The President continued to stare at the Screen even after it blanked out. He laughed wholeheartedly at the whole ordeal. Perhaps, he was the only one who found the scene amusing and worth celebrating. For the first time in three years, his smile was genuine. The sight of Nick sprawled on the floor was a Kodak moment.
The President was not intimidated one bit by Meina's threat. He had to actually thank Meina for inflicting so much pain on the ONE person he hated most in this world. The President could see through to Meina's weakness. 'Nick is good,' he thought. 'Way too good.' He despised Nick's attractive looks and seemingly innocent nature. Nick seemed to have everybody at his feet without knowing how he accomplished it.
How come Nick was blessed with all these attractive outer qualities, yet commit such heinous deeds? The President still couldn't let go of his memories of Nick and of . . . Carena. He could still see it too clearly in his mind. Carena stood outside on the porch, her face lit by the moonlight. She smiled with such carelessness. Nick smiled cheerfully as well, the charm radiating from his face, his every move. Together Nick and Carena walked hand in hand down the quaint neighborhood in Germany.
Yes, he had been a minuscule German ambassador then when he met Nick. He remembered Nick's innocent face, his blond locks of hair made him seem angelic. Even he himself was attracted to Nick's sweet, suave personality. So he let Carena go out with Nick for just one night. No, the President thought. Push those deceptively beautiful memories aside. He will never forgive Nick for teasing his heart, for giving him a few beautiful memories and then destroying his world slowly, tortuously.
The President's thoughts were interrupted by the constant pounding on the door. "Mr. Prez?" the voice came from behind the door.
"Come in," he said, slightly agitated. His secretary came in.
"Mr. Prez, the Carter family and the BSB are here to see you."
"I have nothing to say to them," the President began, knowing full well that their meeting was inevitable. Actually, he was looking forward to this confrontation, although he would much rather confront Nick himself and revel in Nick's torture. However, he didn't mind hurting Nick's family and friends either. An eye for an eye, Nick, he thought. You hurt my family. I'll hurt yours. He didn't care that he was low on the morality scale. The hatred had blinded him.
"But Mr. President, we have to give them an answer. After all, what we did was . . . " Even though the secretary was not in a position of power, she knew about everything that was going on the White House. She just kept one eye open, and one shut. And since she was the President's most trusted employee, she was not afraid to express her opinion.
"Was what?" the President eyed her.
"Was underhanded. Besides, Nick's disappearance has not only caused unrest among his family and friends, but it has caused total chaos among his fans as well. The protests have already begun and we must give them answers and hopefully, we can bring closure to this ordeal."
When she was greeted with silence, the secretary knew that it was her cue to let the Carters and BSB in. Silence from the President usually meant that he did not want to counter her argument. Quickly, she left to call them in.
All 4 BSB members as well as Jane and Crystal stepped into the President's office. Crystal had begged to come along, to AJ's dismay. When all had filed into the President's office, they eyed him suspiciously. Finally, the President broke the silence.
"So you want explanations or what?" he said in his most unpolitical voice. They could hear the disdain coming from his voice and were shocked by his rudeness.
Crystal opened her mouth, ready to let go of her suppressed anger when Jane bursted out, "Why my Nicky?"
"It's painful, isn't it, to lose someone that you love, someone so dear to you," the President said softly, but his voice was commanding. He stared intently at Jane.
"If you know that feeling so well, then why did you take him away from us, from me?" Jane cried bitterly.
The President's face suddenly turned a rich crimson. He now glared at them and shouted at the top of his lungs, "THEN YOU SHOULD TEACH HIM SOME DAMN MORALS." His wrath shocked Jane, Crystal and the guys.
The guys were put to shame by his outburst. However, a mother's love was strong enough to defy everything. "Don't you decry my son. He is not bad. He has only done good, You don't have any right to judge him so harshly."
"Yeah," Crystal finally managed to enter the conversation. What has he done to you? And who the hell are you to treat him this way?" She could not take it anymore. She didn't like the way the President spoke of Nick.
