A/N: I know No strings attached didn’t have background dancer but hey that’s why it’s called fiction; not true :)

~*~ June 4th 1999 ~*~

“Good morning” Chantal said cheerful when she walked through Lianne’s backdoor.

“Can you please stop being so cheerful!” Lianne snapped. This wasn’t really the response Chantal was going for and she noticed Lianne looked very tired and stressed.

“What’s wrong girl? You look awful” she asked concerned.

“I feel awful!” she sighed pouring a cup of coffee.

“How come?” Chantal asked while she sat down at the kitchen table.

“JC got arrested last night and if that wasn’t enough we got into a fight afterwards” Lianne explained taking a seat next to Chantal.

“What? What for? About what?”

“Apparently Jamie found out that I’m dating JC and got after him for revenge. But JC defends himself and ends up beating the crap out of him. He got arrested for it while Jamie walks free and he can press charges for assault and get a huge compensation. JC doesn’t want this to go public and probably wants to bribe him. I told him that wasn’t a good idea, because it will only show he’s guilty. He said that nobody will believe him anyway and that he’s probably better of paying Jamie before it goes out of hand. He wouldn’t admit it but he blames me for it. I could see it in his eyes” Lianne rambled till she got the whole story out. Chantal listened intently and felt so guilty. Because she was the one who told Jamie JC was dating Lianne. It was her fault JC got arrested and it was HER fault JC and Lianne had a huge fight. She didn’t know how to tell her, but she knew that she had to. It could save JC from a lot of trouble not to mention their relationship.

“If I only knew how he found out” Chantal knew she had to say something, this was her opportunity!

“Lian?” she started.

“Yes” she said, snapping out of her thoughts.

“I told him” she said softly, ducking her head in shame.

“Who?” Lianne asked confused, she didn’t get it at first but then her eyes widened as the words sank in.

“You?!” she said not understanding why Chantal would tell him that.

“Yes, but just hear me out first!” Chantal pleaded preventing her from exploding.

“He barged in and asked me flat out if you were dating someone. I said I didn’t want to tell him and he should ask you but he didn’t give up. He really scared me, I saw so much anger in his eyes. I’d never seen him like that before and when he pinned me against the wall and twisted my arm I told him. But you got to know it was completely against my will…” she had spoken her words very quickly afraid that Lianne would throw her out.

“I’m sorry” she ended her explanation. It all made sense now Lianne thought. When Jamie didn’t get the answers he wanted from her he went to Chantal, who knew the answer to his questions. When he found out she was dating JC, he went after him. This proved Jamie made the first move, this proved that JC really only defended himself. Chantal patiently waited for her reaction, she waited for an outburst but instead of that Lianne hugged her tightly. When Lianne let go of her, Chantal had a confusing look in her eyes.

“We have to go to the police station!” Lianne said while she pulled her friend along.

“You’re not going to get me arrested for this, are you?!” Chantal asked frightened when Lianne mentioned the police station.

“Of course not, silly! Don’t you get it?!” she exclaimed happily.

“Get what?”

“This proves JAMIE made the first move and that JC only defended himself instead of starting the fight which he’s accused of!” Lianne said happily.

“Oooh” Chantal said relieved before she followed her friend to the police station.

The officer, who made a report on the fight yesterday, wasn’t smiling anymore when he heard Chantal’s story. Reluctantly he wrote it down, then called some people before he thanked them and showed them to the exit. After that he had to call JC that there wasn’t a case anymore. Sometimes he just hated his job!

“JC, maybe it would work if you tried a little harder” Justin urged his friend who was obviously out of it. JC dropped his head in response, he didn’t want to try harder.

“I don’t care” he said his eyes focused on the floor. JC hadn’t been very corporative the last few hours. They’d called him out of bed till he finally showed up at the meeting with Johnny. They went over all the possibilities and it didn’t look good, making JC even more depressed then when he first walked in.

“Well you should care!” Justin said angrily, he understood what was wrong with him but sulking wasn’t the answer and he needed JC to snap out of it, right now.

“What’s the use? I’m screwed. We’re screwed” he said miserably tossing the headphones away.

