The Wrong Harmony

three.

Harmony's two best friends, Sophia Grande and Lauren Rivera clapped as she entered her dance class on the last day of her suspension. She went back to school tomorrow and she hadn't gone to dance the last two days because she really didn't feel like it. She smiled and bounced over to them with that signature smirk on her face as they cheered a bit and tackled her when she sat down.

"Girls settle down and stretch," Mia, their dance teacher's assistant, instructed. Moni rolled her eyes but still began to stretch out her splits as Sophia and Lauren began to fill her in on what had been going on in school.
Even though she had gotten her phone back, Trey still tried to take it away again because he said she didn't deserve it. Obviously she had pulled out the "you're not my real father so you can't tell me what to do" card and in return he had just turned her service off. Her dad had said that he would turn it back on for her tomorrow if she stopped calling him every time she didn't get her way, which wasn't gonna happen, but she needed her phone back.

"Jeremiah has been so lost without you," Sophia teased. "He asked why you weren't in school so I told him the whole story. He said he was gonna come visit you but Demi said no," Harmony rolled her eyes and pulled her back leg up so that her foot was touching her head.

"She's so...ugh. She even called my dad down from Florida to come and discipline me," Harmony wasn't that upset about her dad coming to California. She was more upset about the fact that he still wouldn't let her live with him in Florida.

"Mariana tried to start some rumor about you getting pulled out of school because you were going to rehab but we took care of it," Mariana was so petty. She didn't understand the point of bringing up drama that their parents had. She didn't have a problem with Mariana. Their moms didn't like each other but they always happened to be at the same events so her and Mariana naturally began hanging out. When they got to high school, they just weren't that close anymore. Mariana was the one who had a problem with her, not the other way around.

"Girls stand up so we can talk about the competition coming up," Harmony had been dancing for as long as she could remember. Her mom used to dance too, but she didn't do it professionally. They were mostly just little routines for concerts that never went anywhere. Harmony liked to sing too but she would never do it professionally because she would always get compared to her mom and she hated that. So she took up dancing. She did a little gymnastics on the side but Lyric liked that kind of stuff more than she did.

"In about a month we're going to Miami for the JUMP! regionals, and if we score high in this competition, we'll be headed to New York for nationals," Mia explained. Miami meant that she got to stay with her dad for the weekend if her mom didn't go, and hopefully she wouldn't.

"For solos, we're only entering one girl in each age division. For your group's age division, Harmony will have the solo because she's the only one who consistently wins her entire category and the high overall scores," the other girls clapped and Harmony beamed as she fixed her ponytail. Of course she would have the solo. She was the best dancer in the class, possibly in the studio.

"And Moni your solo will be called I Hate You, Don't Leave Me," Harmony slouched down as she heard the title. That meant that her song would be called I Hate You, Don't Leave Me and she could only think of one person who had a song named that.

"Is that by my mom?" Harmony questioned and Mia nodded as Harmony rolled her eyes. One day they were gonna get stuck like that because of how much she did it.

"Can't I have another song?"

"It's either that one or no solo. I'll give it to Sophia if you don't want to do it," Harmony definitely didn't want that. She shrugged but kept quiet because she really wanted to win another title.

"Okay let's get to work," Mia instructed, clapping her hands at the girls as they got into their positions for the dance that they were working on.

"Look who's here," Harmony was tugging on her Ugg boots as she walked out of the studio, and she saw Jeremiah leaning against his father's Bentley. She smiled back at the girls before crossing the parking lot so that she could talk to him before her mom came. She was never on time.

"Long time no see," Harmony said with that signature smirk that she loved to wear. She fixed her spandex on her legs and smiled up at him. Jeremiah wasn't her boyfriend, because she was barely even allowed to look at boys, but they'd been talking for a while and she really liked him. The way that he had been acting made her feel like he liked her too.

"I missed you," Jeremiah responded. Jeremiah was easily one of the cutest boys at her school. He had light hazel eyes, tanned skin, and perfectly coiffed dark hair. He got all of his looks from his father who was from Italy. He wasn't famous like most of the parents of the kids who went to their school were but his mom was an actress and model.

"I missed you too. I didn't know you tried to come over," her hand rested on his forearm and she leaned in closer to him, inhaling his Calvin Klein cologne, which was one of the only scents she could stand on a guy.

"Next time you might have to sneak over because there's no way you'll ever make it past my mom," she joked. She was the hottest girl in her school. He was the hottest guy. They were practically a match made in heaven. How could he not see that?

"Moni!" She heard a honk and rolled her eyes as she straightened her back and fell flat on her feet. Demi got out of the car and walked over to Harmony and Jeremiah.

"Hi Mrs. Lovato," Jeremiah greeted, stepping away from her daughter.

"Hello Jeremiah. Let's go Harmony. I have to get your sister," Demi looked between the two and Harmony rolled her eyes once again before her mom headed back to the car.

"My parents are going to Italy this weekend and I'm having a party. I hope I'll see you there," he didn't dare to kiss her in front of her mom so she nodded and gave him a three finger wave before heading to the car. She climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the door behind her, turning on her mom as she backed out of the parking lot.

"Why'd you have to get out of the car?" She screeched, folding her arms over her chest and sitting back in her seat.

"Put your seatbelt on," Demi demanded.

"Boys only want one thing Moni. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that."

"No they only wanted one thing from you because you were so willing to give it to them. I'm not you and Jeremiah's not like that," before she even said she knew that she was crossing a line. But she hated that her mom practically expected her to be just like her when she was a teen. Maybe Moni should just live up to her expectations since that's all that she expected out of her.

Wilmer ended the call with his realtor and leaned back in his leather chair behind the desk in his office. The first picture that he noticed on his desk was Harmony when she was about seven years old, when he had primary custody of her for a while. He had Moni's school pictures all in a row at his house but he tried to avoid looking at them because he didn't want to remind himself of the person that she had become, the person that Demi had allowed her to become. He knew that it sounded bad but he hated his daughter's attitude. He hated how disrespectful she was and how entitled she felt to everything around her because her mom had brought her up trying to make up for mistakes that she made.

Demi felt guilty for what happened in the past so she overcompensated by spoiling Harmony to the ends of the earth, and not only was Demi paying for it, Harmony was paying for it as well. Demi had really messed up when Harmony was growing up but it was ten years ago. He's forgiven her, but she hasn't forgiven herself, and Harmony hasn't forgiven her either. Neither of them knew it but that grudge was affecting everything and everyone around them. And Wilmer hated that he couldn't swoop in and fix it all because that just wasn't his place anymore.