"What are you doing?" I ask Brad.

I'm lying on my stomach on the deck of the boat as he sits behind me.

"I'm writing."

I turn over so that I'm lying on my back and can see him.

"Writing what?"

"Thoughts and feelings," he shrugs.

I shade my eyes with my hand.

"What do you do with those thoughts and feelings?"

"Different things. Sometimes I write poems, sometimes I write songs…"

I smile. "Do you write things down a lot?"

"Sometimes."

I sit up, bend my knees and wrap my arms around my legs.

"Can I hear one of them? The songs, I mean."

"I haven't really put it all together. I mean I have the lyrics but I haven't put them together with the melodies in my head. That's what I'm hoping to do with the new band."

"As soon as you have a song done, let me know. I want to hear it."

"Deal."

I feel my top starting to ride up in the back so I reach around and tug it down. When I look back up at Brad, his eyes are big, then he realizes I'm looking at him and he looks into my eyes and smiles. I laugh and smile back.

"Caught you," I say.

"What?" he asks nervously.

"This looks like a good place for a swim," Brad says as he jumps up and goes over to the captain.

Within fifteen minutes we're jumping into the Ocean.

"I had a great time today. I needed to get away like that," I tell Brad as we are walking backstage later that evening.

"I had fun too. I'm glad we had the time to do it."

I hear something on my right so I turn my head to see what it is and I spy the back of Sasha behind a bush. I stop and grab Brad's arm. I can tell she's kissing someone but I can't tell who. Finally they turn a little and I see that it's Michael.

My hand covers my mouth as I say, "Oh…my…God."

"Come on," Brad pulls me away.

"Can you believe that?" I whisper.

He laughs. "What's the big deal?"

"Her ex-boyfriend is his supposed best friend. It's just weird."

We walk a little further.

"I wonder how long it's been going on."

Brad laughs and kisses me on the cheek. "You're too cute."

"What? I mean this is good tour gossip. Obviously they're trying to hide it or they wouldn't be making out behind a bush."

"Well, we're hiding something too."

I roll my eyes. "We don't hide it that well…I don't think."

We turn the corner as Brad says, "What…I've never made out with you in public like that."

"Thank God for that," Tony says.

Brad and I glance at each other. Neither of us knew Tony would be sitting at one of the picnic tables around the corner.

I laugh nervously.

"So, did you enjoy your day off, Adriana?" he asks.

"Yes, I did, Tony. Thank you."

We sit down next to him.

"Good. We drive to Atlanta tonight and you'll have to start rehearsals for the VMA's tomorrow."

I groan. "Oh. Did you ever get a hold of Wade?"

He nods as he stirs his tea. "Yeah." He looks up at me. "I'm sorry, he's too busy. We're got Troy coming. You haven't met him yet, I don't think."

My shoulders slump. "Too bad about Wade. I was really hoping he could do it. As for Troy, I heard he makes you kick some butt."

"He's the hottest choreographer out right now."

I nod. "Yeah, I know."

Brad rubs my back real quick as he stands up. "There's Uncle George, I wanted to talk to him about something. I'll see you in a few."

"See ya," I say.

I look back over at Tony, who's staring at Brad as he walks away.

"Why are you looking at him?"

"He's a good guy. I have to say, if you had to go and get involved with someone on my watch, I'm glad it was him."

"On your watch?"

He looks back over at me. "You know what I mean. I know you do a pretty good job at taking care of yourself but your parents and your Uncle Lance trust me to take care of you too."

"Well, I'm glad I made it so easy for you," I say rolling my eyes.

"Me too. You ready to go over your schedule?"

"Why not?" I mumble.

He walks around the table and sits next to me. Out of the corner of my eye I see Michael walking through the area we're sitting in. He keeps looking around. I almost giggle when I notice his hair is a mess. Tony opens up the laptop and brings up the calendar. I scan it quickly before he starts talking.

"What's this tour about?" I ask pointing to some dates I see in October.

"Well, it's tentative…I didn't want to get your hopes up too much. You might be headlining starting in the fall."

My mouth drops open. "No way. Me?"

He smiles and nods. "Yes you."

