Atalia walked around the streets cautiously, but she didn't really care what happened to her anymore. She rummaged through the pockets of her jeans and found a twenty-dollar bill. She decided to use it for a bus or a taxi so she could go to a park, which was just a couple miles away. She wasn't for sure where to go, though. She had been walking for hours, ignoring many calls, and wishing to sleep.
As she walked along the busy sidewalk, she bumped in to many people who found it necessary to stop and rip off her head with curse words. She had finally decided to answer her phone after the seventeenth missed call.
"Yeah."
Gaga's worried tone squeaked,
"Atalia, we're leaving! I want to tell you bye!"
Atalia grunted.
"Bye," Atalia smirked. Gaga cried,
"NO, PLEASE ATALIA," and then continued wailing. Atalia stood up against the front wall of a local grocery store and sighed.
"I'm not coming back. You can bet your Versace collection on it. The next time you'll see me is whenever you decide to come back. Oh wait, I'll be in treatment. Well that sucks."
She heard Tara whimper in the background.
"I'm taking a taxi, so I'll see you in a couple months. Maybe we can talk soon. I love you Stef. I've been walking for hours, and it will take too long to come back."
"Stef? She called me Stef?"
Gaga buried her face in her hands. It didn't feel like they had a relationship anymore.
Atalia hung up the phone and held out a hand gesture to get a taxi. It took her only ten seconds to call it over and get inside.
"Just take me somewhere downtown. Maybe three miles west? Wait, uh, let's go to the apartments downtown. Just, here."
Atalia handed the woman the twenty.
"Let me get your change really quick."
The quirky brunette in a blue hoodie pushed her glasses up and reached for a bag.
"No, you keep it. You deserve it more than I do."
She shook her head and proceeded to open the bag.
"It's not right, it's your money. Here," she gave Atalia ten dollars back. Atalia held it in her hand and sighed.
"So, where are you from?"
The driver shifted in her seat as she waited for traffic to clear.
"Long Island. I'm from there."
The poor girl looked about twenty, and she clearly had poor communication skills.
"Oh, that's cool. I'm from some random place. I don't even know where I came from to be honest."
Atalia laughed quietly and smiled.
"My name is Atalia Hamilton," she lied.
The girl was silent for a moment and took a deep breath.
"Oh, that's cool. I'm uh... Kammie but uh... Call me Sky."
Atalia coughed in to her hand and smiled.
"Okay, Sky. So, uh, I'm only fifteen. That's okay, right?"
Sky made a small whimper noise and said,
"Well, I mean it should be I hope... Yeah maybe... To me it's fine. I'm twenty-one."
She pushed her large black frames back up once again.
"Well, thanks. I'm in a really hard situation, you know? Things have been tough, so I ran off from my mom and sister."
Sky frowned and kept looking forward.
"Oh, I'm sorry. What happened?"
Sky seemed very interested all of the sudden.
"Well, this may sound terrible, but I was abused by a man I don't know, and all of this crap started, and these investigator jerks think I need 'help'. I'm going to some sort of treatment facility."
Atalia's voice broke and she looked out of the window as tears built up in her eyes.
"I've been to therapy, but it's kind of similar. It worked, I'm just awkward now. It'll be fine, I promise."
All of the sudden she seemed like a different person. Atalia looked up at her in the mirror.
"What did you go for?"
Sky smirked.
"Mental health issues, or so they called it. I had moderately severe depression and I attempted suicide four times in a span of three months one time," her voice began to crack.
Atalia didn't hold her tears back. Someone actually knew what she was feeling. Atalia began to breathe unsteadily.
"I've tried a few times, but they all failed. I'm so happy about that now. I learned a lesson. I've never told anyone about this but you. Not even my... Well, person I counted on. Legal guardian I guess," Atalia tried to make it as vague as possible. She didn't want to talk about Gaga.
Sky had started to cry with Atalia. They already knew so much about each other, as stupid as they both thought it was.
"Well, they sent me away for overdosing twice and, well, there was this incident with a knife... Then I decided to try jumping..."
Sky gave Atalia a warm smile through the mirror and wiped tears from her cheeks.
"You tried jumping, too?"
Sky's eyes widened.
"Wait, you jumped? Babe, it's not worth it, is it? Gosh..."
Atalia pressed her forehead up against the frigid glass window.
"I know why they're sending me away now. Yeah, I jumped. I didn't really get hurt though. It was dumb to try. I was young."
Sky shook her head.
"It wasn't dumb, it was just careless. I jumped from a balcony one time," she smirked.
"I only broke both legs. I landed on some kind of garden or something. Just grass and flowers. I was about your age, and I got a lot of unnecessary attention from my parents."
Atalia sighed.
"I jumped from a two story house. It was dumb. I was like thirteen. I landed on the freaking trampoline. I broke my left wrist, my right foot, and I got a really bad concussion," Atalia laughed through tears.
