The crowd was going wild, Stephanie Snow was rocking the stage with her bubble gum pop act, the audience was eating it up, the judges seemed to have made up their minds, she was going to be the new "Big Star" they almost felt sorry for whoever had to go after Stephanie.

In the meantime 15 year old Madeline Johnson was locked in a stall in the ladies room, she could hear the loud crow and it wasn't helping her nerves.

"Just say the words Mad and we're out of here..." Said Mattie, Madeline's dorky best friend since kindergarten.

That made her step out of the stall in all her punk rock glory. "If I mess this up I'm going to look like such a dork in school Monday"

"If it makes you feel better most people at school already think we're dorks" answered Mattie with that goofy smile that never failed to make her feel better.

"Thank you Mattie" answered Mad sarcastically. She could hear Stephanie's song coming to an end, she knew the time was up and it was do or die.

"I have to do this" she looked at her best friend trying to pull herself together whispering "Wish me luck" as she headed out the ladies' room. She could barely hear the announcer in the background introducing her.

"Right now we're going to have the final performer of the night, please give her a big round of applause, she is Mad Johnson!" Mad made her way to the stage, the crowd was cheering but she was in the zone so she only heard a small buzzing sound.

I wrote my first song when I was six, got my first acoustic at ten and it has barely left my hands since. Everything I am, everything I've worked for has brought me to the stage tonight. Sometimes if you listen really hard, you can almost hear it, that moment your life changes.... Forever...

... "And our first ever 'Big Star' is Madeline Johnson!" The announcer had said it! Mad had won! Her parents were in the crowd jumping up and down, they couldn't believe their daughter had won, her older sister was there too, Samantha, she wasn't as happy as her parents, she wasn't used to sharing the spotlight at home she had always been the one their parents jumped up and down for, she was always number one.

 They presented Mad with a big check and a record contract, she couldn't believe it, it was the best day of her life.

--------

"Sir, Georgia is on the phone. Says you missed the showcase last night and she doesn't sound very pleased"

He had totally forgot about the showcase, had it been last night? He thought it was next week! He was definitely in trouble! He had promised Georgia to help in whatever he could with this new project of hers. And instead of being where he was supposed to last night he'd spent the night with three gorgeous blondes. A fair trade if you asked him but he knew Georgia wouldn't think so.

"G, babe I'm so sorry I couldn't make it last night" he said after grabbing the phone from Darius' hand and getting up naked, Darius shook his head and covered his eyes as he walked out, as his bodyguard it wasn't the first time he witnessed his boss naked with more than two blondes in bed.  "I was sick as a dog" he said while looking at the three beauties in his bed, they were awake and wanted him back with them, having just woken up and being hung over made his act quite believable, Georgia might had just believed it if it wasn't because the blondes were up and up to no good, she heard them giggling through the phone.

"I believe the dog part not so sure about the sick part. You are supposed to start working today! I want no excuses the winner will be here at 4 and I want you here too! She has school tomorrow so we can't keep her til' late “Georgia made sure her voice showed him just how mad at him she was.

"School? How old is the winner? I thought I was going to work with the real deal not just some kid" he sounded annoyed, he didn't want to baby sit. If he was going to produce he wanted the best.

"Just get your pretty ass her, and don't be late!" With that she hung up leaving him to wonder what he had gotten himself into by agreeing to help Georgia.

-----

G major wasn't the biggest company in the industry but they had been doing interesting things lately to change that, so the industry was looking forward to see what Georgia's new artist could bring to the table.

Mad was amazed by the size of G Major, she couldn't believe this had finally happened, she couldn't believe she was sitting in the lobby and would soon meet her new producer. She let out a sigh trying to control her nerves.

"I always knew this would happen" Mattie told her with confidence

"What? You knew I would win some cheese TV talent search?" Said Mad trying to make fun of the situation

"No, that you'd be discovered somehow" said Mattie with admiration on his eyes, "you always said I could be psychic"

"Uh no... I think I said sometimes you can be psychotic" replayed Mad, laughing and making fun of her friend "just joking..." She said while pushing him, they both laughed but Mattie got suddenly serious and looked at her with meaningful eyes the mood suddenly changed, "Don't let them change you, okay?"

