Chapter 30: The One with the Necklace Part 1

February 28th, 1997

“So where are you guys now?”

“We’re on our way to–”

“No way!” Lance’s voice drifted to the bunk area of the bus. Mack sat up straight only to recoil and let out a groan of pain once her head connected with the bunk above hers. She could hear Nick laughing on the other end, probably knowing what had happened to her. “I can’t believe it!”

“Ugh. Nick, I have to go kill a certain deep-voiced singer. I’ll call you back, ok?” She disconnected the call before he could say anything. Her day hadn’t started out that well. She kept forgetting the distance between her head and the bunk above her so for the past week she’s been hitting her head. If you looked close enough you could see random spots on her forehead steadily getting darker with repeated hits. Add onto the lack of sleep from her parents calling her throughout the night and the stress of keeping the boys’ schedule, she wasn’t a chipper person. And now she felt the early signs of a cold coming on. Apparently the others were curious as to what the Mississippi boy was so happy about and joined her to check on him.

“What is it? What’s going on?” Joey asked, tugging his pants up over his hips. His eyes were still somewhat puffy from just having waked up but they were shining with fear. Apparently he practically had a heart attack when Lance started yelling.

“That was my sister, Stacey,” Lance replied, putting down his phone and beaming. “She called and told me she just got engaged to her boyfriend, Ford. They’re going to get married in December.”

“That’s great, Lance!” Mack said, suddenly forgetting how annoyed she was. She sat down at the table across from him. “So, where’s it going to be held? Have they picked a place yet?”

“Not yet but when she was younger Stacey always said she dreamed about having her wedding in the snow,” he replied.

“Excuse me! Is the only reason you gave me a heart attack because your sister is engaged?” Joey demanded. Lance nodded.

“You needed to get up anyway,” Johnny commented from the front. “To take a look at the stage. It’s an outside show today.”

“An outside show?” Justin repeated.

“Yes. The stage is in an outside area. I would like it better if it were in the later hours so it would be cooler but your show is smack dab in the middle of the day today and you get the rest of the night off,” Johnny explained.

“Well, you boys better get your sunscreen on now,” Lynn commented. “You don’t want to look like lobsters by the end of the day.”

“Tell that to Mack. She’s going to need a bucket of the stuff to make sure she doesn’t burn,” Justin said with a grin. Mack fake laughed and gave him a response with her middle finger, ignoring Lynn’s scolding look. “How do you get ready for an outside show?”

“Drink a lot of water and wear a lot of sunscreen and then you’ll be fine,” Lynn replied, running her fingers through his curly hair. “As long as you don’t overdo it. I don’t want you passing out on the stage from the heat.”

“Heat, huh?” Joey commented as he came back to the front of the bus. A grin spread across his features. “You know what that means dontcha?” He asked, nudging Chris. “Hot girls in shorts, skirts, and bikinis.”

Mack let out a sound of disgust and rolled her eyes. “Are hot girls all you ever think about?” She demanded.

“No, beautiful girls is high up on my list as well,” he replied, high fiving Chris who started laughing.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Lynn chuckled, glancing at Mack. “You’re surrounded by idiots.”

“Worse, I’m surrounded by boys,” she replied. Justin stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the gesture. He stuck out his tongue again, this time making an exaggerated gagging noise and she returned that gesture as well. Soon they were nose to nose having a staring contest trying to get the other one to blink first.

“Wow, you can tell their age doesn’t reflect their maturity,” Joey commented biting into an apple.

“My IQ is higher than your maturity,” Mack shot back.

“My IQ is higher than your maturity,” Joey repeated his voice extremely high. It was obvious that he was trying to imitate her but he failed. She grinned but didn’t tear her eyes away from Justin’s. “Hey Johnny, how much time do we have between getting to the hotel and having to go to soundcheck?”

“Three, four hours,” Johnny replied.

“Good. Mack, you and I are going shopping,” Joey announced.

“Uh, what?” She muttered without turning around.

“I said–”

“I heard what you said,” she interrupted him, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “But why shopping of all things you want to do?”

“Becauuuusssseeee”–he held out the word longer than necessary–“you’re a girl if you haven’t noticed. You can’t go around for the rest of your life dressing like a boy.”

“I’m a girl, really? So that’s why I have melons strapped to my chest. And here I thought they were just there for decoration,” she quipped.

“Melons?” Justin scoffed. “Gurrl, you have golf balls.”

