Cheerleaders

Just pretend this never happened

Dinah' POV
"Yeah, I'm here now so I'll call you later," I tell Ally as I walk up to Camila's house. Apparently Lauren and Camila had a massive argument a couple of hours ago but I only just found out about it. I hang up and open the door. I have my own set of keys seeing as we've been best friends for our entire lives. I walk into the house to be greeted by silence which is pretty unusual for the Cabello house. I walk up to Camila's bedroom. I hear sobs coming from her bathroom and immediately follow the sound. I quicken my pace as I push the door open. The sight I'm met with makes my heart skip a beat.
"Oh my god, Camila," I say, clamping a hand over my mouth. She's sitting on the floor wearing a pink adidas top and a pair of black running shorts. Blood trickles down her left arm from two gashes and my eyes dart over to a small blade coated in a thin layer of blood. Her face is tear streaked and her eyes are swollen and bloodshot. When she looks up at me she breaks down into tears again. I quickly sit down next to her and pull my sobbing best friend into a tight hug, ignoring my fear that the pressure will snap her fragile body into half.
"It's okay," I soothe, stroking her back as her body shakes. "You're okay," I continue. She calms down for a couple of minutes until she reaches over for the blade. I quickly reposition myself so that I'm crouching in front of her.
"No, babe," I say softly. "Let's get you cleaned up, yeah?" I say, not really sure how to deal with the situation. She nods and I lead her out into her bedroom.
"I need to go get the first aid kit, can you come with me?" I ask, too scared to leave her alone. She nods and we walk outside to the corridor where the first aid kit is kept.
"This may hurt a little bit," I warn her as we sit down opposite to each other on her bed. She shrugs refusing to make eye contact with me. I carefully soak a piece of cotton with disinfectant before placing it on her wrist. She flinches but remains quiet as the dried blood flakes off and the two slits are surrounded by a slight glow of red. I take two bandages out but she backs away from me.
"I can't walk around with two bandages on my wrists," she says in a small voice.
"Mila, we can't just leave it open," I argue  gently. She gives in and let's me press the two bandages against her wrist firmly.
"I'm going to make us a snack," I say, standing up.
"Dinah, don't," she says quickly. I nod and sit back down.
"Can you do me a favour?" She asks, finally let her eyes connect with mine. I nod.
"Pretend this never happened," she says in a shaky voice.
"You're fucking kidding me, right? I say, trying to not sound aggressive.
"It's not a big deal, Dinah," she tries, glancing down at her wrist.
"Mila, what happened?" I ask, already having heard Lauren's side of the story from Ally.
"I accidentally cut myself on a knife," she lies easily, shrugging as if it were nothing more than a paper cut.
"I meant with Lauren," I say, ignoring the fact that she's already trying to lie her way out of this.
"Oh...um, we had an argument over some stupid message," she says casually.
"I was expecting to different sides to the story but I kinda thought they would be remotely similar after hearing Lauren's," I say, crossing my arms.
"Who did she tell?" The small girl asks nervously, the colour draining from her face.
"Ally and Mani," I say truthfully seeing as at the moment she's probably doing enough lying for the both of us.
"Well you're my best friend so you can choose who you want to believe," she snaps.
"Camz, you have to tell someone about this," I say softly.
"Or what?" She spits angrily.
"Or I will, please just tell Ally," I try, placing a hand in her shoulder.
"W-why?" She stutters, trying to blink back tears.
"Because I don't know how to help you," I say sadly. "I'll drop you off, okay?" I offer, rubbing her shoulder.
"No," she mumbles defiantly.
"Mila, don't force xme to go tell someone," I say with a sad sigh, watching painsnd fear flash in her yes.
"I won't do it again, I promise," she whispers.
***
Camila's POV
I relax into my over splits as David lifts my leg up onto an even higher chair.
"Good," he comments briefly. Flexibility has always been my strong suit. I can see Lauren stealing glances at me out of the corner of my eye but don't dare to look in her direction.
"Okay, planks everyone," he orders. I flatten my palms on the ground and watch as the other girls effortlessly hold the position. I copy them but feel my arms growing weak beneath me. It's probably because I'm so fat that my arms can't even manage the weight anymore. I blink back tears and ignore the nauseous feeling.
"Okay, good practice everyone," David says as everyone stands up and starts talking while making their ways to the changing rooms.
