(just imagine emery as the pink haired girl & the rest is what emery's backup dancers do. the outfit above is what emery is wearing at the beginning of this chapter. stop playing the video at 1:24)

" Our love is running into a burning building. Our love is scattered ash with a burnt up feeling. Feel the heat so we started running. You know you saw it coming. But the memories are still in my mind. Burning like smoke and fire."  Emery sings as her and her dancers dance along to the music that was playing.

" Rumors spread like wild fire. I held a strong ground but I've been burning down. 'Cause it's like fire is all I hear about. And we are fading out. Don't wanna turn out the light but it's like I'm no firefighter I just need to breathe tonight." 

Emery bends down with the rest of her dancers and they each stand back up. " So sound the alarm. " each of them wraps their arms around themselves at the same time like they've been researching and stand back up. " And there goes the night." 

Emery and her dancers all turn to the left of the stage while dancing. " Our love is running into a burning building."  they each jump back twice which was apart of their dance before turning to the front and continuing.

" Our love is scattered ash with a burnt up feeling." each of them bends down, pretending to hit the ground with one hand before standing back up and turning around to face the left, pretending like they were running.

" Feel the heat so we started running." they turned back to the front, doing the next part of their dance.

"  You know you saw it coming. But the memories are still in my mind. Burning like smoke and fire. Secrets in a small town -"  suddenly the music started messing up, sounding like a broken record. Emery and her backup dancers stop dancing and singing as they look around with confusion at what was happening.

" Cut, cut!" the director yelled and looked over at the guy that was working with the sound. " What was that?"

The guy that was working with the sound, Sam, nervously started to try and fix things. " Uh, I'm trying to work on it boss. It's like this computer is freaking out for some reason."

The director shook his head as Sam started pressing some buttons, hoping he would get it back to normal. " Just give me a minute."

The director sighs and talks into the mic he was holding, " Alright, everyone take ten."

A bell rings and Emery and her backup dancers walk off the stage. Emery looks over whenever she hears barking and smiles as she sees her german shepherd.

" Presley!" she said with a smile as Presley jumps on her, wagging his tale happily and Emery giggles.

" Presley, get back here! Somebody get that dog off of the couture!" a voice is heard and Ivy, Emery's manager, angrily walks over to them.

Emery looks over at her with a raised brow and Presley gets down and stands besides Emery. " Why can't you have a small sized dog like every other popstar does?"

Emery shrugs her shoulders. " I'm not like every other popstar."

" Well, this..this dog does not fit your image." Ivy points to Presley who growls at her and Emery puts her hand on top of Presley to calm him down. Ivy steps back whenever Presley growled at her but Presley immediately stopped growling when Emery started to pet him.

" Presley doesn't care about my
' image '." Emery told her using air quotations and wished that no one else cared about her image as well. " He loves me for who I am and I love him. "

Emery bends down to Presley's height and rubs his ears. " Isn't that right, boy?"

****

Meanwhile, Xander skateboards down the sidewalk to the Castle, which was the old karaoke bar his mom used to own that he lives at now with his stepfather and stepbrothers.

He gets off of his skateboard once he gets to the door, taking his helmet off he opens the door and walks inside seeing two workers Daniel and Marley behind the counter.

Both of them were always like parents to them and they basically raised him ever since his mom died. He wouldn't know what he would do without them.

Xander walks over to the counter and sits on one of the stools. Marley smiles and hands him a plate of his favorite. " Hey. Here's grilled cheese."

Xander smiles and takes the plate from him. " Thanks. Have I told you you're the best?"

Marley pretends to think and then shakes her head while putting her hands on her hips. " I believe you have not. At least not today yet."

Xander chuckles. " Well, you are the best. I would propose to you right now if you weren't already married to Daniel, here." he jokes as Daniel looks over at Marley. " If you did then maybe she would stop bugging me for a bigger ring."

Marley laughs. " Ha! This guy." she rolls her eyes playfully. " He finds studs out on he street and brings it home all the time. Even if it isn't useful."Marley looks over at Daniel. " If you brought home a ring from the street that actually would be nice."

Xander glances at the door. " Customers would be nice."

