There's a lot more to being famous than I ever even thought about before. Sure it was awesome to be recognized around town and the extra attention from the girls is certainly exciting, but there's a lot I've never thought about. Like how to translate a million YouTube views into anything more than a million YouTube views.

I guess to tell this story I've gotta begin with the day after Ally and I made up. The next day at school was really the first time I was able to enjoy the limelight. I was the king at school that day. I mean I've always been pretty popular, but I felt like the hero football player from all those cliched high school movies. I had swarms of people around me most of the day congratulating me and acting as if they had been my friends forever. While it was a bit flattering it also felt really weird. Sure I knew most of those people, but I'd hardly consider myself good friends with any of them.

I pretty much brushed them all off and by the time lunch came I was desperate to find Dez or Ally. I wanted some genuine friendship and I knew they would provide that for me. I was a little late to the lunch room so most of my classmates had already sat down. I couldn't help but notice that there was at least one seat open at every table. I felt like a real celebrity capable of elevating the reputation of anyone I chose. The power was a bit thrilling. After grabbing my food I looked around hoping to see one of my real friends. I saw Dez at our usual table, but he was surrounded by a bunch of the popular kids trying to use our friendship to get close to me. I was sorry Dez had to go through that, then in the corner of the lunch room at a table by themselves I saw Ally and Trish.

I pulled out my phone and sent Dez a quick text hoping he'd get it right away and move over to their table. Then I made my way over. I could tell by the look she gave me that Trish still didn't like me. She seems very protective of Ally, which I can't help but admire; she's still afraid that I'm gonna hurt Ally and use her to get to the top. She scares me a little bit, but she is Ally's best friend though, so I'm gonna have to figure out a way to live with her. I knew I'd have to do something nice to her to win her over.

I could feel the hushed silence spread as I walked by each table, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to this kind of attention. I still hope it dies down at school eventual. I get the feeling its the novelty of it all that is making this so awkward. Anyway I was just happy to finally get a chance to sit down with the only three people in the school that weren't gonna treat me any differently just because I'm famous now.

I sat down, sighed in relief, and smiled. I was about to open my mouth to say hi, but Trish didn't give me a chance. "I still think you're a jerk."

Well so much for that good feeling. At least Ally defended me and kind of scolded Trish, "TRISH!"

Dez walked up just in time to hear that and my buddy always has my back, "That's not very nice you know."

"So what, weirdo, and you guys didn't let me finish. I was gonna say, 'I still think you're a jerk, but I guess since you and ally are friends now, I guess I'll try to live with you.' But I'm not sure I wanna say that anymore."

"Thanks, Trish," I said with a smile and then I thought about it for a second, "I think." My confusion made Ally and Dez laugh and I'm pretty sure I even saw a smirk on Trish's face. I was starting to break through the ice.

As we sat there we didn't really say much. We all kind of had the same thing on our minds. Dez posted the video on his own YouTube account and had been trying to manage in influx of comments. Ally was still trying to take in the fact that her song had been heard by almost a million people. And Trish undoubtedly was trying to figure out what my scheme was in this whole thing. I on the other hand was just trying to take it all in.

The shock of the fame was starting to wear off for me and I had begun to figure out that I was way out of my depth. People knew who I was now, but how was I going to translate that into something more. I knew I had to find a way to keep the momentum going, but I had no idea how. I needed help. "So... What's next?"

"What do you mean, Austin?" Ally asked.

"He means, what is he gonna eat next, his salisbury steak or the garlic mashed potatoes, duh!" Have I mentioned how I much I love Dez.

"No, you idiot," said Trish, "He means, how does he turn this successful video into a career. He needs to figure out his next step."

"I guess I should start trying to get some gigs or something."

"Definitely!" Dez jumped in, "But you'd probably need more than one song otherwise people would get pretty bored at your shows."

This shut us all up for a bit. Dez has a way of cutting to the heart of an issue without even realizing he did it. Trish seemed to simmer a bit more at the reminder that I stole Ally's song. Ally shifted in her seat awkwardly and I tried to avoid contact with both of them. Dez was completely oblivious to the awkwardness or he just ignored it, "Ally, that first song was awesome, do you have any more?"

