This chapter is a bit rushed through because there was really nothing going on except the albums and short films so, the chapter may seem a bit choppy. Hopefully you can follow through it.

~Michael's POV

Rayne had been relatively quiet since we visited her mother. A lot of one word answers or no answer at all. I wish I could be around her more, but I've been so busy with my album and the album with my brothers, the most I could do was call her.

"Hello?" She answers, her voice trembles lightly. "How are you feeling?" I ask. "Fine." She responds. I sigh deeply, she was so hard to talk to like this. I felt terrible, it was my fault she was like this. I shouldn't have made her go see her mother. "Mike, you don't have to call and check on me everyday. I'm ok." She reassures me. "I'm sorry.. Am I bothering you?" I ask. "No Michael. I swear, I'm ok.." She giggles lightly, causing a smile to form on my face. "Ok.. Have you seen yourself in the paper?"

"No.. why?"

"You look good on the cover.." I flirt.

"Get back to work." She chuckles. "I love you Mike." "I love you too." I smile.

"How is she?" Quincy asks. I shrug, "She's ok I guess. I got her to laugh. Let's just get back to work. The album is due in two months, it's do or die time." "That it is! Your singles are getting great reception, people love your short films. It's crunch time." With my vocals being done on the album with my brothers, I had nothing but time on my hands. I spent every day in the studio.

***
"What's up with the 100,000 written on the mirror?" Rayne asks as she walks in my room. "It stands for how many albums of Thriller I'm going to sell." I explain.

"100,000? That's a lot of albums to sell. I don't think anyone has ever done that before."

"They haven't! That's why I'm gonna be the one to do it." I say. "When are you releasing it?" "The end of November, right in the beginning of the holiday season." Rayne clears her throat, "speaking of the holiday season.." I give her a look. "I'm spending thanksgiving with my dad for the first time this year.. You wanna come over?" I sigh, "Rayne, I've never celebrated thanksgiving. It's against my religion."

"I know.. Just come over and eat. Like it's dinner..." She shrugged. I thought it was cute how she tried to simplify the holiday. I chuckle, "even if I did just come over and eat, it'd still be wrong in my mind." She pouts.

"How about you come to my short film shoot for Thriller next week? It'll be the longest film I've ever done."

"I guess." She says, slightly disappointed.

"You'll like it, I promise" I grin, pecking her temple.

~Rayne's POV

Michael sat on the soundstage waiting for some kind of direction as I sat in his chair offset. I watch John Landis and Michael talk about the next scene and what was supposed to happen.

"You're Gary Fleeson's daughter right?" I hear a light voice behind me. I turn to see a young lady dressed in a pink shirt and long skirt, her bright red lipstick to match. I greet her with a smile. "Yeah, nice to meet you." "I'm Ola Ray. I'm the leading lady for this music video." she says, a smirk on her face. Was she trying to insinuate something? I simply raise an eyebrow and grin. "Cool, I hope you do well." I respond.

John came and sat next to me while Ola and Michael walked to their mark. "Rayne?" He asks, extending a hand. "Yes, hi." I smile again. "It's been years since I've seen you! You may not remember, but I helped your dad direct his movie, "The Vicious Kind" back in 1963, you were only 5 then. How old are you now?" "22." I respond.

"Wow, you've really grown up. It's good to see you again!" He says. I smile, "I'm so sorry I dont remember you. But it's nice to see you too."

"Ahh, I don't expect you to remember me.." He gives me a sweet smile and returns to give Ola her instructions. Then they begin filming.

"Can I ask you something?" Michael says softly.

"What?"

"You know I like you don't you?" He asks.

"Yes..." She smirks. Don't get too hopeful, I think to myself.

"And I hope you like me, the way I like you..."

"Yes."

"I was wondering if.. You would be my girl..." He says, shifting his feet around. If only our relationship started off this cute. I chuckle to myself.

"Oh Michael." Ola smiles broadly, she giggles squeakily, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He pulls a ring out of his pocket and slides it on her finger. She gleams a bright smile, examining her new ring. "It's beautiful.."

