Guitar Boy

Chapter Two

Crystal
*******

Seventh period. History. My least favorite class.

I sigh and walk into the class, taking a seat at the back. Waiting for the teacher to come, I open my phone and scroll through my twitter. From the corner of my eye, I see someone tall sit down in the seat beside me. I look over to see who it is, Shawn. I smile at him, "hi Shawn".

"Oh, hi! Um.. I never got your name"

"It's Crystal". His smile widens, "nice to meet you Crystal".

Mrs. Patterson walks in and greets us. "Good afternoon class. Today, we will be discussing The Great Depression", she says as she begins explaining it in depth. I notice Shawn sit forward in his seat, clearly interested in the topic.

"Okay class, based on today's lesson, I want you to do presentations about The Great Depression", Mrs. Patterson announces at the end of the period. "For this presentation, you will be working in pairs, that I will put you in", she explains, causing the whole class to groan. She begins to announce the pairs, and I wait anxiously to see who I'm paired with. "Crystal Pasca? You will be paired with Shawn Mendes". Thank God, Shawn seemed like he knew a lot about the topic, so I didn't have to worry about being paired with a clueless person. Dania wasn't so lucky. She turned her head towards me and widened her eyes. She was paired with Becky, who wasn't exactly  the brightest student. I struggle to contain my laughter and shrug my shoulders.

"There are still 10 minutes left, so I suggest you use your time wisely and start discussing with your partners", Mrs. Patterson says.

I pick up my chair and take it closer to Shawn. I show him the notes I took during the lesson, and he shows me his. He takes a pen and starts ticking the important points. "Okay so you ticked a total of 7 points, I don't think that's enough for our presentation", I say causing him to chuckle.

"Yeah, we have a lot of research to do. Do you wanna work on it at my place?", he suggests.

"Sure"

The bell rings, and the two of us get up. "Alright cool, meet me in front of the band room later", he says and walks out.

I wait for Dania to gather her things. "I can't believe I got paired with Becky and you got paired with that cutie", she rants.

"Come on, Dani. She can't be that bad"

Dania stops what she's doing and stares at me, her green eyes practically staring into my soul. I raise my hands in surrender

We exit the class together. "See you after school?".

"I can't. Shawn invited me to work on the presentation at his place"

"Uugghhhh, I'm so jealous", she whines as she turns to her last class. I check my schedule to see what my last class is, English. "You're headed to English?", Ryan asks as she approaches me. I nod in reply. "Me too, lets go".  The two of us walk to English, the sound of Ryan's whistling filling the silence. "Are you going to Aaron's party tomorrow?", he asks suddenly

"Actually I think I'm just gonna stay home tomorrow. I still have a lot of unpacking to do".

Ryan frowns, "finish unpacking today, and come to the party. Pleeaaaaseee?"

I sigh, "I'll think about it Ryan"

>>>><<<<

I walk to the band room and approach a smiling Shawn. "Ready to go?". I nod and the two of us exit the building, the heat of the sun greeting us. Shawn leads us to his car and I sigh in relief knowing that I won't have to walk home in this heat. "So, where did you move from?", I ask, trying to make conversation.

"Canada, my dad brought us here because of work", he explains. I nod

"I only moved her 3 days ago, so I'm new to Illinois"

"Then consider me your personal tour guide, I'll show you all of the best pizza places around", I say causing him to chuckle and nod. He parks the car and pulls the key out. I look around. "Hey Shawn, you wanna know something?"

He hums in reply. I point to the house directly across his, "that's our house", I tell him.

"So now you're my neighbor, partner, and personal tour guide". He opens the door and we enter his house. The house was large and organized. "Hey Aaliyah, this is Crystal", he introduces me to the young girl, who I assumed to be his sister, watching TV. She diverts her attention towards me and smiles, lightly waving at me. I wave back and Shawn leads me up the stairs to his room. His room, as I expected, was very neat, the walls painted a dark shade of blue. At the corner of the room, a guitar sits on a stand. "How long have you been playing guitar?"

He stops and thinks, "since I was 14". He goes to the table and unplugs his MacBook from the charger and joins me on the carpeted floor. He opens Google and searched 'The Great Depression'. I open my notebook and quickly copy down all the points I found necessary, adding them to the points Shawn ticked during class. He found a video explaining The Great Depression and he clicked on it, pausing it every few seconds to give me time to write.

>>>><<<<

One hour later, we had finished all of the research and had already started on the presentation. When we finished the fifth slide, Shawn saved the presentation and closed the laptop. "This isn't due until next week. I think that's enough for today", he says as he rubs his eyes. "So are you going to that party tomorrow? It's all anyone's been talking about"

"I don't think so, I'm not really in the mood to party. Plus, Aaron throws a part almost every month, so there's always next time", I explain. Shawn nods, "well how about you give me that tour tomorrow", he suggests.

"Sure, meet me at my house tomorrow after school. Here, put your number in my phone", I say as I hand him my phone. He hands me back my phone and I slip it into my pocket. "Alright, see you tomorrow Shawn", I grab my backpack and go down the stairs, Shawn following me to the door.

When we reach the door I turn around and face Shawn, "I never asked. How come you don't wanna go to Aaron's party?"

He smiles, "actually I was planning on going, but I'd rather go on that tour". I laugh and shake my head. "Bye Crystal". I wave at him and cross the street , entering my house.

I enter my room and sigh, it's about time I unpack my bags.