It was weird being in New York. But she liked the bustle of the place, everyone seemed to have something they had to do, they all had goals they had to reach, and she very much liked being a part of that.

Keely walked along the streets, immediately finding a small coffee shop where she bought a tall Chai latte. It was actually kind of nice to walk down the streets with her steamy cup and looking at everything.

She did feel alone though.

When she was at home, it was so rare for her to be alone anywhere she went. But for the rest of the day, she was going to be completely alone. She knew no one in New York except for Miss Jones and Mitchie, and she couldn't very well call up either of them to see if they wanted to hang out. But she would be meeting those three artists tomorrow.

Now Keely started wondering. Who were those three artists that would be helping her record? Could she be going on tour with Green Day? That was a very exciting prospect for her, even though it was completely unlikely.

Because how many three member bands were there with major record deals at UAE Records right now? There were just too many to think about. She was in New York, Keely thought ecstatically, forgetting about the anxiety of being alone, she was 'New York, New York, I want to wake up in that city, that never sleeps' in the words of Frank Sinatra.

Forgetting about that loneliness altogether, Keely found a table underneath an overhang where she could people watch.

There were the girls with blonde hair and puppy dogs the ones with their hair died into odd colours and decked out in black and red, as if they were being original, but being just as false as the fake blonds. It seemed difficult for some people to be original, it appeared. And Keely just wanted to laugh at all of them.

Being in a much better mood, Keely grabbed a quick lunch at a cafe and then started shopping.

Like a magnet, she was pulled towards a record store, and Keely fell in love.

It was like her favourite record store at home, just better. Pushing open the front door, Keely couldn't get the smile off her face. You could flip through the records in the middle of the long thing shop, seeing as they had their own section. The CD's were lined against the wall, and you could flip through those as well. But all over the walls there were tour and album posters, so you couldn't see the original wall colour.

Seeing as she was the only one the store, Keely could talk to the guy working there openly. First of all she flipped through the vinyls, and found a Modest Mouse album in vinyl then walked to the register.

The man working the desk looked like a hippie, and Keely smiled again.

"Do you own the store?" Keely asked as she put the album by the cash register and went to get her wallet from her purse.

"Yeah," he nodded smiling at her. "And you're fresh off the boat, aren't you?"

Laughing, Keely answered, "You could say that. Got off the plane this morning, Washington," she informed him.

"Easy to tell," leaning forward, he smiled fatherly. "I could tell from the fact you're not trying to act famous yet. Let me see," he looked at her closely. "You're a singer, who can play the guitar and piano, and you've come down to the city in hopes of getting a record deal."

"Close," she chuckled getting the record. "I sing, play the piano and guitar. But I already got a record deal."

"I'll watch for your album," he sounded a bit disbelieving.

"Thanks," Keely murmured, turning around. But then stopped dead, she looked back at him and then pointed towards the U2 poster on the wall. "Did you go to this tour? Or is it just a poster."

"I went," he nodded, "Great show."

"I would have killed to go see it," she smiled. "And the Scorpions opened for them on that tour."

"They're really great live," he agreed.

"I think I may be coming here a lot, so watch out for me," Keely laughed pushing open the door.

After this exchange, Keely went clothes shopping. She wanted to buy something for Haley, plus she was now thinking about the dinner tomorrow. Miss Jones had said that it was a fancy dinner, but Keely didn't want to look like some girly girl on her first meeting with them.

But all that she liked when she went shopping was a The Clash t-shirt.

It turned out to be an okay trip Keely found the perfect purse for Haley. It was large and black, but not as plain as that. The designers had added silver sequins to the side and it had one large strap and the fabric bunched together artfully in the middle.

It took a while, but Keely eventually found a post office where she got a box to put the purse in as well as send it. Still being in a light-hearted mood, she found being in there hilarious for some reason. Because when was the last time she'd been in a post office?

Keely was sure it had been in grade four for a field trip.

After her post office trip, Keely saw a different coffee shop, and shrugging she went to get another latte.

