(Two days later)

(Houston, TX)

Lionel Archer hummed to himself as he signed for the package. He paused to thank the deliveryman, then continued his nameless ditty as he carried his parcel through the living room to the kitchen. He grabbed a butcher's knife from the block on the counter and sliced through the tape sealing the box. A few minutes later, he'd arranged all the items on his kitchen table. Excitement bubbled up within him as he surveyed them: a laminated card, a polo shirt, a stack of cards banded together, an airplane ticket and a sheaf of papers stapled together. He pulled a chair from the table and sat as he read the letter that had been enclosed, periodically taking glances at his newfound treasure.

Lionel,

The pass is fake and will not hold up to inspection. The shirt should be enough to get you where you need to go. The key cards have been altered and will open almost any door of the hotels. Once the ball starts rolling and you start doing your job, security will freak. Expect the schedule to change. Keep your cell phone on you at all times so I can keep you updated. Meet her in Phoenix. Don't hurt her or anybody else. Not yet. Just scare the shit out of her.

L.

The pass referred to in the letter was a Britney Spears World Tour 2000 all access pass. Lionel leaned closer to inspect it. A miniature version of the picture that graced the cover of Britney's latest CD adorned the laminated card. The words 'All Access' were stamped at the bottom in yellow ink. A yellow cord would suspend the pass around his neck. Lionel moved to the next item, a yellow polo shirt. He shook it out and held it up next to his body. 'It should fit,' he thought mundanely. On the front, where a breast pocket would normally be, the words 'Event Staff' were printed in bold black. On the back, in a much bigger print was the word 'SECURITY'. He set it aside to try on later. Rubber banded together were a stack of keycards for about fifteen different hotels. Those, Lionel knew, would come in very handy. Not only would he not have to pay for any rooms, he would also be able to get in and out of Maddie's room as he pleased. That thought, more than anything else, excited him. Next to the keycards was a one-way ticket from Dallas/Forth Worth to Phoenix, departing at 10:55 AM and arriving at 12:36 PM. The stack of papers stapled together turned out to be a very detailed itinerary of the tour, rough outlines for each day. Lionel spent the next five minutes memorizing the schedule and the next hour happily contemplating ways to accomplish Leslie's edict: scare the shit out of her.

(Later that day)

(Somewhere on I-10 West)

"Man, if I was Shaggy, I woulda kicked Freddy's ass."

"I know! He always the one wanting to go check shit out and investigate and then when the shit gets scary, he gon' send Shaggy and Scooby." Justin paused to take a breath. "Damn, that's freaky."

"I know. But I've been noticing that we do that a lot."

"Yeah, we do."

Anyone listening in on the conversation would have been lost. Maddie and Justin had created a sort of verbal shorthand that only the two of them knew how to translate. They were able to follow each other's rapid changes of topic with ease.

Maddie muted the sound of the television and the satellite feed that let her watch Scooby Doo on the Cartoon Network even though she was riding a bus in the middle of nowhere. She was lying on one of the couches in the back lounge of the tour bus, away from the others to have a little privacy for her phone call. She smiled wryly. It floored her that they agreed on even the most trivial things, things most people don't even consider thinking about, they're so meaningless. She mentally replayed the last few minutes of their conversation. They'd even had the same deep thoughts on Scooby Doo, for Pete's sake. They didn't agree on everything but even when they weren't in accord, both respected the others right to their own views and opinions.

"Where are y'all?"

Maddie sat up and glanced out the window at the landscape flowing past her, searching for some identifying landmark or sign. "I have no idea."

"Well, you need to get here already." His voice became a husky murmur in her ear. "I can't wait to see you."

"Me either," Maddie sighed.

There had been an unexpected change in the schedule. Originally, it was slated for Britney and Maddie to spend three days rehearsing in Louisiana, then fly to Phoenix on the fourth day and open the show on the fifth. The first night, after the first full run through of both her show and Maddie's, Britney had off-handedly remarked that she wished they would have planned for a full rehearsal in Phoenix, just to get a feel for the stage to be that much more comfortable for opening night. Maddie was able to see firsthand what fame can do: an hour after they'd gotten back to the hotel, she'd gotten a phone call informing her that they were going to have rehearsal the following morning, be bussed to Arizona and arrive in Phoenix a day earlier to have the practice Britney had unknowingly requested. Through a quirk in his own tour schedule and a last minute cancellation, Justin was able to get a seat on a flight to Phoenix. He was already at the hotel, anxiously waiting, almost climbing the walls in anticipation of their arrival.

"And this is Maddie, hiding back here, on the phone with Justin, as usual," Kendra drawled as she led the cameraman into the lounge.

"Oh good lord. Y'all again. What were we thinking when we agreed to this?" Maddie joked.

"Cameras again?" Justin asked.

Maddie spoke into the phone, "Yeah." To the camera, she said, "OK, I just want to warn y'all, I won't always look like this." She waved a hand to encompass her black capri pants and pink midi sweater. "I'm not gonna be 'pretty pretty pop star'. The only reason I look like this now is cause I had an interview right before we left and I didn't feel like changing. But it's not gonna be like this. It's gonna be me with no makeup, hair any-which-kinda-way, sweats and t-shirts. You have been warned."

"I've seen you with no make-up and you look pretty damned hot." Justin's voice was a low drawl in her ear.

