Expelled from one, welcome to another (open)

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

Josh walked down the hall knowing very well that it was his fault that they had to move this time. There was nothing else and no one else to blame it on. He could lie to himself and say that it was just like all the other moves, but he knew different. Now the lived in Tree Hill and he was hoping and more or less praying that the students here would be kinder than they had been at the last school.

He was heading to lunch. Things were going alright so far. No one had shoved him into the lockers. Even better no one seemed to know or care about the fact that he had a twin sister yet. At the last school they had made a big deal out of that. They had seemed to think that the fact he had a twin that was a girl made him feminine or something. All he knew was that he wanted to forget about it, but it stayed there in the back of his mind taunting and tormenting him. Josh wished he could punch those guys some more, but he knew this was for the better.

That day he had packed a lunch. Mainly because he was not sure where he would have to end up eating it. If he had to go hide off somewhere and eat it a tray would just get in his way depending on the location. Josh looked around the court yard when he go there. That was where most of the students seemed to prefer to eat. The tables were filling up fast. A student bumped into him as they made their way by and headed off to one of the tables on the far end. He figured that it had probably been nothing personal, but he was still a little on edge.

Part of him wondered if to eat there or to go back inside to find a spot to sit at one of the tables in the less popular cafeteria. He stood there looking over the tables a little longer trying to decide. Josh kind of hoped that he Jo would appear and perhaps eat lunch with him, but something told him she would be too busy still trying to find her niche at this new school.

[Haley Bob James]

Today Haley was pretty much eating alone. She had grabbed a table that wasn't occupied and since she took it, no one had bothered sitting there either. Perhaps she was putting off a "stay away from me vibe", but she honestly wasn't too sure. It wasn't like it was her agenda to make people stay away from her or anything. Haley just had a lot of stuff on her mind and wasn't really paying too much attention to the things around here at the moment.

Haley had a school book opened to the side as she was eating but honestly her mind wasn't actually paying it much attention. Maybe it was just there to give the illusion that she was actually there in the present and not off in her own head trying to work things out. She hadn't seen or actually spoken to Nathan in the last couple of days and really wasn't expecting to. Not for a bit anyway. She knew he was upset, hurt and angry but Haley was feeling certain things too.

Like it was an automatic thing, Haley brought her sandwich up to her mouth and took a bite of it. Of course she knew what the sandwich was but honestly couldn't tell anyone what it tasted like at that particular moment. Finally though, Haley did glance up. She looked around at the various people eating, looking for a spot to sit, or leaving the area. It was then that she spotted a guy that she pegged for a new student, simply because she couldn't really recall seeing him before. Haley wondered who it was but didn't feel like bothering the guy long enough to ask.

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

Josh was just standing there as another person bumped into him. It was clear that it was going to keep happening until he found a place to sit. He looked around in search of a table that he could perhaps share with someone without feeling obliqued to hold a conversation with them. It would be perhaps even better if they did not have to make eye contact either. Just the same he knew he had a tendency to come off as being cold. Although the people that knew him knew different.

As a crowd moved out of the way he was able to spot a table that only had a girl sitting at it eating. She was looking around similar to himself and he kind of figured she had noticed him. It was either that or the brunette was blankly looking around. Josh knew that sitting at her table was most likely ideal. Well unless she had a boyfriend. If he kept his distance though he figured he would do okay. Besides he was not one to look to get into relationships that he would later have to sever. Especially not of that kind.

Slowly he made his way over to the table. As he approached it JJ sat down across from her and to the side. At least that way if she had a boyfriend it would not look too bad, and well the boyfriend could still choose where to sit. Although he was not looking for conversation he knew sitting too far away looked rude and like he had no friends. It was just a moment after he had sat down that he remembered that he had not asked if it was okay to sit there, which was rude. "I hope you don't mind," he commented and then started to open the brown bag that contained his lunch.

[Haley Bob James]

Haley had stopped paying attention to the new guy when he finally decided that sitting at the table with her was the best option. So when he actually spoke and it reached her ears, she jumped. Of course she was a little embarrassed and tried hiding the fact that he had startled her by moving a little and shifting her weight to the left side. "Uh, no, of course not. It's perfectly fine with me."[/color] Haley said, evening managing a smile so that she didn't appear rude or anything.