When she had her steaming foamy latte, Keely sat outside, though just underneath the cover so she wouldn't get wet. Thankfully she was alone, but that was just because New Yorkers seemed to think they would melt in the rain.

Pulling out her phone, she called Nick.

"Hey?"

"Hi," Keely smiled leaning backwards. "It's Keely, the girl from the other night, I thought I'd take you up on your offer."

His voice suddenly went from drab to ecstatic, "Great! So how's New York?"

Looking around, Keely giggled. "I don't know if it's telling me to go home or not. You know how when people go to New York in movies and TV shows and they step off the plane to see beautiful people with happy faces along with gorgeous weather?"

"Yeah," his bewilderment made Nick's voice slow.

"Well, it's pouring rain."

Laughing, Nick answered, "Your first day and it rains for you. At least you're not a cliche."

"That's what I said!" Keely snorted with mirth.

Now the questions came pouring out of him. "So have you been in a recording studio yet? Are they like the ones in Bellingham? Have you found out who you're going on tour with? Maybe it will be Pearl Jam, that would be awesome, I mean, I'd go to your show anyways, but if you were on tour with Pearl Jam, I'd be sleeping outside for tickets."

"No, to all those questions," Keely giggled. "I've never been in a recording studio in Bellingham or anywhere else, so I really couldn't tell the difference. But they can't be too different."

This distracted him from the tour questions, "You've never been in a recording studio? How did you get your record deal without a demo?"

Not feeling like going through the long winding story about her being offered and then thinking about refusing the deal, Keely just said, "It was the luck of the draw."

"Oh... okay," he said slowly, "So what have you done?" Nick brightened.

"My first day of being a recording artist starts tomorrow," she informed him. "I've got a photo shoot, then a meeting with a stylist to finalize my tour outfits or something, a meeting to talk about what of my songs I want to put on the album, along with listening to other writer's songs to see if I want those or do a cover. And finally I'm going to meet the people I'm going on tour with."

"Making me dizzy already," he joked. Then his voice become all relaxed as if he was sitting back and getting ready for a long conversation. "So what have you done in your free time in the rainy weather?"

They probably chatted for about an hour, about everything they could think of.

But then Keely remembered that she'd promised to call Haley at about four so that she could tell her about the wonders of New York.

"I've got to go," Keely apologized.

"Just as well," he laughed, "This phone call is going to cost me the earth and the moon."

"What are parents for?" she joked.

"I'll talk to you later," he said in farewell.

"I'll send you a really long email about tomorrow," promised Keely. "As long as I'm still awake when I get home."

"Have fun," with that there was a finally clicking noise and the call was cut off.

Now feeling suddenly hesitant, Keely stared at the contact for Haley. There it was, Haley Sawyer, nickname Hales, home number, cell number, birthday, email, address and the picture of her at a party. This was the Haley Keely knew and loved, why was she afraid to call her?

Fighting her fear immediately, Keely pressed her mobile number quickly.

"Keely!" Haley's voice was excited.

"Hey Hales," she sounded a bit depressed.

"Are you okay?" Haley enquired hastily, she heard the depressed note in Keely's voice, but identified it wrong. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Keely forced a laugh out. What was wrong with her? She talked easily to a guy she'd only met the night before but she was terrified of talking to her best friend? "I just realized that I've been sitting in this same coffee shop for about an hour, and I should probably start walking back to the hotel."

"Oh, okay," the tone of Haley's voice made it obvious she saw through Keely's lie. "So how's life?"

"Rainy," Keely admitted opening up her umbrella as she left the coffee shop.

Feeling like she was just repeating things off a script, Keely walked down the road towards where she knew her hotel was while telling Haley about how her dad had gone so far and about how tomorrow was going to be.

"One second," Keely stopped when she walked in the front doors of the hotel. "Mr. Englis," Keely called walking up to his front desk. "Where should I put the umbrella?"

"Complimentary," he informed her.

