Page 122 of Movers and Shakers

“Blaze,” she said.

“Blaze? Here?”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s an idiot who doesn’t know when he should leave his ex’s house. Don’t worry, he’s gone now.”

“Good. I’d hate to add another punch to the face to the reasons my mom is disappointed in me. Where’s Lila?”

“In her room. She just took a break. And maybe fell asleep. She’s been back there for a while. I think her parents called her and if it was her mom . . .‍” Juno shook her head.

“What did her mom do? Wait, wasn’t she the one who told you not to tell me?”

“That’s her. Rose’s mom is . . . stressed. More so than I’ve ever seen in a person.”

“So the double life is for her mom?”

“Kind of. I mean shedoesdeserve some time to herself as Rose, but I think it started there. And I have a feeling her mom doesn’t exactly instill calmness in Lila.”

“So the conversation probably didn’t go well.”

“What do you know about her dad?”

“Not much. I know she has a rocky relationship with him.”

Juno raised her eyebrows.

“It was something Rose said.”

“Huh. Looks like you weren’t the only one who opened up.”

“Yeah. Let’s just hope we stay that way after this.”

“I think you two are good together, even if it took me a minute to see it.”

I laughed. “Thanks, Juno. That’s nice to hear.”

“Just be careful around her mom.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve dealt witha lotof family confrontations. This is the one thing I’m an expert at.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lila

Lila: Why didn’t you tell me my fans were so upset?

Malia: What did you see?

Lila: The comments. Most of my fans hate what I’ve done.

I’d never felt like this. While I knew how much my fans thought Blaze and I belonged together, I thought it was fine. I thought they’d accepted it.

Malia had told me everyone was happy and that I’d done well with this album, butthistold me I’d made a mistake.

They all wanted that apology to be about Blaze. They wanted to see us doing events again because he was the thing that made me my best.

I’d gotten it all wrong.

And now I saw why Blaze thought his threat of an album would be devastating. Judging by many of the comments on my videos, they were waiting for him to speak out in song about what I’d done.

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