AN: OMG! I can't believe you guys are still reading this! I'd thought most of you would have given up reading this a long time ago. Thank you so, so much! And I won't blame anyone if they stopped reading after this chapter. I'm planning to write something which I'm pretty sure no one's ever done before. Just don't hate me or hold it against me, OK? And in my version of what happens, I'm writing as though Portia is Shay's aunt, because he's too old to be Portia's son. But that's entirely my opinion. Feel free to agree/disagree.

Special ANs: Thanks to the following people:

Tanya and tommysmy21, I'm just getting to the good part. At least, I think it's the good part. But I won't know unless you tell me, so please review (or email me to tell me what you think).

Shannon, sorry about that. But without cliffhangers, it'd be kinda boring.

Camsma, I thought it was Darius at first too. But you'll just have to read it and find out ;o)!

timsleesa and hurrayforharrison, I hope you don't hate me, but I really can't tell you just yet. Read below to find out…

scott4eva, so do I. But the drama is just beginning…

Chloe, I really hate to tell you this, but I can't say until I start writing. I'm not one of those people who plan out their stories beforehand. So I find out either as I'm writing it, or as I'm just about to post it.

And to everyone who's reading this, I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for reading! You all rock! blasting Instant Star music and driving my neighbors crazy ;o)! )

Previously…

"Was there something you wanted to tell me, Tommy?" Jude asked.

"Yeah, just listen," I said, putting up a finger as Kwest put on the music. I ran up there, as several girls started shrieking hysterically at me.

"OMG!"

"It's little Tommy Q!"

"I can't believe it! It's really him!"

I took the mic, and started singing as I made my way over to Jude, whose mouth was hanging open in shock. All the girls were sighing, squealing, or throwing envious looks in Jude's direction, and I made sure that Jude's eyes were only on mine as I gazed intently into her deep blue eyes.

As soon as the last remaining notes of the song faded into silence, all the girls started screaming and squealing and cheering and clapping. But none of their responses mattered to me. I looked at Jude, trying to gauge her reaction.

Silently, she pulled me aside to one corner, as all eyes followed us.

"Tommy, is it true? Do you love me?" Jude breathed out, unable to believe what she'd just heard.

"Yes, Jude. I've always loved you. I don't care who knows it, because nothing's worth losing you. Not my job, not the negative media attention this'll probably bring, not the thought of going to jail, not anything. You're all that matters to me. I'm just mad I didn't see it before, that I was so caught up in trying to please everyone that I forgot what I really wanted. Who I really wanted. You…" I saw Jude's eyes glisten with tears as she processed what I just admitted to her. I wiped them away with the back of my hand and brought her closer to me and held her as she struggled to compose herself again.

"Awww," the crowd sighed. Jude blushed, and I turned away so they couldn't see how embarrassed I felt.

"So what does this mean?" Jude wondered. "Where do we go from here?"

I brought Jude's face towards mine. Our lips touched, and all the emotion I was holding

back finally surfaced.

Jude deepened the kiss immediately, and I gently pushed my tongue up against her lips. She opened for me, and our tongues did a slow tango as my heart started beating faster and faster.

I could hear cheering and screaming as we stood there, kissing one another with all the passion we felt.

I broke it off, and immediately saw Jude's eyes cloud over with worry. "Tommy, don't."

"It's not that, I just…are you sure you want to do this?" I said, as Jude's face broke into a wide grin. She leapt up and pulled me back down to her. I lost all rational thought as I felt her kiss me eagerly and without restraint.

The crowd cheered again. It quickly died down, as someone walked toward us and I heard the sound of a throat clearing.

Jude and I broke apart, as we quickly registered who it was.

"Tom, Jude, what the HELL is going on here?" the person demanded, looking extremely upset. "ANSWER ME! NOW!"

Chapter 27: Facing the Music

I stared at Jude, whose face had drained of color. "Shay, I-"

Shay glared at me, his face seething with anger. "Well, if it isn't Uncle Tommy."

"You mean, just Tommy," I said, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. "We aren't related anymore."

"Oh right," Shay replied nastily. "That's because you married my aunt, then left before you really got to know how much she loved you. Do you know how much you hurt her when you left? Of course not. You were too busy performing in Boyz Attack to see the people whose hearts you left in shreds."

"You're one to talk," I countered angrily. "You hooked up with Jude, then hooked up with her archenemy on tour, and then you didn't even bother to tell her face to face? She found out through Eden, of all people. Who's the heartbreaker now?"

Shay stood his ground, his face full of anger. It was at that moment that I knew I'd snapped. In 7th grade, I was expelled for fighting. I'd tried to avoid fighting, but this was at a deeper level. The consequences of physical wounds would eventually go away, but the results of verbal wounds would take much longer. I knew Shay wouldn't forgive me for a while now, and for Jude's sake, I tried to walk away.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and knew it wasn't Jude's. I tried to keep walking away, then Shay turned me around roughly. But before he could land the first punch, Jude stepped between us.

"Shay…" With one word, Jude melted Shay's defenses. Shay looked at her, eyes full of desire. They quickly turned hard and cold as they settled on me.

"This isn't over," Shay warned, as Darius stepped toward us.

