Chris sat back in his chair, stomach full of another delicious meal compliments of Lynn. Before he’d met her, the last time he’d had a home cooked meal was when he was still living at home. It was nice to have something normal in the midst of something so abnormal. And as he looked at his friend’s empty, or near empty plates, it was easy to see they agreed.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute before Lynn rose to her feet in order to collect dishes to take to the sink. She had just picked up her plate and glass when Lance offered, “I can do the dishes if you want since you cooked dinner.”

“Thank you, Lance. That’s very sweet of you. But I’m used it to it.” Lynn glanced over at Justin and said pointedly, “After all, it is my job.”

“No, Mom. Lance is right. You should go relax and let us take care of the dishes,” Justin replied.

Lynn set down the plate and glass she’d been holding onto the counter next to the sink. She turned and eyed her son critically before she said, “As long as you’re sure.”

“Very.” Justin nodded with a smile. “Now go read your book or something, and leave the dishes to us.”

Lynn smiled at them before she left the room. Once she was gone, Joey turned in his seat to look at Justin and asked, “What was that all about?”

Justin ignored Joey as he stood up and started to collect dishes from the table. He carried what he could across the kitchen to the sink. Seeing that Justin wasn’t going to offer him an answer, Joey raised an eyebrow in Chris’s direction.

“He said something stupid to Lynn earlier,” Chris said.

“Well, that’s nothing new,” Joey replied.

Justin glared over his shoulder at them as he protested, “Hey!”

They couldn’t help but grin at the sour look on Justin’s face as he carried the last set of dishes over to the sink. The water ran in a steady stream as Justin turned the faucet on to fill up the sink.

“Lance, get over here and help me,” Justin demanded.

Lance blinked. “Why me?”

“Because you were the one who started this by offering,” Justin said, scowling. “So get over here and dry my dishes.”

Chris saw Joey’s motion for him to continue and explained, “Lynn stopped by our room to drop off clean laundry. Well, she was mad that Justin’s side of the room was a mess. And as she was cleaning up he told her…” He chuckled. “He told her it was her job to clean up after him.”

“Oh, Justin,” Joey said with mock disappointment as he shook his head slowly.

“She knew I didn’t mean it,” Justin defended.

Chris had gotten up from the table to get another can of soda. He’d just opened the fridge when he felt Justin glaring at his back. Turning and letting the door shut, Chris asked, “What?”

“What are you doing?” Justin asked.

“Getting a drink,” Chris said as if it were obvious.

Justin shook his head. “No. Not until you put the food away.”

“I don’t have to. You were the one that volunteered to do the dishes, not me,” Chris said.

“But my hands are all soapy,” Justin protested as he held up his hands that were covered in white bubbles before flicking them in Chris’s direction.

Chris lowered the hands that he’d raised to ward off the attack and relented, “Fine, but you better remember this the next time I need a favor.”

“Where are the tupperware?” Chris asked a few seconds later as he started to open random cupboards.

“Does this look like my house?” Justin retorted.

Chris rolled his eyes before continuing his search. He found them in the lower cabinet just next to Justin’s legs. Smiling deviously, Chris opened the cabinet door with a little more force than was necessary. Right into the side of Justin’s calf.

“Shit!” Justin yelled as he jumped slightly, sloshing dirty water from the casserole pan onto the floor. His eyes narrowed as he looked over at Chris, who’d stood up and was placing leftover rice into a bowl as if nothing had happened. “You asshole! Look at what you made me do!”

Chris smirked as he heard Joey’s footsteps come closer before he said, “Maybe you shouldn’t be so jumpy.”

“Just for that you can clean it up,” Justin said, still gesturing to the mess at his feet.

“No way, man. It’s your mess. You clean it up,” Joey replied.

“You should just do it,” Lance told him as he dried a plate and placed it into the cupboard on his right. “Before he does something to make you.”

Joey scoffed. “Please. What could he do?”

