Family Portrait (Demi Lovato) COMPLETE

Chapter 36

Demi's POV

"Are you ready for some dinner?" I asked Ella. We had been snuggling and watching TV for a while now. She looks up at me and nods with enthusiasm. She's always ready to eat. "Alright," I said as I got up and went into my kitchen. I opened my refrigerator and grabbed the chicken I had set in there to thaw earlier. As that baked, I made some macaroni and cheese as well as steamed some broccoli.

As it was getting closer to being done, I decided to get Carlie. She had been in her room since she got home from school, but I never went to check on her. Knowing her, she'd just get pissed at me.

I knocked on her door. "Carlie?" After no response, I knocked again. She didn't answer this time either, so I slowly opened the door to see her lying on the bed asleep. Even in her sleep, she seemed to have something on her mind. As peaceful as she should be at that moment, I could still tell there was something she wasn't telling me. How do I get it out of her?

I walked to her bed side and sat on the edge next to her. "Carlie," I said softly as I placed a hand on her back. I saw her eyes flutter as she tried to fight off the sleep. "Carlie, honey, dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry," she mumbled.

"Come on, if you sleep now, you won't be able to sleep tonight."

She rubbed her eyes and started to sit up. "I'm still not hungry."

"I still want you to eat dinner. Just a little?" I prompted.

She sighed. "Fine," she said finally.

We all three sat at the table as we ate. Like I was expecting, Carlie showed no interest in eating.

"I'm done," Ella said after awhile.

I pointed to her plate with my fork. "You still have broccoli on that plate."

"I don't like broccoli," she said as she scrunched up her nose.

"Ella, you've had broccoli before. It's not bad," I explained.

She made a pouty face at me. "I don't want it," she whined.

I looked over at Carlie, my eyes begging for help.

Carlie slightly sighed before picking up the broccoli with her fork and putting a piece in her mouth. "Look, Ella, its good."

"You're just saying that for Demi," Ella retorted.

Carlie rolled her eyes at her little sister. "Since when do I take Demi's side?"

Ella squinted her eyes at Carlie, then looked over at me. She kept switching her gazes before finally picking up a piece of broccoli and slowly taking a bite. "I don't like it."

Carlie put down her fork as she talked to her little sister. "Okay Ella. Imagine we were back living with dad."

"He's dead," Ella interrupted.

"I know, but just pretend. Remember how you were hungry all of the time?" Ella nodded in response. "Okay, so imagine you were that hungry again at school, and you didn't know there was going to be food waiting for you once you got home. And it's lunch time at school and you don't have food because dad couldn't afford any. Now one of your classmates decides she doesn't want to eat the broccoli that her mom packed for her, and she throws it away. What would you do?"

Ella thought for a moment. "Wish she didn't throw it away?"

"Why?" Carlie asked.

"Because I would've eaten it," Ella answered. "She was wasteful."

"Don't be wasteful," Carlie said as she picked up her fork and continued to eat.

Without anymore questions or complaints, Ella finished her broccoli. Carlie also finished all of her food.

Once we were all done, I sent Ella to get ready for bed whileCarlie stayed behind and helped with the dishes.

"Thanks for getting Ella to eat her broccoli," I told her.

"Sure. I was fully expecting her to tell me she'd just starve. She's stubborn like that."

"Well that sounds familiar," I joked while flashing Carlie a small smile. She gave a slight smirk in return.

"So you never really told me how school went," I said as we finished up in the kitchen.

She shrugged in response. "Maybe tomorrow will be better," she sighed as she started walking walking off to her room.

"Now wait a minute, hold on," I said, causing her to turn back around towards me. I sat on the couch and patted the spot next to me.

She rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the couch. "I just don't want to talk about it," she said as she plopped down. "There's nothing to talk about anyways."

"Well you said you made a friend, right?" I asked, and she nodded in response. "Tell me about her."

"Her name's Savannah," Carlie said. I silently waited for her to go on. She looked up at me and raised her eyebrows. "What? I just met her, that's all I know." She looked back down. "I guess we aren't friends exactly, but she was nice to me."

"And the other kids weren't?" I pressed.

She looked back up at me and hesitated before speaking. "I'm just boring compared to the rest."

"I wouldn't say that," I explained. "They just don't know you."

She scoffed. "Like anyone does?"

"I feel like I do."

She looked back up at me with raised eyebrows, but quickly looked away without saying a word.

After some awkward silence, I sighed. "I guess you should be getting ready for bed. I bet Ella's in there waiting."

I walked with Carlie to the room she shared with Ella and said good night to both of them before getting ready for bed myself.

I really hope Carlie's classmates aren't picking on her.

Hi! It's been a while. I know there seems to be long periods of time between each update, but I promise I will finish this book. I'm not just going to forget about it. Hopefully I'll be updating more frequently. Lately a lot has been going on with graduation and moving (I've moved twice within a span of a month), but now I'm finally getting settled down.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!