Chapter Four

Jana burst into her room, sobbing. She had just gotten home from riding the bus. The rain had soaked her to the bone, and she was all messed up. She flung her body onto her bed and started crying harder. Her night had been ruined. She knew something would go wrong from the moment she saw JC…and Britney. Oh, that stupid bitch! she thought, livid. Britney. She loathed that name. Jana punched her pillow. The same fist that had punched Britney earlier. She wiped the tears from her eyes and sat up, looking for her clock. It was almost ten o'clock. Her telephone started ringing. She answered it anyway, even though she did not feel like it. "Hello?" she said groggily into the phone.

"Jana! I have been trying to reach you," Michelle's voice cried. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Jana replied. She lay down on her bed again.

"You sure?" Michelle asked. "You looked like you were crying earlier."

"Can we talk about this later, please?" Jana responded. "I…I'm not in the mood to discuss anything right now." Her body ached from all the running she had been doing earlier.

"Of course," Michelle told her. "Hey, you can call me later if you want. I just got home. Lance brought me home a few minutes ago."

"That's nice."

"Well, I think I should let you rest now," Michelle said. She still sounded worried. "Jana, are you sure you are really all right?"

"Truthfully, no." Jana felt new tears form in her eyes. "Oh, Michelle! I am so pissed right now. I…I punched Britney Spears in the face tonight."

"You what?" Michelle said in a surprised tone.

"I said I punched Britney Spears in the face."

"Jana!" Michelle cried. "Why on earth would you do that?"

Jana moaned as she turned over. "I don't know what came over me," she confessed. She breathed in and out waveringly. "She just upset me."

"Not surprising," said Michelle with a smirk. "What'd she say this time?"

"Oh, I can't say it…!" Jana sounded like she was going to break down again. "M-Michelle…can I…I…I talk to you later? Please?"

"Okay. Call me," Michelle said. "Bye, Jana. Take care."

"Bye," Jana said in a whisper, hanging up. Her body felt tense and weak. She drifted off into a sleep.

"JC!" Gina Ho called, searching the bathroom. "Where is my lipstick?" JC's head popped out from his room.

"I don't know!" he shouted back, laughing. "You think I'd use it?"

Gina groaned loudly. "I can't find it," she complained. She walked into JC's room, searching under his bed, and on his desk.

"Hey, hey, hey," JC said, with his hands on his hips, "you can't just walk in here." Gina smirked and rolled her eyes. Gina and JC were cousins. She had arrived at JC's house that morning, and she was already prepared to go out. Gina was from New York, and she was one year younger than JC. Their mothers were sisters.

Gina exited his room and went downstairs. Then she screamed. "Oh my God!" she shrieked, running towards JC's little brother, Thomas. He had Gina's lipstick tube in his hand, and he was scribbling with it on a book. "Thomas, no!" Gina screamed, grabbing the lipstick tube from him. "No. Big no-no."

JC went down the stairs to see what the yelling was about. "Oh, no! My book!" he shouted as he saw a book in Thomas's hand. It had mauve streaks all over it. He took the book out of Thomas's hand.

"Look at my lipstick," Jana said, holding the tube in front of JC's face. "Look at it, JC! It's ruined!"

"What about my book!" JC complained, holding it up as well. "Your lipstick is all over my book."

"It's a book, JC."

"It's a crayon," JC argued, referring to Gina's lipstick.

Thomas looked at the both of them and started crying. Gina picked him up and patted him on the back. "Ohh, Thomas. Don't cry," she told him. She glared at JC. "Baaad JC," she added. "Making your little brother cry." Thomas continued wailing. The telephone rang. "Oh, I'll get it!" Gina cried, as she placed a crying Thomas on the floor. She dropped her lipstick tube on the couch and rushed up the stairs to answer the phone. JC looked at the book in his hand, which was ruined. It had been a gift from Jana in the past. It was a poetry book, and he cherished it. He was extremely upset. Thomas was still crying loudly.

JC gulped. "Hey, buddy," JC said to him, bending down and patting him on the head. "Don't cry." Thomas looked up at him and coughed. Then he started crying again. Quick! A toy! Anything! JC desperately though, searching all around him. Ah, here we go, he thought evilly, eyeing Gina's lipstick-which happened to be next to one of her fashion magazines. "No worries, Thomas," JC said with a smile, grabbing Gina's belongings.

Michelle and Lance were talking on the phone. Lance had called her up to talk to her. They discussed their plans and school. "Okay," Michelle replied, "I have what looks like our final draft ready."

"Whoa, already?" Lance was shocked. "Gosh, when did you do it?"

"This morning," Michelle said proudly. "I have been working on our project for the last two hours," she added with a smile.

"Woman!" he cried in disbelief. "It's Saturday! Why the hell are you doing homework on a Saturday?"

Michelle sighed. "Oh, I don't know why," she told him. "I just feel like we need to finish our project. We might slack off."

"Ha!" Lance said. "We started this project on Tuesday. We are practically done with everything. We have two weeks to cruise and do whatever we want."

