Floating with the crowd.

But it all feels so empty

That she wants to scream out loud.

But I see, baby, yeah, I see.

Suddenly, the stage lights up. The band starts rocking as Damian stands up, kicks the stool away, and sings loudly.

So forget about them,

Come surf the crowd with me.

It ain't the water,

But, baby, it's plain to see.

You gotta do your own thing.

Forge your own path.

Climb up to the top.

Any way you can.

You gotta do your own thing.

Do it up big.

Launch us to the moon.

Now, everybody sing.

The band joins him singing the chorus and so do Katie and the crowd. My eyes fill with tears. I know this is the song he talked about writing when we were in France this summer. About doing what makes you happy. About not following the crowd.

Be yourself.

Do what you love.

And soon we can all

Be a rock star.

Be a rock star.

You gotta do your own thing

Who cares what they think.

Rocket to the moon.

Come on, everybody sing.

Be yourself.

Do what you love.

And soon we can all

Be a rock star.

Be a rock star.

All three of them are still singing, Be a rock star, be a rock star, even after the video is over. Katie swivels on her chair. "Aren't they awesome? I heard they're going to tour Japan next and then, finally, they will be touring here. We have to go see them. Promise me."

I swallow the big lump in my throat and nod at her. "Yeah. We will definitely go."

Katie's phone beeps. She reads it and pops out of her chair excitedly. "That's Dallas. I'm meeting him for dinner, then we're skipping the JV game to study in the library." She laughs. "Actually, I'm hoping not to study. If he doesn't kiss me tonight, I don't know what I'm going to do. I want to kiss him so badly. Will you be in the library tutoring Aiden tonight? Or did you already?"

I laugh. "Let's see. I think you should get him to kiss you. Stare at his lips. He'll get the hint. And I am not tutoring Aiden tonight. I think he's going to study with Annie."

"Aiden said he has something else to do tonight," Annie says. "I'm meeting Ace at the game. Are you and Dawson coming?"

"I have those play tryouts.”

"Oh, I suck as a friend." Annie says, "I completely forgot. Good lu—"

"Don't say it," I interrupt her quickly. "You say, Break a leg."

Katie goes, "But you already hurt your knee. Why would we want you to break your leg? A cast would suck. You couldn't dance. It'd be tough to, you know, have fun with Dawson, and you could only wear one shoe."

"Katie."

"Oh, sorry. I'm rambling." She gives me a hug. "Why don't you wish me luck on the kissing, instead?"

"Good luck," I say.

Maggie says, "She is totally right about the shoes, because you'd probably have to wear flats with a cast. And that would suck."

"Hey, speaking of shoes. Should we all go shopping this weekend? I guess I need to find a gown and stuff for dress up days. Annie, you said you wanted a new dress."

Annie starts bouncing up and down. I think she and Katie have been hanging out too much. "That would be so great!"

Maggie screeches, “Yes! I’d much rather have you guys help me pick out a gown than my mother!”

“Where should we go?” Katie asks.

“New York. Dawson will be at Columbia, so I thought we could have a girls’ weekend. Shop all day. Stay at my loft. Party all night.”

“That sounds perfect!” Maggie exclaims.

“Hey, Ariela made Court too. Would you mind if I invited her?”

Katie says, “But she’s a cheerleader? Isn’t she supposed to be our mortal enemy during Homecoming?”

“Technically, yes, but she's really nice," Maggie says wistfully. "We were best friends until I accidentally slept with her ex-boyfriend."

"Accidentally slept with him?”

Maggie laughs. "I was drunk."

"Do you hate each other?"

"No, she forgave me, but we really haven't been close since."

“Do you have her number?”

“Yeah, here. I just texted it to you.”

I open the text, add her to my contacts, and text her.

Me: Hey! It’s Keatyn. Congrats on Court! Me, Annie, Maggie, and Katie are going to NY on Saturday morning to go shopping. Maggie and I need dresses and we all want to find stuff to wear for spirit week. We're staying at my loft. Wanna join us?

Ariela: Is Maggie okay with that?

Me: Completely. She says she misses you.

Ariela: Awww. Tell her I miss her too. I hoped to make Court again this year, but I was afraid to buy a dress early and jinx getting nominated. So I need to shop too. I’d love to go!

Me: We plan to shop all day and drink all night. A happy, boy-free night.

Ariela: I could use a boy-free night. Riley pisses me off sometimes.

Me: Why?

Ariela: He hasn't asked me to Homecoming yet!! It's only a week away! Is he going stag?

Me: I'm not sure. I'll ask him.

Yes, I lie to her. But after tomorrow night, she won't be mad anymore.

Ariela: Thanks :) I can’t wait!

"She's on board, and, Maggie, she says she misses you."

"Oh, that's so sweet. This is such a good idea. All right, I have to get going too. I'm working on a date of my own," she says as they breeze out the door.

As soon as they leave, I send an email to the concierge service for my loft with a long list of food and drinks I want delivered. Then I look at the clock.

Let's see. It's six here, so it should be well after midnight, depending on where he is in Europe.

I push Damian's number and, as usual, he answers right away.

"Keats, what's up?"

"A friend just showed me your video. The new song. It's really great. Catchy. She already has it memorized." I sing, "Be a rock star. Be a rock star."

"I've been wanting to call you. I'm sorry I haven't. You should've been the first one to hear it, since you inspired it with all your drama this summer."

"It's good to know my screwed up life is so inspirational," I say sarcastically.

"Hey, you're the one who told me people could probably relate. And you were right. We performed it one night just to gauge the crowd's reaction. It was nuts. They were singing it with us before it was over. And the label's not stupid. They knew we had a hit on our hands, got us some studio time, and we recorded it quickly. We released it a week ago and it's already hit number two in Japan."

