treat you better - alejandro rosario

chapter 21: cameron

it's thursday, my second day back, ever since "the incident." i had science class today, and it was the last period. i have mattia, roshaun, and ximena in this class. i enter the classroom a bit late today because i had to go to the office to pick up painkillers.

'you're late, ms. avalos,' the teacher says as i stumble into the classroom, struggling to open the door. 'i was in the office,' i say, handing mr. gibson the pass, while still leaning on my purple crutches. 'did you get in trouble?' he asks, slipping the pass onto his desk. 'i was just picking up my painkillers,' i imply, as i start making my way to my table in the back. 'painkillers for what?' he asks, crossing his arms. i turn around and point to my leg, then turn back around and proceed walking. 'how did you break it in the first place?' he asks, making me stop dead in my tracks. 'it's a long story,' i say.

i make my way to the table, and mattia and roshaun got up to help me to my chair. roshaun grabs my crutches and places them on the floor. mattia pulls the chair out for me and helps me onto it. i sit next to ximena as roshaun and mattia sit across from us.

'is he usually this nosy?' i whisper to them. 'yea, he's mad annoying too.' mattia says.

'PERMISSION SLIPS FOR THE CAMPING TRIP IS DUE TOMORROW!' mr. gibson announces to the whole class. there was a four day trip to some camping area upstate, and i really wanted to go. my mom had to cancel her business trip so i that i could go and she could watch maya. as much as i felt bad, i really wanted to go, and mom insisted that i had went. the trip starts next monday and we come back home first thing in the morning on friday.

'are you guys coming?' i ask my friends. 'i am,' roshaun says. 'me too,' ximena says. 'yessirrrrr,' mattia says. 'big bet!' i celebrate. 'i think everyone is going except kairi,' ximena states. 'oh yea, he's going on a tour of paris,' roshaun says. 'okay so kairi got big money or what?' ximena asks. 'right! my guy deadass has four spare bedrooms and never has guests,' i say, making them agree.

'attention up here!' mr. gibson announces, making us avert our attention up to him. 'so as i was saying, today is the lab experiment, so i want you all to get into groups of four,' he says, as our eyes make our ways looking at one another, grins plastered on our face. we stayed in our spots as the rest of our class shuffled around, before getting situated into groups.

we were directed to send one candidate up to collect the materials. 'who's gonna get the stuff?' ximena asks, making us look around at eachother.

'not me,' i say, leaning my back on the chair. 'i'm not doing it,' roshaun implies. 'nope,' mattia proceeds. 'fine then,' ximena starts up. 'first to talk has to get it.'

after that we all stood quiet, eyeing eachother down, waiting for a breaking point. 'ladies and gentlemen in the back, let's go!' mr. gibson rushes us. 'i guess i'll do it,' i say, grabbing my crutches as i am about to stand. 'nonono chill,' mattia says, standing up. he grabs the materials and we start our project.

school ended soon after, and we all went to alejandro's house. i was still staying there since my mom and maya didn't get back from the spelling bee until tuesday, and by then, i'll be on the trip.

i was sat in between ale's legs on the bed as he had his arms wrapped around my waist, our attention directed at our friends play grand theft auto. 'mena, it's been 15 minutes, i wanna play gta now!' kairi exclaims, attempting to grab the controller from her hands. 'you know damn well it has only been 10 minutes,' she says, proceeding playing. 'xi, give us a turn,' mattia says, grabbing her arm and tugging her away from the tv.

'fine, but only because i want to talk to atlas,' she says, getting up. kairi and mattia tackle eachother to try to grab the controller, causing us all to break into a fit of laughter.

'what did you want to talk to me about?' i ask the girl as she's walking towards us. 'just come,' she says. i attempt to get up but i feel ale's arms tighten around me, causing me to fall back into place. 'ale, i gotta go talk to mena,' i say. i feel a kiss placed on my head. i feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. 'don't leave me with these losers for too long,' he says, causing kairi to throw a pillow at him.

'what did you want to talk about?' i ask ximena, placing myself on the bed of the spare room. 'so... basically i met someone new,' she says. 'OH MY GOD MENA!' i say, throwing my arms around her, causing us both to fall into a laying position on the bed. 'so... what's his name?' i ask her? 'cameron,' she says. 'he's tall, has curly hair and is really sweet!' she giggles. 'well what are you waiting for? we should go tell the guys!' i insist. and so that's what we did.

kairi pulled us aside and warned ximena that cameron was a bit of a player, and that she should be careful, but we didn't pay it much mind.