and I'm home (fifth harmony kidfic)

to lose faith, to have faith

Hola, today was my birthday, but more importantly Dinah's birthday!! So I'm uploading this chapter (even tho it's not about Dinah lol), in celebration. Enjoy.

**trigger warning; description of self harm**  -I'll warn you when it comes up so you can skip it if you need to :)

Lauren
11-13

If you had met Lauren Jauregui before the age of seven, you would say she was the sweetest kid in the world.

If you meet her now you would argue that she's a troubled little girl. But if you had really known Lauren Jauregui, you would say she was just trying to protect herself from getting hurt again.

Lauren was a fighter. This time in her life she became physical. She had never really felt comfortable in her group home and no one had really bothered to understand her. They had said Lauren was "uncontrollable" and "mean", but Lauren knew inside she was anything but. She wouldn't allow herself to get broken again.

That's how Lauren found herself with her wrist being held by a caretaker. The woman had been yelling at the girl, who had broken one of the furniture pieces. Lauren had felt unstable, and a a a result she took it out on the wood to feel a sense of relief.

Lauren tried to jerk away, yelling a string of curse words at the woman who was struggling to keep the girl still. Lauren begins to shout even louder and the other caretakers usher some of the other kids into the room.

Lauren is dragged into the bathroom. She begins to scream loudly, trying to break free from the hands that were making her feel like she was being held captive. The woman turns the shower onto a cold temperature and forces the eleven year old under it. The shock of the water makes her stop yelling and squirming. The woman turns off the water.

"Go to your room, Lauren, now," she orders. Lauren sends the woman a glare, yanking a clean towel from her hands.

The green eyed girl storms to the room she shares with two other girls. Slamming the door, Lauren changed into dry clothes and leaves the now wet clothing on the floor. The preteen curls on her bed and allows the gut wrenching sobs to escape her body.

She feels whispers in the room, but the girl ignores them and places her hands over her ears to block them out. A hand touches her shoulder, but Lauren kicks the body away, feeling too overwhelmed to handle touch.

"Please go away," Lauren cries, her body shaking with emotion. The room seems to go silent after a door clicks shut. Lauren's heavy breathing calms when she thinks she's alone. She removes her hands from her ears and places one hand over her heart, trying to make herself go back to the time Kehlani would do that with her.

When she opens her eyes again she hears a voice and Lauren stumbles to sit up. Her head nearly collides with the top bunk on the way up. Eyes wide, she looks up to see her social worker in the room. Lauren shifts her look of broken innocence into a glare.

Crossing her arms and lifting the wall back up, the green eyed eleven year old addresses him, "I told everyone to leave," Lauren mutters,"that included you."

"Lauren," the man starts off, ignoring her comment, "you're going to a new home Thursday morning." Lauren rolls her eyes and tucks her wet hair behind her ears.

"And how long is it going to last?"

"That's decided by you."

"Bullshit," she seethes, lying down on the bed again. She glares at the wall and wraps her shaking fingers around her necklace. Once she hears the door close again and the room falls silent, she lets the tears fall again.