DISCLAIMER – I own all the characters mentioned in this story. The lyrics below belong to Dashboard Confessional

Is there time? Is there time …to follow just one desire? Is there time? Is there time… to follow your heart? Dress your wounds, trust your strength face the night. Crave the touch, feel the pain, know the signs…Is there truth in your pain, your desire? If you knew what I know would you try? Is there time? Is there time...to follow just one desire? –The Shade of Poison Trees by Dashboard Confessional

I don't know what compelled me to go after Hunter. Maybe it was the hostile attitude which I wanted to get through or maybe it was something deeper…I always found him fascinating but I never knew that once someone got involved with Hunter, it was very rare you would come back whole. (No, I am not talk as in coming back with your head where your feet should be and half a nose instead of a whole – it was metaphorical, silly.)

It all started the day when the new Philosophy teacher, Mrs Lloyd, put us into pairs for an upcoming project. I waited impatiently, trying hard not to make it obvious that I was fidgeting like crazy – the dread of being paired up with someone who I didn't know always seemed to unleash some sort of dread within me... it was almost like standing around a cat who keeps on looking at you with hungry eyes and you are unable to decide whether to sprint away like a madman or stay glued to the spot. I don't know why but I always stuck to the latter option in times like these – maybe because I couldn't trust my own legs to be able to support me if I moved…

Some of the people felt elated that they had been paired up with their friends or with someone they marginally knew, whilst others trudged towards their partners feeling peeved because they were with someone who they didn't know two shits about. There were only a few of us left to be paired up; I looked around to see if any of my friends were standing but my heart slumped even further – I was surrounded by strangers who I barely even talked to.

My head instantly shot up as Mrs Lloyd spoke, "Ariana Parkes, you are with… Hunter Andrews."

Oh dear. I looked at Hunter with a look of dismay which he returned with a harsh glare. A part of me was dreading to be with him whilst another was jumping around with glee because…here I go…ever since I move to Jacksville High, I had the most humungous crush on Hunter – and I wasn't even exaggerating… The first time I saw him I couldn't stop thinking about him, it was as if he had been permanently stuck into my mind but, as the years passed on and I started to take interest in other guys, I never did really think of Hunter that much (although, it wasn't as if I didn't crush on him anymore – my heart still kept on doing cartwheels whenever I caught sight of him…)

I sighed inwardly and trudged towards the table which we were assigned to sit at (gosh, all of this seems rather formal). Hunter followed suite and sat down on the chair next to me, not bothering to greet me or even spare a glance my way.

As soon as everyone had settled down in their seats, Mrs Lloyd spoke up, "I hope that all of you are happy with your partner," yeah, fat chance, lady… "Your assignment is that, during the course of this semester and the beginning of the next, you have an aim. Your aim is to get to know you partner, see who they really are, what brings them to act like they do, how they react in situations. Have they ever been in love? Have they ever experienced true fear? When you have collected all these little pieces of information, I would like you to present them to me in an essay or even a little booklet." The whole class groaned at the mention of the essay, other than Hunter who stayed emotionless as a brick wall.

A girl sitting at the front asked, "Why do we have to do this?"

Mrs Lloyd smiled, "To see that not everyone is who they say there are. Sometimes that could be a good thing but other times it can be bad…You need to break your partners shell and see what they are like on the inside."

Throughout the whole speech, I sat glued in my seat hoping that I didn't look at mortified as I felt…It would be a miracle getting a full sentence out of Hunter – how was I supposed to write of whole essay? Or, god forbid, a booklet…

I looked over at Hunter; his dark hair fell into his ice blue eyes, he was biting his lip where he had a silver snakebite. I noticed the way he stared ahead, not paying attention to anyone else as if he was wrapped up into a completely different world. I quickly whipped my head around so that Hunter wouldn't notice that I was having a drool fest on him…

Hunter wasn't exactly what you would call perfect boyfriend material – in fact, of what I knew, he was far from it…There were always various rumours that kept on milling around about him – how he used to be a druggie, how all his friends were freaks who had dropped out of college and had turned to violence, about how he kept on getting himself arrested and caught by the police. I hated the fact that all these things were made up about him (well, I hoped they were made up) but he didn't really care, he took no noticed of anyone and always kept to himself – sometimes I even thought about joining him on his rather empty lunch table but I always chickened out…after all, what could a girl like me have to do with a guy like Hunter?

It was a huge shame that he had to be so…so…so gorgeous. God, if Hunter ever heard me calling him gorgeous – god knows whether I would see the light of the day ever again…

I zoned out during the teacher's all too deep speech – I wasn't the type of person to dig the deep stuff in life…I wasn't even paying attention when Mrs Lloyd marched up to me and said, "Ariana, why are you not talking to Hunter?"

I felt rather taken aback but then I realised I must've been zoned out when she had stopped droning on because everyone was rambling on around me, evidently thankful that the teacher had stopped talking.

"Um uhr sorry..?" I squeaked, entirely unsure of how to respond – normally I got told off for talking to people in class not about not talking to them.

I could see Hunter facing me and rolling his eyes, a slight smirk on his face. Mrs Lloyd huffed and went back to her desk to read some crappy romance novel while the rest of us kept on talking.

I turned to Hunter who was now staring behind me, outside the huge window. I waved a hand in front of his face and said, "Hello-o-o?"

He turned his head round and snapped at me, "What?"

I felt rather taken aback but I regained my posture and said, "You heard the teacher – we are meant to be talking."

"Well, we're talking right now aren't we? That counts?"

"But, we need to…get to um know each other…" I trailed off realising how weird that sounded.

Hunter looked at me with a bored expression, "Fine."

At least it was an improvement… "So um, what's your…full name?" I chose that this was the safest option to start with.

"Hunter Zachary Andrews. Yours?"

"Wow, we're actually having a civilised conversation?" I blurted out before I could think of what I was going to say.

Hunter smirked again and raised an eyebrow, looking slightly shocked that I could do sarcasm.

I sighed and (with every ounce of dignity I had left in me) I told him my name, "Ariana Sylvia Violet Nina Sabrina Parkes." I didn't even bother to hide the embarrassment which caused Hunter's smirk to deepen.

"Ariana Sylvia Violet Nina Sabrina Parkes…what a name," he repeated, mock amusement clear in his eyes.

To my relief, the bell sounded indicating the end of the lesson. I quickly packed up my stuff and, before I could ask Hunter when we should meet up for the project, he was already going out of the classroom. I threw my bag over my shoulder and raced after him, unfortunately he was too much of a fast walker and I had to follow him for a while…

He abruptly stopped and turned around, annoyance evident on his face, "Stop following me."

And here I was thinking he didn't even notice me following him… "I-I just wanted to ask when you would like to uhr meet up for the um project…" I managed to stutter out.

He huffed, "Fine. Give me your number."

He took out his phone and I told him my number.

Hunter looked at me with a bored expression, "I'll call you when I feel like it. Now stop following me."

With those lovely words, he stormed/swaggered off not bothering to say goodbye.

I sighed in defeat and thought to myself, "We are so going to have a whale of a time…not."

I walked off in the opposite direction, towards my locker, completely oblivious to what feelings this project was going to unleash…

a/n please please please R&R! *puppy dog eyes* Sorry that the end of it may have sounded like word vomit but I was listening to some really really loud Deadmau5 in attempt to wake up…oopsies. Thanks for reading x