are you true? // pt.2
---
Later on at cheer, Carly observed the boys warming up. She waited for Brooke to give instructions and eyed Nathan talking with his friends in a carefree manner. She wanted to go over and join him but she knew Whitey would be furious with the both of them.
"Nathan!" Whitey called. He earned the attention of Carly and half the cheer squad as well.
Carly was always nosey when it came to Nathan and basketball. It brought a lot of joy to his life but at times it also brought a lot grief and pressure. Carly always wanted to be involved just in case he needed her. Most times he did.
Brooke had decided to start practice right as Nathan and Whitey began talking. Carly reminded herself to ask him about it later. Brooke introduced a new routine for the upcoming game and they got to work.
After they had wrapped up practice, Carly was packing up her stuff and throwing her jacket on. She had anticipated it being cold outside. She walked towards the exit and out to her car. She went to pull out her keys when a hand wrapped around her arm tightly and jerked her to the side. She opened her mouth to scream but a hand was placed over it before she could do so.
Carly was freaking out to say the least, or she was until she realized it was Nathan who had grabbed her. She struggled against him until finally they approached his car. He opened the passenger door for her. Carly looked at him with a glare before huffing and climbing in, tossing her bag in the backseat.
"Are you kidding me? What is your problem? Are you going to tell me why you basically kidnapped me?" Carly shouted into the silence of the car. Nathan stared at the steering wheel in pure anger.
"Nate, I don't have time for this so please tell me what's bothering you." Carly said gently in hopes to get him to speak.
"Whitey gave my spot to Lucas. He's treating him like he's the greatest thing that's happened to this team when I am. I built this team from the ground up. That's what's bothering me Carly. That's my problem." Nathan glowered.
Carly sucked in a short breath. She had never seen Nathan this angry. It terrified her to say the least. Nathan himself didn't exactly terrify her but the fact that she didn't know how to handle this situation did. The pair sat in silence until Carly spoke lightly.
"Drive." Nathan did as he was told and started his car. They drove out of the parking lot passing a pissed off Tim on the way. They drove for hours until Nathan had finally calmed down.
Practice had ended at 7 but it as now 11:30. They pulled over on the sidewalk parallel to Carly's house. Carly went to hop out of the car when Nathan grabbed her hand.
"Thank you. I mean it Carls, you mean the world to me and I'm sorry I'm such an ass to you sometimes and I'm sorry that I repeatedly hurt your feelings time after time. I know I don't deserve you but I'm glad to have you around." Nathan said to her, a small smile on his face. His eyes were burning with sincerity. Carly gave him a smile in return.
"It's alright Nate. I'm glad you put up with me all the time. You make me feel safe. I'm happy we're friends." Carly said before turning to open the door. She cringed at the word 'friends' but then she remembered that's what they were. She turned around to shut the door and wave goodbye when she saw the look of displeasure on Nathan's face too.
Carly smiled at him and shut the door, walking over to the front door of her house. Nathan rolled down the passenger side window.
"Hey Carly!" He called out to her. She spun around to face him.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"I'll pick you up before school tomorrow. And by the way, Tim thinks you're really hot and that he has a chance with you!" Nathan called laughing at the horrified look on Carly's face. The girl groaned at the statement, she shivered as she thought about Tim and his grubby little man hands.
"Gross!" She called back and waved goodbye to him. He drove off into the night as Carly shut the door behind her.
--
The ride to school with Nathan the next morning had been eventful to say the least. He had brought her coffee. Carly sipped it eagerly, burning her mouth in the process. Nathan laughed as Carly reached for his water. She panted as her mouth cooled down.
They pulled into a parking space at school. Tim was waiting right beside the entrance of the school for Nathan. Carly looked at him with distaste and walked into the school, leaving a confused Tim and a smirking Nathan.
She walked into the tutoring center after third period to find Haley sorting through some files. Carly smiled at her and set her stuff down. She walked over to get a test from the file cabinet when Nathan walked in.
Carly's eyes followed him as he walked towards Haley with a tutoring slip in his hand. Carly was aware his grades weren't the best but not to the point of needing a tutor. His eyes rested on Haley, he smiled at her.
"Hey." He said to Haley. She turned towards him with a look of disgust.
"Can I help you?"
"I hope so you're my tutor."
"Right, I don't think so."
"You're Haley James right?" Nathan grinned thrusting the blue paper towards her. Haley glared at him and snatched the paper out of his hand. She quickly read it before looking back at him.
"I'm sorry. I'm best friends with Lucas." Haley stated. She handed Nathan the paper back.
"Well then, I'm sorry too." Nathan joked but Haley was far from amused. She continued to glare at him.
"Forget it. I'll find you someone else." Haley went to set the file down on the table, her eyes flashing towards Carly who was watching the exchange unfold quietly by the file cabinets.
