The Exchange Student // Camila Cabello

Chapter Seven

Noah's POV
I woke up to the sound of my alarm blaring—or I would have, if I had actually managed to fall asleep. I never felt so nervous for the first day of school. Granted, I have never been in a fight with someone who wasn't my brother so I never really had a reason to be nervous . . . but still.

I stared up at the ceiling fan in my room, watching it spin around and around. I had zero motivation to get out of bed. Because the moment I do, the day has to begin.

I thought back to what I would be doing if I was back home. Every year on the first day of school we would wake up to the smell of freshly cooked homemade cinnamon French toast with blueberry syrup drizzled on top. Aiden would drown his French toast in whipped cream while Mom would put thinly sliced strawberries on hers.

I missed my family. I missed everything about them. I even missed Aiden's boring tennis matches Mom would make me go to. And I had only been in Miami for five days.

I bet the Cabello's don't make cinnamon French toast on the first day of school. They probably don't even know how to make cinnamon French toast. At least not the way my mom can.

I threw the covers off my body and went to the bathroom. I took a nice warm shower and threw on faded jeans and an unbuttoned blue plaid shirt over a white T-shirt.

The moment I walked into the kitchen I realized how efficient the Cabello's were. Sofi was still in bed, but Alejandro, Sinuhe, and Camila were eating breakfast together, ten minutes before 7:00.

I gulped and sat across from Camila. She stared at her phone while she ate her scrambled eggs.

It looked like Sinuhe had prepared a nice big breakfast for the first day of school. There were eggs, bacon, fruit, and freshly squeezed orange juice to top it off—but not French toast.

All I wanted was some toast. Eating anything else for breakfast on the first day of school felt like an act of betrayal towards Mom. I grabbed a slice of bread and tossed it in the toaster then stood next to the counter as I watched it cook.

"Are you excited for your first day?" Alejandro asked from behind his newspaper. He took a long sip of coffee and stared at me.

"Yeah, um, I'm a little nervous, but, uh, it should be good," I said, flinching as the toast shot up from the toaster. The edges of the crust were burnt but the center had cooked to a nice golden brown.

I grabbed the toast and lathered on some butter and blackberry jam—the closest I was going to get to blueberry syrup.

"Well, Camila will be there with you." Sinuhe flashed me a warm smile.

Camila and I both looked at each other. Neither of us viewed that as a good thing. I already knew that the moment we arrive at school she was going to leave me.

"Yeah." I nodded. "That definitely makes me feel better."

A car honked from the street and Camila stood up. She grabbed her backpack from the floor and slid it onto her back. I did the same with my own and followed her outside.

Ally was parked in her driveway with Normani, Lauren, and Dinah in the backseat. Camila and I climbed in and Ally drove to school.

When we arrived I felt my stomach drop. The school was even bigger now that it was in use. The front courtyard was crowded with high school students who were goofing off before class. Ally parked her car and we all got out.

The girls seemed perfectly calm. They were in their element, which made sense considering they've been going to Palmetto schools their entire lives.

"Nice shirt, Kurt Cobain," someone said as they walked passed me. Their friends snickered and I looked down at my shirt, wondering what was wrong with it.

"You are aware it's hotter than Satan's balls out right now, right?" Dinah said. "And they're hot."

"But this is what I normally wear." I frowned. Already this day was starting off bad.

"Noah, did you get your schedule?" Lauren asked as we walked into the school.

"Uh, yeah," I said, pulling my phone from my pocket. "They emailed it to me a couple days ago."

She took my phone and looked through my schedule. "Hey, we're all in history together."

She grinned and handed back my phone. I couldn't help but smile. It felt good knowing that I'll at least know a couple people in one of my classes, even if it meant Camila would be there too.

"Ugh, it's with Mr. Tanner." Normani rolled her eyes.

"What's wrong with Mr. Tanner?" I asked, looking from the schedule to their rather annoyed faces.

"He's the football coach," Ally said. "He can just be a little intense and competitive sometimes."

"Oh, Ally, always the sweet one," Dinah said, patting her head. "He doesn't know how to leave his football shit on the field."

I nodded and felt my palms begin to clam up. He didn't sound like a good teacher at all. I can't handle intense people. They terrify me.

The bell rang and the girls turned to head towards their classes, but Lauren caught the nervous look in my eye and smiled at me.

"Don't worry, Noah. This school's really not that bad. Your first class is English? It's gonna be in the D-Wing, the second hall on your right. You can't miss it."

And just like that she left me. I gulped as the crowded hallway began to disperse and I knew I had to get to class fast.

Following Lauren's directions, I found myself in the correct class right as the bell rang. My first day of school had officially begun.

I took a seat in the back where I could avoid any and all eye contact. Lucky for me, the teacher was very focused on diving into the syllabus and didn't do any of those pointless get-to-know-you games.

I took a deep breath and smiled. Just six more hours and I get to go home. Well not home-home, but, you know.