A Light in the Dark

Chapter 10

Meeting Lauren's parents and siblings had been an interesting experience and somewhat eye-opening. They were very nice, kind-hearted and affectionate people who had welcomed her into their home as if she was their long lost daughter. It didn't surprise her at all why Lauren had turned out the way she did. If she compared Mike and Clara – that's what they had urged her to call them – to her own parents, she could see significant differences.

Camila could probably count on one hand at how often her parents had hugged her or kissed her forehead. For Mike and Clara it seemed more like a standard procedure. It was normal to hug their children. It was overwhelming to witness.

She could also tell that Lauren's parents weren't that fond of their oldest daughter's boyfriend. They didn't make a comment to express their displeasure – something that was strange for Camila as well – but she noticed the slight, almost invisible frown on Clara's face and Mike's slightly forced looking smile while Lauren talked about Luis. But they tried. They tried for their daughter's sake, to be there for her and support her. Even though they didn't like him.

Not that Camila could blame them. The car ride had seemed endless and she had been ready to jump out of the moving vehicle just to get away from his subtle insults and slights that he had thrown at her the entire time. Lauren had either not realized how his comments could be interpreted, or she had chosen to ignore it. Camila really hoped that it wasn't the latter.

She didn't know what she could have possibly done that made Luis act that way towards her. To her knowledge, she had never met him before. But maybe that was just the way he acted around everyone. It certainly would explain all those negative reactions whenever his name was brought up.

And now she was stuck with this insensitive jerk while they drove around Miami. Lauren had prepared a tight schedule that let her have as much time with her family and Luis as possible. Her boyfriend hadn't stopped complaining until she had given in and equally split the time with Luis and her family while she was visiting.

Camila could tell that not one of Lauren's family members had been impressed by this revelation, but they had accepted it nonetheless. And now here she was, standing in front of her old middle school.

She looked at the building where her personal hell had started. There were no students around since it was Saturday afternoon and seeing the abandoned place awakened one of the memories that she had been trying to forget.

"Wait a second," Lauren suddenly said and Camila turned to face the green-eyed girl. She was frowning and looked over to Luis, clearly confused. "Didn't you say that you went to this school too?"

Luis smirked and nodded. "Hell yeah. Best time of my life, besides high school."

"But you're only... a year older than Camila... that means you went to school together!"

Camila bit her lip nervously and looked at Luis once more. She couldn't remember ever seeing him, but she had never paid any attention towards others since they never had anything nice to say to her anyway. Was it really possible?

"Hm, that's interesting," Luis answered, entirely focused on Camila. "Were you in any sports team or a club or something?"

She shook her head. "No..."

"Maybe you knew some of my friends? What about Gabriel Forster?" Luis asked curious, and Camila tried her best to not react on the outside.

That name alone brought back dozens of memories. If that was one of Luis' friends, they had certainly met before. It would have been impossible not to.

"Um, yeah... that name does ring a bell," she replied slowly and Luis' face lit up.

"He's a great guy and we were best friends in middle school," he explained quickly to Lauren who had been watching silently. "I should give him a call sometime, now that I think about it. Damn, we had so much fun, there was never a dull moment."