Hold a Smile (Demi Lovato) COMPLETE

Twenty-Two: Ugly Arms

Avery's POV

"Avery, I've never seen you without your sweater before," Jasmine said to me.

"Oh, it's kind of warm in here today," I responded.

"But you wore it outside when it was much warmer."

I just shrugged, and she thankfully dropped the subject. Today in class, we learned about the different presidents and the fifty states of America. We learned two songs, one to know all of the presidents in order, and one to know all fifty states in alphabetical order.

We line up by the door for lunch, and the person in front of  me whispered to her friend. It wasn't really a whisper. I heard exactly what they were sayiing.

"Look at her arms," one girl said.

"I know. No wonder she always had a sweater on."

"How did she get those ugly marks?"

I tried to hold back tears as I slowly got out of line to grab my sweater. I went to the back of the line as I put my sweater on.

We walked, and Demi stopped me. "Did someone say something?" I nodded. "Who was it?" I looked at the line, and they were already almost to the cafeteria. "Oh, I'm going to get in trouble if I'm not walking with my class." I followed Demi as we sped up to join the class. Before we made it to them, I pointed out the two girls who were 'whispering' about me.

"Olivia, Amanda, come here please. The rest of the class can go ahead into lunch," Demi said.

The two girls joined us. "Yes, Ms. Lovato?" Olivia asked.

"I heard that you too were saying some mean things about Avery here."

The two girls looked at me, and I got nervous. "We didn't say anything," Amanda said. "What did we say?"

All eyes were on me. "Y-you said my arms were ugly," I said quietly, not making eye contact with anyone.

The two girls looked at each other. "No one said that."

"Amanda, Olivia, if you are just saying that so you won't get in trouble, you need to not lie. If you tell the truth, you won't get in trouble. You'll just need to apologize, and we'll be done with it.

"But we didn't say anything," Amanda insisted.

"I'm sorry, Avery," Olivia said, earning a surprised look from her friend. "Your arms aren't ugly."

Amanda just stood there with her arms crossed. "Thank you girls," Demi said, dismissing us to go to lunch. After lunch, we went to the gym for recess. It's gotten too cold outside.

We continued to learn about the planets. She taught us another song to remember all of them in order. "Now, Pluto isn't considered a real planet anymore," Demi said.

One kid raised his hand. "Why not?"

"Well, scientists have decided that it's too small, and so they are calling it a dwarf planet."

"But it's still a planet."

"Right, but not one of our main ones," Demi said, ending the lesson.

The bell rang, and the class left to go home. "I have dismissal duty," Demi said. I followed her out of the class room and to the line she had to watch. I sat at the back and waited for everyone to leave. Then I went back to the classroom with Demi.

"You don't think my mom's going to come back, do you?" I asked.

"Why?" Demi questioned.

"I'm just scared she's going to take me back," I said with my head low.

"No, I don't think she's coming back. She went to jail with so many charges."

I nodded. I was surprised when I didn't flinch away when Demi held her hand out for me to take it. I held her hand with no problem, and I liked the feeling of no hesitation.