Justin stood in front of the enormous mirror and watched his reflection carefully. He wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead and bit his bottom lip in thought. It was getting closer and closer to the first night of the tour and he realized that he had been slacking off a whole lot when it came to learning these dances. He could lie to himself and put the blame for that on Kelsie, but that wouldn't do any good, since he knew that he wasn't applying himself as much as he usually did. The other guys knew it too and he could tell they were getting more than a little irritated with him.

Since the first day that she had come to start working with them, they had learned choreography for "No Strings Attached", "Space Cowboy", and had talked about ideas for "Just Got Paid". They now had five weeks to learn the steps to the rest of "It Makes Me Ill", "Just Got Paid" and "Digital Getdown" and make sure that every single dance they had was absolutely, positively PERFECT. And perfect was FAR from what they had now.

Justin shook his head slowly and adjusted the white bandanna on his head to keep his ever-growing curls from going crazy. He sat down on the leather couch in a plop and sighed to himself, checking his watch. He missed Chloe. She was at school right now, while he was in here waiting for the always-late Kelsie Meyers. Hopefully he would get to see her tonight... he wanted to do something really special for her tonight... His brain set to work on ideas for what he could plan out for his beautiful girlfriend and he began to drift into a land only known by a few lucky people.

Five minutes later, Justin had, unfortuantely for him, found a way to fall into a deep sleep, and the rest of the guys walked into the room, laughing over Joey's explanation of how he "accidentally" tripped the MTV camera man while giving him a tour of the Compound. They waltzed into the room, and threw their water bottles on the floor. Chris was the first to see Justin conked out on the couch, and motioned for the other guys to be quiet. They all chuckled and gathered around the dead-looking figure on the couch, while Chris ran off and came back with a camera and multiple hats and sunglasses. He tossed Lance the camera and set to work, putting a floppy Goofy eared hat on Justin's head, and sliding heart-shaped sunglasses over his eyes. Grabbing the lollipop that was sticking out of Joey's mouth, he put the stick in between Justin's curled fingers.

"Lance, work your magic!", Chris exclaimed.

JC chuckled and propped Justin's hand up so it would look like he was eating the lollipop. "It's a good thing that when Justin sleeps, it takes practically a ten scale marching band to wake him up." He laughed even harder when the flashes kept going off from Lance's camera. "I can't wait to see these pictures."

Horns suddenly grew from Chris' head and a wicked smirk crossed his animated features. "Who feels like being mean?"

When three hands raised simutaneously, he grinned evilly and grabbed a piece of cardboard that was laying around on top of a table and scribbled on it, eventually placing it in Justin's numb-in-sleep fingers. He cackled and put a blonde Barbie wig over Justin's head and Minnie Mouse ears on top of it. When he was finished, he stood back as the flashes went off.

Joey chuckled. "That's mean. If he ever sees these pictures, especially this one, he'll flip out! I love it!!"

They all stared at Justin for a second until Chris laughed again and broke the silence: "Who says we should send that whole roll of film to ALL the teenie magazines ever invented?"

All four of them raised their hands and laughed. At the same moment, a man walked into the room wearing a red Cardinal's baseball jersey. He looked at the group curiously. "Can I ask why y'all have your hands up like grade schoolers?"

They jumped at the voice behind them and simutaneously turned to look at who it belonged to. "Hey Jamal, what's up!", JC laughed and jumped to his feet. "We were just voting on if we should mail a roll of film that could completely ruin Justin's adult career...well, and blow his cover about his playafriend, oh excuse me, his GIRLfriend... to teenybopper magazines everywhere.", he smiled. "The vote seems pretty unanimous to me."

Jamal laughed. "You guys are evil. How long has he been knocked out and WHY is he holding a sign that says 'Chloe Andrews is a whore'? Wait, I don't even want to know..."

JC grinned. "I have NO idea. Guess he's not too fond of his chick?", he snickered. "Nah, he was like that when we got in. We should probably try to get him up now though. We're working on 'It Makes Me Ill' with you, right?"

"Yeah. Do you need me to go grab the marching band that I so coincedentily brought along with me to wake him?"

"Haha, yeah, you might want to."

After Chris had hidden the "props" that had been used on him, he busied himself by shaking Justin from side to side, while Joey took his time adjusting the volume button on the stereo to ten and facing the speaker towards his ear. "Ready? One...two...three..."

Everyone in the room plugged their ears as the music exploded through the speakers at full blast, causing Justin to jump ten full feet in the air and fall off the couch in shock. Joey smiled and switched off the stereo. "Always works."

The five guys stood around on the wooden floor trying to hide their building laughter as Justin scrambled to his feet and gave them all death stares. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!", he screamed, his eyes blazing. He hated to be woken up.

Joey shrugged. "You were sleeping and you needed to wake up."

His eyes searched the room furiously and his tone softened a little. "Where's Kelsie?", his eyes focused on Jamal. "Who are you?"

"He's our choreographer.", JC explained.

