Cupid's Crash

Part 4

Camila traipsed onto the school grounds the next day with a bandage patch on the corner of her forehead and a dreary frown on her face. She spent the entire school day having to tell people she "fell" in gym class while trying to elude any further questions about the incident. Ultimately, she decided to skip gym entirely to save her some face. It wasn't until she walked into the yearbook club's room though that she felt the days weight as Dinah jumped her and fired off her ribbing.
"Chancho,I can't believe you smashed Lauren!" Dinah cackled, laughing at her own stupid pun. "You're an animal!" Ally slapped her on the arm as the girl whirled in her leather chair in glee. Camila stalked over and grabbed Dinah's head in a playful headlock, squeezing tightly until the girl tapped on her forearm in surrender. "Shut up! Where'd you even hear about that, anyways?" Camila growled.
"Girl, I know you weren't telling everyone you fell or some shit!" Dinah guffawed. Camila forced another twist on Dinah's neck; distorting her laugh into a garbled sputter.
Letting go, but not before smacking Dinah upside the head, Camila slumped into the chair next to them. "I hate my life." She moaned. "Can we not talk about Lauren for once, please? I already owe her an apology."

"For what? She ran into you." Dinah remarked.

"She apologized to you for that, right?" Ally continued.

"Y-Yeah, yes...yes, she did, ah never mind! Just stop talking about it!" Camila stammered. "She picked me up after and that was that. It wasn't that big of a deal. More importantly, tomorrow's the deadline for the posters, right? Did you get all the pictures for send off?"
Dinah grinned. "You bet your ass. 24 love shots already on their merry way to Salt Lake City, Utah's printing house. They'll be delivered after the weekend, Captain." Camila sighed, relieved to finally be getting to work. "Let's just hope the student council gets off our asses now that the posters are done. I hate having to even see their snooty little heads pop in here demanding more crap." Camila fired up the computer in front of her and looked through all the club's files and folders. "Hey, Ally, any word from Normani about the coverage for the softball game next weekend?" Ally sighed a little. "Not yet, she has her camera checked out but she hasn't gotten back to me about whether she can actually do it. I'll let you know if anything comes up, though."
"Thanks, Ally. There's still a week before the game, so it isn't too urgent at the moment."
The girls settled down and continued their discussion about the book and upcoming events. It was times like these that Camila found the most relaxing and energizing. She really wanted to work in the editorial industry after she finished school. It was her dream. Just sitting there working on the project already set her mind at ease and her throbbing headache at bay. She could almost forget the drag that was gym.Monday morning, Camila was running a little late. Slamming her car door shut, she hauled her backpack over her shoulder and walked briskly across the parking lot before entering the school. As the doors closed behind her, she noticed something new hung up. Just ahead of her on a post was one of the big Valentines Day posters. "Already up, huh?" Camila said to herself. The image itself was of a bouquet of roses. Simple and to the point. Being able to look out for each of the posters was going to be an amusing little hunt for Camila as she hadn't actually seen any of the pictures beforehand. She trusted Dinah's decisions and never bothered to preview anything unless it was for a second opinion.
Everything seemed to go as normal as any day to Camila that morning. Nothing out of the ordinary, until lunch break came around and things started to get weird. Heading to the parking lot to meet up with Dinah and Ally, Camila couldn't help but notice people staring at her and murmuring under their breath as she passed by. She wondered if she had something on her face or if her clothes were out of place, or something. Some people snickered at her and others just whispered to themselves, pointing to her as if their blatant staring wasn't anymore obvious. Camila just about snapped at the rude onlookers before she heard a couple of girls talking in the distance; running off down the hallway opposite her direction.
"Yeah, the poster's in the C building, just before you go out into the commons area! Everybody's talking about it, I didn't even know she was into girls!" One of them exclaimed.
"Yeah, apparently the other girl is a member of the yearbook club. What the hell, right?" Laughed another.
Camila stopped in her tracks. A strange and dreadful tingle crawled up her neck at the second comment. What were they talking about? A poster? Would that explain all the staring she was getting? Hastily, she followed after them. When she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner to the C building, a large crowd welcomed her; blocking the poster in question from view. Camila pursed her lips and began to make her way into the crowd, moving steadily towards the wall ahead of her.
When she finally reached the poster - after much pushing and effort - and raised her eyes at the image on it, her heart sank and her mouth went dry. What she was looking at was Lauren Jauregui holding her in a close embrace as they looked at each other deeply in the eyes. It was last week's gym mishap, except instead of the simple gesture it actually was, now it looked as if she was in the middle of an intimate moment with Lauren. As if they were "together." Camila  stared in a stupor until some of the people around her recognized her and started pointing fingers. She shoved her way out of the crowd and ran to the parking lot, her heart beating a mile a minute. When she finally got Dinah and Ally in her line of sight, she practically screamed.
"Cheeche, what the fuck!!" Camila stomped her way towards them; making them flinch as they hovered around her car waiting for her. "You better tell me what the fuck is going on, right now!" Like clockwork, a sly smirk curled on Dinah's lips as she ducked to the other side of Camila's car. Ally just stood in place, seemingly confused and anxious.
"Chancho, listen to me. You're very upset, I can see that, but I can explain." Dinah sniggered, obviously not understanding the severity of Camila's wrath.
"You think, bitch?! Why the hell am I hugging Lauren in your fucking poster?" Camila half chased Dinah around her car but couldn't catch her as the girl darted towards the other side.
"Chancho, Camila, please. I got the photos in my folder and, you know, I really fought hard with myself, okay? I seriously wasn't going to send it but I couldn't resist. It was calling out to me, I couldn't NOT do it. But I didn't take the pictures, I swear!" Dinah explained, trying to suppress the giggles from pouring out her mouth.
"My ass, you didn't! You're so fucking dead! That's why you knew what happened last week!" Camila jumped across the hood of her car and chased Dinah down onto the grass. It took a couple of seconds, but she was finally caught and on her stomach as Camila pinned her in a headlock. "You guys, stop! What's going on?" Ally yelled.
"Dinah got a picture of Lauren and I out of context and now everyone thinks we're dating!" Camila growled. Dinah was still laughing, although undoubtedly in pain.
"I swear! Shawn took the pictures! He said he saw your gym class out on the field and was taking random shots for poster material. It's not even that bad, Chancho! You're overreacting!" Their scuffle continued until Ally managed to break them apart. Dinah rolling on her back laughing away and Camila on her butt in an exhausted and angry heap.
"I hate you." Camila grumbled.
Dinah only let out a throaty chuckle. "Love you, Chancho. I couldn't believe my eyeballs, I was so surprised when I got the pictures. I'm sorry, Chancho, but they were such good shots. So juicy. And, to be honest, when I was looking at them, I got the feeling that you guys, like, looked really good together."
"But we're not together. At all. How am I suppose to face Lauren, now? What do I say if she confronts me about it? Oh god, what if she's angry at me? What if she thinks I'm a creep?"
"Oh, please. It's a harmless little hug. You're seriously overreacting."

