Bully or friend (Camren)

Chapter four

Sighing, Lauren received her maths paper with a doomful glare from Mr Philips who shook his head as he was disappointed but not surprised she had failed. Yet, Camila was beaming with excitement that she tried keeping to herself since her exam had a red circle with the letter 'A' shining away. The green-eyed girl stuffed the exam in her bag carelessly and rushed out of the classroom once the bell had dismissed them then went straight to cheerleading practice, she just wanted to forget today. It had dragged like any typical school day. Cheerleading was one thing she could do in school that helped her take her mind off things which weren't illegal substances. Furiously, she changed into her cheer outfit, slamming her locker shut and bunching up her hair tightly with every grip of her hand becoming tougher. Her teammates kept a distance, sensing the anger that was flowing through Lauren, apart from Jenny who continually pestered her about what was wrong when all she wanted was to be left alone. Silence fell upon the changing rooms when heavy footsteps echoed from around the corner. Appearing, the cheerleading coach stepped from behind the corner and intimidatingly scanned the team with her dark brown eyes as chewed on her lower lip, her mind in a deep thought.

"Where is Jauregui?" Her husky voice spoke with a level of calm and threat mixed all in one. Everyone's heads turned to the green-eyed girl as she swallowed hard and followed her coach to her office.

"What's up, Coach Kelly?" Lauren asked politely, keeping a relaxed expression whilst taking a seat in front of her desk yet her blood was pumping with fear. It was rare for Coach Kelly to come into the changing rooms and it only happened when somebody was in trouble; in this case, Lauren seemed to be the unlucky one to feel her wrath.

"Lauren," Sighed the Coach, swiping her hand over the top part of her ponytail stressfully, closing her eyes to collect her words for a moment. "You're very good at cheerleading so it pains me to say this but I have to let you go."

"Wait, what?!" Lauren raised her voice, her eyes widened in panic and her breathing increased with more rage she didn't know she was capable of feeling. "You can't just cut me off without warning?"

"Ordered from school," She continued, leaning back and resting her feet on the desk, keeping strong eye contact with Lauren. "We all warned you about your maths and you have continued to fail, atrociously. If you start to get good grades and pass the next half term exam, you will be allowed back on the team. So, improve the maths, simple." The coach smiled sarcastically. "You're dismissed."

With a whirlwind of rage, she stormed out of the office and straight to her locker, ignoring all the whispers of team members. She couldn't believe it. Shocked, embarrassed, annoyed, she didn't know how to feel since she had too many feelings overwhelming her at the moment. Arriving at her locker in the silent corridor, she took out a few books, shoved them into her bag so she could do her homework tonight, despite not being in the mood for any sort of educational activity. Until she stumbled across her maths book and a fire broke out into her body. She dropped her bag then threw the book to the floor where she proceeded to stomp on it like a maniac straight out of an asylum, letting out exhausted grunts when the damage was done. Once calming down, she straightened herself up and glanced up where she saw Camila stood with a freaked out expression on her face.

"What are you looking, nerd?" Lauren snarled, snatching the book from the floor and dropping it in the nearest bin to her whilst Camila strolled over to her locker, shaking her head.

"A clearly insane person," She replied with a scoff, swapping her textbooks around before shutting the locker and continuing on her way before adding, "You know if you want to pass maths, reading that book rather than standing on it would help a lot more."

In her frenzy, she dismissed Camila's comment because she hadn't fully listened or paid attention to her witty reply. She leaned against the locker, sank to the floor and held her head in her hands as tears fell from her stern eyes. She tried as hard as you could to hold them back but nothing was working. Not once had she cried in school. She hated letting her emotions sink through like sand through the palms of two hands but today was an overwhelming day. One sniffle echoed out, then another and another until she was fully crying in the middle of school. Even when she had fallen from the top of the pyramid and fractured her left arm, she still didn't cry and here she was crying over low grades and exile from her team. She felt pathetic. Yet, she still couldn't bring herself to get off the floor, she couldn't stop the crying and all she wanted was for somebody to tell her it was going to be okay and just listen to her for once. From around the corner, Camila could hear Lauren's low whimpers and her heart sank into the deep pit of her stomach but it wasn't enough for her to turn back and comfort the girl. She didn't deserve her comfort because Camila could predict what would happen; Lauren would tell her to go away followed by an insult such as loser or nerd. So, what was the point of her trying? She didn't try and walked away, leaving her Lauren to cry by herself, despite feeling the guilt rip at her heart like starving lions. A few years ago, Camila would have flown to her side but times were different now and she didn't recognise who Lauren was anymore.