Chapter 1

Demi Munroe was gunning the car's engine, trying to get to Selena's apartment as fast as she could. It didn't mattered they hadn't spoken in months. It was of no consequence that the world thought it was her fault. What was important was that Selena had called, crying, and said she needed her help desperately. Whatever was supposed to be wrong between them, Demi didn't care. All that mattered was that Selena needed her.

She parked the car two blocks away from Selena's apartment complex, and then sneaked around to the service entrance, as she had instructed. Of course she thought it was weird, but well, she wasn't about to argue. The door was unlocked, as they agreed, so she used her powerful abilities as Ninja Demi to stay away from the security cameras as she made her way to the elevators.

When the doors opened in Selena's floor, she jumped, tucked, and rolled, and came to a hard stop against a small table with a big flower vase against the opposite wall. Her head was hit twice; once by the table, once by the stupid vase before it broke against the floor. She could only hope no one had heard the commotion. As she massaged her poor head, she concluded that maybe Ninja Demi wasn't as powerful as she believed she was. She staggered to her old friend's door, knocked 3 times, and waited.

"Oh thank god you're here!" The sweetest voice in the world said to her. In front of her was the love of her life. If only Selena knew that. She was dressed in black converse, dark blue jeans, and a Kid vs. Kat t-shirt. Selena hugged her tightly, kissed her swiftly in her right cheek, and made her enter so she could close the door.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

Demi frowned at her crush's disapproval of her choice of apparel. "Well, when you called and asked me to leave my car far away, and come through the service entrance, I figured I had to blend in with the shadows." She looked down and guessed that black combat boots, black cargo pants, and a black sweater might be a bit of overkill.

"I also told you to be discreet. Jeez, Demi! Why don't you ever listen?"

"Excuse me? You're the one who called me in the middle of the goddamned night! I mean, you call in tears after months of ignoring me, you tell me to almost break into your apartment ––which by the way I was never invited to before–– and now you give me hell about my clothes. What the fuck? I mean, I can totally leave, you know."

"I was not crying."

"You were."

"Was not."

"OK, whatever, you weren't. Now tell me, what the hell is wrong? Why am I here?" Demi was thrilled Selena had called; maybe she had forgiven her. Even if she wasn't sure what she had done wrong. However, she was not about play mind games with her.

"Follow me."

Demi did, until they reached what had to be Selena's bedroom, and into the bathroom. She was not prepared at all, for what she saw lying in the bathtub. "Is that––"

"Do you really have to ask? Of course, it's she! Can't you tell by the blonde curls and the long legs? Jeez, Dems, try and keep up"

"OK that's it. Either you enhance your coolness and tell my why do you have a dead Taylor Swift in your bathroom, or I'm leaving before the police arrive." OK, she was bluffing, she would never leave her friend with a dead body in her house, but she didn't know that.

"She's not dead, actually. She's just unconscious."

"So you didn't kill her?" Demi took an almost undetectable step back, just as Selena grabbed her arm and started squeezing with an excessive amount of force.

"No I did not kill her, how can you even ask me that?"

"Selena, let go, you're hurting me!" She rubbed her arm when the taller girl let go of it. "OK, that was uncalled for. You have to admit this situation is ridiculously weird. After ages not talking to each other, you call me to your apartment and show me a dead blonde. You need to understand my suspicions about this. Now, you're going to tell me exactly what happened, and what do you expect me to do, OK?"

"I'm sorry if I hurt you. It's just that, well, this situation is too bizarre. I mean, I came home a few hours ago, and I found her as we're seeing her. I immediately checked her pulse, tried to wake her up, nothing worked."

"OK, now, two things. Why didn't you call an ambulance, the police, or the building's concierge? And, again, what do you want me to do?" When had she gone into the twilight zone? This was not happening to her!

"First of all, I did call the concierge, and he told me I had not had any visitors. Therefore, Taylor is not supposed to be here. Secondly, what am I supposed to do? I think she's on something, can you imagine the kind of field day the press would have with us if they find out? So, I need your help. I know that lately we've had our differences, but I hope I can count on you."

Demi clicked her heels three times while silently saying 'There's no place like home.' When that didn't worked, and seeing the way Selena was staring impatiently her way, she had no choice but to agree. "OK, friends help friends move dead bodies."

"For the last time, Taylor's not dead!"

"And for the last time, will you stop snapping at me? It's not my fault your girlfriend's doped out of her mind in your apartment. Now, you want my help, stop screaming at me!" Demi shrieked at her friend. "What's the plan; we get her out of here and drop her at her place?" Selena was gazing at her with a strange look that was a bit unnerving to her.

"I hadn't really thought about it, but yeah, that should work."

Demi could feel her vase-induced headache getting worse. "Very well, so what do we do? I suppose we cannot drag her on the shower curtain through the front door. Someone's bound to notice. And I don't think we can sneak around the service entrance carrying her. Damn it, Selena!"

What, Demi? What? It's not my fault. I don't have a clue what happened to Taylor, or what is she doing here. You're my best friend; think of something, we need to get her out of here before sunrise. I have a photo shoot early in the morning."

Demi was sure there was no way her headache would get better in the near future. "OK, how about this, do you have a large suitcase we can stash her in?" When she saw the horrified look Selena was giving her she said, "Oh, come on Selena! What do you want me to do? I know putting your girlfriend inside a suitcase is not your idea of a hot date, but if you have a better plan, please, do tell me."

