Chapter 8
i guess trigger warning for a little violence.
~~
After they spend a couple more hours at the mall and grab dinner together, they part ways, Zayn offering to drive Camila home so he can find out all the details of her new (old) crush.
He asks Camila how she's going to woo Lauren, but she replies that she wants to start with just getting close to the girl first, never mind asking her out. Zayn, in true Zayn fashion, jokingly calls her a pussy, and Camila, in true Camila fashion, punches him in the arm.
The amount of relief Camila feels from being able to talk about her crush with Zayn has her mentally berating herself for not doing so earlier. She had informed Dinah first at the beginning of their junior year and Normani had found out sometime during that year's winter break, so she's not sure why she never told Zayn.
He's kind of her person and she almost feels like an asshole for the situation coming across like she didn't trust him. If he thinks that, though, he doesn't comment on it, for which Camila is extremely grateful.
Camila is aware that Lauren and Zayn are pretty close, and she's happy that the girl is coming out of her shell and making new friends. Zayn had told her that Lauren and him text quite regularly, not about anything too personal or deep, but mostly just regarding art or something they have in common. She knows he's being 100% honest with her and also giving her an opportunity to tell him to back off if she wants.
When Camila instead encourages him to keep being a good friend (he laughs at her emphasis on the word friend), he smiles gratefully and Camila doesn't feel that familiar twinge of jealousy anymore. She's not going to go preventing people from being friends for her own selfish reasons, and she trusts Zayn to set the clear boundaries between friend and crush.
Call it weird but, like she said: he's her person.
~~
The first two days of the next school week go by pretty uneventfully. The only difference is that Zayn is playing his part as both wingman and obnoxious best friend, teasing Camila about her crush whenever Lauren isn't paying attention. Camila would get mad at him but he's also talking her up to Lauren and just all around being generally supportive, so she can't complain.
Wednesday comes around (also known as the day Camila gets to see Lauren in gym shorts) and at this point they've all officially made the move to crowd one lunch table together. It's a tight fit because technically there's only eight seats and they have nine people, but they'll usually just squish three people onto one bench.
Currently, Lauren is talking up a storm with Ariana who's paying rapt attention and Camila can't help but feel happy that the girl is getting along so well with her friends. In just the few weeks they've known each other, Camila has already seen a lot of growth in Lauren with the way she interacts with people who aren't Ally or Tori. The girl still stutters around Camila sometimes, but she chalks that up to the fact that Camila shamelessly flirts with her. Plus, Lauren has been getting bolder in initiating conversation and contact which has Camila's heart soaring. The girl is definitely more confident in texts than in person, but Camila knows that with time and encouragement, Lauren will improve even further.
Just as Camila is about to join in on the conversation, she feels two hands pressing down on her shoulders and gets a whiff of too much Axe body spray. Sighing to herself, Camila turns around to see Austin and Brad looking down at her.
"What do you guys want?"
Austin's soft smile disappears and he looks kind of upset instead. "You haven't really been talking to us lately... I mean, we are friends, right? Or at least we were."
Shrugging off Austin's hands, Camila scowls at him. "I don't know, Austin, are we? The only reason I'm even talking to you right now is because we have a lot of mutual friends and we've known each other for so long. But you know that I'm still pissed at the both of you for what you did."
She nods her head towards Lauren and only then notices how the girl has shrunk down into her seat and is fiddling anxiously with fingers.
"I know, I know, and we're sorry for all of that, really. It's just, we miss you. I miss you," Austin explains, holding eye contact with Camila. She frowns and looks away because apparently the boy still has a thing for her.
"That's good and all but that doesn't excuse your past behavior."
"Look," Brad butts in. "Just... give us a chance to prove that we're truly sorry. We want our friends back. I mean, Zayn won't even look at us anymore."
"Yeah, that's because if I do, I'm going to knock your fucking teeth in," Zayn seethes as he clenches his fists.
Widening his eyes slightly, Brad turns back to address Camila instead. "Just one chance."
"Please?" Austin adds.
As angry as Camila was with the two for what they did to Lauren, they had (have?) been her friends since elementary school. Maybe they're serious about turning over a new leaf.
