Disclaimer: Don't own Instant Star, wish I did though…. Does anyone want to pool their money with mine, and buy it with me! It'd be like a partner company! HECK YES!

"JUDE HARRISON, GET YOU'RE SORRY ASS UP ON STAGE RIGHT NOW!" Someone yelled from the balcony. It was Darius, just lovely. I climbed the steps to the stage and went to the microphone.

"What shall I sing for you master?" I asked sarcastically.

"Don't get smart with me Jude." He warned. "And I want you to warm up with Temporary Insanity." I nodded and I played that. I guess it was up to his satisfaction, because he didn't stop me. He then had me sing Skin, Time to be your 21, and Let Me Fall. I did pretty good, only having to sing "Your 21" three times. Memories of just an hour ago had been flooding my mind, and making it hard to concentrate.

"Anything else you need me to practice?" I asked.

"Yeah, actually… you need to warm up Waste my Time." He informed me.

"What!" I exclaimed, horrified. "Sorry Darius, but that song can't be sung without Shay, and you know that!"

"Yeah, well you can do it without him, and you're going to, so stop complaining and so what I say." He thought for a minute. "Please." An asshole with manners… whouda thought? I laughed a little. Speiderman started the song and I sang it through until the part where Shay normally came in. I stopped and spoke to Darius.

"How the hell am I supposed to fill that gap Dar?"

"Just sing on as if it wasn't there." He said with a joy in his voice that I didn't quite recognize. I grumbled, but did what he said, and after the song was over, sound check was done. Just as I was climbing down from the stage, EJ came bursting into the theatre, followed by three girls that looked around my age.

"Jude, hi. These girls here are the winners of the radio contest that 100.3 put on." EJ explained.

"Oh, cool. Hey girls… welcome to my life!" I held out my arms a little, and gave them a small smile. They didn't say a word, as if saying something would send them back to reality. "Ummm… is there anything we're supposed to do?" I turned to EJ.

"Sign some stuff, take a few pictures, talk a bit. Be nice to them!" she smiled. "And if you need me, I'll be at the merch table, making sure those guys don't put out the wrong shirts again." She sauntered out of the auditorium and an uncomfortable silence settled amongst the four of us.

"So, uh, is there anything you want me to sign?" I offered.

"YES!" the first girl shouted. She paused, and then her face turned red as her friends laughed at her.

"Okay, cool." I gave her a rare real Jude Harrison smile and she walked forward and gave me her CD. I signed it real big, then thought for a second. "Hang on guys, I'll be right back." I walked out to the merch booth and grabbed 3 large tour shirts.

"Jude, where are you going with those?" EJ questioned.

"Giving them to the girls who won the contest. They shouldn't have to pay 30 bucks for one after they won." She tried to protest, but I turned my back and walked back into the auditorium. "Here ya go." I handed one shirt to each of the girls. "I didn't know what sizes ya'll wear, so I figured larges would fit."

"Oh my god, thank you so much!" The second girl beamed with happiness.

"Yeah, this was super nice of you!" The third one echoed.

"You are even cooler in person than I thought you would be!" The first one replied.

"You guys are too sweet. Seriously, if it weren't for people like you, I wouldn't even be here right now, so really, I should be thanking you." They grinned and we talked for about 10 more minutes, with me signing their CD's and shirts, before we were interrupted.

"Jude, they need you to go backstage for hair and mak-" Tommy stopped five feet from us. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?"

"Oh my hell, its Tommy Quincy!" The first two girls screeched together.

"Umm, kinda yeah. These girls here won a radio contest to do a meet and greet type thing I guess, and we were just wrapping things up." I nodded at him.

"Yeah, well when they leave, hair and make up needs you backstage to do, uh, everything." He finishes lamely. I just nodded and he retreated back behind the doors.

"Alrighty ladies, you heard the man. I'm needed backstage, so I'll talk to you guys later, okay?" They nodded enthusiastically. "I hope you enjoy the show!" They thanked me a final time, and then exited the auditorium. I headed backstage and sat in the make up chair. After what seemed like forever, they were finally done with everything they needed to do. "Thanks guys." I went into the wardrobe room and EJ attacked me like a hungry vulture. It only took her ten minutes to pick out the "prefect" outfit and I was glad. Amazing as it might sound, I had had enough pampering for a day. I checked the clock and was surprised to find that it was 7:30 already. The show was scheduled to start at 8 and I was getting butterflies in my stomach. Not huge ones, but just enough to make me worry.

"Hey girl, how're you doing?" Tommy asked, concerned as he walked into the room.

"Eh, I'm not the best, but I'm not terrible. I'm kinda nervous." I confessed. He laughed. "What's so funny!" I glared at him.

"Just… you preformed in front of millions of people every week for 3 months to win the title of Instant Star and a simple concert is making you skirmish?"

"Oh, shut up Tommy. You can be so rude sometimes." I kidded, but inside I knew he was right. "Is there anything you can do to make me feel better?" I whispered, half hoping he wouldn't hear me.

"Oh Jude…" Tommy looked at me with big, sad eyes.

"Never mind, just… never mind." I looked down. I looked up to say something when Howard, the stage director came in.

"Jude, you're on in 5 minutes." I looked at the clock and saw that indeed, I only had 5 minutes left. I stood up and brushed some non-existent wrinkles out of my pants.

"Wish me luck." I muttered. I walked out the door. Right before I got onstage, Tommy grabbed my arm.

"Jude…" He lowered his head and put his lips on mine. It wasn't a huge, big, showey kiss, but it was enough to make me want to do great. To be great.

For him.

Author's Note: Thanks so much to everyone that's been leaving reviews! Just wanted to let y'all know I really and truly appreciate it. When you leave me reviews, it gives me an ego boost, and that makes me want to update more… hint hint Oh, and just to address a question someone asked me a few chapters back, no I don't like the Sadie/Tommy pairing…. It's so disgusting! Haha, just thought I'd let you guys know! Please READ AND REVIEW! (I'll give you a chapter real quick!)