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Title: mean girls Pairing: Camila Cabello / Lauren Jauregui Summary:

“Lauren will finish this last year of high school drama free if it’s the last thing she does.”

AU where Camila is the queen bee and she’s used to the school bowing at her feet until a new girl that refuses to play by the rules comes along.

iv. an actual presidential race for once

Camila is never late. You can't get far in life without planning ahead and therefore she always makes a point of arriving at least five minutes early to wherever she needs to be. It's not her fault that Sofi had decided to throw a temper tantrum this morning and, by the time Camila had managed to calm her down, they only had ten minutes to get to school. She always needs to drop Sofi off first, which is why she's now running through the hallways, trying to make it to AP Government on time.

She somehow manages to walk inside the classroom as the second bell is ringing, so there are no consequences for her tardiness and she just gives the teacher a quick apology before taking her seat on the row by the window. Pulling out her notebook and her pencil case, she places her phone between her legs to let the girls know she's alive and is surprised to see she has more texts than she'd expected. Both Normani and Dinah have blown up her Whatsapp notifications.

China Jane [8:16] are u here yet??

Mani [8:21] Where are you?

Mani [8:22] Did something happen?

China Jane [8:24] ok bish we headin inside c u after 1st period

Mani [8:25] Is everything okay? You should be at school by now

China Jane [8:26] where tf r u walz

China Jane [8:26] GURL U NEVER GONNA BELIEVE THIS SHIT

China Jane [8:27] YOU GOTTA SEE THIS

China Jane [8:28] get yo ass to the lockers rn!!!!!

Mani [8:29] Shit. Did you see it?

China Jane [8:29] DA FUQ U AT

Camila stares at the screen in disbelief. Of course the girls couldn't have been kind enough to drop a photo or a snap of whatever they wanted her to see and now she'll have to wait until class is over to catch up on the latest gossip.

With an annoyed sigh, she grabs a pen and starts copying the notes on the board.

Camila doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary as she leaves AP Government, sending a quick message to the Clique's group chat so they'll meet at her locker. She's vaguely aware that there are people watching her and pointing and muttering under their breaths, but there are always people doing that and she's learned not to care about it.

After all, it's much better to be the one people talk about than to have nothing better to do but talk about someone else.

She saunters up to her locker and opens it to pull out her Psychology textbook. A folded paper falls to her feet and she lowers down to pick it up, keeping it between her index and middle finger as she finishes what she has to do. It isn't the first time, nor will it be the last, that someone leaves random messages through the slit of her locker. She shuts the door and leans against the wall of lockers, hoping the girls won't take too long.

Camila isn't quite prepared for what she sees as she unfolds the paper and her chin drops before she can regain control of her muscles and facial expressions. What she has in her hands is a very poor excuse for a student president campaign poster, limited to a printed out color photograph on A4 photocopy paper with a slogan underneath in what looks like a bland Arial font. She would be appalled at the unprofessionalism of it all if it weren't for the shocking content.

It's a photograph of Lauren fucking Jauregui. And sure, the photograph is flattering, but Camila couldn't care less if Lauren had plastered her face all over school or decided to hand out nudes at the cafeteria. No, what really gets to her is the slogan:

No cliques: for a fair high school experience

Camila sees red in that moment. She's gritting her teeth so hard, middle-school Camila would be worried those two years wearing braces had been for naught.

She knew Lauren would come for her, but there is a difference between coming for her and attacking her friends. This is personal.

"There you are!"

She snaps her eyes up to face Dinah walking towards her with Normani in tow.

"I see the hottest news has found its way to you," Normani says, wincing. She places a hand on Camila's shoulder and softly allows it to travel down to her wrist. Camila feels some of the tension inside her fade at the gesture and tries to give Normani a smile. She fails.

"That bitch," she breathes out instead. "I'll fucking kill her."

"I'm kind of impressed, actually," Dinah says, prying Camila's fingers open to grab the poster and check it out. "Girl legit pulled this outta her ass from one day to the other."

