A/N: Hey guys! OK, so I guess I took a little longer to update than I meant to, but hey, I'm a pretty busy girl! Now, for those of you who want more plot development, plot development is what you're gonna get! This chapter is totally crucial in the entire Lizzie McGuire Movie's storyline. Well, this is my take on it, anyway.

Props to my friend Chelsae, who provided some of the inspiration for this chapter. I couldn't have done it without you, Chels! OK, and now for the chapter. Oh, and by the way, check out my personal website, www.notalkynohappy.friendpages.com It's pretty cool, in my opinion!

Chapter 8: Over In Italy

No POV

"You are being ridiculous, Isabella! You would not be all that you are without me; we are famous together. Your career would have gotten nowhere fast without my being a part of it. We are in this as a team! You cannot quit on me now!"

"Oh really? Well, at least I can actually sing my own songs. You cannot even carry a tune! Lipsynching doesn't even take any real talent. All you do is move your lips and smile at all the girls! One flip of your hair, and they are all drooling. 'Oh Paolo, let me be your girl, I am not just some fan, I really do love you and want to be with you forever and have your babies!' And then what do you do? No, you do not stand by me. You go and flirt with them! God, how did I ever fall in love with you?"

On the verge of tears, Isabella stopped herself before she could sob into the receiver. She'd been saying a lot of strange things lately. Things she'd never thought she would say. And her thoughts were becoming more and more intense. She found herself questioning everything she had with Paolo - and all of their success. Pretending that Paolo could sing was wrong. They were fooling millions of people. What those crazy female fans didn't realize was that their crush boy was a total fake.

It hit her that: she suddenly remembered how much she'd hated fake people back in grade school. All the popular kids were trying to act like they were all that, but they were just a bunch of scared little children hiding from reality and living in a fantasy world. And that was exactly what Paolo had been doing for so very long now: living a lie.

She just felt too guilty. Isabella knew that this could not go on any longer. The time had come for them to be truthful with their fans. And if Paolo refused, then she had to leave him. It was the right thing to do.

"Izzy, please," Paolo said gently. "This doesn't have to happen. Nothing has to change. We can keep on going and we can live a happy life together! Izzy, I want to marry you, I want us to grow old together."

Isabella remained silent.

"Izzy... you shine like the light from the sun."

"That's what you said to me on our first date. And you haven't called me Izzy since we were fifteen. I know what you're trying to do, Paolo. But it's not going to work." She paused for a moment, contemplating whether or not to say what was on the tip of her tongue.

"And I know that the whole sunlight thing is just a pickup line. I heard you say it to that groupie on the night of our single's release party. I know what you did, Paolo, and I will NEVER forgive you!"

With that, she slammed down the phone and left Paolo hanging on the other line.

Steaming mad, Paolo threw the telephone onto the floor and screamed out in frustration. "If Isabella won't have me, fine! The island can have her! I don't need her! The world doesn't have to find out about me! Isabella will not tell anyone, and neither will I. I can be famous on my own! I can-"

He cut himself off, realizing that he was talking to himself. When he was a young child, he would always see this strange old woman walking down his street, saying, "Only crazy people talk to themselves, dearie." The funny thing is, she was talking to herself. Paolo's mother had always told him to stay away from her.

This freakish flashback brought Paolo to the conclusion that he must be going insane. Yet even his fear of insanity couldn't make him stop talking. "Who cares about insanity?" he softly spoke. " I have a right to be crazy. I'm rich! I can do whatever I want to, and everyone will still worship me!"

A thunderous bang interrupted Paolo's thoughts. He did not know what it was, but for some reason, it gave him an idea. If he could have anything in the world without even lifting a finger, why not get the one thing that would truly satisfy him: revenge.

"If I call up a few people who owe me favors," he said, "then I could completely destroy Isabella's reputation. I could humiliate her so badly that she will never show her face in public again. Then everybody will have to turn to me, she will be yesterday's news, and I will be the most famous pop star in all of Europe. Maybe I can even go to the US and become a North American celebrity, also. Then I will be an international superstar, and Miss Isabella Parichi will be just another burned-out, useless nobody whom no one will care about. I can be more famous than any other singer in the world."

As he thought it over, the plan kept on sounding better and better. Maybe he could tell the press that Isabella had cheated on him with a stripper or a male groupie or a fan or something. There was always the possibility of writing a tell-all book about Izzy and her family, and selling it to bookstores all over the country.

Or maybe...

"THAT'S IT!" he exclaimed. Grinning devilishly, he ran out of the bedroom of his hotel suite and dashed to the living room, where his laptop computer was set up on the table. He sat down in the soft chair beside the table, and turned on the computer. He quickly opened word processor, already formulating a plan.

