The Truth ➵ madison ziegler

eight

I opened my eyes and tried to forget the fleeting moments of last night. Curled up in a ball on my bedroom floor, I sat up and spotted the dried blood on my arm. At least it's not a school day today. I lazily stood up and looked at my clock, which informed me that it was 6:48. Why have I been waking up so early lately? Remembering about the incident that happened last night, I realized that technically I wasn't even sleeping, I had passed out.

Heading to the bathroom to clean up the blood, Mackenzie stepped out of her room, noticed me, and asked, "Why are you still in your clothes from yesterday?"

I quickly shoved my left arm behind my back and answered, "I-I was too tired and fell asleep in my clothes."

"Oh, so that's why I saw you sleeping on the floor when it was time for dinner," she remarked.

"Yep, uh huh, that's why," I nervously replied. Mackenzie looked shocked, like she had just remembered something. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Why was there so many cuts on your arm last night?" she questioned, confused.

"Um, because um, I was at Gino's house after school yesterday and um, his car kept scratching me," I lied. Definitely not satisfied, Mackenzie gave me a suspicious look and hurried down the stairs. Letting a sigh of relief, I stepped into the bathroom, locked the door, and studied myself.

Dried blood on my arm; an exhausted, tear-stained face; slumped shoulders; and the crumpled, blood-stained outfit I wore to school yesterday. I turned on the faucet and made sure that it was warm water. I grabbed a wash cloth from the cupboard underneath the sink and let it soak up some of the warm water. I rubbed my face with the wash cloth, then moved to my arms. Underneath all of the dried blood were fresh, deep cuts. I'm going to have a hard time keeping these covered, especially because it's summer.

Unlocking the door to the bathroom,
I walked back into my room. I pulled off my pair of white-washed jean shorts and into a pair of fuzzy, comfortable, grey pajama shorts. I changed from my flowy, mint green tank top into an oversized, white sweatshirt.

I laid down in my bed and snuggled up underneath my purple, fuzzy blanket with my iPhone. Again, I received a monstrous amount of notifications from fans and haters. Ugh, it's so hard to be 'famous'. I noticed that Sia had gotten back to me on Twitter, so I decided to look at that first.

Perfect! Would you mind coming to my house next Saturday to start everything?

"Oh my god," I breathed. "I'm going to California!" I screeched at the top of my lungs as i jumped out of my bed. I've never been to California before, so it would be an astounding experience. I replied:

Sure! That works for me!

"What's all the fuss about?" Mom sleepily questioned as the door busted open.

"I'm going to California!" I shouted again, dancing around my room.

"Wait a second, why are you going to California?" Mackenzie asked, suddenly standing at my door too.

"Because Sia asked me to be in her music video!" I yelled.

"Oh my gosh, that's so cool!" Mackenzie screamed, jumping up and down.

"Do you know when you're going?" Mom inquired.

"She asked if I could meet her at her house next Saturday," I informed her.

Suddenly overwhelmed, my mom walked over to my bed and sat down. "That soon? I'm not sure if you could do that. You'd be missing a dance competition."

"So? Who cares right now? A music video is better than a dance competition!" I exclaimed.

"But you don't want to let Miss Abby down," Mom pointed out.

"Who cares what Abby thinks right now?" Mackenzie stepped in. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! My sister is going to be in a music video!"

"Well, I suppose that us three could fly out there on Thursday or something. You would miss the last day of school though," my mom mused.

"Then let's go to California!" Mackenzie gleefully answered.

I raised an eyebrow. Mackenzie? Willing to miss school? That's just unheard of.

My phone vibrated, alerting me of a new notification. I spotted a new message from Sia when I unlocked it.

I have all your flights and hotels booked and paid for. You will leave on Wednesday and go home the following Wednesday.

I responded with:

That sounds great! Thank you so much!

"Sia just said that the flights and hotel is already paid for. We'll leave for California on Wednesday and come back the next Wednesday," I explained to my mom.

"If everything's already planned and paid for, I guess we should probably go," Mom gave in.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I squeaked as I hugged her. "I'm going to California!"

As my mom hopped off my bed and out of the room, my stomach grumbled. "Sounds like someone's hungry," Mackenzie remarked as she headed out of the door frame of my room. Weird, I forgot she was even in here.

I sprinted down the stairs and popped some frozen waffles into the toaster and started a group message with Brynn and Kalani.

Maddie: Guess who's going to meet Sia?

Brynn: OMIGOSH THAT'S SO COOL!

Kalani: When?

Maddie: I leave for California on Wednesday, but I meet her on Saturday.

Kalani: Cool!

Maddie: I know right? I'm so excited!

Brynn: I'm excited and I'm not even going!

Maddie: Haha.

Brynn: Hey, you should come to Arizona sometime while you're there!

Maddie: I could try.

Kalani: But that's not fair! I'm still in Pennsylvania! I'm not going to be in Arizona at that time!

Brynn: Snooze, you lose.

Maddie: What she said.

Completely forgetting about my waffles, I started heading upstairs into my room to to have a celebration party by watching Netflix all day long.

∞

woah. I haven't updated in a longggg time. sorry 'bout that. sorry for the self promotion, buttttt, I started a few more stories so you should go check them out. I'm not starting the ones that have covers yet, but I've already started mad world, and I'll probably start choices soon too

what do you think about this chapter? it's exactly 1000 words, minus the author's note lol