Mary Santiago and Joey Parker were lying together on her bed, she curled up against his side as he sang New Classic to her quietly. She was smiling and humming along quietly.

"I'm tryin' say it right, been rehearsin' this all night, and I had the word plans out, but now nothing's comin' out. 'Cause you're like a movie star, I lose track of where we are. I know it sounds so clichéd, but you take my breath away.

"We'll be together, feel like I've know you forever. Exciting, familiar, but new.

"Now I know that no one else would do, 'cause all that I knew, nothing was true, until I met you. 'Cause no one else I see, the one that sees me, for what I can be. It's in everythin' you do, think I found the new classic in you.

"It's become so hard, for me to be surprised, but your bringin' back the real me, no judgment in your eyes. 'Cause when I dance with you, it's how I speak the truth, it's just classic when we met, now you make me new.

"No one else would do, no one else would do, 'cause all that I knew, all that I knew, nothing was true, nothing was true, until I met you. 'Cause no one else I see, the one that sees me, the one that sees me, for what I can be. In everything you do, oh, think I found a new classic in you.

"Think I found a new classic in you, uh oh. I found a new classic in you, uh oh. I found a new classic in you, uh oh. I found a new classic in you, uh oh."

Mary giggled quietly as he finished, and hugged him tighter than she already was. "I still can't believe that you wrote that for me. As soon as I heard you singing it at the contest, I realized that you were telling the truth that you could never do anything to intentionally hurt me. It also became my favorite song of all time."

Joey smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to bury her face in his shoulder. Her brown hair spread across her back and his chest, and she closed her chocolate-colored eyes in contentment. Her skin, which had had a deathly white pallor from her cold a week before, had regained the slight tan it had gained from a lifetime of living in Los Angeles, California, and from her Hispanic heritage.

Joey's skin also had its normal light tan, and his light brown, curly, hair was longer than it was normally. He also had his eyes closed, but where Mary's were brown, his were teal. He nuzzled her hair with his nose and tightened his arm around her. "You know how you would have to move back in with Dominique when your classes at Manhattan end this year?" Feeling her nod against his chest, he continued, "Well, I think I have the solution to that mini problem. What would you say to coming on tour with Dustin, Tami, and I this summer?"

"What?" Mary shrieked, picking her head up. "That would be…! Do you mean it, Joey? I can come with you?" She screeched quietly and kissed him. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"


Two months later, Mary ran out of the front dors of the Manhattan Academy of Performing Arts and into her boyfriend's arms.

"I can't believe that I don't have to go back to Domi-freak this summer. I would hate having to stay there after what happened at your competition. She and the twins would make my life miserable. I just feel like I'm butting in on something."

"Hey, don't worry about it," he told her, crushing her to him in a hug. "The only thing that I need from you is for you to have fun and be happy." He tugged on her hand, pulling her with him as he walked toward their condo, "Com'on, don't you want to be back home when Tami and Dustin get there?"

"They're coming in today? I didn't realize it was so soon, I thought they weren't coming for another week. I can't wait to see Tami again; I haven't seen her since I left LA last year."

"Oh! Also: Dustin told me to ask you if you had written any new songs lately. He heard the copy of Tell Me Something I Don't Know that you sent Tami and is now convinced that you need to become a professional recording artist and dancer like me."

"Great, so who else heard it – Bree, Britt, Natalia?" Mary asked as she stepped into a cab that Joey had just hailed and swung her hair over her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Dustin's not that stupid. He wouldn't let them hear it. But you do realize that they've already heard you sing? You sang New Classic with me." He followed her into the cab and sat down next to her, buckling his seat belt and giving their address to the cabbie. "He also wants to hear it if you have written a new song."

"Actually I have. It's called Bang a Drum. It's about the two of us somewhat." She looked over at him and smiled. For the rest of the ride, she left her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, letting herself relax fully for the first time in weeks.

"Mary," Joey whispered after the cab had stopped in front of their building and he realized that she had fallen asleep. He gently shook her, but when she still didn't respond he unbuckled her seatbelt and picked her up in his arms. Thanking the cabbie, he walked up to the main doors and pushed them open with his shoulder. As he entered, the guard noticed the sleeping 19-year-old in his arms and pushed the elevator's button.