Letting the smile fade, Haley got the feeling that he might just want to be left alone in peace so that he could eat. That was okay with her because she went back to pretending that she was actually reading the page that the book was opened to. Taking another bite of her sandwich, Haley chewed and stared at the book, not reading a single word of it. It wasn't look though, before she looked at Josh once again. Honestly he looked shy or maybe uncomfortable by his surroundings at the new school. Haley wasn't sure which one honestly.

After several more silent moments, Haley decided to introduce herself to the new guy. She figured that he could use all the friends that he could get and really, right now, she felt the same way. "Hi. I'm Haley."[/color] She announced to Josh. She was smiling once again, making an effort to make sure that he knew that she was one of the friendlies around the school and he shouldn't be worried about her. Whether he believed her or not, was yet to be seen.

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

When she had replied Josh found her to perhaps be a little insincere. There was something about her smile that just seemed a little too put on to him. Although Jo had always told him that he had a way of reading into peoples actions too much. Still he changed his attention back to his bagged lunch. He had brought two sandwiches, one was a turkey sandwich and the other was an egg salad sandwich. Josh decided to start off by eating the turkey sandwich.

As he ate he kept track of her out of the corner of his eye. There was something going on with her that he did not quite begin to understand. She looked as if she was reading a book as she ate. At the same time he did not hear or see any pages turning. It was a while before he noticed that she was not even really reading, instead just probably staring at the page.

After some time she introduced herself. He found her name to be rather interesting or at least for a girl. Although it seemed to fit her by what he knew about her so far. Josh forced a smile as he finished chewing the bit of sandwich that was in his mouth. When he finished what was in his mouth he looked over at her. "I'm Josh." He felt unsure about telling her that some people called him JJ. In his mind he still was not sure just what to think of her. There were a lot of people that could seem nice when you first met them and then turned out to be otherwise once you got to know them.

He looked down at his lunch and then back over at her after some moments. In his mind there was something about the way that she kept smiling at him that made got him thinking. Maybe she was not all that bad, but Josh did not know anything about her other than her name. "Are you new as well?" Part of him knew that if she was not new to the school it would seem like a dumb question. At the same time they were both sitting at the same table eating lunch without anyone else coming to join them.

[Haley Bob James]

Haley could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't exactly sure what to make of her yet. It probably had to do with the fact that she had a weird vibe going on and he no doubt felt that something was off about her. It wasn't like she was trying to make him feel even more uncomfortable than he already did. It was just because she had her own stuff going on and internal battles going inside of her that she was trying to work out as calmly as possible. Haley managed to smile and real smile this time for the new guy. Hopefully it showed that she wasn't just being nice because he sat at her table. "It's nice to meet you, Josh. Welcome to Tree Hill high school."[/color]

For a brief moment she looked down at her lunch and wondered if it had been good or not. After all most of her sandwich was gone but she couldn't recall actually eating or tasting it. She shrugged a little and glanced back up to look at Josh once again. When she heard his comment about whether or not she was new to the school, she couldn't help but laugh a little. Haley shook her head no. "No. Actually I'm a junior here and have been here for, well what feels like forever. But now it is one hundred percent conclusive that you are definitely new here huh?"[/color] It honestly felt good to laugh because she hadn't done so in several days now.

"How long have you been here in Tree Hill?"[/color] Haley asked as she closed the book that she hadn't been paying attention to in the first place. She now turned her full attention to the new guy and hoped that she was making him feel better about being at a new school. Haley knew it had to be hard but she wasn't able to know from experience. After all she pretty much has always lived in Tree Hill.

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

There was that moment that Josh really wished he had not asked that question, and it came as soon as she laughed and shook her head. When the words met his ears he already knew that he was indeed alone in his newness beside from his sister. "Just long enough to get partially unpack and get laughed at by a girl I hardly know," he answered. Part of him just wished they could move back to one of the school districts where he had actually had a good first day and even better days after that.

"So where are all of your friends?" Josh knew it might not come of sounding the right way, but he really wanted to change the subject. He did not want to talk about himself. No, he would rather find out more about her. At least then he could figure out who she was in comparison to the others around them. Maybe she was a loner or the kid that everyone picked on. It was either that or she was something much worse and would make his life a living hell. In his mind she was either good or bad news for him.

He then realized that Haley had said she was a junior. So that increased the possibility that she was a loner. Although something about her struck him not as being the loner type. Of course maybe she was not a loner by choice he thought to himself. Just the same he was trying not to assume too much just yet.

