Happy New Year everyone!! :-D

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Haley's POV- Four and a half years Later

"Just tell me you that don't love me. That's all I need to hear, and I promise I will leave and never contact you again."

I shook my head, making my facial expression as morose as possible.

"You know I can't say that, Danny, because this isn't a matter of whether I love you or not. Loving you is ingrained into my soul. This hurts me just as much as it hurts you, but I can't be with you. I need to find my own way, my own path, or I will always depend on you to be around for me to be myself. I have to be independent, or this relationship will be over before it starts."

We looked into each others eyes for a beat, until he finally sighed and looked down.

"Then I guess this is goodbye. But before I leave, let me just say this. I'm here for you. I will always be here for you. And I don't care how much time this break takes, I will always be waiting."

With those parting words, he walked away slowly until the glorious words we'd all been waiting for were said.

"And that's a wrap!"

My entire body relaxed upon hearing the director finally say we're done, and I stretched myself into a seat nearby to finally rest after the eight grueling hours of trying to get this final scene done. As the lead actress, I had a significant role in this scene, which basically meant I had to make sure a pair of very comfy Dr. Scholl's show inserts were in my suede ankle boots because I was going to be standing for a very long time.

Acting was grueling, but I could never give it up, just like I could never give up singing or dancing. They were all a part of me, a part that had been born with me and then honed in through years of continuous hours of work. It was my dream, my passion, and even these exhausting work days are worth it when I get the high of accomplishing a new project.

I was deep into my staring contest with the crafts services table in the corner, trying to decide if I would get the lobster rolls or bacon mac & cheese when I finally regained the energy to stand again, when suddenly a blur of blonde hair drops into the chair next to me and lets out an anguished sigh.

(Lindsey Sharp played by Indiana Evans)

"I just finished reading an eight page packet on the civil war and its effects while you soaked up the sunshine out here and made out with Christian ten times. In what universe is that fair?" My best friend Lindsey complained, stretching her long legs out and rubbing her signature sapphire eyes.

While she talked a good talk, Lindsey didn't actually mind studying with our private tutor Mrs. Rinehart. If anything, she worked harder than anyone I knew because she swore that she would get her high school diploma and go to college as a double major in Pre-Med and dance. Like me, she loved dancing and was one of the best in the trade, but her love of science was a part of her as well and she refused to give up either one.

I looked over at my co-star, Christian, after Lindsey reminded me of the kissing scene we'd had to do over and over again in the very early morning, and he waved at me before leaving the set with his girlfriend Maryanne tucked into his side. Smiling at their obvious love for each other, I looked back at Lindsey who was squinting into the distance until she finally stood up and smiled.

"Well I'll be, the third musketeer has finally arrived." She said with a big smirk on her face as she stared at whatever was behind me.

I turned in place, still feeling too tired to get up, when my energy was suddenly renewed at what I saw.

A small girl with shiny black hair that lowered into blonde tips, almond shaped, obsidian eyes, and a smile that could blind the sun sauntered our way. When she reached us, she lifted her arms in the air, prompting the charm bracelet on her right arm to fall to her elbow and jingle. The same charm bracelet that Lindsey and I both had as a sign of our friendship.

"Mama's home!"

Lindsey and I immediately ran over and wrapped our arms tightly around our tiny, gorgeous, Japanese friend, Maiko Adachi.

(Maiko Adachi Played by Michelle Ang)

"When did you get in?" I asked her excitedly.

Maiko had been on a world tour as the backup dancer of a rising teen singer for three months. She and Lindsey had been my comfort zone when I'd first moved to LA, so having one of them leave for a long period of time was alway hard on me. But it was always worth it to finally get to see them when they got back from one of their adventures with a new charm on their bracelet and a dozen stories to catch up on at our shared apartment.

"My plane arrived yesterday night, but I was exhausted and I wanted to catch you guys by surprise, so I decided to come by today after sleeping off all that jet lag. Now tell me everything- the good, the amazing, the bad, and the so horrible you'd never mention it to anyone but me."