"Camz?" Lauren asks, catching up to me.
"Can we talk?" She asks carefully.
"Not now, Lauren," I mumble, punching the bridge of my nose as an unsuccessful attempt to calm down the throbbing in my head.
"Are you okay?" She asks unsurely.
"Yes," I snap, trying to walk away from her. As I do, I feel even dizzier. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to ignore it before taking another step. My vision is blurry and I can't focus on anything, it feels as though my weight isn't even my balanced and is pushing me to topple over backwards.
"I need to talk to you, it's important," she tries, grabbing my wrist. I quickly pull my hand back, inhaling sharply in pain. She looks at me oddly but doesn't say anything.
"Can we go get some coffee? We need to sort this out," she says calmly. I don't want to say yes, but I just don't have the energy to argue.
"Fine, Lauren," I give in.
"Great," she says cheerfully, even though I have no intention of forgiving her. Right now I don't even know how I'm going to make it all the way to the coffee shop.
"Where's Dinah?" I ask, not even attempting to make my vision better anymore.
"In the changing rooms," she replies in confusion.
"Should I go get her?" She asks in a concerned tone. I nod slightly but it makes my head hurt even more. I watch her blurry figure moving away from me and try to sit down on the floor but I can't do that without fainting.
"Mila? What's wrong?" Dinah asks.
"Are you okay?" Ally questions.
"I'm fine I just...," I try to choose what to say but can't. I feel my feet giving way and reach out to grab whatever I can. I feel myself holding onto Lauren's arm, as my knees buckle.
"Camila?" She asks urgently as I let most of my weight collapse onto her. All I can't think is about how much pain she must be in from trying to hold me up. I try to stand up but my legs feel like jelly.
"Go get the nurse," Lauren snaps.
"NO!" I screech.
"Let's just get her to the changing rooms," Ally says. I sigh, unable to argue anymore and let Lauren carry me to the changing rooms and put me down on the floor before sitting down next to me. Someone hands me a cold water bottle and I rest my head on my knees with my eyes shut tightly and the water bottle pressed against my clammy forehead. Slowly, my vision starts become clearer and my headache subsides to a dull throb. I look up to see Lauren, Ally and Dinah sitting around me.
"Mila, how do you feel?" Ally asks, stoking my arm gently. I don't answer because I don't really know how I feel.
"You seemed really out of it," Lauren comments softly. I sigh slightly at the sight of her and I know she notices because her face falls. I stand up quickly but blood rushes to my head and I feel dizzy again. I can't let them know but I sit right back down again to avoid fainting.
"Um, don't we have school?" I ask, realising that we're the only ones in the changingb room.
"Camz, this was after school practice," Lauren says gently.
"What?" I ask in confusion, glancing at the watch on my wrist which is sandwiched between several bracelets to hide the cuts. My watch reads 4:40.
"It's 4:40," I state.
"Yes genius," Dinah jokes, swatting my arm lightly.
"Guys?" I hear a familiar voice. I look up to see Normani hurrying over.
"Don't you have a doctors appointment?" I ask in confusion, remembering her telling me that she was planning on missing school today.
"Yeah but I heard you were... unwell," she says hesitantly.
"What? I'm fine, who told you that?" I ask with a forced laugh. I watch her exchange a look with the others which I can't quite understand.
"Right, well I'm here now so we're going for ice-cream," she states. Alarms go off in my ears.
"I'm not-," I start but she cuts me off.
"Yeah, I know, you're not hungry, now let's go," she says coldly before softening her expression and shooting me a sympathetic smile.
"Come on, Chanch," Dinah says cheerfully, extending a hand to me. I sigh and fake her hand reluctantly, careful not to put any weight on her. I feel dizzy but ignore it. It's a good thing, it means you're doing something right, I try to convince myself as I cling onto Dinah's arm possessively, scared of falling or fainting.
"Chanch, wanna hold on any tighter? I'm literally pulling your entire weight," Dinah says with a light chuckle. I immediately let go, not having realised how much support I was taking from her.
"Sorry," I say, my voice barely a whisper.
"Hey, I was kidding," she tries to reassure me as we near the ice-cream stand in the park. I just shrug.
"What flavour are you getting?" Lauren asks from next to me, looking excited at the prospect of ice-cream.
"I'm not," I say casually, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
"You can share mine, I'll get it in a cup instead of a cone," she suggests.
