Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, except for the ones I make-up. They all belong to Disney (if they decide to keep it), and any other company that owns 'In a Heartbeat.' The song "You Can't Fight Fate" is by Diane Warren/Taylor Dayne.
Initial Attraction
You can't fight fate - Hank - Chapter 11
Hank could not believe what had just happened. One by one everything just started to fall into place. For a moment, everything he never dreamed of happening came true. 'This is too big to be a coincidence. This is the place I made that curse. And the boy had the same name as my friend. And…"
"Hank?" called out a voice.
"What?"
"Are you OK? You look…pale. Seen a ghost?"
"No…I'm fine…I mean, no ghost," Hank said as he worked his way away from Hannah.
Hannah looked on as Hank headed towards the other side of the room.
"That's strange," she said before attending to another student.
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An hour later, the class was just about ready to leave.
"Did you kids have fun?" asked Mrs. Pallette.
"YEA!"
"Thank Hannah and Hank, kids."
"THANK YOU HANNAH AND HANK!"
"You're welcome," replied Hannah as she glanced towards a spaced out Hank. "Hank! They're saying thank you to us."
"Oh…you're all welcome," he said and forced a smile for the kids.
The bell rang and the students were dismissed. Hank immediately grabbed all his stuff and headed for the door.
You can tell the truth
You can tell a lie
You can try to run from
What you feel inside
And tell yourself…tell yourself you don't need me
"What's the rush?" Hannah asked him. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"No."
"You have to help me clean up," she told him. "What's with you today?"
"Nothing," he told her once again. "Let's just hurry up."
As they proceeded on their task, Hannah couldn't help but notice that Hank was fidgeting. He was as nervous as a mouse in a cat's paws. Literally, he kept dropping things every two minutes. Brushing the thoughts out of her head, she continued to do her work. After wiping marks off of thirteen tables, Hannah came across the only sole table that coerced a smile on her lips. It was a circle with the initials HB + HB on it. She figured it was one of the kids since they both wrote their name on the board.
"Hank!" she called out. "Take a look at this. It's really cute.
Hank looked over to where Hannah standing and was only met with uneasiness. Trying to come up of a way to get away from the subject, Hank grabbed a couple of trash bags.
"I…uh…I'll throw this…this away…uh…trash," he stuttered. "OK bye."
With that, Hank stormed out of the classroom, leaving a baffled Hannah in the room.
You can walk away
From what you know is right
Think you won't be thinking about me at night
And tell yourself…tell yourself it'll be easy
And you might believe it
But don't be misleaded
You might think it will be that way
But you know
You can't fight fate
You can run
But you can't run away
No matter what you do
No matter what you say
When it's meant to be
It's gonna be that way
You can't fight fate
As soon as he found the trash bin, Hank was fighting with himself of going back to face Hannah or sparing himself and run away. In his heart, he knew what he must do. 'I have to face her. I liked her anyway. Even before I remembered this. But what if I mess up? What if she thinks I'm a psycho weird maniac? What if she doesn't believe me? This is too much for me to deal with right now.' Despite the fact of knowing what was the right thing to do, his mind had won the debate. Hank hurried outside the building and onto his car.
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Hannah remained seated on one of the desks as she patiently waited for Hank's return.
"Where the heck are you, Hank?" she asked herself.
Fifteen minutes later, Hank was still a no-show. 'How hard is it to throw two garbage bags. And I thought he knew his way around.' By now, Hannah was getting a little worried. 'I wonder who wrote this. Did Hank see this already?' Once again, she took a look at the initials on the desk.
"Sometimes I couldn't help but wish you wrote this," Hannah whispered to herself without realizing the presence of the being behind her.
"Are you talking about the two initials, dear?" asked Mrs. Pallette.
Hannah almost immediately jumped out of the desk.
"I'm sorry," said the old lady. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"I'm fine," Hannah told her. "And I was just looking at the thing one of your kids wrote."
Mrs. Pallette smiled at her, and Hannah knew from the twinkle in her eyes that there was a story behind this whole thing.
"You're right," she said. "One of my kids did write this."
"I thought so," replied Hannah.
"I believe it was a mere eight years ago. It's a wonder how it never got erased."
"Excuse me? Eight years?"
"You said it. Do you want to know who?"
"Well, yea, I guess."
"Mr. Beecham."
"WHAT?"
"You're friend Hank."
"How? Why? That's my initials in there too."
"I remember that day. It's funny how I never forgot about it. Two ladies from my class were making curses about the boy they will live happily ever after with. I thought it was really cute, but I didn't say anything. I just listened in. After that, I found out that I wasn't the only one listening."
She looked over to Hannah, who nodded intently.
"Hank and his friend, Toby, heard the girls as well. Hank started talking about how he believes in those thing. He then told Toby about a secret. As I recall, it was about the girl that he's going to marry someday. I think she had to have the same initials as him, and she had to be different in some way or the other. It was the cutest thing, don't you think so?"
She glanced over Hannah, expecting a reply, but she heard nothing. The look on Hannah's face was of shock and uncertainty.
"What's wrong?" she asked before realizing what had just happened. "Oh…oh…I see. Wow, this is…something. I better leave you alone for a while. Don't forget to lock the door."