Without a word, Justin grabbed the hose that was attached to the sink before placing it over his shoulder. He pressed down on the handle and water sprayed out of it. Joey let out a cry of surprise as his face was pelted with warm water.

“You little brat!” Joey exclaimed.

Chris put the last tupperware container in the fridge even as he laughed. It was never a dull moment with them. Justin instigated a lot, which made him wonder how Lynn and JC had been able to put up with him.

The thought of JC made him glance around the room, not hearing his laughter among the rest of his friends. And rightfully so since JC wasn’t in the kitchen. That was strange because Chris couldn’t remember him leaving.

Wondering where JC went, Chris headed for the living room when Justin’s voice asked, “Where are you going?”

“I’m getting outta here before you get in trouble,” Chris replied with a laugh.

“We won’t,” Justin said, but Chris continued to walk out of the kitchen. He had nearly crossed the living room when he could hear Lynn scolding Justin for making such a mess. So much for Justin sucking up to his mom.

Chris didn’t even hesitate as he headed for the music room. As soon as he’d stepped out into the hall and away from the rambunctious laughter, he could hear the soft strains of the piano. And there’d been no doubt that he’d find JC in there.

The door to the music room was opened a crack, and Chris silently pushed it further into the room. He looked to the left and saw JC sitting at the piano with his head bowed. Just like he’d expected.

Chris thought about just turning around and leaving JC alone. He seemed to be deep in thought because he hadn’t even acknowledged that Chris was standing in the doorway. And JC never really liked to be bothered when he was trying to write.

But what if JC’s unawareness was more attributed to something bothering him than trying to write a song? There’d been something off about JC’s behavior the past couple of days. It wasn’t anything alarming, but it seemed like his focus wasn’t completely there. Like something was distracting him.

Chris noticed that JC hadn’t said much the night before when they had dinner with Lou and had talked about what would happen after they recorded the demo. Normally JC always enjoyed participating in those conversations, especially when they talked about the songs. But he’d let the conversation about We Can Work It Out pass by without really contributing to it.

Even when they’d gone to the club, JC still wasn’t completely there. He’d sat at the bar for most of the night, watching the people dance under the dim lights. A couple of girls managed to pull him on the dance floor, but he never was with them for more than one dance.

Chris had just shrugged it off as JC being tired or wanting to get out of the house without having to really do anything. But he’d been just as distracted that morning during rehearsal. It could be nothing, but considering JC had let whatever was on his mind occupy him for the past couple days then it had to be something.

Not to mention the music sounded so melancholy. Chris hadn’t known JC for very long, but it was easy to see that he practically bled music. He couldn’t go through the day without writing a song or humming to himself, and it usually always reflected how he was feeling.

As if JC could hear his thoughts, he heaved a deep sigh, causing his shoulders to slump forward as his fingers heavily dropped on the ivory keys. The note faded and JC finally looked up only to jump when he caught sight of Chris.

“Sorry,” Chris apologized, frowning at his friend. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s alright. I just uh…” JC’s eyes wandered around the room before they landed back on Chris. “What’s up?”

Chris didn’t fail to notice the subject change. It wasn’t really surprising since JC had made it clear that he didn’t like talking about himself, especially when he wasn’t ready to. But Chris was going to find out the cause of JC’s recent mood.

“I was just wondering where you were. I didn’t see you leave the kitchen,” Chris said.

“I had a song I wanted to write. Besides, I didn’t want to get pulled into helping Justin,” JC replied, a smile on his face. But Chris could tell that it was forced.

“Are you OK?” Chris asked after a few seconds passed. He figured it was better to just jump right in instead of trying to ease it into a conversation.

“Yeah,” JC said with a touch of suspicion. The question had probably been the last thing he’d expected Chris to say. “Why?”

“You’ve been kind of quiet,” Chris replied.

“I’m always quiet,” JC said.

Chris nodded and said, “You’ve been distracted.”

“Nah,” JC tried to deny. Chris just raised an eyebrow in response and JC sighed. “Well, yeah. Maybe a little.”

