“We are not who we are because of what you think of us.Some of us learned that earlier than others.I won’t let others define me.Not anymore.”A tear pools at the inner corner of her eye and she swipes it away.Behind her, so close and yet never close enough, Dante clears his throat.He’s cheering her on, lending her his strength.
The crowd is so quiet, the flap of a bird’s wings would reverberate through the hills of Griffith Park.
“I am who I am because of the people who loved me,” she says.In her hands, Jasper feels like a part of her soul, an extension of her fingertips, warm and solid and real.Like Dante.“We didn’t write ‘Centrifuge’ as a pop hit.Dante and I—Dante is an incredible songwriter—wrote it as a way to understand what we were going through at the time.So tonight, I’d like to play the song for you as it was intended.”She swipes away the tears under her eyes and turns to her band.Selene and Lorraine are there, nodding, ready.
And then there’s Dante.Dante, who’s always been the star in her orbit.She let the world break her, break them, but no more.Not tonight.
* * *
“Centrifuge”
Caughtin the spin of you
Separating pieces of me
You do what you always do
So I will never be free
You thinkthis speed is fine
I think it’s a little slow
You can’t catch up to my mind
My thoughts are centrifugal
Spinme around and around and around and around
Whirling like a hurricane
Twirl me and shake me, fool me and quake me,
But I will never break.
We will be morethan the sum of this
We’ll be more than what you see
You can trap us in this vortex
But you don’t know me.
Spinme around and around and around and around
Whirling like a hurricane
Twirl me and shake me, fool me and quake me,
But I will never break.
No I will never break.
CHAPTER25
Two Years Ago, Finale OfAmerica Sings!
Every nervein Ellery’s body tingled, every muscle tensed, and the butterflies in her stomach were Jurassic-era moths.The boots and tight denim skirt the stylist had chosen for tonight didn’t lend themselves to easy movement, which was an enormous shame.But she knew Maria had tried her best with the brief Logan had given her.To Maria’s credit, she had looked almost ashamed as she teased Ellery’s ombre-streaked hair into a tall ponytail.