"Now it's official." He smiles proudly. He was so cute. I grin, admiring him from afar.

"Ok cut!" John yells.

"That was really good Ola." Michael smiles politely. "You make it look so easy Michael." She giggles, gripping his arm. He chuckles nicely, edging out of her grasp before John calls for a five minute break. Instantly, Michael comes toward me. The look of disappointment in Ola's face gave me a strange satisfaction.

"Judging by that smile on your face, you're enjoying yourself aren't you?" He grins, grabbing me by the waist. "More than you know baby." I chuckle arrogantly, as she watches Michael and I close in for a kiss. I've never been this type of way towards another female before, but I was feeling very territorial with Michael being around her and I wasn't sure why.

"What did you think of Ola's performance?" He asks and I practically laugh out loud. "Oh, she's something." I say sarcastically. "Do you know she was in the playboy magazine?" He says excitedly. I shrug, I couldn't care less about Ola. She rubbed me the wrong way so I wasn't to impressed or moved by anything she did. Michael started to sense something going on with my attitude. "You're not jealous, are you?" He smirks.

"What? Jealous of what? Her? No."

His smile got wider, "you sure?"

"Positive, why get jealous of something that I know will never happen?" I say grabbing one of his collar flaps. "Michael, we need you back on set." John interrupts. Ola smirks again, I just wanna smack it off her face, just because.

After changing clothes, Michael walks back on set where Ola has changed into some jeans and a red shirt. "Well don't you look good!" She exclaims taking a step back. The photographer snaps photos of the two of them as Ola eases closer to Michael. He wraps an arm around her shoulder causing her to giggle. I roll my eyes, watching her cheeks turn from brown to a flushed red. Michael begins lip syncing to the song, biting his lip, playing with her, holding her cheek to his, and Ola is just eating it up. I couldn't help but laugh at it.

I went to the bathroom, and after standing in the mirror for a while, I found myself comparing myself to Ola. "My lips are better than hers... My hair is better too. Michael knows who's best." I give myself a satisfied grin, and head out to meet Michael so we could leave. Ola pushes her lips on to an unsuspecting Michael, before he quickly pushes her back. My eyes couldn't see anymore red. I storm over to her, before I was stopped by one of the workers who caught everything.

"Ola, what are you doing?"

She smiles innocently, "Kissing you silly!" she giggles.

"Why?" Michael asks, backing away.

"Oh come on,I heard you were shy, You like me Michael. I know you do!" She grins.

Michael frowns, "Ola, I'm sorry sweetheart. I'm involved with someone else. I thought you knew that?"

"I heard. But I thought that was fake, you know, like a rumor?" She pouts.

"A rumor? She's here with me, how could it possibly be a rumor?" He says agitated, gesturing back to me. I break free from the worker and calmly walk towards the two of them. Ola gives me a once over, and looks back at Michael. "You know you shouldn't lead people on like that Michael." "It's called acting." I spat. Ola scoffs, walking away. I angrily watch her, grinding my teeth.

"Rayne you know I didn't intentionally ki-"

"I know." I interupt. "I want her out." Michael stammers, "We already finished everything.." I sigh at my so called demand, "Fine."

Michael giggles, pulling my forehead onto his lips. "I knew you were jealous!" I smirk, "I may have been, a little bit." He grabs my hand, leading me to the car.

***

~Michael's POV

"Yo, you've got mail." Marlon says, placing a sack of fan mail on my bed, then handing me a single envelope. "This one looks important." He says. He stands in front of me, waiting for me to open it. I shake my head.

"Dear Michael Jackson, It has come to our attention that your newest music video celebrates demons, ghouls, zombies and other entities of a demonic or evil spirit. As you may know, Jehovah Witnesses do not celebrate things of that nature and we require that you do not release this video, as you are a public figure as well and it will reflect our religion. Thank You."

I groan loudly, "Are you kidding me?" I worked way too hard to let someone tell me I can't release my own work. "I'll figure this out.. How did they even find out about my video?" "Maybe mother?" Marlon suggests. It clicked, I told mother about the video and she wasnt very excited about it. I remember her telling me she didn't approve of the concept, but I didn't think she'd go back and tell someone. I sigh.

