Bound To You (camren au)

what i'm made of

"Uh-huh." Hailee takes her hand and squeezes it, hazel eyes twinkling. "Are you ready?"

Camila snickers, because she's so cheesy when she wants to be, and tries to put the voicemail out of her mind. "Ready as I'll ever be."

-

The only other time Camila had ever been on a road trip was midway through the summer before her senior year. She and all the other rising senior cheerleaders had planned a trip down to one of the girls' lake houses, a three or four hour drive. They'd split up into two cars, four and four.

Camila had been in the passenger seat. She was the second in command to the head cheerleader, and so she sat shotgun often, because she got special privileges like that. She was in charge of the GPS and the aux, and Camila was an expert at fitting in, did it as easily as she breathed. She was the peppy, pretty cheerleader. She had a cross hanging around her neck. She was on the honor roll. She had it all together. She just had to play some bubblegum pop and she was off the hook.

The head cheerleader was driving. It was her car, after all. The head cheerleader was the daddy's-money type of girl, rich and beautiful and bossy.

Anyway. Her name was Jade.

-

"Hey!" Camila snaps her fingers sharply and whirls around in her seat, leveling her gaze at the two other girls in the back. "Pipe down," she says in her megaphone voice, the one she uses to call out cheers when their captain is MIA and the coach lets her take charge. "The grown-ups are talking."

The girls grumble, but Camila can kind of get away with anything because she's the beta, the right-hand-man. Plus she's pretty, and she's earned her dues. People don't challenge her, even when she's a bitch. But she tries not to be a bitch. It makes her feel bad.

That is why moments later, she turns back around with huge, apologetic eyes. "Sorry."

There's loud, melodic laughter next to her. "Oh, Cam," says Jade Thirlwall, grabbing Camila's hand and holding it tight in her own. Her other arm is slung lazily over the steering wheel, and she only takes her dark eyes, gleaming honey in the light, off of the road so she can look over at Camila. "You're too nice for your own good, you know that?" she comments, flashing her dimples at Camila as she smiles.

"No!" one of the girls in the backseat calls. "Let her be a sweetheart, Jade. It balances out your bitchiness."

Jade lets go of Camila's hand to throw up her middle finger at them, and they all burst into laughter. After they're done, Jade takes Camila's hand again, their joined fingers resting over the console.

"Jade." Camila taps Jade's knuckle with her thumb. "Both hands on the wheel."

Jade sends her a knowing look, one of their secret, shared glances. They'd been having a lot of those these days, something unspoken between them that the girls in the back and the rest of the squad and maybe the rest of the world were never privy to, and possibly never would be.

"Right," Jade says, cocking her head. Her wavy dark hair, threaded through with caramel highlights, tumbles over one slender shoulder. She returns her arresting eyes to the long stretch of road ahead of them, and doesn't let go of Camila's hand.

-

"I have kind of a weird question for you."

"Yes?" Camila perks up at this. They're around an hour into their drive and out of sheer boredom Camila's been drifting in and out of sleep even though she's not really actually tired. She reaches for her giant coffee and draws her knees up to her chest. "What, what? I love questions."