Keep On Walking (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 3 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Thirty-Four

❝past (pronounced pɑːst or parst), noun
a person's history.
e.g. her past came back to haunt her.❞

Ryan was going to school. The elementary school was void of decorations, since it was still only the second day, and she walked to the staff room. She had some printing she needed to get done.

There was a woman she hadn't seen before. She had long, brown hair, tied in a plait. Her eyes were hazel, and her skin had olive tones. She was beautiful, but in a dangerous way, like fire. Ryan felt a little intimidated, but shook her head. She had changed. She wasn't scared of people anymore.

She walked to the printer, and the woman looked up suddenly, before making a beeline towards her. "Hi!" she said. Though she sounded friendly, Ryan could hear the sultry tones in her voice. "My name's Dahlia."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Ryan, after a moment's hesitation. "I'm Ryan."

"Hayes-Lockhart?"

"That's right," she said cautiously.

"Yeah, I heard you were working here. I'm a huge fan of Hunter Hayes' music."

She smiled. "Maybe you can meet him sometime?"

"Hmm. Maybe." She sighed. "It's my first day here."

"Are you a full-time teacher?"

"No, just a substitute for six months. A couple of teachers are going on their long service leaves and they happen to be one after the other."

"I see."

Dahlia smiled. She was strangely charismatic. "Well, I shouldn't keep you long. Which class is yours?"

"My first class is the first graders, Miss Cincetti's. I teach music, you see."

"Oh. Interesting career choice."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. But if you're going to be a teacher, why wouldn't you do something like math, or English?"

"I just prefer not to," she said. The real reason was because there was only so much her dyslexia could handle, but she didn't say that to Dahlia.

"Hmm. Okay." She smiled. "I'm glad that I could meet you."

"You wanted to meet me?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"I... I don't know. I just never prided myself on being the type of person that people wanted to meet specifically."

"Oh, I just wanted to know what made you so attractive."

"Excuse me?"

"I heard that Hunter Hayes didn't date anyone for six years, and then he dated you for five months, and he married you."

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet," she said blandly, though it was true.

"Oh!" she said. "Oh, I've offended you, haven't I? I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm just... I've got a lot on my mind."

"Like what?"

"Personal things."

"Oh."

"I'm going to my classroom. Is there anything you need help with before I leave?"

"No, that's fine for now. Thank you."

Just before Ryan left the room, she noticed the name tag on Dahlia's things. "Dahlia A? What does that stand for?"

"Oh. I should get rid of that. I divorced my husband years ago. But it stands for Abony."