One Night Stand: The New Millennium

33. Whoops Now

June 15th, 2012
9:57 AM
Melody POV

I thought June 15th would be a normal day for me. Justin's album was dropping that day, and I was excited for him and myself cause new Bieber music, duh, but for me, I thought it would be a regular ole day.

Wrong.

When I woke up, I got out of the bed, stretched, then did my morning routine that included using the bathroom & brushing my teeth.  In the middle of me brushing my teeth, Maiya busted in the bathroom.

"You're a famous songwriter!!" She squealed excitedly.

"Huh?" I asked with a mouthful of toothpaste. She held her phone up to my face. I took it, reading it. It was a picture from the Believe booklet, where the credits were listed. Specifically, it was a picture of the credit from 'Die In Your Arms'. There were 8 names in the credits. 5 were the writers from the original sample. Berry Gordy, Alphonso Mizell, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards and Herb Rooney. One was Justin. One was Mica. And the last one? Me.

I spit out my toothpaste. "OH MY GOD!"

It didn't click for me that when you write something for a song, and it gets released, you get credit. Not until I saw my name in the booklet.

I read the tweet and the replies.

@beliebinbieber: ANOTHER MICA AND JUSTIN COLLAB WE WON

@shawtymane3: ummm... does that say Melody Jackson? As in Justins bff? Mjs siSTER? MICHAEL JACKSONS DSGHTER?

@jerrysavior: AND ITS A MICHAEL JACKSON SAMPLE OMGGGG

Nothing gets past beliebers.

"YOU'RE A SONGWRITER!!" Maiya screamed and then we both screamed loudly. I threw my toothbrush into the sink and ran out with Maiya right behind me.

"MAMA!! DADDY!!" I screamed, running down stairs. As I got down there, there were a bunch of bouquets in the living room. Mama & daddy were there, grinning. "What...?"

"OUR BABY IS A SONGWRITER!!" They both yelled and I grinned before jumping up and down.

"I'M A SONGWRITER!!!"

All of those bouquets? Mine. One from Mica, who told MJ when they got back cool, and MJ told Serenity, so that was another two from them. Justin told daddy about the song when they were in the studio together that one time, and daddy told mama, and mama told Kae and the others, so practically all the adults in the family knew & sent flowers too. Oh, and obviously Justin sent flowers.

They all had cards with variations of 'Congratulations, i'm proud of you' on them. All except Justin's.

A bridge can lead to a lot. Just wait & see.
- justin

That was all it said. It didn't need to say more though. I knew what he meant.

After going through all the bouquets, I went upstairs to call everybody and thank them. I grabbed my phone that I learned to turn off at night because people love to call and wake me up before turning it on. When it came on, it immediately start buzzing like crazy.

Texts and notifications from Twitter & Instagram poured in.

Zen: UR SONG ON JUSTINS ALBUM IS AMAZINGGGG
Princess: DIE IN YOUR ARMS??? MEL???
Bieber: are u seriously still sleep???
Bieber: and did u turn ur phone off?
Bieber: very rude of u 2 do this on my day
Ray: so when you gon write mb a song?
Amala: AS YOUR BF I FEEL DISRESPECTED THAT U DIDNT TELL ME YOU WERE A WRITER 4 BIEBER NOW
Josh: i don't usually listen to beiber, but i gotta admit that song u & mica did for him is pretty good
Zack: lemme die in your arms
Diggy: i see a lots happened since the last time we tlked. Congrats on tha song
Jaden: u can't tell me they dont wanna die in each others arms
Jaden: oops sorry, wrong jackson sister
Jaden: congrats tho!

An incoming call from Justin came in and I grinned, picking it up.

"Happy Believe release day." I sat on the bed.

"Oh you're finally up and acknowledging that it's my big day huh?"

"I've been up. It's been an exciting morning though."

"Uh huh," I could hear the smile in his voice. "I bet it has been, Melody the songwriter." I squealed excitedly and he laughed. "Congratulations on your first official songwriter credit."

"Thank you," I smiled. "For letting me write the bridge, for the credit, the flowers."

"I did a lot for you huh? On my day." I giggled. "I have you so spoiled."

"You tell me it all the time," I pointed out as I laid back on the bed. I loved it though.

"And i'm going to keep telling you, brat." I smiled.

"Congratulations on your second album Justin."

"Thanks Mel. I gotta go though. I have a long day and im cutting into my time with Avalanna." Avalanna was a 6 year old who had a rare cancer. Justin met her back on Valentine's Day and he stayed in touch with her. She called herself Mrs. Bieber, and everybody referred to her as that too in respect. The whole thing was as cute as it was heartbreaking. "I'll call you later."

"Okay. Tell Mrs. Bieber I said 'hello'."

"Will do. Love you."

"You too," I said, quickly hanging up. I blew out a breath and looked up at the ceiling, smiling.

What a morning.

June 25th, 2012
1:33 PM
Serenity POV

"If I don't see another recital again, it'll be too soon," Becca groaned, and I patted her back as a way to comfort her. I wanted to say the same, but Becca had definitely seen way more recitals than I had in May & June.

"Recital season is almost over, 5 more days."

"But then we have to work on our own," Becca groaned and I chuckled as my office phone started ringing. I picked it up.

"Hello?" I put on my professional voice.

"Why is somebody building a mini apartment in my backyard?"

"Huh?" I asked confused before I realized what she was talking about. I grinned. "So their birthday gift has arrived."

I took MJ's advice and took the $50,000 I was going to put on mama's car and instead put towards something for Mila's birthday. Well both her & Mehki's birthday, as they both would play in it.

I heard about a company from one of my students parents. The company creates amazing treehouses, playhouses, whatever they're called. And I mean amazing. The company has done a rapunzel themed one, a castle, even a Neverland ship. I briefly thought about getting that one, but that would be more daddy's speed, not Mehki & Mila's.

"Birthday gift?!? Serenity that is a full condominium." I laughed.

"Mama you being dramatic like daddy."

"And you spending money like him. How much did that cost?"

"Not much. Only $50,000."

"Jesus!!"

"That's one of their cheaper play houses." Mama sighed.

"I have to admit, it is nice looking. They just finished putting it together, and the whole family, including your father and brother grown asses, are out there enjoying it." I snickered.

"Send me a picture."

"Can do. And Serenity?"

"Yes?"

"It's a very nice gift, but please don't start spending money like your brother & raggedy daddy. We'll be bankrupt around here." I laughed.

"Okay mama. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone, chuckling.

"The treehouse came?" Becca added & I nodded. "Let's see some pictures."

"Hold on, let me find my phone," I said, grabbing my purse. I looked through it, pulling out recital programs before finding it at the bottom. I pressed the power button, and saw the missed calls from my family. Oops.

There were also pictures from MJ.

I smiled before showing them to Becca. She grinned, shaking her head.

"Looks better than my apartment," She joked and I sucked my teeth.

"Becca you own a brownstone in Brooklyn."

"I inherited it from my grandmother & it looks like it." I snickered. Becca was a mess.

"You get paid enough to fix it up. Now come on, let's figure out what our first recital's theme is going to be."

June 30th, 2012
9:37 AM
MJ POV

"I don't think I should leave," I said to my parents and they sucked their teeth.

"Boy if you don't go. You act like I never raised- my God I sound like my mama," Mama said, frowning up. Pops laughed as he rubbed her shoulder.

"This is what happens when you become a grandma."

"Oh shut up, grandpa."

"I think imma stay. Bey will understand."

"MJ we have Mila, relax," Pops said. I looked out the window at her. She & Mehki were playing in their playhouse. They had actually slept out there. There was a bed on the second floor of it. Serenity had went absolutely insane buying them that. "That's going to keep her occupied for at least a month."

"And if we need you to come back, we'll call you. No one is holding you hostage in the Hamptons." I sighed.

"Fine. Let me to say bye," I muttered, heading to the patio door. I walked outside just as Mila slid down the slide.

"Daddy!!" She yelled, running over to me. "Come play!!" Damn I didn't want to tell her 'no'.

"Daddy is actually about to go, okay?"

"Okay!!" She ran back towards the play house. I put my hand over my heart, appalled. Fuck me huh? Serenity was gon get some words from me about this gift.

"You not gon give me a hug and a kiss and tell me you love me?!?" I asked. Mila stopped & turned around, running back over to me. That's what I thought. I squatted down and she ran into my arms, hugging me as tight as she could and giving me a peck.

"I love you daddy."

"I love you too baby."

"I love you MJ!!" Mehki yelled from the damn balcony of the playhouse. I chuckled as I let Mila go and she ran off.

"I love you too lil bro." I watched Mila play for a few more seconds before someone tapped my shoulder.

"Go now, or you'll never leave," Pops said. I nodded.

"I'll let yall know when I land."

"Okay, have a safe trip. Love you!!"

7:54 PM

I didn't get to Bey's rental house until almost 8 east coast time. I had missed dinner with them, but it was cool.

"MJ, my man, how you doing?" Jay Z greeted me as I walked out to the pool after the butler showed me to my room.

"What up Jay?" I asked, dapping him up. Then I walked over to Bey, who was relaxing in a pool chair with baby Blue asleep on top of her. "Hey Bey." I dapped her up since I couldn't hug her. She chuckled.

"Hey MJ, glad you could make it."

"Glad I could too. Where everybody at?" I asked, looking around.

"Doing they own thing. You know everybody get the weekends to themselves, so they do whatever. Shit it's plenty to do around here," Jay looked around. "It's a bowling alley, basketball courts downstairs, spa, baseball field and some more shit around here."

"Damn, it's like summer camp around here."

"Basically," Bey giggled cutely. I smiled before clearing my throat.

"Well imma go get settled, and find something to eat," I pointed towards the house. "See yall in the morning."

"Peace," Jay threw up the deuces as Bey waved, giving me a soft smile. I threw the deuces up, heading back inside the huge mansion.

My fucking luck, soon as I walked in, fucking Justin Timberlake and Timbaland were walking past. They were laughing loudly about something, but stopped once they saw me. Well, Timberlake stopped, Timbaland still laughed.

"Yo MJ, what up?!?" Timbaland asked with a smile. Timberlake looked like he'd seen a ghost.

He apparently didn't expect to see me here the same way I didn't expect to see his bitch ass.

Yeah, I still wanted my rounds for how he handled the Superbowl incident. And for how he tried to play Uncle P.

I guess he saw it on my face too, the way the color (that was barely there in the first place) drained from his face.

"What's up Timbaland?" I spoked absentmindedly, dapping him up when he walked up to me. For the sake of keeping the peace for Bey & Baby Blue, I spoke to Timberlake. "Justin."

"MJ," He nodded at me. "How's it going?" Like he gave a fuck.

"Everything is going good," I responded before smirking. "I'm doing good. My family is doing good, y'know my Pops, mom, daughter, siblings, auntie and uncle," I emphasized & his Adam's apple bobbed nervously. "Everything is good."

"That's great," He said lowly. I nodded & gave him a fake smile.

"Yeah. Excuse me though, imma go get settled." I looked at Timbaland, who looked uncomfortable by the obvious tension. "Nice seeing you Timbo."

"You too..." I walked away, smirking.

I couldn't whoop his ass without the consequence of losing Mila for good, I knew that for sure.

But I could make his ass uncomfortable, and I was hellbent on doing that.

I chuckled to myself as I pulled my phone out. This was going to be fun.

It didn't take me long to get back to my room, and as soon as I did, I had the phone up to my ear, calling Serenity. It rung for a few seconds before she answered.

"Guess who's here." I didn't even give her the chance to say hello.

"Who?"

"Justin Timberlake's pussy ass."

"Oh God." She snickered. "I know we hate him but please don't beat him up. For Mila's sake." Mila was a lot of people's saving grace, me included.

"I'm not. Don't need to anyway, he already seems scared of me," I smirked. Serenity snickered.

"I guess he figured if you'll fight your best friend, you'll fight anybody," She mumbled.

"Wooooow." Serenity started cracking up laughing. "You didn't have to go there," I chuckled. "But you're not wrong. He's so lucky I want custody back of my baby."

"You'll get it, don't worry." I knew I would. Nothing was going to get in my path to get custody of Mila again. Not even the way my body still continued to crave coke even though it had been 6 months. Nope.

"Yeah, I know. Speaking of Mila thought, let me call and check on her."

