A Slow Dance With Reality

No Matter How Hard Things Get

Lauren was tired of faking, and with everything that had happened, she wasn't sure she should. It was exhausting, and truth be told the more people that fell for the mask the more it hurt to have friends. Shouldn't friends be able to see past any mask you threw at them? That's the idealization that television and movies had thrown at Lauren. It was expected to have someone see right through you, multiple people actually. And Lauren didn't have any of what she considered her closest friends that were able to see through her. Instead she had a girl that she'd bullied all these years. She had a girl that she treated like complete dirt, and she wasn't going anywhere. She wasn't giving up. Because she saw Lauren.

The thought made the raven haired girl smile as she chewed at the end of her pen. Camila had always seen Lauren, and at first it scared the girl. It was a fluke she had to fix before anyone found out along with Camila. But now she was so overjoyed that the songstress hadn't given up on her. Where would Lauren be without that annoying girl now? Would she be in the ground next to her sister? Or would she be hurting herself in ways most would find imaginable?

Her thoughts cut off at the sound of the bell, and she moved eagerly out of her seat and to Glee. Camila was just a few seconds from being in Lauren's sight again. She was a giddy teenage girl over someone she once thought to be the lowest of the low­

"Lor'n"

"No," Lauren whispered, freezing in her tracks as she watched a very drunk Mike Jauregui head right towards her.

Everyone in the halls stared at the debacle before them. Whispers and small snickers echoed as the sloppy man stumbled forward, his arm reaching forward to point firmly to his daughter. "Where'd m'shit go?" His voice boomed, causing some of the whispers to stop, but only some.

When Lauren didn't respond fast enough, too distracted in looking for Camila and ensuing she wasn't here to witness what was happening, Mike's back hand came flying to land straight across Lauren's cheek. The smack was familiar, one she'd felt many times before but not in months either. She was humiliated, and now the whole school would know just how imperfect her life really was. There wouldn't need to be a need for a mask because everyone would see right through it, in the worst way possible. "You know! You steal my drinks whenever y'feel like an'think you're some big'irl cus you chopped yerself up to look like y'do." Mike moved into Lauren's personal space, eyes glazed over in a haze that she would once refer to as Narnia. Because who the hell knew what was going on behind that gaze at this point.

"I don't," Lauren spoke firmly, keeping her eyes glued to Mike. She wasn't afraid of him, hadn't been since he left, since Clara left him. He was a wreck, much like Lauren had been the past few weeks.

A meaty hand ran through Mike's hair, his frustration growing and before Lauren knew it, he shoved her to the ground. A split second of fear graced her features until she felt her knight by her side, holding her shoulder and arm. It was so quick, Lauren hadn't even noticed Camila moved into the scene. And oddly enough, while Lauren thought she'd hate having Camila around, having her right there by her side only made her stronger. A month ago Lauren would have stayed on the ground, but today, with Camila Cabello standing by her side, Lauren stood with pride. And that's when the knife was slammed into her chest. Mike's words daggers upon daggers.

"You're just'like 'er. Worthless. Pathedic. You'll end up just like'er. Rotting in the ground by your'wn hands. Taylor was weak, that's why she killed herself. She wasn't a Jauregui, and neither are you. You don'serve the name. You don't even deserve the ability to live on pretending you're. You'll follow her footsteps and be in the ground'fore anyone even notices."

A single tear shed down Lauren's cheek. Not at his words, but at the knowledge of everyone knowing what had happened. Everyone would know that Lauren Jauregui's sister killed herself and her own family thought so little of her they didn't think she'd be strong enough to do the same.

To Lauren is was strength that drove someone to a fate like that. Only someone with an astounding amount of strength to pull the trigger or kick the chair away from them. Lauren didn't have that strength; and she certainly didn't have the strength to look Mike in the eyes, let alone any of the student body surrounding them.

Camila's hand slid slowly up and down her arm, warming the pale skin that had turned to ice. Her knight was there, standing by her side as support. And still Lauren was far too embarrassed to look even Camila in the eyes. "I have to..." She started, looking around at the floor to see if she dropped anything. "I have to...be somewhere." Panic set in her faster than she hoped for, and upon grabbing her book off the ground Lauren rushed off, heading nowhere in particular other than an escape from this hell.

She hated her father, he was a monster that should have never been in her life. He wasn't meant to be there. Clara had kicked him out once before so why was it so hard now to do it again? What made it so impossible for her mother to stand up to a man? Lauren supposed she could have asked herself the same thing at this point.