Anna's POV
My mentoring session was over with Demi. I almost let my guard down, but I didn't. Jake and his parents picked me up thankfully. It was Friday afternoon around 4:00 now. I got into the car and Jake had a huge smile on his face. "Guess what?" he asked.
"Um I don't know... you found five dollars?" I replied sarcastically. He shoved me gently.
"No you dork! The tumors are finally shrinking! They finally found a treatment that worked!"
"Oh my God! Jake that's great!" He pulled me into a hug and I couldn't help but smile. I noticed Demi was watching us waiting on the next contestant for mentoring. She had a huge cheesy grin on her face and she gave me thumbs up so I just laughed and rolled my eyes at her. Me and Jake got into the car and instantly my happiness faded as my phone started ringing. I answered it.
"You need to get home NOW you worthless piece of shit!" It was my foster dad.
"Okay, I'm sorry I'm coming," I said calmly without emotion and hung up. I knew I was gonna be in trouble for hanging up later. "Um do you mind taking me home? My foster parents need me. Sorry Jake I wish we could've gotten to hang out,"
"Sure sweety," Jake's mom replied. Jake gave me a worried look because he knew exactly what was going to happen when I got home. I mouthed I'll be fine to him.
They dropped me off at "home" and I let myself in with my key. My foster dad was passed out on the couch with a beer bottle in his hand and my foster mom wasn't home. I tried to sneak up to my room and lock myself in but he heard me and woke up. "Anna?" he spat out.
"Y-yeah, I'm just gonna go up to my room now," I said trying to get to my room but he grabbed the neck of my shirt and pulled me back.
"Not so fast!" he said angrily as he began to remove my clothes. I had learned not to fight it anymore. There was nothing I could do about it anymore. He went inside of me and I could feel that all familiar ache. He was shouting insults at me. "You're such a slut, you fat ass whore," After a while I couldn't tell if the insults were coming from him or from my demons. Either way I knew they were true. I think I eventually blacked out from the pain. I awoke next to him both of us nude. I quietly got up and ran to the bathroom to take a shower. I stepped in the shower with my head spinning. I couldn't control the demons any longer. I grabbed my blade and began sliding it over my hips watching the blood drip down my legs and feeling the sting of the warm water on the fresh cuts. For a minute I felt relief. The only things keeping me from cutting too deep were Jake and The X Factor. I stood in the shower for probably a good hour just thinking. I stepped out of the shower and examined the damage that had been done this time. It was the usual gashes and bruises and aching all over that I had grown all too used too. I checked the time. It was already 7:00 am. I had to get school done and get to the X Factor lot for my vocal coaching. I decided I was going to catch a taxi to the lot and take my laptop and do school there to avoid my foster parents.
When I arrived it looked like the building was empty thankfully. I didn't want anyone wondering why I was there so early. I sat down on one of the couches in the lobby area and pulled my laptop out. I threw myself into my school work to block out my demons. After a couple hours people started to show up. I felt a hand on my shoulder so I looked up. It was Demi. "What are you doing here?" I asked her. I didn't think she had to be here on the days when there wasn't mentoring or staging.
"I think I'm the one who should be asking you that... you still have 2 hours till your vocal coaching! I have to be here to check in with everybody and stuff,"
"Oh um my foster parents were both at work and Jake wasn't home and our wifi wasn't working so I decided to come here to get my schoolwork done," I lied hoping she'd buy it.
"Oh, okay. Do you need any help?" Yes! she bought it!
"I think I'm good," I replied.
"What are you working on?" why was she trying to have a conversation with me? Couldn't she just leave me alone? Don't get me wrong I am a huge lovatic and my dream has always been to meet her and now I know her, but I just didn't feel like being social.
"Uh just geometry,"
"Wait what grade are you in? Shouldn't you be in like normal math or something?" she asked confused.
"Well I should be, but in 6th grade I got offered to move up to algebra since I was doing pretty good in math I guess and so now I'm in 7th grade and in geometry," I explained. She sat down next to me. Great, couldn't this conversation just end already?
"I didn't know you were smart,"
"Thanks," I said rolling my eyes. I wasn't smart. I was stupid. Her assumptions were right about me.
"Opps I didn't mean it like that. Let me rephrase that. I didn't know you were a genius,"
"Thanks, but I'm not a genius," She just sat there and watched me solve problems as I zoned her out until she got called away and a few minutes later so did I.