The President looked at Crystal as if noticing her for the first time. He gave her an amused smile and diverted his words back to Jane. "I don't have a right to judge him, eh? You think he's so good, so moral? Well, from one parent to another, let me educate you a little. Your Nicky," the President's voice became sarcastic, "is anything, BUT good. In fact, he's the reincarnated devil."
Jane looked at him, confused. The President smirked at her expression. "Oh, Jane, don't give me that I-don't-understand look. In your heart, you know he's evil to the core. Why do you try so hard to hide his faults? You cannot rid him of his responsibilities for the rest of his life. He's a BIG BOY now."
"Jane, what's going on?" Brian asked incredulously. Weren't they supposed to be the ones pointing the fingers and scolding the President? Weren't they supposed to bring the President to shame? Brian looked pleadingly at Jane, hoping that she would give them an answer. Crystal also stared intently at Jane. However, Jane looked at them blankly. Her silence was ambiguous.
"I'll tell you what's going on, boy!" the President snapped. "Your little Nicky is not the cute angel you guys make him out to be."
"You're lying!" Jane interrupted the President. She glared defiantly at the President.
"Oh? Then why did he choose to destroy a family and act all innocent about it?"
"We don't know what you're talking about," Kevin intervened. The other BSB members and Crystal were completely confused.
"Well, let me clarify myself. Your Nick killed my Carena, my little, sweet, gentle Carena," the President said slowly, letting them digest every word.
Everyone gaped. "But in the media . . . your daughter . . . she, she committed suicide," Howie said, not believing a word the President uttered.
"Yeah, what does it have to do with Nick?" AJ and Brian cried out in unison.
"It damn well has a lot to do with Nick, with all those one-night stands of his. I'm surprised half the female population he dated hadn't taken their lives yet!" With that, the President shot an icy glare at Crystal. AJ's eyes darted to Crystal. He felt uncomfortable.
The President still leveled his gaze on Crystal. "Yeah, he's brainwashed about half the female fan population, pouring poison into their minds, and they seep it in happily." The President's eyes fluttered, mocking the daydreaming female fans. Then he continued, "And I see before me stands another victim of his crooked charms." Crystal looked back at the President, undaunted. AJ, however, didn't like his girlfriend to be referred to as one of Nick's obsessed fans. However, before he had the chance to make a comment, Jane started bursting out again. "That's not fair to my Nicky," she tried to defend her son. "Just because he doesn't love your daughter doesn't mean that she had no alternative but to take her life. Each individual is responsible for their own actions. You cannot blame everything on one person."
"Ahhhh," the President smiled. "So you admit his promiscuous behavior, Jane."
"Jane's right. Even if this had anything to do with Nick, you still can't place all the blame on him," Brian defended.
"Well, at least if he didn't love my Carena, he didn't have to say that he did, ruin her chastity, and then run off leaving my baby girl behind to drown in her own tears."
Feeling that her argument was weakening, Jane didn't respond. She only had her trust and love for Nick to go on. It seemed that that wasn't enough. AJ, Brian, Kevin and Howie gazed at her intently, expecting an answer though. She gave them none.
"So you're taking your vengeance out on Nick? Kevin asked sharply. "An eye for an eye. Is that what you're telling us?"
"Well, you are pretty low on the morality scale," Howie added.
Brian didn't like the President slandering Nick. "Where's your proof?"
"My daughter's death is my proof." The President closed his eyes, the tears of bitterness streaming down his cheeks. The boys began to feel uncomfortable, but still, they remained silent, awaiting the President's explanation. When the President regained his composure, he began his story.
"Carena was so young, 16 at the time, as was Nick, I believe. They met the night you Backstreeters were in Germany. I was still just a German ambassador then. Carena had gone to your concert. All she could say were good things about Nick, and as obsessed as she seemed, I believed in her judgments. I gave Nick the benefit of the doubt. Well, she came home that night with him by her side. She claimed that they met a while after the concert ended and asked for my permission to go out with him that night.