"She's not… OK, whatever. I think I can find a suitcase, but I'm not sure it has wheels; we'll have to drag her. Check her pockets, see if you can find her car keys, I'll go find the luggage and put it on the bed."

Demi sighed, and went to work checking the unconscious blonde's clothes. As she was frisking her, in such close proximity she couldn't help but think it was only natural Selena would change her for the leggy blonde. Her hair, her face, her body, everything was so perfect. Unlike her. She sighed even deeper and finally found the keys beneath her; they had left a mark in her exposed leg. Stupid unconscious Taylor, wearing stupid short skirts.

"Alright, I set the suitcase on top of the bed. How do we do this?"

"Why do you keep asking me? Do I look like I have a lot of experience hauling comatose girls down elevators? Just grab her legs, I've got her shoulders." Truth be told, Demi wanted to grab her legs because they looked so long and soft, maybe get a better idea of what Selena was getting from her, but that was exactly why she didn't. "Come on, let's do it. On my count: 1, 2, 3!" They started moving Taylor towards Selena's bedroom.

"You're friends with Chloe Bridges; you must know a thing or two about deadweight."

Demi dropped Taylor's shoulders, so her head hit the marble floor. Hard. "OK, I've had it up to here with your attitude, missy! I don't know what's gotten up your ass, but you have the crappiest way ever to be grateful for help!" Demi bent down, lifted Taylor's head to check her pulse quickly, opened one of her eyes to see a much dilated pupil, and let it fall down to strike the marble for a second time. "Listen, Selena, I don't know where you get off criticizing one of the few people that still talk to me; I mean, I know she's not perfect, but she was good to me once. So, stop being a bitch and let's just get over with this."

Selena just stared at her for a few moments, before nodding ever so slightly. Demi picked up Taylor's shoulders again, and they resumed their wobbly way to the bedroom. Once there, Demi's headache went up a notch as she saw the suitcase the taller brunette had prepared. "Come on! Don't you have a bigger one? My dog wouldn't fit in that one!"

"I'm sorry, really, but most of my luggage is at my mom's place. That's the biggest one I have. We'll just have to, get creative."

Demi cursed her bad karma, and asked Selena for some aspirin while she considered their options. When her friend handed four of them to her, their hands touched for a while, and Demi almost had a heart attack, she missed her so much. "OK, I think I have this figured out. We won't be able to completely fit her inside; she's way too tall. How about this? We sit her down, her knees flush to her chest, and we leave her head out of the suitcase, which we cover with a jacket or something. It's not going to be easy, but I think we can pull it off."

"See, I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. Now, grab her and put her in."

It took them more than fifteen minutes to get her inside; manipulating an unresponsive body wasn't as easy as TV and movies lead people to believe. However, with a lot of effort, they were able to fit her inside. It took both of them to pull the piece of luggage toward the front door. Demi was worried.

They went into the kitchen for some water, and Demi spoke first. "Listen, there's no way we can go through the front door unnoticed, we'll have to go straight to the parking lot, and load her into your car there."

"We should take her car, that's why I asked you to search for her keys, did you found them?"

"Yeah, I have them in my pocket. I mean, didn't you said the concierge said no one came to visit? I mean, if she had parked inside the building, wouldn't they know about it?" Selena seemed to consider for a moment.

"You're probably right. Damn! I just hope she doesn't puke, I just bought my car."

"Congratulations. Let's get moving."

They started to very painfully and very slowly drag the encased singer to the elevator. Demi thought it felt as if she was dragging a ton of rocks; it's hard moving a dead body. Well, an unconscious blonde. Finally, they arrived to the basement where the parking lot was located, and Selena went to pick up her car.

A couple of minutes later she returned behind the wheel of a shiny black Mercedes Benz CLS. Demi was impressed, the car was beautiful, and, seeing how it had the V12 engine, had to be worth more than a 100 grand. Selena popped the trunk as she stepped out of the German mechanical masterpiece.

"Excuse me, what are you doing, do you seriously want to throw her into the trunk? Are you nuts?" Demi was amazed Selena was even considering it.

"I told you, I just bought this baby, and if she actually pukes, I prefer she does it in trunk, where I won't have to smell it."

"Oh you have got to be kidding! She's your girlfriend, at least help me get her out of this stupid suitcase."

"No, she stays in there, how are you planning to get her inside her apartment when we get there?"

Demi had to admit the slightly psychotic Selena was still making sense, and besides, she the tiniest bit afraid to get her anger directed at her. Between the both of them, they managed to lift the piece of luggage and shove it inside the trunk, which they closed immediately after.

"Where did you parked?"

"Two blocks from here, around the back. As per her majesty's request." They were standing behind Selena's Teutonic racecar. The stress was finally getting to them.

"Cut it off, Munroe. Stop playing the victim. I told you to park far from here in case I had to call the police, so they wouldn't see you. I was trying to protect you. I'm always trying to protect you."

"Of course you are, Russo. How could I miss that? You've always had my best interests in mind, that's why you cut me off from your life." Demi was tired, drained even. She just wanted to be done with this bizarre situation.

Selena looked at her with sadness in her eyes. "Demi, really, you have to believe me, I never wanted to hurt you, it's just that, well. I had no choice, you know, I had to do it because––

Unfortunately, for Demi, Selena never finished what she was saying, because the car roared and raced to the exit, leaving them standing open-mouthed wondering what was happening.