"Oh my God," I say as I hold my head.

"Whoa whoa whoa…don't get all freaky on me now. It's tentative and we have other things to concentrate on before that."

I take a deep breath. "Okay, you're right."

"After the VMA's, we'll probably have you do some press in New York. Just a couple of days maybe. Then you get about four days off…at home, if you'd like."

"I like", I nod.

"And then we need to start getting you tutored. You'll be in Orlando for a few weeks so you can either attend school again and take extra tutoring after school or you can stay at home and we'll find a tutor to come to the house."

"Wow. I think I should talk to my parent's about that. I'd love to go to school again but I don't know…"

"Okay, talk to them and then decide…but it has to be soon. Arrangements need to be made."

I nod.

"Then I think your dad has a couple of things going on he'd like to work with you on at the beginning of October."

"Like what?"

He shrugs. "I don't know, he just asked me to keep your schedule clear for the first week of October."

"Interesting…"

"Isn't it though? Then we have a couple of weeks open for tour rehearsals and then your tour would kick off."

I try not to smile too big, but I can't help it. "So when will we know?"

"I might find something out next week. The thing is trying to get sponsors. Lance is working on that. He wants it to run as smoothly as possible."

"I can't believe it," I say bobbing up and down.

"Can't believe what?"

I turn around and see Sasha standing behind me.

"This was a private conversation…" Tony starts.

"It's okay. We're just looking at my schedule, that's all," I tell her.

She smiles and nods. "You just looked so excited I thought I'd see what was going on. Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

Tony's phone rings so he answers it and walks away from the table to talk.

Sasha leans against a picnic table right next to me.

"Heard from Marcus?" she asks.

I try to read her, to see what she's really getting at. What I want to do right now is groan and roll my eyes but I think she's testing me somehow.

"No. Have you? Or has Michael?"

A small smile forms on her lips. "No, I haven't. I don't know about Michael."

"You are going to freshen up before your meet and greet, aren't you? You're lipstick is a little smudged and your hair is coming out of the clip," I say pointing to my mouth and then to my hair.

She wipes her mouth and then tugs on her hair. "I was planning on it."

"Good, you might want to check and make sure Michael does too. He was looking a little ruffled himself when he walked through here a minute ago."

It was subtle, but her eyes got big…just for a second.

"I'm sure Michael can take care of himself. I've got to get going."

"Yeah, I've got soundcheck anyway. See ya."

I stand up, turn around and giggle into my hand. I'm still laughing when I walk out on stage. Brad gives me a questioning look.

"What are you up to?" he asks.

"I just talked to Sasha."

"Adriana…" he warns.

"I didn't do anything."

The next day we were in Atlanta. Today is going to be spent on rehearsals for my VMA performance.

"Hey sweetie."

"Hi daddy. I have missed talking to you. The last two times I called you weren't there."

"I'm a busy guy, what can I say?" he kids.

"So, mama's out shopping with Aunt Kristen?"

I lean back in a chair in my hotel room as I play with my hair.

"Yeah. They're shopping for baby things."

"For Aunt Kristen or mama?"

"Well it's supposed to be for Aunt Kristen but I have a feeling she'll bring home a few things," he chuckles. "Are you getting excited about rehearsals?"

"Yeah, I am actually. George has been working on a remix with the band. Brad won't tell me about it," I laugh. "He says I'll love it though. So this Troy guy comes today and I guess we'll listen to the music and he'll show me what he wants me to do."

"I can't wait to see it."

"When are you guys meeting me in New York?"

"I think we're going to get there the day before the show. Your brother and sister will have to miss a couple of days of school so we're trying not to pull them out too early."

"Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're all coming."

"Oh, your mama and I were asked to present an award."

"Really? That will be cool."

"We're looking forward to it."

"Oh, here comes Tony. We're going to a studio somewhere. Tell mama I called. I love you."

"I love you too snowball. Have fun."

"Okay, bye."

"Okay, we're going to run through the remix a few times. Ana, while you're listening to it try to imagine the way you'd normally sing the song and then we might make a few changes depending on the choreography or the timing of the song."

"Okay," I nod to my vocal coach.

