A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update sooner. Thanx so much for the reviews, I really appreciate it! Anyways I just wanted to clear a few things up, this story might be a little confusing with the characters switched around. Peyton & Lucas grew up as best friends. Peyton's story is the same, her mom passed away when she was younger and her dad is always gone, so she spends most of her time at Luca's house. It's her second home. Brooke is Nathan's girlfriend and her story is the same, the only difference is Brooke's and Nathan's relationship will be a little more deep and meaningful than what the writers on the show portrayed for N/P. Haley and Brooke are best friends and she, Nathan, Brooke and Jake have known each other since forever. Haley's character is still the same, but her home life might be a little more complex from the show, but all that will be revealed in time. I know Felix and Rachel at the same time is a little off but I always thought it would be fun to have these two at the same time and Anna won't be in this story but you'll find out what happened to her. Like I said I'll be using some of the original storylines from the show in my story eventually. One more thing this will not be a Naley/Leyton fic. At least not in the romantic sense.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Haley slammed the bathroom door and leaned against it, laughing. She headed downstairs, shaking her head, trying to get rid of the images of Tim pinning Bevin up against the wall. Reaching the leaving room, she looked around for her best friend, dying to tell her this new piece of news. Normally she wasn't one to gossip. In fact, she tended to stay away from all the drama, but this was just too funny to not gossip about.
Having not spotted the pretty brunette and with nothing else to do, she headed into the kitchen. She looked around the empty kitchen and hesitated for a second before heading towards the keg in the middle of the room. She reached for a cup and fumbled with it, unsure of how to get the beer flowing.
"Need help with that?" a voice laughed behind her. She turned around and smiled sheepishly at Nathan. He took the cup from her and easily filled two cups and handed one back to her.
She smiled, "Thanks." She looked around, "So where's your better half?" she teased.
Nathan grinned and took a sip of his drink, he held up the cup, "It never leaves my side." He joked. She rolled her eyes at him playfully and he shrugged, "She's out by the water with Theresa." He took another drink and saw her do the same.
"So..not that I'm complaining or anything…but what's got you joining the rest of us in what Brooke refers to as the 'the dark side'?"
"I don't know." She admitted. She shrugged, "Maybe I'm just tired of being good ol' boring Haley."
Nathan bumped her with his shoulder, "You're anything but boring Haley." He smiled and looked at her carefully, "But seriously, you okay?"
"Yeah I'm okay. Okay being a relative term, considering that a third of the world is starving." She said dryly.
Nathan let out a laugh and she looked over at him quickly, "Am I really that bad? I mean it's just a couple of drinks…"
He shrugged, "It's not really you I guess, you tend to stay away from all that…But hey... I certainly understand wanting to let go sometimes."
Haley fidgeted with her cup and bit her lip, she looked back at him, "I've…maybe there's some stuff going on at home…"she admitted.
"Oh." He furrowed his brow, "Anything I can help you with?"
She took a deep breath, "No…it's okay. It's nothing really. I mean nothing I can't handle anyway."
"Well…hey…I got your back all right? If you ever want to talk…or anything…"
She smiled and gave him a quick hug. She knew Nathan came off as a jerk most of the time because well…he was a jerk most of the time. But deep down he was a good guy and once he let his guard down, he could be a good friend.
She pulled back, "I know Nathan. And thanks, now what do you say we go and look for that gorgeous girlfriend of yours?"
Nathan grinned and gave her arm a squeeze, glad her mood had lightened just a bit. She wasn't just his girlfriend's best friend, she was his friend as well and they'd grown up together, so of course he cared about her. He followed her out of the kitchen and into the living room.
"Listen…you will not believe who I found in the bathroom together." He looked over at her and she laughed, "Tim and Bevin."
He let out a laugh, "Seriously? Damn.…my parties never fail to surprise even me. You never know who's going to hook up." he spotted Felix across the room, watching them, or rather Haley intently.
"Speaking of which…"he pointed to Felix, "What's up with him?"
Haley looked in the direction in which he was pointing and groaned, "Oh god…I swear…all I did was take one body shot with him. One! And now…"
"He can't take his eyes off of you?" he offered.
Haley sighed and shook her head, "If that's all it takes…" she smiled, "Guys are so easy."
Nathan laughed, "I think it's more than that. Any guy loves a good challenge."
She looked at him puzzled, "You're like the ultimate conquest." He explained.
She scoffed and he laughed, "No seriously. You're pretty and popular and you're on the cheerleading squad, and you're smart." He shrugged, "Smart enough to be intimidating and smart enough to not fall for the type of bull that guys like Felix give. And he knows that. He knows that girls like you don't go for guys like him."
Haley looked back at Felix, he flashed her a grin and she turned away, "So then, why put yourself through the embarrassment of being rejected?"
