#miss murgatroyd is saying something like ‘i know we teachers have been failing you but i’m proud of you’ or something

[pxme-granate]

[ritebeforeyoureyes]

Confessions

I am so sorry that this took so long to come out! As many of you do know, I am injured hence the pause in me basically living lol. I hope this doesn’t disappoint since you guys have waited so patiently. I’ll try and get the next one chapter written and up as soon as I can. Thank you for your continuous love and support x

Masterlist – Plot: Zendaya confronts Val.

Confessions (Chapter Twenty Two)

Zendaya Coleman had come to the very certain conclusion that she was stupid. And she was readily admitting to it too. What sane person did what she was doing?

After terrorising her for months – years even – Zendaya had still agreed to meet with her stalker with no security back up. If she’d alerted security or worse – Tom - everybody would have talked her out of it. They would have told her it was unsafe and that she was being reckless and granted, they were probably right. But, if she wasn’t here, confronting Val in person, she’d never get the answers to all her impending questions. Her plan was simple, maybe too simple – have Val drive her to an address of her choosing whilst she spoke to him, alone.

So, that brought them here, driving down the freeway in his car, the silence overbearingly worrisome until Val finally spoke up.

“You look beautiful.” Without the use of voice manipulation or a blindfold, Zendaya was forced to deal with the reality of Val being the star of her nightmares. She was seeing him like she had always seen him; sleeked comb over, light stubble, dance attire. He was so familiar and yet so foreign at the same time, it scared Zendaya. It scared her because she’d trusted him, relied on him and he’d broken through all layers of her exterior to stab her where she was most vulnerable. “So beautiful, honeybee.”

“Cut the crap, Val.” Zendaya’s heart suddenly lurched at the mention of the term that had basically helped decode this whole mystery. It had taken her while but when it had started to add up, Zendaya didn’t know why it took her so long. “I want the truth.”

“The truth about what?” Zendaya scoffed at Val’s nonchalance, her head falling back against her seat’s head rest in an exasperation of impatience.

“Honeybee.” She practically spat the word out. “It’s what Maks calls Peta.”

Maksim Chmerkovskiy, or Maks, as he was known to most, was Val’s biological older brother. He had been one of Zendaya’s dance teachers during her Dancing with the Stars experience and since then, had been a reoccurring part of her life. He had starred alongside her in her ‘Neverland’ music video and she’d supported him at his jewellery launch; they had your typical supportive brother-sister relationship. But as Zendaya’s career progressed, her involvement with Maks dwindled. It wasn’t that they weren’t friends anymore, it was just that they were both really busy. In recent years, whilst Zendaya climbed up the acting ladder, Maks had rekindled his love with his ex-girlfriend and fellow ballroom dancer, Peta Murgatroyd. The two had gotten married and started a family, a family that Zendaya got to admire from afar. Their relationship was one from the storybooks; a true depiction of ‘if it’s meant to be, it will happen one day.’

Maks and Peta were a love story that even Zendaya envied at times. They’d overcome the odds to get their happy ending and it was admirable; Val thought so too.

“You’re my Peta.” Val just shrugged, as if his three words were enough explanation for his abundance of harassment.

“And you think that’s fucking normal?” Zendaya rotated her body so that she was fully facing Val, her legs pulled up to her chest. She was dressed for the Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere, aware that she was under a time crunch. The event was scheduled to start in an hour or so and at this point, she didn’t even know if she’d make it to the premiere at all; it just didn’t hurt to be prepared. As she moved about, she watched him carefully, his eyes drifting over to her as he eyed her up once more. Val’s green eyes trailed up her exposed leg and then drifted up her torso to her made up face. His gaze was penetrating, intrusive almost and she leaned back in her seat some more, trying to create as much distance as she could in such an enclosed space.  

“I can’t believe you’re here, you know, willingly this time.” Val smiled and Zendaya thumped her head dramatically, she could tell that this conversation was just going to go around in circles; Val purposefully avoiding her questions. “I’ve missed you.”

“Val, comparing me to Peta isn’t okay.” Despite knowing of Val’s reluctance to speak the truth, Zendaya knew she needed to push for the answers that she wanted. “Are you in love with her or something? Is that it? Is this all a ploy to turn me into her?”

“No, of course not!” Val’s volume increased and Zendaya flinched at the abrupt change in the atmosphere. “You aren’t Peta, you’re my Peta. It’s a metaphor.”

“And this isn’t some John Green bullshit! What metaphor-“

“The girl who makes everything better. The girl who cheers me on from the side lines, someone I’m meant to come home to every night, have dinner with, start a family with.“ Val’s eyes glazed over with happiness as his fantasies began to play out in his head: Zendaya’s petite frame protruding with a rounded belly, a little girl running around with her unruly hair.

