CHAPTER 5

Backstreet spent all weekend long dancing getting ready for their North American Millenium tour. They would soon be headed off in the studio to change the arrangements of the album so that Maggie would have some parts. It was now Monday morning and today was Maggie’s first TV appearance. They all had an interview with John Norris to discuss what the boys thought about having a new female member. When Maggie turned on her TV to MTV. She was just in time to hear an MTV news brief.

"Hi, I’m Kurt Loder…we have some news for all the Backstreet Boys fan, they have changed the name of the group to Backstreet, you may ask why; MTV has gotten and official letter from the boys manager saying that they now have a new member named Maggie. That’s right a female member. Today at 3:30 on TRL Backstreet will be on to explain to the fans," Kurt Loder said.

Maggie turned off the TV. She knew it was going to be hard for a lot of fans to digest a new member. Even if the group would gain many new fans she knew they would loose some fans. She called A.J.’s room to see what he was doing.

"Hello" A female voice answered in A.J.’s room.

"Yeah, um is A.J. there"? Maggie asked.

"Yeah, who is this"?

"Maggie"

"Oh, by the way I’m Amanda"

"Hi Amanda, nice to finally talk to one of the guys girlfriends"

"Well nice to finally talk to the latest member…let me get A.J."

"Hello" A.J. said into the phone.

"Hey Bone…whata doing until the interview" Maggie asked.

"Well Amanda wanted to do some shopping, you can join us"

"Nah that’s okay, I’ll see what the other guys are doing"

"Alright"

Maggie knew she would have to become cool with all the guys. She knew Nick and her didn’t have that much in common, so she wanted to get to know him better. She called his room.

"Hello" Nick said chewing on something.

"Hey Nicky, wanna do something today"? Maggie asked.

"Wait, don’t tell me your going to start calling me Nicky" Nick said.

"Well yeah, I like it" Maggie said.

"Oh brother…anyway I would love to do something, how about we go get some pizza"? Nick asked.

"Sounds good" Maggie said.

"Okay, but were going to have to be joined by a bodyguard"

"You’re kidding"

"Nope, but you’ll get used to it, I’ll come to your room in an hour…bye" Nick said before hanging up the phone.

Maggie soon jumped in the shower. She came out only with a towel wrapped around her body. She went to her suitcase to pick out a comfortable outfit, but not too comfortable after all now she had an image to worry about. She decided on her black jeans, purple tank top, and her black shoes. She wore her braids in a low ponytail. She knew Nick would be there any minute to pick her up. While she waited she turned on the TV (something she loved to do to just kill time). She turned it to BET and was just in time to watch Brandy’s new video You Don’t Know Me (Like you Used to). She ended up watching a few more videos then someone knocked on the door. When she opened it she found Nick wearing baggy blue jeans and a white tee shirt, and Nike sneakers.

"I have something to tell you" Nick said walking into her room.

"What’s up"? Maggie asked.

"Okay, we have to all go pick out our outfits for TRL, so are pizza date is canceled" Nick said.

"OH, you had me worried, I thought it was something bad…what time do we leave"? Maggie asked.

"Um…in like 10 minutes…we will all head down and pick out our outfits, then eat, then come back to the hotel and get ready for John Norris’ interview and our big appearance on TRL" Nick said.

"I just hope that the outfits we have to wear aren’t all the same," Maggie said.

"Well we sometimes wear matching outfits" Nick stated.

"OH, well maybe that would be kind of cool, but I still want to wear something that is me," Maggie said.

"Okay, we should head down and meet everyone in the lobby" Nick said.

"Okay, Maggie said as she grabbed a sweater and tied it around her waist, just in case it got too chilly

When they arrived down at the lobby. Kevin, A.J., Howie, Brian, Leighanne, Amanda, Christie, Mindi, and Claudia greeted Maggie. Kevin walked up to her holding Christie’s hand.

"Hey whats up Mag" Kevin said with a huge smile on his face.

"Okay lets get something straight…my name is MAGGIE, never call me Mag" Maggie said in a serious but joking voice.

"Got it, I would like you to meet my girlfriend Christie and Christie this is my new band mate Maggie" Kevin said.

"Hi nice to meet you Maggie" Christie said.

"Same here"

Soon all the guys introduced their girlfriends. They were all in a very big van. Everyone talking and making Maggie feel like part of the group. Soon they arrived at a very trendy clothing store. They headed in and meet a man named James who was going to be helping them.

"I want to wear this" A.J. said holding a pair of orange jeans.

"Baby those look so silly" Amanda said.

"Well I don’t know they’re kind of different," Maggie added.

"That’s why I like them, but I won’t wear them," A.J. said a little bit disappointed.

"How about I show you all some items and you can decide what you want" James said.

"Sounds good" Kevin said.

James came out with various different clothing items. Since this was going to be their first television appearance with a new member they wanted to definitely look good. They all decided to all wear dark colors. Kevin picked out a black fitted long sleeve shirt and black slacks. Brian picked a black button shirt and black slacks. Nick picked out dark green button shirt and black slacks. Howie picked out a dark brown tight fitted shirt and black slacks. A.J. picked out dark blue tight short sleeve shirt, a leather coat to wear on top, black cowboy hat, and black slacks. Maggie was probably the only one having trouble deciding what to wear. Her and James went through pretty much every single thing in the store. She finally picked out a dark blue long sleeve tight fitted shirt with Chinese characters written over it, a black leather coat to wear over it, and a long black skirt. Everyone left pretty much happy with what they picked out. Soon they were back in the van.

"I’m hungry," Nick said once in the van.

"That’s a shock," A.J. said.

"Well I’m kind of hungry too," Kevin added.

Soon they pulled up to a McDonald. Debbie (Backstreet’s assistance) took everyone’s order and went in to buy the food. They ate their food in the van and headed back to the hotel to get ready. Maggie still felt a little out of place. Everything was happening so fast. When she got to her room she decided to call her family back home and let them know the news. She was already missing her best friend Jessica. She decided to call her and see what was up. Maggie dialed Jessica’s number and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello" Justin said.

"Hey Justin, put Jess on the phone"

"Okay hold on"

"HEY GIRL" Jessica yelled into the phone.

"Hey…what are you up to"

"Nothing just chillin…today is the big day on TRL right"

"Yep, your ass better be watching it"

"Whatever…are you feeling comfortable with all those dam white boys"

"Why can’t you just say boys"

"Because you know that as soon as everyone sees you they are going to be a little shock to see that they added a African-American female to the group"

"Oh well, they are just going to have to get used to it…everything has pretty much been cool so far"

"Whatever, so are they getting on your nerves"

"Nope, they are all real cool and I meet their girlfriends who all seem pretty cool too"

"Girlfriends, dam all of them are taken"

"Yeah why do you care"

"I don’t, I just didn’t think they were allowed to have girlfriends…you know image and everything"

"Jessica YOU are getting on my nerves, I’ll call you later"

"You better, bye"

"Bye"