"You'll be able to take it from here?" he asked. Joey nodded and entered the elevator, not noticing Mary's eyes flicker open.

"You can put me down, you know," she told him.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," he replied, setting her back down on her feet.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You deserved the rest. I know that you were up all last night studying for that last test you had. You needed it." Pressing the button for the fourth floor, he let the doors close behind them.

"Thanks. I should really go back to sleep when we get back upstairs. Well, at least after I've said hi to Dustin and Tami."

"No. You're going to go back to bed now," he told her as he unlocked and opened the door. He pushed her through the hall and into her room, where he gently kissed her and pushed her down onto the bed. She smiled at him and slid her leather jacket off, throwing it into the chair in the corner of the room. He smiled back at her and backed out of the room, turning off the light and closing the door behind him. At least she's getting some rest, Joey thought to himself. Walking back into the kitchen, he noticed that Miss Santiago's guitar case was still where it had been put by Mary when they had moved in. Realizing that that was what he had tripped over less than a week ago, he picked the case up and set it on the table. Suddenly, he heard someone bang on the door. "I'm coming," he called quietly, but loud enough for him to be heard by the young man and woman standing outside. Opening the door, he was engulfed in a hug by the female.

"Gosh, Joey, it's been too long. How have you been? Where's Mary? How is she?" Tami ranted in her typical manner without breathing between sentences or allowing the person she was speaking to time to answer her barrage of questions.

Pulling back from the hug, Joey studied Mary's best friend and his best friend's girlfriend. Her curly, dirty blond hair was down to her shoulders, longer than it had been the last time he saw her. It also had its typical bright violet streak in the front. Her caramel-toned skin had obtained a light tan and was in sharp contrast with the colorful t-shirt that she had on with her tutu. "I'm good, Mary's good, and she's sleeping right now. She was cramming last night for some last day test that she had. It's nice to see both of you, as well."

"Glad to see that you're doing good, man," his best friend and self-appointed manager Dustin replied, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Come on in, just please be quiet. Mary is asleep, and she fell asleep in the taxi on the way home." Leading them inside, he noticed that his girlfriend's guitar was still sitting on the table. "Would you give me a second?" he asked them.

The couple nodded, and then followed him to the table as he walked over to it. He gasped in shock and heard his sentiment repeated by the two standing behind him when he opened the case: the guitar was cracked down the middle of the body. He then swore, slapping himself in the head with his open hand. He swore again, then looked at Tami and Dustin. "Guys… I think I did this," he announced.

"What!" they exclaimed at the same time, still talking in whispers because Mary was yet to wake up. "Man, are you sure?" Dustin asked.

"Almost 100%. I tripped over it earlier this week. You have to help me," the teen pop star begged.

"Whatever we can do," Tami promised, still not turning away from her friend's guitar.

"Yeah, man. We're here for you."

"Thanks. Dustin, you and I will go to the music supply store to see if we can get an acoustic that looks exactly like this one. Tami, you keep Mary busy until we get back, and if she doesn't wake up until after we get that's even better."

"No problem," Tami replied. She hugged both of the internationally known teens in front of her and gave her boyfriend a kiss. She followed the two of them to the door, then pushed them out. She then closed the door and gently opened the pale orange door that led to Mary's room. Sitting down in one of the richly upholstered chairs, she pulled a thick spiral-bound notebook and a pencil. She opened the notebook to a new page and started working on a new design for Mary. This one was going to be gorgeous: a dress similar to the one from the black and white masquerade ball where Joey had first seen her dance.

Twenty minutes later, she was coloring the dress in with different shades of red and scarlet. The design for Joey's suit had already been finished, and Dustin had agreed that it looked almost exactly like the original. Tami heard the outer door open and grabbed her bag. Walking back out of the colorful room she was in she told the boys, "She's still asleep. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yep," Joey answered. "Now we just have to figure out some way to hide the old one until we can throw it out."

