So that was it. I'd been replaced. I didn't want to be petty and complain about it, but that's what had happened. Now, I was so, so happy that Sky and Tempest were friends, but I didn't think that this soon they'd be close enough that Sky was showing her his songs before me. I know it shouldn't seem like a big deal, but it made me feel special to Sky. And now that was gone. It was all I had. Now who was I?
To say the least, the talent show was decent. Or at least what met the eye. Everyone did well, but there was no emotion to it. They looked how I felt. The dance team was stiff and their smiles were fake. That gymnastics pair didn't smile at all. The Shakespeare nerd's monologue was monotone. These slip-ups were small, so I was probably the only one who noticed, but it made the whole thing seem lifeless.
I checked the list and found that Sky would be performing soon. I called for Grey.
"I think I wanna watch Sky from the audience," I told him. "Wanna come with me?"
"So Tempest got us backstage for nothing?" Grey joked.
"I want to see Sky's face when he sings," I explained. "I want to see if he actually shows emotion." Grey shrugged and followed me into the audience.
It seemed I wasn't the only one who noticed the lack of emotion. The audience was bored. I felt I would be more bored if I didn't have Sky to look forward to. Then again, he replaced me.
"You're allowed to be angry," Grey whispered to me, "but you don't have to be. You can think of this as Sky replacing you, or you can think of it as him caring enough about your opinion of the song to secretly beg for help. You have to be willing to change your perspective a little if you ever want to be happy."
"Ms. Randolph told you, didn't she?" I guessed.
"She knows we're friends. She assumed I already knew. She asked me to help. I'm assuming at least Sky knows what's up, doesn't he?" I had no answer to this. I couldn't tell Sky. It would hurt him too much.
"Our next performer is Sky Aubergine," Lord Grantham announced. That was it. No flashy introduction. No jokes. No appraisal of previous accomplishments. These were all things Grantham did for the other performers, but not Sky. It was official: this man was a monster. Anyone who wanted to diss my uncle had to get through me.
"Um... hi." The audience winced. The microphone had been way too close to Sky. He backed up and tried again. "Sorry. Hi.
"As a lot of you already know, my niece and I recently joined the school to help fight the Shadow, or as we know him, Eli. It hasn't been easy, because yes, we do have history with Eli. The rumors are true. There you go.
"The thing is, we hadn't really encountered Eli in years. Like the rest of you, I hate him. I really do. And it took realizing that common ground for me to realize: we are all running on hate. We could be running on kindness, on keeping our word, on love, but we're too focused on hate to see anything else.
"That is a problem!" Sky continued, now yelling. "That isn't how we're supposed to be! People focus so much on hate that they forget love. People focus so much on Eli that they forget each other.
"Now," he continued, much softer than before, "running on hate doesn't mean we don't know love. You are all privileged, extremely lucky people who can probably see, and probably hear, and smell, and taste, and feel. You are probably loved, and if you aren't, you are now. You are loved, and believe it or not, so am I.
"So the next step is to pay that love forward. I won't lie, I suck pretty hard at that part. I hate a lot of people. But I can love. I do love. I love someone so much it kills me. And recently she's been having a hard time. Honestly, because of us. You guys were the ones who threatened to kill her, and I'm the one who broke her trust when she trusted me the most.
"She needs help. She needs to be loved. She needs people to not break their word when they promise her something. I will never hurt her like that again.
"So this is a song for my sunshine, my flower, my Lillian. This is a song called Promises."
YOU ARE READING
What Is Your Name?
Jugendliteratur"The one thing Sky has never told me, though it's the one thing I've always wanted to know, is my mother's name." Sky and Lillian, ages 17 and 13, are all the other's got. They are held by the bond of Lillian's mother, Sky's older sister, the first...
