A Symphony of Devotion: The Start [Demi Lovato]

[16] Atychiphobia

I let the curtain fall back into place in horror, my hands clapping over my mouth to choke back the sobs that wrestle their way up my throat.

My intercom begins blaring again. "Miss Stone, your parents have validified your guest and she is now on her way up."

I sink to the ground, bringing my knees up to my chest and hugging them, resting my head on my arms as I rock myself back and forth for a minute. A tear rolls down my cheek, then another, as I whisper words to myself under my breath.

Kayleigh is here. Kayleigh is here. She's never going to leave me alone after finding where I live. Kayleigh is here. Fuck. Fuck. Kayleigh is here.

Okay, Kayleigh is here, yeah, Kenzie, you don't gotta keep repeating that.

But Kayleigh's here!

Almost as quickly as I'd fallen, I scramble to my feet and almost knock into Devonne, who had been reaching out to help me up.

"What's wrong?" She asks. Her words sound caring, but her tone still cold, so to spare myself confusion, I ignore both and run into the bathroom. I shut the door behind myself, my hands clumsily dropping sticks of lipstick, containers of powder as I apply my makeup darker and wipe any remains of tears off my face. My heart constricts when I hear a knock on my room door and Kayleigh's voice call, "Kenzie? Are you in here?", and I quickly knock the bottles and containers into my drawer as I check that there isn't lipstick on my teeth.

Then I step out, my face paling when I see Devonne opening the door for Kayleigh to enter. Devonne seems a little startled by the amount of makeup on my face and the dark tone to it, but Kayleigh bounces over to me, hugs me, kisses my cheek, and gives an approving nod. "Good, you're going goth again. It suits you better, honestly."

I'm thankful for her approval, but then Devonne shakes her head and says, "You look like a freak, Kenzie. That dark makeup on you is awful."

This is the first time she's taken real interest in me since the party, and I don't know why, but suddenly I feel like pleasing her instead of Kayleigh.

Kayleigh, whose makeup is applied similarly to mine, frowns at Devonne with her hands on her hips. "Well, Little Miss Awful, you're gonna have to suck it the fuck up. Goth suits Kenzie. Seriously, though, what's up with that pink shirt? You never wear pink."

My cheeks turn red. My attempt at wearing colours was purely for Devonne's sake. To show her that I wasn't entirely broken when she left. To show her that I'm flexible and I can change. In retrospect, big mistake.

Kayleigh easily strips me of my shirt, leaving the top half of my body with just my bra on before she goes to my closet. I quickly snatch my jacket from my table and put it on, trying to hide the scars on my stomach.

I mean, I've changed in the girl's locker room for gym class many times before, but this is different. In the locker room, no one stares at me, and it's just clothes off, clothes on, done. I don't have to stand naked while both my ex-loves stare at me.

Devonne is completely and absolutely surprised at Kayleigh's rash actions, though. She swears under her breath when Kayleigh returns with a black long-sleeved shirt and quickly adverts her eyes when Kayleigh removes my hoodie and helps me put the shirt on. "So you listen to everything your girlfriend says?" Devonne asks when my shirt is on.

"She's not my girlfriend," I tell her quietly, but I'm already obediently sitting when Kayleigh instructs me to. "We broke up."

"And, yet, you still listen to everything she says."

"Oh, you're just jealous because you like Kenz and Kenz likes me better even though we broke up," Kayleigh butts in. "Give it a rest."

Devonne narrows her eyes at Kayleigh, and I bury my face in my hands, trying not to concentrate on the war that's about to happen. "Kenzie doesn't like you. You say you guys broke up? More like you broke her."