"You want me to what?" I asked in surprise.
"I need you to be my opening act." Miley repeated. I didn't know if I was ready for that. Singing a single song with Pearl Jam was one thing, but opening for Hannah Montana was a new different ballpark. I knew that I would have everyone's eyes on me.
"Can't you just go without one?" I replied. That would be easier.
"I could but my fans paid for a whole show and I wanted to give it to them even though Vanessa can't be there." Miley explained. That logic didn't make a lot of sense. "Please."
I sighed. She just had to say please. I needed to stop being such a pushover. I could also say that the majority of the people there really only cared about seeing her. Most people don't go to see the opening act.
"I don't know what to sing." I pointed out. I had never had to put together a set list and I also didn't know how many songs that I needed to sing.
"Well we have 6 hours before rehearsal. That's plenty of time to come up with a set list. You don't need to do anything original, covers will work just fine. I can even help you. I'll even give you an outfit to wear on stage." She remarked. That was probably a good idea since I really wasn't even sure what my original songs would sound like. I didn't know what the melody was supposed to be when I wrote them. I couldn't believe that I was going to say yes to this.
"I guess I could." I relented. "But I'm not really an expert when it comes to performing. I mostly sing with a camera in my face while I'm sitting down."
"I can help with that too." Miley replied. Was she going to give me dance lessons or something? "I'll teach you everything that you need to know. Hey there's Oliver."
We saw a boy with long black hair walk toward us. He walked over to Miley and kissed her. You know I had to admit, he was not what I expected Miley's boyfriend to look like.
"Oliver, this is Zoey and Max." Miley introduced.
"Hey." Oliver greeted us.
"Weren't you on American Idol? I don't remember you being eliminated what happened?" Max inquired. The two of us watched the show together. I couldn't help but wonder if I had said anything about wanting to audition or something.
"That was back when I was dating Lilly." Oliver remarked. Did he really start dating his girlfriend's best friend? "I realized that I was hurting her and I dropped out. Plus the whole sharing a room with a stranger was kind of weird."
"I didn't know that they made you do that." I admitted. I supposed it made sense since they probably wouldn't feasibly be able to have all of the contestants have their own rooms.
"Yeah there's a lot that they don't show on TV." Oliver explained. You know it was probably for the better that I didn't try out for the show. I probably had a better chance of us success my way. "The Hollywood rounds were actually in November. Also that show has a high failure rate. I'm gonna do something of my own for my music. I've actually got a gig tonight."
"That explains why Miley didn't ask you to open." Lilly commented. Would it be weird to open for your girlfriend?
"What happened to Vanessa Hudgens?" Oliver asked.
"She's sick." Miley answered. "Zoey is going to be filling in for her. She's Kurt Martin's daughter."
"I thought I recognized you." Oliver replied. "Well I mainly recognized you from the videos that Lilly watched. I'm kind of surprised that you're not signed by now."
"Well I haven't really tried." I admitted. Mom and Dad also basically said no to it. I could try to go on my own after I turned 18, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that. "Everything has just been happening so fast recently."
"Wish it was like that for me." Oliver muttered.
"Things will pick up." Miley promised him. I was pretty sure that she had no way of making sure of that and was just saying it to try to make him feel better. "Maybe we should head back to the house. It might make it easier to decide what songs you want to sing."
"I really wanted to swim." I whined. I knew that I suddenly had to work tonight, but that was why we came to the beach after all.
"Tell you what, if you can think of a song that you want to sing right now, we can swim for a little while." Miley proposed.
I started to look around the beach for anything that I could use for inspiration and I saw a woman with a camera. Yeah that was an idea.
"'Photograph'by Def Leppard." I offered.
"Okay, let's swim." Miley declared after blinking at the quick choice. It seemed like I was still good at thinking on my feet. "But I want another one when we leave. Oliver, take your shirt off."
I was a bit surprised how she just ordered him to strip like that and I was also a bit surprised by the fact that he did so.
"Looks like we know who wears the pants in this relationship." Max commented with a laugh.
"Yeah it's me." Miley declared as she ran toward the water. We spent about an hour in the water. "So give me a song."
"I thought we still had five hours." Max asked. "What's the rush?"
