Our car pulls up to a nondescript office building. "Oh look! We're here and there's a Starbucks!" Mom says happily. She seems to hit a Starbucks on every street corner. No wonder she's always so wired. Mom turns toward me. "Just meet with TJ, okay? He really likes your look."

Suddenly I feel very tired. Too tired to argue. Mom has won again and I don't have the energy to fight her. "Fine."

Mom grins. "Good. We have ten minutes before the appointment so I'm going to pop in Starbucks, get a double soy cap, and call the Fashionistas editor again. I thought of another quote I want to give her." Mom puts on her sunglasses and wraps her head in a scarf, then slides out of the car.

"I don't know how you do it, Kaitlin," Seth says quietly when Mom is gone. "Your mom is a tough negotiator."

I close my eyes to keep the car from spinning. "I know."

"I guess if we're here, you should meet with TJ," Seth says with a sigh. "He hates being stood up. Even if you don't want to do an album, you want to stay on his good side." I nod. "But I'm not sending you in there alone. He can be quite a shark and I don't want you signing on to let your mom produce your debut album without my consent."

"Okay." Somehow I feel better knowing Seth is with me.

Ten minutes later, I'm standing face-to-face with TJ himself.

"Kaitlin Burke." TJ shakes my hand warmly and takes a seat across from me in his large office, with almost 360 degree views of Los Angeles. TJ is shorter than I imagined, but in every other way, he is exactly how I pictured him. He reminds me of Kanye West. He's short, never takes his sunglasses off even when he's indoors, and he talks in a soft, smooth tone. "I was wondering when we'd finally get you in here. Meg and I have been talking for weeks about this." Mom clears her throat.

Weeks, huh? "I appreciate you waiting to see me," I tell him politely. "I've been swamped with work."

TJ stares at me as he lounges in the other chair. "Not for long though, huh? That show is history!" He laughs and the sound shoots right through me. If TJ wasn't so important, I would snap back that my show is as long for the world as his weak new artist, Rocco, is for the top-ten chart.

"Anyway, the reason I called you in here is because, as I told Meg, I think you have talent that's untapped and if we can harness it, you could be a major music star," TJ says. "You'd have it all in this town. Not many can do that."

You can say that again. Do you know how many music stars have tried to break into Hollywood and vice versa? Now is probably not the time to bring that up.