“So you’re just going to let it happen? That’s that the end of it?!” Justin asked in return.

“No! But what can I do?” he asked staring at Justin, the shrill noise of his cell phone interrupted the heated conversation between the two band mates.

“Mr. Chasez?”

“Yes”

“This is Officer Duncan”…..

Lianne and Chantal went to studio where the guys were working. When they walked in JC rushed over to Lianne, lifted her in the air and said, “Thank you so much, sweetheart!” then he kissed her. He broke up with Julie and hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell Lianne but when he kissed her in front of his friends she knew they were both free to love each other. JC hadn’t really thought about it but because they both broke up with their partners there was no need to hide it anymore. He didn’t WANT to hide it anymore. Justin, Lance, Chris and Joey looked at JC and Lianne with their mouths wide open. When JC put Lianne down, she said,

“Your welcome but you shouldn’t be thanking me, but Chantal” JC turned to Chantal with a confused look on his face.

“I’m sorry I told him you were the one dating Lianne” Chantal said still ashamed she gave into the threat.

“It was you?!” JC said a little angry.

“Yes, but just hold on a minute. He forced her to tell him, it wasn’t her fault and she did make sure the charges were dropped. Jamie came to her before he came after you, so that proves you’re not the one who started it”

“Is that what happened?” he asked looking at Chantal.

“Yes, but Lianne made the link between them and she deserves total credit for it. I was so stupid to be forced into saying something I didn’t want to say”

“It’s ok! Now I understand why the officer was so short with me. He hardly told me anything just that because of new evidence that had shown up, the charges against me were dropped. I’m so relieved!” JC said happily now that everything had been solved. When the officer called, he had asked JC if he wanted to press charges against Jamie for assault but after calling his lawyer and his manager he had said no. He couldn’t press charges because if he did then there would be a trial, he would have to explain why Jamie had attacked him and that was something he couldn’t and didn’t want to share. So he let it go, they’d hurt Jamie enough, unintentionally but still.

“Thank you Lianne, thank you so much. I love you”

“What is going on between you two?!?” Chris yelled frustrated. He didn’t understand what was going on and he wasn’t the only one. JC turned to his friends.

“Lianne and I are together” he said proudly, she confirmed with a bright smile.

“Since when, how?” Lance asked still confused.

“Officially today but actually since the day we went to the beach, we started dating after that”

“How come you never told us?” Joey said a little insulted.

“Because we were both seeing someone else. We needed some time to think about what we wanted. Who we wanted to be with and we figured out we wanted to be with each other, no one else” Lianne explained.

“Congratulations” Chantal responded to the explanation. Although she already knew about the feelings between them, also for her it was the first time she heard they were officially together.

“Thank you” they both said very happy.

“Who wants to get some diner?” Chantal asked the rest when she saw Lianne was signaling that she wanted to be alone with him for a few minutes.

“Yeah, I’m hungry” Lance said who got the message as well.

“Yeah, me too!!” Chris screamed and he ran out the door.

“I could use some food” Joey said before he headed out the door.

“I’m not hungry” Justin said simply still staring at JC and Lianne.

“Justin, they’re not a painting!” Chantal said before she elbowed him to come along.

“Ouch! Alright, alright I’m coming!” Justin said when Chantal pulled him along by his shirt, rubbing his tummy in the meantime. JC and Lianne waited until the door closed and laughed at their friends.

“I’m sorry” JC said when they stopped laughing. Lianne looked up to him in his deep blue eyes.

“I’m sorry too”

“I acted like a total idiot and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you, it wasn’t your fault” JC continued his apology.

“It’s ok. I said some pretty stupid things too. We were just not thinking straight, letting our emotions take control”

“Yes. So you forgive me?” JC asked.

“Only if you forgive me”

“Alright” he said before confirming the apology with a long and passionate kiss.

A while later Joey, Chris, Lance, Justin and Chantal walked in again. Lianne and Chantal left so they could get back to work. The whole way home Lianne was smiling brightly, looking at the road ahead of her. The guys were wondering what Lianne and JC did in the time that they were alone because they’d never seen him this happy.

