Thank youguys for reading. I know you all hate me right now for taking a long break but i was on vacation with no internet connection so sorry. Hope you enjoy this one.

Chapter 18

She couldn't even get a wink of sleep. The enormity of giving up on her relationship kept weighing on her mind the whole night. She looked at her bedside table to find that it was four thirty in the morning. "So much for less stress", she muttered to herself. The doctor had told her to take things easy and not to compromise in her sleep otherwise things were not going to look good for her baby. She knew it's her responsibility to make sure the baby is healthy and despite what she felt during the earlier days of her pregnancy, she was starting to like the little human being growing inside of her. She found herself rubbing her tummy a lot these days where the smallest of small baby bump was shown. She sighed to herself before getting out of bed. Might as well take a shower and get dressed she thought.

Haley made it out of her house by six in the morning. It was ridiculously early to go to school but somehow she felt the need to go there. Once she reached the empty school grounds, she headed straight for the soccer ground. She remembered coming here during early morning practice with Paige. Those were such easy times in her life. She sat at the bleachers and just took in the scene of the empty green ground. Somehow she always felt like this stadium was completely disconnected from the rest of school. You can't hear any of the busy sounds of school, just you, your team and the game. As she sat there, she kept thinking how far she had gotten in life and lost track of time. She didn't even realise that people have started entering school premises to attend their classes. Haley always felt like she could escape the drama of school by just coming here. She just didn't realise how true her feelings were.

Meanwhile in the girls' locker rooms of THH...

Paige had been changing into her practice jersey. She had eaten a lot of unhealthy food last night and while most girls would go for a run to burn out their extra calories, Paige prefers to just get some practice on the soccer field. That way, she burns out those calories as well as brushes on her skills. She changed into her shorts and took off her top. She was going to put on her practice jersey when she felt movement beside her. Paige turned to look, expecting a fellow soccer player only to get the shock of her life to find Jimmy Edwards standing at the corner of the locker room.

"Shit", she exclaimed and instantly tried to cover her bra-clad torso with her jersey, "what the hell are you doing here?" she yelled and saw Jimmy flinch a little.

"I'm sorry, I really am sorry", he rushed out, "I was just looking for Haley", he explained.

Paige could feel rage building within her at his excuse, "What? You wanted to see Haley?" she asked incredulously, "so you just walked into the girls' locker room. Get out of here fat-ass". As soon as she said those words, she found a change in Jimmy's demeanour. She didn't mean to be so rude but she was half naked for gods' sakes.

At the mention of the word fat-ass, Jimmy's body tensed. ""I said I was sorry", he said, his voice sounding cold and emotionless, "the only reason why I walked in here was because I didn't expect anyone to be here".

"But you expected Haley to be here right?" said Paige as she pulled her practice jersey over her body, "what? So you could sneak up on her while she was changing? You sure look like a creep but I didn't really expect you to be one".

"If you haven't noticed already classes are about to start. Not really the right time to be changing for practice", he said, his voice raising a little, "and the only reason I came here is because Haley wasn't there at the tutoring centre". His voice took on a menacing tone and his hand slipped into the front pocket of his sweatshirt, something which should have alarmed Paige had she noticed.

"So you just thought you could sneak up in here? Why don't you get your lying perverted fat ass out of here and I'll-"

Bang

Paige didn't get to finish her sentence and she never will. Jimmy looked down at her lifeless body lying on the ground, only mildly shocked by the pool of blood surrounding her body. He looked at his trembling hands holding the gun and felt guilty for not feeling guilty. He was tired of people pushing him around like he was nothing. The bitch got what she deserved.

Little did he know that someone else was in the locker room and had witnessed the gun going off. Erica Marsh also had a free period that she wanted to spend on the field. She had just entered the locker room to hear Paige's frustrated voice and the sound of a shot. Fear invaded her whole body and she fled the scene without a second thought. She vaguely remembers one of her friends stopping her to ask what happened. "S-s-Somebody brought a gun to school" she screamed at the top of her lungs and continued running in a desperate attempt to get out of school campus. She barely registered the chaos that erupted in the hallways of school after her outburst, her mind still going back to the horrific scene she had witnessed.

Meanwhile outside of school...

The school bus carrying the whole basketball team, had just stopped at the driveway of the school, the driver clearly knowing something was wrong when he saw the students running out of school. Whitey followed by Nathan and Lucas stepped out of the bus, all three of them catching on that something was immensely wrong. Just then Brooke came running to them. Lucas stepped forward and hugged her and asked her what happened while Nathan started looking around for Haley.

"Someone has a gun in school", her distraught voice barely whispered but all three of them heard loud and clear.

Nathan's heart dropped and his mind immediately went to Haley. "Haley", he called out as he stepped towards the school, clearly panicking because Haley was nowhere to be found. Whitey called out to Nathan. He turned around and faced them but continued to walk backwards, his fear for Haley overpowering all emotions. He realized in that instant that Lucas was walking towards him trying to stop him from running into the building. Nathan broke into a sprint towards the school building. He didn't want to be stopped, he wanted to find Haley and know that she was okay. Lucas kept running after him, not wanting to leave his brother behind. Whitey called out to both the boys a few more times before he realised that Brooke was going to follow them. He immediately grabbed the girl and pushed her into the bus before telling the driver to get away from there.

