Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or any of its characters...yet. BWAHahahahaha!

Un-Haley-Like

"Popcorn."

"Check."

"Gummi Worms"

"Check."

"Alcohol.

"Ummm...huh?"

Peyton turned and stared open-mouthed at Haley whose attention was focused entirely on the alcohol-filled shelves in front of them. The aisle they were standing in was virtually empty but Peyton glanced around them surreptitiously nonetheless. "Ha, Ha, Haley, very funny." she chuckled.

Haley glanced at her. "Whose kidding?" She turned back around and surveyed a bottle of Jack Daniels before grabbing a six-pack of beer. "Okay, alcohol, Check." she murmured below her breath. "Next on the list, the chips aisle." She started for the next stack of shelves but Peyton's hand on her wrist, stopped her.

"Haley!" Peyton whispered "Are you kidding me! Since when do you drink? Since when do you even know what beer is?"

Haley smiled wryly."Peyton, come on." she said pulling from her friends grip. "You drink all the time."

Peyton nodded "Yeah, I used drink all the time. You used to study. And tutor and do all kinds of good deeds. But you never drank."

Haley sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay Saint Peyton, thanks for the run-down of my angelic deeds, but I am far from a do-gooder these days. Actually some people think that I'm more of a do-badder than a do-gooder right now."

Peyton shook her head. "Haley that's not true! You made a mistake, okay. That doesn't make you a bad person."

Haley looked her in the eye. "Oh really?" she asked, her voice breaking despite herself. "I'm sure Nathan would disagree with you a little on that one. In fact, I'm sure that he'd disagree with you completely." She looked down as her friend stared at her sadly, and the tears threatened to come. And she remembered...

"Haley." Nathan said in shock. His eyes locked on hers as they stared wordlessly at one another.

"Hi." She said softly. She didn't know what else to say. She'd expected him to slam the door in her face, and the fact that he hadn't, erased all thoughts from her head. She had no idea what to do."How are you?" she asked

"Heartbroken," he said coolly "and yourself?"

Haley closed her eyes. There it was. The anger and derision...the hate. It comforted her somehow knowing that she was getting what she expected. What she deserved.

"What are you doing here Haley?" Nathan asked abruptly "What? Did Chris lose interest in you and kick you out of his bed? Or did you dump him? Yeah, you probably ditched him, that's more your speed."

Haley felt the tears begin to fall as she stared at the man whose hate for her radiated from him in waves of orange and crimson. "Nathan, I'm not with Chris,"she said." I never was."

Nathan glared at her coldly but he didn't say a word.

She took a deep breath. "If you would just let me explain--- "

"Look," Nathan interrupted " I really don't want to hear anything you have to say. You left me, okay? It's pretty plain and simple. I loved you, and you left and went away--with Chris. That pretty much sums up and concludes our joke of a marriage. That is all that I need to know." Nathan backed away and began to close the door. Then he stopped. " Oh yeah, I gave my lawyer the Anullment papers and he's started the divorce proceedings. You should expect some papers in the mail pretty soon." He smiled at her scoffingly. "Happy divorce." he said cheerfully.

Then he slammed the door, leaving Haley sobbing on his front steps...as sirens wailed in the distance...

"Haley?...Haley are you listening?"

Haley shook herself from her reverie and looked at Peyton who was watching her worriedly. She sighed. "Seriously Peyton, it's not that serious. Do-gooder Haley has retired now,okay. She's gone." She grinned slowly." Rocker-Haley's here and all she wants to do is partee!" She whirled around and started towards the chips aisle. "Now let's go load up on some Cheetos...and possibly some Ruffles..."

She turned to go but Peyton stopped her again.

"Haley, seriously. At the risk of sounding like some Public Announcement, you don't need that beer. How are you planning on buying it anyways, you're underage".

Haley smiled mysteriously. "Rocker-Haley has her ways..." she said secretively. At Peyton's mystified stare, she took out her wallet and opened it to display an ID card that listed her birth year as '83.

Peyton's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Wow," she said impressed despite herself "that looks pretty authentic. Where'd you get it?"

Haley grinned. " I'll never tell..." she said in a singsong voice reminiscent of Brittany Murphy's in Don't Say a Word.

Peyton smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes and Haley could tell that it wasn't sincere. She sighed again, and threw an arm around her friend's shoulder. "Peyton, it's summer time,right?" she pointed out. "Even Haley James lets go during the summer."

Peyton looked at her uncertainly. "So you're saying that this is a...summer thing? You're just having fun, that's it?" Hayley smiled and poked her in the side.

"Yes, this is just a summer thing and I plan to unwind and have fun in a completely un-Haley-like way." She grinned in a way that could only be described as Brooke-like and tilted her head."Okay?" she said. As Peyton stared at her, her grin widened and Peyton's unsure smile melted away.

"Okay, I'll let you partee this summer completely comment-free, but only under one condition." Haley arched an eyebrow suspiciously. "What?" she asked.

"You must let me party with you. And I will not take no for an answer."

Hayley grinned."You know," she pondered "I think that can be arranged." She bent down and picked up another six-pack of beer, and winked at her friend. "Yup, that can be arranged." She laughed as she walked to the next aisle.

So, she didn't see Peyton's troubled stare follow her to the Tostitos.