Illegal Innocence (Student/Teacher Relationship)

Chapter 9

I looked at Hunter and pointed. "I want to see you play that," I decided.

He looked at me with an amused look on his face. "You want to see me play that?" I nodded and he shrugged. "Alright, come on then."

We walked over to the booth and he handed the girl at the table two dollars. She smiled at us and handed him three baseballs. He passed me two of them and we walked in front of the tank. The clown smirked at us.

"Really? These two think they can dunk me?" he taunted. I glanced at Hunter. He was on the baseball team, and I knew he could hit the target each and every time. I watched him aim, and then finally throw the ball. It was fast and hit the target with a sharp, cracking sound. The clown's laughing stopped as the seat he was on disappeared from beneath him, and he disappeared into the water. His head resurfaced and he glared at us.

"There's one," Hunter said in a taunting voice. I laughed, suddenly amused that Hunter could change the clown's mood so quickly. The clown got back up on the seat, now soaked, and crossed his arms.

"That was a lucky shot, kid. There's no way you'll be able to do it again."

"We'll see," he said. He turned to me and I handed him another ball. "Thanks."

I smiled. "Yep."

He gave me a smile and winked. I felt my face grow warm, but avoided his gaze by turning back towards the clown. Hunter pitched the ball again, and hit the target a second time. The clown went into the water once more, and I bit back the urge to laugh. He resurfaced again and stared at Hunter, clearly pissed off.

"What was that, about getting lucky?" Hunter asked as the clown went back on the seat again. This time I laughed, but not too loud. I handed Hunter the last ball and watched him hit the target the third time, and the clown went under again. Hunter draped his arm around my shoulder and led me away from the dunking tank. "Too easy."

I had to admit, his cocky attitude was a bit annoying, but I knew that I had provoked it in the first place. I looked up at the sky, and noticed it was almost dark. Looking at my surroundings, I noticed we were heading towards the Ferris Wheel.

Pretending to be clueless, I asked, "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," he said. I smiled at myself, knowing exactly where we were going. He led me to the big Ferris Wheel, and I gazed at it, watching the lights change colors and move in different patterns.

"The Ferris Wheel?" I asked. He smiled at me and nodded.

"Not afraid of heights, are you?" he teased.

"Not a chance," I shot back. We waited in the line for five minutes, then once we were at the front, we showed the man our bracelets and he motioned us into the first pod. We were alone, and I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. The Ferris Wheel began to move, bringing us away from the ground slowly. We finally stopped at the top, and I stared out the window, away from Hunter, who was sitting next to me.

"It's so beautiful," I whispered, gazing at the miles and miles of land that was folded out in front of me.

"Avery," Hunter said. I turned to him, and he was staring at me with a caring look in his eyes. "So are you."

My eyes widened a bit, but before I could say anything, his lips were on mine. At first, I didn't know what to do, but as he kissed me, I felt more and more at ease. His lips were soft, yet strong at the same time. I put my hands on the back of his head and ran my fingers through his hair and deepened the kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him, and soon I was in his lap and there was hardly any space between us.

I had to be honest. Kissing him was absolutely amazing. I didn't think it would ever happen, but now Hunter and I were kissing, and it felt nice. The spark between us caused me to kiss him stronger, and he kissed back with the same strength. After a few minutes, I pulled back, catching my breath. He gasped as well, and panted along with me. I looked at him and gave him a small smile. He wrapped his arm around my waist and kept me against him, and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"What just happened?" I asked him, continuing to pant hard.

"I don't know," he replied. "But I think you know now that I like you. A lot."

"I think I got the hint," I said, laughing a little. I put my hand on his chest, letting it rise and fall with him. He placed his hand on top of mine and squeezed it.

"I really like you, Avery," he repeated, looking at me. "And I really want to be with you."

"Really?" I asked. "You do?"

The reason why I was so shocked was because I've never had someone tell me that they want to be with me before. I had only had three boyfriends in my life, and all of them weren't exactly boyfriend material. One was secretly a drug dealer, one of them was a nerd that couldn't get over his obsession with World of Warcraft, and the last one did it because he made a bet with his friends that he would date me for a week and then dump me. So really, I've never had a real relationship before. Not even a real date, like this one.

"Yeah, I do," he said with a hopeful note in his voice. "Avery, will you be my girlfriend?"

I felt my heart skip a beat, then the butterflies in my stomach from before came back. "Your girlfriend?"

He nodded, becoming unsure. Maybe I was taking too long to answer him? What do I say? I didn't know if I felt like he should be more than a friend to me, or if we should just stay friends. I knew I cared for him, more than any normal girl would, but did I feel romantically attracted to him? I guess I did, since I liked the kiss we just shared. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just try and see where it led us?

I looked back up at him. "Yes."

His eyes lit up. "Really?"

I nodded, smiling. He smiled and leaned down to kissed me again as we moved around on the Ferris Wheel in the brisk chill of the September night.