"Tom, what's going on here?" Darius looked at the three of us. I began to say something, anything, but Shay cut me off.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all," Shay said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smirking.

"Good, well, Shay, we need you up on stage ASAP," Darius put his arm around his nephew, and started to walk away.

"Oh, Uncle D? There's something you should know," Shay said, his eyes glinting cruelly.

"What?" Darius was impatient now.

"Tommy and Jude, they just made out for like 10 minutes before you came over," Shay looked pleased with himself as he was momentarily forgotten.

I ran my hand through my hair, as Jude stood speechless.

"I can explain," I said, trying to protect Jude from what I knew would be coming.

"Really? Because I'd like to hear it," Darius thundered. "I go mingle for 5 seconds, and when I turn around, I find out that my top producer was making out with his artist."

"D, I'm not the only one," I argued weakly. Georgia watched, her face ashen. She was still in shock at what had happened.

"Darius, don't blame Tommy. Blame me. " Jude said as she put her hand in mine. "Tommy always said we couldn't date, but I kept pushing him to go out with me. He never wanted this to happen, and told me we should keep our relationship professional, even though he loves me and I love him. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"Does it look like I care?" Darius roared. The crowd remained silent, watching closely. He turned to Tommy and started bellowing. "I made you what you are today. One of the best producers in the industry. And you," he pointed at Jude, "you shouldn't have even made it this far. There were a lot of better artists out there. With a lot of luck and a little talent, you got to meet some people who were able to bring you this far. And you throw it all away like this?" Darius was pacing now. He was so angry, I could almost picture steam coming out of his ears.

"Darius, go ahead, take it out on me, I won't care. But leave Jude out of this. She doesn't deserve to be insulted. It's all my fault. I was the one who kissed her." I tried to shield Jude from the worst possible consequences that could come of this.

"T, that's it. I don't care who kissed who. The fact is, you kissed each other. I can't allow that in my studio. You're both fired." Darius stated emphatically.

"What? Darius, you're making a mistake! If you fire Jude, you'll lose a huge amount of profit. Jude's your number one female artist. You can't afford to replace her with some knockoff. Take Eden for example. She's not half the artist Jude is, and you know it." I responded just as strongly as Darius did moments before.

Jude joined in. "Darius, if you fire Tommy, do you think you'll get a lot of artists dying to work with you? Everyone wants to work with Tommy. He's the best producer in Canada, if not the world! You can't get rid of him like that!"

"I can, and I will. You've given me no choice. You can pick up your things tomorrow. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Darius strode off, as Shay hurried to follow him. He glanced back and smirked at me as if to say, "Look at little Tommy Q now!" I wanted to wring his scrawny little neck.

"Jude, I'm sorry. This never should have happened. I don't care what's going to happen to me, but Darius can't do this to you. I'm gonna try to get your job back if it's the last thing I do." I vowed. But Jude waved me off.

"Tommy, forget it. I can't let Darius fire you because of something I did. And I won't work with anyone else. My music just wouldn't be the same, and you know it." Jude insisted.

"So we're in this together, even if we're out?" I clarified with her.

"It's both of us, or it's neither." Jude agreed, pulling me into another embrace. I love it when she does that.

Kwest came over, looking at me sympathetically.

"Man, I can't believe he did that," Kwest said, shaking his head in shock. "I'm sorry, man."

"Don't be," I said grimly, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that was now spreading slowly over me. "It's not your fault that Darius has a heart of ice."

"I'm gonna quit too. I won't work without the best producer," Kwest decided.

"Dude, don't. What if we won't find anyplace that'll hire the three of us?" I tried to cram my situation into the back of my mind.

"Make that four. Where Kwest goes, I go. Except the bathroom. That'd be too disgusting." Sadie said, coming over.

The rest of the night went off as planned, and after it was over, I headed straight home without talking to anyone. I tried to go straight to sleep, but kept having nightmares about Darius turning into a huge fire-breathing dragon that toasted his enemies to a crisp. I finally gave up my hope of going to sleep around 4:30 in the morning, and instead focused my attention on what I could possibly do to reverse the damage.

Later that morning, I flipped on the TV as I ate breakfast. The headlines for the morning news included footage and information about the incident at Jude's prom. I shut off the TV in disgust, wondering how people had the nerve to gossip about other people's lives. I strode over to my front door, and picked up the newspaper. Unfolding it, I saw the headlines on the front page: Little Tommy Q Kisses Artist at Her Prom, G Major Producer, Tom Quincy, Getting It On With Instant Star Jude Harrison, Tom Quincy: Former G Major Producer, Producer and Former Boyz Attack Member Tommy Q Dropped From G Major…the list went on and on.

I tossed the newspaper into the garbage can, and went to my room to change for the meeting.

My POV: You can do this. Just go in there, and when everyone asks you what happened, just tell them the truth, that "I love Jude, and nothing and no one will ever come between us." People love it when two people hook up. Especially when they're always in the spotlight.

I trudged back down to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and pulled out a beer. I opened it, and downed the contents. Now I was finally ready to face whatever was thrown at me.

AN: AUGGGGHHHH! Here come the flames!