“You would recognize them; although mine are just a little bit higher up than yours.”

Lance struggled to keep the juice in his mouth as Chris hooted with laughter. Joey was doubled over and JC’s face was red as he slapped his knees. Justin pursed his lips and clenched his hands into fists as Mack smirked. She knew she had him backed into a corner where he couldn’t do anything. Especially since his mother was sitting a few feet away. He merely took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out sharply. The noise caused her to jump and blink and he threw his arms into the air in triumph.

“Now that’s not fair!” She protested over his cheers of “I’m a winner, you’re a loser!”

“Fair and square, baby! I win, you lose! Ha ha HA!” He jumped onto the couch and started doing a little victory dance as Mack fumed.

“In the long run you’re the real victor. Golf balls…hee hee,” Chris whispered into her ear before he started laughing all over again. Justin stopped his victory dance and glared at Chris, hands on his hips. Chris merely pointed at Justin and laughed even harder, holding his sides and rolling around. Justin dove on top of him and the two soon found themselves in a wrestling match.

“What’s the matter, Old Man? Can’t pin me down?” Justin asked, laughing a bit as he managed to duck out of Chris’s hold. “Huh? Can’t pin me down? No, ya can’t and you wanna know why? ‘Cause I’m as smooth as buttah!”

“Your little tushy was when you were a baby,’ Lynn remarked. Justin froze as the others grinned and covered their mouths. Chris used that as an opportunity to pick up Justin and pin him to the floor.

“Aww, Wittle Justy got embarwessed!” Chris cooed, pinching Justin’s cheek. He tried to reach up and slap the older man’s hands out of the way but Chris pressed his weight against Justin’s chest. He made a gagging sound as he struggled to breathe.

“Hey hey!” Johnny yelled, finally turning around to look at them. “Knock it off, we don’t want one of you getting hurt before your show today,” he said in a warning tone, looking at all of them in the eye. They stayed silent and nodded.

“Yeah,” Mack spoke up. “Any of you get on my bad side and I’ll easily break your noses.” She held up her casted hand as if to prove a point. The guys rolled their eyes. Her threats were staring to fall on deaf ears since they learned that she never really carried them out, they were just for show to show how ‘tough’ she was and they knew it but they didn’t say anything about it. They knew better; she had trained them well.

Finally they made it to the hotel. Justin jumped down the stairs of the bus and started running around the parking lot. Chris and Joey watched him running around as if he were crazy. Lynn explained to their confused looks that he was getting rid of his pent up energy and that they shouldn’t stop him. They, along with their bodyguards, started unpacking their things from the bottom of the bus but Johnny kept Mack behind.

“I just wanted to know what your plans were for practice today,” Johnny said.

Mack tapped her pen on her notebook absentmindedly for a few seconds before answering him. “Usually I just get them to stretch for a certain amount of time and then get them to run through the entire show without stopping. For the past couple of weeks what I’ve done is focused each practice on a certain person, to see what makes them tick. Lance is the easiest, he isn’t confident in his dancing skills so on some days I focus on Lance a bit more. Some days I focus on Joey more than the others to try and get him to stop playing to the invisible crowd and pay more attention to his moves because he makes little mistakes that could be eliminated if he paid attention, stuff like that.”

Johnny nodded slowly as if thinking things over. “Who were you going to focus on today?”

“The one person who doesn’t need my focus,” Mack replied. “I’m sure you know who that is.”

“JC,” they said in unison. Mack nodded.

“Why JC?” Johnny questioned.

“Because JC always takes everything they’ve learned and brings it up another notch, a notch that the others can’t compete with. He knows it, they know it, but they don’t want to say anything about it.” She leaned back and stretched her arms behind her, letting out a slow breath. “I’m going to teach him a lesson.” She scooped up her notebook and grabbed her bag off of the floor and started to move past him to the stairs of the bus.

“What lesson exactly?” Johnny asked in an amused tone.

“That there’s no ‘I’ in ‘N Sync,” she called over her shoulder. She jumped down the rest of the stairs and went to get her things. She was reaching for the handle of her suitcase when Lonnie stopped her and told her that he would get it. She smiled her thanks and walked with him to the door of the hotel. The first thing she saw when she stepped in was Chris and Justin throwing mints from the receptionist desk and giggling to each other when they hit JC on the back of the head as he sat in a chair. Lynn would scold them and they would stop but as soon as her attention was turned they’d start throwing them again.

