THE CURE ▶ NATHAN SCOTT [1]

FIFTEEN

with arms outstretched

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The halls of Tree Hill High were buzzing with gossip the next Monday morning. Carly clutched her bag closer to her and kept her head high as she walked through the courtyard, eyes following her every move.

Tim had told multiple people that Carly and Nathan went on a date, and those people in return told all of their friends. Most were skeptical about the relationship, seemingly because Nathan ran through every other cheerleader like they were nothing. Carly was a golden girl with a pure heart, while Nathan was... you get the gist of it.

She approached Brooke and Peyton, who were sitting at their usual table in the courtyard. "Good morning friends!" Carly greeted, pulling her bag onto the table in front of her. Brooke and Peyton stopped their conversation dead in its tracks and turned towards Carly, a grin on each of their faces.

"Carly! We were just talking about you." Brooke teased, sliding a coffee across the table for her friend. Carly took it eagerly, taking a few sips. "You and seemingly everyone else at school." She groaned, she had yet to see Nathan this morning but she was dying to know what he thought about everything.

"So, how was your date?" Peyton asked, leaning across the table to lock eyes with Carly. "Hold on. We will talk about the date after you tell me what the hell happened Saturday night. Pey, how are you feeling?" She quickly switched topics, desperate to find out what had happened that night.

"I'm fine. This guy had all this good music in his dorm room so I thought he was cool. He got me a drink but I really should have just said no. It's my fault... you were right too, by the way. I did have a killer headache in the morning." Peyton tried lightening the mood with a laugh, Carly followed in suit. Brooke, however, did not seem amused.

"No, P. If I had never suggested the party, you wouldn't have had this happen to you." Brooke spoke sadly. "You called Lucas, Brooke. That was the best thing you could have done, and you called me for help too. Don't beat yourself up about it." Carly spoke softly, reaching across the table to grab Brooke's arm in reassurance.

"Okay, enough of this. I'm dying to know how the date went!" Peyton changed the topic for the better. Brooke nodded in agreement. Carly sighed, looking around the courtyard for any prying ears. When she found none, she began to tell them every detail about the night.

"Well, first we went to the lingerie store, thanks for that by the way Brooke," Carly laughed, Brooke only shrugged at the comment with a smirk on her face. "He bought me the beautiful top I tried on earlier that day, we went to the dinner place, Tim made an appearance, which I'm guessing is why everyone keeps talking about me and Nate, Liam also threatened Nathan before we left." Carly chuckled, rambling on and on.

"No way! Liam threatening Lucas? Isn't Liam like 5 inches shorter than Nate?" The entire table erupted with laughter. "Not when Nathan is sitting down... Liam grabbed him by the collar and threatened to break his shooting hand if he hurt me."