It had been almost two months since her last surgery and Cammie was sick of it. She finished up her second year of high school with honors despite the odds and made a friend, lost all her other friends but kept one. That should have been enough, should have shown her that her real friends weren't real friends, they didn't stick around when she needed them the most. But honors and Colton. That should have been enough for Cammie to not want to give up, right? That's what she kept telling herself. But as her grades were posted and Colton was going on a family vacation for the next week and a half after he finished finals she felt hopeless. Cammie had already taken her finals, but she needed to go to school and sign a form, it scared her to death having to face everyone. She would soon be surrounded by her peers, people that hated her. She felt alone, she felt like giving up. She decided to do homeschooling. Real homeschooling with an online program where she could finish high school early like her mom did. So she needed to go to school, real school, one last time.
"It's not your face, it's not your pain," Cameron said sternly. She was sick of her parents thinking they knew what she felt, what she went through. They didn't know. They had their own struggles and their own issues, but this was something they hadn't ever experienced.
"I thought of killing myself, a few times actually." Cammie's eyes went wide as her mother told her about her darkest moments.
"What?" Cammie couldn't believe it, her mother was so strong and now this.
"I thought that life would be better if I wasn't in it. So no I don't know how you feel exactly, but I know how it feels to lose everyone, how it feels to feel hopeless. I know more than you give me credit for." Scarlett told Cameron.
"You tried to kill yourself?" She questioned lightly.
"No I never tried, but I thought about it, a lot. More than any teenage girl should." Scarlett admitted. "I came up with a lot of different plans on how I could kill myself, what would be easiest, what would be quickest, what would allow me to have an open casket if that's what my parents chose." Scarlett went on and Cammie broke a little inside.
"I had no idea."
"I didn't want you to know that I ever hit rock bottom. I wanted you to see me as brave and not broken. But if it helps you see that I am here for you, that I am as broken as you... then I'm fine with being vulnerable."
"Mom," Cammie began and hugged Scarlett. "I'm so sorry."
"Your dad knows how it feels to have an outer... abnormality." She hesitated at the word. She no longer saw Evan as scarred she just Evan, it was the rest of the world that saw a disaster. Cammie looked to her Dad as well. She saw is scarred face and arm every day, she had grown accustomed to it, she didn't see what others did, not all the time at least. She grew up with that face smiling down at her, those arms holding her when she was scared, he wasn't a monster like people thought him to be... maybe her parents had a point, maybe they did understand.
Evan began telling Cameron about his past, and pain, and how it made him stronger in the end. It also lead him to Scarlett so he wouldn't change anything, not for the world. "You can't give up, you can't give up." He repeated and she stared blankly at them, wanting more. More of what she didn't know. They bared their souls to her and she still felt miserable, but they knew that she would. She just hoped the future would be little brighter, and a little less of the same pain she felt every day.
"Don't give up on us, on this. We have another appointment tomorrow. They have a plan for something and who knows maybe they found some sort of cure." Scarlett encouraged.
"I love you." Cammie told them as they left to make dinner.
"Hey Eliot, did you brush your teeth?" Scarlett asked as she kissed him goodnight.
"Aaahh yeah," he said not looking up to her.
"Really because I just watched you not brush your teeth. That's why I brought it up." He glanced up at her, caught. "My fault for phrasing that as a question," Scarlett said leaning up against the doorframe.
"I said I did." Eliot said trying to sound confident.
"Should I check your toothbrush see if its wet?"
"Yeah, but your gonna feel stupid when I'm right." He said getting out of bed and following her.
"Alright let's check."
"Its gonna have my slobber on it. Really gross too you're not gonna want to touch it." Eliot warned her as they took a few steps to Eliot and Cammie's conjoined bathroom. Cammie stood brushing her teeth hearing the conversation she thought she would be the good child and brush her when mom was watching. "Really gross," he said as she reached out a finger and Eliot sighed.
"You did not." She pulled the toothbrush out of its mug and handed it to him.
"I'm sorry," he cried out hugging her.
"I just want your teeth to be healthy," she said rubbing at his back. "I'm not mad just disappointed you didn't listen sooner," she informed him.
"I'm sorry," he said again as he squirted toothpaste on his brush and shoved it viscously into his mouth.
"How did you know?" Eliot questioned while he brushed his teeth. Scarlett rose a curious brow. "How did you know I didn't brush my teeth?"
"I'm Magical." She kissed the top of his head, "and don't you forget it."
"How really?" Cammie questioned when Scarlett came into her room to kiss her goodnight.
"His breath smelled like the turkey sandwich he ate for dinner." Scarlett admitted and kissed Cammie goodnight.
"What did she say?" Eliot popped his head in hearing their mom leave.
"It really was complete and total Magic." Cammie told him happily as she plugged in her phone and opened her book.
"Can I read with you?" Eliot questioned and squished in bed next to her his book in hand.
