A Symphony of Devotion: The Start [Demi Lovato]

[34] Misophonia

"And not only do I hate you, I fucking despise you."

I ran, tripping over my own feet in a last ditch effort to reach the blonde, but it was too late. I knew it was from the beginning. "Dev, please!"

"Stop crying about every little thing!" Devonne yelled back. Her hair was styled, curling down past her shoulders. She looked perfect, like an angel, while I crashed to the ground, destroying everything. "You're such a fucking wimp! Get a grip!"

"Devonne, no, please."

Devonne was almost entirely out of my sight now. "Go. Let yourself out. I'm done with you."

I wake up sobbing, wrenching myself up as I take in my surroundings. Devonne is sitting on the floor by my bed, the room dark apart from the soft glow radiating from my writing light. Zack has settled himself at my desk, and now he raises an eyebrow at me.

I hurl a pillow towards my brother, drying my eyes with the covers. "What are you doing here? I told you to get out!"

Zack shrugs as he gets to his feet. Months ago, he would have stayed, talked me out of my troubles, comforted me. But now I guess I'm such a bitch and such inconvenience that nobody bothers about me anymore. "I got the keys to your room because Devonne was afraid that you'd hurt yourself or something." He glances towards Devonne as he walks past her. "I told you she would be okay." Zack looks back at me. "You're so transparent, Kenzie. Get a grip." Then he's out of the room, the door shutting quietly behind him.

I stare quietly down at the covers. I don't want Devonne to leave, but my nightmare posed as a reminder of what she did to me in the first place, the words that tore me down and broke me into pieces. If you truly loved someone, you wouldn't do that to her. I knew I wouldn't. Not in a million years.

Devonne gets up quietly and sits beside me, although she stays away from me. "You okay?"

My gaze remains locked on the pattern of the covers. "What time is it?"

"A couple minutes past ten. You've been sleeping a long while," Devonne replies absently.

"I'm going back to bed." I lie back down on the bed and pull the covers over my head. I have school tomorrow, where I have to face Julian and his crew of seniors again, and I'm dreading it.

It's silent for a minutes, and then Devonne asks, "Can I stay the night?"

I can feel butterflies start to flutter in my stomach at her request, but keep my eyes closed. "If you want."

Surprisingly, Devonne keeps her distance the whole night, although I wake to see her arms wrapped around one of my pillows. I silence my butler when he knocks on my door by telling him that we'd be down soon for breakfast, then begin shaking Devonne awake, seeing as though she hasn't been woken up by my human alarm.

"Devonne," I say in a whisper, then louder. "Devonne!"

The girl doesn't even stir. A wave of guilt hits me when I notice the exhaustion in her expression; my fault for keeping her up the last few nights.

I shake my thoughts away.

Feeling bad for someone isn't a good way to keep away from them, and I really don't want to get involved with anyone now.

I shake her again. "Devonne! Wake up!"

Her eyes dart open then, locking onto mine as she sits up, gripping my arm. "What? Is something wrong?"

"It's time for school."

Devonne sighs, and falls back onto the bed. "Okay, you go get dressed first and I'll use the bathroom when you're done."