"Cabello, you're late, again." Mr. Danvers says once the door opens revealing the brown eyed girl.
Instead of answering Camila just nods her head and moves to the back of the room, pulling the hood of her hoodie over her head. She hated school, she hated being around people in general to be honest. Her only friends always told her to go out and meet people, but she honestly would rather stab a pencil into her eye.
"Cabello," she hears the teacher calling her name again, growling under her breath she looks up and stares at the man.
Mr. Danvers flinches slightly upon looking into the dull eyes of the teenager in front of him, he didn't know what she had been through, or what she could still be going through. All he knew was that she never listened to anyone, not even the principal.
He knew she wouldn't respond to him, so he just holds out the assignment the other students were supposed to be working on, except they were all staring at Camila. All of them were waiting for the girl to react, but all she did was grab the paper before looking down.
Sighing Mr. Danvers walks back to the front of the room, spouting out information on trigonometric equations.
Camila could honestly care less about learning how to calculate them, to be honest she just wanted to get out of the class. However, as soon as she felt eyes on her, she looked up and spotted a green eyed girl staring her down.
A low growl escapes her throat and she grabs her bag, taking the assignment in her hands. Standing up she walks right past Mr. Danvers, ignoring him as he tries to get her to sit back down.
"Cabello." He says stepping forward and grabbing her arm, flinching when she suddenly moves and twists his arm behind his back. "Relax, it's just me, Mr. Danvers, I was going to give you the homework for tonight." he says calmly, all of the teachers knew that she often reacted on instinct to someone touching her.
Taking a deep breath, Camila releases his arm and takes the homework before walking off completely.
Lauren bit her lip and looked down at her worksheet, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Camila. She'd changed the summer before high school and now here they were going into their Junior year and it just seemed like Camila had gotten a lot worse.
Mr. Danvers sighs and turns back to teaching the students about trigonometric equations.
It wasn't long before the bell rang and Lauren was leaving her fourth period class, her thoughts were filled with what had happened that morning if first period.
Quickly grabbing her things, Lauren makes her way to the cafeteria.
"Hey Laur, is it true that Cabello almost broke Mr. Danvers arm this morning?" Normani asks, sitting down beside Lauren in their usual spot.
Nodding her head, Lauren frowns slightly. "She hasn't spoken since the summer before freshman year. I miss her."
"Girl, we all do." Dinah says, sitting down with a frown. "I can't believe she went from being our best friend in middle school to barely even acknowledging us."
"Strange things happen. We just need to get over it." Normani said. "People change, deal with it."
"Yo, I have a bet for you." Justin says, walking up to the table and looking at Lauren.
Lauren lifted her head. "A bet?" She asked.
Nodding, Justin smirks. "I bet you can't get into Cabello's heart and then break it at Prom."
"Why would I do that?" Lauren asked.
"The bitch ruined my friendship with Zayn." Justin snaps out angrily. "If you do it I'll give you that car you want."
Lauren swallowed. "I can't drive, what good would a car do me?"
"Because I know for a fact Camila would teach you to drive." The blonde responds.
Lauren rolled her eyes. "Not a chance." She shook her head.
"Then I'll tell the entire school about your kid." Justin growls out, slamming his hand down on the lunch table.
Lauren flinched, swallowing again.
"Either take the bet and win a car or don't take it and I tell the school." Justin tells her calmly.
"What if I don't win the car?" Lauren said cautiously.
Justin just smiles, "As long as you've tried then your secret is safe."
Lauren glanced at her friends, biting her lip.
Normani sighs and runs a hand through her hair. "Do it for Remi."
Lauren took a deep breath. She looked up at Justin. "You ever threaten my daughter again, I'll kill you." She growled lowly so only Justin could hear her.
Smirking, Justin leans down and whispers in her ear. "Then don't fail."
Lauren stood up, she picked up her backpack and pushed passed Justin, running out of the lunch hall. She ran into the nearest toilets and locked herself in the cubicle, bursting into tears. She was so ashamed of herself for what happened two years ago. She'd been so stupid.
If she hadn't gotten drunk at that party, she wouldn't have slept with that guy and she wouldn't have gotten pregnant.
She leaned against the cubicle wall and slumped down until she was sitting on the floor, sobbing.
When the bathroom door opened and the lock clicked, Lauren's breath caught in her throat.
"Lauren," an extremely raspy voice calls out catching her attention, it was a voice she hadn't heard in years.
Lauren covered her mouth and kept quiet. She wanted to be alone to cry.
"Open the door." Was commanded from outside the stall door.
"Leave me alone." Lauren forced her voice out of her throat.
"No." Was all she heard before Camila climbed over the stall and landed in front of her.
Luckily the bathroom stalls were pretty big or Camila would of wound up in the toilet.
