I should have known

Chapter Sixteen

Demi stood in complete shock. Did Stefani really just threaten her like that? “That’s it. First thing Monday morning, I’ll be speaking to your ballet teacher. I’m sure she will agree with me once I tell her everything. It’s for your own good Stefani!” Demi said coldly, not taking any of Stefani’s manipulative pleas.

“Too late! She already knows!” Stefani spat back in disgust. Demi’s mouth dropped open; why was she the last person to find out about this?

“She what?” Demi replied in frustration. A sudden feeling of guilt and failure overcome her like she had thrown herself into a brick wall. “When did she find out?”

“A few days ago I guess…” Stefani replied vaguely, making her way out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, attempting to slam the door in Demi and Marissa’s faces to stop all of the interrogation she simply couldn’t handle.

“I’m still going to talk to her. I’m sure she will agree that you’re in no state to dance right now.” Demi shot back hesitantly. She didn’t want to make Stef unhappy, or God forbid, suicidal, but she couldn’t allow Stefani to continue taking ballet in her condition; she could drop dead in an instant.

“Demi…” Marissa interrupted, seeing the broken expression that had overcome Stefani’s face; it was as though all four walls in the room had closed in on them, making Stefani feel claustrophobic. “I don’t think it’s the right time to be having this conversation.”

Demi glanced towards Marissa, slightly offended by what her friend had just told her. Who was Marissa to tell her how to raise a child? “Better now than never!” Demi replied, focusing her gaze back towards Stefani who still refused to look her in the eye.

“Please!” Marissa pleaded, trying to drag Demi out of the room. She could clearly see now wasn’t the right time to be yelling at the young girl, who wanted nothing more but to die.

Suddenly Demi snapped out of her anger, her emotions spiralling rapidly to sadness. It wasn’t Stefani she was angry at; it was herself. “I’m so sorry” She cried, running out of Stefani’s bedroom; she was too ashamed to let anybody see her weakness.

“Great, now I’ve made her cry.” Stefani said under her breath, adding another trait to her never-ending list of failures and flaws.

Marissa sat beside Stefani, moving the spare blankets neatly folded at the end of her bed out of the way. “Don’t blame yourself, okay?” Marissa said calmly, pulling Stefani into a hug. “It hurts her to see her baby girl going through everything she did. She knows exactly what it feels like…”

Stefani lowered her head in shame; she was a horrible person for being so ignorant. Instantly, she regretted everything that she let slip out of her mouth before. “I’m such a failure…”

“I’ve said this before, and I’ll say this again. You are not a failure, Stef. I hope one day you will see it.” Marissa said sadly.

Stefani diverted her gaze away from Marissa, feeling humiliated. No matter what anyone told her, she was never going to be anything more than a failure. “Whatever…” She mumbled under her breath in a grumpy tone causing Marissa to give her a concerned expression.

Marissa jumped off Stefani’s bed and wandered over to the wall where Stefani had neatly hung the ballet shoes given to her by Sveta. She carefully unhooked them from the wall and brought them over to Stefani. “Remember what Sveta told you when she gave you these?” Marissa cooed, playing with the ribbons of the salmon pink shoes.

Stefani nodded. “She’s probably the best dancer in the whole world. She wouldn’t have said those things to you if she didn’t think you had the talent to be just like her when you’re older.”