Prologue
November 14, 2000
"Ah, you must be Nathan?"
Nathan Scott nodded at the middle-aged woman who was sitting at one of the desks in the Tutoring Center. "Yeah, I'm… uh… here to find out who's tutoring me and to get my schedule."
"Okay, well I'm Ms Richardson and I'm the Director of the Tutoring Center. Your tutor should be on her way so you will get to meet her soon." Picking up a file on the side of the desk, she flipped it open and removed a sheet of paper. "Here's your schedule. If there's ever a problem with you keeping one of your sessions, you need to let her or myself know as soon as you can so we can reschedule it."
"Sure," he said as his eyes scanned over the timetable he'd just been handed. Crap, by the looks of this he wasn't going to have too much time for himself. Between tutoring, basketball practice and his father's own brand of training, he was going to be dead on his feet. He sighed loudly when he noticed that the first session was set for that very afternoon.
"Is there a problem?"
"I wasn't expecting my first session to be today. It's just that I'm supposed to be at basketball practice after school—"
"Well, I'm sure Coach Durham will understand that your education comes first," Ms Richardson interrupted.
"Yeah," he mumbled. Since Whitey had been one of the first to mention his slipping grades he knew the old man would understand but, at the same time, he wasn't going to be too happy when he found out a couple of the sessions clashed with practice.
Suddenly the door flew open and Haley James came rushing in. "I'm sorry I'm late, I had a bit of a—" The words died in her throat when she saw who was standing by the Director's desk. She felt the blood rush to her face and tilting her head forward, her long hair helped to shield her from his gaze.
"There you are," the older woman said, smiling at her. "As I mentioned to you this morning, you've been assigned a new student to tutor and this is him. Haley James meet Nathan Scott."
Looking the girl up and down, he noticed that she seemed pretty young and before he could stop himself, he asked, "How old are you?"
"What's that got to do with anything?" she said, fixing him with a stare; her shyness evaporating at his question.
"You look like a freshman."
"Well, I'm not. I'm a sophomore."
"Wow, that makes all the difference." Turning to Ms Richardson, he said, "You're really assigning a sophomore to a senior?"
Standing up, the brunette gave him a sharp look. "Haley is one of our best tutors and you're not the first senior we've paired her with," she informed him. "You might think about asking one or two of your team-mates about her ability and how she's helped them improve their grades."
"Fine," Nathan acquiesced.
"Fine. Well, I've got a meeting to attend so I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted." Picking up her papers, she gave Haley a small smile, whispering "Good luck" as she passed by her.
Moving past Nathan, Haley headed to her usual table in the furthest corner of the room and placed the books she was carrying down on it before pulling out a chair and taking a seat. Getting her pencil case out of her bag, she organized herself while she waited for him to come over. Once he had settled into the chair opposite her, she spoke. "So, maybe we could start with you telling me what you're needing help with."
"Look, just so we're clear, this wasn't my idea and this is the last place I want to be. There are better things I could be doing with my time and—"
"Okay then. Well, how about you go and do those things while I work with someone who wants to improve their grades," she suggested.
Nathan bit back the smirk he felt forming on his lips at the feisty way she had just spoken to him. She glared at him before she grabbed her things and stuffed them back into her bag.
"Wait!" As the word escaped his mouth, he didn't quite believe that he had actually said it.
"What?"
"I… I don't want to waste your time," he found himself admitting a moment later as she regarded him closely. The way she was watching him… it felt as though she could see right through him and know what he was thinking.
"You'd only be wasting my time if what you said is true."
"Well, it's true that it wasn't my idea to get a tutor but if I wasn't doing this, I'd just be at basketball practice or—"
"What about those better things you could be doing?" she teased.
He shrugged his shoulders but he returned the smile she was giving him.
"I've got a suggestion to make. How about we try this for a couple of weeks and see what happens? If you're not happy by the end of that time, you can go and see Principal Turner and tell him it didn't work out."
"You know about that?" He couldn't help feeling slightly embarrassed that she knew about their Principal's involvement in him having to get a tutor.
She lowered her head as she felt her cheeks grow warm and she knew she was probably blushing, but, to be honest, she was kind of surprised that she wasn't blushing for this entire conversation. If someone had told her a couple of days ago that she'd be having a conversation with Nathan Scott, the basketball star and king of Tree Hill High, she wouldn't have believed them. Yet here she was and it felt… okay.
"I hear things," she finally mumbled. "Having a tutor shouldn't be a big deal. We just meet a few times each week and go through the subjects that you're behind in and work on them. I'm not going to laugh at you or make fun of you so—"
"I know," Nathan told her. Even though he didn't really know her, he had a good feeling about her and couldn't really see her being a gossip. And given how the Director had talked about her, he figured that if he was going to be forced into having a tutor he could probably do a lot worse than Haley James.