“I get it, we’ve always been there for each other but what you’re describing isn’t me. It’s an obsession you have with a need to have somebody submit to you.” A firm believer of her independence, Zendaya was glad to be taking back the reigns in this fucked up stalker-stalked relationship. She had let Val dominate her enough and she was ready to fight back. “You claim to know me but if you did, you’d know I would never be the girl on the side lines. I’d be the girl up there with you, in fact, you’d be the one up there with me.”  

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m proud of your success, you know that.” Val grinned at the memories. He had supported Zendaya through integral moments of her career; her tour, her acting. “I just … you’re it for me, you know?”

“No! I don’t know, Val! Where did this notion come from?” Zendaya was failing to understand Val’s logic. She understood him envying his brother’s lifestyle, she just didn’t know why he picked her. There were plenty of women that would throw themselves at his feet. He was a good-looking guy; successful, wealthy, he could have anyone. She didn’t get how his obsession started and why. “When we met I was with Trev, you weren’t like this then. Maks wasn’t even back with Peta then how-“

“Don’t. Don’t mention that time.” Val grumbled like a kid in a candy store. “I was stupid and unable to get a grip of my feelings. I took your friendship for granted and I failed to see that what I was looking for was right in front of me.”

When Val and Zendaya had first met, Val was enjoying the life of a singleton. He was reckless and wild; sleeping with any girl that nabbed his attention. He relished in it actually, and, he loved that. But it was the moments in the solitary darkness, when there was no gorgeous woman wrapped around his waist, when actuality sunk in. Sometimes it was in bed, sometimes when he was in the dance studio, sometimes moments like now, when he was driving down the endless roads. These moments were when the loneliness hit him the hardest. It was then when he craved love, not attention. He wanted somebody to listen to his confessions. He wanted to talk about his fears and his dreams. And at that time, sixteen-year-old Zendaya had been there.

It surprised Val how easily the two seemed to get along. When she’d walked into the studio that first day of Dancing with the Stars, he was ashamed to say that he was disappointed. He had used his previous seasons to flirt with beautiful women and make provocative jokes that boosted his sex appeal and as soon as he saw Zendaya, he knew that was out the window. But he’d gotten much more than he’d anticipated that season. He’d grown and matured significantly. And then suddenly, having meaningless sex became just that, meaningless.

“Yes, friendship.” Zendaya dragged out her syllables, emphasising the word that she had always used to embody her relationship with Val. “How have you been invading my privacy for so long under the pretence that I’m your Peta, I don’t understand.”  Val had been stalking Zendaya since she was sixteen, seventeen years old and Peta and Maks hadn’t gotten back together until recently. She was just trying to understand what in Val’s life so suddenly to explain the psychotic alteration in his behaviour.

“I bought the earlier pictures of you.” Val explained after moments of silence, sparking curiosity within Zendaya instantly. Her head snapped to the side and she listened to him intently, she was finally starting to get some answers. “Some backstreet IT guy said that hard drives store a certain amount of webcam footage that we don’t even know exists. I got him to hack into your stuff to see what I could get on you. I didn’t think it would be-“

“Pictures of me naked and underage?” Zendaya spat.

“I never intended to release them.” Val whispered, as if it would instantly make Zendaya any less angry. But it was the truth, he wanted Zendaya to be his girl and he would never do anything as scandalous as releasing her nudes to the press. It was just a method for her to gravitate towards him; just a plot to get her to submit. “I just … I knew there was no other option, and this would surely get your attention. It just so happened that you were practically handing me everything I needed to get you away from him.”

“Who, Tom?” At the mention of Tom’s name, Zendaya saw Val’s body go rigid. His knuckles tightened against the steering wheel, his skin turning a ghastly pale colour.

“You’re mine.” Val growled, earning Zendaya’s uttermost anger.

“I’m not a fucking possession, Val.” Her eyes were wide, filled with a passion that was seemingly rare for her. Her body was warm and ignited, ready to abide by the words of wisdom that she preached to many of her own fans.  “I’m not anybody’s. I make decisions for myself, I do what I do because it makes me happy. I love because I let myself. Your misogynistic beliefs don’t excuse blackmailing me, threatening the people I love. That’s not a healthy relationship, it’s a dictatorship.”

“You can’t love him.”

“Why? Because I’m meant to love you? Is this how it’s meant to go?” Zendaya rolled her eyes at the irony of the whole situation. “News flash, Val, I did, love you, that is. It may not be the kind of love that you wanted to accept but it was there. And you took that, you! I would have been there, helped you through whatever fucked you up this badly, helped find the girl who is meant to love you-“

“Where are we?” As Zendaya spoke, Val’s car rolled to a stop. He had been following directions that Zendaya had wordlessly put into his phone and they were finally here.

It was time for both Zendaya and Val to face the truth in its entirety. 

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