“And Chris is twenty-six?” She muttered under her breath.

“You ready to go?” Joey asked her with a big smile.

“Do I have to?’ She whined like a little kid.

“It’ll be fun, I promise. Lonnie can take your stuff to your room.” Joey looked at Lonnie who nodded. Mack hesitated but finally gave up her notebook and followed Joey right back out of the hotel after he motioned to Lynn that he’d be with her.

“Shouldn’t we get a body guard or something?” Mack muttered.

“Uh-uh, trust me if it’s something I’ve learned about celebrities it’s that people don’t think it’s really you if you don’t go out in disguise, we’ll be fine,” Joey said with a wave of his hand as if sweeping the notion away. “Do you want to eat first? I don’t know about you but I’m starving.”

“Food’s fine,” Mack muttered shoving her hands into her pockets. She looked up and down the street and at the people they passed. From time to time she glanced at Joey and laughed when he eyed a few girls that they passed. Even with Joey she couldn’t help but feel tense, as if she was getting ready to jump out of her skin at the smallest disturbance.

“This place looks good,” Joey said after a few minutes of walking around. He pulled open the door and ushered her inside with a flourish of his arm. She chuckled and walked inside, looking around before walking up to the counter.

“Guten Tag! Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?” The person behind the counter said with a bright smile. Joey looked at him blankly before turning to look at Mack as if she had suddenly understood Germany over night.

“What did he say?” Joey questioned.

“I don’t know! I’m the French speaking girl! I don’t speak German!” She cried out, throwing her arms into the air.

“Sie sprechen Französisch? Ich weiß auch!” The man said excitedly. “Que voulez-vous commander?”

Mack’s eyes lit up. “Je voudrais un cheeseburger au bacon, des frites et un Coca-Cola. Mon ami voudrais la même chose mais un cheeseburger normale et une bière à la place si c'est possible.”

“C’est tres possible. Votre total est 10,49.”

Joey paid the man and they stood by the counter waiting for their food. Once it arrived they carried it over to a table and sat down. Joey watched her as she reached for her Coke bottle and unscrewed the cap.

“Since when do you drink Coca-Cola? I though you only drank Sprite,” he commented before shoving a few fries into his mouth.

“I just didn’t want Sprite,” she replied.

She had the mouth of the bottle to her lips when Joey commented, “I wouldn’t want it either if it ‘cause me to feel up my friend.”

The soda got caught in her throat and she started coughing. Her eyes started to water and she hit herself on the chest, trying to force up a burp. When it finally came she sighed and relaxed in her seat. She finally caught her breath and hissed, “Who told you about that?”

“I got it out of Justin back in Sweden,” Joey replied. “They guy cracked like an egg. We could tell something was up with him but he wouldn’t say anything. I finally got it out of him by sitting on him.”

Mack’s lips twitched as she flushed. “Nothing happened, ok?” She said in a forceful tone.

“It’s between you and Jace anyway, I have no say in anything,” Joey said with a shrug.

She eyed him suspiciously. “But you want to know something…”

“You’re right about that.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin and leaned back. “I want to know about you. I’ve come to realize in the past couple of years that I don’t really know you and I want to fix that.”

“Huh.” She leaned back in her chair as well and regarded him. “Why did it take you this long to ask?”

“I didn’t want you to get mad at me or somethin’. Who knows when you’re PMSing? I could’ve picked a bad day for all I know. I don’t know about you but I wasn’t in the mood to get something thrown at me if I ask something wrong,” he replied. “So, what’s your story, kid?”

“Born in Montreal, raised in Memphis. Met Trace and Justin as soon as I got there but we didn’t really become friends until we were three. They protected me from stuff as we grew up, boys, bullies, life basically.” She sighed and rolled her neck before looking at her hands. “I guess they protected me from my parents’ divorce as well, I think they saw it coming. I was off in my own world that I didn’t see the signs but it was vaguely aware that they were fighting over small things.”

Joey nodded. “And dancing? How’d you get into that?”

“Dance for me is like breathing for everyone else. Momma and Daddy always say that I’ve been dancing before I could walk. As I grew up I did ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, acro, break, and a lot of line dancing back in Memphis.” She absentmindedly tugged at the metallic blue tied eighth note necklace around her neck. “I just…I don’t know, I like the freeing feeling of dancing if that makes sense…” she glanced at Joey who nodded and took a bite of his hamburger. “I begged Momma to let me go to lessons so much that practically lived at the studio in Memphis. I even started teaching a few kids classes and a few work out classes that had a dance core. It’s just always been a rush that I craved.” She shrugged and shoved some fries into her mouth. Joey snickered at the way her cheeks bulged.