"I mean... I guess I can give you on–"
"Yes, thank you so much, Mila," Austin says as he grabs her hand between his.
She glances over at Lauren who still hasn't moved a muscle and yanks her hand away. "Wait a second," Camila commands as she turns to the girl. "Lauren," she whispers. "Hey, Lauren." The girl still won't look at her so Camila leans in, gently placing a hand over Lauren's fidgeting ones. "Lo."
Lauren finally gazes up, apprehension swimming in her green eyes. They widen slightly at the new nickname but Camila chooses to ignore it for the time being (because she needs to be thinking about comforting the girl, not about how much she likes her).
"How do you feel about this," Camila whispers so that only they can hear.
"Uh..."
"If this is making you too uncomfortable, just say the word and I'll tell them to go away."
Lauren shakes her head sharply, her brown hair swinging around her face. "No, Camila, uh, that's okay. Th– they're your friends... I wouldn't, um, want to do that t—"
"They're not my friends if you feel uneasy around them. Be honest with me. I care more about you than them, alright?"
Biting her lip hesitantly, Lauren looks down to where Camila is still covering her hands. "Um... I don't think I can, um, deal with them right now so, m– maybe not... uh, not today."
Camila focuses back on the two boys standing behind them. "We'll talk about this later, okay? Alone. Because you're making Lauren uncomfortable, so I think you should leave."
"But–" Austin starts.
"Are you fucking stupid? She told you to fuck off," Zayn snaps as he shoots up from his seat furiously.
"Alright, alright. We're going," Brad says as he tugs on Austin's arm. He's standing in a defensive position, glaring at Zayn, and the last thing they want is a fight in the middle of the cafeteria.
Brad pulls harder, snapping Austin out of his stance. "Come on, let's go."
"I'll talk to you later, Camila," Austin throws over his shoulder and glowers at Zayn before he walks away.
It's only once the conflict is over that Camila notices how tightly Lauren is squeezing her hand in worry.
"Hey, Lo, it's okay," Camila comforts, placing her other hand on Lauren's to ease the girl's tension.
"Mila, what the fuck were you thinking?" Zayn demands as he stands behind their bench.
"Look, just relax, okay? They're right. I've probably known them for the longest. They did apologize for their actions so mayb–"
"Fucking hell. Did you forget that they bullied Lauren for years? One little apology and everything is okay? I don't care if I was friends with them before; assholes like them don't deserve a second chance."
Camila glances at Lauren who is still gripping her hand with her head hanging down. "Okay... yeah, you're right. I'll straighten everything out later."
"Good," Zayn huffs, returning to his seat.
Everyone else at the table had stayed quiet to avoid causing any more problems, although they're all aware of the situation. Austin and Brad were half the reason that even Shawn and Ariana started joining them for lunch. Those two, as well as Dinah and Normani, were informed of how the two boys had been mistreating Lauren and the four promptly stopped associating with both Austin and Brad. To be honest, today was the first time that any of them had spoken more than five words to the boys since the day Camila had caught them bullying Lauren.
"I'm sorry, Lauren. I didn't mean for any of that to happen."
Looking up and biting her lip, Lauren shrugs as she fidgets with Camila's hand. "You're right though. They were your friends before I wa– um, I mean before you knew me. I... I don't expect you to forget them just because of m– me."
Camila frowns because she doesn't like how Lauren worded her sentence. "If they're assholes, they don't deserve a second chance. And... Lo, you know you're my friend too, right?"
"I uh, I didn't want to, you know... l– label anything or–"
"The only way we wouldn't be friends is if you yourself said so. Otherwise, nothing is going to stop me from being your friend." And hopefully something more, Camila thinks to herself.
"Really?" Lauren asks as she shyly gazes up at Camila. Her green eyes are sparkling, some of her hair is falling in front of her face, and her bottom lip is caught between her teeth in hopefulness.
Honestly, Camila has never wanted to kiss her more than in this moment.
"Really," Camila confirms. She tucks the loose hair behind Lauren's ear and leans forward to place a tender peck on the girl's cheek. Camila already expects the blush that appears on Lauren's face and adores how she goes bashful at Camila's gestures.
Lauren doesn't let go of her hand for the rest of their lunch period.
