CHAPTER 11

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the car ride to the movies
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"So will you tell me what movie we're going to?" Minda asked hoping it wasn't anything crummy. "Is Cruel Intentions ok with you?" Justin said keeping his attention on the rode. "Ok that's perfect Ryan Philippe is soooooo hot!!" "Freckles doesn't he remind you of anyone?" "No why? Does he to you?" "Hello your talking to him!!" "What!?" "Everybody says I look like him!" "No you don't!!" "Ok if you can still say that after this movie then...." Justin said trying to think of what to say next. "Then what? You'll let me beat you at basketball?" "Are you out of your mind?" "No!" "No!! I think you are if you think I'm gonna let you win a game of basketball against me!!" "Are you scared that people might actually think I won?" "No!!" "Then if I still think that he doesn't look like you, you have to let me win a game against you!!" "Only if you play a game against me first so I can see if your any good." "Ok, but what if I think he looks like you?" "Then you have to admit you think I'm hot!" "Why would I do that?" "Because you said that Ryan Philippe is hot and if he is hot then I must be too!" "Oh your gonna get it little one you are gonna get it!!" "Oh I want it Freckles, I really want it!!!" Justin said with a mischevious look on his face.

They arrived at the theaters and Minda got out of the car to go get the tickets while Justin parked the car. When Justin was done he joined Minda in line.

"So are you going to pay for my ticket superstar?" Minda said pointing to the booth. "Oooh I like that name! Superstar! It has a nice ring to it." Justin said marveling at the name. "Well are you?" "Sure why not." "Ok! Oh and Justin don't get to used to the superstar thing ok?" "Why not?" "I don't want that ego of yours getting any bigger!!" "Whatever Freckles."

"Could I have the next in line?" "Justin over there." "Ok."

"Hi and welcome to Orlando theaters how may I help you?" "I'll have two tickets for Cruel Intentions."

"Ok one moment please. That'll be $15.34." "Ok here." "Here are your tickets and enjoy your movie." "Thank you."

They both walked into the movie and found their seats. Once they were seated Justin was going to get stuff.

"Freckles do you want anything?" "Candy." "What kind?" "Sour patch." "Ok do you want anything to drink?" "No I'll just have some of yours." Minda said with a grin. "Ok I'll be back." "K"

Justin left the theater and went to the snack bar. When he came back he had a large drink, medium popcorn, a chili dog, m&m's, and Minda's sour punch.

"Who is this all for?" "Me." Justin said with a big smile. "Oh my!! Superstar you are a pig!!" "I know!" "Where are my sour patch?" "Right here." "What did you get to drink?" "Coke." "Ok"

Then the movie started.

When the movie ended it was about 4:30 p.m. and Justin and Minda got up and walked out to Justin's car.

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the ride home
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"So did you like the movie?" Justin asked. "Yeah I did!! But it reminded me of Joey in a lot of ways!"

"Yeah I know what you mean." Then Minda burst into a fit of laughter. "Freckles are you ok?" "Yeah I'm fine." Minda said through laughs. "Your killing me here Freckles! Do I or do I not look like Ryan Philippe?" "No you don't!" Minda said still laughing with tears coming from her eyes. "Say that in a normal voice without laughing." "Ok, ok, no you don't look like him." Minda said after calming herself down. Then Justin gave her a look of craziness and she burst out laughing again. "Oh my god! Do you ever stop laughing?" "No." "Hey did you want to go get something to eat?" Minda suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Justin. "You are still hungry after all that you ate at the movies?" "Freckles that's not even half of it!!" "I ate sour patch and I won't be hungry till tomorrow!!" "Your kidding me?" "No!" "Your one strange person." "Thank you!" "So do you or don't you?" "No thanks why don't we go back to my apartment and you can eat what I have there." "Ok. So what do you have?" "I don't know." "Oh well I'll just wait." "K."

When the conversation finished Justin put on the radio and Minda started singing to a Madonna song and didn't notice that Justin could hear her perfectly. When the song ended he started bugging her.

"Freckles why I never knew!" "I didn't want you to either." "Well now I do and I get to bug you about getting signed!" "What?! Oh no Justin not me!! I can't sing worth didly squat!!" "Yes you can!!" "No Justin don't try it if you want to sign anyone get Shayna!!" "Shayna?" "Yeah her or Janine!" "Why them?" "Because they have great voices!!" "Really?" "Yeah ever since we were younger!" "How long have you known them?" "Uh... I don't know but it's been for a long time!!" "How long?" "Well I knew Janine from middle school and I knew Shayna because she lived a couple houses down from me." "Wow! that's a long time" "Yep almost as long as you've known JC." "How do you know?" "Well considering you were on MMC with him that was when you were in the begining of middle school and from then on." "How did you find out about MMC?" "Are you kidding me?" "No." "I used to watch that show all the time and I had the biggest crush on JC back in the day!!" "Don't you find that weird?" "What's weird?" "The fact you had a crush on JC back then too!" "Oh, I never thought about it." "Well you should." "Ok I will.... A little later now let's go inside I want to check my messages." "Ok."

Minda and Justin walked up to the front gate and Minda opened it and they both walked up to her apartment. When they got inside Minda went straight for her answering machine. She had two new messages.

'Message one' BEEP

"Minda you never called me back anyways call me I want to talk to you about Justin k? Bye."

