You Don't Know Me

Chapter Three

Lauren rushed to Dinah's house immediately after school. At first she was anxious to get the much needed conversation over with, but once she found herself right outside of the younger girl's house, she was too embarrassed to actually walk up the drive and knock on the door.
She never really noticed how huge Dinah's house was, actually, but after standing in front of it for about fifteen minutes, she started to notice some things.

The first thing that she noticed was the two suburban vehicles (which seat about eight people each) in Dinah's driveway. There were also children's toys, a football, a soccer ball, and an inflatable pool in her front yard.
She had always been under the impression that Dinah was an only child; maybe her parents ran a daycare during school hours?

She had lost track of how long she'd been standing there, when she saw the younger girl's tan face pop out from her window with a confused expression written across it.

Since she'd already been spotted, Lauren flashed an awkward smile and approached the door like she had just arrived, though both girls know that not to be true.

The door flew open a few seconds later, causing the green eyed girl to jump. Dinah raised her eyebrows, signaling Lauren to explain why she was creeping on the sidewalk instead of walking up to the door.
Lauren considered being honest for a second, but quickly decides to go with a white lie instead, "Haha, sorry. I haven't been here many times and I wasn't sure I had the right house." Lauren wasn't sure how convincing she sounded, but Dinah doesn't question her story and moved aside to give her room to enter.

They made their way to Dinah's room in silence; when they get inside Lauren busied herself by looking at the posters on the wall: Bob Marley, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, and... Carrie Underwood? What the hell?

They sat in complete silence until the older of the two decided to break it. "So how many people live here?" she asked abruptly, causing the tongan to snap her head up. "Hmm.." she began to list off a series of names that sound like a Hawaiian Barbecue menu with a concentrated look on her face, "23" she stated, matter-of-factly.
Lauren never could control her facial expressions, the disbelief so evident on her face that even she could feel it. "So does Jayden live here?" she asked while she still had the guts.

"Jayden Smith?" Dinah asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer. Lauren nodded in affirmation anyway. "Nope." Dinah replied, "He lives with his family?" she added in a questioning tone, letting Lauren know how stupid she sounds.
Lauren's face burned with embarrassment. How many times is Dinah going to make her feel stupid, she's the one getting tutored, here.

Lauren tried to clarify. "I just meant that... well he and I spoke earlier.. after lunch, and he referred to you as his sister.. Or so I thought." she managed to stutter out. "Oh" is all Dinah said, then after a few seconds of silence, "No, he meant Willow. They're brother and sister."
Lauren nodded her head more to herself than to the girl with whom she was accompanied as the pieces began to fit together in her mind. Dinah's explanation actually makes a ton of sense, why didn't anyone figure that out earlier?

Before she could ask any further questions, Dinah dropped her Literature textbook onto the table, effectively snapping her from her thoughts and causing her to jump once again. "Let's get crackin' ", she said and they begin studying.

* * *

Lauren went home later on that night, her mind racing with unanswered questions. She eventually fell asleep though, having had an emotionally draining day.

The next day at school, she saw Camila standing with a group of girls from Chemistry Club in front of the school and ran up to her, excited to share the news with her about Jayden and Willow. She knew she should have called Camila the night before, but it had completely slipped her mind.
"Camz!" she yelled unnecessarily as she approached the other girl. Camila didn't turn around at the sound of her friend's voice which lead Lauren to believe she must've been unable to hear.

"Camila?" she asked again, unsurely this time. The cuban whipped her head around and sent Lauren an inexplicably angry look before storming off in the direction of the entrance.

Lauren knew how her best friend could be when she was angry, so she didn't chase after her.

* * *

For the remainder of the week, Lauren spent every day by herself. She had a ton of softball practice in preparation for a big game, so she couldn't hang out with Dinah after school, and Camila still wasn't speaking to her. Jayden had gone completely AWOL, and all of her acquaintances were giving her dirty looks, presumably due to whatever poison her old friend was spreading, so she sat alone at lunch and during breaks.

It was the day of the big game and the last day of the week as Lauren sat alone for yet another lunch period.
That was, until Dinah and her squad walked up and dropped all of their stuff onto her table. Immediately making themselves at home.
Lauren looked up at Dinah with an inquisitive look on her face. Dinah smirked before asking, "Sorry, were these seats taken?" Lauren blushed a little at Dinah pointing out her lack of company and looked around, as if checking to see if any of her friends were coming to join her, before responding, "Nope. All yours."

After a few minutes of polite chatter, Dinah focused her attention on Lauren and asked, "So why are you here when your friends are over there?"
Their eyes both wandered over to Lauren's old table where Camila was staring intensely back at them, her gaze unwavering.
"Oh, you know. Just Me, Myself, & I. The three fuckin' musketeers." Lauren replied with a forced smile on her face. Dinah immediately took the opportunity to sing a few lines from one of her favorite Beyonce songs.

A pretty light-skinned girl at the table wearing a white blazer and box braids, nodded her head in Lauren's direction and asked, "What are you doing after school, shorty?" Lauren cocked her head slightly at the nick name before responding, "I have a softball game today so I can't really do anything."

"You're on the softball team?" Dinah asked with a look of amusement on her face. "Maybe we'll slide through later?" She half-stated, half-asked.
Lauren nodded, "That would be great, actually."
And she really did mean it.