I don’t mean to sound full of myself or anything, but the next song comes and I am on fire on the stage. I don’t miss a single beat, and when the backup dancers join me, I fall right in line. I am a real-life, full-fledged, bona fide rock star. Mostly Magical Boots? Try Totally Magical Boots. I could do this all day, every day.

Eventually I wrap up the show with Becca’s first-ever hit song, “Breaking Hearts,” and when I do, I swear to you, the entire audience is a sea of b’s. We heart you, Becca Starr! We heart you with all 20,000 of our hearts! It’s the craziest thing I have ever seen in my life.

After my final bow, I step forward to the edge of the stage. I’m past the blinding row of lights so I can see that practically every person in the whole crowd—mostly girls around my age and younger—is reaching for me and screaming. I try to touch as many of those hands as I can, and when I do, each one of those girls screams even louder and looks like she’s going to lose her mind or faint right there on the spot. I hope somebody on my team knows CPR.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rory giving me the wrap it up signal. He wants me to leave the stage? But why? This is the best part—like saving the frosted part of your cupcake for last! I decide to ignore him and head over to the left side stage and give them a little Becca love. The whole left side of the arena goes wild as I pace back and forth, high-fiving every hand in my path. It wouldn’t be right to leave the right side hanging, would it? I skip across the stage and start blowing kisses that way.

I look up and see Justin smiling down at me, and I blow him a big kiss. Then I look over and think I can actually see steam coming out of Rory’s ears. Ugggh! Okay, I guess it’s got to end sometime.

“Good night, everybody! I LOVE YOU, NEW YORK!” I shout (I’ve always wanted to say that!) and run off the stage, right over to Vi.

“Great show, Becca!” she says, giving me a huge hug. “But we’re in Houston.”

“Whoops! Sorry!” I say. “It just sort of slipped out.”

“No biggie,” Vi says. “I’ll deal with that tomorrow. You ready to get comfy?”

I am so ready to get comfy. I can practically feel those furry slippers hugging my feet already.

“Starr,” I hear a voice behind me yell, just as Vi and I link arms and start to make our way toward the backstage exit.

I turn around and see Rory’s mean old face. He’s giving me the iciest stare I’ve ever seen.

“Yeah?” I call back, planting my hands on my hips.

“Pull that little routine again and you can find another sound engineer,” he says. He bends back over on the floor and starts ripping tape off some of the wires behind stage. He’s clearly done with me, but I am so not done with him. I walk over and stand directly over him.

“Rory, can I talk to you for a second?” I ask his back.

“What do you need now?” he barks at me without even turning around.

“It’s just, well, I just,” I stutter. Man, this is not easy. I take a breath. “I really don’t like the way you talk to me.”

Rory stops what he’s doing and stands up really slowly. He turns to face me, glaring.

“Oh, really?” he hisses sarcastically. “And what are you going to do about it, little miss superstar?”

“I’m going to fire you,” I say before I can stop myself. Holy fish sticks, I cannot believe I just said that. Me! Maggie Malone. I just fired Becca Starr’s big-time sound guy.

“You can’t fire me, you little brat,” Rory spits.

“Actually, yes, she can,” says Vi, who has snuck up behind us. “Becca’s the boss.” She puts her arm around me.

“You’ll both be sorry,” he shouts, dropping all of his gear and storming off the stage.

“I doubt it,” I say to Vi with a little giggle.

“Well, he sure had that coming,” she says. “And good for you, Becca. That was very brave. You’ve wanted to fire him forever. I was wondering if you’d ever get up the nerve to actually do it. So, now are you ready to get comfy?”

I nod. I can’t wait to chill on the bus and watch some TV and have a little snack. That is, if I don’t pass out first from being more tired than I was after riding every ride twice at Disneyland.

“Okay,” Vi says. “Go get changed then. I’ll meet you back here in five.”

“Huh?” I say.

“Your meet-and-greets are waiting. And then you’ve got autographs. We won’t run out of pens like last time,” Vi assures me.

Meet and greets? Autographs? Are you kidding me? A rock star’s work is never done. But that’s okay, ’cause I am on top of the world right now. I totally rocked the house—I mean the Superdome! And now I get to feel the love all up close and personal. This has got to be what it’s all about.