"Anyway, the brothers and I are having a meeting with Joseph, so we need you downstairs." Marlon says. I've been holding off on this meeting for a couple weeks. I wasn't ready to face Joseph with this, but it had to be done.

"Ok what is this about?" Joseph says sitting at the table. "Well, we appreciate everything you've done for us as our father, and our manager. But we think that your views and our views are going different ways.." Jackie starts slowly. I watched as Joseph's face switched from confusion to anger. "Excuse me?" He says.

"It's not personal Joseph.. It's simply business." I say calmly. "We're all going our separate ways and that's fine. We had a good run!" Jermaine explains. "Fine, but this victory is still under my direction. After this, do what you want." Joseph growls, slamming his hand on the table

***

With the upcoming release of my album, I had already released 2 songs, Billie Jean and Beat It. "They finally played Beat It." Quincy said when I answered the phone. "What?" I respond excitedly. This was a big deal! Unfortunately, my music wasn't being played as often as it should, because I'm black. It's stupid but that's what it is. "With Eddie Van Halen on the guitar, they decided to play it." Quincy further explains.

"Oh." My mood begins to turn. I want people to love my music because of my talent, not because of my skin color or someone elses skin color. "At least it's playing, now I've got another problem."

"What's wrong?" Quincy asks

"Well, my religious leaders, sent me a letter saying I can't release Thriller as a short film. It celebrates demonic and evil spirits." I roll my eyes.

"Can you put a disclaimer?" He asks. "You know, just say this isn't your personal beliefs, this is just for fun... or something like that." "That's what I'll do." I smile. "Thanks Quincy."

When I got the numbers showing how many people watched my short film, I nearly passed out at how many records I had broken. My short film was the first black film to ever be played on MTV and was one of the most watched and anticipated films ever.

***
I awake to Rayne shaking me by the chest. "Wake up..." she says softly. "Today is the day." I smile sleepily. "Time to release the biggest album of all time." she grins. I chuckle, "The greatest album of all time." I cheekily correct her. "That too." she chuckles, kissing me. After hopping in and out of the shower, she watches me get dressed. "Rayne, the number of the day is one hundred thousand. Remember that."

"That's such a big number!" she pouts playfully. "Of course it is! That's how many we're gonna sell. One. Hundred. Thousand. copies." I repeat. She nods her head and heads into the shower.

Walking into my new manager's office, I smile a wide smile as he smiles back. "Michael! right on time!! I was just about to give everyone the go to release your album! Congratulations again." "Thank you! Frank, I want you to meet my girlfriend Rayne. She's been behind me this entire project."

"Is this the young lady that almost beat up your leading lady?" he chuckles. Rayne, slides a quick look my way and giggles. I simply nod nervously, I wasnt expecting him to bring that up. "Anyway Frank, thanks for meeting with me, I really appreciate it. Hopefully once this entire thing with my father is over, we can get started on some real work!

"Well, Michael I'm very excited to be your manager. You have an outstanding career and I'd love to be apart of that, of course!" Frank was interupted by a phone call.

"Hello? This is Frank.. Yeah. Ok! Great! Well, i'll let him know. He's sitting in front of me right now. Thanks!" He smiles. My eyes were wide with curiosity. "I just got the OK. Your album is now onsale all over the country." Rayne squeezes my hand and smiles widely. "This is great news Frank! I'll be back in a week to get the numbers and talk more!"

***
"Michael Jackson's newest album Thriller is topping every chart possible, he is close to breaking the record for the biggest selling album in a week."

The television blares, I sat on the floor in the dance studio waiting on my brothers to come in. I jump up in excitement and do a quick spin. "I'm gonna sell 100,000 copies, I'm gonna sell 100,000 copies!" I sing to myself, dancing.

"Sorry I'm late Mike." Tito says rushing inside, grabbing his guitar. "Or not.." He chuckles looking around the empty studio. "You know nobody is ever on time." I smile. Tito shrugs, "What were you doing in here?" He asks. "Celebrating. My album is selling like crazy." I smile proudly. Tito has always been super supportive of me so I wasn't surprised when he congratulated me. "Well one more month until our album comes out." Tito grins.

