Chapter Twenty-Four
Each step I took, my feet pounded into the ground. The destination was slowly getting closer, but it was a place I didn't want to be.
The dreaded day of the business exam had finally landed upon us all. Months of revision was all whittled done to this very moment.
For some reason, even though I was dragging my feet, I got to the exam hall earlier than most of the students. I was the only one in the empty hallway.
All the information was buried deep into my brain, yet I couldn't pin point a single thing. Much of the business terms and syllabus were imprinted into my mind, but there was a dread of going blank.
My feet weren't allowing me to stay still, I continuously walked up and down the hallway, with my face flushed and heated. Crackles within my voice ruptured, as I tried to mumble the extensive amount of information stored into my brain.
The long and vacant hall was eerily quiet, with the hushed murmur of students in the background. Though the sun was shinning brightly and seeping through the window, drowsiness surrounded me. My eyelids were to point of drooping and closing.
My erratic movements and thoughts overwhelmed me, that I didn't realise Zac had arrived into the hallway.
"Nervous?" His low melodious voice danced its way into my ears.
Mumbles only left my mouth as I sped up my quick movements up and down the hall. The dread was building up, my heart was beginning to hammer against my chest.
"Hannah? Are you okay?" Zac asked with slight worry in his tone.
"Am I okay? No I'm not okay. I've been revising and revising, my head feels like it's going to explode. I'm going to forget everything. My mind is going to go blank-"
"Woah, Hannah, relax!" Zac butted in, as my words were just tumbling out of me.
I had no control, my mind was frazzled and I couldn't stop stuttering words. My chest began to heave, my breaths turned short and I was beginning to struggle for air. I was annoyed at myself, I didn't want to have a panic attack, but I lost the ability to control myself.
Zac continued to call out my name, but I kept ignoring him. Panic was washing over me and I was moments away from my legs buckling.
"Hannah stop!" Zac held on to my shoulders, causing me to face him.
I was brought to sudden halt. His strong hold on my shoulders ignited a fire within me. It was like his touch had instantly calmed me down. He didn't need to do anything and I was already back to my normal self.
"Relax, you're going to ace this exam," Zac soothingly reassured me.
"But, what if I go blank," I panted, still slightly out of breath.
"Trust me, you won't. You're the one who helped me to revise, so if anybody is going to go blank it'll be me." Zac's entrancing pupils softened at the seriousness of his words.
Once again we were trapped in each other's gaze, he continued to keep his hold on my shoulders. I wanted to pull away but I couldn't, something was keeping me still in his grasp. I could feel the both of us inching closer, but we abruptly pulled away and students started to filter into the hallway.
In an instant, Zac was on the other side of the hall, keeping his distance from me. I squeezed my eyes shut, to eject all the warm feeling I had within Zac's touch.
Why did I continue to feel like this.
The sound of the grand doors opening enabled me to shoot my eyes wide open. An invigilator stepped out, instructing the order for us to walk in.
It was finally time.
Like soldiers going to battle, we entered the open exam hall. The individual desks were neatly in their place, creating a uniform line.
Once we were all assigned to our seats, there was complete silence. The only sound that echoed into the room was the ticking of the clock. I peered to the white sheet in front of me.
This was it.
"You all have ninety minutes," the invigilator announced at the front of the hall. "We expect you to complete this exam in complete silence. If you need assistance put your hand up and we will come and help, if we can. We'll wait for the hand to hit twelve and you can all start."
I closely watched the seconds tick by, I was tempted to turn the paper around, but I knew I couldn't. I held back and waiting for the instruction to start.
"You may begin."
Those three words exited from the invigilators mouth and a wave of students quickly turned their sheet around. I followed suit and the questions were right in front of me.
At first, nothing made sense, the words in front looked jumbled. Before I had the chance to panic, I tightly shut my eyes. Took a slow, deep breath in and let it out with ease.
After opening up my eyes and adjusting to the lighting around me, I picked up my pen and started to scribble. The written words were automatically being printed on the paper, a calming confidence eased on me. I felt comfortable in my seat, like I was ready for this exam.
For the first time today, my mind didn't feel jumbled. The cloudy thoughts had cleared and a fresh swell of sunshine entered my mind.
***
The steady sound of each second going by, reminded me of how close I was to completing the exam. I was at the point of re-reading my answers, over and over to the point where I was getting sick of my own words.
