Cheerleaders

She, me, we

"Mila, lets stop," I pant, grabbing her arm to stop her.
"No, it's not been that long, I'm not tired," she insists.
"I said we'd go for a short run and it's already been an hour and a half which isn't short at all," I argue, frustrated at both her and myself.
"Yeah but you're thin so you don't need to run, don't be selfish," she retorts, crossing her arms.
"We have cheer practice tomorrow, you can't be sore and tired for that," I say. "Plus we're near my house," I add.
"Can I stay the night?" she asks, running the sole of her shoe against the pavement anxiously and biting her lip.
"Only if we go back now," I bargain, taking note that she's shivering even though we've been running for some time now.
"Okay," she agrees hesitantly. We start walking back to my house.
"Are you cold?" I ask.
"Yeah," she mumbles.
"You can have a shower when we get back but you'll have to borrow my extra cheer dress and some of my clothes tomorrow for school unless we go by your house," I say, trying to make conversation. She just nods. Soon we're standing on my porch and I'm fishing through my handbag for my keys. I finally find them and push them into the keyhole.
"Do you want to go for a shower?" I ask. She nods and I go upstairs to get her a towel. I swing open my wardrobe doors to see if there's anything that would fit her. I eventually pull out a pair of fabric pyjama shorts and a top.
"Is that for me?" Camila asks from behind me. I nod and hand the clothes and towel to her. As soon as she's in the bathroom, I go for a quick shower in another bathroom and change into my own pyjamas before flopping down on the sofa. I pull out my phone.
"Ally?" Lauren asks. "How was the run?"
"Tiring," I complain.
"I thought it was going to be short," she says with a laugh.
"Have you even ever met Mila? That girl is a fucking machine," I comment, standing up to walk to the kitchen.
"Wanna come over to watch a movie or something?" I ask, pulling out a packet of microwave popcorn.
"Nah, Camila still kinda hates me so...," she trails off.
"Yeah, good point," I agree. "I hope this blows over soon," I add as I pour the kernels into a saucepan.
"I doubt it," she mumbles sadly.
"Come on, you guys have had arguments before," I say, thinking back to the several meaningless disputes that I've had to settle between the two of them.
"This is different, don't you think that Camila's not really been herself lately?" She asks.
"Ally? What are you doing?" A voice asks from behind me. I turn around to see Camila standing in the pyjamas I gave her with the shorts barely clinging on to her prominent hip bones and the top, which is fitted on me, hanging loosely around her frame.
"I was just making some popcorn,"I say quickly.
"I'm not hungry," she says immediately. I glance at my phone which I haven't yet disconnected from Lauren's call. I quickly hang up before looking back at her.
"We just went on such a long run, you must have burned tons of calories," I say, feeling hungry myself.
"Yeah," she says hesitantly.
"Should we order?" I ask as she tails behind me while I walk to the living room with the bowl of popcorn in my hands.
"I'm so tired, I'll probably just fall asleep," she jokes.
"Okay, lets just turn on the movie," I suggest. She nods and I turn on pretty little liars and sit down on the sofa, absent minded eating the popcorn. I glance over to see that Camila has fallen asleep. I smile and place a blanket on her before letting sleep overtake me as well.
***
Lauren's POV
"Why are you so late?" I ask Ally as she jogs into the gymnasium for cheer practice.
"Mila literally wouldn't wake up," she says, catching her breath. "We didn't get time for breakfast and we didn't even have dinner last night," she complains.
"I have some granola in my bag," Mani offers.
"Oh my god, I love you," Ally exclaims dramatically before following Mani to the bleachers where our bags are kept. I smile nervously as I spot Camila walking over. I feel awful for what I said to her.
"Hey," I try to act normally, smiling at her.
"Hi," she mutters.
"What's got you so grumpy?" Dinah teases.
"Nothing, M' tired," she says hoarsely.
"Are you hungry? I have an apple in my bag," I offer, thinking back to how Ally said they didn't have breakfast or dinner last night. She smiles a forced smile,
"No thanks, I had a big breakfast". I glance at Dinah who ignores my questioning gaze and shrugs. We know she's lying, so why can't we just say something? Dinah nudges me meaningfully as if she knows what's going through my head and I sigh, knowing not to say anything.
"We should warm up," Mani suggest as she reappears with a much happier looking Ally.
"I'll actually see you later," Camila says.
"Practice hasn't even started," I say in confusion. She shrugs. I grab her arm as she turn on her heel to walk away. She tries to pull away but I keep a firm grip on her arm.
"Stop," she whimpers. I noticed the pain on her face and quickly let go.
"I'm sorry," I apologise hastily. She ignores me and walks away, holding her arm against her chest as soon as she thinks we can't see her.
"That's weird," I mumble, trying to figure things out in my head.
"She can't just skip practice," Ally fumes, crossing her arms.
"Let's talk later, coach is calling us," Dinah says, looking at where all of the other girls have started to gather.
"Where's Camila?" He asks, glancing around. I look at the others apprehensively.

"She wasn't feeling well," I say when nobody else makes any attempt to answer.

"Okay, let's start," he says, clapping his hands together.

***
"I'm so tired,"  Mani whines as the five of us sit at a table together at lunch, nobody daring to ask why Camila skipped cheerleading this morning.

"Cammie, can I talk to you?" I suddenly ask after  having watched her eating an apple and a salad for the last fifteen minutes. She nods, gladly pushing away the salad and following me out of the noisy cafeteria.

"I just wanted to know if you're doing okay," I say softly. She nods with a smile and I feel a sense of relief flooding through me.

"And...are we okay?" I ask hesitantly, fidgeting nervously with my fingers.

"Lauren," she says with a soft sigh. "I don't know what to say," she says, staring at the floor.

"Say we'll be okay," I urge, feeling tears prickle the back of my throat.

"Of course we will," she says quietly, not making eye contact. "Of course we will," she repeats, now looking straight at me and using a more reassuring voice. I edge closer to her so that our faces are only a few inches apart.

"I love you," I whisper softly, playing with a strand of her hair. She smiles slightly in response.

"I love you too," she mumbles into my shoulder as she rests her body against mine. I let out a small sigh of relief.

She's okay.

I'm okay.

We're okay.