Mrs. Pallette left as soon as she got her bag, but she couldn't help but smile at what had just occurred.
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Hank had been driving around town for thirty minutes. He did this in hopes of getting her out of his mind but was unsuccessful. Hank looked around at the people on the streets and all he could see was Hannah's face. 'Get out of my head! Leave me alone. Stop doing this to me.'
You can drive your car
Drive it night and day
But you won't ever drive…drive me away
I'll be in your heart…in your heart forever
I was meant to be with you
You were meant to be with me
Now what's it gonna take to make you see
We were meant to be…meant to be…be together
You might not understand it
Oh but that's what the plan is
And it's something that you can't change
After a couple more hours of driving, Hank was now close to home when he forgot about something.
"Oh man," he said in a whining tone. "I have to drive her home."
Hank figured she must have left already, but something made him go back into his car and to the school.
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To his luck, the school was still open. Hank cautiously headed for Mrs. Pallette's classroom. When he got there, he noticed that the lights were off.
"I guess you left already," Hank whispered.
He turned away, but something once again made him go back. He gently put his hand on the door, and to his surprise, it was still open. Hank turned on the lights, but surprise overcame him as he saw the last person he wanted to see.
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Hannah looked up and met Hank's gaze. She still couldn't believe what she had heard. 'He must think I'm crazy for staying here after he left hours ago. Or maybe not.'
"Are you back to throw the rest of the bags," she said as she pointed out 3 more trash bags.
"No," he said. 'This is it. Either I stay or go. As much as I love to run away, Hank Beecham is not a chicken. I must do the right thing.'
"Why did you come back?"
"I was supposed to drive you home," Hank told her. "I thought you might still be here."
"Hank," she said in an attempt to change the subject. "I want to talk to you."
"About what?"
"The table. The initials. The curse. Everything."
"I don't believe in curses."
"Really? Or you just refuse to because it came true?"
"How did you…"
"Your teacher told me. She overheard what you were saying."
"I didn't say anything about…"
"Eight years ago."
Hank remembered that exact date. But now that Hannah knew, he couldn't make himself say anything.
"Are you afraid? Scared?"
"No…yes…maybe," said Hank as he ran his hand onto his shaved head.
"Do you believe in fate?"
"Maybe," he said as he looked at her. "But how am I supposed to feel? It's you."
"How about me? What about what I feel?"
"Maybe this is just a coincidence. A fluke. A quirk."
"Hank, these things just don't happen."
"Yes they do."
"Yea…in fairy tales and movies."
"But how do you explain fate?"
But you know
You can't fight fate
You can run
But you can't run away
No matter what you do
No matter what you say
When it's meant to be
It's gonna be that way
You can't fight fate
"You can't. It just happens."
"But I was the only one who wished for you. I was the only one who experienced anything strange for that matter. You didn't."
Hannah looked down towards the ground.
"Besides," continued Hank. "This is not good for us. We're friends. We can't ruin anything. You mean too much to me to lose you."
Hank took one last look at her before leaving the door.
"Did you get a new watch?" called out Hannah.
"What?"
"Did you get a new watch?"
Hank took a look at his wrist.
"No," he answered. "I've had this since the first day of high school. Why?"
"When we first met, did your watch break?"
"No," Hank said. "That's why I still have it."
"I still have mine," Hannah said. "But did it seem to be broken for some minutes, and then work again."
At first, Hank thought she just wanted to make a conversion. A pointless one. But as she continued to talk, Hank knew that she had a point. He remembered his watch stopping. Actually, all the clocks in the school stopped.
"I remember," he said. "I thought I was going nuts. When we talked, it seemed to have lasted for thirty minutes at least, but nothing happened. My watch still said that it was…"
"Seven."
Hank smiled and looked at his watch again. It was 7:00. He slowly found his way across the room and sat beside Hannah.
"You went through that as well?"
"It was probably the scariest thing in my life. Kind of like the X-Files or the Twilight Zone."
"You just don't see it everyday."
"I know."
"You just don't see time…"
"Seize everyday."
Hank smiled as he cautiously grabbed a hold of her hand.
"What now?" he asked.
"I don't know, but time will tell us one day."
"Do you…um…need a ride?"
"What do you think?"
"Stupid question," said Hank as he helped her get up from her seat. "I'll take the trash out first."
After Hank threw the bags, he and Hannah walked hand in hand towards the exit.
"Wait!" said Hannah. "Stay right here. I forgot to close the door."
"OK. I'll wait in the car."
Hannah ran towards the classroom. As she went over to lock it, the door was already locked.
"That's strange," she said. "OK. This is just too weird. Note to self: never come back to this place again."
With that, she ran outside and met up with Hank.
"Did you lock it?" asked Hank.
Hannah just nodded as Hank turned the ignition on and drove off.
And you might believe it
Oh but don't be misleaded
There are just some things that you can't change
But you know
You can't fight fate
You can run
But you can't run away
No matter what you do
No matter what you say
When it's meant to be
It's gonna be that way
You can't fight fate
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There's only one more chapter left. I hope you liked it. I'll be back! ~ Scaret182
