Cam, Sara, Mortello

"Camilla took out one of her most prized possessions and dusted it. School was resuming today and she needed assurance that there was still some good in the world." I said to myself standing in front of a mirror and giggling.

If Miguel hears me conversing with myself, I was certainly going to be spotting fresh bruises to school.

I carefully wrapped up the portrait and put it back from where I'd taken it from.

Truth be told, I'd rather stay at home than go to college, but if that home had Miguel in it, then I'd gladly live in college.

I arrived at school and breathed what smelt like freedom. I rounded a corner and bumped into someone purposely. "Sarah!" I screamed, and she jumped in fright.

She turned abruptly, ready to lash at whomever it was, but when she saw, her eyes widened for a second, the excitement in them becoming visible.

"Camilla!" She screamed, hugging me.

"God, I've missed you." I said, holding on to her dearly. This was the second best thing in my life . Sarah. The first, being the bracelet on my wrist.

"I've missed you too, girl." She grinned from ear to ear, "But you're suffocating me and I desperately need air."

I smiled, releasing my arms from around her neck. "How sweet that I bump into you." I told her. "How was your holiday? You're definitely going to tell me all about it, cause I've missed out on my bff's life for four months!" I pulled her along.

"Oh please!" She replied, abruptly coming to a halt. "You're going to pretend you didn't get my text?"

I didn't really want to go into much explanation. I pouted and gave her the puppy dog eyes. "I'm sorry." I said.

"Whatever." She smirked. "You couldn't come, and replying to my text was a big problem. I'm keeping all the juicy holiday gist to myself."

"You're not that mean." I said, pinching her cheeks. "You didn't miss you?"

She seemed thoughtful for a while before dragging me through student bodies. "Welcome to a semester of love, bravery and friendship."

"Love?" I muttered inaudibly. Coming from Sarah, that statement was weird. I shrugged.

Sarah didn't do love.

***. ***. ***. ***. ***.

"Camilla, ¿dónde están vosotros acción allí?"

"Nada." I replied, my gaze steadily glued to the ground.

"Nothing?" The Spanish lecturer asked again for clarity.

Remind me why I took this class again? It was boring to start with, and the person who taught it wouldn't even let me have peace.

I looked pleadingly at Sara, quietly soliciting for her help.

"I got a call from my dad and I had to drag Camilla along with me." Sara replied, taking the hint and lying smoothly on my behalf. "I know you're angry that she's late but my dad would be more vexed if you send her out on his account. Plus, you're going to have to send me out, considering, Camilla and I came in late together."

Sara was not a spoiled brat as most people tended to think. And the fact that her daddy was the owner of this prestigious institution, didn't get into her head.

But just like now, whenever she chose to be brutal, she was perfect at it.

Remind me how I became best friends with this girl again?

From the back, someone yelled. "Can this boring class go on already?"

"Respect, Lucas!!" Mrs. Martello replied. "I wouldn't hesitate to walk you out and make sure you do not have access to this class for the rest of the semester!"

"You'll be doing me a great favor!" Lucas replied. "I really don't like your class anyway."

I pinched Sara just to make sure I was hearing well. Who in the real world would ever speak to Mrs. Martello like that?

Sara nudged my shoulder and shrugged. Taking advantage of the situation, she dragged me off to find a seat.

"Who's that guy?" I asked Sara.

"I don't know." Sara replied, looking confused as well. "I've never seen him before."

"Neither have I." I sighed quietly. "Honestly Sara, why are we starting off this semester with chaos?"

"It's a usual student-teacher fight. No one's starting off this semester with chaos." She replied, shrugging. "I think he's cute tho. Like super cute."

I rolled my eyes. Agreeing silently.

As expected, spanish class laid abandoned as the students took keen interest in the heated argument

Mrs. Martello has never liked me, I thought back to as far as I could remember. At the slightest opportunity she got, she threw insults at me. Calling me a disaster and a mistake.

And I believed her.

She wasn't the first person to say that to me. I came to believe that I was a disaster and a mistake.

My mother thought so too, that's why she fled away immediately after birthing me.

My Grandparents too. They thought so about me. If not, why would they reject guardianship of me? They believed I killed my father.

I turned to look at Sara, who was fiddling with her bag, looking so serious.

I cherished our friendship so much. It was Sara who had been there for me. Sara who always had my back. Sara who didn't hate me. Sara who loved me. I wasn't going to tint Sara with my bad image.

"We definitely didn't share class with that guy last semester." Sara's words broke into my thoughts.

"Yeah. I think so too." I replied. "I would have recalled him. I definitely have a knack for remembering and recalling people's names and faces."

"Me too." Sara shrugged. "We'll just ask him." She concluded and dragged me along before I could even protest.

"This is a bad idea, Sara." I told her.

"You think so?" She smirked lightly, coming to a halt in front of Lucas. "Hey." She waved frantically at him.

