Chapter 506

• There were people who followed her quietly, too—only to block her because her image in recent years had been an eyesore. But tonight, those fans came back. They huddled by the TV, palms damp, faces covered, screaming soundlessly. The Zayla Steele they had always longed to see was back.
• Her diehard fans were amped like they’d been injected with rocket fuel. Zayla Steele’s fan club, support team, voting squad, and comment-control crew had all disbanded seven months ago. Yet the scattered fans rallied tonight—cutting clips for Twitter, snatching the top comments. No team, but somehow better than a team.
• “Zay, welcome back.”