Demi sung into the microphone in the studio, headphones covering her ears. Her hands and arms moved as she sung, the tattooed words taking momentary flight. As the more emotional part of the song came up the singer stroked the words unconsciously, a habit that she had fallen into.
Stay Strong, Stay Strong.
The two words were her new mantra and her mind chanted them with barely suppressed eagerness.
Stay Strong. Stay Strong.
Her voice rose as she carried out the notes, as she heard the two words become a screaming hymn in the voices of her fans. Her heart rose higher and higher, richer and deeper and then she was onstage. The sea of people screamed her name at the top their lungs. They screamed 'I Love You', they screamed 'Stay Strong', they screamed hope.
Hope. Her fans were hope they were the very embodiment of it. Demi choked on the last note.
"That's a wrap for today, Demi!"
I love you. I love you. I love you.
"Demi?"
Hope. You all give me hope. I love you so much. You mean everything to me. You are the world to me. Thank you.
"Demi!"
Another brunette clouted the man over the head to shut him up. She opened the heavy wooden door to the studio booth and rushed inside. "You okay, Dems?"
She looked up with tears in her eyes. They weren't children anymore, not the kids they had been in the line on that hot summer day where they had chanced to meet. They were both women in every way. Emotion rose in her throat like a tidal wave, threatening to swallow her whole. Demi grasped the other girl tight. "Yeah…thanks, Selena."
Like a skyscraper…