*Monday Morning*
I awoke next to my foster dad again with that all familiar ache shooting through my body. I checked the time. It was 5:00 a.m. and I couldn't fall back asleep into my nightmares so I got up and showered. I made 10 new cuts on my hips and then I got ready avoiding myself in the mirror until I had my wig on. Before I knew it, Jake and his parents were outside waiting to pick me up for chemo. Jake had chemo on the same day as me now so his parents agreed to get me on the way to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital and were shown to the room we'd be in for today's chemo session. The chemo rooms each had two chairs with a curtain separating each chair. Me and Jake were in the same room this time so we pulled the curtain back and laughed at each other's faces as we got the needles jammed into our ports. Jake was lucky the anti-nausea stuff worked for him because it sure didn't work for me. After our chemo sessions were finally done Jake's parents dropped me off at the lot on their way home. Jake had fallen asleep in the car and I almost did. Chemo took so much energy out of me. I think I puked around 17 times in the 45 minute session. I still felt nauseous and dizzy. On the bright side it was making me loose weight.
I walked into the building half out of it. I still had 15 minutes till it was my turn to get the stage. I guess I feel asleep on one of the couches cause next thing I know I was being shaken by someone.
Demi's POV
I had just finished up with Miranda's session on the stage and it was time for Anna's I went out to go get her and found her asleep on the couch in the tiniest ball. It was adorable. Then I remembered she had chemo on Monday's and I instantly felt bad for her. I didn't want to wake her but I knew I had to so I tried calling her name but she didn't wake up. I went over and gently shook her finally getting her to wake up. "Sorry, I guess I fell asleep," She said shooting up.
"It's okay, how are you feeling?" She looked pale and sick and her voice was slightly raspy.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking," she lied, but I let it slide. We walked into the auditorium and I sat in a seat at the judges panel along with Mike the choreographer, and Janette the vocal coach. Anna went up to the stage along with the dancers.
"Okay I'm just going to have you go for it and then see what we need to fix," I said signaling for them to start the track. Anna immediately got into performance mode. When she was on stage it was like nothing else mattered to her. I really like how the choreography was. Each dancer had a mirror and they started in a half circle around Anna with the mirrors facing her. She sang the first verse looking into the mirrors. I knew she was uncomfortable with that part but she seemed fine with it while she was on stage. After the first verse ended and the chorus started the dancers pulled the mirrors away and Anna turned to face the audience singing while the dancers were dancing with the mirrors. On the second verse one of the cameras came and circled around Anna, her turning with it staring into it. On the second chorus Anna walked forward singing until the big notes came and she stopped walking and belted them out and then she sang the last "who am I inside" quietly lowering her head. It was amazing but I could tell her voice was strained.
"Is your throat feeling okay? You sound strained." Janette said.
"Yeah I noticed that. Are you feeling okay?" I added.
"Yeah I'm fine," Anna said but it came out more as a whisper. Her face turned pale. She looked like she either was going to puke or pass out.
"Anna I think you should sit down for a minute," I said starting to get worried.
"No, I'm fine," she said growing paler by the second. I noticed her body was trembling all over so I walked up to the stage to get her. If she wasn't going to willingly sit I was going to make her. Right before I got to her she ran backstage to the trash can and started puking. I ran to her side. Once she was finished she stooped down putting her head between her hands.
"Anna?" no answer.
"Anna are you okay?" again no answer. She was holding onto her head as if she was in pain. I shouted to someone to get her some water and a few seconds later one of the guys that works back stage showed up with a water bottle. I sat down next to her and pulled her back onto me. She was still holding her head. I tried again. "Anna, are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry. Just a little dizzy and my head's hurting, but I'm fine," wow she was stooped over in pain and she expected me to believe that she was fine? I handed her the water bottle and got someone to get me some ibuprofen for her head. She took a couple sips of the water and I went to hand her the ibuprofen but she jumped off my lap and threw up in the trash can again. She finally finished after about 10 minutes of violent gagging and me trying to keep her calm. I handed her the pills and the water bottle and she swallowed them.
"I don't think you should try and sing again. How about you come sit with me while the dancers rehearse and you can go over it in your head?" She just nodded and I started walking back out to the judges panel with her. She stopped and grabbed my arm tight. I immediately turned around to find her dazed and pale starting to fall over. I quickly caught her before she hit the ground.
Anna's POV
I woke up confused. There was someone who I think was a nurse standing over me with a damp cloth on my forehead. I started panicking then I felt someone grab onto my hand. It was Demi. Suddenly I remembered everything. I remembered the severe shooting pain in my head, the dizziness, and the puking. "Are you okay?" I heard a voice ask. I realized it was Demi.
"Uh yeah I'm fine, it's just the chemo. How long was I out?" I tried to say but it came out as a whisper.
"Only about 5 minutes, here come sit with me while the dancer's practice. I don't want to make to sing again," I nodded and started to stand up but I felt dizzy again so I sat back down holding my head in my hands. I felt Demi wrap her arms around me and pick me up. She carried me over to the judges panel and sat me down on her lap. I didn't really want to be sitting on her cause I felt uncomfortable and I just wanted to be on the stage practicing since I only had one more day till the live show, but I didn't have the strength to fight it right now so I gave in.