~*~ June 10th 1999 ~*~

“Chan we got something to tell you” Bryant said trying to sound calm while he grabbed Jen’s hand for support.

“Ooh no he left!” Chantal panicked thinking it had something to do with her father.

“Who?”

“Dad” she said softly almost afraid to say it.

“No! No it’s not about him. It’s about… us” Bryant said clutching Jen’s hand while he guided her to the couch.

“Maybe you better sit down” Bryant said while he motioned for Chantal to take a seat on the opposite site of the couch. Her eyebrows furrowed and she was getting nervous.

“Bryant you’re making me nervous just say it!” she said while she sat down in the chair.

“Alright um well…. I’m just going to say it…”

“Bry…”

“Jen is pregnant” he blurted.

“…ant…. What? Come again?”

“Jen is pregnant with my baby” he repeated. She stared at the two in front of her totally shocked with the news her brother just gave her.

“Chantal blink…. say something”

“Huh what?” she looked back and forth between Bryant and Jennifer.

“Ooh I’m sorry! Congratulations!!” she exclaimed while she jumped up and crossed the short distance between them quickly, hugging both of them at the same time. Bryant and Jen exchanged glances, happy they made the right decision to tell her first. Bryant had been right about his sister. She would support him no matter what and they were glad she was on their side since they hadn’t told Jen’s parents or Craig.

“How far are you?” Chantal asked interested looking down at Jens belly.

“2 months” Jen said proudly. Chantal only noticed now that she was wearing rather baggy clothes lately. Never thinking this was the reason.

“So what are you going to do?” Chantal asked curiously.

“What do you mean?” Jennifer asked in return.

“You’re going to live here or is Bryant moving to your house?”

“We don’t know yet. We haven’t told anyone yet. Except you” Chantal smiled happily about the fact that they told her first.

“I’m so happy for you! I’m going to be an aunt!!” she exclaimed while she hugged them again.

~*~ June 11th 1999 ~*~

So this was it, Merel thought as she looked around the big dance studio down town Los Angeles.

It was huge!

Nothing like she’d ever seen back home but then again this was America, everything was big here and thus the dance studios as well. If everything went well her dream would soon come true and all the hard work would be worth it. She’d done a lot of dance workshops, enrolled in several dance classes and basically did everything she needed to do to make her dream come true; to be a background dancer for the most popular artists and join them in his or her world tour. A few months back she’d arrived in LA, a friend of hers had informed her that that was the place to be if you wanted to be a background dancer. She’d checked the papers for weeks, looking for an advert where they’d ask for background dancers. She’d even been on a few auditions but none of them really worked out. She’d told herself that she would not give up this easily; you can’t expect a great job to fall into your lap on the first day of arrival. Maybe not on the first day but about a month after she arrived in LA her eye fell on the following add;

Nsync’s No Strings Attached Tour, this fall the boys will be back and better than you’ve ever seen them before but they can’t do it on their own, we need you! We’re looking for incredible dancers, male or female, aged between 18 and 25 who would like to join Nsync on their tour. Interested? Auditions are being held in May, Los Angeles.

Merel just knew they were asking for her so she auditioned, she didn’t want to get her hopes up, knowing how many people auditioned for a stupid dance commercial let alone something major like this, but she tried anyway and got called back time after time. Today was the final round and to say that she was nervous would be an understatement. She went to the dressing room and changed into her dance outfit, then started her warming up. When it was time for the last 50 people to gather in the big hall she said a quick prayer before she joined the rest of the candidates on the big wooden floor where her dream would be established or shattered.

~*~ June 14th 1999 ~*~

“Chantal did you spent 2000 dollar this month AGAIN?!” Bryant said referring to last month. They had had another debit of their account of a 1000 dollar.

“No I already told you I didn’t spend the money. Neither did I last month”

“Then who did? Where did it go?” he pondered the question for a second then it hit him.

“Craig!” he got an angry gleam in his eyes.

“Bastard!!” he cursed.

“Now don’t make any hasty conclusions…” Chantal said but Bryant already flew up the stairs and stormed in Craig’s room.

“You stole our money!” he yelled accusingly while he threw the debit at him. Craig looked up from his work and took a look at the debit.