"And I mean, I've thought about jumping out of the window of a seven story, but uh..."
Atalia shook her head.
"This ride is too sad. I don't want to make you anymore stressed than you are already."
Sky shook her head.
"You're not stressing me out. This is really nice, being able to talk with someone."
Atalia felt as if her stomach would burst. She was so uncomfortable, but she felt like she could tell Sky anything.
"Well, we need to keep in touch. I don't know if you're allowed to give your number to customers, but don't think of me that way, okay?"
Sky smiled at Atalia and nodded.
"Okay."
Atalia smiled and watched Sky take a slip of paper from the dashboard at a stoplight.
"Here, but guard it with your life."
Atalia chuckled.
"What life do I have," she mumbled.
Sky laughed.
"A young, amazing, beautiful life. You need to keep it that way, too. Promise?"
Atalia nodded.
"Okay, I'll do that. Is there any cameras in here?"
Sky shook her head and smiled.
"No, why?"
Atalia clasped her hands together in her lap.
"I want you to meet my mom, if she's still home."
Sky raised her eyebrows.
"Your mom, huh? What's her name?"
Atalia put her hair behind her ears and laughed quietly.
"You wouldn't believe me."
Sky looked back at Atalia and said,
"Mhmm, just like I didn't believe you about everything else? Tell me."
Atalia laughed again.
"Well, it's Lady Gaga, but we're kind of fighting... Well, I'm fighting with her, so she may have already left without me. I don't know. Are we almost at the apartments?"
Sky's eyes widened as if they would pop from her head, multiplied times two because of her glasses.
"WHAT? LADY GAGA?"
Atalia sunk back in to he seat.
"Yeah, that's her. My sister is Tara, but we shouldn't make a b-"
"OH MY GOD ALMIGHTY," she yelled.
Atalia couldn't help but to laugh.
"What?"
"WHAT WILL I DO ABOUT MY HOODIE?"
Atalia smirked.
"Take it off?"
Sky shook her head.
"I'M WEARING AN ARTRAVE SHIRT UNDER IT THOUGH."
They both laughed all the way to the apartment building. When they pulled in, Sky parked the car behind the building to keep from being seen. She hopped out of the car with Atalia, and she showed all of her perfect teeth in a large grin. They ran in together, and rushed to the elevator. As soon as they got to the penthouse, Gaga wasn't in the living room. It was very strange. Gaga's always in there.
"Mom? I'm back, and I'm sorry for what I said..."
Gaga peeked her head around the corner and showed Atalia- and Sky- the biggest smile they'd both ever seen.
"BABY, YOU'RE BACK," Gaga pulled Atalia in for a huge hug.
"Yeah, I am."
Gaga ran her fingers through Atalia's hair.
"We're fixing to walk out of the door! Tara's putting the bags up. Who's this?"
She directed her attention toward Sky.
"Oh, she's uh... Sky. Call her Sky. We just met like thirty minutes ago," Atalia and Sky both laughed.
"Oh! That's nice! It's a pleasure to meet you, Sky."
Gaga gave her a hug, and Atalia watched Sky's facial expression. She didn't cry, or scream, but she looked like everything she's ever done wrong had been lifted. It was very weird to Atalia.
"I'm actually a taxi driver," Sky chuckled. Gaga's mouth opened slightly.
"Really? That's neat! Is this like your day off?"
Sky shook her head and began to laugh.
"No, I'm quitting now. Atalia kind of made me realize that I'm better. I got the job so I could be kept to myself. I don't know. She opened my eyes."
Gaga looked over at Atalia with her eyebrows raised.
"I brought her here because I wanted her to meet you. Uh, her taxi is parked out back."
They all three laughed and Tara walked in saying,
"Okay, I've got the bags p-"
She looked at Atalia with a small glare as her cheeks began to turn red.
"I'll be out in the car."
Tara gritted her teeth and started to walk back out.
"No, Tara come here."
Tara shook her head.
"Not this time. Sorry to sound rude, whoever you are."
She looked toward Sky and Gaga spoke,
"That's Sky, now get your sorry," she paused, "butt back in here NOW."
Tara pulled Gaga over to the side and said,
"I don't want to see Atalia right now. I love her, but she doesn't love me back. I'm done messing with her and trying to keep her from killing herself. That's not my job anymore."
Tara started to walk out and she spoke,
"Bye. See you whenever I feel like coming back."
Sky looked at Atalia with a sad, heartbroken look.
"If you won't talk to me, talk to Sky. I still sort of hate you. You won't accept me for who I am," Atalia partially lied.
"Hey Sky, sorry you had to meet her," Tara smirked. Gaga yelled,
"Don't talk like that! That's so rude," and punched Tara's shoulder.
"Well, what did you expect me to say?"
