The Exchange Student // Camila Cabello

Chapter Twelve

Noah's POV
"Sorry!" Sofi cheered as she swapped her red pawn with my blue pawn.

"No!" I laughed, watching all of my progress return to home. "You're hard to beat, kid."

I reached over and grabbed a handful of buttered popcorn. Sofi and I were laying on our stomachs, playing Sorry!, and eating popcorn as her parents read on the couch.

Alejandro set his book down and looked at his watch. "Where's Camila?"

Sinuhe didn't look up from her book. "She's with Jack."

I perked up and looked at Sinuhe. I didn't like hearing that Camila was with Jack.

"She's cutting it close to curfew," Alejandro mumbled.

Sinuhe chuckled. "She's young and in love. You remember those days, don't you?"

Alejandro smiled and kissed Sinuhe's hand. "Of course I remember. But that doesn't mean I like the idea of my daughter being young and in love." He lowered his voice. "Especially with Jack."

I chuckled and pulled a card from the draw pile. I advanced my pawn three spaces and watched Sofi pull another card. It doesn't seem like Alejandro is a fan of Jack Gilinsky.

"Noah, Camila told us you joined the football team," Alejandro said, perking up in his seat. He had a big smile on his face and for the first time since I met him, he seemed genuinely interested in a topic that involved me.

"Yeah, uh, Camila's friends convinced me to try out," I said, bringing a pawn into the safety zone. "I'm the wide receiver."

"I love football." Alejandro grinned. "This will give us more of a reason to go to the games besides to watch Camila cheer."

The door opened and Camila walked inside. She was biting her lip to contain her angelic smile. She looked beautiful. She set her bag down and looked at us. "What's going on, guys?"

"We're playing Sorry!" Sofi shouted, her mouth full of popcorn.

"Oooh!" Camila grinned and sat on the floor next to me. She grabbed a handful of popcorn and took a bite, her eyes examining the board. "Noah, Sofi's kicking your butt."

I laughed. "I know! It's like she practices."

"It's called natural talent." Sofi smirked and Camila and I laughed.

"I just wanted to remind you," Alejandro said as he got off the couch. "My company will be having a business dinner this Sunday." He looked at Camila and nodded. "And we will all be going."

Camila rolled her eyes and moved Sofi's pawn for her. I wondered what exactly made Camila give that reaction?

Sinuhe set down her book and stood up. "Sofi, it's time for bed."

"No!" Sofi groaned. "Can't I stay up a little longer?"

"Not tonight. Let's go."

Sofi stood up and gave Camila a hug goodnight. I thought she was going to walk away, but she walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I squeezed her tight and she ran off with her parents.

I smiled and started cleaning up the board while Camila put the popcorn away. She walked down the hall to her room and I was left alone in the living room. I put Sorry! away in the game cupboard and walked downstairs to the basement.

I changed into sweatpants and an old T-shirt and sat on the couch in the lounge area. I scrolled through Instagram, seeing the posts and stories from my friends back home. To my surprise, I hadn't been missing them as much as I used to, which I guess is a good thing, right?

The door closed and footsteps descended the stairs. Camila was standing at the foot of the stairs in her pajamas—plaid pajama pants and a grey sweatshirt.

My eyes widened as she sat at the end of the couch I was on and grabbed the TV remote. "Wanna watch a movie?" she asked, her eyes focused on pulling up Netflix.

"Uh, sure," I said, watching in amazement.

"Great." She smiled and browsed through the movies.

"Do you, uh, want a blanket?" I asked, reaching over and grabbing a maroon blanket from a basket.

"Sure," she said, laying it over her legs. She was about to press play but stopped. "What's your deal with Sofi?"

I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"None of my boyfriends have ever showed any interest in Sofi," she said and I raised my eyebrows. Did she just put me in the boyfriend category? She looked at me and rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"I, uh, I don't know." I shrugged. "I have a little brother. I mean, he's older than Sofi but I guess I just learned how to talk to little kids because of him. But I love Sofi. She has this feisty little personality that kind of scares me."

Camila laughed. "She's great, isn't she?"

I smiled and looked into her eyes. I felt close to Camila when it's just her and me. She's a lot different than my initial judgement of her. She's actually pretty sweet. "So, you and Jack, huh?"

She cracked a smile and leaned against her arm. "What about us?"

"Nothing," I said, looking down at my hands. She didn't seem upset or put off by my comment. "How long have you guys been together."

"Too long." She sighed. My eyes widened and she shook her head. "I just mean we've been together for years and, I don't know, I guess there comes a time where you hope that your relationship will evolve into something better and maybe even a little more, but . . . I don't know." She laughed. "That didn't make sense, did it?"

"No, no, it did," I said, turning my body so it was facing her more.

She sighed and played with her fingers. "He's a good guy. He just comes off really strong sometimes." I nodded and glanced at the TV. I don't know if "good guy" is the term I would use to describe Jack. "So . . ." She smiled. "You made the football team."

"Yeah," I said. "I felt like maybe I should try to be a little less of a loner." She laughed and I smiled at her. "How did you find out?"

"Jack told me," she said. "He said you're pretty good."

I scrunched my eyebrows in disbelief. "Jack said that?"

She laughed. "In more or less words, yeah."

When the laughter died down all we did was look at each other. It wasn't for a long time or anything, but just enough for me to admire her gorgeous brown eyes.

She cleared her throat and broke our eye contact as she looked back at the TV. "How about Tangled?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "That sounds good."

She selected the movie and it started to play. I watched the movie but couldn't help but glance at her every couple of minutes. I really like Camila.