Cameron had went to school and was stared at, glared at, laughed at, she went because she needed to sign off a few forms and she had to be there to do it, they tried to get her out of coming. But they needed her in person.
She saw the people that claimed to be her friends. The guys that claimed to like her and they all laughed or looked at her in horror. She hated every second of it. Go to class, finish your finals stop looking at me, she demanded silently. Scarlett couldn't help but think that maybe they wouldn't have known it was Cammie if Scarlett wasn't there. Cammie's face was distorted, she could have been anyone. Although their school wasn't that large so most people knew about the girl that dropped out due to some mysterious injury. But maybe if Scarlett wasn't there Cammie could hide her identity.
"Hey," Colton said once he figured out what the ruckus was about. "What's going on?"
"Cammie is a freak now, look at her face." Jackson said pointing at her, he had seen her previously but had forgotten exactly how bad she looked now. His group laughed, Colton moved quickly away from them and towards Cammie.
"Cammie, Cammie," he called she turned her head down not wanting to see anyone. She got to the principal's office and even he couldn't give her a straight look, he averted his eyes as well turning towards his next class, was she embarrassed of him, or just embarrassed?
Cammie's breathing heavied as she pulled her hood over her head trying to block out everyone. But it didn't work.
"Wow," a preppy, nasally voice came closer to Cammie and Scarlett considered body checking anyone that even looked at Cammie the wrong way. "Cameron Brooks?" The girl questioned, Cammie turned further away hoping the principal would see her now, let her get this over with so she could hide in her room forever. "It is you right Cammie?" She pushed on. Cammie turned slightly and Kathleen's face dropped in horror then a grin smeared across her face. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but I think you should be getting to class." Scarlett put an arm out hoping to guide Cameron's bully out of her line of sight, but Kathleen pushed past Scarlett.
"Wow, I thought you were dead. Or moved. I heard the rumors, but I couldn't picture it. Fiona said you were screwed up, but this." She raised a hand waving it in front of Cammie's face. "This is precious." Kathleen took out her phone to take a picture, but Scarlett moved in front of Cammie blocking her view.
"I think you should leave. Now." Scarlett said pushing Kathleen's phone down.
"What are you going to do?" Kathleen questioned, a heard of people started to form outside the office doors. Scarlett wanted to punch this little brat, but what example would she set for her family if she did that? A bad one.
"Cameron Brooks, step on into my office please." The principal as if on cue and Cammie ran into the office hiding her face as best she could as she moved.
Scarlett opened her mouth to speak, but looked to the door where the principal was standing. She tugged on a smile and turned, her purse hitting Kathleen's phone, knocking it out of her hands and to the ground in the process.
"Sorry for all this, I didn't realize how... extensive you're injuries were." He said when Scarlett sat down.
"Yeah well I told you it was bad and I didn't want to be here." Cammie said bitterly pulling her hood down revealing the entirety of her bubble gum face. "So let's just get this over with, where are the papers I need to sign?" He slide the papers across the table, successfully avoiding Cammie's glare as he picked a pen from his mug and held it out for her. He pointed at the spots she needed to sign.
"You can also pick up the things from your locker if you haven't already." He said once Cammie was done signing and Scarlett put her signature down a few times a well, seeing as though Cammie was a minor.
"I can get it for you." Scarlett said instantly. Cammie nodded sliding the papers across the table, he looked over them and nodded.
"I am very proud of all you have accomplished this year and last." He said as they stood up. "You got honors, aced every class, even through your accident you proved that you can do anything."
"Thanks," Cammie said pulling her hood up and preparing for the mass of people outside the door waiting to taunt her. The halls were empty, the people scattered to their finals while she signed papers, it was just her and her mom.
"You want to wait in the car," Scarlett handed over her keys, "and I will get your stuff from your locker, return textbooks and stuff. Or I can come back and do it later if you want to go home?"
"My locker is down that hallway on the left, locker 261. The code is 21 – 18 – 16 – 3." Cammie said as she took the keys, the key chain jingling in her hands. "Thanks mom," she turned to the front doors and marched off, pulling her hood tighter around her face. Cammie hadn't touched her locked since last year, and she never wanted to again.
"21, 18, 16, 3," Scarlett repeated quietly until she got the Cammie's locker. A few textbooks from the previous year's semester that she didn't need, folders and full notebooks, pictures of Cammie smiling with her friends at the movies, concerts, Cammie and Fiona showing off their friendship bracelets from when they were 7. Scarlett pulling the pictures down gently, she didn't know whether to throw them out, give them to Fiona to remind her that her best friend needed her or leave it in a pile on Cammie's dresser and hope they didn't break her.
"Mrs. Brooks..." Colton's shy voice came from down the hall. Scarlett hurried, taking everything in her arms now. "I'm sorry about earlier, I wish I could have helped."
"Cammie is so lucky to have you Colton. So lucky."
"Is Cammie alright?"
"You all right?" Scarlett asked as she started the engine.
"I'll be fine." Cammie smiled to choke the feeling.