For the rest of the week I was confined to my house. Leaving for school was out of the question, considering how many people were outside my door. The celebrities, especially, were banned from coming over until things calmed. Leaving my house with tons of people outside was something I’d never want to experience again. Paparazzi were everywhere, maybe not to the extent of James stepping off a plane, but it was enough to make me feel incredibly exposed. Questions were fired at me about my and Liam’s “relationship” and when a photo of Liam helping Ava out of a car one day was released, rumors began circulating saying Liam was cheating on her with me. Now of course I knew the truth. Ava was dating James and Liam and I had nothing. But I kept my mouth shut regardless, because it takes a lot more effort to disprove rumors than instead to just say nothing at all.

By the next Monday I could leave my house in peace. I looked up and down the street for a trace of the paparazzi, but there were none to be found and it was like I could finally breathe again. James told me we just had to starve them of the gossip - give them nothing to go off of. It was nice walking into class not worrying about anything. I mean, first class of the day was art! How much easier could life be right then? I walked into my class and settled into my seat, Jace the only one there.

“Morning Cam,” he said and I robotically responded, “Good morning Jace.” It had become our routine. He got there extremely early, I got there kind of early, and Rowan walked in five seconds before class started. We never talked very much, just basic conversation which I grew accustomed to and now liked. It felt like I always needed to talk when I was around other people, but Jace was almost as much of a silence-lover as I was.

“Any more paparazzi?” Jace asked, not even bothering to look up at me.

“Nah, I got too boring for them.”

“And you and Liam Hawthorne? Do you actually fancy each other?” There was no hint of jealousy in his voice, only basic curiosity

“No, we don’t,” I told him, which was technically true. We didn’t fancy each other, I fancied him.

“Sure you do. Anybody could tell,” I heard him say and I whipped my head up from my sketchbook and gaped at him.

“Jace!”

“I’m a silent observer, I definitely can tell these things.” I glared at him as I saw the corner of his lips tug into a small smirk.

“You’re terrible.”

“What? No I’m not.” He finally looked up at me, looking as innocent as ever.

“I’m not talking to you right now, Jace.” He smiled wider as I had practically admitted defeat when Rowan walked in and slumped into her spot, looking ticked.

“Morning Rowan,” I said and her scowl deepened as she looked towards me.

“Well. If it isn’t Miss Celebrity! Gracing us all with her presence and oh so magnificent  stories.” I was taken aback by her attitude. What had I ever done to her?

“What’s your problem?” Jace asked instead for me.

“Nothing. I’m just peachy. Can’t you tell?”

“Ro, are you ok?”

“Tell me, Cam, how was your week in the spotlight? You enjoyed it? You must have loved it, because you know that without James you would be an absolute, little nobody -”

“Whoa!” 

“- And I thought we were friends, but you don’t ever bring me over for fun stuff. The only time something fun happened was because I was studying with you.”

“Rowan, slow down for a second,” I told her and her eyes remained narrowed as she pursed her lips and crossed her arms.

“Listen, I don’t understand where this sudden outburst is happening, but you have no right to say all those things you just did. Number one, I never wanted to be in the spotlight. Having my brother be a celebrity was something that just happened, ok? Not something I’ve always dreamed about. Number two,” I held up two fingers to emphasize my point, “you told me countless times that you were too afraid to come over in case you met celebrities. You were my friend because you didn’t want to be friends with my brother.”

“Of course I wanted to be friends with James. I said that so you’d take me over and try to cure me of my fear.”

My heart dropped in my stomach almost harder than when I read the hateful comments. 

Rowan was one of them.

She was one of those girls that became my friend just to be friends with James.

The girls that I thought I had avoided when I came here.

Before I could think of anything to say to her, however, Jace beat me to the punch with words I never, ever thought I’d hear him say. The words were harsh and, if those words were directed towards me, I probably would have cried. But the words shut Rowan up properly and that was all I needed.

“Excuse me?” Rowan said, her tone unchanging, but her expression told a different story.

