Question Marks ➳ Camren

One

"Why didn't you kiss Shawn? He seemed more than willing." I navigate through the streets, determined to not get us both into a fatal accident.

I watch her shrug in my peripherals. "I don't know. He isn't - I mean, he's nice, I guess, but I just - I wanted it to be special." She sighs again, her arms hooking across her chest. "Prom night should be special, right? Special kiss, special someone?"

My eyes slide to the corners again, watching her profile. Her lower lip is wedged between the snowy pearls of her teeth, eyes flicked down. I've seen Camila upset before - that's not exactly an oddity for her - but I've never seen her look so ... sad. There's a difference with her. She's easily thrown off of her normal good mood into whatever emotion comes naturally, but for her to be genuinely sad is pretty rare. I squeeze the steering wheel, my knuckles popping.

But that's the thing about Camila. I glance at her again, her eyes skittering across her hands, palm up and flat on her knees. She's not normal, and I mean that in the kindest way it can be said. I'm ... I'm really glad she's not normal, because if she was, she probably wouldn't be my friend anymore. Normal people hold grudges. Normal people may forgive, but they don't necessarily forget, and while by no means do I think Camila has forgotten a single thing, I do know for sure that she doesn't hold it against me for a moment. I can tell just by the way she looks at me, all lit up and excited, always happy, always sweet, even after everything that's happened. She's not shallow or cruel or unreliable like Dinah or cocky and stuck up like Taylor. She's an exception to every basic rule about humans, rules that I'm not afraid to admit I fall into. I don't think sometimes. I do stupid things. I hurt my friends, despite my best intentions. But Camila doesn't do that. She never has, not in all of my years of knowing her.

She's different in a severely good way.

"Lauren!"

I gasp, my foot reflexively slamming on the brake. I look up just in time to see the red light and a truck streaming by with his horn blaring, loud enough to make my teeth rattle in my jaw. "Christ!" My knuckles rip as I grip the steering wheel, panting as a horde of traffic flies by. I fall back against the seat, my ears ringing with my rapid heartbeat, swallowing as the light pales to green. I pull out slowly, my hand resting over my sternum. "I'm so sorry, Camila, I wasn't - that won't happen again, I promise, I'm a great driver!" I dare another look at her to see her face flushed, pupils wide with fear. She, too, is touching her chest, breathing heavy.

"It's okay." Her lips quirk and then she's giggling, her hand pressing to her lips. "That was scary!"

The fact that us nearly dying is apparently humorous to the cuban girl doesn't really surprise me. The more time I spend with Camila, the more I start to realize that there are parts about her I will probably never understand. Usually that would bug the absolute crap out of me, but with her ... I don't know. I like that Camila is mysterious, that she's shrouded in question marks. It keeps things interesting. As much as I enjoy Zayn and Normani and Ally's company, none of them capture my attention like Camila does. I find myself overly intrigued with her, which might border on slightly creepy, but I try not to dwell on that too long. It's not my fault, anyway. Camila's endlessly fascinating. The things she says, the way she thinks, it's all so new, so foreign. She's a book scrawled in another language and the rest of the world is left to rub their chins and attempt to study what can't be explained. I don't understand why she doesn't have more friends, why everyone else seems so apathetic to her existence. Here is this girl that says the most impossible things with a mind like a labyrinth and everyone plays her off as some ditzy actress.

And that's the thing that troubles me the most - I know Camila can act. I like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character, that I know when someone is being real with me. With people like Zayn, it's all in the way he smiles, the way he laughs, and even Louis, though he tends to hide behind Harry, bleeds through when he's being awkward. But Camila ... it's different with her, just like everything is.