I wanted to nudge and tell her to stop waving frantically, because we were right in front of him when he looked up and I swallowed my words.

"Are these seats occupied?" She asked.

"No." He replied with a move of his head.

"Can we sit on it?" She asked again.

"O'course." He grinned sheepishly.

"Right." Sara replied cheerfully, plopping us down on the seats."I'm Sara, and this is my best friend, camilla."

He grinned again. "I know your names already. It's nice to meet you."

Peeking at him from the corner of my eyes, I noticed his long hair that stopped at the nape of his back. His lips where curved perfectly, when he grinned again at something Sara said, I noticed his perfect

dentition.

"I'm guessing you're new here?" Sara's voice broke out. "Camilla and I have been debating over that fact. And what you did with Mrs Martello?"

Sara blushed lightly, fixing her gaze on him completely. Poor Lucas, his ears were turning pink.

"Yeah. I mean, kinda." He shrugged. "We're transfer students. And about Mrs. Mortello, I was just doing my job. I like how you stood up for camilla."

Sara blushed fiercely this time, not taking his last statement lightly.

"Cam's my life. She's just too humble and never talks back to anyone." Sara rattled out.

Lucas smiled, taking a peek at me and I just looked away.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah." Sara replied, nudging me with her feet, underneath the table.

I zoned out completely on their conversation at some point. Sara was always like that, open and carefree. I wasn't. I had everything to lose. I believed that the less you talked about yourself to people, the less they'd delve into your personal life.

I had a life to maintain. I didn't want anybody uncovering my dirty secrets. I didn't want to lose Sara's friendship.

"Are you okay?" Sara asked, placing her palm on my cheeks. "You zoned out completely. Look around, class ended over five minutes ago."

"I couldn't help it. You know how much I hate Spanish class." I told her.

Sara rolled her eyes. "Grab your stuff so we get going. You missed out on a lot, but don't worry, you've got me to fill you up on all that."

"Talk away your heart then, my dearest friend." I told her

"You won't believe who was giving me the evil eye today while I talked with Lucas." She told me, looping our hands together.

"Who else?" I shrugged. "Mrs. Martello."

"You're wrong girlfriend. Twas the wicked witch of the west, Catalina!" She broke out.

I recoiled immediately and spanked myself for forgetting my nemesis. How could I forget Catalina?

"Oh, but why?" I asked.

"Really Cam? She asked, taken aback. "We're talking about Catalina, a.k.a, leave all the hot guys to me, I can only talk to them." She said in exasperation.

I feigned laughter. "Don't talk bad about her." I chided. Not because what Sara said about Catalina was a lie, but because I felt like a hypocrite, talking about someone I was worse than. "They're probably rumors, we can never get a voucher for that."

"Really? Everyone knows it's the truth. Catalina sleeps with everything that has a D*." She smirked.

"Well, yeah. You're right." I sighed. "I just hate talking about people."

"You hate talking about people or Catalina in particular." She grinned and tucked a stray hair behind her ears. "Really Cam, why are you always afraid of her? You should learn to talk back to people and stand up for yourself. It's a new semester." She added slowly. "Burn like a fireball."

I laughed at the last part tiredly. It wasn't as if I didn't want to stand up for myself, I wanted that more than anything else, but I couldn't.

I was afraid.

The way Catalina scrutinized me made me feel dirty. I felt like she knew something and wasn't telling. .

"It's not that." I replied. "You're maybe right in some way, but Catalina is a lot of worry that I'm trying to avoid."

I shrugged.

"It's not like I can't stand up for myself. But wasting a few words on Catali-"

"You'll be eating sand faster than you can say Catalina next time." Catalina cut me off, out of nowhere.

" Talk of the devil and she appears." Sara muttered.

"To discuss about me like that, you guys must have a lot of time." Catalina said, coming to stand beside us.

"Let's go Sara." I said , tugging her arms. "Catalina is not worth our time."

"Don't you dare, in your entire miserable life, voice out my name from your foul mouth." She warned me. "Or else-"

"Or else what?" Sara cut her off. "Humiliate her? I think not. Be careful cat, I know where to put you and how to fix you."

Catalina flipped her hair giggling. "Try fixing Camilla. She needs it more than I do."

"You're as useless as your looks." Sara retorted. "Stay away from us."

"Well, you stay away from Lucas, and her." She replied, pointing at me. "Because, when her stench gets all over the place,you won't be able to stomach it." She walked away, giggling.

Sara turned to me, furious. "Can you for once, make use of your mouth when someone that's not me talks to you?"

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.

"You're turning twenty two soon." She told me. "Start acting like it, Cam. I won't always be there."

I ran, closing the distance between us in time, as a tear dropped. "You remembered my birthday." I said through the tears. "You've been more than a friend Sara. Thank you for always standing by me. I love you."

"You're welcome, best girl." Sarah replied, hugging me back fiercely. "I'll always have your back."