The Exchange Student // Camila Cabello

Chapter Six

Noah's POV
Sofi and I raced back to the Cabello's house. She won by a landslide, but in my defense, racing a skateboard against a bike is rather difficult, especially when the bicyclist knows her way around a lot better than you.

When we arrived at her house, Sofi dropped her bike on the garage floor and ran inside. Sinuhe was back from the store and putting away groceries. She smiled when we came inside.

"We played at the park!" Sofi cheered, grabbing a juice box from the refrigerator. She handed me one and I smiled, poking the straw through the box and sipping.

"Camila said you dropped by the high school. What were you guys doing over there?" Sinuhe asked, pulling out slices of bread to begin making lunch.

"Oh, uh, Sofi was showing me the park and I guess we got a little lost." I laughed and Sofi grinned.

Pattering of footsteps on the hardwood floor bounced off the walls as Camila walked into the kitchen. She was freshly showered and in a more causal outfit: short overalls and a white shirt.

"Mamá, have you seen my sandals?" Camila asked, resting her hands on her hips.

"I put them on your chair," Sinuhe said and Camila frowned.

"I didn't see them there."

"I don't know what to tell you, mija." She shrugged. "Check again?"

Camila sighed and looked over at Sofi and me on the couch. Her frown turned into pure annoyance when she saw me. She rolled her eyes and looked at Sofi.

"Hey, Sof, how was the park?" she asked, flashing her sister a sweet smile. It was the first actual act of kindness I'd seen Camila display.

"It was great!" Sofi took the straw out of her mouth and grinned. "I played with Eli, Reid, and Maya. And Noah played with Eli and Reid's babysitter."

Camila looked at me and her usual judgmental expression was back.

"I wouldn't necessarily call it 'playing'," I said but that didn't seem to be what Camila was judging me for.

"You were with Shawn?"

"Yeah, do you know him?" I asked, sipping the rest of my juice box until it was empty.

"He goes to school with me." Camila looked back at Sinuhe then lowered her voice. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you'd do well to avoid him."

I narrowed my eyes. Why would she say something like that? And why did it matter if I spent time with Shawn? He was cool.

The door opened and all of Camila's friends walked into the house. They seemed so comfortable that they didn't even knock. I wondered what I would do when I finally have to come home on my own. Would I knock? Or would I just go in like I lived there?

Camila smiled innocently when she saw her friends. Like she wasn't just telling me to completely disregard the one person I can actually see myself being friends with here.

The girls sat down on the couch, with Lauren snuggling in next to Sofi. She seemed to like Lauren the most out of all of Camila's friends.

Dinah sat next to me and grinned. "We saw you at the high school this morning."

"Were you all there?" I asked, looking at each of the girls.

"Everyone except Lauren," Normani said. "She doesn't cheer."

"I play softball," Lauren said.

I nodded and looked at Camila. She was smiling with her friends, but it looked like what she wanted right now was for me, Sofi, and Sinuhe to go anywhere else and just leave them alone.

Sinuhe seemed to catch on, because she walked over to us and asked if Sofi would go with her to her room. Sofi didn't seem pleased by the instruction to leave since she was going to miss all the "grown up" talk, but she got up and left with her mom.

I found myself wanting to go with them. It seemed sad to me, that the only person I felt really comfortable with was the five year old in the family. Don't get me wrong, I really like Camila's friends. They are really nice and they seem to like me more than Camila does, but the fact that Camila hates me makes spending time with them beyond uncomfortable. It felt like I was intruding.

"Noah," Normani said, lowering her voice in case Sinuhe or Sofi came back. It seemed like they were waiting for them to leave so that they could talk freely. "Are you okay?"

I furrowed my brow, surprised by her question and not entirely sure what she was referring to. If she meant how am I doing in general, I honestly just wanted to go home.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Ally shrugged. "At the party . . . when you fought Brad."

My face went red and I felt my palms clam up. I managed to forget about the party when I was hanging out with Sofi. I was so embarrassed by everything that night.

"Oh, yeah . . . yeah I'm good," I said. "Do you know how Brad is doing?"

"Hopefully terrible." Dinah shrugged.

"Dinah!" Ally said in shock but even she couldn't help but giggle.

It felt good having all of them on my side, well almost all of them. Camila seemed too close to Jack and Brad to not be on their side.

I looked at her and noticed she was laughing too. Could she actually hate Brad as much as the rest of us? I mean, she's dating Jack, but that doesn't mean she has to like his friends.

"One more year with that asshole." Normani groaned, sitting back into the couch.

"And it all starts on Monday." Lauren sighed.

My eyes widened. I had been so focused on the embarrassment I felt at the party and the hatred Camila has for me that I completely forgot that school was starting in three days. It was, after all, the reason I was in Miami in the first place.

My foot tapped the floor viciously as nerves began to take over. I started to feel a little sick at the very thought of going to school and having to face everyone at the party.

"Noah?" Dinah said, looking at me with concern in her eyes.

"What?"

"I asked if you wanted to come with us to the beach?"

I looked at all of them and shook my head. I really didn't want to intrude again, especially since last time turned out so horribly.

"I think I'm actually just gonna go get settled in," I said, glancing at Camila who seemed to let out a breath. She really didn't want me to come.

I stood up and walked downstairs, going into my room. A large package laid on top of my unmade bed. My heart stopped and I let out a laugh. I completely forgot Mom sent me my keyboard.

I opened it up and set it on my desk, running my fingers across the smooth keys. I have loved that keyboard since the moment I laid eyes on it.

I sat down and rested my fingers on the keys, closing my eyes and pressing down.

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