Bad News

Bad News - Chap. 5

Chapter 5

 

The next morning, Lauren walks through the front doors of the school with shaking legs. She was nervous. Today is the day that she would finally try to talk to Camila. Maybe she would be able to see the girl and have a conversation with her. Even if it’s just about the pen Camila gave her the other day, it was the perfect opportunity to make contact with her.

She quickly walks up to her locker to get her history books, and makes her way to class. She's early, so she didn’t expect anyone to be there already, which was perfect. If Camila would be in class early, just like yesterday, then they would be alone together. That might make trying to communicate with her easier, because nobody would be there to interrupt them.

Lauren approaches the door of the classroom and pauses. She takes a deep breath to try and calm herself down. She openes the door and walkes in. Lauren scans the classroom quickly, only to find it empty. Nobody was there, except for Lauren herself.

Lauren sighes in both relieve and disappointment. Relieve because she was actually quite scared to talk to her, and disappointment because she was also really looking forward to it. She makes her way to the back of the classroom and sits down at the table next to Camila’s, and waites.

She waits for her. She keeps her gaze firmly on the door and waits for Camila to walk in. Five minutes had passed, and there was still no sign of the girl. Lauren looks down and starts to feel that she just wasn’t meant to get to talk to Camila.

Then the door opens. Lauren’s eyes shoot up and look at the person who walks in.

‘’Good morning Lauren, you’re early today.’’ Mr. Crisp greets her happily. Lauren weakly lifts her hand and smiles at her teacher, feeling slightly disappointed by his presence instead of a certain girl. Slowly but surely, more students walk in, but none of them being Camila. Lauren throws her head back and sighs in defeat when Mr. Crisp starts his lesson. There went her oppurtunity to catch her alone.

He lists all the names, but skips Camila’s. Lauren frowns, and just waits for an explanation.

‘’As most of you probably know, Mrs. Grace has a bruised hand. She was lucky though, a little more force and she would have had her hand broken.’’ Mr. Crisp speaks up after listing all the names.

‘’Most of you have witnessed this in class yesterday, but I can assure you that it’s been taken care of properly.’’ Oh God... What if they kicked Camila out of this school. What if she’s never coming back? Lauren thinks to herself anxiously, hoping that her chance to speak to her isn't gone forever.

‘’Camila Cabello has been suspended for three weeks. She also isn’t allowed in Mrs. Grace’s class for the rest of the year.’’

Shit. Three weeks? I have to wait that long before I can try to talk to her? Lauren thinks, completely forgetting about the fact that Camila almost broke a teacher's hand.

‘’She will stop by after classes this afternoon to collect her homework and get her books. After that, you won’t see her for a while. Okay, so today we will talk about the biggest economy crises of our..-‘’  That’s when Lauren tunes him out.

Camila will stop by today. Maybe I can approach her then? Lauren thinks, not paying attention to her teacher anymore. But, do I look crazy if I wait for her just to give her back a pen? She’ll think I’m crazy. I can’t do that. But then again, this might be my only shot... What the hell do I do?

 

Lauren was momentarily afraid she was going crazy. She has to have the opinion of an outsider to make up her mind. But who could she ask about it? The only friends she has are Dinah and Normani and they both don’t like Camila one bit. That’s when she realizes that she was alone right now. She doesn’t have anybody to talk to.

I guess I can wait for three weeks right? But in three weeks, she probably won’t even remember that she gave me a pen. So I’ll have to do it today. Maybe I can just casually drop it somewhere close to her and then give it back to her really smoothly.

 

Lauren laughs at herself silently. Yeah right, smoothly? An elephant would handle this a lot smoother than Lauren ever could.

After thinking about what to do in all her classes, it was finally time for her last class of the day. A few minutes before science was over, she made up her mind. She was going to walk up to Camila, and just hand her back her pen. Try to say something casual and see what would happen.

The last minutes seem like hours, and Lauren anxiously starts tapping the blue pen on her notebook, waiting for the bell to ring. Her heart starts to beat faster with each passing minute and her hands are starting to get sweaty.

Then finally, the bell rings. Lauren quickly throws all her stuff into her bag and makes her way to the door, the blue pen firmly held in her hand. She maneuveres through the crowded hallways and walks in the direction of Camila’s locker.

Before she turns the last corner, she stops and takes a deep breath. This is it. Her heart is beating loudly in her chest and her legs are lightly shaking.  She squeezes her eyes shut for a short moment, trying to get her breathing under control and takes a step forward.

She turns the corner and looks at where Camila’s locker would be, but there is no sign of Camila. She keeps her gaze on the lockers, scanning each one carefully trying to see something that would lead her to the mysterious girl, but there is nothing there.

Then she feels a cold breeze hit her and out of the corner of her eye, she sees something dark red. She turns to see the back of a red hood and skinny jeans with white sneakers. Lauren could just slap herself in the face right now. How could she not have noticed Camila walking right past her!

Without thinking, Lauren walks after the girl with the red hood, and follows her outside. She wants to call out to her, but her voice is lost in her nerves. She watches the girl get in her car, and she does the same, her mind completely focussed on following her and talking to her.

Lauren quickly pulls out of the parking lot, only to see the back of Camila’s car leaving the parking lot in front of her. She hits the gas pedal and follows her quickly. Maybe she can find out where she lives. Maybe, that’s where they can talk, alone. Nobody will disturb them, because nobody knows where she lives.

With shaking hands, Lauren follows Camila’s black car, and wonderes what the hell she was doing. If Camila would almost break a teachers hand because she put it on her shoulder, what would she do to Lauren if she found out that she had followed her?

But despite every single warning bell going off in Lauren’s head, she keeps driving and following Camila at a safe distance. She was close to finding out more about this girl, and she wouldn’t back down now. Not when she was this close.

So she keeps driving, and follows Camila’s car out of town.