[ EXTRA LONG CHAPTER- OVER 4500 WORDS :)]

Claudia was walking through the crowds at school in a plain white long sleeved tee-shirt and blue flared jeans. She was carrying her books as she walked.

"Claudia, hey." Dean smiled as he ran up to Claudia, Dean was a co-worker of Claudia's at the children's centre. Claudia and Dean were really good friends at work and always danced together in the group performances they some times for with the kids.

"Oh hey Dean, what's up?" Claudia asked smiling as she fixed the strap of her crocheted bag.

"You are working tonight at the children's centre, right?" Dean asked as he walked beside her smiling.

"Yeah I am performing as well." Claudia added, she was singing nursery rhymes for the kids because they loved them.

"We should do a duet." Dean suggested and Claudia grinned.

"Yeah that would be so cool." Claudia replied naive to the fact that Dean was obviously flirting with her. Dean was in the same year as Claudia in school but he wasn't popular. He just stuck with his friends in the soccer club.

"I mean we do the Jump routine but I was thinking maybe we should do a duet for the kids." Dean thought out loud and Claudia smiled at him as she nodded her head.

"Yeah that's so cool Dean." Claudia exclaimed and Dean thought of another way to keep the conversation going.

"The kids are great, aren't they?" He asked and Claudia nodded her head in agreement.

"The best." She replied smiling, she loved volunteering there it just gave her such love as she knew she was helping the less fortunate.

"Cherry was great yesterday when she was singing along with you to God Only Knows." Dean complimented and Claudia looked up at Dean.

"She was I loved it." Claudia exclaimed.

"I loved it too." Dean replied flirting a little. Dean knew all about Claudia and Nathan's relationship because Claudia told them on their lunch break once. Dean knew they were on the rocks.

"You did?" Claudia asked grinning, Nathan saw what was going on and walked up to them. He was jealous.

"Claudia, want to walk to class?" Nathan asked as he glared at Dean, Claudia turned around and smiled at him.

"Uh yeah sure." She replied and then she turned to face Dean. "Duet tonight?" She asked and Dean nodded his head. "You pick the music but if it some cheesy pop song I will cry." Claudia laughed and Dean grinned.

"Oh it so is now!" Dean grinned before he walked away from them. A smiling Claudia looked up at her husband.

"Who is he?" Nathan asked, the jealously was practically oozing out of his pores.

"He is Dean." Claudia replied cryptically, she knew that Nathan was jealous and kind of liked it. Don't blame her, she hasn't been getting any good attention from Nathan.

"How do you know him?" Nathan asked and Claudia looked up at him.

"We work together." Claudia replied smiling on the inside, she just stayed emotionless.

"Cool." Nathan replied totally not cool. They walked in silence and then Claudia spoke up.

"I was hoping I'd catch you." Claudia smiled at Nathan who had his hands in his backpack strap.

"Why's that?" He asked confused, now that he had got the information he needed he just wanted to go to class.

"Um,... I don't know, I think we should talk." Claudia answered, she was talking about the kiss.

"About what?" Nathan asked oblivious, he wasn't the one who kissed her.

"About what happened the other night at the masquerade ball." Claudia replied stumped, she was upset about what Nathan was doing.

"I can't, Whitey wants to see me before class. But... it wasn't that big of a deal, anyway." Nathan explained and Claudia was confused.

"It was to me." She replied she loved the kiss. "Also I thought you wanted to walk to class." Claudia stated confused.

"It was a nice moment, Claudia, but it's over now." Nathan replied and Claudia gaped. "I gotta go." He stated before walking away. Claudia stopped walking and watched him. She sighed utterly confused.

___

Claudia was looking through CD's in the store and she flipped through the 'K's. The first CD there was 'Keller Instinct', Chris Keller's album. She looked at it realising that could of been her but the she snapped back into reality and realised Nathan was more important. Chris suddenly appeared at her side and snatched the CD from her. Claudia gasped as she looked at him.

"Want that autographed?" Chris asked smirking as he held up the CD.

"Oh my!" Claudia exclaimed.

"I knew you'd be happy to see me." Chris said self-righteously. Claudia couldn't find the words and practically shied away from him. "So,... how's married life?" Chris asked walking around her.

"What're you doing here, Chris?" Claudia asked avoiding the question.

