Appearance vs. Reality // Shawn Mendes fanfiction

6th May, 2014

Exam season had struck and although I had been studying hard for what seemed like years, (and technically had been years because I had known what subjects I had wanted to study since year 7), I had become slightly distracted by an obsessive compulsion to talk to Shawn whenever possible, due to the annoying time zones that lay between us each day. We spoke almost every day about almost everything, when he time away from playing shows. 

I hadn't seen Shawn in almost a month and not knowing when I'd see him again felt like a sharp spike right through the centre of my heart. However, one morning, I received a text. It was from Shawn.

"Hey, I would have asked you this last night on Skype but I was a little too nervous... my prom is this month and I'm allowed a plus one... would you be my date to prom? I'd fly you over and everything? Please? X"

I leapt out of bed, a smile beaming from ear to ear. I HAD JUST BEEN ASKED TO A PROM... BY SHAWN MENDES. 

I wasn't freaking because I was asked by someone famous, I had slowly gotten over having hundreds of mentions and tags on social media by now because Shawn and I would occasionally tweet about each other. I was freaking because a boy, and one that I liked, and who liked me back, had asked me to prom.

I had told very little to my parents about Shawn because El did most of that for me when she came to visit. 

Then my heart sunk. There was no way my parents would let me go over to Canada to prom with a guy I hardly knew. They'd think it was a prank on me. Or think me stupid to think he'd like me, a nobody. Or just not let me go because he lived 3,000 miles away.

Shawn's prom wasn't until the 22nd June, which gave me long enough to convince my parents to let me go... but then there was the problem of the dress, shoes, make-up, hair etc. They were already having to buy all of that for my prom on the 27th June! However, El had promised to take me to MAC for my make-up because of how obsessed I was with the look I was given when I had a trial. 

I didn't mention the fact Shawn had asked me to prom for weeks to anyone and told him the problems I had.  He understood and knew we had some convincing to do, once I had told my parents.

A few weeks into my exams, when I was finally on study leave and had left school, my mother and I were driving to Manchester to go clothes shopping when I decided to ask her for her permission to go to prom with Shawn. I was praying she would say yes, because she knew how hard everything had been the last year or so. Once I lost my best friend in a tragic car accident, I felt lost. It wasn't until that dinner date with Shawn when I released what I had bottled up that I found the strength to talk about how I was feeling. The fact my dad had had an affair was always at the back of my mind and when I'd remember how guilty I was for not telling my mum, I wanted to cry. My family was all I had, plus Shawn too. I had friends at school, but none of them would be like Lucy. 

"This a long shot, but, you know Shawn?" I asked, praying with what hope I still clung on to.

"That Canadian boy you always talk to?" she replied.

"Yes. Well, he's asked me to prom-" 

My mum turned her head sharply. 

"No way. He lives in Canada, Jenny!"

"Let me finish, please!" I shot back. Problem number one: he lived 3,000 miles away. "He said he'd pay for the flights!"

"Are you sure he's not just playing a joke on you and it isn't actually him? He's famous, right?"

Problem number two: she thought it was a joke. 

"No, I swear it's him, mum! He took me to dinner, invited me to a show and kissed me... and it's definitely his number, he calls me a lot!"