this is my first one shot/fanfic/whatever, so pretty please don't be too hard (but still be honest!) and it got really long and kind of turned into a two shot (ha ha ha)
Do You Know What It's Like?
Demi's eyes burned hot with tears as she jumped into the limo and slammed the door shut. Finally, in privacy of her own car she was free to cry. The familiar smells and sounds of the comfortable enviornment calmed her down. But before Demi could do anything about it, fat tears began sliding down her face as she tried to reaccount the events of the last few hours. Who did that girl think she was judging her like that? Demi didn't deserve that. She hadn't done anything wrong, not in her opinon atleast.
At first, Demi had been thrilled when she heard about the opening at New York City's prestigous Fine Arts Academy for Girls. Since it's opening in the 1920's, the school had produced many top notch aritists, dancers, singers, and musicans. For many, the school was a dream come true and Demi thought the school was just what she needed. Camp Rock had become a phenomena, and Demi was postivley thrilled, at first anyways. When she had auditioned for the part though, no one had told her just how her life would change forever. The months to come filled her busy schedule with photoshoots, interviews, and the most enticing offers of fame. But to all this, there was a dark side. Paparazzi followed Demi nearly everywhere she went, people were constantly recognizing her, and there was never just a moment when she could breath and be by herself. Like all things, not all of her publicity was posotive. Critics were tough on her at times, and those cheesy teen magazines almost never had anything nice to say. It tore Demi up inside. No matter how much she tried to do the right thing, it was always turning out wrong. She wasn't trying to make mistakes, just trying to find herself in a world where her every move was photographed, documented, and analyzed for all to see. The tension and stress not only built up on Demi, but on her family and friends too. Her fame was tearing everyone around her apart. So she did the only thing she could do.
She walked away from it all.
Having been out of the spotlight for nearly a few months now had brought Demi's spirits up. Yet her mom was constantly reminding her that if she didn't want to perform, that was fine. But she had to do something, and school was one of those things. Demi could never, ever go to public school and be treated like some kind of outside snob. That was what she had just escaped. Boarding school didn't appeal to her either. So when the letter from New York City's Fine Academy came in the mail, she felt as all her prayers had been answered, like God himself was sending her a solution. Demi infact, had forgotten she was even on the waiting list. The school only took 50 students in each grade to ensure they got the best education and attention. Most people were on the list for atleast a year or two if they had not entered in the first grade.
Here was the solution, right in front of her. Now all Demi had to do was go on and take what was rightfully hers! The rigorous admittance process included multiple interviews and auditons before the only spot was secured (an applicant from Demi's grade had dropped out midway through the semester). It was narrowed down to two applicants, yet Demi had felt calm as ever. She went into the last audition and interview with a confidence she didn't know lay inside her. Demi thought she did well, and was just glad that maybe, just maybe her she was going to be able to start fresh and leave "Mitchie Torres" behind. But what happened next, nobody, not even those far fetched writers at Disney could have predicted.
Demi's final interview had concluded over an hour ago, but the director of admissons had insisted that she wait in the lobby while the only other applicant completed her final interview and auditions as well. Then the board would meet, compare the girls, make their decisions, and hopefully Demi would be packing her bags and moving into the dorms the next morning. Demi was flipping through a magazine when she heard scales being sung from the audition room. The other applicant, she thought, as she twirled her hair through her dark brown hair. The applicant's voice was crisp and clean, obviously well practiced and prepared. Perhaps she was someone in the business too, mused Demi. Her range was similar to Demi's and she couldn't help but notice the similarites. The piano began to play, and Demi's heart went cold as she heard the words sung.
"Do you know what it's like, to feel so in the dark?"
That was her, well Mitchie's, song. Who was this girl and why was she singing Demi's most famous song, when Demi herself was here to compete with her? Her face turned white and she felt a lump rise in her throat. Someone, someone was always trying to show her up, be better than her. Why couldn't she, just Demi, be enough?
Demi closed her eyes and listened as the final notes were played. They sounded so strange, yet so familar at the same time. As if some one had stolen her favorite pair of jeans and replaced them with another pair, but in a different size. She knew it was her song, but it just didn't fit together. The slam of a door brought Demi back to reality. A lanky girl with auburn curls and pale skin walked out of the room and sat down in the chair across from her.
"Wow you're Demi Lovato...aren't you? Did they bring you hear to help me with your song? Do you know who the other applicant is? Have you heard her? Is she really good? Oh gosh...tell me! No wait don't! It'll only make me more nervous!" The stranger sputted out.
Demi's voice trembled as she tried to form the words her heart was dying to let out. She didn't like being bombarded with questions, especially from her competiton.
"The other applicant is...is me." Demi said. That was all she was able to get out, still not able understand how such a great opportunity had turned into some horrific nightmare.
"YOU?! You're the other applicant? Don't you have some big movie star thing to be doing? I'm surprised you could be bothered to even apply. Did you even have to apply? Or did they just let you in?"
Stunned. Speechless. Demi tried to move her lips, but words would not, could not, come out. She gently rubbed her cheek, as if she had been slapped in the face, because after all, that's what she felt like.
"I knew, I knew something could come along and ruin this for me. I've been on this waiting list since fourth grade, fourth grade! I don't live in some shiny apartment in Manhattan like the rest of you. I live in a two bedroom apartment with my mom and the my three little sisters! I have to work two jobs just to pay for voice lessons. I have to volunteer for two hours at my studio to pay for one class, and when i do get to take that class, I have to change buses four times just to get there. I've been working, and fighting, and using everything ounce of energy I have to get myself into this school and you've ruined it, ruined it for me. If you don't get in, you'll go home tonight to millions of dollars and mansions and other celebrities. If I don't get in, I'll be going home to our tiny apartment where the landlord will ask me when the rent will finally be paid and my younger sisters will cry because our mom will be gone, working all night long. In that song, you sing, do you know what it's like to feel so in the dark, to dream about a land where you're the shining star? But to you those are just words. They don't mean anything to you, becuase you don't know what it's like, you don't have to dream you're the star. For me though, those words describe my life. And I finally get my shot, and now it's pretty much gone. I'm still going to get my last letter of recomendation, and I'm still going to try with everything I have to get in, because like your dumb song says, i'm exactly where i'm supposed to be." With every syllable, the girl's voice rose and began to shake. By the end of it all, she was almost in tears.
Demi knew she should stop, say something, do the kind sensitive thing her mom, or maybe Selena would have done. Instead Demi did the thing she had been doing a lot of lately, she ran. She ran with all her force into the limo, and here she was crying her eyes out over some girl, who she didn't even know. She had wanted to escape the judging and microscope lifestyle so bad, but it had found her once again.
Letting down the sun roof, Demi felt the cool wind on her face and tried to think of what to do. But her mind ran blank. How was she supposed to fix her life? She had lostlmost all of her friends, lost her place in the spotlight, and almost her will to perform. Maybe she'd join the circus, or become the crazy cat lady.
No, she laughed those ideas off. But then an idea, a real idea, did come to her. Maybe Demi couldn't fix her own life, but she could fix someone elses. Going to the Fine Arts Academy wasn't something she had desperatly wanted or dreamed about, and after this incident it probably wasn't where she belonged either. For someone else though it was. Demi got the driver to turn around the limo and headed back to the school. For the first time in a long time, she knew what she had to do, and it felt refreshing.
