Camila's POV:
***Two years ago***
It was another Friday night I planned to spend on Tumblr. I wasn't a big party girl and I felt safe between the four walls of my room. I didn't mind being such an outsider, in fact I kind of liked it, but my mom constantly reminded me I was already fifteen and I would have to leave my house and socialize eventually. I didn't really get the point of spending my night in a place full of drunk strangers who have no interest in getting to know me, but my mom was probably right. That night I was just laying on my bed going down my dashboard when I heard my mom's voice. "Camila! Marielle is here to see you!" She yelled from the kitchen and I was happy to see one of my closest friends. She wasn't keen on big parties either and we could just spend the night watching a movie or something. "Hey Kaks, what's up?" She said sitting on my bed. "You know, the usual. Harry doesn't want our relationship to go public yet, but I respect his decision." I said giggling and she rolled her eyes. "So I found this new movie, I think you'll like it." I started saying but she interrupted me. "I have a better idea. My cousin invited us to this party and everyone will be there." She said excitedly. "Who's everyone?" I asked her a little skeptical. "It's in the house of some dumb chick from Carrollton, but her parents are out of town so its going to be pretty insane." She said with a huge smile on her face. "Do we even know who she is? I'm not about to crash some random girl's house." I answered and Marielle chuckled. "Its okay, its going to be huge and no one is formally invited anyway. Her name is Lauren something, her last name was weird." She added. "I don't know, I don't really like big parties." I told her frowning. "Come on, its going to be fun! Be a freaking teenager for once in your life! Maybe you'll even meet this cute blogger guy who loves to read and listens to The XX." She said poking my arm with her elbow. The funny thing is I did in fact meet a cute blogger who reads and listens to The XX, it just wasn't a guy. But I haven't gotten to that part yet. "Alright, alright, I'll go with you. But if its totally lame we'll leave, okay?" I said putting my laptop away. "Awesome! Get ready and I'll pick you up in like an hour." Marielle said running excitedly out of my room.
I didn't even know what to wear, I had never been to a party like this before and I was nervous as hell to say the least. Specially considering the fact that private school kids were stuck up and annoying as fuck. But most people my age enjoyed parties, why wouldn't I? I took a short shower and went to my closet hoping to find some decent clothes. What do people wear to this kind of things anyway? I had only seen this kind of parties in movies. I ended up putting on a pair of black skinny jeans, my Converse and a white crop top that showed a little bit of skin. I let my wavy hair down before putting on one of my signature bows in front of my bathroom mirror. Only then I realized I had never really done my makeup myself, so I decided to just put on some eyeliner, mascara, pink lip stick, done. And I didn't look nearly as horrible as I thought I would. Since it didn't take me too long to get ready I had some time to go on Tumblr before Marielle and her cousin came to pick me out. I decided I had to do some research about this Lauren girl just to make sure she's not a psychotic killer, but since I didn't know her last name I couldn't find her anywhere, and Marielle was already outside my house before I could use my stalker abilities to find her. I put on some perfume, grabbed my phone and said goodbye to my mom. "Take care, okay? And have fun!" She said kissing my cheek. "Bye mom, I'll come home early." I assured her before closing the front door behind me. Of course at that time I didn't know I would actually end up getting home at 5:30 am, but I haven't gotten to that part either.
