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video is for all of us. Thank you for all your support over the

years and for watching this today.”

The video ended as Adalynn reached forward and shut off

the camera. It wasn’t a smooth exit, but it was supposed to be

raw, unedited, and truthful. She didn’t need it to be fancy or

have nice editing tricks that made it flow better. She hadn’t

edited out a single bit. She was too afraid of saying the wrong

thing if she went live, or she would have done it. As it was,

she hadn’t needed to stop filming or take out bits where she’d

stammered. She hadn’t run out of things to say or clammed up

in the saying of it.

She hadn’t written it down ahead of time because she didn’t

want to sit there and read something off a page. That would be

boring and inauthentic and rote. It would have been rehearsed.

She wanted what she said to be as impactful as it could be, not

for her sake, but because she knew there had to be people out

there watching who were struggling with something, even if it

wasn’t coming out or losing their public image or getting

slammed with backlash related to both.

“Is this real?” Cassia gasped. She snatched the phone up and

checked the video to see that it had been posted already. That

it was online and not a recording on Adalynn’s phone. “Oh my

God. This is real. You filmed this and put it out there?”

“I did.”

“Aren’t you…aren’t you afraid? Of what will happen? No,

no, of course you’re afraid.” Cassia set the phone down. “I

would be too. I’m afraid for you, just watching that. I was

afraid for you last night, that everything would be ruined. I’m

scared of what people will say because I know how harsh the

world can be. I might be young, but I heard plenty of nasty