"I'm not changing for them" said Mad, looking him straight in the eye "I'm not changing for anyone"

Meanwhile coming out of studio B was Georgia and E.J, EJ was the labels head of PR and she wasn't pleased with the competition winner and wasn't too subtle on letting Georgia know.

"I'm telling you Georgia, she's too young, too green, too unpackaged, and I just want my objections put on record!"

"Put them on mp3 for all I care EJ!" Georgia was a no B.S. kind of person, she'd been in the business for too long and knew what she wanted and right now what she wanted was waiting for her right in the lobby of HER record label. "And get over it, Mad is our girl!" She finished while entering the lobby.

"There she is our 'Big Star'" greeted Georgia while approaching Mad; Mad got up the couch and greeted Georgia with a nervous "heey"

"You travel light Mad, your parents couldn't make it?" Said Georgia

"Oh they could I just, I kinda wanted to do this on my own" said Mad with more confidence.

Georgia understood, having your parents with you didn't complete the rock star look. EJ gave Mad a fake smile, she still didn't approve, "And who's this?" Asked Georgia, referring to Mattie.

"I'm Matt... I'm her… uhm… people" Mattie introduced himself as dorky as ever.

"Hah ah, right" Georgia said kinda laughing and shook his hand while EJ didn't even acknowledge him, instead she looked at Mad and said: "Mad, there were some artists in the showcase, Stephy for example, who were better suited to become a pop star"

"Well..." Started Mad not liking EJ's tone but still being respectful "I'm not a pop star, I'm a songwriter..."

"And that is exactly why you won, Mad" added Georgia giving a look to EJ and trying to make Mad feel comfortable, continuing,  "now, I believe that your songs can move units, but I also believe they can move people and that's why we've teamed you with a writer-producer with real substance"

"Billy Joel from Green Day?" said Mattie wide eyed

"Tim Armstrong from Rancid?" Asked Mad

"We were thinking more in the lines of... Nick Carter..." Said Georgia proudly

Mad couldn't believe it, in the 90's the Backstreet Boys were 'it', Nick Carter was the original boy band heartthrob and now her producer! "Nicky?! From the Backstreet Boys?!" She wasn't excited; she was outraged!

Mattie let out a big laugh and when everyone looked at him he added "sorry, I thought you were kidding"

Mad got lost in her thoughts, all she could see when she thought of Nick Carter was all those magazines at the supermarket and of course all those cheesy videos with cheesy lyrics and dance moves, the one that came to her mind right now was the one in which lil' Nicky and his band mates were playing and being goofy in the rain while singing a love song. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't hear Georgia calling her.

"Sorry you were saying..." She said when she was finally pulled to reality.

"I know his reputation and I know he's still in and out of the tabloids but he has grown as an artist and he's become a brilliant writer-producer"

"But he's pop..." Argued Mattie "... And retro” he added

"And really, really lame; you can't be serious, Nicky? From the Backstreet Boys?" Mad continued Mattie’s sentence without skipping a beat.

In the background a throat cleared "First, I'm here because Georgia is a friend of mine" standing right on the balcony that overlooked the lobby was Nick Carter, who knows how long he had been standing there or how much he heard, but he wasn't happy (probably the fact that he had to leave his trio of blondes in order to be here, wasn't helping Mad's case) "I can care less for you or your whack contest…" he was hotter than Mad imagined from the magazines "…second…" he said while giving her a look that showed her he disliked her already "…the name is Nick Carter, don't you ever call me Nicky again"

"Sorry..." Was all Mad was able to say in a quiet whisper.

"Why don't you show me what you've got" Said Nick and left for the studio, leaving everyone looking at each other awkwardly, all Mad could do was say ok and head to the studio.

High school isn't easy for anyone and Mad wasn't the exception, she didn't really fit in with any of the clicks at school, she wasn't blond, popular and perfect like her sister

Sam, who refused to even acknowledge they were sisters, she wasn't geeky enough to hang out with the geeks or hard rock enough to hang out with the metal heads, she was just Mad, average height, dark long red hair, so she just hung with Mattie and her other best friend Kayla, they seemed to be the only ones who got her. She and Mattie were very close, they knew each other since they were little and they grew up listening to music and dreaming of being rock stars, she was content with being just friends, him, not so much.

