New Beginnings

Chapter Eleven

<LAUREN POV>

All she could hear was a loud but steady beeping. She opened her eyes but everything was foggy. She felt weird, like her mind had been erased, a blank slate, she momentarily didn't even remember her name. But suddenly objects around the room became clearer and that's when Lauren realized where she was. She was in the hospital.

<NORMANI POV>

Normani was really enjoying herself. She had been dancing with Dinah and Ally, she had taken one or two or maybe it was three shots. The last thing on her mind was schoolwork. Ally suggested they go to the kitchen to get more to drink after they had spent the last 30 minutes dancing and Normani couldn't argue, she was thirsty.

When they got to the kitchen Normani saw a crowd formed around a table playing beer pong. "Oh I want to play!" She said excitedly.

"Mani, those are frat boys, they practically do nothing but eat, sleep, degrade women, and play beer pong." Dinah laughed.

"Yeah, you'd get killed." The short girl agreed.

"I will have you both know," Normani started, "that the one time I played I was really good."

Dinah and Ally looked at each other rolling their eyes but then watched as Normani went up to the table and asked if she could join in the little tournament. Apparently the best beer pong players from each frat where playing and a few outside challengers. The guy laughed when Normani said she wanted to play but of course he let her because he figured it would be an easy win for the guys.

It was not.

Normani won her first game, and then a second, and then a third, and now she was in the finals. Everyone was blown away, even Normani, though she pretended to not be surprised as Dinah and Ally watched in awe as she tossed the ping pong balls into cup after cup. The guy she was going against in the finals was named Jack. He was from Sigma Nu who was hosting the party and he was apparently the reigning champion.

Normani didn't care though, she felt no pressure as she sank shot after shot until there was only one remaining for both of them. She was feeling a little more intoxicated now because of the shots and cheap beer. But all of a sudden she heard her name being cheered across the table and looked up to see Lauren standing there with a proud smile. Normani gained some confidence and winked at the girl just before taking her shot which went in with ease. After Jack missed his shot everyone erupted into cheers and Normani was being attacked in a hug by Dinah and Ally.

When Normani looked to see if Lauren was there she was already gone. The dark skinned girl was a little disappointed because she hadn't really seen Lauren all night, on account of her being with Connor the whole time. She decided she wanted to hang with the girl for a bit so she set out looking for her.

She walked through the house and let out an annoyed grunt when someone bumped into her and spilled their cups of beer.

"HEY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE...oh hey Connor." Normani said after she realized who had accidentally ran into her. Connor seemed to have a knack for that.

"Shit, I'm so sorry Normani," Connor said apologetically, "I was just going to bring these back to Lauren but I can't find her."

Normani had assumed that Lauren was with Connor so she was confused to hear the boy had been looking for her. "Oh well I was actually looking for Lauren too. You mean you haven't seen her?"

"I went to go get drinks like 15 minutes or so and ran into some kid from my Chemistry class that would not shut up," the brown haired boy explained, "and then when I finally left and went back to the main room I couldn't find Lauren anywhere so I've been searching the whole house since then."