You Can't Choose Your Family ➸ Demi Lovato

{Chapter 4}

"Saskia?" Marissa waved her hand in front of my face. I must of zoned out again. It's one of my finest talents.

"Hm?" I mumbled.

"You totally went to Neverland then!" She laughed. I blushed. "I asked what you did to hurt your arm in gym."

"Oh-" damn it Saskia, come up with an excuse already. "I fell on the treadmill?" It came out more like a question than an answer.

"Yeh right." She scoffed. Fuck, fuck, fuck. That was the only word that consumed my brain right now. "I can see you're struggling-"

"I'm not struggling!" I snarled, putting my walls back up. Wait, they were down?

"You have the same look in your eyes that Dems used to have." She smiled kindly at me but she could be laughing at me inside for all I knew. "I don't need you to like er-show me your wrists, I'm not going to invade. But you gotta know that your mom and sister and brother love you and that I'm always here for you. I've been through it with Demi-" she'd mentioned Demi twice now. What did Demi have to do with cutting?

"Did Demi er-you know?" I mumbled through my embarrassment.

"Dallas was right about you not being interested in gossip sites!" She laughed but it was restricted not loud and free like earlier. I shook my head.

"Celebrities annoy me." I stated. It was true. They did. Demi kind of annoyed me even.

"Me too. Well not celebrities themselves- I love Demi. But the gossip that surrounds them and everything." Marissa admitted, "but anyway back to the point... Demi went through some er-struggles and look at her now. She's got 4 albums and is about to tour North America again!" Wow. Impressive. Not that I cared about Disney Demi's music. I'd heard like one song and it was cheesy and shit and very very Disney. Geez, I'm rambling. "But I think you could talk to her and she could help you out. If you don't want to, just know I'm here and I'll try to understand as much as I can. I have some experience in it too."

Marissa then engulfed me in a huge hug. My walls instantly evaporated. When she pulled back, she started stroking tears away from my cheeks with the pads of her thumbs. I hadn't even realised I was crying. I just felt so much care and love off this girl I'd only met a few hours ago. I already felt like I could trust her more than my own mom, not that that's very difficult (we'll leave the story of the reason behind that for another time).

"Thank you," I stuttered through sobs. When did I become such a softie? I didn't like it. It wasn't me. I didn't cry.

A door slammed close by.

"Looks like the targets are in their required location." Marissa smirked.