XXIV.
Lauren stood up, one hand bracing her side. "Alright." She said, grinned down at the three of us with a signature devilish charm. "Who's ready for a little late night adventure with yours truly?"
"So how are we going to go on a late night adventure when we've all been drinking?" I asked, taking a judgemental look at my car keys.
"Shawn took one sip of his orange juice and wrinkled his nose like a kid at the dentist." Lauren teased. "He can drive."
It was true, Shawn's glass had barely been touched.
"Alright, so when we get there how do you assume we're going to get in? There are probably cameras, locked doors, maybe even a security guard or two." I continued, curious as to how many questions I was going to be able to squeeze out of her.
"Oh, all that is child's play" Lauren smirked. "If there's one thing that I've learnt, it's that every building has a weakness, you simply have to find it."
"Simply?" I rolled my eyes. "God you sound like some kind of criminal mastermind."
"Who says I'm not?" Lauren shot me another evil smile. "Come on, everyone in the car."
"Lauren, I have a bad feeling about this." Shawn muttered as he accepted the keys from her and tailed me on the way out of the apartment. "What if we get caught? I'll be grounded for so long that I won't ever be able to see the sun again. And we live in Miami, do you have any idea how hard that's going to be?"
"You won't get caught." Lauren ushered Dinah into a standing position as well, grabbing my jacket and throwing over Shawn and towards me. "And if you do get grounded, then at the very least you'll have some nice sappy country songs written about you."
"Who's gonna write them?" Shawn asked over his shoulder.
Lauren just smiled, glancing behind her. "I will."
Needless to say, half an hour later the four of us were quietly pulling up to the front of what was apparently a school, but looked like a five star resort. Right as Shawn cut the engine, Lauren was outside, heading towards the gate like a cat.
"Man, she really gets down to business huh?" Dinah asked from where the two of us were squished together in the backseat. "Let's go after her."
Shawn and I followed Dinah out of the car, the three of us tiptoeing like meek sheep after Lauren. The girl had stopped a few metres away, and was standing by the large black iron gate, looking up at it with a very analytical expression on her face. "So how are we going to do this?" I asked out into the open,
Lauren turned around. "Which one of the three of you are the stealthiest?" She asked casually.
"Dinah." Shawn and I replied in perfect unison.
"Alright." Lauren turned to Dinah. "You ready?"
Dinah swallowed visibly, nodding as Lauren held out her hand. I watched with a hint of pride as Dinah was gently boosted off her feet, and she swiftly grabbed on to the top of the fence gate, swinging herself over and landing on the other side. Lauren followed, jumping up and floating promptly over the gate to land next to her.
"Keep a lookout you two." The green eyed girl told the two of us. "If you see anyone, then let us know right away, alright?"
I gave Lauren a nod of acknowledgement, and the girls were off.
"Come on." Shawn started back to the car.
"Where are you going?"
"There's no reason why we can't keep a lookout from inside." He shrugged. "If you really want you can stay out here though."
"I'll come with you." I hurried after him, not wanting to be left alone in the dark for longer than ten seconds. Once we were inside, I pushed the passenger seat back, reclining and resting my hands on my stomach.
"All this is pretty crazy huh?" The boy asked idly. I closed my eyes, preferring the dark over the Altima's ceiling.
"Yeah."
"Who knew... that all this time there really was another world alongside ours. With people who have special, magical powers like the ones we see in video games." He shuffled in his seat. "Speaking of video games, the Silent Hill series scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. They still do. I mean, now imagine what this could mean for our future."
"Lauren isn't exactly magical." I countered, blinking and looking over at him. "She's mutated."
"Still." Shawn's deep brown eyes were nearly black in the night. "Consider what that could mean for humans. It could be good or bad, the introduction of higher beings that can control the mundane. What do you think?"
I frowned. "How could something like that be a good thing?"
"Huh?"
