Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

A/N: Thank you all again for reading and special thanks to those who review. I love reading your opinions on how you think the story is going. I seriously cannot thank you enough and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

"Sorry I'm late," Mouth said to Dan as he arrived at the Scott residence an hour late for the tutoring session. "I had some things to take care of."

Dan nodded, but he wasn't pleased. He didn't take well to his employees being tardy, and yes, he considered Mouth an employee. However, he didn't comment, seeing as how it was the first time it happened. He simply ushered Mouth inside and called up the stairs to Nathan.

Nathan hadn't been surprised when 3:30 had rolled around and there was no sign of Mouth. He was, however, surprised that the guy was here now. He eyed him skeptically as he made his way down. As much as his unexpected grade had upset him, what weighed on his mind the most, since it was revealed to him, was the tape. He wondered how and why Mouth had it and what he planned to do with it.

They settled in their usual place at the dining room table.

"I didn't expect you to show up," Nathan said when Dan went outside to barbecue.

"I almost didn't," Mouth admitted. "There's just something about being pushed and threatened that gets my back up. But I'm only here until the end of this week like your dad and I signed on. After that, you're on your own."

"I don't think my average will be up to a C by the end of the week."

"Well then, you might want to look into another tutor."

"Look, Mouth…"

"It's Marvin."

Nathan sighed as Mouth reached into his bag and pulled out a paper, laying it out on the table in front of Nathan. It was his essay, now marked as an A. Nathan just looked at it in confusion. "How did you…?"

"It was a misunderstanding," Mouth explained as he remembered how it all went down in Mrs. Peters classroom.

Flashback

"I'm sorry, but if Mr. Scott was at all surprised by this grade, he would have brought it up to me," Mrs. Peters said. "The fact that he didn't tells me that he's well aware why he got an F. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other papers to grade."

"But this essay is good," Mouth argued.

The middle aged woman sighed and took off her reading glasses, dropping them on her desk. "Yes it is," she admitted. "In fact, it's a brilliant piece of work. I'd love to sit down with its original author some day."

Peyton's mouth dropped. "You're accusing him of plagiarism?" she asked, her deal with Mouth to let him do the talking forgotten. He'd insisted she keep quiet in fear that she'd end up threatening the teacher.

Mouth threw her a warning look, but Peyton wouldn't meet his eyes.

"No," Mrs. Peters stated firmly. "I'm not suggesting he stole another's words and presented them as his own, although that wouldn't be much of a stretch, considering he has been caught with a cheat sheet on tests in the past. I'm thinking more along the lines that he got someone to write it for him and then simply signed his name to it."

"That's still using someone else's words," Peyton pointed out.

"Yes, but the latter is authorized by the writer, therefore, immoral and reprehensible, but not illegal. However, I will not reward such students with a favorable evaluation. As far as I'm concerned, he got the grade he deserved, and seeing as it's you two in here and not him, he knows it too. He's just lucky there wasn't harsher disciplinary action taken."

"Actually," Mouth refuted. "He's not here because he doesn't have enough confidence in his academic ability to question the teacher."

"That's true," Peyton jumped in, recalling Nathan's comment to her in the hallway. "He thinks the paper sucked and that's why he got a bad mark." Nathan never had believed he was smart so he would automatically take the teacher's word for it and assume it was no good. And why wouldn't he? Shouldn't the teacher know best?

"Except it didn't suck," Mouth said. "And I know for a fact that he didn't cheat."

That's when Mrs. Peters opened her filing cabinet and pulled out another of Nathan's essays from a few weeks past, urging Mouth to read it.

He did so and when he was done, he looked at her quizzically.

"Would you say that D is justified?" she asked him.

"Well, yeah," Mouth said, seeing as the paper was riddled with errors.

"That's the kind of half-ass work I regularly get from Mr. Scott. Now, do you actually expect me to believe that these two papers were written by the same person?"

"Honestly, this reminds me of the rough draft he gave me of that one," Mouth said. And it did – not the words, but the kinds of mistakes. He saw just as much potential in this one as he had the more recent one. Couldn't Mrs. Peters see that as well? "Before he made the necessary corrections," Mouth stressed. "He didn't start off with this great piece. He had to redo it three or four times to get it that way."

"You'll excuse me if I don't see him putting forth that much effort," she replied snidely.

"Ok, you know what?" Peyton snapped, her temper barely under control. "You don't have the right to look down on your students like that. You've obviously got some kind of vendetta against Nathan and…"

"Look, Mrs. Peters," Mouth interrupted before Peyton got them all expelled. "I worked with Nathan on this. I personally checked over every copy and gave him instructions on what needed changing. I know he did the work. I was there."

Mrs. Peters looked at him a long time, trying to decide whether or not to believe him, finally deciding that she did. The tutors in the school were held in high regard for their moral integrity. "Very well, Mr. McFadden. If you say it's so, then I'll trust your word." With that said, she easily changed the F to an A by simply drawing out a line to the right side. "You'd better be right about this," she said, handing it to him.

