Godparents (Camren)

Begin Again Chapter 2.

The second chapter of Begin Again is here! This is the last one I'll post on my account, check the official story out on @outroze !

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I didn't want to leave my room for the rest of the night. Dinah, however, had other plans.

"I swear Mila, I will break down this door and drag you to this party if you don't come out here right now," Dinah spoke sternly from the other side of my door.

"Let me wallow in sadness, DJ. I don't even like parties, you know that," I reply, not moving from my spot on the floor.

I hear Dinah sit down outside the door. "Listen, I know it's hard to see her again, I get that-"

"No, you don't, Dinah. You don't know what it was like," I respond harshly.

"I was there for you, every single day. I still am. It sucks that she didn't like you back-"

"I knew that she didn't like me back. What I didn't know was that she would be so homophobic about it."

Dinah sighs, "I know-"

"No," I repeat again, "No you don't."

I hear her stand up, "Look, Mila, if you want to sit here and 'wallow in your sadness', go for it. I'm going to make the most of college, and you should too. Maybe you should give Lauren a taste of what she's missing," and with that, Dinah walks away from the door and I am left alone in the silence of the suite.

I think about Dinah's last words for a while as I scroll through instagram. After a while, curiosity gets the best of me and I type Lauren's name into the search bar. Her profile picture is a sultry photo of her in dark lighting, her green eyes as piercing as ever despite the dim glow of the background. Her posts are mainly made up of she and her friends on beaches or in dance clubs with a few pictures here and there of her family. Her family was always nothing but nice to me.

My family and I had moved to the Miami right before I started kindergarten. The first day of kindergarten, I was a total crying mess. My short bobbed hair and bright pink skirt were no match for the bullies in the class. I missed my family back home in Cuba and I hardly spoke any English so everyone in the class had more than enough reason to make fun of me, and everyone did. Everyone but Dinah. From the very first day, she was my fiercest protector. She defended me from the kids who tried to bully me. She helped me learn to read and I've loved reading ever since. I wouldn't trade our friendship for the world.

Lauren and I met in the first grade. Dinah, always the social butterfly, was talking up a storm to everyone before class, exhausting some and enchanting others. I was sitting alone at my table when she walked in. I remember that I was playing with a doll that my grandfather gave to me just before we left Cuba. I was too focused on the doll, which I had named Jenny, to hear her approaching, but when she spoke, my eyes immediately met hers and she smiled.

"Can I sit here?" She spoke carefully, like she was afraid I'd say no.

I nodded in response, afraid that speaking with my accent would make her want to leave. I observed her clothes, light ripped jeans and a grey t shirt. Her dark hair was in loose waves that cascaded down her back. Her smile nearly turned me to mush. My heart started beating rapidly and my cheeks began to heat up.

Instead of sitting in the chair across from me like I assumed that she would, she walked around the table and took the seat beside me. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to Jenny. She had eyes almost as green as Lauren's.

At first, I didn't want to reply, my insecurities getting the better of me. I figured that it was all a trick, that she would make fun of me as soon as I opened my mouth to speak.

She waited a few moments for me to reply and when she realized that I wasn't going to, she reached down into the blue backpack that she had dropped beside the chair when she sat down. Out of the bag she pulled a cowboy, Woody from Toy Story to be exact, and she walked it across the table with her hands until it reached Jenny.

Then, she looked at my seriously and spoke in a wildly humorous southern accent, "Howdy partner!"

The laugh that escaped my lips as Woody tipped his hat and bowed to Jenny was one of genuine happiness. It was loud, so loud that Dinah was at my side nearly the second after the sound had left my mouth.

She stepped toward Lauren threateningly. Dinah was tall for her age, almost six inches taller than the tallest boy. "Who are you?" She snarled at Lauren.

Instead of succumbing to Dinah's intimidating glare, Lauren stood up boldly, "My name is Lauren, what's yours?"

Without answering Lauren's question, Dinah turned to me, "Are you okay?" She asked seriously, checking me up and down for any sort of physical harm.

"Yes, DJ, she is being nice. Look, she has Woody!" I point to the cowboy in Lauren's hand.

Dinah smiled at me softly and turned back to face Lauren, towering over her once again, "If you ever so much as touch one single hair on her head, you're gonna be in big trouble."

Lauren nodded nonchalantly, "Can we get back to playing now?"

Dinah stepped out of the way, allowing us to resume, but instead of leaving us alone, she took the seat across from me and eyed Lauren suspiciously.

Lauren seemed not to mind, bringing Woody closer to Jenny once again before turning Woody to face me. In the same accent she used before, Woody spoke to me, "What's your name, princess?"

My cheeks flushed red. "Camila," I spoke quietly, my eyes on Lauren.

Lauren smiled warmly at me, her missing front tooth the only hindrance of her obvious good looks. "Beautiful," she spoke to me earnestly in her normal voice.

I felt my cheeks flush an even more vibrant shade of crimson and Lauren's eyes turned soft, "Are you okay?" She leaned in and looked at me curiously.

I nodded.

"Are you sure? Your cheeks are all red. Are you sick?"

Before I had the chance to shake my head no, she leaned in closer and pressed her hands to my cheeks, causing my entire body to heat up. Her green eyes peered into mine and all at once I felt like she understood me.

"Okay class," the teacher, Mrs. Anderson, spoke loudly to get our attention. Lauren drew her hands back from me quickly. "Let's all go around the room and say our names!" Mrs. Anderson clapped excitedly.

Lauren rolled her eyes at the teacher, causing me to laugh.

Suddenly, I became aware of Dinah's eyes on Lauren and I. I expected the same hard glare to be present, but instead, she was looking at us with a genuine smile. Meeting my eyes, she pointed to Lauren and gave me a thumbs up before turning to pay attention to Mrs. Anderson.

That was how it all began and nearly ten years later, it ended. All because of my stupid feelings.

Thinking of how Lauren and I came to be friends made me angry, to tell the truth. For years, we were inseparable, and after she found out about my feelings for her, she treated me like I was nothing. The whole school hated me because of her.

Maybe I should show Lauren what she's missing, make her believe what she did to me made me stronger. I should show her that I'm better off without her because truthfully, I probably am.

I quickly stood up and opened my bedroom door to see Dinah sitting at the kitchen table, looking down at her phone. Hearing noise from my room turned her attention to me, "Finally," she spoke with a smile, getting up and pushing past me to enter my room. "Now let's see what sexy outfits you have."

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Thanks for reading!