"The only thing that comes of people who have power, is conflict." I stated confidently. "It's been proved over and over again, nothing good comes from one person standing above another. That's why a world with only one type of person would be so perfect."
Shawn sighed. "You've always been insightful, haven't you?"
"I try." I rolled onto my side, facing him. "But it's also why you can't tell anyone about Lauren. You have to keep everything you learnt tonight to yourself, no matter how hard it is to keep secrets."
"I know." Shawn leaned back as well. "She told me... Dinah as well. She seemed pretty serious about it."
There was a moment of tense silence between us, and I figured now was a better time than any to bring up what had been probing at my brain. "Hey Shawn?"
"What's up?"
"We haven't really discussed... you know, what you told me last night."
Shawn blew out a small breath. "I know."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really. Do you?"
"No... but I also don't think we should leave it hanging. Especially considering I'm leaving town soon." I replied.
"Alright, look." Shawn twisted his body so he was facing me head on. "I know what I said probably freaked you out. But that's not what I meant to do. I just wanted to tell you because I hate when we keep things bottled up with each other. There's never really been a time where I haven't been able to tell you what's on my mind, and I didn't want that to start now."
I hit the lever on my seat and sat up straight, turning my body to face him. "You didn't freak me out." I assured him. "It was just... startling, that's all. I thought you told me that you wouldn't ever have feelings for me? Didn't I ask you that straight up a month ago?"
"Yeah." Shawn shrugged. "I lied. I wasn't sure what I was feeling then, and even now it's a little fuzzy."
I faced forward and closed my eyes, trying to formulate a response in my head before it tumbled from my lips.
"Look." Shawn placed his hand on any arm. "I love you, and I want to see you happy more than anything else. I want to protect you, and I want to watch you laugh, and smile, and write, and just do all the things you love without having to worry about what people think of you."
I snapped my lips shut, resorting to listening to his voice.
"Its going to hurt me like hell, but if leaving Miami for a while is what you need to do, then I want you to do it. And for me, seeing you with Lauren is like waking up on Christmas morning."
"It is?" I released a breath, the initial stress from the prospect of having this conversation slowly fading away. "Really?"
Shawn nodded. "I just want to be a part of your life Camila... maybe the feelings I have aren't true love more than they are incredibly strong platonic love. Maybe it's just love that only I can understand...maybe it's love that nobody can understand. All I know is that I want to see you and Lauren together, way more than I want to see you and I together."
His words touched me. There wasn't much I could say past that. I managed to stammer out his name once or twice, breath caught tight in my throat.
"You don't have to say anything." The boy smiled, reassuring me along with the thoughts that I assumed had only been internal. "Just promise me that we'll get to spend the rest of our lives together. That you're not going to forget me when you delve into this world of mutants and masterminds."
"I promise." I lifted my body across the gear shift right as he pushed his own seat back. I curled into a ball, resting against his chest and pressing my nose to the hollow of his neck. It was familiar, easy, and reminded me strongly of the many times I had been left heartbroken and angry over boys.
With Shawn always came memories. Simply by being alone with him I found I could recall all the times back in elementary school when girls would tease me because my best friend was a boy. All the times in middle school when rumours of the two of us dating would circle the school and spread like wildfire. All the times in our junior year when every kid in our grade warned Shawn that all I was going to do was lure him into a false sense of security, then break his heart. The number of rumours the two of us fought through were immeasurable.
I could remember the time he had stood over the boy who broke my heart and crushed his face into the ground, spitting insults and expletives until I had to wrench him off on my own. I recalled having to hold him back, and tell him over and over to stop before he ended up putting the bastard in the hospital. Or worse. From that day forward I had the pleasure of watching Shawn mature in more ways than one, his drive being to destroy any guy that decided to screw me over again.
Lying in the darkness, I went back to the day my mother died, and how Shawn was the only other person my Dad would let in the room. I remember watching her speak to him in hushed tones, her hand pressed to his cheek as if he was the son she never had. I had always asked what it was she said, but he never told me.