Lauren pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her knees.
Kneeling down in front of her, the brown eyed girl looks at her curiously. "It's about her isn't it?"
Lauren bit her lower lip and held back a sob.
Frowning, Camila lifts the older girl's head and stares into her eyes with dull brown ones. "What's wrong?"
"Leave me alone." Lauren pulled her head away. "Please."
Tensing, Camila stands up and glares at Lauren. "Whatever." She growls out, opening the stall door and storming out.
****
"Mommy!" Remi squeals when Lauren walks into the house, running toward her mother.
Lauren wiped her eyes and bent down. "Hey, princess." Her voice cracked and she sniffed.
Curling into Lauren, the two year old grins. "Missed you!"
"I missed you too." Lauren took a deep breath and swallowed.
"Hey, she did pretty good today." Clars says, smiling at her daughter.
"Pretty good?" Lauren asked, confused.
Sighing, Clara moves over to them and runs a hand through Remi's pitch black hair. "She cried for three hours after you went to school."
Lauren stood up and nodded. Ever since that party, she couldn't look her mother in the eye.
"I have to head home, but I'll be over first thing tomorrow." Clara says, kissing Remi's forehead before leaving.
Remi looks up at Lauren and releases a soft yawn, the two year old was struggling to stay awake.
"Nap time." Lauren mumbled, carrying her daughter into the bedroom. She put her daughter down for her nap and went to get her homework done and make dinner.
As she's doing her homework, her phone rings.
She rubbed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, picking up her phone.
"Hey Lauser, can I come stay the night? It's really crowded at my house." Dinah says immediately.
Lauren hummed, she was exhausted. "Um.."
"Please? I'll do anything." Dinah begs.
"Sure." Lauren mumbled tiredly, she yawned. She wasn't even halfway done with her homework and she still had to make dinner. She was starving. Luckily, Remi was still asleep.
"I'll be over in fifteen with dinner." Dinah says, hanging up.
Lauren dropped her phone on the counter and sighed heavily. She ran her fingers through her hair.
True to her word, Dinah walked in the door fifteen minutes later with a bag of carry-out.
Lauren slowly opened the door and let Dinah in. Dinah was really the only one that Lauren let see who she really was at home. When Lauren got home from school, she'd take out her contacts and put on her glasses, take off her makeup and mess up her hair, a completely natural look.
Dinah grins and holds up the food. "I got your favorite."
Lauren closed the door behind her friend. "Shoes off." She mumbled before going back into the kitchen to work on some more homework.
Kicking off her shoes, Dinah follows behind Lauren. "Is Remi in bed?"
Lauren nodded, her eyes dancing across her history homework as she chewed the end of her pen in her mouth.
Grabbing two plates and forks, Dinah plates their thai food.
Remi began crying from the bedroom and Lauren sighed, slamming her pen down on her history book. She was really stressed out.
"I've got her." Dinah says with a soft smile, leaving to get the two year old.
Lauren slumped down in her chair. She was so stressed all the time that she could barely sleep, sometimes she couldn't eat. If Lauren went to the doctor, they'd probably tell her she was depressed and needed medical help. But she didn't want to hear that so she didn't go, she'd rather just suffer in silence until one day it all stopped and everything was good again. Justin wasn't helping, he made it worse.
Dinah walked back into the room with Remi in her arms, the two year old rubbing her eyes. "Somebody woke up hungry."
Lauren lifted her head and looked at Dinah. She nodded.
"Mommy," Remi mumbles, reaching for Lauren.
Lauren took Remi from Dinah. She grabbed a plate and began feeding her small daughter the take out food.
"So, are you taking the bet?" Dinah asks as she digs into her own food.
Lauren glanced up at Dinah and swallowed before shrugging.
Remi hums as she chews on some of the noodles Lauren had given her.
"I mean, whatever you decide, I'm there for you. You know that." Dinah says with a soft smile.
Lauren nodded once.
It wasn't long before Remi was done eating and was dozing off, her head dropping against Lauren's shoulder.
Lauren had picked up her pen again to try and finish her homework.
"Want me to put her to bed?" Dinah asks softly.
Lauren only nodded. She was too tired to speak.
Standing up, Dinah gently picked up the two year old and carried her to the room she shared with Lauren.
When Lauren had gotten pregnant, her dad had kicked her out but her mom convinced him to get her a three bedroom condo. When school started back up, Clara would babysit Remi and when it was over she would just visit unless Lauren wanted to get out of the house for a bit.
Lauren dropped her pen again and took off her glasses, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Get some sleep, I'll help you in the morning." Dinah says softly, knowing how tired Lauren was. "We have a study hall first tomorrow anyways."
