I sat on the couch in the back of the bus, painting my toenails an interesting shade of green that I had just bought at a CVS somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I wiggled my toes around, then wrinkled my nose at them.

"That's really ugly," said Nick, plopping down on the couch next to me.

"I know. I've decided it's a mixture between Flubber and puke."

He nodded in agreement. "That seems about accurate." He sniffed, then waved his hand in front of his face. "That stuff is strong. You're going to stink up the whole bus and kill us all."

I hit him lightly on the head. "There has never been any recorded deaths of people dying from nail polish fumes. Trust me."

"I think you're about to be proved wrong." He started gagging and holding his throat. He pretended to pass out, and his head fell into my lap.

"Wouldn't his nose look great painted the Flubbery puke color," I mused aloud, taking the brush back out.

He sat up very quickly. "No, it wouldn't, thank you very much!"

I grinned at him. "Sure it would."

He gave me a glare, then reached around me, and snatched the TV remote away from me. "Hey!" I shouted as he changed the made-for-TV movie I was watching to a basketball game. I tried to grab the remote from him, but his long arms easily out-stretched my short ones. Between trying to grab the remote and not get any nail polish on anything, I lost my balance, and tumbled off the couch.

He started to crack up, and tears started to pour down his cheeks as I sat on the floor, glaring up at him. Kevin and AJ came in from the front of the bus to see what the fuss was about.

After glancing around the small room, Kevin said, "Nick, what did you do?"

"Nothing!" he managed to get out in between laughs. "She fell off the couch!"

I looked up indignantly at Nick, then looked at Kevin. "That's because he came in here and first insulted my nail polish, then took the remote control from me and changed the channel, and when I tried to get it back, he pushed me off the couch!"

Nick had managed to stop laughing. "I did not push you! And you know it! Don't lie!"

Kevin threw his hands up in the air with a sigh. "You guys are so mature," he muttered, as he left the room.

AJ followed him laughing. I climbed back onto the couch next to Nick.

"Why did you say I pushed you? You know I didn't," he said, looking at me.

"I know, but it made it sound more like I was the victim here."

"Oh, bull."

I smiled fetchingly at the blue-eyed blonde before quickly snatching the remote away from his hand.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Give that back!"

"Children! Behave!" we heard AJ shout from the next room.

I stuck my tongue out and Nick and he stuck his back at me. I changed the channel back to my movie, and gripped the remote tight. Nick grunted in protest as he got comfortable next to me on the couch.

The movie was over about an hour later. I heard Nick sniffling as the credits rolled by. I turned toward him, wide-eyed. "You are not crying, are you, Nick Carter?"

"Of course not," he said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"Then why are your cheeks wet?" I asked, touching his cheek lightly.

"I, uh, I got something in my eye," he lied.

I just laughed. "Sure, Nick, sure. Well, girls like those sensitive types, you know."

"Oh really?" He perked up a bit.

"Sure. If you cry at sad movies, they'll think you're sweet and kind and sensitive."

"Do you?" he asked, turning his head to look at my face.

I looked thoughtful for a second. "No, I just think they're wussies!"

He picked up the pillow he had been holding and smacked me with it. "Aaah!" I said as the big blue pillow came smacking down on my head.

I grabbed the pillow that was sitting next to me, and smacked him with it. We got into a huge pillow fight. I threw a pillow towards Nick, but he ducked and it hit Howie, who had just walked into the TV room.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Howie!" I apologized.

He rubbed his nose gingerly. "That's okay, I think I'll be okay. That's quite a throw you've got there."

Nick took my moment of apology to hit me with a pillow. I was standing up on the couch and it knocked me over. As I fell, Nick caught me. He put me upright, and smiled down at me. A funny feeling came over me, but I ignored it. "I hate when you do that," I protested.

"Do what?" he asked, looking confused.

"Look down on me like that."

"Now, I can't help that can I?" he asked. "Not my fault you're a shrimp."

"I'm not a shrimp!" I protested. "I'm vertically challenged."

I was only five foot four, which meant I looked up to almost everybody, and six foot one Nick more than anybody. I hated being short. I was always talked down to, even though I was 18, and technically an adult. This seems like a good time to explain who I am.

My full name is Serena Lynne Papier, but for musical purposes I go by Serena Lynne. I'm a singer, and I'm the opening act for the Backstreet Boys on their summer tour this year. My first record was released in mid-April and had gone gold about two weeks ago. I was so proud! I was invited to go on this tour with them. They had requested me personally, so of course I had to say yes. Not that touring with five hot guys was going to hurt me very much either.

As I said, I'm 18, but people always think I'm a lot younger than that. They think I'm like 14 or something. That bugs me, and I used to try and make up for it by wearing tall shoes, but when I started to be compared to a Spice Girl, I gave into my height. My hair is naturally bleached blonde, long and straight. That's another thing that works to my disadvantage, people think I'm just a bubbly blonde airhead and I hate that! Just FYI, I got straight A's all through high school.

