Paper Airplane [s.m]

Thirty-Two

"Veronica."

My head snaps up at my name being called. I stare at the teacher, confused. I turn my head slowly down to my paper in front of me. There's so many questions. What question are we on?

"Which one?" I mouth to Thalia next to me.

"Number 4." She mouths back before giggling slightly.

"Um 357.15?" I say as if I'm asking a question.

"No it's $0.49." The teacher rolls her eyes. Dollars? I look down and see that as my answer for number 11.

"Thalia." I scold. She only giggles some more and high fives Reggie.

I narrow my eyes and start paying attention to the teacher.

"Veronica. This is your second chance." The teacher announces. Everybody looks at me. Some people have smug smirks, thinking that I'll mess up again.

"2." I answer.

"Yes." The teacher points back at the board as everyone nods in surprise and/or approval. I just roll my eyes. I get the answers right, I just don't listen to what the teacher says.

The class goes by pretty slowly. My next class is already filled with student when I enter. It's AP literature so most of the kids are seniors. There's one freshman girl though. People say she's gifted but I think she has connections.

I take my normal seat on the side near the windows. The teacher comes in and takes a seat at her desk. She usually starts class 10 minutes after the bell because she thinks we need time for our brains to relax. I usually spend this time staring out the window. I look to the window and see a woman walking to the school.

She has a little girl with her. The girl looks about 4 years old and is wearing a tutu. Her hair is pulled into little pigtails and her face is set in a pout. Her arms are crossed and she is stomping after her mother. The mother looks behind her, at the child and scowls. They must have just gotten in an argument.

I look back to the front of the room when class finally begins. The teacher starts to talk about the novel we are going to begin this week. I look back outside to see the girl and her mother walk out of the school. Now there is a girl behind them. She looks almost too young to be in high school. She's probably a freshman.

"Veronica, have you ever read this novel?" The teacher asks me. My head snaps back to the front of the room. This is the second time I've been called out in class, In just one day.

"Um no." I answer.

"Then I suggest you listen." She smiles. It's not a genuine smile but she just continues talking.

"So this story is quite controversial, it includes topics that most people don't like to discuss. Things like-" she starts to explain before getting interrupted by the door. It opens and someone walks into the room. My breath is knocked out of me and I shuffle uncomfortably in my seat.

"Oh my god." I hear a girl squeal next to me.

"Roni?" He looks around the class before his eyes meet mine.

"What? I'm a bigger fan Shawn!" The girl announces, raising her hand in the air.

"I'm not sure you can be a bigger fan of me than my girlfriend." He let's out a deep chuckle.

I hear gasps and my cheeks warm. I stand up slowly and grab my bag. I walk out of the class room with Shawn right behind me.

"What are you going here?" I whisper, tapping his shoulder.

"I have a question." He says, a smile taking over his face.

"It couldn't have waited until lunch? Or after school?"

"No." he replies seriously before explaining.

"I've been begging my tour manager for weeks and he's finally made a spot for you to join us on tour. I wanted to ask you before we made things final though."

"Oh wow." My eyes go wide. I don't know how to answer him. I want to say yes but I've just built a life for myself in New York. I don't want to throw that all away by going on a world tour that isn't even mine.

"I don't know Shawn." I shake my head.

"Can you think about it though? The spot will stay open so take your time." He smiles sweetly at me. I nod and he leans into kiss me. An administrator walks by so I turn my head. His lips touch my face and he plants a short kiss to my cheek.

"I'll think about it." I tell him and re-enter my AP literature class. Everybody shortens it to AP Lit but nothing about that class is lit.

I take my seat and ignore th obvious stares. The girl next to me leans over and smiles.

"Hey." She says with her sickening sweet smile.

"Um hi?"

She never talks to me. I think I once heard her say I was a 'nerd with no friends'. Which is an awful insult, so I just ignored it.

"So you're dating Shawn?" She asks with that smile.

"Yup." I say and look towards the front of the room. The teacher is going over some vocabulary for our book.

"Do you think we could hang out this weekend? You, me and Shawn?" She smiles wider. Her smile is really unattractive. She's trying way too hard.

"No." I answer and write down the definition to a very long and hard to say word.

"What?" She asks. Did she seriously think I'd say yes?

"I don't even know you. You just want to see Shawn." I almost laugh in her face when I finish saying it.

"But I love him!" She exclaims. We get a few glances but not many people noticed her announcement.

"No. You love 'Shawn Mendes' the singer. I love Shawn, the person." I tell her. She scoffs and scoots her chair away from me. It screeches and her cheeks go pink from the stares. I just shake my head in disbelief and get back to work.

Our lunch table is empty when I get to the cafeteria. I take a seat and pull out my water bottle. Reggie walks in and sits across from me.

"Where is everyone?" He asks.

"I don't know." I furrow my eyebrows and look around. I wonder if Shawn's still in the school. Should I ask if we can eat lunch together?

"You should know where your girlfriend is." I tell him and look at the cafeteria doors.

"Do you know where Shawn is?"

"I mean, not at the moment but-"

"Exactly." He points at me. Thalia walks through the doors with Alex and Jade. I sigh in relief and stand up to greet them.

"Where were you guys?" Reggie asks.

"We got stopped in the hallway by some girl." Jade laughs.

"What did she want?" Reggie asks her as they sit down.

"She said she wanted Shawn's number. She actually threatened us. Because we are friends with you." Jade points at me and continues talking, "she said that Veronica knows him so we must know him too."

"How did she threaten you? She's so small." I laugh. This girl really is small. She's 5'2 and petite. She reminds me of a younger version of Angela from 'The Office'.

"She said that she'd spread rumors, but how bad could they be?" Jade says.

"She said she'd tell everyone we're gay." Alex bursts out laughing. Jade starts laughing with her.

"Like that's old news honey. You're late on that one." Alex says between bursts of laughter.