"You're such a parent," Serenity laughed. "Tell my niece her auntie misses her though." I laughed.

"And you're such an auntie." Serenity cackled.

"I'll talk to you later Bubba."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too." I hung up & immediately went to FaceTime mama. I couldn't wait to see Mila's little face. I missed my baby girl so much.

I chortled at the thought. Serenity was right, I am such a parent. The phone rung for a couple of seconds before mama answered.

"Don't start." I sucked my teeth, laughing.

"Don't start what?"

"Calling multiple times a day to check on Mila. You saw her earlier before you left, you called when you made it to LAX, then when you landed there, and now you're calling again. Don't start."

"I will start if I want to."

"I won't answer."

"I'll call Pops then."

"You know your father isn't even home most of the time." I huffed.

"I'll call Melody or Maiya then."

"Good luck with that. Melody nor Maiya barely answer their phones." This was true. Melody was in the zone with her music most of the time, while Maiya was in the zone with her writing. She also tend to press ignore on her phone a lot because she was waiting for some little nappy head boy to call her. Apparently he was apart of some boy band? I don't know, he wasn't relevant to me.

Well he was relevant because he had my little sister's attention, but not relevant music wise.

"Whatever. Let me talk to Mila."

"Her and Mehki are playing in their condo." Instead of turning the camera, she turned the whole phone, struggling to put them into view. Old people and technology are hilarious.

"Have they left that damn condo?" I asked.

"Nope. They took their nap in there and all." I snickered, shaking my head. I had to say, it did keep them entertained. I'd have to get one made for my house for them. "I'll have her call you at bedtime." I sucked my teeth.

"You know the east coast is 3 hours ahead right? What if i'm sleep?" Mama gave me a skeptical look.

"You will not be sleep at 10:30 pm." She was right, my body had gotten used to LA time over the month I had been back, so I would surely be up. "Nobody in this family besides Mila & Mehki goes to sleep earlier than that. Except Maiya. But Maiya goes to sleep whenever she can." I snickered. Maiya has the least active life out of all of us and she sleeps like she works two jobs and has a family to take care of.

"Fine. I'll wait. Where's Pops?"

"Out filming. He plans to finish all the interviews before the middle of the July so they can start cutting and editing." They would make sense, the documentary would be done in time for the actually 25th anniversary.

"I wanted to tell yall both, but guess who's here." Mama raised an eyebrow. "Timberlake."

"Oh boy," Mama laughed. "Bey isn't aware of how hard you ride for your family, is she?"

"Not at all. He's going to have a reason to hate the Jacksons when i'm done with him," I smirked. Mama laughed.

"You're a big bully, you know?" I shrugged.

"Only to people who deserve it." Mama shook her head.

"Long as you don't do anything to mess up you getting custody of Mila back."

"You and Serenity said that same thing. Don't worry, I won't. As long as he doesn't make me mad." Mama gave me a look and I laughed. "I'm playing mama, dang. I'm not risking it." I was done being stupid.

So I thought.

July 1st, 2012
11:21 AM

After talking to Mila over the phone, I ended up staying up until 2 am. That was about 11pm LA time, which was my usual bedtime anyway, but damn was the time difference fucking me up.

I had to force myself to wake up after I glanced at the clock on the nightstand while rolling over. I sat on the side of the bed, contemplating on going back to sleep for a moment, before ultimately getting up and heading into the en suite bathroom.

After getting ready for the day, I headed downstairs. I probably missed breakfast, but that was fine. Brunch it was.

When I walked into the kitchen, Beyoncé was the only one in there. Well, besides Blue. Blue sat in her high chair, babbling.

"I know baby, I know," Bey cooed as she put another spoonful of whatever pureed food Blue was eating into her mouth. Blue hummed happily, and Bey smiled at her. She looked absolutely in love with her baby, and I loved to see it.

I started to back away to give the two their moment, but Bey looked at me & smiled.

"Good Afternoon MJ," She greeted me.

"Uh, hey Bey," I smiled, walking fully into the kitchen. Blue yelled incoherently, but I assumed she was mad that I didn't speak. "Hey Blue." My assumption seemed to be correct because she yelled again before smiling a toothless smile.

"Your food is in the microwave." On my way to the refrigerator, I stopped to check the microwave. Sure enough, there were waffles, bacon and eggs in there for me.

"Thank you," I said to her as I closed the microwave back. I pushed the +30 seconds button before turning back to her. "Where's everybody at?"

"Um..." She thought about it as she scooped food that dribbled down Blue's chin up. "Sia is in the spa, and everybody else... they're in the studio." Bey snickered. "Jay, Tim, Dream & Justin." I surprisingly kept a cool face at the mention of Timberlake. "They're addicted to the studio."

"I can definitely relate." I asked as the microwave beeped, letting me know my food was done. I turned to the microwave & grabbed my food out.

"I used to be able to relate, but since Blue's arrival... can't do that anymore." Bey responded as I closed the microwave and grabbed a fork from the dish rack.

"You ever miss it?" I asked, turning back towards her, leaning against the counter. Bey shrugged.

"Not really. I like the way things are now. I like the balance Blue has brought into my life." Understandable. I nodded, eating some of my eggs. Damn they were good. Bey scooped some more baby food from the bowl before putting it into Blue's mouth. "I could go back to my old lifestyle. I could be in the studio sun up to sundown. I could hire some nannies, or ask my mama to watch Blue. I choose not to though. I'm actively choosing to keep my life balanced."

"Bey are you going to give me a speech about sobriety?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. That's what it sounded like it was leading to. Bey chortled, covering her mouth.

"No, I wasn't trying to," She removed her hand from her mouth. "Thinking about it, it sounds like it." I nodded, taking a bite of my waffle. "But no, I was just saying I could have that life back if I wanted it. I don't. I'm happy with how my life is." I nodded again. Still sounded like it could lead to a speech about sobriety, but okay. "I guess the same could be said about sobriety."

"It could," I shrugged. "I could go back to being on drugs. The temptation is always there. But for my baby... I won't." I took another bite of my waffle. "The sh- things we do for our children, huh?"

"Or the things our children do for us," Bey stated, smiling at Blue, who was once again babbling about something. I smiled to myself before finally eating a piece of my bacon. It was cooked to perfection. Not too hard, not too soft.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" I asked, not wanting to fall into an emotional conversation about children saving parents from themselves.

"For me? Relaxation. Once Blue is down for her nap, I'll probably hit the gym, then the spa. When she wakes up, we'll go relax by the pool. She loves being in the sun." Don't we all?

"So no studio for you?" I asked & she shook her head.

"I'm all about keeping the balance. That means weekends off, and only a few hours every day during the week. I don't stop anybody else from going in there though, so feel free to join the men when you're finished with breakfast." I shook my head.

"I'm good." Didn't need to be too close to Timberlake. I'd probably punch his ass.

"Thought you were addicted to the studio," She teased & I smirked.

"I am, but I also don't care for the white boy that's in there, and I don't want to risk my custody case by being near him when I don't want to."

"Why don't you- oh. Ohhh," Bey nodded. "The Superbowl thing."

"And how he came at Uncle P. Not to mention how he handled his break up with Britney Spears. He a whole bitch for that, sorry Blue," I apologized to the baby, who wasn't even paying attention to me. She was playing with her hands. "And the only reason- nah there's two reasons I haven't put my hands on him. Because of Mila & out of respect for you, Jay & Blue. Really Mila though. Once again, the things we do for our children."

"You really ride for the people you care about huh?" Bey asked as she put Blue's bowl down on the island and reached to get her out of her high chair.

"I don't like when people disrespect the people I care about. It's a simple as that." Bey nodded, a small smile on her face.

"I respect that. But-" I groaned. "Is holding onto that anger really good for your recovery?" I sucked my teeth.

"Did Serenity tell you about my forgiveness letter or something?"

"No," Bey chuckled as she picked Blue up out of the chair and put her on her lap. Blue started smacking the island with her palms. "But now that only proves that what I was thinking was right. Releasing your anger and forgiving is part of recovery. Not to say that you should forgive him, because if I was you, I wouldn't care for him either. I don't like my loved ones being disrespected either." Bey blew out a breath before looking me in my eyes. "To keep it real with you, i'm having a hard time keeping my relationship with my father because I don't like how he did my mama in their marriage. So I get it. It's not the same situation, but I do get it. I also know though that holding a grudge is not good, especially for you. You don't have to be his friend. You don't have to," She covered Blue's ears. "Fuck with him." She removed her hands from Blue's ears. Blue looked up at her like 'the fuck?', making me snicker. "But you gotta let go for yourself. And you also gotta know that you can't fight everyone's problems or everyone's beef." I blew out a breath. Once again, Bey was showing women were way more emotionally mature than men.

"I guess..." I thought about then shook my head. "You right Bey, but i'm not gon lie to you. Imma terrorize that man the entire time we're around each other. I'll let go of my grudge afterward." Bey start cracking the hell up. She was laughing, but I was dead serious.

"Okay, okay, that's understandable," Bey responded as her laughter died down. "Can't be mad at that." I chuckled.

"That was some good advice though," I ate some more of my eggs. "If you ever decide to not be Beyoncé anymore," She snickered. "You should go get your degree in Psychology or something."

"Who needs a degree when you're schoolin' life?" She asked, winking and I cackled.

"Bye Bey."

July 2nd, 2012
9:03 AM

After eating my brunch in the kitchen with Bey, we went our separate ways. She did whatever she said she was going to do, and I did some more exploration of the estate before settling by the baseball field for majority of the day. It was peaceful out there, quiet. It gave me a chance to do my daily reflections and also practice my yoga & meditation.

Safe to say, I found me a place to go to if I really needed to get away.

After that, I headed in and joined the others for dinner. It was cool, nothing eventful happened. Timberlake kept avoiding my gaze though, and Bey was snickering the entire time. Jay was confused as shit.

When dinner was over, I headed into my room and went through my song book. I wasn't sure what Bey was looking to do for her next album, but when it was time to get to work, I wanted to be prepared was something if she asked.

Which leads me to when it was time to get to work.

Monday morning when I walked into the dining room, Bey was already in there, along with Timberlake & Timbaland.

As she sat at the head of the table, she looked absolutely beautiful; her skin was glowing and she was ready to create.

"You know, i'm with whatever. I don't want to hold back, I-" Bey stopped when she saw me. She flashed a smile at me.

"Good morning MJ." I nodded at her as Timbaland looked at me. Timberlake did a quick glance, trying not to meet my eyes. I smirked.

"Good morning Bey, Timbo." I didn't greet Timberlake, and to make it even worse, I sat down right next to his ass. He tensed up next to me and I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. When I looked at Bey, she was doing the same.

"Morning MJ," Timbaland responded, scratching his head.

"What we talking about?" Bey cleared her throat, trying to keep her smile at bay.

"They were tossing out ideas for the album, and I was telling them that we can do whatever."

"Which isn't very helpful," Timbaland added. Bey rolled her eyes.

"How come it's not helpful? I'm giving you all free reign. No topic is limited."

"So..." I started. "If I gave you a song that was about overdosing on drugs, you wouldn't care right?" Timbaland & Timberlake both seemed to go wide eyed at that, but Bey wasn't phased. Which, she shouldn't have been, it was a simple question. And everybody knew I had been on drugs, so why would it be so surprising if I wrote about it? Especially after Trilogy. Fucking dumbasses.

"Long as it's good. I wouldn't. But..." I smirked.

"So something is off limits." Bey huffed and I laughed. I knew it.

"Okay, when I say nothing is off limits, I mean... sexually." Oh. "Since having Blue, i've been feeling more sexually empowered than ever. Empowered period, and I want to show that with this new album. I want to embrace my sexuality, embrace my femininity, y'know?" I didn't know, not really, since I was not a woman, but I could get what she was saying.

"You wanna be your authentic self, you want to be free, so to speak, right?" I asked and she nodded. I could definitely understand that. "So, free reign?" She nodded.

"Free reign."

"Let's get to it then."

Melody POV

"Is that...?" Daddy let out a hearty laugh as he walked into the living room.

What he was referring to was The Jackson 5 cartoon playing on the tv. Mehki & Mila were sitting on the floor, right in front of the tv, watching it closely. I don't think they had blinked once.

