24. Confrontation

                                    

                                          


                          
Sun's come up
And there's no one else around
Meet me in the shadows
Won't you tell me what you found
You've got everything to lose
Yeah I'm waiting on you

                          
- Digital Daggers.
                          


                          


                          
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January brought with it some of the most intense cold Camila had ever felt in her life. It wasn't like normal, every day winter, where the worst of it elicited shivers and goosebumps, pink noses and white breath. This was more the kind that seeped deep into your bones and made the cold seem like it was coming from the inside out. The sort of frigidness that kept a person chilled for hours and remained no matter how much hot cocoa or soup was ingested. Even with the added heat from the pregnancy, that kept Camila up half the night tossing and turning and covered in sweat, she was still freezing as she stood outside the front entrance to her school.
                          


                          
The unfamiliar fit of the long, black coat wrapped around her body, made her feel even more out of place. She'd officially outgrown her own about a week earlier, and since she wasn't speaking to her father, and her mother had had to leave for an art show out of state, she'd had to make due with whatever Hailee had on hand. Unfortunately, it wasn't her style at all and she thought it made her look even fatter, which was a feat in and of itself.
                          


                          
Hurried footsteps crunched through the snow and ice as Camila's classmates shuffled toward the doors distractedly, opposing airs of dread and excitement being emitted at being back to school. Camila, unfortunately, counted herself as part of that first group. She did not want to be there, didn't feel like she belonged anymore.
                          


                          
With a sigh, Camila tucked her hands further into the pockets of her borrowed outerwear. To anyone walking by, the gesture would have looked as though she were simply cold and trying to warm her hands. No one would have suspected the action was more to pull the fabric away from her bulging belly, in an effort to hide for just a little bit longer. She didn't know why she bothered—it would be all anyone was going to see and talk about in mere minutes—but for whatever reason, she needed these last few seconds. These last moments to just be Camila. To not be that "girl who got knocked up at seventeen". Because that's all she would be to them after today.
                          


                          
For the last two weeks, she'd been fretting about this day. She wasn't disillusioned about how people would react. The words her father had used to describe her the last time she'd seen him on that day back in Hailee's living room, were pretty much accurate. They would call her a whore; they would clear paths around her as if she were carrying a contagious disease instead of a human being. The funny thing was, most of those kids that would call her those things or act that way, were all having sex too. They just thought they were smarter about it. Who knew, maybe they were. Or maybe they were just lucky.
                          


                          
Camila drew in a breath and held it for several seconds, before expelling the air into her cold surroundings, a white cloud billowing up around her. No matter how long she stood there trying to muster the courage to take those few steps more, she could not make her feet move. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She was pretty certain if she turned in the opposite direction, she could get them to move—probably really quickly too.