Chapter One

2011

"...And finally, a warm welcome to our newest dancer, Stevie McAddams!"

Darren blinked, staring at the woman Ryan was gesturing to. No, it can't be...

"I'm so pleased to be here!" She gushed, going bright pink. Most of the cast members laughed and smiled at her warmly. "Seriously! Glee is...well, my favourite show on Earth, and I'm so glad that I get to dance on it!"

Lea stepped forwards, a welcoming and radiant smile on her face. "Hi...Stevie! That's your name, right?" Stevie nodded, beaming madly. "I'm Lea...but you obviously knew that, since you like Glee, huh?"

"Yeah!" Stevie breathed nervously. "I know who everyone is...not in an obsessed stalker way, but..."

"It's fine!" Cory told her reassuringly. "So, I guess we don't really need to introduce everyone, do we?"

What is she doing here? Darren thought desperately. She can't dance to save her life...well, the last time I saw her she couldn't...

As everyone started to disperse and talk among themselves, Darren caught Stevie's eye, and she smiled at him shyly. He gave her a small grin back.

Maybe if I pretend I don't know her...

Too late. She'd walked over to him, her arms crossed against her stomach in an almost nervously shy way.

"So," She started absently. "I..umm...it's been a while, huh?"

Darren coughed, nodding slightly. "I...guess so."

"You still remember me, right?" She checked, her eyes starting to fill with more worry. Darren gave in, nodding again. "Good...I...umm..."

"So, a dancer, huh?" He tried to joke. Stevie gave him a small smile. "Last time I saw you; you had two left feet and stomped on nearly everyone's toes. I guess you improved..."

"Obviously," She chuckled sweetly. Darren took in her appearance, searching for some similarities, some differences, anything.

He crossed his own arms across his chest cautiously. "You look...different." Stevie just nodded. "Look, I don't want this to be awkward," He offered, giving a sigh. "We used to be best friends, Stevie-"

"And more," She reminded him, looking a little uncomfortable. "Or have you forgotten about me already?"

Darren shook his head quickly. "What? God no!" He reached out to touch her shoulder. "It's a bit hard, since you're standing right here in front of me."

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Always the flirt," She laughed, getting more comfortable.

"How about I show you around set?" Darren offered, moving his hand off her shoulder and near her hands. "Come on. It's our lunch break anyway, and then we have a dance rehearsal, so if you have to eat, I'd do it pretty soon."

Eighteen Years ago

The first time they met was when Darren was seven.

Darren, like always, had been sitting out on his front lawn, playing with his new Ariel doll that his Mom and Dad had given him for his birthday a few months earlier. Just as he started humming the tune to "Under the Sea", he heard a small giggle and looked up.

"Hello?" He called brightly, hoping it wasn't the aliens his brother had warned him about. "Do you come in peace?"

"What?" He heard a small voice giggle. Darren squinted his eyes, wondering where the "alien" was. "What does that mean?" With that, a small figure stepped out from behind a bush, blushing shyly.

Darren blinked, realising he was looking at a girl...a younger girl. She smiled softly at him, clasping her hands together behind her back. "Oh..." Darren grinned at her. "Hi!"

"Hi!" She repeated, lifting her right hand to wave at him. "So...umm...are you playing Little Mermaid?"

Darren nodded, looking down at his doll for a moment. "Yeah," He said, holding the red-haired mermaid doll up. "This is Ariel."

"I know who Ariel is!" The little girl laughed, skipping over to sit next to him on the grass. She plonked herself down, crossing her legs and leaning forwards to look at him with her head resting on her hands. "Everyone knows who Ariel is!"

Darren started to grin again slowly. "Duh!" He scooted closer to her, sticking his hand out for her to shake in an eager manner. "My name's Darren and I like apples."

"Huh," She shook his hand. "I'm Stephanie and I like apples too..." She paused, thinking about it. "And bananas...ooh! And peaches!"

The boy chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I like how you can use bananas for phones, so that you can eat your lunch and talk to it at the same time." He passed Stephanie the Ariel doll to look at. "Do you have an Ariel doll?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, but she has a blue tail, not a green."

"Oh...are you sure it's an Ariel doll?"

"Yeah," Stephanie passed Darren his toy back. "I got it from a Disney store and she has red hair, so..." She shrugged. "I could always buy another one with a green tail, so this one isn't lonely."

"She's not gonna be lonely," Darren grinned gapily at his new friend. "She'll have my Ariel to play with, won't she?"

