WHO? [S.M: COLLEGE AU SERIES PT 2]
Description: Shawn finds himself renrolling into his junior year of college after not taking a liking to the start of his career of being a musician. With renrolling, he finds a liking to a girl he had never seen before.
BY THE time college had started up again, it was just a short week after Shawn had arrived back on campus. He had been supplied with all his books that he needed, and his pencil case was full of all the pens he used in his first two years.
He was in the middle of his elective English class, writing down notes when his pen had run out of ink. He scrambled to grab another, to find it didn’t work, only for him to grab another and it also didn’t work. He let out a frustrated sigh, trying to find a pen that was working. He was stupid enough not to go through and check which ones were working before classes started.
“Hey, curly fries, need a pen?” asked a voice.
He looked around, thinking that whoever was speaking, wasn’t speaking to him. He ignored the voice, letting out an annoyed sigh when he realised that the five or six pens in his pencil case had run out of ink.
“Psst! Curly fries, oi!” said the same voice.
He looked up to the person behind him, finding a chestnut brunette smiling down at him. He flushed red when he noticed what the cute girl was holding out for him, and the girl let out a small chuckle at the sight of his rosy cheeks.
Shawn gently took the pen from her grasp, to which he then smiled at her afterwards. He was given one in return, just seconds after he thanked her for the pen.
“Who’s talking back there?” Mr T/N asked.
Shawn turned back to sit in his seat quietly, while the girl who gave him a pen spoke up for him. He just silently continued writing down whatever was on the board, into his exercise book.
“We weren’t talking sir, I was just giving him a pen,” replied the girl.
“A pen? It’s the first class of the semester.”
“Sorry Mr T/N, it won’t happen again.”
“You’re right it won’t. Surely after spending half your life in school, you’d be able to carry a few spare pens,” explained Mr T/N.
“I was Mr T/N. All five of my pens aren’t working,” flushed Shawn.
The class let out a laugh at Shawn’s reply, which only made Shawn flush harder in embarrassment. He wasn’t expecting his first few classes like this, getting embarrassed because all of his pens weren’t working. He had hoped that the class hadn’t heard what he said, but of course, they did.
Mr T/N furrowed his eyebrows at the sound of the familiar voice, looking out to where Shawn was sitting. Shawn tried to hide himself, but it didn’t really work.
“Is that you Mr Mendes?” asked Mr T/N.
The teacher smiled at the sight of the brunette back in class. It’d been just over a year since Mr T/N had seen Shawn in class, and he had questioned why Shawn had been crossed off his roll. Someone had told him that he was becoming a musician, but he didn’t believe them.
“It’s good to see you back. Where have you been, Shawn?”
“I’ve uh, I’ve been making music and touring around the world for the past year, Mr T/N.”
The class broke out into whispers, with many people in the class looking over at him while they spoke to their friends. Shawn just caved in on himself slightly, suddenly not liking the class anymore. This is what he was trying to avoid. This was one of the reasons why he couldn’t deal with the fame to begin with. It’s why he gave it up.
“Good for you Shawn. I’m glad to see you’re doing what you love. Do you mind me asking why you came back to college?”
Shawn cleared his throat, the entire class hearing it. He sat up in his chair a bit higher, feeling a little more confident about himself. He placed the lid on the pen, and began to play with it as he spoke.
“I came back because I couldn’t handle it. Everyone says that being famous would be so easy, but it’s really not. It’s dealing with constant stress, constant strangers trying to talk to you every where you go, needing to put in 110% every time, no matter what you’re doing. Even if it’s dressing up to go out, performing on stage, creating a song or even practicing it. I got diagnosed with anxiety whilst I was away, because I couldn’t handle it, so I decided to finish my degree and see what the future afterwards hold for me, if it were music, or it’s something else.”
The entire class went silent at the words that escaped Shawn’s lips. A few whispers here and there, but not as many. Mr T/N nodded his head with a small smile.
“It’s good to see a familiar face in my class room.”
Shawn just nodded his head, and Mr T/N went back to teaching the class. Shawn sat silently, listening to the teacher and writing down the notes in his book. They were learning about old classical playwrights, something Shawn loves to learn about.
The class had not long ended, and everyone was packing up their stuff so they could head out. Shawn was amongst a lot of them, trying to get to his next class which started in less than an hour, and was almost a twenty minute walk. He ditched his car for the day, deciding to get up his step count instead.
“That was a nice motivational speech you made in there,” said a voice.
Shawn quickly turned around as he finally made his way out of the classroom. He found the brunette who had been sitting behind him, the one who gave him the pen to borrow. He let out a small chuckle, shaking his head.
“It’s nothing really. I was just explaining why I came back to college,” said Shawn.
“I’m sure there’s a secret message in there somewhere. I have to go though, I have another class down the hall,” she said.
Shawn nodded. “Me too, but not down the hall. I’ll see you around?”
She nodded her head in response, going to turn away, but he quickly grabbed her shirt before she could. Her eyes locked with his, a questioning look on her face.
“Thank you, for letting me have your pen,” said Shawn.
“It’s nothing. I suppose you’ll come back to class with a few more working ones over the next week?”
Shawn let out a laugh, nodding his head at her. She then bid a goodbye, and started walking down the hallway yet again. It was then when Shawn realised he hadn’t even gotten her name yet.
“You never told me your name!” yelled Shawn.
“Bronte!” She yelled out.
She then disappeared around the corner, before Shawn found himself turning the opposite way to make his way to his next class. He rounded the corner, feeling a sudden pressure hitting him on the chest, before the sound of books hitting the ground caught his attention.
