Shake Your Skeleton (Camren)

Chapter 8

Lauren sat alone in her school's library, staring intently at the laptop screen in front of her as her fingers danced about the track pad. It was lunch hour, and while Lauren usually visited Camila at this time, she remembered the ghost's current predicament, and she had quickly wolfed down her sandwich before checking out one of the school's laptops and situating herself in the library.

At the moment she was looking at methods of tracking people down, since Camila said they guy may not even be in Carrollton anymore, and so far she had found that police technology would probably be the most helpful. She had her iPod hooked up to her earbuds, streaming her favourite playlist as she researched online.

A grin absentmindedly made it's way onto her lips as the first familiar notes of Lego House came on, her mind instantly flashing with ghostly dark brown hair and mesmerizing chocolate eyes. Lauren's head lightly started bopping to the music as she scrolled through endless search results, eyeing each link halfheartedly. She was just about to click on a somewhat helpful looking site when a shadow loomed over her, and she felt nerves of annoyance and fear swell in the pit of her stomach as she glanced up to see Drew and his goons. His lips moved with a question, but her music blocked it out, and after raising an eyebrow at him she returned her attention to her laptop. Lauren wasn't entirely surprised when Drew reached over, yanking the earbuds from her ears and throwing them on the floor.

"Hey dyke, I asked you a question," he growled. "What are you even looking up? Lesbian porn?" The rest of the boys behind him laughed, and Drew grinned to himself. Lauren swallowed hard, quickly snatching her earbuds off the ground and shoving them in her pocket. Keeping her eyes averted, she silently turned her gaze back to her computer screen in hopes that if she didn't give him a reaction he would lose interest and leave.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" he snapped, leaning on the top of the chair across from her. He clearly didn't like his taunts being ignored.

Lauren clenched her jaw, refusing to look up at him as she focused her eyes on the keyboard.

"Does all that gayness fuck up your hearing abilities too?" he sneered angrily.

"Go away Drew," she ground out, keeping her voice low and level. Drew growled.

"You stupid little..." He stepped forward, slamming the laptop shut with her fingers still on the keyboard. Lauren yelped in pain, yanking her hands out and cradling her throbbing fingers to her stomach. The group of boys roared in laughter as Lauren glowered, Drew grinning smugly at her in return. Grabbing her iPod from the table and slipping it into her pocket, the girl simply stood up and stalked out of the library, silently hoping they would just take that as their victory and leave her alone. To her dread, she heard the following footsteps behind her.

"Where do you think you're going, bitch?" Drew hollered after her. She ignored him, quickening her pace as much as she could with her cast. Her ankle groaned in protest, sharp pains shooting through it, but she paid it no heed, simply wanting to get away from these boys. She really wished she had just gone to visit Camila now.

A rough hand suddenly seized her wrist, yanking her back forcefully. "Hey, listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Drew hissed, fingers tightening painfully around her wrist and causing her to grimace.

"Leave me alone!" Lauren snapped as she twisted her arm out of his grasp, instantly breaking out into a run as soon as she broke from his hold.

"Get back here you little cunt!" Drew called angrily. Her ankle flared in pain, but their familiar thundering footsteps began following in hot pursuit, insults and crude jokes assaulting her ears, and she forced herself to keep going. Tears of both physical and emotional pain welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away, bolting out the nearest exit door and sprinting across the pavement. Remembering how she had lost them in the mass of trees before, she began running across the football field in hopes of repeating the method. However, as she bolted into the trees, the boys had already begun gaining on her, and her veering and twisting among the trees seemed to do nothing this time; her ankle was making her much slower, and with the boys so close behind her, losing them would be near impossible.