The Substitute// Camren

Chapter 4

Lauren made her way to her seat eager for fourth to start but also as an escape from Normani who whacked her arms so hard she felt they were gonna fall off and interrogated her the whole lunch period. Lauren smiled as Ms.Cabello stood up to address the class and take attendance. It had been almost half of the entire period and Lauren didn't get to have any interaction with Ms.cabello, which has honestly began to put her in a bit of a mood and she wasn't sure why she cared. Any time they would lock eyes someone always raised their stupid hand and prohibit her from walking towards Laure. It got to the point that Lauren gave up on being motivated to complete the assignment and she lazily went on clicking random buttons until she felt a soft yet firm hand on her shoulder. Which made her turn to see Ms.Cabello staring down at her.

 "Ms.Jauregui I don't think that's the proper technique to get this assignment done." She said, with no hint of malice anywhere, it was more of a teasing statement than any else. "Hm, i don't know i like doing it this way." Lauren playfully shot back making Ms.Cabello smile softly but quickly fake a glare at the raven haired girl. "You have to at least try Lauren." Ms.Cabello said seriously. "Hm, I don't know, I'm sorry Ms.C but i like this way much better than yours." Lauren said with a fake sigh at the end. "Fine." Ms.Cabello said fixing her blazer before dropping down to Lauren's eye level.

 "I'll make you a deal."  she whispered and at that point Lauren was highly intrigued and raised an eyebrow in response. "I'm listening" she said quickly not trusting herself to speak in the close proximity her and Ms.Cabello were at that moment. "If you get this done...the right way, not the Lauren way, you'll know my name at the end of class."  Ms.Cabello finished her proposition with a small smirk when she noticed the immediate excitement on Lauren's face. "Do we have a deal?" She asked Lauren, knowing very well what the answer would be. She was proved right when she saw Lauren nod her head and say 'deal'.

An hour and a half later Lauren was just about to wrap up the assignment with 5 minutes left of class. Excitement began to bubble in her stomach, she'd finally get to put a proper name to Ms.Cabello's beautiful face. Although the post-assessment was proving to be very difficult. Lauren furrowed her brows in confusion, which didn't go unnoticed by Ms.Cabello. "Do you need any help Lauren?" She asked. "Please." Lauren said calling her over to her station. "Okay, well what do you not understand about the question?" Ms.Cabello started. "The question itself is not the problem, I just don't know how to do the fucking work." Lauren said looking frustrated, making Ms.Cabello want to wrap her arms around the distraught girl in order to comfort her but quickly forbid the thought. That would be wrong. She's a student. She kept repeating that to herself despite Lauren being different from the other students to her. 

"Okay look, all it asks is to use the lasso tool to get rid of the woman in the picture." She attempted to explain. "That's easier said than done. What even is the lasso tool?" Lauren said. "It's that one." Camila pointed at the screen in hopes of guiding Lauren to a passing score. "Okay, what do i do know?" Lauren asked clicking on the tool and looking over to Ms.Cabello expectantly, quickly taking in all of her facial features and wondering how a woman could be so perfect. "Click edit, fill, and in the drop down you have to choose content-aware. That covers it up with its surroundings." Ms.Cabello explained while Lauren carefully followed her instructions and let out a squeal when she got the answer right. "Voila!" Ms.Cabello said in approval. "Ugh i have to submit my answers now." Lauren said glumly while Ms.Cabello laid a comforting hand on Lauren's shoulder. "You'll do fine" she encouraged.

As soon as Lauren clicked on the submit button she was regretting it, but when she saw the green PASSED and 90% next to it she lost her shit. "YESS" Lauren said putting her hands high. "Wow, amazing job. I would have never gotten that score." Ms.Cabello said while giving Lauren a high five as a congratulations. "I think this deserves your name." Lauren smiled cheekily as Ms.Cabello hesitantly smiled back. As much as she wanted to she wasn't sure if she should because this could be the first step towards creating a lack of professional boundaries. "Listen Lauren, i'm very proud of your work  and I know we made a deal but i'm not sure if telling you my name is very professional." She allowed herself to say. "Why not?" Lauren asked. "I don't think it would look well to others. I'm sorry." Ms.Cabello looked at her with a hint of guilt in her eyes. 

"Oh. That's okay." Lauren replied softly while trudging to her seat and patiently waiting for the bell to ring as she stared at the floor. That hurt Lauren more than she was willing to admit to herself. "Hey are you okay? Did you not pass?" Normani asked her friend who looked visibly upset. Lauren realized she shouldn't be so obvious about her stupid feelings towards Ms.C and shook it off before responding to her best friend, "I passed, just not with the score I wanted." Lauren settled on saying and Normani proceeded to pinch her cheeks. "My poor little baby" she said as Lauren smacked her hand away. As the bell rang and Lauren was prepared to bolt out of the medium sized classroom but Ms.Cabello softly grasped her wrist in an attempt to stop her from leaving and handed her a piece of paper. "I think you dropped this. Bye Lauren." She said before letting go of Lauren's wrist and walking back to her desk. Lauren was stuck between questioning her or letting it go because for all she knew it was most likely a piece of old sketch-paper.