Once upon a time, there were 5 teenage boys. They went to Madison Music Academy & were best friends Besides their singing, the boys were known for their hobbies around the school. Justin was a humble & southern boy who liked to play all sorts of sports. He liked to rule the basketball court & no one could get a shot past him.

Chris was on the football team. Despite his short height, he was the fastest on the team. Joey, oh Joey was quite the character. He was always the jokester, trying to get someone to laugh. He also took his video camera everywhere, wanting to document everything he saw. Lance, like Justin was from the south & even more shy. But, he was the ace of his business classes & wanted to own his own business 1 day. He also was at the nearby stables whenever he could, helping out with the horses. And last but not least; JC. He was an avid songwriter but spent most of his free time wetting his pillow! He slept A LOT & was a fan of drooling in his sleep.
---
Now, we introduce the princess of our story. She wasn't like a normal princess, no she was very different. She had a step-mom & 2 step-sisters who she lived with after her father died. She had a disability that required her to use crutches but that didn’t stop the way her family treated her. She was the piñata of the school; everyone beat her up & everyone enjoyed it. When Nicole was alone, she’d stare out the kitchen window, dreaming of finding her prince. Dreaming of a life far, far away.
---
Nicole sat anxiously in her seat, waiting for the announcement for Homecoming to blast thru the speakers of the classroom intercom. She was head of the decorating committee and of course, wrote the script.

“And now, fellow Madison High School Students, here are your Homecoming announcements: *female voice* Freshman and Sophomores, are you interested in dancing your souls away? If so purchase your tickets at the commons during your lunch hours. Each ticket will be $7.00. AND you Juniors and Seniors, don't think we forgot about you. You can purchase your Homecoming tickets in the office, where you will also receive a raffle ticket for your name to be a drawing to dance on stage with the band *NSYNC live!”

The class looked around at each other. Some were excited about *NSYNC & some had no idea who they were.

OFFICE  Nicole sat at the front desk. She was on the decorating committee so she was selling the raffle tickets.

“Come on, I don’t have all day!” a cheerleader complained. The next person who came up nearly ripped the ticket from Nicole’s hand.

She sighed heavily, wishing the day could be over & called the next boy up. She grabbed the list and highlighter, "Name?" she asked, still not looking up.

"Timberlake," he said, placing $7.00 on the table.

"Thank you," Saberly said, noticing Nicole's breathing speed up, then go insanely slow. She nudged her with her leg as Justin smiled to her remark.

"No problem, have to get a ticket to the show somehow," he said still smiling.

Nicole looked up at her friend, a slight look of horror on her face, but more so embarrassment and shock. Saberly took the list and said, "Timberrain is it?"

He looked at Nicole, then to Saberly, "Timberlake, I'm Justin Timberlake," he said, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nicole sigh. "Are you okay?" he asked her. Nicole didn't know whether to say something or just nod.

"Here's your ticket, and your raffle, enjoy the dance," Saberly said, saving Nicole. "And don't forget, the theme is a Masquerade, so you better find yourself a princess!" she said as he turned away.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "I think I have someone in mind," he turned back grinning.

As Nicole watched him walk away, she slapped Saberly on the arm. “Are you insane?!”

“What?”

“He’s the hottest guy in school & I just looked like a fool!”

“Oh, no you didn’t. He barely noticed you stop breathing, or the drooling.”

“Gee, thanks,” she mumbled. The 2 girls giggled at the situation knowing Nicole liked Justin.

"So, who didn't get there Homecoming ticket?" JC asked as he jumped a pole on the way to their car.

"Not, me!" Joey said, doing the same and receiving a glare from Chris.

"You better, Superman. If you don't get one, you can't sing with us, man. You've only got two more days, hurry it up!" he scolded, following the two previous examples.

"Come on guys, lay off him, he'll get it," Justin cut in. Then he looked at Joey, "Won't you?" He then showed the guys up by sliding across the hood of their car and to the driver's side. "Get in!" All the guys piled in & he started the engine, heading to the diner they hung at after school everyday.

"Who are you taking Lance?" JC asked as they walked thru the door. He looked at him with shock as if he didn't already know.

"Melissa," he said when JC shrugged his shoulders, and pushed him into their usual booth.

"Oh, yea, I forgot, you two are dating now," he chuckled.

"It took you guys long enough!" Justin said bringing their drinks over.

