The Way You Said Hello ~ Chapter Five

I stared blankly at the computer screen.

Okay, Becky, I told myself. You can do this. "Moment of truth," I muttered, as I double clicked the message to open it.

Hey babe,
I was glad to get your e-mail. I'm not sure how you found my address, but your effort should be rewarded. I always thought I hid myself well! I must say that your message intrigued me. I don't have a lot of time to respond to e-mails, but yours caught my eye. I'm wondering-what happened to you to make you feel so skeptical? Usually people jump at the chance to believe. Whatever the answer is, I'd love to hear it. Feel free to write to me whenever you want. Thanks for being a fan.
Love always,
AJ

"Dear God," I murmured. "Someone please help this psychopath."

What kind of freak goes around pretending to be A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys? There was no question as to whether it was really he or not; I would be a fool to tell myself otherwise.

My finger hovered over the delete key for about three seconds when I decided it wouldn't hurt to respond. I remembered how Ryan exposed Nick's "girlfriend" Rachel as an imposter and thought that it might be fun to do that to this one. I'd have to ask her for some tips later. For now, I would have to manage on my own. I decided my plan of attack would be to go along with the guy and pretend I believed he really was the man himself.

AJ,
How nice of you to write back. I'm glad my message caught your eye, even though that wasn't really my intention. How do you ever have time to check e-mail with your busy schedule? You had asked why I was so cynical- it's a long story that I'd rather not go into right now. I really must be going. Talk to you later.
Becky

I'd catch him on some slip-up he made sooner or later. It would be SO fun to bust his ass for impersonating a Backstreet Boy! I laughed to myself. There were a hella lot of weird people out there on the internet.

This "AJ" and I traded e-mails once every two weeks or so, and my life progressed as normal. November finished up quite smoothly, and I thought no more of the so-called AJ McLean than I felt necessary. Whether he was for real or not, I got to know him very well. As well as you can get to know someone over the internet, anyway. He seemed very nice and, deep inside, I hoped he was genuine. But every time I wished that, I chastised myself for acting so foolish. Meanwhile, Anne, Gillie, Eilene, Ryan and I were counting down the days until December thirtieth, when we would see the *real* Backstreet Boys live in concert.

One night, at the very beginning of December, I was sitting at my computer chatting with Eilene and Ryan when I heard that familiar voice say yet again, "You've got mail." I opened my mail box and saw that the message was from my AJ impostor.

"That must mean he's online right now," I muttered to myself. "I think it's about time this boy and I had a little chat." I quickly responded to his e-mail and sent it. Before I knew it, he and I were e-mailing each other at real time speed, almost chatting.

"So, babe, what are you doing tonight?" he asked me.

"No way, AJ - what are *you* doing tonight?" I asked, hoping to catch him saying something that would show him to be a fake. "Why aren't you out on tour?"

"We're taking a break," he said. "We're putting the tour on hold until December 30, when we play in Tampa. There are a lot of things going on right now."

"Oh, really?" I responded. "I'm going to that concert. I live in Tampa."

"Well then, maybe I'll see you there," he said.

"Um, yeah…sure." I silently smirked. Only if you're in the audience, I thought.

"You don't believe I'm really me, do you?" he suddenly asked. If it were scientifically possible for thought waves to travel through computers, I would have guessed that that was what just happened.

Time to be straightforward, I thought. "Honestly, no, I don't."

"Well then," he said. "I suppose it's time for me to prove it to you."

This time I laughed out loud. Prove it to me? All this loser was going to accomplish by doing that was proving that he truly wasn't who he claimed to be. "LOL! How exactly are you going to prove it to me?" I asked.

"Give me your phone number," he said.

"Uh, yeah right!" What, does he think I'm stupid or something? I thought. I don't even know him!

"Well, I can't give you mine. For security reasons of course."

I remembered what I told myself the first time I e-mailed him. Rebecca Jane Hammer, I told myself, why don't you just live a little, for once? What harm could this really do? I took a deep breath and gave him my number. I swear to God, Becky, if he is some psychopath, I am going to kill you.

"Now get off the computer," he said. "I'm going to call you in exactly three minutes."

I signed off of America Online and sat at my desk, looking out the window, wondering what I had just gotten myself into. Immediately, my telephone rang. I reached across my desk, picked it up, and took a deep breath.

"Hello?" I said coolly.

"Hey Becky, it's me." My heart dropped as I heard my friend Daniel's voice over the phone. It couldn't be-

"Daniel, what do you want?" I asked a little too snappishly.

"Umm, I just wanted to talk," he replied questioningly.

"Daniel, I have to GO!" I yelled and slammed the phone back into the receiver. "Damn it," I muttered. I let out the breath I was holding in. Ten seconds later the phone began to ring again. I glanced at my wristwatch. Sure enough, exactly three minutes had passed since I got off the computer.

Quickly I squeezed my eyes shut and sent a fleeting prayer above-to anyone listening. For all my skepticism and doubt, deep inside my soul, in the place where hope lies, I wished and wished for myself to be proven wrong, just once, until I thought my heart was going to burst. Then I snapped my eyes open and grabbed the phone.

~

Continue to chapter six

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