Secrets
Chapter 1
The Plan
Louise was sick of her life. Her mother was yelling at her again.
"Louise! Louise Poppy Marx! You come down here right now!"
Louise sighed and heaved herself off of her bed. She dragged her feet downstairs.
"Yes mom?" she asked, trembling.
Her mom lifted her hand and slapped her across her face. Tears ran down Louise's face.
"What did I do, mom?"
Her mom didn't answer, just slapped her again.
"Get up to your room you worthless wretch!" she slurred.
Louise instantly obeyed. It was better to do that than fight. She raced up the stairs into her room and buried her head in the pillow, sobbing loudly. When she had calmed down a bit, she turned on her laptop that her dad had bought her before he died. Her mom didn't know she had it.
Her best friend Sophia noticed that she was online and requested for her to video chat. Louise accepted.
"Hey Lo-" Sophia stopped when she saw her tear-streaked face, "What happened?"
"Mom again," Louise said quietly, "She hit me and called me a wretch."
"I know how you feel," Sophia smiled weakly, "My parents had a go at me today too, just because I got two questions wrong on a test. What did you do?"
"Nothing," Louise tried to hold back her tears, but they flowed freely, "I did nothing."
"Was she drunk?"
"She always is."
"It's okay. Things will get better."
"How long am I supposed to keep believing that?"
Sophia honestly didn't know. Her life was as awful as Louise's. Her parents yelled at her on a daily basis, even if she did nothing wrong.
"I don't know. I honestly don't know," she finally replied.
A little grey box popped up on her screen. It was their friend Kimiko asking to chat. Sophia accepted the request.
"Hey guys," Kimiko said sadly.
"Hey Kimi," Louise whispered.
"Hi Kiki. What's wrong?" Sophia asked.
"Everything Spleen. Everything," Kimiko said.
"You got beat up again?" Louise asked.
"Yeah."
"Me too. I'm getting really sick of it."
"Well, what can we do about it?" Sophia asked.
"I don't know," Louise said sadly, a tear dripping off of her nose, "I was thinking that too."
"I have an idea," Kimiko said.
"What?" Sophia said excitedly.
"You know that band Big Time Rush?"
"From Roque Records?" Louise asked. Kimiko nodded.
"Yeah. It said on TV that they are looking for a new band for the label. I was thinking we could audition."
"As a band?"
"Yeah."
"Wait, won't our parents recognize us if we do win?" Sophia asked.
"I was thinking we disguise as boys," Kimiko said.
"That is actually a good idea," Louise said.
"I know," Kimiko smiled.
"Don't bands normally have four or five members though?" Sophia asked.
"Actually, I tought that too. Then I remembered a friend that I met last summer. She comes from an abusive family too."
"Cool," Louise said, "What's her name?"
"Shane. In fact, she's online now. I'll ask her to join our chat."
"You do that," Sophia grinned. Finally, she would have the chance to escape.
Shane Oliver was surfing the internet when she got a video request from Kimiko. She clicked on accept and was surprised to see, not one face, but three faces looking at her from the screen. There was Kimiko, her awesome peanut-butter loving friend and two other girls who she didn't know.
"Hi," she said.
"Hey Shane!" Kimiko grinned.
"Who are your friends?" Shane asked, smiling. She always felt better when she talked to Kimi.
"This is Louise and Sophia," Kimiko introduced the girls.
"Hey," Shane said.
"Hi," Louise smiled.
"Hey," Sophia grinned. Any friend of Kimi was a friend of hers.
"So, what are you talking about?" Shane asked.
"Actually, we wanted to ask you something," Kimiko said.
"Ask away."
"You see, Lou and Spleen, which is what we call Sophia, come from abusive families too, and we had an idea to get away."
"Oh! Awesome! What is it?" Shane was delighted. She hated her life and wanted to escape as much as the others.
"Well, the plan is. . ." Kimiko talked her through it.
"The plan actually has some merit to it. I'm in," Shane grinned, running her hand through her dark hair.
"Cool. We audition tomorrow."
"Wait! Tomorrow! We don't have enough time to practice or anything!" Louise said.
"Relax. Everybody knows Cooler than Me right?" The others nodded, " Well, then, we'll sing that. We'll just have to wing it."
"Okay," Louise relaxed a little.
"I'll meet you at the Star Theatre okay?" Kimiko asked, "Eight O'Clock?" They nodded.
"It's settled then. Eight O'Clock at the Star Theatre. Remember to dress as boys." The other girls nodded.
"Sophia Diana Roberts! Get to sleep now!"
Sophia's face turned worried.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said.
"Tomorrow," Shane repeated.
Sophia grinned and logged off. She lay on her bed, thinking about the plan. Who knows? They might just win. Sophia, like all the girls, hoped they would, so they would be able to escape the hell that they were living in.
The lights turned off.