We Can Change the World

I stared at her, shocked. "Excuse me," I managed to get out after the initial shock went down.

"I don't like when my friends get hurt," she said, obviously speaking of Selena. "Ever heard the phrase, she's my best friend. Break her heart; I'll break your face. This is kind of like that, except I won't be breaking your face. I'll be stealing your precious little boyfriend and all your stardom. Better move aside Touchstone, because I'm the next big thing."

"I don't know who the hell you think you are," I said, not about to be downsized by some blonde bimbo who knew nothing about me. "But it's actually you who needs to back down. In case you haven't noticed, I am big. I have tons of fans. You're opening for me. As conceited as that sounds right now, I don't even care about any of that. I do hope you get somewhere like me, because it's a dream come true. So go ahead and try to take my fans. Try to take my fame. But you've got another thing coming if you actually think you can steal Joe away from me."

"Brave words for someone who just got with their boyfriend," she smirked at me.

"We were best friends before you even knew what singing was," my voice was cold.

"Cute," sarcasm flooded her tone. "Just remember that I always get my way."

"And you should remember that I'm not one to give up something without fighting," I glared at her.

"Of course not," she smirked. "Where's the fun in ruining you if you don't go out with a bang?"

>>>>

I stormed out of there and almost knocked Nick down. "Whoa there horsy," he smirked. "In a rush, are we?"

"Oh not right now Nick," I groaned. I wasn't in the mood for anything but throwing a fit. I started to walk past him.

He blocked me. "I was just kidding Dani. What's wrong?"

I sighed. "Tinsley."

"You met her," Nick asked, surprised. "Kevin caught a glimpse of her, and he said she was hot."

"She's evil," I snapped. "God. I cannot believe we have to deal with that for the next few shows."

"What did she do," he asked, confused by my tone.

"She basically told me that she's going to get me for what I did to Selena," I said. I left out the steal Joe part. For some reason, I couldn't share that.

Nick hugged me. "Don't worry Dani. Joe, Kevin and I were talking before. And I promise, nothing's going to happen to you. Joe almost broke the table, making that promise." He smirked.

I laughed. "Thanks Nickie."

He groaned. "I hate when you call me that."

"I know," I grinned at him.

"There you are," Joe sighed as he ran up to us. "I tried calling your phone. It's time for Tinsley to go on."

"Joy," I muttered as I went to go knock on the door. Joe grabbed my hand and came with me.

"Come in," her fake voice came through the door.

"You're on," Joe said.

"Thanks," she smiled as she opened the door. She stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Joe, with her back towards me. "What do you think," she asked him, spinning once.

"It's pretty," he said. "You look beautiful."

I knew I shouldn't be jealous, but I was. Arg, stupid hormones! "Danielle," she asked me.

That was when I noticed what she was wearing. It was my outfit. The one I was going to wear when we sang The Way We Are for the first time – the one that was color coordinated to match Joe's shirt. She smirked at me, her back now to Joe, who couldn't see her stupid expression. "I like your outfit."

"Thanks," she smiled. "I'm actually surprised it fit. It was like 2 sizes too big." Now this girl was going down! No way was she calling me fat.

"You might want to hurry up," I said to her. "It's time for you to go on."

"Thanks," she hugged me. I wanted to choke her. She turned and hugged Joe – longer than necessary. Man I was seriously about to punch this girl!

She left and Joe wrapped his arms around me. "That wasn't too bad," he stated.

"It was a blast," I said through my teeth as I buried my head in my chest.

He pulled me away to look at me, his eyes searching for something in my face. I needed to distract him before he noticed my feelings. "Come on," I took his hand and led him into the dressing room. "We have like 5 minutes."

He smirked as he closed the door behind him. I pushed him against the door and put my lips to his neck. I grinned as he let out a soft moan. "Whoa Dani," he lightly pushed me back to look at me. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing," I leaned back to his neck.

"Dani," he sighed and pulled me away again. "You can tell me. I know when something is wrong with you."

