"Haven't you noticed that I'm a star? I'm coming into view as the world is turning…!"

Connie glanced up from the freezer section with surprise at once. That voice!

The girl peeked into the back room of the Big Doughnut to see Sadie softly singing to herself along with her headphones, shelving books and dancing along. She was really good! Connie wanted to respect her privacy, knowing Sadie would be upset if she said anything. She backed up but suddenly bumped into someone, making her give a yell in shock.

"Lars!" Sadie grunted in shock.

"Sadie!" Lars gasped.

"I'm here too!"

"Connie?!" They choursed.

"What are you doing here?!" Sadie growled, finishing up the restocking.

"I came to get some Lion Lickers for my big and beautiful cat. And I just heard your awesome singing and-!"

"You shouldn't have!" Sadie cried, blushing in embarrassment.

Lars chuckled, helping her. "Accept the compliment, Sadie! You are really, really good!"

The three heard the ring of the bell and went to the counter at once.

"Hey you all!" Jenny smiled, walking up to the counter.

"Oh! Hey Jenny, what's up?" Lars smiled while Connie stepped out to see her as well.

Jenny gave the girl a quick squeeze since they hadn't seen each other in a bit and smiled. "You three wanna come to a karaoke party?"

"A party?" Sadie asked, looking anxious.

"Well, it won't be one if you aren't there!" Jenny grinned.

Sadie blushed. "I'm not that great…"

"Oh, no, I meant all of you, because I think you need more than three to make a party."

"O-Oh right! Sorry, sorry! I thought y-you meant I was the life of the party!" Sadie laughed nervously. "That was so sil-"

"We'll be there!" Lars smiled, interrupting her.

"Ok! See you all later!" Jenny smiled, leaving.

"See you then!" Connie called after her. She smiled, turning to the others. "This is gonna be so fun! I love singing togther with… What's wrong?"

Sadie had her face on the counter and moaned. "I can't go! I can't sing in front of them! And I'm not the life of the party, why did I say that?!"

"But Sadie, you love singing more than anything!" Lars insisted. "Plus you've wanted to go to a party with the Cool Kids since you first met them!"

"Yeah, but not a karaoke party!" Sadie cried. "I'll mess up for sure!"

"Not if you practice!" Connie suggested with a smile. "And besides, karokee's about fun, not skill!"

"Sure, Connie." Sadie rolled her eyes. "But maybe if I practice til a song's perfect… I'll go."

"No, no, no!" Sadie moaned, throwing out her many cds.

Connie browsed the songs on her own phone and sighed. None of them fit Sadie perfectly!

"What about the star song?" Lars suggested. "The one you were singing earlier?"

"No, everyone knows that one! I want something unique at least, something I can sing without any chance of failure!"

Connie glanced over at Sadie's nightstand and saw a open notebook. She couldn't help but scan it quickly and then gasped. "You can write your own song!"

Sadie turned in suprise. "What?!"

Connie showed her the notebook. "You've already written the melody of this one! And the lyrics-!"

Sadie snatched it away, blushing. "F-Fine. I'll do it! But you guys aren't hearing the full thing until the party, especially not the lyrics!"

"Sounds like a plan, player 2!" Lars smiled and Sadie blushed harder.

The three spent the rest of the day working on Sadie's song which was titled Ladder to the Stars.

Connie brought over her violin and she, Lars, and Sadie devolved the rest of the song after playing the melody and building off of each other.

Lars a few times tried to sneak a peek at the lyrics but Sadie always caught him first. She'd glare at him and blush.

While Sadie worked more on the lyrics, Connie and Lars watched a scary movie and they were eventually both curled up against Sadie in fright who rolled her eyes before holding Lars close and patting Connie's head.

Sadie's mother tried to help and take control of the situation but Sadie refused her help, saying it was a song from the heart, making Connie and Lars want to look at the song even more.

