The Party (GxG) (Camren) **EDITING**

Chapter 11

"So where do you think she is?" Camila was growing increasingly agitated with each step.

"She'll probably be in her bedroom. The only problem is, I don't actually know where that is."

Camila stopped and spun around with shock plastered over her face. "You're her best-friend and you don't even know where her bedroom is?!"

Normani shrugged dejectedly. "Nobody does. All I know is that it is hidden away and completely private."

"But she told me!" Camila cried incredulously.

Camila swore that Normani's jaw hit the floor and eyes bulged out like something out of 'the Mask'. "You know where her room is?" Camila wasn't even sure whether Normani was asking her or asking herself.

"Ah, yeah..." Camila scratched at the side of her neck awkwardly. "She told me I could use her ensuite. I honestly thought it was nothing at the time..."

"Like it was nothing..." Normani sighed wearily. "Lauren will always be a mystery to me." She shook her head disparagingly. "Let's just keep going."

"Wait!" Camila called out randomly before they could continue creating a path through the numerous bodies. "I need to know... what's going on? What we are faced with?"

Ally shook her head. "You don't want to know. It's better not to."

"But I need to. What could be so bad?"

"Ally's right, but I won't hide it from you if you are sure." Normani's eyes bore into Camila's with a frightening level of intensity.

"I'm sure," Camila responded with as much conviction as possible, attempting to meet Normani's steely gaze with her own.

"Let's keep moving and I'll explain it to you."

Camila nodded and she led the way, trying to keep Normani at close proximity.

"Lauren has never been an open person. She doesn't even allow herself to feel, let alone allow others to witness it. And I have known her since she was 7.

"It may seem hard to believe, but this all started over something as innocent and mundane as a crush. The problem for her, was that this crush wasn't on a boy. But when she confessed her feelings to her mum... Let's just say her parents were not  tolerant. They sent her to shrink after shrink and tried to force her to be 'normal' – and we all know how that always ends!"

She rolled her eyes before continuing, "Anyway. So she spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to convince herself and her parents that she was 'normal'. As the pressure gradually crushed her, she turned away from her friends and got in with the wrong crowd. Parties, drugs, gangs, one-night stands...you name it.

"She was addicted to coke and was constantly high. You don't even want to know what it was like when she rang; screaming about all kinds of crazy while tripping on hallucinogens. The amount of times she had a bad trip." Normani shook her head, closing her eyes forcefully, as if to force the memories away. "But I will never forget that night when she overdosed... I found her lifeless clammy body and had to rush her to hospital. The worst part of all was that someone had raped her while she was practically catatonic. It was a nightmare, but that wasn't...unusual for her.

"She was in a coma for 4 months after that. Neither of her parents could even be bothered to visit her once while she was there. We had to just pray that they wouldn't tell the hospital to pull the plug; I honestly doubt that they would have thought twice about it. The doctors were convinced she would be brain dead when she awoke, if she awoke. But then she did, and it felt like a miracle come to life.