"Look, there is nobody else. I'd be fine with it if there was." Nathan confessed. Haley's eyes flashed to Carly who suddenly looked confused. Why hadn't Nathan asked her to tutor him?
"If there were." Haley immediately corrected. Nathan chuckled at the distrustful girl in front of him.
"See? You're helping me already." Haley had grown fed up with the boy in front of her.
"Look, I can't help you. And on top of that I won't help you. Okay?" She walked away from him and towards the filing cabinets. Carly caught his eye before he turned to go. She gave him a questioning look before he turned around and walked back out the door, shaking his head.
To say Carly was confused was an understatement. Why hadn't Nathan asked her for tutoring help? Why Haley? Something wasn't adding up. She shook off the feeling making a note to ask Nathan about it later.
--
Carly had picked up a new book for Lucas and planned on giving it to him while he was at the River Court. She drove towards it to find him standing alone in the middle taking in the scene in front of him. There was trash littering the court, spray paint dripping from the hoop that was bent out of shape, and a distraught but furious Lucas.
Carly hopped out of her car and ran over to him. He turned and looked at her with pure disgust, like she had somehow been apart of this. That's when it clicked for her. Nathan had done this.
She shoved the book into Lucas's hands and before he could protest Carly began picking up the trash that was flooding the court. She walked over to the nearest trashcan and pulled it over to where she was gathering trash. Lucas still was angered by what Nathan had done but he couldn't help but admire Carly's compassion.
The two spent hours cleaning up the trash and scrubbing the hoop clean. Peyton had stopped by but Carly paid her no attention. It was only when Peyton apologized for Nathan did Carly break her silence.
"Look Peyton, don't apologize for him. How about you instead take your scrawny ass back to his house and bring him here to apologize himself. Your words mean nothing to Lucas." Carly grunted, turning back to the pile of trash in front of her.
Peyton went to argue back when Lucas cut her off. He went to stand in front of Carly protectively, as if to shield her from Peyton's words. They continued to talk but Carly grew tired of their flirting and pining after each other. She told Lucas she was going back to the café and walked off, leaving the two to it.
--
Carly had reached Karen's Café just in time to hear the end of Karen and Haley's talk about whether or not she should tutor Nathan. Carly could see that Haley was conflicted and Nathan truly needed help so she urged her friend to tutor him, regardless of her feelings for the boy.
Lucas came in shortly after and the three decided to go out for a walk and clear their heads. Lucas decided to tell Haley about the incident at the court.
"They trashed the court?" Haley asked, appalled at the news. "What else?"
Lucas sighed and Carly walked in silence beside them. "Broke into my locker, soaked my stuff. I don't know how much longer I can put up with this." Carly grimaced at the hate that the team had for Lucas.
"Do you think they're gonna let up anytime soon?" Haley asked sympathetically, carefully watching Lucas and his reaction.
Lucas laughed hysterically at her question. "No chance. Wanna know why? Because Nathan controls the team. And there's no way in hell he's gonna back off." Carly watched Lucas sadly, knowing he was right. Nathan was a headstrong player and an even stronger person; once he set his mind to something he had to follow through.
The pair continued to talk as Carly sat in her thoughts. Carly could tell Haley was going to try to bargain with Nathan later about the tutoring thing in exchange for leaving Lucas alone.
"Luke, how far do you think he's really gonna go?" Carly chuckled to herself and the pair watched her with careful eyes.
"He's Nathan Scott. He'll do whatever the hell he wants." She told them. Her words carried more meaning than she would like to admit.
"Until somebody stops him." Lucas said looking at Carly. Carly knew what he was implying, that she could somehow get Nathan to lay off. She shook her head at him.
"I got to go home, it's late. I'll see you guys later." She left them in a rush, walking quickly back to the café to pick up her car and drive home.
She felt emotionally conflicted, she wanted the best for Lucas but at the same time she would be betraying Nathan more so than she already was. She needed to figure out what she was going to do with herself and these problems before she could continue on with everything.
So she drove, miles and miles, away from Tree Hill. She sped away into the night only stopping for gas and food. She ignored every phone call she had received and took the day for herself.
--
The night after she arrived home to an empty house. She had thought her dad would have been there by now but assuming by her mother's missing car he would be there shortly.
Carly walked up to her room and waited. She took a shower and decided to call Haley to ask about any homework that she missed. The front door opened and Carly sprinted downstairs. A smile was on her face, until she saw that it was only Liam.
"Oh, it's just you." Carly muttered. She looked at the outfit he was wearing, it was all black and mud clung to his shoes. Carly squinted to get a better look at his face through the darkness. He looked guilty.
"You didn't. Liam, tell me what you did." Carly shouted. She couldn't believe he had actually taken part in the "initiation" that Nathan did with all of the new players. Carly thought it was horrible thing to do to people.