Finally the rest of the boys came in and we started rehearsals. Our act never really changed, we took songs out and added a couple recent songs. As we rehearse, Joseph walks in the studio, a smile on his face. "Boys, I've found someone to promote our tour." He says switching off the music. "Who?" Jackie asks breathlessly. "Don King."

I lift an eyebrow. "Don King? Do you know how much of a crook he is?" I ask. "He's a good businessman, he's got it all figured out. We get the fans to fill out a form with a $120 money order at $30 a ticket, and people win the tickets." Joseph enthuses.

"What about the people who don't win?" I ask.

"They'll get their money back! It's all fair." He replied. I shake my head. "That doesn't seem fair at all.." "Come on Mike, it sounds easy. Besides you won't be complaining when that check comes in the mail." Jermaine jokes. "I know I won't" Randy says as they all agree.

"Listen to y'all.. you're not even thinking about the fans. Just money. Pathetic! You guys don't know how bad this will look on all of us?" I scoff, walking to Rayne's. "Well it's already been announced so the deed is done!" Joseph yells behind me.

"$30 dollars?!" Rayne exclaims after I vent my anger to her. "$30 a ticket!" I say. "And they went with it like it was ok! What about our less fortunate fans? That's not fair to them. I am so upset! That is so selfish of them!" I pace her room once more before she grabs my arm to pull me onto her bed. "Come here, sit down.." She says, her hands working on my shoulders. "Calm down, I'm sure you will make the right decision. If not, you have to realize everything can't be controlled by you. Things happen."

I take a deep breath while she continues to massage the small stresses away. "I'm not taking any money that I make from this tour." I sigh. "I'll give it to charity, or something. But it's not going in my pockets." I lean back onto her chest, her fingers tracing tiny circles on mine. "That's beautiful of you to do that.." She smiles, leaning her chin on my head.

~Rayne's POV
Michael and his brothers album finally released, which meant that he'd be leaving to go on tour. But he was spending so much time with me, I wondered how he was getting any rehearsal done. He and I went on dates almost every night. This date was the most special because it was our last date together until he came home.

"I've been thinking.." He says grabbing my hand as we sat at the table. "About?" I ask.
"Well, after that whole issue with Thriller, I'm thinking of quitting being a Jehovahs Witness."

"Really? That's a big step.. Leaving a religion. Are you sure?"

"Yeah I don't like the restrictions.. Besides I've broken a couple rules anyway." He winks, I chuckle. "Also, I'm really going to miss you." "I'll miss you too Mike. Of course we'll talk." He smiles weakly.

***
The morning of, I went to see him off. I caught him placing a bag on the bus. He didn't look to happy. "Hey. I just wanted to come and say bye to you guys and I hope you all have a great tour." I smile. "Thanks Rayne." The brothers say. I look at Michael, pushing his bag into the storage bin under the bus. "No goodbye?" I ask sweetly. He sighs, "Rayne, I've been doing a lot of thinking since last night and I wrote it all out here. Don't read this until I pull off.." He says handing me a folded sheet of paper. "Ok.."

"Boys lets go!" Joseph yells.

"I love you." I say sadly. He doesn't respond and kisses me as if he'll never see me again, stroking my face one last time before boarding the bus. I frown, why was he making this so sad?

I walk back into the house, the note crumpled in my hand. I sigh and open it.

"Dear Rayne,
Thank you for loving me and helping me through so much in the 4 years of our relationship. I want you to know that when this tour is over, I won't be coming back to this house. The only way I can get away from Joseph and my brothers is to leave. I plan on ending the tour early and moving on to my next album. It hurts to leave you like this but I couldn't bear to see your face if I actually told you. Please know that I love you and I'll never forget you. I'll pray for you everyday. Love Michael."

I balled the paper up and tossed it across the wall. How dare he! He just left me..

That's the end of this book, because ppl wanted a sequel I will be working on one soon. I do hope that you guys will be following along still and I hope y'all enjoyed this book. Thanks for all the comments and likes :)