I sat on the back of Marielle's cousin, Jeremy's car. "Hey, I'm so happy you're coming with us!" She squealed excitedly. "Yeah, so am I!" I answered trying to hide my obvious nervousness. "Well you look hot!" She added making me blush. "Thank you! So do you know this girl?" I asked Jeremy as he started driving us to the wealthiest part of Miami. "Lauren? Yeah, I went to baseball camp with her boyfriend Paul, he's a chill dude. And she's, ufff, amazingly hot." He said chuckling as Marielle slapped his arm. "Apparently her parents are in Europe and she has the house to herself, so expect a lot of alcohol and sex ladies." He added and Marielle slapped his arm once more. "Jer stop it! You're gross!" She said rolling her eyes. "I'm just warning you, try to stay our of trouble, guys are going to be all over you girls." He said looking at me through the rearview mirror. "We'll be fine, its just a bunch of stuck up boys. We can handle them." I assured him with a grin. But in reality, deep inside, I was so scared! I had never been with a group of drunk people, I had never even had a drink myself, so this was all new to me. After driving for about twenty minutes, in which I could barely breathe, Jeremy parked in front of a huge house with at least a hundred cars parked around it. "Wow this is..." I started saying with my eyes wide open. "Welcome to the Jauregui's place ladies." Jeremy finished my sentence getting out of his car and we did the same. "This place is huge!" Marielle said in awe as we approached the wooden front door. Jeremy knocked a few times until a tall cute guy opened the door. "My man! How are you?" The guy said hugging Jeremy. "Hey Paul, this is my cousin Marielle and her friend Camila." Jeremy said introducing us. "Its nice to meet you girls, please come in." He said with his beautiful eyes set on me. "So where's Lauren?" Jeremy asked as Paul followed us to the kitchen. "Who knows man? Probably getting high with Alexa and Vero somewhere. The last time I saw her she was pretty hammered." He answered handing me a beer. "Umm no thanks." I said softly and a grin formed in his mouth. "Don't you drink, Camila?" Paul asked me. "Umm I mean yeah but I'm not thirsty." I said and looking back that was probably one of the most embarrassing things I've said. Jeremy and Marielle accepted the cold beverage, but I still felt Paul's eyes set on me. "Anyways I should probably find Lauren before she dies from alcohol poisoning." He said chuckling. "It was nice to meet you. I'll be around if you change your mind about that beer." Paul added winking at me and then walked out of the kitchen. "Is it just me or was he flirting with me?" I asked my friends as soon as we're alone again. "Yeah, that's Paul. He flirts with everyone and Lauren is most of the times too drunk to care." Jeremy answered my doubt. "Well sucks to be her." I added biting my lip. For some reason I really wanted to meet the apparently stunning girl. Her boyfriend seemed like an ass, so she probably was just an airhead bitch who put up with his shit because she did worse. I tended to do that all the time, over analyze people and find their flaws just to feel better about myself. Being the insecure fifteen year old girl that I was, the fact that other people weren't perfect either was the only thing that kept me from hating myself too much. But that night I realized Lauren Jauregui was indeed perfect.
I found myself wandering around the huge house by myself. At some point Marielle and Jeremy had decided to go dancing, which wasn't really appealing to me. So I decided to stay by myself and find something fun to do. I started walking down the hallways of the huge house filled with people. The smell of alcohol and smoke made me a little dizzy, but I managed to get through. I looked at the pictures hanging on the white walls. A picture of who I assumed were Lauren's parents on their wedding day, the same adults holding a baby, a teenage boy with a skateboard, a young girl with amazingly green eyes laughing, and then one of the whole family. I supposed Lauren was the oldest, but she could've been the other girl for all I knew. They were both beautiful, no doubt about that. I kept walking until I got to a couple of white doors. The first had a black sign with the name Chris written in fiery red letters, the second one said Taylor in a cursive pink font, and the last one had big bright green letters that spelt Lauren. Her name made my back tingle for some reason. I approached the last door and let my fingers trace the letters pasted to the door. "Who's there?" I heard a husky voice behind me making me jump. I turned around and my eyes met hers for the first time. The same amazingly green eyes I had seen on the picture were now set on mine. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but do I know you?" She asked walking closer to me, and the smell of alcohol became more evident with every step she took. "Umm not really." I said trying to hide how nervous she actually made me. She wore a tight leather skirt which showed a whole lot of her long legs, a black shirt and super high heels she could barely walk in because of the amount of alcohol she seemed to have in her system. "Do you go to my school?" She asked running her fingers through her silky brown locks. "No, I don't." I stuttered because of the intimidating girl who looked like a woman. The redness in her eyes accentuated the emerald green of her orbs. She was the most perfect human being I had ever laid eyes on. "Lauren come on! We're waiting for you." Another girl, who was also clearly intoxicated, appeared and wrapped her arms around the green eyed girl, who now I knew for sure was Lauren. "Wait, who's her?" Lauren's friend asked and I could feel two pairs of eyes staring me down. "That's what I'm trying to find out." Lauren answered and I had to look at the ground to avoid blushing. "Jeremy Guzman invited me." I said avoiding the girls' gaze. "Oh, isn't that Paul's poor friend from public school?" The girl said making Lauren frown. "Vero shut up! Don't be a bitch." She said getting out of her friend's embrace. "I should probably get going." I said awkwardly and tried to make my way down the hallway, but Lauren stopped me. "Wait, I'm sorry about her, she's wasted." She told me pointing at Vero, who was now sitting on the floor. "Its okay, really." I answered trying not to look into her mesmerizing eyes, but it was impossible. "We're not all like her." She assured with a smile. And I thought she couldn't get any more perfect before she flashed her white teeth. " I know you aren't." I answered and walked away from her. No one had taken my breath like that, ever. Its like she knew exactly how to look at me to make me weak. "Hey I didn't catch your name!" I heard her yell at me but I didn't turn to face her. What she made me feel scared me to death. I had never seen a girl that way, I was basically obsessed about guys. Even though I had never been kissed or been in a relationship I had never questioned my sexuality until the moment I locked eyes with the perfect Lauren Jauregui.