Camila glares at her, not wanting to hear anything even remotely positive about Lauren. "Did you even read the stupid slogan, Dinah? This is not just about me, she's coming after us!"

"Yeah?" Dinah shrugs. "I'm 100% Team Mila but I can't say it isn't exciting to have someone challenging us."

Normani snickers at that and Camila struggles with her instinct to stomp her foot like a spoiled toddler.

"You have to admit this school isn't exactly home of the brave material," Normani prods, hand moving to entwine their fingers. "I don't think this is a big deal, it'll be just like in freshman year when Richard Baker tried to run against you for class president. It was more of a formality to pretend there was some sort of race going on when, lol no."

Camila squeezes Normani's hand, grateful for her words and for how her presence helps relax her.

"I'm still going to kill her," Camila announces after a long moment of silence, lips quirking up in a dangerous smirk.

"I can't wait for that." Dinah grins triumphantly, putting her hand up for Camila to high-five.

"And I'll be right there to step over the bitch's dead body." Normani's eyes are glinting, bright with mischief.

On second thought, Camila says to herself, this could turn out to be a lot of fun.

Camila spends most of her Psychology class obsessing over the poster. She can feel the weight of it inside her blazer's pocket, even though it's just a piece of paper folded in four.

This is an affront she can't let slide, and while she wants to confront Lauren about the whole thing, she doesn't want to come across as angry and hysterical. Lauren doesn't deserve the satisfaction of feeling like she has affected her in any way.

She tears out a page of her notebook and starts listing possible scenarios so she can both calm herself down and come up with a viable action plan. She scribbles several brilliant lines of monologue and memorizes them right away, feeling quite pleased with herself. She doesn't know how Lauren will react but she trusts her quick wit to present her with some decent retorts. As long as she keeps her cool, everything should be okay. The idea is to make Lauren lose her cool.

Now she only needs to think of the perfect setting to enact her little speech. A confrontation in the hallways is out of question because she doesn't need any more attention placed on the two of them together. There's already plenty of that to go around. Checking her schedule, she realizes she has AP Lit next and smirks.

That's something she can work with.

Camila enters room A012 three minutes before the bell rings and is satisfied to see Lauren is already there. Unfortunately, so is her table partner, which forces Camila into a less smooth approach.

Standing next to him, she offers a saccharine smile. "Scram."

The boy looks up at her, eyes open wide, and hurries away, finding another seat. It's a good thing Mr. Keating doesn't care about fixed placements - never a time when that hadn't been convenient.

Camila beams at Lauren and sits next to her without asking for permission, ignoring the incredulous stare Lauren is throwing her way. She removes the poster from her pocket and unfolds it, placing it on the middle of the table. "It has come to my attention that this is a thing that is happening."

Lauren just raises one eyebrow, not bothering to reply.

"I'm actually glad you've decided to run against me" Camila continues, counting a victory point when confusion flashes across Lauren's features. "It does get a bit tiresome to have the world bow at your feet without question."

"Oh please," Lauren huffs, with an eye-roll.

"But, Jauregui, if you're going to run against me, at least give me the pleasure of a challenge?" Camila tilts her head to the side, smiling lazily and enjoying the turmoil behind Lauren's eyes. "Here." She points at the poster, her finger falling between the photograph and the slogan. She thinks it's very kind of her. She could've easily just tapped one of Lauren's eyes with her fingernail, which is closer to what she would like to do to the girl. "Photocopy paper, seriously? How cheap."

"I would like to see you bringing a campaign to life overnight, Cabello," Lauren counters, swatting Camila's hand away from the poster. "In the last twenty-four hours, I've signed up for student body president, studied the students' council regulations and policies of the past three years, wrote down a draft of the plan for my presidency and created a campaign from scratch. All by myself."

"Photocopy paper makes the photographs look pixelated and scrunched up, so unpleasant," Camila carries on, disregarding her in spite of the somewhat impressive list of achievements. "And Arial for the slogan's font? What is this? The first group project for middle school?"