This got the boys started talking about who they were taking to the dance. “I’m taking Kelly of course,” Joey said.

“Dani said she’ll go,” Chris told them.

“I asked Sarah,” JC answered bashfully.

“Finally?” they all gaped. “Go, C! I knew you liked her,” Justin cheered.

“Yeah, yeah. So what about you?”

“I saw this really cute girl when I bought my ticket. She’s got long brown hair, blue eyes, she’s small but not skinny in weight. And kinda cute when she blushes.” He went on & on but never mentioned the girl’s name.

“Ok, we got the point, Bounce,” Lance laughed. Justin blushed & finished his soda.

NEXT DAY  Saberly was walking through the hall, going to drop off stuff at the music room. When she reached the door she heard some boys talking.

“I’m telling you, if he doesn’t get up the courage to ask the girl selling tickets,” Joey started. “He’s going to miss his chance.”

“Yeah, I know, the dance is next week,” Chris said.

“But he barely knows her, is he sure she’s the one he wants to ask?” Lance asked. They all had a protective nature over the ‘baby’ of their little group of friends.

“Absolutely. You heard him last night. He’s totally crushing on her. And you know Justin wouldn’t ask a girl out unless he really felt something,” JC answered.

“true.”
---
Saberly practically ran back down the hall, totally shocked at what she heard. ‘[i]He CAN'T like me. It’d crush Nicole. She likes him, not me.[/i]’ She was so busy fighting the battle in her head that she ran into a tall, skinny boy. She looked up & who do you think it was?

“Whoa, I’m sorry,” Justin apologized.

“No, no. it was my fault. I wasn't looking. I’m sorry.” She went to rush off to the office because it was Lunch but he stopped her.

“Hey, wait, so for homecoming, it’s a Masquerade?”

Saberly froze, thinking he’d ask her to the dance. “Y-yup.”

“Who are you goin’ with?” he asked.

She looked around, not at him & stuttered. “Um – Patrick.”

“Cool, so, uh, do you know who your friend’s going with?”

“I think she’s going solo.”

“Hmm, ok...”As he said this, she noticed a small smile on his face. “Ok, well I have to go because I’m going to be late.”

“Ok, bye.”
---
Nicole opened her locker, putting her books in her bag on the back of her chair. When she took the book off the shelf, something fluttered out. She picked up the red rose, a note tied to it with ribbon.

20 MINUTES LATER   Nicole sat at the ticket booth, a shy grin on her face, looking around the room for Justin. Saberly walked up and dropped her bag, "Man! It's this close to Homecoming and I still have homework in over half of my classes!" Nicole just laughed. "What's makin you so giggly?" she asked.

Nicole raised the top flap of her book bag, and there sat a plump red rose, with a bit of ribbon attached and a small note with beautiful print on it.

“What's that?" Saberly asked, and reached for it.

"Be careful with it!" Nicole said anxiously.

"I will," Saberly replied, and read the note. "YOU'RE GOING WITH JUSTIN?!" Saberly squealed.

"SHHHH!!!" Nicole hushed her, "Yes, I am, but keep it down girl! I didn't even wig out that much!"

“Oh, I know you will later at home.”

Saberly and Nicole had been best friends for a little more than 11 years, since that's about how long ago Nicole's mother adopted Saberly. Her parents left her at an orphanage when she was 5 years old, and was in their care for almost a year, when she decided to run away during a field trip. She hid in a trashcan nearby, and later on in the evening fell asleep. The owners came out to throw some garbage away, and saw her in there, they brought her inside, and saw her wristband.

Debby said the house was getting a little too quiet with Ty not around so often anymore, so she decided to adopt her. Saberly has lived with them ever since, and been inseparable with Nicole from the day she was brought in.

“Yeah, true but not here where everyone will see,” Nicole laughed.

The rest of lunch went by normal, well except Nicole noticing smiles from Justin across the room. She of course smiled back.

NEXT DAY     Nicole drudged to gym, the worst class of the day, and by far her least favorite. She walked into the locker room and opened her locker, grabbed her shorts and went to the bathroom. She changed as slowly as possible, so as to get out of as much of the class as possible.

"Evans! Must we go through this everyday?! Get out here!" the coach yelled into her echoing prison.

Nicole came out on her crutches, and proceeded to sit next to a group of girls on the bleachers. The boys were playing basketball on the other half of the gym, and a few other girls were playing volleyball on the southern half. A girl dove for the volleyball and slid across the court, Nicole winced. Since she wasn't paying much attention to anything else, she didn't notice Justin come in, a yellow slip of paper in his hand.