But my encounter with her luckily didn't end there. I remember I couldn't find Marielle or Jeremy anywhere and he was going to take me home, so I had to stay around even though all I wanted was to get in my bed and clear my mind. Meeting Lauren had been one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. Maybe that was the reason I had never dated a boy, but I tried to deny that theory. She was clearly an amazingly beautiful girl, but that didn't mean I was into women. I sat down in one of the couches on the living room and waited for this party to be over so I could go back home. I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened earlier though. This Vero girl seemed like the biggest asshole in the planet. Did she really referred to Jeremy as "Paul's poor friend from public school"? Lauren seemed pretty annoyed by her drunk friend's comment, but that's probably all we were to her, just poor kids from public school. I wanted to get out of this fucking house so badly, I couldn't stand any of the stuck up rich kids who thought they're better than everyone just because their parents own an island or something. "Hey, I hadn't seen you before." I guy who smelled like a bar from hell said sitting next to me. I looked at him for a second and then looked away uninterestedly. "Uhh you're the hard type, okay, I like a challenge." He said resting his hand on my leg. "I am a challenge indeed." I answered taking his hand away from my leg. "Can I get you a beer?" He asked grinning. "No thanks." I said looking away from him again. He was really cute, I can't deny that, but he was clearly wasted. "What's your name?" He insisted on trying to start a conversation. "Camila." I answered dryly. "Nice to meet you, I'm Rob." He said shaking my hand. "Look, Rob, you won't get what you're looking for from me. This house if full of insecure drunk girls who'll probably throw themselves on you, because you are indeed really hot, but I'm not like that, sorry." I said a lot sassier than I thought I could be, and he just stood up and walked away. "Wow, harsh." I heard another manly voice, and I looked up to see Paul. "What?" I asked as he sat on the couch next to me. "You do realize you just said no to Rob Walker, right?" He said smirking. "I have no idea who the fuck he is, and honestly I don't really care." I answered and looked at the hour on my phone. "Why are you so angry love?" He said putting one arm around me. "Don't you have a girlfriend?" I said moving away from him. "Does it matter?" He answered looking deeply into my eyes. "It should matter." I said and he rolled his eyes. "She doesn't care." Paul assured with a grin. "I'm pretty sure she does." I answered looking away from him. He was a disgusting pig, no doubt about that. "Hey Paul, what are you doing here?" A girl said walking towards us. "I don't know, can you show me a better time?" He asked seductively and she nodded giving him her hand. "See? No one cares." He said looking at me once more and then walked away with his new victim. Now I really wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. I considered walking back home, but my house was pretty far away and I would get lost anyway. Suddenly I felt someone fall on top of my lap. "Oh, I'm so so so sorry." A deep voice said trying to stand back up and I recognized her eyes. "Are you okay?" I asked Lauren helping her. "Yeah, I'm just, dizzy." She said laughing. Her friend took her hand and they walked away together. "Hey Lauren, wait!" I yelled following her. "How do you know my name?" She said a little confused. "That's not important. Listen, I saw Paul with another girl and I thought you should know." I said as sweetly as I could. "Are you kidding me?" She said tightening her jaw. "Come on Jauregui, everyone knows Paul is a man whore." Her friend said. "Shut the fuck up Alexa, you're not helping. Where the hell is he?" She asked looking back at me. "I saw him go that way." I answered pointing at the hallway and she walked angrily towards that direction. Her legs moved wobbly and she tripped a couple of times, but she made it to her destination after all. I followed her out of pure curiosity, and maybe I wanted another look into those amazing green eyes. Lauren walked to the hallway and opened her brother's door, where Paul had his pants down and a girl kneeling in front of him. I stood outside the room, and to be honest I had never seen something like that in my life, but I was intrigued to see what would happen. "You son of a bitch." She said walking towards him as Paul pulled up his pants. "Lauren you're drunk and high as a fucking kite, calm down." He said putting his hands on her arms. "Don't tell me to fucking calm down." She yelled and the other girl managed to get out of the room without them noticing. "You are a cheating bastard Paul, I don't want to see you ever again." She said with pure fury in her voice. "Well maybe if you didn't drink like this every weekend this would have never happened. You like weed and booze more than you like me." He yelled back at her. Lauren slapped his face like I had never seen anyone do, not even in movies or cheesy soap operas. "Stay the hell out of my life you little fucker." She added and walked away gently bumping with me. "Sorry." I heard her husky voice once more and she looked into my eyes for half a second before disappearing. But that was enough to make my heart rush, my palms were wet and I felt shivers down my spine. She was indeed really, really drunk, but what Paul did was unforgivable, and the fact that he had apparently been doing the same for a long time made my heart break even more for the green eyed perfect girl.
