Queen

Chapter 21

I sat in my IT class next to Shawn finishing the last of the notes as the professor explained them. After a short while, he finished and then he excused us. I pulled out my planner and wrote down the information of today, as always. As I was writing I felt a presence right in front of my desk. I look up to see Shaw and I give him a small smile before finishing my writing.

"Hey, you mind if I talk to you for a minute?" He asked his hands tucked in his pockets.
"Not at all, let me just put this away," I say holding up my planner before putting it in my bag.
"What exactly is that? A diary?" He chuckled. I smiled at him as I put my bag on my shoulder.
"No. And you're one to talk, you have a journal too."
"Well yeah but it's like all songs and stuff!" He seemed a little embarrassed.
"Well mine is just a planner and it helps me remember what I've done for the day."
"Ah, alright then." He shrugged.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked as I started walking with him.
"Just, about your summer." He said. I raised my brow at him.
"You just wanna ask about my summer break?" I asked.
"Sure. Like y'know... What you did or who you spent it with."
"Uh... I mostly hung out with Lucas, spent most my nights at his house..." I shrugged, still confused. He just hummed.
"Sounds nice..." He trailed off.
"So uh... did you also by chance see Lisa yesterday?" He asked.
"Oh... yeah she was a little upset so I just left her alone." I gave him a fake smile, not wanting to trouble him with the slap she also gave me.
"Yeah. I talked to her and figured it's best that we... take a break for awhile." He sighed, he seemed a little hurt.
"I'm sorry," I said putting my hand on his back out of comfort.
"No, it's fine I just had to talk to her about what you said and she just blew up on me, she said all these nasty things about you and, I just, I couldn't hear her talking shit about my friends." He gave me a small smile and nudged me with his elbow a bit. I smiled back at him.
"Well, thank you for still considering me your friend."
"Listen, Cecilia," he stopped grabbing me by my arm making me stop walking too. I just faced him as he continued to speak, "I know it was only a few hours to think about everything between you and me, but I came to the conclusion that what I did to you wasn't fair. I knew before, how I harassed you and intentionally tried hurting you wasn't right, it didn't feel right or like I was acting like myself. I'm sorry I didn't give you a fair chance, I was just blinded by the pain of not having you in my life when you honestly were the first person in school to actually treat me like a human."

"In high school, I absolutely loved you, because you were so beautiful and smart and just a kind-hearted person, but after I lost that, I was hurt and thought I wasn't good enough, and Lisa coming to me saying what she said about you made me give into my doubts I had, which is why I was so quick to judge you. But I realize that wasn't right, it wasn't fair to you. I don't know why you left but I'm sure you had good reason to." He explained. My eyes started to water as I nodded my head.

"S-Shawn I've been through so much," I croaked as I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, "I'm talking about serious shit that I can't fully explain but so much of my life went downhill, so fast after high school, I was so focused on trying to handle how my life changed that I didn't think..." I started crying.

Shawn reached out and pulled me close to him, holding me firmly. I just wrapped my arms around him and started sobbing hard into his chest.
"I'm sorry." He said in a hushed tone before resting his head on the top of mine.

After Shawn and I took a moment so I could collect myself I told him I had to meet with Maria in her room and he offered to walk me. I didn't get the chance yesterday because after class I just wanted to go to my room and wallow in self-pity more. So I did, and I just told Maria I wasn't feeling good and asked if we could hang out the next day.

We walked to my dorm building and I texted Maria letting her know I was on my way up to meet with her. We walked into the building and got on the elevator going up to the 5th floor.

