Wonder | SM

Chapter Three

Song of the Chapter - Breathin by Ariana Grande

SHAWN

No, no, no. Fuck. I forgot about her interview. Valerie is seated comfortably on a leather chair in front of Andrew's desk about to have the interview that could change her life, and I just interrupted it. I'm the one who ruined everything.

My mind was racing, but time was moving slower. For a moment, I stood there silently, not sure how to make it seem like I made a mistake and went into the wrong office, but Andrew was my manager. There was nowhere else I would go.

"Oh, sorry, Andrew. I didn't know you had an interview. I'll just talk to you after," I mutter, stuttering a few times and tripping on my feet as I go into the hallway. I stuck my head back in and said "sorry again." At first, I didn't think I could do anything else to ruin my day, but here I am. Not only did I ruin my own, I pretty much demolished Valerie's.

"Shawn, I'm in the middle of something," Andrew tells me, and his tone is quite annoyed, and that's when I knew I already ruined her train of thought and distracted her from focusing on what really mattered.

I glanced at Valerie's face and noticed how it drops when she realizes that I'm still here. I needed to fix things before they got worse. "Can I pull you outside for a quick second?"

Andrew looks at Valerie and tells her that he'll be right back. She turned to me standing in the doorway, and her sad eyes showed that she didn't want to talk to me ever again. Even though I had only known her for less than two days, I liked her. A lot, actually. I planned on talking to her a lot more after our encounter on the train yesterday, but I doubt that'll happen now.

Andrew shut the heavy door behind him and glared at me menacingly. "What the hell do you need?"

No offense taken, I come closer to him so that Valerie wouldn't hear our conversation. "Please don't reject Valerie, Andrew. She's extremely talented and really wants this job." I haven't actually seen any of her work, but I assumed that she was talented since she got this job interview. I would hate myself more if she instantly got rejected because of me.

VALERIE

What did Shawn think he was doing? Barging into my life-changing interview? I guess he's the asshole I always thought he was. I was interrupted before I even got to say a damn word, and now my entire train of thought is messed up.

Last night, I called my parents and boasted about how excited I was to finally do this interview, and now all I have to look forward to is breaking the news that I got rejected because of an annoying pop star. I've worked so hard for my entire life to get in this spot, and I swear if Shawn is the person who ruins my future for me, I'll never talk to him again. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, though. He probably has better things to do.

I quickly pull out my phone and scan over the main points that I wanted to address throughout the interview. I began songwriting at 10. Music has been my passion for my whole life. Yes, these are typical points, but they're also important.

The point that was starred, bolded, and underlined was: I'm open to writing for every genre. Nowadays, most songwriters seem to stick to a couple of genres, but I'm willing to write for all of them. Even if Andrew doubts me, I wanted to prove him wrong.

Going back to Shawn, I was still extremely angry that he just walked into Andrew's office like he owned the place. He knew how anxious I was about this interview, and for once in his life, he couldn't stay away from me for just a couple of hours.

All I'm hoping for is for Andrew to come back into his office with an open mind, not instantly jumping to the conclusion that I'm not worth getting signed.