At his words, Kelsie felt her heart drop into the deepest pit of her stomach. And at the same time, she felt like she was feeling the pain of a thousand knives stabbing forcefully into her delicate body. Never had she expected that Justin…the guy that SHE was supposed to have, the guy that was supposed to be in love with HER…had a girlfriend already.

JC watched her carefully, ready to catch her if she were to fall, which he was almost certain that she was about to do. When she spoke, her voice was so quiet that he had to strain his ears to hear her.

"Oh…"

He looked at her sympathetically, taking in the anguish and pain that her eyes held, the way her body was shaking slightly and the way the glow that she had had when he walked in was completely gone. "I'm so sorry, Kelsie…I shouldn't have told you…"

She shook her head slowly and took an unsteady step forward. "I…I have to go…I have to leave…" She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other until she reached her car that was waiting for her outside in the parking lot, leaving JC in the middle of the dance studio, his head in his hands.

She sat in the warm confines of her car, thankful for the first time in her life that she had tinted windows. A shiver ran up her spine and wondering why she was cold, she glanced down to see that her t-shirt was still soaked right through the fabric. Remembering Justin's smartass comments about the white shirt was enough to break her. How could he have done this to her? WHY had he done this? She felt a trickle of tears start to roll down her cheek and she wiped at them furiously, not wanting to cry over a guy. Especially over a guy that she used to hate…

With a shaky hand, she started the engine and drove home slowly, ignoring the honks she got on the way. She just wanted to be home, she didn't want to talk to anyone at all. Not even Kat, whom she knew that she should call first thing. But she wasn't going to. She was going to go home, take a shower, and put this entire ordeal behind her. So he wasn't interested in her, no problem. So he didn't like her like she liked him, big deal. So he just acted like he was interested in her, only to have it end up being a lie…whoopdie doo.

Oh HELL no, whoopdie doo. You just don't do that to a person. She pulled into her driveway a few minutes later and quickly retreated to her room, flopping onto her bed. She had so much emotion building up inside of her, she wanted so badly to let it go and cry…but she couldn't do that. Something was making her hold back.

Speaking of holding back, it hit her. THAT'S what was keeping him from kissing her earlier before. That damn girlfriend, whoever the hell she was. No wonder she despised her so much.

A flashing button on her phone signified that she had a few messages, and not really wanting to talk, but curious to whom they could be from, she pressed the button. Kat's urgent voice filled the speakers…not once, but three times.

"Kelsie, where the hell are you? CALL ME!!"

Groaning, she picked up the phone and hit the speed dial to Kat. It rang only once.

"Kelsie!?"

Kelsie's voice was filled with nothing but misery as she spoke. "Hi."

"Kelsie, you're never going to guess what I'm going to tell you…"

"What's it about?", she said dully, aware of the fact that Kat was about to tell her the same thing she already knew.

"Jus…"

"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear the NAME Justin, I don't want to talk about him, I don't want to have ANYTHING to do with the son of a -"

"It's something that you need to know, though. Wait…what happened?"

Kelsie felt herself begin to choke up as she talked about him and it made her voice shake when she spoke. "N…nothing. What is it that's so important, Kat? I don't want to hear it anyway, don't bother to tell me…"

"He has…"

"A girlfriend. I know that Kat, you don't have to remind me. It hurts enough as it is. And I told you, I didn't want to hear it.", she hung up the phone and finally broke down. She buried her face in her pillow and cried until her lungs hurt, ignoring the calls that Kat kept trying to get through, not knowing that what Kat needed so badly to tell her was something that would take at least a little of the pain away.

Her pillow became a riverbed as the tears poured out of her eyes and rolled down her face heavier and heavier with each one. She cried for the pain that Justin was putting her through now, she cried for the pain that ex-boyfriends had put her through in the past, she cried for the vulnerability that she let herself succumb to by falling for Justin, and she cried for everything that wasn't even related to what was happening now. Kelsie hadn't cried in a long time, mainly because she had always prided herself in being a strong person who hadn't usually let down her guard that easily. But what was happening to her now was something that she just couldn't control this time.

Guys in the past had lied to her and lying was one of the few things that Kelsie just could NOT tolerate. Joking around was fine, sarcasm was great, but lying...oh, lying just set off something inside of her that would pulsate through her whole body and get her so worked up that she, herself, could almost not take it. When her ex-boyfriends would lie to her, she tended to get hurt very profoundly, but this time...it was different. She couldn't figure out why for a minute, until the realization finally hit her. This time it was worse than ever before because of how deep her feelings for Justin ran. It was beyond a friendly crush now...and the fact of the matter was...she had fallen for him so hard that she could have bet everything she had that it was along the lines of the big "L" word and knowing that sent the knife deeper through her heart.

