Love is Loud Enough to Stop Hate - Demi Lovato Spin-off Story - Book 3

Chapter 18: On The Line

Book 1: It was a Mistake But I am Unbroken Now

Book 2: Here We Go Again When Two Worlds Collide

Book 3: Love is Loud Enough to Stop Hate

Book 4: That's How You Know to Believe in Me

Chapter 18: On The Line

But tonight, we'll leave it on the line…

Today is the day all of the victims have been waiting for; today is the day of the assembly. I felt butterflies in my stomach and felt myself shaking all morning. Today can make or break my life here at school. I went to most of my classes that day, but towards the end the teachers sent everyone to the gym. The 13 of us victims had special seats in the front of the gym. On the other side were all the teachers and everyone else was asked to sit in the bleachers. I sat down with the rest of the victims and nothing was said until all the students and teachers were safely in their seats. Then the principal went to the microphone, but before she could say anything the gym door opened. Kayla was wheeled in by a nurse with Dylan at her side. I was the first one to scream and most of the other victims did too. I’m so glad she made it because I don’t think we could have done this without her. We cried of happiness as we hugged her and Kayla cried too. We tried to hug her longer, but the nurse separated us from her. We went back to our seats and the nurse wheeled Kayla towards the principal and Dylan continued following right next to her. The principal was obviously speechless as she gave Kayla the microphone.

            We all held our breath though as the nurse helped her stand up. You could see it in her face how much it hurt her to stand up like that. Why would she put herself through that? She could easily talk from the chair. It looks like she hasn’t tried standing up since everything happened. There’s no way she can be healed enough to be here, but Kayla’s not the type of person to just give up. She probably feels like she has to be here because it was her idea. After five minutes I thought she had finally stood up, but she fell just as five times faster than she stood up. Luckily, before she hit the ground Dylan was there to catch her. I smiled, not because she fell, but because I could see how much Dylan really cared for her and he really deserves her. She refused to sit back down and leaned against the microphone stand instead.

            “By now I know everyone knows about me being stabbed. A lot of people would have disagreed to me coming here today… so that’s why I didn’t tell them. This school has to know what bullying has done. It has torn us all apart. We are all running for our lives trying to save ourselves, but not thinking about all the people it’s actually hurting.

            “I know exactly why I was stabbed. I was stabbed because I’m not going to stop until the bullying is stopped. I thought of a way to stop it. I thought of a way to get everyone to realize how horrible bullying really is. These 13 people don’t deserve to be bullied and I feel responsible because I’m the one it started with.

            “The bullies here brought me down and made me feel so small that I started cutting. They called me fat so I stopped eating. I got depression, anorexia, and couldn’t stop cutting. I’m healed now, but I’m not going to let it happen to anyone else. I thought no one was there for me, but I was wrong. That’s exactly why I’m not going to stop now. Bullying needs to stop and this is why.”