“And this MMC thing? I thought only JC and Justin auditioned,” Joey eased in.

Mack held up her finger, signaling for him to wait. She finally swallowed, took a sip of her drink and responded, “Well, I was always into movies and I would comment on how people acted in some scenes. Momma was the one who suggested I auditioned for MMC once she heard Justin was going to audition ‘because we had gone with them to Florida so I could go to Disney World with Trace. Trace was sick the day Justin went to audition and I went to support him. Some kids were turned down on the spot and I didn’t want them to be upset so I tried to get them to laugh and feel better. Matt Casella, the casting director, saw and gave me an audition right off the bat. Justin was in his audition at the time so he didn’t know I had one. I didn’t want to do it but Momma pushed me as usual.” She paused to roll her eyes and sigh. “I sang, danced, and read a monologue. Long story short they liked me. A few days later, about two days before they called Justin about his success, they called me, told me I had a spot, but I turned it down. I knew that if I had taken it then there was a chance that Justin wouldn’t have gotten it and he wanted it more than I did.” She shrugged. “No big deal.”

Joey smiled and slowly shook his head. “Has anyone ever told you that you have the sensitivity of a thirty-year-old? You have a good head on your shoulders, kid.”

“Momma didn’t raise no fool.”

Joey laughed. The sound of his laughter finally got her to let out a breath and relax her tense muscles. She suddenly got one of those rare warm and fuzzy feelings that washed over her and practically turned her to goo. At that moment she finally realized how much she loves Joey’s company. He always made her laugh and made sure she had a good time whatever they were doing and was one of the first to include her on activities that they did.

“You done?” He asked her a few minutes later. She nodded. “Good, it’s time to max out some credit cards.” They gathered their things and threw it away before leaving the place. Joey held out his hand to her once they stepped onto the sidewalk. She took it and they started skipping down the street, singing songs at the top of their lungs, laughing whenever they forgot words to some songs. By the time they got to a clothing store Mack’s abs were tight from laughing so hard and Joey was singing an off-key rendition of “This is How We Do It”.

They split up and started moving around the room. Mack was absentmindedly dragging her hand across the clothes on the rack, bobbing to the beat of the song that was playing. She glanced at Joey across the room and wondered if she should ask him about Lou and what he thought about him. It could be weird, he was basically providing them with everything but even he had to think Lou was kind of weird sometimes, right? Mack sighed thinking that she might as well ease into it.

“So, what do you think about Johnny being your manager and the manager of the Backstreet Boys?” Mack asked casually as she pulled a hat off of the wall and pulled it down over her hair. “This good?” She turned to Joey.

He looked at her and scrunched up his face. “No.” He shook his head and she took that hat off. “And I think its fine. I mean, he knows what he’s doing, it’s not like he’s sabotaging us and helping the others. We’re doing pretty well if you haven’t noticed.”

“I’ve noticed, my pockets have noticed as well,” she joked. She took a deep breath and said, “What about Lou? What do you think of him?” She held her breath as she waited for his response. Time seemed to slow down. The ticking of the clock at the end of the store seemed to match her heartbeat.

“I can’t complain. He’s practically funding everything,” Joey replied, shrugging, an arm full of clothes. “I gotta admit though, the guy’s a little too clingy. I swear, he pops up wherever we go like he’s watching us or something.” He shuddered at the thought. “Why?” He asked, tilting his head.

Mack let out her breath. “Ah, just curious,” she said with a little smile. ‘You can tell Joey, he’ll help you. He won’t make a big deal about it, she tried to convince herself. She opened her mouth and tried to force the words out but nothing happened. She let out a breath and tried again but something in her brain was stopping her from spilling her secret. She looked down at her feet and bit her lip. Never in her life has she ever felt like such a coward.

“Here. Try these on.” He shoved the pile of clothes into Mack’s arms. There was so many that she could barely see over the top of the stack. He grabbed her shoulders, wheeled her around, and directed her to the dressing room. “And you better model each selection or I’ll barge in there and I don’t care if you’re in the middle of changing either.” With one final shove he reached in and closed the door of the dressing room before sitting down in a chair and waiting.