For some reason I followed her to her room. I knew we didn't even know each other, but I wanted to help her so badly. "Are you alright?" I said when I saw her sitting on her bed holding her face. "No, I just puked and my head hurts and my boyfriend is an asshole." She said looking into my eyes. "Ex-boyfriend." I told her and made her smile lightly. "You should go to sleep, its kind of late." I said and she nodded getting into her bed. "Thanks stranger, you're really nice, and I like your bow, but I don't know your name." Lauren said closing her eyes and snuggling to her pillow. I stared at her for a couple of seconds before I realized she had asked me a question. "I'm Camila Ca..." I started saying before I noticed she had already passed out. My hand instinctively reached for the strand of hair on her face. And that was probably the begging of one of the most extensive stories of my life.
A week later I auditioned for The X Factor. From the day of the party to that day my mind focused entirely on my audition. This had been my dream since forever, and for once I felt like I could have a chance. I had told my mom I wanted the audition for my fifteenth birthday, and she gladly agreed. Before that day I had never sung in front of anyone, but I was so eager to find out if I could actually make a living out of this. On the way to the studio I was as focused as I could, I wasn't going to let anything ruin this. As weird as it sounds I wasn't really nervous, I was just extremely excited. I audition for the producers and they told me I would be able to sing in front of the judges only if there was spare time, which obviously disappointed me a little, but I still had a chance, at that was all I needed. I was waiting on the contestants room when I thought I saw her for the first time, but I ignored my brain and convinced myself I was just seeing things. After two more days of just waiting to see what fate had for me I got to sing in front of Simon, Britney, L.A., and most importantly Demi, who I looked up to so much. I made it through bootcamp and I honestly couldn't be more excited. I wasn't exactly a social butterfly, and being around all of these talented kids my age was really overwhelming, but it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. I was waiting for my turn to sing when I heard an amazing voice from the booth. The deep and round tone was amazing and hard to explain really, I felt so drawn to it. I needed to see who the clearly experienced voice belonged to, this had to be someone who had been singing for a long time and that's when I realized I didn't stand a chance against her. She came back to the waiting area and my eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing, it was her. She quickly glanced at my direction and gave me a warm smile while everybody else was congratulating her. I was unsure whether I should talk to her or not. What if she thought I was following her? Of course I wasn't, I didn't even know she sang, but apparently she did and she was amazingly good. I decided to stop with this nonsense and just talk to her, but as I approached her direction I started to her extremely nervous. "Hey, great job." I mumbled trying to hide my nerves. "Thanks." She said flashing a smile and then walked away. What the fuck? Its like she didn't know who I was. I walked again towards her direction. "I didn't know you could sing." I said casually. "How could you? Wait, have we met?" She asked me biting her lip. Of course she didn't remember me, she was way too drunk. "No, hi! I'm Camila Cabello, I'm from Miami." I said with a smile. "Oh my God, I'm from Miami too! I'm Lauren, Lauren Jauregui. I like your bow." She answered with her piercing green eyes set on mine. Of course I already knew all of those things, but what I couldn't possible know is how much she would change my life forever.