Sweet and Innocent (Demi Lovato)

Chapter 35

The next morning, I wake up to the sound of my phone ringing and jump to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Demetria Lovato-Valderrama?" the female voice on the other end of the phone asks.

"Yes, it is."

"Well, this is Child Protective Services, and we are just calling to inform you that you're cleared. You and your husband provided us with all the information we needed, we called your parents, and it all checked out."

"Really? Thank you!" I reply.

Wilmer wakes up on his side of the bed and looks at me questioningly.

"Thanks for your cooperation, Demetria. Good luck."

"Thank you." I hang up and hug Wilmer in excitement. "We're cleared!"

"That's amazing!"

The weight lifted off my shoulders makes me feel motivated and energized. I ask Wilmer if he'll watch Lilly while I go to the gym and he happily does so, deciding to take her out for breakfast.

---

Lizzy calls us from her vacation with her friend once we're all back home. Wilmer and Lilly are reading in her room, so I answer the phone.

"Hi, Lizzy."

"Demi? I got a call this morning about signing some papers with the adoption agency. I guess that means it's going to happen."

"When will you be back to sign the papers?" I ask.

"I should be back next week," she says.

"Sounds good. We'll see you then."

---

It finally feels as though everything is starting to come together. Everything, except the abuse that Nevvy is facing in her home. I want to call their house and ask if Nevvy would like to come over, but getting involved in this could be very dangerous.

We spend the day with Lilly and put her to bed a little early. Her homeschooling starts up again soon, which means Wilmer will be going back to work on his TV show. 

I'm thinking I should get back to working in the studio and do some concerts around LA, but I'm not sure. The attention placed on us in the media has finally started to die down from adopting Lilly and the break has been kind of nice.

The next morning, my manager Scooter calls to ask about studio time. It's as if he knew what I was thinking about. I told him that I would book some studio time once Lilly's back to homeschooling.

---

Lilly's POV

Demi and Wilmer seem a lot happier today. I think they were just worried about adopting the baby, but I don't know why they are. I'm perfectly fine with it and maybe they'll like having a baby around. They probably wanted one before they adopted me.

In the morning, we play in the backyard with some of my new toys, and in the afternoon, Demi and I shop online for new clothes for me. I don't think I really need new clothes, but Demi says I'm growing out of my old ones.

---

Not much happens for the next few weeks. My home-school teacher comes to make sure I'm ready to start again and we start on August 15th. 

Lizzy comes to visit that day as well, and I get to meet her for the first time. I do recognize her from when I lived with my uncle. She was there sometimes, not that I saw more than a few glimpses of her. She seemed to recognize me too.

I was excited to talk with her about the baby, but she said she didn't know if it was a boy or girl either and said she wasn't going to find out until the baby was born, in December, which is still 4 months away.

When Demi and Wilmer want to talk with her, I go up to my room to play Barbies. 

---

"Did you think you'd gotten away?" Uncle Mark snaps at me.

I huddle into a corner of a room, knowing he's cornering us in. Nevvy's beside me, shaking.

"I'll get you back..." He fades away and I watch in horror as he becomes Nevvy's mom.

I turn to look at Nevvy and see that she's beaten, badly, and slowly fading away.

"Stop!" I yell, but her mom hits her again.

I burst into tears, my head aching from holding them in, watching Nevvy whimper and scream in pain.

I shoot awake and see that it's still dark outside. I'm sweaty and shaking from my dream, but not too scared. It's not happening to me this time. It's happening to my little sister, and I know I have to help her; no one else can.

I slide out of bed and change into jeans and a sweatshirt, noticing that it's dripping rain outside my window. I carefully open my door, then, making sure Demi and Wilmer's door is closed, I run out of my room and down the stairs. In the entrance, I slide on my runners, then unlock the front door to leave the house.

Our fenced-in neighborhood is probably all asleep, but to make sure, I run to the gate as fast as I can. I realize that I don't have a card to get in and out of the gate, so I back away from it, then run and jump as high as I can, using the momentum to climb over the gate. It's very hard since it's designed to protect our community, but I make it; I'm on a mission.

I make my way to Nevvy's house. It's difficult in the dark and since I've never walked there, but I find my way and stop in front of her house. The lights are all off except for one, but the curtain's mostly closed, so I cannot tell whose room it is.

I walk up to the front door and see if it's unlocked. Surprisingly, it is, so I walk inside, quietly. It's dark inside, so I fumble around trying to find the stairs. Once I reach Nevvy's bedroom door, I carefully open it, knowing that it squeaks.

Nevvy's sitting on her bed, looking through a book with the light of her lamp.

"Hi," I whisper.

She looks up and I can see that she is hurt; not as bad as in my dream, but still hurt.

"Do you want to come home with me?" I ask her.

I'm sure she's scared of getting caught, but she nods. I help her pack a backpack with some of her things, then we sneak out of her house and I lead the way as we run back to my neighborhood.

We make it to the gate, and by the looks of it, it's made to be much harder to climb over the gate from the outside. We decide to wait until someone opens it to leave, then sneak in past the car. Why someone's leaving while it's still dark out is weird to me, but maybe they have to work super early.

We make our way home and sneak back inside and to my bedroom.

"Are you still tired?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she whispers.

So, we both sleep in my bed, feeling safe beside each other. I just hope that Nevvy's mom doesn't come here to look for her.

I feel relieved when I finally fall asleep.

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Hope you enjoy this chapter. I had writer's block while writing it, so some of it might be a bit boring.