FORGET YOU LAUREN

CHAPTER 13

At that time: 16 years
Lauren POV
SUBJECT: TODAY'S RIDE
Dear Lauren,
Today I won't need a ride home after school. I'm hitchhiking with my new boyfriend.
Forget me,
Camila
PS - I didn't vote for you for Miss Popular
***
SUBJECT: RE: TODAY'S RIDE
Dear Camila,
Since today is April Fool's Day, I'm not sure if we take this email joke seriously. I'll wait for you in the car for five minutes.
If you're not there, I'll leave.
Forget me,
Lauren
PS - Thanks for letting me know. The teachers were wondering who voted for the other box...
***
Camila never showed up in my car, so I assumed she wasn't lying about having a boyfriend. I was also sure it wouldn't last long. The first two guys she tried to date dropped her because she refused to "dress like all other girls" every time they went out, and she refused to comb the mop she called hair more than three times a week.
Coming home, I went up to my room and texted my new girlfriend, Chelsea.
Me: Hey. What's going on?
Chelsea: Doing my nails with Sara (ugh. Her new hair is so disgusting). What's up?
Me: I was wondering if you wanted to come watch the new horror series tonight.
Chelsea: No. I'd rather you take me to dinner... Can you pick me up in a few hours?
I didn't send her a message back. We were dating for only a few weeks, and all she wanted was to go to dinner (spend my money) and gossip about her friends. She never did anything I wanted to do, and I had already told her that horror series and movies were something I liked.
Her answer? "Aren't horror movies good?"

I took out my notebook and started writing a plan to dump her next week.I was tempted to go to the next door and ask Camila if she would watch the horror series tonight, but when I looked up, I saw Glen Easton out the window.

He was sitting at her desk, giving her a smile that I had seen him give to many other girls in our school before.
Even if Camila was imperfect as hell, she could achieve better - much better - than Glen Easton.
Last week, he bragged to all the guys in gym class about how he had fucked Taylor Redding and how he would "get another virgin this month".
I doubted a lot that Camila had already had sex. She still rolled her eyes whenever I reluctantly told her about my adventures (just because my friends weren't available), and even if I hated her, I didn't think Glen should be her first.
Her second? Maybe.
Her first? No way.
I made sure my blinds were completely closed and decided I wouldn't say anything unless I thought Camila would try to go all the way.
I watched Glen run his fingers through her hair. She laughed when he tried to touch her, and I finally accepted that she would always be imperfect, until she leaned forward and kissed him.
Glen slid his hands under her blouse while caressing her chest, and she was smiling against his mouth.
Suddenly, I felt angry and didn't know why. I didn't want Camila - at all - so I thought the feeling in my chest was anger at Camila showing my mother where Brody had hidden his cigarettes in my room last week.
That's definitely it...
I saw her mother's car in the garage and decided to do what any "worried" friend would do.
I: Hello, Mrs. Cabello. I'm across the street and I heard a loud scream coming from Camila's room. Is she okay? I know she has these stomach aches every month...
Mrs. Cabello:Such a good neighbor, Lauren! I'll go upstairs and check it out. Thank you!
It took me ten seconds to hear the consequences. Camila's mother has the highest lungs on the block, and I didn't have to lean on my window to hear every word.
"Getting a boy into your room, Karla Camila Cabello? You're crazy! You are grounded! Indefinitely!"
A part of me almost felt bad for snitching.
Until I saw her mother pulling a pack of condoms out of a drawer.
Was she really going to have sex with him?
Her mother's screams continued for two hours, and it was so hard and brutal that it made me never want to bring another girl to my room...
***
Later that night, Camila looked at me from the window holding "Fuck you, Lauren!" on her board every time I looked at her.
I was about to ask why she couldn't just turn on the TV for the horror series and leave me alone, but I noticed that her flat screen was gone. That her mother had taken it in the grounding aftermath.

Sighing, I opened my window and pushed my TV as close to the edge as possible.
Camila looked up at the table - still looking at me - but a slight smile crossed her lips. I turned up the volume as much as possible and saw when she picked up the paper cup that was next to her from our makeshift phone line from years ago.
"Lauren?" she said.
"Yes?"
"Can you tilt the screen a little more?"
I obeyed, pushing a little more.
"Thank you". She opened a bag of chips. "Oh, and Lauren?"
"Yes?"
"I fucking hate you."