Bully or friend (Camren)

Chapter seven

After yesterday, Camila's class were fortunate enough to be graced with a substitute teacher which meant an entire lesson of foolishness instead of Mr Philips' robotic voice for an hour. Not for her, though. She didn't have much to do anyway, it wasn't like she had any friends in maths so doing work helped occupy herself, also she enjoyed the subject. As Lauren and Jenny gossiped about next week's party, Camila felt herself becoming worked up from frustration, she needed silence when working, especially when her work was as challenging as the problem she faced today yet she didn't mind the difficulty of maths because it only made her more determined. Innocently, Jenny was sat on the side of the table as she perkily chatted so much that Camila thought her mouth had a brain of its own that had malfunctioned. She also did notice the sly looks she was constantly getting from Lauren's friend but shrugged it off because she very used to it now and, so far, the girl was showing no threat. She had spoken too soon. Within a second, Jenny had snatched the piece of paper she was writing her equations on and briefly looked over it without properly taking in the complexity that Camila had gone through then ripped it to shreds. Delicately, she blew the pieces of paper from the palm of her hand and giggled evilly but Lauren didn't react, she acted as the bystander and watched the cruel teasing unfold. Yet, being the bystander was just as bad. Camila was pleased she didn't encourage the behaviour but she wished would stop it; she had the power to. Once she was satisfied with her daily dose of meanness, Jenny went to the bathroom to give herself a break from the dull maths class.

"Hey, I was wondering if the tutoring thing is still on for us tonight?" Lauren asked, glancing back and forth from her twiddling thumbs and the brunette next to her.

"Are you joking?" Camila scoffed, glaring at her as if she had suddenly forgotten everything that had happened as she furrowed her eyebrows with utter confusion. "You blew me off yesterday and have just watched my work be ripped up right in front of me. Face it, Lauren, you don't want the help; especially from me."

"No, no, I do want the help, I need the help." Lauren pleaded with every ounce of fibre in her body yet still managing to keep her voice low enough for only Camila's ears. "Please, Camz- Camila," She quickly stuttered, correcting the nickname she had almost forgotten about. "I promise I won't miss a single session."

"Fine," She huffed, taking a deep gulp when hearing the accidental slip as she flustered with her pencil case to distract herself from Lauren. "Just make sure you show up at the library on time."

"I was thinking we could go somewhere else to study," The green-eyed girl smiled slightly with a glimmer of hope beaming from her pearl white teeth. "There's a cool diner that's quite quiet, I thought we could go there. I'll be able to drive us and I'll take you home; meet me at my car after school?"

"Sure," Camila nodded in forced agreement since it didn't sound like she had much of a choice in the matter but she understood why; Lauren was embarrassed to be seen with her.

She pretended it didn't bother her, they weren't friends so it didn't matter. When the bell rang, she raced out of the class before it could even finish ringing as she burst into the bathroom to calm down. For some reason, she could feel her eyes brimming up with tears, there was a pain in her chest and her breathing began to quicken. Why was she letting this get to her? After mourning the absence of her best friend, she got over Lauren, it took a long time but she managed it. No matter what insults were thrown at her by Lauren and her bullies, she dodged them and thickened her skin with each word that exited their mouths. Maybe she was tired, that was her reason for everything. She swallowed again, held her head up high and kept her composer. She was not crying in school over something stupid.

At lunch, Lauren sat on the bleachers, watching the cheerleaders all practice for next month's competition with pure jealously raging in her eyes. It would beat sitting by herself for lunch because that would be embarrassing and she couldn't imagine what people would say about her. To pass the time, Lauren discreetly doodled in her notebook and didn't want anyone to see her secret hobby because if she wasn't teasing someone, causing chaos or cheerleadering then she would be called a loser. For some reason, she found herself manoeuvring the thick pencil in directions that shaped into Camila's face as she slowly shaded the darkness of her brunette hair and made sure to capture each strand of hair that fell around her face whenever she tied it up. With a smile on her face, she signed the bottom of the corner with her name as if she was some sort of famous artist when in reality she was just a mediocre doodler. When she saw the cheerleading team approaching her, she slammed the book shut and stuffed it back into her bag in one quick motion before she smiled widely to express how impressed she was by their routine or at least half of it since she was too busy with her eyes glued to paper.