Most people I know call me Rini. It's been my nickname since I was a lot younger, and got into Sailor Moon. I thought it was so cool that she had my name, Serena, and went through a period where I was Sailor Moon. For two Halloweens I dressed up as her. So then Rini, Serena's daughter from the future came onto the show, and I fell in love with the name Rini, and have been called that ever since. I decided Serena Lynne was a better stage name though. Serena alone sounds too much like Selena, and Rini is dumb for a professional singer.

So anyway, I was on tour with the Backstreet Boys, and I got to ride in their tour bus with them. I had just gotten onto the bus about three days ago, and was slowly adjusting. It was fun, although those little bunks made me claustrophobic.

"Vertically challenged, schmertically challenged," he scoffed. "You're just short."

"I am not!" I said, hands on my hips defiantly.

"It's so cute when munchkins are mad," he teased. My jaw clenched in anger, and without thinking, I slugged him in the stomach. His eyes popped open and he bent over, clutching his stomach.

"Ooohh . . ." he moaned in pain.

Now Brian came in. He looked sleepy. "What's going on in here?" he asked.

"Oh, did we wake you up, Bri?" I asked, feeling bad.

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry."

He rubbed his eyes, then looked at the two of us again. "Why's Nick like that?" he asked, gesturing to Nick, who was bent over.

I glanced at Nick, then turned back to Brian sheepishly. "I guess I kinda punched him in the stomach."

Brian looked fully awake now. "Why?"

"He called me a munchkin."

Brian started to crack up. He fell into a chair, and just sat there and laughed. "Big ole Nicky boy there got beat up by a girl! Whoa, that'spriceless!"

By this time, the other guys had come out to see what was going on, and heard Brian's comment. They all started to laugh.

Nick had straighten back up. "It's not funny!" he said indignantly.

"Actually, it is, Nick," said AJ, who was wiping his eyes.

"No, it's not, she's a crazy bitch!" He stormed out of the TV area to his bunk.

I sat down on the couch amid the rest of the laughing Backstreet Boys. I felt really bad. I didn't mean to embarrass him like that.

"Don't worry about it," said Howie, sitting down next to me. I guess hecould tell that I was upset.

"I feel really bad, Howie. I didn't mean to hurt him, physically or mentally."

He smiled. "Yeah, I think it's more of an ego thing than anything physical."

"I dunno, I can punch pretty hard. I gave a guy a black eye in sixth grade for saying that girls couldn't play soccer as well as guys."

He laughed. "Why can I so easily see you doing that? Well, still, don't worry about it."

I got up off the couch. "I'm going to try to make amends," I said, walking through the Boys, who had calmed down, but were still discussing the episode with humor.

"Rini," I head Kevin say. I turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Is all you and Nick do fight?"

I bit my lip. "It's not really fighting it's just like-" I stopped before I incriminated myself.

"Flirting?" asked AJ with a grin.

"No!" I protested. I turned and walked out of there quickly.

I stopped at Nick's bunk. It was on the bottom, near the front of the bus. I sat down next to it and opened the little red curtain.

He turned to me, and glared. "What do you want?"

I put on my cutest and most apologetic face I could. "I'm really sorry,Nick. Really sorry. I didn't mean to punch you. I have a bit of a temper."

"No shit."

"And I didn't mean to hurt your ego either. Am I forgiven?" He looked at me, and I gave him a little smile. "Please?"

He tried to hide a smile, but failed. "Yeah, although my insides aren't going to be the same for awhile," he said, rubbing his stomach gingerly.

I laughed. "Sorry. How bout I make some chocolate milk? Will that make you feel better?"

He looked at me happily. "Sure. We have chocolate syrup?"

"Of course. I bought some earlier this week. I can't go anywhere without it!"

Now it was his turn to laugh. "Sounds good."

I got up off the floor and went to the tiny kitchenette area and made two glasses of chocolate milk. Nick came out to join me, and sat down at the booth. I got a magazine I had bought earlier, and sat down next to him. He bent the edge of the magazine down so he could read the cover. "BOP? What's up with that?" "I wanna see what's up in our lives." I joked. I read for about ten minutes. I was reading a gossip column when my mouth dropped. "Nick," I said, grabbing his arm.

"Listen to this." He looked up from the Sports Illustrated he was reading. " 'It is rumored that 18 year old Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys is dating Serena Lynne, who is opening up for them this summer tour. The two blondes have been seen together, although nothing has been confirmed yet. Stay tuned for more details on this juicy piece of gossip.' "

Nick started laughing. "Oh man!" he said, slapping the table, and making my milk slosh out of the cup. "That's mad funny!" He took the magazine from my hands, and went into the TV room where the other four were. I walked up and stood behind him.