A Change Of Directions (Camren)

Chapter 8: The truth hurts

An hour into the project, after I had found out that our project topic was about Peru, we fell into a comfortable pattern where Lauren would read out information from the internet and I would write them down. Of course I hadn't agreed to this without protesting at first but after receiving a venomous glare from Lauren, I admitted that there were far worse things than just scribbling down notes in spanish.

" - shape of a panther. Do you think that this is a fact worth mentioning?" Lauren absently asked me as she stared at the laptop screen, gnawing on her bottom lip which caused me to distractedly stare at her.

Stop doing that if you know what's good for you.

"Cabello?"

"Hm?"

Lauren stopped chewing on her bottom lip and turned her head to face me; frustration laced her voice when she impatiently asked, "Are you listening to me?"

She snapped with her fingers and glared at me.

Snapping out of whatever trance I had been in, I quickly nodded to affirm whatever she had just said.

"Good, then you just agreed to make the PowerPoint presentation."

"What? No, no, wait there, Princess." I straightened myself in my seat and defensively raised one hand, "I can't recall ever agreeing to that."

"Then can you recall anything of what I've been saying for the last few minutes?" Lauren retorted with irritation.

This had to be a test. And I had to pass it.

Scrunching up my eyebrows, I slowly and questioningly tried, "You were talking about...Peru?"

I received an irritated eyeroll and a sigh. "Maybe it's not too late to change partners..."

This was gnawing at my oversized ego and I gave her a scowl, immediately countering. "Don't forget that you were the one who chose me. I wouldn't have minded getting partnered up with that hot skater chick in the third row."

This disarming argument worked surprisingly well, Lauren abruptly turned her head away from me and chose to blankly stare at the laptop screen again, though I was sure that she wasn't reading anything.

Quiet Lauren was starting to bother me, so I sighed and reluctantly said, "Sorry, you're right, I should have listened to you. From now on, you have my full attention."

Lauren shook her head at no one particular, like she wanted to get rid of annoying thoughts, before she faced me again and gave me a small smile. "Let's try it again."

From then on, I avoided looking at Lauren and focused on my notes instead. I had never realized till now how ugly my writing was, it was so sloppy and uneven, this could have been the writing of a boy. And maybe that wasn't so far from reality when it came to my libido and my ego. Innerly, I was as much of a pig as a hormonal, teenage boy.

Dropping my pen, I shook my hand to loosen it up, it was all tense from writing so long. I wasn't used to writing so much since I never wrote notes in class or did homework. Stretching my middle finger until it made 'crack', I earned a disgusted "Ew" from Lauren. My lips twitched into a smile before I could help myself.

"Stop doing that."

I stuck out my tongue childishly and did the opposite, bending over every single finger until they made the funny cracking noise that sounded like bones breaking.

"Okay, here, you do the research and I'll be the writer." Lauren said with a grimace and handed her laptop to me.

Grinning and sighing in relief, I took her laptop thankfully and leaned back in my chair while Lauren took my notes and went back to sitting on her bed. I eyed her bed longer than necessary, thinking it was large enough for two people to lie on it. I forcefully stopped my naughty thoughts and trained my eyes on the laptop screen. I had to stay focused.