Chapter 1: Something Old and Brand New

Beeeeeeeep. Beeeeeeeep. Haley's alarm sounded and she slowly but determinedly got out of bed. Today was her first day as a junior and her first day as co-captain of the cheerleading squad with her best friend Brooke. Haley actually liked school (although she tried to keep that a secret from her other equally popular friends), so she didn't really mind getting up. She opened up her closet and peered in. She quickly decided on a jean miniskirt and a tight T-shirt with a megaphone that screamed Cheer! Running a brush through her long wavy honey-blonde hair she ushered into the bathroom. After washing her face and putting on some makeup, she was ready to go. She knew that she looked good, and there would be no point in prolonging her morning beauty ritual. After grabbing some shoes, she flew down the stairs, ran into the kitchen, grabbed a bagel for breakfast, and quickly made her way onto her front porch.

Exactly a moment after Haley appeared, a new and expensive car stopped right before her house.

"Hey beautiful," her other best friend Lucas Scott called from the car "Get in."

Haley smiled and made her way to the car. After settling in her seat she gave him a kiss on the cheek. It had been their thing since high school started, where Lucas would pick her up every morning. In the beginning they had walked, but when Lucas was able to drive he became her chauffeur as Haley affectionately called him.

"You look good" Lucas commented with a smile.

"As always" Haley quipped back.

Lucas and Haley smiled at each other. They had been best friends for a long time, and understood each other well. Their moms had shared a room in the hospital when the two were pregnant with them. Their moms had formed a close bond there, and the families were close even though they were from different social circles. When they had first gotten to high school, Lucas had caused a big upset when he became part of the varsity basketball team when he was only a freshman. Haley had joined the cheerleading squad where she met Brooke Davis, and the two had instantly bonded. Now at the start of their junior year, Haley and Lucas were two of the most popular people in school.

"Get your eyes back on the road sleepyhead," Haley playfully yelled at him.

Lucas laughed and continued driving towards Tree Hill High School.

The car came to a stop and Haley jumped out quickly upon seeing a girl with straight chocolate brown hair and pretty green eyes pulling in a couple of spots over.

"Brookie!" Haley called and motioned the girl over.

Brooke looked over at her best friend and screamed "Hales! I missed you!"

Haley laughed and quickly ran over to give Brooke a hug. They pulled each other at arm's length to check out the other's outfit. Brooke always dressed much more revealing than Haley, but that was just her style. Today Brooke wore a little pink skirt and a low-cut tank top.

"You look gooooood" they squealed at the same time and than erupted in laughter.

"So how's it going tutor girl?" Brooke questioned.

"Brooke! You know you can't call me that in public." Haley shushed the other girl.

Haley was very smart and had awesome grades. She had been tutoring since sophomore year, and really enjoyed it. She didn't however want the whole school to know. She wasn't as rich as the other popular kids and she didn't want anything to get out that would damage her rep, especially something that would be considered as nerdy as tutoring.

"Whatever" Brooke chimed. "So did you hear about Ashley and Tyler?" Broke droned on as the girls put their arms around each other and walked around the quad gossiping.

Lucas smiled on at his two friends. They were both so pretty and hot that every guy was jealous of him. Lucas's best guy friend Tim Smith walked over. Tim wasn't the brightest but he was a good basketball player and did whatever Lucas wanted which came in handy.

"Man when are you gonna tap that?" Tim asked gleefully.

"Which one?" Lucas asked while smirking.

"Oh please man, everyone knows that you already hooked up with Brooke. But Haley man, she's hot and you've been tight for like forever. You totally need to bang that."

Lucas shrugged for lack of a better response to Tim's idiocy and lack of understanding. He was about to start talking about something else when he noticed something in the corner of his eye. Lucas turned to stare and debate if he was right about whom it was. When his mind was made up to the affirmative, he frowned deeply, and started walking towards the person.

"Where are you going man?" Tim called after him.

As he got no response, Tim quickly followed his friend to see what was going down.

