W A N D E R L U S T- Prologue: 3 Years Earlier

I know I said this would be posted yesterday and I am SO incredibly sorry. Between school and planning out the ticket giveaway I'm doing it all just slipped my mind. The first chapters will probably take a bit to get up, but by the end of the month once school is over for me I should(hopefully) be updating fairly regularly.

“What if they say no?” the younger of the two girls asked, worry laced in the 14 year old’s voice.

“We have a really good argument and your slideshow, there’s no way they can say no,” A 15 year old brunette with piercing green eyes assured her friend. Camila and Lauren had been up in Camila’s room for the better part of an hour, gathering up what they needed to make their proposal to their parents in hopes they’d get a yes from all four adults. The two girls had known each other for nearly 10 years so they knew how to work together well, something they hoped would come in handy while making their presentation.

“Ready?” Lauren asked, grabbing her laptop while Camila grabbed her flashcards, putting them in their correct order.

“Ready,” The younger girl confirmed. The girls made their way downstairs where Camila’s mothers and Lauren’s mother and father were sitting in the living room talking amongst themselves.

“Guys?” Lauren was the first to speak up and catch the adult’s attention.

“We have something we’d like to talk to you about.”

Lauren and Camila didn’t give the adults much time to respond as Camila quickly logged on to her 

and pulled up the powerpoint presentation she and Lauren had spent over an hour working on. The  opening photo read

WANDERLUST: An irresistible desire to travel to understand one’s very existence.

“As you know, I’m starting high school in 3 weeks and with how fast time has gone by lately before you know it I’ll be walking across the stage getting my diploma,” Lauren began.

“And I know there’s still 3 years to wait but I would like to make a request for my graduation present now.”

“And what is that?” Clara, Lauren’s mother asked.

“A trip to London, England and San Juan, Puerto Rico. A trip for me and Camila the summer before I start my Senior year,” Lauren replied.

“Honey, that’s a BIG present.” Lauren’s father, Mike said.

“We know, we did the research,” Camila finally piped up, switching to the next slide with all of their financial research.

“We looked up flights, hotel fares, food other spending money and anything else involved and came up with a grand total of just under $13,000 for the entire trip,” Camila said.

“And Lauren and I think that we will be able to afford the trip by the end of Lauren’s junior year if you guys would be willing to split it 4 ways: Lauren, Me, and the two sets of parents.”

“And how do you guys plan to raise your half of the money? You girls aren’t old enough yet to get proper jobs yet,” Selena, one of Camila’s mothers said.

“We know. That’s why we’ll stick to babysitting until we’re old enough to apply for jobs and put every penny of that away. And even then we’ll still do babysitting and other stuff to make money on our days off,” Lauren replied.  

“I know you guys probably think we’re planning this too far ahead and by next week we’ll forget all about it but we figure the sooner we start saving up our money the more likely we’ll get the money we need.” Camila added.

“Can you girls give us a minute to talk it over?” Camila’s mother Demi asked and the girls didn’t need to be told twice as they left the laptop and flashcards for the parents to look over and scurried into the kitchen.

“I think we did alright,” Lauren beamed, confident they had a fairly decent argument between their presentation and what was on the powerpoint they had made.

“That trip is totally ours.”

“You think?” Camila asked.

“Of course. We did the research, explained how we’d get the money and showed them we looked into everything. We’ve got this in the bag,” Lauren replied.

“Girls, can you come here, please?” Demi called out almost 10 minutes later and after crossing their fingers the girls headed back into the living room.

“First off I’d like to say how impressed we all are with how much you girls have looked into this,” Demi complimented.

“And we’re all very happy you’re so willing to raise your portion of the money on your own instead of asking us to pay for the trip completely.” Mike added.

Money was not much of a concern in either the Lovato or Jauregui households. Demi was still a very successful singer and actress (though she mostly stuck to singing now and only did a bit of acting here and there) and Selena was also still very much into acting and had just finished a movie only a few weeks earlier. As for Lauren’s parents Mike was one of the most sought after lawyers in LA and Clara was a Neonatologist at The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

“And if this is something you truly TRULY want...” Selena continued.

“WE CAN GO?!” Camila squealed.

