BLACK CRESCENT

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

You're scaring them, sweetheart," my mother said, as she joined my side and looked them all over. "Though I do wonder," she mused, "if they're so intimidated by you, then they're probably no good at work."

I grinned inwardly, as I caught on to what she was doing. "They're by far the worst class I've ever had."

"Oh my!" she said with a fake gasp, but behind her mask, I knew she was smiling.

"We're only as good as our teacher," Camila spoke up, and they looked to her like she was insane.

"We must be pretty damn good then," Austin added.

"Oh we're pretty badass," Vivian said, and Camila raised both of her hands and high fived her comrade without even looking; it was almost as though they had planned it.

"Well congratulations to you three for having back bone," my mother smiled, "Lauren, show them no mercy—"

"Mercy? Professor Jauregui? Ma'am, I'm sorry, but none of us know what you're talking about," Camila said, and a few of them fought back laughs.

I hadn't noticed until now that with the exception of Vivian, she was the only female, and with her standing in the middle, throwing back everything we dished out to her, she looked like a queen. My Queen

"What's your name?" my mother asked.

"Camila Cabello."

"Wait," my mother looked her over. "Would you by any chance happen to be the daughter of Penelope Cabello?"

Shit.

It looked as if someone had shot her through the heart. The pride, the joy, and everything she had been moments ago, shrank at the mention of her mother's name. However, she didn't drop her head; instead, she forced a smile.

"Yes, ma'am, I am. Did you know my mother?" she asked politely, not at all fazed.

No one else could see it, but the Camila from earlier has disappeared. The person smiling in front of us now was so foreign to me.

"Oh my goodness. It's a small world. I had the pleasure of meeting your mother many times. She was a wonderful woman, and a brilliant lawyer. I'm so sorry to hear about her passing earlier on this year."

"Mother, why don't you go—"

"Michael Honey!" she ignored me, calling over my father, "One of Lauren's students is Penelope Cabello's daughter."

Fuck.

"Thank God Clara I'm out of the game," he said as he came over. "The Cabello genes and mentoring from my Daughter? The world doesn't stand a chance! Your mother was a force to be reckoned with in court. I never won a single case against her." He shook her hand, and it might as well have been a knife, but she accepted it graciously. "I can see it now... you look just like her. You'll make a damned good lawyer."

"Don't give her too much praise. Ms. Cabello has to work her way up just like the rest of them, and she's been slacking. Mr. Austin here has been on her heels since day one, and at the moment he's a fine contender for the top place in the class," I said as I tried to change the direction of the conversation.

Fortunately, it worked.

They all started talking animatedly... except for Camila. She took a step back, allowing the group to crowd in and surround my father, until she stood outside of the circle. No one seemed to notice or mind. She looked up to me and her eyes were dull.

She gave me a fake smile, trying to convince me that she was okay, then she turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

I had to wait a moment, laughing along at jokes I didn't even hear, and nodding at comments I couldn't care less about, before finally excusing myself.

Following the direction she went in, I tried to not draw any attention to myself as I went up the stairs. I saw the tail end of her dress disappear around the corner as she went into one of the bathrooms.

Before the door could close completely, I slipped in behind her. She kicked off her shoes as she reached the vanity, and she was trying her best to breathe slowly.

"Breathe," I said to her, pulling her into my arms, "Camz just keep breathing."

"I'm fine," she stated forcefully, standing straight once again.

"You're lying. I know Camila" I kissed the side of her shoulder. "You can pretend for everyone else, but do not do it to me."

I joined her side and together we sunk to the floor. I pulled her unto my lap, and her dress billowed out around us, providing us with our own private island of sorts. She rested her head on my breast and I ran my hand up and down her back.

"I did this to myself Lauren. I knew who she was. I knew that I would run into people that would sing her praises. I stepped into her world, I'm following in her footsteps. I have to accept that. I can't just break down when people say her name or talk about how great of a person she was.