Her tears were as heavy as blood as she continually tried to rub them off her cheeks. Why did she have to fall in love with him and why did he have to hide this small, but ever so important little fact from her? Maybe his friendship and his signals were all a lie and he was using this final strike to bring her down...maybe he hadn't changed at all.

The phone rang again and with all the energy she had left in her, she picked it up and slammed it back down in fury, finally taking it off the receiver so no more calls would go through. She buried her head back into her pillow and let the rest of her sobs come out in a muffled exasperation.

______________________________________________________________________

Kat rubbed her face and set the phone back into it's cradle. Kelsie hadn't seemed too upset when she did pick up the phone, but Kat knew all too well that Kelsie was in a major sobfest right about now. The only thing that she didn't understand was HOW Kelsie had found out about Chloe Andrews. Maybe Justin had finally confessed...

She snorted. Yeah. Riiight. Justin was so bull-headed that there was no way that he was the one that told her. She groaned and let out a long, frustrated sigh. She looked at her phone again, pondering whether to give it one more try. She finally decided against it and trudged down the steps to the den, where she found Luke sprawled out on the couch watching some sports channel. She flopped onto the big comfy chair next to him and glanced at him.

He never took his eyes off the TV when he spoke. "What happened?"

"She knows."

Luke turned to look at her. "She knows? She knows what? That he has a girlfriend?"

Kat nodded. "She knows he has a girlfriend, but she doesn't know that his girlfriend is a playa!!!", she said in a sing song voice.

Luke raised his eyebrows with a chuckle and held his hands up in defense when Kat threw him a violent glare.

"Lucas Montgomery this is NOT funny.", she growled.

"Sorry, sis. Listen, what are you gonna do about it? She already knows about the chick, you're gonna tell her about the crap this chick does behind Justin's back, right? Let her take care of it --"

"I've tried to tell her about Chloe, she won't listen. She's too heartbroken to listen to anything I have to tell her. I don't even know how she knows about the whole girlfriend deal, but she found out somehow and --",p> "Well, maybe Justin told her."

She gave him a look. "Justin didn't tell her. I KNOW Justin didn't tell her."

"Ohh, okay, Miss Psychic."

Kat sighed and reached for the remote to turn the volume down. Luke turned it back up. Kat grabbed it from his hands and turned it on mute. "Luke, I don't need to hear how Mario Lemieux is crying because his stupid team didn't win the Stanley Cup or whatever the hell they're talking about. This is important. What do I tell Kelsie if she won't LISTEN TO ME?"

"For your information, the Stanley Cup Finals haven't even STARTED ye--"

"SHUT UP!"

He sighed. "Okay, look. I know Kelsie almost as well as you do and I know that she's probably really upset about this if she likes him as much as you're telling me she does, and you're going to have to give her time to get over the inital shock that Justin himself didn't let her in on his little secret. Once she gets past the shock, you know she is gonna be burning with anger which is gonna be all directed at him. That's your time. She'll turn to you, Kat, and you know that. You can tell her then that his girlfriend is a cheat. It will help a little, but you know that she's still going to be upset.", he took the remote back from his sister and looked back at the TV. "Just give her a few days, she'll make a complete 180 and end up right back by your side. Have a little faith."

Kat slumped in her chair and looked at the TV before nodding to herself. "Yeah...whatever. I hate how you're always right." She got up, leaving him to his ESPN. As she left the doorway, she called back to him. "And wipe that stupid smirk off your face, Luke, it doesn't do you any good."

______________________________________________________________________

(the next day at rehearsal)

JC paced around the room, glancing at the clock every five minutes. Lance, Joey, and Chris sat around him, each of them having the exact same expression on their faces...one of pity, one of awkwardness, and one of disappointment. He turned to look at them, biting his lip. "Look, guys, when Kelsie comes in today, try not to say anything to her about what happened...especially when Justin is around. And don't even say anything to Justin until she confronts him about it...it's probably better that way."

Joey smiled. "Better entertainment, that way."

The group chuckled quietly, nodding their heads.

The door opened with a click and they all turned their heads to see an extremely cheerful and whistling Justin. "Hey guys!!"

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Since when are you so excited to come to rehearsal?"

Justin shrugged and threw down his bag. "Oh, I dunno. I guess I'm just in a great mood today!" He looked around and his smile started to fade. "Where's Kelsie?"

Chris smiled timidly and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, maybe she's out with one of her GIRLFRIENDS, confessing their deepest sec-"

He grunted when he took an elbow to the ribcage, compliments of JC. Justin raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips. "Oooookay. Do you think she'll be here soon?"

