The Next Morning
Katelin sat down on the edge of the stage and took a long swig of her water. It was twenty to ten and everyone would be arriving for rehearsal within the next twenty minutes. She began to get really nervous. She hadn’t had a chance to think about it much in the last hour and a half because Fatima had been working her so hard. But now that she had a few minutes, everything settled in.
“Kate,” Fatima said, quietly, not wanting to startle her. She had noticed for the past couple of minutes that Katelin seemed to be off in her own world. “Do you want to run through it once more before the others get here?”
“Sure,” Katelin answered, standing up. Fatima started the music and they both went through the routine perfectly. When they were finished, they heard applauding and Katelin looked up to see Krista and AJ sitting in the front row. She smiled nervously and gave them a tiny wave.
“That was great, girl,” Krista commented as she climbed up onto the stage with AJ following. They stood there awkwardly for a minute.
“So, AJ,” Katelin began. “I haven’t seen you in a month and I don’t even get a hug. God, some people.”
AJ grinned and pulled her close. “I was afraid you hated me.”
“Nah. I could never stay mad at you.” AJ smiled and wondered if she would be this forgiving towards others, namely her ex-boyfriend. “So, Kate, are you coming back on tour with us? he asked.
Katelin rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yes. Your girlfriend has ver good powers of persuasion.”
“Believe me, I know,” AJ laughed. “How’d she break you?”
Katelin grinned, proudly. “You are now looking at your baby’s godmother!”
“That’s great!” AJ exclaimed as everyone else began to enter the auditorium. He noticed that Katelin began to tense up and he squeezed her hand. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered, leaning in close.
Brian, Ang, Nick, and Becca were the last four to walk into the auditorium. “Yo! What’s Erin doing here?” Nick asked the other three. “I thought she couldn’t dance.”
“Oh yeah. And whose fault would that be?” Brian snickered.
Nick playfully punched him. “Shut up.” Brian punched him back.
“Now boys,” Becca warned, teasingly as she grabbed Nick’s hand.
Nick turned and smiled down at her. “We’ll behave, mommy.” Becca just rolled her eyes and laughed.
“Uh guys,” Ang began, nervously. “That’s not Erin.”
“What?” Nick asked as he looked up at the stage. He stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at the girl on the stage, dropping Becca’s hand.
Katelin stopped in mid-sentence with Brooke when she saw Nick standing there with a beautiful, tall brunette. The two of them kept their eyes locked, neither saying a word to each other or anyone else. No one else really knew what to do or say. Everyone there, except for Becca, had witnessed the bad break up in Europe and had seen Nick’s crushed face when Krista had informed him that she had left without saying goodbye.
“Alright guys,” Fatima said, breaking the tense silence that had filled the auditorium. “Let’s get started. We only have the stage until noon.” Katelin looked around after everyone had partnered up and cursed her luck when she saw that the only person without a partner was Nick. She threw a glare towards Fatima and Krista and made her way over to Nick. Nick opened his mouth to say something but Katelin beat him to it. “Not a damn word, Carter. I really don’t want to hear it.”
Nick sighed. “So, we’re back to square one, huh?”
“That’s right,” she spat. “I hate you. You hate me. And this time, no bet will interfere with this relationship.” Nick shook his head, sadly, and waited for the music to begin.
9/9/99—VMA’S
The guys and the dancers all gathered backstage before it was time to perform. Fatima looked around, making sure everyone was accounted for. “Where are Katelin, Krista, and Tyler?” She asked, exasperated. “I swear. I ask you people to follow a few simple directions and you can’t even do that.”
"I saw the three of them run out of here a couple of minutes ago,” Brian answered.
Before Fatima could say anything else, the three of them burst into the room, giggling. “Where were you guys?” Fatima demanded. “You’re supposed to go on soon.”
Tyler threw his arm around Katelin. “Katie, here, had a little problem with her outfit that we needed to attend to. Sorry Fatima.”
Katelin blushed furiously. “It’s fine now so let’s not talk about it.” Nick glared at Tyler as an embarrassed Katelin buried her face into his shoulder. What he wouldn’t give to hold her close like that again.
