Catalyst

XXVI 1/2

Camila is in her block alone when it happens.

Lauren had business. Something about Lucy. Or Dinah. Camila can't remember. All she can focus on is the angry, centered look in Frangipane's eyes as she approaches.

Camila tosses her book aside and gets up, standing her ground as Frangipane gets closer. There aren't many people around, aside from a girl a few blocks over that Camila knew Lauren had ordered to follow her around since today was Frangipane's release date. Or at least, Camila hopes she's there. She glances back there now—she's gone.

Camila's panic sets in. She tries to remember what her and Lauren talked about. About defense.

But it all happens so fast.

The second Frangipane is within range, she launches herself at Camila, taking both of them down. Camila doesn't even register that her head has just collided with the cement wall behind her until stars fill her vision and everything blurs. She tries to blink it all away and focus in on her target.

Frangipane is on top of her, teeth bared, "You thought you could get away with that little stunt, huh?"

Camila feels Frangipane's hands around her throat. She can't breathe. She grabs at Frangipane's fingers desperately, letting out little gasps as she struggles to get air into her lungs. She looks about frantically, black spots lining the edges of her vision.

In an attempt to free herself, Camila brings her knee up between them, using her leg to push Frangipane off of her. Frangipane stumbles back, exclaiming loudly, "Ugh, bitch!"

Somehow, Camila manages to get onto her feet. She sways a little, but brings her fists up the way Lauren taught her, centering herself in a defensive stance. There is more than one Frangipane in her sights, but she's not going to let that stop her from trying to take at least one of them down.

Camila tries a punch, but she misses. She can hear Frangipane's laughter echoing in her head, but all it does is fuel another punch. This time, she hits Frangipane dead-on in the nose. Camila feels something wet on her hand, causing her to look down. Blood.

When she looks back up, Frangipane has a hand to her nose, blood dripping over her chin. If she wasn't furious before, she sure as hell is furious now.

This time when she launches at Camila, the force is enough to send her into total darkness.

-

The first thing Camila registers is that she can hear her head thumping.

The thumps echo around her skull in pairs, in sync with her heartbeat. She isn't sure she'll be able to bear opening her eyes. If anything, she feels them squeezing shut even tighter.

The second thing she notices is that it hurts to breathe. In fact, it's very difficult to. Her throat feels six times bigger than it normally is. If she tilts her head, she can feel a thickness that she doesn't normally associate with her neck. It causes her to groan, alerting someone else sitting close by in the room.

Which brings us to the third thing. There is a hand tightly clasping her own, which seems to squeeze even tighter the moment they realize Camila has entered consciousness.

Camila just knows it's Lauren.

Camila sucks in a breath as she opens her eyes, almost immediately regretting it when an ache spreads across her throat. She is greeted by the beautiful, yet distraught and concerned sight of Lauren sitting directly beside her, watching her with green eyes turned down in worry.

She is grateful that the light in the room is rather dim. Camila supposes that was probably intentional. Only once before has she felt pain in her head this intense. She's sure she must have a concussion.

"Camz, thank god," Lauren sighs, leaning even closer, "How are you feeling?"

Camila takes a moment to assess the room. She's in one of ten beds. None of the others are occupied, and all of the machines in the room are dead aside from her own. The only light comes from a lamp beside Camila's bed and another at the door. Camila can see a guard standing just outside, watching the halls quietly.

"What... happened?" Camila avoids the question about her current state, instead trying to piece together what little recollection she has of how she ended up here.

"Frangipane attacked you," Lauren explains, and Camila can see she's holding back an 'I told you so' just by the way her lips purse. "She nearly split your skull open on the concrete. But from what I understand, you managed to hold her back long enough before she could do any real damage."

"What about..." Camila tries to remember the name of the girl that Lauren had ordered to stay close to Camila while Frangipane cooled off from her time in the SHU, but it escapes her completely. Luckily, Lauren is right on it, somehow knowing exactly where she was going.

"Oh, she is in deep shit. She's lost my trust entirely," Lauren says as though that is supposed to reassure Camila.

Camila grunts and tries to sit up, Lauren reaching forward to assist her. Camila thanks her quietly before hesitantly asking, "...Where is she now? Frangipane?"

"I heard she got thrown back into the SHU. But they've cleared all of her things from your cell block, so I'm not so sure. So far, there's been no shuttles leaving Litchfield. But from my experience, a cleared block really only means one thing."

Camila nods along. Lauren continues, "Apparently, Frangipane was already on thin ice, anyway. Something about threats to the warden... my guess is they'll transfer her to a maximum security prison."

The very idea of that takes a load off of Camila's mind. She can't even imagine how much easier her life will become once Frangipane is gone. She just hopes that the warden doesn't let this one go, too. Camila may have gotten caught (well, set up) with a knife, but Frangipane acted on her threats. No way in hell the warden can push that aside.

Camila reaches up to feel the damage. Her throat is swollen from where Frangipane choked her. She's sure there are bruises, too, but she isn't particularly interested in taking a peek anytime soon. There's a large bump on the back of her head. A few scratches from when she must have fought back. But other than that, Camila made it out okay.

She feels lucky.

"I'm sorry," Camila starts to say, though her throat makes it difficult to speak too much, "I should have listened to you more..."

"I'm just glad you're okay."

Camila can tell by the look in Lauren's eyes that though the conversation is done for now, she absolutely plans on preparing Camila better later on. Camila feels incredibly stupid, and she's grateful Lauren doesn't say another word about just how bad this situation could have turned out.

Lauren leans forward and kisses Camila's forehead gently, restoring a sense of safety to Camila's heart.

-

When Camila returns to her block just a few short days later, she finds that she already has a new blockmate.

At first glance, she seems to be significantly more normal than Frangipane. Pretty, too. She has long, dark brown hair pulled up into a ponytail. Despite said high-pony, her hair still falls down to just below her mid back. She has beautiful rounded eyes, which peer up at Camila curiously as she stands in the entrance, slightly dumbfounded.

The woman's uniform looks far too big on her, Camila notes. And yet somehow, it suits her.

"You must be Cabello," The woman says, nodding up at her. Her voice is silky, and Camila imagines she must be a really good singer. "I heard you got your ass kicked. Sure looks like it."

Already, Camila likes her significantly more.

"She caught me off guard," Camila says, finally taking a few steps into the block. The woman remains seated on what was once Frangipane's bed.

"I also heard you fucked up her face," The woman smirks. Dimples form on her cheeks. "I'm Grande."

"Nice to meet you."

Camila can't fight how surprised she is that Grande is... chill. She has to remind herself that not all roommates are the spawn of satan.

She ends up asking Lauren if she can invite Grande to sit with them at dinner.