Different Keys

Shawnathon

The changes in Camila were obvious to anyone. She was a quiet girl that kept to herself. Teachers loved her because she didn't act up in class, she was respectful and always polite. Her report card always said she was a pleasure to have in class. When she stopped showing up to certain classes, or when she started falling asleep in them she was no longer a pleasure but a headache. It seemed like she was being told to wake up every day during class. Each time it was from a different teacher.

The biggest concern was from her orchestra teacher. Camila felt sorry for Miss Lovato the first week of school. Her classmates were giving her hell because it was her first teaching job, but Camila never did. She easily became the teacher's pet and she didn't care. The closer she got to the teacher, the more she learned about music and everyone knew how much Camila loved every little thing about music. At least until her mom and Lauren left to Cuba.

They didn't leave together but Camila knew they'd both be near each other. It just felt like the two most important women in her life left at the exact same time to be in the exact same place. She had no reason to be in Miami when her mom and Lauren were in Cuba. She wanted to book a flight to join them, it had been three weeks already. She spent Christmas and New Year's without her mom, it fucking sucked.

Sinu called her daughter every day. She didn't feel too good about leaving her daughter home alone, but she discussed it with her before booking the flight and Camila reassured her she'd be fine. She had no choice but to take her word for it and trust her daughter would be fine.

Camila was everything but fine. When she got a call from her mom saying she'd be staying another week she rode her bike over to Shawn's house and walked straight into his room and crawled into his bed. He didn't question it, he just let it happen until Camila hung up and started crying. He texted his mom who was out at the store and told her Camila was staying over and that they'd talk about it later.

The three came to an agreement that Camila shouldn't stay home alone while her mom was out of the country so they would alternate. She'd either stay with Shawn or Shawn would go over and stay with her. She trusted her son, and Camila. She knew there wasn't anything to worry about.

-

"You got suspended?!" Shawn's hand quickly went up to cover Dinah's mouth who was still looking at the white paper in awe.

"Dinah shut your ass up. If Shawn's mom finds out I'm fucked. I told her I wouldn't give her any problems so she can't find out about this." Camila snatched the paper out of Dinah's hand but it ripped in two. Her friends screamed but Camila only shrugged, she didn't care. Lately it seemed she didn't care about anything.

Dinah and Shawn looked at each other and then over at Camila who was balling up her suspension slip. It was the perfect time to stage their attempt at an intervention. They'd already talked about Camila's change in behavior. They knew better than to get involved because Camila hates that and they respect it. But now she's suspended for a week so things are different.

"Camila, we get you're alone and that you miss your mom and Lauren, but don't you think suspension is a bit too much? Your mom is coming back in a few days." Camila continued to ball up her slip. There really wasn't much to do to it anymore, but she kept fidgeting with it.

"I'm fifteen and feel like shit let me be. Suspension isn't the end of the world." She shrugged and threw the paper ball up in the air and caught it with her hand. Camila kept doing it until Shawn walked over and smacked it out of her hand. It hit his wall and landed right in his trash can.

Dinah wanted to laugh because she had never seen Shawn snap, but if they were going to get in Camila's head then they'd have to be serious. Apparently, Camila got the memo to be serious as well because she looked like she was actually about to fight Shawn. And over what? A piece of paper that's now in the trash can?

"Karla."

"Shawnathon."

"My name is Shawn?" Shawn broke eye contact first and looked over at Dinah who was trying not to laugh.

"I know but it doesn't sound stern because you're calling me by my first name."

"Camila, Lauren is calling you." Dinah slid Camila's phone over to her and Camila made a mental note to just take her phone off silent.

She picked up her phone and saw Lauren's name on her screen but she couldn't answer it. She wanted nothing more than to hear her voice because it's been three weeks since the last time she had, but she couldn't. Camila made it clear that she'd be there for Lauren and that she'd respect the fact that she needs to spend time with her family. It was obvious that Lauren still wanted to talk to her everyday regardless, but she didn't.

The last text she got from Lauren was to tell her they had landed and that the flight was fine. Unfortunately, that was eighteen days ago, not that Camila was counting. And the lack of communication between her and the older girl had absolutely nothing to do with her drastic change in behavior, at least that's what she's been telling herself every day.

"You're not gonna pick up?"

-

AN: Y'all this chapter has been chilling on my desktop for weeks. I wrote this so long ago and now that the story is at this point I had to reread it and I got hung up on my own cliffhanger.  Sorry things got emo but I've already started the next chapter which will definitely be a filler.