Inside | Shane Harte

6 | Stalker

It's 7 AM on Monday morning, which means that it's time to go for a run around campus again. It's been a few days since the last time so I decide to take the long round. Mother even bought me some new training clothes that I recieved in the post office. It's probably just a way for her to get me to stay focused and exercised but still, it was a nice gesture for sure.

When the outfit is on and my hair is set in a ponytail, I grab my water bottle and open the door. But just as I put my headphones into my ears I get interrupted.

"Good morning"

I scream in fear but quickly go silent again, reminding myself that there actually are students here trying to get some sleep.

"Shane? Are you serious right now?!" I sputter as silent as I can and he chuckles.

"Yup, as serious as I always am" he says with a smile and I shake my head as I start walking again. "Wait, you..."

"What? I what?" I ask as he doesn't continue the sentence. His eyes scan my body and I roll my eyes before continue walking.

"Wait!" he says, stepping forward and I stop. "Uhm, you... You look good Kayla"

"If you meant to mock me, don't start. I really need to get going"

"No, I mean it. You look good today" he says, his face expression actually serious for once. "Just thought you should know"

"Uhm, thanks. I guess" I say and a small smile spreads on his lips. I mean, not the usual "creepy pedophile-smile" but a nice, gentle smile. It suits him.

"Yeah, go for your run now" he says and starts walking the opposite direction I'm going. Weird...

When I'm done running, I go for a quick shower and get dressed, all in less than 15 minutes. Must be a new record, I think to myself and chuckle. A glance at the phone tells me that the first class starts in 30 minutes, which means that I should be doing my hair right now in order to be there in time.

When I'm finally done with everything, I rush out of the building and on to the classical department as fast as I can. But when I arrive at the entrance, almost everyone is standing outside.

"What's happening?" I ask Cora who's talking to three other of our classmates, and they turn towards me.

"Oh uhm, apparently the first class is cancelled. I think that the principal was just here and told everyone about it, but we just got here as well as you" she says and shrugs.

"Okay, so what do we do now the next hour?"

Cora looks at the three other classmates, nods at them and then they all look at me.

"We explore!" she squeals.

"I don't know if we should..."

"Oh, come on! Just relax and do something fun for once, and technically it's not forbidden to explore other departments"

I look at them and they all have the same face. The well known puppy-face.

"Okay, but we need to make sure that we won't be late for next class"

"I promise" Cora smiles as she runs off towards the acoustic department, almost tripping over her own feet as she runs. The others soon follow and so do I. It can't be that bad, right? We're just... Visiting.

When we've looked around inside the building for a while, an amazing – and familiar – voice catches my attention. It comes from one of the studios, so I sneak away to it, hoping that Cora and the others didn't see me.

The door is slightly open, just enough for me to peek with one eye. Just what I thought, Shane is sitting on a chair in the middle of the room with a guitar resting on his lap. In front of him lies a few papers, song lyrics I suppose, and he's carefully reading through the text as he starts playing.

It's a beautiful song, and I can really feel the passion he expresses as he play the song. It's incredible, I've never seen such a talented artist before to be completely honest.

"Kayla, there you are! We've been looking for you everywhere" Cora says, suddenly appearing behind me. I jump up in the air in fear and she starts laughing, and I try my best to silent her before Shane notices that I'm here.

"Yeah, let's go" I say and rush out to a corridor, and Cora soon catches up.

"Wow girl, chill! What was that all about? Were you creeping on someone?" she asks, poking me with a huge grin on her face.

"Oh stop it, I wasn't creeping on anyone" I say, but can't help but start smiling. I don't know why really, if it's because she caught me sneaking up on him or... Just the thought of him. What? What am I thinking right now? I don't like him, I hate him. He's rude and always in the way of everything. Stop thinking about him Kayla.

"Kayla? Hellooo?" Cora says, poking my nose. "Did you seriously zone out again?"

We start laughing and suddenly, next class is in 5 minutes.

Later in the cafeteria one of the food lady is grabbing the ceasar salad when a shadow appears close behind me in the line. I turn around and there stands Shane, awkwardly close. So close that I can feel his hot breath hit my face.

"You really need to stop stalking me, it's getting annoying" he almost whispers in my ear.

"Wha-what do you mean? I'm not stalking you"

"Yeah, you are. You've stalked me two times already, once at the concert and then today, at the studio"

"Hmm, so you don't think that it's called stalking when you know about every time that I have... Watched you sing?" I ask with a noticeable cocky tone, and put my hands on my hips.

"Uhm, no, it's not" he says, uncertain what to say next. "So you think that I'm a good singer?"

I laugh at him for his efforts to change topic, but it's okay. I was running out of cocky comebacks to say anyway.

"Yeah, actually. I think you're a great singer, so passionate and you're really singing from your heart"

His face expression suddenly changes from cocky rude-boy to soft and serious. A small smile spreads on his lips and I can't help but search through his face for any imperfections, unfortunately without luck. He bites his lip and I don't really know what's happening. It's like we're both waiting for his response.

"Hey, you wanna come to the studio later? I promise to try to not be as rude as I usually am"

As surprised as I am with him, Shane Harte aka Rude Jerk asking me to come to the studio with him, is nowhere near as surprising as him promising to at least try not to be as rude as always. I never thought he would actually try to change for once, but I guess that makes me look at him with a fresh pair of eyes.

"Yeah, sure. What time?"

"6 PM sharp. Be there" he says and I nod as I get my food.