"Didn't you hear me? Any guy loves a good challenge."
"Well…challenge or not…I just wish he'd stop."
Nathan grinned mischievously, "You want me to make him stop?"
Haley laughed, "Sure…y'know you're just looking for any excuse to take a shot at him." she said knowingly.
"He's always hitting on Brooke." He admitted.
"Well it doesn't matter. She's with you. She loves you."
"I know…it's just…"
"Hard knowing there are other guys that want to be with her?" She nodded, "Y'know it goes both ways." She pointed out, "But it comes with the whole being the "Golden Couple" thing."
"Yeah.." he looked over at her and grinned, "Besides Felix's got nothing on me."
Haley laughed and nudged him, "And there's the Nathan Scott we all know and love." She teased.
He laughed with her and raised his cup to his mouth taking a big gulp. He spotted Tim making his way down the stairs and grinned.
"Look who it is. Yo Tim! My man!." Nathan shouted, making his way towards his friend.
Haley shook her head as she saw the two basketball players high-five."At least one thing will never change. Boys will always be boys." She muttered to herself smiling.
"What is she wearing? Doesn't she know that skirt is sooo last season?" Brooke looked across the beach at Rachel in disgust.
Theresa laughed, "Didn't you have that skirt?"
Brooke looked at her, "Please. Like I would own something that tacky." She took a sip of her drink and rolled her eyes as she saw Rachel flirting with Vegas. "Doesn't that girl have any class? I mean the whole night she's been throwing herself at all the basketball players. She's so pathetic."
Theresa rolled her eyes, "Are you still jealous that she was hitting on a certain basketball player?"
Brooke glared at her, "I was never jealous. I mean really what's there to be jealous of?" She shrugged to brush it off. She refused to admit just how much it affected her every time she saw the redhead near the handsome basketball player. "It's amusing actually to watch her pathetic attempts to flirt with my boyfriend."
"Well as amusing as it might be to you, this little war with you and Rachel is not amusing for the rest of us." Theresa sighed, "It's getting a little old Brooke. It's a new year, why not reach a truce?"
"A truce? With her?" she laughed, "What are you going to suggest next? That I make her co-captain?"
Theresa paused, and looked away, "That's…that's actually not a bad idea."
Brooke looked at her in disbelief, "You better have had too much to drink Theresa, because I know you didn't just say it would be a good idea to make that slut my co-captain."
Theresa sighed, "No listen. She's a good cheerleader. One of the best we've got. And she's helped us out in binds. You've got to admit, some of the cheers she's come up with are pretty good. I'm just saying, this year is going to be pretty tough for us. We've got the State Competition coming up and…it might be a lot less stressful for you if you had someone help you with the cheers."
Brooke threw her hair over her shoulder haughtily, "She may be a good cheerleader, but I'm the best the squad's got. And that is why I'm the captain. The sole captain. I do not need anyone's help, let alone hers. And why are you even doubting me? I've gotten us to Nationals before. Besides, none of you guys have ever complained before, or even brought it up." She paused and looked at her suspiciously, "Wait. Did she put you up to this?"
Theresa bit her lip, "Look forget I even said anything okay?"
"She did didn't she?!" she shook her head furiously, "Unbelievable. It's not enough that she flirts with my boyfriend but now she wants to take my spot as captain? What is she going to do next? Run for student class president?"
"Brooke…."Theresa started. "It's not like that and you know it. She just wants to help."
Brooke laughed, "Help? Right." She downed the rest of her drink and threw the cup at the ground angrily and took off towards the water.
"Brooke!…where are you going?"
Brooke turned to look at her and smiled, "I'm going to go tell that bitch where she can take all her help."
Theresa sighed, she should have never said anything. This was going to end in a disaster she just knew it. She followed Brooke, "Might as well enjoy the fireworks." She muttered.
"Hey stranger. I was wondering why I haven't seen you the whole night." Jake Jagielski looked up from his spot on the couch to see Haley smiling down at him.
He grinned, "Hey yourself." He patted the spot next to him and she sat down. She looked around them at all their classmates. She smiled at him, "Great party huh?"
"Oh yeah the best." He said dryly.
She giggled, "So then why aren't you out there having fun?"
He looked over at her and smiled. Her long honey blonde hair was a little mussed and her eyes looked brighter than usual, "You mean like you?" he joked.
She shook her head and took another sip from her drink. "Brooke would be so proud." She joked back.
Jake laughed, "Is this the same Haley James who always refuses to even be near the keg?"
She looked over at him, "There's nothing wrong with a few drinks right?" she asked him worriedly. She leaned her head back against the couch, "God I feel like such a hypocrite. I mean I swore this would never me."
He smiled at her, "You're allowed to change your own rules once in a while." He raised his cup and took a drink, "Besides it's nice to just forget about real life sometimes, y'know? And what better way than in typical teenage form?"
