Chapter One

(Wednesday, October 9th, 11 a.m.)


Shannon McFadden entered the administration building at the University of Central Florida, trying desperately to balance her messenger bag, portfolio, sketchbooks, and textbooks without dropping anything, and at the same time look for the Registration Desk. She paused for a moment to pull out her schedule and get her bearings, when everything went flying as she was bumped from behind by a large, beefy man with an oversized backpack who kept going, not bothering to help clean up the havoc he had created.

"Great … this is just perfect," Shannon muttered to herself, stooping down to gather up her belongings.

"Here, let me help you with that," A masculine voice with a hint of New York accent commented. Shannon looked up into a pair of sunglasses. "Are you all right?"

"What?" She shook herself, realizing that she had been staring into the face of a handsome young man who was wearing a baseball hat, dark sunglasses, and who now held most of her possessions in his hands.

"Are you alright?" He repeated, extending her books towards her.

"Oh … yeah, thanks. Thank you." Shannon smiled, attempting to rebalance everything. Noticing her struggle, he took a few of her textbooks from her, lightening her load.

"Here, why don't I help you get where you need to go?" he smiled back at her.

"Thanks," she grinned. "I need to find the Registration desk, they messed up my schedule and I need to find out if they put me in the class I need. You don't happen to know where that is, do you?"

"Yeah, it's down this hall." He led the way. "So, what's your major?"

"I'm finishing up my bachelor's degree in Theatrical Costume Design.  I only need three more classes and I'm done. What about you?" She felt relieved when they found the desk, with a short line.

"I'm just taking a few classes - for fun, really. I've got a break in my tour - I mean, work schedule, and I thought I'd take some classes." He replied. Shannon studied him as they made small talk, puzzled over a few things that were unusual about him.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, inside?" She blurted out.

"I have my reasons," He grinned, sliding off the sunglasses. Now that she could see his eyes, Shannon noticed they were a deep hazel brown, and full of laughter. "Is that better?"

"Much," Shannon sighed, blushing when she realized what she'd said.

He smiled at her unintended compliment. It had been so long since he'd been able to enjoy someone's company like this, no interruptions, no hassles. He had been afraid to remove his sunglasses, afraid she'd know who he was. But it seemed like she didn't recognize him at all … a feeling he had missed - anonymity. She made her way to the registrar who quickly processed her schedule, and he was pleased to realize she was in his Musical Theatre class, and took note of her other two classes, Stage Craft and Design IV and Shakespearean Theatre.

"All set?" He smiled down at her, and she nodded.

 "I just thought of something … I'm not making you late for your class or anything, am I?" Shannon asked, sounding worried.

"Nope. In fact, we have the same class today." He maneuvered easily through the throng of students, creating a path that was easy for her to follow.

"You're taking Musical Theatre, too?" Shannon was amazed. Most guys she knew would never take a theater class, let alone a musical theater class, for fun. "Do you sing?"

"A little," he smiled, thinking to himself if only she knew … "Do you?"

"I've taken voice lessons for almost ten years now, I love to sing." Shannon explained, bumping into him when he stopped suddenly in front of a classroom.

"Here we are," he opened the door for her and set her books down on a table. Noticing one of her sketchbooks, he picked it up. "Are these some of your designs?"

"Yeah, do you want to see them?" Shannon asked shyly. His face broke out into a huge grin. "I'd love to see them." He sat down at the table, and she pulled up next to him, opening the first sketchbook. She explained most of the costumes in this book were from Camelot, one of the first productions she'd designed on her own. They sat in silence for a few moments while he looked the designs over, his amazement growing with each passing page.

"Wow … these are really amazing … I'm sorry, I just realized I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Joey."

"I'm Shannon McFadden," she laughed. "I'm glad you liked my designs."

"Like isn't a strong enough word, they're great. You've got a lot of talent." He smiled when her eyes lit up, and he noticed they were a bright green, which set off the copper color of her hair. What am I doing, he thought to himself. This girl was pretty, he knew that. He also knew that if he wasn't careful he'd find himself in trouble. "So, do you live around here?"

"I just transferred down here, so I'm still not quite sure where everything is." Shannon replied.

"Really? I've lived here for years," he smiled. Maybe I could show you around sometime?" Before Shannon could answer him, the professor entered the classroom and began outlining the course requirements.

"Everyone needs to pick a partner for this course, as every assignment will be a partner piece. When I come around to you, please have your partner picked out …" The professor began making his way around the room and Joey looked at Shannon. "Do you want to be my partner?" He asked her.

"Sure, you're the only person I know in here," she grinned.

After the class was over, Joey walked with Shannon towards the Administration building, where she was due to meet her best friend. They talked excitedly about their first assignment, which was to prepare a song to be performed the next week.

"I was wondering if maybe you want to get together tonight, we could start working on it and practice," Joey suggested.

"Okay, sounds great! My place or yours?" Shannon tried to hide her excitement, she really liked this guy.

"Why don't we do my place? I can come pick you up around seven, is that all right?" He quickly wrote his cell phone number down and handed it to her.

"Sounds like a plan. Oh, here comes my best friend," Shannon waved at a girl who was walking across the square towards them.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you tonight, see you later." Joey hastily made his exit, sliding on his sunglasses as he went. Shannon looked after him, slightly puzzled, but shrugged it off when her best friend walked up to her.

"Hey, what have you been up to?" Meaghan Fraser grinned, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Nothing much," Shannon replied, smiling back.

"I wouldn't call talking to Joey Fatone 'nothing much', Shan." Meaghan teased.

"Joey Fatone? What do you mean?" Shannon questioned as they headed towards her car.

"That's who you were talking to, duh." Meaghan laughed.
Shannon's eyes grew large as she put it all together - the sunglasses, the hat, his quick exit … "Oh my god …" she was dumbstruck.

"You mean to tell me … you didn't know?" Meaghan was baffled. "You really didn't know that it was Joey Fatone you were talking to?"

"No, I didn't. I mean, I thought he was cute … I had no idea." Shannon insisted as she steered the car onto the freeway. "He's in my Musical Theatre class, we're partners."

"Lucky you," Meaghan replied, smiling. "Any other members of *N SYNC in any of your classes I should know about?"

"Very funny, Meg." Shannon rolled her eyes. "Oh my god!"

"What?" Meaghan jumped at the outburst.

"Joey's picking me up at our place at seven! What am I going to wear?" Shannon groaned.

"Calm down, Shan. We'll figure something out." Meaghan reassured her. "Do you think he'll be bringing Justin with him?" Meaghan dodged a swing from Shannon, laughing.