Insight

Chapter One// The Beginning of Everything

You may wonder how this all started....

I wonder that myself at least a million times. None of it explains where I am.

I had just completed my first year of college and the experience was honestly filled with ups and downs. I broke up with my high school boyfriend, who I swore was the love of my life. Average teenager going on her antics. He cheated and I left him. I want to keep that long story very short. He was what I call a pathological liar, but an amazing person. I know it all sounds very contradictory. After what seemed weeks and months of crying,I finally began to see the light. I was just beginning my second year and winter break had rolled around like a blink of an eye.

How interesting can attending the University of Toronto possibly be? Especially when you live 15 minutes from home and are expected to be at dinner every night. I submitted my application to New York University where I was hopeful for a new beginning far from Kyle. Yes, that was his name.

It was a typical family Christmas and I couldn't help but dread it. It was always boring as usual. My recent weight loss was concerning my parents and they were hovering over me ever since the break-up.

"Paisley, are you ready?" my mother screamed from downstairs.

I was wearing a short red dress and my brown hair was straightened. The bags under my eyes from sleepless nights were finally gone and I had a layer of makeup to accent my features. I did all of it, contouring, blush, eyeliner, eye shadow and finished off with a layer of lipstick. I slid on my flats. I checked myself in the mirror one last time. I ran downstairs to our contemporary styled living room. 

My mom was a shorter version of myself. She was a curvy full figured woman with short brown hair and similar hazel eyes. Her lips were thin and I had full lips from my father's side. My father was a tall dark and lanky man. My mother wore a Christmas sweatshirt and jeans and my father wore a matching ensemble. He wrapped his arm around my mother.

" We're running late, " my father said to me. 

We all got into the minivan as we exited the living room. As we got into the minivan and my father put the keys into ignition. He adjusted his rear-view mirror so his eyes were directly looking into mine.

"The Mendes's are joining us for the Christmas party since they didn't really make plans counting that Shawn wasn't going to be attending but things changed,"he said. "Manuel trusted me to tell me that Shawn is going to be there, and his tour has been put on an indefinite hold."

"Yes," my mother added "Shawn's tour bus had drugs in it, and although he says it's not his, Manuel wanted to take extra precautions. You know how much fame has changed that family."

My father looked at my mother as if to quiet her.

Perhaps that was it, that was what made me interesting. I happened to be connected to the youngest star to chart on Billboard. Yes, I've seen him at a lot of family functions since our fathers were best friends. Was I ever friends with Shawn? No. Why would I be? He used to be shy and I was equally shy and as his fame decreased his attendance at family functions. So of course, I hadn't given much thought. All we have are awkward hello's and pictures where were both forced to smile. As the emergence of technology became prevalent our eyes were always glued to a screen.

My mothers remarks sparked an interest as to what happened to Shawn's tour. I decided to do some research on my phone. I read that his tour was being put on hold for him to rest and spend time with his family. It was a thirty-minute drive to the event place where we always hosted our parties. My grandma began the tradition and the owner of the event hall always made sure to book us a year in advance counting on that we would always have Christmas there. Our family was rather scattered so rather than arguing who's house to have it at, they all settled on a common ground. All of my family members equally drove 30 minutes to attend.