Daniel points at him. " Now that is what we need. If only your mom knew how Aaron turned this place into a ghost town. Maybe she would've stopped him before it got this worse." he takes a sip of his coffee he had in front of him. " I should do something about it."

Xander shakes his head." You're not gonna have to do anything because I have a plan."

Marley looks at him with a raised brow. " Really?" Xander nods.

" It's about time you've done something about this." Marley said.

There's a moment of silence before Xander sighs and puts his arm on the table and rests his head on his arm. " Okay, never mind. I got nothing."

****

Emery sighs as she glances down at her heels. " I don't understand how I haven't fallen in these heels." Emery raises her arms up dramatically. " And like, what even is this kind of fabric? It feels like rubber."

Alana, one of her backup dancers and one of her best friends, looks over at her. " Yeah, honestly I dunno how you haven't fallen yet eithier. But it's a good thing you haven't because that would just hvae been a big mess. You look great, by the way."

Emery sent her a small smile and sat in her chair as Ivy walks up to them. " Thanks. Lana. But I don't feel so great."

Ivy rolls her eyes. " It doesn't matter if you feel so great when you're preforming. It matters if you look great," she gestures to Emery with a proud smile. " And you do."

Emery looks over at Ivy. " Why can't I wear like normal clothes? Maybe even a dress would be nicer to wear."

" There's my girl." she hears a familiar voice say and she looks up to see her father walking over to them. She grins. " Hey, dad." she gets up from her chair and walks over to him.

" Emery, MTV. MTV, Emery." a women with a microphone behind said behind Camden who hugged his daughter.

" I didn't think you would make it." Emery said and he chuckled. " I wouldn't miss it for the world."

" Wait, no hugging! You'll wrinkle!" Ivy reaches out to stop them as Camden looks at her. " I think she'll survive a wrinkle or two." he tells her before going back to hugging his daughter.

Ivy nods. " Right, yeah. That's what I was going to say. Go for it. You only live once."

They pull away from the hug and Camden wraps his arm around her as they face the camera the MTV women brought with her. " The biggest star on R Records, and I remember when she was still singing in diapers."

Even though Emery rolls her eyes she still smiles at him as he looks at her. " How's your shoot going? You killing it?"

Emery pointed to her feet. " The only thing that are gettin' killed are my feet."

The two share a laugh before Emery says, " It's going fine. You think I can talk to you?" she glances at the MTV women and camera then back at her dad. " Privately?"

Camden nods. " Yeah, of course."

As Emery walks back to her chair Camden turns around and follows her. He stands in front of her as Ivy moves to stand besides him. He smiles at Emery. " What's up?"

" Dad.." Emery glances around the set before looking back at him. " Do we really need all of this? I'd be fine with just me on a stage playing guitar or maybe piano and even sing some of my own songs." she says, her face lighting up at the thought of her playing her own songs instead of someone else's. 

Camden tilts his head to the side. " I don't think that's a good idea." he says just as Ivy points at him and says, " A good idea! Jinx."

Both Camden and Emery sent her a look and Ivy sheepishly smiled at them before going quiet and the father and daughter continued talking. " Sweetie, I just you to be protected which is why I get the best songwriters money can buy." Camden tells her, noticing how she sighs he gently nudges her to get her attention. " Don't worry. I know your new single is gonna be a hit. Trust me."

Camden phone rings and as he takes it out to see what it was Emery frowns knowing that he would have to leave. " Sorry, I have to take this, 'kay? We're announcing a talent search today." and she was right whenever he said that. However, she just nods in response, watching with sad eyes as he walked off.

As she looks back at Ivy she sends her a sympathetic smile before to the right. Emery raises a eyebrow in confusion whenever she hears a growl over the speakers.

Sam then appears in front of her and gestures over to where Presley was laying with a microphone." Can you stop Presley from chewing on the microphone, Emery? He won't listen to me." after he says that more growling is heard as Presley continues to chew on the microphone.

Emery nods and walks over to stop Presley." Presley! Get away from that microphone! How many times do I have to tell you it's not a chew toy?!"

A/N yay I'm finally done with chapter two! I hope you guys are enjoying this bc I'm enjoying writing it tbh