"Yeah. We went through some of that stuff you brought here for the documentary and found it," I responded, leaning my head back on the couch, looking at daddy. "Why have we never seen this?"

"This is better than Scooby Doo!" Maiya yelled.

"It's not."

"Okay, it's not, but it's really good daddy," Maiya complimented and I nodded. Daddy chuckled.

"Sometimes I forget this exists. We didn't do the voices, and we barely had time to sleep back in the day, let alone watch our cartoon." A brief flash of sadness passed through daddy's eyes, but it came as quick as it went. "Which episode is this?" Daddy folded his arms.

"Only the second one." I looked back at the tv.

"Great thing about nature is it's sooooo natural!"

"I can dig it. Yeah, nature's like a pretty chick."

"What's he mean by that?"

"They both can make you groove."

"Tae was absolutely right when he said my brothers still talk like it's the 70s," Daddy snickered as the Jackson Five started singing 'I'll Be There'. I peeked back at daddy, and he stood there with a bittersweet look on his face. He looked down at me & brushed my hair down with his hands. "I'll be back later." He headed yo the front door. "I love you guys."

"I love you too daddy," Maiya & I responded. He stopped at the door, waiting for Mehki & Mila to respond, but they were too into the show. He huffed before walking out, making me snicker. He was mad that they had ignored them, but he knew better than to bother them. They would never let him leave.

Maiya & I put our attention back just as 'I'll Be There' went off.

Sometimes, I tend to forget that daddy was this extremely famous man, the most famous person in history probably, then things such as this cartoon show remind me.

"Daddy should do another cartoon show," Maiya said randomly, and I nodded. That would be interesting.

"Please don't let him hear you say that," Mama spoke from behind us. We looked back and saw her coming from down the hallway, from her office. "Your daddy is doing enough. He has plans that will take at least 10 years to complete. Don't give him another idea." Maiya & I snickered at how fed up mama sounded. "Glad you haven't found the variety show yet," She mumbled.

"The who?" Maiya asked. Mama shook her head.

"Nothing, don't even worry about it," She said as she headed in the kitchen. I was worried about it since she brought it up. Maiya & I exchanged glances, knowing we were going to go into daddy's stuff and look for that next. Before we could get up to do it though, my phone rang. I grabbed it out of my lap & looked at the ID. It was Mica, which confused the heck out of me because he never calls me. I answered.

"Hello brother. Didn't even know you had my number." Mica snickered.

"Good morning Melody. You say this every time I call."

"You call me once every blue moon, that's why. What's up?"

"Wanna hit the studio today?" He had said nothing but a word.

45 minutes later, Mica & I were walking into Rocket Carousel Studios. Well, he was walking, I was practically skipping. I hadn't been in anybody's studio since that time Justin took me in January. Justin tried, but when he wanted to take me, I couldn't go, and when I could go, he couldn't take me. Same with when MJ offered studio time. And with him being gone for the summer, he definitely couldn't take me.

Mica told me we were working on a debut album for somebody, but I didn't care what we were doing to be honest. Long as I was in the studio.

"Can this girl sing? Like actually sing, not the autotune stuff?" I asked Mica as we got closer to the studio she was in. Mica snickered.

"You know, you act more and more like MJ each day," Mica said as we got to the studio. "But yes she can sing. She can hit Mariah Carey notes."

"Oh so she can sang," I stated. Mica smirked.

"See for yourself," He said as he opened the door. Immediately, her voice filled my ears. She sounded heavenly. And familiar.

You don't need to worry about making me crazy
'Cause I'm way past that
Eh, and so just call me, if you want me
'Cause you got me, and I'll show you, how much I wanna be
On your tattooed heart

I followed Mica in, closing the door behind me. People were sitting around the soundboard, talking, about the song I assume, but stopped when they noticed Mica & I. The girl, who I realized was Cat from Victorious, smiled excitedly & one of the men, who I recognized as Andre also from Victorious, paused the music.

"You brought her!!" Cat (I forgot her real name) clapped excitedly. I raised my eyebrow and looked at Mica, who smiled.

"You're in high demand, Mel." That was absolute music to my ears. Cat got up & walked over to me.

"Hi! I'm Ariana, but you can call me Ari if you want," She said, putting her hand out for me to shake. Oh yeah, Ariana Grande. I shook it.

"I'm Melody, or Mel for short."

"Oh I know," Ari laughed & I held back a blush. Duh, of course she knew, she was excited for me to be here. "Mica told me you helped write 'Die In Your Arms', and I just wanna say, I absolutely love that song."

"Thank you," I smiled shyly. "That was all-"

"Don't do that Mel," Mica shook his head as he walked away. "I don't wanna hear any of that humility." I playfully rolled my eyes as Ariana giggled.

"Regardless of who wrote how much, you both wrote it, and I adore it."

"Yeah," Andre jumped in as he walked over to us. "Yall did yall thing on that. I'm Leon by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Leon."

"Mica had a lot to say about you and your pen." He hadn't even seen me in action really. I appreciated the blind faith though. "Think you can help Ari out here with something?" I grinned.

"You think I can't?"

July 4th, 2012
3:39 PM
Maiya POV

Sun comes up on another morning
My mind never wakes up without you on it
And it's crazy to me, I even see you in my dreams
Is this meant to be?
Could this be happening to me, yeah?
We were best of friends since we were this high
So why do I get nervous every time you, walk by?
We would be on the phone all day

"Anybody that says this and 'Fall' wasn't written with Melody in mind is a liar," I mumbled as I read over my most recent chapter of The Price of Fame. I was about two chapters away from being done & I was excited. I already had an idea for a sequel.

Now I can't find the words to say, to you
Now what am I supposed to do?

Could it be a possibility? I'm tryna see what's up
It's been me for you, and you for me, maybe now is time for us

"TRYNA KEEP IT ALL TOGETHER BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! THEY SAY WE'RE TOO YOUNG FOR LOVE BUT I'M CATCHING FEELINGS!!!" I sung loudly, throwing my head back. This album was so good. I didn't think he was going to top the My Worlds, but he did it. I guess I should've beliebed in Bieber.

Get it? Belieb?

I snickered to myself. I'm so funny.

"You're going to make me hate this song!!" Melody yelled, walking into my room. I turned the music down a little.

"It's impossible to hate this song. And how can you hate a song that's written about you?" Melody couldn't hide the blush that appeared on her face.

"One day, you and Jaden are going to get it through your heads that me & Justin are only best friends."

"No. Me & Jaden are only best friends. You and Justin are riding that friends to lovers pipeline." I was young, but I wasn't stupid. Anybody with eyes could see the way they looked at each other with heart eyes. Selena included.

Speaking of, I wondered how Jaden's part of the plan to get rid of her was going.

"Whatever. What time did Princeton say he was coming to get us?"

"Uh. 6 I think."

"You should start getting ready now then." I glanced at the clock.

"It's not even 4 yet."

"It isn't. But you know you like taking a long time to get ready whenever you're about to see Chresanto," Melody teased, grinning. I blushed. "And you're meeting his family? I know you want to be especially ready for that." My eyes almost bulged out of my head.

"Oh my god, I forgot about that." Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

"Don't start freaking out!!" Melody exclaimed, knowing I was. "It's okay. He's not your boyfriend, so it doesn't matter." I gave Melody a skeptical look. I wasn't old enough to date, so Roc wasn't technically my boyfriend. But, he was my boyfriend. I don't know, sneak dating was hard. "I mean, I get that he is, but he officially isn't, so there's no pressure." Melody rubbed my shoulder and turned to head out of my room. I heard her mumble "unless he told his family about you..."

"What?!?" I asked, about to start freaking out again.

"Get ready!!"

Third Person POV

The 4th of July being during the week left no room for anybody to do any type of work. Michael, Skylar, MJ, Serenity, Melody, none of them made any progress on their various projects.

That was a problem for another day though. For the 4th? They were going to hang out with their people, have fun, and relax.

The Jacksons deserved to have fun and relax.

"Ugh, I wish I could stay here with you guys," Serenity said as she & MJ sat by the pool together. Serenity had arrived to the Hamptons the night before and would be leaving early in the morning. "I think I changed my mind about wanting The Wright Steps NYC becoming a big academy. I'll leave that to Debbie Allen or somebody," she mumbled & MJ snickered.

"No you won't. You're going to make it happen because you don't give up. Jacksons never give up."

"This Jackson is about to give up," Serenity groaned. "I'm so exhausted. And we're only in the beginning stages! Imagine what's going to happen once we get in the middle of it. And then with Bey working on her next album..." Serenity shook her head. "How's that going, by the way?"

"I see you're trying to change the conversation, and i'll give you this for now," MJ pointed & Serenity smirked. "But, it's cool. We're in the brainstorming process. Bey gave me some stuff to work with but..." MJ shrugged. "I'm kind of stumped. Dare I say it, a creative rut." MJ hadn't wrote really since he left rehab. MJ sighed. "If i'm being honest with you... the drugs have been influencing my music for the last three years. Obviously with Trilogy, but also with Glass House. I wrote majority of the songs on there while high, and the ones I didn't write... Mica did. Or Bruno." Which leads right back to the drugs influencing my music.

"You wrote 'Adorn' while sober," Serenity pointed out, trying to make MJ feel a little better. It didn't. He laughed.

"That's another thing. Bey recruited me because of 'Adorn'. Now I feel as if I have to give her a song that gives that type of feel mixed with what she's going for with this album, and it's making me feel pressured." MJ blew out a breath before admitting something he had only been admitting to Taylor & Abel. "And it's making me crave cocaine even more than usual." MJ expected Serenity to be surprised or shocked.

She wasn't.

Skylar wasn't the only one who did her research while MJ was in rehab.

Serenity had made a point to look up how to continue to support recovering addicts once they left rehab. She already knew recovery was a lifelong thing. A person doesn't just go to rehab and come out never wanting to do drugs again. Their body gets used to it, and even when they get clean, their body still craves it.

With MJ admitting that he still craved it, it meant that he hadn't gone back to using. And she wanted to keep it that way.

"You know how you just told me that?" Serenity asked. MJ nodded. "You should tell Bey that. Be honest with her. Bey wouldn't want to put you in a spot where you feel pressured, or overwhelmed, or stressed out. Let her know how you feel, and see how you two can work on that." MJ nodded. "I don't think she expects you to give her a song by the end of every week or anything, right?"

"Nah, she doesn't."

"Okay then. It's no pressure, so don't start putting that pressure on yourself." Serenity rubbed his back reassuringly. "You worked too hard to get to a place where you feel free from the pressures of being a creative, don't go back there. Keep doing your yoga and meditation, your reflections. Ground yourself. You've had a lot of change happen in the past few months, give your mind a chance to settle."

"I feel like you stole this from your therapist, but okay," MJ mumbled. Serenity sucked her teeth and shoved him as he started cackling. They both knew he was taking in what she was saying though.

"It probably is something Dr. Tate would say in this predicament, I don't know." Serenity snickered.

"And what would she say about you trying to give up on The Wright Steps NYC Academy?" MJ asked, looking at his sister.

"To do whatever makes me happy."

"Would that make you happy?" Skylar looked at MJ with those green eyes she got from their mother.

"Not really..." She could practically see the finish line, even though she was far away from it. She could see a way for her to help little black children, heck, children of color find their way into the dancing world with her academy.

"Okay then. It may be hard, but shit that's life. Especially for us. But like I said, Jacksons never give up."

"I won't give up if you won't give up," Serenity said, holding her pinky up. MJ smiled, hooking his pinky to hers.

"Deal." The two unhooked pinkies before looking out across the pool. Jay & Timbaland were manning the grill, Bey was talking to Sia while Blue sat on her lap, relaxing in her little sunglasses, The Dream was sit a little further away from everybody, writing in his notebook (the man never takes a break) and Timberlake had just walked back outside.

"Justin!!" Serenity yelled and his head snapped their way. The twins simultaneously smirked at him and he quickly looked away, making them laugh.

The man was petrified and they hadn't done a damn thing. That was a different type of get back.

"I think it's hilarious how you two were the first ones to have a baby out of all of us and yet, you're still raising toddlers and everybody else's children are grown," Kae stated as she, Skylar, Dawn & Madison watched Sebastian chase around Mehki & Mila. "Well not all grown, but you get what i'm saying." Skylar scoffed.

"I was so close to being done. Then Michael sucked me back in," Skylar joked.

