Perfectly Wrong

8. Writings On the Wall

Shawn is leaning against the lockers with his arms folded across his chest as he stares at the floor. Camila can barely stand after knowing the truth, so she walks to the lockers across from him in the hallway and leans against them.

 “ Me?” She replies. “ How did the fact that you’re a teacher not come up? How are you a teacher? You’re only twenty-one.”

 “ Camila, listen.” She says, ignoring her questions without making eye contact with her. “  There has apparently been a huge misunderstanding between the two of us. We need to talk about this, but now is definitely not the right time.”

 “ I agree.” She says, wanting to say so much more, but she’s scared she might cry if she tries.

 The door to Shawn’s classroom opens as Maisie steps out, and Camila prays she might be lost too because this can’t be her elective.

 “ Camila, I was just coming to look for you. I saved you a seat.” The blonde smiles, then she looks at Shawn and realizes she just interrupted a conversation. “ Oh, sorry, Mr. Mendes. I didn’t know you were out here.”

 “ It’s okay, Maisie. I was just going over Camila’s schedule with her.” He says, walking to hold the door so both Camila and Maisie can get in.

 Camila forces herself to follow Maisie inside, spotting the only empty seat in the room, the one her new friend saved for her directly in front of the teacher’s desk. She takes her seat and notices the few musical instruments in the corner of the room before she closes her eyes, sighing while wondering how she’s supposed to sit through an entire hour in the classroom.

 “ Who’s the hottie?” Jake, the boy who first interrupted them outside, asks.

 “ Shut it, Jake!” Shawn snaps as he walks to his desk, picking up some papers. Most of the students let out a small gasp, letting her know this is not something he usually does.

 “ Chill out, Mr. Mendes! It was a compliment.” Jake says, leaning back in his chair and watching Camila. “ She’s hot! Look at her!”

 “ Jake, get out!” Shawn says, pointing at the classroom door.

 “ Mr. Mendes! Jeez! What’s with the temp? Like I said, I was just…”

 “ Like I said, get out! You will not disrespect women in my classroom!”

 “ Fine!” Jake snaps back, grabbing his books before standing up. “ I’ll go disrespect them in the hallway!”

 The door shuts behind him and suddenly the whole room is quiet. Camila doesn’t need to turn around to know everyone is looking at her, waiting for a reaction. She finds it hard being invisible in that moment.

 “ Class, we have a new student, this is Camila Cabello.” Shawn says, trying to break off the tension in the room. “ Review is over. Put up your notes.”

 “ You’re not going to have her introduce herself?” Maisie asks.

 “ We’ll do that another time.” Shawn says, holding a stack of papers in his hands. “ Tests.”

 Camila is relieved she doesn’t need to get in front of the class and speak because she wouldn’t be able to. She feels a knot in her throat, overwhelmed by the unexpected last ten minutes of her life.

 “ Camila.” Shawn hesitates, clearing his throat. “ If you have something else to work on, feel free. The class is completing a chapter test.”

 “ I would rather just take the test.” Camila says, at least doing the test she can focus on something else.

 Shawn hands her a test and she tries her best to focus on the questions and forget her new reality. She finishes it quickly, but keeps erasing and rewriting her answers so she doesn't have to deal with the fact that the boy she was starting to fall in love with is now her teacher.

 When the bell rings, she watches everyone else in the class walk to Shawn’s desk and hand him their tests. When Maisie does the same, she turns around to look at Camila.

 “ Hey, did you switch your lunch time?” She asks.

 “ Yeah, I did.” Camila says.

 “ Sweet. I’ll save you a seat.” She says, turning to leave, but then stopping at Shawn’s desk before reaching the door. She reaches inside her purse and then places a handful of mints on top of his desk. “ Altoids. I’m just making assumptions here, but I heard they work wonders on hangovers.” She whispers before disappearing from the classroom.

 Camila is left alone with Shawn in the room and she needs to talk to him so badly, but that’s not the best time. She grabs her test and stands up, placing it on his table.

 “ Is my mood that obvious?” He asks, staring at the mints on his desk.

 She takes two of the altoids and walks out without saying a word, looking for her next class when she decides to walk into one of the restrooms. She locks herself up in one of the stalls through fourth period and lunch time, feeling guilty that Maisie is probably waiting for her, but she can’t face anyone. She spends the whole time reading again and again the writings on the walls of the stall, trying not to burst out in tears. Handwritings belonging to girls she doesn’t know telling her lyrics of songs, random thoughts and complainings about society that she could somehow relate to, but not even those random words and drawings were able to comfort her.

 Her last two classes of the day are a blur, but neither of the teachers seem too interested in her, so she doesn’t speak to anyone and nobody tries to speak to her either. She doesn’t even know if she has any homework because she can't focus on anything.

 Camila walks to the parking lot while searching for her keys, fidgeting with the lock as her hands shake. She drops them at least twice before finally entering her car and riding back home, thinking the only thing she wants is to crawl under the covers of her bed.

 She pulls up into her driveway, but doesn’t step out of her car because she’s not ready to face her mother or sister yet. Both of her hands cover her face as she quietly starts to cry, replaying the whole thing in her head. How could it be that they spend so much time together without him ever mentioning that he was a teacher? How could something so important like that not come up in a conversation? How did they manage to do so much talking without her ever mentioning that she’s still in high school? She’s angry and frustrated at the whole situation. She told him so much about herself and this is what she gets for finally letting her walls down.

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A/N: 😬