[ððððððð ððððð : ððð ð ðððððð]
" ðððððð? ðððððð ðððððð? "
â¯â¯â¯
ðððððð ðððð ðð ðððð ð ðððððð ðððððððð that morning, and the loud freshman running through the halls didn't help either. At least the juniors she could relate to, who also were probably suffering from headaches from the night before.
"Good morning, Sunshine." Ezra appeared beside her dangling a water bottle as she shut her locker door.
"Please no more of that. These hallway lights are bright enough." She began walking toward her class, and Ezra followed.
"Is this you being... grumpy?"
"Do you have any sunglasses?" She ignored his question.
"I wouldn't dare. That's against dress code." He answered making Camila groan.
"Since when do you care about the dress code... Ezra! I'm dying!" She grabbed his shoulders and began shaking him.
"No you're not. You're gorgeous and confident, and you're going to strut through those classroom doors like the woman I know you are." He grabbed her shoulders, "Okay?"
"Okay." She whispered, and Ezra kissed her forehead.
"I love you."
"Love you." She replied before he sent her off to class.
Romantically? Her and Ezra were not involved. He was like the older brother she never had. In fact, she'd never seen him romantically involved with anyone. Yeah, he was flirty, but it had always just been part of his personality.
When Camila entered the classroom she immediately noticed the snickering. Everyone either had their phones out or were crowded around another person.
She walked over to see what the ruckus was about, but then she saw. Some anonymous account of Instagram had posted terribly embarrassing photos of her friend, Ella.
There were pictures of her doing shots, pictures of her smoking, and even a far away video of her puking on some girl's dress. It was awful.
Even worse, she couldn't tell who even took the videos because there were so many people around her in the background with phones out also.
Suddenly, the person reloaded their screen and more posts started filing in. Dozens and dozens of more pictures and videos flooded the page, and Camila stepped backward. Her hand covered her mouth and she immediately pulled out her own phone.
She wanted to text Ella, but she thought better of it and decided she probably wouldn't want to talk about it with her. Better to leave to comforting to people like Ezra.
"Woah," Someone said as she crashed backward into them. Her phone fell from her hands and crashed to the floor, "I'm sorry."
"No, don't be. I'm even sorrier-" She replied bending down to pick it up, but then she went to look up. Camila couldn't believe what she saw.
"Camila Bellamy." His dimpled smile was so familiar, and Camila felt her stomach do flips.
"Hudson? Hudson DuPont?" She asked, standing up. He kept on grinning widely and she noticed how much different he looked since she last saw him.
His hair had grown out longer to the point where she could tell he had tousled curls, and his face had thinned out becoming sharper and more defined. He was a lot more attractive now than he was then and that's saying something.
It had to be two years ago he had left for boarding school in France. He was the dean's son and her study buddy/close friend who she sat with at lunch every Thursday. She had crushed on him ever since elementary and when she found out he was leaving she was so upset.
"That's me." He glanced down at his feet, and Camila immediately threw her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes.
"I can't believe your back!"
"Did you forget about me?" He chuckled, and she pulled away.
"If I said no I'd be lying..." Camila tucked a curl behind her ear, and bit her lip, "It's been pretty busy around here."
"Yeah? I'm happy to be back though. I've missed New York." His hands slipped into his tan khakis as if he were a bit nervous. Camila pretended not to notice.
"You missed the beginning of the year party last night. We couldn't go to that back when we were freshman."
"It's alright. Parties were never really my thing anyway." He shrugged, and she smiled.
"Yeah, you were the lacrosse king." She laughed at his silly old title, "Guess who that is now..."
"Don't tell me..." His charming smile returned to his face. Camila crosses her arms over her chest, rocking back and forth on the soles of her sneakers.
"Mr. Theodore Kensington." She couldn't help herself, and he scrunched his nose up which she found very cute.
"My old enemy." Hudson joked making her laugh again.
"You were not enemies. At least you weren't his. The only reason you didn't like him is because he always tried to one up you at practice, and because he spent a lot of time with... Bethany Dalton." She paused, "Who I remember you had a major crush on."
That was a fact Camila forgot. Hudson has liked her best friend and not her which had to be the biggest blow to the gut ever. That was always the problem though, Camila had thought, she was always just "one of the guys".
It didn't matter if she though Hudson was the funniest guy to ever grace the universe or how many times she wondered if he was put on the planet just for her.
"Does she still go here?" He asked her, and immediately she felt her heart deflate like a balloon.
"Yeah, she does."
"And you two are still pretty close, right?" He pressed on. At that point she knew he was still star stuck by Bethany's alluring hazel eyes, blonde locks, and goddess barring looks.
"She's still one of my best friends." Camila nodded slowly.
"That's great, and what about everyone else?"
"Well, Ella's still excelling academically and her and Beth continued ballet, Ezra's still a class clown, and Mei's still a cold ice queen with a heart of gold, so..." Camila shrugged, "Oh, and Theo and Beth are also a thing." She added kind of bluntly.
"Really?"
"Yeah, but-" She began telling him that it wasn't anything official, but the teacher cut her off once he walked into the room, and they had to take their seats.