The next day, Mikayla's triumphant performance was the top entertainment story on every news network. Everyone seemed to be talking about her.

At the hotel, Mr. Moseby found himself dealing with a lobby that was much more crowded than normal. Reporters, photographers, fans and others were all over the place trying to catch a glimpse of the young singer. It was almost intolerable to the fussy hotel manager...except for the fact that many of the fans present were trying to reserve seats for Mikayla's lounge shows. As it stood now, there was going to be standing room only in the lounge for at least the next two months...and the requests were still coming in.

Mikayla herself had spent most of the day with the Martins in their suite. For one thing, she couldn't go downstairs without being mobbed. Also, she was looking to Carey for advice. A lot of people, from talent agents to music industry executives, were asking for meetings with the girl and she was trying to figure out what her next move should be.

But after hours of talking, no firm course had been decided on. There were so many offers on the table that it was hard enough just trying to keep track of them. Finally, Cody, Carey and Mikayla decided to just take a break from discussing the matter and relax. The timing of this decision turned out to be fortunate, for an excited Zack and London soon arrived carrying a number of newspapers and celebrity tabloids.

"Wait until you read these," Zack announced. "We're famous!"

"We're famous?" Cody replied. "I think you mean Mikayla."

London cleared her throat loudly.

"Excuse me," Cody amended his words. "I think you mean Mikayla and London."

"No," Zack answered. "They were already famous. But now all of us are. Take a look."

Sure enough, the papers were filled with pictures from Mikayla's red carpet arrival at the awards show as well as the show's after-party. Of course, Mikayla and London were the main focus in most of these photos, but there were certainly plenty of coverage of the Martins as well. It seemed that they were deemed newsworthy for being part of 'Mikayla's entourage'.

"Look, they have our names and everything," Zack pointed out.

Indeed, Cody was identified as the producer of Yay Me!, London's web show. He and Zack were also identified as London Tipton's neighbors and longtime friends. But that was where the facts ended and the rumors and idle speculation began.

"Have you read all of this?" Cody asked in alarm. "This paper says that the four of us remain good friends despite that fact that I was originally London's boyfriend before cheating on her with Mikayla?"

While Carey and Mikayla were outraged by this, Zack and London just laughed.

"Oh that's nothing," the heiress said as she handed a different tabloid to Cody. "This one says that Mikayla and I have trouble telling you apart so we just switch you around at random."

"And this one says I'm two-timing London," Zack said as he produced another paper and handed it to Mikayla.

"You're supposedly having an affair with Ashley Tisdale?" the singer said in disbelief.

"My first celebrity scandal." Zack beamed with pride.

"How can you laugh at this?" Carey asked her eldest son. "It's horrible."

"Oh don't worry about it," London chimed in. "These are the worst tabloids. They make stuff up all the time. Nobody believes them."

"Yeah, that's why these papers are out so fast," Zack explained. "They don't have to bother with accurate research or fact-checking. They make their money by hitting the stands first."

"Later in the week, the good magazines will be out," London added. "They don't get everything right either but they at least try. And they don't make stuff up out of the blue." She turned and gave Zack a pointed look. "So I better not read anything about you and Ashley Tisdale in any of those."

"You know I only have eyes for you," Zack said with a charming smile. He punctuated his statement by leaning over and giving the heiress a quick kiss.

"I still think it's horrible," Carey said.

"Aw come on Mom," Zack replied. "It's cool. And besides, you come off pretty good in all the articles."

"What? What do they say about me?" Carey started flipping through one of the papers until she came across some pictures of herself. She took a moment to appreciate how flattering the pictures were, she hadn't realized just how nice she'd looked on the red carpet. But she was too concerned about finding out what had been written to dwell on her appearance. She found she was mentioned in most of the articles about Mikayla.

"Okay, this is wrong," she said as she read. "They identify me as Mikayla's manager and life coach."

Mikayla had to smile at this. "Well, you sort of are."

Carey continued reading. "They say I'm a singer here at the Tipton. At least they got that right. And that..." She went silent as a shocked expression came to her face. Slowly the shock morphed into amusement.

"What's it say Mom?" Cody asked.

A big smile came to Carey's face as she answered. "Don't call me Mom. According to this, I'm your and Zack's older sister."

"No way!" Cody exclaimed.

"Told you these tabloids are the worst ones," Zack laughed. "They'll print the most ridiculous stuff."

"Hey," Carey protested. "There's nothing ridiculous about me looking too young to be your mother."

The group continued to look through the various papers. Before too long, Cody and Carey were finding them as amusing as Zack and London. Mikayla also got a good deal of enjoyment from the outrageous stories. It was a nice ego boost to be featured so prominently in the gossip pages once again.

But while the news coverage of Mikayla was bringing smiles and laughter in the Martin household, it was getting a different reaction across the country in Malibu.

