Demi sat with her aunt and uncle in their living room. Putting on her best authoritative face, she began talking.
"Aunt Meggie, Uncle Sammy, I've come to talk to you about Kesha." She began, forcing confidence to her voice.
"We realize that, Demetria. Don't be stupid," Sam signed irritatedly.
"And her name's Kesandra not Kesha," Meg added.
"Right," Demi mumbled. "Well she's very upset about having to move. She's almost sixteen soon, she can't possibly change schools now! I'm sure Samantha told me she's got important exams this year."
"Demetria, we have to start moving around! It part of our job, for goodness sake!" Sam cried, exasperated.
"What it isn't, is any of your business!" Meg glared at her, fists clenched.
"It is if I found her in tears! She can't cope with this and it's unfair to ask her to!" Demi yelled, standing up now. "You're driving her into the ground!"
"WELL WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST WE DO, DEMETRIA!" Meg screamed, standing up and towering over Demi.
Demi was so shocked that she couldn't make herself answer.
"THEN SIT DOWN, CHILD!" Meg said, too close to her face.
"No." Demi answered, softly but coldly. "No, I will not. My mother's coming down and is packing as we speak. She will either talk you out of moving, or stay here with Kesha. Until then, Kesha's staying at a friends..."
With that, Demi left. Leaving an her astonishment aunt and uncle to process this new information.
Demi began walking towards Costa Coffee, hoping to find Kesha there.
Sadly however, she was disappointed.
Demi's next move was to text Samantha, who's number she now had, but Samantha confirmed that Kesha wasn't there either.
Exhaustedly, Demi collapsed on the nearest bench.
She knew she needed to find Kesha and tell her not to go home.
Her mother had warned her that once Kesha was home, that was it.
It would all be over, before it had even begun...
"Is this an American thing, darling? Sitting on a bench at dusk in the cold?" A voice said from behind Demi.
Demi looked up into the face of Monica.
Monica was dressed in her work clothes and her hair had now been scraped messily back, yet she still managed to look as pretty as ever.
"Monica!" Demi cried urgently. "Have you seem Kesha."
"Well sure, sweetie pie. She's at my flat sleeping," Monica said grinning.
Demi closed her eyes, feeling weak with relief.
"You wanna go see her? I'm just heading home now," Monica offered.
Demi gratefully excepted, following Monica to her small, battered and rather old red car.
"Hop in then, Lovato." She grinned, stepping aside to let Demi in first.
Demi got in, feeling a little awkward. It was no secret that Monica didn't like her.
Monica was completely aware that it was awkward and she knew why.
"I guess this is what happens when someone knows you dislike them," she chuckled. "It gets awkward."
Demi didn't answer, concentrating on looking at her feet instead.
"Demi, it's clearly no secret that I dislike you. Do you want to know why?" Monica asked, beginning to drive.
"Yes!" Demi cried. " I mean, come on, I never did anything to you!"
"No, but you clearly did something to Kesha. You have turned her whole world upside down, darling! She's more of a mess than ever, and hated your guts for years!" Monica
"How do you know?" Demi asked defensively. "Did she tell you that?"
"Of course not, babes. But she didn't have to," Monica laughed.
Demi raised her eyebrows questioningly at Monica, awaiting her to continue.
"Let me tell you about the day she first saw Camp Rock," Monica said slowly. "I was just getting in..."
"Hey, guys! Guess what I just bought!" Monica cheered loudly, strolling into Samantha's living room.
"What, what?" Eight year old Kesha asked, jumping around the seventeen year olds legs.
That was when Samantha, who was sixteen almost seventeen, came in holding baby Jackie in her arms.
"Shhh! Jackie's sleeping! Mum will murder you if you wake her up, Mon!" Samantha scolded.
"Where is Aunty Olivia, Sammie?" Kesha asked cutely.
"Outside," Samantha replied and set Jackie down. "Now lets see what Monica's got."
"Let me see, Monny! Let me see!" Kesha begged.
"It's a new movie!" Monica cried excitedly. "I'll put it on now, okay?"
Kesha squealed, loving times like this. When she could just hang out like a little kid and be carefree
Monica put the movie in, feeling happy knowing that it was going to be a nice quite evening.
Boy was she wrong!
As the film started, Kesha became distracted with getting comfortable - so wasn't looking at the screen.
"What's the film called, Mon?" Samantha asked curiously. "It's age appropriate, right?"
"Yes! It's a DISNEY movie, Samantha, of course it's age appropriate!" Monica retorted.
Kesha giggling, crawling onto each of the girls legs.
Jackie was sitting in between Samantha's legs, propt up against her stomach as she was still sleeping.
"Hey, I heard it's got this really catchy song in it! You'll just love it, Kesh!" Monica gushed, hugging Monica.
Suddenly the main character, Mitchie, started talking.
Kesha's head snapped up and her eyes became fixed on the screen.
A paniced expression flashes across her face and screams escaped loudly from her mouth.