Lauren forced her eyes open and looked at Dinah. Her eyes were dull from tiredness and her skin was paler too. She looked like she had been drained of all her energy.
"Come on Laur, go take a warm bath and then get some sleep." Dinah says softly, holding her hand out to her best friend.
Lauren pushed herself up onto her feet and took Dinah's hand.
Smiling softly, Dinah leads Lauren into her room and toward the bathroom. "I'll clean up."
Lauren nodded. "Okay." She mumbled tiredly.
Once Dinah gets everything set up for Lauren, she leaves the bathroom to go clean up.
Lauren honestly didn't know what she would do without Dinah. Dinah was her rock, she helped Lauren when she was down. Lauren was so lost on her own.
****
Camila stared at her reflection in the mirror, her dull brown eyes taking in everything.
The summer before high school she lost everything, when she went to a party she slept with Lauren and got the girl pregnant. But Lauren didn't know it was her, just like none of her old friends knew about her parents and sister dying. Nobody knew that she lived with Zayn because of what happened. They didn't even know about why she became violent if touched without warning.
"Mila, dinner's ready." Zayn says softly from the doorway to the bathroom.
Turning away from the mirror, Camila nods and makes her way out. She hasn't really talked since the summer before high school. But she couldn't help but talk to Lauren today upon seeing her so upset.
Zayn followed her to the kitchen. "She'll be okay." He told her. "Lauren is a tough girl. Don't waste all your energy on her."
Camila doesn't respond, sitting down at the kitchen table and quietly beginning to eat.
Zayn sat down too and ate his meal.
The brown eyed girl couldn't help but let her mind wander back to Lauren. She had been planning to tell Lauren she loved her that summer. Only problem is, she thought drinking would help.
But she was wrong. Drinking didn't help and now Lauren had a kid and probably didn't know what she was doing.
And she couldn't do anything to help her because Lauren thought she had slept with a guy at the party. Not her best friend who has a dick.
She desperately wanted to tell Lauren it was her she'd slept with but she didn't want to hurt or upset the older girl in anyway, she'd already done enough damage.
"What are you thinking about?" Zayn asks, breaking Camila out of her thoughts.
Looking up, Camila just shakes her head. She didn't talk much and she regretted talking to Lauren, it actually made her throat hurt.
"Camila, you can talk to me. I'm your friend." Zayn said. "I'm here for you."
Swallowing thickly, Camila takes a deep breath. "Lauren." She breathes out.
"Why? What happened?" Zayn asked. "Did you see her? Did you see that little girl?"
Shaking her head, the brown eyed girl looks down. "I-I talked to Lauren today."
"You talked to her? What did you say?" Zayn asked.
"She told me to leave her alone." Camila whispers brokenly.
"Some people like being alone when they are upset." Zayn said.
Frowning, Camila looks up at him before looking back down at her half eaten plate. "Not hungry." She mumbles, getting up and going to her room.
Zayn rolled his eyes and sighed.
Sometimes he didn't know what to do for the younger girl. It pained him to think about what she's going through, but there was only so much he could do if she didn't let him in.
He was shocked that she even talked to him today, it was a long shot.
He was glad she did, now he could try to do something for her. Maybe get Lauren to speak to her, that might help.
Finishing his food, Zayn quickly cleans everything up and heads to his room to change.
As soon as he's changed, Zayn makes his way to Camila's room. "You going to fight club tonight?"
Nodding her head, Camila finishes pulling on her shoes and quickly pulls her hair into a ponytail.
Sure, Zayn didn't like the idea of Camila going to fight club. But when he found out that was where she'd often times disappear, he joined to keep an eye on her. He had learned that her fighting was how she was getting extra cash that she was putting away for her kid.
"Okay." Zayn nodded. "Let's go then."
Grabbing her keys, Camila heads for the door.
Six hours later
"And Mayhem wins!" The announcer yells, holding Camila's hand over her head.
The Cuban was pretty beat up but honestly, you should see the other guy.
As soon as the clapping was over, Zayn ran in and caught his friend before she fell.
Closing her eyes, Camila leans all of her weight against him.
"Let's get you over to Niall." Zayn says, referring to the blonde haired guy that took care of the fighters.
Nodding weakly, Camila let Zayn lead her over to Niall.
"I told you not to fight him. He's bigger than you, stronger than you. He could have killed you." Zayn said.
The younger girl doesn't respond, to be honest she blacked out after her sixth fight and doesn't remember Zayn telling her not to fight the last guy.
Niall ran over. "I thought you told her not to fight that guy." The blonde said.
"I did." Zayn responds, sending Niall a thankful smile when he helps move Camila to the gurney that was set up inside the medical area.
They had a pretty decent medical bay for fight club.
