mean girls

xvi. the debate

If someone had told Camila at the beginning of the school year that, almost three months later, she'd be having a secret meeting with a suspicious-looking guy in a park, she would have laughed and laughed and laughed.

As things turn out, she's currently sitting on a bench by a tree, watching as a tall, lean guy with a tattoo sleeve on his left arm walks towards her in a leisurely pace. She sighs and starts playing with the ripped lines on the knees of her skinny jeans, pondering how on earth she's ended up here.

"Camila?" he asks. His voice is hoarse but a bit squeaky, like he's just woken up even though it's 5 PM.

She nods and he takes a seat next to her, removing a pack of rolling tobacco from his back pocket before looking back at her. "You Jauregui's new girl?"

"No," she says, biting her lip. "I just have a personal interest in knowing what troubles she used to get into before she showed up and turned my life upside down."

"Why can't you just ask her?" He's lining up the tobacco in a shroud and Camila follows his movements with curiosity. Somehow, it seems like a relaxing thing to do. "Wouldn't that be easier?"

She rolls her eyes, and takes a deep breath before speaking. She'd found this Luis person a while ago - the awful pictures of Lauren partying had been on his social media -, but she'd only gotten in touch with him after the Halloween Bash, hoping he'd have dirt on Lauren that could be useful for the final days before the election now that her own reputation has seen better days. Preferably, something new she could use for the debate on Friday. He'd agreed to meet her as long as she paid him for the effort and Camila still doesn't know how to feel in regards to the extent she's willing to go, for Lauren and against Lauren.

This meeting isn't the first time they're talking and Luis should know the answer to his question, but it would seem his brain is too fried to remember any of that.

"Lauren and I aren't friends nor are we on good terms," she explains. "Actually, I want to crush her and make her wish she'd never been born, which is why we're here."

Luis hums and starts adding weed and hashish to his tobacco. "She stole your boyfriend too?"

"She stole yours?" Camila perks up. This is useful information. And a scorned man should be more inclined to offer compromising material for her to achieve her goals.

"Not my boyfriend, no." He snorts derisively, and licks the shroud twice before closing it. "Bitch convinced me to have a threesome with her and my girlfriend and a few days later my girl left me, said Jauregui was better at fucking and more worthy of her time."

Camila has to control herself not to laugh because she isn't surprised Lauren is better at sex than this mess of a boy. Then she remembers Lauren was out there doing drugs and having threesomes and her mood darkens.

"Did you go to school with her?"

"Nah," he says, bringing a lighter close to his lips. "I dunno what happened, like, she sorta came outta nowhere. One day I'd never seen her in my life, the other she was at every single party I went to."

"Do you still see her around?"

Luis drops his head back and blows the smoke into the sky before offering her a puff. Camila feels tempted for a moment and then she remembers she doesn't know him and much less trusts him, so she refuses with a polite smile.

"I haven't seen her since the summer started. Rumor has it she went to rehab and after that, well-"

"What?" Camila snaps, turning her whole body towards him. "What do you mean rehab?!"