"Why are you so anxious to see her? Didn't you just spend all day and night with her yesterday?", Joey asked.

Justin grinned, his eyes sparkling. "Yep! But I just wanted to ask her about something...plus, we have a lot of work to do for the tour still."

JC sighed. No clue. He has no friggin' clue. "I think she said she wasn't feeling too well, Justin. I wouldn't hang all over her today, okay?"

Justin crossed his eyebrows. "Is she okay? She's not sick, is she? I really ho--"

The door opened slowly and Kelsie trudged in, avoiding looking at all of them. She walked straight to the stereo, jammed in the tape and stood back. "I want to see you do 'Space Cowboy' until there are no flaws. Now. Let's go." Her voice was filled with absolutely nothing...it was just complete BLAH. And she looked absolutely miserable. Like she had gotten no sleep, like she hadn't eaten in days, and her eyes were dark and dreary with deadness. She walked in that door seemingly under a huge rain cloud.

JC looked at the other guys and winced, mouthing, "Worse than I thought." They nodded in acknowledgement and gave Kelsie looks of pity.

"Come on, let's go!"

Justin had a look of confusion written all over his face. She had looked alive and beautiful last night, and now, she just looked...he didn't even know...she looked dead. Her clothes were wrinkled and hanging all over the place, her hair was thrown up into a careless ponytail and the sparkle was GONE from her eyes. The worst part was that she refused to look at him. He jogged over to her and touched her arm, but was shocked when she jerked her arm away from him violently, shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

His jaw dropped. "Kelsie? Ar...are you okay? You look..."

Her voice came out in a low growl. "DON'T talk to me. Don't TOUCH me. Just....stay...AWAY from me."

He could have almost cried. He felt as though his heart was being torn out little by little at each new word that left her mouth. What did he do? He gripped his hair in his hands and gave her a pleading look. "W...why? What happened...?" She didn't answer him, just gave him one last deadly glare and turned away from him. Kelsie...His Kelsie. She was back to hating him and he had not one inkling to what he could have done.

He turned to give a questioning look at the guys and only got four shrugs back. She wasn't acting like the Kelsie that he knew, the Kelsie that he had grown to trust, the Kelsie he had grown to love... It scared him because if she wasn't there to be strong, how could HE be strong anymore? She was his pillar of strength and now she looked and acted as if she were as weak as a newborn baby. He turned back to look at her. "Kelsie...please...what did I do? Please talk to me..."

Kelsie spun on her heels to face him, her eyes raging. "JUSTIN! DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I SAID? GET YOUR LYING WHITE ASS IN POSITION NOW BEFORE I REALLY FLIP OUT!"

He felt his eyes burning with tears as he slowly walked into his position for 'Space Cowboy'. Lying? What did I ever lie to her about?

The other four guys stood back, their eyes wide. Kelsie sure could get a temper when she needed one. They sure didn't want to be in her line of fire when she was pissed. JC looked at Justin briefly and winced at his expression. He really had no idea as to what he could have done to make her so angry, and his eyes showed that he was obviously very upset about it. JC sighed. He was going to have to tell him...later.

Performing this song was quite draining physically. It had so many elements to it, sometimes they wondered how they had memorized such a masterpiece. Today, they rehearsed it with little effort...which proved to be a mistake.

"What is this? What the hell is this??", Kelsie yelled, obviously upset with the lack of effort among other things. They hung their heads and bit their lips, not wanting to get her boiling. Justin scratched his head and looked at her curiously. There must be a way to figure out what was bothering her...he looked to her eyes for the answers...they always held the answers. But today, they were barren deserts of nothingness. He sighed and winced when her agitated voice pierced through his skull again.

"Are you going to go on stage in less than THREE WEEKS and perform one of the most anticipated songs LIKE THIS? Come ON!", she rewound the tape. "Do it again."

Hours later, the song was mastered to perfection. Every inch of every step was practiced at least fifteen times. Kelsie turned off the stereo and heard a soft, yet extremely relieved sigh from behind her. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. She couldn't let him get to her like this...not in the middle of rehearsal when her mind should be focused on the tour. She couldn't let this petty little thing called love make her crumble when she needed to be strong. But every time she looked at him, she saw another girl in her head, and that tore down the walls inside of her even more. Her eyes began to water and she wiped at them before tears could surface. A tap on her shoulder made her jump and turn around.

"Kelsie..."

She looked away and stiffened up. "Justin, I told you... please don't push it."

"I just want to know what I did...please, can you just tell me that?"