"Oh, well, thanks," Keely said walking to the elevator. The moment she was inside and away from any prying ears, she grinned. "I barely used the umbrella today, it rained a lot harder in Washington."

"True," Haley snorted, "Do you know your designer's name yet?"

"I have no idea, Hales. So how is it back in Bellingham? Have you cleaned up for the party yet?"

Chortling, Haley answered, "I never even had to lift a finger. First of all Tony and Sadie volunteered to help, and then the guitarist of that band did as well, and he spent most of the time following me around peppering me with questions about you. He's pretty cute," she mused.

"That's Nick, I actually just called him," Keely informed her while opening her hotel room door.

"Oh, do tell," sounding like she was ready for gossip, Haley answered.

"Not like that," Keely laughed feeling a bit more comfortable now. "He just wanted to know what having a record deal is like because he's been trying to get one for a long time now."

"Uh huh," she was disbelieving.

They talked for about another hour or so, making Keely happy she had a cellphone plan that had free weekends. Keely described her outfit for tomorrow, and Haley approved of it, she was hoping that the three guys Keely was going to meet tomorrow were the ones they'd seen in concert. Keely couldn't even remember what their names were.

But when they hung up, Keely had an oddly empty feeling in her stomach.

She indulged in a bubble bath and beautiful soothing music from a play list on her phone with candles. And after she cuddled in the giant white fluffy robe, but still she was feeling rather hollow.

Sitting cross legged in the middle of her luxurious King sized bed, Keely pressed a hand to her stomach.

She'd only been gone from Bellingham for about ten hours, and she was already feeling changed. Like she was different from her friends at home, she had always been different from her friends back home though, like there was always something missing in her heart, but now she had that missing half.

And felt as if they wouldn't be able to understand her now.

Groaning, Keely fell back onto the bed dramatically, putting on a CD loudly, she curled up in the middle of the bed.

*

Groaning, Keely opened one glaring eye at the standard alarm clock that was pushed to the side to make room for her charging phone and her Mac notebook along with her song book.

But remembering she was in New York, Keely sat straight up.

Immediately grabbing her cell phone, she checked her email, and as promised there was a more thorough day plan for her.

She had over an hour and a half to get ready and meet the car out front. So Keely grabbed two of the fluffy white towels and dragged them into the bathroom. Unlike last night, Keely took a shower in the spacious stall. Maureen had told her to not bother getting dressed up for the drive to the photo shoot, and being so early in the morning, she was disposed to agree. But the thought that Haley might find out somehow had Keely grabbing an outfit that had already been put together for her.

This outfit was once again following the black and white colour scheme. A loose white tank top that tightened at her waist with black lacing at the very top, she grabbed a pair of skinny black jeans with a black leather jacket. Looking at the effect, Keely grabbed a necklace.

It had been her great grandmother's heirloom. The pendant had a long chain and fell between her breasts, the pendant in question was from the patron saint of musicians, by the name of Cecilia. She'd never even been a terribly religious person, but she always wore the necklace.

Not feeling too enthusiastic, Keely just brushed and blow dried her hair so that it had very loose waves into the middle of her back. Before walking down to the lobby, and with a wave of her hand to the enthusiastic Mr Englis, shoved through the door to see a black car awaiting for her.

"Keely Staub?"

"Yeah," Keely yawned, shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you," Keely assured him during another yawn. "But it would be nicer if it wasn't at seven in the morning." The little shot of humour earned her a twitch of the lip before he gestured her graciously into the car.

It was just a little hybrid black car. It seemed UAE Records was going green.

Seeing as her driver seemed to know where they were going, Keely didn't bother telling him. Instead she curled up beside the window, with her arms wrapped around her knees and immediately fell asleep with her head against the window.

"Miss Staub," the driver called shocking her from her impromptu sleep, "We're here."