Later that night, Lars had left to go change for the party, leaving Sadie and Connie to practice it with everything together.

"You ready to sing?" Connie grinned, excited to finally hear the lyrics.

"Mm…" Sadie mumbled, turning away.

"What does mm mean?" Connie asked, putting her violin down. She sat on the opposite side of the bed as Sadie who was staring at her lap.

"I don't think I can do this, Connie… I mean, I put everything into this song! All I've been feeling today…

and the day before… and every day since we met.."

Connie slightly wished that it was a song about her and Sadie that had been building since they had met, but knew it wasn't the case. She was glad who it was about. She held Sadie's hand, grabbing her attention. "It's okay. The song's perfect."

"Okay, then can't you sing it?" Sadie moaned, hugging a pillow close to her face in comfort.

"No way! It's your song! And like you said, it's your feelings you put into it. You have to be the one who sings it!" Connie cried. She then frowned. "You know I just can't express your feelings for you."

"You seem fine pretending with every other emotion!" Sadie grunted, reminding them of the time they'd switched bodies.

They were quiet for a moment.

"What if I get there and I freeze? Or they don't like the song? Or they think I'm weird?"

"Before I became more confident in myself after using my gem… I didn't have a lot of friends because I though I was weird… The Temps were really protective and I didn't like to leave them much anyway, I only came into town to see my dad or get a new book, but then," Connie smiled. "I met you and Lars! And you were some of the coolest humans I'd ever met, you didn't care that I froze up or was weird, you two let me stumble through my words until I was ready to actually talk. Because I met you guys, I knew I was able to meet more people and that I really should! And the cool kids were some of the first that I met, and they didn't care that I was awkward either."

"I know you're weird, Connie, what's your point?"

"My point is that it's okay to feel scared and anxious to get yourself out there, but if you never do it, you'll miss out on some extraordinary things!" Connie smiled. "And these guys you're going to party with are good people, don't let fear stop you from seeing that."

Sadie sighed. "When did you get so smart…?"

"Somewhere between summoning a shield and discovering my mother killed my aunt…."

Connie knocked on Sour Cream's door later that night after getting ready. He opened the door and smiled. "Hey, come on in."

Connie entered with her violin and smiled, seeing the tv was already set up with the karoke machine and Buck and Jenny were already singing. The song ended and they high-fived.

"Hey guys!" Connie waved a bit shyly.

"Hey girl!" Jenny smiled. She saw the violin. "Ooh! You playin' something for us tonight?"

Connie giggled. "Yes, but later, once Sadie gets here!"

"That makes sense! Sadie is the life of the party!" Jenny grinned. "She said that earlier, and I realized that's true! We got into some cool adventures thanks to her and Connie!"

Connie smiled nervously. "You thought those were cool…? You nearly died in all of them."

"The coolest." Buck smiled.

The doorbell rang and Connie ran to get it. "This must be Sadie!"

Lars smiled nervously when she answered the door.

"Oh! Hey Lars!" Connie grinned. She looked behind him. "Is Sadie with you?"

"She's not here yet?" Lars asked in suprise. He let Connie lead him to the living room.

"Hey, it's doughnut boy." Buck said, drawing the other two's attention.

"Lars, actually… I'm Sadie's friend.." Lars replied, looking a bit anxious.

"Cool name, dude!" Jenny nodded. "It's good to see you come out of that shell."

"I'm Buck, sup." Buck said cooly, giving finger guns.

"I'm Sour Cream, welcome to my house!"

"Oh! Um, I brought some homemade cookies, in case we get hungry, they're pretty tasty, I hope…." Lars told them, setting down the plate. "Anyway… maybe I should just go and find Sadie, the 'life of the party' right?"

"I'll find her! You stay here and get to know each other!" Connie insisted.

Lars was going to protest but was pulled into the party by the Cool Kids.

"Lars! These are great!" Jenny cried, trying a cookie. "Hey, you the one that made that cupcake stand at Beach-a-Palooza?"