Justin's eyes widened. "What?" Kelsie quit? I won? It couldn't have been that easy! His mind fell to pieces in confusion. She had been so strong-willed...how could she have just given up, just like that? It didn't fit. "What do you mean he's our choreographer? Kelsie's our choreographer!"

JC smiled unnoticeably. "Justin, are you stupid? We have four different choreographers..." He paused. "Plus, Kelsie has today off, she'll be back tomorrow..."

Realization hit him instantly and he tried to cover up his distressed expression. "Ohh, yeah. Well, yeah, I knew that. I just uh, just forgot."

The guys rolled their eyes and a few minutes later, got to work.

The main campus was buzzing with a mix of excitement and misery. Spring break was over and the semester was about to take off into full force. Kat Montgomery walked amongst the scattered people in The Commons, which was the main hallway of the campus. She watched some of the people as she passed them by. She still had a good hour until she had her first class, but she liked to get out and watch her peers' expressions sometimes. She was so good at reading people and she always found the fact that she could walk by someone who was trying to hide the obvious with a different expression and know exactly what they were thinking. Kelsie always teased her that she would be one of those psychic readers that are always on those stupid hour-long commercials trying to sell you your fortune. Kat never thought of herself as a psychic or anything of that sort, she always just thought of it as a fun thing to do.

Kat loved school, she loved learning things, and she loved college. It was so full of energy and she was glad that she had decided to go. The one thing that she missed was having Kelsie by her side. She had plenty of other friends, but she guessed she just wished Kelsie would have the experience of going to college like herself. She shrugged and kept making her way through the people until she found the person she was looking for.

"Hey Shan!", she tried to yell above the noise. "SHANNON!"

A girl turned when she heard her name and her auburn tinted hair fell across her face as she smiled in recognition. "Hey K, what's up? How was your break?"

"Pretty awesome. Met some pretty awesome people!", she grinned. "How about yours?"

"Great. I met this gorgeous guy down the shore and we're totally hooking up!", she exclaimed. They started their walk down the hallway to the doors leading outside talking about their breaks, until suddenly, Shannon changed the subject. "Hey, Kat, do that thing where you walk by someone and figure out what they're thinking."

Kat smiled. Why does everyone find that so amusing? Kelsie would be on the floor by now. "Okay.", she glanced over at a young freshman standing by herself over in a corner. "See that girl over there? She's looking around self-conciously, hoping that no one is staring at her because in her eyes, she doesn't belong and she's just trying to make it through school. She's lonely and she's a little lost - both mentally and well, by the looks of it, physically..."

Shannon grinned. "Yo, dude, you should totally be a psychiatrist, K."

Kat rolled her eyes and pointed with her head to a couple walking hand in hand down the pathway. She smiled. "You see them? Those people are the living definition of what love is. They know it, they feel it, they breathe it. Do you see the expressions in their eyes? It gives away all of what they are feeling. They live and breathe for each other's well-being. Kind of like the fairy tale love that everyone wishes that they had... They're each other's missing half."

Her eyes wandered to another couple against a pillar. The girl looked a lot older than she actually was... she looked like a senior, but Kat recognized her as a sophomore. She had one of the most popular senior guys up against the pillar and was, simply put, all over him. The girl somewhat resembled Carmen Electra, her brown hair very highlighted and her skin very tan. She looked so much like a model, she would probably be able to fool anyone. She stared at them for a few minutes, getting more and more disgusted as she watched. She read right through both of them.

"Okay, I'll tell you all about those two.", she looked at Shannon and then back at the two. "That girl is an egomaniac. She's a flirt, a tease, and she's looking for all the material things she can get. The guy is loving every bit of her flirting, and they're hitting it off great because they're both the same types of people...", she watched the girl's greyish eyes flicker with a glint of egoism and she shook her head sadly. "The worst part about it is that she has a boyfriend and she's not even a slight bit guiltstricken about her incessant flirting. I doubt her guy even realizes."

She shuddered and turned away. "I hate people like that."

Shannon nodded. "I think that's Chloe Andrews. I heard that she's got a boyfriend in the biz..."

"I wouldn't be surprised.", she rolled her eyes and changed the subject when she heard the girl giggle and kiss the senior on the cheek. "Where's your first class?"

Music was heard faintly from down the hallway and it got louder as she got closer. True, she originally had the day off, but since Kat was at school, there was nothing better for her to do...

Kelsie slowly opened the door to the rehearsal room in the WEG Compound and slipped inside, hoping not to interrupt the five guys that were practicing. The five guys that had better be practicing or there would be some trouble. She watched them from the door, smiling in appreciation. She sure had to give them credit...they worked their TAILS off to make sure that everything was perfect for their fans. And she had only been with them for a little while. She knew that she hadn't seen anything yet. She quietly tiptoed to the couch and sat down to watch them. So, this is how she spends her day off...watching the five guys that she was supposed to have off from.

