Therapy [KRISTEN STEWART] (DISCONTINUED)

6

The same week when Kristen had gotten a black mark, she had been punished by her parents. Now, she was not allowed to go out and was allowed to use neither her laptop nor her tablet except on the weekends. Kristen sighed. How was she going to complete her assignments? She supposed she would have to use the library's computers.

Ever since she had been grounded, she had had no other choice but to focus on playing instruments more than usual. That pleased her father, who adored listening to his daughter playing the violin. Kristen despised it. She could not wait to grow up and go to university. She was already planning what colour to dye her hair or how to have it cut. Perhaps she could get a piercing or a tattoo?

At school, things were seemingly going better for Kristen, until she started to hear rumours about herself again. Marley, a junior, apparently was planning to beat up Kristen after school next week. People had heard and now they thought that Kristen deserved it. They had labelled her as "a pipsqueak" and "an idiot".

The sad part was that no one would help her stand up for herself. She would be left to the wolves and no one would care enough. Not even her parents, or so she assumed.

One day, after dance class, Kristen came home, only to be pulled into the living room with her mother. Her manager had come over for a surprise visit.

"I'm afraid I have terrible news," said he, when Jules and her daughter sat and asked what was going on.

Kristen felt her chest tightening. She tried to focus on the photos of her younger self on the fireplace and to control her breathing. She felt like she was losing control, like all of the times she had had a panic attack so far. She knew she had to tell someone, but who would listen to her? Her parents were too busy, her brothers were too indifferent. No one would bother to care.

"Kristen! Look into people's eyes when they're talking to you! You're being impolite!"

With that, the young girl came back to reality, where her manager and her mother were. She did not realize how much time had passed. To her, it had felt like an eternity.

The manager tried to calm down Jules, who was still being frantic, "It's okay. Kristen is visibly upset and I understand her."

"And who has gotten the part?!", Jules had not meant to shout. She had to have known better than to release all of the built-up anger for the past couple of weeks.

Kristen had just managed to calm herself down when her phone made a weird sound. She took it out of her bag and checked the notification she had just received. Yet another photo posted online by a rival! Couldn't they quite stop already?

What Kristen saw online stunned her. She could feel a giant limp forming in her throat. The tears were going to fall if she did not do anything. At that distinct moment, she could not take her eyes off the screen and the horrifying announcement she was looking at.