As she walked in the hallways of her school she didn't know what to expect, was everyone going to make fun of her? Or were they going to finally accept her as one of their own.

As soon as she walked she saw her sister and her click, she tried to steer away but one of the girls got a hold of her.

"So, are you like rich now?" Sam's friend asked

"She wishes! She hardly got any money! If I had won, I would've had gotten even more" Answered Sam before Mad could even open her mouth.

"Yeah well you didn't win, did you Sam?" Replied Mad, hurt by her sisters' jealousy.

"I heard she screwed her chance in the studio yesterday anyway" said Sam grabbing her friends and walking faster, leaving Mad behind.

"At least she talks to you in the hallways now, Mad" joked Mattie from behind "a month ago she wouldn't even admit you two were related" Mad laughed welcoming the distraction from thinking about the studio fiasco. Walking to her locker with Mattie by her side made her feel better. She grabbed her stuff and gave Mattie a friendly goodbye hug telling him she'd see him when school was over.

Mattie walked to his locker, planning his next step in conquering Mad, when he was interrupted by Jason a kid from chess club.

"Mattie, my man! You're friends with a rock star now, that must be so cool"

Mattie beamed "and I'm pleased to inform you that if my plan works, the Mad and Mattie train will be leaving 'friendville' and arrive in 'loveville' right now it’s just a transitional phase"

"That's awesome dude wha..." But Jason got interrupted by Kayla, Mad's other best friend, she was short and spunky.

"Transitional phase...?" said Kayla laughing "have you been watching doctor Phil again?"

"See this expression?" Said Mattie giving her a blank stare "this is me ignoring you"

"I wouldn't be calling the 'all aboard' of any train yet Matthew Anderson, not before talking things over with Mad" she was trying not to laugh too much at poor Mattie.

"What do you know about love Kayla, just because you read all those romantic novels and watch all those romcoms doesn't mean you know about it"

"But I know Madeline and the only place your train is going is back to stupidland. So don't go picking out china just yet"

"I have a fool prove plan, I know what I'm gonna say, more or less..."

During class, Mad was trying very hard to pay attention, harder than usual because she was trying to block out the memories of the night before in the studio....

-The night before in the studio-

Mad was seating in a stool inside of studio A, while everyone else was inside the engineers’ booth ready to listen. She had her guitar and was ready to show Nick Carter what a real musician was like.

At least I've got my trusted friend

We're on the road alone again

I guess we're tired of giving in

"Wanna stop! Cause you're hurting my ears!" Said Nick loudly from the booth mic before walking in the studio. Mad couldn't believe this was happening.

"You won a contest, with that?" Said Nick while closing the door of the studio, everyone in the booth could hear him since the mics were on. "You're singing it like is a funeral, is boring, you gotta pick up the tempo" he told her while taking the guitar from her "straight quarters on the bottom, watch" as he said this he started playing and showing her what he meant.

"Sing" he ordered, she rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe this jackass boybander was telling her what to do "sing!" He demanded

At least I've got my trusted friend

"Faster!" He said and picked up the speed on the guitar

We're on the road alone again

"Better, now... These lyrics! We’re on the road, we're tired of giving in, we've made it here... Who's we?" He asked reading the lyrics from her notebook

"Oh um is about me and my best friend" she said proudly looking at Mattie in the booth, Mattie couldn't help but smile.

"We don't care about your friend... We care about you, your song is too bland, you gotta make it personal" Nick said bluntly

"We'll I like it the way it is!" Said Mad, hurt by his comment.

"This song, it served its purpose it won you the contest, but is not ready, at least not until we rewrite the lyrics"

Mattie couldn't believe what this jerk was saying we wasn't going to stand there and let him change their song, he left the booth and went right in the studio, manners be damned!

"Uh Mad, we have to go... We've.... We've got that thing... That thing we had to do" he didn't know what else to say but he had to get her out of there...

Nick couldn't believe this dude had the nerve to interrupt him when he was working with HIS artist, he looked up at Georgia and he didn't like what he saw, it was a lost battle.

"I think that's enough for today Mad, you can go" said Georgia containing her frustration.

 ....

