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Chapter Two

"And then this girl in front of me went all ballistic and started crying. I was cracking up."

Noah was enthustiastically explaining what happened from his view in the crowd during the concert. He waggled the end of his piece of pizza for emphasis. "I'm pretty sure she almost wet herself."

I groaned. "You're exaggerating."

"I'm not exaggerating. I saw forty year old dudes with beer belly's trying to fit into one of your concert t-shirts."

I laughed. Noah grinned, folded his slice of pizza in half and stuffed half of the slice in his mouth with one bite.

Noah was my younger brother, but only by ten months. For just a few more hours we were both fifteen. Then I would move on. I never really liked those few weeks when we were the same age. He always got kind of cocky about that.

"I love what they did with your hair tonight," Kayleigh said. "What color did they put in there?"

"It was just a lighter blonde. It washed right out."

"Sad," Kayleigh said seriously. She plucked all the pepperoni off of her slice of pizza and dabbed the grease of the cheese with a napkin.

I glanced at my slice. As a pop singer (and teenage girl) who was always in the limelight, I probably should do the same thing. But I loved pepperoni. I used to call them spicy buttons when I was little. I couldn't send them off to live a solitary life on my plate. I picked up my piece and took a bite. The grease slid down my throat.

I was a happy girl.

"I think you should add stunts," Peyton suggested between large bites. She was about a year and a half younger than Noah. When she was little, she had been a girly girl. I had been a tomboy. Now, at age thirteen, she was a freakin' daredevil who wouldn't be caught dead in a skirt. Her hair matched her personality. It was short and it flipped out in all directions.

I spent hours every day in hair and makeup. We seriously had to rent storage space for my wardrobe.

Gone were the days of me dragging toys through the dirt. I was, and I quote, 'a wet-dream for teenage boys everywhere.'

Seriously. Teen People printed that. I'm not making it up.

"And clowns! You need clowns!"

I laughed and took another bite of pizza. I remembered to swallow before I answered.

"Why clowns?"

"Because they could spray water into the crowd!"

My littlest brother Landon was four and a half. He was always coming up with off-the-wall ideas. Whereas Noah had inherited dad's looks, I daresay Landon inherited his personality.

"I think you need male dancers," Kayleigh said.

"I don't think so."

That statement came from dad. He was sitting leg-to-leg with mom and they were sharing a piece of pizza.

Yeah, that's right. I said sharing a piece of pizza. In July, it was going to be their sixteenth wedding anniversary and dad had been extra mushy lately, trying to make every second of their 'grand' fifteen count.

I just prayed the celebration didn't result in another little brother or sister. Dad loved being a dad. He said it was way more important than anything else he's ever accomplished.

Like two hundred million records didn't mean a thing.

"I'm just glad to be going home," I said. I took a sip of water. I figured skipping the soda made it okay to eat the pepperonis.

"Oh my god. Brooke Carter? Can I take a picture with you?"

I swallowed hard and looked up. My eyes watered as I tried not to cough like a cat with a hairball stuck in its throat. A girl around Peyton's age was standing a couple feet away, holding her camera and seriously looking like she was going to start jumping up and down. I gave a little side cough.

"Sure," I said. I scooted back my chair and stood up. From out of nowhere the girl's mom came and took the camera. I put an arm around her shoulder, flashed a big 'Carter' smile, and voila.

A picture-perfect moment in a dark pizza parlor.

"Thank you!" the girl said. She walked away and I counted to three in my head.

There was the squeal.

I sat back down. Noah just laughed.

"Shut up NoNo," I said calmly, flicking my napkin back over my lap. Kayleigh laughed.

Noah almost turned purple.

I had been calling Noah 'NoNo' since before I could even remember. The older we got, the more he hated it.

And he especially hated it when I called him that around Kayleigh.

It was funny, but for as long as Kayleigh and I have been BFF's (which has been pretty much forever), Noah's had a crush on her. Kayleigh's well aware of it, but she hasn't let his blonde hair or blue eyes wear her down. According to her, Noah is so not her type.

Of course, I knew her type. And I didn't really like it.

Kayleigh liked older guys. Not old as in dad old, but still older. Of course, I was pretty sure Uncle Brian and Aunt LeighLeigh didn't realize this. Kayleigh kept that a pretty well kept secret.

Little conversations started up around the table. When we had polished through the pizza, dad looked over at me. He smiled proudly.

"I'd like to make a toast," he said. He lifted his water glass. We all followed suit.

"To my baby Brooke," he said. I beamed. He was the only one that could get away with calling me a baby. "Here's to many more years of good music, good tours, and hard work. Your mother and I couldn't be more proud of you. We love you, BooBoo."

A chorus of 'I Love You's' rang out around the table. My glass hit dad's in particular. He gave me a wink. Mom looked like she was going to cry.

"Thank you guys," I said. "You all mean the world to me. I wouldn't be anywhere without you guys."

"Well, I can tell you where you'll be tomorrow night at this time," dad said. I felt excitement course through me. I knew where I would be too.

"My party!" I said excitedly.

"Sweet sixteen," mom said with a little smile.

I sat back down in my chair. I had been waiting for my sixteenth birthday forever.

It was going to be unforgettable.