"It's crazy that the dick has been that good for over 20 years," Kae shook her head & Dawn & Madison started cackling. Skylar shook her head, holding back her laugh. "Damn, now that i'm thinking about it, August will make 25 years since you two first met." Skylar quickly did the math in her head. Kae was right. Which made sense, the two met when he released Bad. Skylar blew out a breath as she looked across the backyard at her husband, who was cracking up with Tae, AJ & Greg.

"25 years since the 'one night stand'," Skylar chuckled.

"That backfired immensely," Dawn laughed. Immensely. Skylar couldn't be more grateful for it.

8:22 PM

"Maiya, Roc's people are chill. You don't have anything to worry about," was what Princeton said when Maiya & Melody first climbed into his car. He was right.

Until he wasn't.

Roc's mama was cool. His sister and step-siblings were cool. His cousins were cool. Family wise, his people were cool.

The people who were not apart of his family? Not cool.

Actually, Justice was cool. Melody & Maiya had met Justice before anyway. Her & Roc used to date, but Justice had since then started dating some girl and she seemed to really like her.

Desiree on the other hand?

Maiya should've known she was going to be a constant problem in the relationship when she first met her.

"I still can't believe that your parents let you come into the hood," Ray joked as he, Melody, Maiya, Princess, the other three members of MB, Roc's cousin Day Day and his stepsister Prehia sat in the front of Roc's house, relaxing and watching the rest of the people on the block do their thang. There was a block party going on, and everybody was in a great mood, having a great time.

"Ray, you are aware that my daddy grew up in the hood, right?" Melody asked.

"That don't mean nothing. You two didn't, so i'm shocked they let you come here with no problems."

"We definitely have a security detail out here somewhere." That was always a given though.

"That makes sense." There were a few chuckles. "Would they snipe me if I touch you?"

"Yes, because why are you touching me?"

"Roc & Maiya are touching," Ray motioned to Roc & Maiya. Maiya was sitting on the bottom stoop, leaning back into Roc who was sitting right behind her, playing in her hair. He loved playing in her hair, it was soothing to him. Roc flicked Ray off with his left hand while continuing to play in her hair with his right.

"I don't like you enough for you to touch me though."

"But you admit you do like me though," Ray grinned & Melody threw her 7 Up can at him, hitting him right in his forehead. "Owe."

"Deserved," Prodigy mumbled and more chuckling followed.

Melody should have saved that pop can for someone else though.

Desiree was walking past with a few of her friends when she saw Roc and his group chilling in his porch.

Specifically, Roc & Maiya boo loving.

She raised her eyebrow. Who the hell was this girl on him?

She guess he would go find out.

"I'll catch up with yall," Desiree said to her friends & they gave her a questioning look, until they peeped Roc. They nodded and went their separate ways.

Prehia noticed Desiree first. And she already knew it was about to be some bullshit.

Desiree & Roc had grown up together. Meaning, they had a lot of history even though they were young as shit. Growing up in the hood nine times out of ten meant you grew up faster than other kids. They were each other's first kisses, first love. Dated when they shouldn't have been dating, broke up because Roc was a hoe and he wanted to start dating Justice.

Still didn't stop them from coming back to each other.

Prehia knew the most recent time Roc & Desiree got back together was back in September when MB's album came out. They'd broken up by November though, and Roc said he was done with her and done with being a hoe. He said he really liked Maiya & didn't want to ruin it.

Desiree looked like she was about to come ruin it.

"Chresanto," Prehia spoke and Roc looked at her. She nodded a little towards Desiree, but Roc thought she had a twitch or something.

"What?" He asked confused. Prehia rolled her eyes. Her stepbrother was a fucking idiot. Then he saw Desiree. But it was too late by then.

"Hey Roc," Desiree spoke as she strolled up, a smirk on her face. Roc groaned lowly. Day Day shook his head, standing up. He already knew it was about to be some shit.

"I'm finna go get something else to eat," He mumbled, slipping away.

Maiya looked up at the girl. She was very pretty. Roc knew a lot of pretty girls. Justice, the back up dancer going on tour with them Kiloni, now this one?

Desiree looked at Maiya & quickly scanned her. Maiya had on a red Nike Romper with some black Nike Roshe Runs. Her hair was in a ponytail.

Easy grip.

"Who's this?" Desiree asked, folding her arms. Princeton, Ray & Prodigy's eyes darted to Melody, because they knew she didn't play about Maiya. Melody frowned, standing up, and Princess was right with her.

"Who are you?" Melody asked asked. Desiree looked at her & mugged her.

"Was I talking to you?"

"No bi-"

"Desiree what do you want?" Roc quickly interjected because he knew how Melody got about her sister too. He also knew Melody had a slick ass mouth and Desiree liked to fight.

"To know who this is," She repeated, looking back at Maiya, who looked anxious.

She didn't like confrontation unless it was in her books or the books she read. Confrontation in books? A1. Confrontations in real life? Stressful and anxiety triggering.

"This is my girlfriend," Roc said with ease. So what that she couldn't actually date? They were still dating anyway.

"Oh really?" Desiree smirked, folding her arms. "Since when?"

"January," Roc responded. He considered January 1st to be their anniversary date, since she got her first kiss from him then.

"January? You move on quick." Maiya, Melody, Princeton, Princess & Prodigy looked at Roc. Ray, who already knew because he and Roc were close, mumbled an 'aw shit' & Prehia pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What's she talking about?" Maiya asked softly.

"Oh you didn't know?" Desiree asked sarcastically, and Melody was one second away from punching her. She didn't think she could dislike anyone more than Selena, and life was like 'here you go'. "Me & Roc only broke up in November." If anybody asked Melody to pinpoint the moment she stopped caring for Roc, she would tell them it was right then and there.

"Maiya..." Roc started as Maiya got up.

"We've been talking since last April..." Maiya trailed off. Roc tried to grab her hands but Maiya stepped back.

"Since April? Damn Roc, you cheat on me every chance you get huh?" It came out as sarcasm, but it really did hurt for Desiree to hear that Roc could never be faithful.

Roc didn't give a fuck about her though. He was worried about Maiya, whose big brown eyes were willing up with tears.

"Maiya, I..." He started to say 'im sorry'. He should have said it. Instead, he went with... "we weren't even together then. Me & you were just talking." He knew he fucked up the moment he said that. Everyone besides Maiya, Melody & Desiree collectively groaned as Roc winced, watching the tears fall from Maiya's face.

"Yeah... you're done," Melody nodded as she grabbed her baby sister. "Can somebody take us home?" They needed to leave because every second they stood there was a second closer Melody got to showing off the skills that earned her a black belt.

"No, wait, Maiya, i'm sorry," Roc stated, stepping towards her. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't fall for it girl, he used to tell me the same thing, and then would be back on his bullshit."

"Could you shut the fuck up?!?" Roc hissed, turning to Desiree.

"Oh fuck you, Chresanto!!" The two started bickering and the others shook their head.

"This is too ghetto for me," Princess mumbled to Princeton & he nodded. "Come on, let's get her home." Melody wrapped her arms around her sister and followed Princeton & Princess to his car, trying to resist the urge to turn around and smack tweedledee and tweedledum. By the time they got to the car, Roc was running up behind them.

"Wait, Maiya, please, i'm sorry!! I'm sorry, okay? I fucked up!! I-I thought since we were just talking, and that because you weren't old enough to date it wouldn't matter!!" Melody turned around, ready to say something since she knew Maiya wouldn't, but Maiya looked at her with her sad brown eyes and shook her head.

"Can we just go? Please?" She practically beg. Melody had to oblige.

Without saying anything else, the four of them hopped in Princeton's car and Princeton drove off, leaving Roc standing there, looking stupid.

July 5th, 2012
12:33 PM
Melody POV

"I'm getting new best friends. Is that what you and & Z want? I think so. I'm making Amala my new best friend," I stated when Justin called me the next day.

"I'm sorry," Justin groaned, rubbing his eyes. "Me & Selena were out last night." I didn't bother to conceal my eye roll. I was too irritated to pretend not to be bothered. "You're moodier than usual. What's wrong? Are you on your period or something?"

"Yes," I hissed. How did he know that? "That's not why I'm aggravated though. Let me tell you what that stupid big lipped bum did to my sister." I explained to Justin what went down, and what happened after the fact. That included Maiya locking herself in the room and crying, and how she didn't want to come out in the morning to eat, and how I had to lie to my parents because she wasn't supposed to be dating anyway.

I don't think they believed me after the stunt MB pulled on Valentine's Day, but I would worry about that at a later time.

"Oh, he's definitely on my list now," Justin responded when I was done. "Maiya is such a sweetheart. She minds her bu- well she doesn't mind her business. But all she wants to do is write her books and be happy. He's trash for that. And so is that girl."

"I never thought I would see the day where I dislike somebody more than Selena, but here we are." Justin pursed his lips before slowly turning the camera to show that Selena was laying next to him, staring at the phone blankly. I rolled my eyes once more, getting aggravated at the sight of her laying next to him.

"I don't have the patience to pretend to care. She knows I don't like her."

"Mel-"

"I gotta go though, i'm at the studio with Mica." Justin sighed.

"I'll ta-" I didn't let him finish before hanging up. Between me PMSing, the previous day's events, and seeing Justin & Selena laid up together, I just... couldn't.

I headed back into the studio we were in, where Ariana, Leon, Mica and Babyface were all throwing ideas out for what was to come next.

Mica looked at me & mouthed 'everything okay?'. I nodded as I sat in my seat on the couch and picked up my notebook. But it wasn't.

I was cramping, and bleeding out of my uterus because my body was mad that I didn't want to make a baby. My little sister was at home crying over a stupid boy who, not to be a spoiled rich brat, she should've never glanced at in the first place with his ghetto ass. And I undeniably had feelings for my best friend who had a girlfriend. A girlfriend he was laying next to, and probably had been laying next to when I called him the night before.

And while the thought of that hurt my feelings, it still didn't hurt them enough to get me to stop having feelings for him.

It was exhausting and nerve wrecking, and annoying and just down right pathetic.

I felt stuck. I couldn't do anything about my feelings for Justin, I couldn't do anything about Maiya's feelings for Roc, I couldn't do anything about this fucking period!

I flipped to an empty page in my notebook.

What I could do was write. So I wrote what came to me.

I feel like my heart is stuck in bumper to bumper
Traffic, I'm under pressure 'cause I can't have you
The way that I want
Let's just go back to the way it was...

I blanked out there, and it pissed me off even more, making me angrily shut the notebook. Everybody glanced at me, but didn't say anything. I hadn't been in a good mood since I arrived and they knew that.

I wanted the day to be over, and to be off my friggin period.

Maiya POV

Nothing can cure my headache
Cause I'm experiencing what they call heartbreak
It's gonna hurt worse as long as I stay here
I know but man just let me lay here
Cause this is something that I can't shake
I must be experiencing what they call heartbreak
They say it's only just as worse as you make it
I know but man just let me lay here

For Justin to have been making music for less than three years, he surely did have a song for every occasion. Christmas music, uplifting music, heartbreak music.

Speaking of...

I looked at my phone that had been vibrating non stop since I woke up. There were texts from Roc, Princess, Melody, Jaden & Justin.

That meant Melody told him because he only texted me every so often.

I opened the message from Justin, but didn't bother reading it. I responded to whatever it was with

Thanks for making 'Heartache'. It's really helping rite now 👍

I heard my door opened, but I didn't turn to look to see who it was. I didn't want whoever to see my puffy eyes.

I felt the bed dip in two places, meaning it was both my parents. Crap.

I felt a hand on my head before Daddy put his head into view.

"If you're going to lie and say nothing is wrong, the least you could do is not play 'Heartache' on repeat so loudly. I think I know all the words now." Daddy cracked a gentle smile. I turned to face both of them as I turned the music down a little on my phone.

"You're not mad?"

"At him? Yeah. I don't know what he did but i'm going to beat-"

"Michael," Mama interrupted him softly & Daddy huffed.

"No, we're not mad at you baby. Crushes happen, that's something nobody can control." I could've controlled it if I hadn't started dating before 16 like they told me. Even though we weren't officially dating. I just nodded though, not knowing what else to say.