“No…way!” Mack’s voice came from the other side of the door. “No way! Joey, I’m not wearing this stuff!”

“It’s me you’re talking to, I thought you’d understand what kind of clothes I’d want you to wear,” Joey called back.

“I’m not coming out, Fatone!”

“Maaaaack,” Joey sighed like a disappointed parent. “You’re a girl, which we’ve established before. You’re almost sixteen, you gotta start showing off your assets and, trust me, I’m the master of assets.”

“Yeah? Name one.”

“Your eyes.”

“They’re sitting smack dab in the middle of my face, genius. I can’t just decide I want brown eyes, pluck my eyeballs out, and trade them for yours.”

Joey could practically see her eyes rolling. “Well, your other good asset is your legs. You have sexy legs but you never show them off unless you’re wearing shorts, which further my point in you needing to dress like a girl.”

“But Joeyyyyyy,” Mack whined.

“The faster you get through this the faster we’ll get out of here,” Joey said in a singsong voice. He grinned when he heard her sighing heavily. A few minutes passed by in silence. “I’m waaiiiiiting.”

“Ok ok, fine!” She practically flung open the door and stomped out, arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing a white, knee-length dress with black flowers on it, a single blue ribbon was tied on it separating the top with the skirt part of the dress and black and blue chunky sneakers were on her feet. “Happy now?”

“Ecstatic, now go try on something else,” Joey ordered. Grumbling under her breath she turned around and stomped back into the dressing room. She spend the next twenty minutes going in and out of the dressing room modeling clothes for him as he moved around pretending to take pictures of her as if she were on a runway. She finally convinced Joey to go back when she saw that it was getting closer to having to go to sound check.

“I still can’t believe you bought this stuff for me,” Mack commented as she shifted the bag that was in her hands.

“You needed a new wardrobe anyway; think of it as an early birthday present,” Joey said as he gave her shoulder a squeeze. “’Sides, something told me you needed a day away from them or you’d kill them in their sleep.”

“I wouldn’t wait that long,” she joked. “I’d want to put them out of their misery as fast as possible.”

“At least you’re considerate when you kill us,” Joey sighed in content.

Mack smiled.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“After analyzing how you guys have been working all week I can say that your dancing has improved a lot. You’re barely getting winded, which is good which means me pushing you guys to do pushups and sit ups and stuff has helped get your bodies in shape. Because you guys are doing well with staying in shape and getting your moves down I’ve focused my attention on what each of you needs to focus on to get better,” Mack said as she paced in front of the slightly panting guys who were sitting on the stage.

Chris was lying flat on his back, his arms covering his eyes from the sun. Lance was using the bottom of his shirt to mop the sweat off of his forehead. Joey was guzzling a bottle of water. JC and Justin were the only ones sitting there, listening to her intently.

“For example, I’ve focused on Lance’s er…lack of dancing…consistency,” Mack continued, giving Lance an apologetic look. He responded with a sweet smile and a blink of his eyes. “Another, trying to get Joey to…” she paused and looked at him as he stared intently at his water bottle as he swished the bottle around. She grabbed the bottle and continued as he grinned sheepishly, “trying to get Joey to pay attention! Stuff like that.” She started pacing again. “Now, this time, my focus is on someone but not in a good way.” She stood in front of them with her hands crossed over her chest, looking at all of their faces, making sure to keep hers blank. “So I’m going to make this easy: if the one person doesn’t act with you guys, like one single unit and doesn’t show off, then you’ll be fine. If he does, then you all will be punished until it’s drilled into his brain that you guys are a group first, individuals second. Understand?”

“Yeah…sure…” they grumbled.

Her eyes narrowed. “I said…do…you…understand?”

“MA’AM, YES, MA’AM!” Chris shouted.

Justin turned his laugh into a cough when Mack turned her eyes to him. “Cute,” she muttered. “Ok, run through ‘I Want You Back’ one more time,” she ordered. “Now, remember, this is your last day using a backing track. Once tour kicks off you’re going to use a real band so we might have to change the tempo, but don’t worry about that now.” She walked over to the CD player and waited for them to get in line before pressing play on the music. She watched their footing and their movements intently as she tugged at the necklace around her neck. She suddenly realized that she would need to replace the chain or it would break soon. She returned her attention back to the dancing guys and let out a sharp breath when she saw their downfall. That kick, the one extra kick that JC always adds before the breakdown of the song was their downfall.

