Shy (Hunter Hayes)

Chapter 3

Jana's POV

My heart was racing from Hunter's touch. He started stroking my knee with his thumb, slightly comforting me. I was extremely confused over what was going on, why I was letting a stranger touch my leg like this, but it didn't bother me at all. It felt right. He left his hand there for the rest of the class, distracting me from everything Mr. Briggs was saying.

The bell rang. "Alright guys, class is over. See you tomorrow," Mr. Briggs announced casually. With this statement, everyone in the room rose from their desks and collected their bags, heading to their next classes.

Hunter Hayes sighed. He gently squeezed my knee before removing his hand from my leg, his fingers lingering on my exposed thigh, stopping when he reached the leg of my shorts. "What class do you have next?" Hunter asked.

"Study Hall. It's in Mr. Lum's room," I replied, glancing down at my schedule.

"That's my next class too!" Hunter said excitedly. "Mind if I...walk you there?" he questioned hesitantly.

"Not at all."

Hunter and I left Mr. Briggs's classroom and started making our way toward Mr. Lum's room. "I hope you know where we're going because I have no clue," Hunter announced, laughing.

"Don't worry, I do. I've had study hall in his classroom all of high school."

We walked in silence as we went downstairs and turned down a long hallway that was home to the majority of the lockers. Ben Johnson who was known as the bully of the school was hanging out there with his crew. They seemed to be making as much noise as they possibly could.

"HEY NERD!" Ben called in our direction. "MUSIC DORK! GET OVER HERE!"

"Just keep walking. He's a jerk," I whispered to Hunter. He gasped and halted, stopping in his tracks. I stopped walking and turned around to see what was going on. Ben was holding him by the back of his shirt.

"Don't you know how to come when you're called?" he whispered in Hunter's ear.

"S-sorry," Hunter responded, his eyes growing wide with fear.

"When I'm through with you, you will be." Ben punched Hunter's stomach as hard as he could. He did this several times before repeating the motion on Hunter's face.

"STOP!" I screamed.

"You're lucky I can't hit girls," he muttered to me before returning to Hunter. He picked him up by his shoulders and threw him against the lockers. He cracked his knuckles. "Bet you're sorry now," he said before walking away. All his friends high-fived him.

"Hunter! Are you okay?!" I asked, throwing myself to the floor next to him. "Do you want me to get the nurse? The principal?"

"No, no, I'm okay. Just a little bloody nose is all. It's not broken, I'll be fine," he responded through gasps for air. Tears were forming in his eyes, but it seemed as if he wouldn't allow them to spill over.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yea, yea, I'm fine."

I grabbed both of his arms, pulling him up. I brought him paper towels to clean up his nose. He claimed he was fine, so we began waking to class once again.

"You deserve it," I heard him whisper to himself as I was throwing away the bloody paper towels. Was he really blaming himself for what Ben had done to him?

Hunter held the door to Mr. Lum's classroom for me. I stepped inside and took a seat towards the back of the quiet classroom. I slid into the seat and began unzipping my backpack, getting out my computer.

The startling sound of a screeching chair caused me to stop what I was doing. Hunter was about to sit down next to me.

"Mind if I sit here?" Hunter asked.

I smiled at him and nodded. He sat down, taking out his computer as well.

Neither Josie nor Chris were in this class, so it looked like Hunter would be who I sat next to every day. He was taking out earbuds from his pocket and untangling them. "Here, put this in. I want you to hear something," he told me.

Hunter opened up an app on his computer that I had never seen before. It was some kind of music editing program. He selected his saved songs and clicked on one titled "Wanted". He pressed play.

"You know I'd fall apart without you, I don't know how you do what you do. 'Cause everything that don't make sense about me makes sense when I'm with you. Like everything that's green, girl, I need you. But it's more than one and one makes two. Put aside the math and the logic of it, you gotta know you're wanted too."

This was Hunter singing. It was beautiful. His voice was flawless, perfect, beautiful. His eyes met mine. As the chorus progressed, I strived to reach for his hand even more than before.

"'Cause I wanna wrap you up, wanna kiss your lips, I, I wanna make you feel wanted. And I wanna call you mine, wanna hold your hand forever, and never let you forget it. Yeah, I, I wanna make you feel wanted."

My hand was resting on my thigh. Hunter hesitantly touched his hand to mine. I intertwined our fingers together and gently squeezed his hand.

There were even more sparks in this moment than before, and I was even more confused. But I just listened to Hunter's soothing voice sing a beautiful song and focused on feeling his hand pressed on mine, his fingers laced with my own. I wanted time to freeze in that moment.