Skyscraper // Demi Lovato // 5

20.

We finished watching the news update in complete silence, even though Isaiah and Jordan had questions they must have been dying to ask.

They talked to her parents again about a journal they'd found. It was partially burned in the grill in the backyard, but on one of the pages in the middle, they could make out a name in Mara's—Meagan's—handwriting.

Demi Lovato.

I grabbed the remote from Jay, hitting mute. "I have to tell Maia. No, she'll know," I said, conflicted.

"What?" Jay asked. I jumped up and started to pace in the kitchen. She stood on the other side, Jordan and Isaiah following.

"Okay, wait, first of all, what?" Jordan asked, eyes bloodshot from how much he smoked.

"I saw this story not long ago. But I didn't see the picture. The missing girl is my adopted sister. She... she ran away from home saying in a note that her parents were horrible. But she's just obsessed with Demi and wanted her to be her mom. I-I'm honestly in shock that it actually worked. But if I call Maia, she—she'll know I'm high. Maybe she won't believe me."

Jay ran to grab my phone off the couch. "Text her," she said, sliding the device across the counter.

I took it and held it like I was going to open my messages and text Maia, but I was frozen. "What the hell do I say?"

Jay walked around and hugged me. "Don't panic, okay. Here." She took my phone and we all crowded around her as she searched the web for an article on Meagan that had a picture so that Maia could see it was Mara.

She found one and copied the link. She sent it along with the message "read this asap."

I took my phone back and waited for it to say she read the message. Eventually my phone went dark and I unlocked it again, still waiting.

"She'll see it. Come on," Jay said, leading me back to the couch. "Let's just not worry for now."

I put my phone on the table, ringer on, and we smoked some more until we were calmer and giggling about something. I didn't even know what started it, but my sides were hurting by the time my phone went off.

Maia: OH MY GOD I'm coming over there

I stared at my phone for a long time. I wanted to say no and Jay tried to text for me, but I didn't let her. I didn't want Maia coming, but if I said no, she would be suspicious.

Maia: I'm on my way

"Let's get everything put away. Jordan, get those books," I ordered, pointing to the shelf as I gathered our lighters and put them in Jay's book with her bowl. Jordan put his bowl and the rest of the weed in one of the other fake books, and we couldn't fit the grinder in either of those, so it went in the third one.

I ran to my room and grabbed some perfume to spray, then ran to put it back. We cleaned up our plates and put the leftover pizza in the fridge, shoving the empty ones in the trash.

The fake books were still on the table, so I had Jay take them to our room for the time being.

"I can still smell it," she said when she came back. Jordan and Isaiah were sitting but I was pacing and making sure the room looked nice.

"We have a long time," Jordan reminded her. "You should know it doesn't last long."

"True, but Maia knows what it smells like. I've never been so stressed."

Jay pulled me into her arms once again. "Don't be. She knows the truth about that psycho, so weed will be the last thing on her mind."

I gave her skeptical look, but didn't argue.

~//~//~//~//~//~//~

Sorry for the short chapter this time, but I wanted Maia coming to be separate from the panic.

But I think I can confidently say there's four more chapters and an epilogue, plus like, four notes/announcements at the end. And I'll need to do the playlist and add a LOT to the last couple chapters during editing. They're so short.

So, as done as I almost am, I'm not really anywhere close to being done.

As usual, if you've stuck around this long, leave your predictions in the comments and vote so I know you're ready to find out what happens!

Xo
Crimson Sky ❤️