“Technically it’s my money” he said calmly.

“Is THAT why you came back? Get the money and leave us again?! Getting on our good side to screw us over?” Bryant continued to yell.

“No I already told you I’m staying this time”

“Then what’s this?” Bryant asked angrily pointing towards the paper in Craig’s hands.

“Nothing I can’t handle” Craig said calmly.

“DAD” Chantal said sternly interfering with the fight for the first time.

“Dad would you quit shutting us out?! We’re adults alright! Why can’t you just trust us? Tell us!” Chantal said getting angry herself.

“Alright” he sighed.

“I’m a little in debt” he admitted.

“To whom?”

“The bank but a friend of mine owes me a lot of money. I’m just waiting for him to come through then I’m going to be able to pay the bank. I just needed some money to keep them satisfied till I got the whole amount of money to pay them. Don’t worry” he said when he saw the faces of his children.

“I’ll make sure it will be ok alright? Trust me”

Not completely convinced but reassured they left the room hoping it would indeed be alright.

~*~ June 17th 1999 ~*~

“Lian, Chantal” Stephanie called for them when they entered the hotel’s lobby where their senior prom was going to take place. A flashbulb went off in their face.

“Whoa!” Chantal exclaimed putting her hand in front of her eyes.

“Give us a chance to come in please” Lianne said.

“I’m taking pictures of everybody who enters”

“O…k...” Chantal said while they posed together under the board: ‘Class of 1999’. Stephanie took their picture before she asked,

“Dateless?”

Lianne and Chantal looked at each other before answering, “Yup but Josh asked me to give you this” Lianne said trying to hold back her smile. ‘Stephanie meet me in room 312 at 12 exactly if your interested in a private, exclusive interview’ the note said and Stephanie beamed, she was trying to hide it though, not completely sure if Lianne and Chantal had something to do with it.

“So what does it say?” Chantal asked curiously letting Stephanie know she didn’t have anything to do with the note.

“Nothing you have to worry about” Stephanie said with a smile returning to the board where the next couple was ready to have their picture taken, more assured that they didn’t have anything to do with the note, that they weren’t playing a trick on her. Chantal and Lianne turned away from Stephanie and her photo shop heading towards the party room of the hotel finally bursting out laughing when they were sure Stephanie was out of earshot.

“We got her” Chantal said while they shook on it.

“Yup,” Lianne said happily while she put her arm around Chantal.

“Let’s have fun” she said while they entered the party room.

“Pete? You know what you have to do right?” Chantal asked their classmate. Stephanie and her gang had always picked on him but he had a huge crush on Stephanie no matter how bad they treated him. Chantal knew that and had asked him to help them get her back.

“Yup, all ready” he said smiling while he sprayed some mouth water into his mouth.

“Good, remember don’t turn on the lights and use the voice you do best” Chantal said with a smile.

“Uh huh” he nodded. Pete was the best in imitating celebrities, if he listened to them for a while he could talk like them and if you closed your eyes you would really believe that particular person was talking to you.

That was also a reason why they asked him to help, you couldn’t tell the difference between him and the real…… JC Chasez.

A few minutes to twelve Stephanie made her way through the crowd heading for the elevators which would take her to her celebrity surprise. The elevator couldn’t move fast enough, she was eager to get Chantal and Lianne back by meeting JC. She checked her lipstick, adjusted her clothes, checked her breath and fixed her hair when she reached the door. She knocked carefully not noticing two other people where watching from around the corner.

“It’s open” someone called, Stephanie recognized the voice as JC’s who had always been her favorite and her smile grew wider. She opened the door and stepped inside her hand reached for the light switch by the door.

“Don’t turn on the light, I’ve got a surprise for you” the voice said. By this time she was beaming and walked towards the voice, the room was pitch-black but she still managed to find the person and not walk into anything.

“So you wanted to talk, I know something which is much more fun” the voice said seductively. All of a sudden hands grabbed her and pulled her closer, she was startled for a second but quickly surrendered. Lips pressed on hers and hands touched her everywhere. She let her hands trail over his body too and was surprised when she found short hair instead of curly hair.

Could it be JC?

