"Thank you for calling Shelby's hospital room, my name is Aimee how may I assist you?" Aimee answered the phone in a business tone.

"Hello, I'm looking for Shelby, isn't this her phone?" a male voice answered.

"This is her hospital phone yes," Aimee agreed.

"This is Brad is Shelby there?" Brad questioned wondering what on earth was going on.

"Brad. Hi Brad." Aimee watched Shelby's expression.

Shelby shook her head and waved her hands away like she didnt want to talk to her.

"Yes, hi. May I please talk to Shelby. I know she's there you may as well tell her to stop waving her hand." Brad pressed.

"Hold on here she is." Aimee handed the phone to Shelby.

Shelby covered up the mouth peice and glared at Aimee. "I told you not to tell him I was here."

"I knew you were there Shelby," Brad's voice sounded from the phone.

"Shut up Brad, you did not." Shelby rolled her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes Shelby, now whats this about Shelby's hospital room? Are you okay Shelby?" Brad asked clearly concerned with the tone of his voice.

"No I'm not okay Brad, but I'm sure I will be." Shelby swallowed the tears burning in the back of her throat as she thought about everything that had happened.

"What's the matter Shel?" Brad questioned further.

"I know Nancy told you." Shelby answered.

"Yes Shelby, she did. And I should have brought it up to you long time ago. What are you doing cutting yourself Shelby? That is wrong. You need to get help. If I knew it was this bad Shelby, I wouldn't have let you move to Orlando. I'm not there to help you and I hate that. Please tell me you have friends that help you. Why are you having problems Shelby?"

"Brad please calm down, one question at a time." Shelby interrupted him gently.

"I'm sorry Shelby, I just don't understand." Brad sighed.

"Brad, you don't understand what it's like to be me. What it's like to have everyone make fun of you just because of the way you look. That's the reason I moved here to begin with and then I come here and everythings the same. I was pushed over the edge and I wanted to die." Shelby answered feeling tears run down her face.

"Don't say that Shelby. You can't die. You're too young to die. Please tell me you're going to get help." Brad pleaded.

"It's true Brad, I did almost kill myself, but I'm glad I didn't. That would have meant that they would have won. I'm bigger then them, and I don't need them." Shelby sniffed as quietly as she could.

"Are you crying babe? Please don't cry Shelby, it makes it even harder because I'm not there to give you a hug." Brad sighed again wishing he could be there with her.

"I'll be fine Brad, I promise. How is everything there?" Shelby asked changing the subject.

"I'd love to tell you all about it, but I have to get going. Please take care of yourself for me okay?"

"I promise, you do the same Brad. I miss you." Shelby wiped the tears that were falling from her eyes again and felt more falling as she thought about Brad.

"I'm telling you Shelby, please stop crying. Let me talk to Aimee for a minute." Brad told her.

"Why?"

"Just hand her the phone okay? Bye Shelby."

Shelby handed Aimee the phone who was watching Shelby with lots of questions running through her mind.

"Hello?" Aimee took the phone.

"Hello Aimee, can you take care of her for me?" Brad stated getting right to the point.

"Of course. I'm glad that there's another person who's looking out for her wellbeing even if you don't live here."

"I have to go now, but please give Shelby a hug for me."

Aimee hung up the phone and reached over and gave Shelby a big hug.

"What's this for?" Shelby asked patting Aimee akwardly on the back.

"Brad told me to give you a hug." Aimee shrugged sitting back.

"Oh, well, he doesn't need to worry about me. I'll be fine." Shelby shrugged.

"So who is he anyway?" Aimee asked what she'd been wondering since he called.

"My old supervisor from Denny's."

"You're that close to your supervisor?" Aimee looked at her strangely.

"It's a long story actually." Shelby shrugged.

"Well, its not like we don't have time." Aimee suggested.