She glared at him and opened her mouth, but changed her mind and closed it, walking past him to where the rest of the group sat, groaning on the floor. "Thanks for putting up with this rehearsal guys, you were great sports about it. Sorry for making your feet bleed.", she half smiled when she watched them peel off their socks and rub their blistering feet. She turned around to grab her bag and found Justin holding it for her. Slowly, she held out her hand.

He watched her, shaking his head slowly. "Look at me."

Kelsie closed her eyes. "I can't. Give me my bag, Justin."

He was getting impatient. "WHY can't you look at me anymore? WHY CAN'T I TALK TO YOU? Kelsie COME ON!"

She felt a tear slide down her cheek, and she tried to hide it before he saw it, but it was too late. He inhaled sharply. She was crying. Oh God, what had he done? He brought a hand up and his thumb rubbed away the falling drops of liquid off her cheek. She flinched when his finger touched her skin and she backed away slowly, shaking her head. "Don't....touch....me...."

Justin's own eyes were beginning to burn again. "Please don't do this to me. Kelsie, please don't push me away..." He reached out to her again, but she only continued to back up. "Just tell me why you're mad at me?"

"Give me my bag, Justin.", she said, her voice trembling slightly, the tears starting to fall faster.

"Tell me first."

She picked up her eyes and looked at him. He was standing there, confused and worried as hell, his eyes pleading with her. But all she saw was that girl. Her voice was quiet. "Girl...friend." She grabbed her bag and ran out of the room quickly. Just hearing herself saying that word killed another part of her. She got out of there as fast as she could, hoping that they wouldn't hear her crying.

______________________________________________________________________

"Girl friend?", Justin said quietly to himself until suddenly the realization slapped him in the face. "GIRLFRIEND!" His heart hit the pit of his stomach, and his breath caught in his throat. "She knows..."

He turned around slowly to look at his friends. Friends...hmph. His eyes burned in a mix of tears and fury. He was going to KILL whoever took the liberty of ruining his life by telling her about Chloe. He tightened his jaw muscles and stared at them.

"WHO TOLD HER? WHO FRIGGIN' TOLD HER?"

All the guys looked at each other and sighed until Lance spoke up. "Justin, she was going to find out eventually. You didn't think you could --"

"YOU TOLD HER?? GUYS, I HOPE WE CAN FIND A REPLACEMENT IN THREE WEEKS, BECAUSE LANCE, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE TOD--"

"I told her, Justin."

Justin's eyes shot over to JC, who had stood up and was dusting off his pants. "YOU?? WHY??!", he grabbed his shirt and balled his fists in it. "You of ALL people should know that I didn't want her to know!!!"

"And that's exactly why I told her, Justin."

"Because I didn't want her to know? So you told her to piss me the hell off??"

"I TOLD her because she DESERVED to know, Justin. Don't you see? She's falling for you so hard, dude, and you are hiding the one thing that is most CRUCIAL. I had to tell her because obviously, you weren't going to tell her and it was going too far. She fell for you man, she trusted you, and ..."

Justin physically relaxed, his shoulders slumping a bit in realization. "And I just broke the trust by not being completely honest with her from the beginning..."

JC crossed his arms over his head and nodded. "Biiingo."

"But how do you know that she 'fell for me'? You can't assume that and then go an--"

"Justin, come on, in all seriousness, are you stupid or something? You'd have to be completely BLIND not to know that she's been trippin' for you! Haven't you seen the way she looks at you? And her reaction to this whole girlfriend thing...come on, if she didn't have feelings for you, she wouldn't care that you had a girlfriend. Don't pry for answers you already know."

He smiled for a second at the fact that she had feelings for him and then the frown reappeared on his face when he remembered how angry she was at him. His shoulders drooped even lower than they already were and he rubbed his face in his hands. What had he done?

Justin did know that Kelsie had been warming up to him lately, especially after last night and the fun they had Jet Skiing, but he wasn't so clear on if she actually had feelings for him. Sure, he had seen the looks she had given him when she thought that he wasn't watching, he had noticed the way that she seemed to glow when she hung out with him...but he supposed he had brushed it off as nothing because she 'wasn't supposed to like him' since he had his Chloe. But his Chloe just didn't have that ring to it anymore...

He looked back at JC. "What do I do now? I don't want to lose her."

JC shrugged. "You've gotta explain to her everything -- the feelings you have for Chloe, the feelings you have for HER, which I know you do, by the way, the reason you kept Chloe a secret, and anything else that comes up. But you've gotta be honest, Justin. Honesty is the key to a good relationship, both in friendly and intimate terms."

Justin nodded, only one thought reeling over and over in his mind -- I can't lose her...