But I’m not done yet.
I hold out my hand, palm up. “Give me the phone.”
Shay stares at me, jaw tight, eyes blazing with impotent fury. She’s trying to hold her ground when Yvette buckles under the pressure. She slaps the phone into my palm as requested.
I pull up the photos, select all, and delete every single one. Then I clear the recently deleted folder too, just to be sure. My heart is pounding, but my hands are steady.
When I’m done, I look up at them with the cold smile still on my face.
The phone slips from my hand and thuds onto the floor, where I crush it under the heel of my shoe.
The screen cracks, sending tiny little shards of glass across the backstage floor. I grind my heel into it once more for good measure, feeling the dark pulse of triumph surge through me.
Yvette shrieks. “That was a new iPhone! I spent my whole check from the student union to buy it!”
I shrug, completely indifferent. “Oops.”
Shay’s face contorts into rage and she takes half a step toward me. “Lana?—”
“Now get the fuck out of my theater. Both of you,” I interrupt. “And don’t ever come near me again. Or else you’re not going to like what I break next.”
I turn on my heel and walk toward the stage, my costume swishing around my legs, my head held high.
Behind me, Shay and Yvette retreat, their footsteps quick and frantic. They’re bickering with each other as they go, trading barbs.
“This is your fault! You’re the one who wanted to come here!”
“My fault? You’re the one who was obsessed with Kel! Don’t think I didn’t notice how you looked at him?—”
“Me? You were practically throwing yourself at him every chance you got! He told me how you went down on him on New Year’s Eve!”
Their bickering fades as they disappear through the back exit. My lips spread in a small smile to myself.
The stage manager catches my eye and nods. “You’re up, Solana.”
I take a deep breath, smooth down the front of my Magnolia dress, and step into the spotlight…
“And maybe loving you is the only thing I’ve ever done right, Moonshine.”
The final line leaves my lips, every ounce of emotion I’ve poured into Magnolia for weeks threaded in every word.
For a heartbeat, there’s silence. Then the theater erupts.
Thunderous applause crashes over me like a wave, filling every corner of the room. People are rising to their feet—astanding ovation—and the realization is so overwhelming my eyes start to sting with tears. I blink them back, a smile breaking across my face so wide it almost hurts.
I join hands with the rest of the cast as we line up for our bow. Derek squeezes my fingers, grinning like an idiot, and even Mr. Davies is clapping from the wings like a proud father.
But my gaze focuses on Silver in the front row.
He’s on his feet, clapping harder than anyone, his face shining with pride. He sticks his fingers in his mouth and lets out a sharp whistle that rings louder than the applause.
I burst out in laughter because of course he would do something like that.
Something extra that highlights how proud and fond of me he is.
Tabby’s clapping beside him, bouncing on her toes. Jack is shoving popcorn into his mouth with one hand and clapping his thigh with the other, managing to look both impressed and like the stereotypical ten-year-old boy at the same time.
I take in all of it. Every last detail as I bask in the moment and release a breath.