"I am. Thank you," Mouth told her appreciatively.

"Yeah, thanks," Peyton mumbled, glad Nathan got the mark he deserved, yet offended for him that he only got it because Mouth had vouched for him that it was authentic.

End of Flashback

"A misunderstanding?" Nathan asked in wonder.

"Yeah, it was meant to be an A all along."

Nathan sneered, not buying it. "Then why did she say she expected as much from me?" He knew damn well she would have never expected him to do that well.

"She said that?" Mouth asked, his dislike for the English teacher growing.

"She thinks I cheated, right?" Nathan questioned, putting two and two together.

Mouth nodded in confirmation. He hadn't planned to tell him, but Nathan had figured it out on his own. If he thought Nathan would be upset at all, he was proven wrong when he simply shrugged carelessly. "That doesn't bother you?" Mouth asked. How could it not?

"I don't care what she thinks," Nathan muttered. "She's a bitch anyways. Plus, I can't really blame her. She did catch me cheating three times," he went on to admit. "And that's just this year "

Mouth shook his head, but didn't comment on the topic further. He was still offended and angry over Nathan's previous actions. He'd thought they were becoming friends but Nathan had turned on him and had been so quick to believe the worst, so this buddy-buddy act didn't really work for him anymore. "Ok, well, you can take your History book out and turn to page 231," he said.

"Listen, man," Nathan said. "I gotta ask you about the tape." It was certainly what was foremost on his mind.

"I figured as much," Mouth replied knowingly. "Yes, there really is one and no, I'm not going to hand it over to you."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Well, what do you plan to do with it? And how do you even have one in the first place? You a stalker or something?"

"Not a stalker. Jimmy and I installed the camera to tape the rivercourt games…"

"Isn't it illegal to tape people without their knowledge?"

"You want to talk about illegal? Try assault. But, to answer your question, no. Thirteen states have prohibitions regarding hidden cameras in private places, but the others, including North Carolina, don't even have that. We checked. As for what I'm going to do with it, as long as nothing else happens to Lucas, the tape will remain a secret."

"So basically, you're gonna hold it over my head."

"If that's how you want to look at it, yeah. Or you could see it as an incentive to leave Lucas alone."

"I haven't done anything to him since then."

"Good. Keep it that way and there won't be a problem. And that goes for all your Raven buddies too."

"Hey, I can only give my word. I don't speak for them."

"I'm not stupid, ok," Mouth sneered. "Those guys idolize you. Most of them practically worship the ground you walk on. You tell them to lay off, they will."

"Ok, and how do I know you won't go back on your word?"

"You don't," Mouth answered with a shrug. "I guess you'll just have to trust me."

Nathan met his gaze, nodding, knowing he had no bargaining chips. "Fine."

"Good. Now, page 231," Mouth repeated from earlier.

Nathan did as asked, ignoring the fact that Mouth hadn't asked, as he normally did, what he'd prefer to work on that day. During the session he attempted to draw the tutor into the casual banter they'd both grown accustomed to – the easy rapport they'd established that made the lessons less school-like and more lighthearted. But Mouth wouldn't have it and focused solely on the books.

"So, uh, thanks for going to bat for me," Nathan said after a while. "With Mrs. Peters," he elaborated. "You didn't have to do that."

"Actually, I did," Mouth countered. "As your tutor, that grade was just as much a slur on me as it was on you," he added before returning to the task at hand.

"Look, I'm sorry," Nathan said after a few more moments. "I shouldn't have gone after you like that. I don't think before I act sometimes."

To say Mouth was stunned would be an understatement. First a thank you and now an apology? Nathan was admitting he'd done wrong? He had yet to do so for Lucas.

"It's fine," Mouth said, though it clearly wasn't.

"So, we cool then?" Nathan asked anyway.

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Well, will you at least keep tutoring me? I don't really want to get stuck with some loser."

Mouth had to chuckle at that. Apparently Nathan didn't consider him a loser anymore. "And if there's another misunderstanding?" he asked. "I get thrown against another locker? Maybe worse? Sorry if that doesn't sound all that tempting."

Nathan heaved a heavy sigh. "Look, I don't blame you for being pissed off, but so was I," he said truthfully. "I mean, you said one thing and the opposite happened. It kinda made it seem like you were gunning for me."

"I understand why you assumed I set you up," Mouth admitted. "I do, but I don't buy that as an excuse to round up your posse and come harass me. There are other ways to deal with things."

"I didn't round them up," Nathan denied. "They just came."

Ignoring Nathan's comment, which only proved his earlier point that the guys idolized him, Mouth continued. "You know, if you like beating people up so much, why don't you join the wrestling team? You and Peyton would make a great tag team."

"What?" Nathan asked, not understanding.

As Mouth filled him in on the threat Peyton had issued just minutes after his own, Nathan couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. That was his girl, always standing up for him. Ok, technically she wasn't his girl anymore, but he still saw her that way, and hopefully she would be again soon.

