11:15 // mendes

Chapter 4

Before I leave for school Monday morning, I text Shawn, telling him that I'll be at his house in five minutes. It's our first time walking to school together for two months, since Nathan always insisted on driving me.

After I poor my tea into a travel mub, I slip on my Converse and rush out the door, putting in earbuds and playing songs by Blink-182. I walk a down a block, then arrive at Shawn's house. He's sitting on the rocker chair on his front porch, scrolling through his phone and listening to some music. I walk up to him, then Shawn looks up, a smile immediatly spreading across his face.

"Good morning, Arabella," Shawn smiles.

"Hello, Shawn" I respond.

I sit next to him on the swing and watch as he scrolls through his Twitter TL, responding to fans and favoriting tweets. He then hits the 'compose tweet' icon and types, "@arabellalovesbands is a total loser."

I chuckle and playfully whack his arm. Shawn laughs and publishes the tweet. He logs off his Twitter, then we stand up and walk down the steps. Shawn and I walk slowly towards the high school, since we're both pretty nervous about what might happen. Once we arrive, I look around the student parking lot for Nathan's car, but don't see it. I sigh in relief, then Shawn and I enter the building. We talk as we walk in the direction of our lockers, then I see two of Nathan's friends, James and Mason, walking towards Shawn and I. They look upset.

"What did you do to Nathan?" James asks, looking up at Shawn.

"I was protecting Arabella," Shawn answers.

"From what?" Mason asks.

"From Nathan. You guys do know what he did to her, right?" Shawn asks.

They both shake their heads, looking confused. Shawn explains what Nathan did to me as I stand silently next to Shawn. After Shawn is done talking, the four of us are silent.

"So why didn't you talk to anyone?" James asks after a little bit.

"I couldn't. Nathan would probably kill me if I did," I explained.

"Oh. Geez, I didn't ever think that Nathan would do something so... disgusting. That's not like him," Mason says, shaking his head.

"Yeah. When I broke up with him Saterday, he punched me and that's when Shawn attacked him. Is Nathan here?" I ask.

"No. He texted me saying that he won't be be back for a long time. We asked why, then he said to ask you two," Mason explains, James nodding in agreement.

We talk for a minute more, then go our seperate ways, Shawn and me going to our lockers and Mason and James going to theirs. I open mine and put my lunch in it, then grab my Spanish and honors English supplies, then say goodbye to Shawn and rush up to the Spanish room.

Once at the third floor, I race down the hall, then stop in my tracks when I'm close to the classroom. I take a sip of my tea, then walk in and take my seat next to Avery.

"Hey, Bella," she says.

I smile my hello, then we start to talk about random stuff, like how a band we both like has a new single, and that this weeks episode of Red Band Society will be amazing.

I met Avery in the sixth grade. We had the some of the same classes and sat near eachother in most of them. We started talking and instantley clicked. I'm not as close to Avery as I am with Shawn, but we're still super close. We have inside jokes and sleepovers and go to the mall.
~

Once I get to English, I sit at Shawn's and my table in the back, waiting for Shawn as everyone files in. He's the last one to enter, walking in with a smile on his face and excitment in his eyes. Shawn smiles when we make eye contact. He walks faster, then sits in the chair next to me.

"I just had the best idea for a song in science," he explains, jotting something down in his song book, which i got him for his birthday more than a year ago.

I watch as he bites his lip and bounces his leg up and down as he writes down the lyrics to this new song. He looks up for a second, then looks back down and writes more.

"Can I see it?" I ask.

"Nope, not until I am done," Shawn chuckles.

After writing a minute more, then setting his pencil down and putting the notebook in his backpack. I take my composition book out and work on the story we're writing in this class. I see from the corner of my eye that Shawn is watching me. I look at him, and he quickly turns his head, blushing. I squint, then look back at my notebook. I write until the end of class, then leave and walk to my locker.

"Arabella! Wait!" I hear Shawn call.

I turn around and see him rushing down the hall, pushing past people. I stop and wait for him, then he catches up to me. He stops to catch his breath, then we walk to our lockers.

"Do you wanna go long boarding after achool?" he asks.

"Sure," I answer, opening my locker and grabbing my math book and notebook.

Shawn and I walk to our math class and sit down.
~

After school, Shawn and I walk to my house. I set down my backpack and run upstairs to my room. I gab my long board and take off my combat boots and slip on my all black Converse. I pick up my long board and look at the bottom of it. I got it last year. When I first got it, the grip tape on top was black, and the bottom was just a tan wood color. Over the year, Shawn and I would sit with it on our laps and draw on it with Sharpies. The designs are: a quotes in the middle ("I live in a world of fantasy so keep your reality away from me"), my favorite bands logos (Nirvana, Blink-182, 5sos, etc.), flowers, happy faces and random doodles. Once Shawn and I finished doodling on it for our last time, I put clear glue over the doodles to make sure they'd stay.

I run back downstairs and go to my kitchen and grab two cans of Arizona, one green tea for Shawn and a sweet tea for me. I hand Shawn his can when I get to the living room, then we walk to his house. Shawn runs in to grab his long board, then we skate towards the city.

After a little bit, Shawn and I end up at Milenium Park. We set our long boards down in front of The Bean and sit on our boards. I sip at my tea, then look for Shawn's and my reflection in The Bean. Once I find it, I just kind of look in that spot.

"Arabella," Shawn says.

I look over and he takes a picture of me on his phone. Shawn looks at the picture, then I hear him say "aw". I look, then scrunch my nose.

"I look gross," I say.

"No, it's cute," Shawn chuckles.

I feel blood rise to my cheeks. Did Shawn just call me cute? I feel some butterflies in my tummy, but ignore them. Shawn always gives me butterflies, even though we have literally known eachother for seven years. I take a long sip of me tea, then set it down.

~

This is just a filler chapter. The next one will be better, though, I promise:) By the way, if you like the Arctic Monkeys, you'll know where I got Arabella's name.