Who Hurt You? (Normila)

I Can Tell That She Loves Me

Normani's POV

This summer was one of the best ones yet. The four of us somehow grew closer than ever.

Sleepovers almost every weekend, alternating whose house it would be held at. Plenty of beach days. Late night conversations about the absolute dumbest shit. Camila had even came out to the other two, an announcement that they weren't shocked about at all.

Especially Keiynan.

It honestly felt like Camila never left with the way the four of us picked right up where we left off. It just made me realize how grateful I am for her. For all of them.

But she did leave. And she did change. I like to think it was for the better in some part. Not that she wasn't already amazing before she left. She's just grown and matured a lot in the past year. She's more confident. I can tell she feels more like herself. Like she's not repressing one of the biggest parts of her identity anymore.

She's gotten the tiniest bit more anxious around letting loose and not needing to be in control but that's what being a military kid for a term does to you. And the three of us have definitely gotten her to loosen up since coming back home.

And now we're all going to be sophomores together. Tomorrow is our first day and even though I'm not in love with the idea of waking up early 5 days a week again, I'm excited to spend it with my 3 best friends.

We were all on group facetime talking about the first day right now in fact.

"What are you guys wearing tomorrow?" I ask them.

"It's a surprise." Billie says in a weird voice with an even weirder look on her face.

"Okay weirdo. I'm wearing jeans and my ohio state windbreaker with my red color way air force 1s." Says Keiynan.

"Ouuuuu okay Mr. Fashion Killa. Trying to get some bitches or what?" Billie quips making me and Camila laugh.

"Shitttt you already know."

"Okay Camila your turn."

"Believe it or not I don't even know yet."

"You're right I do not believe you. You're too obsessed with yourself not to have 20 outfits picked already." Another smart remark from Billie.

She rolls her eyes. "It's just school. Same people I've seen elementary through middle school."

"What? You lost? There's other middle schools in the district which means there's students you've never seen the faces of that have come to the school. Which means new eye candy. So you better figure that outfit out girl."

I listen to Billie ramble to Mila and remember this will be her first day of real high school. So she's right about seeing new faces. She wont recognize like 60 percent of the student body.

She pulls a thinking face. "Okay maybe you're right about that."

"Mila tomorrow is your first day of like normal high school. Are you nervous?" I say.

"Nah. I basically have a class with at least one of you every period so I think I'll manage. And after a year at that hell hole, nothing could make me nervous." She says flatly making us all laugh.

• • •

Since it was the first day of school my mom decided to give me a ride, per tradition. Our house is very close to both my old middle school and current school so I normally walk but my mom always needed to send me off herself on the first day of each school year.

"Camila has sure grown up ain't she." She pipes up out of nowhere from the left of me.

"Yeah she has."