Lauren's POV
There was no denying anymore. I had experienced enough Mondays to officially announce that Mondays were dull. Honestly, any day that included wasting seven hours at school was not a good day in my eyes. Of course my day had to start with me trying to push all my books back into the narrow locker. I could list more than a few things that I would change at this school, the damn locker being one of them!
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Alexa walking towards me with graceful steps. As the pretty brunette walked down the hall, all heads were turning to see where the girl was heading this time. It was becoming insane, how interesting they found her and her every move. Most of them had never talked to her and they were still willing to spend their breathing moments curious about the girl.
Not that Alexa seemed to dislike the attention from strangers. Unlike me, she fed off it and was able to ignore it. She met me with her usually broad smile and wrapped her arms around me to hug me.
"Fancy seeing you here, miss." Alexa greeted lightly as she released me from her embrace. "Haven't seen you since the first week of summer. Kind of disappeared on us there. Where did you go?" Alexa asked and flashed me a genuine smile that was impossible to not return.
I closed my locker, a small smile taking over my lips as I recalled the summer. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy spending time with my friends, but lately I had felt more numb than usual. Which was why I had needed to take a few days away from everything and everyone. Without me noticing, a few days quickly turned into a few weeks and abruptly, summer was over.
"Sorry Lex. I spent the time on the field and you know how I get. I forgot the time." I answered honestly, feeling a bit guilty.
"All alone?" Alexa questioned with a hint of worry in her time as she crossed her arms against her chest, looking at me skeptically.
I nodded and sighed, "I needed to practice my shooting without any disruptions or distractions." I shrugged lightly, trying to appease my friend's worrying. "I have missed some of you a lot though." I confessed quickly to try steer the conversation onto another track.
"Some of us," Alexa repeated with a teasing smirk forming, "You better mean me and not that whiny boyfriend of yours. He texted me about you every week during your retreat. Look, Luis might be your boyfriend, but he will never have all of this." Alexa added and ran her hand down her body to amplify her point.
"Definitely missed you the most. Although..." I trailed off and allowed my eyes to roam over her body in an excessive way. "I really don't think I'm missing out on that much."
Instantly, Alexa feigned a gasp and brought her hand to her chest. "Now I have never! How dare you deny the love for your extremely gorgeous, smart and clever bestfriend?"
Laughing at her overly dramatic response, I gave her a pointy look. "Please tell me you are aware that smart and clever are synonyms?"
Alexa's cheeks immediately tinted a clear color of red before she gathered back her pose, "Whatever smarty-pants. If this is how you are going to treat me I would start watching my back on the field." She threatened jokingly, wiggling her brows.
I laughed at her as I knew she wasn't being serious at all. Although, I didn't doubt I would get a few hard tackles from my bestfriend at the field. It was great actually, having my bestfriend on the team with me.
Suddenly remembering that we were back at school I checked the time on my phone. "Shit, I have to get going. Mr. Smith totally kills me if I start this year by being late." I gulped and placed a friendly kiss on Alexa's cheek before running off.
My thoughts spun wildly on my way. It was the first day of school, and I hadn't managed to memorize my schedule yet, which led to many embaressing approaches at some very wrong rooms. After checking the time again, I groaned in frustration. Mr. Smith would definitely not classify me an honor student after this delay.
Running with no specific aim, I suddenly felt a my head colliding with something hard. Before I could brace myself more, I ended on my back with a sharp pain on my forehead. Instinctivily uttering a few profanities under my breath, I couldn't comprehend what was going on. My head was throbbing intensely while my sight was hazy and I tried to focus again.
All I heard was a tiny voice speaking from above, "Oh my god, I am so sorry." The girl squeaked out in a high-pitched tone, and even in my condition I could hear the evident panic which made me confused.
My forehead was burning uncomfortably, and I was pretty sure it was a bruise on it somewhere. Fortunately, I managed to narrow my eyes at the person standing in front of me and a clear image of my attacker soon became visible.
As soon as I met the warm brown eyes, I felt lost. They were the kind of light brown that reminds of warm melted chocolate, able to sweeten even the bitterest soul. Also, they radiated a rare intensity while at the same time showing fear, giving a vivid image of her emotions. I was simply too intrigued to look away.
The girl who had hit me with her locker door stared at me with her mouth agape, and I was too busy lying dumbfounded on my back to utter a reply. Every attempt at speaking came out as a string of incomprehensible words.
Slowly regaining control over my body, I pushed myself up on my feet.
"A-Are you alright?" The girl stuttered out, but before I had time to respond she corrected herself, "Of course you aren't. I am so sorry." She apologized for the second time and hurriedly averted her bashful gaze down to the floor.
