"Here she is, the up-and-coming solo artist signed to Nick Carter's record label, at only nineteen, who toured with Westlife after only being signed for two weeks, here is... Melody!".

I took a deep breath and smiled at the camera. The backing band started to play the intro to This is Me. I walked forwards and began to sing...

I couldn't believe I was on prime-time TV! Millions of people would see me. I could imagine my friends back at college, my family, Daisy... all watching proudly.

Halfway into the song I switched to Blue-Eyed Angel and the tempo slowed right down. At the end, I bowed and said thankyou. My heart still pumping fast, I went backstage to my dressing room.

On my way, I bumped into Nick. "You were wonderful," he told me with a smile. "I watched it from my dressing room, you did great!".

"Thanks," I blushed. "Gosh, you look hot!".

It was Nick's turn to blush. "No I don't," he muttered.

But he did. He wore dark blue jeans and a baby blue shirt that brought out the color of his eyes. He no longer had the dark shadows under his eyes. As I'd told him to, he'd had his roots dyed, and his hair was back to the spiky 'do, which pleased me as I loved it like that! And his eyes... they had that sparkle back in them.

"I've decided to tell my story tonight," he told me.

"Gosh! Already... are you sure about this?".

"The sooner the better," he said, biting his lip. "We're being interviewed, so I'll talk about it then. I've already told the producers I've got something to announce, so...".

"I'll be sitting in the front row watching, starting the applause," I told him.

"Thanks. Where would I be without you?!".

"Time to go on!" someone called out to Nick.

"OK," he shouted back. He gave me a hug. "I'll see you later,".

"Good luck,".

I changed into some different clothes then went to sit in the audience. The guys performed The One and a couple of new tracks from the upcoming album. I cheered loudly with the rest of the audience as the guys went to sit on stools for the interview.

My heart was beating fast as I got nervous. I was scared! Would Nick actually tell everybody?

After talking about the new album and future plans, the interviewer turned to Nick. "So Nick," she said. "You have something to tell us. Something important,".

"Yes," Nick said. "I want everybody to know about something that happened to me,".

I could see he was looking in my direction. I gave him a reassuring smile, which he returned nervously.

"I've just gone through a nightmare with my girlfriend Jade," he said. "I didn't love her, that's not why we were dating,".

I heard a few gasps. "Tell us why you were dating her," the interview pressed.

"She was blackmailing me," Nick said, his voice cracking a little. I hoped he wouldn't get upset and cry.

But he didn't. "When I was eight, I witnessed my friend drown in a fishing accident. It wasn't my fault and I couldn't save him. But ever since I felt real guilty. I didn't want anyone to know about it. But Jade found out and used the information to her advantage, threatening to tell this to the world and make me look bad if I didn't pay her money,".

Everybody was shocked. There was a silence.

"...But I'm not letting her carry on. That's why I've gone public on the matter, to end it all. I hope you all appreciate my honesty...".

"That was very brave of you, Nick," the interviewer said.

We all started to clap and cheer. Nick's face lit up into a smile when he saw the positive reaction. Our eyes met and he gave me a look, I knew what he was silently telling me. 'Thank you'.

"What did I tell you? Everything is fine,".

Nick nodded and gave me a smile. "Yes, thank you!".

"You've said thank you a hundred times, that's enough!" I laughed. We were sitting in a restaurant eating lunch the next day, a celebration of the nightmare ending.

"I can't thank you enough," he said.

We were interrupted by a couple of girls rushing up to the table.

"Melody! Can we have your autograph?!".

Nick burst out laughing. I blushed and took a pen from one of the girls to sign for them.

"Nick, can we have yours too?" they asked.

"Sure,".

"You were real brave, we're all proud of you," one of the girls said. "We all hate Jade now after what she did,".

As quickly as they'd arrived, they left. "I told you everyone would be supportive," I told Nick.

"Yeah, you were right, luckily,".

"And the newspapers are making a big thing of Jade's blackmail, none of them are saying anything bad about you,".

"That's a relief,".

We shared a pizza, then ordered desserts. "I've got to get to rehearsals for the VMAs tomorrow," Nick told me. "The ceremony is on Thursday, I want to ask you something...".

"What's that?" I quizzed.

"Will you... will you...". He was stumbling on his words, going red.

"Will I what?".

"Be my date?".

I gasped, a huge smile curling on my lips. "I'd love to be!" I exclaimed. I laughed. "Won't Brent be jealous?!".

Nick went an even deeper crimson. "Um... probably," he muttered, realizing that I must have heard them whispering that day I was at his house!

A few days later we were sitting in the audience at the VMAs, watching N Sync lip-syncing on stage. Nick's cell phone suddenly went off. He blushed and picked it up, apologising to the people around us. I couldn't help laughing as a camera pointed in our direction filming it happen.

"Hello... oh hi Mrs Ford. I'm at the awards, can it wait?" he said quietly. He paused. "...You're kidding. Oh my God! That's great! Thanks for telling me... Bye,".

He turned to me with a smile. "Jade's disappeared," he said happily.

"Disappeared?".

"Yeah, Mrs Ford my housekeeper said that all her belongs have gone and there's no sign of her. She found her record contract ripped up. I guess we've seen the last of her, now the truth is out,".

"That's great news," I said, ruffling his hair.

"Yep, great news!".

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