Crazy // Shawn Mendes

chapter two

I plunked myself into the seat next to my sister.

"Whoa, you look out of breath," Maggie chuckled. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"That tall guy is such a dick!" I groaned. Maggie started to turn, but I grabbed her arm. "Stop! Don't look! You'll make it obvious that I'm talking about him," I whispered, sounding like an eight year old.

"He's checking you out," Percy muttered softly so only we could hear. I slumped down in my chair.

"Oh dear god," I frowned.

"Why don't you go talk to him? He clearly wants to get to know you," Maggie stated. She grinned at me. I shook my head.

"Him? Nope, not today, not ever," I argued. "Can we please get out of here? I can practically feel him staring at my back," I said uncomfortably. Maggie and Percy laughed in unison and I glared at them both.

"Yeah, we can leave now," Maggie agreed. I picked up my coffee and bag of pastries. Without looking up, I headed out of Tim Hortons, right past the brown haired boy. Maggie, Percy, and I walked home with no conversation exchanged. By the time we got back, all the boxes were unloaded from the truck, but the front door was still wide open.

"We're back!" Percy called as we walked up the doorsteps. Mom was in the living room, setting up some furniture, while Dad stood in the kitchen making a phone call for takeout.

"We brought these for you guys," I placed the bag of cinnamon rolls on the bare kitchen counter. The sofa was already set up in the living room, which made it look slightly less empty.

"Thank you! Those look good! Where were they from?" Mom asked. She wiped sweat off her forehead and Maggie nudged me. She was right. It was a good idea to get them a little something to eat.

"Some place called Tim Hortons," Maggie responded. "Can we go upstairs to check out our rooms?" My Mom nodded.

"I don't see why not," she said and took a bite out of the pastry. The three of us dashed up the stairs. The beds were already set up a little in the rooms, so we could tell whose room was whose. Maggie and I both wanted white walls so we could decorate our rooms ourselves, but Percy's room was a nice shade of blue.

"My room's huge!" Percy called. I stepped inside my room. It smelled like flowers. My Mom had definitely sprayed something in here to make me like it. I headed over to the closet, and to my surprise, it was a walk in!

"This is sick," I breathed to myself. Hopefully, Pickering wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, even though I already missed Florida to the maximum possible point.

The rest of the summer flew by in a blur. We got our pool filled, even though we would have to close it up again soon because of the upcoming fall weather. I FaceTimed Lexi and my friends back in Florida every day, and it felt good to keep updated with my friends. After a few weeks of Chinese takeout every night, constant unpacking and decorating our house until it looked like presentable for others to walk in, we were satisfied with the outcome. Occasionally, I would see the brown haired boy longboarding up and down the street when I was outside, but the moment I saw him I would duck and avoid him as much as possible. Finally when the first day of school rolled around, anxiety began kicking in and my thoughts about hating Canada came back again.

I stepped down the stairs nervously where the smell of my Mom's waffles filled the house.

"Good morning Jen, you ready for your first day?" my Dad was sitting at the table with the rest of my family. An empty chair awaited me and I sat down and dug into my breakfast.

"No, not at all," I admitted shakily. "What if the people here don't like me?" Negative thoughts filled my brain and I smoothed down my gray shirt in attempt to calm myself down.

"People here will love you. You're just a lovable person in general," Percy said, grabbing his backpack as he stood up. I smiled at him.

"Thanks Percy." His statement made me happy and I immediately relaxed a little more. I finished my waffles and joined Maggie and Percy by the door.

"Have a great first day!" My Mom called excitedly and hugged all of us. I blushed, slightly embarrassed that my mom still had to hug me goodbye on the first day, but it was a nice gesture, because she knew how much we missed Florida.

"We will, and I'm dropping Percy off at the middle school, and then I'll bring Jenny and I to the high school," Maggie promised and kissed our parents. The three of us headed in the car and Maggie started driving, but on the way we stopped by Tim Hortons to get Maggie and me a coffee.

"Can you run in quickly and just get me a small coffee?" Maggie handed me a few crumpled bills and I ran inside. There was a small line so I got behind the person in front of me and tapped my foot impatiently.

"Anxious, aren't you?" A voice breathed in my ear. I whirled around in surprise. The tall boy with the brown hair was standing behind me with a smirk on his face. I glared at him and turned back around without answering him. I waited for what seemed like ages while the boy behind me tugged at my strands of hair. Finally, I was in the front of the line and I almost sighed in relief.

"Hi, can I have two small coffees?" I handed the girl behind the cash register a few bills and she handed me my change. I stepped off to the side to let the boy behind me order and I avoided any eye contact with him. The girl handed me the two coffees and I took them and nearly dashed out of the store as fast as I could.

"Thanks Jen- whoa you look rushed! Chill," Maggie exclaimed as I shoved her coffee towards her.

"Sorry, I just saw that dude again," I rolled my eyes and buckled my seatbelt. I took small sips of my coffee as we dropped Percy off at the middle school.

"Okay, Jenny. Just meet me back here at the end of the day," Maggie said as she pulled up into the high school parking lot.

"Got it. Bye Mags!" I threw open the car door and entered the school. As I walked in the halls, I realized that here at Pine Ridge Secondary School, people already had their circle of friends. Clusters of girls walked together in packs, and groups of boys walked around. No one looked at me twice and it was making me feel extremely self-conscious. It seemed like I would have a hard time making friends here since everyone already had been friends here since they were young. I was just an outcast. The new girl. I fumbled with my schedule as I tried to get to my first class. I walked around the school in confusion, not knowing where I was going, but too scared to ask anyone for help.

"You look lost." I looked up and saw the same tall brown haired boy staring me up and down.

"Oh god," I blurted without thinking. I quickly turned in the other direction, but he blocked my path.

"Look, I realize we got off on the wrong foot. I just want to help you out here," He said and stuck his hands in his pockets with a grin. I stiffened.

"I don't really want you talking to me, can you please leave me alone?" I responded coldly, but in the nicest way possible.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Any girl would kill to be in your spot right now. Usually girls would be chasing after me, but looks like you're one of those play hard to get girls," He chuckled to himself. I gave him a disgusted look and turned around again to pretend to be very focused on my schedule. He snatched my schedule out of my hand and stuck his hand out.

"I'm Shawn. Shawn Mendes," He introduced. I let his hand sit there limply as I just stared at it without shaking it.

"Can I have my schedule back, please?" I said impatiently. I didn't want to be late for my first class on my first day and I didn't have time to play his stupid game. Shawn lowered his hand in defeat and examined my schedule.

"Jennifer Sanders," Shawn said, reading my name off the top of my schedule. My body became rigid.

"Don't ever call me Jennifer, it's just Jenny," I said. I tried to reach for my schedule, but since Shawn was so tall, he held it above my head playfully.

"I'll give it back and I won't call you Jennifer if you agree to let me walk you to your first class," Shawn said smugly.

***

continue reading to the next chapter...