Nick reached for a Kleenex as he sneezed twice in a row.

Sarah put an arm around him. "Poor baby, you must have caught a cold. Probably from on of the fans,".

Nick nodded. "I don't feel to good. But I still have to perform,". He went and sat in the make-up chair and waited for one of the make-up artists to come and do his make-up for the show. Sarah kneeled beside him.

"I want to go out tonight," Sarah said. "An old school friend is in town so I said I would go and see her tonight. Can you lend me some money please?".

Nick nodded. "OK,". He reached inside his pocket and got out a couple of banknotes and gave them to her.

Sarah counted how much he had given her. That's not much! she thought. "Thanks," she said to Nick with a smile.

Just then the band's make-up artist came to apply Nick's stage make-up so Sarah went and sat down alone.

"Hi Sarah!" Leighanne said, passing by with Tyke.

"Uh hi," Sarah grunted, barely noticing her.

Leighanne sighed. She was only trying to be friendly.

Nick went into the dressing rooms to get into his blue armor to go onstage. He soon returned to the room to get his hair done. Sarah sneaked into the dressing room and saw that it was empty. Looking over her shoulder first, she dashed over to Nick's pile of clothes and pulled out his wallet. She snatched some more money then replaced the wallet where she had found it.

"I saw that,".

Sarah gasped and turned around. In the doorway was Leighanne, with Brian at her side.

"Nick said I could take more," she said, hoping that she was not blushing.

"I'll go ask Nick if that's true," Brian said.

"No," Sarah argued. "Look, if you said anything, he wouldn't believe you. Like before- he believed me,". She slipped the money into her pocket and smiled at them. "See ya laters," she said as she slipped out of the room.

Brian and Leigh looked at each other. "What can we do?" Brian said. "If we tell Nick that she's stealing from him, he won't believe us. He'll probably hate me for saying it,".

"Well I'm not letting her get away with it," Leighanne said. "If you don't tell him, I will,".

Brian shrugged. "OK you tell him, babe. He might believe you,".

The couple went back to the room where Nick was. He was standing and chatting happily with Sarah, ready to go onstage with his blue armor on and his hair up in a little high ponytail. "Hey," he said to Brian. "Sarah said you just yelled at her,". He frowned. "Leave her alone, you wouldn't like it if I yelled at Leigh,".

Leighanne jumped to Brian's defence. "Actually, your girlfriend is making things up again. We never yelled at her at all. You wouldn't like to hear what she was doing,".

"I don't want to hear any more tales," Nick said, stroking Sarah's hair.

Leigh raised her eyebrows at Brian. "Sorry," she murmured to him as they walked away.

"Of course he would believe her over us," Brian said. "Oh well- she hasn't done anything overly-mean yet. Maybe things will start to improve now she knows we're watching her,".

After the show, Nick was feeling worse so he went straight to bed.

"If you see Sarah, tell her I went to bed," Nick told AJ as they got back to their hotel, ignoring Brian who walked next to them.

"Will do, Frack," AJ answered. He, Brian, Leighanne and some of the dancers headed to the hotel's bar to get a drink.

It was pretty busy so Brian and Leigh decided to go somewhere quieter. They found a small bar just alone the street so they went in and ordered drinks.

"Look, there's Sarah," Brian said, noticing her sitting with a crowd of people in the corner. They were pretty noisy and looked like they were all drunk.

Sarah was shrieking with laughter over something. She was sitting on a dark haired man's knee, holding her drink. She spotted Brian and Leighanne and waved at them.

"Shall we go and talk to her?" Brian asked.

Leighanne nodded. "Why not?".

"Hello, meet my friends," Sarah said, slurring her words a little. She was more than a little tipsy.

"Hi," Brian said. "Nick said sorry he couldn't come out tonight but he's not feeling well,".

"Good, he would have ruined our evening, it's more fun with you guys,". She cuddled the guy she was sitting on.

"Sare, get us more drinks," one of the girls said.

She stood up. "Same again, guys?".

They all nodded. She went up to the bar and ordered the drinks.

"She's gone, we could get something out of her," Leigh whispered.

Brian nodded. "Yeah, she doesn't know what she's saying,". He tapped Sarah on the shoulder. "So, um. Are you paying for your friend's drinks?".

She grinned. "Yeah! Nick comes in handy sometimes! One of the things he's useful for. Money, money," she giggled. "My friends are lovely aren't they?".

"Uh yeah," Brian replied. "So, what else is Nick useful for?".

"He's going to make me a star," Sarah answered. "I'm going to be a singer, thanks to him,".

"But don't you love him?" Leighanne asked.

Sarah laughed. "Of course!" she cried sarcastically. She took the tray of drinks back to the table and sat on her friend's lap again.

Brian and Leighanne went back to their table. "She's no good for him," Brian said. "I hate to see Nick wasted on a girl like her,".

"I hope he sees for himself what she's doing," Leighanne agreed. "She's stealing his money, treating the fans badly, probably using him for her career and lying to him all the time. And he doesn't realize it!".

"And she's turning him against us," Brian said sadly. "Nick and I had such a good friendship until she started this. What can we do?".

What could they do? They sat in silence, not knowing how to answer that question.

>>>>>

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