Alone •Shawn Mendes

Chapter 1: Arrival

*Class of '17 pic*

Alone ~1

Jack Johnson

"Can you please try to be nice to Claire when she arrives?" My mother asked me as we waited for her to arrive at the airport. We stood from afar to wait for my cousin, Claire, to walk through the gates. She was about a year younger than I. Maybe a little over a year.

"Why does she have to live with us again?" I asked annoyed. Honestly, I had no idea why she would suddenly come here towards the end of the school year to live with us. The confusion and annoyance on my face must have given my mother an impression. She scolded me. She did not approve of me acting this way. Especially since this was her brother's daughter and Claire happens to be one of her favorite nieces.

"Because she's going through a hard time right now. Lose that tone young man!"

I was still finding it hard to believe that she was going to live with us in Omaha. To tell you the honest truth, I don't want her to be around. If she was going through such a hard time, why does she have to live with us? Nothing made sense to me when my mom told me one night over dinner. When I had asked her, she shooed the topic away. You'd think I'd know why Claire would be staying with us since she was taking over the room that I used to always hang out in with G to do stuff. 

To me, I thought of her as someone I could not stand overtime. She's annoying, uptight and clearly I could say she was always very awkward. Claire was someone you'd meet and for the first few minutes of getting to know her, you'd walk away. I wouldn't know how to began how awkwardly social she was. I wouldn't be surprised if she did not have any friends where she lived. Her face would always be caught up in a book or studying like there was no tomorrow.The vibration from my pocket gave me the indication that my best friend, Jack Finnegan Gilinsky had finally decided to return the text. I checked my phone to see the text from him.

Gilinskboy Bro, I hope she doesn't turn up. It would make my day even better

I chuckled and sent a quick reply and put my phone away before my mom witnessed anything. I did not need anymore trouble. The whole way here, my mom had enforced onto me that I should be on my best behavior and to help Claire when she needed it. Every moment that passed, my foot tapped the ground and I began to grow very irritated of Claire. Maybe if G and I gave her a hard time, she'd want to leave. Yeah, that sounded like a great plan. I hope her stay here wouldn't be that long. Hopefully by the end of Spring Break, she wouldn't want to return. That sounded even better. I felt myself getting the chills at the recent and almost tragic event she had pulled a few years back.

I won't ever forget what she had tried to do to me when we were younger. NEVER.

Claire Johnson

I walked through the gates with my small luggage, my backpack in front of me, a guitar in one hand and my cello on my back since I had straps to the case. It felt like I was carrying my closet with me. I looked for my Aunt Jennifer through the crowd and tried my best to remain calm. I was never the type of person to be in a busy place. Not including school of course. You'd always find me in the library doing work, at home locked in my room, or my favorite place in the world. The music room. Nothing could ever go wrong when you're in the music room making music.

I now stepped away from the gate and I spotted both my Aunt Jennifer and cousin Jack just a few yards away. I liked to call her aunt Jen. As soon as they spot me, my Aunt Jen smiled and she waved to me. She began making her way over. Jack slowly followed behind with his eyes averted to the ground. When they approached me, aunt Jen gave me a hug and Jack stood there awkwardly as if he did not remember who I was. Focusing back to my hug, I've missed my aunt Jen's hugs. Whenever she would give hugs, it would feel very reassuring.