Some Things Never Change [SHAWN MENDES]

September 4, 2012

"Want to help me find my home room?" Ceci asked.

"I, uh, told the guys I'd, um, meet them," I stammered.

"Of course. Tell the dork squad I said hi."

She headed for the front door and I turned left to meet my friends by a row of benches. We didn't have to go inside for ten more minutes, and we certainly didn't want to look like nerds by going in early.

"Mendes!" Ian shouted. "We saw you blow Ceci off. Ouch. I hope you let her down easy."

"Shut up," I mumbled.

"She's looking pretty good," Brian observed. "You should be tappin' that."

"He can't fool around with his bestest-westest friend," Matt said in a baby voice.

"You guys know I'm not that tight with her anymore," I told them.

"No? Then why'd you ride to school together?" Ian asked.

"Because our moms set that up. Our parents are really close, almost like family. Ceci's more like a cousin to me than a friend. I can't really avoid her when we go on vacation and spend holidays together."

"If she's essentially a cousin, you definitely won't be doing her," Brian said with a grin. "I call dibs!"

"You can't call dibs on a human being," I said.

"Sure you can. None of you had better make a move on her because I've laid claim."

As much as I liked Brian, I sometimes found myself wanting to punch him.

We walked into school and went our separate ways for home room. I only had lunch with two of my friends, but we joined a group of other guys we knew from eighth grade. Ceci had shown me her schedule and she had lunch during the last shift, which was probably for the best. I'd feel bad about not sitting with her.

After a long and somewhat boring day, I went out front and looked around for my mom's van. When I found it, I saw that Ceci was already in the back seat.

"How was school?" my mom asked as she pulled out of the pick-up line.

"Okay."

"I think I only saw you twice all day," Ceci said. "Both times from a distance in the hall."

We didn't have any academic classes together because she was in the honors program and I wasn't. I was taking music for my elective, and she was taking a mechanical drawing class. We didn't have PE or French together, either.

"Did you like your teachers?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "They seemed adequate."

My mom dropped Ceci off and then we went home. An hour later she left to pick up Aaliyah and then run to the grocery store. I decided to raid the fridge while she was gone. After eating, I sent a text.

Wanna come hang out?

Ten minutes later, my best friend let herself in the front door.

We went in the backyard and sat down in the lounge chairs by the pool since it was a gorgeous afternoon. I'd brought my guitar out with me, so I worked on some chords for a few minutes while she listened.

"You're really improving," Ceci said when I was done.

"Thanks."

"Will you remember me when you're big and famous?"

"You're hilarious." I paused before continuing. "It sucked not having any classes with you."

"It's probably how it will be from here on out. But yeah, it totally sucked. I missed you."

"Same."

Part of me wanted to tell her that I'd lied to my friends about her. If I told her that I'd downplayed our friendship and said we were like cousins, she would have understood. Most people would get mad, but she got me and knew it was hard to balance my relationships with her and the guys.

Things had changed over the past year. She was still my closest friend, but that wasn't something we could share with the world. Without ever discussing it, we'd started to act one way around each other in public, but when we were alone we went back to how we always were. It was harder to find time alone, though, because we both had other friends.

"Brian likes you," I said.

She wrinkled her nose. "He's not exactly my type."

"I didn't think so, but I thought you should know in case he starts acting weird around you."

"Does he ever act any other way?"

I laughed. "He's not that bad. And besides, it's not like your friends are much better."

Ceci hung out with the brainy girls, which was probably where she fit in. They all looked at me like I was a dumb kid.

"Let's not do this," she said softly. "We both know we've got our friends and then there's us. I don't want our 'us time' to be taken up talking about them."

Instead of replying, I started to play a song for her.