"Well, I used to work at Denny's and Brad used to hate me. He used to make my life a living nightmare. There was one day he physically hit me when I was at work and I left and he came over to my house and apologized and I don' tknow, we just became friends. It wasn't right away, I'd worked at Denny's for years and he'd disliked me since the beginning. He was having some girlfriend problems and I guess I gave him some advice that could be why he started talkin to me after that I'm not sure. His brother and my sister kind of liked each other so we hung out when they hung out. This was all like within a week and a half time period. It was just before I graduated." Shelby smiled remembering all the good times.

"Wow, so basically you were enemies for a long time and one day he hit you and you started becomin friends?" Aimee asked to make sure she was getting it right.

"Yeah, I know it sounds strange, but that is the story of my life, very strange." Shelby shrugged.

"Does he have a girlfriend now?" Aimee wondered.

"Well he was dating a girl when I left, they were just starting to see each other. The girl that he was dating that I told you about, got pregnant by his best friend. I know what it's like to be dumped on so I felt sorry for him. I'm such a sucker." Shelby chuckled thinking back on the converstation she'd had.

Flashback

r0;I just stopped by to apologize. I realized I had no right to treat you like that. I was just angry at everything and took it out on you. My girlfriend just broke it to me that sher17;s pregnant with my best friendr17;s kid. Please forgive me Shelby.r1; Brad apologized.

Shelby studied his eyes, looking for any hint of mockery, but found nothing but sincerity.
r0;Ir17;m sorry to hear that,r1; she responded finding herself feeling pity

r0;I couldnr17;t believe it. I just wanted to kill him.r1; Brad inhaled deeply then sighed.

End Flashback

"That sucks, whatever happened with her? He didn't get back together with her did he?" Aimee asked, thinking things over in her head.

"No, he never got back together with her, he basically told her where to go." Shelby smiled.

"Do you have feelings for Brad?" Aimee asked watching the look on her face.

Shelby looked at Aimee with a surprsied expression, "No, not at all. Brad is like the brother I never had. I wouldn't want to lose our friendship over a relationship. I don't believe in love, it doesn't exist.

"Why do you say love doesn't exist? It does, it's beautiful and infinite." Aimee asked.

"I don't know what love is. I"ve never had love. In my life the only person I ever loved was taken from me. When I was just a little girl my mom was taken from me and ever since then my life has been a living nightmare."

Shelby left the present and went back to her early childhood--the last christmas her mother was alive to be exact.

Flashback...

"Mommy, I'm so glad it's christmas." Shelby smiled up at her mother.

"Me too sweety, I'm glad I get to spend it with the one person I love more than anything in the world." Mae smiled down at her daughter.

"Who's that mommy?' Shelby asked.

"Why you of course. Mommies little angel." Mae gathered her daughter in her arms and held her tightly.

...End Flashback

"I'm sorry that you've been through so much Shelby. Let me just tell you that I cherish your friendship and I will never do anything to hurt you, I know the guys will be the same. Justin will turn around. I know he will. Right now he's just going through some things. I know that doesnt justify it but I just wanted you to know." Aimee smiled and leaned across the space and gave Shelby a hug.

"Thanks Aimee." Shelby smiled hugging her back.

"Sorry ladies, Shelby's going to be taking her meds which will put her out for the night." the nurse interrupted them as she walked over and put some clear liquid in Shelby's IV and checked her vitals.

"How long do I have?" Shelby asked.

"Since its going directly into your blood stream it'll be only a few minutes."

"She's nice." Aimee commented as she watched her leave.

"Yeah."

"Well I"m going to go over to my bunk before you go passin out on me."

"Goodnight Aimee." Shelby whispered before falling asleep.

"You will find love Shelby, I have a feeling it's going to be sooner then you think."

~*~

THe next morning Shelby was more than ready to get out of the hospital. The doctor had cleared her to leave and she was free to go as soon as she talked to Susie who wasnt to be found.

"I really wanna go." Shelby whined getting impatient.

"I'm here, stop whining Shelby." Susie said coming into the room.

"What do I need to sign so I can leave?" Shelby asked.

"Okay, you can sign this while I explain to you a little more of what's going on." Susie showed her where to sign and took a breath.