[Haley Bob James]

Haley's face fell a little and she erased all emotion from her face. She hadn't meant for him to take the laughing as her actually laughing at him because honestly she wasn't. She just laughed because someone thought she was new. It was just a very amusing comment. "I'm sorry. I wasn't actually laughing at you, Josh. It felt good to laugh so thank you for that. Honestly I was only laughing because someone thought I was new and boy do I wish I was sometimes."[/color] Haley felt bad now for making the guy feel more uncomfortable than he had before. "Really, I am sorry about that."[/color] She apologized once again for good measure.

His question made her sigh a little. Having to speak about her best friend not being around anymore made her sad. Even sadder than she already was. "Well, right about now, my best friend is at his new school in Branson. As for my other friends, I don't know. I guess they are around here somewhere really."[/color] Haley had friends, sure but right now she felt alone anyway. It wasn't like she was going to mention Nathan and the fact that she didn't know where he was either. Of course Brooke, Peyton and some of the others she called friends were around the school eating lunch, doing school work or some other activity. Just thinking about it made her miss Lucas even more.

Shaking her head, she tried making the feelings go away. Focusing on something else, she decided to ask him questions now. "What about your friends? Have you made any yet since being here in Tree Hill or even at school? If you ever need any help with school work, I'm a tutor here. Just for knowing value for later on I guess."[/color] Haley gave him a friendly smile once again. She was smiling a lot and only wanted to let him know that she was indeed friendly despite the vibe she might be putting out to anyone around her, including him.

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

Josh found what she had to say interesting. Mainly because Haley was giving him a number of clues to who she was and what was going on with her even if she did not realize it. The fact that she needed the laugh and said she wished she was a new student told him that something was not just right in her life. When she said that her best friend had started at a new school he secretly wondered why, but that would make asking about why he had moved to be fair game. Although it struck him weird that she did not know where her other friends were.

"I don't know. Do you count as a friend?" His question was sincere. Especially now that she had mentioned that she was tutor at the school. That explained some of it for him or at least what kind person she was. Usually tutors were a nicer kinder lot that were usually more saintlike than bully. There was no guessing how good she was at keeping secrets. Although the more he thought about it the more they had in common. Her best friend was a guy and his best friend was a girl. So they had that in common, no matter how small of a detail it seemed to be.

"So was your best friend also your boyfriend? You seem mighty upset for someone that just had a friend move away." He pointed at the book she had been pretending to read. "Last time I checked even the best readers need to flip a page every now and then."

[Haley Bob James]

Haley thought about Josh's question with an intense look on her face. She was really thinking about how she should answer it. It's not like she didn't want him as a friend but she was calculating in all her issues that might leak out onto a new friend and wondered if it would be worth it for him. Then again, she did need a friend that was actually in the same town as her considering her best friend had moved a couple hours away. Haley nodded her head yes when she finally got to an answer that worked well. "Sure. I can be considered a friend if you are in need of one as well."[/color] She gave him a smile. All of the sudden, she wondered if all the smiling she was doing was making her look like some crazy lady or something? Of course she wasn't even going to ask him that.

Glancing down now at the book that she had just absent mindedly closed, she wrinkled her nose up a bit. She had hoped that she had been hiding her stress and worry a bit better than she apparently was. Shaking her head no, Haley proceeded to answer his question about Lucas. "Uh, no no. My best friend wasn't a boy friend. He was just my best friend. The only one I have had since we were little."[/color] Haley looked a bit more sad at the mention of the word "boy friend" and was glad that she didn't have to go into any detail on that particular relationship at the moment. "I will confess though, as you already know, I was not even reading the page and couldn't begin to even tell you what the page says at all. Obviously."[/color]

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

There was something about the way that Haley seemed to be acting that made him feel like there was still a lot he did not know about her that he should. Just the same he knew he did not want to upset her anymore than need be. It was amusing though the way that she made clear that her best friend had not doubled as her boy friend. The only problem he had was the idea that she still possibly had a boyfriend some where on campus or at least in town.

"Sure, friends." Josh said before doing a quick scan of their surroundings. He still did not see even a sign of Jo. "You can call me JJ if you like," Josh told her with a slight smile. "The tutoring thing is real though?" At that point he just wanted to make sure that she was relatively the person he thought she was. "Do you have any siblings that go here?" His curiosity wanted to find out as much as it could about Haley before the lunch period was over. Maybe then he could almost feel comfortable telling him more about himself.

