“Can you believe we actually managed to save up enough money for this?” Joce wondered out loud as her and her friends lay on the field in the park, that was the center of their lives, under the stars.
“I didn’t think we’d be able to do it.” Steph replied. The others sort of mumbled, but no one said a word.
The 4 Gurlz, they were best friends since they could remember. Stephanie, Sophie, Jocelyn, and Charline. Tomorrow, they were on their way to Florida. Something they thought was going to be just a summer vacation would, as they would soon realize, end up changing their lives as they knew them.
The question remained though, was it for the better?
**The Next Morning**
Buzz! Buzz!
Charline rolled over to turn off her alarm clock, but the short blonde just ended up falling out of bed. She grabbed on to the end of her night table, causing it to fall over as well.
CRASH!!!!
Sophie, Charline’s older sister came running up the stairs. “Charline!” She screamed as she saw her 11-year-old sister on the floor in a toppled up mess of blankets and things that fell off her night table. Including the still buzzing alarm clock.
Sophie sighed and walked over to Charline. But instead of helping her, she picked up the alarm clock and turned it off. Then she threw it back on the floor and walked towards the door.
“Char, I suggest you get dressed. Steph and Joce will be here any minute.” She said before stomping out of the room and back downstairs into the kitchen to help her dad clean up from breakfast.
“Dad, was I as immature as Charline when I was her age?” Sophie asked, as she picked up a plate and started drying it.
“Sophie, you’re only two years older than Charline. You speak as if you were 16.” Her dad laughed. Sophie put the plate down and walked over to the kitchen table to get her hair brush. She heard another big crash and grunted as she ran the brush through her short brown hair.
**Meanwhile**
“Hi, is Jocelyn there?” Steph spoke into her cordless phone as she got on her shoes. “Aaron, come on, please let me speak to Joce.” She sighed, Aaron was Jocelyn’s older brother, and he never let her talk to Joce with out harassing her a little bit.
“Hello?” Joce asked, once she had finally gotten her brother off the phone.
“Heyo, Joce. Come over to my place now. I’m heading over to Sophie and Char’s.” Steph said.
“Oook. Just let me get my bags.” Joce replied. “I’ll be over in a jiffy.”
Steph and Joce lived pretty close to Sophie and Charline. Although, they lived in Fort Rouge, their lives were on the other side of the city, in Fort Richmond, where Sophie and Charline used to live. Joce and Steph met when Joce was 3 and Steph was 5, but they had always lived across the street from each other. Joce met Char through school and since Char was Sophie’s younger sister, that’s how Joce met her.
One day, Sophie and Char were over at Joce’s house and Steph went and knocked on the door. The four of them got along immediately, especially since Steph and Sophie were the same age.
Down where Sophie and Charline used to live, there were a bunch of guys that always hung out at ‘The Park’, a small playground very close to Sophie and Charline’s house. The guys were, at most, two years older than Steph and Sophie. There was Chris, Rishi, Ivan, Andy, Dave... and many more.
A few years back, when Steph and Joce were playing at ‘The Park’ with Sophie and Charline, the guys came and declared war to get their territory back. Now, almost every weekend there were all out wars between The 4 Gurlz, and those guys. Who soon became named, The 10 000 000 Boys.
But now, Sophie and Charline had moved to Fort Rouge, which meant, there would be no more late nights at ‘The Park’. So the girls’ fun had been a little low lately.
In an attempt to cheer themselves up, the four of them, throughout the past school year, had decided it might be fun to earn a bit of cash and maybe spend it on a trip to an amusement park or something.
That was until about five months ago.
**Flashback – February 1996**
“Guys,” Steph said, gazing at the posters that covered every inch of Joce’s bedroom walls. “I really like the Backstreet Boys.”
“We all do, Steph.” Sophie said. “Hey, why don’t we save the money to try and go to a BSB concert?”
Joce sighed. “There’s no way they’d ever perform here. Besides, it would be too loud.”
Charline was sitting at Joce’s desk when she gasped. “You guys!!”
“What?” They all asked in unison, none of them moving, not even their eyes leaving the walls.
She stood up. “The Backstreet Boys are from Florida, right?”
“Uh huh.” They all replied. None of them really cared what she had to say. Usually, Char’s ideas were pretty stupid. But mostly Charline ignored that. After all, she knew it was just the stereotypical view, that since she was the youngest, was the dumbest.
“So…” She went on, picking up the magazine and waving it in front of Sophie’s face. “why don’t we try and go to Florida?”
“The Backstreet Boys wouldn’t be there, they would probably be touring.” Steph said simply, but sadly.