"Mikayla, Mikayla, Mikayla!" Miley Stewart complained as she flipped through various television channels. "Can't anyone talk about something else?"

"Hmm...someone's not a happy camper," Miley's brother Jackson observed with amusement. "Jealous much?"

"I am not jealous," she insisted. "I just think that the news coverage is way too overboard. Why don't they report on the economy? Or the soldiers overseas? That's way more important than Mikayla."

The elder Stewart sibling's response was to make a face at his sister and shout in a funny voice. "JEALOUS!"

Miley threw a couch cushion at him. "You are such a child!" she yelled.

"And you're jealous," he replied, still using the funny voice.

"Cut it out Jackson," Robbie Ray said as he walked into the living room. "I haven't heard anything that annoying since your Uncle Earl got a case of the hiccups in the middle of a hog calling contest."

"Just having some fun Dad," Jackson replied.

"Well, go have your fun somewhere else," he said in a kind but firm tone. "Your sister and I are still jet-lagged from the flight back from New York."

Jackson didn't argue and left to go to the beach. When Robbie Ray was alone with his daughter, he sat down on the couch next to her.

"You shouldn't let this thing about the award show bug you," he said.

"But they cut my number," Miley replied with traces of sadness in her eyes. "I've never been cut from a show. Never. I was supposed to be the big finale."

"These things happen," he responded. "It's part of the business. It never feels good, but it's not the end of the world. You can't let something going wrong at one show get you down."

"Did anything like this ever happen to you?"

Robbie Ray laughed. "First time I was going to be on the Country Music Awards, I had the number one song on the charts. Was going to do a huge production number to close the show. Had a rotating stage, a laser light show and a dozen gorgeous dancers dressed like cowgirls. Everything was going to be perfect."

"What happened?"

"The act right before me was this new fellow...named Garth Brooks," Robbie Ray said. "He brought the house down. He got done with his number and the audience just wanted more. They were screaming for him when I went on. And they were still screaming for him when I was over halfway through my song. They weren't even impressed with the dancing cowgirls."

"That sounds awful," Miley said, feeling great sympathy for her father.

"Oh, it was," he agreed. "To be honest, when the crowd wouldn't stop cheering for Mikayla last night I was relieved that your number was cut. There isn't anything worse than being out in front of an audience that's so worked up for someone else that they don't even care that you're there."

"But why did it have to be her?" Miley asked. "Of all the people to upstage me...her! You know she had to love every second of it. Was probably laughing about it with London Tipton all through the after-party."

"Now you don't know that's true," Robbie Ray countered. "I told you she seemed downright friendly when I ran into her. She said she wants to make peace with you."

"That's just what she wants you to believe," Miley said. "It's all some sort of trick. The girl is evil." She paused for effect. "Evil I tell you!"

"Well, just to be sure, why not give her a call sometime and see what she has to say?"

"Do I have to?" she asked with just a hint of whining in her tone.

"It might be a good idea."

"I'll think about it."

"Good. Now in the meantime, I think I know something that'll cheer you up." He rose from the couch and went to fetch a large envelope. "This came in the mail earlier."

Miley looked at the envelope and smiled as she opened it up. It was the latest batch of design drawings for a new Hannah Montana line of clothing that was scheduled to be released later in the year. While there had been plenty of Hannah Montana merchandise released in the past, this particular product line was different. All the designs were being chosen by Miley and only Miley. She had complete and final say on everything to do with the clothing. As such, it was a project that was near and dear to her heart.

Also, it didn't hurt that this clothing line was to be mass marketed worldwide on a scale that dwarfed all previous Hannah Montana products. The conservative estimates were that Miley personally would end up making twenty million dollars when the clothing hit the stores. And possibly three times that much if the sales exceeded expectations.

Not that money was the foremost thing on Miley's mind. She had already earned enough as Hannah Montana to be set for life. Still, this deal would be the most she'd ever made from a single project. She couldn't help but feel a little proud about that.

And so Miley's mood improved greatly as she went over the newest designs and made notes on what she liked and what she didn't. She stopped thinking of her cancelled finale and Mikayla. Later in the evening she called her friend best friend Lily to discuss their plans for the next day. It was to be an afternoon of shopping and fun for Miley and Lily, after they took care of a brief bit of work in the morning.

Hannah was scheduled to be a guest on Mack & Mickey in the Morning, and Lily's alter-ego Lola was going along to keep her company.

To be continued...

author's note: Thanks for reading. Please review. Oh, and if anyone's interested...last week I wrote my first non-Suite Life story. It's a Wizards of Waverly Place fic and if you want to check it out, just go to my author profile page. (Keep in mind that it's a different kind of story - exploring different themes than I have in all my other fics.)