I was watching all of them run around the house when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” I said knowing they were too busy to get the door. When I opened it up I saw Steve.

“Hi. Can you hang out today?” He asked. I shook my head.

“Sorry, I can’t. We have this basketball charity thing today. Maybe tomorrow though.” I replied. We just kind of looked at each other for a few minutes. I was about to say something more when Justin walked into the foyer.

“So this is the famous Steve we have heard about? Jas bring him in. I’m sure Jc would just love to meet him.” He said in a singsong voice. I nodded and let Steve in.

“Sorry about this. I didn’t expect anyone to come to the door.” I whispered to him as Justin led us to Jc.

“It’s ok. I wanted to meet them anyway.” He said just trying to be nice about it. We continued walking until we finally reached Jc in the kitchen.

“Jc this is Jas’s boy…I mean friend Steve.” He introduced while looking at me with a smirk on his face. Upon hearing this Jc put down his coffee mug that he was drinking out of. I knew what this meant; he was going to ask Steve all these questions. I decided that I would get him out of there before that could take place. Since I knew that would be very uncomfortable for him.

“Hi. How are you? I’m Jasmine’s dad. Jc Chasez.” Jc stated.

“Nice to meet you sir.” Steve replied politely. Jc only nodded his head.

“There are a couple of questions I want to ask you, if you don’t mind.” Jc started. I rolled my eyes and tugged on Steve’s arm.

“Actually he doesn’t have time right now. He has to help his parents, right?” I asked hoping he would catch on as to what I was doing. Thankfully he did.

“Ya. They need my help. I only came over to see if Jas could help but since yins are busy I will be going now.” I nodded my head and pulled him out of the kitchen before Jc could utter another word.

“Thanks. I did not want to answer those questions at all. Well at least not right now.”

“I know what you mean. Well I guess I will see you later. Bye.” I wrapped up and headed back into the kitchen where Jc and Justin still stood.

“You and you, you’re in trouble.” I said pointing to each of them. “Justin I can’t believe you did that! You only did that to annoy me, didn’t you?” I questioned.

“No not really. I just thought Jc would like to meet him since we are obviously going to hear more about him.” He explained and smiled once he knew that he trapped me. He was right.

“Ya. What’s wrong with me meeting him?” Jc asked suspiciously like I had something to hide.

“Nothing but why did you start with the question thing?” I complained.

“Because that’s what dads do when their daughters start dating. I know I had that talk many times.” Joey said upon entering the room hearing the conversation. I only nodded as I saw no point in saying anything further since it was obvious that I was outnumbered.

“Come on guys. We are going to be late!” Lance exclaimed as we all ran out of the kitchen and hopped into the car.

The basketball game was really good. A lot of people came, which meant that we raised over $2 million for charity. We felt good about raising that much money to benefit other people. I didn’t play but watched them. It was a lot of fun. We were walking down the hall now. Justin and Chris were in front of us racing each other to the car. Joey and Lance talked quietly ahead of Jc and I.

“I can’t believe we raised that much money! Hopefully we can break it next year.” Jc exclaimed.

“Ya. It was a lot of fun. I’m sure we will get more money next year.” I said as Jc took a drink of his water.

“So what do we want to do for dinner tonight?” He asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “How about I cook something?”

“Sounds good to me and I’m sure the others will agree.” We were walking down the rest of the long hall in silence until Jc spoke up.

“I don’t feel good.” He said faintly. He leaned toward me as he passed out. I managed to catch him but his limp body was really heavy and I wasn’t that strong. So I called out for some help.

“Guys a little help back here please!” I shouted. Lance and Joey turned and saw me struggling to hold Jc up. They rushed over to me and Joey carefully laid him down on the hard, cold concrete floor.

“What happened?” Lance asked while looking over Jc’s limp form.

“I’m not sure. He took a drink of water and we were walking down the hall when all of the sudden he said he didn’t feel well.” I rattled off as Joey dialed 911. I thought about what I just said when it donned on me. His water was probably poisoned. I had seen it in movies and read it in books before but didn’t think it would happen in real life.

The ambulance came and put him on a stretcher. I wasn’t allowed in the ambulance. They claimed that I was too young so Chris went with them. I had to ride in the car with the others.

“I can’t believe they wouldn’t let me ride with him! He is my dad after all!” I fumed near hyperventilating now. The guys didn’t seem to notice. I didn’t want them to either. I was totally pissed off that all of this was happening and I knew who had done it too. It was him. This made me scared. He said he wouldn’t harm them and look what happened. It only makes you wonder who’s going to be next.

We got to the hospital when my phone rang. “You can’t have that in here. Go into the cafeteria.” Lance said. I nodded my head as I left for the cafeteria as I answered the phone.

“Hello.” I said somewhat annoyed that someone was calling me while we were awaiting news on Jc.

“Too bad about your dad, huh?” An all too familiar voice questioned mockingly. I was completely shocked. I knew he had done it but I hadn’t expected a phone call from him.

“Why did you have to poison him? I thought you said you would leave them alone as long as I did what you told me to. He could be dying right now.” I replied while shaking as I leaned against a near by wall for support.

“I know. I’m glad to see that you catch on so fast. He’s not going to die though. I didn’t put enough in his water for him to die. I did it so you know how serious I am and how far I would go. But this is not the worst that I can do. Oh, no. There are far much worse that I can do.”

“Why couldn’t you have done it to me and leave them out of this? I’m the one your after.” I exclaimed crying now and almost hyperventilating again but I forced myself to calm down.

“Your right. I could have done it to you. But where would the fun in that be? I like to see my victims beg for mercy. I like to see them get torn apart. It’s what I live for. I will keep in touch.” With that said he hung up.

I was shocked by what he said. Lance was 100% right. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. I shook myself of the phone call. I needed to be strong for them. I already forgot my plan of pretending it wasn’t there. I need to make it believable that nothing is wrong.

I decided to go see if Jc was up since I knew that he was still alive. As I reached the others I could see their worried expressions. I wonder what happened now I thought.

“Were you talking on the phone that long? We were starting to get worried.” Chris said with all seriousness.

“Ya. Sorry it took longer than I thought.”

“Is anything wrong?” Lance spoke as he examined my face.

I ignored his question and asked, “How is Jc? Any news yet?”

“Ya, they said they got all of the poison out of his body. He is resting now. They said we could go in and see him. We were just waiting for you.” Justin relayed the information that they had obviously received from a doctor.

“Sorry.” They all nodded. Lance and Justin looked at me like they knew something was bothering me cause of me ignoring Lance’s question and I usually only do that when something is bothering me and I don’t want it to get pulled into conversation. I have to be more careful with my facial, body, and what I say. So they don’t figure out anything else is wrong. I thought before entering Jc’s room.

continued