"Okay, on my count...5,6,7,8!" Kira shouted to the group of dancers standing in front of her.

"Perfect Kelly...too slow Jake...that's better...all right now, turn!"

In the two years since the fight that had broken up Sliversin, Kira had established herslef as a choreographer. She hadn't kept in touch with any of the girls, it stil hurt her too much to think of that time in her life. They were her best friends, almost like sisters.

The last she heard, Janine was getting married. It didn't surprise her that she didn't recieve an invitation.

She hadn't thought a lot about the other girls for a while, until that morning when she turned on the news to find that Janine was getting married the next day near where she worked on MTV news.

She called for a 20 minute break at 11:00, she wasn't feeling all that great. By 11:45, she was running to the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before she threw up.

"Just great, I'm sick."

She called her friend, Fatima Robinson to see if she would fill in for her.

"Yeah, sure I don't mind. Are you gonna be okay, sweetie?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just a little bug. I'll be better than ever by tomorrow."

"Al right. If you need me to fill in tomorrow too, I'd be happy to."

"That's okay. Well, actually, I was wondering if you could come in and help me. This is a big group of dancers."

"No problem."

"Thanks, Fatima. You're the greatest."

"I know," she said, laughing.

Kira went home and went directly to the bathroom.After she threw up, she took a small trash can with her to bed. Immediately after her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep. She stayed asleep until 6:30 the next morning when Fatima called to see if she was coming in.

"Yeah. Roni's coming in too. She hasn't been at work in a while, so she needs to be there."

"I have a friend coming too. His name's Kevin. I choreograph for him and he wants to see if there's any new moves he wants to learn."

"Cool. I've got to go take a shower. See you later Fatima."

"Bye Kira."

Kira left her house half an hour later, her short red hair covered by an old beat up Nike hat. She was, in a sense, in disguise. Janine was getting married that day near where the studio was where she worked and there were a few Sliversin fans lurking around trying to find out where Kira worked.

She pulled her Rav 4 into the parking lot of the studio and got out. She was aproached by a girl about 14 or 15 years old.

"Are you Kira from Sliversin?"

"I used to be. What can I do for you?"

"Sign this please," she said, thrusting an autograph book at her.

"Who do I make it out to?"

"Sarah."

She signed it and handed the book back to the girl, "Can you do me a favor, Sarah?"

"Anything."

"Don't tell anyone where I work."

Sarah put on an innocent look, "I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

"Thanks."

"No problem, Kira."

She walked to the studio and immediately slammed into someone.

"I'm sorry," she said, picking up the bag she had dropped.

"It's all right," a deep male voice answered.

Kira didn't even have time to see who the sexy voice belonged to. She was running late.

"Sorry, I gotta go," she said, and sprinted down the hall.

"Strange girl," Kevin muttered to himself and continued his trip to the Coke machines.

When he returned, he found the dancers were hard at work with Fatima leading them. He sat down to watch and silently wondered who this Kira girl that Fatima kept talking about was.

Kira walked behind the dancers, making sure that everyone hit the right step on the right beat. She walked to the front to join Fatima in leading them. Kevin glanced over at the front again and saw the redheaded girl he had bumped into earlier had joined Fatima at the front.

"That must be Kira," he thought, "She's pretty. She's also an amazing dancer. Wow, with the way she moves, I wonder if she's any good on the dance floor, free style, and not doing some choreographed number."

"Hey everyone, chill for a second!" Kira shouted over the music.

Everyone stopped moving and Roni stopped the music.

"What's up Kira?" Fatime asked.

"I dont like that last move, it's too slow. Let's move it up a half step and turn instead of hitting the floor like this," she said, demonstrating the move.

Roni cued the music and Kira stepped back to watch the dancers try. She seemed pleased with the results. They worked until about 3:45 when Kira remembered that she had to pick up her neice from school at 4:15.

As she was brushing out her hair in the hallway, Kevin approached her.

"Are you Kira?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Kevin."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry, but I'm running late and I've got to pick up my neice."

"It's all right."

Kira stopped in her tracks, "Say that again."

"It's all right."

"You're the guy I ran into this morning."

"Yeah."

"I'm really sorry about that. I was running late and I had to get inside."

"Hey, we're both still alive, there's no broken bones, and we'll be fine."

She smiled, "It's been a bad month for me. I'm sorry, I'm just giong a little crazy right now."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah, but I can't right now. I'm running late."

"How about we talk over dinner?"

"That sounds great actually. Let's meet somewhere. You decide the place and time."

"The Olive Garden at 8:00."

"Great. I'll be there. I've gotta go now. See you later, Kevin."

She got into her car and sped off.

"I've just made a date with a guy I've known for two minutes. What's wrong with me?" she asked herself. Of course, she didn't get an answer. She almost decided not to go, but she knew that he'd be waiting for her and if she didn't show that he'd tell Fatima and then she'd never hear the end of it.

Kira pulled into the parking lot of her neice's school. Mary jumped in the car as soon as it stopped and she started talking as soon as the door was closed.

"Aunt Kira, I've got so much to tell you. A lot happeened today. Bobby Miller hit Jayson Tucker. Shelia McCray said that Sliversin sucked, so I told her off. Jennifer Liston and Heidi Jackson got into a fight, there was so much blood everywhere..."

As Mary babbled on, Kira tuned her out. With her mentioning Sliversin, Kira began to think of Janine again. She silently wondered if any of the other girls had been invited to the wedding. She doubted it.

Mary noticed that Kira wasn't paying attention to what she was saying anymore, so she turned on the radio and flipped through the stations. Finding nothing on, she put in a CD and turned it to number seven. Beautiful music filled the air, then an angelic voice joined in.

I never thought that I would lose my mind,
That I could control this,
Never thought that I'd be left behind,
That i was stronger than you.
Girl, if only I knew what I've done,
You know, so why don't you tell me?
I would bring dowm the moon and the sun,
To show, how much I care...

Kira's concentration on her thoughts broke as she listened to the song. It was one of the most beautiful peices of music she'd ever heard. The person singing was almost angelic with his tone.

"Mary, who is this?"

"The Backstreet Boys."

The name was familiar, but she'd never heard their voice before, she was sure of that. She'd never forget harmonies that sounded that good.

"Do you think you could make me a copy of this CD?"

"Sure Aunt Kira."

"Thanks, sweetie. Oh, and do you have any pictures of these guys?"

"No, Carrie has my noteook and that's where all my pictures are. I'm sorry."

"That's okay."

The sing ended and Mary turned it to number nine.

"This one's even more beautiful," Mary said proudly.

Kira didn't say anything, she just lost herself in the music.

Chapter 2
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