Shawn's voice was soft. "My feelings don't really matter... you love her, and what kind of friend would I be if I told you that was wrong?"
The next thing I knew, there were tears rolling down my cheeks, and I was clutching his body with much greater force than before. Shifting under me, Shawn reached around to brush the moisture away from my face. His body language spoke miles to his ability to understand just what I was thinking.
"It's okay." He murmured, his voice level. He had always been the strong, balanced force that my own personality lacked so badly.
"I'm sorry." I muttered, wiping my eyes. "I don't know what happened."
"Don't be." Shawn placed his hand on my head and ruffled at my hair affectionately, a gesture that he had done for the first time not long after we met in kindergarten. "Lauren and Dinah will be back soon. We should get ready to bolt out of here."
"Do you think they got what they were looking for?"
The boy grinned. "Knowing those two, they probably got that and more."
Right on cue, the patter of feet outside had us both peering out the back window. As expected, Lauren and Dinah were dashing towards the car, both girls crashing into the backseat and slamming the doors behind them.
"Drive." Dinah commanded, whacking Shawn on the shoulder. I quickly hopped back over the gear and grabbed my seatbelt.
"What's going on? What did you guys do?" He asked, turning behind him.
"Shawn, drive!" Lauren demanded, louder this time. "As someone who's partaken in many movie style chase scenes, my advice is flee now, questions later!"
The boy rolled his eyes, jamming the key into the ignition and hitting the gas. The car lurched forward, and just like that we had taken to the highway once again.
"We got so close." Dinah explained. "It was actually pretty easy to get inside, turns out rooftop hatches don't have as much security attached to them as front entrances."
"Anyway, we got into the school and up to the main office right before the security guard. But it all kinda fell apart when Yosemite Sam over here didn't want to spend all night there trying all ten trillion options." Lauren continued, lifting her chin over at Dinah.
"Ten trillion Lauren." Dinah muttered. "We would have been there for the next week. There isn't nearly enough alcohol in my body to pull something like that off."
"So did you guys walk away with anything?" I asked, turning my body so I was looking at them both. "Or was this just a big waste of our time?"
"Lauren got something." Dinah smirked. "Show her."
Between the girl's index and middle finger sat a card, no larger than a typical room key or credit card. It was blue and gold with a silver stripe on one side, and the standard barcode on the other.
"What is that?"
"A faculty master key." The girl's green eyes sparkled. "This lets us into every other door in the school, so when we come back tomorrow we can just waltz in without anyone suspecting a thing." Her voice trailed off when she looked at me. "Are you okay Camz?"
"Hm?" I blinked. "Oh yeah, it's nothing. Sorry."
"You sure?" Lauren had clearly caught on to the tear stains on my cheeks and the concern had set in.
"Yeah." I brushed her off with a knowing look, and she receded back into her seat. "So that means we're going to be back here?"
"You betcha."
***
The following day, Lauren and I decided that it was best we go on our own to the school, seeing as Dinah had already gotten a lay of the land and Shawn probably wouldn't even have gotten through the front gate.
The place had been glamorous at night, and even more so during the day. Lauren and I had successfully used the key card she stole to enter the building and navigate through crowded hallways and filled classrooms until we sought out the main office. Once inside, I was only given five seconds to figure out what her plan was before Lauren sauntered up to the desk and addressed the scary looking secretary like she had nothing to lose.
"Hi. I'm wondering if you could let me know if the field hockey team is practicing right now?"
The woman behind the desk lowered her glasses at Lauren. "May I ask why?"
"We're friends of one of the girls on the team." She lied.
"If you'll let me know which girl, I can call her down to the office."
"Oh no, we've been out of the country for quite some time, and we'd actually like to surprise her. Would that be okay?"
The woman tapped her chin for a moment, eying Lauren up and down before moving to me. "Are the two of you students?"
