He'll Be The One

8- Apologies

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{Shawn's POV}

I checked my timetable for the day, by my desk as I walk into my empty classroom.

It was only last night Arden came to my house for piano lesson, which resulted in me being horrible to her. I could barely sleep because of it. I admit that I was being a complete and utter dick. It can't be easy for her seeing me too. I just need to apologise.

I saw that I had Arden in my class the lesson right before lunch, perfect.

I lay out some paperwork and folders across my desk, preparing for the first lesson of the day.

A startling knocking at the door made me jump to say the least.

The door opens and it was Polly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to make you jump." She giggles as she enters.

"Ah you didn't." I reply, pretending I didn't.

"I brought you a coffee." Polly announces, whilst looking towards the cup.
"Please tell me you didn't." I chuckle.

"I just think everyone should have a good cup of coffee in the morning." She laughs, passing me the cup.

"Thank you so much, really this means a lot." I smile.
"Anytime." She says, fiddling with her hair.

"Maybe I'll have to get you one or something tomorrow." I reply, as I lean on my desk, taking a sip.
"Well I'll look forward to it... Wait Shawn?" Polly questions, making me look at her.

"What's up?"

"Are you going on the senior skiing trip to Mount St. Louis?" She returns.
"Funnily enough I am." I chuckle.

"Oh really? Me too!" She squeals. "I think they're choosing younger teachers to go this year, maybe because we can relate to the teenagers more."

"Yeah, maybe. Look I really need to prep for my lesson, but I'll catch you in the staff room?"
"I should be getting back to, see you soon Shawn."

I smile and raise my hand for a slight wave as she departed.

The bell shortly rings and I hear the faint muffling of students approaching.

/////

"Okay class, don't forget to complete the essay on Harmony and Tonality."

As expected there was a few moans and groans and as soon as the bell went, they were defiantly eager to leave.
I walked around the classroom, picking up scrap pieces of paper and throwing it in bin.

"Good afternoon Mr Mendes." I heard a girl's voice say, initiating me to turn back around.
"Please forgive, your name?" I felt bad for not remembering her name.

"Oh no it's okay, you probably have about one hundred names to learn!" She rushes.
"Something like that." I laugh.
"It's Sophie, by the way."
"Well from now on I'll remember you Sophie."

She goes to her seat as everyone else eventually did too, including Arden.
She walked past my desk, not making eye contact. She was talking to a bunch of boys instead.

I get up from my chair when everyone was sat down.

"How's everyone's afternoon going?" I ask to the class, however I only look at Arden, who was fiddling with a pen instead.

There were a few murmurs, as usual.
"Okay well I think I have something that'll lift your spirit. Next month is the annual senior ski trip to Mount St. Louis! You can get a letter from me or any other teacher who's attending the trip as well. I know that Miss Westbrook is, so you can go to her if not."

I look around and still no one seems that impressed. Oh well.

"Okay Ethan and Sophie, can you hand out the text books please. We're continuing with our music theory." I see that Sophie bounced out of her seat, whilst a jock called William seemed like he was still half asleep.

"Okay, can you all turn to the chapter called rhythm and metre. Now can anyone tell me what a pulse is, in music terms?"

Sophie's hand shot up. "Go ahead." I say.
"The pulse is the beat in a piece of music." She grins.

"You're correct, now can someone else tell me what a tempo is?"

Suprisingly, Arden's hand went up.

"The tempo is the speed of the underlying beat." She responds.
"And Arden, could you tell me what it's measured in?"

"Beats Per Minute, or just BPM."

"Well done." I smile towards her, but she looks at me still coldly, no surprise.

///

The rest of the lesson consisted of me teaching the class rhythm notation and me eventually sending Ethan out of the room because he was talking to Arden and another girl called Millie.

"Okay so don't forget to grab a letter for the ski trip, you have to have a deposit in by next monday if you want to confirm your place." I announce, "You can get one from me as you leave the room."

As soon as I said that, the school bell rang, all the class got up and grabbed their bags from off the floor.

Whilst some students were collecting letters on their way out, I saw Arden about to pass by.

"Arden, can you just wait back for a second."

She hastily nods and goes back to her desk.

As soon as the last person leaves, I wait a moment before ensuring that the door was fully closed.

"What is it Mr Mendes?" Arden sighs.

I go and sit down by the desk next to her. "Arden what you got to know about me is that I can get mad and say stuff that I don't mean when I'm stressed... and even scared."

"You should really learn to stop making excuses for all your mistakes." Arden retorts.

"And I'm not, everything that happened that night started with me. I banged open the door, I asked if I could make it up to you. How was you to know I was going to be your music teacher, just as I had no clue you were going to be my student. Arden I'm just so sorry for last night and the things I said.

There was a brief moment of silence before she replies. "I guess.... I guess I can accept your apology."

"I promise to you Arden, I'm going to try to make things as normal as possible. We'll act like that night never happened and we can just be teacher and student. With no feelings." I reply.

{Arden's POV}

With no feelings.

I mean how hard could that possibly be?

"That sounds like a good idea." I respond, smiling to show him that there were no hard feelings. "If you're not doing anything tonight, we can always do that piano lesson we were meant to." Shawn chuckles.
"Sure, same time?"
"Seven? Yeah that sounds perfect." He grins. "Also, were you and your friend, god I can't remember her name-"
"Mia?" I laugh.
"Yes Mia, that's it! Were the both of you thinking of going on the ski trip?" He asks.
"We've been talking about this trip since we were freshmen, so that would be a yes. As a matter of fact could I have two letters?" I ask.
"Let me go and get them." Shawn gets up quickly and goes over to his desk.

In this moment, all I could think about was how I'm going to go through a whole year of being in his class and seeing him after school. He's made it pretty obvious that he doesn't feel that way about me, and I know I should stop but, I can't.
And I'm going to try my hardest to ignore whatever I have for him, for both our sakes.