Assigned Partners

Chapter 10

Trigger warning: self harm and suicide mentions

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"Hey, you ready to get out of here?"

"Shh. You can't.. you can't be talking so loudly about that Mani, it's not going to end well if you do."

"Lauren, what are you talking about? We've spoken many times at a decent volume, I don't understand what you're getting worked up about."

"Let's just..go. And if anyone asks, we're going to work on our music project. However, if nobody asks, that means we can say that we weren't together."

Normani rolled her eyes at me and walked down the hallway. I followed a short distance behind her until we made it to her car. The parking lot was empty, thankfully. I slipped into the passenger seat and looked over at Normani. She seemed a little bit frustrated as she looked back at me, and I couldn't blame her. I hadn't told her why I was acting this way, so I could imagine how annoying it must be to be in the dark like that. As she started to drive away once we were both buckled, she sighed.

"Lauren, now can you tell me what the hell your deal is today?"

"Austin doesn't want me to be hanging out with you or the others."

"And you're going to listen to him?"

I let out a heavy breath and nodded. Of course I was. Well, I sort of was. If he caught me hanging around with any of them my life here would just get harder.

"I have to."

"Yet you're here with me now..."

I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever.."

The rest of the drive to my place was silent. Normally I was alright with silence, but this silence was just awkward as fuck. She pulled up to my house, and I knew the second we got there that everyone was home. We got out of the car, and I stopped Normani in her tracks, pulling her in for a hug. I wasn't sure why I did it, I just knew that it felt like the right thing, and that was good enough for me.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Lauren," she said, pressing her lips to my forehead.

I nodded, and she and I went up to the front door. I twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

"I'm home!" I called out, not sure where everyone was.

"Did you have a good day? Oh, who's this?" my mom asked, walking towards the front hallway.

"Mom, this is Normani. Normani, this is my mom Clara."

Normani extended a hand out and shook my mom's hand. My mom smiled, giving me a small smile. I think she was glad that I was bringing a friend home, since I never really did that back in Miami.

"It's great to meet you, Normani. Lauren, your father is out in the back with Taylor, and Chris is up in his room playing on his game system again," mom explained, and I nodded.

"Mani and I are gonna head up to my room."

Mom nodded and I instinctively took Normani by the hand, leading her up the stairs to my bedroom. She stepped inside and looked around, walking from one side of the room to the other. She bent down to pick something up, and I scrunched up my face trying to figure out what she had.

"You know, there's still some beautiful sketches in here, I don't think having it sprawled on the floor is a good spot for it," she said, turning to face my with my sketchbook in her hands.

I hadn't touched the book since the day I rushed home from school after Austin and Camila had ruined some of the drawings. Just looking at the thing made my blood boil, it made me feel like I was going to cry.