Camouflaged

Chapter 17

"Raven?"

I look up and smile. It's Sunday and the director decided to give us a little break today.

"Hey, Alex," I say, as Alex sits down beside me.

I look up at the muscular boy beside me, his brown hair die starting to fade away. Alex's real hair colour is blonde but he has to dye it once every three days to keep it the dark brown Ethan has. As for his eyes, I think the editors are just going to edit that out.

"Do you always come here?" Alex asks.

I look out the window. I'm on the toppest floor of the hotel, where there's only a small space to sit. There is a big window though, where you can see the entire area of the city.

I nod.

"I like it," I answer. "It's peaceful and quiet. Away from all my troubles."

Silence falls in between us.

"Bella told me about your nightmare."

I wince.

"Sorry," I mutter.

"What for?"

"For thinking you were that kind of person."

Alex shakes his head and takes my hand. I look down at our hands, entwined. Then I look back up at Alex.

"I always have hate coming at me," he tells me, sighing. "It comes with the job."

"I know."

Alex looks at me, eyebrows raised.

"You've had hate come at you before?" he asks.

I nod.

"All the time. Oh, Raven is this and Raven is that. She wore this and it makes her look like that and she wore this which makes her look like that. This part of her is so disgusting and her voice sounds like a crying llama," I reply bitterly.

Alex smiles grimly.

"What do people say about you?" I ask.

"Alex wore this and Alex wore that. This makes Alex look weird and this pronounces his muscles too much. This and that makes him look uglier even though he's always ugly."

"Don't let anyone make you think that," I say softly. "You're beautiful just the way you are."

Suddenly, tears start to welm in my eyes. I try to hide them but Alex quickly realizes them. Memories of Tart, Hailey and I all together with not another care about the world bundle together in my mind.

"What's wrong?" Alex asks softly.

"Memories," I answer simply, trying to wipe my tears away but more and more just keep on coming.

There's a moment of silence as I try to stop crying.

"Sing," Alex suddenly says when I've finally stopped crying.

Well, that was out of nowhere.

"What?"

"Sing."

"Sing what?"

"Anything you want. Just sing."

"Why?"

"I want to hear you sing. Sing for me, Raven. Please."

I take a deep breath. I start to sing an old song my mom used to sing to me whenever I was bullied at school.

When I finish, I look down at my feet. Alex doesn't say anything as I start to cry again. Then, wordlessly, Alex leaves.

I stay on the top floor for at least another hour, leaning against the wall and hoping that everything is okay back in New York.

"I miss you, Tart," I whisper, crying.

When I finally go back down to my room, the first thing I hear is music. I run over to where I hear the music from. On my bed is a recorder, with my voice. My voice coming out of it. Then I realize it's the song I sang on the roof. I pick up the recorder and turn it over.

You're beautiful. Don't change a thing for others.

Love,

Alex and Bella

My eyes well up in tears again, but they're happy ones.

I listen to the music, my own voice calming me down. Then a different voice comes out. My mother. She sings the same song I sang. We sound almost the same, but her voice has dread in it. At the end, she talks to me. She talks to me through the recorder.

"I miss you, Rave and I really, really wish you could come home. I heard you got into a new movie. I'm so proud of you, baby. You've grown so much but if only you could come home. I miss you so much. So does your dad and Tart. Come home for us, baby. Please. For a day. Come home to us, Rave. We all miss you and love you so much. I'm so proud of you. Love you, baby girl," my mom says through the recorder.

I start to cry, but this time I don't know if they're happy tears or sad tears.

Then I hear Tart sing. Her light, happy voice singing.

After, she talks too.

"I miss you. Come home, Rave. Please. Come visit us. We're all so proud of you but please, for once, come visit."

After her, my dad starts to sing. Literally.

His voice is hoarse but I can hear what he tried to sing out.

"I love you, baby girl. You're so beautiful and I'm so proud. Love you forever."

After, every one of my friends and even Mrs Bell sing. I clutch the recorder to my chest, as the voices stream out.

I suddenly hear a knock on the door. I run over to open it, the recorder still playing. In the doorway is Alex and Bella, eyes full of excitement.

"Do you like it?" Bella exclaims.

In answer, I hug them both.

"Thank you," I whisper, crying. "How did you get all of them to sing in such a short period of time?"

"We've been working on it since Day 1," Alex explains.

"Really?" I ask, shocked.

"Yes. When we learned you haven't seen your family or friends in a long time, we knew we had to make you feel better."

"How did you get their voices?"

"Well..." Alex looks at Bella, who grins.

"We kinda stole your phone for a bit and got their contacts. We called them and told them to record themselves and send it to us. Then we downloaded it onto the recorder," Bella explains.

"And I told you to sing today so that we could put your voice in the recorder too," Alex adds.

"I would be mad on a normal day but how could I be?" I answer, shaking my head. "You guys are the best."

"Are you going home?" Bella asks softly.

I look into her blue eyes as I slowly nod.

"After this movie is done," I respond.

That night, I drift to sleep with all of my family and friends' singing swirling in my head as my recorder plays their beautiful voices.