Love Me (Normani)

Chapter 4

Plain and simple, Normani was the epitome of exhaustion. She had bags under her eyes, she could barely walk let alone dance, her eyes were heavy and she kept tripping over, whether there was something to trip over or not. One night, Normani came home and there was a strange poster thing on her bed. She could only guess where it came from, but she had a pretty good idea. "Dad?" She called out hesitantly, her father appeared in the bedroom. "Yes honey?" "What is this?" Normani pointed to the large piece of paper on her bed. "It's your new diet and dance schedule." "My..my what?" "You heard what I said. It's your new diet intake and dance hours." Normani looked at a few of the written notes in the squares and glared at her dad. "No offence, and I know you want me to be the best I can possibly be for the show, but Dad you have to admit this shit is ridiculous." "Don't swear at me young lady, I think you'll find that it's a good thing, and it's something that you'll get used to over time. Honey," Normani looked up at him sorrowfully. "It's just until the big show, then I'll take you out myself to get the biggest meal of whatever you feel like." Normani swallowed and nodded. "I'll try and make it work." "No, you know our motto." Normani half smiled. "You don't try," she started reluctantly before her father joined in. "You'll succeed." Derrick said with a pressing tone to his voice. "I love you. I'm hard on you because I love you and I want to do the best for you. Remember that." "Yes Dad." She mumbled before he shut the door behind him. Normani sighed and put the poster on her wall, assessing what was written in the squares. No more McDonald's, No more Five Guys, Pizza, Fries, no more of anything she enjoyed basically. She stared it blankly for a while and went to the cupboard where she had a tapestry that she didn't know what to do with. Now she did. She hung it up so it fell over the chart, it was less obvious to look at. But still there. She looked down at her dinner for that day and sighed. "Well, I hope this works." Normani had 5 days left before the dance show, and she was starting to hate the idea of it. Over the next few days, she was beginning to get moody with Lauren and Camila. Normani was barely around, but when she was, she was snappy with them. Camila lowered her eyes when Normani shot her a hard glare in the lunch hall with a "What are you looking at?!" before she stormed off, presumably to the gym to practice some more. "Don't worry Camz. She's probably just feeling nervous for the dance show, it is tomorrow after all." Camila nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right, as per usual." Lauren smirked and nudged her friend's shoulder. "I think we should just, you know, go easy on her until the big show is over." "And then she'll go back to normal." Camila finished. Lauren smiled uneasily and looked back to where Normani had just left them. "Hopefully." She muttered to herself. Camila was too engrossed in her banana and her latest crush, Austin Mahone. He was a total jerk, but when Camila was invested in something, any voice of reason fell on deaf ears. "I'm gonna try and find Normani." "Okay." Camila said in a dream like voice, the girl turned to look at her and grimaced when she saw her staring dopily at the boy on the other table, who was paying literally zero attention to her. She was sure this was a one sided crush, so if she was right, Camila would get over it soon enough. Lauren shook her head to herself and left the lunch hall to go and find her friend. Normani was indeed in the gym, practising her ninth dance routine till it was absolute perfection, trying to ignore her hunger pangs, which was the real reason she stormed out of the cafeteria. Camila did nothing wrong. She felt bad, but she needed an excuse. "Hey." Normani looked over at Lauren as she twirled around, a part of the dance routine. "Hi." Normani stopped and took a swig of her drink, her eyes checking the label for a second. Lauren didn't notice, however. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, of course I am." Normani said as she screwed the cap back on the bottle. "It's just, forgive me if I'm out of line here but you kinda seem.." "I seem.." Normani trailed off when Lauren struggled to find the right word. "Just, different, in yourself." Normani rolled her eyes dismissively. "You worry too much Lauren." "Probably, but I mean, you're being snappy and-" "and you're being paranoid. Relax." Normani said, putting a hand on her shoulder. There was a short silence and unfaltering eye contact before Lauren sighed. "I'm worried about you." She confessed. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but everything is fine." Fucking help me. Lauren stared into the girl's eyes, but she couldn't see any specific emotion she could call her out on. "You know you can talk to me right, and Camila, you can tell us anything." "I know, and if there was anything to tell, I would." But I can't. Lauren sighed and licked her lips in thought before changing the subject. "Big dance show tomorrow, are you nervous?" Normani shrugged. "Not really." "No?" "No, I've been practising so much lately I don't see how anything could go wrong. I'm actually excited." For it to be over. Lauren suddenly brought Normani into a hug, surprising the girl. "I love you, you know." Normani wrapped her arms around her friend hesitantly and nestled her face in her neck. "I love you too." Lauren still sensed something wasn't right, so she didn't let go for a minute, nor did Normani. They just stood there, in the middle of the gym hall in each other's arms, before some basketball players filed in and they had to break apart and leave. "Can I come over tonight?" Lauren asked as they left the hall to go to their lockers. "Sorry, my Dad really wants me to focus on the show and get some rest. But it's okay, as soon as it's finished, we can do whatever we want." and eat whatever we want. "Well in that case do you wanna go home early? I can tell Miss Callahan you got sick." "Would you?" "Sure, I'll tell Camila so she goes along with it too." "Thank you Lauren." Normani hugged her for only a second this time. Lauren half smiled and watched her leave sadly. "See you tomorrow night, good luck!" Normani dramatically blew her friend kisses like she was famous, making Lauren laugh and her high spirits return. "Hey, did I just see Normani go?" "Yeah she's just going home to rest up for tomorrow. But if anyone asks, she got sick." "Got it." Camila nodded. "You know Austin has really nice eyes." "Shut up, get to class." Lauren smacked her upside the head and pushed her forward down the hall. "You're just jealous." Camila teased. "Of Dorito boy's eyes? Gimme a break, my green eyes are better than his entire face." Camila laughed loudly and pointed at Lauren with a grin on her face. "Okay, that was a good one." "Thank you." Lauren winked before the two girls entered the classroom. Hours later, Normani came home and went to her room immediately, she was wiped out. She had been at the dance studio for the past four hours and fell into her bed, curling up in the covers. "Hey you." Normani looked up to see her Dad come in and smiled tiredly. "Hi Dad." "Get some rest sweetheart, it's a big day tomorrow." Normani nodded. "Normani." "Yeah Dad?" "I'm proud of you, for all your hard work." "Thanks." Normani smiled when he kissed her forehead. "Get some sleep now, so you can kill it at the show tomorrow." "Yes Dad. Goodnight." "Goodnight princess." He flicked out the light and Normani fell straight to sleep.