Like I Do - Camren

Chapter 2

I woke up to a face full of dark hair that was not my own. I smiled, and then noticed my sleeve rode up a bit, showing a few bandaids. I quickly push it down, accidentally bumping Lauren in the process. She mumbles something and then her eyes open. "Sorry Lo." I quickly say. "It's fine. Good morning Camz." Her raspy voice fills the quiet. She props herself up on her elbows and yawns. "Morning." I give a crooked smile. I climb over her and open the curtain, while light spills in. I climb out and stretch my arms up in the air. I feel my sweater lift above my stomach, showing off more than I liked. The other girls were up and laughing loudly in the dining area. Lauren climbs out of my bunk and notice a light blush on her face. "What?" I ask. She looks down at her feet. "Nothing." She mumbles. My arms finally drop down, and I shrug it off. I walk into the dining room and the girls greet me with smiles. "Wow, Mila, you look terrible." Dinah says. "Thanks. I know." I reply. "No, that's not what I meant. You just have dark circles around your eye and look pale and sick." She emphasizes. "Well, I think she looks beautiful." I hear Lauren say from behind me, and her arms wrap around my waist. Her chin rests on my shoulder. "Hey, Camz, you're really hot." She says, sounding worried. "Woah, thanks Lo but I don't feel that way about you." I joke with a giggle, turning to face her. I would be lying if I said I hadn't seen the hurt flash momentarily in her eyes. "No, like, your body temperature. You feel hot." She corrects herself. Dinah stand up and walks over to us, placing her backhand on my forehead with a worried expression. "Yeah, you feel really warm." She drops her hand and studies my eyes. "You may have the flu or something. Maybe you should take your sweatshirt off to cool down a bit." She connects her eyebrows wit concern. "No!" I reply quickly, gaining all the girls' wide eyes on me. "Um, I just.... am cold." I try to recover myself. "Mila, are you doing ok? Keeping the jacket on will just make you sick, and you say you're cold but your sweaty face says differently." Dinah says. "Yeah. I'm f-fine." I stutter, getting slightly dizzy. Dinah grabs my injured arm to keep my balanced and I wince. She raises an eyebrow, and raises an eyebrow. The next thing I know she pulls me into the bathroom.

Dinah locks the door and turns to me. "Show me your arms." She demands. I look down, embarrassed. "Camila," she says sternly. I bite my lip trying to hold back tears. She grabs my arm and pulls the sleeve up, revealing the blood-covered bandaids. I hear her gasp. "Mila...." Her voice is quiet. "I thought you were over this." She says calmly. "I was." I whisper. She was the only one who knew about my problem, that's why she knew where to look. "Why did you do this? What happened?" She asked quickly. "You know what happened." I state. She rubs her forehead, letting go of my arm. "Here, let's get this thing off before you overheat. I have a lighter one you can have, m'kay? Let's also get some proper bandages on these." Dinah says, pulling the sweatshirt over my head. "Wait right here, I'll be back." She opens the door and I catch sight of Lauren walking towards her.

"Is she ok?" Lauren asked, worry etched in her voice. "Yeah. Just a little sick." Dinah replies. A few minutes later the door opens back up and for a minute I thought it was Lauren, but it was just Dinah. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "We're almost at the hotel, I'll help you take a cool bath when we get there. She rubs her hand up an down my good arm. "Here." She hands me a dark grey jacket that is a lot lighter than mine and I slip it on. "Thanks." I mumble, looking down. She brings my chin up with her hands. "Don't mention it." She smiles sadly. I straighten the sweater out and almost fall over. My head pounding, and I feel dizzy. "Hey, hey. What's wrong?" Dinah asks, helping me stand properly. "Just a little dizzy is all." I reply, with a small smile. "Ok. As long as you're fine. Now let's get back out  there. Lauren is really worried." She says, opening the door.

Lauren is standing there, waiting. She looks really worried. "Hey, are feeling ok?" She quickly asks. "Yeah. Just a little sick." I give a small smile. She breaths out a sigh of relief. "Ok." She pulls me into a hug. "I was really worried something was wrong." She said.  I hummed in response. You have no idea. I thought.

After checking with the girls and all that, we finally arrived at the hotel. Dinah helped me carry my suitcase in and set it on the ground. "I had them switch the arrangements a bit. I'll be sharing a room with you now." She said, closing the door behind her. "Let's get you in that tub, k?" She said, guiding me to the bathroom. She sat me on the closed toilet seat and helped me out of the sweatshirt. "I'm gonna take the bandaids off so you can bathe, ok? I'll put real bandages on when you're done." She says. I nod in response, grateful that she doesn't suggest telling anyone. She never had, she just helped me.

Dinah started pulling the bandages from the top. She cleaned off the dried blood and her jaw dropped. "No wonder you were feeling dizzy. These are deep Mila!" She exclaims. "It's fine. Nothing I can't handle." I shrug. "You know I hate to be the one to say this, but I think you need to go see the doctor. I think you need stitches." She says, examining my arm, worry etched in her voice. "I'll be fine. They're not that deep." I say.

"What's not that deep?" I hear her voice say from the doorway of the bathroom. I physically cringe when I see her mouth drop open. "Holy hell...." I see her eyes on my arm.