Breaking Walls (Lauren Cimorelli)

Chapter 3

Lauren's POV

I still get stares every day.

Everyone knows me as that girl. The girl that screwed up two years ago. The girl that was all over the news, and the girl that ruined her family's lives. Every day when I walk into school, it's like it's the day I came back all over again. I get the same looks and glares. I guess no one really forgot about it. I don't blame them.

I ignored everyone like I usually do and walked to my locker. I didn't wanna come today, but I knew I had to or else Christina would get pissed again. If I ever do anything wrong, even if it's little, I have to listen to her scream at me. It's like being mad at me for what happened two years ago isn't enough, and she has to find more and more reasons to hate me.

As I took my books out of my locker, I noticed a familiar brunette a little ways down the hall from me. It was the girl that I had completely ignored yesterday while we were supposed to be working together. Feeling a wave of guilt come over me, I started to head to her locker.

"Hey," I said quietly as she looked up from her phone. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, I interrupted her. "I'm really sorry for how I acted yesterday. I'm not usually like that. I didn't mean to ignore you... I was just having an off day and I didn't feel like talking to anyone. That isn't an excuse though, I told you I would help you and I didn't. So, I'm sorry."

She gave a small smile and closed her locker. "It's fine, really. I get it, I have days like that too. Everyone does. I don't judge. But, I never really got to introduce myself. I'm Coley," she said as she stuck her hand out for me to shake.

"I'm Lauren," I smiled as I shook her hand. "But you probably already knew that from yesterday."

She laughed, and it was probably the most adorable thing I had ever heard. I took this moment to take in her physical appearance, more so than I did yesterday. She was dressed casually, in a red flannel with jeans and converse. She was tall, but still shorter than me by about an inch. She gave off a tomboyish vibe, which I liked. She was very attractive, and I could tell I already loved her personality. As I was taking all of this in, a random girl walked over to us and started to talk to Coley.

"Coley, hey. I've been looking for you since I got here," she smiled. I guess she wasn't as random as I thought.

"H-hey, Amber." Coley stuttered while smiling back.

"Did your friend tell you I said thanks for helping out yesterday? I wanted to tell you in person, but I couldn't find you after practice ended." She asked moving closer to Coley. I didn't know why, but I felt myself starting to get angry. I didn't like this girl for some reason, even though she seemed perfectly fine and nice.

"Yeah, she told me. I'm sorry you didn't see me, I left as fast as I could. My, uh, mom wanted me to come home immediately after." She said while glancing at me. I knew she left because she wanted to get away from me. She probably thought I was a crazy bitch, and didn't wanna spend any more time with me than she had to.

"It's fine. I'm glad I get to see you now, though." My blood boiled. Why was I this angry over some girl I didn't even know?

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation. I'm Amber," she smiled at me, and I could tell it was forced. I guess she disliked me just as much as I disliked her.

"I'm Lauren," I forced a smile back. "It's no big deal, I just wanted to introduce myself to Coley since we're working together backstage during practice now." I don't know why I told her that, but the words came out of my mouth before I could even think. It's almost as if I was trying to make her jealous.