[Haley Bob James]

Haley nodded her head at the nickname he said she could use instead of his name. "JJ it is then. Most people normally just call me Hales. If you want, calling me just Haley is fine as well."[/color] Haley made sure to make a mental note of the nickname. "Oh. Definitely. If you ever need a tutor, I'm the one to ask. Well I mean there are other tutors that offer their help here at the school of course. I'm not the only one."[/color] Haley didn't add the fact that most came to her when they needed help. She didn't want to come off as being too cocky about it. She wasn't cocky - just knew that she was good at tutoring and proud of it.

"I'm the youngest out of all my siblings. The sibling before me has already went to college. She's not much older than me. So to answer your question, no. None of my siblings are still in high school. Just me."[/color] Haley placed her book back into her bag so she wouldn't accidently forget it when lunch ended. "What about you? Do you have any siblings that are going here along with you?"[/color] Haley was actually finding herself curious about her new friend and wanted to know more about him as well.

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

What Josh found out about his new friend interested him. Maybe it was because the more time she spent talking about herself gave him less time to about himself was part of it, but it also gave him time to work on finishing his lunch. Although he found her being the youngest of her siblings to be genuinely interesting. He figured she could take care of herself, which would help him not get suspended or expelled from this school. In his eyes that was as much of a help that he could ask for at the time being.

"It's just me and my twin Jo." Sure he knew Haley a bit, but he did not feel like telling her that his twin was a girl. No, it was usually more entertaining for people to find out on their own when they met her. There was always that initial reaction that he found amusing. It was even more hilarious if it was some guy reacting that had been trying to hit on Jo. Sometimes his twin added her own little twist to the whole introduction situation as well.

"I haven't seen Jo since our mother dropped us off this morning." Indeed he kind of missed his twin. Josh also wanted Jo to stop being angry with him, but he knew it was too soon for that. She had actually gotten to be close with some of her friends at their last school. That only meant that he was on the top of her shit list. "Jo probably has already been busy trying to make tons of new friends by now. While I only have you."

[Haley Bob James]

The revelation of a twin captured Haley's interest. As far as she could recall, no twins had ever been to school with her or if they had, she wasn't aware of it. "A twin huh? That is very cool. Which one of you is the oldest?"[/color] Haley asked with pure interest coloring her voice. "I have six other siblings myself. Three sisters and three brothers. It's a lot to keep up with but we are pretty tight knitted."[/color] That was the truth too. Even though several siblings were off and married with a kid or two, they tried to at least keep in touch whenever it was humanly possible.

Haley nodded her head as she listened to what Josh was telling her about his sister. She then tilted her head to the side and looked at him closely. Hearing how he was describing his twin, a question formed in her head about the differences - or appeared differences, between the two. "I know I don't know you all that well yet but is it safe to say that your twin Jo is less shy than you are? I could be wrong but you seem a little shy at least. Maybe that is a ploy to get girls to talk to you."[/color] Haley said with a good humored grin. Hoping she wouldn't offend him with the question and comment, Haley decided to push on and let him answer it if he wanted. "Well you seem like a good guy and I'm sure by the end of two weeks, you will have a boat load of friends in your corner. And for the record, I'm not a bad friend to have."[/color]

[Joshua Joseph Fischer]

Josh had to stop and think for a moment. Mainly because him and his sister had never really made a big deal out of who was older and who was younger. Give or take a minute they were the same age. It was not like there was months between them like most other siblings. He was sure Jo remembered that sort of detail, but he most certainly did not. "I really don't know," he told her while feeling a bit uncomfortable. Josh knew that most people expected one to remember something like that, but it had never been all the important to them growing up. The last time it was probably brought up was at one of their birthdays when they were younger.

What she said about her siblings he found somewhat unbelievable. Mainly because he could not imagine what it would even be like. "You're the youngest of seven?" In his head he was thinking about how normal she seemed given what he had just learned about her. He just figured that maybe someone from that size family would perhaps have a tendency to be a little less than normal, if that even made sense.

"As for me and Jo, I guess you could say that I'm the shy one." Josh liked to think that she was just more willing to make friends that she would later have to keep up with by mail, e-mail, and phone while he really never found the need for it. Maybe he was a bit cold, but he was a loving and caring person just the same. Josh just had a hard time showing it enough of the time.