~~
Lauren still gets dressed in one of the changing rooms and Camila still drools over how attractive Lauren is in their gym uniforms. They head out of the locker room together and sit on the floor side by side while they wait for the rest of the students to appear.
"Okay, everyone. Who's ready for dodgeball!" A majority of the students cheer at their teacher's announcement and are already bustling around to join up with their friends.
"I'm making the teams," he continues to groans of disappoint. "Come on, everyone. Line up."
Camila and Lauren end up being put on a team together, which she can tell the girl is relieved about. Grabbing Lauren's hand, Camila leads them over to their team's side of the court.
"How do you feel about dodgeball?"
"Um, a little nervous. I, uh, I'm not very athletic, and, well... I don't want my glasses breaking or anything."
Camila stares fondly as the girl nudges them back up her nose. "Can you take them off to play?"
Lauren shrugs. "I mean, I could, but... it would be a little harder for me to throw and stuff. I'm not completely blind with out them; like, I can manage. But it's just not ideal."
"I see. So basically you can't drive without them, but you could go swimming without them?" Camila clarifies.
"Uh huh."
"Everyone grab a ball and get on your side!" the teacher calls out before Camila can reply as he begins tossing the red balls so that each student has one.
"Don't worry," Camila reassures with a grin as she catches one of the balls and hands it to Lauren. "Just stay behind me. I'll make sure you don't get hit."
Lauren rotates the ball in her hands, bouncing it a few times on the floor. "But I'm taller than you."
"Way to make me feel short."
"Well I mean, you are below average, which is my height: 5'4"."
Camila snorts. "What, next you going to tell me that you're smarter than I am?"
There's silence on Lauren's end and Camila glances over to see the girl blushing.
"Oh my, god, you were, weren't you?"
"No!" Lauren splutters. "I– I don't know what your GPA is! P– plus that would rude."
Camila shakes her head adoringly, picking up the ball that the teacher rolled her way. "I bet yours is perfect."
"Well– I mean, I– uh..."
"It is, isn't it? Why am I not surprised that you're not only attractive, but you're smart too."
"Camila..."
"Man, if only you were athletic too. Then you'd be the perfect girlfriend," Camila says jokingly, nudging Lauren's ribs with her elbow.
"I– I could, I mean I wanted to play softball, but I never tried out– I just didn't feel comfort–"
Letting out a slight laugh, Camila grabs one of Lauren's flailing hands with her free one. "Lo, relax. I was just teasing."
"Oh," the girl breathes out with a giggle.
The instructor's whistle loudly breaks through their moment. "Everybody, line up!" He pauses as the students shuffle into their positions. "Nothing above the shoulders! I don't want to see people aiming for anyone's face, alright? Ready...?" He blows the whistle, and the gym breaks into chaos.
Camila watches as red whizzes back and forth between the two teams, and she can hear shrieking and their teacher calling people's names as they get tagged out. Lauren immediately cowers behind her, clutching her ball tightly in her arms. Making sure she doesn't move from in front of Lauren, Camila launches her ball and smiles in triumph when she manages to tag a girl on the opposing team out.
"Lauren, come on, you have to throw your ball."
"H– here, you do it," she says, shoving her ball into Camila's arms.
Camila shrugs, pitching the ball and narrowly missing a boy she thinks is in her biology class.
A ball rolls to their right and Camila sees out of the corner of her eye as Lauren steps out to grab it only to get tagged out by the same boy she just missed before.
"Aw man," Lauren says, but Camila can tell that the girl is kind of relieved that she's out of the crossfire now.
"Don't worry, Lauren. I'll win this for you!" Camila dramatically calls over her shoulder, grinning at the giggle Lauren lets out.
The girl goes to stand on the sidelines in the 'tagged out' group but separates herself from the other students, most likely not comfortable with associating with them.
Turning back towards the other team, Camila snags a ball out of the air as it's thrown at her and fires it back, smirking when she finally tags the boy out. There's still several students left, Camila focused on trying to hit another girl out, barely registering the boy she just tagged out reaching for a ball. Just as she ducks to avoid the girl's throw that goes far left, she suddenly hears a yelp from her right and turns to see Lauren crumpled on the ground, bending over as she clutches at her nose.