"Yeah, that's real amusing, being threatened by a girl," Mouth grumbled.

"Hey, girl or no, she packs a mean punch. Trust me, I know."

Mouth sincerely hoped he never found out. How embarrassing would that be? He went on to tell Nathan how Peyton had insisted on coming with him to get to the bottom of the essay mix up and that just made Nathan even happier.

His smile faded, however, when Mouth went into a whole long speech about how violence didn't solve anything. He rolled his eyes. "You sound like my grandmother," Nathan told him dismissively.

"What do you get out of it?" Mouth asked him.

"What?"

"Pushing people around. Is it the power? You like it when people are afraid of you?"

Nathan quirked an eyebrow at his tutor. No one ever asked him this stuff. With the exception of Peyton and Brooke, and occasionally Rachel or Jake, no one ever dared to. He didn't really know how to answer so he just shrugged indifferently.

Because Nathan didn't reply, Mouth pressed on. "I know your dad bullies you and that's gotta suck, but is that why…"

"Ok, you know what?" Nathan cut him off. "Lecture time's over. Let's just work on this History shit," he said, pulling his book closer to him.

"Ok," Mouth said agreeably.

"He doesn't bully me," Nathan said defensively.

"Nathan, I saw…"

"He's not always like that, ok. He just gets pissed off when I give him a hard time and sometimes he loses it."

"That's not an excuse," Mouth said. "And I didn't mean just physically. He verbally…"

"Whatever, man," Nathan once again cut him off mid-sentence. "You're my tutor, not my shrink. And there's not much time to get this done if you're quitting at the end of the week."

–––––––––––––––––––––––––

Nathan sat on his bed that night, mulling over the day's events. While it definitely had its bad moments, it also had its finer points. He'd received the mark he'd worked for in the end, he and Brooke were best friends again, and he'd found out that Peyton had stuck her neck out for him. So his teacher thought he'd cheated, there was an incriminating tape out there, and he and his tutor had all kinds of issues? He couldn't help feel that the good outweighed the bad.

He grabbed his cell phone from the nightstand where he'd set it, hesitated for a second and then pressed the number one on his contacts and sent the call through.

"Hello?" Peyton said, sitting up in bed.

"Hey, did I wake you up?" Nathan asked.

"No," she replied. "Something wrong?"

"I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Nathan…"

"And I wanted to tell you that I'm gonna sleep real good tonight knowing you're still looking out for me."

Peyton rolled her eyes, smiled and shook her head all at the same time. He just had to find out, didn't he? She could literally hear the cocky smirk he wore, in his voice. "You woke me up to tell me that?"

"You just said I didn't wake you up."

"I lied."

"I'm sorry," he said earnestly.

"It's ok. Nite, Nate."

"Nite, Xena."

"Xena? You calling me a warrior?"

"A mighty princess warrior," he elaborated, referring to the old television series.

"Oh ok," she said with a laugh. "I suppose you want to be my Hercules," she replied, referencing yet another TV show to which its main character, also named Hercules, would occasionally make an appearance on Xena and vice versa, and later come together to make an animated movie."

"I'd love to, but nah. You don't need a hero. I think you could handle just about anything on your own."

"Everybody could use a hero now and then," she said in reply.

"You in the market for one?" he teased.

"Not at the moment," she joked back. "But I'll be sure to let you know when I am."

"Peyton?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for what you did. I know I don't really deserve your help."

"Are you being self deprecating?" she asked to cut away from the sudden seriousness she heard in his voice.

"Probably," he replied lightly. "If I knew what that meant."

She chuckled at his response.

"I'm serious though, Peyt. Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me. I wanted to do it. I know you worked hard for that grade."

"Yeah."

"So, you gonna be a straight A student soon?"

That made him laugh. "Not likely."

"Why not?"

"Too time consuming," he told her. "I got better things to do."

"So that essay was to…?"

"Just to see if I could do it."

"And you did."

"Yeah, but it was hard."

"So, you're saying if it doesn't come easy, you can't be bothered."

"No, I'm saying I had to struggle for that A and it's just not worth it."

"How is that any different than what I said?"

"I stayed up half the night for a week working on that one paper," he said. "If I set out for all A's, I'd never get any sleep and where would that get me?"

"Stressed out and exhausted," she replied, letting him know she understood his point.

"Exactly," he said. "So I'll aim for C's because I have to, to get back on the team, and be satisfied just knowing that if I ever need to pull an A out of my ass again sometime, I can do it."

"Sounds like a plan," she responded. "And now speaking of sleep, we should get some."

"Ok," he said, trying not to sound disappointed.

"I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll see ya," he replied. "Peyton?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for not hanging up."

She smiled. "All these thank yous in one night. Send me a card, will ya?" she teased.

"Tired, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. And Peyt?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"Goodnight, Nate."

"Goodnight."

Peyton closed her phone, wrapped both hands around it and brought it close to her chest. Sighing softly, she whispered, "I love you too."