"We need you to come eat though, baby," Mama rubbed my legs over the cover. "It may feel like the world ended, or your world ended, but it didn't. This feeling won't last forever. And when it's gone, I don't want you to be a skinny stick like your daddy." Daddy sucked his teeth, side eyeing mama. I giggled and they both looked at me, smiling. "There's that pretty smile. Now come on, I made strawberry french toast." My favorite.

I paused the music, just as another text from Roc came through. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I got out of the bed and followed my parents out of the room.

They kept me out of my room all day too. We ate a late breakfast together, then they forced me to stay with them and the babies, which led to us playing in the backyard in their condo. After that, we sat down & watched Iron Man 2. That was daddy's choice obviously, but it was a good choice so hey.

Towards the end, Melody walked in the house, frowned up.

"Mel!!" Mehki & Mila squealed running to the door. Melody smiled at them, squatting down and hugging them.

"Hey baby," Mama & Daddy greeted. Melody let go of the babies and stood up.

"Hey," she looked at me. "You checked your phone?" I shook my head. I hadn't brought my phone out of the room. Melody just laughed angrily and headed up the stairs.

I looked at mama & daddy, who looked at each other confused.

"Can I...?" I pointed towards the stairs.

"Yeah, we're not holding you hostage Maiya," Daddy responded.

"It sure felt like it," I jokingly mumbled, standing up. A couch pillow hit the back of my head a few seconds later. As I turned back to daddy, mama slapped his arm. "Really?" Daddy smiled sheepishly and I laughed then headed upstairs.

I ran into my room and grabbed my phone, seeing that I had at least 100 texts.

Roc hadn't texted since earlier in the day, which slightly bummed me out but I shook it off. This was the same boy who hurt me, why was I sad he hadn't texted me?

I opened my messages and went to the most recent ones, which was with Melody, Princess & Jaden. The were a lot of texts in caps, and as I scrolled up, I saw a link to something on Twitter. I clicked on it, and it led me to a tweet.

@jesssomindless: um who tf iz Mya? ROC STOP FUCKIN PLAYIN WIT UZ

A video was linked. I clicked on it, and realized it was video from their show. Forgot they had left for tour.

They were singing 'Missing You' to some fans on stage, and I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to see this.

Roc was singing to the girl, caressing her, hugging her. It was only making my heart hurt more. Why would they send this to the group chat?

I didn't click out though. They probably sent it to show that I was better with out him.

Then I got to the end of the video and saw that was NOT the reason why they sent it.

Missing you, missing you, missing you, missing you
Forgive me, trust me
Missing you, missing you, missing you, missing you
Forgive me, trust me

At the end of the song, Prodigy usually says 'i'm sorry Brianna'. Who is Brianna? Don't know.

Anyway, at the show they did the day before the fourth, they didn't say anything, instead they all had a quick solo dance break.

This show, however, after walking their girls off the stage, Roc walked to the front of the stage and said very clearly "i'm sorry Maiya". My eyes widened as there were murmurs of confusion on the video before it ended.

Oh.

I slumped down on my bed, staring at the tweet for a moment. I didn't know what to say. Didn't know what to do.

That was very bold. And stupid.

I exited the Twitter app and went back to my messages. I went straight to Roc's messages, and was bombarded by how many there were.

He kept repeating how sorry he was, and how stupid he was. Glad we could both agree on that.

He also said that he was wrong, and even though we weren't together back when he was with Desiree, he should've been honest.

I reread that text a couple of times until something clicked in me.

We weren't together, so why was I mad? I liked him back then, yeah, but we weren't together, nor did we say we liked each other.

I was so young and stupid.

I responded to him.

I forgive u.

"You're going to forgive him, aren't you?" Melody asked. I looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. I nodded slowly. Melody rolled her eyes. "He's going to keep-" Melody stopped herself. Then she shook her head, and walked out of the room.

She didn't have to finish though. She was going to say 'he's going to keep hurting you'.

And she was right.

July 9th, 2012
11:18 AM
MJ POV

"I can be your vixen, your bed'll be my stage, put me in the spotlight all night, each and every time we play, I can be your vixen, as we improvise, delivering a captivating performance every time..." I stopped, huffing as I paused the demo tape. I liked 'Vixen' from the male point of view I had it in at first. "Fuck."

I had been in the Hamptons for about a week and a half, and I had absolutely nothing for Bey.

Safe to say, I was having performance issues.

I sighed, closing my laptop and looking back towards the house. I could see a small figure laying by the pool, and I could bet it was Bey with Blue.

I guess i'd take Serenity's advice and talk to Bey. I wanted to at least put in a little more effort before I did, and I put in the effort, and it wasn't working.

I grabbed my laptop and other things and headed back over to the house. As I got closer, I could see that Bey did not have Blue. She was by herself. She sat on a pool chair without an umbrella blocking the sun, and the sun glistened on her. On her body.

She wore a red two piece, and I could see that wonders that Blue had done to her body. Goddamn.

I quickly snapped out of it. She's married, and thinking about her in the way I was thinking about her was so disrespectful.

As I got closer, Bey turned over on her stomach & I sucked in a breath.

She was making it hard for me to not think about how good she looked. Fuck, I was getting hard look at how fat her ass looked. I wished she could sit it on me.

A light bulb went off in my head, and I stopped in my tracks.

That was it.

My idea to shift the point of view in 'Vixen' was good, but I needed to expand on that. What's the first thing I would want Beyoncé to say to me as a man? What have I not heard her say?

Let me sit this ass on you

Yes.

I walked on the other side of the pool away from Bey & sat down. Bey rolled back over and sat up.

"Hey MJ."

"Wassup Bey?" I asked as I opened my notebook and started scribbling the lyrics down.

Show you how I feel
Let me take this off
While you watch me?

I looked back up at Bey, who was looking at me curiously. I looked back down at the notebook and scribbled some more. My hand was about to cramp up trying to keep up.

Yes, mass appeal
Don't take your eyes
Don't take your eyes off it
Watch it, babe

I heard Bey chuckle.

"You okay? You're writing pretty fast and hard." I had to hold back a groan. Fast and hard and Beyoncé was not a good mix in my mind at the moment.

"Yeah, I uh, got some inspiration for a song and I wanted to get it down before I forgot," I mumbled, not looking up at her. She didn't respond. I reread the lyrics a few times, trying to come up with some more.

A couple of seconds later, I heard the sounds of Bey walking and I looked up to see her nearing me. I accidentally made eye contact with the sweat beads dripping between her breasts and my dick stood straight up.

I felt like a horny ass fucking teenager.

As Bey got closer, I put the notebook over my lap. Dumb ass mistake.

She sat on the chair next to me. "Can I see?" No, because then you would see something else. I nodded though, and swiftly handed her the notebook, holding my left hand over my dick. Bey read over the notebook.

"I figured, since you want to fully embrace your sensuality, that i'd write what I would want to hear you say. I-if I was your husband." Bey didn't respond, she kept looking at the notebook. A few seconds past, and she looked up at me with those seductive eyes, and said:

"If you like you can touch it, baby." My eyes bulged out my head and I practically choked. Bey frowned. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I choked out. Bey leaned over at patted my back until I calmed down. "Sorry, I choked on my spit." Bey chuckled before putting her hand out.

"Can I see the pen?" A dirty response was on the tip of my tongue, but I pushed it down as I gave her the pen. She took it and immediately started scribbling on the notebook. "If you like... you can touch it baby," Okay, that made sense. "Do you? You know you wanna touch it baby." Second thought, this was a horrible idea. I should have stayed in the field. "I really like this idea. I can visualize me giving a lap dance in this verse, and then as the verses go on, it turns into sex, and then there's the climax and it ends after coming down from the climax." Why was God putting me through this agony? Bey smiled at me. "I'm sorry, I just kinda took over your idea."

"It's fine," I responded, my voice cracking a little. I cleared my throat. "It's for your album. I'm following your vision." A very vivid vision that I could picture. Bey gave me a soft smile.

"Well, I thank you for helping me with my vision," Bey leaned over and rubbed my arm. I swallowed roughly, nodding. She removed her hand from me. "Jay is going to have Blue for awhile, want to go in the studio? Bounce some lyrics off each other?" I nodded. "Okay, cool. I'll meet you in the studio once I slip on some clothes." Bey passed me my notebook and pen back as she stood up. I took them and she turned, walking away. I held back another groan, watching as her ass jiggled while she walk.

At least her going to change would give me time to get rid of my hard on. I slid out the chair, practically in pain from how hard I was, and headed into the house behind her.

Yeah, I was about to beat my dick like I did in 2002 when I saw her 21st birthday party pictures.

July 13th, 2012
2:41 PM

I hadn't masturbated so much in a very long time. I also hadn't been so horny in a very long time.

Me & Bey worked on the song all week. The first day, I had to masturbate before and after our session. The next few days, I only did it after our sessions, because it doing it before our sessions obviously didn't work.

This was unbelievable.

I hadn't craved sex since I was fucking Kiana, and even then, I hadn't craved sex while sober since I was with Jade.

My sex drive picked a hell of time to come back, and a hell of a person to want to do it with.

I choked back a loud moan as I came hard all over my hand. Breathing heavily, I stepped under the waterfall shower head, rinsing away my sins.

Post nut clarity always made me feel disgusted with myself.

It was different, doing this when I was younger and didn't personally know her.

I was 24 years old though, and I knew her. Worked with her. Was staying with her and her husband. This was wrong.

My dick ain't get the memo though.

I quickly showered and got out, walking out of the en suite bathroom. I threw on some basketball shorts and a wife beater, plopping down on the bed.

I wondered if I should bring this topic up to Taylor. Was this worthy of a therapy session?

A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?" The door opened & Bey peeked in. I silently groaned. She would come after I finished beating my dick. I was going to need another shower after this.

"Hey, can we talk?" Oh my God, she knew what I was doing. I knew she knew. I nodded. She pushed the door fully open, and walked in. She was still wearing that baby blue sundress she was wearing earlier.

Kill me please.

She sat on one of the couches that were in the room and I walked over sitting across from her on the other one.

"You okay?" She asked sincerely.

"Yeah." No. "Why?"

"You've been acting kind of weird all week. Like not your usual playful self." I was that obvious? Time to deflect.

"If you're worried i'm back on drugs, i'm not," I weakly joked & she playfully rolled her eyes.

"I know you're not. I just wanna make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine." Bey looked like she didn't believe me. I guess I had to give her something. "I was feeling a little bit of pressure at first to give you what you wanted for the album, but that's gone now. I'm good."

"You sure?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded. "MJ you know you can talk to me right? We're friends, you can tell me anything." I nodded.

"I know." Bey gave me a smile & stood up.

"Wanted to make sure you know that," she headed to the door. My eyes immediately traveled to her ass. "See you at dinner." She walked out and closed the door behind her. I looked down at my dick that had blood rushing towards it at the thought of Bey's booty.

"You heard that MJ Jr? We're friends." MJ Jr. did not give a damn. He rose anyway. "Ugh!!!"

Melody POV

And we can deny it as much as we want
But in time our feelings will show
'Cause sooner or later we'll wonder why we gave up
The truth is, everyone knows

I closed my eyes, taking in the song. Ariana & Nathan's voices sounded so good together.

"The placement of the additional ad-libs in the last chorus are perfect," Mica stated, making my eyes pop back open. He was looking at me.

"You talking to me?" I asked.

"You were the one who suggested it, so yeah." I playfully rolled my eyes. "You're also the only one in here." I forgot everyone else went to get something to eat. "I think we're done with this song." Mica shut it off before it could fade out. Then he looked at me. "Ready to give one of your songs a go?" I was nervous, but I nodded anyway, remembering MJ & Justin's words. "Let's see what you got." I grabbed my notebook and flipped it open.

"Uhm... i've noticed that Ari has been trying to go with the piano pop and doo wop sound, and I think this song could be it." I flipped to the page with 'Daydreamin' & handed it to Mica.

While most of my songs were solely inspired by movies, books and shows, this was inspired by both movies and... you know who, don't make me say it.

Mica read it over and looked at me with a grin.

"I love it." He stood up. "Come on." I followed him into the booth where the piano was. He sat at the piano, placing the notebook on top. "Piano pop right?"

"It could be." I shrugged.

"Well, sing it in the way you hear it in your mind so that I can see." I grabbed the book and cleared my throat.