"And there are over a million views on the concert video. Damian, I'm so proud of you. Where are you anyway?"

"Helsinki. We have a show here tomorrow night. That will round out the European tour. We'll be doing some promotional stuff, maybe get some studio time, then back at it in Japan. How's it going there?"

"I'm doing good. I'm dating a guy. He's really sweet . . ."

"Not to interrupt but I think I'm going to be in Miami soon. Special gig. I'll let you know. It'd be great to see you. I miss my Keats."

"I was your Keats before I was anyone else's."

He clears his voice. "You talk to him much?"

"I did something stupid, Damian. Vincent almost found me."

"What did you do?"

I tell him about the surf tournament.

"That's it. I'm kicking his ass."

"All that I just told you about Vincent and that's what you got out of the story? That you need to kick B's ass?"

"Yes. I'm definitely kicking his ass. And if I do Miami, it will be a very last minute surprise-the-audience thing. Not planned like Brook's tour. I really want to see you. What are you doing for the holidays?"

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it yet."

"I think you should go to The Crab." The Crab is our secret name for their house in St. Croix.

"Could I? Will your dad be there?"

"No. Marissa is pregnant again."

"Awww!"

"Yeah. It's a boy this time. She wants to name him Rain."

"Well, his sister is named Stormy. I guess that would fit."

"He'll get his ass kicked on the playground with a name like that. Why can't they name him Lightning or Thunderbolt or something tough?"

"Speaking of names. My sisters got a dog like Buoy. They named her Kiki."

He laughs out loud.

I miss making him laugh. I miss him.

"My dad told me about that. All I have to say is Kiki must be one patient dog. I heard the girls painted her with pink and purple paint, then poured glitter all over her. When Tommy got pissed, Ivery took him aside and told him that Kiki was sad because she didn't have pretty tutus or glitter shoes and they wanted to her feel pretty. They're so funny. Everyone says they are going to have to call you Buoy when you come home." He stops laughing and is quiet for a minute. "I miss you, Keats. Everyone misses you."

"I miss everyone too. Garrett doesn't think I'll ever be able to go home. But I'm doing okay, Damian. I'm starting over."

"That's bullshit. If this goes on much longer, screw Garrett, you and me will figure out something together."

"Like old times, huh? You helping me write the scripts of my life?"

"Exactly. So, hey, we have a morning radio interview in a few hours and I haven't even been to bed yet."

I hear a girl's voice in the background say, Baby, hurry up.

"Who's that? Damian! Do you have a girlfriend?"

He laughs loudly and then whispers to me. "More like groupies. Touring is awesome."

"Then I better let you get back to that."

"Actually, I was just getting ready to leave. I really do need to get a few hours of sleep. Are you sure you're doing okay, like, really?"

"I think so."

"Any guys giving you shit?"

"I love you."

"You're avoiding that topic. Does that mean one already is?"

"No. It's more like the opposite."

"A guy is treating you too well?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"Maybe you should marry him," he laughs. "No, wait, you can't. We're already married."

"It will be easy to annul. We married under false pretenses. You told me you were a prince."

"Only because you wrote the script and made me wear that girly crown."

"True, but I also cast you as a frog because hopping around like a maniac and singing songs was something you were actually good at."

"Are you saying I wasn't a believable Prince? You've just dashed my dreams of winning an Oscar."

"I'm saying you played a much better frog." I hear the girl whine again in the background. "Case in point," I say and hang up.

Your arm candy.

6:45pm

After dinner, Jake walks by us, puckers his lips at me, and makes a loud kissing noise. "Come on, sweets, let's go."

Dawson flips him off, wraps his arms around me, and kisses my neck. "How ’bout you skip tryouts and come to my room? I guarantee it will be more fun."

"Why don't you come watch me?"

"I really don't want to watch you kiss a bunch of guys on stage."

"You know Jake is exaggerating that part just to piss you off. I kiss Jake three times in the play. And they have to be perfect fairytale kisses. They aren't hot kisses."

"Like this?" He lays his lips gently on mine in a chaste fairytale-style kiss, but then grabs the back of my hair and shoves his tongue in my mouth.

"Are you sure you don't want to try out? Those are the kind of kisses I would like to practice over and over again."

"So Jake's not going to kiss you like this?"

"Um, not even close."

"But if you do the play, we won't have much time for our kind of practicing," he pouts as he slides his hands down my back and squeezes my ass.

"We'll have plenty of time for that. I promise," I tell him as we head out of the café.

What I don’t tell him is that this is something I really want to do. And that for the first time in my life, I can try out for a role and not worry about being an embarrassment to my mom.

I can just be me.

I practically skip to the auditorium. I'm so excited.

I see Jake and Peyton ahead of me. They appear to be having a heated discussion. He walks through the auditorium doors and leaves Peyton outside.

She looks upset. "Are you okay?"

She takes a deep breath. "Yeah. Jake isn't going to say anything, but I'm pretty sure he already told Bryce. Whitney cannot find out."

"Congrats on Court. I meant to tell you earlier, but you were reveling in the freedom of throwing away your shoes.”

She brightens. “That felt really good. And you too. I’m so happy for you."

"What's the deal with wearing a formal dress on a football field? That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"Really? It seems normal to me. So I saw Maggie and Katie earlier. They said you all are going to New York to shop this weekend. Do you think I could come with you? Is that bad? My totally inviting myself."

"We'd love it! I would’ve asked you. I just figured you already had a dress."

"Whitney has had her dress for months. She's been planning for the perfect dress since she started dating Dawson."