"Truthfully, I was thinking... you and me should work together again." Chris admitted per Nathan's request. Claudia was shocked.

"Huh, are you kidding me?" Claudia exclaimed astonished.

"Come on, you know Chris Keller do-" Chris began to say but Claudia gave him a look and he shut right up. "Sorry. Claudia, you and I made great music together. Remember" Chris asked and Claudia shook her head.

"Yeah! I remember exactly what happened. Do you?" She asked annoyed, obviously meaning the kiss and a jealous Nathan.

"Yeah, so things weren't always easy but if you just set that other crap aside-" Chris began to explain but Claudia cut in.

"That other 'crap' was my marriage, Chris." Claudia shouted running her hand through her hair stressfully.

"Details, Claudia." Chris stated and Claudia looked at reproachfully. "Come on. Me and you. Just music. Whaddaya say?" He asked smirking cockily.

___

"She said no?" Nathan asked Chris as he held the basketball. Chris was lounging across the bleachers.

"Among other things and then your wife slapped me." Chris exclaimed pointing to the left side of his face. Nathan sighed and continued to walk across the court. "The girl has a real potty-mouth when she wants to." Chris extended.

"So you just gave up? I mean, you didn't so easily last time." Nathan replied snarky

"Whoa, whoa, that's unfair." Chris stated sitting up and Nathan scoffed. "And entirely correct. Listen, you know I don't like to get in the middle of other people's relationships." Chris replie and Nathan just looked at him, he was not going to grace that with an answer. "But, Claudia wants you man, I don't get it, why is it so important to you that she and I work together" Chris asked and Nathan bounced the ball.

"I have my reasons." Nathan replied as he threw the ball at basket. Chris laughed and got up.

"And you wanna share it with me?" Chris asked standing up and Nathan sighed as he caught the ball.

"Claudia's music was a big part of her life. Without it, she's just not Claudia." Nathan explained.

"So what, she gets her music back, you get her back." Chris replied, and Nathan sighed.

"No, it's not about that. This is about Claudia." Nathan replied and Chris shook his head.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway. She's not gonna go for it, she loves you far too much. I could tell that the day when we were sitting on the tour bus and she cried the ninth time that day about how much she missed you. That was day two of the tour." Chris explained and Nathan shrugged.

"We'll see about that." Nathan replied challengingly.

"Whatever you say." Chris laughed as he got the basketball and tried to score a ball, he horribly missed.

___

The entire team were playing basketball on the river court except for Lucas, he was sidelined. Kind of ironic, huh? That was were he grew, the rivercourt was were he would play with Skills, Junk and Fergie as Mouth and Jimi commentated from the sidelines and Claudia and Haley would listen to music now he just sat at the bench and watched his ex-arch enemy play basketball there with his team. Claudia saw what was going on and felt, herself, quite nostalgic and upset.

"Wow the irony is amazing." Claudia smiled sadly as she sat on the bleachers next to Lucas.

"He is a jackass, you know?" Lucas asked meaning Nathan. Claudia laughed a little.

"It is because of me Luke." Claudia admitted as she looked down at her flared jeans and a plain white long sleeved top.

"He was like this before you." Luke muttered as they watched everyone play basketball.

"Luke, can we talk?" Claudia asked awkwardly.

"Sure! It's not like I am doing anything here!" Lucas shouted at Nathan who was playing basketball. They stood up and walked over to the corner.

"Dan is running for Mayor." Claudia said really quickly and Lucas was shocked.

"What!" Lucas shouted and Nathan turned a little so he could try and listen in to their conversation.

"Like Jimmy Walker in Beau James. He could try to deport me Luke!" Claudia exclaimed loudly and Lucas pulled her away from the rivercourt bleachers.

"He can't deport you." Lucas stated and Claudia shook her head.

"I broke his son's heart, he hates me. He is Dan Scott. He can get me deported!" Claudia exclaimed upset. "Also Chris is back." Claudia added and Lucas was shocked.

"Has he spoke to you?" Lucas asked and Claudia nodded her head.

"Yep. He asked me to do music with him, can you believe it!" Claudia exclaimed and Nathan looked over and felt a little uncomfortable considering he asked Chris to do it. "There is no way in hell I am doing music with him!" Claudia shouted again and then Nathan couldn't listen to it anymore. "But maybe I should." Claudia thought out loud, Lucas was confused. "Maybe Nathan will finally realise I am the one for him." Claudia stated smiling, Nathan shot a hoop and Claudia watched smiling.

