Chapter Thirteen

Lori was pretty steamed as she slammed her door as JC tried to follow. He touched his now bloody nose. He went in at Lori, but when he saw her hurt face, he apologized. She accepted as she went to her laptop, with him sitting beside her.

Lori - Can you believe her ?.***

JC- ( holding 4 tissues to his nose ) I know. I can't believe she went that berserk.*

Lori - PLUS, above all other things, she threatened to leave the group if Terri saw Erik again. I mean, the girl has no business in other people's love lives. Especially since they got back together. If they didn't, Mana should NOT stand in their way.

JC - Why the change of heart ?.

Lori - ( connects to the Internet ) - I saw how much they cared for each other. I mean, people don't act like that unless they are truly in love. ( looks at JC ) How would you feel if you were in the same situation as they were ?.

JC - Well stressed out for one thing. I wouldn't be trying to get you back unless I really and truly loved you. ( they kiss ) I sure as hell wouldn't wanna get shot at. ( hugs Lori ). He still could be acting.

Lori - JOSHUA SCOTT CHASEZ ?!?!?!?!?!. HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT ??!?!?!?!. GET OUT, GET OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

JC - Alright. Geez. Sorry. I'm sorry Lori.

----

Lori sighs as JC WALKS OUT THE DOOR. He comes back in 3 other times to try and make-up but she brushes him away. He pounds his fist against the wall. Lori sighs and checks her hotmail. She got 50 messages, about 30 from Terri, Erik, Chris, and Britney.

An instant message popped up. ( note - i'm not giving out real sn names )

One was from Dawn and the other was Terri. Lori put on a chat room so they could talk at the same time. Luckily, both accepted the invitation. Lori jumped with joy, b/c she had not talked to Dawn for 4 months.

( Dawn's SN - SugarBaby3218 , Lori's - MMCSprinkles22, Terri's - Twixlet2214 ).

SugarBaby3218 - TERRI, LORI !!!!!. I've missed you guys so much.

Twixlet2214 - Me too Dawn. Hola Lori.

MMCSprinkles22 - *hugs 2 both* I've missed you too Dawn. Hey Terri.

( i'm gonna abbr. these sometimes ).

SB - So update me on you guys' lives.

MMC - It's gonna be a LONG story. 'Specially in Terri's case.

SB - What do you mean ?.

TWIX - You're gonna find out but it's gonna take awhile to type it.

SB- Sounds complicated.

MMC - Believe me. It is.

Twix - I'm gonna go first okay Lori ?.

MMC - Okay Terri. I'll talk to Dawn until you're done.

~~~~

Dawn was shocked, happy, sad, angry, speechless, dumbfounded, quiet, and confused at the same time after the story spilled out. She wasn't sure of how to react towards Erik but hated Mana with every molecule in her being.

She even said this too, taking her friends by surprise. After Lori's portion of the story, Dawn, Lori, and Terri discussed So Weird and then next episode featuring the moffatts ( a repeat ).

~~~

Dawn was coming to visit in a couple months. All three hoped that this mess would be straightened out by then but didn't have much hope for that. Dawn couldn't wait to see her school buddies again. She was a bit jealous that they were both on tour ( Lori dating JC, and Terri being a close-to-super stardom- se* icon-pop-star ). She hoped that she could make it big too. She was jealous of Justin's gf Tiffany, but hoped that Justin would be hers someday.

----

Dawn is 18 yrs. old ( turned 18 4 months ago when Lori and Terri left ). She is 5'6", has blue eyes, freckles, black hair 2 inches above her shoulders, caucasian, and 130 lbs. She loved singing, NSYNC, BSB, going online, dancing, swimming, gymnastics, movies, and buying mag.'s with anything on 'her' Justin. She took lessons in gymnastics for fun, and only competed in 8 competitions ( won - 2 silver - vault and floor, 4 gold - balance beam, vault, floor, and vault again 2 bronze - floor and balance beam ). She swam 3 times a week at the YWCA. Dawn tried writing some songs but none panned out. ' Maybe Terri and Lori can give me some tips.' she thought to herself.

----

After logging off the net, Terri sat on her bed as Mana came in. Both looked at each other. Terri yelled at Mana to get the hell out of her room. Mana walked out and slammed the door. She came back later and attempted to talk to her again. She listened silently as Mana cursed everything that happened earlier in the day.

Later on, Britney came to visit Terri ( Shirley and the rest of Garbage visited Mana ).

Britney - You okay ?.

Terri - Can you believe her ?. She almost killed him and had the nerve to threaten to leave the group if I talked to or saw Erik again.

Britney - Mana thought that she was looking out for you and protecting you.

Terri - Well, she was wrong. I appreciate it, but I DO love Erik. I felt passion when we kissed. It made me feel secure when I was in his arms.

Britney - So you're back together with him ?. I'm happy for you, unlike a couple other people. We all know who that is. Chris is determined to make you his gf you know.

Terri - He's not going to succeed. I don't love him. He can't force me to love him. Besides, he's like 28 !!!!!!.

Britney - Tell that to him. He won't stop. I talked to him. He didn't come out and say it, but he would do anything to get you into bed with him or marry you.

Terri - Mana and him need professional counseling. I won't send Chris mixed signals. I love him, but as a FRIEND. He probably thinks otherwise.

Britney - You bet he does. I can't believe he's this obsessed with you. It's creepy to me, not to mention ILLEGAL. So I don't know what he's cooking up here.

~~~

Britney left after awhile so she could get ready for the American Music Awards. Terri had to get ready too. She look at her stomach and sighed. She couldn't hide her condition for long. She was 3 months already. Hopefully, things would sort out after the camping trip this weekend.

She picked out Geri's Wannabe outfit from the Istanbul concert. She put a sparkly purple thing with fur on the bottom ( it was open on both sides as slits from the hips down ) , wrists, and color. She put her in Mandy Moore style pigtails and slipped on her white 5 in platform shoes. She put on her makeup and put her glitter gel through her hair as she got ready for a hopefully uneventful night.

~~~~
At the Awards :.
~~~~

As they accepted their award for Best New Artist, Best Single, Best Video, and Best Debut Terri felt Mana's eyes boring into her as Julie read her acceptance speech, finishing up for the rest of us. We drank some water as everyone cheered for us. There were signs asking us to marry the guys, and we had to laugh at that.

We were supposed to sing 4 songs that night. They were :. " I just gotta know.", " Special Qualities to be my man.", " I love you so much.", and " Time to Say Hello, not Goodbye." During/After each song, I felt strange, like I didn't belong and I couldn't figure out why ( Mana and I din't talk much to me at all. Julie and the others said it was b/c we weren't feeling good. The press luckily bought it. Robyn shouted GIRLS ROCK into the crowd and got a huge response as we walked offstage *).

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Chapter Fourteen