Camila rushes over to Lauren, dropping to her knees in front of the girl. "Lauren, oh my, god, are you okay?!"
She glances up to look for their teacher and catches sight of that same boy snickering to himself while looking at Lauren in pain, but he doesn't notice Camila's gaze on him. Narrowing her eyes at him, Camila makes a mental note to herself to take care of him later on when she's finished helping Lauren.
"No, I– it hurts," Lauren sobs, blood now starting to seep through her fingers.
Their teacher drops down next to Camila, placing a hand on Lauren's shoulder as he examines her half-covered face. "What happened, Lauren?"
"A, a ball... it—" she cuts herself with a flinch as the blood starts dripping onto the floor. "It hit my nose."
Now, Camila is 90% sure she knows who threw it, and if she were thinking more clearly she would tell the teacher so that he could take care of it. But she doesn't want the boy getting out of this; she wants him to suffer the way Lauren is.
"Do you know who threw it?" the instructor asks.
"No," Lauren replies with a whimper, clenching her nose tighter.
"Camila," the teacher says, turning towards her. "Can you take Lauren to the nurse and stay with her?"
"Yes, yeah, of course." They both guide Lauren back up, Camila wrapping her left arm around the girl while she grips Lauren with her right hand.
"It's okay. I've got you."
Camila turns to her left to see tears in Lauren's eyes and a few running down her face. "It really h– hurts," she cries softly, squeezing her eyes shut.
"I know, baby, I know."
They're both silent for the rest of the walk, Camila comfortingly caressing Lauren's arm while simultaneously brewing in her anger for the boy that did this to her.
Finally reaching the office, the nurse quickly ushers Lauren onto one of the beds and gathers her cleaning supplies. She removes Lauren's glasses, handing them to Camila to keep safe and begins wiping off the still dripping blood.
Lauren whimpers as the nurse touches her face and Camila doesn't waste a second before reaching out for Lauren's hand, silently encouraging her to squeeze it if something hurts. The girl clutches it tightly between both of her hands, clenching her eyes shut when the nurse has to dab at the blood around her nose. Camila rubs her thumb reassuringly across Lauren's knuckles, wanting so badly to kiss the girl's furrowed eyebrows but not wanting to disturb the nurse.
A few more minutes go by until all the blood is cleaned up, only the flowing blood still obvious, but the nurse holds a tissue up to Lauren's nostrils to stop anything from getting messy.
"Okay, sweetie. I'm going to have to check if your nose is broken, okay? It's going to hurt a little," the nurse softly informs Lauren.
Not opening her eyes, Lauren just shakes her head, a grimace still on her face.
"Lo, she has to see if you need to go to the hospital. You have to let her check."
"N– no, I don't want..."
Setting Lauren's glasses down, Camila covers all their hands with her other one. "If it hurts too much, just squeeze my hands, as hard as you need to, okay?"
"I... I don't..."
"It's okay, hun. I'm right here. Just squeeze me if it hurts."
There's silence for a few moments as Lauren hesitates, then she nods her head slightly and shuts her eyes tighter. "Okay."
Gently prodding at her face, the nurse checks Lauren's nose, tenderly feeling the area around it. Even though the nurse is gentle, Lauren still grips Camila's hands as if her life depends on it. It hurts a little, because Lauren is surprisingly strong, but Camila doesn't complain because the girl's pain must be ten times worse.
The nurse finishes her inspection, leaning back with a smile on her face. "Good news, sweetie. Your nose isn't broken. It will be bruised for a while and it's going to be tender for the next week, but you dodged a trip to the hospital. I want you to sit up here, lean your head forward, and pinch the bridge of your nose until the bleeding stops. I'm just going to inform your parents, alright?"
"Mhm," Lauren nods, her eyes still closed.
The nurse walks away, leaving the two of them alone and still holding hands.
"You hear that, Lo? At least you dodged the hospital, right?" Camila asks with a cheeky grin.
Lauren opens her eyes, squinting them at Camila. "Usually I would laugh at your jokes but you're a meanie so I won't this time."
"Yikes. Too soon?"
