Part 88
The girls must have fallen asleep until some trumpets wake them up. They grumble and curse since their necks are feeling stiff until Ally comes up. "Camila is arriving", she begins. "I don't know how you feel about it, but you could join us downstairs in the big hall to welcome her back."
She knows that they've all been friends before this more or less, but she's afraid that Lucy will blow up once she sees Camila. To her surprise, both girls nod and follow her. They don't know how to get around in this castle and would get lost without Ally. They comb their hair with their fingers to look a little bit more presentable.
Both stay back in the hall and watch people cheer and congratulate Camila who is supported by Dinah. People who can read her and know her better, realize that Camila is indeed not feeling good. She coughs whenever she laughs but keeps the smile on her pale face. The doors close behind her. She quickly waves at her people from the balcony before closing that door as well. She turns towards her family who embrace her tightly. The other people in the room got what they wanted and leave to keep on working. Since Dinah brought her back, only Ally needs to welcome her back. She waits until the queen gives her a sign and embraces her friend warmly.
"Is it over?", she asks worriedly. Camila nods. She looks pale and tired. Her eyes widen in surprise as she spots Lucy and Normani. Before she walks towards them though, she looks out for Lauren, but cannot find her. When both are here, where is Lauren? Her mom must have invited her into their world as well.
She hugs the girls but senses that something is odd. She sees the frown on Lucy's face and even Normani doesn't look happy even though she's standing beside Dinah.
Before she can open her mouth, her mom nudges her to leave "you should better go with them."
She suddenly panics. She feels the cold behavior of the girls towards her and finally connects it.
"Where is Lauren?"
No one answers, and she feels little and insecure. She only wants to hold her close. She coughs again and needs to stop walking for a second to breathe again. She's got her eyes closed in pain. Her throat and lungs hurt, and she knows she needs medicine before it gets worse. She was looking forward to getting it as soon as she said hello to everyone, but she feels like that must wait.
Normani feels sorry for her. Camila can't be blamed when she does not know what's going on. "You ok?" she asks softly.
"I will be if you tell me where I can find Lauren", she lets out desperately. Now, even Lucy forgets her grudge and hugs her again. She speaks up after letting the princess slip out of her arms. "We need to talk first. Something went wrong, and she got hurt."
Camila's eyes fill with tears as they sit down. "What happened?"
Normani and Lucy debate who should tell the story, but Lucy starts since she saw everything from above.
She takes a deep breath as she reminds herself to stay calm for now. "The girls flew down for you to get that necklace you needed", she still emphasizes the "you" to make a point, but her voice stays soft.
"I climbed a tree to watch out last night and Mani and Lauren started shoveling. Lauren jumped down and just got that necklace out of that coffin and handed it up to Mani as the gravestone fell onto Lauren."
Camila's in shock after hearing the news and feels how two people take each of her hands. Ally and her mom, who appeared. "is she- is she alive?" She understands all of a sudden why the girls were so cold and reserved. They were Lauren's friends first of all and blame her for whatever happened.
"I patched her up", her mom speaks up and wipes the tears from Camila's cheeks. "But we do not know if there's damage to her brain yet."
Camila nods, trying to understand it all, "What happened?", she asks quietly.
Normani takes over this time, "I put that necklace in my bag and we didn't think about the stone when it was already too late. It crashed the coffin and hit her right on her head which knocked her out. She had a nasty cut on her forehead and we saw that her arm didn't look.. right anymore as well.." She looks over at Lucy if she wants to add something.
"I jumped down the tree as fast as I could and together, we got her out of the hole. Mani carried her while I skated home as quick as I could to get Duffy."
"Duffy?", Camila interrupts Lucy.
"Lauren brought Duffy along to prove this whole magic stuff to me. We needed someone to clean up the mess. Duffy also connected with your mom since Lauren needed help and we finally had that fricking necklace that you needed."
Her mom hands her some medicine which she takes without hesitation before asking her about Lauren's state.
"I patched up her forehead as I said, she's got a severe concussion, her arm is broken and two ribs. She has not woken up since then."
There's a moment of silence and the girls give her time to let it sink in. "can I – Can I see her somewhere?"
"She's in your room", Lucy says and mentions to the stairs. She slowly gets up and brushes her clothes off. She's still in her dirty clothes but that doesn't matter. Camila turns to her mom, her face serious, "How can I celebrate that I came back when the love of my life is hurt because of me?"
The girls are surprised to hear those words. Ally and Dinah know what the queen will say, but Mani and Lucy have finally forgotten that they were angry as they understand that Camila cannot be blamed.
"I'm sorry Camila, it's your duty as future queen to do so."
"That sucks then", she spats before coughing. She takes her time walking up the stairs since her lungs aren't in shape for that kind of workout.
She could be dead, she thinks as she spots Lauren on her bed. She looks paler than her, almost lifeless. Her skin feels warm though, she notices as she touches it, afraid she will hurt her. She lets out a sob, she already hurt her.
"I'm so sorry", she lets out between loud sobs, letting it all out. Her lungs can't keep up with her breathing and sobbing and leave her coughing, a crying mess.
The girls downstairs wanted to give her privacy but rush up as soon as they hear her. Ally pats her back before letting a drink appear that Camila carefully swallows to stop coughing. Her puffy eyes connect to look up at Lucy and Mani, "I never meant to hurt her", she cries. "I'm no better than her dad."
She then gets up and locks herself in the bathroom. Dinah sighs, "That'll take a toll on her."
Lucy looks at her best friend who's still laying there, eyes closed, "She's nothing like Lauren's dad, she loves her."
The others nod and hope that everything will turn out the way Ally promised.
Thank you so much for reading ♥ Let me know what you think! :)