CHARLIE'S POV
"Before we enter this building." I gestured towards the mall entrance. "I am not, I repeat, I am not wearing a dress or skirt. Capeesh?" I looked over at Demi.
"You think I wouldn't know my own sister's style?" Demi asked, looking at me while raising an eyebrow.
"No, but you might want to put me in a dress." I replied as we entered the building.
"To be fair, you would look beautiful in one!" Demi gushed just thinking about it.
"Nope! The only way I'll wear one is when I'm dead in my coffin." I stated seriously.
"Well, Mom won't miss a child." Demi joked and laughed.
"I feel so loved." I replied sarcastically.
'Demi's right. No one would miss you. End it all already.'
"Charlie? Are you okay?" Demi asked, waving her hand in front of my face.
"Yeah." I gave her a reassuring smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You kind of zoned out." Demi answered.
"Oh, well I'm fine. Let's go shop." I smiled.
"What store do you want to go to?" Demi asked me.
"Can we go to Top Shop and Spencer's?" I suggested. Demi smiled excitedly as she grabbed my hand and basically dragged me to the store. "You're gonna yank my arm off!" I laughed as we entered Top Shop. I looked around the place as Demi basically grabbed the whole stole. I didn't really see any piece of clothing I liked.
"You're not going to get anything from here?" Demi asked as we went to the check out.
"Nah. I'm not really seeing anything I like." I replied casually.
"Your style is basically the same style I had when I was your age." Demi told me as she paid for the clothes she picked out. Next, we went to Spencer's and I got a couple pieces of clothing.
"Demi! Come look at this!" I exclaimed.
"What do you want me to look at?" She questioned as she came over to me.
I showed her a shirt that said 'If you don't like Demi Lovato then you probably won't like me... and I'm okay with that.'
"I want it!" I told her.
"Why exactly do you want it?" Demi asked as she kept looking at the shirt.
"Let's not forget that I'm your sister, so that shirt is pretty accurate. If they don't like you then they won't like me." I replied in a duh tone. I ended getting a Bob Ross shirt that said Good Vibes Only on the front with Bob Ross' face, the shirt I showed Demi, and several different Thrasher hoodies.
"Want to hit one more store before lunch?" Demi asked as she took one of the bags from me.
"Yeah, I need some more skinny jeans and leggings." I replied. Demi nodded and we went into a store that had a lot of skinny jeans and leggings.
"It looks like your closet." Demi said as we entered.
"Hey!" I cried out in fake hurt as I picked out a bunch of skinny jeans and leggings. A majority of the pants I picked out were black. As we exited the store, some of Demi's fans squealed as they approached us.
"Can we get a picture with you?" One of the girls asked as she was smiling.
"Of course!" Demi smiled. I went to pose with them, assuming they also wanted me in the picture, but they stopped me.
"Not you, freak." Another girl whispered, so only I could hear her. I sighed and decided to meet Demi in the food court.
Dems 💞: Where did you go?
Dems 💞: You just disappeared
Dems 💞: Like Houdini
Me: I'm in the food court
Me: Thought I would meet you here
Dems 💞: Okay, I'm on my way over there 😘
I saw I got messages from Demi and decided to answer her. I laughed to myself when she said I disappeared like Houdini. I'm surprised she knew who Houdini was.
"Charlie, you had me worried sick!" Demi panted as she sat down next to me. "Are you crying?"
"What, no. What makes you think that?" I questioned.
"There's some tears on your cheeks." Demi answered as she wiped away some of my tears with the pad of her thumb. I never realized I was crying.
"I'm fine." I gave her a reassuring smile.
"What do you want to eat?" Demi asked me.
"I'm kinda craving a salad." I replied. Demi gave me a suspicious look, but went to order the food anyways. I looked through Instagram while waiting for Demi to come back.
"I got you some chicken nuggets with your salad. I just thought you should have more than a salad." Demi spoke up as she came over with a McDonald's bag. I'll just have to purge back at the house.
"Thanks." I smiled at her as I took a bite and gagged silently.
"Those girls were nice." Demi talked about her fans from earlier.
