4. What Happened Next

From that day forward, they had become closer, they even considered themselves as friends to each other, until one day...

The day in which Keira had to deal for the first time with Mr. Limburger without the help of her dear manager because he was out of town. He had gone to visit his parents and his younger brother Trevor, who was in a serious mess.

"It won't be long, just let me deal with that asshole and I'll be back." he had said before getting inside his car and driving fast towards the motorway.

She had trusted him that day, but then he had stayed away for three weeks and she had ended up crying in her trailer every evening because Mr. Limburger kept calling her a spoiled diva that was too lazy to make an effort and stay on a stage longer than for three hours.

And Crider hadn't been there to defend her, to shout at that fat man for his absurd ideas and plans, because he was still busy in his tometown.

After three weeks, he came back, and he found her not wanting to talk to him.

"Keira?" he knocked at her door, "Keira, let me in."

"No" she replied from inside "I don't want to speak to you"

"Why not? I tried to hard to make you understand that I couldn't call you these last few weeks because my brother had stolen my cellphone!"

He heard heavy steps inside and then Keira opened the door, her face red, anger cursing through her veins, her big blue eyes widened. She looked right into his eyes, "You want me to believe that?"

"I'm sure I told you, at least once, that my brother sometimes can't deal with university and, since he's so fucking stupid, my parents find him quite often on drugs. I care about my little brother, my dear superstar, and I hoped you would have remembered what I told you!"

"I don't believe it... I don't believe it!" Keira shouted "You could have called me with someone else's phone! If you really, really cared about me, you would have thought about that!"

"I know what you actually think." Crider was trying really hard not to shout back at her, "You wanted me not to care about my family and leave them with their problems. I only have to care about you, right?"

"I'm not saying that!" she shouted again

"Yes, you are!" he couldn't control himself anymore and he replied to her in the same tone she had used, "Well, let me tell you a thing, sweetheart: you aren't the only one who needs help in this world. And you are old enough to deal with adults! You'll turn 18 soon, for God's sake! Try to show others how you really are!"

"Then how am I, really?" she crossed her arms, annoyed

"You can shout at people. Look at you right now! Look at what you're doing!" he replied angrily, "You can insult me and you can't insult him?"

"You were always the one that helped me deal with Limburger."

"I won't always be here, child." he started walking towards his own trailer, not looking at her anymore, "The sooner you realize that, the better it will be. For all of us."

Keira stayed there, looking at his trailer until he locked himself inside, then slammed her door and collapsed on her bed. Not to cry, to hold herself from going in Crider's trailer to choke him.

Needless to say, their relationship had changed that day. They had almost turned into enemies, and he started to actually feel jealous of her singing career. Many times others had heard them arguing, and a day without them shouting at each other would have been a miracle.

But some days, when she was too sad to argue with him, and she wanted comfort, she looked for him and then throw herself into his arms like she would have done with a brother, the brother she never had.

"Stop betraying yourself, you ass" he kept telling himself while she was holding him close, "You cannot forgive her for how careless she has always been for others. Your brother could have died if you hadn't been there to help him!"

But he really couldn't help missing the times in which they had been friends. Little he knew, it was the same for her. Too bad they never took the chance to apologize to each other.

The End

A/N: Oh, look! I finished it! Read and review this last chapter, and remember that this takes place before the movie, so this is how I think everything had gone. Makes sense, right? I hope it does and I hope you have liked this entire story.

Your Spirit Ella