"Welcome back. I'm Rita, and we're here with Unique. That was a wonderful performance you just put on for us." Rita, the host of the talk show the girls were appearing on that day said.
"Thank you." Danielle said.
"Your very welcome. Now, I just have to ask you a few questions, but, first why don't you introduce yourselves."
The girls faced the camera with the red light.
"Hi, my name is Katie McGraw. I'm the oldest in the group, and I'm almost twenty."
Someone whistled, and everyone applauded.
"I'm Danielle Fountaine, I'm the middle child, and I'm nineteen."
Someone screamed, while everyone else applauded.
"And I'm Brittny, the baby, although I'm only two months younger then Danielle, at nineteen."
"UNIQUE ROCKS!" someone shouted. The audience laughed.
"Good. Where are you from?"
"Orlando, Florida." Katie replied.
"And your debut US album come out when?"
"This Friday." Brittny answered.
"I understand you hit it big in Europe long before you came here."
"Yeah. We'd been touring all over Europe for almost four years, and have two albums out over there." Katie explained.
"How did you girls meet?"
"We met when we were little babies," Danielle laughed. "Our parents were friends. Our mom's got pregnant around the same time and we grew up together."
"Honestly, we're like family." Brittny said.
"I don't think you can get more close-knit then us." Katie smiled.
"I've heard you've been getting close with the Backstreet Boys lately."
The girls sighed.
"How did I know that was gonna come up?" Danielle asked.
Rita smiled. "There are a lot of rumors going on concerning you and the Backstreet Boys, so, if you don't mind, I thought I'd run a couple by you and see if they're true."
"All right," Brittny agreed.
"First off, you three are dating Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, and AJ McLean?"
"That is just a rumor. We're just good friends." Danielle lied.
"Really? Do good friends do this?" Rita held up a tabloid newspaper called Flash. The picture of Nick and Katie kissing was blown up on the front.
Katie's eyes widened.
"Wait," Rita said. "There's more." she turned the page.
Two pictured of Brittny and Brian with their arms around eachother, and Danielle and AJ dancing very close to one another graced the pages.
Danielle ran her fingers through her hair nervously, trying to quickly think of a good excuse.
Brittny sighed.
Near the camera, a man tapped his watch.
"We have to go to a commercial break. When we come back, more with Unique on the Backstreet Boys.
The lights dimmed, and several people walked up to the desk and began talking to Rita.
Brittny, Danielle, and Katie put their heads together.
"What are we gonna say?" Katie asked.
"I don't know! I didn't even know those pictures were taken!" Brittny cried softly.
"I'm going to tell her the truth." Danielle took command.
"Well, if we had told the truth in the first place like I told you to, none of this would have happened." Brittny said with a hint of anger in her voice.
"Don't get mad at me. If anything we need to stick together right now." Danielle said.
"All right, are you sure you wanna do this?" Katie asked.
Danielle nodded. "Let me handle it."
"All right. Just don't make us look like big liars and turn the fans off." Katie said.
"But we are liars." Brittny pointed out.
"You guys, quit worrying. I'll take care of it."
Suddenly, people scrambled off stage.
"And your on in three. . . two. . . one!"
"Hi! We're back with Unique!. In case you just tuned in, we were just discussing the girls relationships with the Backstreet Boys. They were just about the explain why they say they are only friends with the guys when these pictured show them acting as more then friends." Rita said to the camera.
Danielle sighed. She made it sound so. .. evil. "Can I make a confession?"
"Go right ahead."
"All right, but you have to promise to listen before you speak."
"Of course."
"We lied."
The audience booed.
"We aren't just friends with the guys. But none of us are in serious relationships with them either. And before yo judge us, and call us liars, let me explain why we did it."
"Well, why did you do it?" Rita asked.
"Because we felt threatened. We feared for our safety. Millions of girls are in love with the Backstreet Boys, and, honestly, they get hostile when they find out that the guys have girlfriends. I experience it somewhat first hand. We just didn't want anti-unique groups forming out there because we are casually see the guys. I realize now that that was a mistake, and, right now on national television, we are apologizing to all of you. I hope you understand our feelings about this, and why we did it, and don't hate us for trying to protect ourselves."
Rita nodded. "Well, I certainly understand."
"I'm glad you do."
"I'm sorry, but that's all the time we have for today." Rita said. "I want to thank you girls for coming-"
"Oh, thank you." Katie said.
"And I'll see you tomorrow."
Theme music played, as Rita stood up from behind her desk. She shook the girls hands, thanked them for coming, and told them they could leave.
They waited until they were out of the studio and on their bus before saying anything.
"That was very convincing." Brittny said.
"I know! I had so much sympathy for us, and I didn't need to!" Katie laughed.
"Well, I had to to say something."
Cheryl climbed onto the bus, talking into her cell-phone.
"Oh, you were watching? Yes, I do think that was very bold of them-" she shot the girls an angry look. "That information is unknown by me. If you could hold for one moment. . . " Cheryl cupped the mouthpiece with her hand, and turned to the girls who were seated in the kitchenette at the table. "Are Holly and Diane seeing Howie and Kevin?"
"Yes." Brittny replied.
"Yes they are. . . really? Of course that can be arranged. Yes, yes. Thank you, I'll see you in a bit. Buh-bye now." Cheryl pressed the END button on her phone.
"What was that about?" Katie asked nosily.
"That was someone from YM magazine. Plans have changed. Originally you were going to do an interview while the Backstreet Boys did a photo shoot, and then you would do your shoot while the boys did an interview. Now, they want you to do a photo shoot and interview with the guys, since this whole dating thing came out. And they want Holly and Diane there to supposedly show how two bands unite.
Danielle grinned. "This could be fun. . . "