The guys slammed to a stop before collapsing on the ground, sweating and crying out for water. Johnny rose from where he was sitting and walked over to Mack who had jabbed the stop button on the CD player.

“Don’t be too hard on them, it’s getting warm out here,” Johnny said as he dabbed at his brow. “I’m worried about the crowd as well, with all the people it’s going to be packed. We’re either going to have to cut it short or find a way to cool everyone off.”

“Leave it all to me, I’ll figure something out,” she said as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and fanned her neck. “And I won’t kill them, don’t worry, I just have them scared. I’m just going to make them do wall sits for a while until the message sinks in.”

“Ok, see you back at the hotel.” He waved to her and then started to walk away. “You’re doing good guys. See you later.”

Their responses were muffled as they lifted an arm and let it drop onto the stage as they breathed heavily. “Are we done? Can we go home?” Justin asked, pulling his shirt away from his sweat slick body.

“Uh-uh,” Mack replied, shaking her head. “Wallsits, that’s it.” Their groans filled the air. “Five minutes, you guys have done this before. Come on.” She jumped off the stage and backed up a couple of paces, waiting for them to jump off and press their backs against the wall. She turned her attention to her necklace again and frowned at how flimsy the chain felt. With an aggravated sigh she let go of the chain, looked up, and flinched. “Whoa!” She practically yelled. “Uh, you, uhm, you’re gonna wanna, kinda, maybe, um put your shirts back on,” she muttered, looking anywhere but at the guys who were now only dressed in shoes and basketball shorts. “’Cause…’cause…’cause once your, uh, backs touch the wall you’ll fall right to the, um, ground ‘because they’re so sweaty…yeah…” she finished lamely and flushed. Justin had an amused look on her face while the others guzzled water as they waited for her to start the timer. “You might want to think about what you’re going to say. You say one thing that gets on my nerves and I’ll make these the worst Wallsits you’ve had to endure!” She quickly threatened before Justin could say whatever it was he was going to say.

He kept his mouth shut but the smile never left his face as he went into a wall sit. Once she was sure they were all ready she hit the timer on her watch and waited, watching with a smirk of satisfaction on her face when she saw their legs trembling and their faces steadily turning red in agony.

“Who the hell is the freaking’ idiot that pissed you off?” Justin got out through clenched teeth when she called out three minutes.

“I’ll give you a hint, his name starts with a ‘J’,” Mack replied.

“That’s not a fucking hint!”

“That’s all you’re going to get.” She finally called five minutes and they collapsed onto the ground in a heap and she laughed. “Y’all a bunch of sissies.” Justin gave her the one finger salute as she got to her feet. “The show’s in an hour and a half. Johnny says you can either go back to the hotel to shower and change or you can stay here. That building right there,” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “they’re letting us use a conference room as your dressing room if you just want to hang out there.”

“Hotel. Me want hotel,” Chris groaned, crawling on his hands and knees in the direction of the hotel.

“Make that two,” Joey sighed.

“Three,” Lance grumbled.

“Ok. Y’all just go and I’ll stay here and talk with the stage crew to try and find a way to keep you guys cool during the show. If you need me I’ll be in there.” She tilted her head at the building. “I have my phone.” They slowly got to their feet, gathered their things, and started to walk off. “Josh, you stay,” she called halting JC in his tracks.

“Oooh, you’re in for it. She used your real name,” Justin commented, lightly patting JC on the arm.

“Um, what’s up?” JC asked once the others left.

“I’m sure you know by now that my little ‘speech’ was directed towards you,” she started. He nodded but didn’t say anything. “I’m not saying that you’re selfish or think that this group revolves around you, but what I am saying is that you need to remember that you’re a group first. You get a rush on that stage, I get that just don’t let it take over your mind. One day, if you try something on a higher scale, it could either throw off your timing or mess up the others’ concentration. I’m not saying stop what you’re doing altogether, I’m saying just…think about the group first, ok?”

“Ok,” he said with a little nod. Really, he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong. Adding something extra to their moves was something that he always did, practically something that he was known for. “Um, is everything ok?” He asked, adjusting the strap to the bag that was over his shoulder.

“Yes, for the thousandth time,” she said, turning her back to him to gather her own things.

“Are you absolutely positively sure?” He asked, following her. “’Cause I know how reserved you can get and you know that you can tell us anything.”