“You wanna talk about it?” Chris asked.

JC shook his head slowly. “It’s stupid.”

“Obviously not if it’s bothering you,” Chris pointed out.

“You wouldn’t understand,” JC said.

Chris frowned. “Why not?”

“Because…” JC paused, his fingers running down the top of the sleek black piano. “Because you’re not freaking out about the demo.”

Chris’s eyes widened in surprise. He’d had a feeling that JC’s distraction probably involved the upcoming demo, but he never thought JC felt he was alone in the fear and nervousness of it all. It made him wonder just how perceptive JC really was. Unless what he’d just admitted was only part of it.

Pushing himself off the doorjamb, Chris crossed the few feet to the piano bench and motioned for JC to scoot down. JC did, and Chris sat down next to him so they were shoulder to shoulder.

“I am freaking out. We all are. We’re just trying to keep our minds off it because what we’re doing…it’s a big deal. Our future depends on how this demo goes,” Chris said.

JC nodded solemnly. “I know.”

“But you shouldn’t worry so much. Something good will come out of it.”

“How do you know?” JC asked, looking at Chris from the corner of his eye.

“It’s just a feeling I have. Besides, you heard Lou. There’s no reason why we won’t get signed,” Chris said.

“But what if we don’t?”

Chris clapped JC on the shoulder. “We will, man. Don’t worry about it.”

“But what if we don’t?” JC stressed, clearly not satisfied with Chris’s optimism. There was a slight pause before he turned miserable eyes onto Chris. “I don’t want to quit music.”

“No one said you had to,” Chris said.

“There’s nothing left to try after this, Chris. I tried LA and they didn’t want me. Said I wouldn’t make it.” JC sighed. “Maybe they were right.”

Chris had never realized how insecure JC was before. And Chris wasn’t sure why. JC was one of the most talented people he’d ever met. There was no reason for him to think otherwise, and hopefully he’d see that once they got signed to a label because Chris believed that they sounded amazing as a group. A record company would have to be crazy to say no to them.

Gently, Chris bumped his shoulder against JC’s. “Hey. Forget about LA. They were idiots to let you go. But look at it this way. It was good for us because otherwise you wouldn’t be here. And as soon as this demo is done, we’re gonna have the time of our lives.”

JC was silent and Chris wondered if he was going to fight him on that. But a few seconds later all he said was, “You channeling Dirty Dancing?”

Chris smiled easily, glad that something he said to JC must’ve sunk in. “If you think I’m going to bust out into a corny song for you, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” JC pointed out.

“Yeah, well, I’m all sung out for today.” Chris grinned before turning serious. “I guess I’ll let you get back to your song now.”

Chris rose from the sleek bench before he started to walk across the room. He was nearly to the door when JC’s voice stopped him.

“Chris?”

Chris turned around to see JC pressing softly onto the keys in front of him. “Yeah?”

“I uh…” JC turned his attention from depressing the keys to Chris. “Thanks.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Chris said. He offered JC a smile before he walked out of the room and pulled the door closed behind him.

As Chris headed towards the living room, he realized that talking to JC had gone a lot better than he’d expected. He’d gotten a look at how JC really felt, which was something none of them were really privy to. JC wore his heart on his sleeve, but it wasn’t often that he talked to one of them about his feelings or something that was bothering him. Chris hoped that JC felt better after their talk and wouldn’t hang onto those feelings anymore.

JC was sprawled out across his bed on his stomach with his right arm curled underneath his pillow. He’d been lying there for over an hour now and sleep continued to elude him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; he just couldn’t. His thoughts kept going back to the one thing he didn’t want to think about. Lou.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get what’d happened that morning out of his head. And if he did, it never lasted longer than five or ten minutes. It didn’t help that Lou had stopped by periodically throughout the day. Every time it just set JC on edge, forcing him to watch Lou and miss his dance steps.

