A Change Of Directions (Camren)

Chapter 25: We found love in a hopeless place

Definitely one of my most miserable weekends, if not the most miserable one in my life. I tried comparing it to the first time my fathers had left me and I had spent the weekend alone, but it was a different kind of misery. Back then, I had someone to blame, someone to be disappointed in for leaving me alone. But now, when all arrows were pointed back at me, the anger and disappointment remained in my heart and I had nowhere to redirect them.

This morning, I hadn't needed Lil' Duckie to wake me with his tweeting. I simply hadn't been asleep the whole night, tossing and turning on the bed, not able to find a comfortable position to rest.

Dinah had called me at seven am to make sure that I would stand up and get to school. Well, I guessed she had tried saying that because half of the time, she had been insulting me and cursing me. I guessed she had found out that my attempt to talk to Lauren had been a failure.

I felt heavy and slow as I mournfully trotted to my locker, ignoring all the raised eyebrows at me. Fucking hell.

I had been in this school for, like, two minutes and it was a fucking Monday, but somehow everybody seemed to know that something big had happened between Lauren and i. Rumors really had a way of spreading that fast in school, no wonder why Lauren had been so apprehensive of her reputation. But that was still no permission for them to openly stare at me and whisper in a ridiculously loud volume so that I could hear their crazy assumptions as well.

Some had the theory that our fight had something to do with the police having caught Shawn and i skipping school, and that wasn't even that far away from the truth. But it remained the only close guess. Others believed that I had been pretending to be her friend to get Jack in the end, which made me want to strangle whoever had said that. And some people even thought that I had slept with Dinah and Normani, which had infuriated Lauren because they was supposed to share everything. Right.

My close friendship with Lauren was no secret, everybody knew that we were inseparable, despite our differences. It was like common knowledge that Camila Cabello didn't give a fuck about almost everything in school, but would turn into a book-carrying, salad-eating and spanish-homework-doing softie for Lauren Jauregui.

That I was whipped was so obvious that no one even dared to point it out.

Snarling at no one particular, I slammed my locker shut and turned around, leaning against it in exhaustion.

"Yep, guess I was right when I smelled the strong stench of misery."

I sighed and turned my head to Dinah who had approached me with Normani by the hand. Dinah tilted her head. "You know, for someone who's so good in kicking my ass, you don't seem to be able to kick your own hard enough to get up."

"Dinah, I don't think that Camila can kick her own ass..." Normani doubtfully said, which made me smile a little. At least some normality after a horrible weekend.

Dinah shook her head with a weak smile and softly explained to her girlfriend, "I meant it in another way. She told me to stop being a coward and to just be with you, and now she can't do that herself and be with Lauren. See what I mean?"

Normani nodded in understanding and a grin spread on her face. "I totally know how to fix this."

"You do?" Dinah and I asked skeptically, making Normani giggle.

"Of course." She said with a convinced smile and I stood a little bit straighter. At this point, I was pretty desperate to gain any positive process with Lauren that I was willing to accept any advise. Even if it meant that I had to get her a stuffed unicorn or something.

"I've even prepared something." Normani happily said, and pulled her bag to her body. As she rummaged in it, I gave Dinah a questioning look, but her frown told me that she was none the wiser.