"Claudia I don't understand. You are jumping through all these hoops, torturing yourself and he is just being a dick." Lucas stated and Claudia shook her head.

"But his is a dick that I love uncontrollably." Claudia exclaimed and Nathan felt more at ease, he didn't want Lucas to ruin anything so he called on him.

"Lucas get your ass over here." Nathan shouted interrupting them. Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Fix your tyrant boyfriend." Lucas muttered before he ran over to the rivercourt. Claudia laughed a little. "Oh yeah Claudia have fun with Dean." Lucas teased as he looked at Claudia smirking. Nathan looked at Claudia with a raised brow.

"He is just a friend." Claudia groaned before she walked away from the boys playing basketball.

___

"I just had a great idea!" Brooke exclaimed as she walked into the apartment, Claudia was doing trigonometry homework.

"Does it involve trigonometry?" Claudia asked jokingly as she studied on the couch.

"I don't know what that is so I doubt it." Brooke said sitting on the couch. "You are gonna be a cheerleader!" Brooke exclaimed as she sat back and waited for Claudia to be overjoyed, boy was she wrong. Claudia looked at Brooke with an 'are-you-serious?' look.

"Huh?" Claudia asked confused.

"I know, it's sudden, right? But, I was thinking, you did such a great job filling in at last years tournament that why not do the same thing this year, only permanently." Brooke explained delighted.

"Thanks, but I'll pass." Claudia replied annoyed.

"Come on. You're my roommate. You're supposed to have my back. That Rachel girl, she's stealing my life. She's dating Lucas, which... OK, I accidentally orchestrated, but my entire squad has a girl-crush on her!" Brooke exclaimed and Claudia looked at her steadily. "Basically, if you do not cheer, I'm screwed!" Brooke stated and Claudia was even more annoyed.

"Brooke, I have a lot going on in my life right now. Nathan's being all hot and cold and now with Chris back in town- " Claudia began to ramble but then she realised something."Oh my god." She stated sitting up.

"What?" Brooke asked confused.

"Oh, that's totally it. That's exactly why Nathan's acting so weird – he knows Chris is back in town and he thinks I had something to do with it." Claudia explained.

"Oh. Yeah, great, we've solved your riddle." Brooke gasped mockingly. "Can we please get back to mine!? Gimme an 'C'!" She cheered.

"I can't!" Claudia stated surely.

"You can, and besides, I thought your goal was to be with Nathan. You'd be with him all the time; pep rallies, and away games-" Brooke began to list before Claudia cut in.

"I know, I-I get it. I just... I think that if I join the cheerleading squad, Nathan would see it as some, like, pathetic attempt to get close to him." Claudia explained, she has embarrassed herself enough in front of Nathan since she came back and she wasn't in the mood to do it again, surprisingly enough.

"That's funny. It seems to me like worrying about what Nathan thinks is pathetic is actually pretty pathetic. Forget about Nathan. Why don't you do what you want for once?" Brooke asked and Claudia smiled.

"OK, I will – no thanks!" She replied exclaiming. Brooke scowled.

"Let me rephrase that; why don't you just do what I want for once?" Brooke begged and Claudia laughed as she shook her head. "Fine!" She schemed. "Oh, did I mention that Nathan's very often shirtless at practice?" Brooke smirked and Claudia looked at her with growing annoyance. "You know, hot, sweaty and... bulging in all the right places. All the girls notice." Brooke explained smiling and Claudia stayed expressionless, however, she was jealous as hell. "OK, see ya." Brooke smirked as she got off the couch. Claudia whacked Brooke on the bum with her pillow. Brooke gaped as she left the apartment. Claudia sat there thinking. She shook her head and sighed. She really did not know what to do.

___

Claudia was back from volunteering, she decided not to sing the duet with Dean because she didn't want to make things worse with Nathan considering that Chris was back in town. Dean was okay with it and they just sang the group numbers. The kids loved it watching them all sing and dance. Claudia spent the rest of the time painting with Cherry and Marie.