"Yeah." I piped up. "I got to West Valley. I have my ID here somewhere if you'd like to see it." I began to fish around my jacket pockets, pulling out a lanyard that held a single card.
The woman accepted it, nodding at the official insignia and passing it back. "And your friend here?"
"Oh, she forgot hers on the plane. We're still waiting to see if the lost baggage system will be able to find it, but knowing them it's probably not going to happen." I motioned over at Lauren with my chin. "She can be a klutz sometimes."
"That's me." Lauren smirked, shrugging her shoulders in an over exaggerated motion. "A klutz."
"Oh well, it happens to all of us." The woman waved us off. "Go ahead ladies, the central field is just down the hall to the right and though the double doors. I'm not sure what the field hockey schedule is, but if they're practicing right now they'll be out there. Just don't cause any trouble now."
"We won't." I smiled at her as Lauren turned to leave. "Thanks very much!"
Through said double doors was a large running track and football field made from red gravel and artificial turf. The two of us headed out, checking around for signs of the girl while keeping an eye on the suspicious onlookers that sat on the bleachers. It was clear that despite being granted direct entry, neither of us really looked like we belonged.
"Wow." I remarked. "This school has a huge field, a pool in its front yard and its very own baking lab? On any normal day, you're lucky if the kids at my school don't come to school baked."
"Very classy." Lauren grinned, nudging my shoulder playfully. "I will admit though, this is a nice place."
"Hey." I shimmied closer to her. "The others were doing a little info digging last night about this place. Did you know that there's a rumour floating around that in the entire school, there's only one lesbian?"
"Wow." Lauren nodded. "Lucky girl."
I laughed, sparking the attention of the soccer team who were partaking in a nearby drill. They gave the two of us odd looks, but at the screech of a whistle, quickly went back to running around in circles. Lauren grabbed my hand as we headed further out into the field.
"Excuse me!" A voice from the left startled us both. "Could you toss that ball back over here?"
I looked over to see a small white softball rolling towards us, coming to a slow stop atop the artificial grass. Lauren stepped in front of me and grabbed it, swiftly tossing it back in the direction of the team. I watched as the ball moved in a perfect arc, sailing across the green and landing in the girl's mitt. She waved in thanks, and Lauren nodded.
"That was awesome." I complimented, taking her hand back in mine. "You'd be killer on the baseball diamond."
"Did you ever play any sports in school?" The girl asked, glancing at me as we continued.
"I was on the tennis team for about two weeks in freshman year." I replied. "But the coach kinda got tired of me and kicked me off."
Lauren frowned. "They can just do that?"
"They can when you crack Shannon Benson's braces because you can't aim right." I muttered. "I still swear to this day that she stepped in the way on purpose. She always hated me..."
"Yeah, as if." Lauren gave my hand a squeeze. "Like anyone could hate that adorable face."
"Trust me." I said, shooting her a sidelong glance of annoyance. "I made some pretty serious enemies over the last few years. Most of them were girls. I can name at least five people who got unnecessarily angry at me because they thought I was trying to steal their boyfriends."
"You tried to steal other girl's boyfriends?"
"Oh please." I rolled my eyes. "If I wanted that mouth breathing neanderthal that Kimmy West was dating back in sophomore year then I could have gotten him with my hands tied behind my back." I grinned at her. "And trust me, watching that guy try to unhook her bra at a party was like asking a ten year old to sit in the corner of a circular room."
"Savage." Lauren laughed, squeezing my hand again. "How many guys have you actually gone out with?"
"Three." I shrugged. "I dated one because he could sing, and when I say sing I mean the cracked caterwauling that only pre-pubescent boys are capable of. I went out with the other because he wouldn't leave me alone. It was more of a fling than a relationship, and he broke it off right when he realized how heartless I was."
"And the third?"
"The third was actually a legitimate boyfriend. He was sweet, and we dated for about a year before realizing that we wanted different things."
"Like?"