"Sometimes I think I should just come out and say it, tell them who she really was. But if I did that, then Lauren I truly would be a disgrace; the daughter of a convict and an abusive mother... who wants to be known like that? I Camila Cabello suffered because I'm too much of a coward to tell the truth. So I have to accept it. I thought I had done so well too. I could even force a smile, but I couldn't force myself to stay," she whispered.

"I don't want to be the girl that always crumbles, the one that always needs to be saved, especially in a life I chose for myself. I won't."

"What's the point of being with someone if they can't save you every once in a while?"

She shook her head. "I've never saved you. Lauren"

She really had no idea what she meant to me.

"You save me just by being here Camz. I was miserable before you, and I didn't even know it. That's how deluded I was. The last four months have been the best of my life. And in," I paused and checked my watch and my eyes went wide, "six seconds, I hope this New Year lives up to it."

She looked up at me and kissed me.

"Five," I counted.

Kiss.

"Four."

Kiss.

"Three,"

Kiss.

"Two."

Kiss.

"Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Lauren" she whispered back, and I closed the gap between us as the fireworks exploded right outside the window.

"Happy New Year, Camila"

She broke away to look at them. As she gathered her dress in her hands, she crawled further into my lap and nuzzled my neck. "We have the best spot in the house."

"Yes we do."

CAMILA

We had spent almost an hour in there, just watching the fireworks display, and after that, just talking. Interestingly enough, I couldn't even remember what we talked about. All I remembered was how heavy my heart felt when Lauren decided that we needed to get back.

Grabbing my shoes, she held the door open as I walked out.

"Oh my God," I heard a short gasp to the left of us.

There stood Vivian, in her navy blue dress. Her eyes shot to me, then to Lauren before she took off running back down the stairs.

"Shit."

I dropped my shoes, hiked the length of my skirt up and ran after her. I could hear Lauren calling out to me, but I didn't care. I needed to stop her. Everyone was either to drunk, or too tired to notice us as we ran right past them and out the front door. I shivered at the cold of the pavement under my heels, but I didn't stop running after her down Commonwealth Avenue.

"Vivian wait!" I yelled, when she reached the curb.

She turned around and spat with all the hate in the world directed at me, "Stay away from me!"

"Vivian—"

"You make me sick!" she screamed. "I do what I have to do because I don't I have any choice. My parents aren't fancy, high-powered lawyers. I didn't go to some Ivy League school. This is my shot. This is my moment to make something out of myself and help my family. So I strip. I dance half naked in front of men so I can go school, and I hate myself for it.

"This whole time I've been kicking myself whenever I'm near you because I wanted to be like you. I thought to myself, 'Wow, here is a woman, a colored woman at that, who is at the top of her game, who is doing it the right way'. Low and behold, you're screwing our professor! And you don't even need to! Usted es repugnante!"

"Are you done?" I asked her, as she stood on the corner shaking with rage. She looked away without saying a word.

"When I found out what you do to put yourself through school, I never once thought less of you, and I never once thought of you as disgusting. You can judge me all you want, but you don't know me. The ideal you had in your head of me is not something that I have to live up to. You can think whatever you want about me, I'm still going to be me."

 I turned around to leave when she called out again.

"I'll tell the dean. I'll get her fired. There are other professors and you will be out in—"

"No you won't, but if you're that stupid, go ahead and try. But first, let me run down the scenarios for you.

 If it goes the way you're hoping, I will be shamed out of school, and Professor Jauregui will most likely stop teaching, or stop teaching our class. But she will still be a great lawyer. You, on the other hand, will lose your big chance to better yourself because we all know that she's the best way to move up and learn.

 Option two, and this is because you've pissed me off, the Lauren Jauregui and the daughter of Penelope Cabello vs. a stripper. We will destroy you. If you want to come after me, that's fine. If you want to hate me, go right ahead. But you will not obliterate everything that woman has built for herself. I won't let you." (Damn this Camila is manipulative af  . I love it😍)

I felt bad for having to do that to Vivian. She was right to be angry with me, but it was my turn to save Lauren, even in this tiny way. 

Maybe I was just like my mother... willing to do whatever it took to further my own goals and happiness, even if it meant hurting other people.

The thought made me sick.