"Well it usually helps to go into rehearsal knowing what you're gonna do." Miley pointed out. I could see how that would be helpful. I was still really nervous about this, mainly that I would make a fool of myself in front of the whole crowd. Messing up could basically derail my career before it even started. Actually what Max said had given me an idea.
"I think 'Rush' by 78violet." I suggested.
"You're pretty good at picking songs." Miley declared. I supposed that I was. I wondered if I should sing some of the songs that I had covered on YouTube. People would probably want to see those. "We should have a full list in no time."
We returned to Miley's house and with about 2 hours to spare we had the full list with order. It was: "Rush" by 78violet, "Photograph" by Def Leppard, "The Only Exception" by Paramore, "I Never Told You" by Colbie Caillat, "Whataya Want from Me" by Adam Lambert and "Six Months" by Hey Monday. I was going to be playing guitar on "I Never Told You" and piano on "Six Months".
"So do you play any instruments?" Miley asked Max
"Well I know how to play bass." Max answered. I couldn't help but recall how we were in the band together with Cody and Tapeworm. I sang and played guitar, Max played bass, Tapeworm was on drums and Cody played keyboard.
Around 7:00 the concert began with Hannah walking out onto the stage. I was backstage waiting for my cue. I was really nervous about it, but I wanted to believe that I could do this. I was wearing a black halter and red miniskirt.
"Hey everyone, I'm here to inform you that Vanessa Hudgens couldn't be here." She said. "But I do happen to have a special guest. She's a new artist that hasn't even been signed yet, but she's no stranger to fame, her father is Kurt Martin and her uncle is Chris Martin of Coldplay. On top of that, she has over one million subscribers on YouTube. Los Angeles, allow me to introduce you to Zoey Martin."
Hannah walked off the stage and the lights went up to reveal me. I knew that I needed to start singing because I didn't want to waste any time. I didn't know if I would actually get any time to talk at all.
Into your hair, into your mind
Out of your soul, race through your veins
You can't escape you can't escape
Into your life, into your dreams
Out of the dark , sunlight again
You can't explain you can't explain
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
Rushing through your hair, rushing through your head
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
Don't let nobody tell you your life is over
Be every color that you are
Into the rush now you don't have to know how
Know it all before you try.
After going through my next four songs, the lights went down. Someone in the audience might think that I was done, but I was really just doing a quick costume change and they were also bringing the piano onto the stage for me to play. When the lights came back up, I was sitting down wearing blue dress.
"You guys don't mind if I play one more song before we get to Hannah do ya?" Zoey asked and crowded cheered. "This is a song that you probably recognize if you watch my channel. It's called 'Six Months' by Hey Monday."
I then started to play and sing.
You're the direction I follow to get home
When I feel like I can't go on, you tell me to go
And it's like I can't feel a thing without you around
And don't mind me if I get weak in the knees cause you have that effect on me
You do
Everything you say, every time we kiss
I can't think straight but I'm okay
And I can't think of anybody I'd hate
To miss as much as I hate missing you
So please give me a hand
So please give me a lesson
On how to steal, steal a heart
As fast as you stole mine, as you stole mine
And everything you say, every time we kiss
I can't think straight but I'm okay
And I can't think of anybody I'd hate
To miss as much as I hate missing you
So please give me a hand
So please just take my hand
The audience erupted in cheers before the lights went out for real.
"So how was I?" I asked as I walked backstage.
"Zoey, that was fucking amazing. That last song was the best that I've ever heard you sing." Max replied. I couldn't help but smile at the praise. It felt really good.
"I was really nervous." I explained.
"Anyone who tells you that they're not nervous is lying." Hannah told me as she prepared to go on stage. "You sounded great."
For the rest of the show, Max and I stood backstage with Lola Luftnagle who was really Lilly. They had apparently thought the whole disguise thing through pretty well. Apparently, Oliver also had an alter ego that he stopped using after being on American Idol. Part of me wondered if Miley would want me to go back out for an encore, which I really hoped that she wouldn't do because we hadn't rehearsed anything. Thankfully for me, she didn't do that.
