The Way You Said Hello ~ Chapter One

I floated somewhere, in a warm, dark, place. I didn't know where I was, but it was silent and peaceful. Suddenly, I heard noises - music, a voice calling my name.

"Becky…"

What was going on? I felt like I began to fall, like I would hit the ground at any second -

"Becky!"

My eyes snapped open. The voice was my mother, and the music was my alarm clock. Damn it! I must have been dreaming.

"I said, you're running late for school!"

"Sorry, Mom." Groaning, I rolled out of bed. I was moving as soon as my feet hit the floor. Another Monday morning, another rude awakening. What else was new?

I ran around like a maniac trying to get ready for school fast enough to make it there on time. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I threw on a knee length skirt and tank top and haphazardly piled my hair up on top of my head in a twist. Breakfast would have to wait, and I could do my makeup while I drove to school.

Today was November fourth, a day like any other. On this day I was about two months into the school year. I was a senior at a very prestigious private school in Tampa, Florida, where I'd lived for my entire life. I really did hate to talk about it, but I was by far the smartest person in my graduating class. It caused me a lot of trouble sometimes, but I learned to deal with it. A lot of people were jealous and hated me, but they didn't stop to look past the surface.

There was a lot more to me than what most people saw. I had very high hopes for myself in life, but right now I was just interested in having a great time in whatever I did. I had a very tight circle of friends. We did everything together - we were like sisters, since we'd all known each other since we were about five years old. My two best friends, Gillie and Eilene, and I were inseparable. I guess I wasn't the most popular person in the world, but I didn't really care. I felt that popularity was extremely over-rated. Who really gave a care about it, anyway? It wasn't on the top of my list of priorities at the time, that's for sure.

Neither was having a boyfriend. My schedule was far too hectic to fit a love life in. Well, that's what I told myself, anyway. The truth was that I'd had problems before: relationship problems. I won't get into that now, though. But one of the most defining characteristics I had was the fact that I desperately didn't want to fall in love - but at the same time, I yearned for it. Nevertheless, on November fourth, I was perfectly happy with my life the way it was.

As soon as I got to school that morning, I jumped out of the car and glanced at my watch. Exactly fifty-seven seconds until the bell would ring and I would be late for class. At least I had history with Mr. Sanders - he probably wouldn't notice if I didn't show up at all. But on the off chance that he might call roll today, I hurried getting my books anyway.

During all of my classes that morning, I couldn't concentrate, and instead I found my mind wandering constantly. At least I wasn't nodding off like I had so many times before. Not only that, but some really catchy tune was running through my head. "As Long as You Love Me." Backstreet Boys, or something like that.

At lunch Gillian and Eilene ran up to me, talking simultaneously as usual. These two were attached at the hip. You couldn't find one without the other. Though the three of us were best friends, I was slightly more independent of the other two.

Gillian was always the normal one. She was also very smart, but we liked to jokingly point out to her the fact that she occasionally lacked in common sense. Gillie was very pretty in an unconventional way. She was around five-foot-two, and her brownish-blonde, curly hair fell to just above her shoulders. Her eyes were my favorite thing about her: they changed color depending on what mood she was in. When she was sad, they were green - when she was happy, blue.

Eilene personified the saying that big things come in small packages. In this case the big things were her energy and personality. She was the crazy, random, off-the-wall one that could always make us laugh. She and I played basketball together, even though she was only four-foot-eleven. She was thin and had very thick, straight brown hair and green eyes. I believed that there wasn't a male on campus who hadn't, at one time, made a pass at her. I also believed it was because her skirts were so short it should be illegal.

I jangled my car keys impatiently. "Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"Let's go to the mall," said Eilene enthusiastically.

"Anywhere but the mall," said Gillian, at exactly the same time. They looked at each other and stuck out their tongues, laughing.

I smiled widely, opening my car door. "Just get in the damn car," I grinned.

Eilene won. We ended up eating lunch in the food court at the mall. After we finished, we decided to take a spin through the mall, since we had fifteen extra minutes. Passing a music store, I decided on the spur of the moment to duck inside and see what was on sale. I breezed through the aisles and, when I found the sales bin, shuffled through the CD cases to see what was there. Gillie and Eilene walked up behind me.

"Whatcha looking at?" Gillie peered over my shoulder.

"Just checking to see if I can pick up something cheap," I mumbled. Near the bottom of the bin I found something interesting. I picked it up and studied the outside of the case.

"Hmm, the Backstreet Boys. Don't they sing that song I've been singing all morning?" I asked, flipping the case over and reading the song listing on the back.

"Yeah," laughed Eilene. "All the little teenage girls are obsessed with them. It's really annoying. I like their music, though."

"Well, I don't care who else likes them," I argued. "I like their music, and I'm going to get their CD. It's on sale. Besides," I said, looking at the album cover, "this one is really cute." I pointed to the one who was second from the right, leaning against the wall, wearing a cross necklace. There was something about him that struck a chord somewhere inside me.

After making my purchase, we left the mall. In the car I put my new CD in and flipped through the songs. Back at school, the three of us went our separate ways to class.

When the bell rang to signal the end of school, I was in English class. Even though my teacher, Mr. Rothstein, was in the middle of a sentence, I jumped out of my desk at the sound of the bell and made a mad dash to the door.

"Becky, where are you-" was all I heard before the door slammed shut behind me and I was free. I half-walked, half-skipped to my locker to get my books for homework. I wasn't sure why I was so happy; I guess it was just one of those end-of-school euphoric moments. Anyway, I made my rounds saying goodbye to everyone and made my way to my car - an ice blue BMW Z3 convertible. I hopped in, put the top down and cranked up my new CD.