He looked down, finding a brunette girl scrambling to pick her books up off the floor. He quickly apologised to the girl, bending down to help her pick up the books and papers that had landed everywhere.
“It’s okay, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” said the girl.
Shawn’s eyes locked onto her after she spoke, somehow getting a feeling that she was familiar. Her hair was up in a high pony tail, hanging over her face, with her bangs outlining the shape of her face. When she looked up because she could feels eyes on her, her bright eyes locked with Shawn’s.
“Hey, what’s going on?” laughed Shawn.
“I’m picking up my books, because some idiot ran into me,” remarked Y/N.
Shawn let out a scoff, as the two of them rose to their feet again. Y/N adjusted the books in her arm, while Shawn handed her one back. The book that he had originally picked up but forgot to give it to her until last minute.
“You said it was your fault for not watching!”
“Yes, I did. until I realised it was you and then I decided to blame it on you,” she laughed.
Shawn let out a scoff, before laughing at her and nudging her side. She just let out another laugh, a sound Shawn could listen to forever if he had the choice too.
“You would blame me for it.”
Y/N let out a laugh. “Of course, any one but myself.”
Shawn let out another laugh at her, shaking his head. Y/N just smiled over at him, adjusting one of her books that was falling out of her folder. Shawn held his by his hip, not having many books to carry for his next class, which he was grateful for.
The two of them started making their way out of the building, not even noticing that they were both walking the same way. What they didn’t realise was about to be found out.
“What class do you have now?” Y/N asked.
“I have Music, yourself?” replied Shawn.
“Wait, you do music?” She quickly turned to him.
Shawn let out a laugh. “Yes, why? Surprised?”
Shawn’s eyes lit up at the sound of having a class with Y/N, a smile tugging at his lips as he realised how excited she was to be sharing a class with you.
“That’s awesome. What instrument do you play?” questioned Shawn.
“Piano, guitar and I sing. Yourself?”
Shawn’s heart almost melted the moment that sentence escaped her lips. There was seriously something going on here, because it was rare that he had much in common with anyone.
“So do I,” laughed Shawn.
Y/N let out a surprised laugh at his response. The two of them dodged people as they made their way through the hallway towards their classroom, but still managing to stay side by side.
“That’s crazy!” said Y/N.
The two of them just grinned at one another, finally reaching their classroom. Shawn opened the door Y/N, letting her go past him, but she didn’t without saying thank you to him.
“Hello, please grab one of the sheets of paper on the end desk, and find a seat,” said Mrs T/N.
Shawn grabbed Y/N and himself one of the pieces of paper each, before they both found a seat in the second row at the othe end of the classroom. Shawn placed his books down, handing Y/N her paper, before he pulled the seat out and sat down.
Y/N then thanked him yet again, looking out at the front of the room to find Mrs T/N writing down information on the board. Shawn glanced down at the piece of paper in front of him, reading the information in front of him.
Welcome to Mrs T/N’s college Music experience. Please fill out the information below.
What Instrument do you play?: Guitar, Piano, and I also sing.
What is your favourite song genre/s?: I’ll listen to anything.
Who is your favourite musician/s?: Ed Sheeran and John Mayor.
What do you hope to get out of this course?: To professionally play and make music for a living.
How confident are you with performing on stage in front of a crowd?: Very confident.
Shawn had filled out the page within minutes, while Y/N had answered everything almost the same as Shawn, except, another favourite artist of her’s was Taylor Swift, and she was just confident in performance.
She wasn’t like Shawn, who had toured for 6 months and performed in front of thousands of people in different cities across the globe every night. She didn’t know that he was famous, but she was sure to find out in a short time.
“Please hand your sheets in to the person on the end row, and they can bring them up to the front please,” said Mrs T/N.
The sound of pieces of paper being shuffled around could be heard all around the room, as people kept handing down pieces of paper to the next person. Shawn then realised that he had to hand up the papers to the front of the room, which he got up to do once he was handed all his sheets.
He was the last one to take all the sheets down, with everyone else already have handed them down and were making their way back to their seats. Shawn places the pile of papers in front of the teacher, who then picks up his paper to read it to herself.
“Yes. Mrs T/N?” replied Shawn.
Everyone’s eyes were on him, he could feel them. It was scary that he knew when someone was looking at him because he’d spent so long having thousands of people staring at him constantly on stage. He wasn’t expecting to be confronted by the teacher the way he was about to.
“Why don’t you start us off and explain who you are to the class? We’re just doing get-to-know-each-other tasks for the first lesson.”
Shawn then nodded his head at his teacher, making his way to stand beside her up the front. He looked out to the crowd, finding a few more eyes on him than what he’s liked.
“Uh, sure. Anything in particular?” Shawn asked.
“Just tell us everything on the sheet, and for the last two questions. I want to know why.”
Shawn then nodded his head again, letting out a small breath he didn’t know he was holding in. His fingers fiddled with the strings on his pants, as he started to talk to the class.
“Hi. My name is Shawn Mendes, and I am 19 years old. I play the guitar, piano and I sing. I’ll listen to any song that I think is good. My favourite musicians are Ed Sheeran and John Major. The reason I’m doing this course is because I want to be able to play and record music professionally, as it’s always been a dream of mine as a kid.. I am very confident in performing because...”
Shawn then paused, looking out at the class of students sitting before him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. He was known around several hundred countries because of his music, and that didn’t bother him, but it bothered him that if he finished his sentence, he’d been known as Shawn Mendes, the kid who gave up his career to finish his degree, to go back to being famous. He didn’t want to be famous for that, but now, he had no choice.