"Really?" Maddie smiled, her cheeks pink.

"Justin, quit talkin' nasty to her!" Kendra yelled into the phone.

"Excuse me, I am trying to talk on the phone here."

Kendra flopped down next to Maddie, almost on top of her. "I'm bored."

"And? What, you think I'm your own personal entertainment?"

"No, I think Justin might get pissed at that."

"Tell Kendra I can hear her, she better quit taking my name in vain."

Chuckling, Maddie relayed the message.

"Oh, so he thinks he's god now? 'Quit taking my name in vain'. Let me talk to him."

Maddie passed the phone to Kendra.

"Ok, listen, boy, just because you got eight year olds lusting after you…"

Maddie tuned Kendra out and pushed herself off the couch. "Bring me the phone when you're done."

Kendra sent her a vague nod, listening intently to whatever Justin was saying on the other end.

Knowing that Justin and Kendra could insult each other for hours, Maddie moved to the front lounge, ignoring the camera that followed her, and joined the others.

"Holy shit! Look who's still in the land of the living!" Andre, one of Britney's dancers exclaimed.

"Haha, very funny," Maddie said as she sat down at the table across next to Wendy.

"Here's my question," Clarrisa, another of Britney's dancers, wondered, "why did we all cramp onto this bus when Maddie's empty bus is following right behind us?"

"Quality time, girl, quality time," Britney reached over and slapped her on the arm.

Von and Kristina were not going to be on the Britney leg of Maddie's 'mini' tour. They were both active line members on Rangerettes and had to go back to Kilgore for the two-week audition process. As sophomores, they didn't have to try out again. They had to go to learn the high kick routine that would be the focus of the next year and to pick their freshman line. Their presence was missed but was offset somewhat by the introduction of Britney's ragtag crew of dancers. Andre and Clarissa had been with Britney almost from the beginning. Brandon, Tonya, Nick and Chad rounded out the gang. They were a very tight-knit group and it warmed Maddie's heart the way they had welcomed her, Kendra and Wendy into their circle. The only dark spot was Brandon. He got along well with Wendy and Kendra but for some reason, Maddie seemed to rub him the wrong way. He was polite enough to her but it was a reserved politeness. It was obvious that he held back from her though no one knew why. Maddie decided to ignore it and not treat him any differently than she did the others.

Andre threw himself down on the couch next to Nick. "We gotta play the game with them."

"Hell yeah!"

Britney's face lit up and she shared smiles with her dancers. She turned to Wendy and Maddie. "Y'all wanna?"

"Wanna what?" Wendy asked suspiciously.

At the same time, Maddie asked, in a tone very similar to Wendy's, "What game?"

Britney flipped her hair over her shoulder as she began to explain. "We have our own little version of Truth or Dare. Only we call it Truth or Truth."

"Truth or Truth?" Wendy and Maddie exchanged glances. Maddie cocked a brow at her friend as if to say 'What the hell?'

Wendy wiggled her head a little, her way of saying 'I'm down if you are."

Maddie shrugged her consent and the two turned back to the others.

Andre smirked and shook his head. "You can tell you two are best friends."

"Whatever. I'll go first," Wendy announced. She glanced around to make sure there were no objections. "Britney, truth or truth?"

Britney smiled. "Or."

Her dancers all groaned at the obviously played out joke and Brandon threw a pillow at her. Laughing, Britney caught it and threw it back.

"Have many guys have you kissed?"

"Oh Lordy." Britney rolled her eyes. "You mean like kiss kiss or like just a little peck?"

"I mean a 'I-never-want-my-mama-to-see-this-I'm-fixing-to-get-DOWN' type kiss."

Everyone laughed at her description. Britney scrunched up her nose and pretended to concentrate. After a minute, she frowned for real. "This is hard!"

"Damn, there've been that many?" Maddie joked.

"Well…" Britney stretched out the word and flashed a gamine smile at the group.

"Damn," Maddie turned to the camera, "we betta make sure we edit this part out."

"For real. People already half-think I'm a slut as it is," Britney seconded.

Andre quirked an eyebrow at her. "Half-think? Nuh uh, honey, they think you a full-on hoe-bag."

Laughter filled the bus. They spent the next two hours playing Truth or Truth and then various versions of it. Kendra joined them after about ten minutes, relaying the message to Maddie that Justin was dead tired and was going to get some sleep while he could but that he couldn't wait to see her. The time flew by and before they knew it, six more hours had passed and the bus was pulling into the underground parking garage of the Hyatt Regency Phoenix. The driver, Thomas, had pointed out the arena as they passed it. It was only about four blocks away from the hotel. Maddie couldn't wait to get off the bus. It had taken just about a full day to drive from Louisiana to Arizona. It seemed to be forever and a day that she waited for Larry and Fee to come back with room assignments and keycards. She had been on edge for the last two hours of the trip, knowing that she was so close to Justin and would be seeing him soon. A tired and dreary Wendy had made fun of her, saying that she was addicted and needed her 'Justin fix' cause she was going through withdrawal. Maddie didn't care. They could joke all the wanted. All she knew was that in minutes, she'd be seeing her man again. It had been three and a half weeks since they had seen each other and as far as she was concerned that was far too long. She flew off the bus, a blur whizzing past security and the fans that had managed to find them, into the hotel where she knew Justin was waiting.