"You're going to meet them tomorrow and spend the day getting to kno them and they'll get to know you. You'll be going with them to New York on Monday then on tour when they go. Tomorrow you'll know the name of the band for security purposes we can't reveal that right now. Here's the address and do you have any questions?"

"Can I go with her?" Aimee asked.

"No, sorry, just Shelby." Susie shook her head.

"Can I go now?" Shelby asked looking towards the door for escape.

"Yes, be there at 8am tomorrow morning." Susie reminded her handing her a business card with the address on it.

Shelby and Aimee left the hospital and stopped at the mall to get some CD's. Shelby bought Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson's Live CD, and Avril Lavigne. Aimee tried to talk her out of buying the Manson CD claiming it was nothing but "noise" but Shelby wouldn't hear of it.

When she got home, Shelby put in Linkin Park and cranked up the volume. She stretched her arms over her head and began working on her apartment some more. Hours later she heard a knock on her door.

"Who the heck would be coming to visit me." Shelby whispered going to her stereo to turn down the volume before opening the door.

What she saw when she opeend the door was a surprise.

"Hey love, thought you might need some help putting this stuff together." Joey leaned down and kissed her cheek then passed by carrying a box that she assumed was the frame to the bed she bought.

"Hello Shelby." JC smiled as he passed carrying the other end.

"Good afternoon miss, I'm steve, Joey's brother."

SHelby watched him walk by with one end of her matress then saw who was carrying the other end and felt her stomach drop. Justin walked by with a slight smile and nod as Shelby felt her breath increase.

"Meep meep." a voice came from behind a chair causing her to jump out of the way.

Shelby couldn't believe her eyes. There were so many people there putting her furniture together. She wasn't sure if she was even in the right apartment.

All together there was Joey, Justin, Lance, Chris, JC, and Steve. Shelby was beginning to feel overwhelmed with all the testosterone, when she was saved by Aimee who walked in.

As soon as Shelby saw Aimee she threw her arms around her.

"What's this?" Aimee asked stepping back.

"There are so many people here and I was the only girl and I was starting to get nervous." Shelby replied honestly.

"Well, I'm here now and there were only 6 guys. Lighten up Shelby, it's a party." Aimee smiled then danced over to Lance who was helping put together the dresser.

Shelby was looking over at Justin when she felt something running down her side. She lifted up her shirt slightly and sighed when she saw one of her cuts had opened up and started bleeding. She walked over and grabbed a paper towel and stuck it there. She was surprised to find the red seeping through as quickly as it did. telling herself not to panick she grabbed another couple paper towels and applied them but the same thing happened. The bleeding wasn't slowing down and it seemed to be bleeding a lot.

Justin looked over at Shelby and saw a worried look on her face as she was looking down at something. He could tell there was something wrong as he walked over and placed a hand on the counter behind her.

"Are you alright Shelby?" he asked gently putting an arm on her shoulder.

Shelby jumped and turned to him exposing the blood without meaning to. "Yeah, I'm fine." she replied quickly putting her shirt down.

"Are you bleeding?" Justin questioned looking into her eyes.

"Just a little." Shelby shrugged trying to ignore the trickle she felt roll down her side.

Justin wasn't buying it for a second when he lifted up her shirt looking in her eyes then down at her side. His eyes widened when he saw the blood on the paper towel and dripping down her side.

"That's not bleeding a little Shelby, that's bleeding a lot." Justin whispered leaning closer to her.

Shelby just shrugged then peeled away the paper towels and grabbed some new ones. This gave Justin a chance to see the cut that was bleeding and he felt sick to his stomach knowing he'd caused it. It was deep enough to require stitches but none were present. Shelby applied the new paper towels and sighed as she watched the blood soak up again.

Justin took the paper towel from Shelby and gently applied pressure to the wound and he watched her get tense as he did so. "Relax, Shelby, this'll help." he whispered reassuring her.

Shelby nodded then looked away feeling embarassed and uncomfortable at the same time.

