The Story of Our Lives | Sequel to Ten Years Later

Chapter Nine: Hamilton/Hansen Family

Normani's POV

When I go downstairs, my sons are eating breakfast in silence. They really hate being grounded, but they should have thought about the consequences before they snuck into that party. I never would have expected this from my boys. It must be Austin, always getting Josh and Jeremy to do things they know they shouldn't. It's surprising that Austin turned out so badly. I mean, he has the greatest mom in the world. I don't know, maybe he's acting out because he wishes his dad was still alive.

"I'm leaving in ten minutes," I announce to Josh and Jer before going back upstairs to my bedroom. I make some final touches to my makeup, make sure my purse has everything I need in it, and use the bathroom. Masi left a half hour ago. He's working on Lana Del Rey's comeback album, among other projects, so he can't be in the studio with the girls and I every single day.

When I come back downstairs, the twins are waiting by the door. Good. I hate when they make me late to the studio. The drive to Beverly Hills High School is totally silent. Joshua and Jeremy are still mad at me for grounding them. It's really irritating, because they're the ones that did something wrong, and I'm just punishing them for it, like every good mother should. We get along pretty well, but they're at that age when they want to be grown and do their own thing, and I won't have any of that. Not in my house.

After I drop the boys off, I head into LA. It's Monday morning, which makes the usual heavy traffic even worse. Exasperated, I find myself honking my horn several times throughout the drive, just because I'm frustrated. Thankfully, I make it to the studio with six minutes to spare. I talk to the other girls but ignore Camila.

To make everything clear, here's what's going on with Fifth Harmony. From the very beginning, Camila was always the star of the group. She got the most solos and led most of the choruses in our songs, she had the most followers on social media, the celeb mags would write about her the most, often leaving out the other girls and me. When she started dating Harry Styles, her fame skyrocketed. Harry and Camila are known as Hollywood's "it" couple, dethroning Beyoncé and Jay Z and Brangelina years ago. She started hanging out with A-listers, ditching us as soon as she could. For years, our record label has wanted us to change our name to Camila and the Harmonies. It's terrible. Mila is really stuck-up now, nothing like the girl I used to call my best friend.

Bascially, it's the four of us against Camila. It's a major struggle, having to deal with her ego everyday. It sucks to be constantly snubbed by the paparazzi, while Camila gets on the front cover. Our twentieth album, which is a huge deal, is making virtually no progress because we just can't get along with her.

We get in the studio, but our session is a mess. The song we're trying to record, "Devotion," was written by Dinah and I, so we're doing the main vocals for the chorus. Camila keeps trying to butt in, and it's really irritating.

"It's not all about you, Camila. Can you please let us sing the chorus, just once?" Dinah pleads.

"This is a group. Whether you like it or not, we're all a part of this song. I'm not trying to make it all about me, I'm trying to make sure that everyone has an equal amount of vocals in every song," Camila responds.

"Oh, really? Because you always have to hog everything," Lauren snaps.

"Oh yeah? Well, it's not my fault that everyone likes me better," Camila smirks.

David Rutherford comes into the large recording booth. "Girls, this is completely unacceptable. We've been working on this project for months now, and have only been able to record six songs. Six. I hate to do this, but until you work things out amongst yourselves, I can't possibly continue to work with you."