Atalia tried to keep from crying.
"Go out on the balcony and listen to music that makes you feel better, or something about unicorns, but I guess you've changed. Who are you?"
Atalia stood in front of Sky.
"Not good enough for you, Princess."
She walked out of the building and Gaga shouted after her.
"Atalia, she didn't mean it. You know that, right? You don't hate her, do you?"
Atalia looked back at Sky and said,
"I don't care if she was kidding. Sky didn't need to see that. And part of me loves her to death, but part of me doesn't."
Sky shook her head.
"It's fine. I know Tara isn't like that most of the time. I came at a bad time," she grinned. Gaga shook her head and gave Sky a hug.
"You came at the best time possible, actually. Uh, I don't know how to put this..."
Atalia looked at Sky with hopeful eyes.
"I'll pay you one million to look after Atalia while I'm on tour. It's the least I could do. I'll call my parents and tell them they don't have to."
Sky's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
"I WILL WATCH OVER HER NO PROBLEM. THANK YOU SO MUCH," Sky smiled.
"Oh, you don't have to thank me. If she trusts you enough to walk you in my house without permission, then you're a pretty good person. You two seem like perfect friends, you know that?"
Sky grinned.
"We've got a lot in common, too. This is awesome, thank you so much."
Gaga nodded and gave Atalia a tight hug.
"I'll miss you, babe. I'm so sorry you couldn't go this time, but I'll pick you up soon, and we'll go... To artRave. I couldn't let you drink there because you're too young."
Sky smirked.
"Well, that's alright, she wouldn't do that anyways."
Gaga smiled.
"You're coming too."
They all three talked until Gaga had to leave, and then they waved goodbye at her one last time. As soon as she left, they both sat on the couch.
"My sister ruined it."
Sky shrugged nonchalantly.
"At least you still call her your sister."
Atalia sighed.
"I don't know why, but I actually kind of hate her still. As much as we fought a minute ago, I don't think I want to be with her."
Sky put her arm around Atalia.
"My sister did the same, and she's a drug addict that never got her lesson until..."
Sky teared up.
"Until she got killed in an accident. We never really bonded any, though."
They talked until they had to go to sleep. Even after it was time for them to go to bed, they refused. Instead, they went out on to the balcony and gazed up at the stars. Atalia was finally happy. She thought,
"What about Cynthia?"
Atalia looked over at Sky.
"You haven't quit your job yet, have you?"
She face-palmed.
"No, but I need to."
Atalia sighed and shook her head.
"Don't unless you've got a car of your own..."
Sky smirked.
"Don't worry, I've got a car. I've got a house, too."
Atalia smiled.
"Well, I haven't even met my grandmother yet, so we can go there, can't we?"
Sky nodded.
"I'll drop you off at your grandma's, call in and quit, then I'll drop the taxi off, then my friend Mandy will come and take me to my house. I'll pick you up later. Let's go," she smiled.
She did all that she said she would. However, she didn't know how her grandparents would react to all of this treatment stuff. Gaga had to have told them beforehand.
As soon as Atalia texted Gaga, all she replied was,
"OMG YASSS MEET MY PARENTS SLAY," and so they knew they were doing the right thing. They arrived at Cynthia and Joe's apartment and walked up to the door nervously. As soon as the door opened, Cynthia pulled Atalia in to a tight hug. Now she knows where Gaga got that from.
"I'm so happy to finally meet you! Why'd you come?"
Sky smiled.
"I'm Sky, and Im dropping her off so I can quit my job and hopefully pick my car up. I'll get her later on, but I figured you might want to spend some time with her."
Cynthia gave Sky a hug, too, and then told her goodbye. Atalia felt like she didn't deserve one bit of what happened that day. Cynthia changed her mind completely.
"JOE, SHE'S HERE!"
Joseph woke up from his sleep on the recliner. He stood up and walked over to Atalia.
"She's perfect, huh?"
Joe nodded.
"Loopy's got good taste," he said in his raspy voice. Atalia hugged both of them and knew that she belonged with Gaga's family and nobody else's. They sat and talked for hours. Hours?
"Where's Sky?" Atalia thought. It was now eleven at night, and Joe decided to go to sleep. Cynthia and Atalia stayed up and watched Gaga's holiday special with The Muppets and waited for Sky.
She didn't come back that night.
--------------------------------------------
Here it is! I've been working on this chapter and then the idea hit me. Bam. XD It will turn out, don't worry. Thanks for all of the positive feedback and votes! :'D
I'm back again, hopefully I'll update another story tonight! 💕
YOU ARE READING
In Your Arms
FanfictionTroubled teen Atalia Hamilton gets kicked out of her home by her parents, and she gets lost in the streets of New York. One long night, she was found by the one and only Lady Gaga, who was on an incognito shopping trip. What will Atalia think of he...