"C'mon Paul! You let all the others girls sing! It's my turn now!" Lilia whined.

"Don't be a baby, Baby. We need people who can really sing, stop wasting our time. We want to be ready to play in the assembly. Sandy's brother is going to try to get us in, and they won't want to see a little 9 year old singing!" Paul ordered.

"But you let everyone else go! Please, just let me sing one song! I'll sing my mommy's song!" she offered. Paul sighed. He knew how much that song meant to Lilia, and how she had never offered to sing before. This was a landmark occasion for her, and he really didn't want to turn her down, but he also didn't want to acknowledge their friendship in front of Sandy and Damon.

"Just let Baby sing. Everyone else is gone, and we already know who we're going to use, Jacki was the best so far. It won't make a difference," Sandy said, giving into Lilia's pouting lip. Lilia cheered. She pulled out a tape from her pocket and shoved it into the tape player. Standing before them without a hint of nervousness, she waited for the music to begin and then began to sing the song that her mother had sang to her.

"I hate you, Lilia. I hope that you die one day, so I can take your place, the one that you stole from me," Jacki screamed, turning around and running off.

Jacki remembered the day as clear as if it were yesterday. But they had come crawling back, just like she knew they would. As soon as Lilia dropped them, they came crawling back to her, pleading for her help. She had been more than happy to oblige, considering she was joining them right before they were signing a record contract. But she never could forget the fact that Lilia was the one that had bumped her out in the first place.

And she never forgot her hate. That was another thing that she would never forget.

* * * *

One, two, one, two. Right, left, right, left, Lilia repeated over and over inside her head. She was out at the beach, rollerblading on the boardwalk. And it wasn't pretty. She was teetering left and right. No matter what anyone said, blading was not at all like ice skating, and Lilia was beginning to feel like she would never get the hang of it. So she repeated the rhythm over and over in her mind, keeping that pattern, the same speed, praying that she wouldn't have to stop suddenly.

After awhile, she had steadied out a lot, and didn't have to concentrate so much on what her feet were doing. She looked around the scenery, the busy people wandering around, all seeming to have places to go, but never feeling any hurry to get there.

"Lily!" she heard a voice call out. Surprised, she turned her head around, to catch a glimpse of a familiar figure, before she ran straight into a lamp post.

* * * *

"Lily, who on earth taught you to skate?" Nick asked. After causing her accident and rushing to her aid, Lilia and Nick were seated on a bench nearby, where Lilia was attempting some make-shift first aid on her scraped knee.

"Nick, who on earth taught you how to distract people right before they have to move out of the way of a lamp post?" Lilia replied.

"Hey, you were the one who wasn't paying any attention and who can't skate. Don't blame that one on me," Nick cried, throwing up his hands in surrender. "Still bleeding?"

"Got a band aid, smart ass?"

"Nope. You'll just have to bleed for awhile. So where are we going to next?" he asked, jumping up.

"We? We aren't going anywhere. I am going to continue on my roller blading journey, hoping that I don't get so lost that I can't find my car again, and then meet Paul back at the hotel for seven. Nowhere in my plan are you involved," Lilia said, standing up carefully on her injured kneed. She surveyed the damage. Just a little skinned, the blood made it look worse than it was.

"It does now. I like to invite myself places. You can't have much fun by yourself. I mean, look at you. You're left alone for a few hours, and the next thing you know, you're running into poles and bleeding everywhere!" Nick said. Lilia glared at him, and was about to lunge for him when he skated off. Joining in the spirit, Lilia sprinted after, teetering away, keeping a fast past and her mind on chasing Nick so that she wouldn't fall.

She followed him as he wove around people and poles and trash cans. She followed him as he jumped from the sidewalk, on to the street and back again. He was approaching a corner when a car suddenly screamed by, causing him to brake suddenly. He swung around just in time to meet her head first.

They fell to the warm pavement in a heap. After groaning for a few minutes, they carefully attempted to help the other one up, which was made difficult by the fact that they were both wearing roller blades. When they had successfully made it to their feet, they wandered down a street, slowly so that they would be able to talk.

"So, what's up with you today, Carter?" she asked.

"My half day off, decided to refine my skills blading. Lucky I met you, otherwise you still might be bleeding," he commented, beaming as he expected her reaction.

"Don't make me beat your ass Carter. Yeah, Premiere had some stuff to do, so I decided to attempt blading. First I had to buy them, but then I came. It was fun. Not like ice-skating, though. I had hoped it would be," she said, as she nearly tripped over the uneven sidewalk. Nick caught her arm.

"Ice-skating. Never could master that. What's it like?"

"Not like blading," she answered. She shot him a challenging look, and then raced ahead, causing him to jump into action and take off after her.