Bruised and Broken (Camren)

"first encounter"

"I know this is a super last minute thing that I'm offering you all, but I promise the experience is worth it's weight in gold. Another opportunity like this probably won't be available for a long time, and you can get signed off for community service hours. It's like a win-win, right? So really, I highly recommend you come. I'll send around the flyer for those of you interested."

Camila's Calculus teacher continued to inform the class of the service opportunity he had only just discovered the day before. It was tonight at 6PM; a collaboration with a youth program that involved cleaning up a warehouse so that they could store donations and gifts in it. Camila very badly wanted to go; she was already familiar with what some of these kids had to go through and wanted nothing more than to make their lives a little brighter. All she would have to do would be to convince the Jaureguis to let her go, which she didn't think would be too much of a problem. The flyers made their way to her desk and she grabbed one from the top off the pile. She tucked it into her binder just as the end-of-the-day bell sounded over the speaker system.

"Have a good rest of the day class, I hope to see as many of you as possible tonight at the warehouse," her teacher bid them all goodbye.

Camila made her way out of the classroom and down the halls until she reached her own locker. Her fingers moved to twist the lock in to the correct combination and the locker swung open in front of her. Gathering the things she would need for the night's work, she closed it again and made her way off of the campus and to the bus lot. She was surprised when she glimpsed Lauren boarding her bus; the older girl drove her own car and Camila could never recall her riding the bus with her. She couldn't even remember if she was on it this morning. I guess she had to have been, right? Camila pondered as she too pulled herself into the yellow vehicle. Lauren was sat near the back in a seat that only she occupied. Camila decided against joining her for fear of pissing the girl off; instead she grabbed the row second from the front next to a girl she had seen around in a couple of her classes. After a brief 'hello' and a little conversation, the rest of the ride home was quiet between the two. At one point Camila glanced backwards to study Lauren. The girl was still alone, pressed up against the window side, gazing outward into the passing street. Soon the bus reached a standstill at Camila's stop and she reached down to gather her bag and binder off of the bus floor. Just as she prepared to push herself off of the seat, Lauren breezed passed her and made her way off the bus quickly. Camila followed close behind, looking both ways before she blundered across the street after Lauren. They walked down the block, Lauren about six feet or so in front of Camila. Neither spoke to each other, Lauren never even turned back to glance in the smaller girls direction. Camila attempted once or twice to gauge the dark haired girls attention by increasing the volume of her footsteps or clearing her throat. Both attempts failed though, and Lauren remained stubborn the rest of the walk home. Even upon reaching the front door when Camila found herself right beside Lauren, the taller girl still refused to acknowledge her. Lauren rummaged through her bag and found her key, roughly jamming it into the door and pushing it open. Camila followed in cautiously, watching as Lauren disappeared upstairs as soon as she entered the home. The smaller girl quietly shut the door. She needed to find Mr. and Mrs. Jauregui so she could ask about going to the service opportunity that night. She could hear them in the kitchen around the corner and followed their voices. They both turned their attention to her as she came into view.

"Hi Camila, you have a good day at school?" Mrs. Jauregui asked sweetly.

Camila nodded while responding, "Yeah, it was great! I was just wondering..." Camila went off into the details of the event, quickly opening her binder to retrieve the flyer in the front pocket. Both adults listened carefully as she spoke. When Camila finish, they were both smiling and nodding.