"It's Tinsley," I sighed. "I was right – she's here for Selena. And she said she was going to – ruin me. She's going to take everything from me." I didn't specifically say that she was going to try to steal Joe away. I wasn't a tattle tail. I'd have to deal with that one on my own. Besides, I trusted Joe not to fall for her antics even if he didn't know they were just a ploy.

Joe wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. "Dani, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

I sighed and buried my head in his chest. "I love you."

"I love you too."

We heard a small knocking on the door. "Hey guys," Nick said. "Time for 'Way We Are'."

"Let's go rock star," I kissed him again quickly. "We got an audience to woo."

>>>>

"I just cannot believe that I am on the famous Jonas Brothers slash Danielle Touchstone tour bus," Tinsley exclaimed as she sat on our couch. We were on our way to the hotel, and Kevin had invited the psycho to hang out with us till we got there.

"Yeah, we are pretty famous," Joe grinned as he pulled me down on the couch with him.

I rolled my eyes. "Nice Joe. She wasn't even talking about us. She was talking about the bus."

Tinsley stared at me, looking a bit confused, like she couldn't believe that I hadn't told.

My phone started ringing. Selena. I picked it up. "Hey Selena," I said, looking right at Tinsley.

"Hey Dani," she said. "How's everything with Tinsley? Isn't she just great?"

"Uh yeah," I said. "You really know how to pick them. I could definitely see how you'd think she was just like me." Just like me as in a boyfriend stealer.

"I thought you would," she said. I could hear the smugness in her voice. Wow, I couldn't believe that this was the sweet Selena who had been my best friend. It made me sad to think that she was like this because of me. "Anyways, I have to go. Bye." She hung up.

I sighed. I felt horrible for making Selena into that kind of person. Joe squeezed my hand. I tried to smile at him, but I couldn't. Tinsley was chatting merrily with Nick, who kept throwing concerned looks my way. Kevin was on his laptop, and Frankie was asleep on Nick's lap. Joe grabbed my hand and led me to the bunks. "We'll be right back," he said to his brothers.

"Where are they going," I heard Tinsley ask from behind us.

"Oh to their usual place after concerts," I could practically hear Nick's smirk.

Joe pulled me onto his bunk with him and pulled the curtain closed. His lips softly met mine as he wrapped his arm around me. "Dani, everything is going to be okay," he whispered. He moved his lips down my jaw to my neck, sending a wave of chills down my back. I really wanted to believe him – to believe we could finally just be together without any worries. But of course there was a worry. And she was sitting not 10 feet away.

>>>>

Unfortunately, Tinsley was set up in Kevin's room, which meant she was automatically present for our nightly meetings for Joe's surprise party. And that unfortunately meant that she had to give us her ideas.

"I think that I should be the one to take Joe out and bring him over while Dani helps you set up," she said. "It'll be more believable that way."

"But then he might get suspicious," I said, trying not to talk through my teeth. "I mean if you go, and the three of us are at the hotel on his birthday. He'll know."

"And I'll obviously make it seem like nothing's up," she rolled her eyes.

Nick put his hand on my arm to calm me. "Look Tinsley," I said. "We're pretty much all set up with the planning. We can't really change anything." Nick lightly kicked me. "But thanks for your ideas."

"I'm just trying to help," she shrugged. "Joe seems like a really nice guy and I think he deserves the best."

The best meaning not me? "I know how great Joe is," I said. "And I know he deserves more than the best. And that's what we're going to give him." I sighed.

"Whatever," she said. She yawned. "Man, I'm tired."

"Dani, why don't we head back to our room now and let everyone get to sleep," Nick asked.

"Your room," Tinsley asked. "You mean the one you share with Joe too right? Do you guys share a bed? Don't they have a purity vow?" Her tone was accusing.

"Yes, yes, and yes," I said. "But Joe and I don't do that."

"Oh," she said. Nick, Kevin, and I exchanged a look. We could tell that she didn't believe us. "Goodnight then."

>>>>

"Hey Joe," Tinsley got on the treadmill next to me. "You like to run too?"

I liked to run every morning, but I wasn't exactly allowed to run around the outside of the hotel by myself, and I had yet to convince Big Rob to run with me. So the hotel gym treadmill it was. "Yeah," I said.

