SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 17 - Welcome to MerPrep

We made it to the dining room as the last few people were filtering in. Hunter dropped my hand as he held the door open for me. I was kind of glad he had, because my hand was starting to become uncomfortably sweaty, and it had nothing to do with the running. Not to mention I didn't really feel like walking into a room full of strangers while holding another guys hand; it would be the equivalent of running in and screaming, 'Look at me! I'm a big freakin' homo!'

I followed Hunter into the busy dining room. Most of the tables were full to capacity with students talking happily with their friends. There was a large table in the centre of the room filled with what I assumed were staff members. I noticed Mr Beck was sitting there and chatting to a young woman, smiling widely the entire time. I also noticed Madame Thornton sitting there, looking as dour and unfriendly as I remembered her.

Hunter looking around and then waved to the people at a table near the back of the room. He made to go and join them, but I didn't follow. It wasn't until this moment, when I had become surrounded by people I didn't know, people who were laughing and joking with each other, that I realised just how out of place I was here. I panicked. I didn't know what to do or say, or where to sit. I couldn't just go up and join a random table, that would have been rude, not to mention I didn't think they would actually want me to sit with them. And I didn't want to just assume that I could sit with Hunter and his friends. What if he didn't want me to sit with them?

I could feel my breathing becoming ragged. I couldn't think straight. I was just thinking 'What do I do? God, what do I do?' over and over again in my head. And I was aware of the fact that I was just standing by myself and people would start to look at me funnily, which did nothing for the anxiety. I was staring at the floor, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, desperately trying to figure out what to do. I was seriously seconds away from bolting out of the room when someone spoke to me.

"Hey, are you coming?" I glanced up and Hunter was standing nearby, eyebrow raised.

"I-I-I..." I was struggling to spit the words out through my rapid breathing.

"You okay?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. He took another step towards me.

I shook my head. "I-I...I can't..."

"What's wrong?" he asked, placing a hand gently on my arm.

"I...I don't know...anyone...where to sit...I-I haven't..."

"You don't know where to sit?" he asked. I nodded. I felt his grip tighten on my arm, "Why don't you sit with me and my friends?"

"B-but...I'm not...you shouldn't..." I don't really know what I was trying to say. I think in my own way I was trying to explain to him that he shouldn't bother wasting his time on someone like me.

"Come on Charlie, they really won't mind, honestly." He tried to pull me carefully towards his friends, but I resisted.

"Hunter...I'm not...you don't want...me there...trust me."

"Why not?" I didn't say anything, I just shook my head, begging myself to stop the tears from falling.

"Charlie?" he asked. I raised my head slightly, afraid to let him see me breaking down. "Look, you're clearly going through...something. And I won't patronise you by downplaying it. But I wouldn't have asked you to join us if I didn't really want you to, so I do want you to come with me?"

"You...you're just being nice..."

"I mean, yeah I guess I am, but I still do want you to come with me." I searched his face and...I didn't feel like he was lying. He shot me a small, sad smile, "Charlie I don't know what's going on, and if you feel comfortable enough to talk about it later, I'm here to listen to you. But right now, I don't think you'll want to be the only person standing up here alone with the whole school watching, 'cause I get the feeling that won't make you feel any better. So please, come with me, just for now?" I paused for a second, then with one last glance around the room, I stiffly nodded.