Talk To Me (Camren)

Chapter One

Chapter 1

Lauren's POV

Tap tap tap

"...isn't that right babe?"

My pencil stopped hitting my notebook. I withdrew out of my thoughts upon hearing the last words to whatever he had been saying to his friends, "Uhm yeah, right."

Luis didn't even seem to notice that I wasn't listening to a single word he was saying to his friends, no doubt boasting.

It never ceased to amaze me how bad he was at reading my emotions. Not even that, but paying attention to them. Maybe he just doesn't give a damn, I really don't know.

History was always the worst. Mrs. Sarlos sat the front of the classroom, drawling on about the Cuban Missile Crisis to a classroom full of students who weren't listening. However, the old woman seemed oblivious and kept on with the monotonous lecture.

"Babe, can you stop hitting the fucking book? It's distracting."

I narrowed my eyes at my boyfriend as he turned back around and continued his animated conversation. Luis and I didn't have the connection I had hoped and read in books over and over, if you hadn't noticed.

Tap tap tap

I let my thoughts run free, and my mind wondered to a certain girl it had been tending to wonder to lately. I hadn't asked anyone about the brunette with the shining brown eyes since Normani first told me about her. Maybe it was about time I got some answers.

"Hey, Luis," I shifted in my chair to face him more properly.

"What's up."

"Do you happen to, uh, know about a girl that kinda sorta doesn't...talk."

I suddenly felt stupid for asking, but my curiosity overpowered my discomfort.

Luis let out a laugh, "What do you mean, like Camila Cabello? Yeah the girl's a freak. She hasn't said a word since fourth grade and she doesn't have any friends," he ran a hand through his short hair, "Who knows. Maybe she's too stupid to know how to speak."

One of Luis' friends, Darren, spoke up, "The bitch ignored me when I tried to hit her up. What a fucking mute."

"It's a shame. Cabello is kinda hot," one sneered as the rest smirked, obviously agreeing.

Another said, "Mmm yeah, I bet she's a virgin."

"I wonder if I could make the shy girl scream in bed."

"She may not talk, but she can moan."

That's when I turned back around, not wanting to hear Luis' sick buddies insult and drool over a random girl.

I played back the minimal information I had gathered in my head.

"Yeah the girl's a freak. She hasn't said a word since fourth grade and doesn't have any friends."

I knew better than to judge the girl on whatever Luis or his gang had to say about her. I guess I'd have to find out myself.
__________________

"Hey y'all!"

"Hey Ally," we all said in unison.

Dinah, Normani, and I had been waiting outside of Ally's last class for her to come out, like every day for the past two years.

"So I was thinking..." all three us automatically became skeptical at her tone of voice, "I have an English after-class in Miss Lovato's room and I was wondering if any of you-"

"No way. I'm not going. Nope. Count me out," Dinah shook her head vigorously.

"Seriously Ally, I have enough school as it is," Normani agreed.

"Aw c'mon you guys, I don't want to go alone. That would be so lame," the short girl whined.

"Ally," Dinah raised an eyebrow, "the fact that you go to an extra English class after school is lame in itself."

"Lauren?" Ally turned to me hopefully with a killer pout only Ally could put on.

I could handle another hour of English class, right? Aside from practically breezing past the class, I actually enjoyed English. It's the only class that I don't want to kill myself in. On the other hand, I had a shit load of homework I had to do and just thinking about it made me want to throw up.

"Miss Lovato always does creative writing and often does, like, partner activities," Ally continued.

That doesn't sound too bad. I guess I could go once. The after school classes are optional unless you are failing the class or whatever.

"I'll go."

Dinah just shook her head as Ally beamed, "Y'all nerds going to an additional hour of school? What crazy talk."

"Let's go, Dinah, before we get infected by whatever they have," Normani teased before they both waved goodbye.

Ally and I headed towards room 204 where Miss Lovato held advanced English. According to many fellow seniors, she was the best English teacher you could get, but I was unlucky and got the other advanced English teacher, Mr. Kim.

"So how's Luis doing?"

"He's fine. I think he's going to go get pizza," I say.

"Oh I'm sorry that I'm keeping you from going with him," Ally apologized genuinely. Always the sweet one.

"It's fine. He's going with his buddies," I replied with little emotion.

Ally scrunched her nose, "Oh."

We arrive at the classroom door along with a few other students. A nice looking lady at the front of the classroom looked over at us, "Come in and find a seat next to someone. My last period students who have decided to stay are here, but you may sit anywhere you'd like. Oh, and keep backpacks near you. Under your desk, anywhere."