Claudia was standing on the table in their living room singing Don't Dream its Over. Her brother used to sing it all the time so it brought her peace. She was doing an embarrassing dance on the table. She heard a knock on the door and thought it was Haley.

"Come in." Claudia shouted before she continued to sing and dance. The door opened and Claudia turned to face the person singing.

"Don't dream it's-uh." Claudia sang but then stopped straight away when she realised it was Nathan. "Hello." Claudia said nervously as she looked at her sort of husband. "I wasn't expecting you, come on in." Claudia smiled as she jumped off the table awkwardly and walked over to him. Wrapping the cardigan tighter around herself.

"I can't stay. I just, uh, there's something I wanna talk to you about." Nathan explained as he shut the door behind him.

"Chris." Claudia sighed leaning on the couch.

"How'd you know?" Nathan asked worried that Chris had told Claudia the truth.

"Please, all this weirdness between us, I just figured... Nathan, I-I didn't know he was coming back into town. You have to believe me. I would never work with him again." Claudia stated truthfully and Nathan took a little sigh of relief because he realised that Claudia didn't know.

"Actually, I think you should." Nathan replied and Claudia who shocked out of her mind.

"Uh repeat!" Claudia exclaimed shocked. "You want me to work with that self-righteous arrogant jerk!" Claudia extended and Nathan shrugged.

"He's good for your music, Claudia and that's what you should be focussing on right now." Nathan replied and Claudia was dumbfounded.

"Nathan, now it is time for us to work on us or at least for me to fix things." Claudia replied taking a step closer to him. "Plus working with Chris nearly killed our marriage! Do you remember how jealous you were?" Claudia asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, and that's just it. I told you I needed to be able to trust you again. This is your chance." Nathan replied actually smiling a little, Claudia had just hit a breakthrough there. He had never seen him actually smile since that night on tour when he came to visit her, she realised how much she missed his smile but then she jumped back to reality.

"Yeah but whatever happened to 'You don't need Chris, you can make it on your own.'" Claudia replied quoting what Nathan had to told her when she told Nathan she was going to continue working with Chris before the tour.

"And whatever happened to 'Nathan my music is like basketball, you need a whole time to win. Chris and I are a team.'" Nathan quoted and Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Touché." She replied smiling a little.

"Claudia, this your chance to prove that I can trust you." Nathan stated.

"So, this is like a test?!" Claudia exclaimed confused and annoyed.

"You can call it what you want... but if you work with Chris and you end up having feelings for him again I guess I'll have my answer." Nathan shrugged and Claudia placed her hands to her hand in frustration.

"That's ridiculous! Nathan, that's not fair! You can't expect me to work Chris." Claudia exclaimed annoyed.

"Maybe not... but like I said... it's your chance." Nathan stated before he left, Claudia sighed bewildered and not at all happy.

"I didn't have feelings for him. He kissed me, I should have stopped it quicker than I did but I felt a little connection." Claudia stated bluntly. It was all the truth, Nathan just listened to her. "And if you think I went on the tour for Chris then you are wrong. I went for the same reason you went to high flyers." Claudia explained as she looked at her husband. "By the way, you look good today." Claudia smirked before she walked over to the counter in the kitchen. Nathan didn't know what to do, he was caught off guard.

Later that day, Brooke sat in front of a mirror, a blue and white 'R' was painted on her upper right cheek, she was also in her uniform. She was combing her hair as Claudia entered. Brooke saw Claudia through the mirror, Claudia stopped and looked at the uniform laid out for her on the bed. All she had to do was wear it and cheer. Brooke smiled and walked out the room slapping Claudia's bum as she did it. Claudia looked at the uniform torn.

___

"Hi." Claudia said as her and Haley slid into the Girls locker room. Claudia would only join if Haley did and it took a while convincing Haley but she finally went along with it.

"Hey." Haley smiled to the cheerleaders. Brooke turned and looked at them as if Christmas had came early.

"Nice outfit." Peyton stated looking straight at Claudia, Peyton could feel the hate emanating from Peyton. Claudia rolled her eyes before she turned to face Brooke and Haley.

"I have to go perform, just to tell you, Brooke, that I will see you on the floor." She smiled and she was away to walk out but Peyton spoke up.

"You are singing?" She asked shocked and angry.

"Nope I am away to perform a juggling act." Claudia muttered sarcastically.

