Catalyst

II

Lauren watches with curious eyes as the new girl shovels today's breakfast down her throat hungrily, seemingly uncaring of anyone's attention on her.

The image of the new girl scarfing down her first meal in prison was rather unsettling, considering almost everyone'd had the same reaction to the shift in meals their first day in (including disgusted looks, forks poking at the questionable food products, and even a few people taking their trays back to complain). All of the above usually ended in a few days of starvation from Red.

But this girl is different; she doesn't think twice about the possible mold on top of the pudding, or the sell-by date of the juice.

Lauren likes different.

"Hey, bitch." Lauren is startled from her thoughts as her best friend Dinah plops down in the empty seat beside her, her shoulder bumping Lauren's.

Almost immediately, the relatively calm mood of the table shifts, her girls standing up and puffing their chests at Dinah, save for Dinah's bunkmate (and also another one of Lauren's closest friends) Lucy, who watches the interaction while taking a prolonged sip of her drink. "What the fuck did you say, puta?"

"What gives you the right to talk to our girl like that?"

"Get the fuck out of our table before we kick your sorry culo—"

Lauren lifts a hand to silence her girls and smirks at Dinah, who's mumbling something along the lines of "yeah, you better back the fuck off" as they return to their seats, throwing her the occasional glare.

Dinah nearly gets her head handed to her a second time as she reaches onto Lauren's tray without warning, grabbing the orange and beginning to peel it. "What?" Dinah says as the girls begin to relax once more, seeing Lauren's amused expression. "She doesn't like oranges."

Lauren shares a look with Dinah before she takes a bite of her eggs, Dinah lifting her gaze to meet Lucy's across the table.

"You left your shit on my side of our room again." Dinah points her fork at Lucy dramatically, waving it around. "I can't keep cleaning up after you for inspection, I have places to be and things to do."

"Like what? In case you haven't noticed, we're in prison." Lucy shoots back, smacking Dinah's fork out of her face.

"More of a reason to keep your shit straight." Dinah rolls her eyes. "Next time I see any of that crap collected on my side of the room, I'm fucking keeping it."

"Why the fuck do you let this chica talk to you like this?" Maritza joins in, narrowing her eyes at Dinah who pretends to be offended. "And you, Laur?"

Lauren glares, her protective side taking control. Maritza lifts her hands in defense, shutting up immediately at Lauren's look.

"Yeah, what she said." Dinah says sarcastically, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Meanwhile, Camila is just finishing up her juice as an assortment of trays plop down around her. Eyes wide, she lifts her gaze to look around the table, making eye contact with many cocky, smirking women she's never seen before. Camila rolls her eyes, returning her stare to the tray in front of her and working on finishing up the last of her breakfast.

"Hey, new girl," Camila pauses, slowly looking back up to meet the eyes of the woman across from her. "Didn't anybody ever teach you manners? The polite thing to do is greet your friends when they join you."

"You're not my friends." Camila sasses, about to once again lower her gaze to her tray, until it gets pulled away aggressively. Camila lets out a sound of protest, her stomach rumbling despite her nearly finishing the contents of the tray.