all i need is you

nobody gets too close

Camila walks into her new high school as easily and gracefully as she would've walked into a party, or onto a yacht, or into a Louis Vuitton store - head held high, dark hair streaming behind her, the heels of her Gucci boots clicking on the scuffed linoleum. She pulls her sunglasses off of her eyes and perches them on top of her head, surveying the crowd.

Everybody is staring at her. Actually, everybody's trying to seem like they aren't staring at her, but they are. She can't blame them. And she revels in it, she loves it, feeds off of all the attention because finally it feels like good attention. She missed this. At her old school, she lived and breathed this- well, until everything went to shit. But now is her fresh start. So she smiles, tosses her hair, and enjoys it while it lasts.

Because it probably won't last.

"Camila Cabello."

Camila turns around to meet the prettiest brown eyes she's ever seen. "Hi," she says cautiously, surveying the girl's features - sleek, pin-straight black hair, perfect dark skin, full lips. She's undeniably pretty, but her warm coffee-colored eyes make her stunning. It's not only that: she has this sort of alluring confidence, this gleam in her eye, something that screams I'm everything you wish you could be and I know it.

So this is the popular girl. Camila sees it clear as day.

It's like looking in a mirror.

"Do I know you?" Camila tilts her head at the girl, offering up a small smile. The girl cocks a perfectly arched brow and shakes her head, glossy hair fanning out around her face. "No. I'm Normani. I'm supposed to show you around?"

"Oh, right." Why is this the first Camila's hearing of this? Either way, good on her for getting Miss Popular as her tour guide. She vaguely remembers asking Lauren to show her around the other day, but whatever. "Well, okay. Where should we start?"

"Do you have your schedule?" Normani puts out her hand. She has long, pastel pink acrylics that look gorgeous with her dark skin. Camila points at them with one hand while she rifles through her bag with the other. "Love your nails. They're so cute."

"Oh." Normani looks surprised at the compliment, but her expression relaxes into a pleased one nonetheless. "Thanks. Yeah, I just got them done before school started up again. Yours are really cute too."

Camila's nails are red - her favorite color. "Thank you." She grins cheekily and hands her schedule to Normani. She gives it a quick once-over, and lets out a laugh - light and melodic, like bell chimes. "Five AP classes? Damn, you're a nerd, too?"

"It's not my fault I'm pretty and smart." It's a dumb joke, but Normani laughs again. "And she's got jokes. You really are the total package." She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head, like she can't quite believe Camila is standing in front of her. "I'm only pretty and stupid."

"Well, we can't all be me."

Normani just smiles at her, nose crinkling, like she's making up her mind.

"You're my new best friend," she decides.

And just like that, she kind of is.

-

They hit it off right away. Normani Kordei is exactly like the friends Camila used to have at her old school, flirty and flighty and fun, unafraid to speak her mind and unafraid to make fun of Camila even though everyone else is treating her like some tiger in a cage, beautiful, untouchable. Camila thinks maybe Normani is different because before Camila came along it seems like Normani was that girl. She meets Normani's friends, all of them clones of one another in coordinated outfits and perky laughs, but none of them are even half as charismatic and entertaining as Normani is, so Camila mostly sticks with her.