All three of us laughed and walked hand in hand to the craft services table to grab a bite to eat, and then we walked over to the indoor lounge to catch up on what we'd missed.

The truth was, I'd missed Maiko quite a bit. While Lindsey had always been the voice of reason and sharp wit in our group of three, Maiko was the one who let loose, spoke her mind, and went wherever the wind brought her. She was a free spirit who believed that the more you allowed your soul to do as it needed, the happier you were in the long term. Which wasn't to say that she was a pushover; quite the contrary, in fact. She had no problem drop kicking anyone who tried to run her life or anyone who hurt those closest to her.

She was also a phenomenal dancer.

All three of us were known for our dancing prowess, and we always got a bunch of press whenever we came together. It became a running joke in the media when we first met and became best friends that we were the unstoppable and immensely talented three musketeers, and it had stuck since then on as our official nickname.

We had just finished catching up and hearing a few of Maiko's ridiculous stories from her travels, when two muscled arms clamped around me from behind the couch I was sitting on and pulled me up slightly. I twisted my head around to see my captor, and my gaze caught on a pair of mischievous gray eyes that I hadn't seen for two weeks and missed terribly.

"Alex!" I yelled out in delighted surprise, jumping off of the couch and landing in the tanned and burly arms of my boyfriend.

(Alexander Ramirez played by Maxi Iglesias)

"Corazon mio, I missed you so much," he whispered into my ear.

"I missed you too," I replied sincerely, if not quite as fiercely, as Alex.

We kissed softly, then Alex pressed into my lips more firmly until a gagging sound interrupts us. I turn to glare at Maiko who looked at us with disgust while Lindsey cracked up next to her.

"Honestly! You'd think you two had been separated for two years and not two weeks by the way you two are sucking faces." Maiko exclaimed, placing her dainty hands on her waist. "Now, Alex, get your annoyingly perfect butt over to this couch and tell us all about Australia."

Alex had been finishing his latest spy movie in Australia where the crew had four scenes that had to be done in Australia in order for it to work. While I had missed him, I knew in some deep down, elemental part of my soul that there should have been more. I should have wanted him to come back so bad that I ached. I should have been stressed about not getting a lot of phone calls from him. I should have wished for more time with him.

But the sad truth was, I hadn't been that attentive. Oh sure, I cared enough to remember that I should call him back after he'd called me three times during my rehearsal when I couldn't answer, and I had missed him, but it wasn't the way it should be. If Alex was the one, as everyone kept telling me that he was because we were "perfect for each other", then why didn't I get the belly flops and the butterflies and the sparks that fly everywhere when he was in the near vicinity?

And most of all, why could I still not forget the guy who used to make me feel all of that and yet broke my heart into smithereens with his callousness?

I shook my head clear of he whom shall not be named and placed all my attention on putting a bright smile on my face and paying attention to Alex' exaggerated stories of his Australian adventures. Maiko raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow at my face, telling me without words that she wasn't fooled, but thankfully decided not to scold me about my relationship yet. She and Lindsey were the only two in the circle of people I care about whom believed I shouldn't date Alex because they could see I didn't like him as much as I should for the relationship to work.

But, I would never let the past make the appearance it wanted to in my life.

I was a survivor. I'd felt anger, disappointment, shame, and a whole lot of guilt before moving to LA, and I refused to let my still confusing feelings for the guy that was never mine sabotage a relationship that is so good for me. Alex was a dream I wasn't sure I ever wanted to wake up from.

And if that dream perhaps wasn't as great and magical as it could be, then so be it.

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A/N: So how was it?

Did you guys like the new characters I've introduced? Now, next chapter I will be re- introducing people from TSS. Can y'all guess who it is? First person to guess gets a dedication next chapter!

Please do vote, and do me one better and comment! I love hearing what y'all have to say. In the words of the wise Maiko: tell me the good, the amazing, the bad, and the so horrible you'd never mention it to anyone but me. Thanks guys! ;-)