Chapter 7: The Full Stream

By Saturday morning the clip had four million views, and my studio had eleven cancellations.

Nine students came anyway.

My apprentice stood at the front desk with her jaw set and her phone in her hand.

"I found something," she said. "Odette streamed the whole party. The replay is still up on her page, uncut."

"How long is it?"

"Two hours. I watched all of it." She swallowed. "Claire, you need to see minute one hundred and four."

I watched it on my laptop in the back room with the door shut.

Odette's foot caught the table leg.

She looked at the tripod, and then at Carlton, and then she screamed.

I watched it again.

At ten the front door chimed.

Odette walked in with two friends, one of them holding a phone up in front of her face.

She wore white and no makeup, with a bandage on her wrist, and she was already crying.

"Hi, everyone," she said to the phone, in a soft shaking voice. "I'm live from Claire's studio. I just wanted to say I'm not angry. I forgive her."

Four of my students turned to look.

Odette crossed the room and took both my hands.

"Claire. I know you're under so much stress. Let's put this behind us. Please just say sorry, for both our sakes."

On the phone's screen, comments rolled upward.

So brave. Look how kind she is. Imagine pushing this angel.

I looked at the number in the corner.

Three thousand viewers.

I took my hands back.

"Thank you for coming, Odette," I said. "I have something to show you, and I think your followers will want to see it too."

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