But Joce got Charline’s point and quickly agreed with her, snatching the magazine from her hands. “Who says we’re even going there to meet BSB?” Joce asked them. Steph looked at her but Sophie ignored this whole thing. Personally, she thought it was stupid. And she had to keep up her character of being the cool, sophisticated one of the group.
Joce continued. “We could just to Florida to hang out, you know it would be fun. Of course we’re not going to meet the Backstreet Boys. I say that’s what we save our money for. Deal?”
Charline and Steph excitedly put their hands on top of Joce’s. Sophie sighed but reluctantly put hers on top too.
“Deal!”
Now the four of them were standing in the airport terminal, unsure of how to get to their flight. But they had insisted that Sophie’s dad just drop them off, after all they’d be doing things on their own for the next month.
“You guys,” Sophie said, looking at the television screen above them. “Our flight is A.C. 196.”
The others nodded. “When does it leave?” Steph asked.
Sophie checked her watch. “In an hour! Come on guys! Let’s hurry!”
**Meanwhile**
The Backstreet Boys’ all piled into Kevin’s van, which was driven over by his girlfriend, Kristin. The five of them were exhausted and looked forward to the long break they had ahead of them.
“I can’t believe we can walk through an airport and actually not get bombarded by fans.” A.J., the ‘cool’ one of the group marveled. He was the one with big hoop ear-rings and one day pink, the next day bleach blonde hair.
“It’s No Fan Land!” Brian, the loveable comedian laughed, and slapped his best friend, Nick, a high five.
"I kind of miss being adored..” Nick pouted. He was, at sixteen, the baby cute blonde of the group.
“You would.” Howie glared at him. Though he was dubbed the ‘Latin Lover’ of the group, he was still a bit jealous of all the attention Nick was always getting.
Kevin sighed. You spend five months together, nonstop, and this is what happens. Fights begin and people get on each other’s nerves. And him, being the mature, and oldest at twenty-four, wanted for it to stop.
“Guys, come on. We need to be on good terms for tonight’s trip to the beach!” He said, raising his eyebrows.
“Trip to the beach?!” The four remaining band members exclaimed. They had obviously not been aware that Kevin had this planned. He just smiled at looked over at Kristin, who shook her head.
“Kev, you gotta be kidding.” A.J. insisted. He wanted to spend some time away from these guys! Going to the beach with them was definitely not on his To-Do List.
“I think it would be fun!” Nick smiled. He always seemed to have a perky attitude. The same perky attitude which was starting to get on everyone, but especially Howie’s, nerves.
“That,” Howie said bitterly. “is only because a you don’t have a girlfriend to spend time with. So you need to interrupt our lives just so you can have fun!!”
Brian was shocked at Howie’s sudden outburst. He didn’t usually act like that. Usually they all respected the fact that Nick didn’t really have any other friends besides them. Brian peeked behind him at Nick. His mouth just sort of hung open. Obviously, he was shocked too.
Kevin looked back, only taking his eyes off the road for a second. “That’s enough you two. We are going to the beach tonight.” He paused and glared at A.J. “We are going to get along.” He paused again, but this time his glare was aimed at Howie. “We are going to enjoy not being adored.” He glared at Nick.
“But most importantly we’re gonna have fun!” Brian exclaimed. No one acknowledged him. Instead they all just sat there, with solemn looks on their faces.
Brian sighed and leaned back. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be, well, interesting. To say the least.
**Half An Hour Later**
Joce, sophie, Charline and Steph entered their hotel room, and they all immediately flopped down on one bed.
Charline giggled. “What should we do tonight?”
“I wanna go to the beach!” Joce announced, looking at the others.
Steph sat up and kicked off her shoes onto the floor. “Yeah, let’s go to the beach. But first, let’s go to the mall.”
As soon as she head Steph say, “The Mall.” Sophie’s ears perked up. “Yeah, let’s go shopping!”
“Now?” Charline asked, surprised. She thought that Sophie would have wanted to rest. But then again, her sister was a shop-oholic.
Sophie and Steph were already, however, putting their shoes back on. “Yes of course now!” Sophie spat. To her, Charline could get very annoying. Imagine, if she couldn’t take it now, how things would be like in two weeks. Halfway through the trip.
Not good.
“Are you guys coming?” Steph asked. “It’s just across the street.” She added, in hopes of convincing Joce and Char to go with them. She gave Joce a pleading look. Sophie wasn’t a fun shopping partner. But like Sophie, Steph was also a shop-oholic and didn’t pass up any opportunity.