She sighed and clutched the towel in her hands a little bit tighter. “Anything?” She questioned before tossing him the towel.

“Anything,” he repeated.

“Ok.” She hesitated. “Say I told you that someone was…bothering me.”

“Bothering you how?” JC asked, rubbing his head with the towel.

“Bothering me like…” she twisted her hands which JC immediately found odd. She never got nervous. That sent off bells and sirens in his head. “Invading my space in a, um, physical way?” Her voice was small and she was looking down at her feet. Her heart pounded against her chest as she waited for JC’s reaction. The silence was killing her; she was about ready to pass out she was holding her breath so long.

“Please…please tell me I’m wrong when I ask you this.” JC’s voice was hoarse. He cleared his throat and parted his lips, trying to get the words to come out. “Is someone…touching you?”

The words hung in the air like a bad smell. Mack let out her breath, glad to hear the words out loud but then Lou’s words went slamming back into her head and she stiffened. Her brain battled right vs. wrong as fear settled in.

“No,” she shook her head and forced a smile and an accompanying laugh. “I was just making sure that I actually could ask you anything. That was a hypothetical question.” She shoved the rest of her things into her bag and stood. “I really got you going there, huh?” ‘No, JC, don’t believe me!’ she screamed in her head.

“Yeah…” he said slowly. He suddenly put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “If anyone ever touches you without your permission come and tell me or Justin or Lance or Joey or Chris or Lynn or Johnny even, OK?”

She nodded. “You might want to go before you get sun burned,” she muttered, turned, and dashed off to the building that held their dressing room. As soon as she got into the hallway of the building she threw her bag down and cursed. “God, I was so close! Why couldn’t I just say it?” she let out a whimpering sound but bit her lip to stop herself from crying. “Well, now he has an idea so that’s better than nothing. If he finds out without me saying anything then I’ll be fine.”

“Talking to yourself again?” Mack jumped and whirled around to see Lou standing in the doorway of the hallway she just passed through. She gulped and darted her eyes around to try and find a way to escape. “I saw you talking to JC; you seem to be getting pretty chummy lately? Anything going on?” Lou asked as he stepped closer.

“No. JC’s just my friend, sir,” Mack muttered, screaming at herself to get away from him but her body couldn’t move.

“And I hope it stays that way. The last thing he needs is a distraction.” Lou smiled what she was sure was supposed to be a calm smile but it was twisted at the corners. His smile dropped from his face and he lowered his voice, getting even closer. “What did you two talk about?”

“Nothing, just the show that’s it,” she whispered.

“What?” He hissed, closing his hand around her neck. Her hands flew up to her neck, trying to pry his fingers away as she gasped for air. “What?” He repeated, his mouth by her ear.

“Nothing, nothing! We were talking about the show, honest! I didn’t say anything to him at all,” she managed to get out despite spots erupting in her visions.

“And you better keep it that way if you know what’s good for you.” He let go of her neck but pinched the tied-eighth note pendant between his thumb and finger. “Where’d you get this?”

“JC gave it to me, for my 14th birthday,” Mack replied.

“How sweet.” He closed his fist around it and tugged. Mack’s hands flew to her neck when she felt the necklace dig into her skin before it gave way. She looked at the necklace through blurred eyes in Lou’s hand. “I think I’ll keep this, to remind you to keep your mouth shut. Not that I think you’d forget, though.” He tucked the necklace into his pocket and walked away. He paused, turned and said, “Oh yeah, we need someone to open for ‘N Sync because the other act cancelled. You go on at 3:30 and you have a thirty minute set, I hope you have something prepared.” The sadistic smile returned, “And who knows? Maybe I can get you a record deal then we can work closely together.”

Mack vomited. She held her stomach as her legs shook, barely being able to keep herself on her feet. She waited until she heard his footsteps faded completely before getting to her feet and stumbling to the bathroom. As soon as her head reached the toilet bowl her lunch splashed into the toilet. Her eyes and nose burned and the smell made her want to gag again but she held it down. She rested her back against the cool wall of the stall and looked at her shoes through her blurred vision. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing a number from memory. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand waiting for the other line to be picked up.

“Hey Dimples!” Nick greeted cheerfully.

“Did I call at a bad time?” Mack asked her voice hoarse.

“No, we don’t have anything planned today. What’s wrong?” He zeroed in on her voice.