"Like he wanted to nail the captain of the cheerleading team in his neighbour's hot tub, and I wanted a guy who didn't cheat."
Lauren draped her arm over my shoulder. "Alright, now how many girls have you been out with?"
"One." I smirked at her. "And it was only because I found her lost in the rain all alone, and she just begged me to take her in. She was super needy, and usually I'm not into that kind of thing but she had nice eyes, and I'm definitely into that."
"You little..." Lauren bit her lip, her hand drifting down from my shoulder to my waist, fingers pressing into my side. I screeched, darting away from her and further down the field. Lauren, who was naturally much faster was behind me in seconds.
"She was such a pain in the ass, always following me around like a puppy and begging for affection. I figured I might as well give it to her." I teased as Lauren brought her arms around my waist and ran her fingers underneath the hem of my shirt.
"Yeah? And now what do you think of her?"
"I think..." I grinned, pushing her hands away and gripping her wrists. "That she could drop kick any boy that comes within ten feet of me... and that I'm with the right person now... and that I'm happy."
"You are?" Lauren's eyes softened. "Really?"
"Really." I held myself back from kissing her, knowing we were the object of many young high schoolers attention. "You know, I bet that if you were on the high school scene, you would have seriously broken some hearts as well."
"You think?"
"With your ability to flirt combined with those green eyes?" I looked up at her, examining the way her irises reflected the sun and became even brighter. "Hell yeah. All my prom date talked about that night was you."
Less than a second later, a ball the size of a small orange came sailing in our direction far faster than my reflexes could handle. Lauren however, whose senses were clearly far greater than my own stepped in front of me at the sight of it and in a small, subtle shift of air kept the ball from knocking me out.
"That's mine!" A female voice in front of us called out. "Could you throw it back?"
Lauren and I looked up to see a a girl clearly younger than the two of us with her long brown hair tied into a neat ponytail. She was dressed in a blue gold jersey and a short pleated skirt, and a layer of soft light brown freckles were dashed over the tops of her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.
This was definitely the girl we were looking for.
Lauren stopped moving, causing me to do the same. With a quick glance in her direction, I noticed the she had turned a sickly shade of white. Letting go of the girl's hand, I knelt down and grabbed the ball, heading over towards the brown haired stranger.
"Hi." I handed the field hockey ball out. "I'm Camila. What's your name?"
"Sorry, I've only got half an hour of field time alone before the preschool t-ball team comes out here and takes over. They're cute, but a real pain in the ass."
I blinked. "Alright... nice to meet you too."
"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude." The girl turned around and picked up a mid length wooden stick from the grass and propped its against the ground. "It's just that this is a closed practice. If you want to get some time there's a signup sheet in the equipment room."
"Oh no, it's okay. Do you mind if my friend and I just watch for a bit?" I asked, gesturing over to where Lauren was still standing a few feet away and shuffling nervously on her feet.
The girl frowned. "You guys want to watch? Why?"
"Um... we really like field hockey and are looking to learn from the best?"
"Fine." The girl shrugged. "If you really insist on staying just do it quietly from over there." She pointed at the bleachers.
"Got it." I motioned for Lauren to follow, and the two of us traversed over to climb the bleachers and sit on the edge. The girl at my side hadn't said a word since the field hockey ball had nearly killed me, and I wasn't going to push her to.
Instead, I pulled my phone out and did a whirlwind search of the rules of field hockey, hoping that I would have more to say the next time I spoke to this rather sassy young high-schooler. Turns out the sport was considerably more mundane than I had hoped. It was really just ice hockey without the ice. Five or so minutes passed by, and I got up, hopping over the bleacher barricade and landing down on the turf. The girl didn't notice at first, so I pranced over and tried to spark a small conversation.
"So, can you Indian dribble?"
The girl took a powerful swing at another ball, and I watched as it went sailing through the air, landing clean between two goal posts a good distance away. Turning, the girl looked at me and frowned. "Can I what?"