"You walked in... caught my attention, I've never seen a man with so much dimension..." I stopped. I could hear the same 4 upbeat piano chords playing in my head. "Play the upbeat chords." I didn't know which chords those was but surprisingly, Mica got what I was saying.

I could see why he was such an in demand producer, he could practically read people's minds. I nodded before started from the beginning.

"You walked in... caught my attention, I've never seen a man with so much dimension... It's the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you make me feel inside, it's in your smile, it's in your eyes, I don't wanna wait for tonight, So I'm daydreamin' with my chin in the palm of my hands about you, you, and only you, got me daydreamin', with my chin in the palm of my hands about you, you, and only you..." Mica grinned as he stopped.

"You sure you don't want to keep this song for yourself?"

"Positive." It would only remind me of how sprung I was over what's his face.

"Okay," Mica chuckled. "Um... I think after the 'dimension' part, the beat should kick in a little, then at the chorus it can come in full force."

"Yeah, I can picture that," I nodded.

"Cool. Let's record the piano and the vocals first, then we'll figure out how we want the beat to go."

"Alright," I responded, heading out the booth to press record. I quickly jogged back into the booth as Mica started playing the piano. I let a few beats pass before hopping in.

"You walked in..."

When the rest of the team came back in a little over 30 minutes later, Mica & I were messing around with the MPC controller, figuring out how we wanted the drums to sound while the rough demo played in the background.

Ariana gasped.

"Is this you?" She asked, gaping. I nodded. "You sound so good!!"

"You're going to sound even better, once we figure out this beat," I muttered as I continued to play around with the drums.

"You don't want this song?" Ariana frowned & I shook my head.

"You must have some heat in your vault if you're giving this away," Leon responded, sitting next to Mica. I only smirked in response. "When are we working on your debut album?" To be honest, I didn't know what to respond. I would probably wait until I graduated, like MJ did. I wanted to do the whole Michael Jackson bootcamp him and daddy did so I could be the best performer possible first.

Maybe that's what I would work on when I was done with this and daddy was done with Bad 25.

"Let's focus on one album at a time first, ple- I like that one," Mica pointed at the drum I did. I did it again. Hard drum, soft, two hard drums, soft. "Yeah that's it." Mica grinned. "Look at my little sister. Singer, songwriter, producer." I blushed, trying to hold back a smile.

"Shut up Mica."

July 26th, 2012
7:26 PM
Maiya POV

2012 had been a very eventful year, even though the year wasn't even over yet. My brother had overdosed, I had my first kiss, I got my first boyfriend, my niece moved in with us, I graduated from 8th grade, I felt my first heartbreak and only July 26th, 2012, I could add turning 14 to the list.

Not that was too eventful. Well it was, but it wasn't. It was a good eventful.

We celebrated at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Actually, daddy rented Magic Mountain out. The entire park. For us, our family, and our friends.

It was awesome.

"Ugh, I don't feel good," Jaden groaned as we walked away from The Riddler's Revenge.

"You better not puke," Kylie scowled.

"He's going to puke," Jordyn nodded.

"Stay over there with that," I grimaced, walking ahead of them. Not even five seconds later, I could hear Jaden retching behind me.

"Ew!!" Kylie & Jordyn yelled. I shook my head. I told him not to eat that funnel cake.

My phone started vibrating in my fanny pack, and I furrowed my eyebrows. Who was calling me? Everybody I knew was-

Oh yeah. Roc wasn't. He also hadn't called me all day so it better had been him.

Actually I hoped it wasn't him-

It was him. I quickly answered the FaceTime. His face appeared on the screen. I could tell her had just come off stage, with all the yelling in the background and how hard he was sweating.

"What's up baby? Happy birthday." A chorus of 'Happy Birthday's followed. I smiled as Roc scowled. "Shut up!! Yall have her number, you should've told her earlier!!"

"We did!" I heard Princeton yell.

"You were the only one who didn't," I spoke lowly. He heard me though. He sighed.

"I know, i'm sorry, today has been so busy and I didn't want to text you because that's so impersonal-"

"What you tryna say?!?" I heard Ray ask.

"Shut up, damn!!" Roc yelled back to him before looking at me with those dark brown eyes. He gave me a pout with those big juicy lips. "Please don't be mad at me."

"Are you pouting to get me to forgive you?"

"Yes. Is it working?" I smiled.

"Yes." He smiled, showing off his little fang teeth. Ugh, he was so cute.

"Good. How's your birthday been? What you doing?" I flipped the camera the show the park.

"Daddy surprised me by renting out Six Flags." Roc sucked his teeth as I flipped the camera back around.

"That sounds so fun!! I can't believe i'm missing it!!" He looked off camera. "Aye her dad rented out Six Flags." I could hear all of them cursing in the background, making me giggle. Roc looked back at the camera. "Our misery is funny to you, huh?"

"Yes." Roc laughed, making me smile. I could watch him laugh all day.

"Who is that?" Kylie asked as she & Jordyn peeked over my shoulders.

"Her boo," Jordyn grinned. Every since Justin's New Year's party, Jordyn & I had gotten closer. It was inevitable, since Jaden's my best friend and she & Jaden grew up together & are pretty close. Kylie... we're cool, but she's closer to Jaden & Jordyn. I think Jaden & her like each other but he doesn't want to admit it to me.

"He's cute." I mugged Kylie. "Sorry." Jordyn pulled her away so I could go back to talking Roc in peace.

"Who was that?"

"Jordyn & Kylie."

"Aw yeah." He knew all about them. "Um, I got your birthday gift."

"Let me see!!" I squealed.

"No, you'll see it when I give it to you." I pouted.

"Please."

"No, I want to surprise you!!"

"I don't like surprises!!"

"Yes you do!!"

"Only after the surprise is over," I stated & Roc sucked his teeth, making me giggle.

"Well- aye!!" Kiloni, a back up dancer on the tour, popped her head in the camera. "Personal space, Lee!!"

"Hey!!"

"Hey Kiloni." She moved out of the camera.

"Who is that? I couldn't see that good."

"Maiya."

"Ohh, your girlfriend." Roc hummed before looking at the camera.

"As I was saying, you're not seeing your gift until I get back."

"Fine." I mumbled. "And I know I say this all the time, but you know a lot of pretty girls."

"Really?" Roc asked, raising an eyebrow. A grin appeared on his face. "You know I didn't take you for the type to check out girls Maiya..." He did that weird eyebrow wiggle. I sucked my teeth and Roc laughed, making me giggle. He was so goofy, but I liked his sense of humor a lot. Loved it, even. "And I know I say this a lot, but you're the prettiest girl of all." I blushed, like an idiot.

A few seconds later, my phone was snatched out of my hand.

"Yeah, mack daddy Roc, she'll have to talk to you later," Melody smirked before hanging up the phone.

"Melody!!" I yelled as she put it in her pocket.

"It's your birthday!! We're at Six Flags!! You're supposed to be on the rides, not spending your time talking to some boy!!" Zendaya yelled.

"Says the one with the Trevor Jackson connected to your hip."

"I'm here though," Trevor raised his hands. "That's all i'm saying."

"We only have like an hour and a half left until we leave," Melody said, grabbing my hand. "You can talk to the bum later, we ride the Superman now." I probably couldn't talk to him later, because our schedules had not aligned since he been on tour. But I relented.

The tour was halfway over, and we'd be back in each other's arms soon.

August 9th, 2012
9:32 PM
Third Person POV

The end of the summer came around fast, and it was a very productive summer, if the Jacksons said so themselves.

Michael was fully prepared for the Bad 25 release, and at the end of the month, his documentary would be screened at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. His directorial dreams were flourishing in front of his eyes.

Skylar had been working with Cirque du Soleil on another show for Michael, even though the Immortal tour was still going. The show would be happening in Vegas, which gave Skylar the idea to see if Michael would want to do a Vegas residency. That was an idea for later though, they had far too much going on already.

Serenity had figured out the recital theme, which would be Black Musical Icons (cause why not? It was a blickity black dance st- academy, and they were not dulling their black down for anybody). She picked the music, and that wasn't hard at all once she had the theme. She had book the date and time, and since she booked so early, she got an early slot. That was great, because lord knows when Bey would be calling, ready for to work. The only thing she had to focus on since she got that stuff out of the way was choreography for the next few months. She'd worry about costumes and other logistics when the new year rolled around.

Maiya finished The Price of Fame, and started a sequel. She also started writing Marvel fan fiction after rewatching some of the Marvel movies with Michael, and listening to him talk about how he attempted to buy Marvel in the 90's and wanted to play either Spider-Man or Professor X in a movie.

Michael was the definition of go big or go home.

"That 'don't take your eyes off it' part sounds like D'Angelo for real," MJ said to Bey from where he stood in the studio. They were still working on 'Rocket', but that's because they paused on it for awhile. Bey didn't want to jump up and take the first song MJ offered, but something about 'Rocket' just did it for her. "That was a good arrangement."

"Fire," Timberlake nodded, and MJ shot him a look.

Somehow, Beyoncé managed to get MJ to work with Timberlake on 'Rocket'. Had to be the creole voodoo or something.

"I think you're good as far as ad-libs and vocal arrangements for the first two verses. You think so?" MJ asked & Bey nodded. "Verse 3 then?"

"Yes please." The engineer started from the middle of the second time she sung the chorus.

Then dip me under where you can feel my river flow and flow
Hold me 'til I scream for air to breathe
And wash me over until my well runs dry
Send all your sins all over me, baby, me, baby, me

Hard... rock... steady... rock... hard... rock... steady... rock...
Hard... rock... steady... rock... hard... rock... steady...

Bey blanked the fuck out soon as she opened her mouth.

"Don't you know that I give you your loving if you need it?I give you my word, you can believe it... Your love feels like all four seasons, growing inside me, life has a reason... swimming in my love, your love, lifting, higher, harder, got me screaming to the lord, boy, kiss me," MJ's eyes went wide and a stupid grin appeared on his face. This was not the original third verse they had written, but... damn. "Pray we don't overflow, baby, I know you can feel it pulse, deep in the peak of my waterfall... rock it, baby, rock it, baby, 'til the water falls..." Bey held the last note for a good 7 seconds before releasing & ending it with a "damn."

The engineer paused the recording and it was dead silent in the room. MJ, Timberlake, Timbaland and the engineer were stunned.

"Um..." Timberlake started.

"Wow," Timbaland added.

MJ didn't even have anything to say. He was mesmerized.

This was his first time seeing Bey in her element this close and personal, and he was shook.

"There's something wrong with you," Timberlake spoke and Bey giggled.

"Wooow," Timbaland emphasized again.

"That is..." Timberlake started, then shook his head. "Yeah, there's something wrong with you."

"Thank you," Bey said, laughing again before looking at MJ. "What do you say, MJ? Was that good?" MJ scoffed. Good? That shit was better than good. MJ licked his lips.

"I can hear the climax you were talking about now," He said. He could feel it too. "That- that was beautiful Bey. Timberfake, I mean lake," Bey held back her laugh as Timberlake side eyed MJ. "Was right. There's something wrong with you. You're crazy for that." Bey grinned & MJ swallowed roughly.

He had been (re)learning how to control his urges, and he had stopped beating his dick every damn day after seeing Bey, but that smile mixed with her voice being stuck in his head was fucking him up.

"Let's do that again so we can stack the vocals."

11:35 PM

"I haven't been in the studio this late in awhile. You're a bad influence, Mr. Jackson," Bey teased as the two of them sat in the studio by themselves. Everybody else had long left.

"Hey, one night won't hurt you," MJ joked as he sat back in his chair. "It's not even that late."

"Late enough. I'm usually in bed by 10 now."

"Old lady," MJ snickered & Bey threw her pen at him. MJ caught it & laughed at the way her mouth dropped. "Yes, ya boy has hands." Bey playfully rolled her eyes before they both laughed.

The two quieted down, Bey's voice on the speaker being the only sound in the studio. "This sounds so good. Thank you MJ."

"Thank me? You did that, I just did a little writing," MJ responded, tossing the pen in the air & catching it.

"You helped me with my vision, and I appreciate it," She smiled softly. "I would've never have done something like this years ago, and if you hadn't started writing it, I wouldn't have fully dived into it. So thank you."

"No problem Bey," MJ smiled.