Joce sighed and stretched out on the bed. She wasn’t going to bail Steph out this time. “Nah, just bring back some munchies for the room, kay?”
“Yup.” Steph replied, defeated, but disguising her voice so Sophie didn’t suspect anything. She shot Joce a little glare before walking out the door with Sophie.
**Ten Minutes Later**
“Let’s go to Suncoaast!” Steph exclaimed, grabbing Sophie’s arm.
“No! Let’s go to The Gap!” Sophie yanked her arm away from Steph.
“We have The Gap at home.” Steph stated matter-of-factly. “We don’t have sub-titled Anime at home!”
Sophie rolled her eyes and looked at her watch. “Look, we’ll meet back in a half hour okay?”
“Okay.” Steph agreed, glad Sophie always had a reasonable solution for possible fights.
And the two girls walked off in opposite directions.
**Meanwhile**
Nick stepped out of Kevin’s van and walked up to the gate of his house. He looked behind him and Kevin waved before driving off. Nick sighed and pressed the button on the intercom attached to the gate.
His younger brother, Aaron, answered. “Nick’s not here. He lives at a different 72 Dessurault Lane.” He said in a shy but serious tone.
Nick laughed at Aaron’s attempt to get fans away. “A.C, it’s me.” He said.
“Nick?” Aaron’s voice perked up at the sound of his older brother voice. Unlike Charline with Sophie, Nick was Aaron’s role model. Probably because the age difference between them was almost eight years. Sophie and Charline had only two years between them.
“Just a sec.” Aaron said. A few seconds later the gate opened. Nick walked inside the walkway of his huge estate.
Aaron came running out of the house and hugged Nick with so much force that he almost toppled over. Nick blinked a couple times and then chuckled softly.
“Here Aaron.” He said, handing his brother one of his many bags. “Carry this one inside for me.”
Aaron picked it up while he and Nick started walking towards the front door.
Aaron opened it and let Nick, with his two suitcases and three Nike bags, walk in first.
Nick set his stuff down in the front foyer and Aaron did the same. “So, why’d you answer like that?” Nick asked, walking to the kitchen and getting a Twinkie out of the cupboard. “Want one?” He asked. Aaron shook his head.
“We had eight girls come here from Belgium!” Aaron exclaimed, he seemed pretty thrilled.
“Really?” Nick asked, astonished. His eyes were wide and his mouth was full of Twinkie.
“Yup, they said they were selling chocolate.” His sister B.J. replied, standing in the kitchen entrance, pulling her thick blonde hair back into a ponytail.
“Beej!” Nick exclaimed and got up to hug her, but she pulled away.
“I’m going to the mall with Shannon and I need to look perfect.” She explained.
Nick raised one eyebrow. “Whatever.” He took another bite of his Twinkie and looked at his siblings. “Then what happened?”
Aaron giggled. “When we let them in they went totally nuts. They thought that Dad was you, and that you cut your hair!”
Nick burst out laughing. “Really?”
“Yeah, and it was all this little moron’s fault.” B.J. laughed and gently smacked her younger brother upside the head. “He loves Belgian chocolate so much!”
“Hey!!” Aaron crossed his arms and pouted. “So do you!” Aaron’s eyes shifted from B.J. back to Nick. “Anyway, we sighed autographs for them and they left.” Aaron grinned.
“Interesting… so where is everyone else?” Nick questioned. Usually his house wasn’t this empty and he thought the whole family would be home for his big return.
B.J. poured herself a glass of Fruit Punch. “We thought you wouldn’t be back until late so Mom took Angel and Leslie to the Movies and Dad is at work.”
“Nick, can you take me to Columbia Mall?” Aaron asked. “I need to get a new video game. I have the money!”
“Sure. Beej, you guys want a ride too?”
“Yeah, we were gonna walk, but I know Shannon has a secret crush on you.” B.J. smirked.
DING DONG!!
“Oh, that’s her.” B.J. said, walking to the door.
“Speak of the Devil.” Nick mumbled. “How’d she get to the front door anyway?” He asked suspiciously.
“She knows the gate code you airhead.” B.J. rolled her eyes at her bother’s stupidity. She opened the door.
“Hey Stinky.” Nick leaned back in his chair so her could see Shannon.
“Ugh, why do you always insist on calling me that?” She laughed, unoffended.
“Um, maybe it’s because you stink.” Nick stated, standing up and grabbing his keys off the counter.
“Whatever. Let’s go.” B.J. said. Everyone left and Nick locked the door behind him. He sighed. It was good to be back home.
