* 7 Days Later*
'Now I remember why everyone hates school'
I looked up from where my hands were resting on my desk to give Ariana a weak smile. Lauren hasn't spoken to me in the past seven days. Usually when we'd see each other in the hall, she'd give me a good morning or a smirk but now she won't even acknowledged my existence. She ignores me in class and won't look me in the eye. Just yesterday it was lashing rain and I was walking through it all to school, she drove right past me. After class we'd usually stay after everyone was gone but now she's always practically the first one to dart out the door when the bell goes. She wouldn't return any of my calls or texts, not even giving me an excuse to why she was doing this.
'Cami, what's wrong?'
I glanced up into Ariana's neglected brown eyes and instantly felt worse 'I'm sorry Ari, just been a bad day'
'You've been in a bad mood for the past week, Cami' when the bell rang, she leaned forward and kindly picked up my bag for me
'It's nothing'
'Hey' the brunette lightly grabbed my hand 'you can talk to me'
It's not you I want to talk to. It's Lauren
'I know but don't worry I'll figure it out'
If Lauren doesn't want to talk to me, I'll just have to make her.
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'Hey cheer up. It's Friday and last class' Ariana bumped my shoulder with a wide smile 'You wanna get some ice-cream when school's over?'
'Umm, I'll let you know okay?' I smiled shyly as I took her hand in mine and walked towards Lauren's classroom.
'Yeah okay' I noticed her blush that travelled down her neck while she subtly glanced down at our hands. When we walked inside, Lauren had her head in her hands; slouched over her desk. She looked up when we walked past her desk, trying to burn a hole into our hands with the glare she was giving us.
'Good morning' she said flatly, walking to the door and slamming it shut; nearly rattling the glass 'take out your homework'
I watched everyone scramble to retrieve their homework but I stayed still. I didn't do my homework which I know is very stupid but everyone knows if you don't have your homework present and accounted for, Mrs. Jauregui keeps you back in class. I know it's a stupid plan but I'm desperate.
I watched with batted breath as said teacher walked around the room to collect our essays. She stopped slowly at my desk.
'Camila, where's your homework?' Her voice was weak and quiet, my heart broke for her.
'I didn't do it'
She looked down slowly at Ariana's hand on my knee 'okay' she released a shaky breath before walking back to her desk.
That's pretty much how the class went. I'd deliberately play with Ariana's hair or fingers and Lauren would glance sideways with her beautiful green eyes filled with sadness and hurt. It took all my strength to not run up there and wrap her in my arms, to tell her that it was okay. The class literally dragged on, I was practically out of my chair when the bell rang.
'You can wait in the car, I'll be there in a minute' I told Ariana who nodded with a smile. I walked over to the door and shut it quietly when the last person left.
'Just, don't worry about the homework' turning around, she was sitting on the edge of her desk with her shoulders tense.
'Okay but I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong'
'Nothing's wrong' she said stubbornly.
'Lauren you've been ignoring me for a whole week, clearly something is wrong' I took a step towards her until I could count the small freckles on the bridge on her nose and the scar on her eyebrow.
'I'm not ignoring you, I can figure it out myself'
'Figure what out, Lo?' I reached forward to take her hand but she pushed me away and walked to the opposite side of her desk.
'Camz, don't touch me'
'Lauren, what is going on?!' I was desperate now
She ran her hands through her hair and exhaled loudly before walking behind her desk, she took out a brown envelope and tossed it to me.
'What's this?' I asked
'Just... open it'
Seeing her panicked state, my heart rate doubled and was deafening loud. With shaky hands I opened the envelope and slowly slid out the paper that was inside. My fingers trembled when I flipped it over and saw a photo of me and Lauren kissing when we were at the beach a few weeks ago and on a sticky note underneath it read
Very Scandalous Mrs Jauregui
I flipped it over to see if there was more writing but there wasn't. This whole time we thought that we were being careful and secretive but we were being watched. My blood ran cold through my veins as my eyes darted out the window on the wall, expecting to see a masked shadow or a silhouette of a person.
'Lauren...' my voice quivered, barely above a whisper
'I got it last week'
I walked behind her desk and reached down to touch her shoulder but she once again jumped away 'please Camz, don't make this harder than it has to be'
'No, we can figure this out Lo' I felt a single tear slide down my cheek but I didn't wipe it away.
'Just go, Camz'
'Lauren-'
'Just fucking leave'
My vision blurred with unshed tears but that didn't stop me from seeing the tears on her face as well. With a final shake of my head I sprinted out the door, not looking back.
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