I fell back into my chair, two minutes remained. I scanned the entire room, majority of the students were still writing away. I felt like I needed to add more, but my brain was frazzled out.
I inched my head forward to find Zac, I noticed him sat at the front, like me, finished with his exam and waiting for it to end. Part of me hoped he had aced the exam.
"This is the end of the exam, please put your pens down." The invigilators began walking down the aisles picking each exam paper.
We were done. Finished. We arrived at the end, the timer had stopped it's ticking.
After all the papers were retrieved, we were dismissed. In silence, we all left the exam hall like zombies. Not a word was uttered.
The moment we all entered the hall way, a vibration of voices imploded around me. In a wave, all the students began gushing with happiness and discussing how it went.
The only person I wanted to share my happiness, was Zac. My head bobbed left to right, trying to locate him. When I finally found him, I was on my, merrily marching towards him.
I came to a sudden stop when I noticed how embraced he was with Melissa. It was like I had shrunken in my place. Zac then proceeded to give Melissa quick peck on the cheek and then walking away.
What I had just witnessed felt gut-wrenching, it was like my heart had been pulled apart. I couldn't comprehend what I was hurt the most by; the kiss or Zac leaving without acknowledging me.
Why should I care if he acknowledges me?
The dread was pulling on top of me, as the only route out of this manic hallway, was past Melissa. Much to my luck, she looked like she wasn't planning on making a move.
I sucked a brave breath in and started to boldly walk. The closer I was getting, the more dread was pooling inside my stomach.
When she realised I was walking her way, it was like her eyes had locked me in, as if I was her target. She was ready to zap lasers from her eyes. I kept my head down, trying to quicken up the pace of my walking.
"What did I tell you the other day?" She sternly questioned, just as I passed her.
I was forced to stop and turn around. I shrugged my shoulders, waiting for a further explanation from her.
"I told you to keep your distance from Zac." She folded her arms, acting as if she was superior to me.
"I don't understand, what have I done now?" I sighed, rolling my eyes.
Her vicious eyes narrowed towards me and she lifted the corner of her lips in utter disgust. She took two steps forward, coming closer.
"Do you want to tell me what was going on between you two before your exam?" She titled her head to the side, waiting for a response.
I shook my head in confusion, after finishing one exam, I was under another exam, yet this was more of an interrogation. I thought hard, trying to recall the moments before we entered the hall.
It then came to me, moment before, Zac once again trying to get me calm down from my erratic thoughts and panics.
"That was nothing," I started to explain. "My asthma was playing up and I was about to have panic attack, Zac just did the noble thing of calming down."
Melissa tilted her head to the other said, she continued to narrow her eyes, trying to compute my response. After a few seconds of a killing silence, she let out a scoff and shook her head in a disapproving away.
"Pretending to have asthma and a panic attack, just so you can get close to Zac? That's low even for you," Melissa hissed.
I jerked my head back, my mouth quivered in anger. "Pretending? Why would I pretend, I've had asthma and panic attacks all my life-"
"I don't want to hear it," Melissa snapped, not allowing me to argue for myself. "Stay away from him, or else-"
"Or else what?" I bit back, edging closer.
Anger was flushed into my veins, I was seething in pure disgust at how Melissa was. My belly churned at the thought of her trying to keep me away from Zac.
"Just remember," I quickly let out my words before she could even response. "You're in a relationship with him, if you've got trust issues, speak to him."
Her jaw clenched and she lifted her lips into a fake smile. I was on edge waiting for her to rupture, but instead, she turned on her heels and walked away.
Deep inside, I knew I did nothing wrong, I gave it my all to keep away from Zac. For some strange reason, we were like magnets, always managing to gravitate towards each other.
I knew I couldn't keep finding myself back in his grasp. The thought of the remaining two exams, is what I held onto.
I was waiting for the moment of finishing my final exam, which would be the only way to steer clear from Zac and get him out of my system. But the mere thought of getting Zac out of my brain and system, saddened me, it pained my heart just thinking about it.
I didn't want to feel this way, but I did...
A/N
One exam down for Hannah!
What do you guys think of the pace between Zac and Hannah? We're 24 chapters in but I don't want to rush things. Let me know what you think, I'm trying to build up the tension...
Don't forget to vote, comment and share!
Love _xxAMxx
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