Trish looked like she wanted to punch him in the face or at the very least throw her mashed potatoes at him. But I couldn't help but look up to see what Ally's reaction would be. Despite our conversation the night before I still wasn't sure how enthusiastic Ally was about writing songs for me, or if she had any existing songs that would work for me. She smiled at me and then at Dez, "I have some songs, but I'm not sure if they are right for Austin, but I'd be willing to try to come up with some more. Maybe Austin and I should try to put something together."

"That would be awesome Ally, I can't wait to work with you more and I don't wanna be a one hit wonder. I know we can come up with another awesome song together."

"You're gonna need a lot more than another song to make something out of this video." Trish seemed legitimately interested at that point so I figured I'd better engage her and maybe I could get her on my side instead of at my throat.

"What do you mean? I have no idea how to do any of this."

"Well first off, you've gotta give your fans and supporters a way to contact you. You've gotta get a website."

She seemed to know exactly what I needed to do, I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of it. It seemed so obvious as soon as she said it. That was the moment when I realized how out of my depth I was on my own. I needed a team of people around me to make better and fill in the gaps I can't handle on my own. Dez is my video director and the guy who could say what no one else wanted to. Ally is my song writer and I'm thinking she'll also be the one to keep me grounded. And it seemed like Trish was gonna be a big part of my career as well.

We talked a bit more about a website and about places I might try to perform. We started to actually have a bit of fun too which is pretty cool. But then we were interrupted by the principal calling me too his office.

I won't lie I've generally been a pretty good kid, so getting called to the principal's office was yet another unknown I had to face this week. I couldn't imagine what it was about, then I remembered that I skipped my afternoon classes the day before. I hoped that wasn't the issue, but I couldn't think of another reason he'd need to see me.

However my fears were without cause, it turned out that even the principal wanted to suck up to his famous student. When I got to his office I was ushered in quickly and found someone else in there with the principal. I definitely wasn't ready for what she was about to offer. It went down like this.

"Austin, this is Patty Schlesinger, and she'd like to speak with you for a few minutes." It was weird, it was as if the principal was treating me as an equal and not a student. I didn't say a word; it seemed like I was just there to listen.

"Austin, I'm from Miami Today, the city's number one morning news show, and we'd like to have you come on the show and tell us your story. People love to see stories about local young people succeeding. Would you be interested in coming on the air?"

I was a bit shocked; I hadn't even thought about possibly getting the attention of the local media. I guess it made sense, the video had certainly gotten around the city pretty fast. I thought about it for a bit and realized that my parents would probably wanna have a say in whether I went on TV or not. "That sounds great. I'd love to be on your show, but I don't think I can say yes without talking to my parents first."

"Oh, absolutely, of course, yes, in fact, I'd like to meet with your parents later today to work out the details and we may be able to get you on the show the day after tomorrow. Your principal has given us your parents' contact information so I'll be in touch."

"Okay sounds great! I can't wait." I was out the door in a hurry excited to tell my friends what had just happened. I knew my parents wouldn't be an issue so I wasn't worried about that, but I was a little worried about how I'd handle the press I was about to get. I mean I had never been interviewed before. I didn't know what they were gonna ask or how I should respond. This was my first chance to reveal a little about myself and I wasn't if who I am was good enough. I know I've said it before but there is a whole lot more to being famous then you ever really think about.

We spent the next day and a half working on trying to get a website up for fans and potential venues and promoters to use to contact me. It wasn't much, just a bio, a link to the video and a couple of email addresses, one for potential gigs and one for the fans. We got it up and running the night before I went on the show, Trish insisted on that, then I could plug the website on the show and hopefully build my fan base. Ally and I got to spend a little time brainstorming new songs but with school, the website, and trying to prepare myself for the interview we didn't make much progress.