"Uh huh," Lauren replies but she still smiles softly at Camila. "T– thanks for coming with me and attempting to cheer me up with your terrible jokes."
"Always."
The tissue starts sliding off of Lauren's face, so they release each other's hands, Lauren sitting up as she follows the nurse's directions.
"Hey, Lo, I just have to do something real quick. Will you be okay here? I'll be right back."
Lauren looks a little surprised but is mostly focused on stopping the bleeding. "Um, yeah, that's okay. I'm not going anywhere anyways."
"Okay. It'll only take a few minutes," Camila promises again, exiting the nurse's office and sprinting down the hallway. It's the end of the day and she wants to catch the boy before he leaves.
Swinging by the gym, Camila finds it already cleared out so she dashes to the parking lot hoping to catch the kid before he heads home. When she barges through the doors, the boy is walking towards his car, his face buried in his cell phone. He's all alone and there's no one else in sight so Camila crosses the parking lot in only a few steps, striding right up to the unaware boy and connecting her fist into his nose.
He drops his phone as he cries out, stumbling backwards and grabbing at his face as blood begins dripping out of his nostrils.
"I know what you did to Lauren! Don't you fucking dare touch her again, ever! You hear me?!" Camila snarls out as she stares into his watery eyes, clutching the collar of his shirt between her fist. "If I catch you even so much as looking at her, a broken nose will be the least of your worries. And if you're smart enough, you'll keep your fucking mouth shut."
She releases him with a slight shove, stalking back into the school before he can even respond. The boy had a good six inches on her but that doesn't intimidate Camila because she can defend herself against people twice her size. There's a reason she has a specific reputation at school.
Camila rushes back to the nurse's office to get to Lauren as soon as possible, walking in to find the girl standing up from the bed.
"You finally get the blood to stop?" Camila asks.
Not hearing her come in, Lauren glances up in surprise. "Uh huh."
Camila's eyes widen because now that all the blood is gone and it's been a little while since Lauren got hit, there's a bruise that's starting to form around the sides of her nose and under her eyes.
"It looks bad, doesn't it?"
"Painful is what it looks. Does it hurt a lot?"
Lauren shrugs, clutching her glasses in her hands. "Yeah. The nurse gave me some painkillers so I'm just waiting for those to kick in. I'm starting to get a headache, though."
Pouting sympathetically, Camila steps forward, making sure to hide her bruised knuckles from Lauren. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do to help? Do you need a ride home?"
There's a grateful smile on Lauren's face but Camila can tell that the girl is in pain. "N– no, that's okay, I can drive myself. When I get home my mom is going to try and help bring the swelling down and then I'll, um, probably take a nap because my entire face is just kind of... throbbing."
"I'm so sorry, Lauren. I wish it was me instead of you that got hit."
"I don't," the girl replies. "I'm pretty sure you've been hit enough times in your life, right? Now at least I know how it feels," she giggles out.
"Right." Camila feels a little guilty for resorting to violence once again, but she did it for Lauren. Nobody can hurt the girl like that, deliberately, and get away with it. Lauren doesn't have to know, and Camila can sleep better knowing that the boy won't bother Lauren ever again.
They part ways in the parking lot, Camila thankful that the boy has already left. She forces Lauren to promise to text Camila later about how she's feeling when she wakes up and if she needs anything. Lauren surprises Camila by leaning in to give her a tight hug, thanking her for looking after her and tagging along to the nurse's office which has Camila's stomach doing flips at the initiated contact.
Later that evening, smiling at the adorable goodnight text Lauren had sent her filled with too many emojis, Camila shifts the ice pack that's resting on her hand. She flinches as the cold seeps into her sensitive skin, but luckily her knuckles didn't split so hopefully she can hide it from Lauren until the swelling is all gone.
There's a nagging voice in Camila's head telling her that Lauren would be disappointed in her. She argues that she did it for Lauren but in reality Camila knows that she let Lauren down, even if the girl isn't aware that she did. She's supposed to be working on her issues, not fueling them.
Sighing to herself, Camila drops the ice pack onto the floor and switches out the light. She makes herself a promise to work on that more seriously. But she also tells herself that Lauren is worth all the bruised knuckles in the world.
~~