“You can go,” Clara replied and after giving their parents a hug and saying thank you so many times they lost count, they grabbed the laptop and flashcards and headed back up to Camila’s bedroom, now wanting the next three years to go by incredibly fast.

The Itty Bitty Banana-A Camren Drabble

“Camz, you didn’t!” Lauren groaned looking at her 3 week old daughter, Alexis, lying on the couch completely oblivious to the outfit her mother had just put her in.

“Come on, Lolo, you have to admit she looks adorable.” Camila said, a triumphant grin on her face.

“She does but did you really have to dress her up in that?” Lauren asked, picking Alexis up from her blanket on the couch.

“Yes! Dinah bought it for her and I wanted to see her in it at least once,” Camila argued.

“Your Mami is crazy, baby girl,” Lauren said, giving her daughter a kiss on her cheek.

“Can you at least put her back down for just a second before you take it off her, I was gonna take a picture and send it to Dinah,” Camila said.

“Fine, one picture  then you’re taking it off her, poor thing is probably over-heating,” Lauren said putting Alexis back on the blanket allowing Camila to take the picture on her phone.

“Okay, now I’m done,” Camila said and without another word Lauren scooped up Alexis and started unzipping the costume.

“I can’t believe you dressed up our daughter like a freaking banana,” Lauren said, pulling Alexis’s chubby little arm out of sleeve, the 3 week old whimpering a bit.

“But she makes such a cute banana!” Camila exclaimed as Lauren headed upstairs with Alexis to her nursery to get her a different outfit and to put that damn banana costume away. Meanwhile as Camila waited for her girls to come back she opened a message to Dinah and sent her a text.

To: CheeChee

 Lexy says “thanks Aunty Dinah for my cool costume! My momma doesn’t like it very much but Mami and I love it!” 

I Loved Her First

 “And now, one of the mothers of the bride would like to say a few words.” Taylor, the chosen Emcee for the evening announced as Demi stood behind her, an acoustic guitar clutched in her hands. Everyone clapped as Taylor stepped aside and let Demi step up to the mic, her nerves and emotions hitting overdrive as she locked eyes with her baby girl, Camila, who was sitting at the head table in the most gorgeous white dress imaginable with her bridesmaids and now-wife Lauren. It was a sight that Demi never thought she’d see so soon, and to be honest it hadn’t even truly hit her until that moment that her baby girl wasn’t her baby girl anymore. She was Lauren’s now and that thought alone made a huge lump form in Demi’s throat.

“Okay, I’m going to try my best to get through this without crying so I’m sorry in advance if that doesn’t work out.” Demi began, the sound of laughter coming from the audience.

“First of all, welcome to the family Lauren. You know Selena, Emory, Dylan and I love you to pieces and we couldn’t be happier that you’re now officially part of the family.” Demi smiled wide at her new daughter-in-law who couldn’t help but smile in return.

“Just make sure ‘mila doesn’t give you too much of a hard time, if she does feel free to send her back to us.” More laughter erupted from the audience.

“Camila, baby girl I’m just so happy for you. You’ve grown up into such a beautiful, talented, amazing young woman who’s had a good head on your shoulders and always fought for anything you’ve ever believed in. Even though you and Lauren are starting this new chapter of your lives together you’ll still be our little princess who decided using mommy’s eyeliner to draw kitties and unicorns on the wall was a good idea when she was 3.” Demi laughed with everyone as the lump in her throat seemed to grow bigger.

“I, um….there’s more I want to say but I figure like usual the best way for me to express myself is through music so before I lose it, here’s to the lovely brides.” Demi smiled to the two girls as she took her seat on a stool Taylor had put beside her while she was giving her speech.

Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love your alone in this place
Like there’s nobody else in the world

I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I’m not gonna stand in your way

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a Mother runs deep

“1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.” Dr. Kennedy counted and as Demi let her head fall back to the pillow yet again a loud cry filled the room.

“It’s a girl!” Dr. Kennedy announced as he suctioned the newborns mouth and both Demi and Selena had tears in their eyes as Selena cut the umbilical cord and the baby was whisked off to be checked over.

“You did amazing baby.” Selena said through tears as she gave Demi a kiss.

“Where is she?” Demi asked, just barely getting the words out she was so drained.

“They’re just checking her over, don’t worry.” Selena assured her and about 5 minutes later their baby girl was brought over to them.