Liam shifted nervously. "I didn't want to but Nathan told us it was team bonding, I didn't think he would go that far. Lucas is a good guy, I-" Carly's blood froze. She became enraged. Lucas was the one Nathan wanted to initiate.
"I thought you were better than this Liam. Dad wouldn't want to see you like this. He raised you better." Carly spit, turning on her heel and walking back up the stairs. Liam grew angry at his sister's accusations.
"Are you kidding me? Dad isn't even here! He never is! Wake up sis. He isn't coming home." Carly squeezed her eyes shut, praying the tears would go away. She slammed her bedroom door shut.
Her phone began to buzz from the nightstand. Carly picked it up and checked the caller id. She immediately declined the call when she saw it was Nathan calling. She crawled into her bed ad prayed he wouldn't come over. She had had enough of him for the day.
--
Carly stormed into the hallway the following day on a mission. She found her target easily, he was laughing with his teammates without a care in the world. She walked up and shoved him hard.
Nathan stumbled back, his eyes widening when he say the look on the girl's face. She was enraged. Nathan
"It's one thing that you pick on my friend. But what really pisses me off is that you used my brother to help you. My brother, Nate. How dare you. Stay away from us." Carly scolded him. She strutted away from him, leaving him shocked. He had royally screwed up.
Normally, when Carly was angry with him she would talk to him about it in a calm manner. This new fire and resistance Carly was putting up was an indication that something else had gone wrong in her life. Nathan had heard Liam the previous night talking about his father coming home, he would have to ask him later at practice.
Carly approached Lucas in the hallway. She was nervous to speak with him about last night, not knowing if he would be angry with her or not. The look that Lucas gave her when she had approached him gave it away.
She felt horrible. "I'm so sorry Luke, if I had known I would have tried to make him stop. I had no idea Liam would get involved." He proceeded to walk away from the pleading girl but she followed him.
"Look I know you're mad but don't be a jerk to me. I had no part in it." She grabbed his arm to stop him. He threw it off.
"You're always going to be a part of it Carly. If you're involved with him you're on his side. I'm sorry but I can't keep doing this." Lucas turned on his heel and walk quickly down the hall to his next class. Carly stood dumbfounded in the center of it. Her mind racing with the fact that Lucas had actually told her off.
"Wow, what a drama queen." Carly heard to her right. Her head snapped in the direction of a locker closing. Juliet stood holding her textbooks, reviewing the scene that had just played out in front of her. She threw an arm over Carly's shoulder.
"I guess that means you're free tomorrow. We can watch the burning boat thing together if you want and get ice cream after." Carly nodded slightly and continued down the hall with what seemed like her only friend for the time being.
--
The Burning Boat Festival was something that Carly had watched every year with her brother and Nathan. Instead this year, she was fighting with Nathan and not on speaking terms with Liam.
She walked beside Juliet to a nearby table with a view of the boat. Juliet had brought them both coffee and began to talk about what she put in the boat. Carly almost spit out her drink from laughing so hard.
"No way! Why would you put your brother's stuff in the boat?" Carly asked giggling. Juliet rolled her eyes at the thought of her brothers.
"One of them wears a dumb earring that like dangles and he thinks it's cool so I had to toss that in there and the other one thinks he's a god because he wears a snapback to school so I had to do the world a favor and get rid of it." Juliet sipped her coffee. She asked what Carly put in the boat.
"My diary. I can't wait to watch that go up in flames. I really should have put my feelings in there. I could have done myself a favor." Carly laughed along with Juliet who had agreed.
Juliet suddenly stopped and hit Carly's arm, gesturing to the cute boy across from them. He stood at a tent not far from them, looking at the products a woman was selling. Juliet nudged Carly to go and talk to him.
"No thanks, I'm swearing off men for the time being." Carly said looking back at the good-looking boy. He locked eyes with her and she froze until his eye dropped in a wink. Carly blushed, looking down at her feet. She looked back up to see the boy walking towards her.
"Oh, would you look at that. Here he comes." Juliet smirked at Carly's bewildered face. He had reached them before Carly could argue back with her.
"Hey, I'm Cole. You're pretty cute. I'm new around here can you show me around this place?" Carly smiled but felt suspicious of the boy's forwardness.
"Yeah, sure let me just throw this away." She responded, holding up her coffee cup. She made her way over to the garbage can. Her eyes found Nathan's, who was watching her carefully from his spot next to Peyton. His eyes were pleading for her to talk to him but Carly didn't budge.
She instead walked back over to Cole. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the tents. The two began to talk about the festival and each other's likes and dislikes. She avoided Nathan's gaze for the rest of the night, not wanting to think about him until he had apologized.
The boat went up in flames moments later and took Carly's secrets and worries with it.
--
(severely unedited)