So rock right up to the side of my mountain
Climb until you reach my peak, baby, peak, baby, peak
And reach right into the bottom of my fountain
I wanna play in your deep, baby, deep, baby, deep

MJ cleared his throat, trying to ignore the sexual thoughts that were creeping into his brain.

"Thank you... for uh... giving me this opportunity," MJ spoke. He stopped throwing the pen in the air & started clicking it. "I've been a fan of you for a very long time, and this was... such a great experience. And a breath of fresh air." He licked his lips. "To be honest, I didn't think people would be quick to work with me after the whole rehab thing but i'm glad to see I was wrong." Bey snickered softly.

"Nobody is in the place to judge you. Especially since half the industry is on drugs."

"Yeah true," MJ shrugged nodding.

"And you're welcome MJ. Even though I should be thanking you for working with me."

"Lord, we're going to be here all night thanking each other," MJ joked, and the reality of how nasty that sounded set in afterward. Bey didn't notice though. She laughed.

"I'm serious. You had a lot going on this year, and still made time to come out here and help me with my vision, help me get my sound where I want it, and you know... be my friend. I'm grateful, and I hope we get to work together again." Bey paused the song. "I don't plan on doing too much else after we leave the Hamptons, i'm actually in the process of preparing for a tour, but when I start back work on the album and you get settled with your daughter... I want to collaborate again. Maybe you can come to New York, I can come to Los Angeles, or we can meet somewhere else."

"I'd like that," MJ nodded. "I don't plan to do anything else for a while, so let's do it." Bey shook her head. "No?" MJ asked amused.

"You gotta do something. You've been out of rehab for what's about to be three months. You had one of the biggest albums-"

"Mixtape."

"Mixtapes of the summer. You also have some more you can squeeze out of Glass House. Not saying you have to go on tour, or do anything big. There's stuff you can do that's hands off, like releasing 'Adorn' as a single."

"Was that where you were going with it this whole time?" MJ laughed & Bey nodded, smiling.

"Yes, because I love that song, and I don't want you to pay it to dust. It's single potential." MJ laughed, biting his lip. It's funny how he said that he would throw it on the album and be done with it, and here Beyoncé was saying that he should release it as a single.

"Y'know... that's the song I wrote about my ex-fiancée. The song I used to propose to her."

"Oh," Bey said. She was starting to see why that wasn't an earlier single for him.

"I never planned on it being a single, thought it would be a good album cut. But if you're saying I should do it, i'll do it," MJ shrugged. Fuck it. Might as well.

"If you really don't want to do it... if it's too painful-" Bey started & MJ waved her off.

"I came to terms with the end of the relationship in rehab. I'm good, and hearing 'Adorn' everywhere I go won't hurt." Bey sucked her teeth.

"You're so sure you're going to hear it every where," She joked & MJ snickered.

"Come on Bey, you know it's going to be played everywhere." Bey giggled, knowing that was the truth.

"Whatever. What time does your plane leave tomorrow?" It was time for him to head back home. 6 weeks there was long enough away from
Mila.

"9." Bey looked at the clock.

"Better head to bed then."

"I'll sleep on the plane."

"Well, im heading to bed," Bey joked as she stood up.

"Fine. I guess i'll go to bed too, grandma." Bey fauxed offense.

"Grandma?" She asked before smirking. "Can't tell from the way you were eyeing me all summer." MJ's mouth dropped. He quickly picked it back up.

"You noticed?" He winced.

"Mhm. You don't hide it that well. The staring or..." Bey nodded to MJ's lower regions and he was mortified. Especially because he was hard at that moment.

"Oh my God," MJ groaned, covering his lap.

"It's cool. It's good to know I still have that effect on men, especially after having Blue," She cackled, walking past MJ. "It's a nice ego boost."

"This is embarrassing," MJ mumbled.

"Good night MJ. Sweet dreams," Bey yelled behind her, cackling as MJ sat there, shaking his head.

Now he felt like a horny teenager that got caught beating his dick. So fucking embarrassing.

August 10th, 2012
7:22 AM

When MJ walked into the kitchen the next morning, Bey was in there with Blue. He felt his cheeks hit up as he walked past and saw her smirking.

"You don't have to be embarrassed," She teased as he grabbed water out of the refrigerator.

"Your teasing is going to make me start doing coke again," MJ said as he turned to Bey.

"Okay, i'll stop," She chuckled. "All ready to go?"

"Yeah, driver's outside."

"Come give me a hug."

"I don't think I should be touched right now. I'm too fragile," MJ joked as he walked over to Bey.

"Whatever," She laughed as he pulled her in for a hug. Bey smelled like cocoa butter. Damn. MJ knew this was a bad idea. "Okay, maybe you are fragile."

"Mhm," MJ said, feeling his dick touch her thigh. The two let go, and Bey accidentally made eye contact with it. She quickly looked away, back to Blue.

"Let me know when you make it," She said after giving Blue another spoonful of her pureed carrots. She looked at MJ & he nodded.

"Will do." The two stared at each other for a moment before MJ flashed her that Jackson smile and walked out.

They both decided to ignore the tension they felt, and they'd be successful in ignoring it.

For a while.

1:43 PM

"Dang, they're cancelling Victorious?" Melody asked, looking up from her phone.

"Oh yeah," Ari said.

"We knew that was happening for awhile," Leon added. Well dang. They were pretty calm for two people about to lose their jobs. Then again, Melody guess it didn't really matter since they obviously had other careers.

"I'm getting my own show though, so," Ari shrugged.

"Oh, okay then," Melody mumbled, looking back at her phone as it vibrated. It was Justin.

Wyd tonite?

He didn't give her a chance to answer, cause he called two seconds later.

"You're so impatient," Melody stated as her phone up to her ear, walking out the studio.

"Phone call is quicker than text. What are you doing tonight?"

"Sleeping." He sucked his teeth.

"Before that. I want to hangout. I miss you." All Melody could hear in her mind was 'deflect!!'

"You not hanging with your girlfriend tonight?"

"You don't miss me? I haven't seen you in forever, which is insane considering we live in the same city."

"You're a busy person. A new album, a new tour, a girlfriend. It's your fault we haven't seen each other."

"My fault? Back in July when I called you to ask to hang out, you ignored my calls. For a good week I may add."

"It was my period week. You know how I get when i'm on my period."

"Yeah, I don't think that's the only reason why you ignored me, but okay." Melody pursed her lips. Maybe she was still a bit mad at seeing Selena next to him, maybe not.

"Well, when I told you about Maiya's birthday event-"

"I had plans with Selena already and don't bring it up again because I already feel bad and i'm mad that I missed it."

"We had a lot of fun," Melody teased.

"Oh fuck you," He laughed. "So tonight?"

"Actually going out with Zendaya tonight. Y'know, the best friend who makes time for me even though she has career and boyfriend."

"Melody," He groaned. She sure had a way of making someone feel bad.

"It's okay though, i'll see you next week. We're still going to the Mindless Behavior shows in LA & Oakland right?" Melody didn't want to go, but Maiya wanted to see Roc & Justin wanted to support Lil Twist, therefore she had no choice.

"I wanna see you before then though," Justin groaned. He missed his best friend. The two hadn't seen each other since... May? Justin wasn't even sure anymore. He was sure he hated it though, and with him leaving for tour in September, he wanted to spend time to her. He wanted to see her beautiful face in person, hear her sweet and sarcastic voice in person, smell her sweet scent-

"What about tomorrow?" Justin sighed. He couldn't. That night was his only night until the shows that he could.

He was really starting to hate his fucking life.

"I can't." Melody could hear the tone in his voice switch, which worried her.

"What's wrong?"

Justin contemplated running it all down to her. How overwhelmed he felt, how he missed her and how normal she made him feel, how even though he spent a lot of time with Selena, they had been arguing non stop, the shit his parents did, how he found himself addicted to drugs even though he witnessed first hand how it affected MJ & his family...

Instead, knowing his best friend had enough on her plate, he said:

"I just really miss you." The words tugged on Melody's heart strings. She swallowed harshly.

"I'll tell Zendaya we can hangout another tim-"

"No, it's okay, don't flake out on her." He already had in his head that he would call Za & Khalil & get high with them. "I'll see you next week, okay? I love you." And for the first time in a very long time, she said it back.

"I love you too Bieber." That got Justin to smile as he hung up the phone.

Melody looked at the phone for a moment, wondering what the hell that was.

The way his voice broke, made it sound like it was more than him missing her.

And she was going to get it out of him.

"Good afternoon, Melody," Somebody spoke and she turned around, seeing Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds walking up.

He had been working with Ariana also, which shocked the hell out of Melody when he first walked in. Even more shocking, he praised her for 'Die in Your Arms'. And 'Daydreamin' once he heard it.

That really geeked her head up.

"Hey, Mr. Edmonds," She spoke.

"Ready to work?" She had been there since 9 in the morning, meaning she had already been working. Still she responded.

"Always."

"Come on then," The two headed back into the studio, where the group had seemingly started working on something else.

"I mean, we've been working on this album long enough that we get what you're going for and cane up with this," Mica shrugged as a beat he & Leon had produced played throughout the studio. They decided to surprise Ariana with it, and she seemed truly surprised.

And happy.

"I love it," She cooed. "We need lyrics." She looked at Melody & Babyface, nodding. "Lyrics." Babyface chuckled.

"Can we listen to the beat first?" Babyface as he took his regular seat by the soundboard. Melody sat back on the desk & grabbed her notebook. Mica started the beat over. A beautiful string section started the song off. Melody liked it already. The strings were followed by a capella background vocals, curtesy of Mica & Leon, and the beat came in the middle of Mica & Leon harmonizing. The beat stated consistent until the 1:10 mark, then it started building up, which would cue the pre-chorus. The 1:25 was when the beat fully kicked in, cueing the chorus.

"Okay, Mica & Leon," Babyface laughed. "I like this." Mica & Leon grinned.

When the beat died down, Melody started flipping through her notebook. As she did, she found those lyrics from the month before, when she was aggravated at life. She reread them to herself, and quickly found a melody she liked for it.

When the beat had reached it's climax again, Melody sang along with it. "I feel like my heart is stuck in bumper to bumper," Everybody's attention fell on Melody. "Traffic, I'm under pressure 'cause I can't have you the way that I want, let's just go back to the way it was," the lyrics were really come to her now. "When we were on Honeymoon Avenue, Honeymoon Avenue, baby, coastin' like crazy, can we get back to the way it was?"  As the bridge came on, Melody looked up and saw all eyes was on her. "Was that good?"

"Was it good? Are you serious?" Leon asked laughing.

"Boy, I tell you. You goddamn Jacksons..." Babyface trailed off, laughing. "Forces to be reckoned with."

August 16th, 2012
5:59 PM

"I think I should go with yall, to see about this lil Mindless nigga," MJ stated as he laid on the floor, letting Mila & Mehki beat him up.

"You should," Melody smirked.

"No!!" Maiya yelled, frowning at both of them.

"I vote yes," Zendaya & Princess spoke.

"Shut up," Maiya gritted. They both giggled as Maiya rolled her eyes.

"Imma meet him eventually," MJ shrugged as Mila kissed his cheek. "Thank you baby."

"I love you daddy," She grinned.

"I love you more."

"Hopefully you don't meet him eventually because he sucks and doesn't deserve to be in Maiya's life," Melody mumbled. Maiya mugged Melody. "Mug me all you want, i'll never like that broke big lip bum again." MJ covered his mouth, holding back his snickers.

Melody & Maiya were like the second coming of him and Serenity, with Melody being him and Maiya being Serenity.

And the big lip bum being Chris.

"I-" The doorbell rung, interrupting Maiya before she could respond.

"It's open!!" Everybody yelled.

"Yall gon start locking my doors," Skylar said, walking out of the kitchen with Michael.

"Not when people keep coming in and out," Melody stated as the door opened. In walked Jaden, with Jordyn & Justin following behind. Melody could feel her heartbeat faster at the sight of him.

"What up yall?!?" Jaden asked, throwing his hands up.

"Heyyyy," Jordyn spoke.

"Hey everybody," Justin spoke, but his eyes were on Melody.

"Hey stranger, longtime no see," Skylar spoke.

"Baby, I don't think he heard you, he's too busy oogling Melody," Michael mumbled as Melody got up & ran over to Justin, hugging him tightly.