Aimee watched the two of them and wondered what was up. She was getting the feeling she knew who Shelby was going to end up falling in love with. She frowned knowing it would probably get worse before it got better. She looked away when she heard Lance utter a curse.

"You okay babe?" she asked turning her attention to her boy.

"Yeah, just hit my thumb." Lance shrugged sucking his thumb.

"Aren't you a little too old to be sucking your thumb?" she teased playfully.

"Oh hush." he pouted before kissing her.

"So what are you guys doing on Monday?" Aimee asked him.

"Going to New York. You knew that, I told you." Lance reminded her.

"Oh, that's right." Aimee nodded.

'I'm sure it's just a coincidence.' Aimee thought to herself about Shelby going to New York.

"It looks like the bleeding stopped." Justin said pulling the paper towel away carefully.

Shelby looked down and saw how gruesome it really looked. She felt dizzy and began to sway trying to grasp the counter before she passed out. Justin lowered her shirt and gently grabbed her waist to keep her from falling. He guided her over to the couch they had brought in and sat her down.

"Take it easy there soldier." Justin said sitting next to her.

"Sorry, just got a little dizzy." Shelby rest her head back against the back of the couch.

"Well you sit here and I'm gonna go help JC." Justin patted her hand akwardly then went to join JC who was struggling with the bed frame he was working with.

"You remember we have to meet the psycho thats traveling with us tomorrow right?" Justin asked JC grabbing the frame where JC was struggling.

"Yeah, it's not polite to call her a psycho though. She's just struggling through some things remember." JC rolled his eyes at Justins tone.

"Yeah, whatever. I still say we shouldn't do it. I can't even figure my own problems out let alone someone elses." Justin sighed loudly.

"It's not just you Justin, it affects as a group. Stop thinking of yourself for once."

Justin just ignored JC's comment and rolled his eyes not wanting to hear what JC had to say.

Shelby couldn't help but overhear they're conversation and squinted her eyes as she thought about what she was doing tomorrow. She walked over to them and squatted next to JC's other side.

"What are you guys talking about?" Shelby asked JC.

"Tomorrow we meet some psychol that we're going to be counseling over the next few months." Justin answered before JC could get in a word.

"Like I said before she's not a psycho." JC reminded him with an elbow to his waist.

"What do you have to do?" Shelby asked with a sinking feeling.

"Well, we meet her tomorrow morning and we spend the day getting to nkow her and then she'll be with us a lot within the next few months. Why?" JC explained looiking at Shelby.

"No reason, I wa just wondering." Shelby shrugged.

She just watched them for a few minutes then walked back over to the couch and lay down. She listened to the noise all around her and felt herself slipping away into sleep.

When Shelby opened her eyes and looked around she was shocked. Everything was put together and her apartment was complete. Everything including the couch she was sleeping on was exactly where she wanted ti to be. She sprang up when she saw the clock read 7:00am. She got in the shower knowing it would probably take some time to find the place.

Just as Shelby was about to leave she saw a note on her table.

Shelby,

You were sleeping so peacefully that we didn't want to wake you.. Justin even said you looked like an angel, see I told you he would come around. Well anyway I hope you have fun tomorrow. Give me a call before you go on Monday.

See ya later,
Aimee and the boys.

Shelby smiled and set the note back down then turned to walk out the door. She wasn't sure if Susie was going to meet her there so she wanted to be there early so she wouldn't feel quite so out of place even though she knew she would.

To her surprise, Shelby found the place right away with no problems. She found a place to park and stared at the building nervously. She was at Jive Records. That was very scary for Shelby. She took a deep breath and walked into the building. She was greeted by faces of various artists that must have been clients of JIVE. She looked down at the card in her hand, room 514 was where she was supposed to meet them.

Heading to the elevator, Shelby felt her nervousness increase as she got closer to her destination. Thankfully no one was in the elevator as Shelby leaned her head back against the wall watching the floor numbers light up. She had a bad feeling about this but she couldn't quite figure out why.