"I'll take care of her, why don't you go collect her winnings?" The blonde asks as he begins cleaning up Camila's wounds.
Zayn walked away. He didn't approve of this and he knew Lauren well enough to know she would refuse Camila's money if she knew how the girl had got it.
"She okay?" Halsey asks upon seeing Zayn, her dad ran the fight club.
"What do you think? That guy could have killed her." Zayn responded.
Nodding her head, the blue haired girl frowns. "What was she thinking, twelve fights in one night? Something has to be bothering her." Halsey says as she starts bagging up Camila's winnings for the night.
Each fight was worth a thousand dollars and Camila had won all but two so she was going home with ten thousand dollars.
"Yeah. Lauren." Zayn muttered.
Halsey frowns and stops what she's doing. "As in Lauren Jauregui? One of my best friends?"
Zayn lifted his head from counting the money. "What?"
"You didn't know that Lauren was my best friend?" Halsey asks with a frown.
She only went by Halsey at fight club, her real name was Ashley.
"No." Zayn said.
"Well she is, anyways why is Lauren bothering her? The girl hasn't even interacted with Camila." Halsey says with a frown as she goes back to counting out the rest of Camila's winnings.
"There is stuff you don't know about Camila and stuff you don't know about Lauren. Just drop it." Zayn said.
Sighing, the blue haired girl finishes counting the money and hands it all to Zayn. "Don't let her go to school tomorrow."
"I can't stop her from doing what she wants." Zayn responded before walking away.
Niall sends Zayn a small smile when he reaches them. "She's got a nasty sprain to her left wrist and will have a black eye. Two cracked ribs which will be pretty painful and her lip is busted. Luckily after that hit she took she doesn't have a broken nose or a concussion."
"She needs a hospital." Zayn responded.
"I agree, but you know she won't go." The blonde responds.
"I'll force her. She's not staying in my apartment if she's in extreme pain, I'm not dealing with that." Zayn responded.
Camila opens her eyes and stares at Zayn blankly, they knew she hated hospitals after what happened to her parents and sister.
"You're going, no arguments, unless you want me to tell Lauren." Zayn said, he knew blackmail was the only way to get her to go to the hospital.
Swallowing thickly, Camila nods her head and moves to get up.
"Don't move." Niall said. "Zayn has to carry you."
****
Zayn sighs as he walks into school the next day, Camila walking right beside him.
Of course, she had her hoodie pulled up and her head down so nobody could see her face.
As they were walking, a taller boy pushed Lauren into Camila's path and the two girls knocked into each other, falling onto the floor.
Camila hisses in pain as she lands on her left wrist causing it to let out a sickening crack.
Lauren landed on her side and winced.
Zayn bent down beside Camila. "Hospital again, and don't argue." He nodded towards Lauren and Camila knew exactly what he meant.
Closing her eyes, Camila nods her head and slowly gets up before helping Lauren up and leaving.
"What the hell!" Dinah snaps out, shoving Justin into the lockers before moving over to Lauren who was watching Camila walk away.
Lauren had tears in her eyes. She was holding her side and wincing, scrunching her nose up in pain.
Before Dinah could touch her, the older girl turned and ran off, going into the nearest restroom and locking herself in a cubicle.
Dinah turned around and glared at Justin. "You're such a fucking dick." She growls out before chasing after Lauren.
She was pissed that not even Normani followed, if Ally was there she would but the oldest girl was out sick.
She pushed the door to the restroom open. "Lauren." She said softly.
The older girl was silent, muffling her sobs with her hands.
Kicking the two girls by the sinks out, Dinah locks the door and moves to the only closed stall door. "Let me in Lauser, it's just me."
She heard Lauren sniff but no movement.
"I need to check your side, make sure there isn't a broken rib. Especially after that loud cracking sound that filled the hallway." Dinah says softly, debating on climbing over the stall wall.
She heard Lauren shift but the older girl still didn't open the door.
Sighing, Dinah moved into the stall beside Lauren and climbed over. "Let me see." She says, dropping in front of Lauren.
Lauren covered her face with her hands so Dinah couldn't see her. She had a bruise forming on the side of her head from where she'd bumped it on the floor.
Moving forward, Dinah gently lifts Lauren's shirt and checks her side. Thankfully nothing was broken and there would just be a small bruise.
"Move your hands." Dinah commands softly.
Lauren shook her head and pulled away from Dinah, curling up. She wanted to be alone.
"Dammit Laur, I have to make sure you're okay for Remi's sake." The younger girl says softly.
Lauren sobbed violently, tears streaming down her cheeks and dropping onto the floor.
Gently removing Lauren's hands, Dinah moves to check her face.
Lauren squeezed her eyes shut and sniffed.
"That's it, we're going home early." Dinah says softly.