When Raina finally takes the stage, the room explodes.
Mia actually squeals.
“I told you,” she shouts over the noise. “I told you she’d get here, solo on the big stage!”
Eli cheers beside her, clapping hard. “That’s our girl!”
She’s incredible.
The crowd is loud. The energy is perfect.
And when she hits her big note, the room lifts.
Not just cheering, but that sharp intake of breath people make when something lands.
Phones rise. Lights flash.
I glance sideways just as Annabelle’s screen lights up.
“Oh my god,” she murmurs. “This is going everywhere.”
Dex is already on his feet, hands over his head like he just witnessed a miracle.
Mason shouts the wrong lyric.
Bryce pumps a fist, sunglasses still on, because of course they are.
Mia is crying openly now. “I told you,” she keeps saying, like she manifested this moment herself.
Eli wraps an arm around her, grinning. “You absolutely did.”
I don’t realize what it looks like from the outside.
Six NHL players in the front row losing their minds for one artist.
For her artist.
For Sloane.
I only notice when she glances out from backstage and freezes.
Then she laughs.
Not the polite kind.
The real one.
The one that says she sees exactly what this is.
Our support.
Our noise.
***
The show ends in a rush of sound and applause that feels earned.
We hang out while the audience slowly files out. After a short wait, I see Sloane appear from the side curtain with Raina.