No, didn’t JC have longer hair?

The man was also pretty short and to come to think of it he wasn’t as muscled as she’d imagined. When all of this sank in she pulled back in an instant and reached for the closest light switch, she just passed, and turned on the light. She blinked against the light before she looked up at the man who was standing before her with a huge smile on his face.

“You’re a good kisser Stephanie” the voice said. It sounded like JC and she could have sworn it was him if she wouldn’t be able to see him. The man in front of her wasn’t JC Chasez it was in fact Pete Johnson, the boy who had a crush on her ever since she could remember. She screamed in shock, clasping a hand over her mouth before she fled out the door.

“Surprising interview?” Lianne asked as Stephanie flew by making Chantal laugh. Stephanie looked at her, horror struck on her face as it dawned on her what had happened; they’d set her up! Making her think she was kissing the celebrity of her dreams when in fact she’d been making out with the boy she’d been avoiding since the beginning of day. Chantal and Lianne smiled at her finally getting back at her for everything she’d done the last four months. For the first time, Stephanie didn’t know what to say, she was totally taken aback by what these two did. She felt ashamed, humiliated and quickly made herself scarce. Chantal and Lianne burst out laughing, high fiving, showing their satisfaction.

“You were great Pete” Lianne said when she spotted him exiting the hotel room.

“Thanks” he smiled.

“How did it feel?”

“Not as great as I imagined, it wasn’t bad though” he smiled making them laugh.

“Let’s go back to the party, I don’t think Stephanie will bother us for a while” Chantal said throwing one arm around Lianne and the other around Pete before they walked towards the elevator, enjoying their senior prom.

~*~ June 22nd ~*~

“The album is almost finished and then I can see Chantal again and then we can go on tour and see all the fans” Justin sang happily in his own melody while he hopped through the room in circles.

“Justin will you shut up!!!” Lance snapped, he couldn’t take the happiness of his friend anymore.

“Whoa down boy. What’s up with you?” “Nothing just leave me alone” Lance said softly before he disappeared outside.

“What did I do?” Justin asked innocently holding his hands out in front of him while his eyebrows rose. Chris rolled his eyes at him.

“I think I know” JC said thinking about a conversation they’d had a while back and he disappeared after Lance.

“What?!” Justin yelled after him.

“C will tell us later” Joey said calmly.

“But I want to know now” Justin whined.

“For once Justin just shut up” Chris sighed.

“Chris!” Justin exclaimed offended.

“Sometimes I wish we had some duct tape with us…” Chris said to Joey and they burst out laughing.

“Lance!” JC called after him while he got in the quiet room. Lance froze but didn’t turn, JC jogged up to him. He went around him so that he was now facing Lance who had tears in his eyes.

“What’s wrong dude?” JC asked concerned. Lance ducked his head while he brushed away his tears with the back of his hand.

“Does this have anything to do with Lynn?” JC asked when he didn’t get an answer from Lance. Lance nodded almost unnoticeable but JC saw it and he pulled him into a hug. Lance slumped against him and used JC’s shoulder to cry on. JC comforted him the best way he could and that was just to support him, hold him till he was done crying. He figured Lance had been holding it back for a couple of days and finally reached his breaking point. No longer able to be strong or control himself, he just let go. Several minutes later Lance finally lifted his head. A little ashamed he brushed away his tears once again, keeping his eyes focused on the ground.

“Want to tell me what happened?” JC asked softly. Lance looked up at him, a sad gleam in his eyes.

“I um… we um” he choked. JC waited patiently for him to continue. Lance took a deep breath.

“Lynn and I broke up last week” he stated still fighting his tears.

“We just couldn’t take it anymore. We were constantly fighting and… we thought it was best to… um… to break up” he said hiccupping.

“I’m sorry” JC said sympathetically while brushing his friend’s hair back.

“Why does it hurt so badly Jace? You said it would get better! You said we would get through it! We… I… I thought I would marry her… she…. was… is… everything to me... why couldn’t we solve it? Why couldn’t we work it out? You said we could!” he stammered, his words coming out in all kinds of emotions; sad, angry, accusingly.

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. You know you both would be unhappy if you continued this right?” JC said carefully.