"Try not run off with the circus, you have a habit of running away." Peyton replied back snarky, Claudia sighed before she walked out.

"Stupid Peyton." Claudia hissed to herself as she began to walk down the corridor. 

Claudia was walking down the corridors to get to the gym when Nathan walked round the corner and they walked into each other. Claudia fell the ground and began to laugh.

"Hey." She smiled looking up at him. Nathan was in complete shock, he was already pissed off about his dad running for mayor and now he has to speak to his wife. "Wow, such a gentleman." Claudia muttered sarcastically as she began to stand up herself.

"Oh um sorry." Nathan said helped Claudia up the rest of the way.

"Good luck tonight." Claudia smiled at Nathan.

"Uh yeah thanks." Nathan muttered, he haven't spoke since he went to her apartment about Chris.

"Well, if you want you can watch me perform." Claudia replied grinning slightly.

"Sure, just try not run away on tour again." Nathan replied harshly before he walked away. Claudia was stunned, paralysed.

___

"Thank you, Danny. That was a fine speech. However, you made one small error." Whitey laughed as he squared up to Dan. "I've just been told you'll be running opposed after all. Ladies and gentlemen, the candidate that I'm endorsing... Ms. Karen Roe." Whitey exclaimed grinning as he held his arm out for her. The light flashed on Karen and she smiled at the crowd who cheered greatly for her. They hugged and Karen took the microphone off of Whitey so she could introduce Claudia.

"Now I would like to invite Mrs Claudia Scott to the stage to perform one of her songs." Karen exclaimed and Claudia walked over to them shaking their heads.

"Uh Karen, Coach, I am not performing." Claudia stated awkwardly, she couldn't sing because she saw Nathan out of the corner of her eye and she knew he would be disappointed in her. Lucas looked over at Claudia confused, then he realised Nathan.

"Claudia, honey, what do you mean?" Karen asked confused, a tearful Claudia shook her head.

"I can't." Claudia stated surely.

"Is this because of Nathan?" Karen asked and Claudia nodded her head as the tears streamed out of her eyes.

"He told me not to run away on a tour this time." Claudia cried before she ran off, Karen followed after her. Whitey looked really awkward before he turned to the rest of the crowd.

"Uh sorry folks. She is not performing tonight." Whitey stated to the crowd before he glared at Nathan- who felt really bad. He only snapped at Claudia because of his dad.
___

"Thank you again for doing this with me." Claudia muttered to Haley who nodded her head.

"Hey, it will look good on my resume." Haley laughed as she fixed her cheerleading uniform. Peyton looked at them rolling her eyes.

"FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE! DAN: LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!" Dan and the crowd shouted grinning. The music started up and the cheerleaders walked onto the gym, through the smoke. They began their well rehearsed cheer.

"Brooke Davis and the squad are already in mint season form." Mouth commentated and Gigi grinned, of course she had nothing to add. "And the newest cheerleaders: Claudia Scott, Haley James and Rachel Getina." Mouth added and they cheer.

"Showtime!" Rachel smirked as she jumped in front of Brooke and blocked her way, cheering in front of the captain. Brooke refrained from punching her as she glared but continued the cheer.

"Don't push me, bitch!" Brooke stated angrily as she smiled at the crowd.

Meanwhile in the boys locker room Nathan and Lucas are squaring off.

"You're breaking her heart, and you know that." Lucas stated behind Nathan, Nathan turned all the way around to face Lucas.

"Lucas, this is a pep rally – where's your pep?" Nathan asked sarcastically.

"She's your wife!" Lucas shouted angrily. "You treat her like this, manipulating her; pushing her back to Chris!" Lucas extended and that ticked Nathan right off.

"Alright, you need to back up." Nathan stated as he took a step forward. "Now!" He then added sterner.

"Really? Is that an order?" Lucas asked before he flicked Nathan on the shoulder. "Captain." Lucas then muttered teasingly.

"Don't push me, bitch!" Nathan warned.

"Why, you gonna do something about it?" Lucas taunted and if this was a cartoon smoke would be coming out of Nathan's ears and he would be bright red.

"I'm just getting started." Rachel said to Brooke nastily before she did a back flip. Brooke glared daggers at Rachel as she did it again. Rachel then did a jumping cartwheel.