Shelby gathered her courage and knocked on the door for room 514 and inhealed deeply. She exhaled as the door opened and a smilling face greeted her.

"Hey Shel, glad you remembered please come in." Susie smiled ushering her in.

"Guys she's here pay attention." Johnny snapped his fingers at the boys who were talking and not paying attention.

Shelby turned the corner following Susie and wasn't looking anywhere but down when she sat at the table. She had yet to see who was in front of her.

The guys looked from Susie, to Johnny, and back to Shelby who was oblivious to they're presence.

"Guys, this is Shelby. She's going to be touring with you and you're going to be helping her figure some things out. Shelby this is Nsync." Johnny introduced them to each other.

Shelby looked up and the first person she saw was the one person who put her there...Justin.She gasped as she moved from Justin to Chris to Joey to Lance and finally to JC. She couldn't believe it. Not only were her friends in a popular music group but she was supposed to open up to the one person who made her nervouce and caused her pain.

"Um, hello." Shelby stood up and shook each of they're hands.

She wasn't going to let it get to her. She would suck it u pand be the adult she knew she could be. Joey smiled at her as did the other guys after finally snapping out of their shock.

"I didn't know you guys were Nsync." She said sitting back down.

"Yeah, that's us." JC shrugged and nodded his head meekly.

"You lied to me. Why didn't you just tell me?" Shelby asked feeling let down.

"Wait, you know each other?" Susie asked the group.

"Yeah, we met Shelby a few days ago." Joey nodded.

"Well...that will make things less akward. Is this okay with you Shelby? Do you have any reason you wouldn't want to go with them and let them help you?" Susie asked looking at Shelby.

Shelby looked at Susie then at Justin then at the other guys then back to Justin who was staring at her, then back at Susie. She waited a moment before answering, "No, this is fine."

Shelby was staring at Justin when she said those words almost as a challenge that everything was going to be okay. He just smiled and nodded at her then switched his attention to Susie who was explaining some things.

"Okay, so basically today we're going to be getting to know each other a little better. W'ell be playing some get to know you games as cheesy as it sounds but trust me, they're fun. lTomorrow you guys will be taking Shelby with you to New York. Basically she'll get to know you better and to experience life on the road a bit before your real tour. When on tour she is going to be assisting Bridget with wardrobe. I hear each of you has they're own wardrobe person well Shelby will be Justin's wardrobe person. You two will be working a lot together so you should be sure and get to know each other. This is going to be a massive tour Shelby so get to nkow the boys will, they'll be with you a lot. Any questions from any of you?" Susie laid out the plan as everyone listened on.

"I have a question." Chris said rasiing his hand.

"What's that Chris?" Susie nodded for him to go ahead.

"What are these cheesy games that we have to play? What if I don't wanna play?"

"It's not an option buddy you're going to play. Turst me, it's fun. Any real questions?" Susie asked the group again.

"Where will I stay?" Shelby asked curiously.

"Under normal circumstances you'd be staying with one of the girl crew members, but you're going to be staying with one of the guys. Whichever one has the single room that night. We just have to be careful about it." Johnny answered.

"Okay." SHelby nodded.

"If nobody has any other questions we'll get to our game." Susie waited a few minutes to make sure nobody else had any questions before pulling out a notebook and some pens. "We're going to play something called Game Sysco. I"m going to give you each a peice of paper and I want you to write one question on it that can be answered by all of us then fold it up and put it in the middle."

Susie handed out the peices of paper and they all took a few minutes to write they're questions down. Whene everyone was done Susie handed out another peice of paper and told them to rip it into 8 smaller peices.

"I never did like arts and crafts." Chris whined as he tore his paper in to smaller peices.

"Suck it up Chris." Shelby rolled her eyes.

"No."

"Okay so this is what the game is. I'm going to draw a question from the pile and read it then all of you are going to answer it. You will then hand your answers to Johnny who is going to read them outloud and I'm going to guess who said what. Sound easy enough?" Susie explained.

"Yeah." Joey nodded as everyone agreed.

