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that leaves you shaken. The lights turned on and people sat in their seats, still staring at the screen. The emcee was fumbling with the microphone, trying to turn the sound back on. People were murmuring now, starting to talk for the first time tonight.
    The overhead lights flickered and the energy in the room shifted with the lights. Chairs brushed back against the floor, and people were panicking.
    The volume snapped on. “We apologize for this interruption,” the emcee said. “Please stay seated and stay calm. Our network lines have been hacked. This broadcast is nothing more than contraband by the DS protesters. We’ll be under way with the benefit video in a few minutes.”
    Someone grabbed my arm, and the next thing I knew, a security guard was hauling my mother and me out of the dining hall toward an exit sign next to the stage.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” my mom asked behind me.
    â€œIt’s just a safety precaution,” the guard told her. “In case things get escalated in there.” The guards took us down a long hallway until it reached a dead end and told us to stay there until they came back for us. My mom crossed her arms and I could feel her stare. She didn’t have to say it.
    â€œThis has nothing to do with me.”
    She raised an eyebrow.
    â€œI didn’t leave my seat the entire time,” I said, and pointed back toward the ballroom. “I promise you, I didn’t know this was going to happen. But don’t you agree with some of it? You would have said some of those exact same things.”
    â€œMaddie—”
    We were interrupted by one of the security guards. “Your husband needs you,” he said to my mom, and then he glanced at me.
    â€œStay put,” he said firmly.
    My mom followed him through a door that led backstage, and it swung closed behind them.
    Stay put,
I thought. He obviously didn’t know me. An orange exit sign loomed at my side, tempting me. I needed to know.

Chapter Three
    I opened the door and a cool wind pushed against my dress. I held my hands up to move my hair out of my face, and there he was, sitting on his motorcycle in the alley outside the hotel. His helmet was in his lap, and his dark hair reflected the moonlight creeping through thin wisps of clouds. My stomach twisted in a dozen directions at once, but he looked calm, like he expected me. His eyes trailed up my dress and settled on my face and his eyebrows arched with surprise. He whistled through his teeth.
    â€œLook at you,” Justin said.
    I had momentarily forgotten about my hair and now ran my hands through it.
    â€œNice dress,” he said with a smile. His smile made me smile. I kept smiling, like an idiot—I couldn’t help it. I forgot how wonderful it felt to stare into eyes that accepted you and trusted you and loved you.
    â€œYou really want to piss your dad off, don’t you?” he asked.
    â€œApparently, so do you,” I pointed out. “You organized this?”
    He grinned at me in this mysterious way. Some people come with a few chips and cracks, and even though they might be the strongest people you’ve ever met, there will be things about them that you can’t quite connect. There was something amazing and extremely frustrating about it.
    â€œDidn’t you expect me to make an appearance?” he asked, and I nodded.
    â€œGreat video,” I said.
    â€œI think we adequately pissed off the close-minded.”
    â€œIs that your monthly goal?” I asked him.
    â€œThat’s my hourly goal. Isn’t it yours?”
    I thought back to all the glares people had given me inside. “I don’t know,” I said. “It’s hard to stand up straight in there. And it’s not because of these shoes,” I clarified. “People hate me.”
    â€œYou just have to grow a shell,” Justin said. And that’s exactly what I didn’t want to do. I wanted to live