What an Awkward Duck

If someone looked up the word 'Awkward' in the dictionary, they would more than likely see a picture of a girl named Shay Hanson. Everyday she would tell herself, "Today is the day! I'm going to go out and make new friends!" and everyday, she would steel herself and find a few people to talk to. Shay would walk towards them, and when she was almost there... She would turn and walked the other way, her confidence withering away into nothing. After this, Shay would frown and trudge back up to her apartment to sit in her living room and either draw or talk to her cat, a bored looking black and white tabby named Zuzu, and try not to let the disappointment eat away at her self esteem too badly.

The teen couldn't understand why she couldn't just simply go up to a person and say 'Hello, I'm Shay, what's your name?' and try to strike up a conversation.

Oh wait, yes she did.

Just the very thought of going up to a random person was terrifying to her; even more terrifying than all of the creepy porcelain dolls, clowns and grudge children combined.

Why am I such a loser?

Shay sat on her couch for a moment, pencil twisting in her fingers as she weighed her options. She could always go into the lobby and try to make friends again, or she could see if Camille or Katie were by the pool and she could talk to them. The latter seemed like a more appealing idea, so Shay gathered her things and headed down to the pool, lanyard with three keys (One for her apartment, car and mailbox) and various key chains swinging around her finger tips. Shay entered the lobby and headed to the entrance to the pool, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Camille sitting at a table with four guys- scratch that- four gorgeous guys, who seemed to be having a fun time watching Camille and one of said boys argue over something.

Shay's heart started to race and her palms began to sweat, and she gulped, staring deer-eyed at the five teenagers at the table, too terrified to make any sudden movements.

Okay, calm down dude. Camille hasn't seen you yet, so there's no reason for you to get so paranoid. Just walk away slowly-

Just then, Camille glanced at the lobby entrance and spotted Shay, an excited smile lighting the dark haired girl's face and she jumped up and raced to her friend.

"Shay! I was wondering when you would come down! I want you to meet some people!" Camille exclaimed, dragging the poor anxious girl by her arm towards the table, ignoring Shay's protests at the sudden action. She liked to do things at her pace darn it! This was so not going to help at all!

"Camille! What are you doing? Let me go!" Shay cried, hoping that the girl dragging her would stop and let her go. To Shay's relief, Camille stopped, but there was a determined light to the method actress's eyes that made Shay cringe in fear.

"Listen up Shay and listen good! You're going to make some friends even if it kills you! You need to spread your wings and try things you've never done before. Like introducing yourself to those four boys over there!" Camille then pointed to the boys, who all sported very confused looks on their faces at their exchange. Shay gulped and wrung her hands together, biting her lip and looking down at her worn out skating shoes, tears prickling at the backs of her eyes.

"But what if they don't like me? What if I mess up and they hate me? And then they beat me up cause I'm so weird?" Shay's eyes widened and she pressed her hands to her face in comedic horror and gasped. "Oh please don't let them beat me up!" Camille laughed out right at this and doubled over before wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Don't worry, just go over there and introduce yourself. You'll be fine, I promise." Camille then smiled widely and patted Shay's back, who gave a small smile in turn and began to pinch her bottom lip out of habit before shuffling over to the table. So many things were buzzing in Shay's head, but the girl was determined not to blow this chance at making more friends.

Shay shot one last glance at Camille, before directing her stare to anything but the boys in front of her and managed to greet them without stuttering.

"Hi, I'm Shay, nice to meet you." The boys were silent, and for a moment Shay wished she could crawl under a rock and die. That is, until the four of them stood up and began to introduce themselves and about gave the eighteen-year-old whiplash by how fast she lifted her head to look at them.

The first to introduce himself was a dark skinned boy named Carlos. His large doe eyes and friendly smile made Shay instantly relax and smile shyly back.

The second boy was quite obviously the 'pretty boy' of the group, and introduced himself as James as well as thrusting a few head shots of himself into the girls face.

The third was a blonde named Kendall with the most striking green eyes the girl had ever seen, and a demeanor that exuded confidence.

And last but not least was a boy named Logan, who was undoubtedly the genius of the four. Shay smiled shyly again and waved awkwardly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, not knowing what to say to them. Thankfully Kendall broke the almost awkward silence.

"So, what do you do?" he asked as Carlos began to jump up and down beside him in excitement.

"Yeah, I'll bet it's awesome! Do you sing like us? How long have you been here?" he asked, a hopeful smile lighting up his face. Shay blinked owlishly at the expectant faces before her. This was as far as she had ever gotten with talking to people (Besides with Camille and Katie, but that was a different story all together) and even if she did come up to talk to someone, they just gave her odd stares or would walk away before anything could happen. Of course, a tiny voice in the back of Shay's head told her they were only being polite for Camille and that they probably wouldn't talk to her any more than this, but it was nice to pretend.

"Well, uh, I'm a voice actor, and I guess you could say I sing as well, but I do it as a hobby on the weekends I'm not in the studio." Carlos then began to jump around and press his hands to his face, a wide grin parting his face.

"You're in a band? So are we!" Carlos exclaimed, grabbing Shay's arms and pulling her close. "Please tell me you've heard of Big Time Rush!" Shay had only heard some gossip here and there about them (Mostly from her cousin, who was completely in love with them) and she had never actually taken the time to listen to their music, but Carlos' face was so hopeful, Shay didn't want to disappoint him.

"Unfortunately no," the Latino's face instantly fell. "But I'd love to go to your studio and check you guys out sometime!" Carlos instantly brightened and jumped around excitedly.

Logan patted the boys shoulder in an attempts to make him calm down, and directed his gaze toward the girl in front of him.

"What kind of music do you play?" he asked, and soon their eyes grew wide and curious, all four leaning in expectantly. Shay was ecstatic to say the least. She was finally making friends, and it was all thanks to Camille! Shay inwardly thanked the raven haired girl before answering. "I play Indie, Alternative, and Rock, or whatever sounds good to me at the time, but I'm mostly a cover artist. Songwriting doesn't come very easily to me." Shay then laughed a little awkwardly and scratched the back of her head, unused to all the attention.

Camille stood back a few paces, and watched the five of them talk. Mission: Find Shay Some Friends is a-go and so far, it's working flawlessly! The raven haired girl was happy with her work, and all Shay needed to do was take the time to talk with them over the next few days to get it set in stone.

Although, 'saying' and 'doing' are two completely different things all together.