"Z100 New York's #1 Music Station."

That's how Marley started her work every day. Sure, being the broadcaster on a radio station wasn't her dream job, and it wasn't nearly as satisfying as being a singer, but the job was nice, and she still got to live on a nice apartment in New York. And it kinda was like her dream, in a way… Thousands of people did hear her voice everyday on the radio.

Marley was sad for not being able to follow her dream, and one might say that being there everyday, on the radio, seeing people living her dream would be a torture to her, but she didn't feel that way. Maybe, just maybe, being there, so close to all of these people would make it easier for her to jump on the business.

Almost no one on Z100 knew about her ambitions. Actually, there was only one who did. Jake, the guy who took care of the sound equipment. He didn't talk a lot and he was sort of intimidating for most of the people, but somehow they ended up developing a weird friendship. Honestly, she would trust him before anyone else on that place.

"How's your day so far, Jake?" Marley asked him with a smile as he entered her booth to adjust the sound. He chuckled and opened a grin. She asked the very same question every day since she started working there.

"Could be worse" he said politely. There was something about that girl that never let him be that tough guy he was with everyone else. He still haven't managed to figure out why, but he guessed it was the way she was so nice to everyone. He felt the need to be nice too.

"Well, I'm sure it will get better" the girl said distracted, getting ready to start broadcasting.

"It always does, Marley" Jake said, leaving the booth as he started to hear the habitual slogan. Ok. Maybe he had a crush on her. But it wasn't like he would do anything about that. She probably had thousands on guys wanting to be with her. And he wasn't that bad on the ladies front either. But Marley was different. Maybe it was her smile.

—

Jake felt a little proud of himself when he found out he was the only one who knew about the girl's secret. He really didn't know why, or why would she hide it in the first place, but it felt nice to know she trusted him. Jake remembered the day Marley told him like it'd just happened. They both had to stay late. Marley had just been hired and she started on one of those horrible night shows, and he had to cover a late shift for a co-worker. They were both comfortably sitting on the floor, waiting for the time to pass so they would be allowed to go home and sleep. It was him who started that particular conversation.

"Dream job, huh?" his tone was ironic. He had been covering late night shifts for months and all he would see was girls complaining about everything. After a while, he memorized their speech.

Marley chuckled and closed her eyes, obviously tired. "Could be worse" she mimicked him.

Jake gave his everything not to look dumb opening that smirk and move closer to the girl. "Really? So you don't hate being here all night doing nothing?" He raised an eyebrow, genuinely interested.

"No…" the brunette shrugged "It's kinda nice.. quiet" Seeing Jake tilt his head in disbelief, Marley sighed and look at his eyes. "Fine. It's not exactly a dream job, but it's what I have right now and so far it's enough for me"

"What is you dream job, then?"

There was silence for a few minutes before Marley looked at the floor and said so quietly that Jake almost couldn't hear. "I want to be a singer on the radio"

—

Marley couldn't understand why Jake didn't have a lot of friends. He was really nice, at least to her. Maybe she was lucky and the boy only really liked her, maybe he had a lot of friends outside from work, maybe she just didn't notice his other friends. Either way, she was happy to have him as friend. Since she moved out from her mother's house she'd been feeling really lonely and even if they didn't exactly talk outside from work, he helped her not to feel so alone, or intimidating. Maybe it was the way he smiled at her.

She remembered her first day after she started working during the day. Not only she had a lot more listeners, Jake would be there all the time too.

"Good luck, new girl" Marley looked over her should to find Harmony, the most popular girl grinning at her. "From what I've seen of you, you really will need it"

Marley was speechless. She's never been good at confrontation, and she would run from it whenever she could. For a few seconds, all the brunette could do was to stare at the other girl as she and some of her friends around her laughed.

"Maybe if you had some luck you wouldn't have lost your show for Marley, right Harmony?" Jake appeared, throwing her arm around Marley's shoulder. She instantly felt protected, on a way she hadn't been since God knows when. "Don't mind her, she's just jealous" he whispered on her ear as he walked her over her both. The brunette couldn't help but lean against the boy's body.

It was the first time Marley didn't ask how Jake's day was going. Her mind still was too busy trying to figured out what had just happened, plus she was about to start talking for thousands of people on the radio.

"My day could be better" She heard a voice coming from Jake, who was busy fixing her sound. She finally smiled and nodded.

"Well, I'm sure it will get better" She replied as always.

"Kick some ass alright?" Jake tapped her shoulder and left the booth. Marley almost screw up the beginning of the show, distracted by the boy. She didn't know what was up with him. Maybe it was the way he protected her.

—

It took a few weeks and a lot of convincing for Jake to hear Marley singing for the first time. She was amazing, though. Beyond that, even. It was weird to think that she haven't been able to make it as a singer. It didn't took so long before he came up with what probably was the most stupid idea he's ever had. Jake couldn't help himself, though. Maybe it was her hair.

"How's your day so far, Jake?"

"I'm sure it will get better" The guy said with a wink, pressing some fixing something on her equipment.

"Ooooh, mixing things up today?" the girl joked.

"You don't know half of it."

With that, Jake quickly left the booth again and ran to somewhere where he could actually listen to what was on the radio. He'd managed to steal a schedule of that day and he knew exactly what would happen on Marley's show.

A warm welcoming for the listeners. Check.

A quick run over the news of the day. Check.

And then she finally announced what would be the first song. Everytime. A blast from the past that had been voted favorite on last week's poll. The very same song Marley sang to him after weeks of begging. The very same song Marley confessed she couldn't hear without singing along.

And then it began. As soon as Marley pressed play, she started to listen to the song on her booth, and her lips moved along with the song. What she didn't know, though, was that what she was hearing wasn't the same as everyone else. Thousands of people in New York was listening to her, Marley Rose, and her orgasmic voice, singing perfectly every word of Britney's song.

Jake again felt proud of himself. He did it. That was her dream and he did it. She was a singer on the radio and it was all because of him. No one on their right minds wouldn't give her a contract now.

His happiness didn't last long, though. People were running all around the building, and it didn't take long for the sound on his radio to be cut down. Fuck.

—

Marley couldn't understand what was wrong. She just noticed her audio being cut down and people looking weird at them from outside her booth. She never did anything wrong. She wasn't used to those looks. She'd never been called that. She was so confused.

—

The boy rushed back to where he thought she was, but she had disappeared from her booth, and it was already taken over by another random broadcaster, that was now trying to explain the mess.

Jake walked around those hallways for a few minutes, trying to find Marley, apologize, try to fix it someway, but nothing. Not until he heard a very familiar voice, screaming all kinds of things no one would ever want to hear. Specially from their boss.

He didn't have time to even take a deep breath before he opened the door and enter Jesse St. James' office.

"…How dare you, you pathetic…" The man stopped to look at Jake "You're interrupting"

Jake's heart was broken. Right after Jesse stopped talking, he noticed Marley with her head down, and now that it was silence, he could hear her crying.

"Look, Mr. St. James. This is not her fault, I can explain…"

Jesse's surprise could only be smaller than Marley's. Her eyes quickly moved from the ground to his face. Jake only wanted to run. Forget about everything. Even now, with eyes filled with tears, the girl's face looked angelic.

"You have something to do with this, Puckerman" Jesse asked crossing his arms over his chest.

The boy couldn't look at his boss, and much less to Marley. He only nodded, looking straight to the floor. "I…"

"I knew you couldn't do this by yourself" Jesse interrupted him walked to his office's door, opening it before turning back to them.

"Congratulations you two. You're fired."