Nathan Scott, son of Deb Lee and Dan Scott (coincidentally Lucas's father too), had grown up knowing that his father had abandoned his mother and him. His mom had moved to Tree Hill in a desperate attempt for Dan to help raise Nathan, but he had no interest. Deb, though, had grown to like Tree Hill and decided to stay. However in 4th grade, people had realized Lucas and Nathan had the same father making them brothers. As Lucas was the rich one and the family who Dan had chosen, plus already showing the markings of a great athlete, people were on his side. They started to bully Nathan and beat him up. It got so bad that at the end of 5th grade, Deb determined he would be better off going to boarding school. The problem though was that Deb worked for a small non-profit organization and money was tight. Finally his grandparents (although they had cut Deb off) agreed to pay for school, as it would help him "get a better education, and not end up like his mother." Nathan had been going to boarding school for the past 5 years, but when his grandfather died, Deb decided she wanted Nathan at home. So here he was back in Tree Hill, and about to embark on the journey of Tree Hill High School.

Nathan's mom had told him to get to school early since he would probably have a lot to do in the office. As usual his mom had miscalculated and it had taken him about 5 minutes to fill out the forms. Since it was a nice day, he decided to go sit outside on one of the benches in the quad until classes began.

A voice broke Nathan from his reverie, "Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Hotshot."

Nathan turned and saw his old best friend Antwon "Skills" Taylor. They had played basketball together almost every day in elementary school at a court by the river, and had coined nicknames for each other. Namely, Skills and Hotshot.

"Skills man, it's so good to see you," Nathan said while jumping up to give him a high five and hug.

"You too man. Yo you remember Mouth, right?"

Nathan looked at the skinny guy with spiky hair and remembered a little kid who used to watch them play and would call out the plays.

Nathan's face broke into a smile. "Of course," he said, giving Mouth a high five and hug too. "You still do the sports announcing?"

Mouth grinned, "You know I do."

"So man you should totally come by after school. We'll do two on two with Junk and Fergie."

"Sounds great Skills," Nathan replied.

Lucas finally reached his destination. He stopped right behind Nathan who was talking to some of hid old loser friends.

"Well if it isn't little, brother bastard" Lucas announced snottily. Tim began to laugh like hysterically like a crazy person.

Nathan turned around and his blue eyes scrunched together as he gave a Lucas a dark glare. "I guess that would make you older brother ass" he replied just as rudely.

Lucas lunged forward to try and tackle Nathan but Nathan responded by punching Lucas in the face. Lucas threw back a punch and the two began to full out fight. Tim continued to laugh and egged Lucas on. Finally Skills pulled Nathan away and made him stop lunging.

"He's not worth it Nate, come on." Skills whispered into his ear.

Nathan continued to breathe hard but looked calmer. Mouth started glaring at Lucas. Lucas smirked at Nathan.

"Consider that a welcome to my school," Lucas said emphasizing the word "my."

Haley and Brooke who been standing a little away from Lucas and Nathan heard the fighting and quickly ran over to see if Lucas was okay.

"Luke, are you alright?" Haley asked gently as she hugged him and laid her head against his chest.

"Yeah I'm fine, Hales. No need to worry. But I love how concerned you were" he said while giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

Brooke smiled, her dimples coming out, at the show of affection between her two friends but quickly got bored with the situation and the weirdo freaks that were watching her and Haley with Lucas.

"Come on Timmy," she called gaily "Let's get away from these losers, and give the lovebirds some space."

Tim smirked and followed suit while Haley blushed. Lucas laughed and pulled her in for another hug.

"Trust me Hales. I'm fine"

Haley smiled but felt someone else's eyes on her. She turned and looked into the familiar blue eyes of Nathan Scott. He stared back into her velvety brown ones. She looked at him and shuddered a little feeling a spark that she never felt with anyone else. Suddenly Haley felt extremely self-conscious.

"Luke let's go to class, okay?"

"Of course." He gave Haley a gentle smile. Then he turned to Nathan. "Don't even think about messing with me again bastard" Lucas threatened.

Lucas turned and walked away with his arm around Haley. All Nathan could do was stare at the back of the beautiful girl who apparently liked his brother. Nathan sighed and thought about how he was always on the receiving line of unfairness in life.