"Why not just keep it in your closet? Little Miss Santiago never goes in there," Dustin tried. His short hair was making his scalp shine with the sweat that was in it, and his dark skin was also shinning with the liquid.

"Thanks, man. Can you put the new one in its case?"

"Hey, Tami, Dustin, I didn't realize that you were here already. What's going on?" Unknown to them, Mary had woken up and opened her door, walking in on them trying to replace the cracked guitar with the new one. She looked at her boyfriend's best friend and started laughing. "You do realize that you didn't break it? Natalia decided to give me a parting gift when she was visiting the twins. But I do appreciate you thinking about me."

"Well," Joey stated while watching his girlfriend laugh at them, "that was certainly interesting. I didn't think Natalia could be that cruel."

"I did," Tami replied. "She tortured Mary and I all throughout high school while you were away on tour."

"Hey," Dustin interrupted, "not that your conversation isn't interesting and everything, but I want to hear that new song of yours, girl."

"Of course." Mary instantly stopped laughing and picked up the brand now guitar that was sitting on the table. Pulling out one of the chairs, she started strumming quietly while she hummed. When she was satisfied that the instrument was tuned to her satisfaction, she started singing too.

"You caught my eye and I'm tryin' to holler at 'cha, you're walkin' by and I trip on the furniture. I'm on a ride that won't stop movin', and I don't know exactly what I'm doin'.

"I see you shake the shake and I'm spinnin'. It's like I won the race, yeah I'm winning. I'm all dizzy when you're here with me, so let's bring the heat.

"'Cause there ain't nothing to it, holiday, just got to do it, everyday. You've got to own it, own it."

Joey then picked up on the beat and started tapping his hands on the table to it. Dustin also caught on to it up and started slapping his hand on his leg.

"Welcome to the beat of your own drum, and you got it like that, burn it up like that. Welcome to the beat of your own drum. If you got it like that, yeah, it's hot like that.

"Eh, eh, yeah, I'll will make you say, eh, eh, woah, let's go! So bang a drum, pick that up, pick that up, yeah, bang a drum.

"You got me floatin' ten feet off the ground. It's like whoa, I'm up there, can't come down. My hearts pumpin', it's workin' over time. I got the crazy butterflies.

"We're doin' it right when we're together. With you by my side it don't get better. You on my team, got it figured out, it's you and me no doubt.

"There ain't nothing to it, holiday, just got to do it, everyday. You've got to own it, own it.

"Welcome to the beat of your own drum, if it's hot like that, burn it up like that! Welcome to the beat, you gotta dip it down low, if you got it like that, yeah, it's hot like that!

"Eh, eh, yeah, I'll will make you say, eh, eh, woah, let's go! So bang a drum, pick that up, pick that up, bang a drum! Yeah, bang a drum, turn it up, bang a drum! Yeah, bang a drum, turn it up, bang a drum!

"Hey, hey!

"You caught my eye and I'm tryin' to holler at 'cha, you're walkin' by and I trip on the furniture. I'm on a ride that won't stop movin', and I don't know exactly what I'm doin'

"I see you shake the shake and I'm spinnin'. It's like I won the race, yeah I'm winning. I'm all dizzy when you're here with me. So let's bring the heat!

"There ain't nothing to it, bang a drum! Just got to do it, bang a drum! You've got to own it, own it!

"Welcome to the beat, you gotta dip it down low, if you got it like that, burn it up like that! Welcome to the beat of your own drum, if you got it like that, yeah it's hot like that!

"Eh, eh, yeah, I'll will make you say, eh, eh! So bang a drum, bang a drum! Yeah, bang a drum, turn it up, bang a drum! Yeah, bang a drum, turn it up, bang a drum! Bang a drum, turn it up, bang a drum! Yeah, bang a drum, turn it up, bang a drum!"


Please note that ths wa origianlly written as a project for lit in school. All characters belong to their owners and not me. Songs used: Joey Parker (Drew Seeley)- New Classic [Acostic], Mary Santiago (Selena Gomez)- Bang a Drum; both from movie.