Unexpected - Shawn Mendes

Chapter Twelve

Grace's POV

The next week at school, Shawn was definitely acting  obscure.

I'm not entirely sure why. I don't think any of us are. We were gathered at the lunch table, before Shawn started tearing up. His cheeks were crimson and his eyes were bloodshot. Then, he left us.

We didn't know where he was going, but he left all of his things behind.

I'll admit, I was confused. I don't think anyone did something that devastating to the kid. If they did, I'm going to kick their ass.

"What do you think is his problem?" I ask, concern evident in my voice.

"Uh.. Nothing! How would I uh.. know pshhh," Robbie tried to lie.

"Your acting is bad as fuck," I rolled my eyes before going to chase Shawn, gripping my Vera Bradley lunch bad in my hands.

"Grace, what did I tell you about cursing?" Morgan says, clearly mocking my brother, Ryan. I shook my head in annoyance.

I kept running, looking around the empty hallways, but that didn't change anything. I panted a little, noticing how I couldn't find him anywhere. I then saw him, standing at his own locker.

Wow. I'm so stupid for not looking there in the first place. He wasn't doing anything, just sobbing with his head resting in the palm of his hands, his cheeks burning like fire.

"Shawn!" I yelled as I approached him.

"I'm not in the mood for company," he mumbled to himself so quietly, I didn't know if he was even talking to me. He didn't look up, just spoke the words into his own hands.

"I'm just... Shawn. We both know I would never forgive myself if I left you here like this. You may be sad Shawn, but that doesn't mean I don't care anymore," I took a seat on the cold tile floors.

He didn't answer. I sighed, wrapping an arm around him until he calmed.

I felt sorry for him. I wasn't going to barge into his life and force him to share vital information that he wants to keep a secret with me. That's just wrong.

I ran my hand over the middle of his spine, trying to provide some sort of comfort. I probably wasn't helping at all, but I can't just sit here and tell him everything's okay when it's clearly not.

"Shawn, let's try and get you cleaned up," I say, my voice cracking nervously as I selected an unopened water bottle from my lunch box.

I dug through my purse until I found a pack of tissues. I took a few out and removed the cap from the water bottle. I covered the opening  with a tissue and tilted it upside down so the tissue was quite moist.

I began dabbing Shawn's crimson cheeks with the tissue, and his eyes wandered around, but never met mine.

Once he was calmed and you really couldn't tell he had broken down, we started walking back to the cafeteria.

On the way, he smiled at me, and I returned his act of kindness. His smile faded as he grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers, giving a toothless smile as he looked at the tiled floors of the hallway.

I tilted up his chin with the hand that wasn't occupied, and gave him a warm, genuine smile. We walked to the cafeteria in silence, but it wasn't at all awkward. We swung our hands back and forth, occasionally glancing at each other and smiling.

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