The Girl Next Door ➸ camren

three

Mike looks at his step daughter in disapproval when she emerges from her bedroom for the first day of school. "Are you really going to wear that?"

Lauren looks down at her black tank crop top and skinny jeans. "No, I'm definitely just putting them on for fun five minutes before leaving the house."

⠀⠀⠀"Attitude!" Clara calls out from the kitchen table where the two eat.

⠀⠀⠀"It's just that people don't dress the same way here as they do in New York. I'd hate for kids to get the wrong impression of you on your first day," Mike explains.

Lauren rolls her eyes, not bothering to comment on the fact that he just subtly told her she looks like a slut. "So you said someone's driving me to school. Who is it?"

⠀⠀⠀"Camila from next door," he replies. "She offered to show you around too."

⠀⠀⠀The name rings a bell in her mind, but she can't remember when she met her. It finally dawns on her that she was the girl responsible for her shoe getting ruined. She already hates her.

⠀⠀⠀A car horn honks once, and that's Lauren's signal that her ride is there.

⠀⠀⠀Without saying goodbye to either of her parents, she bursts out the door and is once again disgusted by what she sees. The oldest, dirtiest, ugliest truck she has ever laid eyes on sits in the driveway of her new house, Camila sitting in the driver's' seat, tapping her fingers to the beat of whatever song she was listening to on the steering wheel.

⠀⠀⠀Using only two fingers, as to avoid touching the mud covering the entire side of the truck, she opens the passenger side door and steps into the truck, sliding into the passenger seat.

⠀⠀⠀She can feel Camila's eyes skim over her body, most likely appalled by what she is wearing like Mike was, but she chooses not to say anything to her about it. Let her judge her. She doesn't mean anything to her.

The twenty minute drive to school is quiet and uncomfortable. Camila continuously attempts to start a conversation with her, but Lauren shuts her down each and every time.

⠀⠀⠀At one point, Lauren reaches to the radio and starts flipping through the stations. "I hate country music."

Camila looks at her in horror as she continues to search through the stations in an attempt to find either pop or rap music, which she does unsuccessfully, ending up back on the original station.

⠀⠀⠀"Well that's all we have here, so you might want to try getting used to it," she says.

Camila pulls her truck into a parking space in front of the school and turns the engine out. She and Lauren open their doors at the same time, stepping out into the hot air.

⠀⠀⠀As soon as her feet hit the floor, she can feel hundreds of eyes on her. The school isn't used to getting new students, especially not during senior year, so a new girl shows up and everyone wants to know the details. Who is she? Where is she from? What do her parents do? Why is she here? Why is she with Camila?

⠀⠀⠀She continues walking towards the school, having to go to the office to get her schedule and school information, and she can still feel people watching her. Good, she thinks to herself. Let them stare.

⠀⠀⠀A boy, Luis Santos, steps next to Camila, who is still in the parking lot among the students watching Lauren as she goes. Luis lets out a long whistle. "Who is that?"

⠀⠀⠀"Lauren Jauregui," she says. "Y'know Mike, my next door neighbor? That's his step daughter from New York."

⠀⠀⠀"Oh you so need to get with that," Luis says. "The fun I would have if I were her neighbor."

⠀⠀⠀"Shouldn't you be finding Lucy?" Camila asks. "Your girlfriend."

"Aw shit, man. Don't tell her I said any of this," Luis pleads as he runs towards the school in search of his girlfriend.

Lauren finds her first.

⠀⠀⠀She passes by a pretty brown haired girl with the darkest eyes she has ever seen. The girl has a crowd around her, listening to her thrilling tales of what she did over the summer. Lauren can only assume that the girl is the current top dog.

Lucy's eyes land on Lauren as she walks by. She knows right away that the new girl is going to be her new best friend.

At lunch, Lauren has no idea where to go in the chaotic room that is the cafeteria. Unlike her school at New York, where chefs prepared gourmet meals for lunch and the students acted like civilized human beings, the cafeteria here was full of food being thrown, teenagers shouting, food that resembled the pig slop in her backyard, and quite a few couples at third base.

Lucy approaches her. "How do you feel about being my new best bitch?"