“Oh my God!” Sara screeched. “Our song is number one!”

“Yes, and let me tell you. This is only the beginning.” Pat knew she had all of the girl’s attention as she said that. “The next step, is your CD. We want that to go to number one, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” Kayla said for all of them.

“Okay then, to reach that step there are some things we are going to do. One, we have an appearance to make on TRL next Tuesday. It’d be a great career booster for you to be there on the release date.”

“Okay, what else?” Dani asked excited.

“Then we should have a press release. To reach everybody, not just the MTV audience,” Pat explained. “Also, coming up, you will be recording a son for a new Disney movie.”

“What movie?” Kristen asked curiously.

“Teen romance comedy. The title is...one second...’We Are One.” At the girl’s unsure looks she hurried to explain. “The song is almost guaranteed to be a hit. And the movie, from what I’ve heard, sounds like a good one.” Pat turned to Sara. “It sounds like one of those romantic comedy movies that you are always talking about. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

“Who’s in it?” Sara asked sounding interested.

“Two, unknown people. Kristen Storms, she’s been in a couple Disney channel movies. And Hayden Christianson . Maybe you’ve heard of them.”

“Oooh, he’s hot,” Sara said making everybody roll their eyes. Expect Sara to know who the guy was.

“Anyways, is the song a go or no go?” Pat asked.

The girls each looked at one another before they all nodded. “It sounds cool. We’ll do it,” Kayla said speaking for all of them.

“Great-” Pat said but was interrupted by her ringing cell phone. “Sorry girls, I have to take this. It’ll just be a minute.”

Sara watched as Pat left the room. “Isn’t this amazing. Wow, I knew we could make it but I didn’t know it would be this soon. I mean, we are going to be TRL for our CD release date. That is a huge accomplishment.”

“Yeah, we are, we have our own fan base now,” Kristen said smiling.

“I’m still in shock,” Dani said making them chuckle.

“You are not the only one,” Kayla said shaking her head. “This is just too cool.”

“Sorry girls, this meeting is going to be cut short. I have to meet with the tour manager and you are needed at the venue for a sound check,” Pat said putting her cell phone away. “So, go sing your heart out girls. Like I know you can.”

Dani groaned as she limped off the stage. She had pulled a muscle in her right leg so Wade had sent her offstage to sit down. Dani would be lying if she said she wasn’t grateful. Her leg was killing her.

“How bad does it hurt?” Wade asked kneeling down to look at her leg.

“Not to bad,” Dani lied wincing as he barely touched the muscle.

“You know, in order for me to treat this right, you can’t lie. Now answer truthfully. How bad does it hurt?” he asked again.

Dani stared at him for a moment. She didn’t want to admit to him, let alone to herself, that it hurt really bad. She wanted to do tonight’s show perfectly and now there was no chance of that happening. She couldn’t dance tonight. There was no way.

“Badly,” she finally muttered. Lying would have been useless. He would have eventually figured out it hurt worse than she was saying. Especially since she doubted she could walk on it.

Wade nodded. “Okay, you’re going back to the hotel.” Dani started to protest but stopped before any words could form. Maybe going back to the hotel would be best. “Sit here well I go let the girls know.”

Dani watched him walk away and that’s when she clenched her teeth and she barely held back tears. Pulling any muscle was painful, especially in your leg.

It hadn’t been 2 minutes before Wade was back. “Okay, ready to go.”

Dani started to push herself out of the chair but squealed in surprise when Wade picked her up so she was cradled in his arms.

“Wade! Put me down! People are staring,” Dani said wiggling in his arms.

“Can you walk?” he asked already knowing the answer.

“Yes, well...a little bit,” Dani said softly. When Wade didn’t put her down she gave up. Besides it felt kinda nice, having him carry her like this.

It was a full half-hour before they reached the hotel where they were staying. Traffic had been horrendous and every time the cab driver pressed down on the brake, Dani’s leg had gotten jarred. Wade had called ahead and the hotel just happened to dig around ‘til they found an old pair of crutches. Dani still used them, even though they were more suited for some one Sara’s height.

Wade helped her all the way to her hotel room and even helped her onto her bed. He was getting her a glass of water when Dani finally protested.

“I’m not crippled,” she said glaring at him. “I’ll be fine by tonight.”

Dani watched as Wade sat down on one of the chairs. “Dani, you won’t be dancing tonight.”

“Yes I will,” Dani insisted.

“No, you won’t Dani. Maybe you can by the next concert date but not tonight.” Wade paused. “I don’t even know if we’ll even let you onstage tonight. It might be best if you just rested tonight.”

Dani opened and closed her mouth. “I have to at least go onstage tonight.” She looked at her hands. “Wade, please, let me do that much.”

He stared at the top of her head for a minute. “Dani, I’ll think about it. That’s as much as I can do right now. I still have to talk to Pat.”

Dani nodded her head. “Okay.”

A couple minutes of silence flew by before Wade finally found another topic to talk about.

“About that thing with you and AJ,” he started, “have you thought about what I said?”

“Yes, Alex and I aren’t pretending to be together anymore. Kayla knows the truth now anyways.” Dani smiled. “Hopefully they’ll work things out. Alex has got it bad.”

Another silence grew between them. Dani cleared her throat. “Wade, do you have a girlfriend?” She had heard the direct approach was best.

“Not exactly,” Wade was interrupted by Dani.

“Oh God, you’re gay, aren’t you?” she asked covering her mouth with one of her hands.

“No I’m not gay,” Wade said chuckling. “If you let me finish, I was going to say, not exactly. I had one but we have separated because I chose to go on this tour.

Dani felt herself relax. He was single! “That’s cool,” she said pretending she didn’t care. But inside she was going crazy.

“Do you...uh...have a boyfriend? Not a pretend one, a real one,” he said which made Dani’s face flush.

“No, I haven’t had a boyfriend in, well, awhile,” Dani said softly. She wasn’t ready to mention Neil. That wound was still fresh. Even though it was such a long time ago.

“That’s gotta be nice,” Wade said. At Dani’s confused glance he explained. “To be able to come on tour unattached.”

Dani nodded. “I’m sure it’s easier.”

They decided to drop the subject instead of asking what they both wanted to ask. Were you looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Wade looked around the hotel room when he saw the picture of Dani and Sara in costumes. Dani was dressed as Posh Spice and Sara was Baby Spice.

“Cute,” he smirked.

Dani felt her face turning even redder. “Yeah, that was Sara’s bright idea to dress up as two of 4 of the Spice Girls for Halloween last year.”

“You look kinda funny,” Wade said holding back a laugh.

“I do not!” Dani sputtered. “Take that back!”

“No,” Wade said daring her with a look in his eyes.

Dani not being one to back down to a dare looked around until her eyes landed on a pillow. She grabbed it and hit him across the head before he could dodge it. “You’re going down!” Wade yelled grabbing a pillow for himself. Dani laughed as they started beating each other. Maybe missing the concert tonight wouldn't’ be so bad if Wade was hangin with her.