The thumping in my head was starting to ebb off, and I soon realized she looked at me in what could only be explained as true horror. Which was almost ironic, considering she was the one slamming locker doors in people's faces. I couldn't believe it. I was hardly the dangerous one in this situation!
The brown-eyed girl slowly elevated her gaze back up, and my eyes grew wide when I recognized her. How could I have been so stupid? My pulse quickened in beat with my wrecking nerves. "It's fine. Bye." I mumbled out shortly before I ran the other way.
I buzzed mindlessly through the hallway until I managed to stumble into the correct classroom. As expected, the teacher shook his head upon my late entrance and pointed out a seat by the window with an unimpressed mine. Allowing a small sigh of relief to fall from my lips, I sat down in my designated seat. I lifted my hand to let it roam under the beanie I was wearing. A low hiss rolled off my tongue when I touched the small bump on it.
Shit, my soccer coach would not appreciate it if he saw the obvious bruise. He expected us all to be in our best shape, but he would also refuse anyone to play if there was a chance of endangering their health. Still, my mind couldn't ignore a certain pair of shocked brown eyes.
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Camila's POV
"For the last time, Ally - We will be fine." I exhaled heavily. "They won't even notice us if we don't make a big deal out of it"
The blonde looked up at me with watery eyes. They were filled with genuine fear, and it pained me to see her like this. It didn't matter what I said, I knew that it wasn't eliminating the built-up dread.
"Shh... Don't worry about things that aren't bound to happen." I soothed and ran my hand up and down her back comfortingly.
"Maybe you're right... or maybe I should get to class. It lessens the risk of bumping into one of them on my way. Thanks for trying to cheer me up though, Mila." Ally said with a small sigh, offering me a brave smile.
Watching her despondent posture caused my heart to sink in my chest. Ally was my bestfriend and I hated seeing her like this. We had been friends since 3rd grade, when she accidentally spilled milk on my brand new shirt. For some reason, we laughed hysterically at it. Short story - our little laughing session developed into one solid friendship.
Which was easy to understand, considering Ally was one of the kindest girls out there. It was unthinkable that she would end up a target for bullying. None of us were very outgoing or trying to cause any problems. Most of the time, we remained in the background at this school. We tried our best to attend as simple wallflowers.
However, it frustrated me how I wasn't able to do anything about it. I never had been able to stand up to the bullies. Parents always told their children that it was just to speak up, but it didn't take me long to understand that it wasn't as simple as that. Things weren't that easy and bullies were never that reasonable. It seemed like an impossible goal to get immature teenagers to listen.
I shook my head at the way most adults talked about bullying and teasing. And while being distracted by that thought, I suddenly heard a loud dunk that was followed by brutal cursing.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry." I gasped and my voice diminished in volume as the shock of actually hitting somebody washed over me.
Naturally, my heart was beating immensely fast at this point. It felt like someone had stabbed me in the chest with a knife and twisted it around torturously.
Lauren Jauregui was lying on the floor, staring at me groggily. If she hadn't been so intimidating, I would for sure have offered her a helping hand by now. But she was, so I forgot how to be polite.
She got up and while still being in shock, I attempted to get out a few words to save part of my dignity, "A-Are you alright?" Inwardly cursing the stuttering, I quickly corrected myself as I realized the stupidity of the question, "of course not, I am so sorry."
Lauren was obviously still suffering from the head trauma my locker door had infliced on her, because the normally outspoken and eloquent girl didn't manage to return a sharp reply. Perhaps it was because she didn't want to. After all, she hadn't spoken to me before. Which gave me no reason to believe that it would be any different after I almost knocked her out.
Abruptly, flashbacks from the past days where I had spent trying to reassure Ally that there was nothing to worry about when it came to the Populars played in front of my eyes. Basically, I had just made myself into the biggest liar in the world.
Lost in my own thoughts, I somehow forgot Lauren's threatening presence. Her green eyes briefly scanned my face, and my cheeks immediately started to burn. I wasn't used to people staring at me and it was undeniable that Lauren was very attractive. With mystical emerald eyes and long dark hair falling over her shoulders, it wasn't a coincidence that she was on top of the popularity scale. The same scale that Ally and I had always belonged to the bottom of.
Quickly, Lauren spun around and before I could react to anything, she ran off. I slid down the wall of the lockers defeatedly. My heart was hammering in my chest wildly and I was sure I had just ordered my own funeral.
Name: Karla Camila Cabello
Born: 3. March 1997
Date of death: 19. August 2014
Cause of death: LAUREN FREAKING JAUREGUI
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