Lauren is seething at this point and Camila's chest swells with pride. She's doing this. She's the one aggravating Lauren and she's loving the hell out of it. "I'll give you kudos for the slogan though. That was... brave. It will get you attention, for sure, which will last you for today and maybe until the end of the week. But it isn't memorable.

"I mean, if you're this bad at posters alone, how do you expect to hold up against me when it's time to present your campaign video in homeroom? Or for the debate before the election?"

Mr. Keating arrives in that moment and Lauren fixes her with a glare that would probably be considered intimidating if Camila were someone else. "Are you done with the lecture? Can you go now?"

"No," Camila answers, surprising them both. "You smell nice. I think I'll stay here for today." She grins, delighted by Lauren's startled expression and her obvious loss for words as she shifts her attention back to the lesson.

Camila didn't think it would be possible, but if she enjoyed messing with Lauren's head over her subpar poster, she's now overcome with glee, arguing against every single interpretation Lauren has for the poems they're studying today.

Mr. Keating notices it but doesn't stop them. The man has strange ways and he seems to value intelligent discussion over appeasing the belligerent tension in the room. Camila appreciates it.

She's on a winning streak anyway.

When Camila finally makes it home that evening, after spending two hours in the library finishing her History essay, she falls face first on her bed with a groan. Her phone beeps from somewhere in her bag and she shoves her hand inside to try and find it without having to change position. She succeeds after a very frustrating minute and looks at the screen to see Normani had texted her.

Mani [6:33pm] I have a feeling this presidential race is gonna be more interesting than we thought

Camila blinks and then frowns, unsure of what Normani is trying to convey.

Mila [6:34pm] what do you mean?

Normani sends her a link to a tweet and Camila opens it, a feeling of dread coursing through her veins.

Her first reaction is relief because she was expecting much worse, but then she clicks on the twitter account, realizes it's been created earlier that day, sees a tweet with a picture of her campaign poster side by side with Lauren's and a few other incendiary tweets, and she lets out an undignified wailing sound.

Great. This is just what she needed in her life.

Camila doesn't think too much about Lauren for the next two days. Or rather, she doesn't allow herself to, forcing her mind to drift somewhere else as soon as the obnoxious girl pops up in her thoughts. She smiles inwardly when she notices that most posters have been replaced with classier versions of the original, taking her suggestions into account. The slogan is still the same but Camila doesn't believe that will stick for long.

For all her effort to remain collected about the events of the past week, Camila's also aware that, for the first time in her high school experience, a person that she'd condemned to ostracism had bounced back from it like it had been nothing.

Social media had played a big part in that, what with the stupid @sipthegreentea twitter that keeps people obsessing over the campaign and that rat Zayn Malik interviewing Lauren for the school blog. She thought no one followed that thing, but apparently a six-minute video of Lauren being charming and eloquent, and making sense in a few of her points, had been enough to gather it some attention. Lauren Jauregui had gone from persona non grata, from the absolute bottom of the social hierarchy to somewhere... slightly above that.

Camila would be lying if she said that didn't unnerve her a little bit.

In all fairness, most of the school is still avoiding Lauren like she has the plague and she knows some of the popular kids have fun throwing insults at her every now and then - which, kind of makes her uncomfortable but she has done nothing to prevent. However, Lauren's become a champion of sorts for the underdogs and the wallflowers, the kids too weak to make a name for themselves, and so she isn't alone by any means, as had been Camila's original intention. And if Lauren isn't alone, if she's defied the school's natural order and survived, Lauren is dangerous.

That's why Camila is keeping track of what's going on with Lauren by ensuring some underdogs remain loyal to her. She may be willing to act as if Lauren is beneath her and nothing she does phases her, because that both irritates Lauren and allows her to be perceived as the still reigning president, influential and untouchable. But smart people keep their friends close, and their enemies closer. Being two steps ahead is not enough of a waypoint as far as Camila is concerned.

And thus, she weaves a web of nerds and drama kids and almost pretty girls, people she's always been nice to and who've always liked her. One should never underestimate people's willingness to betray their own in exchange for the approval of the powerful majority.