I agreed, but before I let them go, I had a little chat with Nick. I had a lot of respect for hardworking kids like him, but I didn't like his image. He wore a pair of sunglasses and dressed all in black. Why the sunglasses in the middle of the night? So that he could look cool? Or so that he could hide the smirk on his face? It was so dark. I didn't want to let them go. But Carena was so obsessed that she wouldn't have it otherwise. I could only watch helplessly as he led her down the road." The President paused, remembering Carena's beautiful, bouncy form that night. Then he sighed.
"But she was never the same after that night. She came back, and you know what? She was in tears. She was crying furiously, but I didn't know what to do to comfort her. She refused to tell me what happened. And every day thereafter, she would cry for hours at a time. She wouldn't let anyone near her, not even me. She cried until she had no more tears to shed, until her stares became blank and soulless. She wrote him all these letters to him, yet never once did he reply!" At that the President glared at Jane, waiting for her to confirm his statement. Jane couldn't reply. She had read some of those letters that Carena sent Nick. Nick had told her that he didn't know what was going on and had told Jane to just burn them because they frightened him. The President smiled at Jane's defeat, realizing that he had put her to shame. The Boys and Crystal stared in disbelief at Jane's resignation.
The President resumed. "He could play with anyone he wanted, but why hurt someone so young and innocent. I could hear her every night, mumbling his name, even in her sleep. Then one night, there was only silence. I thought she had gotten some sense in her again, but then realized how uncharacteristic the silence was. And when I approached her bedroom, I knew that it had been too late. She had taken her life." The President sniffed. "She was only 16," he whispered. His voice was shaky now. He then laughed, ironically. "Oh, Nick. So beautiful on the outside, but so ugly on the inside."
Howie broke out crying. AJ stared at him strangely. "Howie, he just accused our Nick of murder!"
"But I can't help it AJ. I know I'm supposed to be on Nick's side, but I can't help feeling sorry for Carena as well. Kevin and Brian stood there undecidedly. They didn't know how to defend Nick. Worse, they didn't know if they should defend Nick. They remembered that concert well. And they were surprised to not find Nick at the hotel after the concert that night. He never told them anything about where he went or what he did that night. They had no proof or solid evidence that he wasn't with Carena that night after the concert.
"Jane?" the guys looked at her expectantly.
Jane sighed, looked away, and said, "Come on boys, we've heard enough accusations for one day. I see that we'll get no sympathy from him." With that, she strolled off, the tears welling in her eyes. Images of Nick smothered in blood haunted her day and night, and she was hoping that this meeting with the President would put her unsettling feelings to rest, but if anything, they meeting only made her feel more disturbed. She wanted to defend Nick, but doubts clouded her mind. She couldn't deny that Nick had quite a selection of girlfriends, but the thought that he caused another person's death sickened her.
The Boys and Crystal felt her hopelessness as well, and one by one, they filed out of the room, emotionally exhausted. One question dwelled on their minds though-Why would the President use such an underhanded method to get back at an 18-year-old boy?
Crystal was shaken bad. On the one hand, she despised the President's sarcasm. She felt so bad when he hinted at her being an obsessed fan of Nick. And she felt AJ's stares, his silent jealousy. He made her feel ashamed. But how could she be blamed for emotions which she couldn't control. AJ didn't talk to her on the ride home. The others ignored her as well, except for Jane, who seemed to bestow on Crystal some sympathy, perhaps grateful for Crystal's love for Nick.
The boys felt defeated. The President talked so convincingly. They were shamed into silence, but were pained and troubled by Nick's sufferings. They knew he had many different girls by his side at times, but they always thought of him as an innocent little brother. In their minds, Nick was still only a boy-innocent, naïve, and idealistic. They recalled how helpless he was on the screen. They were now at a dead end. There was no way of rescuing Nick. The President had been their last hope, and he had made it clear that he wouldn't help.