"Everybody, groove to the music, everybody jam!" I sang along, horribly off-key, to my new CD. This was pretty good! While I was sitting at a red light, I pulled out the booklet from the CD case and flipped through it. Hmm….that guy I thought was hot was AJ. Nice name. The other guys were pretty cute too-I promised myself that I'd learn all of their names too. I wondered why I hadn't been interested in them before. Well, better late than never.

I pulled into my driveway and parked the car behind the house. My parents owned twenty-five acres of land just north of Tampa, so we had no neighbors in sight. Our house was totally surrounded by cypress swamps and lakes. I loved living there: it was peaceful and quiet, and I could see the stars at night. The same thing could not be said for most places in a city that size.

The house was silent. My parents were barely ever home: they worked seven days a week and then some. I didn't mind it too much though - I liked to be alone sometimes. As soon as I went inside, I let the dogs out and threw all of my things down on the ground in the hall outside my bedroom door. I walked into my room and flipped the switch on my computer. While it booted itself up, I changed into khaki shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. I made a quick run to the kitchen to get myself an apple, and then opened America Online on my computer. Immediately after I signed on, I got an instant message.

"Ryan!" I exclaimed out loud.

Ryan was one of my best friends. She and I had gone to school together since pre-kindergarten until she switched to a public school in tenth grade. Before that happened, we stuck to each other like glue. Now I barely had time to see her, so I talked to her whatever chance I got.

We chatted for a few minutes, and she told me she was talking to other people in a chat room.

"Oh really?" I typed. "What chat room?"

"A Backstreet Boys chat room on a web page I found."

I suddenly got very interested. "You like the Backstreet Boys?"

"Yeah, I love 'em!" she typed. "Nick is so hot!"

I looked at my CD jacket. Nick was the blond one, I discovered. Hot? He looked too young to be labeled hot, but I would definitely call him cute.

"I just got their CD today," I told her. "Personally, I think AJ is hot."

"Oh, cool, do you like it?" she asked. "Yeah, AJ is hot, but not as hot as Nick."

I smiled. How typical of Ryan. She's so cute, I thought to myself. I got the address of the chat room where she was chatting and signed off. Yawning, I stumbled to my desk and pulled out my science book. Homework was in order.

~

When I finally finished my homework at 8:00, I decided to check out that chat room Ryan was hanging out in. When I got there, I picked the chat name AJsGirl-it was a Backstreet Boys chat room, after all, and I wanted to fit in. As soon as I got in the room I was totally confused. People were chatting left and right and I couldn't follow the conversation at all.

I discovered that Ryan was in the room with me. Maybe she could explain to me what the hell was going on! I decided it would be much easier just to place everyone else in the room on "ignore" so that I could see only what Ryan and I were saying.

"Hola," I typed. "So what's everybody talking about in here?"

"Not much," she said. "Just the BSB of course. You would never believe who I'm talking to!" I waited for her to continue. "Nick Carter's girlfriend! Doesn't that rock?"

"Really?" I asked. "How did you meet her?"

Ryan said, "I met her in here. She's soooo nice."

I raised my eyebrow and asked, "If you met her in here, how do you know it's her?"

"Trust me, it's her," she assured me. "She knows stuff only a girlfriend could know."

Nick Carter's girlfriend? Yeah, right. If I was the girlfriend of a Backstreet Boy, there was no way I'd be sitting around in front of my computer talking to strangers. I'd be out having a life and hanging with the guys! Whoever was pretending to be Nick's girlfriend was probably some ten year old girl trying to have some fun. I remained skeptical. Supposedly her name was Rachel, and she lived in New York.

After getting Rachel's e-mail address, I signed off the computer and went into the bathroom. I turned on the bathtub and let the water heat up. When it was hot enough, I put the plug in the drain and poured in some bubble bath-"peach tree and coconut"-scented. My favorite.

Waiting for the water to fill the tub, I studied myself in the mirror. Who I saw a girl who stood at an average height of five-foot-seven - not tall, but enough to be able to carry herself with elegance. I saw brown hair that wasn't quite brown: it was a really unique color that shimmered with ash and auburn, hanging long and straight to the middle of her back. Her eyes were deep pools of chocolate, expressive but always hiding a secret. As I watched, this girl in the mirror showed me my favorite thing about her: a beautiful smile. It was a wry smile, though. Who did I really see? An eighteen-year-old girl who thought she knew way too much about life, but didn't know anything at all.

Turning from the mirror, I got in the bath and relaxed. As I lay there, my mind started to turn over the events of the day. I replayed the fun things Gillian, Eilene and I did-they were the greatest friends. I loved them to death. I wondered how well I did on the history paper I turned in first period. I thought about that CD I bought. Thank god I discovered the Backstreet Boys, I thought to myself. AJ was so sexy…I thought about the picture in the CD case. Then I thought about Ryan and that girl Rachel. I hadn't seen in Ryan for such a long time-we should get together. I was free Thursday night, maybe that could work. And Rachel…well, I didn't think Rachel was for real. It could be anyone pretending to be the girlfriend of a Backstreet Boy. I was going to have to warn Ryan not to believe her too quickly.

I lay like that in the bath for twenty minutes. When my toes started to wrinkle and the water got cold, I stepped out and dried myself off. I changed into boxers and a tank top and got into bed. As I hovered in the space between asleep and awake, I started to hum to myself: I'll never break your heart, I'll never make you cry…

~

Continue to chapter two

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