"Take it down." Camila demanded.

"Can't, those posters were expensive. The student council can count if you can believe it so if one of their paid-for adverts goes missing, it'll be more than just your ass on the chopping block." Camila held her head in her hands, drained. "Where's the drive?"
As if waiting for the question, Dinah smirked. "Glad you asked. Catch." She reached into her back pocket and tossed the USB stick into Camila's lap. She had to overcome the urge to throw the little hell raiser out into the street there and then, but thought better of it. She stuffed the drive into her pocket while Ally sat beside her and rubbed her back in comfort.
"You're such an ass, Dinah." Ally rebuked.
"Not my angel, too?" Dinah pouted, prompting Camila to kick her.
She skipped gym that day, and for the rest of the week, not nearly brave enough to see Lauren face to face just yet. Luckily, she never saw her outside of classes, not even casually in the hallways, so it was easy for Camila to avoid her. However, much could be said about her newfound "popularity," which forced her into the spotlight of everyone at school. Random strangers she didn't even know would come up to ask her about Lauren and the number of jealous threats she'd get grew with each passing day.
She wondered if Lauren was denying their relationship just as urgently as she was and what she thought of the whole thing. For some reason, the thought of Lauren hating her for this scared Camila. She knew that prolonging their encounter would probably make things worse, but she couldn't bear the look of disgust and the bitter words she imagined Lauren would give her.