Vanessa was playing a game that Camila wanted no part of. She was initiating it every time they encountered one another, and Camila always tried to resist her bait. She couldn't afford to slip up and let Vanessa ruin what she had with Lauren for her own twisted fulfillment. She had to find time to tell Lauren on her own, because it was clear that Vanessa had every intention of doing it for her.
Their game was in less than an hour, and they were to leave in roughly twenty minutes. Camila didn't think she could set aside enough time to properly have that conversation. There was no telling how Lauren would take it. She might not even believe her. She'd probably be angry. It had the potential to ruin everything, and that was every reason why she never had any plans to bring it up. Now that Vanessa was threatening it, she was forced to reconsider. But she couldn't do it now. If they won their game tonight, Camila promised herself she'd tell her - no matter the mood.
The bus ride to the gym was a pensive one for Camila. She had to be alone with her thoughts because there was no one willing to talk to her. Camila assumed what Vanessa said back in the room held some truth. Maybe they did talk about her. Maybe everyone did change their minds. She'd gone from being miss popularity to being the one no one ventured to include. It wasn't that she missed her popularity, she missed having associates to talk to. All of this drama made it clear that they'd never been her friends. Well, most of them.
"Hey, is this seat taken?" Tori asked with a soft smile, hovering over it while they were at a red light.
"Of course not," Camila laughed sorely.
"Are you okay?" Tori asked when she sat down.
"Fine, why?" Camila glanced at her, then elsewhere.
"Vanessa was telling everyone what happened in your room. I just wanted to check on you," Tori shared.
"I'm alright. It's nothing I'm not used to," Camila responded somberly with downcast eyes.
"She's really got everyone second-guessing..." Tori tried to fill her in. "Well, not everyone. Not me. But - I was asking. Are you okay?"
"I don't know, I'm a little out of it right now. I'll be fine by the time we play, though. Don't worry about it."
"I don't mean for the game... I mean, really," Tori looked at her a bit deeper, noticing how subdued she was. "Is everything okay with you?"
"I don't know, I may just be losing my mind a little."
"I'm willing to listen, if you're willing to speak."
"There's a lot going on... Vanessa is acting like she might tell Lauren about what Coach Sylvester wanted - and she's not even acting, because she almost did tell Lauren... And I'm just - It's all lies, but Lauren won't know that. It's messing with me because I know she's doing it solely from hatred and there's nothing I can do to make her warm up to me. I can't stop her whenever she says anything. She paralyzes me and I wish I could say something back but I never can. When she almost told Lauren today, I just sat there. I'm stressing over her having to find out before I can tell her," Camila said all in one breath. She was soon to find out that she had a lot more to disclose than initially perceived.
"And! I'm fucking terrified about what Coach is gonna do because I keep seeing Lauren although she told me not to - she's scaring me now. She keeps popping up out of nowhere and twisting whatever I'm doing and saying to make it into something bad when we're not doing anything wrong. I still don't understand why she's so hellbent on keeping us apart. I am an adult and she can't tell me who I can see and who I can't. She doesn't run anyone, and she thinks she does. She doesn't have the authority to do this to me, but I have no idea how to put a stop to that, either.
