Cami's Decision
Page 15
“Cami, do you feel better now?” Marissa asked worryingly. Ever since she’d discovered that Cami was pregnant, she was always worrying about her—the way that a big sister would.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Cami answered casually. She didn’t bother to tell her about the incident that occurred with Leena the other day. Gossip traveled fast so she knew that Marissa probably already knew what had happened.
“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to tell you something,” Marissa announced.
“Tell me what?” Cami said as she took her calculus book out of her locker.
“Yesterday Leena somehow got pictures of some girls who are in your calculus class and sent them around to everyone.”
Cami raised an eyebrow. “What kind of pictures?”
“Naked pictures.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, so your calculus class is probably going to be empty today.”
“Why would she do that?”
“She’s doing it because she doesn’t have anything else to do but to make everybody else’s life as miserable as hers.”
The bell rang for class but Cami was still standing at her locker thinking about the words that Marissa had just said: “She’s doing it because she doesn’t have anything else to do but to make everybody else’s life as miserable as hers.”
Marissa snapped her fingers in front of Cami’s face, startling her. “Are you okay?” she asked her.
“Yeah,” she answered.
As if reading her young friend’s mind she said, “Don’t let Leena get to you. If you need me to, I’ll take care of her after class. Besides, I think she’s the one who put gum on my favorite pencil the other day.”
“Leena hates gum. Kelly’s the chewer,” Cami said.
Marissa frowned. “Those damn Davidsons,” Cami heard her mumble.
If you need me to, I’ll take care of her after class. And there it was. Marissa had offered to “take care” of Leena for her “after class.” Even she didn’t think that Cami could stand up for herself. She didn’t know if she’d ever get a chance to prove that to anyone or even herself but if the opportunity ever presented itself (and it would), she’d be ready and willing to stand up for herself against Leena Davidson.
Ms. Morrison’s calculus class was nearly empty. There were only eight students in class today—with most of those students being Leena and her friends. Since there were so few students in class, Cami could’ve walked down another aisle to get to her desk but she chose to take the usual route. She wasn’t going to let Leena scare her away from anything, so she walked to her desk just like any other school day and waited for it.
“I slept with River, Cami,” Leena said trying to bring the young girl to tears.
She stopped in her tracks. She knew what Leena was trying to do but it wasn’t going to work. She and River had been over for a while now and there was probably no hope for them. Instead of allowing herself to get upset she said, “Yeah, I know. Everyone in Hattiesburg knows about that, so I don’t know why you’re telling me something that I’m already aware of.”
Leena’s friends exchanged puzzled looks with her. She could hear them question her about it as she walked to her desk.
“Good morning class,” Ms. Morrison said as she walked in with the teacher’s edition of her calculus text book in hand. She looked around the classroom at all of the empty seats. Then, she took her glasses off, wiped them with a cloth, put them back on, and looked around the classroom once more. “Where on earth is everyone? Today isn’t a holiday.”
“They’re all sick, Ms. Morrison,” Leena said in the most fake, soft voice Cami had ever heard.
“My dear! Sick with what?” the old woman asked, as she sat down at her desk.
“I was told that it was a very contagious cold,” Leena answered with the fake smile still on her face.
Her friends nodded to make her story more believable.
“Oh, then, well, I guess today can be a make-up day for students who may be having some problems with the concepts or who may be behind on their work,” Ms. Morrison said.
She opened her desk drawer and pulled out an anti-bacterial room spray and began to spray the room.
Everyone began to cough including Ms. Morrison. The spray didn’t really bother Cami because she sat closer to the back of the classroom but it did get to Leena who had to leave the room unexpectedly.
“We must keep the germs at bay,” she heard the old woman say as she ran down the hallway and into the bathroom.
While there, she coughed so loudly that even Ms. Lovett came inside to see if she was okay. She told her that she would’ve been better if Ms. Morrison hadn’t sprayed so much room spray into the air, and to make matters worse, it smelled like vanilla. Leena hated anything that smelled like vanilla.
Once Ms. Lovett was gone, she found herself wondering why Cami agreed with what she had said. She had never slept with River in her life nor did she intend to. He was below her for all she cared; she only said that to get to Cami, but it didn’t work. Instead, she turned it around on her and made it seem as if she really did sleep with him—which wasn’t at all true.
Then, her mind thought about something else. There was something about the way that Cami walked into class today that was a bit odd to her. The girl seemed as if her spirit was more lifted.
Leena smiled to herself. If that was the case, she was just going to have to break that spirit of hers.
As she put hand sanitizer on both hands, she wondered if Cami really believed that they’d been together or if she was just toying with her. She hoped that she wasn’t toying with her because she hated it when people did that.
No one toyed with Leena Davidson and got away with it. No one.
Chapter 15