"Dani hates running, doesn't she," Tinsley asked me.

I looked at her suspiciously. "Yeah she does. How'd you know that?"

She shrugged as she set her program. "I think I read it somewhere. Besides, she just seems like that kind of person."

I stepped on the sides of the treadmill to look at her. "What does that mean?" I didn't like the tone she was using when she was talking about my girlfriend.

She shrugged again. "She just seems like the kind of girl that takes it all for granted. Like if I went out with you, I'd run with you every morning just to spend time with you, even if I hated it."

I shook my head. "You don't know anything about her. She doesn't take anything for granted. In fact, she thinks her stardom is too much. She actually thinks she doesn't deserve anything she gets, including me for some reason. But she really does. There isn’t anyone who's worked as hard as she has – no one who deserves anything she gets more than Danielle."

She put her hands up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to touch a soft spot. But anyways, come on, I bet I can outrun you."

I sighed and jumped back on the belt. "You're on."

We ran on the treadmills for about an hour before I was panting and she was barely sweating. "I was running before you came," I said. "No fair!"

"Right," she rolled her eyes and looked around the gym. "Alright Mr. Sore Loser, how about a rematch with the weights?"

No way could this puny little girl beat me at weight lifting. "You're going down," I smirked as we walked to the weights.

>>>>

We walked upstairs, sweating like pigs. Despite Selena's plan, I actually had fun with this girl. She was pretty cool – if she wasn't a psycho out to destroy my girlfriend, metaphorically speaking. "Told you you couldn't beat me on weights," I smirked at her, flexing my arms.

She touched my muscles. "Of course Superman, oh so great one. I bow down to your strength."

I smirked. "As you should." We were outside my room now. "I should go take a shower now."

She hugged me. "That was fun," she said as I timidly wrapped my arms around her. What was she doing? I lightly patted her back as I waited for her to get off. She finally pulled back and headed to Kevin's room. I darted into mine. Neither Dani nor Nick was in the room. I figured they were with Kevin or something. I quickly got in the shower.

There was a faint knocking as I put conditioner in my hair. "In a minute," I called out. I stuck my head in the water. When I finished, I turned the water off and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around bottom half as I opened the shower curtain. "Tinsley," I gasped as she turned to face me. "What are you doing in here?"

"Hey Joe," Tinsley said as I wrapped my towel tighter around me. "I'm sorry for the intrusion. But Kevin's hogging up the bathroom in our room."

"Um, I'm almost done," I said, getting nervous. "I'll be out of here in a minute."

"Take your time," she smiled at me. "I don't mind."

"No it's okay," I said quickly. "I uh – I'll go change in the room." I ran out of the bathroom. I put some clothes on, and started doing my hair, trying not to think about what just happened. What was she trying to do? Was I just being paranoid? What had Dani said yesterday? Tinsley was trying to ruin everything for her? Did that include me? Was I part of Selena's plan?

I finished my hair when the bathroom door opened. Tinsley walked out in a bathrobe – and nothing else. I turned away and went back to doing my hair. I didn't even notice that she came up right behind me. "Hey Joe," she said. She leaned in closer to me. I backed away into the table.

"Maybe you should go back to your room," I said, getting nervous.

"Dani's not good enough for you," she whispered.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Joe," Dani and Nick ran into the room. "Guess wh—oh." Dani froze as Nick glared at us. "What's going on here," Nick asked. Dani seemed immobilized.

I quickly got away from Tinsley and went to Dani. "Dani, this isn't what it looks like."

She smiled at me – halfheartedly. "I know Joe," she said.

I stared at her, confused. Why was she being so understanding? Not that I wasn't glad she was, because I hadn't done anything? But shouldn't be insisting she know every single detail? Hmm – maybe this trust thing was real. "So what were you guys screaming about," I asked.

Nick looked at me pointedly. I knew he'd ask em about this later. "Why don't you tell him," he said to Dani.

"The Way We Are was nominated for the teen choice awards for best team up," she screamed as she jumped into my arms.