LAILAH
SEVEN
Ishould have known better than to expect I could just breeze through the classes at Ryevick.
The first week lulled you into thinking things would be easy, but once the second week started, I was hit with project after project.
I felt like I was starting to live in the common area of our dorm, just studying my life away.
I had gotten into this school on a scholarship, and I needed to prove that they hadn’t made a mistake.
I wanted to be worthy of the gift they had given me.
Cami would come to check on me from time to time, but I was too focused to be bothered for long. This time, Cami came with a bribe.
“Come up for some air, Lala. I brought you one of those god-awful chai lattes,” Cami said, holding a cup in front of my face.
“Now, if I remember correctly, you said you’d never order one of these for me,” I said, smirking at Cami as I took the cup.
“One of the baristas who knows me took my order, so I wasn’t worried he thought it was for me. I also needed to grab a few things in town, so I brought you this.” She was holding up a white paper bag.
I recognized the bag from the bakery and grabbed it quickly.
I peeked inside to find two sugar cookies.
I squealed in excitement and bounced in my seat.
I pulled one cookie out and took a bite.
I savored the soft, buttery texture with its coating of raw sugar crystals.
I let out a low moan of pleasure and ignored the strange looks from a study group across the room
“Geez, Lala. That’s the biggest reaction I’ve gotten out of you all week, and it’s over a cookie. You desperately need to get out more if this is setting you off.” Cami shook her head in mock concern.
“Forgive me if I’m a little overwhelmed. I got slammed with so many projects this week. I need to add a shirt to my collection that says, ‘It’s a TRAP!’ I can’t believe school started only two weeks ago. I wasn’t prepared to be flooded with so much work so soon,” I said, munching on my cookie.
Cami smiled sympathetically at me. “Okay, I’ll let you study to your heart’s content tonight, but tomorrow you have to go to a party with me.”
“Cami,” I groaned. “Chemistry is already kicking my ass. For psych, I have to watch the next part of the case study and make notes on the progress. I also have to finish writing my proposal for my English project, and I have to find a book about the school that is old enough to have information about the original chapel. How can I even justify going to a party?”
“Don’t you fret. I’ve got this all figured out. Watch your case study tonight because it will take the longest. Then we can both look over your chem stuff tomorrow afternoon. That just leaves the book and the English proposal. Do you know what you want to write about?” Cami asked.
“Yes, I have that all planned out,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “Where am I supposed to find the book?”
“The school library has a reference section that holds crusty, old history books that can’t leave the building. There has to be one in there that would work.”
I was running out of reasons not to go to this party. She had basically planned out my study needs perfectly. “Are you even any good at chemistry?”
“I’m better than you are. I took that same class last year. How different could it be?” Cami asked, shrugging her shoulders.
“You took Organic Chemistry your first year too? I was told by everyone it was a stupid choice.” I was surprised, since I knew Cami wanted to be an English major.
“What the fucking hell, Lala!? Who takes Organic Chem in their first year? No wonder the class is kicking your ass! Forget what I said! I can’t help you with that shit!
I barely made it through Intro to Chem!” Cami exclaimed as she almost fell out of her chair.
“Christ! You’re even doing that class while taking three others?
Are you asking for college suicide in your first semester? ”
I grabbed Cami and covered her mouth with my hands, trying to get her to shut up before we got kicked out of the room. “I tested out of doing an intro class, so I had to pick a higher level, and this one sounded more interesting than the others.”
When I didn’t let go of her, she licked the inside of my hand and got the desired effect of me releasing her as quickly as possible. “Very mature.”
“It’s official. I’m dragging you to that party whether you like it or not. You need to live a little. Be a real college student. Everyone fails a course at some point and has to take it over again. It’s part of the experience.”
“How come I didn’t read about it in the brochure?” I grumbled. “You don’t understand. My brother graduated top of his class at Notre Dame, so I have to do well here.”
Cami grabbed my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes, freaking me out a little.
“I bet if I called your parents right now and told them that you haven’t seen the light of day all week, except to go to class and eat, they would tell you the same thing I am.
Enjoy the experience. Try new things. What happened to the girl who told me she wanted to live the college dream?