Later that night, we all went back to Miley's house. I found out that Max and I were going to be sharing a bed and I could tell that she looked nervous about it. I wondered if I should offer to sleep on the couch or something. Max did say that she was okay with it, but she also said that she would prefer if I wore regular pajamas. I was really starting to think that she still wanted to be with me. The biggest problem with that was that I was with James. I decided that it would be easier to let Max go to sleep first before I got into bed.
Over the next week, we went through our share of what California had to offer. We had gone to a movie premiere, one of Oliver's gigs, and the zoo. It was a lot busier than it was in Boston.
I was sitting at the breakfast table with Miley one morning, Lilly wasn't up yet. I had just finished in the shower, and was about to go into the kitchen before I noticed that Max and Miley were talking and decided to eavesdrop on them.
"So are you still doing the whole debutante thing?" Miley asked as I heard the sound of cereal going into a bowl.
"Yes unfortunately. Just one more and I'll be free." Max answered.
"I guess that's good for you." Miley commented. She seemed like she didn't get the whole debutante scene, nor did she get Max's disdain for them.
"Well I am a little more excited about this next one than usual." I replied.
"Why? I thought you hated those." Miley asked. It was because it was going to be something special.
"Well I do but this next is actually Zoey's." I explained. "She's having a debutante ball for her 18th birthday."
"I guess that would be a good reason." Miley questioned. It was at that point that I decided to make my entrance. "I wonder if I could come."
"Come to what?" I asked as if I wasn't listening as I entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table.
"I was just telling Miley about the ball that you're having and she was wondering if she could come." Max explained.
"Hmm," I mused. I did want her to be there, but I also didn't want her to take the spotlight away from me, even though it would now make sense for me to invite Hannah Montana. "You can come but you can't come as Hannah."
"I actually wouldn't do that. I've already ruined one birthday by coming as Hannah even though it wasn't completely my fault." She explained.
"I think we need more details." Max remarked. I did kind of want to know, but I probably didn't need to.
"Well I was going to Lilly's birthday and I had a reporter from a British tabloid following my car making it so I couldn't possibly change back into Miley and when I arrived at the party, everyone was focused on me and she was completely forgotten. She was extremely pissed at me until she found out what had happened." Miley told us.
"I would say don't even bring the wig." Max suggested.
"Yeah that will probably work best." I agreed. "So I had a really good time here. This is the place you don't expect to see in California. But there is one thing I've always wanted to try if I went to the South. This place is pretty Southern so it will have to do."
"Let me guess, you wanna learn how to ride a horse." Miley replied with a grin on her face.
"Can you teach me?" I requested. It would be nice.
"Sure, in fact I can teach both of you." Miley offered.
"That won't be necessary. Horses and me don't go together." Max stated. I didn't know that she didn't like horses. How did I not know that about her?
"I didn't know that you've rode before." I replied.
"I haven't done it in a long time. I was five and I got a horse for my birthday like I wanted. About a week later, I was thrown off and broke my leg and my foot. I've been scared of horses ever since. I'll just stay inside." Max elaborated. Now it made sense why she was so freaked out when we played against the Stallions. I kind of didn't want to go now.
"So that's why you had a panic attack at the game." I replied as she nodded. "You know I don't have to do this."
"No, go ahead. You want to do this and don't let me stop you." Max responded. "You should have fun."
"Okay so I guess we can go." Miley replied before she took me outside.
A month later we were back in Boston, and it was our birthday. We couldn't actually schedule the ball on my birthday. We had to do it on the 23rd. So for our birthday, we were doing something that Cody wanted. He wanted to go to the brand new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando. I ended up bringing both Max and James along since I wanted them to be there for my birthday, even if it wasn't my party.
I actually had a blast there. We weren't doing just Harry Potter stuff. There was also a whole land based on superheroes, one based on The Simpsons and there was even a roller coaster that went up at a 90-degree angle where you got to choose your own music. Cody screamed a lot on that ride.
Another thing was that since I was 18, I was getting a ton of emails after record offers. I didn't think that I would have a bunch of choices, but I didn't know if I was ready to leave yet. I didn't want to leave James or Max or my family behind. I didn't think that they would all just disappear if I said no. On top of that I had a much bigger thing to worry about at that moment.
So Zoey got to experience fame on a high scale and it went pretty well. The next chapter is her big party. And Max seems to still be into Zoey. Please don't forget to review.