A ripple went through the room.
People leaned forward.
The image advanced again.
Cancel her dinner.
Pizza is cheaper.
The ripple became a murmur.
I heard, somewhere to my left, a sharp intake of breath.
I did not look at the folding chair and the paper plate that were still sitting against the back wall, but I didn’t need to.
Everyone else looked.
Two hundred people connected the cold slice of pizza they’d all watched a waiter deliver to the line of text glowing ten feet tall above the dance floor, and the murmur curdled into something else — something that had an edge to it now.
My mother was suddenly beside me, her hand closing around my arm, her whisper fierce and low. ”
What do you think you’re doing?”
I looked down at her hand, and then I gently, deliberately pulled my arm free. ”
Showing everyone the truth,” I said.
On the stage, Ryan turned from the screen to Whitney. ”
What is this?”
he asked.
His voice was very quiet, which was somehow more frightening than if he’d shouted.