He hadn’t really realized just how distracted he was until Chris had pointed it out. JC hadn’t wanted to lie to Chris like he had, but he couldn’t tell him the truth either. Besides, everything JC had told him was true. It just wasn’t the main thing that was bothering him and forcing him to mess up during rehearsals.

Some good had come out of Chris talking to him though. JC did feel better about his fear of what would happen if the demo didn’t pan out. The feelings weren’t completely gone, but they weren’t fighting for attention like they’d been before. The other good thing had been that it made JC aware that if he wanted to keep this from people then he’d have to get better at acting like himself so he wouldn’t tip them off that something was wrong.

Part of JC still believed that what’d happened that morning and outside the day before had just been a fluke thing. It was stupid and irrational, but he was going to cling to it. And probably would until something happened. If something happened.

He’d been doing a lot of thinking while he’d been lying in bed, and he realized that there was nothing for Lou to gain by acting on whatever it was that was driving him to make JC feel uncomfortable. If Lou got caught, then that would essentially be the end of his career. And he seemed like a sensible business man who wouldn’t want to risk that.

Comforted by that fact, JC allowed his muscles to relax into the mattress. His mind started to clear for the first time in hours. Relief washed over his tired body, ready to welcome sleep with open arms. He was about to drift off when a mattress groaned near his bed.

JC withheld the groan of aggravation he wanted to release. He didn’t have to open his eyes to know who was having trouble sleeping. Justin had been changing positions every few minutes since he and Chris had gotten into bed twenty minutes ago.

It hadn’t bothered JC earlier because he hadn’t been able to sleep anyway. But now when he was finally ready to get some rest, he was forced to listen to Justin’s bed creak with every uncomfortable shift of position that was accompanied by rustling sheets. JC couldn’t blame Justin though because he didn’t even know he was keeping him awake.

But JC was sure he wasn’t the only one. Out of the three of them, Chris was the one who had the most problems staying asleep. He could fall asleep pretty quickly, but he was a light sleeper so he’d wake up to something as simple as the floor creaking. Justin and JC were the complete opposite.

The bedsprings creaked again and a sigh followed. Then the room fell silent. JC figured that Justin had finally found a comfortable position and was on his way to sleep. So JC let the darkness pull him to a peaceful slumber, but it was interrupted by Justin again.

“Did you go to prom?”

JC started to open his mouth before he remembered that he was supposed to be asleep. He could answer, but then he’d have to explain why he was still awake when he’d gone to bed almost an hour before Justin and Chris. So he was content to just listen.

“What?” Chris mumbled, voice showcasing his tiredness.

“Prom,” Justin repeated. “Did you go?”

“Yeah. Not much else to do for a senior in a small town,” Chris said.

“And you were on the football team?” Justin asked.

“Shortest wide receiver,” Chris replied with a hint of pride.

“Was your team any good?”

Chris laughed. “We had a five and eight season. Won every fight though.”

JC wanted to shake his head. That sounded like Chris. People tended to underestimate him because of his size. Chris had shared quite a few stories with him and his teammates stealing the opposing team’s mascot, which often broke out those fights he mentioned.

It was quiet for a few seconds before Justin asked, “Did you ever have a food fight?”

“Dude, what the hell?” Chris cried in exasperation. JC wasn’t surprised that his patience had run out. It’d just been one question after another, and he’d been wondering what Justin was up to.

“What?” Justin asked.

“What’s with all the questions?”

There was a slight pause before Justin said, “I just wanted to know what high school was like for you.”

“Why?” Chris demanded impatiently. Probably irritated that he couldn’t get any sleep.

“If we make it big, I’ll never get to experience any of that,” Justin said.

JC felt his heart momentarily stop. Justin usually acted so mature for his age that he often forgot that Justin was still so young. He wasn’t even old enough to drive yet, and they were working towards a goal that a lot of people would say was impossible.

They all were sacrificing things to try their hand at being a successful musical group, but Justin was giving up the most. And Lance too. Both of them would miss out on everything the rest of them had gone through. The bad cafeteria food, monotone teachers, and just being a kid.