Giving him another of her shy smiles, she nodded her head. "How about we start again… clean slate?"
"Okay, yeah, that sounds good."
Haley once again took the things she had just packed away out of her bag and placed them back on the table. Glancing at his schedule, she asked, "Is the schedule they've come up with okay for you?"
"It's fine but I might need to switch one or two of the after school sessions to an early morning if that's possible. By the way, do we always meet in here?"
"I'm an early riser so we could meet at seven-thirty if that's better for you and the sessions are usually in here but we can work in the library or go somewhere else that's quiet. Why, do you have somewhere else in mind?"
"I was thinking of us maybe meeting down by the docks."
"That actually sounds nice. Just let me know which session you want to change and we can work something out. I'm pretty flexible," she told him.
"I'll bet," he mumbled under his breath but when she blushed, he realized she'd heard him. "Sorry."
Haley tried to pretend that she hadn't heard what he had just said but she knew the color of her skin in that instant was giving her away. She'd heard all about his reputation with the opposite sex and she figured his response was just his flirtatious default setting. No way would he be interested in a gawky fifteen-year-old. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to glance across at him and she said, "Why don't we get started."
"Sure," he replied as he took in her flushed face.
For the next forty-five minutes or so, they discussed the classes Nathan had fallen behind in as well as any of the subjects he was having particular difficulties with and they worked out a plan of action for tackling them. They were currently going through some math problems and as they worked, he couldn't help watching her as she spoke. It was obvious from her tone of voice that she thoroughly enjoyed tutoring and it wasn't something she was just doing to get extra credit and to eventually put down on her college applications.
"Are you listening to me?" Haley's melodic voice coaxed him back into the present, although she'd had to force herself to speak when he suddenly took off his leather jacket which left him in his tight black T-shirt which perfectly displayed his firm, muscular upper body.
"Sorry, I zoned out there for a sec. I am listening though, I promise," he told her, placing his hand on his heart.
"I believe you though thousands wouldn't," she joked and she had to admit it felt kind of nice when he laughed. "Do you want to take a break?"
"Actually, I need to end it early today." Seeing she was about to say something, he quickly added, "I wasn't aware we'd be having a tutoring session this afternoon and I need to be at practice. I'm already late as it is."
"Oh… uh, sure. Is today the session you need to switch to a morning?" she enquired as she picked up her pen to make a note on her timetable.
Nathan shook his head. "No, Friday's session is the one I need to change though if we could maybe bring this one forward slightly that'd be a big help."
"Okay," she nodded. "So is seven-thirty down at the docks good for you?" Her fingers held the pen poised above the paper as she waited for him to answer and when he nodded, she made the necessary note. Flipping to a fresh page in her notepad, she jotted down what she wanted him to work on and then ripped the page out and handed it to him.
"What's this?"
"This is what I'd like you to do before our next session."
"But that's the day after tomorrow?"
"Uh huh." Her lips curved up in a half smile for a moment before she continued, "Believe me, I've gone easy on you."
"I'd like to see you when you're being hard on me," he said, folding the paper up and slipping it between the pages of his math textbook.
"Don't worry, I'm sure that'll be something you'll see soon enough."
"Can't wait," he said mock-groaning. Pushing his chair back, he got up out of his seat and pulled his jacket back on before picking up his books.
"Very funny," she said as she packed up her own belongings.
"Listen, can I ask you a favor?"
"Uh… sure, what is it?"
"Can we keep these tutoring sessions just between us? I sort of have a reputation to keep up in this place and I'd like it to stay intact."
Nodding her head, she said, "Yeah, no problem. As far as I know, only Principal Turner and Ms Richardson know but it's possible some of your teachers might have also been told."
"It's not my teachers I'm worried about. I'd rather none of your friends know, if you get my meaning."
Haley could understand him wanting to keep it quiet. Some people – her friends included – seemed to think that needing a tutor meant you were somehow stupid when she knew it meant no such thing. "I won't say a word," she told him. "And besides, we sort of work on a confidential basis anyway in the Tutoring Center. It's one thing for one of the tutees to tell people, but it's not something we broadcast."
"Good. Well, I'd better be going."
"Okay" She watched as he gave her a final head nod and then made his way towards the door. Turning her attention back to what she was doing, Haley almost jumped out of her skin when she suddenly heard him call out to her.
"Hey, Hales, see you Thursday."
"Yeah… Thursday," she muttered, trying not to smile at the nickname he'd already christened her with. She had a feeling that tutoring was going to be a whole lot more interesting from now on.