"Okay, so the first question is...'What cartoon character does the person to the left of you remind you of?' Okay so what you need to do is look at the person next to you on your left and say which cartoon character they remind you of. So Shelby you would look at Justin, Justin at Joey, Joey at JC, JC at Chris, Chris at Lance, Lance at Johnny, Johnny at Shelby because I'm skipped."

They all took a few minutes to study the person next to them and when they all had they're answers done they handed them to Johnny. When everyone was finished Johnny started reading them off.

"Now just read them off and I'll tell you who I think who wrote them." Susie nodded for him to start reading.

"Dexter, from Dexter's Lab." Johnny read the first paper.

Susie studied the group and smiled at Chris, "I'm going to say that JC said that about Chris. Next one please."

"Shaggy from Scooby Doo." Johnny read the next.

"Shelby said that about Justin." Susie answered.

"Betty Boop." Johnny read again.

"Well considering she's the only girl I'm going to say Johnny said that about Shelby."

"Poofoo."

"Okay, Chris, that was unoriginal. I've been around you guys enough to know thats always what you call Lance so I know it was you who said that about him."

"Inspector Gadget."

Susie took several moments with this one when she finally answered, "Justin said this about Joey."

"Casper."

"That was Lance about Johnny."

"What the heck..." Joey looked at her weird.

"Shut up its my answer."

Johnny unfolded the next one and read, "The Little Mermaid."

"What the heck." Susie bust out laughing as did the rest of the group. After several minutes of laughing Susie finally found the air to answer, "Since JC is the only one I haven't said I'm going to say that Joey said that about JC."

"That's all of them." Johnny lifted up his hands then put them back on the table.

"Okay, if I got yours right raise your hand." Susie looked around the room to see who's hands raised and saw that everyone was.

"Wow, you're good." Johnny admired her.

"I want to know why Joey said Little Mermaid about JC." Susie said laughing.

"I couldn't think of any other character that he reminded me of so I just made somethin up." Joey smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, whatever works I guess." Susie chuckled. "Okay, now Johnny you draw and read the question. The answers go to Lance who will read them off and Johnny guesses."

Johnny picked up the next question and looked at it with eyebrows raised, "Okay this is weird but here we go...'How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?' Hmm."

"Okay, the answeres dont have to be numbers, just use whatever comes to your mind." Susie said as everyone began writing they're answers down.

When everyone had they're answers down Lance began to read them.

"Three, you lick three times then bite into it. At least thats what the owl does on the commercial." Lance read the first one.

Johnny studied the group to see if anyone was looking around or if he could tell who the answer belonged to, he saw Chris figeting then smiled. "Chris."

"You don't lick them you suck them." Lance read the next answer.

"Shelby."

"What why do you say Shelby? You don't even know her." Lance looked at Johnny quizzically.

"Shut up and read the next answer." Johnny glared at him.

"2,568 licks."

"JC."

"What's a tootsiepop?"

"That was Susie." Johnny answered.

"1 ya big galoot."

"Hey, no need for name calling. That was Justin."

"This paper is blank." Lance looked at it front and back.

"That was Joey."

"Why eat a tootsie pop when you can just eat a tootsieroll." Lance read the last one.

"That was you." Johnny nodded.

"Okay, if Johnny got them right raise your hand." Susie told everybody.

The only person who raised they're hand this time was Shelby. Everyone laughed when Johnny put his arms across his chest and pouted.

They played the game until all 8 questions were gone which resulted in many hours of laughing and joking. The whole day there wasn't any tension between Shelby and any of the guys--Justin included. After they finished playing the game they went out to eat and called it an early evening so Shelby could go home and pack for the trip to New York she was suddenly sprang upon. Everyone else was pretty much packed except Shelby. They all said they're goodbyes and goodnights and went they're own seperate ways.

Shelby went to bed that night excited for tomorrows trip. They were going to be flying out to New York, her first time on a flight. And for the first time in a long time Shelby fell asleep with a smile on her face.