“Yeah” he croaked.

“But why does it hurt so badly” he asked in a small voice.

“You loved her, that just doesn’t disappear all of sudden. Don’t worry kid it’ll get better…. All you need is time…” JC comforted him while he hugged him closely, most of the time Lance was in control of everything, acting way over his age but sometimes when Lance lost it, he really lost it and he finally acted his age; a young boy with a broken heart.

“Hey guys!!” a voice they thought they’d never hear again called out. Chantal shut her car door and turned towards the girl she never wanted to see again; Stephanie Manson. Chantal crossed her arms over her chest waiting for Stephanie’s explanation why she was there, but also with a slight grin on her face from the memory of Stephanie storming off at the prom. It surprised Chantal that she would show her face again, she actually hoped she’d never see her again, because high school was over.

“What the hell do you want?” she snapped when Stephanie didn’t say anything she just smiled. Lianne watched the two of them before she made her way around the car, towards her friend.

“It’s been a while, thought I’d drop by. How are you?” Stephanie asked friendly. Chantal looked at her skeptically, her head cocked to the side and her eyebrows raised; did she really think she was going to tell her how she was doing? She must be joking!

“How’s Justin?” Chantal snorted at that, “You expect me to tell you how he’s doing?”

Stephanie smiled in return.

“You got to be joking me” Chantal said while shaking her head.

“I thought you needed a friend since you two have been having some problems lately”

Chantal’s eyes glared, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” she said through gritted teeth which made Stephanie smile triumphantly.

“If you ever need to talk you know where to find me” she said with a fake smile.

Chantal clenched her fists at her sides, how good would it feel to lunge at her and punch her, hard? Instead she turned on her heel and walked away, inside where she could shut Stephanie out.

“What did I say” Stephanie said innocently.

“Fuck off Stephanie, leave her alone” Lianne defended her friend. Stephanie sighed dramatically.

“Alright, because you ask so nicely”

Lianne didn’t trust it one bit but turned around and started to walk away.

“How’s your lover boy” Stephanie called after her. Lianne froze, she slowly turned around,

“He’s none of your business” she said.

“What do you care anyway? School newspaper is over”

“Maybe but my new project is only just starting”

“What new project?”

“You’ll see” she smiled mischievously before she turned and left.

“Argh!” Lianne grumbled, she could strangle her sometimes. Instead she walked inside to see how Chantal was doing.

Stephanie glanced over her shoulder, the irritated look on Lianne’s face made her smile but it wasn’t half as good as the look on Chantal’s face when she mentioned ‘her problems’. She was too easy, Stephanie thought, it made it so much more fun. Her new project as she’d called it was almost a dream come true. The man she’d sold her article to; Rob Werton was willing to offer her an internship, he pulled a few strings and during graduation Rob had let her know that she’d start her summer job beginning of June.

She’d been ecstatic; this was what she’d always wanted, working as a journalist. However this was the fourth week of work but till now she hadn’t been given the chance to actually write something, you had to urn it and she thought that sucked. Determined to urn it she went to the person who could always give her some sort of story just because she was dating and that person was Chantal, she’d discovered just recently that not only Chantal was dating and Nsyncer, Lianne was dating one as well. That gave her the perfect story; an exclusive Nsync couple story. Two of the people she knew where dating the two biggest pop stars on the planet, how could she not use this to her own advantage? This way she could show she had connections and knew how to use them and with her Nsync couple story she wanted to get herself on the map and she had a feeling she’d succeed.

~*~ June 24th 1999 ~*~

“Good afternoon guys, how have you been?” the radio interviewer asked eyeing all five of them.

“Good” they said in unison.

“What have you been up to lately?” the interviewer continued.

“We’ve been finishing our album it should come out soon and then we’re going to rehearse for the tour which starts on September 18th” JC answered.

“Wow so busy huh?”

“Yup always”

“Cool so that will give the fans something to look forward too, a new album and tour”

They nodded in agreement.

“Ok so there are like all these rumors going around,” the interviewer started while pushing some buttons,

“Speculating that you’re dating a girl named Chantal” he finished eyeing Justin when he completed his sentence. They hadn’t done interviews in a while and so their relationship hadn’t been exposed officially but it would be soon. Justin didn’t answer right away and the host continued, getting into more details.

