Finding You

Chapter 25 - I Remember

"There'll be happiness after you,
But there was happiness because of you.
Both of these things can be true."

- Taylor Swift

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"No way."

"But -"

"No."

"Hunter, would you just -"

"Not a chance."

"Well, it's not like we have a choice."

"Well, there's no way in hell that's happening. I don't want you spending a whole day around that asshole," Hunter states.

I sigh and do my best not to roll my eyes. This is so not going well.

Today is a Saturday, and for once, we don't have a track meet. Normally, this would be cause for celebration, but of course, Coach Smith couldn't let us off that easy. Instead, our Track team is holding a fundraiser today to raise money for our trip to the championship meet in a few weeks.

The team's been doing surprisingly well lately, and I've been getting better at every meet, with Hunter's coaching of course. As a matter of fact, right now I'm actually ranked in the top five female high jumpers in our district.

The problem now is, we're all going to have to work our butts off if we want to raise enough money for the trip. Private school equals no government funding for these sorts of things.

Normally, that wouldn't be so bad. After all, we have fundraisers every year, and I'm used to being forced to hassle people for money every season. This year though, the teachers decided to make it even worse by pairing us up and giving us all separate jobs.

And of course, since that apparently wasn't bad enough, my partner just happens to be Sean.

Needless to say, Hunter is a little... uncomfortable with the idea. And by uncomfortable, I mean he's going out of his mind.

I mean, I guess I get it. Sean isn't exactly his favorite person in the world, and ever since Hunter and I officially became a couple, things have only gotten more tense between the two of them.

Thankfully, they haven't had anymore physical altercations, not since that first fight. Granted, that might be because Sean's pretty much steered clear of us since then. Whenever they are forced to interact though, there's just this really hostile energy that comes off of both of them in waves.

I'm trying to be understanding of Hunter's feelings about this whole thing. After all, I don't know how I would have reacted if he hadn't gotten paired with Rose. I mean, the looks some of the girls in class threw Hunter's way when Coach Smith announced that we'd be working in pairs? Yeah, I'll be seeing those in my nightmares for a while.

"It's not a whole day, it's a few hours," I point out for the third time. "And I don't have a choice. They paired us together."

"I'll figure something out," Hunter says, voice laced with annoyance as he crosses his arms over his chest.

I have to stop myself from smiling. I should probably be taking him more seriously, but is it bad that I think he's kind of adorable right now?

"No, you won't. You're already in enough trouble for your little outburst when they announced the pairs," I tell him, amusement in my voice as I recall the incident.

"So I got a little heated," Hunter defends.

"A little? You threw a book at the back of Sean's head," I say with a laugh. "Which was uncalled for. Funny, but uncalled for."