The boys moved cautiously along the school hallway neither uttering a word to each other. It was in the silence that Nathan allowed the intensity of the situation to settle over him. Nathan couldn't believe that he was in this position in his life. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to Haley or his baby. He wondered for a moment if something had already happened and quickly got rid of those thoughts. No, Haley is fine, the baby is fine and once this nightmare is over, I will turn my world upside down to be with her again. Over the past few months, Nathan was overwhelmed by how much Haley had hurt him and betrayed his trust. He also had doubts that her pregnancy was her only reason for leaving the tour and she didn't come for him although she claimed she didn't know about the pregnancy when she left the tour. But in such a situation, he allowed himself to realise how much Haley means to him. Nothing matters without her and a part of him always knew that they would end up together again. And now, he wasn't even sure if they could have that.

The boys went into the sports room, where all the sports equipments are kept. Nathan immediately grabbed a baseball bat and Lucas was suddenly livid. "What the hell do you think you are doing Nate?" he could see that his brother was losing his mind over his best friend but this is ridiculous.

"I'm gonna go into the tutoring centre and get Haley", said Nathan as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"If you haven't heard already, someone has a gun in school", Lucas whispered harshly, "so what? Are you gonna stop a bullet with a baseball bat?" he tried to reason with his brother.

"Look I know this is stupid alright? But my girl and my child are within the school premises. I can't just walk away and not know if she's okay".

"Okay first of all", Lucas held up one finger, "she hasn't been your girl in a long time", Nathan looked away guiltily at that, "secondly", Lucas held up another finger, "she's also my best friend and thirdly, she could be anywhere in campus. How can you be sure that she's in the tutoring centre".

Nathan shuffled the bat in his hands unsure of his next move before speaking with finality. "I'm gonna go into the tutoring centre", he said, "you can either walk out of here or you could help me find Haley".

Lucas looked unsure for a moment before caving and grabbing another baseball bat and walking out of the sports room, Nathan following close behind. The boys were scared out of their minds but didn't utter a word. They finally reached the hallway where going right would lead to the tutoring centre while going straight leads to the library. The boys didn't have to say anything they already knew who goes which way. "Be Careful", Lucas whispered and Nathan responded with a "yeah you too" before going right towards the tutoring centre.

Lucas went straight ahead and entered the library. He knew that Haley had a free period in the morning and if she wasn't in the tutoring centre then the library was the next best choice.

Meanwhile, Nathan walked up to the tutoring centre and noticed the locked door. He knocked on it softly praying to god that Haley was safely locked up in there. He heard a little bit of commotion going about on the other side of the door and realised that they were probably contemplating whether to open or not. He quickly grabbed his driver's licence and slid it through the bottom of the door. The commotion stopped and a moment later, Peyton opened the door. She instantly hugged him with relief but he was still looking around for the face he wanted to see. He noticed Mouth, Skills, Marcus, a girl he didn't recognise and another chubby guy who he realise used to hang out with Lucas and his buddies. His heart sank when he realised that Haley wasn't here. He felt Peyton pull away from him and he looked down at her and noticed the tears in her eyes. He instantly felt a little guilty. In his haste to find Haley he didn't even think about Peyton or any of his other friends.

"You guys need to get out of here, hallways are clear for now", he said as he opened the door wider. Just then they all heard a click as the huge guy brought out his gun and pointed it at them. A series of gasps were heard as people held their breaths.

"Nobody move", Jimmy said in a shaking voice and for the first time since stepping into school premises, Nathan felt relieved that Haley wasn't at the tutoring centre. Jimmy ordered them to get back into the tutoring centre and close the door. Jimmy made Nathan run a tape in a straight line along the centre of the classroom and ordered everyone to stay on one side while Jimmy stood on the other side. Just when Nathan was about to sit on one of the chairs a blood curdling scream could be heard in the distance. Nathan thought that his heart had stopped. He could recognise that voice anywhere. He immediately went towards the door but Jimmy blocked his way, the gun pointing right at him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jimmy snapped.

"That was Haley", Nathan yelled, "Please man, you gotta let me go get her" he didn't care that he was begging. He just wanted to see her. That scream sounded terrible and he knew that something went wrong with her. He kept walking towards the door ignoring Jimmy's threats to shoot him but before he could reach the door, he felt someone pull him back. He looked back to see Skills telling him to calm down. Nathan pulled away from Skills, "Calm down? That was Haley man! How can you ask me to calm down?"

"Because you're no good to Haley if you're dead Nate", said Skills in an even voice.

"Just shut up the both of you", Jimmy exclaimed, "and get back in your place".

The boys didn't move. "There are others aren't there?" Nathan asked in a broken tone. When no response came he lost his cool. "Answer me you idiot", he screamed.

"No there are no others", Jimmy yelled back.

"Then why did she scream?" his voice not coming down at all.

"I don't know okay?" Jimmy yelled in frustration, "I don't know", he said in a softer tone, "Nathan I promise you that there are no others and I also promise you that if you walk out that door, I will kill you", Jimmy said in a even tone.

Nathan noticed for the first time that Jimmy was drop dead serious about his threat. Nathan slowly made his way towards his seat and sunk down upon it. He rested his elbows on his knees and let his head fall into his hands. He took a deep breath and exhaled ending with a sob and he finally let himself break down letting the tears fall freely. He barely registered that Peyton moved up to him and hugged him in comfort but he couldn't feel any better. Whether there were others or not, Haley was in trouble and he couldn't do anything to help her!

And that's it for this chapter which happens to be my take on the school shooting. I always wanted to know that Nathan would have gone inside for Haley even if they were at their worst. Let me know what you think. Remember, it's no fun without the reviews so leave me some love and/or hate guys.