“She got a whole article devoted to her in some school newspaper” he announced. Justin mentally cursed; radio interviewers were the worst, because no one saw them they always had more guts asking things TV interviews didn’t have the nerve for. Not only that, this was a local radio station and they knew the area and there for the school newspaper; they probably had been speculating about it since they’d seen it back in April, waiting till Nsync came by to drop the question on him.

“Is Chantal Montgomery really your girlfriend?” the host pressed the issue.

“Wow you cut right to the chase don’t ya?” Justin joked.

The host nodded, “Yup, so is she?”

“Yes…. she is” he said, sighing dramatically earning a few chuckles.

“And what about the article”

“Hey I saw an article of me once!” Joey exclaimed all of a sudden.

The host laughed and asked, “Really?”

Joey nodded, “Yup pictures and everything” he added.

“I’d frame it if I were you” the host commented before going back to his original question.

“So what about the article about your girlfriend, Chantal Montgomery?” Justin sighed, giving Joey a thankful smile before answering, “The school newspaper wrote a whole story about her, more like an autobiography and we wanted to keep our relationship secret for a little while…”

“But you told Rick on... That you’re dating a girl named Chantal” the host interrupted him.

“Yes I did but see that’s something completely different. I don’t mind mentioning her name. I just didn’t want to put her in the public eye, with the article and the pictures, that will become almost impossible” he explained.

“Yes, the article does say a lot about her and probably more than you and this girl want to reveal” he sympathized.

“Exactly! It was just really low to throw her private information out on the street, for everybody to read. I’m used to it and I just have to except it because it’s part of my job, the job I chose. She however didn’t choose this. It’s not her job and she isn’t used to this. You can’t control who you fall in love with and I don’t think it was fair to reveal the things who where revealed”

“No but why did you lie about the relationship, saying you two were friends and the pictures with that article showed you two weren’t ‘just’ friends”

“We kinda wanted to keep our relationship a secret, you know it was still so young and that’s a lot of attention so we didn’t talk about it”

“That’s understandable” he agreed.

“Yes it is isn’t it?” Justin joked, he was glad this guy didn’t go further with the ‘We’re just friends’ statement.

“Alright so how’s you’re love life JC?” the host intrigued.

“It’s good” he answered with a grin before Chris interrupted,

“Hey why don’t you ask me about my love life?” he said indignantly since he’d been sitting in between Justin and JC and the host simply passed him thinking people would want to know about Justin and JC’s love live not Chris’.

“Because you don’t have one!” Justin joked, saving JC from any more questions about breaking up with his girlfriend and immediately having a new one.

“I so do!” he argued, leaving the host laughing about their comment and what they’d intended to do; changing the subject at least from JC.

“Ok Chris how’s your love life?”

“Oh doesn’t exist” he said simply, which only caused the host to laugh harder,

“Ok folks so Chris doesn’t have a love life…”

“Well why should we? We’re singers for god’s sake not playboys” he said in an exaggerated tone of voice but he was right.

“Ok well we’ll just play a song of you guys, here’s there newest one; Bye Bye Bye”

While the host was busy starting the song JC shot Chris a grateful smile, which was returned easily with the message; you’re welcome. Some questions they just avoided and mostly Chris or Justin would make a joke about the subject and then the reporter would forget all about it and change the subject which was exactly what there intention was, worked most of the time though and it kept them from answering questions they didn’t want to answer. It had worked with JC but unfortunately it didn’t help Justin, obviously the guy had been waiting to ask this since the paper came out and wasn’t about to give up because of a joke, he was determined to get the official announcement that Justin had a girlfriend named Chantal Montgomery, just like the article had said. Justin wished he could have said; screw off, no comment, that would be cool. Unfortunately it didn’t work that way and the host had his way, he was the first one who could officially tell Justin was dating the girl who’d been speculated to date him for a couple of months now.

“Chantal Montgomery?” a guy addressed her as she was on her way to her car.