A bed squeaked again, but this time it came from the far side of the room. Chris had probably rolled over to face Justin. “Did you want to?”

JC could imagine Justin shrugging as he said, “Sort of. It’s supposed to be the best years of your life, right?”

“Yeah right,” Chris snorted.

“Doesn’t sound like it was too bad for you,” Justin said.

“Some of it, yeah. But a lot of it is the same shit you had to deal with in junior high. You’re just a little bit older,” Chris explained.

“But wouldn’t I be missing out on something really important?”

“I guess, but you’d be experiencing things people couldn’t imagine in their wildest dreams. You’d be signing autographs, being mobbed by rabid fans, and, most importantly, entertaining thousands of people,” Chris said.

“That’s what I want,” Justin agreed. “Sometimes I just wonder what I’ll be missing out on that my friends will be doing. Like going to prom.”

“Price of fame I guess.”

Chris was right. Not going to a proper school was a price to pay for what they were working towards. But there were so many more that were much worse. And it wasn’t like Justin wouldn’t be getting an education because he’d have tutors much like they had on the Mickey Mouse Club. It was still a lot to ask of a kid, but JC knew that Justin wouldn’t give up his dream of being a star for anything. School and normalcy be damned.

It was silent for a second before Chris asked, “How do you know we’ll even make it?”

JC’s forehead creased slightly. That was skepticism if he’d ever heard it. But then, what happened to all of the optimism Chris had showered him with before? Maybe all of JC’s negative thoughts had made Chris doubt his optimism.

But the more JC thought about it, the more he realized that wasn’t the case at all. Chris was never someone to be swayed easily, especially when he believed in something. So there was no way he would’ve let JC’s thoughts plant doubt into his head, which meant that the doubt had already been there. The optimism hadn’t been something Chris had felt, but he had probably only said all those positive things to make JC feel better.

“I just have this feeling,” Justin said. “We’re going to take the world by storm. I just know it.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah. We’ll sell millions of albums, break…no shatter all kinds of records, walk the red carpet, sell out arenas…”

JC smiled into his pillow. Justin sure knew how to dream big. What they were doing was exciting, but there was so much uncertainty that it was hard to share in his enthusiasm and optimism. It was fun to listen to him though, and JC hoped that they did make it big. That would make all their sacrifices worth it.

Chris laughed, interrupting Justin’s excited ramblings about being famous. “Let’s take it one thing at time. We don’t even have our demo recorded.”

“Just nine more days and things’ll blow up,” Justin said. “We’ll be so busy.”

“We’re busy now,” Chris pointed out.

“Then we’ll be busier.”

“You should rest up now while you can.”

“You’ll see, Chris,” Justin said around a yawn. “We’re gonna be huge. I can feel it.”

“Go to sleep, J. We’ve got nine busy days ahead of us,” Chris said quietly.

“And many more to come,” Justin whispered before he finally fell silent.

A quiet sigh could be heard before the creaking of an old mattress. The darkness and silence that JC had wished for earlier was back, but now he wasn’t ready for it. Justin’s words weighed heavily in his head.

When he was in high school, he couldn’t wait to get out. And if they did end up becoming successful like Lou and Chris had said, then Justin would never understand that feeling. Sure, he had the normal distaste for school and doing homework, but it wasn’t the same.

It had to be even worse for Lance because while Justin didn’t know what he was going to be missing out on, he did. Lance had already been in high school for two years and probably had looked forward to going to his senior prom with some beautiful girl.

Briefly JC wondered if they were doing the right thing by letting Justin and Lance give up the rest of their childhood. But he quickly realized it wasn’t his decision to make. It was theirs, and they’d made it. They wanted to become a popular music group, or else they wouldn’t be here.

As JC turned his head so it was facing the direction Justin’s bed was in, he promised himself that he would do everything in his power to make sure their sacrifices weren’t for nothing.