Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Ok, so all the best fanfics I've read have a new character in, so mine won't be an exception! And thanks for the reviews I've got so far, keep them coming. And don't worry, Grasping Darkness, if this does become DemixBradin, it won't be in the near future, hopefully!
P/S: Friday! Which means it's the weekend, finally, so I'll probably do quite a bit of writing.
New main character: Demi King
Chapter 3
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It was now 5:30 and Carol, Martha's mom, was right on time to pick her up. Demi was still in Ava and Johnny's room. She said she wanted to be alone for a while. Ava called Bradin, Susannah, Nikki, Cameron and Derrick downstairs into the living room, where she and Johnny already were. They quickly came down and sat to hear the news Ava and Johnny had for them.
"Ok, guys, Johnny's niece, Demi, came earlier. Her mom has beat her up a little and threw her out so she needs a place to live, and we said she can stay here. She's upstairs in mine and Johnny's room. I just wanted to let you all know so be nice when you see her, which of course I know you will." Ava told them.
"How old is she?" Nikki asked.
"She was 17 last month." Johnny said.
"Where's she going to sleep?" Susannah asked.
"She's going to get Jay's room when he moves out. We still need to figure out where she'll be sleeping in the meantime though." Ava said, biting her lip, trying to think of possibilities to fit them all in comfortably until Jay moves out.
"Why don't you use Bradin's old single bed and put it in someone else's room?" Derrick said. Ava and Johnny looked at each other.
"That's not a bad idea." Johnny said, ruffling Derrick's hair. "But whose?"
"Not me." chorused Nikki, Derrick and Susannah. Bradin seemed pretty slow on the uptake.
"Well, Bradin's is the biggest room…" Ava said thoughtfully.
"But there's no room for another bed in there." Bradin protested.
"If we move your double bed from the middle of the room to one side of the room there will be, we just need to put the bedside on the other side so your bed can go right up against the wall." Johnny said.
"Fine." Bradin said, defeated. He knew there was no point arguing, she was definitely in his room now, and besides, it didn't bother him that much anyway, they only had to see each other at night, plus it's temporary.
"Should I bring her down here, so she can meet everyone?" Johnny asked. Ava smiled and nodded, so Johnny set off up the stairs and came sown a minute later with his niece. She stood awkwardly as everyone stared at her, which was what she had expected, but everyone was focussing on her very puffy eye, making her feel quite uncomfortable.
"Everyone, this is Demi. Demi, this is Bradin, who you kind of saw earlier. Nikki, the brains of the family. Derrick, the youngest, Susannah, Ava's best friend and business partner and this is Cam, Nikki's boyfriend." Johnny said, indicating to everyone as he introduced them.
"Hey." She said in a small voice.
"Now, Bradin, come with me, I need some muscles to help me get your old bed." Johnny and Bradin headed for the garage and Ava told Demi to make herself feel at home while she started making dinner.
"Do you want some ice for your eye?" Susannah asked Demi as kindly as she could.
"No thanks, I stopped feeling it this morning, it should go down." Demi replied shyly. Susannah didn't want to push Demi so just smiled and left the matter.
"So Demi, where did you used to live?" Nikki asked smiling, trying to start conversation.
"Salt Lake City." Demi replied.
"And you walked all the way here? You must me knackered!" Cam exclaimed. Demi laughed.
"I've had a bit of a sleep since getting here, not much though, couldn't really sleep." Demi said, becoming quieter as she spoke.
"Don't worry, I was like that when I first moved here." Nikki said reassuringly. "You'll soon get used to it." Bradin and Johnny came through the living room minutes later and the bed was put into Bradin's room. Ava put some bed sheets in the washing machine so they were good for Demi to use.
--4 hours later--
It was now 9:45 at night. Demi had thanked Ava and Johnny once again for everything they were doing and pulled out a pair of pyjamas, grey and purple Little Miss Naughty pyjamas, a pair of shorts and a small tank top. She pulled off her clothes and was standing in her knickers and bra, opening her shorts to step into them, and the door swung open. Demi screamed and tried to cover herself as much she could, and she only really had her hands, and Bradin stood and gawped. After a moment Bradin broke free from shock and closed the door. Demi put the rest of her clothes on as fast as she could. She climbed into her bead and put her head on the pillow. A minute later and there was a knock at the door.
"Are you decent?" Bradin asked awkwardly.
"Yeah." She called back, flushing slightly.
"Sorry about, you know, walking in." Bradin said quickly, avoiding looking at her in the eyes.
"It's ok. Sorry about earlier, you know, walking in." She said, also avoiding eye contact. He shook his head to show it didn't matter. "Guess we're even, then." Demi laughed. Bradin smiled and laughed too before crawling into bed and falling asleep almost straight away.
--Next morning--
Ava and Susannah were downstairs in the kitchen, each of them holding onto a cup of coffee like it was a lifeline. Derrick was in the garden on his skateboard and everyone else seemed to be asleep. Ava and Susannah talked about the new collection, desperately racking their brains for ideas. Just as Susannah opened her mouth to say an idea, there was a knock on the door. She got up and answered and found Colby standing at the door.