"Damn, we didn't even get to speak back," MJ mumbled as Justin hugged her back, just as tight.

"Hey brat," Justin mumbled, closing his eyes. She didn't know how much he needed this.

"I missed you," She admitted.

"I missed you too." They hugged for a little longer before releasing each other. Justin looked around, and the whole room was smirking at them.

"Hey everybody," He waved, blushing.

"You definitely spoke already," Jaden snickered as Mehki played in his hair.

"Oh," Justin blushed even harder. They all kept smirking before Jaden cleared his throat, about to start.

"Let me tell you a story about a girl and a boy," Jaden sang & Maiya, Zendaya, Jordyn & Princess joined in immediately.

"He fell in love with his best friend, when she's around he feels nothing but joy!!" They sang loudly before busting out laughing as Melody turned, walking out the house. Justin shook his head, still blushing like an idiot, following Melody.

"Yall ain't right," Skylar laughed as the rest of them filed out of the house behind them. "Have fun, be safe!!"

"We will!!" The door closed behind Jaden, leaving Michael, Skylar, MJ, Mehki & Mila there. MJ, who was still laying on the floor, looked over at his parents.

"Anybody want to place bets on how long it takes for them to get together?"

"I bet they get together before Mica & Serenity figure it out," Michael murmured, turning to go back in the kitchen and MJ cackled loudly as Skylar shook her head, following behind.

The ride to the Nokia Theatre was full of chatter, so much that Melody couldn't ask Justin about what was going on with him. Not that she would do so in front of everybody else.

"I'm so nervous," Princess said as they neared the venue. "I know i'm going to be Prince's #1 Girl tonight and i'm not ready."

"Do you really know?" Jaden asked. "He might pick someone else." Princess scoffed.

"Oh please, that's not happening. Prince is going to pick me, Roc is obviously going to pick Maiya, Prodigy is going to pick Zendaya and Ray is going to pick Melody." Justin glanced over at Melody.

"Ray is going to get his feelings hurt if he picks me. He better pick Jordyn."

"I'm good," Jordyn laughed. "I came for Jacob Latimore."

"Oh God," Jaden rolled his eyes, making everybody else laugh.

When they got to the venue, it was 6:30. 30 minutes until show time. Instead of going backstage though, the group went to their front row seats, ignoring the excited screams for Justin, Jaden & Zendaya.

As they waited for the show to start, Melody looked at Justin.

"Are you going to ever tell me what's wrong?" Justin frowned at her.

"What do you mean?" Melody gave him a look that said 'don't play dumb' & he pursed his lips. He should've known he can't get anything past Melody's persistent ass.

"Nothing is wrong," He lied. "I'm with you, how could anything be wrong?"

Oh he was good. He had Melody weak in the knees.

The two looked at each other for a moment before looking away. That was that, for the moment.

The show started at 7. First came out a girl named Kayla Brianna, then came Lil' Twist, who had the crowd hyped when he ran out singing 'Little Secret'.

"You're my little secret!! And thats how we gon keep it!!" The crowd sang loudly with Twist. "We can never let em know, never let em know, about us, about us, we can never let him know..."

After Twist came Jacob Latimore, and the girls lost it. Rightfully so, because he tore the mutherfucking stage up.

(I started reminiscing while writing this and found this on YouTube lmaooo)

"He needs to be the opening act on your tour," Melody told Justin when Jacob left the stage and Justin nodded in agreement.

After Jacob came the main event. They had a grand opening, and started the show off with 'Girls Talkin' Bout', hooking the crowd in immediately.

Swagger on a hundred thousand million and beyond

In the front row, Melody, Maiya, Zendaya & Princess effortlessly hit the choreography along with the boys and Prodigy pointed and nodding, smiling as he sang.

I'll take off my shades, show you my eyes
I can see right through you, girl I know you ain't shy
You put in work, overtime
See I got you talking

"All the number one girls be screaming!!"

The concert started out great. They then went into '#1 Girl'. Followed by that was a tribute to groups that paved the way for them like B2K, Another Bad Creation, New Edition, and of course, The Jackson 5.

After that, they did another one of their songs named 'Hello' before going into intermission.

That's where things took a turn.

During intermission, they set up to bring the girls on stage so that the boys could sing to them.

Maiya & the others didn't get picked for it though. And that would've been cool if some fans got picked.

But they didn't bring fans on stage either.

They brought their back up dancers on stage.

Guess which one Roc got?

Kiloni.

Roc had been glancing at Maiya & smiling at her the entire night.

He avoided her eyes when they went into 'Future' and he especially avoided them when they started serenading the girls with 'Missing You'.

"Oh he's playing in her fucking face now, and i'm going to fuck him up," Melody hissed and Justin wrapped his arm around Melody's shoulder.

He felt her anger. Poor Maiya looked absolutely devastated. Especially when Roc & Kiloni started dancing together, and people cheered for them.

Jaden was ready to fight too. He wrapped his arms around his best friend, and rocked her.

"You wanna go?" Jaden asked & she shook her head. She wanted to say something to him this time.

After the boys escorted the girls off the stage, they went into 'Gone', and that's when Roc finally looked at Maiya again.

Maiya didn't look at him for the rest of the night. Melody? If looks could kill, Roc would be dead in a ditch.

"I can't wait to hear his excuse this time," Melody laughed bitterly as the group made their way backstage after the show. As they got to the back, the boys were coming off the stage. Melody didn't even give them a chance to get a good look at them.

"Should I punch you in your face first or should I punch that girl?" Melody asked, trying to stalk towards Roc but Justin grabbed her.

"Yo, Mel, let us explain first."

"Ray, you big nostril bastard, shut up talking to me cause this doesn't have anything to do with you."

"This ain't got nothing to do with you either!!"

"This my little sister-"

"And this my boy so i'm riding for him like how you riding for her," Ray snapped.

"Oh, so I should punch you first is what you saying?" Melody asked, trying to lunge at him but Justin still had a hold on her.

"Can we please explain before you try to fight me?!?" Roc asked, but he didn't give Melody a chance to respond because he knew the answer would be no. "Keisha & Walter didn't think it would be a good idea to bring yall out for 'Missing You' two nights in a row because they knew Team Mindless would lose their minds."

"And we all know Team Mindless is ruthless as shit, so we agreed with their choice," Princeton added.

"And it was a last minute choice, so they just grabbed Kiloni & the others," Roc said, mostly to Maiya. "I'm stupid, but not stupid enough to be like 'oh yeah, let me pick another girl over my girl in front of her and her mean ass sister."

"I'm not mean," Melody rolled her eyes.

"You just called me a 'big nostril bastard'!!"

"That's not mean if it's the truth."

"You believe me?" Roc asked & Maiya nodded. Melody, Princess, Justin & Jaden had to resist the urge to roll their eyes as Roc pulled Maiya into a hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Maiya mumbled, hugging him back.

"Justin & Melody have more chemistry than them," Jaden mumbled to Jordyn. Justin smacked the back of his head. "Owe!" Roc & Maiya let go of each other, and Roc grabbed her hand.

"Come on, your gift is in the dressing room." Maiya & Roc walked away, with Ray & Prodigy following, then Princeton & Princess, then everybody else buy Justin & Melody. Justin tried to follow, but Melody stopped him.

"What?"

"You seriously aren't going to tell me what's wrong?"

"I told you, n-"

"Come on Justin, don't act like i'm stupid. If something is wrong, something is bothering you, you can tell me. I'm your best friend." The words were on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to tell her. But he didn't want to burden her with his pain.

Just because he couldn't have a childhood didn't mean he need to fuck up hers. He liked the semi innocence Melody had. He felt lighter when he was around her versus when he was with anyone else. He didn't want that to change.

So, with everything inside him, he looked Melody dead in her eye, and lied to her.

"There's nothing wrong, brat," He threw in a smile to make it believable. And Melody chose to believe it.

And things changed anyway.

Roc locked the boys out of the dressing room so that he could give Maiya her gift in privacy.

"I gotta make this quick because your sister is probably going to be right behind them and she'll probably break the door down," Roc said as he ran to where his book-bag was and went into it.

"She will, she has before," Roc paused, looking back at Maiya in concern. "Practicing martial arts."

"Your sister knows- okay, I need to stop making her mad too," Roc mumbled as he went back to looking for her gift. "Got it!!" He pulled it out and turned to her. Maiya looked at what he was holding and saw the Pandora box. "I... I uh... I don't make much yet, so I couldn't get you something super expensive, but I got what I could afford." He opened the box, showing Maiya a rose gold heart shaped ring with a pink stones.

"It's so cute," Maiya cooed.

"It's a promise ring," Roc stated & Maiya started grinning like an idiot. She had always wanted a promise ring, every since she heard that song by Tiffany Evans.

Roc took the ring out the box & slid it on her right ring finger. Then, he looked in her eyes and said:

"I promise not to hurt you."

He definitely broke that promise.

August 17th, 2012
1:58 PM

The day started out great for Melody.

Hey, What happened to the butterflies?
Guess they didn't count at that stop sign
And my heart is at a yellow light, a yellow light
Hey, right when I think that we found it
Well that's when we start turnin' around
You're saying baby don't worry
But we're still going the wrong way baby

Baby you know how to drive in rain
And you decided not to make a change
Stuck in the same old lane
Going the wrong way home

"I can't believe this is our last day working with you," Ari pouted as they all sat around listening to the final version of 'Honeymoon Avenue'.

"I know," Melody groaned. She was back in school starting Monday, and Ari & the others didn't go in the studio on weekends, which meant this was it for her for the moment.

"Drop out," Leon jokingly said & Mica guffawed.

"Don't let her dad hear that, please," Mica laughed.

"I'm just saying, who needs school when you're this talented?" Leon asked. He wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right either.

"My daddy wants all of to at least have a high school diploma. He said once we do that, whatever we want to do, he'll support," Melody responded.

"Okay, I can respect that," Leon nodded.

"What are you going to do now? You going to start working on other people's albums on the weekends?" Ari asked, putting a lollipop in her mouth. Melody shook her head.

Mica wasn't working on anybody else's album at the moment, only Ari. And MJ was basically on hiatus.

Which left one thing for her to do, and this was the best choice anyway.

She was going to talk to Michael about training her. If she started early, by the time she graduated, she would be unstoppable.

She couldn't wait to get started.

Melody wanted to ask Michael as soon as she got home, but he was out finalizing everything for Bad 25. When he was coming in, Melody was headed back out for night 2 of the #1 Girl tour.

Things went a lot better that time around.

Justin held his façade up well. The boys brought Maiya, Melody, Princess & Zendaya on stage, and Ray & Melody joked around when they did, showing there were no hard feelings for calling him a big nostril bastard.

The boys of MB made plans to hang out with the girls the next day. Everything was good.

Until Melody spoke to Michael.

11:16 PM

While Maiya, Zendaya, Princess & Jordyn ran upstairs, Melody took her time.

"How was it?" Michael asked, coming out the kitchen with his cup of tea.

"Same as yesterday," Melody shrugged.

"No improvements? That sucks," Michael frowned and Melody snickered. Her daddy was so ridiculous. But he had a point. "I'm about to go to bed baby." Michael walked over to hug her but she stopped him.

"Wait. Before you go to sleep, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure baby, what's up?" Michael asked, folding his arms. Melody blew out a breath. Why was she so nervous? This was what she wanted, and everybody knew it.

Maybe it was because once she got the ball rolling, there was no going back.

This was what she wanted though, so there was no need in being scared.

Michael was going to ask if she was okay when she spoke up.

"I think i'm ready to start training," She said, looking Michael in his eyes. "Actually, I don't think, I know. I'm ready to start training and this gives me ample amount of time to perfect my craft. I know I didn't grow up dancing as much as MJ & Serenity so if I start now, I should be as good as them by the time I graduate & I should also know how to put on a performance by then so... daddy can you start training me like you did MJ?" Michael stared into Melody's green eyes. They were filled with hope, lightness, innocence.

He knew this was coming. He knew his baby loved music and that she would want to do her own music, that writing for others would never be enough.

He knew Melody had more talent in her pinky that some people had in their entire bodies.

He knew MJ & Melody could run the industry like he & Dunk did.

He also knew the pain, the hell, that he, Dunk & MJ had gone through. The hate thrown their way, the bullshit.

Michael tore his eyes away from his baby girl's and gave his answer.

"No."