"Miss Johnson, I don't care how famous you are I won't have you sleeping in my class"

Mad woke up, looked up and saw her history teacher, looking around she realized the bell had rung and she was the only one left in the classroom.

"I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again!" She said while running out.

Kayla was waiting for her outside of the classroom, they always walked home together.

"So you admit it, Nick Carter is hot!" Kayla told her while showing her one of those magazines that showed him drunk and with a bunch of almost naked blondes. Mad just sighed. "Is not his fault is just the price of fame" finished Kayla while exiting school.

"Talk about the price of fame!" She squealed, when they saw the most ridiculous thing ever, the whole school was outside in what appeared to be a pep rally but instead of playing the school's fight song the school band was playing Mad's song. There were cheerleaders tumbling around the rhythm, people with signs and the whole nine yards. "Is that your song" asked Kayla surprised.

The only thing Mad could do was turn around and say "can't believe they are playing my song with tubas" she was embarrassed to say the least. She was about to run the opposite way when the principal came and took some pictures with the school's big star and told her how proud the school was of her win. After that she saw Mattie and almost ran to him, there wasn't anything he could say to make it better. "I haven't seen anything this dorky since the chess club ice cream social" said Mattie, and that was saying something since half of the chess club was lactose intolerant.

Mad just let out an exasperated yeah and looked around trying to find an exit so she could run away.

"Let's ditch this" said Mattie "there's something I wanna talk to you about" but she wasn't listening she had found her exit, parked  right behind the crazy circus was Nick Carter waving at her, it wasn't just seeing Nick Carter that took her breath away, he was leaning on his  beautiful Porsche Carrera.

"I - I have to go" was all she could say to poor Mattie she told him a quick sorry with an apologetic look and ran to meet Nick.

"What are you doing here" she demanded

"Rescuing you" said Nick with a cocky attitude, Mad was speechless "that was great by the way, love the tubas..."

"Yeah..." Answered Mad sarcastically

"Georgia booked you a gig at 'Zero Gravity'" Nick told her taking his sunglasses off

"Seriously?" She couldn't believe it "Zero Gravity? I've never even been inside"

"Yeah well, that leaves us two days to work on your song"

"So where are we gonna go?"

"I was thinking somewhere where you won't walk out on me this time" he said, he obviously hadn't appreciated Mattie's stunt. "Get in"

He'd taken her to a secluded part of the pier, Mad had no doubt he had brought other girls here before and most likely not to make music. She sat on a bench and started strumming away on her guitar; she had made some of the changes to the melody he suggested. He was watching her from the hood of his car and laughed; she looked up annoyed and asked what the problem was.

"You changed your temp-chord variation but you still haven't touched the lyrics"

"I just want to get it right"

"You want to get it right or you want to get it right now? Do you do everything with such a hurry?"

"Just my music, I'm on a timeline, Kurt Cobain made Never Mind when he was 23, that leaves me only eight years"

"I guess it leaves me just a year then" said Nick with a laugh "right now your only job is to kill your gig" he told her while getting up from his car "look the cords you want, they're  in the guitar, they're hiding, they wanna come up but you keep scaring them back in" with this he put his hands around her, their faces very close to each other and he started strumming the guitar with his hand "you wanna coast them out" he showed her some more "gently"  he said and stopped and looked at her. She wasn't sure but she was feeling something she had never felt before.

"Sam! Could you stop stealing my boots?!"

"What's going on?" Asked Mad confused "is this like an intervention or something?" After she said that her sister threw a magazine at her, she opened it and couldn't believe her eyes, a picture of her and Nick on the pier, it looked very intimate and the title read 'Nick Carter and music prodigy Madeline Johnson jam intimately'. She looked up excited. "I'm in the cover of a magazine!"   She said and then the smile disappeared when she saw her mom's face, "oh you don't believe that..." She said half laughing "come on mom!"

"See I knew it, why would Nick Carter pay any attention to someone like her!" Said Sam matterfactely.

"So he didn't touch you honey?" Asked her mom concerned.

"What? Mom! No! Ew!" Mad answered insulted.

"See honey I told you..." Said her dad

"I could call Georgia and talk to her" said her mom

"No! Mom! Please!" With this Mad took her boots off her sister feet and left the house as fast as she could.

