Reasons Why (Jeremy Shada Fan Fiction)

Chapter 1: You Scratched My Phone

****1 ½ Year Later****

My phone buzzes and I pull it out and look at the outer screen before flipping it open. The text says it’s from my friend Alex but when I read the message I know it’s from Stacy.

From Alex:

Hey, we’ll be there in 10 minutes. Alex’s mom is such a slow driver, I can’t wait until we get our licenses and permits. :/

To Alex:

I know right? Drivin will b such a freedom. When u get here, meet me @ Hollister K?

From Alex:

K, c u soon

I flip the phone closed and walk towards the escalator that takes you to the second floor. I throw away a soft pretzel wrapper that I had eaten I little bit ago and step onto it. I don’t put my phone back in my pocket when I step off. A force of habit of mine from over the years. I hate walking around places by myself, it didn’t bother me before. But that was before I lived here and became the girl that I am. Hollister was now in sight and I walked around people that were slow-moving. When I was passing one of those breaks in-between the areas where you can look down onto the lower floor, a group of soccer moms pushing strollers and wearing sweat suits appeared in front of me.

All of their kids are younger than the age of seven, they stop and I think I have a chance to pass them but instead another two moms join them. Then I hear heavy footsteps behind me, moving fast. I see an opening up ahead where I think I can pass them. I let them get ahead me so I can walk fast past them. Just when I’m about to pass them something or someone runs into me from the behind.

I fall and I hear the kid mutter “Shnit” under his breath and then I’m sitting on my butt. My phone skitters across the floor along with his sunglasses. I get up, grabbing the sunglasses off the ground and hand them to him. He hands me my phone, I get a good look at him when he does this and it hits me. My eyes widen and he just half smiles at my reaction. “You know who I am?” He says.

“Shada, Jeremy Shada.” I say in disbelief.

“You want an autograph?”

“No, um, it was nice meeting you though.” While I was turning around and having a fan-girl freak out moment in my mind, he grabs my arm and says wait.

“Can I hang out with you or something for a few minutes?” I know my eyes are wide even before it registers in my mind. He starts saying something, probably to calm me down, “I was grabbing a drink from a place in the food court, and paparazzi just sort of appeared. I knew there was someone here they were after but when they saw me, I don’t know they just went after me I guess. So I took off and looked for an escape and well…” He trails off and looks at me expectantly. My mind ponders this for a moment My mom would not like this, is my immediate thought. When I answer I say two words that will change my life.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Cool.”

“I was about to go into Hollister,” I gesture to the store that’s twenty feet away. “And I have some friends that will be here in a few minutes. They probably don’t know who you are. They don’t like cartoons as much as I do.” He nods his approval and falls into step beside me.

I enter the store immediately start grabbing things of a rack. When I have about five t-shirts on my arm Jeremy speaks up, “So what’s your name?” I’m about to answer when I hear someone else already answering for me, Alex.

“SWUAREZ! TAYLOR! TAYLOR SWUAREZ!” I turn around and she’s standing at the front of the store looking for me. Do you have to make an elaborate entrance everywhere you go? I wave her over.