He looked at her and waved. She saw him, but what she didn't see was Greg bounce a basketball her way.

And just as it hit her, Greg yelled "heads up!" The entire class erupted in laughter but Justin ran over to Nicole, who was pushed back into the bleachers. She looked like she was about to start crying.

”Are you alright?" he asked, helping her sit upright again. She just looked at him, speechless. He turned and looked at Greg. "What'd you do that for?" he asked, making his way over to him.

"What does it matter, she's just a wimp anyway," he said and shot the ball.

"No-" he was cut off by the coach, who just walked back in.

"Hey, Justin, you here for something? Or do I need to make you run some laps?" he called across the gym to him.

"Yes sir, I was here with a pass," he said digging into his pocket. "But when I walked in, Greg here was giving Nicole an up-close view of a Basketball," Justin answered, handing the coach the pass. "He hit her with it, and knocked her into the bleachers.”

"Is that so?” the coach asked, pondering, and taking Nicole's previous complaints into consideration.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

"GREG!"

"Sir?" he asked.

"You hit Nicole with a ball?" he questioned.

"No, sir, she told us to pass it to her, and it hit her, when we did and she fell down," he tried to say.

"Right, because Mr. Timberlake here, says you hit her with it," he said. Greg just stood there, anger surfacing on his face. "I want laps, til class ends, then the same thing tomorrow and the next day.” Coach smiled at Nicole, then turned to Justin."Would you mind helping her to the Nurse's Office?" he asked.

"No, sir, I wouldn't mind at all," he grinned and made his way to Nicole and helped her out of the Gymnasium.
---
Justin first took Nicole to the locker room, waiting outside while she changed. When she came out he noticed she was back in her chair. “Here, let me push you. You need to rest.”

She smiled, & though she was ready to protest not being used to the help, she didn’t know how to refuse him.

When the nurse saw them, she only noticed Justin at first. “Oh, Justin dear, are you sick?” she asked going to feel his forehead.

“Actually, no. my friend Nicole got hit with a basketball really hard,” he answered stepping aside.

The nurse looked down & in a somewhat annoyed voice asked, “you again?” Justin looked confused when Nicole looked at her lap. “Here, back room.”

Nicole took the ice & Justin wheeled her back to the semi-private, dark room used for resting. He helped her move to the bed, ever so gently moving her. She was amazed by his kindness. “Lay down, I’ll hold this.”

She nodded, regretting it when she felt the pain flair through her face. He winced, not liking seeing her in pain, & gently put the cold pack to her nose & cheek. “So, sweetie, how many times has this happened?”

Nicole looked surprised at his nickname & smiled that she liked it yet hesitated to answer. He waited patiently. “Enough that I know the nurse on a first name basis,” she answered ashamed.

“Wow...and you haven’t had them report it?” When she shook her head no, his heart went to her. How come he jut seeing this now? He’d noticed her for weeks now. She was quiet, mostly alone except for Saberly, & a good student.

He noticed some comments from other kids but couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to think that’s all they were. How could someone do that? She was sweet, helpful & didn’t bother anyone. The kids thought her an easy target. “It’s ok,” she said softly, seeing the wheels turn in his head. “I’m used to it, they get bored every few weeks.”

“Weeks?! I’m sorry, you shouldn’t go through this. I promise you won’t anymore.”

“No, Justin!” she said, trying to sit up. She settled back again from pain. “I’ll be fine, no need to get involved.” Truth is, she wanted him to rescue her, to be the one to stop the cruel jokes kids played. But she couldn’t let him. Why would someone like him want to like someone like her?

“Hey, you're my princess now. I’m not letting you be hurt anymore. That is, if you accept my invitation to the dance,” he ended shyly.

He had been wanting to ask her out for awhile now, just didn’t know when or how. She looked at him & blushed. “I’d love-”

In the middle of her answer, the nurse came through the curtain & interrupted them. “Timberlake, get back to class. The office called when you dropped off a pass & never came back.”

Justin gave Nicole a sympathetic look> "Okay, I'm going," he said to the Nurse. "I'll see you at Lunch?" he asked Nicole.

She nodded her head and smiled, "See you then," she said.

"Be careful," he said over his shoulder and disappeared out of the doorway.