Haley's eyes clouded over slightly. She took a deep breath and looked at him, "So, what's going on with you? I feel like I haven't really seen you around since school let out."
"Probably because you haven't." He shrugged, "Having a baby to take care of, sometimes gets in the way of having fun."
"How's Jenny by the way?"
Jake's face lit up like it always did when he talked about his six-month old, "Getting bigger every day." He said wistfully, "She just started crawling." He said proudly.
She smiled, "I'd love to come over and see her sometime."
"Sure, anytime." He replied easily, taking another sip from his drink as they fell into a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes.
"You ever feel out of place?"
Jake looked over at her, "You mean with the whole high school scene?" she nodded and he shrugged, "Sure… I mean sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love basketball…but it's not something that I see myself doing past high school."
"So what do you see yourself doing?"
"Music." He admitted, "Writing, playing, singing." He shrugged, "Maybe teaching. I don't know, I haven't thought that much into it. It's just something I really enjoy."
Haley looked over at him in surprise, "Really?"
He smiled, "Shocking coming from a basketball jock huh?"
She shook her head, "No…it's just.." she let out a laugh, "Well, we grew up together and I never knew that about you. That and well, I know exactly how you feel."
It was his turn to be surprised, "Really? You mean…"
She nodded, "I sing. Or at least I want to. Someday. Music….music is like my haven y'know? When everything gets to be too much or I just want to escape the world…I write…and… " she shrugged, "I've never told anyone. Not even Brooke." She admitted.
He smiled, "I'd love to hear you sometime Haley."
She exhaled, "I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. Exposing myself like that to…well anyone..no offense."
He shook his head, "No I understand perfectly. It's rough.…putting yourself out there like that. Especially when it's something that's so important to you. I guess in a way it'd be like exposing your soul. And that's scary."
She smiled, glad he understood exactly where she was coming from, "It's funny…me and you…I mean you're a basketball player and I'm a cheerleader and we basically run in the same circle…but then it's like…"
"We don't exactly fit into the mold?" he offered.
"Yeah," she sighed, "We're not the typical jock and cheerleader huh?"
He shrugged, "Maybe not." he laughed, "Only the two of us would be at a raging party at Nathan's, talking about music and complaining about the thrones of popularity."
"Well like you said, we don't exactly fit the mold." She took a sip of her drink and smiled at him, "I'm glad you came Jake. It feels nice to catch up with an old friend."
He smiled back at her, "Yeah me too." He finished his drink and got up, "Now what do you say we go join the rest of our friends in being the typical jock and cheerleader for just one night?"
She accepted his hand and he helped her up, "Sure. But if I wake up the next morning completely wasted next to you in one of the upstairs rooms…"she warned playfully.
"Only if you insist." He teased.
She pushed him playfully, "Shut up! Like you would even dare!" he laughed and put an arm around her as they made their way towards the dance floor.
Brooke stalked off towards the edge of the water and purposely stepped in front of Vegas, turning to Rachel with an angry glint in her eyes, "Okay seriously? Is your life that pathetic you want to take out a permanent lease on mine?"
Rachel smirked, "Okay, what is your problem now? Did you forget to take your Prozac this morning? I mean seriously what is it with the bitchy mood swings?"
"Don't stand here and pretend you don't know what the hell it is that I'm talking about." She fumed, "Trying to weasel your way into being co-captain of my squad? You can talk to the rest of the girls behind my back all you want but you've got another thing coming if you think you've got any chance in hell."
Rachel glanced at Theresa who sent her an apologetic smile. She turned back to Brooke and smiled sweetly, "Brookie…You seem so…frustrated…you're obviously in way over your head…I mean even the great ones like you need help sometimes." She shrugged innocently, "I just want to help you."
"I know what kind of help you offer. To guys in particular." She looked at Vegas who had moved from behind her to stand next to Theresa, "I mean, half the basketball team knows how helpful you can be." She turned to look back at her and noticed the self-amused grin on Rachel's face, "But you can whore around with the basketball team all you want, but guess what? I don't need your help. And you will never be co-captain as long as I'm on the squad." She turned on her heel and headed towards the house.
"Why don't you just admit you're jealous of me?" Rachel called out to her.
Brooke swiveled around, "Excuse me?"
Rachel shrugged, "I mean you're obviously jealous. Why else would you pick all these silly catfights with me constantly?"
Brooke stalked back to her and faced her head on, "Jealous? Of you?!" she repeated incredulously. "I'm not the one who's trying to take someone else's spot on the cheer squad. I'm not the one who flirts with someone's else's boyfriend…I'm-"
Rachel cut her off and crossed her arms in front of her, "So that's what this is about, are you really that threatened that I might make a play for your boyfriend?"