“7 pounds, 4 and a half ounces, 19 inches long and perfectly healthy. Congratulations mommies.” Dr. Kennedy smiled as he handed the newborn over to Demi. She was perfection; no other word described her more than that. From her thick head of hair to her little toes there was not a single flaw that could be seen on the newborn. 

"Hey baby girl," Demi cooed, the newborn just barely looking up at her with half opened eyes.

"We still haven’t decided a name," Selena reminded Demi.

"How about Camila?" Demi suggested.

"Why Camila?" Selena asked.

"Because it means perfect, and that’s exactly what she is," Demi replied. There was no other words said between the two, she was a Camila. 

And I prayed that she’d find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first

How could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew?
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights?

“Momma can we wead dis one?” a 3 year old Camila asked her mother, holding up her copy of Cinderella with the biggest puppy dog eyes she could pull off.

“Okay, let’s get tucked into bed first,” Demi replied and no other words were needed as Camila ran up to her room and jumped into her bed, grabbing her favourite stuffed dragon, Dani, as she crawled under her covers and cuddled close into Demi.

“Okay…once upon a time in a land far away, lived a beautiful young girl and her widowed father…”

Demi read her daughter her most favourite story until all she heard were light snores coming from the 3 year old who now had Dani tucked under her arms and her thump propped in her mouth, sucking on it as she lay there sound asleep.

“Night, Princess,” Demi said, sliding out of the bed and giving her daughter a kiss on her forehead before turning on Camila’s puppy nightlight and heading downstairs.

And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time

“LoLo, stoooop!” Demi heard her 16 year old daughters giggling voice coming from outside. Doing her best to be discreet Demi got up from her spot on the couch and peeked through the slits on the blinds, making sure no one could see her. She couldn’t see all that well but she did manage to see her daughter and another girl now on the front lawn, the girl now having pinned Camila to the ground and ticking her.

“Lo-haha-stoooooop!” Camila shrieked.

The girl, who she soon learned was named Lauren, finally stopped tickling Camila and got up from the ground, but not before giving her a quick kiss and offering to help her up.The look Lauren was giving Camila was one Demi knew all too well. It was the same look she gave Selena at that age, and the look she still gave her now.

 And in that moment, as the girls walked up to the doorstep with their hands laced together, that’s when Demi started to feel it

Her baby girl slipping right out of her fingers

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a Mother runs deep
And I prayed that she’d find you someday
But it’s still hard to give her away
I loved her first

“Hey, guys,” Selena smiled as Camila and Lauren’s faces appeared on the computer screen. Lauren and Camila were in their 2^nd and 3^rd year of college now, both living together in New York in a small apartment. Since Selena and Demi were still in LA, Camila promised they’d still have regular skype chats at least once a week. This was one of the few times Lauren had joined in on the chat so Selena was caught a little off guard but nonetheless pleased to see her daughters girlfriend.

“Hey, what’s up?” Camila asked.

“Nothing, your mom’s just putting Emory and Dylan to sleep,” Selena replied, Camila grinning at the mention of her younger brother and sister.

“Okay, well tell her to hurry cause we got something to tell you!” Camila said.

“You’ve got something to what?” Demi asked coming into the computer room and closing the door as to not wake up Emory and Dylan.

“Oh, hey ma!” Camila smiled giving a  small wave to her mom.

“Hey, baby girl. So what were you saying?”

“Okay, so Lauren and I have something to tell you guys,” Camila began.

“And just so you know you’re finding out even before Lauren’s parent’s,”

“Finding out about what?!” Demi asked. Camila finally let go of Lauren’s hand and showed her hand to the camera, revealing a ring on her finger.

“WE’RE ENGAGED!” Camila replied, a noticeable shrill to her voice and a huge grin on Lauren’s face.

“Oh my god! Congratulations!” Selena exclaimed, tears coming to her and Demi’s eyes. Demi was rendered speechless, but a large smile still came onto her face.

“I’m so happy for you guys,” Demi finally spoke up with an obvious catch in her throat trying to keep the tears in.

Her little girl really wasn’t her little girl anymore.

From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a Mother runs deep
Someday you might know what I’m going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first

Tears glistened in Demi’s eyes as well as Camila’s the second Demi struck the last chord on her guitar, all of the guests immediately breaking into applause as Camila ran up and hugged her mother.