It's Friday and Camila's lost in thought in one of the bathrooms of the second floor when she's approached by a girl with long, copper-colored hair.

"C-Camila?" she stutters.

Camila fights the urge to roll her eyes because in these times of political need, she can't afford to act however she wants. "Hi," she says, turning to give her attention to the girl with a smile on her face. Camila knows she's the current sophomore class president until election day but can't remember her name even though she should. This girl is one of those who would sell her soul for popularity. "Can I help you, hum - what's your name again?"

"Katie," the girl replies, not at all offended that Camila didn't know that. She checks the stalls before she speaks again. "I thought you should know that Lauren is planning a campaign event."

"Oh, is she?"

"Yeah. I don't know when it will happen but there's been talk of getting a catering service so they can give away cupcakes while handing out flyers and buttons."

Camila narrows her eyes, studying the girl. "Catering service?"

"Some kid's mom owns a bakery and he said he could get a few batches of cupcakes for free. To help with the campaign, I mean." Katie keeps shifting on her feet, nervous energy coming off of her in waves.

"What kid?"

"Jacob Sartorius."

"Jacob Sartorius?" Camila shakes her head. "Who even is that?"

"He's a freshman," Katie says, shrugging. "Skinny, wears those thick-framed type of glasses, hair makes up half of his height?"

Camila snickers. "Do you know this boy?"

"Yeah, like, we say hi in the halls and stuff?"

"Good." Camila places both her hands on the girl's shoulders and stares deep into her eyes. "Tell him to meet me behind the gym at 4:30."

Katie nods, and Camila finds it a mix of cute and sickening that she looks like she's been given a life-changing mission.

"Will do, Camila!" she says, bobbing her head up and down until Camila releases her shoulders and signals for her to leave with a thanks. "Bye!"

"You're late," Camila drawls when she spots a lanky boy with his hair two inches up in the air walking towards her. She repositions herself so only her shoulder is leaning against the wall as she faces this Jacob creature.

"Sorry," he mumbles, blushing. "I thought this was a prank."

Camila smirks. "I can see why you would think that but no, this isn't a prank."

"Am I in trouble?"

"Not if you help me."

"I don't see how I can help you, I'm sorry." To his credit, Jacob looks genuinely rueful. The poor thing has no idea what he's doing, talking to Camila Cabello in secret.

"I hear your mom owns a bakery, is that true?"

"Yes." He moves closer and stands next to her, hands behind his back as he also leans against the wall. "You need a catering service too?"

"Too?"

"Well yeah, Lauren Jauregui--" Camila cringes as Jacob mispronounces the surname but he doesn't notice, "--is doing some campaign event next week and she asked if I could get her some free cupcakes so I figured you were after the same thing?"

"If I ever need cupcakes from your bakery, I'll make sure to pay your mom for her excellent service," Camila informs him, smiling sweetly. "In fact, do you have a card or is there a website I can visit?"

"Place is called Baked Bites," Jacob says, returning her smile. "You can look it up on Facebook or Instagram."

"I will," she assures him. She'll order a box of goods to take home to her family, at least, and make sure that reaches Jacob's ears. Favors are paid with other favors. "Now there is something I would like you to do for me, if you're up for that?"

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Those free cupcakes that Jauregui is getting for her campaign..." She pauses on purpose, gauging his reaction. "What would have to happen for them to be... less than perfect cupcakes?"

"What are you getting at?" He squints his eyes, suspicious. "This is my mom's business we're talking about. I don't want to cause her trouble."

"Oh, you wouldn't, don't worry!" Camila cuts, eyes wide with innocence. "Ally Hernandez loves baking, I'm sure she'll do her own batch for the event. We'll blame it on her."

Jacob laughs at that, his hair shaking with his movements. "Alright. I guess I could be persuaded then. What's in it for me?"

Camila's lips curl up smugly. "Name your price, Jacob. I'll make it happen."

#camren #camren fic #5h fic #in which camila is lowkey impressed by lauren's courage #but slytherin!camila rises nonetheless #mean girls 5h fic

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