The Secret - Camren

Part 3

The rest of the day passed in a daze. I couldn't shake the image of that beautiful girl I had seen only a few hours before. I kept creating scenarios about seeing her tomorrow. They ranged from sweet and innocent to some drop dead sexual fantasies. I tried doing some homework but ended up staring at the same page for an hour before I gave up on that completely giving in to the urge to think about the mystery girl as I called her. I pretended to watch TV with my siblings and was only brought out of my daydreams when we heard a loud scream coming from my mom's room. I didn't even bother to go check on her. I knew it was a nightmare and seeing me or any of her children would only make it worse. She said she couldn't stand to look at us, at him. We all look exactly like our father. People even said it was hard to believe my mother had any part in us because there were barely any traces of her in our appearances.

The scream was followed by two more and then silence as my mother found sleep once again. Taylor cuddled into me scared of the screams. Chris just stood up and headed to his room blasting his music so he wouldn't hear her if it started again. We spent the rest of the evening like that. Me and Taylor cuddling on the coach and Chris hiding away in his room.

Taylor had fallen asleep on me so I slowly picked her up and carried her into her room. Wow this kid had gotten heavier. She wasn't my baby sister anymore. The thought that my dad would never get to see her grow into the great woman I know she will be saddened me but I would be there for her and hopefully so would our mom.

***

I woke up the next morning flustered and confused. I felt excited but I couldn't remember why. Today was a normal day. Take care of the family; go to the soccer game, then the diner. And that's when I remembered. The soccer game. I got up in that moment and headed to the bathroom. The game was in three hours and I was planning on getting there extra early to make sure I saw every single kid get dropped off and by whom. I needed to see this mystery girl again and if she wasn't going to stay for the game I wasn't going to miss my opportunity to talk to her.

I took my shower got Tay ready for her games and headed out. I picked up the soccer balls and dropped my sister off at her field before heading over to mine. I was 45 minutes early and no one had shown up yet. Perfect! I set up my warm up drills then sat down on the bleachers to wait for my team. They all started showing up so I talked with their parents about their kid's "amazing progress" and told the little monsters to go practise their goals. Every kid was here except for Sofia. The one who's family member I actually wanted to talk to was going to show up late.

About three minutes before the game I saw her running from the parking lot alone. She was in such a rush to get onto the field that she practically ran into me and I caught her just in time before she fell to the ground.

"Whoa kid, slow down a little" I said mockingly. She looked up at me flustered an apology evident on her little face.

"I'm sorry" she mumbled looking away.

"It's okay Sofi, don't worry about it" I reassured her. She smiled a little but looked afraid of what I might do. "You don't have anybody watching you play today?" I asked confused that no one seemed to be with the child.

She shook her head no a sad look on her face once again. "My sister had to get some things for school. We start tomorrow." She answered.

"Oh that's okay, what about your parents?" I asked. Her head shot up a scared look on her face. She seemed completely terrified by my words.

"I'm not supposed to talk about that" she almost whispered then ran off to join the other team members. Okay well that's weird I thought to myself walking over to join them.

"Alright Bulldogs are you ready to rock" I yelled getting bark noises in return. "I can't hear you. Are you ready to rock?!" I yelled once more they all barked louder and I joined them before they ran off to their spots on the field. Our team cry wasn't what you would call normal but they loved it so I went with it. We are the Bulldogs after all.

The kids were amazing. The other team didn't even stand a chance against us, especially not with Sofi. She made 4 of our 7 goals including the winning goal at the last minute. The parents were all cheering her name after every goal she scored or whenever she would steal the ball from a player of the other team. By then end she was completely glowing. It's really a shame that her family wasn't here to watch her play. Speaking of her family why did she freak when I mentioned her parents? Why was her sister taking care of the school errands? Well I guess I'm not one to ask these questions, I was raising my siblings after all.

Everyone, even the other team was congratulating Sofi on her amazing performance in her first game. She even seemed to be getting use to the attention. The kids were starting to leave when I once again noticed Sofia waiting on the bleachers.

"Hey Superstar! Your ride's late again?" I asked. She just nodded. "You okay Sofi?" I asked trying to get her to talk. She nodded again. "You know you can talk to me about anything that's bothering you right?" I continued. She looked up at me like she was going to say something when a car honked from the parking lot. She grabbed her bag, waved at me and ran off to the car. I couldn't tell who was driving but it wasn't her sister's car I realized disappointed that I would have to wait another week before possibly seeing her again.

***

It was seven o'clock and I had been working for two hours. It had been a non-stop rush since the moment I set foot in Zak's Diner. I hadn't even noticed the time when my friends walked in and took their regular seat. We didn't have much time to hang just us girls so every Sunday night at seven they came to have supper with me at work. When I saw them waving I told my boss I was going on my supper break and he just nodded. I took my friends order and added my own, sent it to the kitchen and took my seat with them.

"Hey girl" Mani said as I sat down. "I have some mega gossip for you" Ugh great. I hated gossip but these two were addicted to any little story they could get their hands on. I swear they should write a gossip column. Ally was practically jumping in her seat waiting to hear.

"You know I have a dance class with that Dinah chick from school right?" we both nodded "Well apparently her family had to take in these two sisters. No one knows why not even Dinah but she said she used to be best friends with the older one Camila before they moved and she can't get her or her little sister Sofia to talk about it" she told us. My head shot up Sofia?! My Superstar Sofia? Neither of them had notice my internal freak out but were discussing reasons why the two had to be taken care of by another family. Well that explains why Sofi's sister took care of everything.

I didn't say anything but listen to the girls come up with a bunch of ridiculous theories. My thoughts started to wander as their theories became out right ridiculous. Camila. That's such a pretty name I thought to myself. It's so cute just like the girl I had been thinking about constantly for the past two days. I couldn't figure out why she had such an effect on me. I had found a girl pretty before, that wasn't even a question. I had even dated a few but none of them had anything compared to Camila. I didn't even know if they were talking about my mystery girl.

"Hey Lauren" Ally shouted trying to get my attention. "Where did you go? You were completely out of it there" she asked. I just shrugged and pretended to pay attention to them again as I continued to wonder about this girl, Camila. Why did they move in with Dinah? What happened to their parents? Why was I constantly thinking about her, even when I shouldn't be thinking about her? I didn't even know her, we hadn't even spoken, yet something about her was luring me in. I shook the though away. She was just some girl. She was really pretty, mesmerizing really but I didn't have time to get into something like this with a stranger. A stranger I might never see again. Damn I really hope I saw her soon. Shit no Lauren! Focus I continued to argue with myself for the remainder of my break.

When the time came my friends left and I finished but my shift continuously fighting with my thoughts. Pushing the brown haired stranger from my head and focusing on my work had never been so difficult. I really didn't understand what was going on with me.

This battle only stopped when I crashed onto my bed and fell asleep. I knew sleep wouldn't bring any peace to my thoughts because the next thing I knew I was waking up to my alarm blaring, thinking of a dream I had just had about the dark haired beauty. I got up and went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Ok Lauren I thought, pull yourself together! No girl is going to take over your life, especially one you never spoke too; I scolded myself before taking my first cold shower in months.