The Only Exception

four

The next day at school, I couldn't escape the stares because of my injury. Quinn was surprisingly a little bit of help that morning because she put some of her makeup on me to try and cover up my bruise a bit.

Hunter was waiting for me at our physics table when I walked into the class. He greeted me with a smile as I sat next to him.

"Hey," I said shyly before pulling his notebooks out of my bag.

"Thanks again for bringing me the work I missed."

"Of course. How's your face feeling today?" He asked.

I shrugged as I pulled out my own notebook, "It's sore, but nothing too bad. I have to go back in 3 days to get the stitches out."

"How often do they do stuff like that to you?"

Hunter was suddenly staring at me with a very intense but sincere look in his eyes. I didn't like when anybody worried about me, so I usually tried to avoid talking about Nate and Gemma.

"Um... I mean, it's no big deal. They just like to have their fun," I stuttered while looking away from him towards our teacher, hoping he would start the class and put an end to this conversation.

"Drew," Hunter said sternly, getting me to turn back to him.

"It's not okay. They're bullying you. Trust me, if I didn't have the reputation I did, I'd be beating their asses on the daily for it. You need to tell someone."

I shook my head rapidly, "Look, everyone already knows. There's no point in making a big deal about it. Plus, Quinn would be furious because she would get in trouble for not sticking up for me. I only have this year and next year left. I would rather suffer through it than draw a bunch of attention to myself."

Hunter nodded slowly before responding, "I can understand that, trust me. I won't tell anyone, but I'm not going to let that happen to you anymore."

Butterflies filled my stomach and then our teacher finally started his lesson. I just stared at Hunter a little bit longer as he turned his attention to the front of the class. I wasn't sure why he was so overprotective of me, but it felt kinda nice to feel like someone cared.

As I made my way through my classes that day, I noticed that I was now partnered with or sitting right next to Hunter in every single one of my classes.

In our third class, I gave him a confused look and he laughed, so I knew this was all his doing.

"Stalker," I scoffed jokingly as I sat down next to him for the third time that day.

"Hey someone's got to make sure you don't break the other side of your face," Hunter joked.

"Oh please, we both know I don't need any protection in the classroom," I said while rolling my eyes.

"Yeah I know, I just wanted to sit next to you," Hunter admitted with a cheesy smile.

I couldn't help but return the smile. Well, only a half smile because the other side of my face was tight from the stitches.

At the end of that class, we walked out of the room together.

"Where do you normally sit for lunch?" I asked him as we went to our locker to put our things away.

"I usually just sit out on the field. You?"

"The library," I admitted sheepishly. I usually just did my homework at lunch which is why I almost never had anything to do at home.

"Care to join me on the field?" He invited me.

I didn't want to seem too excited that he wanted to spend all his time at school with me. I wasn't used to this kind of attention. Normally I hated all forms of attention, but not from Hunter. I liked it.