"Everything?" Michelle said. "Not."

"What? All we need to finish is our final draft," Lance insisted. "Easy stuff."

"I am working on our final draft right now," Michelle said.

"It is Saturday," Lance repeated. "Michelle, you need to stop working and relax."

"I know I should," Michelle agreed. "But I am just so worried about our grade, Lance."

"You will see an A on your paper," Lance promised her. "I promise you this. Just please get out of the house or something. I know that this will sound weird, but go shopping or something. Just don't stay at home working on our project!" Michelle sighed.

"All right," she said to Lance. "I will go out. Joey invited me out somewhere. I guess I'll go with him then."

"No!" Lance responded. He was shocked that he had said that loudly on the phone. "I mean, I have a better idea. I will pick you up. We can go to the Source tonight. How's that?" The Source was a local teen hangout where they went for dancing and hanging out. It was a wild club.

Michelle chuckled. "I don't know…"

"You can't say no!" Lance pleaded. "We used to go there all the time."

"Fine then," Michelle hesitantly agreed. "We'll go dancing tonight."

"Good." Lance sounded satisfied. "Now, go out and go shopping. Find something sexy or whatever!"

"What?"

Lance blushed and was glad that he couldn't see her. "Never mind," he said quickly. "I'll just see you to night at seven. Is that okay?"

"Perfect."

"See you then," Lance said. "Bye, Shelle."

"Bye." Michelle hung up with a smile. Something sexy? she thought, cringing at the thought. She wasn't into wearing sensuous clothing. Well…I'll make an exception-just for tonight.

JC and Gina sat on JC's front steps of his porch, talking. It was past noon, and they were extremely bored. "Let's do something," Gina whined. "You know, you could steal your mom's car, and we could go to the beach!" she added, trying to imply something to JC.

"Yeah, if I actually knew where she put the extra keys," JC returned. He started thinking about the incident that had happened the night before. He shuddered. At least Gina could keep him preoccupied, and thank goodness that she hadn't been there. That incident would have been sent to the gossip mill.

"You mean we are stuck here until she comes home?" Gina did not want to know the answer to her question.

"Yeah."

"Dammit."

"No kidding!" She stretched her long legs out and yawned. "This has got to be the worst Saturday I have ever experienced. First, the lipstick, then the food stain, now this!"

"Was there ever a minute when you didn't whine about anything?" JC teased his cousin.

Gina glared at him. "Are you calling me a whiner?" she challenged him.

JC smirked. "Yeah."

"Ugh, you dork!" Gina slapped him playfully on the arm. "I am not a whiner."

"Wanna go inside?" JC suggested.

Gina shook her head.

"Well, what do you want to do then?" he asked her.

"I don't know. Let's take a walk. JC, this is killing me!" Gina cried, shaking her cousin. "I am sixteen years old, on a vacation in California, and it is Saturday! Where are all the cute guys? The romance? The exciting stuff? The-"

"Hey guys!" a friendly voice called. Gina stopped shaking JC and looked up. JC looked up as well.

"Justin!" he shouted, motioning for him to come over to them. Justin jogged over to where JC and Gina were sitting and stood by them.

"Hello," he drawled in his southern accent. "JC, I don't believe you've introduced me to her."

He is so handsome! Gina thought, her heart thumping. I have never seen a better looking guy that him. Is he real? I must be dreaming!

"Justin," JC said, "this is my cousin from New York, Gina Ho. Gina, this is Justin Timberlake, my neighbor of a month."

Justin smiled at Gina. She is beautiful, he thought. Then it struck him. He liked Jana. He was infatuated with Jana. But Gina…She was so…so beautiful and vibrant looking. Her long hair flowed down her shoulders and her eyes were so perfectly shaped. They were looking directly into Justin's eyes. Justin turned away, awe-struck by Gina's exotic beauty. Justin's hand reached out for a shake. "Nice to meet you," he replied, beaming.

"Nice to meet you too." Gina shook his hand. Her hand fit perfectly with his. If only I could more than his hand, Gina thought. She would have loved to be holding him right at that very moment. Justin was perfect. She could just sense it. Soul mates. Yes, I can feel it. We're made for each other.

"Um, okay. You can let go now," JC replied, staring at their hands, still together. Gina pulled her hand away first. "Jeez, that was a long hand shake," JC said to Gina, his eyebrows raised.

Gina fixed him a look of annoyance. "You just moved here?" she asked Justin.

"Yep," Justin replied, focusing on Gina the whole time.

"Where are you from?"

"Tennessee?"

"Oh, really?" Gina sat up, sparked with interest. "You do have that cute southern accent!"

"I do?" Gina giggled.

"Yeah! I just heard it," she said, smiling at him. "Say something else."

Justin flushed pink and looked at JC. JC looked weary. "Uh, what do you want me to say?" he finally asked, shy. Gina was definitely cute.

"How about we take that walk that you suggested?" JC said, rather loudly. He pulled Gina up by the arm. "Come on, you two." He, Justin, and Gina made their way out through JC's gate.