"Threatened?" she laughed, "Please, Nathan will never go for someone as trashy as you. Unlike the rest of the basketball team, he has his standards."
"His standards must be really screwed up then if he settled for someone like you."
Brooke's eyes flashed in anger and she took a menacing step towards her, making the redhead take a step back, "Listen, whore. I'd back off if I were you." she hissed.
Rachel looked around at the crowd who was eyeing them curiously. She ran her hand through her hair and smirked, "Brooke….clearly you're a little upset...look…why don't you sleep on it tonight? You don't have to decide till Monday."
"There's nothing to decide!" she snapped. She took another step towards her and smiled as she saw Rachel take another step back. She noticed she was dangerously close to the water's edge, "And clearly you're a bit delusional if you even think there's something to think about here." She took another step towards her and in one swift motion Rachel went flying backwards into the water.
Rachel shrieked and Brooke smirked, "Thought I'd help you cool off. Why don't you sleep on it tonight slut?"
Rachel looked up fuming as Brooke took off with Theresa. Her eyes burned as she heard everyone laughing around her. She looked over at Vegas, "Help me up you idiot!" she snapped.
Nathan laughed as he saw Tim and Tyler trying to 'Walk It Out.' "Yo! You're doing it backwards!" he called out. Tim looked up laughing and shrugged. Nathan shook his head, clearly they'd had way too much to drink. He looked around the room and spotted Haley and Jake in the middle of the room laughing and drinking. Huh, he thought to himself, Now there's an interesting match. He'd have to make a note and ask Brooke about it later.
Brooke. He looked down at his watch and realized he hadn't seen her in about an hour. Not that he was worried about her or even checking up on her. But she was usually in the middle of things at parties and he realized she'd been missing in action ever since she stepped out with Theresa. He knew from experience that an absent Brooke usually meant trouble.
He picked up his drink and decided to go look for her. He opened the front door and stepped out and slammed right into someone.
He looked down at Rachel curiously, "Whoa, what happened to you?" he asked noticing her soaked clothes and furious expression.
She looked up at him, noticing he was alone. But she was so angry she couldn't even bring herself to smile at him, "You're jealous psycho girlfriend happened!" She snapped.
Nathan's eyes widened and a smile tugged at his lips. Rachel noticed and it only helped to infuriate her more, "Look, you think I can borrow one of your shirts or something?"
He scanned the beach for the brunette, barely registering what the redhead was saying to him. Rachel sighed exasperated, "Nathan! Can you-"
"Sure. Clothes." He cut her off. He placed an arm on her shoulder, "There's probably some dry towels in the upstairs bathroom. Help yourself." He took off down the steps and Rachel watched him go, obviously looking for his girlfriend. She let out an angry soundand slumped down in the steps. She was absolutely livid.
Brooke Davis, I'll get you back even if it's the last thing I do. And trust me when I'm done with you, you're going to wish you'd never even met me.
Brooke walked back into the house with Theresa on her heel.
"Brooke! That was so…that wasn't right." Theresa shook her head trying not to laugh.
"Please. That bitch had it coming. Besides did you see the look on her face? Totally worth it."
Theresa laughed, "Remind me to never cross you."
"Oh yeah. That's one more for Team Brooke!" she laughed, "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll catch up with you later." She ran up the stairs and right before she reached the bathroom, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into a dark bedroom.
Nathan's lips were on hers before she had a chance to react. "Hmm." He murmured against her lips, "I told you before. Jealous Brooke is soo sexy." He pressed her back against the door and placed kisses down her jaw.
She grinned and leaned into him, "Your girl can do some serious damage." She whispered.
He nibbled on her neck, "Babe, you damage me." he whispered against her skin. "Do you know what it does to me every time you get all feisty and jealous?"
She pulled him in for a searing kiss and tugged at his shirt. He broke the contact as he pulled it off and she trailed her hand down his chest. She looked up at him coyly. "Why don't you show me baby?" she breathed.
That was all the encouragement he needed. He let out a low growl and picked her up. He walked them backwards to the bed. She let out a giggle as he lay her down and settled himself on top of her. He looked down at her and pushed a strand of hair away from her face. "I love you." He whispered.
Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes locked with his, "Nathan…You've..you've never said that to me before." She whispered.
"I must be an idiot then." He murmured. She smiled at him and pulled him in for a kiss. He groaned against her mouth and his hand traveled down her thigh. She broke away from the kiss, "Wait." She looked at him, "Baby, everyone's downstairs."
He nibbled on her ear, "So?" he said huskily.
She shivered, "So? It's your party baby, it's your house."
He pushed the strap off her shoulder and kissed the soft skin, "They can wait. Or they can leave. Who cares?"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off as he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her languidly. Within seconds she too forgot about everyone downstairs. Because for now, it was just them two. Nathan and Brooke. Everyone else could wait.