"Lauren, I'm still angry at you, what don't you understand?" I snap. "And I'm not eating any fucking ice-cream," I add.
"We're already here, Mila," Ally says with a sigh.
"I have a cold, maybe I'll just go home," I suggest.
"We'll go to Waffle House instead, it's just around the corner," Mani says sharply. I sigh and nod.
***
Ally's POV
"Mila, I love you for refusing to have ice-cream, Waffle House is my favourite!" I exclaim as we sit around our booth table holding menus.
"Mila, the banana and Nutella waffle looks so good," Lauren says, pointing at something on the menu. I know how this is going to end so I quickly interrupt.
"Yeah it looks great, lets get one of those and something else to share," I suggest. The others nod in agreement so I quickly order the food. I watch Camila carefully as we wait, fear crossing her face every time she sees a waiter with food and then relief when it's not our order. She looks up and our eyes meet. She glares at me before looking away. My mind is racing with thoughts but I ignore them.
"Earth to Ally?" Dinah's voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I realise that the food is already here.
"Thanks," I say as she hands me a plate with a piece from each waffle on it.
"Mila?" Dinah asks.
"She's not hungry," Lauren mumbles. The tension of the atmosphere immediately increases. She throws a glare at Lauren but am so speaks up.
"You're never hungry anymore," she says. I just sit back and watch what's going to happen.
"Actually Dinah, if I'm allowed to talk for myself, then I'm starving," she says sharply. Dinah and I exchange a confused glance but all the same Dinah hands her a plate of food.
"This is so good!" I exclaim after having taken a bite. "You've got great taste, Lo," I praise her.
"What do you think, Camz?" Lauren asks.
"Yeah it's good," she mumbles.
"Great, you gonna try it now?" She teases, only half joking. To my surprise, she puts a large bite in her mouth and swallows it. I watch as she repeats the action multiple times and I feel slightly reassured as I watch her devour the generous portion Dinah had given her. I start eating my own food and talking to the others until I realise that Camila is standing up.
"I'm just going to go wash my hands," she explains with tears in her eyes.
"Mila, are you okay?" I ask, feeling confused about everything that has happened now.
"Yeah," she lies although her voice breaks, deceiving her. I watch her hurrying away.
"See, there's nothing to worry about," I say, happy to be able to dismiss it.
"Ally, she was crying," Lauren says, staring st me as if I'm crazy.
"She's fine, she ate which is all that matters," I say, knowing that that it's not true.
"I'm going to go-," Lauren starts but Dinah cuts her off.
"I'm warning you Lauren, don't go after her," Dinah says knowingly. I pull out my phone and see a missed call from Troy.
"Guys, I have to take this," I say, standing up. I shoot them a quick smile before walking outside with my phone pressed against my ear. 
"Hello?" Troy's voice echoes through the phone.
"Hey, baby," I say, knowing he isn't too happy with me.
"Ally, I called you ages ago," he complains. 
"Sorry, I was with the girls," I explain softly.
"Can you come over?" He asks. I glance to my right and see something which I hadn't expected to see; Camila curled up on the floor with tears running down her face.
"I have to go," I say quickly. I hang up and hurry over to the small girl.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, bending down in front of her. She shakes her head but continues to sob.
"Shhh," I whisper, placing my hand in hers.
"Oh my god, you're freezing," I say as her hands feel like ice in mine. She suddenly looks up at me.
"I have to go to school," she says, standing up with a pained expression.
"Why?" I ask in confusion as I discreetly use my hand to steady her.
"T-to w-w-work out," she stutters. "We're being weighed tomorrow and I just ate a mountain of food and...," she trails off.
"Okay, you're not doing that," I say matter of factly.
"I HAVE TO!" she screeches, tightening her grip on my arm.
"Okay, do you want me to get Lauren?" I ask hesitantly, unsure of what their relationship is right now.
"No," she hisses, stamping her foot like a stubborn child, her bottom lip trembling and her face crumpling as if she's going to start crying again.
"Okay listen to me," I say hastily, placing my hands on either side of her shoulders. "Tell me what you want to do, and we can make it work, okay?" I say, looking her in the eye as an attempt to calm her down.
"I need to burn off the calories," she whispers, her voice made husky and hoarse from crying.
"Okay, then we'll go for a short run together," I suggest, emphasising on the work "short". She nods.
"Come on," I say softly.
***