The performance went great. The crowd gave them a long, standing ovation and the whole group was absolutely elated. Afterwards, the guys along with Ang, Brooke, Krista, and Becca joined Erin (Howie’s ‘date’ for the evening) back in their seats while Kate and the rest of the dancers watched the rest of the show from the balcony.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“What’s wrong, Kev?” Brooke asked worriedly, at the after-party. “You’ve been awfully quiet the last couple of days.”
“It’s nothing I want to get into right now,” he told her. “I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow when we get home.”
Brooke watched, confused, as he walked away. It almost seemed as if he was glaring at her when he spoke to her. Suddenly a thought struck her. ‘He couldn’t possibly know already, could he?’ She was all of the sudden very nervous that Kevin knew what was up to. But if he did, she concluded, he would’ve definitely said something to her already. But, if for some reason, he did know, she was going to have to come up with a good story and fast.
Ang spotted Katelin standing over by the bar by herself. She decided that she should try and apologize again. She hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her since Katelin had come back a few days ago. She told Brian what she was doing and walked over to where Kate was standing. “Hey Kate,” she greeted, softly, as she approached her. “Can I talk to you?”
Katelin sighed. “Not now, Ang.” She noticed Ang’s face fall. “There are too many people around. I’ll talk to you sometime this weekend. I promise. I just really don’t want to get into it here.”
“Okay,” Ang nodded. “Fair enough. How about I come over to the beach house on Saturday?”
“Okay,” Katelin agreed, smiling slightly. “I’d like that.”
Ang smiled and walked back over to Brian. “That was fast,” he commented. “I take it that it didn’t go too well?”
Ang shrugged. “She didn’t want to get into it here. She promised that we’d talk this weekend.”
“I don’t know why you let her control you,” Brian said.
“Brian stop,” Ang begged. “Please. She’s my best friend.”
“She sure doesn’t act like it.” He sighed, seeing the look on Ang’s face. “Sorry. I promise I won’t bad-mouth her anymore. As long as she gives me a reason not to.” Ang nodded as Brian threw an arm around her and they waked over to where Howie was talking with Mandy Moore.
Nick walked over to the bar and ordered drinks for himself and for Becca. He didn’t notice Katelin sitting two feet away from him, playing with the straw in her drink. “So how much is she worth?” Katelin asked, never taking her eyes off of the counter.
Nick, startled, glanced over to see who was talking to him. “Excuse me?” he asked, not hearing what she asked.
“I asked how much she was worth?” Katelin explained, looking at him straight in the eye. “You seem to have a habit of putting a price tag on your girlfriends. I was just wondering what hers was.”
Nick had gotten lost in her icy blue eyes, which her glazed with hurt. He snapped out of it, though, as soon as he heard her voice, which was dripping with sarcasm, anger, and hate, all towards him. “Jealous much, Kate?” he asked, smugly.
Katelin glared at him. “As a matter of fact, Carter, no, I’m not jealous. Why would I be? I just wanted to know how much Becca was worth. That’s all.”
“You gave up your right to an opinion when you got on that plane a month ago,” he spat, his face merely inches from hers. “Becca doesn’t need a price. You want to know why? Because she is priceless. There aren’t many girls in the world as special as she is. You certainly weren’t one of them. I don’t have to work so hard to make it work with her. She likes me for who I am and doesn’t try to make me out to someone else. You, on the other hand, tried day after day to force me to be someone I wasn’t. Too bad I didn’t make any more money off of AJ. I definitely deserved more than two thousand dollars spending day after day with you.”
“Fuck you, Carter,” Katelin hissed, menacingly. She was determined that this would be one time where she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. “Just fuck off.”
He laughed, bitterly. “Ooh. Did I hit a nerve little girl?” He folded his arms across his chest in satisfaction, seeing her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Just watch, Katelin. You’ll come crawling back. They always do. I mean, you’re already one step closer already. Back on the tour. You’ll be begging soon. And I’ll be happy and in love with someone who isn’t you.”
Katelin swallowed the lump in her throat and glared at him. “For your information, asshole, I’m doing this as a favor to Krista and to Fatima. Not you or any of your stupid friends. Second of all, I wouldn’t come crawling back if you were the last person on the planet. I’d rather die alone than spend one more second than I have to with you.” With that said, she stood up and walked out of the party, tears cascading down her cheeks the whole way.