“I love you,” Camila said, just barely getting the words out without her voice cracking.

“I love you too, baby girl,” Demi said, giving Camila a kiss on her temple. As Camila wiped her tears after breaking the hug with her mom, Lauren came over and gave Demi a hug as well.

“Take good care of her,” Demi said, wrapping Lauren in a tight hug.

“I promise I will,” Lauren replied.

And 2 years later, Lauren held her and Camila’s baby girl for the very first time, finally realizing just what Demi was talking about 

Meet The Parents

“…And whatever you do just please don’t interrogate her.” Camila pleaded as she helped her mothers set the table.

“The last thing we need is her running away cause you’re asking her a million and one questions.”

That night was the first night that Camila’s girlfriend, Lauren, was coming over for dinner for the first time and Camila was determined to have it go off without a hitch.

“Mila, relax. We promise we won’t smother her.” Selena said but Camila remained unconvinced.

“That’s what you said about Emily too and look how well that one ended up.” Camila muttered.

“Hey, in my defense I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t hiding anything from us, she seemed pretty sketchy to me.” Demi interjected.

“Yeah, well how about you not do that this time around?” Camila suggested. Before Demi could scold Camila for her tone there was a knock at the door which made all 3 of their dogs bark.

“Luca, Penny, Arthur stop it.” Camila scolded as she opened the door and as soon as she caught a glimpse of the girl in front of her it took everything in Camila not to let her jaw drop to the floor. Lauren was wearing a dark pair of skinny jeans with a red and black stripped tank top, and a cropped leather jacket, her hair straightened and the little bit of makeup she had decided to put on complemented her look extremely well.

“Hhhi.” Camila stammered as she let Lauren in, and before she could say anything else Demi had made her way into the living room

“Hi, you must be Lauren, I’m Demi.” Demi introduced herself as she came into the living room and shook Laurens hand.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Ms. Lovato.” Lauren smiled.

“You as well, and you can call me Demi, I don’t mind.” Demi told her and Lauren simply nodded her head.

“Well Selena’s just finishing up dinner so if you girls wanna come take a seat  everything should be done in a few minutes.”

“Alright, we’ll be there in a second.” Lauren replied and with that Demi left the room letting the two girls be. As soon as Demi was out of sight Lauren gave Camila a quick kiss.

“Hi.” Lauren smiled and Camila was nearly reduced to jelly at the sight of her girlfriends intoxicating smile.

“Hi.” Camila replied with the goofiest grin on her face, blush coating her cheeks as she laced her fingers with Lauren’s and headed into the kitchens before her mothers could start poking fun at the two teens.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“…..and after that I guess I just kinda knew that I was meant to get into singing.”

Dinner so far had gone off without a single hitch. Despite Camilas worries of her mothers being too nosy and asking Lauren a million different questions, they seemed to be taking it easy on the girl and having a good time getting to know her. Lauren had just finished the story about how she had discovered her love of singing back in 3^rd grade and both Demi and Selena listened intently the entire time.

“Who did you listen to growing up?” Demi asked.

“A lot of Aretha Franklin, some Katy Perry and Paramore, a bit of everything really. My parents have totally different tastes in music so I always got a little taste of each genre growing up”  

Demi seemed fairly happy with her answer and continued to ask Lauren about her musical background.

“Man, how did she know talking about music would get her on your mom’s good side?” Selena whispered to her daughter.

“No idea but if it keeps her from interrogating her like she’s done before I’m fine with it.” Camila replied, taking another fork full of salad as Selena held back a giggle. Soon Camila had almost been completely forgotten as the two women became more interested in finding out more about their daughters girlfriend, but not in the typical “we’re questioning the hell out of you so we know you won’t hurt our baby” way it was more so that they really liked her and just wanted to know more about her. After Lauren helped clear the table and helped Selena wash dishes Demi and Lauren continued to talk about their love of music and singing, leaving poor Camila by herself on the living room couch with Penny. After about 20 minutes Camila figured her mothers would be hogging her girlfriend for a while so she sent Lauren a text telling her where she was and headed up to her room to get some reading done for her English class. It was another 10 or 15 minutes before Camila heard a knock on her door and Lauren was standing there.

