I Want To Hold Your Hand
It started out as dumb background music. The two kids sat on opposite sides of the room, waiting for the art teacher to return and provide extra help. One needed help with his abstract project, and the other wanted to improve her drawing of anatomy. They didn’t know each other from a hole in the wall. The art teacher had a meeting first, so she left the two students alone to draw and paint as they wished until she got back.
“I’m just gonna leave this on, so you don’t have to sit in silence. Feel free to get up and change it, I don’t know if you kids like my old music.” she said with a smile before hurrying out of the room. It was the Beatles channel on Pandora, the typical station for her art class. Both kids kind of liked that old-school vibe, a blast from the past. Simpler times they never got to experience. They exchanged only a glance and an awkward, tight-lipped smile before getting to work.
The first fifteen minutes or so were spent in silence, the only sounds being the scratching of the girl’s pencil, and the music that filled the air around them. Not a word was said, nor an eye looked up. Both students were completely engrossed in their work, the music nothing but background noise. However, a song eventually came on that neither one could resist paying attention to: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. Immediately it became harder for the teens to work, the infectious melody running through their veins.
It started with her humming quietly, him tapping his foot. Then the girl’s head started bopping along to the beat. The boy’s leg started to bounce. The song was starting to distract them. Before she knew it, the girl was singing quietly to herself, hoping the boy wouldn’t hear.
The music was kind of quiet, too quiet to enjoy as they both wanted. The boy stood awkwardly, shuffling across the room to raise the volume. Her eyes glanced up at him as he walked, blush creeping up his neck as he cranked up the music. A nervous smile lit up his face as the two students made eye contact. He walked across the room, dancing a little on his way, making the girl giggle to herself. They had stopped working, and were looking at each other, smiling. They sang along to the catchy tune and pretended to jam out. Soon after, he stood, twisting his hips, moving up and down. He took dramatic steps over to her, extending a hand, which she took with a nervous giggle.
The boy spun the girl, her skirt cascading out around her. She took his other hand and together they danced, as if it were a party decades ago. They were both laughing, and the strangers twirled and spun and twisted and shook as if there wasn’t another soul on the planet. However, there was, and one was about to walk into the room.
“My meeting ran short, these people are so unpredictable, so which one of you would like to go first—” The teacher rounded the corner to see the boy spinning the girl out and pulling her back in, eliciting a giggle.
“Oh my! You two certainly did like my music, didn’t you?” She teased, a smile painted on her face. The girl pulled away immediately, jolted back to the reality of the situation. The boy’s blush was back, this time pushing past his neck and into his cheeks.
“W-we were, uh, nothing!” she stuttered out, clearly flustered. The boy was simply too shocked to speak, eyes darting around the room. The teacher looked at their nervous faces and a small, sympathetic smile graced her features.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.” The teacher grinned at the blushing kids, hands clasped together, delighted at the scene that had played out before her.