Let it Go for the Gift of a Friend - Demi Lovato - Book 5

Chapter 22: This is Me

I laughed, “You’d be surprised.”

“I’m good with candy actually, you?”

“Me too,” I nodded, “My parents and Mar usually eat the popcorn. I love the candy. Did you find a movie?”

“How do you feel about an action movie?”

“Sounds great.”

“Then yes I found a movie.”

I laughed, “Okay pick a seat.”

“Couches and bean bag chairs, I gotta admit your family is creative.”

“We have to be comfy while watching the movie.”

“True,” he smiled, “True.”

            I played the movie and we sat on the couch. I set my candy and soda on the table in front of me and Max did the same. Partway through the movie he turned to look at me.

I blushed nervously, “What?”

He shrugged, “Tell me about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Do you go to school?” he asked.

I shook my head, “Not anymore, I got my GED. You?”

He nodded, “I do. It’s my last year though, I’m in 12th grade.”

“Do you like it?”

“I do. It’s even more exciting because it’s my last year. Everybody wants to make the most of the time we have left in high school. They’re throwing a dance Friday actually.”

“What are dances like?” I asked him. I’m truly curious. I didn’t like school enough to attend a dance. I also didn’t have enough friends to attend one.

“You’ve never been to one?”

I shook my head, “I’ve heard about them but I wasn’t like in school and ended up quitting and getting homeschool to get my GED instead.”

“What do you do now? Are you going to go to college or get a job?”

“I have a clothing line with my mom’s friend Maria. I call her Aunt Maria, but she’s a famous fashion designer and she just opened a store here. Her main company is in New York. I ended up setting something up with her and now I have a line there.”

“Can I ask what your family does? After we met that day in the mall, my friends laughed at me because I had the courage to walk up to you. They apparently set it up because they knew who you were but I didn’t.”

I laughed, “Okay, my mom is a singer. She released a book too but she’s mostly a singer and songwriter. My dad is a writer. He owns his own company now. My aunt and uncle are into acting and singing. My parents all have friends who became famous too. My mom’s friend Simone is a songwriter and works with my mom a lot on songs. My cousins are into that stuff too. My cousin Rosily is working on her next album and my cousin Kay is starring in a movie soon.”

“Your entire family is famous?”

I shrugged, “I guess. My parents are careful about it though. They wanted us to concentrate on our education first. They said if we wanted to get involved in music or movies that we could do it on our free time when we weren’t in school.”

“Your family is close then?”

“It was rough for a while, but yeah. They’re amazing. What about your family? I hardly know anything about you.”

He smiled, “Yeah I guess it is my turn. My full name is Max Christian. I live with my parents not far from here and I go to public school. I’m a basketball player, but I don’t plan on pursuing it after high school. I do plan on going to college though and I plan on attending one right here so I won’t be far from home.”

“Can I ask why you were at the therapist’s office today? Is it serious?”

“It’s okay to ask,” he nodded, “I don’t talk about it much but I’ll tell you.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I told him. “I don’t want to force you to.”

“You’re not,” he assured me. “When I was a kid my parents figured out I had depression. They sent me to a therapist for a while hoping it would go away as I grew up, but it didn’t. It got worse. I’ve been going to therapy ever since and I have medication to keep it under control or at least try to. My friends don’t know. They notice I miss school sometimes and I miss practice sometimes, but they don’t ask about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

He smiled, “It’s okay. What about you? How’d you end up there? I heard the secretary mention rehab.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, “I was in rehab for a year.”

“What happened?”

“My family’s fame is A LOT to handle. I got bullied in school and they made me feel terrible about myself. I made friends who were terrible people. They got me into drugs and partying a lot. I ended up being really depressed and starting cutting myself.”

“Oh my God.”

“After some terrible fighting and intervention type situations I ended up in rehab. I was there for a year. It was terrible. It was a struggle and I hated parts of it, but I’m thankful for it. I learned a lot and I made an incredible friend there. I tried coming home, but relapsed under pressure from my old friends. I ended up in an accident and after I was released from the hospital I went to live at a sober living house. It was a unique situation but my family didn’t want to send me back to rehab because they didn’t think it was that extreme anymore. The sober living house was my best bet. I lived there for a while and they taught me how to transition from rehab into the real world and stay in recovery.”

“And that’s how you ended at therapy?”

I nodded, “My mom and me searched around for therapists in the area. That one just seemed like the right one. I need it to keep me under control.”

“In rehab, did they diagnose you with a specific disorder?”

I nodded, “I found out I have depression and bipolar disorder. I keep it under control with medication too. Medication, therapy, and family.”

“We’re not so different after all.”

I smiled at him, “No I guess we’re not.”

“Do you want to know what I think?”

“What?” I asked.

He smiled at me, “I think you’re beautiful.”

THE END CHAPTER 22!