Chapter Three
"Miss Young! Dont leave just yet." Mr. Dubuoi yelled across the auditorium. Shit. He had remembered. What the hell did he want with me anyways? Sorry, there I go with my language again. I swear- its only when I get pissed. "What do you want, sir?" I asked, plopping down in a chair. "I do have a life to get back to, ya know?" "Yes, Miss Young. Just calm down. Now, do you remember that design you had to do?" I looked at him. Was he actually stupid, or just playing the part of a dumbass? "You mean the dumb one for a boyband that you assigned me that I begged to have changed and therefore only spent a few minutes on it? No, sir. I have no idea what you're talking about." Mr. Dubuoi opened his mouth to say something and I prepared to defend myself-but a loud voice broke in. "Hey Mr. D!"
I whirled around in my chair, the light from the hallway casting harsh light around the black silhouettes of 5 guys. Atleast I assumed they were guys. I couldnt tell. The one that yelled had a deep voice, though. The door swung shut and the guys were bathed in shadows momentarily before stepping into the dim light of the auditorium. Why did they look familiar? "Hey. You must be the inventor of this great design." The one with the voice said, stepping up to me and extending a ring covered hand. "Yeah. What about it?" I said. I didnt know this guy and I was already on my guard? That cant be good. I shook his hand anyways. He had a firm handshake. It was nice... "We want to ask your permission to use it." The tall dark haired one chimed in, extending his hand also. "Lets start over." Mr. Dubuoi walked up, putting his hands on my shoulders.
"Guys, this is River Young, the designer of the cover. River-this is AJ Mclean, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell- also known as the Backstreet Boys." My brain stopped. We're talking full fledged head on collision between my trains of thought. "This is the first time Miss Young has been silent since the first day of school." Mr. Dubuoi said with a laugh. "To tell you the truth, I am not in awe of who you are, sirs. I am merely debating on whether to puke or just feel naseaus enough to sit down." Why the hell I said that just then, I dont know. I did feel sick, but it wasnt because I really hated the Backstreet Boys. There was just something about that one.. .AJ? Was that his name? The sound of his voice was turning me absolutely inside out. And the way he looked? Painted fingernails, dark glasses, old rock tank top... my kind of guy. "Yes." Mr. Dubuoi sighed. "This is my student whom I love dearly. She never gives me any problems and does just as she's asked without fail." All the guys laughed. I sure wish that AJ fella would take off those sunglasses. I couldnt tell if he was looking at me or not, dang it. Mr. Dubuoi cleared his throat. "I'll let you fellas take it from here."
"You wanna sit down Miss Young?" One of the guys asked. He had a thick accent. Texas? Kentucky? Georgia? Who knows. "Yeah, why not?" I plopped down on a huge stage couch. The tall blonde sat down next to me and grinned. What a dork. He's cute, though, no doubt about it, but whats with the stupid grin? AJ sat diagonally from me. He sure is hot... man. Anyways... "So, we saw your design and want to use it." The big dark haired one said. It sounded like he was finishing up some huge speech he had just given me. Crap. I wasnt listening. "Well, Kevin, you have just experienced what everyday class is like with Ms. Young here. Anyone else care to try to explain what you all are doing here?" Mr. Dubuoi smiled. Oops, guess I hadnt been paying attention at all. AJ smiled. "I'll give it a whirl..." He leaned over, rested his arms on his knees and took off his sunglasses. Did I just inhale that loudly? He has beautiful eyes!
"River, honey, your design was good. We liked it. Is it alright if we use it as our album cover?" They wanna use MY design? Whoa. "Sure. I dont care." I spit out. Man, everything I say to this poor guy is rude. "Congratulations AJ, you are the first to get through to her on the first try. That deserves a reward. You guys in town for a little longer? I'll take you all out to dinner. My treat. Including Miss Young." Mr. Dubuoi said with a laugh, stretching out in his chair. "Sound good to me." The latin said. He had a sweet face... Not nearly as intimidating as the others. "Lets go." All the guys began to get up, grabbing backpacks and whatnot that they had brought in with them.
I stood up, lifting my heavy backpack and began to put it on. "Got enough books in there?" AJ asked, coming up and helping lift one part onto my shoulder. "Nah, this aint even half of them." I said, acting like it wasnt all that heavy. Ha! "Can I ask you a question?" AJ asked, smiling. "Another one? Go ahead." I said, giving one final heave to get the backpack up and situated. "Where'd you get the idea?" He still had his glasses off, and those eyes were soooo distracting... "Huh? What idea?" Duh, I am offically a moron. What other idea would he be refering to? "The cd design." He said simply. "Easy. I got in a fight with a locker. The locker won. I happen to glance at my hand before doing it, and ta-da!" I showed him my still bruised hand, altho the blue was turning more green and yellow... He winced. "Ooh, how'd you manage that?" "I got pissed that I had to design the cd cover for a boy band and I punched a locker." He laughed. "How's the locker doing?" Now I laughed. I'm sure it was a dumb sounding laugh too, but whatcha gonna do, ya know?
"You two coming or not?" Mr. Dubuoi bellowed from the theater door. I hadnt realized how slow we were walking till just then. AJ hollered back and we ran up to the door. He got there first, but he held the door open for me and my pregnant backpack. "Where we going, Mr. D?" AJ and I asked in unison. It was weird, but I already felt like I had known this guy for years...
.....TO BE CONTINUED.....
