Facade Of Perfectionism

Chapter 15~There is No Other Like Her

                         Shawn's P.O.V.

I lied down on my couch as I waited for Maya to arrive as she was supposed to help me babysit Chloe and have a stayover.

I swiped around the photos in my gallery, looking at all the idiotic and funny pictures Maya had clicked with me. Half of the gallery was filled with similar pictures as she had some sick obsession with the puppy filter on Snapchat, and she would always drag me with her. My mind hopped around the nostalgic memories as I remember the first day of my school.

It wasn't any coincidence that Maya was chosen to be in charge of me. I personally asked my father to request the director to make her in charge of me. As I think about it now, it wasn't a coincidence either that my father just asked Maya for the direction to the office among the clusters of students walking around the corridor at that instant. I pointed him to her telling him to ask her for it. Though he shot me confused glares but did it anyway.

One might think after hearing this that I was some kind of a creep or I had love at first sight. But I didn't believe in love at first sight. It was utterly, completely bullshit.

I wasn't sure why but what attracted me the most when I laid my eyes upon her was that I saw the reflection of my mom in her. She meant the world to me. I wasn't that expressive when it came to emotions and feelings, but she was the most important thing in my life. After she was gone, I felt a part of me gone too. I wasn't the same anymore.

Losing someone close is a very loathing pain but losing a part of you with that someone is a kind of pain on a whole different level. 

I never felt peace again after the day I lost her. I kept myself busy with all the hustle, so I did not have the time to miss her. But it was exhausting. Physically and mentally.

The toxicity increased on a peak that I was an inch closer to hitting my dad and Chloe. Although I never did, I still felt the guilt that would feed on my soul everyday. We couldn't continue living there. We had to leave. We had to leave the place that my mom spent years building into a home, where she took her last happy breaths. I thought I'll never find that part of peace ever again.

The moment I stepped inside the school premises, I instantly hated it. I despised all the nasty longing looks shot on me by the girls as I made my way inside the school building. Not that I hated the attention. Actually, on the contrary, I loved having attention from the girls and the jealous glares from the guys. But I wasn't in the mood for teen high school dramas at that moment.

My eyes wandered and then lingered upon a girl who stood by the pillars of the building, watching and taking in the scenery quietly, all alone. I didn't know how that was possible but I saw my mom's reflection in her. She always used to tell me that she had been an introvert all her life. She would visit places that nobody had a hint about, quietly stand in a corner and enjoy and appreciate the little things in nature instead of joining in all the hustle and bustle of other students and hear them whining about how their boyfriends or girlfriends were swooning over another person or how their dresses look ugly on them. I felt a sudden urge to know her that I had never felt in my entire life and that made me even more curious as to know why.

“SHAWNIE!” Chloe called as I snapped out of my thoughts.

“Uh... Yeah. Yes, Chloe?”

“I've been calling you for three hours!” She complained as she pouted her lips.

Yeah. She had a habit of calling minutes into hours. Don't ask me why.

“What is it, Chloe?” I asked as I sat back up.

“When is Maya coming here? I want to play with her. It's already 5 p.m!” She voice pitched high as she rubbed her palms on my cheeks.

She loved caressing and stroking her palms on people's cheeks saying that by doing it, she transferred all her love inside their bodies.