“Hey.” Lauren said, and Camila looked up and pouted.

“Hey.”

“Oh come on, why are you pouting?” Lauren asked, falling onto the bed beside Camila

“They were hogging you! I wanted to spend time with you too then they’re just all “OMG Lauren!!!”. I’m pretty sure they love you more than me right now .” Camila pouted and Lauren was pretty sure her heart was about to burst at the sight of her girlfriend’s puppy dog eyes and pout.

“Awe, Camz.” Lauren cooed as she lay down beside Camila and wrapped her arms around Camila’s waist, giving her a kiss on her temple.

“Don’t cuddle me, I’m mad at you.” Camila tried to sound angry but the small smirk on her face couldn’t be fought back.

“Oh come on, Camz. You can’t blame your moms for loving me” Lauren replied.

“No I guess I can’t…I’m still mad at you though.”

  Lauren pouted as her fingers began to trail up Camilas sides, hitting her most ticklish spot.

“Lauren, no.” Camila warned but that didn’t stop Lauren from attacking Camilas sides, sending Camila into a fit of giggles.

L..haha…Lauren ss-stop!” Camila tried to say between breaths. Camila wriggled around the bed trying to dodge Lauren but Lauren didn’t give up until Camila had moved so far to the side she fell off the bed with a shriek.

“Oh my god, Camz are you okay?” Lauren asked, worried her girlfriend had hurt herself.

“Yeah, I think I hit my head on the night stand though.” Camila mumbled getting up and sitting back on the bed.

“Where?” Lauren asked and Camila pointed to the top of her head and Lauren planted a kiss where Camila had pointed to.

“I’m sorry.”

“You better be. First taking my moms away from me then making me fall off the bed…” Camila grumbled jokingly.

“Oh hush up and cuddle with me. You have me now and I promise I won’t run off with your moms again.”

 Melting into Laurens arms Camila turned on her laptop and started a movie for them to watch, but neither girl made it to the end as they fell asleep.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Flashback, Christmas Morning 2000

“Sel...Selly  wake up.” Demi whispered to her friend. The older latina’s eyes slowly fluttered opened as Demi continued to lightly shake her shoulder.

“Mmm...What is it Dem?” Selena asked rubbing her eyes.

“It’s Christmas Sel!” Demi exclaimed.

“Let’s go see if Santa came.”

After Selena had fully woken up the two eight year olds quietly made their way down the stairs of the cabin they and their families had rented together for the holidays and surveyed the living room, checking for any signs that Santa had stopped by their cabin. Demi was specifically worried about that because up until that year she had always been home but when the Russo’s and Torres’ decided to spend the holidays together at a nearby cabin Demi was worried Santa wouldn’t be able to find her, Dallas or Selena. Selena continuously assured her best friend that there was nothing to worry about but it did little to assure Demi that Santa would still find them.

“Look Sel! Santa came!” Demi shrieked with excitement. Indeed the tree had a stack full of new presents from Santa along with over flowing stockings that rested on the couch and the girls rushed down the stairs to get a closer look at everything. After a few minutes of glancing and guessing what some of the presents could be the girls grew impatient and rushed back upstairs to wake their parents up.

“Mom! Dad! Presents!” Demi exclaimed running into her parent’s room. Dianna and Eddie slowly began to wake up from their daughter’s voice and were fully awake by the time the 8 year old bounced onto their bed.

“Mom ,dad, come on!” Demi exclaimed, much too excited about opening her parents to notice that it was only 5:45 in the morning. Dianna looked over her shoulder at the alarm clock and noticed the time. She knew Demi loved Christmas morning more than anything but quarter to six was much too early to even think about being awake

“Demi, honey, it’s still really early. How about head back to bed for a while and we can open presents in a bit?” Dianna said. With a huff Demi agreed and Demi crept back to her room 

where Selena was now laying back in bed.

“Mom said it was too early and we had to wait.” Selena pouted.

“Same. Now we gotta wait forever.” Demi said with a sigh. Forever didn’t last very long because within 15 minutes the two girls were fast asleep again until Demi’s older sister came and woke them up at 7:30.

