Bullying: Friends with Stars. A Little Mix and Demi Lovato story

Chapter 7

Aliyah's point of view:
"What?" Mom cried. "What do you mean 'you almost got arrested'!?" I practically screamed. "Just how it sounds, Aliyah," Dad replied. "You almost took my husband away!? What were you thinking?!" she asked the policemen furiously. "Sorry ma'am. We were tricked," one of the officers said. "What happened?" Jade asked. "While we were having dinner, we heard a knock at the door. I answered it, and there were two police officers. One of them said that they received an anonymous call about child abuse and possession of drugs taking place at the house. I tried to explain to them that there is nothing like that going on here, but one of them handcuffed me, while Jayden and Amber watched everything," Dad explained. "What happened then?" Demi asked.

"One of the policemen stopped his partner, saying that he recognized me. I was the dentist who fixed his daughter's cavity the day before. They let me go afterwards," Dad replied. "Why didn't you call us on the phone to tell us about this sooner, Dad?" I asked. "And ruin the moment you were having with your mother and your favorite superstars? After the rough time at school you were having?" Dad asked me. I jumped up from the chair I was sitting in, ran to Dad, and hugged him tightly.

The police officers turned to my mom and one of them asked: "Why is your daughter having a tough time at school?" "It's because of the bullying," replied Mom. "Bullying?" one of the officers asked. "Yes," I replied, before telling them everything that has been happening to me at school lately, before a light-bulb went off in my head. "Of course!" I shouted, face-palming myself. "What of course?" Perrie asked. "Gianna said that if I told anyone about her bullying me, that she would make my life miserable, and the lives of my family," I told her. By that point, all of the emotions that I had bottled up inside me went away. I sat down in a chair and broke down crying.

I couldn't believe that this was actually happening. "Poor sissy," Amber said, hugging me. "Thanks, Amber. I love you. You too, Jayden," I said, wiping my tears and hugging them close. "We love you too," said Jayden. "Very much," added Amber. I smiled and hugged them again while I felt our parents' arms wrap around us. I sighed a great sigh of relief. It felt so good to be so loved.

"Now that Aliyah's better, what are we going to do about Gianna?" Mom asked. "What's her full name?" one of the officers asked. "Gianna King," I replied. "Do you know where she lives?" another officer asked. I shook my head. "The school does have a mailbox, but it's the weekend. I doubt that it will be open," I said. "How do you know that it's really her?" the head officer asked me. I face-palmed myself again. "I just told you. Gianna threatened me and my family. One of my best friends got it all on video," I said. I texted Jackie, telling her to send me the video she took of Gianna's threat.

She sent it, and we all watched it together. After it played, the officers were shocked. "So did make good on her threats," Jade remarked. "I know. What can be done?" asked Demi. "I have a presentation on bullying to do on Monday. Maybe you can come by and stop her before she does anything to me," I suggested. "Now, that's a good idea," Leigh-Anne said. "A very good idea. What time is the presentation?" the head officer asked. "10:00 a.m," I replied. "Good. We'll be there," the officer said.

I nodded, and the policemen apologized for what they did. We accepted their apology, saying that it wasn't their fault. I was exhausted from that day, so we all went to bed. I mean all of us, including my dad and siblings. The hotel offered them to stay the night, and they had a room next door to mine and Mom's. It also turns out that Demi and Little Mix were staying on the same floor as us, and we all agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning. As I was getting ready to go to sleep, my phone dinged. I received a text from Madison that said: 'Aliyah, there's a new website with people from school. There are two pictures of you on it. People are saying bad things about you.' I almost dropped my phone in shock.

I tapped on the link, and saw to my horror and embarrassment that the picture was of me when my hair was being pulled by Gianna, and there was another one of me when I was shouting at her with tears in my eyes! It looked like I was in pain. I didn't want to look at the comments, but something was telling me to do so. When I did, I couldn't believe my eyes. People were saying things like:

-She's such a crybaby!
-You said that black people were dangerous. Now I see that they're weak!
-Is that her hair that you're hanging onto or a rope?

I saw that the comments were from other people at school. "Mom! Look at this!" I cried, handing her my phone. Mom looked at it with pure anger. "We'll talk about this in the morning," she told me. I nodded, and then texted both Jackie and Madison, asking if they also commented on the pictures. They said that they didn't. Relieved, I went to sleep, trying to get those mean comments out of my mind. When I woke up, I took a shower and got dressed. I tried hard not to think about those mean words, but it was hard to do. At breakfast, I showed everyone the website and the comments on the pictures. "Oh, darling!" Jesy cried, hugging me. "Now I know how you feel," I whispered to her.

We all agreed on two things: this had Gianna King written all over it, and this really has to stop.