ethereal (demi lovato)

Struggling

Thank you so much! We hit a million reads after like four years of writing this story. Thank you all so much, you are all so incredible and amazing. Thank you all so much!

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Kelsey

***

Demi was frustrated with her child, her oldest child, who had never acted this way in her short amount of years. She was forced to dress her infant in a snowsuit and take the twenty-minute drive to the school to pick up her suspended child and talk to the principle.

She bit her tongue as she walked into the office of her child's middle school, somewhere she had only been to register her child years ago, and stared down her daughter, who sat two seats away from another girl. Sofia had clearly been crying, she held an icepack over her right eye while the other girl was holding a bundle of tissues up to her bleeding nose.

"Momma.." Sofia started as she turned to see her mother walking into the office with a straight face. She heard her moms heels first before she even seen her, although Demi had loosened up on the rock star look, she still sported heels, no matter the season.

Demi shook her head at her child as her and the other mother were both welcomed into the office of their older principle.

"Good afternoon, ladies. Im sorry to be meeting this way, but this is obviously necessary." Both mothers nodded, Demi reached down and slipped her youngest daughters soother back into her mouth as she started to fuss.

"What happened?" Demi questioned, crossing her jean covered legs.

"I was called down after the incident took place, from what the girls and the teachers have told me, Sofia and Jaedyn got into an argument while their teacher was out in the hallway with another student. They began pushing each other and this lead to Sofia punching Jaedyn in the nose and Jaedyn then punching Sofia in the eye. This is when their teacher returned to the room." Demi took a deep breath and shut her eyes for a second. What had gotten into her child? What was going on with her?

"Im so sorry." She sighed, apologizing to the other mother who shook her head.

"No, no Im sorry, Jaedyn has gotten suspended over fighting before, she should have known better." The other mother sighed and Demi nodded her head, her daughter should have know better too, fighting is something Wilmer and her talked to their children about a lot, considering their eleven-year-old and four year old fought like cats and dogs.

"So, a three-day suspension has been handed out to each girl. Neither of them will be returning to school until Monday. Their teacher has put together a booklet for them to each work on over the text few days. She would like it to be completed by the time Monday comes around." Mrs. Robinson told the women and they both agreed, taking the booklets. Demi tucked hers into the diaper bag as she rocked Nevaeh's car seat softly.

They finished up in the office after about thirty minutes and Demi stepped out into the office where her clearly anxious daughter was sitting. She was biting on her nails, Demi could see that most of her fingernails were chewed down to the level of her skin. As soon as she seen her mother she dropped her hand quickly, looking up at her with teary, red eyes.

Demi noted her barely 70-pound daughter was wearing a teal long sleeve shirt, although that was not odd in normal circumstances, from what she had discovered that morning, it could be alarming.

"Lets go, Sofia Grace." Demi said sternly, holding the car seat in her left elbow and held the door open for her child with her right hand. Sofia frowned slightly and slowly got up, moving out of the office and towards the car.

After making sure both Nevaeh and Sofia were buckled properly into the backseat of the car, she began driving. She turned the music on a bit louder than normal, she wanted to keep the car ride as peaceful as she could. She did not intend to deal with any of this until Wilmer returned home just after picking up Faithlyn.

"I want you to go put your phone on the counter," They had gotten her a simple phone plan and an older iPhone for her birthday in order for them to communicate with her while she was at dance or school. "And then head up to your room. I have a school packet for you, which I want you to work on until dinner. Wilmer and I will come talk to you later." Demi spoke, handing her daughter the school packet.

Demi ignored the sad look on her child's face, wanting to hug her and forgive her right then, but she needed to understand she had done wrong. She watched as her child took off her coat and boots, slipping her phone onto the kitchen counter with a frown.

"I love you Sofia, and what happened doesn't change that, but you seriously messed up these last two days, kiddo." Demi spoke softly to her oldest, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. She grabbed her daughter another icepack for her eye, and told her that she may shower if she wanted, but she needed to be working on her homework until they came to get her.

She watched as her oldest child walked up the stairs quietly. Demi heard the sound of her daughter's bathroom shower turned on, the sound of the water running through the pipes in the house calmed the silence that Demi felt.

With a sigh, Demi checked her own phone, Wilmer would be home in thirty minutes with Faith. She had texted Maddie earlier and asked her to come over to watch Faithlyn in the basement for a while so they could have the chance to speak with Sofia, as much as they didn't want to do this. Demi had spoken to Wilmer in the car about her findings and what was going on, before she got to school to get her child.

"Mommy!" She heard a yell from the kitchen twenty minutes later and smiled as her toddler came running into the room, jumping into her arms. With a smile, she hugged her middle child, being the only one who hadn't been giving her a hard time today, between cranky little Nevaeh and Sofia, she was already exhausted.

"Hey there, cutie. How was school?" She asked her daughter, who shrugged and snuggled into her mother. Demi was fine to just sit there for a few moments with her snuggling little girl.

She cuddled with Faith for a few minutes before moving into the kitchen where Wilmer had Nevaeh snuggled into her arms. Demi smiled softly and kissed his cheek. They spoke softly in the kitchen for a few minutes before Maddie showed up. She quickly instructed Maddie and Faith to stay downstairs in the playroom while Wilmer put Nevaeh in her crib.

Upstairs, Wilmer was waiting upstairs holding the baby monitor outside of their oldest daughter's room.

With a soft sigh, they knocked gently at the door. Getting no response, Wilmer turned the door knob open and pushed it open, the sight in front of them made each of their hearts drop into their stomachs.

Sofia sat curled up in the middle of her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. Her wet blonde hair was all tangled and dripping down her back. She was dressed in an oversized long sleeve shirt and leggings, something she always wore to bed each night. She had clearly been crying, tears were drying to her face as she sniffled and hiccuped.

"Lets talk, baby girl." Demi spoke softly, sitting down on the edge of her daughter's bed.