The Nights ✘ Camren

one

*lauren's pov*

"So, I heard that Brad kid has a thing for you," Normani says, through a mouthful of food. I roll my eyes and lean over to look at Dinah. "D, contain your girl, would you? She's making shit up again," I bump Normani's shoulder, making her drop a small spoonful of food.

"You're kidding me, right?" Normani scoffs, grabbing a little more food on her spoon and flicking it toward me. I laugh, and watch as she tries to get as much food back onto her tray as possible.

"You know, Mani is right," Troy says, placing his tray on the table, and taking his usual seat next to Ally. He kisses her on the cheek, as Ally snuggles into the side of him.

"What?" I ask, curiously.

"Brad," he starts, shoving some food into his mouth. "He likes you," he continues. I shake my head, not believing what he's saying. "You don't believe me? See for yourself. The kid hasn't been able to look away from you all of lunch," he says, nodding towards Brad's table. I look over, and he was right. Brad was staring right at me, smiling awkwardly as I made eye contact with him.

"Oh..." I whisper, turning back to face my table. "Why would someone want to date me?" I ask.

"Have you seen you?" Dinah says. I focus my attention onto Dinah. "Yes, I have seen me. That's why I asked," I laugh.

"Are you... you're kidding me right?" Dinah stares blankly at me. "I'm not taking this today. Come here," she says, pulling me up by my arm. She steps up onto my seat and looks down at me. "Sorry," she winks.

"Okay! Everyone!" Dinah shouts through the cafeteria, as everybody turns their heads to face her. "Dinah, what the hell are you doing?" I tug at her arm.

"So, who here would date Lauren Jauregui?" she screams. I put my head in my hands and pray that this isn't actually happening to me right now. As I look up, I see a bunch of hands raised. Most of them are the guys from the football team, some of them are from my English class. Not so surprisingly, Brad has his hand raised. And I look to the table across from mine, and one of the girls from the basketball team has her hand raised.

"Okay! Thank you!" Dinah smiles, as she steps down from the seat. "I hate you," I smile. She puts her arm over my shoulders. "No, no, Lauser, you wish you did, but you love me too much," she giggles as she kisses me on the cheek.

We all sit back in our seats, as the cafeteria starts to fill with conversations again. "Uh oh, incoming!" Troy whispers loudly. Everyone turns around, facing the three girls walking our way, except for me. I already know who it is, and I honestly don't care.

"Damn, Lauren, you getting a little desperate?"

"What do you want, Cabello?" I ask, without turning my head. Instead I pull my phone out of my pocket.

"This'll do," Camila says, as she leans over and grabs my phone from my hands. I shoot up, and reach for it, as the two girls behind her step forward, sitting me back down.

"Hmm, what do we have here?" she smiles, looking down at me, tilting her head. "Ashley," she grins.

"Please, don't."

"Oh, too late," she smiles, clearing her throat.

"I don't know what to do, Ash. He's so sweet, but I don't know how to tell him I'm gay..." she stops, looking down at me. Her face is blank.

I stand up, pushing past the three girls, running out of the cafeteria. I run into the girls bathrooms and collapse against the wall, burying my head in my hands. I sit by myself for a few minutes, clearing my thoughts.

The door bursts open. "Guys! She's in here."

Troy rushes over to me, and kneels by my side, followed by the other three girls. Dinah and Ally engulf me in a hug, as Normani rubs my back. "Lauren..." Ally says softly. I pull back from the hug. "Is it true?" she continues. I nod slightly, shrinking further into the wall.

"Hey, Lauser, it's okay," Dinah tilts my head up with one finger under my chin. "You know we don't care, right?" Normani smiles, continuing to rub my back.

"As long as you're happy. That's all we care about," Ally places her hand on my knee, stroking it softly. "Thanks guys. Really, you have no idea how much that means to me," I smile, wiping my eyes, and looking around to all my best friends. First to Normani, who smiles at me. Then to Dinah, who smiles even wider. Then Ally, who wipes a tear from her eye.

"Why're you crying, Smallz?" Dinah asks. "I don't like seeing you guys cry," Ally laughs, continuing to wipe tears.

I finally looked up to Troy, who had a handful of tissues to his nose. "Um... Troy, two things. What happened to your nose? And you do realize you're in the girls bathroom..." I raise my eyebrows.

"I guess I don't care. I wanted to make sure you were okay," he smiles sheepishly. We all smiled back at him, as he joined the rest of us on the floor.

"But what about your nose?"

"You should see him!" he laughs. I shove his shoulder playfully. "What happened, dumbass?"

"Shawn punched me when I asked Camila what her problem was," he admitted. "T, you didn't have to do that," I pout, pulling him in for a quick hug. "You guys are my family. I'd take a punch for anyone of you guys."

"Could Troy Ogletree please come to the front office."

"We'll go with you," I offer, standing up, pulling Dinah up with me. The five of us all clean ourselves up in the mirror, before walking out together. Dinah and Normani stay by my side, as Ally and Troy walk in front of us together, holding hands.

Troy gets some looks from the guys on the football team, but Ally makes them look away quickly with one glare. Further down the hallway, Camila is standing at her locker with her little minions next to her, and her boyfriend leaning on the lockers. Dinah notices too, and links arms with me.

As we get closer to them, they turn to face us, and Shawn walks up to Troy. "Come on dude. You don't actually want to be seen with that thing, do you?" he nods over to me, looking at me in disgust. Troy lets go of Ally's hand and steps closer to him.

"You better watch your mouth," he growls.

"Oh, what're you going to do about it, huh?" Shawn pushes, taking another step closer. "Come on, Mendes. You may be the Quarterback, but keep in mind, I can get your ass kicked off the team in two seconds. Don't try me," Troy warns him.

Troy takes the last step closer towards Shawn. "And your dad wouldn't like that, would he?" he stands tall, making Shawn look tiny. "You wouldn't want to make him angry. Now back off."

Shawn steps back to his spot at the lockers. My eyes meet Camila's, and she looks worried. Her eyes stay on mine. As I start to walk away, I can still feel her stare on me.

We finally make it to the front office, and Troy walks in by himself as we wait outside for him. "You okay, Lauser?" Dinah asks me. I smile at her and nod. And to tell the truth, I was. I didn't care what anyone else thought, I only care about what my best friends thought.

We wait for another 15 minutes. The bell for the next period had rung, and the door finally opened. Troy walked out and straight to Ally. He hugged her, kissing her forehead. "Everything okay?" Ally asked, wrapping her arms around his torso.

"I just got suspended."

"You what?" Ally stands back from him.

"I got suspended."

"For what?" Normani cuts in.

"Pushing around Mendes," Troy shrugged, starting to walk to his locker. We start to follow him, watching him as he makes it there, and puts in his combination.

"But he hit you, too!" Ally screamed, waving her arms around everywhere.

"I guess it doesn't matter to them, babe. Don't worry, I'll be back in a week," he smiles, kissing her on the cheek and walking to the entrance of the school.