Feeling suddenly nervous, Keely grabbed her purse and walked in the doors. It was an old warehouse from what she could tell from the outside. Glancing back indecisively at her car and driver, she saw that he had already gotten out a book and was reclining his chair. So it seemed that Keely was on her own for this one, taking a deep calming breath, Keely pushed open the door.

Inside there was a giant screen, people were bustling around, pushing objects and there was one man setting up his cameras.

Not knowing what to do or how she should announce herself to these obviously busy, Keely's feet might as well been glued to the ground. 'Tried to run but I couldn't move, well I paid for these concrete shoes,' as Our Lady Peace said.

"Keely Staub."

It wasn't a question like she had become used to, but a statement. And Keely barely had time to turn around to the person who had be speaking before the person grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards a door. The person who was pulling her was a woman, she had short spiked brown hair her makeup was perfect, and was wearing a brown feminine cut suit neat as a pin.

"This is your first outfit," she ordered dragging Keely into a change room. "You need to put this on, I'll be waiting outside until your done so that I can fix however you put it on."

With that she turned around and slammed the door.

"Oh, okay..." Keely murmured.

It seemed the abrupt designer liked the black and white look as much as she, because the outfit was following the same pattern.

There were once again a skinny pair of black jeans, like the ones she was wearing now. Keely had trouble pulling on the four inch heeled black leather ankle boots without somewhere to sit, there was much swearing and falling over, and by the time she was done, Keely was red in the face. For a shirt it was a black tank top that was opaque until right above her breasts and then went a translucent black up almost up to her collar bone. Over top of that, Keely bright virgin white jean jacket that she left upon, hoping it was the right way.

Not wanting to be a pig, she quickly folded her jeans, placing her shirt on top of that and hanging her leather jacket on the wall hook. Finally, Keely grabbed the gloves that were waiting for her to put on. They must have been leather, and followed the supposedly 'life line' on her hand, not covering her full long artistic hand.

When Keely walked out, the woman didn't say a word. She fixed the collar on the jacket, straightened the tank top and fixed her pants where they met the boots.

"Over there," she pointed suddenly, seeming to think that Keely was now acceptable. "You need to go the hairdresser."

Thinking that it would better if she didn't even say a word, Keely just nodded and hurried towards where the rude woman had pointed. Hopefully the hairdresser wasn't as angry as the other woman.

In the end, the hairdresser ended up being a male, by the name of Collin in fact. He had bounded into the mirrored room with a giant smile and shaking her hand buoyantly, so unlike the firm woman before. He made sounds of approval about her hair, and then set to work. Since Keely already had a bang, he just straightened it, making it fall gracefully to the left side of her head plus - though he perfected it - he kept the look of the barely a wave.

Then she was sent to the makeup artist, where the woman was a cross between both the prim woman and Collin, she shook Keely's hand and told her that her name was Selena. But she wasn't as buoyant as the hairdresser, and got straight down to work on Keely's face.

Eventually, Keely - in her own un-modest opinion - looked amazing. The clothes put together with the gorgeous hair and professionally makeup made her look like a million bucks. But that was the point wasn't it? Anyways, Selena did her makeup to only extenuate her pale skin, with barely any blush on the cheeks but pink lips and making her mermaid green eyes pop.

Even though she was a bit nervous of the photo shoot, Keely enjoyed it.

They had her sit on a box, look at them with one hand propping up her chin while Keely looked seriously at the photographer. She pretended to preform with a mike stand and a wireless mike. She got a guitar to pretend like she was playing, and once she fell of the box. The photographer caught the moment of pure laughter on her face as she was still falling.

Then the prim woman from the beginning, who's name ended up to be Demet, dragged her back to the dressing room to put on yet another outfit change. She was supposedly going to have three outfit changes.

When Keely got out of the photo shoot, she was already tired. The photo shoot had gone well, the photographer seemed to like her. Mostly because Keely was so comfortable with being herself, and not afraid to do stupid things, and never got embarrassed by the little things. But it was draining, the running around, changing positions constantly, having people fix her up every two seconds, yelling. She was starting to sound petty.