"Whoa, whoa, whoa Nick!" Brian exclaimed, holding up his hands.

Nick whirled around, breathing heavily from his rampage throughout the hotel. He glared at Brian.

"I am sick and tired of being treated like a baby damn it! I'm nineteen years old, not three!"

"Nick, AJ and the other guys didn't mean it."

"Shut up Brian!" Nick yelled. "I'm not in the mood for this. Okay? Not-in-the-mood."

Brian reeled backwards. Nick had never really taken out his anger on him before like the way he was doing now. It sort of frightened him to see his best friend act up like this.

"You know what? I'm sick and tired of this group! I'm sick of everyone telling me to be someone who I'm not, who I don't want to be!" Nick kicked the chair and sent it flying across the room. "Maybe I should just go and be apart of another group. Maybe then I won't be considered the fucking baby of it, and maybe I'll get some respect!"

"You don't mean that."

"I don't mean it? I don't mean it?" With each question, his voice rose. "I don't fucking mean it? Screw you Brian. You don't know anything! As far as it concerns me, you're just as bad as them out there!" He pointed towards the door. "So why don't you go and join the stupid bastards and go back to making fun of me. The baby."

Brian stood silent.

"I said get the hell out of my room!" Nick yelled.

Dejectedly, Brian walked to the door and opened it. He glanced over his shoulder to see Nick sitting on the bed, his head in his hands.

Nick looked up when heard the door quietly close, and sighed. He hadn’t meant to come down so hard on Bri, but he was just so angry. He couldn’t take it any more, the constant mockery. Sure, he was only 19, the youngest member of the group, but he had gone through the same things as the rest of them, and felt he deserved a little more respect. But, all Nick ever got was snide laughter behind his back. On rare occasions, mostly when the guys decided to drink, they wouldn’t even bother to hide their comments. It wasn’t as if it was a constant thing, they were still best friends, but it just got to him sometimes. He remembered the words he spoke to Brian before he left. ‘Maybe I should just go and be apart of another group. Maybe then I won't be considered the fucking baby of it, and maybe I'll get some respect!’ He saw the genuine respect that other bands in the industry had for their members. Like Justin Timberlake, for instance. He, like Nick, was the youngest member of his group and yet, he seemed to always be in control of the rest of them. They listened attentively when he spoke, and respected his ideas and decisions. Nick couldn’t even thank his family on an awards show, for crying out loud. Nick had started doing this first, but all of a sudden he felt like he was being outdone. Justin knew how to charm the wits out of everybody, while Nick couldn’t even get his “best friends” to stop making fun of him for two seconds. His thoughts were a complete jumble, and he knew there was only one thing that would help. He lay down on the bad and reached for the phone. After dialing a bunch of numbers, it began to ring.

“Thank you for calling the imperial palace, this is the princess speaking.” Her voice came through the line in a false (but surprisingly good) British accent.

“Hey Al.” Nick replied, not missing a beat.

“Hey Nickstar! Wow, can you believe we will be together in like 18 hours?” Alicia responded, sounding excited. She and Nick had been best friends for 8 years. They had gone through all the prepubescent stuff together, and amazingly remained friends. It was she who encouraged him to stick with the group at the first, even though he was insecure. Alicia had always had feelings for him, starting from a childlike affection and escalating into a full-blown love thing. She knew he didn’t feel the same way, but she longed to be close to him. When he asked her to come and visit him for a few days in Paris, she hadn’t hesitated in saying yes.

“Nope. I can’t wait, though.” He said sadness creeping into his voice.

“Hey Nick, what’s wrong? Do you not want me to come now, or something? Cause I can very easily cancel my ticket…”

“No! That’s not it at all! I’m sorry Al, but tonight hasn’t been so hot.” His voice resumed a tone she knew very well.

“Baby-stuff again Star?” she delicately asked.

“Yeah, you know it. I don’t know why I let it get to me so much! I just get so mad at them, especially AJ. I mean, he isn’t that much older than I am, and yet he still treats me like I can’t do anything right. Tonight they wouldn’t let me have a beer, and they were saying shit like ‘You’ll just end up puking anyway’ I even yelled at Brian.” He said, softly

Alicia sighed. He never yelled at Brian. She knew this was more severe than he was letting on. “Nick, I’ve told you so many times, the guys aren’t as serious about this as you take it. They are just playing around. Please don’t get worked up about it. I hate to hear you sound so upset.”

Nick reached into his back pocket, and pulled out his dark leather wallet, his fingers grazing the medallion. He turned on the light next to the bed and pulled out a picture of Alicia taken just before he left 3 months ago. She was standing next to a large palm tree with a sign that read ‘Don’t forget me Nickstar!’ She was making a pouty face, and looked a lot younger than her 18 years. Her dark brown hair cascaded to her shoulders, and her large green eyes seemed sad. He knew she was just acting, but it was nice to know she cared about him. He had found the picture on top of his clothes when he began to unpack the first night on the bus. He ran his finger along the picture, from the top of her head to the ends of her long legs. She wasn’t his type, really, but she was beautiful. They had just been friends for so long, he couldn’t see her as sexy. Nick knew that Al kind of had a crush on him, but she had never made an attempt to flirt or make it obvious, so he just let it go.

“Hey Nick, you still there?” Alicia asked.

“Yeah, sorry. Hey Al…have you ever…wished you were someone else?”

“I guess so. I always wanted to be one of those dolphin trainers at Sea World. Why do you ask?” Alicia was a little confused, but she really wanted to know what was on his mind.

“I guess cause I was sitting here thinking that I wished I had more respect. And then I thought of how he gets so much attention, and all and…” Nick was cut off.

“Wait, wait, who?”

Embarrassed, Nick softly said his name, eliciting a ‘huh?’ in response from Al, so he said it louder. “Justin Timberlake.”

Alicia started to laugh. “Nick, that’s pretty funny. Hey, I wouldn’t mind having him for a best friend. He’s a hottie!”

All of a sudden Nick became angry again. ‘How could she say that? Someone else in her life could replace me that easily?’ Nobody understood what it was like to be him. Not even his closest friend in the world. He had to face the music; he wasn’t good enough for anything. The guys were right, he was just a baby; inexperienced, unlearned, and unworthy of all the good-fortune he had been having. “I guess you better finish packing. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Nick said lightly, not wanting her to know how mad her comment had made him. He quickly hung up the phone, and rested against the pillows. He turned on his side to stick his wallet back in his pocket and once again, his fingers brushed the necklace. He pulled it out this time, and studied it again. The garnet rock shimmered in the lamplight, capturing his attention. He remembered what the letter had said. Make your wish count. Nick could think of a million things he wanted at that moment. He just couldn’t decide. “I’ll bet Justin Timberlake doesn’t have these problems.” Nick said aloud, the words echoing in the silence of the room. He lay back and closed his eyes, but unable to sleep, all the while still gathering his thoughts.