I'm sorry for the lack of updates lately, I've had a very busy few weeks. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this though, and I'll be updating as much as I can. Sorry for the short, and badly written, chapter, I can assure you things'll pick up soon! (:

Why? The word rung like an alarm bell through Haley's mind, over and over again. Shock still pulsed through her veins, and the image of seeing them together – Even only in the same room, considering she hadn't seen anything much – flashed within her head. Had Nathan really slept with Taylor? Of course, she knew Taylor would do that; Taylor was practically built to do that, but not Nathan, not her Nathan, not her best friend. Standing on the street corner, somewhere in between her house and Nathan's, she realised there was no-where she could go. Staring at the floor, she found herself wishing it would come and swallow her up; only this time, it wasn't due the embarrassment of her clumsy ways, or say something she shouldn't have. No, this time it was all Nathan's fault.

Much in the style of the heavens right before a huge storm, the tear ducts within Haley's eyes opened and in no time at all the water was flooding down her face. Her sobs were silent, but uncontrollable, and she needed to get out of there pronto. With her head down to stop herself from feeling too vulnerable, she began hurriedly walking in the only direction which seemed to have no ultimate ending that she could see in the near distance. It wasn't until her body collided with another that she stopped dead in tracks, stumbling backwards slightly and looking into the face of the brunette in front of her.

For several seconds, Brooke glowered at the girl, but seeing her tears; her exterior softened and she frowned towards her. "Are you okay?" The concern within the girl's hoarse was only just noticeable, but nevertheless it made Haley a little more at ease – She knew of Brooke Davis, everyone knew of the head cheerleader, and as far as she knew she was a bitch...So what was with the concerned exterior?

"I'm fine."

"You're crying."

"Then why ask if I'm okay?"

Haley wasn't usually the type of girl to be so bitter, but she had her guard up – Who wouldn't after what she'd just witnessed? As much as Haley appreciated Brooke's help (Or, lack of it, as it appeared so far) she couldn't stand there talking all day, and instead turned back on herself, doing the one thing she didn't want to do, at all, and heading back to the house.

If she wasn't Haley James; if she was anyone else, with a less compassionate and more violent nature, maybe she could have found it within herself to slap Taylor, but she couldn't do that, the compassion within her heart made it impossible to even consider hurting someone, just because she'd been hurt, in a way she didn't think she could be hurt. Only a few hours previously she hadn't even considered the fact she cared for Nathan as anything more than a friend, and now – now she was jealous because he'd slept with Taylor? Confusion seemed to have swept over Haley, but as she walked inside the house, she knew that she and Nathan had, for a long time, had something more than 'just friends' going on between them, even if it wasn't obvious to her.

Echoes of the horrific scene she'd walked into flooded into the young brunette's brain – her best friend had been sitting on the edge of her sister's bed pulling his jeans on, there was no way she'd mistaken what she'd seen, and why else would he have taken his jeans off? There was no other explanation which made any sense, and that caused Haley's mind to want hate Nathan; never forgive him for what he'd done to her – She wasn't sure she could forgive him for that, but she didn't want to.

He stood there, still within her house, blocking the way up the stairs, and causing her to stare at him; stare at him, and realise that looking at him genuinely made her feel sick. "Well, if Taylor's bored of you, I'd appreciate it if you left my house." Her tone was venomous; but this did not surprise him. She thought they'd slept together, of course she'd be angry – Who wouldn't be?

"Hales, it wasn't like that!" He was almost yelling at her; but he needed her to see. "She wanted us to have sex, yeah, and I was upset so I thought about-" He paused, letting her take that in; realising that in itself sounded bad enough. "But we didn't. I couldn't."

It was too hard for Haley by this point, did she believe him, or didn't she? "But, you were putting your pants back on-" She began, interrupted almost instantly.

"Because she took them off me. But, we didn't do anything, I promise."

Now she had two choices; believe him, or decide that he was a liar, whom she no longer wanted anything to do with. "I-" She began, but couldn't finish. It would take some time; some time for him to prove to her that he really was the guy she'd always thought he was, and not someone who would allow himself to be deflowered by her sister. "-Need some time to think." With that, she pushed passed him up the stairs, even more confused than she had been before she'd returned home.