"Sorry I'm late! I'm new and didn't know where to go," Camila said out of breath from jogging.
"That's perfectly fine. You must be Camilla Cabello right?" Mr. McGrath asked pronouncing her name incorrectly.
"CamEEla CabeYo actually but it's okay."
"Oh, sorry," he chuckled, "everyone this is CamEEla CabeYo. A senior transferring all the way from California and since this is her first day at South Miami, please make her feel welcome. You can have a seat anywhere you like, miss," the teacher smiled.
"Thank you," Camila sat down shyly avoiding eye contact with her peers.
Lauren was internally freaking out. It was her. Camila was actually at her school. This year was going to be a lot more interesting. Now, she just needed to go and talk to her even though she was sweating just at the sight of her. She hasn't seen or spoken to the other actress in almost four weeks, what was she supposed to say? What if she didn't want to talk to her? Could that be the reason why she hadn't called or texted back? When Camila found out she would be going to the same school as Lauren why didn't she let her know? Lauren decided to wait till the end of homeroom to make her move. Right when the bell rang, Camila quickly grabbed her stuff and made her way out of the room. Before she could get too far away, Lauren grabbed the younger girl's shoulder turning her around.
"Hey, you!" Lauren grinned happily meeting the chocolate orbs.
"Lauren! Oh my God, hey! I was wondering when I was going to see you around," Camila said just as happy to see the other girl.
"Yeah, I didn't know you were coming to South Miami. You should've let me know. I tried texting you a few times."
"I know but the decision was so last minute and I guess I wanted to surprise you," Camila said shyly. She was so cute, Lauren thought.
"Oh, so how did your parents decide to send you here?" Lauren asked curiously.
"Well, I had to convince them. They're pretty strict and conservative so they wanted me to go to a Catholic school but I begged them to let me come here. I told them that this school has a great theater program and the other school, I think La Salle? didn't and that worked I guess. I can only go here if I do theater since they want me to get a scholarship to a performing arts college."
"Oh cool I could have gone to La Salle too or Carrollton but this school has the best performing arts. So, you'll be doing the shows here?" Lauren questioned glumly.
"Yeah looks like it. And even if I wasn't forced to do the shows here, I would do them anyway. I love the theater and like you said, this school has a great company."
"It does. They do awesome shows and have really talented members. I'll definitely come and see you," Lauren said sadly because she never got to be apart of the school's theater company and with Camila joining, it made her even more upset.
"Wait, you're not doing the shows?" Camila asked surprised.
"Unfortunately not," Lauren sulked, "I wish but I'm on the dance team and that takes up too much of my time to do a production."
Camila frowned. "Oh, that's too bad. I was looking forward to doing one with you again. But I guess if you're on the dance team then I'll come watch your shows...or competitions...or whatever you do," she giggled.
"Yeah thanks," Lauren chuckled still a little upset.
As the rest of the day passed by, Lauren and Camila found out that they had AP Calculus, AP English, and Acting 4 which was an advanced senior class. Both of them were very smart, taking as many AP courses as they could even though they were planning on going to performing arts schools. NYU was academically challenging so they needed to take advanced classes earning good grades.
Lauren introduced Camila to her friends at lunch as well. At the table sat Normani, Dinah, Ally, Shawn and Justin. They were all part of the dance team too, excluding the boys. Shawn and Justin met the girls because they were in a musical and had to get tap dancing lessons from some of the members of the dance team. Although Lauren already knew the boys from their acting class, Normani, Dinah, and Ally also became friends with them after teaching them.
"It's so cool how almost everyone in this school is into performing arts," Camila said as the group ate their lunch.
"Yeah, there's a lot more acting and singing clubs than sports clubs," Ally smiled before biting into her turkey sandwich.
"Since there are barely any people in sports, the school board is thinking about making South Miami a performing arts school. It basically is one anyway when there are five choirs, four bands, a couple dance classes, songwriting, musical theater, and a lot of different types of music and acting classes. All which I took," Lauren stated proudly.
"Wow! That's all here? Why didn't I move here freshman year?" Camila asked shocked at what this amazing school offers. At her old school, Camila was only able to take choir and two acting classes. She participated in her school's musicals as well as community theater since the school's productions weren't enough.
"It's so great here. I'm definitely going to miss it but it's prepared me for what I want to do professionally," said Lauren.
Later in the day was Lauren and Camila's Acting 4 class which was only for seniors who took the prerequisites. Lauren loved taking acting because it was the only acting she could do during the school year. Also, most of the theater company were in the classes too so she could bond with them. The teacher and director of the company, Mrs. Diggins, made the students who were in the cast of the production at the time spend almost all their class time rehearsing or running lines with each other. The students who were not in the production worked on improvisation, scenes, and other exercises. The class was basically split in two.
Lauren who was always on the side of the non cast people envied the other side who were rehearsing. She longed to be in their shoes working on whatever play or musical they were doing. If she had it her way she would be in all the productions year round, the fall play, the winter musical, and the spring one-act festival where the company is divided into groups and they would compete against each other in one-act plays.
"Hello, seniors! Welcome to Acting 4. I'm very excited for this year's class because you guys are all very talented and I know you will do outstanding using everything you've learned in the previous classes into your performances," Mrs. Diggins exclaimed excitedly. "Now, as you know from the classes before, this class will be split into two sides where one side will be the cast of the company's show and the other side will be the students not participating in the company's shows. However, this year will be a bit more challenging as I will put the cast side to the test with whatever show is rehearsed. This means there will be many more exercises such as story-line analysis, character development, setting the scene, and even line reading quizzes."
The side that usually is the cast loudly groaned. Lauren scoffed because she's had to do that for the past three years.
"Since there is no cast currently, I want everyone to pair up no matter what side you're typically on and do the exercises that are listed on the board," Mrs. Diggins exclaimed, "But remember auditions for the fall play are a week from today!"
Lauren sighed as usual when she heard news about the productions. It saddened her knowing that she'll never be apart of not even one of the school's shows. Sometimes she wished she never joined the dance team just so she can be part of the company. It's too late now, she's in too deep with the team.
"Hey, wanna be partners?" Camila asked excitedly.
"Duh," Lauren grinned. The two of them started working on the assigned exercises but ended up basically talking for the rest of the class.
" So, are you going to audition next week?" Lauren asked Camila as they were doing body warm-ups.
"Well, I have to remember? I like musicals more though. They're a lot more over the top and you get to sing which just makes it better overall."
"I agree. Musical theater is a lot more fun. It's singing, acting, and dancing all in one. Those are the three things that I love to do most so it's perfect."
Camila smiled as she was charmed by the brunette. She thought she was so beautiful by the way her dark hair falls past her shoulders, her gorgeous smile, and best of all her piercing yet dreamy green eyes. Camila also had a crush on the other actress ever since Chicago and she doesn't think it's stopped especially not now since they were attending the same school. Lauren had been nothing but sweet to her ever since they met and that really meant a lot to the brunette since she never had many good friends before.
The day came to an end and Lauren and Camila said their goodbye's both excited that they would see each other again tomorrow.
"You should text me this time so I know what's going on with you," Lauren laughed.
"Only if you reply and we have a good conversation," Camila responded giggly.
"I am in fact a very good texter."
"We'll see, Jauregui," Camila joked.