She watched each of them for a few minutes before letting her eyes wander over to Justin. She watched his feet first, amazed at how truly gifted the boy was. He had moves, that was for sure. She let her eyes wander from his feet up the length of his back until she got to the back of his head. When she looked in the mirror, his own eyes were waiting for her. She jumped in startlement, not aware that he had known she was there. He was watching her curiously, wondering to himself why she was there. He smiled unconciously, kind of glad that she had shown up.

Kelsie smiled to herself and made herself comfortable on the couch. Today was a new beginning. She set upon a new task -- to become actual friends with the one and only Justin Timberlake.

The music stopped and Jamal gave them all a quick break since they kept getting distracted with Kelsie sitting there. Justin turned around to face her and again gave her a questioningly look. When he spoke, his tone was laced with mixed emotions: half resentment, half wonder.

"What are YOU doing here?"

She smiled. "Hey Justin, nice to see you too! I just thought I'd stop by to make sure you're not giving Jamal any trouble...", her eyes sparkled with sarcasm as she continued that thought. "...not that you EVER give anyone any TROUBLE.", she grinned. "Plus, I had nothing better to do."

He rolled his eyes. "So you just decided to come here and distract us?"

"Nope, I came to see how far away you are from getting your moves anywhere close to perfect for this tour that you are planning that is supposed to start in five weeks. I'm sure Jamal could use some help, so I decided to drop by."

Before Justin could answer, Chris and Joey took a diving leap onto the couch next to Kelsie and grabbed her in a hug. "Kelllllsieeee! We missed yoooou!"

She smiled, sneaking a glance in a Justin, who was standing in front of them uncomfortably. He shifted his body weight multiple times until she finally heard his faint mumble...

"Grow up."

Lance walked over and asked, "Yo girl, are you coming with us tonight? We're going to check out that new club that just opened up downtown."

Justin's head snapped over to look at Lance. "We are?"

Lance glanced at Justin and shrugged. "Oh.. um, yeah, we are... Last weekend, we went to see the Lightening game...I don't know where you were..."

Chris laughed. "I remember that! That was so much fun!! Remember when Kelsie didn't like that one 'no goal' call that the ref made..."

Kelsie laughed and covered her face.

"She like ran down to the glass and started screaming at the officials...", he laughed. "That was a classic hockey fan reaction."

She shrugged innocently. "Well, it WAS a bad call."

Joey laughed. "Yeah but the best part about it was that the officials SO heard you and sent the tape upstairs to be re-evaluated..."

JC grinned. "And they changed the CALL!"

Kelsie chuckled. "Well, JC, I wouldn't be talking...at the movies the other night, you got a little too agitated at those older people behind us and..."

He cut her off abruptly by holding his hands up. "Eh, eh... we don't have to go there."

They were all laughing hysterically at the memories until Justin had had enough of it. They kept going on and on about how much fun they had when they had gone out, and he didn't want to admit to it, but he was almost, kind of, a little bit ... jealous. "Where have I been all these times? You guys never told me you were going out!"

JC turned to look at him and the smile fell from his face. He was hurting and he even thought he almost saw a glint of envy in those downcast eyes. "I guess we just figured you wouldn't want to come since you're not on the friendliest terms with our Kelsie, here..."

Kelsie interjected before Justin could come up with a smart remark. "Justin, come out with us tonight. It'll be fun... maybe we could even have an interesting conversation or something..."

He stared at her eyes for a second before looking away. If he wasn't careful, he might fall into her trap. "I don't think I can. I want to stay here and work on these steps...", he glanced around. "Only five weeks you know..."

She prodded once more. "Oh, come on, Justin. You work your butt off and I know it...even if you haven't put as much effort into MY dances as you do others, I still know that as it gets closer and closer to this tour, you're going to be working twenty four hours a day... So have a little fun before life gets too crazy."

He watched her curiously. What was she trying to do? She wasn't going along with the plan anymore...she wasn't arguing with him about anything... She only sat there and encouraged him.

He didn't like it. She was trying to suck him into talking to him and being friendly with him and that is what he didn't want. That is what he had Chloe for...she was the one that was supposed to be encouraging him and she was the one that was supposed to be there when he needed to talk about things. But she wasn't there for him as much as he needed her to be.

And inside Justin's mind, he heard that little voice calling out to him to let Kelsie in and to drop the act that he had been putting on for so long. He looked at her again and half-smiled to himself. She looked so cute sitting there, her eyes begging for him to come chill with her tonight.

"All right, I'll come."

She grinned. "Great. We'll have so much fun!" In her own mind, she knew exactly what would go down in the next few days. He didn't know how much would hit him, and it's a good thing he didn't.

Jamal clapped his hands, yelling at everyone to get off their butts and back to work, so Kelsie stood up and said her goodbyes. "See you all tonight." She winked at Justin and left the room.

Justin stood watching his reflection in the mirror again, and then glanced at the door, looking back at himself and smiling.

Maybe friendship was possible.