The morning of the interview came and man was I nervous. I convinced the principal to get Ally, Dez, and Trish out of morning classes so that they could come with me. That helped the nerves a bit to have my team behind me. We were all waiting in the green room (not actually green by the way, totally misleading) and I'm sure they could all tell I was nervous. Dez was trying to make me laugh and Trish had brought a laptop and was looking at the traffic the website had gotten over night. I think she was beginning to like the whole PR thing.

Ally came over and sat next to me after Dez went to raid the snack table. "How are you feeling?"

"Nervous, I'm not sure what people are gonna think of me."

"They love you, why else would 990,000 thousand of them check out your video. You are an awesome performer and I know you'll do great out there." I smiled; Ally was great at giving pep talks, and I knew she meant every word she said.

"Its not the performance I'm worried about, its the interview. Its the first time I'm gonna go out in front of an audience and be myself. I've always hidden behind a song or a dance in the past. This time its just gonna be me. It's a little nerve-racking."

Ally responded with an exasperated laugh, "Austin, if there's one thing you'll never have to worry about in your career, its whether or not you'll be charming enough. You're one of the nicest, friendliest guys out there and I just no everyone is gonna love you because of it."

"Thanks, Ally" I was then called to head out onto the stage and get ready. I was gonna perform my song "Double Take" and then they went to commercial break before I spoke with the morning show's cast. The performance went great, it was a little weird to not have much of an audience, but I'm in my element whenever I perform and it made me feel better about the interview too. After the commercial break they started asking me questions.

"We're here with local teen and internet sensation Austin Moon. Did you ever think this video would get this kind of response?" The guy with the really bad toupee (I seriously don't remember any of their names) kicked the interview off.

"No way, me and my friend Dez, he's the one who actually put the video together, just wanted to make an awesome music video together, we thought it would be fun and it was. I figured we might get a couple hundred views, maybe a couple thousand if we were lucky."

"How have your friends at school responded to your sudden fame? I'm not even sure I know which one of them asked this question.

"Its been a little wild, I've always gotten along with everyone, but its a little overwhelming to have everyone jockeying to be my best friend."

"Well it sounds like your handling it well, I do have to ask though, have you had any better luck with the girls at your school since the video blew up. You are a very cute young man and I'm sure you have your admirers." The blond lady asked me this one.

"To be perfectly honest I haven't had much time to think about girls in the past of of days. We've been brain storming song ideas, getting ready for today, and getting my website up and running. Fame sure is a lot more exhausting than they let you believe." I smiled at the blond lady and I could tell that she was a little shaken by it. I think she was digging me.

"So you are working on new songs? Not planning on being just a one hit wonder huh? Could you give us any kind of preview into what types of songs you might play in the future?" Back to the toupee again.

"Not really, we're still in the early stages, but I have absolute faith in my partner and songwriter, Ally Dawson. She wrote "Double Take" and I'm sure she'll help me come up with something else, just as awesome. She is incredibly talented."

"Sounds like you two, really work well together, is there anything romantic going on?" The blonde, whose name is Connie (I just remembered) really wouldn't give up on the whole dating thing. There's no way she wasn't into me.

"No, we're just friends," I smirked, "So I'm still available if you're interested, Connie." I finished it off with a wink and they all cracked up laughing, I knew I had nailed the interview at that point. There were a couple more questions, but I was in cruise control and breezed through them. I could certainly get used to this kind of attention it was fun.

I went back to the green room to meet up with the gang and they were stoked about the interview. Dez said the video had already jumped another 30,000 views since the interview started. Trish said I had been receiving fan mail fairly consistently since I plugged the website. Ally was just happy she heard her name at all. Trish then approached me about something else.

"Austin, there's an email in here from the manager of the mall that Sonic Boom is in and he's asking you to sing at a promotional event he's hosting tomorrow. You're in if you want it, what do you think?"

"Trish that's awesome I'm definitely in! When is it?"

"The day after tomorrow and I'm glad you're in; I already told him you were coming. Oh and he would like you to sing "Double Take" and 1 more song that no one has ever heard before."

"Thanks a lot Trish, I can't believe this is happening so fast. You've been a big help. How'd you like to be my manager?"

"Thanks for asking, Austin, but I took that job the moment I realized you could sing."