----

...Things weren't much different at school everyone was looking at her funny and her locker had been redecorated with the magazine article and pictures. Seeing Kayla was a welcome sight and she hoped she wouldn't bring up the subject.

"So, Nick Carter huh?" Kayla was not going to be of any help.

"Oh come on K! Nothing happened!" Said Mad with a loud sigh.

"Too bad because you and Nick look so cute together"

"Do you think so?"

"Oh my God"

"Oh shut up!" Said Mad wanting the earth to swallow her

"Oh.my.God!"

"Shut up! K I can't like this guy, he's from a 90's boy band!"

"The man is like an Ian Somerhalder sundae smother in Ryan Gosling sauce!"

"Yeah I know but it’s more than that he teaches me stuff; I make great music with him and at the pier... Oh K, the pier. There was this moment" said Mad and then loudly closed her locker "I probably imagined it" she said while she banged her head against her locker

"But what if you didn't?" Was all Kayla was able to say before Mattie interrupted their girl talk.

"Um... Mad can we talk?" Said Mattie nervous and then added "alone!" Giving Kayla a pointed look.

"Sure" replied Mad and they walked throughout the school hallways.

 "Famous for a few days and already in the tabloids tsk tsk tsk Ms. Johnson... Wow" said Mattie

"Oh by the way before I forget I have something for you" she said while she pulled out at ticket for her gig that night "is a ticket for tonight I'm playing at Zero Gravity"

"Wow!" Was all Mattie could say, this fame thing was moving quickly "Is little Nicky-pooh coming?"

"Yeah" said Mad, like it was an obvious answer

"Mad?" Said Mattie with a stern look

"What?" Answered Mad confused

"Don't tell me you rewrote the lyrics?" He said with a hint of annoyance "not with lil Nicky-pooh"

"Mattie, he's grown as an artist" said Mad, smiling just thinking about him.

"He drives a Porsche" said Mattie like it was a bad thing

"Right! I know" replied Mad smiling even more "but he's my producer, what can I do?"

"Whatever" said Mattie trying not to get in an argument and changing the mood "I got ya something" he said pulling a guitar pick on a little chain from his pocket "I bought it off of eBay it said it was Eddie Van Halen's guitar pick"

"This was Eddie Van Halen's?" Replied Mad excited "are you serious?!" She said while giving him a hug "that's awesome! Thank you! I love it"

"Mad..." He said as he put her back on the ground after the hug

"Yeah?"

"We've been friends a long time, but I, I wanted to talk about a transition into something more." Mad couldn't believe her ears, she knew things were about to get awkward, she didn't want something more, she didn't want to lose her friend, she tried to keep her face from showing but it was too late, Mattie had noticed and he knew she didn't feel the same way, and there was an awkward silence broken by Mattie " but you don't!" He said trying to save face "obviously..."

"Don't be mad Mattie" Mad pleaded

"I'm not; I just can't believe you're letting that hack change our song!"

"It's my song" she said softly

"The lyrics are about us!" Yelled Mattie, hurt.

"Right, and they don't work anymore, they have to go"

"You're right, just like me" said Mattie, gave her his back and walked away.

Mad couldn't wrap her mind around what just happened, her best friend had just walked away from her, which was a first for them, then again, him confessing his feelings for her like that was a first too.

----

Nick hadn't been this excited in a while, his artist was about to perform a pretty cool gig with a song that hopefully, with the changes they made will be awesome too. He was so happy he felt like skipping down the hall, then he saw it, Mad's dressing room door it wasn't anything fancy, he knew fancy dressing rooms, but it was alright for her first gig, it had her name on the door, it was a big deal. But then he saw her, sitting there on the couch, crying, he couldn't imagine what could have made her cry on a big day like today, but that didn't matter it was his job to get her ready to perform.

"Knock knock" he said taping the door where her name was written lightly, the door was open so there really wasn't a need to knock, and he just didn't want to be rude "can I have your autograph?" He said joking.

"Hey" she said drying her tears she hopped he hadn't seem her crying "I fixed the lyrics, there's a new hook and everything so... Yeah..." She said as she put the piece of paper with the lyrics on the little coffee table.