He pushes the tape to play the remix that the band recorded. Within the first few bars, I know I'm going to love it. I start bopping my head along and smile. I mouth the words to myself as they play.

"Wooooo," I yell when they're done. I stand up and clap. "George, I love that," I say to him. He's the only member of the band who's here today. He wanted to make sure that there wasn't going to be any changes needed.

We listen to it a few more times and then Troy starts to show me the choreography.

After lunch I stand up behind him and try to follow along.

By the end of the day, I'm beat but we've made a lot of progress.

"This is going to be hot hot hot," Troy tells me as he grabs my hands and kisses my cheek.

I smile. "Thanks. But you're the one who came up with it all."

"You had good suggestions. You know, I have to tell you something. I had always wanted to work with your mother. I watched her growing up and then I would watch old tapes of her…but I'm glad I get to work with you instead. You've got both your mother's and your father's talents and it's amazing."

"Thank you," I blush. "And those suggestions were actually my brother's. I was worried that they might not fit in with what you were going to do, but I think they fit nicely."

He nods.

When I get back to the hotel room I immediately hit the shower. When I'm done I can hear the phone ringing so I wrap the towel around my body and run into the room and pick up my cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Were you out jogging?"

I laugh. "No, I just got out of the shower and didn't want to miss a call," I say as I sit down on the bed.

"Out of the shower, huh?" Brad asks.

"Yes," I say as seductively as I can.

"So, what are you wearing?"

I know he's saying this in a teasing tone but I decide to play along.

"Nothing…but a towel."

He laughs nervously. "Okay, let's change the subject, I need to get that mental image out of my head."

I laugh.

"So, how did today go?"

I tell him about the music and the choreography.

"Uncle George said you picked up on it quickly. But you always have, haven't you?"

"It just comes easy to me. I don’t know…"

We talk a little bit more and Brad mentions his new band again.

"You've never told me the name of this band," I say leaning back against the pillow.

"Right now the group's called Electric but the name might change."

"I've heard of them. Don't they sing that song called Passion? Or something like that?"

"Yeah, that's them. Wow, I didn't know you had heard of them."

"My daddy listens to everything. They're good. So their keyboardist quit?"

"Something like that. They want to take their music a new direction and they're hoping I can help with that."

"Wow, that's great. You'll get more creative freedom, huh?"

"I get some now but yeah…I'll probably get more with them."

I sat there and let my mind wander.

"Adriana?"

"Huh? Oh sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"What?"

"How much I'm going to miss having you around," I say softly.

"I know…me too."

The next day started early. I had more rehearsals with Troy. Tonight I had a show so we had to get as much practice in that we could. This time, I started to sing with the music too.

"I think I'm going to change that around a little bit," I say to Joe, my vocal coach.

"Okay, let's hear it," he says.

We work until about three and then I have to go to the venue for soundcheck.

"How did rehearsals go today?" Tony asks as I come out from my bedroom on the bus. I've got a fresh change of clothes on and a towel on my head.

"They went well. I was surprised that you weren't there."

"I was on my way and I got a conference call that lasted awhile."

I nod as I towel dry my hair.

"Right after soundcheck, one of the radio stations wants to interview you. They're going to record part of soundcheck too so don't let those cuss words fly out of your mouth."

"Ha ha."

"So…Ana, tell us about the VMA's," the DJ asks me.

I tell him a little bit about my rehearsals and how much I'm looking forward to being there for the first time since I was little.

"So tell us about the other people you're touring with. Does everyone get along?"

"Yeah as far as I can tell. Some more than others," I kid.

"Oh, give us the scoop, now."

I laugh. "I'm not dishing dirt on anyone. We all get along just fine."

"So any hot romances going on behind the scenes?"

"Hmmm, maybe," I tease.

"So Sasha, we just talked to Ana and she hinted very strongly that there's some hot and heavy stuff going on around this tour. You have any idea what she's talking about?" the DJ asks Sasha later.

She gets an evil gleam in her eye. "Did she really? Well the only hot romance I see going on is with her and a certain someone in her band. Oops, did I just say that?" she says covering her mouth.