Chapter 1 - News

The Monarchs were down, 75-76, and there was 13.6 seconds left in the game. Crunch time. The Houston Comets had the ball, and were about to shoot when Penicheiro stole the ball. She made a full-court pass to Griffith, who was about to make the winning lay-up when-

"Tish! Phone!" yelled Kedra.

Perfect timing.

I sighed as I got up from the couch and walked over to the phone.

"Hello?" I said in an annoyed tone.

"Ticha, it's Elise."

My manager.

"Oh, hi. What's up?"

"Well, I got you a record deal with Jive. They heard your demo and think you have some major potential."

I dropped the phone and thanked God I was sitting down. After a minute or so, I regained my composure and picked up the phone.

"'Lise? Still there?" I asked shakily.

"Yes. I thought you'd be a little surprised," Elise replied.

"Oh yeah, just a little," I said sarcastically.

"I'll call you tomorrow with the details, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and reminded myself to breathe. Then it hit me that I really had a record deal with Jive - I was actually on the way to be a famous singer! I started screaming and jumping up and down, which of course brought my roommates running into the room.

"T! Jeez! What the hell happened?" Latasha asked.

"I got a record deal with Jive! They think I'm good!" I screamed.

"Oh my God! Tish you're gonna be famous!" shrieked Ruthie.

We all started screaming and jumping up and down together. When we finally ran out of energy, we sat down and talked for awhile.

"Ticha...when you're famous, you won't forget about us, will you?" Kedra asked.

"Kiwi, you gotta be crazy to think that! I'd never forget you guys!" I replied quickly.

"You better not!" Yolanda said, smiling.

"Oh, and Tish, if you EVER, I mean EVER, meet Howie Dorough, you better introduce me girl!" Tasha said.

We all laughed. Tot would be Tot, no matter what.

"Well, same goes for AJ. You better let me meet him!" Kedra said.

"And Nick!" Ruthie added.

"And Kevin," said Yo. "But I wouldn't count on it - Tish probably be too busy staring at Brian to think about us!"

I just sighed and rolled my eyes. "How many times do I have to say it? I'm not a teenybopper like the rest of you," I said in defense.

"Ticha, Ticha, Ticha. How stupid do you think we are?" said Kedra. "First of all, we aren't teenyboppers. We're way too old and you know it. We just happened to love the Backstreet Boys. And, second, you know you love him - you're just too stubborn to admit it. Cause that one day when the As Long As You Love Me video was on MTV and you didn't know it was them, I remember clearly you said quote on quote 'Wow, this song is good. And the short guy with brown hair and blue eyes is REALLY hot!'. So ha!"

I groaned. They were never gonna let me forget that.

"Okay, so maybe Brian is kinda cute. But the rest of them are butt-ugly!" I yelled.

"GET HER!!!" they screamed and started attacking me. This whole thing ended in a pillow fight. This was not uncommon occurrence.

Chapter 2 - The Run-In