"They were.. alright." I told her quietly. She looked up at me with concern etched on her face.
"Did one of them say something to you?" Demi asked as she shoved some fries in her mouth.
"Maybe.." I spoke, my voice barely above a whisper.
"What did they say?" She tried to pry some answers out of me.
"They just said they didn't want me in the picture and called me a freak." I replied honestly. "I'm fine." I gave her another reassuring smile.
"I'm sorry, Char." Demi frowned as she pulled out her phone.
@ddlovato: I found out that some "fans" of mine called my sister, @thecharliedelagarza , a freak. Please, be kind to one another 🙏🏻❤️
@thecharliedelagarza: I love you, Dems 😭💞
@TheTrentJohnson: but she is a freak. we don't need anymore of her in this world.
@TheNameIsLucas: she's not dead yet? that sucks. I'm sorry Charlie is your sister.
I saw Demi tagged me in a tweet and it made me happy knowing that she cared. Then I saw that Trent and Lucas replied. It hurt, but they aren't wrong.
"Don't listen to them, Charlie." Demi said as she must've noticed my mood change.
"I'm going to use the restroom." I told Demi as I got up. "I need to freshen up." I ran towards the bathroom, but I was instantly stopped by someone.
"Hello, doll." A familiar voice spoke. It was that guy again.
"Let go." I spoke to him through gritted teeth.
"Why would I, doll?" Him calling me that made me want to throw up, but I managed to refrain from doing so.
"Because, this is illegal! Just.. let go! P-Please!" I cried out.
DEMI'S POV
"Just.. let go! P-Please!" I heard Charlie's voice cry out and I think almost everyone in the food court heard her too. I looked towards the bathroom entrances and I saw her getting dragged into the women's restroom by a man with a scruffy beard. I instantly got up and ran towards the bathroom, thankful that I wore sneakers and not high heels today. I ran in and saw Charlie being shoved against the wall by the man.
"Let. Her. Go." I was furious.
"Why should I? What are you going to do? Call the police? I'm so scared." He pretended to be scared as he dropped Charlie, which caused her head to hit the bathroom tiles.
"Charlie!" I screamed and pushed the man out of the way. She was unconscious and there was a gash on the back of her head. "Get out!" I screamed.
"What if I don't?" He asked.
" If you don't get out, I can make your life a living hell. You hear me? You may not know who I am, but you will be all over the news, everyone will be searching for you. So get out if you want me to go easy on you." I got close to his face. I noticed a sense of fear and he rushed out of the bathroom. I grabbed paper towels from the dispenser, I got them damp, and held it on the back of Charlie's head where the gash is.
"D-Demi?" Charlie weakly stuttered, opening her eyes as she tried sitting up.
"Don't sit up, baby girl." I said as I stopped her. I need to get her to the hospital. "Do you think you can hold the paper towel on the back of your head?" I questioned as I looked down at her.
"Mhm.." She mumbled, sounding tired as she held the paper towels there.
"Stay awake, okay?" I told her as I picked her up bridal style. "Can you stay awake for me?" I asked gently as I let her lay her head on my shoulder.
"Mhm." She mumbled again as I rushed to the car.
"Good girl." I spoke as I carefully set her in the front seat of my car. "Siri, can you give me directions to the closest hospital?" I asked Siri as I put my phone on the stand I have for it.
"Calculating route to the nearest hospital." Siri's robotic voice spoke. Thank God for having Bluetooth in cars nowadays. We drove for about ten minutes and I decided to call Mom once all we had to do was go straight.
"Siri, call Mama." I commanded Siri.
"Calling Mama." The robotic female replied back.
"Dems, it hurts." I heard Charlie speak quietly from the passenger side.
"I know. We're almost there, baby." I spoke sympathetically before Mom answered my call.
"Hi, baby girl." Mom answered. "How is the shopping trip going?" She asked through the phone.
"It was going great, but something happened." I answered.
"What happened?" She asked, her voice lacing with worry.
"I'll have to explain later, but I'm taking Charlie to the hospital. It shouldn't be too serious." I started talking. "Fuck! I forgot our bags in the food court!" I exclaimed as we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital.