He began to type.

His thoughts flowed out onto the monitor as the scheme took shape. Paolo had never been so excited about something in his life. "She will never be able to face the public again after this reaches the press," he said wickedly. "And the best part, they will all think that she is the one who betrayed me. They will never know about the so-called "affair" with that groupie girl. What was her name, Lola? Ah well, it does not matter. Soon, Isabella Parichi will be nothing but a memory!"

When he finished the letter, he logged into his email account (which didn't have his real name, of course) and typed in the address of every European tabloid he could think of.

And that's when it hit them. Just telling the tabloids this information wasn't enough. To really make an impact, he'd have to show them. In fact, he could show the whole world... the International Music Video Awards were coming up!

But how would he do it? "It's not like I will be able to get Isabella onstage and trick her into lipsynching," he muttered to himself. "It will never work." He had to face it: he was never going to be able to convince the world that Isabella was the one who lipsynched - and not him.

"But if I don't do something soon," he whispered, "then Isabella will tell everyone that it is I who lipsynchs, and I will be ruined! I cannot let that happen. I just cannot."

A brief moment of pondering, and then... he deleted the letter.

Sighing, he decided to give up on all the scheming for the time being. In an act of defeat, he logged out of his email account and clicked onto his fave website, MTV.com.

And that's when it happened. Who knew that MTV.com could start a scandal so huge that the entire life of an unknown American girl could be turned upside-down... that the reputation of a nice Italian girl (who just so happened to be famous) could come close to being totally destroyed.

Little did that American girl know that one music video posted on the internet could spark such a controversy. But it started something so unimaginable, nobody could believe that it had happened even after it happened - or even while it was happening, for that matter.

So you must be wondering what on Earth could have started all this. Well, stop wondering.

The thing that Paolo discovered was...

THE AARON CARTER CHRISTMAS VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Hmm... Aaron Carter. American pop superstar. Younger brother of Nick Carter, member of super-famous American boy band the Backstreet Boys.'

Thinking it over, it slowly hit Paolo that he wasn't as cool as he thought he was. This 14-year-old American boy was famous in not only North America, but Europe, too. And no one outside of Europe knew who Paolo was.

'That also means they don't know Izzy, though,' he thought with a smirk. 'My wits amaze me more every day!'

Anyways, he went back to what he was reading: an article talking about the girl Aaron was spotted hanging out with at some party. "Boring, boring, boring..." he murmured.

He scrolled down and saw a whole bunch of links to Aaron Carter music videos - including the Christmas version of "I Want Candy".

"I wonder what this is," he said, looking at the link. "Whoever heard of making a Christmas time version for a song that already has a perfectly fine video?" Shrugging, he clicked on the link, just to see what it was like. A window popped up for the video to play in, and Paolo waited patiently. The video started...

And that's when he saw her.

A girl whose beauty was brighter than a morning star. A girl wose smile made you want to sing. A girl whose hair you wanted to feel brushing against your cheek.

A girl who looked EXACTLY like Isabella!

There was only one difference between this girl and Izzy: this girl had blond hair. She was dancing in the background, a pretty Hispanic girl beside her. They kept looking at each other and giggling - they must've been friends. Then Aaron went over to them and began to dance with these girls, whose outfits were very different from the elf costumes that the other dancers were wearing. Aaron and this girl seemed to have some chemistry...

Suddenly, Paolo had a flashback. "How could I forget?!" he exclaimed, hitting himself in the head. "Of course! This is the same girl from that movie with the boy from 'Malcolm in the Middle'!" Paolo remembered seeing this girl in a TV movie starring Frankie Muniz. He'd noticed the similaritybetween her and Izzy then, and had looked for this girl's name in the credits. And her name was...

Um...

Lizzie! Lizzie McGuire!

Whoa. Her name even sounded like Izzy! "Way freaky!" he said.

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Paolo's head. He could somehow work this girl into his plans!

But wait! How was he going to get her to the IMVAs?

'Oh, I'll figure something out,' he thought to himself. 'After all, I am a celebrity. This Lizzie McGuire is about to have the ride of her life...'

Lizzie awoke with a start. What had she been dreaming about? And when had she fallen asleep? She looked beside her. Gordo's seat was empty, but she was too tired to look for him. Overcome by sleepiness, she was definitely ready to drift back off to dreamland...

But something told her that the dream she'd just had was really, REALLY scary.

What was going on?

A/N: OHMIGOSH, IS ANYBODY ELSE TOTALLY PISSED OFF???!!! THEY DON'T LET YOU TYPE ASTERISKS ANYMORE???!!! I HATE THESE UPGRADES!!!!!!!!!!