“Yes? I’m sorry do I know you?” she asked, fishing her car keys out of her bag.

“I’m Robert Davidson and I’m writing an article about someone you might know” he started, at the mention of the article Chantal’s features hardened and she asked firmly,

“And who is that, Mr. Davidson?”

“Justin Timberlake” he answered.

“Ah well I’m sorry but I can’t help you” she said curtly turning away from him, opening her car door. This was the first reporter who showed up at her house to offer her money for an interview but she knew how to handle it because of the multiple phone calls she’d received in the days before.

“Maybe you can, for the right price of course” Chantal turned swiftly, glaring at the man in front of her.

Did he really just say that?!

“I’m sorry I can’t help you” she repeated through gritted teeth, trying not to yell at him.

“Here is my card, if you change your mind, give me a call” he said as if she’d never said a word, producing a business card out of his right pocket. She glared at it before saying,

“I won’t change my mind”

“Who knows, never say never” he said with a smile before shoving the card in her hand and then he turned to leave. She watched him walk away,

“The nerve of that guy” she said exasperated but put the card in her bag anyway without thinking about it. She would throw it away later she thought before she got in her car and drove off.

“Take five” the choreographer said earning him a few grateful sighs.

“I’m going to go outside for a little while” Lance stated before disappearing out the door, not waiting for a response. JC followed him, still concerned. It had been a few weeks since Lynn and Lance broke up and because they were working so hard lately Lance didn’t get the chance to feel, he saw it as a blessing but JC was concerned. He would just build it up inside but he didn’t know Lance would cry himself to sleep at night, of course he did see that lance didn’t look like himself; always tired and puffy eyes. But it was not like they were never tired before, he just needed to make sure Lance would be ok.

“Lance, are you ok?” JC asked coming up behind Lance who was lying on the grass.

“Yeah” Lance answered without opening his eyes.

“You sure?” JC asked as he sat beside him. Lance sat up and looked at JC,

“I will be” he said with a smile, “You don’t have to worry about me JC, I’m a big boy”

JC looked him over, “Sometimes” he agreed, Lance may think he could do it all by himself but sometimes you needed to accept someone’s help. JC knew not to push Lance too much to talk or he would shut him out completely so he carefully tried one more time,

“If you need to talk don’t hesitate alright?”

Lance nodded, “I won’t”

JC kept his gaze on him, “Don’t stay here too long, we’ll start again in a couple of minutes”

Lance once again nodded, “I’ll be right there” he said as he watched JC stand up. He knew he meant well but he just didn’t feel the need to talk to someone, they couldn’t take away the hurt so it was useless, besides if he did need someone to talk to he wouldn’t hesitate. Although JC might think that, he knew when he needed help and that just wasn’t now.

~*~ July 13th 1999 ~*~

Dear Ms. Merel Schrama,

Welcome to the Nsync’s No strings attached tour crew, the official tour will kick off on September 18th and a lot needs to be done before we can hit the road. The dancers will practice whole through the month of August starting on August 5th. On September 2nd the dancers will meet with Nsync at the Lakeland practice center. The rehearsals of the tour will be completed in those last two weeks up until September 18th.

She remembered the audition a few weeks ago, man was she nervous not necessarily when she was dancing but when they all stood in 5 lines of 10 people and they only called ten people’s numbers; first 5 numbers who would really be going tour with Nsync and then 5 five more just in case something might happen and they needed a back up dancer. She’d never been that nervous in her life, because of that she had trouble listening to the numbers which were read off a clipboard and she couldn’t remember her own number; why the hell couldn’t they just work with names. I know my name… right? Then the numbers started,

“1267,”

The girl let out an excited squeak before taking one step forward.

“1879”

Another girl who jumped from excitement and Merel slowly lost hope, she’d seen those girls dance and thought they were way better than her,

“2384”

Oh that sounded like my number…

Merel looked down at her top where the number was pinned on, 2384.

Oh shit!

THAT IS MY NUMBER!!

She took one step forward trying not to jump up and down, she needed to be professional she told herself but she couldn’t wipe the huge grin off of her face as she stood a step ahead of the other 47 people still praying they could soon join the ones at the front.

She did it, she made it!