"Too loud." Charlie murmured. I quickly apologized.
"You left them in the food court, right? I can have Eddie go get them if you want." Mom suggested.
"Yeah, should be two Top Shop bags, one Spencer's bag, and some other bag full of skinny jeans and leggings." I explained. "I have to get going, Mama. I'll try and text you updates." I told her as I grabbed my phone off of the stand. I hung up after we both said bye and got out of the car, heading toward Charlie's side.
"Demi, look over here!"
"Why are you here?!"
"Is that Charlotte?!"
Paparazzi flashes were going off.
"Fuck.." I mumbled to myself as I opened Charlie's car door.
"My head hurts, Dem Dem." Charlie whispered and covered her eyes as the flashes from the cameras kept going off.
"I know it does, baby girl." I told her as I took off my jean jacket. I picked her up out of the car and covered her head and face with it, hoping it would help block out the flashes. I rushed us inside the hospital building, where hospital security took care of the paparazzi.
"Can we get them back right away?!" One of them shouted. They didn't have to get us in right away, but I'm not complaining.
CHARLIE'S POV
"She's definitely going to need stitches." The doctor said as he examined my head. "I'm going to get the supplies for the stitches." He said before he left the room.
"Did you notice his last name was Shepherd?" Demi asked as she sat down on one of the chairs.
"Nope!" I replied. "He's no McDreamy though." I joked. I noticed Demi was filming on her phone as a famous laugh escaped her mouth.
"Can I post this on my Instagram story?" Demi asked, showing me the video where I said the doctor was no McDreamy.
"I don't care." I answered. "He needs to hurry up. My head hurts and I want to go home." I complained.
"I feel ya, sis." Demi told me. "You do know that we have to tell Mom and Dad what happened?"
"Can't you just tell them?" I questioned, taking Demi's phone out of her hand.
"Yes, but you have to be there and that's my phone!" Demi exclaimed.
"I know." I smiled mischievously. "You have no ugly photos of me in your phone! What is this?!"
"Well, sorry for having good photos of you in my camera roll." Demi replied sarcastically. I sent the weirdest photo of me I could find and sent it to Demi. I opened up Demi's phone, saved the photo, and opened up her Instagram.
"Done!" I smiled and laughed as I gave Demi her phone back.
"Do I dare ask what you did?" Demi asked as she unlocked her phone.
"Nope! Just see for yourself." I told her.
"You're so weird. You know that, right?" Demi laughed as she looked at her Instagram. I nodded, proud of myself. I posted a weird phot of myself to Demi's Instagram with the caption saying "Hacked 🤪"
"I'm sorry I took so long." Doctor Shepherd said as he entered the room.
"It's fine." Demi smiled.
"Good news is that this shouldn't take so long, but bad news is I can't numb it. It shouldn't hurt too bad though." He reassured me. I looked at Demi anxiously and she must've noticed because she came over and held my hand.
"You're going to be fine." Demi told me as she rubbed circle patterns on the back of my hand with her thumb. It didn't take too long to get the stitches because I only got six, which apparently isn't too much.
"All done!" He said, putting his tools down. "The stitches will start dissolving on their own in about a week. Any questions?"
"Nope." Demi answered. "Thanks so much." She told me and shook his hand. I hopped off the bed and went to the door.
"Bye, McDreamy!" I said to him before running out of the room.
"Charlie! What the hell?!" Demi exclaimed as she ran after me. I couldn't stop laughing when we went to the car.
"It's not like we're going to see him again anyways." I told her. "We don't even go to this hospital."
"You're right, but still!" Demi laughed as she started the car and drove out of the parking lot.
"Hey, Demi?" I looked at her as I broke the silence.
"Yes, baby girl?" Demi took a quick glance at me and then back at the road.
"Do you think everyone would be down for a family movie night later?" I asked her. It's been a while since we had a decent family movie night.
"Of course they would. They never say no to things like that." Demi replied. I smiled as I looked out the window knowing that I have one thing to look forward to. I'm just not ready for my parents to find out about that man..