"Come in." she said jokingly with a small curtsy.
"Do either of you beautiful and talented ladies have ideas for the new collection? Because as soon as you do, I can get business done." He said smiling.
"Sadly, no." Ava said returning the smile and taking another
sip from her cup. "I haven't had much time to just sit down and draw what with everything that's been happening round here lately."
"Details." Colby said as girlishly as he could.
"There's a new addition to the family." Susannah told him. "Johnny's niece, Demi. She's asleep at the moment." She continued, in answer to the confused look on Colby's face.
"Yeah, her mom kicked her out. She's a bit of an alcoholic and druggie so she wasn't fit to be her mother. I'm still getting used to it, it feels so weird. In only a matter of hours a girl has showed up on our doorstep and is now officially living here. I just feel so bad for her, though. I mean, she walked for two days to get here, she must've been exhausted." Ava said thoughtfully, looking blankly down into space.
"I hate to be a mood killer, but I need the two of you upstairs to help me. Ava Gregory, go work your magic and design something fabulous." Colby told her.
"You two go, I'll come up once everyone's awake." Ava said, sitting down onto one of the stools. She sat there for about 5 minutes after Susannah and Colby had went upstairs thinking, when Bradin walked came to the kitchen for his breakfast.
"Morning, sweetie." Ava said, smiling.
"Morning." He said as he fished a bowl out of the cupboard.
"Was everything ok last night? With you and Demi in the same room? Is she ok?" Ava asked.
"Yeah, we both went straight to sleep. But I'm sure I heard her crying in the middle of the night, but I fell back to sleep." Ava looked over at the closed door to their room as Bradin said this, concerned.
"So… what are you planning on doing today?" Ava quizzed him.
"I haven't made any plans yet." He said, pouring milk onto his cereal and getting a spoon. They sat quietly for a while until Nikki came downstairs and started telling them both about the work she was doing for the school journalism club. It wasn't long before Derrick had came in bored from being on his skateboard so long and the Nikki/Derrick argument for control of the TV started again.
--In Bradin's and Demi's room--
'What are you up to?' Demi's friend, Alex, had typed over MSN.
'Not much, mom's out again. Don't know when she'll be back.' Demi replied. Knots were forming in her stomach, she was dreading her mother coming home. She knew she'd have to make an excuse to sign out soon so she could pretend to be asleep when her mom got in.
'OMG! Guess what I just heard?' Alex wrote.
'What?' Demi replied with a shock face, not really interested at all.
'Laura Hudson's broke her leg at cheerleading practice!!' Alex replied with 3 shock faces. A smile broke out on Demi's face. She's hated Laura since forever and this was definitely something to cheer her up.
'Serves her right. Can you believe the rumour she was spreading about Hannah. She's a total bitch, everyone hates her but she loves herself because she's a 'popular'. Alex, you've just made my day.' She messaged back with 2 grinning faces. Before either of them knew it, they were typing animatedly about all the girls they hate and telling each other the gossip they'd heard recently. Just as Demi was about to tell Alex about what had happened to Molly in chemistry class, she heard a slam of the front door. Her heart raced. 'Gotta go' she quickly typed and signed out. She tried to shut down the computer as fast as she could. 'Stupid computer!' She thought to herself, 'Why did you have to pick today to freeze!'. She was running out of time. She held in the power button for 5 seconds and the screen blanked. She got up and pulled the covers of her bad back. 'SLAM.' Her door had hit the wall and her mom stood there, looking terrible as she often did these days. Demi's heart pounded, threatening to break free from her chest. Her eyes widened as she looked at her mother, standing in the doorway with a bottle of vodka in one hand, half empty.
"What are you looking at your own mother like that for?" she spat evilly.
"I'm… I'm just going to bed." She'd tried her best to sound natural, but fear could be heard in every word.
"What's wrong with you!? Are you going to start crying!?" Demi's mom had walked right up to her now and was shouting in her face. Her breath smelt awful, Demi didn't want to know the concoction of alcohol and drugs that she had taken. Demi said nothing, but couldn't stop a tear from rolling down her right cheek. "ANSWER ME!!" She'd lost it. She slapped Demi across the face and pushed her onto the bed, before violently punching her, scratching her, kneeing her when she could. Demi begged and begged for her to stop through heavy sobs, but there was just no reasoning with her. Demi took a blow to her eye, she screamed in pain.
Demi sat bolt upright screaming, her face sparkling wet with tears. It was a moment before she realised she was sat in a bed and that it had been a dream, then she noticed Bradin looking at her, sat on the end of her bed. Here chest rose and fell rapidly. She wiped her face with the back of her hands.
"You ok?" Bradin asked, moving further up the bed, sitting a little in front of her. She wrapped her arms round his neck and broke down sobbing.