"Cool it! This isn't the pole dancing you do on weekends!" Brooke muttered rudely, Rachel glared and did another back flip showing everyone her underwear. Rachel kicked her leg up and Brooke shoved it back down. Rachel spun and did the splits in front of Brooke as the music ended and grinned at the crowd. Brooke smiled stiffly at the crowd. Rachel stood up and faced Brooke.

"What is your problem!" Brooke shouted shoving Rachel, Rachel stumbled but then shoved Brooke harder.

"Say, you're the one with the problem! You dance like a cripple. Nice splits though; you must have a lot of practice spreading your legs." Rachel teased.

"I also have a lot of practice making fists! You wanna see?" Brooke asked sarcastically as she clenched her fists.

"Brooke, you don't scare me. I mean, it's not like I'm a cookie or a donut." Rachel teased again and Brooke scoffed.

"You're just... like... Dan!" Lucas stated as he pointed at Nathan back in the boys locker room. Nathan grabbed the front of Lucas's shirt before he punched him in the face.

"Your Tree Hill Ravens." Dan exclaimed and the whole crowd stood and cheered as Nathan broke through the paper barrier still fighting with Lucas. The rest of the team follow, also wanting a part in the fight. Lucas punched Nathan hard and the team jumped both of then. They moved around on the floor of the gym. Dan watched them amused and the cheerleaders watched them confused. Claudia was concerned.

"Damn your sperm Danny." Whitey glared at Dan who was amused.

"What the hell is happening?" Haley exclaimed looking at Claudia- who was just as confused as Haley.

"I have no idea." Claudia shouted as she watched the cheerleader's fight. Brooke slapped Rachel who snapped back up grinning. She then punched Brooke. Claudia and Haley took a step back. Peyton rushed at Rachel and knocked her down. Peyton was wrestling with Rachel as Dan found it highly amusing. Bevin and some other cheerleaders fall to Rachel's aid.

It's a mad rush as the girls try to strangle each other and the guys try to choke each other. It was a mess. Claudia and Haley just spectated worried.

"Lucas Scott throws a roundhouse to Nathan Scott's jaw!" Mouth commentated. "And, over on the other side, Brooke Davis is choking the new girl! There's a hair pull, oh, an eye gouge." Mouth commentated loudly and Claudia just made faces, it looked painful. Peyton kicked the mascot in between the legs. "Oh, and there's a painful shot to the groin! Now this is truly 'Midnight Madness'! Mouth shouted extremely excited. "Gigi, I don't suppose you have anything to add." Mouth smiled looking at his partner.

"Actually, this-this kinda turns me on!" Gigi giggled and Mouth looked at her, stoney faced and he covered the mic slightly too late. The two groups were sitting in full throttle.

___

"Claudia!" Nathan shouted running up to her, Claudia was shocked.

"Been a while since you have done that." Claudia muttered monotone, Nathan stopped and Claudia turned around to face him.

"I am sorry I snapped at you, I found out my Dad was running for Mayor and I was just stressed out." Nathan explained and Claudia shook her head.

"It's alright Nathan." Claudia replied smiling. She really didn't mind.

"I was a jerk for putting you off singing." Nathan admitted and Claudia shook her head.

"Here." She said rummaging through her back to find the lyrics, it was arms of my baby- the song she wrote on tour when she missed Nathan. One of the first songs she ever sung on tour. She handed it to Nathan. "Just read the lyrics, it was the song I was going to be singing tonight." Claudia smiled before she walked off, then she remembered something. She walked back over to him. "Okay so that's a lie." Claudia laughed awkwardly as she looked up at Nathan. "When I heard Karen was running for mayor I was actually going to sing Give More Power to the People. I sing it all the time at work." Claudia explained, she told Nathan to prove that she was going to tell him the truth and nothing but the truth.

"Where do you work, I thought you just worked at Karen's?" Nathan asked and Claudia smiled.

"If I told you I would have to kill you." Claudia replied jokingly before she walked away from Nathan with a skip in her step.

___

Claudia walked up the steps with her guitar case, she knocked on the the door Chris opened it and Claudia smiled tightly, Chris smirked back.

"Get your guitar... and wipe that stupid smile off your face." Claudia stated as she walked into Chris's apartment. Nathan stood in the street below watching them. The door shut and Nathan placed his earphones back on before he jogged away.