Suddenly, he sat up and said to himself, "It's Friday. We get to Roswell today." He grinned and jumped out of bed. He grabbed some jeans and a tee-shirt that were lying on a chair and threw them on. He ran over to the kitchen trailer.

"Hey, kid," said Tubby. "You look excited."

"Hell yeah! Today we will arrive in Roswell. We'll get a new female vocalist in our group…and I'm hoping she'll be a girl I'll really connect with."

Tubby nodded as he slurped his milk loudly. Alex ate a Pop-Tart and headed back to his bus when he heard that they would be leaving soon.

For the rest of the morning Alex read a book and played around with his guitar. At 1:00 p.m. he heard Tubby yell, "We're here! The Sagebrush Hotel in Roswell, New Mexico!"

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Isabella woke up after someone slammed a pillow onto her head. She opened her eyes as she was hit again and again with pillows.

"Wake up," said Tess. "The Whits arrive at 1:00 p.m. and it's already 5:00 a.m.!"

Isabella groaned and rolled over. "So let me sleep," she mumbled, already dozing off again.

"No!" said Maria and Tess at the same time. "We need to get ready!" said Tess. "Which means you have three times the work to do!" As Tess talked, she enunciated each word by hitting Isabella with a pillow.

Isabella just groaned, trying to ignore her idiotic sisters. When she showed no intention of getting out of bed, Maria pushed her out. Isabella fell to the hard, cold floor with a dull thump.

She admitted defeat and shakily stood up, trying to stretch the sleep out of her bones. She ambled into the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.

She went downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar for breakfast. Amy was sitting at the table with papers spread out in front of her.

"Good morning, Mother," said Isabella, sitting down across from her.

"Yeah, sure. Do you know who this Star person is?" Amy asked.

Isabella tried not to choke on her granola bar. "Uh…no. She doesn't sound familiar. Why?"

"Well, I know all of the other girls that signed up for the auditions…Maria, Tess, Pam Troy, Laurie Dupree…but not Star."

"Odd," said Isabella, wiping crumbs off her mouth. "Well, I'm going to go clean out the indoor pool and then vacuum the lobby. See you later."

Isabella plodded off to do her work, Maria's work, and Tess's work. After cleaning the indoor pool and vacuuming the lobby, she cleaned 15 rooms, did 4 loads of laundry, vacuumed all the main hallways, did tons of dishes, cleaned up the dining room, restocked the soda machine, and started to clean the windows in the lobby. Liz was helping her with the windows, both of them talking and laughing.

Maria and Tess came running through the lobby to the front doors, jumping up and down and squealing (like pigs, thought Isabella). "It's The Whits! They're here!"

Isabella desperately wanted to run over to the door to see The Whits, but knew that if she stopped cleaning for even one second, Tess and Maria would have a fit.

Isabella and Liz moved to the next window, hoping to at least get a better view of the door so they could see The Whits when they walked in.

The door opened and in walked Chris, Nicky, Markos…and Alex Charles Whitman himself. Isabella felt like screaming with happiness, but just continued to wash the windows. And then Alex looked at her. He even smiled.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alex walked up the sidewalk behind the rest of the band. He rolled his eyes as he saw two girls about his age jumping up and down and squealing. He hoped he wouldn't have to talk to them, they both looked like they wanted to rip his clothes off and jump his bones.

As the manager of the hotel, Amy Deluca, came out and introduced herself, Alex saw two other girls washing windows. One of them, a brunette, was petite and cute. She looked nice, but not someone Alex would be interested in as more than a friend. But the other girl-wow. She was beautiful. She had a curvy, full figure, long blond hair that was up in a messy ponytail, and sparkling eyes. He smiled at her, not paying any attention to the people talking all around him. He practically swooned like a schoolgirl when she smiled back at him.

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Isabella smiled back, feeling Liz's eyes on her. "Oh my God!" whispered Liz. "He's smiling…at you! Eeee!"

Isabella broke eye contact with Alex and continued to clean the window. "Chill, Liz. He's probably just trying to appear friendly."

"No way! I saw the way he just looked at you, Isabella. There was some definite interest in you!"

Isabella blushed. "Do you really think so? I mean…I look like crap now. My hair is all over, I have old work clothes on…"

"You look fabulous," said Liz. "No wonder he's still staring at you."

"What?" asked Isabella, wishing she had the courage to look at Alex again.

"Yeah. He hasn't taken his eyes off you once." Liz giggled as Isabella got flustered ant dropped the rag she was cleaning with.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"…show you to your room?" finished Amy, looking at Alex questioningly.

"What? Sorry, I'm tired, and I wasn't listening very well."

"That's quite all right," said Amy. "I just asked which of my daughters you'd like to have show you to your room."

Alex looked at the two blondes next to Amy. In his opinion they both looked like ditzy airheads. "I can find it myself," he said.

"Nonsense! Have Maria or Tess carry your bags for you."

"No, that's all right. They're actually quite heavy. I wouldn't want either of them to get hurt."

"Oh," said Amy. "Well, in that case, Isabella can carry them for you." She turned towards Isabella and Liz and loudly called, "Isabella! Get over here now!"

Alex was overjoyed to see the beautiful blond walking towards him.

"Isabella is my foster daughter," said Amy, as if she were talking about nothing more than a mop. "Isabella, please show Mr. Whitman to his suite and carry his bags."

Isabella leaned over and grabbed Alex's bags, leading Alex to the elevator. When they were safely inside and away from the other people, Alex said, "You don't have to carry my bags. People always treat me special, but I'd prefer to be treated normal…"

Isabella nodded. "If you're sure…" Alex nodded and there was silence in the elevator. When it reached the third floor, they got out.

Isabella led Alex to his suite and unlocked the door for him. "Here you are, Mr. Whitman. Our finest suite."

"Uh, thanks. But please call me Alex. I feel like I'm ninety when you call me Mr. Whitman."

"Ok, sure," said Isabella nervously. She wanted to say more, but didn't know what she should say. Finally she spit out, "Well, I should get back to cleaning windows. Have a wonderful stay."

Alex didn't want Isabella to leave so quickly, so he said, "Uh, are you auditioning?"

Isabella turned pale. 'Oh no,' she thought. 'What should I say? If I say yes, he'll think Isabella is auditioning, not Star. But if I say no, and then he recognizes me as Star, he'll know I've lied…'

"Well?"

"Oh…uh…yes, I'm auditioning. Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"It's hard to explain."

"Oh, ok."

"I really should go."

"Ok, I'll talk to you later, maybe?"