"Is that not a field hockey thing?" I looked at my phone. "I must have read it wrong."
With a sigh, the girl tossed her stick down and crossed her arms. "Alright, what exactly do you want?"
"Your name."
"Why?"
"Um..." I looked back at Lauren on the bleachers, who was shyly playing with her fingers. "We were wondering... if maybe you recognized this."
Going into my back pocket, I pulled out the folded photo that I had bought along and handed it over. The girl took it, unfolding the crumpled page and peering at the picture. I had to have waited the longest five seconds of my life before she looked up.
"Where did you get this from?"
"It was given to us." I shrugged.
The girl handed the picture back. "My family hasn't looked like this in years. I don't know who could have possibly had this picture to give to you."
"So it is your family."
"Yeah." The girl knelt down and picked up her hockey stick again. "I'm not going to take it, but if you want you could drop by some time and give it back to my dad, then you can. You'll have to be ready with an explanation as to why you have it though... he get's pretty angsty about that kind of stuff."
I frowned. "Why won't you take it?"
"Because whenever we bring up something about my mom, he gets angry." The girl reached down again and fished out another ball. "That's her in the picture. Did I not just say that?"
I wondered how much information I was going to be able to pull out of this girl before she started questioning my sanity. It couldn't have been much more.
"Why does he get angry?"
"Mom vanished not long after the picture was taken." She replied, dropping the ball to the ground and lining up her shot. Swinging back, the ball went flying, hitting the faraway net with an incredible force. "We haven't seen her since; we assume she isn't coming back."
"Oh." I looked down at the picture again, watching the pieces slowly begin to fall into place. "Well I'm sorry about that."
"Don't be." The girl took another perfectly aimed shot. "Listen. If you want to drop by my place and give my father that picture, then feel free to." She crouched down and revealed a sharpie wedged in the side of her running shoe. Taking my arm, the girl scrawled down a messy address, capping the pen and returning it to her shoe.
"Why do you keep a sharpie in your shoe?"
"The girls on the team are responsible for labelling the equipment so other teams don't try and snatch it up, it's just easier this way." She said with a nonchalant shrug. "When you drop by, ask for Taylor."
"Taylor?" I returned the photo to my back pocket. "Is that you?"
"Yeah." The girl tightened her ponytail and turned away from me, busying herself by lining up yet another swing. "Taylor Jauregui. And if I'm not home at the time then you'll have to come back later."
My blood ran cold. "Jauregui?"
"Yeah." The girl fished another ball out of the bin at her side. "With the H sound that's actually a J. We're Cuban."
"Cuban?" I blinked a few times, my head whirling in unadulterated confusion.
"Yeah. Cuban." Taylor looked me up and down. "Is that like... foreign to you or something? You look pretty Cuban. So does your friend over there."
"Um. Yeah, no sorry." I shook my head. "Thanks Taylor, I'll let you get back to your practice."
We exchanged a polite nod, and I hurried back to Lauren. Without a word, I grabbed her arm and give her a hearty yank, the two of us heading up the stairs and along the top of the bleachers until we reached the building once more. Scanning the key card, we weaved back through the school and out to the car.
"So?" Lauren asked, her voice breathless as she got behind the wheel and I slid into the passenger seat. "What's the deal?"
"How did you get your last name again?" I asked, peering over at her. "Just out of curiosity."
"Fledglings don't have last names." Lauren replied. "In fact the only reason why they have first names is because nurses need a way to address us that's just a little more humane than a three digit number. Clara instructed me to use hers as my own if I ever needed to. I didn't understand why then, but when I woke up alone in the middle of Pennsylvania it came in handy."
"Well." I looked down at my forearm, which was now half covered in Taylor's address. "I think we've found the original Jauregui family. Now we're going to need to pay them a little visit."
***
A/N: Not much to say here, thanks for reading and I hope everybody's having a lovely day 😊 I really need to start updating faster or this fic is going to last past Christmas...