The Guidance Counselor

I Did That to You

Tuesday morning when Camila opened her locker she saw the notebook and wondered how it got there, Lauren wasn't at Palmetto on Tuesdays and Camila had only given her the combination the night before. She smiled as she pulled out her phone, opening her messages to see that Lauren had already sent her the answer to the question she was about to ask.

Lauren: Dropped off the notebook before I went to my lecture

Looking at the time, Camila put her phone back into her pocket not wanting to disturb Lauren while she was in class. She grabbed her books and shoved them in her school bag along with the notebook and closed her locker just in time to see Normani walking towards her. 

"Morning Mila," she said happily as she leaned up against the lockers. 

"Hey Mani," Camila responded, turning to face her friend. "What's up?" 

Normani handed Camila a white sheet of paper and shrugged, "Don't know where any of my classes are."

"Well," Camila said as her eyes scanned the schedule. "First period is on the second floor, I'm in that class too and your second period is just down the hall from mine, so I can show you where it is, we have lunch together and your dance class is in the basement, third door on the left and last period you have spare, so I guess you really don't need to know how to get home," Camila laughed handing the page back to Normani. "Where's your locker?"

"Around the corner," Normani told her and Camila just took a breath and nodded. "What?"

"Dinah's is just around the corner too," she told her. "So I guess you'll be seeing her a lot."

"Whatever," Normani shrugged. "So first class, show me the way."

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"Good morning Class, we have a new student today, her name is Normani Hamilton," Mrs. Brock said to the class. "Normani welcome," she said turning to the girl standing at the front looking rather embarrassed by all the eyes on her. "Why don't you go take a seat over there, Dinah will you please move your bag off the desk so Miss Hamilton can use it," she asked while Camila and Normani gave one another a sad look. 

Normani took her seat and when she heard Dinah lean across the aisle and whisper something, she just ignored her. She could already feel Camila staring at the two of them and if she was being honest the entire situation between her two former best friends was making her very upset. She was thankful when the lesson started, less thankful when they were put into groups of two and she was placed with Dinah rather than Camila and Camila looked less than thrilled with the fact that another cheerleader in front of her was chosen to be her partner. 

"So are you just gonna ignore me all of class or are you gonna help me with the assignment?" Dinah finally asked, tired of the silent treatment Normani was giving her. 

"Why didn't you stand up for her? She's so little, she was always so fragile and you let her break, you promised her you would always be there for her," Normani questioned. "I don't get it, you two were like peanut butter and jelly or some shit."

Dinah laughed and Normani just narrowed her eyes and glared, "Sorry," Dinah said wiping the smile off her face. "Look, I don't have an excuse for what happened, but I apologized, she just doesn't want to hear it. She changed over the summer, she stopped waving to me in the hallways when school started up again, she never talks in class anymore and she always looks, I don't know, broken I guess," Dinah said pointedly, looking across the room at the smaller girl. "She wasn't like that for three years, I may have hurt her, I may have caused her pain, but that,' she said pointing to Camila. "That isn't on me, she wasn't like that before. There is something seriously wrong Normani, it's not my place, but I'm going to tell you anyways, I saw Camila in the bathroom a few weeks ago and her sleeve went up when she reached to turn on the tap and there were cuts, a lot of them. Something happened to her and I'm pretty sure it happened this summer, I confronted her about it, but she basically told me to fuck off."