The Beginning

Something was making a loud noise. It was so loud Lauren couldn't even think. What was making that noise? She thought.
Her hand searched aimlessly for the source of the noise and when it found it, it punched the thing until no sound came off anymore. The girl led her hands to her face and groaned. Today was the day, the day she was dreading, the day she wished would never come, but it did. Today she would go back to school.
She sat on the bed and looked at her mom's old alarm clock, 6:05am. She got out of bed and still barefoot walked to the bathroom across the hall from her bedroom.

Looking herself in the mirror she could see she looked like a monster. Her eyes were puffy, her nose was red, her lips were cracked, her hair was a mess and she felt just like it.
She decided that she needed a shower so that's what she did, it took her a little bit longer than usual to be done, but when she was, she took two towels and wrapped them around her body and hair.

Meanwhile Lauren got ready for school, the room beside hers was being filled with the soft snores and silent cries of her younger sister, Camila.

"Daddy!" She whined. "Daddy catch me." She started to trash around in the bed. "Daddy. Please"

While blow-drying her wet hair, Lauren was unable to hear her sister's pleas. But she did see her phone pinge when it received another text from her boyfriend, Zayn, saying he would pick them up for school.
And it wasn't until she heard her sister's ear piercing scream that she totally dropped what she was doing.

Camila sat in her bed, hair glued to her sweaty forehead, eyes wide, her right hand covering her mouth and breathing heavy.
Her older sister ran to her side and embraced her. She clung to Lauren and didn't feel like letting go, ever.

"It's okay. Everything is fine now, Camz. It was just a dream." Her sister calmly said.
"No, it wasn't. It was real." The girl sobbed.
"Camz, I..."
"He's not here. He's gone. Everyone's gone, Lo." Her big brown eyes stared deeply into her sister's green ones.
"I'm not. I'm still here. And I will always be here."
"Always?" Camila raised her pinky and Lauren quickly did the same.
"Always." She said, lacing their fingers in a promise.

Lauren left her sister to get ready and walked to the kitchen to make them something to eat.
She set aside two plates, two bowls and two glasses, she walked to the fridge to get the ingredients she would need but stopped when she saw the picture hanging in the door.
Her 11 year old self smiled at the camera while sitting behind a huge chocolate cake, a 10 year old Camila to her right and her very happy looking father to her left.
She weakly smiled remembering that day, and didn't bother the tears that left her eye as she remembered something else.

It was the last week of the school break and everyone who was someone was at the party in Bieber's house. Tyler had sneaked to a room with Ashley, Niall was hitting on one of the cheerleaders, while Dinah, Ally and Normani sensually danced with each other.
Camila was sitting in the living room couch, watching her older sister drink away her frustrations.
Earlier that night Lauren had gotten into an argument with their father, and now she was trying to forget about it.
Camila didn't know what the argument was about and she didn't mind, but her sister was drinking way too much to the point where her boyfriend felt the need to approach Camila about it.

"Lauren's trashed. She needs to go home." He had said.
"I know. Can you take us?" He shook his head.
"I don't have my car. And I drank quite a lot too." She nodded and sighed.
"Can you go get her? I'm calling my dad." He nodded and she left to find a quieter place.

Once on the curb, Camila picked her phone and dialed her father's cell phone number. It didn't take him long to answer.

"Hi dad. Could you pick us up at Justin's house?" She had asked. She waited for his reply. "Well, Lauren can't drive right now." The response she got wasn't the best. "I know that. Please, daddy? I really wanna go home." She sighed. "Lauren? She's..." She looked around and saw Zayn Bringing Lauren outside the loaded house. "She's right here by my side." Her father's response made her smile "Okay. We'll wait for you in the curb." And she hung up.
"Who was that?" Her sister groggily asked.
"Dad." Camila looked at her in time to see her throwing up in a bush by her side. Camila was quick to hold her hair and stroke her back, and by the time Lauren was over, she was also really tired, so she leaned into her sister's lap and rested her head there.
"He's gonna be so mad." Lauren slurred.
"No, he won't. He'll understand. It'll all be alright." Camila said while stroking her sister's hair.