~End Flackback, present time, Christmas Morning 2021~

“Momma! Mommy!” came an excited screech from outside the bedroom door. Soon the bedroom door was flung open and 4 year old Camila came running onto her mother’s bed, a look of pure joy and excitement on the little girls face as she ran to the bed where her mothers were still sleeping.

“Momma, Mommy Santa came!” Camila exclaimed. Demi and Selena were woken by their daughters bouncing on the bed and Demi was the first to fully wake up, and the first thing she noticed was the clock reading  5:48am.

“Mommy Santa came and left presents!” Camila repeated.

“Can we go open them?”

“Baby it’s a little too early for that right now. How about go back to sleep and we can open presents later?” Demi said. She and Selena had been up late wrapping presents and by that point she had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep, which was nowhere near enough. By now Selena was up and listening to Demi and Camila and smirking, remembering their Christmas at the cabin when she and Demi did the exact same thing to their parents.

“But I wanna open them now.” Emily whined.

“Mila, they’ll still be there when you wake up.” Demi reasoned.

“Fine.” Camila huffed and headed back to her room to go back to sleep.

“Almost like a taste of your own medicine huh?” Selena giggled as Demi lay back down.

“Yes. I think when we get back I’m apologizing to my mother for all those Christmas’s I woke her up at ungodly hours.” Demi replied snuggling back into Selena. Selena only giggled and did her best to fall back asleep, but that was proven useless when only half an hour later, Camila came back into their room asking if they could open presents yet.

“Like mother like daughter right?” Selena thought.

Influence-A Camila-centric Camren One-shot

She thought that maybe after so long eventually everything that happened before X-Factor would be nothing but a hazy memory, a blur in the back of her brain that couldn’t be cleared enough to see properly no matter how hard she tried. But she soon realized that no matter how much time had lapsed since the last shove into the side of a locker, the last push onto the school hallway floor, or the last name-calling, nothing could erase those painful memories completely.

She still remembered the teasing she endured from one specific group of girls as clear as day. Since 2^nd grade it was as if they had sworn to make her life a living nightmare from then on out. Cassie, Jessica and Tegan started their tormenting soon after 2^ndgrade had started when Camila won a class spelling bee because Jessica had messed up a word that Camila ended up getting right. After that it was like those three girls went out of their way to make Camila’s life miserable every chance they could. It got so bad to the point that one day in 3^rd grade after the girls had locked Camila in the classroom when she went to go get her jacket for recess, she came home and her cousin Micah had called and told her dad what had happened. When he asked Camila why he didn’t tell them about it right after she got home, she admitted that things like that had happened so often, she had forgotten all about it. Her mom and dad went to the school the next day and told the principal what had happened but all the principal really did was warn the 3 girls and after that the cycle was left to continue like it always had.

She thought back to those days where she hid in her room watching all the one direction youtube videos she could find, only because that felt like such a superior option to having to face the ridicule she received from everyone else around her. She had her small group of friends but even they didn’t always understand what she was going through completely. She wanted to fit in with the other girls at school, she truly did. But there was just something that kept her from connecting 100% with the other girls and she cursed herself everyday because of it. The teasing that had begun back in elementary school had only intensified, now it wasn’t just the three girls after her it was guys too. She remembered one incident where Cassie had dared a boy named Nico to ask her out and when she arrived at the place they had decided to meet up, she was left there for an hour before she realized she had been set up. She didn’t live that one down for weeks and even after that had died down they just found more ways to humiliate her.

The first person out of the group she confided in about her past was Lauren. Not like she had much choice after she had woken up Lauren from her crying after a horrid nightmare about the time Cassie, Jessica and Tegan cornered her in the bathroom and lashed out at her, calling her every spiteful name they could think of(“Tramp” and “Fat bitch” seeming to be the favourites) and told her if she ever tried to talk to Declan, Tegan’s boyfriend, again she’d be sorry (though Declan was the one who only asked her about the upcoming Social Studies assignment, and who was she to be rude and not let him know about it?). It was the first day she had ever left school because of the bullying and she remembered all too well running down several blocks to her house and collapsing onto her bed in tears, finally reaching her breaking point after 5 years of non-stop ridicule for absolutely no reason at all. Lauren brought her onto one of the decks of the mansion and sat her on her lap, rubbing her back comfortingly as she tried to calm Camila down as they sat on one of the large patio chairs. When Camila had calmed down enough to tell Lauren why she was crying, she only watched the older girl look at her in pitty as she told her about her dream.