Stephanie nodded, grinning back. "Yeah, duh!" She picked Darren's doll up again and brushed the fake hair through with her fingers.

"So," Darren carried on brightly. "I'm seven. What about you?"

"Six," She admitted, looking at him in slight awe. "I've never met someone with a bigger age than me...Well, apart from grown-ups."

"I have," Darren laughed. "My big brother Chuck. He's awesome and cool, and he's nine."

Stephanie's eyes widened slightly, her mouth falling open. "That's so...cool."

"Yeah..." Darren studied his new playmate for a moment. "Hey, can I call you a nickname, since Stephanie is too long to say if I wanna say who you are." Stephanie blinked. "I know a guy called Stephen, in my class at school, and we all called him Steve..."

"But I'm a girl," She pointed out, kind of confused. "Just call me Stephanie, because that's for my name."

"No," Darren shook his head. "I wanna call you something cool, since you are cool." Darren grinned suddenly. "I'm gonna call you Stevie!"

"Stevie?" Her voice went up an octave. "But that's a boy's name! And it's not mine!"

"Too bad," He teased. "Your name is Stevie now."

She folded her arms, not looking impressed. "But my name isn't Stevie-"

"I wanna call you Stevie," Darren interrupted, folding his arms too. "You can call me a nickname too, but my name is easier to pronounce."

"No it's not!" She countered, going red in the face. "Don't call me it!"

"Too late, Stevie." Stevie opened her mouth to argue. "Who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind, y'know, if it doesn't suit you." Stevie huffed in an annoyed manner, giving up. Darren grinned again, glad he'd gotten his new friend to agree. "So, you like Disney films too?" She nodded, somewhat eager again.

"My favourite Disney princess is Belle!" She exclaimed energetically, all traces of annoyance forgotten. "But I also like Ariel, and I want to grow up and be Sleeping Beauty, and-"

"Why Sleeping Beauty?" Darren wrinkled his nose. "She just lies there and sleeps...and my brother asks why she doesn't die if she has to sleep for so long, since she'd get all old and wrinkly."

Stevie snorted slightly. "Sure...but she's a Princess, and Princesses don't die so easy." She paused. "They have a Prince to save them-"

"Like Prince Eric!" Darren cut in, his tone almost dreamy at the thought. "Prince Eric is so handsome, and I can see why Ariel likes him so much."

"Me too," Stevie agreed, unfastening to Velcro on Ariel's tail. "And Aladdin!"

"OhMyGod!" Darren exclaimed in a high voice, jumping up on his knees out of excitement. "I LOVE Aladdin! My favourite character is the Genie, and I wanna grow up to be like him!" Darren brushed a loose curl away from his eyes so he could look at his new friend seriously. "My Mom and Dad took me and Chuck to see Aladdin when it came out in the cinema, so I said to my mom I wanted to be a genie when I grew up." Darren pouted puppy-like for a moment. "Mom said I couldn't, but then told me the guy who did his voice was an actor."

"What's that?" Stevie asked in wonder.

Darren puffed out his chest proudly. "It's where you play people on TV and in the movies."

"Oooohhhh..." Stevie's mouth fell open in amazement. "Yeah, I know what that is! Is that what you wanna be when you grow up?"

Darren nodded, grinning at the thought. "An actor...I also like singing though." Darren bit his lip in thought.

"Maybe you could do both," Stevie suggested brightly. "Like the guys in Aladdin."

Darren nodded again quickly, his childlike grin returning almost immediately. "Yeah! What about you?"

Stevie looked kind of taken aback for a moment. "I don't know..."

"Maybe we could be actors together," Darren suggested, sitting back on the grass again. "Are you any good at it?" Stevie shrugged, kind of confused as to how she was supposed to know. "Well...have you been in any school plays?"

"Yeah," She nodded. "Loads."

"Cool. And are you any good in them?"

"I..." Stevie bit her lip. "My mommy says I am, 'cause I don't forget my lines, and I look as if I mean the-"

"Exactly!" Darren burst out, unintentionally interrupting her. "So, we can be actors together, right?"

"Are you going to kill me if I say no?" She asked seriously.

"I might," Darren replied in an equally serious tone.

Stevie gulped. "I guess we can..."

"Great," Darren nodded to himself, satisfied with this arrangement. "Now, Ariel was looking for a dingle hopper to add to her collection, but we have to be careful, since there are sharks everywhere...so..."

Haha, so...

Don't come at me with pitchforks. Like...for God's sake. I know it's random, but it wouldn't leave me alone...

So, you just read this, and it's crazy, but...review this maybe? ;)