"So you took my advice huh?" Nick said while grabbing the paper and reading through it.

"Yeah" she turned around and saw him read the lyrics, nod his head and smile

 "This... This is really good Mad" he said while nodding his head, she didn't seemed happy about how the lyrics turned out, he had to do something to make it better, he never knew what to do when girls were crying "you know you should be happy about this"

"I am" she said shrugging her shoulders

"What's going on?"

"It's Mattie he's not coming tonight" she answered

"For what is worth, back in the day I went through the same with my best friend, it was brutal" he lied

"Yeah" she didn't know what else to say

"Listen, if you ever need to talk, anytime, about anything, I'm here for you okay? It's part of the job" he said and winked at her.

"You know when I met you I thought you were gonna suck huge" said Mad with what appear to be a hint of flirt on her voice. Nick only smiled at her, that smile that had melted thousands of girls.

Suddenly everything slowed down for Mad she didn't know what took over her but next thing she knew she was launching herself to Nick's face with her lips puckered and kissed him.

Nick closed his eyes and stepped back a little "Mad..." He said with his eyes still closed "you're fifteen!" He said, his anger showing.

Mad couldn't believe what she had just done, her mouth was wide open, she had never been so ashamed in her life, tears started rolling down her eyes, and she stepped back.

"I'm such and idiot" she said, she was mad, at him at his stupid smile! But more at herself.

"Mad come on it's almost time" said EJ peeking her head through the door and walking back out.

Nick was just looking at Mad, waging her reaction, she was losing it, half laughing, half crying.

"I can't believe... How did I even begin to like someone like you" she said full on crying now and pointing at him like he was the biggest scum of the earth "you're everything I hate about music!"

"Easy!" Said Nick, there wasn't really much else he could say

"You made me change my song!" She said throwing a punch to his chest

"Don't give me that!" That, he couldn't stand, she could mess with him but not with the music they made "because your song is a thousand times better since we worked on it!" He said with anger "and you know it"

"Mad! They need you!" Said EJ from outside the dressing room

"...Kay!" Was all she said before grabbing her guitar giving a last glance and going to the stage.

I've been sitting in the dirt (for 24 hours)

I've forgotten what I'm worth (for 24 hours)

Said that you'd be here last night

I'm trying to shake you from my skin (for 48 hours)

Clean up this mess I’ve been put in (for 48 hours)

I'm guessing you can't always win

I'm guessing you can't always win

I can't have anything I want

They say I'm just too young

But it's not my fault

I'll find my own way home if I gotta

I'll make it all alone if I gotta

 Mad was giving it her all and she was making her mind up, she couldn't face Nick again, not after what just happened. He probably wouldn't want to be her producer anymore anyway. She felt so stupid, even more because she didn't even have Mattie now or so she thought until she raised her head and in the middle of the crowd there he was, her best friend nodding away to their song, her song.

I'm not so trustful with my friends

I'm on the road alone again

I guess I'm tired of giving in

Nick was walking around the place, enjoying seeing all those bodies soaking in Mad's first song, his girl was rocking, their song rocked and she was really going to be the next big thing, he was feeling glad he said yes to Georgia, then he saw him, Mattie was here, of course he was, who could stay away from that...

I'm sick of wishing you were near

You've gone your way, you've made it clear

Why do I feel you everywhere?

Why do I feel this everywhere?

"Couldn't stay away, could you?" Nick said to Mattie "I mean look at her man!" He said pointing at Mad on stage ‘she was born for this"

Mattie couldn't stand this douche talking to him like he knew Mad better "back in the day when you were shaking your butt in you little boy band Mad and I were locked in my bedroom writing songs that would change the world" Mattie said pointing a finger to Nicks shoulder "so save it!"

"Does that look like your bedroom out there?" Nick said driving his point home 

Don't wanna spend my time

Watching the world go by

I think I'd rather die

And I don't got a plan

Don't wanna justify

To stay where I stand

Something I won't deny

The crowd loved it, she climbed down the stage looking for only one person, she wanted to find Nick, after a couple of seconds she saw him in the back part of the club.

"Mad! It was awesome! You tore the roof off" said Nick very excited; the song had been a success!

"Thanks but I quit" she said handing him the guitar and walking out.

"Mad!"