Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE PROLOGUE. . .
JUNE , 2015 verona, italy
SHE HAD MISSED her train. For someone like Valerie, who was always late, to arrive at the station early only to have realized she misread the time on her ticket was a disaster. It was the first time her parents had let her travel by herself, and she was starting to think that maybe it was bad luck.
She had been invited to play a small gig in Verona which hadn't gone as well as she had hoped it would. She wasn't someone who had stage fright or got nervous while performing, but this was her first ever performance in front of more than just her close family, friends, and neighbors. She had been too awkward while talking to the crowd, and her voice had cracked far too often while she sang.
She groaned into her hands now as she sat on a bench inside the train station. The agent who had contacted her about the gig had been disappointed afterward. His words still rang in her head.
You're not ready. Maybe you never will be.
Valerie had been ready since she had been seven years old, already playing the piano and demanding for everyone to listen to her sing. She would try on fancy clothes in vintage shops and tell her mother and grandmother that she would wear those one day. Her family and neighbors would gather at their house every Friday night and she would perform her heart out in front of them all.
Valerie knew she was meant to be a rockstar. She was meant for greatness. It was inevitable that she would score a record deal, and when she did, the agent would come crying and begging for her to sign one with him instead.