'Message two' BEEP

"Hey Minda it's Chelsea call me when you get in bye."

"Who was that asking to talk about me?" Justin asked in a rather curious voice. "Why? Are you afraid I'm planning an attack?" "No I just want to know who is interested in me." "It was Shayna and she is highly interested!" "Shayna I thought you called her?" "No I forgot." "So your telling me you got off the phone with me earlier for no reason?" "I didn't get off for no reason I got off because I had some other things to do and I was going to call Shayna but then I went online instead." "Uh huh!" "It's the truth honest!" "Ok whatever you say. So what's your screen name?" "Freckles underscore 21." "Freckles?" "What?" "Your screen name has Freckles in it!" "Yeah and I have them on my face too! What's your point?"

"Did you change it for a reason?" "Oh! No I've had that screen name for awhile." "Oh I thought you were inspired by me." "Yeah Justin I sure was!" "Really?" "No! You are so stupid sometimes!" "I know! But that's why you love me." "Whatever! Anyways aren't you going to make your self something to eat?" "Who is Chelsea?" "She's one of my friends. Why?" "Does she live here?" "No." "Freckles you never told me where you're from." "Oh I'm from California." "Where in Cali?" "Reseda." "Where's that?" "In LA" "Oh ok now I know where." "Yep." "So why did you move here?" They were now sitting on the couch talking. "I was sick of LA and this was the next best thing." "And Shayna, you, and Janine moved out here because you are all best friends?" "Yeah." "What about Chelsea?" "What about her?" Minda said starting to get teary eyed. "Well why didn't she move out here?" "Look I rather not talk about Justin ok?" Minda said and ran into her room and shut the door. Justin got up and went and knocked on her door then opened it and found Minda on the floor next to the door crying.

"Minda what's wrong?" Justin asked as he sat next to her and pulled her to him and hugged her. "Nothing Justin just go home." "Minda I'm not leaving here till I know your ok. Now what happened to you and Chelsea?" "We were best friends since we were babies and when I became really good friends with Shayna and Janine we all became best friends. Me, Chelsea, Janine, and Shayna. We had decided that when Shayna graduated High school that we would all move out to Orlando. Well this was like in 1991 or 1992. Anyways during the summer of 1991 when I was going into 8th grade Chelsea got a job and me, Shayna, and Janine would always talk to each other and we were supposed to spend the summer with Chelsea too but she was always busy working or going to softball and we were all origanly trying to make up our own little music group but with Chelsea never being able to come over we never got a chance to practice and one day I was talking to Shayna and we were talking about how Chelsea wasn't taking it seriously like we were and she was hinting she didn't want to be in it. Well one day I talked to her about it and I just got sooo mad at her I totally went crazy and I told her everything that was on my mind well a couple of weeks later we got over it and our friendship was just as close but um when it got to be time to move to Orlando Chelsea backed out on us last minute and stayed in California that's why I live by myself with a two bedroom apartment and It kinda just gets to me every time I talk about it because I miss her so much and I wish that she moved out here with us but she didn't and I'm not sure why! She never told any of us." "Are you going to be ok?" "Thanks Justin." Minda said as she curled up in his arms. "No prob Freckles that's what I'm here for, remember I'm your best friend." "Yeah I remember...... fortunately."

The two sat there for a couple of minutes when Minda's phone rang. Minda was about to get up when Justin got up to answer it.

"Hello?" "Hi is Minda there?" "May I ask who this is?" "This is Chelsea." "Hold on." Justin covered the phone and said in a whisper. "It's Chelsea do you want me to tell her your busy?" "Yeah." Justin uncovered the phone. "She's busy could I take a message?" "Yeah just tell her Chelsea called." "Ok."

"By the way who is this?" "This is Justin." "Oh so your Justin?" "Yeah uh how do you know me?" "Minda told me online anyways just tell her I called." "Ok bye." "Bye."

Justin got off the phone and went into the kitchen where Minda had gone to get something to drink.

"Do you want anything Justin?" "Sure what do you got?" "Dr. Pepper?" "Sure." "Ok." Minda said as she poured Justin a cup.

"So what did you tell Chelsea about me?" "Oh I told her you were one of the guys of the music group I was working with." "Ok just making sure." "Your always just making sure." Minda said and took a seat next to Justin on the couch. "But of course." "So when do I get to beat you at a game of basketball?" "What?!" "You heard me superstar." "Whenever you want but remember I get to play you without any tricks before I let you win because I'm not sure if you can really play or not?" "Ok." "So are your feeling better?" "Yeah I'm not really sure why I let it get to me but sometimes I think it was my fault she didn't come." "I'm sure it wasn't. It was probably just something that she didn't want to do because she wanted to stay where she grew up." "Why are you so good at this stuff?" "I don't know?" "Whatever anyways what time is it?" "6:27 pm." "Ok." "So what are you going to do when JC calls you again?" "I'm just gonna have a regular convo. Has he said anything about me?" "Well I talked to him last night." "And?" "He really likes you." "I really like him too but I have to get to know him better. Yah know?" "Yeah I know." "So what do you want to do?" "Play monopoly?" "Ok let me go find it." Minda left the room and went to the hall closet and found monopoly. She came back out they started playing the game.

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FAMILIAR FACES