Billy Troll's Arc

Chapter 14 of 14

Billy hit the final chord and let it ring out across the wooden stage. The sound filled the space and hung in the air for three long seconds before fading. Suzie dropped her sticks on the drum rim and grinned at him. The other girls lowered their instruments and looked out at the crowd. Billy turned to face them too. The noise came like a wave. People jumped from their seats and shouted. Someone in the front row lifted a poster with Mic's name on it and tore it in half, then ripped it again until the pieces scattered on the ground. Billy watched the torn paper fall and felt something shift in his chest. He hadn't come here to destroy Mic. He'd come here to show up for the girls who believed in him when half the town didn't. Billy looked toward the side of the stage where the trophy sat on a small table. The guitar-shaped award caught the light and gleamed. He didn't need to win it. The girls did. They'd stood with him when it cost them something, and that mattered more than any prize. Billy glanced back at Suzie and saw her staring at the same trophy with wide eyes. She deserved this moment, and he wasn't going to take it from her by making it about his fight with Mic. Billy turned toward the red curtains at the back of the stage and caught sight of a dark shape moving behind them. The silhouette of someone tall and broad-shouldered slipped away from the edge of the fabric and disappeared into the shadows backstage. Mic was hiding. Billy could chase him down and demand he admit the truth in front of everyone. He could force the confrontation he'd been avoiding for twenty years. But standing here with Suzie and the girls, hearing the crowd cheer for them instead of tearing them down, Billy realized he didn't want that anymore. He wanted to be the person who showed up and played his best, even when the system was rigged. That was enough. That was who he chose to be.