The Exchange Student // Camila Cabello

Chapter Three

Noah's POV
"That's her boyfriend?" I asked as Dinah walked towards the snack table.

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes. "At least for the moment. Who knows how long it will last this time."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"They've been on and off since the eighth grade. Usually when they break up it's because Jack wants to hook up with other girls, but they always go running back to each other not long after."

I looked back and watched as Camila laughed with Jack, his hands resting firmly on her ass. Why would she want to be in a relationship with someone like that?

Dinah shrugged and took another sip of her drink. She seemed so used to the sad reality of Camila's relationship.

The girls walked over to us and grabbed some snacks.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Normani asked. "My vote is beer pong."

"Ooh, I'm in." Dinah cheered. "Noah, you down?"

I glanced at Camila then the girls and slowly nodded. Lauren grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a table where beer pong was set up.

I pulled off my sweatshirt and we split into teams of two with Ally as the referee since she didn't want to drink and drive. Dinah stood next to me and the game started.

Two minutes into the game and one thing was clear: I was terrible. Luckily for me, Lauren and Normani weren't that great either. The only real beer pong talent came from Dinah who was sinking cup after cup. I started to feel bad for Normani at one point because she was drinking so much.

Normani slammed down her third cup in a row and burped from all the drinking. She laughed which made us all join in as she started to get a little tipsy.

"Your turn, Noah," Lauren said. I grabbed the ping pong ball from Dinah and was about to toss it towards the cup in the middle of the triangle, when someone approached our table.

"What's up, ladies?" A guy with lips as thin as paper smirked.

Everyone rolled their eyes but he didn't seem to notice. Or care. He leaned against the table and got close to Lauren.

"How you doing, Jauregui?" he asked, flashing her a stupid grin.

"What do you want, Brad?" Dinah responded instead of Lauren.

He glared at Dinah. "Can't a guy just check up on his girl?"

"I'm not your girl, Brad." Lauren shook her head.

Brad laughed and took a sip from his red Solo cup, gulping down the beer and tossing the cup onto the table.

"Maybe not right now. But you certainly have been my girl . . . and Luís's and Keaton's and Paul's." He grinned. "I guess we've all had a bit of a go with you."

Lauren's face went red. I looked at Normani and Dinah. They both looked pissed off, a look that surprised me given their fun-loving personalities. The most surprising, however, was Ally. She had this look on her face that clearly expressed if someone didn't hold her back, she was going to jump him.

"Please just leave, Brad," Lauren whispered, but Brad only laughed.

He moved closer to Lauren, and without even thinking, I stepped between them.

"Hey, back off."

Brad's eyebrows raised and he started to chuckle. "Or what? Huh? What are you gonna do?"

I lowered my eyes. "Just . . . just leave her alone, okay?"

"No, no. I wanna hear what you're gonna do. Huh, new kid?" He stepped closer to me, his face in mine. "I'm waiting."

I glanced at Lauren who was watching with a concerned look. She seemed nervous. All the girls did, actually. I didn't know what to do, and I definitely did not want to do anything that would draw attention to me.

"Hey, asshat. Answer me." He shoved me backwards onto the ping pong table. My back crashed into the cups and beer spilled all over me, soaking my white T-shirt.

The party seemed to pause as everyone gathered around to watch us. Brad burst into a fit of laughter, his annoying voice ringing through my ears. I pushed myself up and wiped the beer from my face.

Camila stared at me from across the pool. Her eyes were dark and angry. I got off the table and looked back at Brad.

"Noah, let's just go," Dinah said, walking over to me. I nodded and grabbed my sweatshirt from the floor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Brad said. "Where do you think you're going, Noah? Where you going?" I shook my head and walked passed him, but he grabbed me and pulled me back. He spit in my face. "I'm not done with you."

"Man, get off me!" I shouted, shoving him back.

"Oh ho ho! Someone's angry." He laughed and threw his hands in the air innocently. He smirked and stepped closer to me.

He seemed excited to fight. Like being a jackass brought him joy. My palms began to sweat as my fist clenched tight. I was certain my knuckles were a pale white from squeezing them so hard.

"Knock it off, Brad," Jack said, putting his hand on Brad's shoulder.

He looked at Jack and groaned. "Come on, Gilinsky. The guy's a freak." He sent me a glare. "Just look at him."

Jack looked at me, his eyes scanning me up and down. I puffed angrily, even more so now that everyone was watching. It was like everyone had stopped what they were doing just to watch. Did they not have anything better to do?

"Just back off," he said to Brad, who's smile had dropped completely.

"Jack-"

"I said back off." He snapped at him. The party was dead silent. Brad frowned and Jack rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

I watched them walk away and released a breath I didn't know I was holding. I had never stood up to anyone like that before. I had no clue where it came from.

All I knew was that I was beyond embarrassed. Jack and Brad may have left, but that didn't mean everyone had stopped staring at us.

"Noah," Ally touched my arm gently, "I think we should go."

I never agreed with anything more in my life. All I wanted was to go home and take a nice long shower before crawling under my covers to try to escape all the problems I just made for myself.

I hadn't even had my first official day of school and I was already on everyone's radar, and not in a good way.

I grabbed my sweatshirt from the floor and slid it on to cover the beer stains on my shirt.

I glanced at Camila. She was saying something to Jack who nodded and gave her a kiss. She walked back over to me and crossed her arms.

I cleared my throat. "Listen, I-"

"Don't." She shook her head. "Just don't."

I frowned and followed her back to Ally's car. The entire drive was silent, except for the radio which played Lana Del Ray.

Ally dropped us off at Camila's house and the second we got inside, Camila left for her room.

I stared at her living room. I felt so out of place. Now more than ever.

My cheeks flushed with a burning red heat and I inhaled sharply, trying to fight the urge to cry.

I ran downstairs to my bedroom, ripping my sweatshirt off the second the door was closed. I felt sick to my stomach and knew I needed to take a shower, anything really to get the smell of cheap beer off of me.

My phone buzzed and I looked at the text.

Mom
Having a good night?

I paused and looked at the mirror, noticing the dirt on my face and the small rip in my shirt. I looked at my phone and sighed.

Me
Yes.