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Before she knew it the concert was over and she was back in the dressing room. Heather and Gina were talking about how well the concert had been. “You were awesome Liz!” Gina told Liz, who smiled and said. “Thanks, you guys were great too! I’m just glad I didn’t mess up!” She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and sat down. “I hope you’re not too tired.” Heather said grinning. “Because we still have a party to go to!” Liz looked puzzled. “Oh please tell me you haven’t forgotten about it!” Gina said looking exasperated. “Um, well… yes.” Liz answered meekly. Heather acted completely shocked. “We planned a party for you and you forgot about it? How could you? Suddenly, she fell to the floor. Liz watched and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.” Liz told her. “I was just kidding.” Heather glared at her and then smiled. They finished putting their stuff away and then went to the room where they were going to meet everyone else. When A.J saw them come into the room he said. “Alright! Now the party can start!” All the boys, Liz’s coach, and some of the set-up crew who knew Liz really well were there. In the center of the room, there was a big table and on the table there was a birthday cake and ice cream. Everyone sang happy birthday and Liz who still couldn’t believe that this was happening was blushing. After they ate Kevin stood up and said. “We have another surprise. A friend of mine lives about 15 minutes away from here and he’s got a pool and said we could use it tonight! So everybody, run and get your swim suits and meet outside so we can figure out who’s sitting where.” Liz just stood there speechless, so Gina grabbed her hand and pulled her towards their room.
After everyone had changed into their swim suits they gathered outside. Instead of taking their tour bus, which would have been a pain, they decided to take some smaller vans. Liz was one of the last people to get out of her van because she had been talking with some people, and had been sitting in the back seat. So when she got to the pool almost everyone was already in. She laid her towel down and stood near the edge of the pool. She was talking to Gina and Heather when suddenly someone pushed her into the pool. She stood up in the pool and was wiping her eyes when someone picked her up and threw her across the pool. She still didn’t have the water out of her eyes, so she couldn’t see who had done it. “Is this the treatment I get on my birthday?” She shouted. She looked around and noticed that A.J and Nick were smiling and heading straight for her. Once again she looked around trying to find something to defend herself with. She spotted a squirt gun, grabbed it and squirted both of them. While there were wiping their eyes, she swam to the shallow end, right behind them. When she got up she couldn’t find them, so she turned around and saw that they were right behind her. With no time to swim away Nick grabbed her and started dunking her in the pool, while A.J tried to pry the water gun from her hands. By now Gina and Heather were trying to help her in this “war” that there were having, so Gina started to swim towards her, but Kevin saw her and kept her away. A.J noticed Heather trying to sneak past them and squirted her. Before she had time to think he was over there dunking her too. By now almost everyone in the pool was after each other. The girls were against the guys and just about every other minute someone was getting dunked or squirted. Finally Liz got loose from Nick’s grasp and dove under water. While he was preoccupied she snuck up behind him and tried to pull him underwater. Her plan worked and she succeeded in dunking him. All the girls cheered as they watched her do this. In the midst of all this celebration no one noticed that a car pulled up and was watching them through the fence. Liz however happened to glance in that direction and stared at it trying to see who was in the car. Nick came up and was about to say something when he noticed the car too. They both watched as the driver drove off. “That was kind of weird,” Liz said. Nick shrugged and said. “It’s probably just someone trying to see who we are. How long had it been there?” Liz thought for a minute and then answered. “I don’t know, it was there when I looked over there about 5 minutes ago.” Nick nodded. “Don’t worry about it, it’s probably just a neighbor or something.”
Nick grabbed his towel and shorts and then looked up at Liz. “Me, A.J, Howie, Kevin, Heather and Gina are going back to the room. Do you want to come?” Liz nodded, and then went to get her things, and then followed Nick out to the mini-van. “Oh no!” Howie said groaning. “More people! That means I can’t have the entire backseat to myself.” They laughed as they got in the back seat. “I’m glad I’m not sitting back there.” Kevin said laughing. He started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. “Why aren’t there any security people on our van?” Heather asked A.J who was playing with something Gina had given him, which was from the glove compartment. “Well since we have so many people we figured that they would only crowd us more. Plus we’re only going 15 minutes away and considering how late it is I don’t think we’ll need them.” Gina nodded in agreement. “Thank you for riding in Kevin’s Car Service, please buckle up and enjoy the ride.” Heather laughed and fastened her seat belt. Liz leaned her head up against the window and tried to get in a comfortable position. “Doesn’t that hurt?” Nick asked her a few moments later as he looked at how she was sitting. “Well, “ Liz said getting up. “It does, but I’ve tried every other way and this is the most convenient.” Nick smiled and said. “Here, put your head in my lap. That might feel a little better.” He moved his wet towel to the floor so she could lie down. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Liz asked before she put her head down on his lap. Nick shook his head. Not 5 minutes later Howie looked behind them and announced. “I think we’re being followed.” No one said anything, as they turned around to see if he was right. “I wondered if anyone else had noticed. He’s been following us for about 5 miles now. I wasn’t going to say anything so I wouldn’t worry you guys. He may not be following us anyway.” Kevin sped up a little bit and Liz sat up to see what was going on. “What if he really is following us?” Liz whispered to Nick. Nick put his arm around her and replied. “Don’t worry. If anything happens we’ll be here.” Liz moved closer to Nick and tried to close her eyes and not think about the person following them. Suddenly a car swerved out in front of them and Kevin slammed on the breaks to keep from running into it. Heather moved closer to A.J. who was sitting nest to her in the middle seat. Gina was in the front and was trying to slide down in the seat so no one would see her. Liz, who was very frightened by this point, sat up to see what had happened. Nick told her and she turned very pale, so Nick pulled her away from the window and wrapped his arms around her. “What in the world?” A.J. shouted. “That guy almost killed us.” Howie was about to say something when A.J. motioned for him to stop. They all watched as a man got out of the car in front of them and started walking towards the van. Another man from the car behind them also got out and was walking toward them.