Sweet and Innocent (Demi Lovato)

Chapter 23

Lilly's POV

I wake up the next morning, just as tired as I was the night before. I get dressed in my favorite jeans that are getting too small, and a sweater that Demi got me at the mall. I have tutoring and I have to go to the counselor today, so I'm going to be quite busy.

"Where's Demi?" I ask, when I see only Wilmer eating breakfast and one extra spot set for me.

"She had to go to work for the morning," he replies.

I sit down beside Wilmer to eat breakfast, silently. I don't feel normal after last night, and I don't know what he will think of me now.

"You have an appointment with the counselor in an hour," he says. "Can you be ready by then?"

I nod and quickly finish eating to go get ready. I don't really like the counselor anymore. She made me cry in front of Demi and wants me to talk about Uncle Mark and my parents. I don't want to talk about it; I hate it.

I get dressed and brush my hair. My hair has started to look much nicer and it actually looks a bit pretty now. At least Demi says so.

I walk downstairs and Wilmer drives me to the counselor.

---

"Lilly," the counselor says, "do you know what happened with your Uncle Mark?"

I shrug, looking down. I don't want to talk to her about this.

"He's on trial; do you know what that means?"

My head shakes. It doesn't sound good.

"That means that they're determining if he'll go to jail. But, they need some information from you about what he did to you and your sister, okay?"

"Okay," I whisper.

"So, do you remember what he was like when you first got there?"

"He was okay," I say. "Nevvy was a baby, so he cared for her."

"What did he do with you?"

"I cleaned."

"When your sister got older... what did he do?"

"Yelled," I reply. "He also threw things at us."

"Did you have a bedroom at his house?"

"We slept in the basement. It was good because we could hide behind the freezer and he couldn't find us then."

"Would he do anything else?" she asks.

"He would hurt me and his friend would too. He said it was fun."

"Did he hurt your sister like that?"

"I protected her," I respond.

"Okay. Well, do you think you can tell some of that to Demi and Wilmer, or should I tell them?"

"I can."

"Sounds good, Lilly. Now, why don't we go see Wilmer and I can just talk to him about your uncle, okay?" she questions.

"Yeah."

We walk out to the waiting room and the counselor talks with Wilmer about Uncle Mark going on trial and about what's going to happen to him. She told him that they can go pick up my stuff from his house. I don't really have much stuff there, and I don't want to go back.

---

Wilmer and I go out to eat lunch, then he drives us to pick up Demi from her work. I don't know where she works, but apparently it requires having a lot of pictures taken, because there are always photographers following us.

She climbs into the car and we drive back home.

"Can we play piano?" I ask Demi.

"Sure. Just let me get changed and I'll meet you there, alright?"

I walk to the piano room and admire the shiny piano once again. I still can't believe that Demi lets me even touch it. While I'm waiting for Demi, I walk over to one of the guitars and pick it up. It's heavier than I expected, but I really think I could play it someday.

"Do you want to learn guitar, too?"

I turn around and see Demi standing in the doorway. Quickly, I return the guitar to its spot.

"It's fine; you can touch it," she says.

"Okay."

"Now, do you still remember the song I was teaching you?"

I nod and sit down at the piano to play it. It feels great to take my mind off Uncle Mark and everything else that's going on.

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Sorry that I took so long to update, but I'm staying at my grandparent's house this week, so I can only write at school. Either way, I hope you enjoy!