"God, it must be hell if this elevator ever broke." Shawn chuckled as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
"I mean, I like taking the stairs every now and then, it's kinda a good way to stay in some shape." I smiled.
"Like you go up all five floors?!" He seemed shocked.
"Well..." I trailed off.
"You just go down the stairs don't you?" He narrowed his eyes at me. I just looked away and whistled.
"That's hardly a workout!" He laughed.
"Well, it's some exercise. I'm still in good shape!" I defended myself.
"Not as good in shape as me." He mumbled lowly, trying to keep to himself but I heard him perfectly.
"Oh please! You expect me to believe that just because you have a perfect muscly body that you're in more shape than me?" I asked crossing my arms.
"Hey, you said it not me." He said raising his hands as if he was surrendering.
"I bet I could run circles around you." I laughed. After my comment, the elevator doors dinged and they slid open. We stepped off but before I walked any further Shawn pulled me back to him.

"Bet right now." He said.
"What?" I asked, confused as to what he was getting at.
"Let's make that bet right now. We'll race to the end of the hall and back, whoever can hit the elevator button first wins." He challenged me.
"And what does the winner get?" I raised my brow.
"I want you to answer a question I have, 100% truthfully, but you HAVE to answer it." He said. I pursed my lips thinking it over.
"Okay. I want the same thing." I said holding out my hand. He just smiled wide and shook it. "Alright, starting here." He says grabbing me by the shoulders and placing me right next to him. I looked down making sure our feet were aligned with each other.

"Ready?" He asked. I just nodded. "On three. One... Two... Three!" He yelled and we started running. He was so much faster than me but I put in my all, I wasn't too far behind so I still had a chance to catch up.

We reached the end of the hall and Shawn, of course, was the first to touch the wall there but I was merely a second behind him. As we were running back I quickly caught up to him. I quickly looked over at him which was a mistake. When I looked back I noticed a door swing open in front of me. I gasped and quickly jumped closer to Shawn but too close. I felt my shoulder connect to his side and I lost my balance. I tripped, falling in front of him. I hit the ground hard and then I felt his foot kick my side hard and heard a loud thud from behind me.

"Oh my God are your guys ok?!" A female voice called out shocked.
"Fuck." I hissed holding my side that Shawn accidentally kicked as I propped myself up on my arm. I looked behind me to see Shawn on all floors, his head hung down.

"I'm good!" He said holding up his thumb.
"Y-Yeah same." I lied as I took my hand off my waist.
"O-Ok." The girl said before I heard the door shut.
"Holy fuck!" He yelled as he sat up straight. I jumped and looked over at him surprised.
"I was winning!" He whined. I rolled my eye and tried my best to sit up too but couldn't with the fresh pain on my side.
"Ow, ow, ow!" I said and went back to the floor.
"Oh shit," Shawn said, I looked back at him again to see him stand and step over me.
"You ok? Where does it hurt?" He asks crouching down.
"Here," I said placing a hand on my side. He nonchalantly grabbed the bottom of my shirt and started lifting it up. I quickly snatched my shirt back and pulled it down. My cheeks starting to burn.

"Hey, I'm not taking it off, I just want to make sure nothings popping out of you!" He defended himself. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Swear." He says. I just move my hand and let him continue. He lifts my shirt and stops under my bra although I'm sure a bit of it is showing. I feel my face burn and look away.
"Well... you look fine, if it hurts too much it'll probably come out to be one nasty bruise." He says lightly running his hand on my skin. I shuddered at his touch. He was so gentle it didn't hurt, but I wasn't used to being caressed anymore.
"C'mon." He says standing up and holding out his hand. I took it in my own and he quickly picked me up as if I was nothing, I barely felt the pain when he did.
"Thanks," I said looking down at my body to see if I was covered in dirt or debris, "you sure you're ok?" I asked looking up at him.
"Oh yeah, I'm just sorry I kicked you like that, I really didn't mean to." He chuckled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck.
"You're fine, it's really all my fault." I shyly said looking down at my feet.
"Nah, don't worry about it. It was fun while it lasted." He said. I just smiled up at him.
"Let's go to your friend's room, we'll negotiate the winner later." He said as he started walking.
"Hey, last I checked it was pretty much a tie," I said catching up to him.