Going to a college party is the pinnacle of being an official student. ”
“Okay, you can tone down the theatrics. I’ll go,” I relented.
“Whoop whoop! It’s time to jam out with my clam out,” Cami said, throwing a good fist pump into the air as she got up to leave.
I shook my head as she left me to my studies. I wasn’t going to have a chance to worm my way out of this now that I had said I would go. I smiled as I pulled my laptop out to watch the video for psych. What should U wear, I wondered, I’ve never gone to a party before.
Saturday passed in a blur of studying. Cami kept me on task to make sure I finished everything.
When it came time to get ready for the party, Cami came up to my room because she decided I needed help.
I really couldn’t argue with her. She had laughed at me when I showed her the five things of makeup that I had.
When I opened the door for her to come in, she had so much stuff that I thought she was moving in, not just helping me get ready for a party.
I took in Cami’s outfit and suddenly got worried.
She was wearing a bright-pink crop top with a cropped black mesh top over it.
Her black jean shorts were very short, but they came up higher on the waist. Her makeup was flawless, and her eyeshadow looked like a sunset had burst from them.
I hoped to God that she didn’t think I was going to dress like that tonight.
“Take a deep breath, Lala. I’m not going to Cami-fy you.
I don’t think you could handle the power a look like this would give you,” she said, giggling at the panic I was sure was written all over my face.
“You’re way too girl-next-door. We just need to pump up the natural look that you’ve got going on. ”
I sighed in relief. She walked over to prop a mirror on my desk and motioned for me to sit in front of it. “First, we need to tackle that outrageous head of hair that you have. I hope Pinterest doesn’t fail me now.”
I sat down in the chair and pulled the scrunchie out of my hair, releasing the beast in all its wild glory.
I watched intently as Cami took my spray-in conditioner, misted my whole head, and dove in.
Taking more time than I ever would, she spritzed and scrunched my curls until she molded them into the shape she wanted.
When she was done, I was amazed at how sleek it looked compared to the frizzy puff that I always managed.
“Hell yeah. God, I’m good. Maybe I need to change my career path and go into the hair taming business,” Cami said, clapping excitedly at her handy work.
“Cami, this is amazing. Seriously, I’ve never been able to get it to look this good,” I gushed, turning to and fro in the mirror.
“Now, for my next trick, I will turn your beautiful face into a look that would stop a bus in its tracks,” Cami said as she rummaged through the bags she brought.
She piled a ton of products I was unfamiliar with on the desk.
I tried not to flinch as she applied all of it to my face.
She kept turning me away so I couldn’t catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
Finally, when she was done, I got to see the final masterpiece.
I blinked a few times, unsure that it was really me looking back.
A girl—no, a woman—stared back at me with bright, fresh skin and crystal-blue eyes that popped.
She had even put on a soft-pink lipstick that made my lips look much fuller than I could ever remember them being.
“Holy shit,” was all I managed to say.
Cami bounced around the room, singing her own praises to Elle the elephant, who was sitting on my bed. “Why, thank you, Elle. It’s my best work if I do say so myself. Oh, you're too kind. Stop, please. I’m blushing.”
“I picked out two outfits, but you’ll have to tell me which one works, or not,” I said, walking over to my coffee table where I had set them out.
Cami walked over and looked them over; one was a simple black dress that was knee length and had cap sleeves. The other was a pair of skinny jeans with some distressing on the knees and a slouchy, off-the-shoulder, light-blue shirt.
“If you’re willing to give it a try, I have a shirt that would go with these jeans perfectly.” She pulled said shirt out from another of her bags.
“I’m not sure you and I are the same size on top. I might stretch it out,” I said sheepishly.
“It’s fine. You can say your chi-chis are bigger than mine. I’m very happy with my little handfuls.” She handed me the emerald shirt.
I shimmied into the pants and pulled the shirt over my head. I was surprised to find it fit perfectly. It was off the shoulder and skintight, but the sleeves went to my elbows, so I didn’t feel exposed.
“Wow, you had this?” I said, looking in the mirror she brought. The green set off my fair skin and made my blonde hair shine.