"Yeah, I didn't make much of an appearance though."

"The cupcakes spoke for themselves!" Jenny insisted.

"It was like a rave, in my mouth." Sour Cream told him.

Connie smiled and hurried out.

Connie searched all over town, first stopping by Sadie's house and asking if she was there. Barb got concerned quickly but Connie assured her that Sadie she'd probably just missed Sadie walking in.

She checked all the local restaurants, including Fish Stew Pizza. Kofi said that the only rebellious teen he had seen today was his daughter.

The girl lastly looked around Funland, which was abandoned besides Mr. Frowney who had been fixing up the fun house since it's recent vandalism. He hadn't seen Sadie either…

Connie climbed up a tree just off the town and took a deep breath. With her diamond powers, her voice could travel for miles. "SADDDDIEEEE!"

While she was yelling, the backfire from her voice sent the tree she was on falling. She screamed and held onto the branch before it timbered completely. She climbed down and lifted up the tree with her diamond strength, barely making a sweat as she attached it back to the stump and healed it back into place with a kiss.

She walked back to the party, deciding it was better to just call Sadie instead.

"This is Sadie, leave a message."

"Hey Sadie! Um, just wondering where you are, since your big show is tonight! I have my violin tuned and everything…!" Connie laughed nervously as she jogged up to Sour Cream's house, passing the dumpster. She noticed a familiar-looking book and peeked in. She saw the lyrics falling out and sighed in disappointment. "I… see you got some stage fright… You don't have to perform tonight, maybe some other time! You know, you should still come over… hope I'll see you soon.."

Connie peeked in the living room but was surprised to see no one there. She heard yelling from the kitchen and looked there to see the Cool Kids and Lars covered in flour and sugar and throwing it at each other in a war.

"This is not baking another batch!" Lars yelled with a laugh.

"You fell for our trap!" Jenny cackled, throwing more.

"Join us, girl!" Buck called when seeing her.

Connie grinned and ran in, Lars pulled her on his side and pushing Sour Cream playfully to the other. "When Sadie comes in, the doughnut kids are gonna dominate you guys!"

"Actually, something came up, Sadie isn't coming…" Connie told them sadly.

Lars stopped throwing, making the Cool Kids seize for a moment too. When they realized that Sadie wasn't going to be there, they all looked bummed.

"That sucks…" Lars sighed, looking upset.

"Hey, we can't let that kill the mode!" Jenny cried. She threw another ball of flour, causing the war to be back on.

Later that night, Lars and Connie said their goodbyes and walked back to town together. Connie had shown him the notebook.

"Man… we worked so hard on that song and didn't even get to see it!" Lars grumbled. He sighed. "It wasn't even about the song really, if she was too embarrassed to perform, fine, but she should've at least shown up.. She's wanted to be friends with those guys forever! It's crazy that they actually liked me though, that I was the one who partied with them… And you know, they're really cool, but not like she thinks, like… like cool people… Man, when did I become the brave one of us?"

Connie shrugged sadly. "Couldn't tell ya…"

They suddenly heard someone running to them and Connie braced herself slightly.

The man emerged in the light of the street lamp and she grunted in shock. "Dad?! What are you doing out here..?"

"I was looking for you!" Doug panted, clearly our of breath before he grabbed her tightly. "The barn, t-the Temps! S-Something happened!"

"What?!" Connie cried in worry. "Are they okay?!"

"They're fine, but you gotta come home, right now!"

"Can I help?!" Lars called after them as Doug and Connie ran away.

"No, just go home!" Doug insisted. "There you'll be safe!"

Lars looked after them with worry as they faded into the night… What was going on? He turned back to walk home and sighed. He would just have to call Connie in the morning…

Five shadows of varying height watched him leave.

One of the small ordered the tall three to capture him at once while the even shorter one giggled with horrible delight.

Five down, two to go.