Trials & Tribulations

Chapter 2. "You're welcome."

The first class of the new school year, biology, passed by uneventfully and in all honesty, painfully slowly for Lauren who had sat alone, her thoughts consumed by this morning's
interaction with Camila. Luckily, being the first day back after the summer break, most of today's classes would be concerned with seating assignments, the discussion around the syllabus for that semester, and the allocation of textbooks rather than anything of any great import. Ever since she'd spoken to Camila this morning, the brunette was all Lauren seemed to be able to think about. She consumed every thought, the recollection of her dark chocolate eyes, the memory of her deep infectious laugh, stirring feelings in Lauren which she'd never experienced before. Camila intrigued Lauren in a way no one else ever had, her mere existence posing an endless array of questions that Lauren would gladly take the time to find answers to if the opportunity should present itself. Lauren had spoken to Camila for maybe ten minutes this morning, but she was already craving her like a drug addict did their next hit. There was something about Camila that Lauren couldn't shake off. It was like the small brunette had crawled under her skin and set up permanent residence there and to be brutally honest, the feelings it evoked within her managed to both scare the shit out of Lauren and excite her all at the same time.

Finally, the bell signaling the end of the first period rang and Lauren collected up her backpack from its position on the floor and filled it with her newly acquired textbooks. She briskly flung the bag over her shoulder and made a beeline for the door, escaping the confines of the strangely oppressive classroom and joining the thong of students hastily moving throughout the hallway beyond it. Once outside, Lauren couldn't help but scan the sea of faces in search of the eyes which seemed to have been permanently imprinted in her memory but was disappointed not to locate them anywhere in the local vicinity as she quickly made her way to homeroom for registration.

Lauren's high school had some elective classes scheduled at the beginning of the day, so, homeroom was pushed back slightly to fall between the first and second periods. As Lauren entered the rapidly filling classroom, she noted Ally waving at her from a seat in the far right-hand corner of the room and made her way towards an empty desk located just in front of her. Lauren threw her bag under the desk and sat down, turning around in her chair slightly to face Ally so that they could talk.

"Hey," she said greeting the smaller girl with a smile. "I didn't realize you had Miss Lovato for homeroom too."

"Yeah," Ally replied happily. "We didn't really get a chance to compare schedules before the first period in the end."

"Do you know if Normani has Miss Lovato as well?" Lauren asked hopefully.

"No," Ally informed Lauren. "Normani and Troy both have Mr. Lopez."

"Sucks," Lauren noted, casting a wary eye over her shoulder quickly to make sure Miss Lovato had still not arrived.

"At least we know each other," Ally noted thankfully. "It could have been worse."

"True," Lauren agreed before asking. "So how was the first period? Did anything exciting happen?"

"No," Ally responded sighing slightly. "It was just the standard first day back routine, nothing more, nothing less."

"What did you have?" Lauren asked her curiously.

"AP math," Ally told her. "Oh," Lauren responded, wondering whether to ask her
next question. "You're so obvious that it's almost painful to watch," Ally stated simply, watching Lauren's internal dilemma with amusement. "What do you mean?" Lauren asked.

"You want to know whether Camila was in my class," Ally replied laughing to herself. "Am I that obvious?" Lauren asked.

"Surprisingly yes," Ally began. "It's funny actually. I don't think I've ever seen you like this before. What did the two of you talk about that made you like her so much?"