hard | daniel seavey

four

ayla's pov

Taking deep breaths I walked over to my seat, I decided to play it cool, not showing any sign of emotion, his hands were being held within each other and I noticed scars on both of his knuckles, I only knew half the story, one being from when he punched the walls and tore apart his home when I left 3 years ago before Carter died.. but the other, I wondered about. I noticed a scar on his forearm as well..

I continued, sat down, placed my bag beside me, avoiding eye contact with him, I felt his eyes glued on me. I sighed, it felt wrong, and I didn't want to face him after telling Lucas I never knew him. It was almost too cruel. It was a dumb mistake too. I just kissed the guy a few minutes prior. I wish I hadn't. Because now, I felt dirty.

The professor of the class, who I soon found out was Mr. Archer, spoke to us, finally, "You're weekly assignment will be to partner up with one of the students in this classroom and work on a project over a certain topic," My eyes slowly widened, "What class is this?" I mumbled, wishing he'd just not said anything. I didn't even know anyone in this room besides.. Well, it couldn't be too bad. I saw Daniel take a long deep breath out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at him, seeing his face, his deep blue eyes, him. Without meaning to, I merely smiled, but he didn't react the same. His face stayed firm and straight. But for some strange reason, it felt like everything was going to be okay from here, because he forced a small grin on his lips.

"So, do you wanna be partners?" He asked, a seemingly hopeful look in his eye. I tried to keep a smile on my face, "Yeah, of course. I don't know anybody in this class anyways," I laughed, he kept a line on his face. "Well," he coughed, "Just because we have history doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?" He began to sit up, "Or, just you know. Tell people know that we don't know each other," He snapped, beginning to get out of his seat, "Oh, and not act like such complete strangers. That's the mature thing to do, right?" He huffed out. Ouch. He kept a small frown on his lips. I felt the shade towards me, except he regretted saying that to me, "Ayla. I'm sorry, that was uncalled for," Daniel sighed beginning to go. "No, you don't need to apologize. I'm the one who should be sorry." Putting my forehead into my hands, I apologized, meaning it. "I panicked and I didn't know what to say, I didn't mean to hurt you," I kept rambling on.

He nodded, "It's whatever, I didn't really care anyways," smiling a bit painfully and finally leaving and going up to receive a paper with the directions on it. And with that, we were cool and on good terms. I think. Neither of us having any feelings towards each other at all. I think.

Shortly after, he came back with 2 copies of the instructions for this particular assignment. "It says here that the assignment is due in 2 weeks. Every student and their partner will have a different topic to research over. We'll mostly only get time to work on it outside of class. You must have a 10-page essay over this topic, 1 visual," He stopped. Probably to take a breath. "and something that involves you and," He raised an eyebrow and looked in my eyes to add emphasis to the word, 'and' then continued reading, "your partners' 'talents' to present," Daniel read aloud, an idea to write a song instantly came to mind for the talent portion.

Even though I haven't so much as touched anything related to music in years. I still had a passion for it.

"What's our topic?" I asked, I mean, it'd probably be over global warming or something.

Daniel scanned the paper, pursing his lips as he searched for it, "Ah," His eyes widened as he finally found it, "You and your partners' specific topic is explained within the following paragraph:" I watched his lips move as he spoke, "Several young people around the world struggle daily with mental illnesses. This takes a toll on not only them but their home, school, and social lives as well. You must present about how anxiety, depression, and mental health disorders affect the young-adolescent life." Daniel spoke, his voice getting lower and lower as he continued. Letting out a sigh, he scratched the back of his head, turning to me, "Ayla, we don't have to do this topic. We can ask for another if yo-"