“You heard what I said. You are an absolute b-”

“Good morning class, I hope your homework is completed. We’ll be going over your nature shots today, so why don’t you pull those out,” Ms. Norris began as she entered the room, setting her stuff on the table.

“Excuse me,” I said, grabbing my bag and pushing myself away from the table. I could hear Ms. Norris calling me back, but I kept walking out and down the hallway. I thought the drama had stopped when the paparazzi left my home, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. No tears threatened to spill, I just felt empty. 

“Cam!” I turned to see Jace, of all people, coming after me.

“I’m going home, I don’t want to deal with that all day,” I told him.

He reached me from where I stood in the hallway, pushing his raven hair back after it flopped to his forehead.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’d be such a-”

“I know, Jace, I know you didn’t know.” I shrugged helplessly and shook my head, staring at my feet because I didn’t feel like looking at Jace. “It just really sucks, y’know? Having a friend who turns out to not actually be your friend. What sucks even more is that I didn’t see it coming. I could at least tell at one time so I could just not make any friends. Alone is what I have. Alone protects me,” I said.

“No, friends protect people. And I appreciate the Sherlock quote.” I smiled up at him in gratitude as he got my reference.

“I’m sorry I’m getting all depressing on you too. It’s been a rough week,” I said, looking away from him again. He didn’t need any of this.

“You had a false story written about you, insane fangirls raging at you, and a person you thought was your friend turn out to be evil. I think your rant is long overdue.”

I looked back up at him again. “Since when did you become all nice and comforting?” I asked, a small smile creeping it’s way through my features.

“Since one of my friends got hurt. But I should probably get back to class before Ms. Norris thinks I’ve escaped.”

“I’m going to go watch Disney and eat chocolate so I’ll see you later.” He smiled again and without another word, he took my shoulders, pulling me in, and gave me a quick reassuring hug.

“You’ll be fine, Cam. I’ll deal with Rowan today.”

“I feel like a proud mother, watching her anti-social, moody child become a nice gentleman. Tell me how this happened, please.”

“My girlfriend has been teaching me well.”

“Girlfriend?” I squeaked.

“Yup, ok, bye Cam!” Jace smiled at me as he turned, knowing he just blew my mind into the next century.

“But girlfriend?”

“A month ago. Bye Camille!” He waved one last time before disappearing into our classroom door. I stood there in minor disbelief. Jace had a girlfriend! I wasn’t jealous, by any means, just pleasantly surprised. However the happy surprise was instantly replaced my the hole in my chest as I thought about how Rowan blatantly told me that she didn’t care about being friends, she just cared about getting closer to James and Liam and all them. I pushed the door open, hailing a cab, and headed home. 

The house was quiet when I arrived, James at work and most likely so were my parents. Trudging up the stairs, I dropped my bag at the foot of the stairs going to my room and fell on the couch out of pure exhaustion of life. Becca and Riley would be asleep, Rowan was dead to me, and all my celebrity “friends” were at work too. I groaned and rolled off the couch to make tea. Coffee was good, always, but I just wanted a hug in a cup. Grudgingly, I moved about the kitchen, getting everything for tea as I waited for the water to boil. Once my tea was finished, I grabbed some cookies and headed upstairs to watch some classics. For once, I was taking a day for myself. I wasn’t going to worry about the paparazzi’s opinions, or Rowan’s plots to become my friend to get to James or Liam or anyone. Today was for me and I didn’t realize how much I needed it until I sat in my darkened room and empty home, with nothing but the Disney logo illuminated and my hands cupping my hot tea.

Hakuna Matata was going to finally make some sense to me.

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Hey everyone! So this is a shorter chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it!

Can you believe Rowan!? So mean. But Cam is manning up for herself and it's going to be an interesting next coupld of chapters. No Liam for all you Camiliam shippers out there. Sorry, but not really.

Please remember to vote/comment/share/fan if you enjoyed it and if you didn't, let me know why! I need some feedback :)

Have a lovely day everyone and stay classy,

-Katie