A World Of Lies

Chapter 28

Lauren's POV

Even though I had lived in that house for six years, I felt so uncomfortable and out of place when I walked in. Everything was exactly the way it was before we left.

I went straight up to the room that used to be mine. It looked a little different, but that was just because there wasn't any of my stuff from when I was a six year old in the room. I put my stuff down and headed back downstairs.

"Mike, what do you want to do today?" my mother asked my father. "I don't know, Sinu. I could stay here while you take the girls out shopping or something," he replied. It was the first time I had heard him speak since they came back for us. "Okay, I'll go get the girls," my mother said.

Since I was hiding, I decided to get out of my hiding place and went to the kitchen. I pretended to get out a glass of water when my mother came in. "Lauren, would you like to go shopping with your sisters today?" she asked. I shrugged. "I'll stay here," I replied. She nodded and left the room.

As she left, I sighed. I then looked out the window to see the backyard. Camz and Sofia were playing there together. Sofia was just a child, the same age as Camz when we were abandoned. Although I didn't really like the kid, I didn't want the same thing that happened to us to happen to her.

Quickly enough, my mother, Camz, and Sofia were on their way to go shopping. Camz had wanted me to go, but I told her I had a headache so I'd rather stay back.

Once they left, I went to the living room and sat down on the couch. I had nothing to do, so I just sat there and thought about how school was starting up soon. I thought about this until I heard my father in a nearby room on the phone.

"Yes, they came over for the weekend," he murmured. There was a pause. "I know, I want to see them, too." Another pause. "I know. I'm sorry I've been gone. I- I want to be with you too." A shorter pause. "No- no I don't love her more than you." One more pause. "Okay. Tell them I love them and I'll visit tonight. Bye," he hung up the phone.

For a moment, I couldn't hear anything else. I wondered who he had been talking to until he burst into the room.

"Get me a beer," he demanded. Something seemed off about him. I studied him for a moment before I realized he was hoped up on drugs. Ha he always been on drugs?

"Where are they?" I asked, trying to play it safe. "I don't f*****g know, but go get one," he shouted, clearly getting angry. I realized that there was no way to really get out of this okay. I hurried to the fridge in the kitchen and looked for beer, yet there wasn't any.

This seriously wasn't going to end well. I gulped as I went back into the living room. "There isn't any beer in the fridge," I murmured. "Goddammit!" my father yelled. He approached me in fury and I closed my eyes for what came next.

Selena's POV

"Let's go to your room," Miley said. "Okay sure," I replied. We went up to my room and talked about a lot of things before I got right down to it and asked her, "Why do you need to be the most popular girl in school?"

Miley sighed. "Do I have to talk about it?" she asked. I nodded. "I don't know," she trailed off. "Please? You promised. I promise I won't tell anyone," I assured her. Miley nodded and said, "Okay, I guess."

After a moment, she began, "Well I don't want to sound self-centered, but I like the attention. I mean, it's nice that everyone seems to at least know who you are. Now I'm going to tell you something that I haven't told anyone, okay?" I nodded.

She gave a nervous breath before she continued, "I don't exactly have the best home life. My parents split up a couple of months ago, and neither of them will pay attention to me. My dad's always out on dates with women in their twenties and I remind my mom of my dad. So I'm stuck going from house to house feeling unwanted. So when I go to school, I feel like I need to be the popular one. Without that, I have nothing." Miley had tears in her eyes at this point.

I gave Miley a big hug. "It's going to be okay," I told her, "Ashley, Vanessa, Camila, Lauren, and I all care about you, so you don't need to be the most popular one. I'm not so sure about Demi right now because what you did is still wrong, but when she gets over him she'll hopefully come around."

"Thanks, Selena, you're a great friend," Miley sniffled. "You're welcome. Now, lets go do something fun!" I exclaimed as I jumped off the bed. "What are we going to do?" she asked. "Let's go swimming in my pool!" I said happily. Miley agreed and with that we got changed into bathing suits and headed outside to go in my pool.

Camila's POV

"Where do you want to go shopping, Camila?" my mom asked as we started driving. "I don't know. I don't usually go shopping. So anywhere is good," I replied. "I want toys," Sofia said from beside me. "I know you do, so how about we go to the mall where we could get lots of stuff," my mother suggested. I nodded and Sofia exclaimed, "Yay!"

Our shopping day was a lot of fun. When we got there we went to a bunch of clothing stores like Forever 21, Garage, American Eagle, and my favorite, Urban Outfitters. This was just in the morning!

For lunch we went to the food court. We all decided to have pizza, and then after the pizza we had some ice cream. As soon as we were done we headed towards Ardene and I got lots of bows for my hair because I wanted to try out wearing a now everyday.

Sofia still hadn't gotten anything besides food at this point, so we headed to the Build-a-Bear. She picked out a cat doll. I decided to get one too, so I got a monkey.

"I'm going to name mine Camila," Sofia told me as she was getting clothes for it. "That's so sweet," I said with a big smile. "Name yours Sofia," my little sister said. "I will," I replied.

Quickly enough our shopping day came to an end and it was time to go home. Before we left, my mom got a call on her cell phone. She walked away from the two of us and was talking in a hushed tone, however the man on the other line was shouting at her.

"Mama, who was that?" I asked when she came back. "No one important. Now let's head home," she replied. With that, we headed back in the car and then headed home.

Once we got home, I went straight to see Lauren. She was in her old room that would hopefully become her new room, so I ran in and jumped on her.

"Camz, ouch," Lauren complained while laughing a little. "Sorry," I said as I got off of her. She was clutching her stomach in pain, but I decided to ask her about that later. Instead of commenting on it, I decided to show Lauren everything our mom had gotten for me that day.

"Everyone will be saying how good you look at school on Monday," Lauren commented with a slight smile after I showed her everything. "Thanks, they will for you too if you want to wear some of my stuff," I replied. "I'll think about it," she told me.

"Girls, it's time for dinner," our mother called from downstairs. I jumped up off the bed and turned to Lauren. She slowly got up; I could tell her stomach was really hurting her.

"Lauren, are you okay?" I asked. "Yeah I'm fine," she replied. "Lauren," I warned. "Camz, it doesn't matter," she said and began to walk past me. I held onto her shirt and pulled her back to me. I then pulled up her shirt to see her stomach.

I was kind of expecting to see cuts, yet I hadn't realized how many there would be. But what really shocked me were the giant bruises all along her midriff. I could tell immediately that she hadn't caused those. "What happened?" I demanded. "I can't say," Lauren replied. I looked her in the eyes and asked softly, "Please? For me?" She sighed. "Dad did it," she whispered to me in response, almost shuddering.