The desks were arranged with two desks pushed together in pairs around the room. When I was glancing around at empty seats was when I saw it. In the far right stood an empty seat next to Camila, just the girl I was struggling to decide how to approach. I watched her tuck a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear before continuing to put away her materials from her previous period.

With little thought, I strolled directly towards the empty desk next to her. As I got closer, the girl looked up and locked eyes with me. She bit her lip.

I swung my bag off my shoulder and next to the chair before stopping. I kept my backpack hovering off the ground and looked straight into dark brown eyes that looked almost...warm.

"I can sit here, right?" The last thing I needed was the girl thinking I was some rude bitch that sat wherever she pleased.

She nodded her head, but then turned away and started rapidly scribbling down what I assumed were notes, even though Miss Lovato hadn't started yet. I sat.

Ally looked over at me, puzzled, but I just shook my head and mouthed "I'll explain later". She ended up sitting next to this tall guy she liked named Troy so I guess we both win.

My eyes traveled to the whiteboard, down to her white binder with doodles drawn on the front, then her hands that were fidgeting with her long, slightly tousled hair, and finally to her face, only to be met with the sight of more hair. She had let her hair fall from it's position tucked behind her ear, making a dark curtain between us.

That's when I first wondered if there was any point in saying anything to her if she would never respond.

I studied her hair and how it looked the tiniest bit messy. Kind of like when you wake up late and you don't have enough time to really brush it. Even so, she pulled it off really well.

Her clothes were plain. Just a simple white v-neck shirt with jean shorts and converse. Her hand that clutched onto her pen had ink smears on the palm. I stared at a worn copy of Paper Towns that was wedged in between her other textbooks.

While Miss Lovato was still sorting out whatever she was sorting out, I made up my mind. I cleared my throat.

"Um, hi I-" I started before Miss Lovato clapped her hands and moved to the front of the room. Real spot-on timing.

"Okay guys settle down. Welcome to my Advanced Literature after period. In a minute I will be distributing our materials that we will be analyzing today. I just want to get an idea of where we are all at and set the basis for further classes, if you are to continue to join us."

Fifteen minutes into the class, we were analyzing the context of George Orwells' 1984.

I had already highlighted and underlined some stuff when Miss Lovato said, "Okay now that we have a sense of what we're doing here, I want you to turn to the person your sitting next to and discuss what you have gathered from the text."

I shifted in my chair to be able to face Camila more properly. She still hadn't moved from the same position as before.

Stealing a glance at all my notes I had written, I chose my most recent one. When I looked back up, chocolate brown orbs were staring back at me. My breath caught.

"Um, so, he was a peace seeker. Goldstein longed for a democracy. And there was some foreshadowing when it said "so it was occasionally rumored-in some hiding place in Oceania itself". Plus, there was a propaganda on page thirteen..."  my voice trailed off as I suddenly couldn't remember what I was saying. I felt like I was slowly drowning in the beautiful shade of brown that were her eyes.

She nodded her head to show that she heard me. After a while of silence , I spoke up.

"I'm Lauren by the way," I wasn't sure what to do after that so I held up a hand for her to shake. Nope, not lame at all.

After a moment of hesitation, she reached an ink-smeared hand out and shook my hand. I got a glimpse of her worksheet that had her name on it in messy writing. I pointed to it.

"Your name's Camila?" I asked. This way I wouldn't sound creepy that I knew her name.

She nodded.

Camila looked at me again, but this time it was as if she was searching me. Or looking through my soul. Apparently she made up her mind because I watched as she slid her book over to my desk for me to see. She had written a lot more notes than me and as I read them, I was amazed by how insightful they were. Actually, I was surprised she would show me all her notes. It just felt sort of personal to me. That's probably stupid- they're just notes.

"Wow, you really understand George Orwells' writing," I handed her book back.

I flipped my hair to the other side and just sat there. My mind raced with what I could possibly say after that. I stole a glance at her. She had bowed her head down and was moving her jaw around.

A bow. That's the first thing my eyes drew to on the binder. Then to "Ed Sheeran" written in cursive. A flower. A mug. Pizza. Several music notes. A heart...

All mindless doodles that I suddenly had an urge to know what they stood for- why she had drawn those particular figures. What had been going through her head when she had let the pencil take control.

I was going to get Camila Cabello to talk to me.

A/N: This could have either been good or a big fail. I'm hoping it's not the latter. This is actually my first time writing a camren fanfic, not reading, and, you know, crying over the feels. I want your thoughts. If you can, please vote and comment. Good or bad, I want to hear it. :)