"C'mon girls! Push it! You'll be performing this song in front of 30,000 screaming fans tonight. Show me energy," Wade encouraged.

"I'm going to show you energy," Dani warned glaring at him.

Wade smiled but motioned for them to stop. "You can go and have a 'short' water break. The key word was?" Wade asked.

"Short," they all answered together.

Kristen groaned. "He's being really hard on us today."

"Only so we try," Kayla said squirting water into her mouth. "Although, if I hear him say 'Push It!' one more time. I'm going to smack him."

They all laughed and took turns making jokes about Wade.

Dani noticed him standing by the edge of the stage, by himself, and slowly walked over to join him.

"You might want to watch your step," she said smiling when he jumped.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people," Wade said turning to face her. "Why should I watch my step?"

"You have some people planning ways to accidently hurt you 15 feet to your left," Dani explained.

"Oh, do you think I'm being to hard?" Wade asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

"I don't think hard is the right word," Dani said thoughtfully. 'Slave driver sounds better."

Wade threw his head back and laughed. "That was a good one."

Dani shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say, I'm good."

"I wouldn't go that far," Wade said making her laugh this time.

"Oh, so I'm not good?" Dani asked after her laughter had subsided.

"At some things. You're not to good with that one move in This Girl. But you are very good at dancing to Same Old Story," Wade explained.

Dani rolled her eyes. "Are you always thinking about dancing?"

"It is what I do," Wade said walking toward the center of the stage.

Dani followed more slowly. "There is other things in the world though. Like movies, sunsets, weather, life, um...lots of stuff."

Wade smiled. "Your right, but as of now. Dancing, to your songs, is all I can think about. Don't you realize that you'll be singing onstage tonight. Here, in this place."

Dani rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks for bringing it up. I was finally getting my nerves under control."

"We're ready to continue," Kayla said not realizing she had interrupted something.

"No more complaining?" Wade asked hopefully.

"Now, that I can't promise," Kayla said smiling. "Complaining comes naturally to me. It's second nature."

"And what's your first nature?" Kristen asked smiling. "Flirting?"

Kayla shot her a dark look. "No, flirting is my third or fourth nature."

"Okay, before we start fighting, lets get back to rehearsal," Sara interrupted giving both of her friends a warning look. "We have a lot of stuff to do before tonight."

"Lets start with This Girl again," Wade suggested.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing vocal rehearsals and dancing. The opening night was coming.

Dani rubbed her hands together before once again looking out at the crowd.

"Nervous?" a voice asked from behind her.

She whirled around and glared at AJ. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," AJ apologized.

Dani turned back to the crowd. "Look how big it is. Is it always this big?"

AJ smiled. "Usually it's about this size. But its gets bigger sometimes." Noticing Dani's obvious discomfort he gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry about it. You guys are going to be awesome. They will love you."

"What if they boo us off stage?"

AJ chuckled. "They won't! Quit thinking the worst."

"I can't help it! There are so many people out there. I'm so nervous," Dani whispered like it was a secret.

"No need to whisper, you're making it obvious that your nervous," AJ said rolling his eyes.

"Carpe Diem! 5 minutes!" Someone yelled.

"We're that close to starting," AJ said surprised.

Dani was about to yell at him when she noticed Pat gathering the whole group at her side. She hurried over to see what was going on.

Pat watched as Dani joined them. She wouldn't admit it out loud but her hair actually loooked good. A little wierd but good.

"It's here, your first performance in front of a live audiance of this size. You're all scared, nervous. Wondering if you'll make fools of yourself out there," Pat said softly but firmly. She waited a couple seconds before continuing. "I want you to know that you won't make fools of yourself out there. You four, together, have talent that shines from within. It shows in everything you do. And tonight, that audiance is going to see it too. So I want you to go out there and have some fun."

They all took turns hugging before the stage manager lead them to their spots. The opening music for Same Old Story began to blare from the speakers.

Kristen sighed. "This is it girls."

Sara was the first of Carpe Diem to hit the stage. "What's up New York!">

"Wow! They've come a long way, haven't they?" Brian asked Kevin in wonder.

"Yes they have," Kevin said softly.

Besides wowing the whole crowd, Carpe Diem was wowing the Backstreet Boys. The effort they put into their performance was obvious, even to the blind. They were truly enjoying being on the stage.

"Look at those outfits," Nick said joining them.

The outfits were truly amazing. They fit the girl's personalities to a tee.

Kristen's hair was up in a messy bun, making it easier for her to dance. She had a pair of black flare pants and a red tank top on that said Tommy Girl on it. She had sketchers on her feet.

Kayla had on white shiny looking pants with a lime green halter top that showed off most of her back. Her hair was crimped and made her look different. Different good but different.

Sara was wearing blue pants that looked like the jeans material. She had a pink baby-t on that said "I have issues." Her hair had spiral curls all around but some of her layered blonde hair was also straight.

Dani had shiny black pants on with an orange cropped top t-shirt on. It had Princess written on it and it brought out the orange in her rainbow hair.

"They do look good," Brian agreed.

"They managed to look like normal teenagers, well woman. But still give off this professionalism that demands attention," Nick said watching Kristen sing the chorus of their second single "Beautiful Goodbye."

"How do they look?" AJ asked walking up to them followed by Howie.

"They look great," Kevin told him. "Come see for yourself."

They did and they had to agree. By watching them, you couldn't even tell they had ever been nervous.

They had just gotten done singing Sara's song when they went into a fifth song.

"I thought they were only doing four," Brian said confused.

"Pat and I decided to add another one. I know it's not normal for opening acts to do five songs but I didn't see the harm in it. Unless any of you object," Kevin said.

They didn't object and didn't move until Carpe Diem had left the stage but before they could congratulate them, they were swept away by Pat and their body guards.