"Kesha, darling, what's wrong?" Monica cried, horrified.
She quickly grabbed Kesha cradling her in her arms, making quiet shushing sounds.
"Babe, are you hurt?" She asked fearfully.
Samantha watched Kesha with scared eyes, but was too busy comforting a now crying Jackie to help Monica.
Kesha's screaming had immediately woken up Jackie, causing her to cry at the top of her young lungs.
All the while, Camp Rock still carried on playing.
"You have to talk to me, Kesha! I don't know what to do!" Monica yelled, getting on response.
It wasn't until 'Mitchie' started singing that Kesha gave a response.
"I've always been the kind of girl,
That hid my face,
So afraid to tell the world,
What I've got to say.
But I have this dream,
Right inside of me,
I'm going to let it show,
It's time,
To let you know,
To let you know.
This is real,
This is me,
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to-" 'Mitchie' sang on the TV.
"Turn. It. OFF!" Kesha finally managed to scream out. "NOW!"
Monica flinched away from Kesha, too shocked to respond.
Samantha quickly bent down, grabbing the remote, and switched off the TV.
Immediately, Kesha's screams subsided and calmness returned to the room.
For a while, no one spoke. The only sound was the soft whimpers coming from Jackie, who was still scared and confused.
"I-I'm going to put Jackie to bed..." Samantha mumbled, leaving.
Monica had put Kesha down by now, but apart from that neither had moved.
"That was ridiculous," Monica whispered.
She didn't stay whispering though. As her anger rose, so did her voice.
"WHAT POSSESSED YOU TO BEHAVE LIKE THAT, KESHA!?! THAT WAS RIDICULOUS!" Monica cried, cursing beautifully after.
"What do those words,mean?" Kesha whispered meekly, looking up at Monica with huge expressive eyes.
"Nothing, Kesh. They don't mean anything," Samantha said calmly from behind her.
She has appeared at the sound of Monica's yells, knowing that Monica could often be too harsh.
"Lets talk about what happened, okay? CALMLY please, Monica." She instructed.
Monica nodded guiltily, but still nobody spoke.
They waited for Kesha's explanation, but it didn't look like it was coming.
Suddenly, just as they were about to give up hope on any response, Kesha spoke.
"I don't like Demi," she whimpered. "She's mean and horrible and nasty..."
"Darling, who's Demi?" Monica asked, her and Samantha were both very confused.
"Demi, on TV." Kesha said, pointing at the blank screen.
"No, baby, that girls name was Mitchie. Not Demi," Samantha soothed.
"NO, IT'S DEMI! I KNOW IT'S DEMI!" Kesha cried in frustration.
Monica quickly grabbed the DVD box, looking for the name 'Demi'.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, her head shooting up. "It says 'Mitchie Torres', then in brackets 'Demi Lovato'."
Realization hit Samantha and she grabbed the box to see too.
"I don't recognize her though. Where have you seen her before, Kesha?" She asked.
"Texas," Kesha replied softly. "Stupid, lying Texas!"
"What's wrong with Texas? Isn't your mum from there?" Samantha pointed out.
Kesha nodded, keeping a scowl plastered on her face.
"Demi's my cousin," she muttered.
If she had spoken any louder, they would have heard her voice break from emotion.
"That's so cool! Your cousins in a film!" Monica cried excitedly.
"It's not cool! I hate her! I HATE HER, I HATE HER, I HATE HER!" Kesha screamed, clenching her fists.
Monica and Samantha exchanged worried glances, not knowing what to do.
"I HATE THEM ALL! THEY'RE LIARS! THEY'RE ALL LIARS!" Kesha screamed.
"...And she went on screaming for the rest of the evening," Monica finished.
Demi stared at Monica, clearly stricken.
"She never did see Camp Rock. We learnt never to have the radio, in fear that one of your songs would come on. It didn't once. She slammed my stereo off so hard it almost broke! I was so shocked I almost crashed my car!" Monica told Demi.
"She really hates me..." Demi whispered sadly.
"Yeah, darling, she does. But you can change her mind! Maybe..." Monica cried, trying to sound optimistic.
Demi sighed miserably, doubting that she ever could.
"Monica, could you stop the car please?" She asked softly.
Monica obliged, pulling over.
"Can y-you give Kesha a message for me?" Demi said, reaching for the car door as she spoke.
"You're leaving?" Monica asked, shocked.
Demi didn't answer, looking at the ground silently before finally nodding.
"She doesn't want to see me, she's more likely to listen to you..." She choked out. "Just don't let her go home tonight and tell her she won't have to move, hopefully."
"Sure, but-" Monica began, but Demi cut her off.
"Thank you," she said.
Monica signed in defeat, but began scribbling on a bit of scrap paper.
"Here, my address." She said simply. "Just in case..."
Demi nodded, talking it before shutting the door.
She watched Monica drive away until long after her car had disappeared out of sight.
"She doesn't want me," Demi reassured herself. "It's for the best..."
It looked like Kesha couldn't be helped by Demi after all...