“Camz, it’s alright. They’re not here. They can’t hurt you anymore.” Lauren told her soothingly, her words coming out in a comforting whisper that only Camila would be able to hear.

“I K-know, b-but it s-still g-gets to m-me you know?” Camila sniffled.

“They t-treated me like shit for s-so long and I-I thought that a-after all this it wouldn’t matter t-to me anym-more but it just d-doesn’t go a-away.”

“Hey, look at me.” Lauren says and Camila looks the older girl right in the eyes.

“You never have to deal with them again. While you’re on stage living your dream, they’ll be the ones out in the crowd wishing they had treated you a hell of a lot better than they did. And even if they try to tear you down again, they’ve got us to deal with and there’s no way in hell we’ll let them get away with it.”

This and more comforting words from Lauren seem to calm Camila down and after a while she nearly falls asleep on the patio chair but Lauren makes sure she makes it back inside and into her bed before that happens. Lauren can tell Camila doesn’t want to be left alone so she crawls in beside her.

“Lo?” Lauren hears Camila mumble out tiredly.

“Yea, Camz?”

“Thank you.”

No words are needed as Lauren inches her way closer and holds Camila comfortingly, the girls bodies molding together like two perfect puzzle pieces. She knows that won’t be the last time she wakes up from a nightmare related to what she went through back in school, but with Lauren there she knows it will be easier to deal with.

When the interviewer asks her about having such a strong influence on everyone else, she begins to really think about her new role in life and how much of a voice she has now. Every time she hears a fan tell her that she’s been the reason they’ve made it through another day it’s almost hard to keep the tears in. Because she’s been there. She’s been that person that needs that reason to keep going because life is complete and utter shit some days. She’s been that person locked up in her room watching youtube videos of her famous idols because they’re truly the only ones who bring her so much joy after having to deal with the hell that is High School. That’s why she’s the one to cry as she tells the interviewer just how much that means to her personally, and that’s why in that moment, as the rest of the girls comfort her while she wipes away her tears, she mentally swears to herself she’ll never once take that type of power for granted.

Sisterly Love

“Mama, when’s mommy gonna be home?” 6 year-old Alexis asked as she continued to stare out the window, waiting for her mother to be dropped off from the airport after being gone for 3 long months on tour.

“She’ll be back soon, baby. Her plane probably just got in.” Selena replied, taking her eyes off her book to see her very eager youngest daughter staring out the window while her oldest daughter, Camila, worked on her homework for the night. The 6 year old didn’t seem to like this answer and let out a huff as she went back to looking out the window.

“Lex, how about we go up to your room and read a book or something until mommy gets home?” Camila suggested, knowing full well if her sister had to sit and wait she would start driving both her and her mom nuts.

“Okay, ‘Mila.” Alexis replied, jumping down from the couch and running up the stairs.

“Thanks, honey, I’ll let you guys know when she gets here.” Selena promised and Camila headed upstairs where Alexis was already waiting with a book for Camila to read.

                                                                             ~*45 minutes later*~
“Hey, I’m home.” Demi said, having just enough time to close the door before Selena ambushed her and brought her into a hug.

“I missed you.” Selena said giving Demi a kiss.

“I missed you too. Where are the girls?” Demi asked noticing her two daughters seemed to be nowhere in sight.

“ ‘Mila went to read Lexi a story to keep her occupied until you got home, maybe they didn’t hear you.” Selena replied.

“Let’s go surprise them.” Demi said as she threw her coat on the hanger and the two women quietly headed up the stairs into Alexis’s room.

“Girls?” Demi said quietly, opening the door a bit more to be able to peek in. There was an unexpected silence when the door was fully opened but when both women caught sight of their daughters both sound asleep in Alexis’s bed, a copy of “The Lorax” resting opened in between them, both of their hearts melted.

“Should we wake them up?” Selena asked, afraid to ruin the sweet moment.

“Not before I take a picture. When was the last time we got an opportunity like this?” Demi replied, taking out her phone and taking a picture of  her girls and posting it to twitter before gently waking her daughters up.

@ddlovato: Cutest thing EVER to come home to after months on the road :) #sisterlylove: