and for you to be the mother of my children. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Always and forever." She whispered before leaning in to kiss him. Her pulled her close to him and that was how they fell asleep, wrapped up in one another.

Nathan watched from the bleachers as Haley performed her cheer routine. She was doing amazing and he couldn't be more proud. He knew she was nervous to perform in front of such a big crowd but he never doubted her. And here she was performing better than ever. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. As it came to an end he made his way down to the floor and waited for her to run off. When she did he caught her in his awaiting arms and squeezed her tight. "That was amazing, you were amazing!"

"Really?" She questioned giddily.

"Really." He said before lightly kissing her.

"Thank you, now lets head over here they are going to announce the winners soon."

They all waited patiently, except for Brooke Davis who kept pacing, for the winners to be announced. But all their hard work paid off when the Ravens won first place and Brooke won best choreographer. Awards that Claire Young the year prior, the blonde stood off on the side watching jealous as she saw Haley jump up in glee, Nathan following, only for them to embrace.

Nathan rubbed at his eyes, he was exhausted. After only spending two nights in the hotel room he shared with Haley his stuff was a mess. But of course her's was neat and organized. Maybe he should learn some of her tricks, afterall here he was an hour before they left packing and she was down getting breakfast instead.

"Knock, knock." A small voice said walking into his room.

"What do you want Claire?"

"Just to talk, is that okay?" She said leaning against the dresser in the room.

"If I said no would you leave?" He sighed as he kept packing.

"Probably not." He didn't know how to get rid of her. He contemplated as he continued folding his shirt but he couldn't think of anything. When he turned around to grab another shirt, she was right there and leaned up to kiss him. Nathan tried to get her off of him as quick as possible and shouted at her. "Get the hell off of me!"

He turned only to see Haley in the doorway, eyes wide, mouth open, and a bagel, that he assumed she brought up for him, on the ground. "Hales it is not what it looks like. You've got to believe me. Please baby, let me explain."

Haley shook her head quickly. "No just please. Give me a minute. Don't chase after me, just give me some time."

He bit his lip, he didn't know if he should just give her some time, or if she really wanted him to chase after her. "Fine. Just please, when you are ready come back here and let me explain." She sighed before heading down the hall. Nathan turned back to Claire. "Get the fuck out of my room before I force you out. If I just lost a two year relationship over you, skank, you are going to be fucking sorry." He all but shouted at her, scaring her she quickly ran off. Nathan took a seat on his bed, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his head in his hands. He bit back tears worried that everything he ever loved and wanted walked out the door.

Haley sat in tears around the corner on the floor. She couldn't believe what she just saw and needed some time to just cry. She had just watched the love of her life get kissed by another girl. She saw it happen before her own eyes. She knew he didn't cheat on her, he would never, but she just needed a minute to let go of the thought of someone else kissing Nathan. It was disgusting and horrible to think about which only led her to think about how Nathan must be feeling. He didn't know that she want mad at him. It wasn't fair to him for her to let him worry that she was. She had to put herself together and go back to see him.

"Hi" She whispered walking into his room, shutting the door behind her.

"Hi" He said quietly, as his voice nearly cracked. She could tell he was about to cry, something Nathan Scott didn't do often. He stood up with open arms, he needed to hold her, he needed her comfort. "Can I just..."

Haley nodded moving into his hug as he held her tight. "I saw what happened. I saw her kiss you, and you push her off, and even heard you kick her out after. I'm not mad. I know you didn't cheat, just what happened?"

Nathan let out a sigh of relief. "I don't even know, she just came in here and I didn't know how to get rid of her, I was going to call you but then she just kissed me. I swear I didn't want her to and I didn't like it. The only girl I want kissing me is you. I'm sorry."

"Hey" She said running her hand along his cheek. "You did nothing wrong, my amazing boyfriend."

"Then why did you leave?"

"I needed some time to just process it all. Imagine if you saw another man force himself on me. How mad you would be, how upset you would be. It messes with your head the thought of it. It was disgusting and I just couldn't imagine another girl kissing you, until it happened. I honestly didn't know how to react."

"I get it, although if another guy kissed you his head would probably be through a wall somewhere." Nathan said before kissing her temple.

Haley chuckled slightly before taking her hand in his. "Why don't we go get breakfast together, since I dropped your bagel on the floor and all."
"Or we could just stay here and avoid running into the skank at all. You know you could help me pack." He suggested.

"I see an ulterior motive to this." She said rolling her eyes, the room wasn't as bad as before but he still had a lot of he belongings on the floor and not in his luggage. "Is this what I'm getting myself into for the rest of my life, picking up and packing for you?"

"Probably." He said kissing her before grabbing another t-shirt and stuffing it into his bag.

"Nathan!" She scolded. "How many times do I have to tell you, you have to fold it or else it wont all fit?!"

"Enough so that way you just do it all for me." He smirked.

"Whatever just move over and let me do it."