Chapter eleven

     Juliana looked at herself in the mirror one last time before heading out of her dressing room. This was it. Her first run through with about thirty thousand people looking at her. Her set was about half an hour and she had to go out there five times. Which meant five different outfits. She had met the local volunteers earlier that day and she found all of them outside her room. Trace had informed her that she would be the only traveling model since she was now the "Head" model. The rest of the models, both females and males were scheduled volunteers from each city they would visit. Lucky them. They got autographs and souvenirs for participating. Juls thought it was nice of Chris to do that. Of course they had screened all the volunteers before picking them. Being that they would be allowed backstage access, security was held tight.

     Juliana felt surprisingly relaxed. She had gotten some rest on the bus and felt refreshed. She saw Melinda walking towards her, with a headset on, talking away. Juliana had met her while she talked to Johnny a little over two weeks before. Juliana thought she was sweet and she felt sorry for her all at once. Melinda did everything for the guys from ordering food to putting up with Joey whining about not having enough candy on the bus. She saw with her own eyes why the guys called her Chicken.

"Hey sweetie, you ready?" She asked Juliana with a bright smile on her face. Juls knew she must have been exhausted. She looked it too.

"Yeah I am. Two minutes right?" Juls asked smiling.

"Yup. So head over to the backstage area. You know the drill. Same as rehearsals only you have alot more eyes gawking at you." Melinda said laughing.

"Thanx for reminding me! No seriously I'm all right I've done this before. I mean not this kind of crowd but I think I can handle it."

"I know you can! Break a leg! Oh wait maybe I shouldn't say that. Chris would kill me." Melinda said scratching her head "oh well you know what I mean you look beautiful though, I must add"

"Thanx Melinda."

"You watching the show tonight?"

"I think I'm going to skip it tonight, I'm sure I'll get to it soon. After all I'll have about fifty chances." Juliana said walking towards the backstage area where she had been instructed to go. She really wanted to avoid any contact with Justin for the time being. She hadn't seen him since that day at rehearsals. It was weird because the guys were always together and Juls and Justin had managed to stay away from each other. Juls wondered if he too was trying his hardest to avoid her. What is going on? She wanted to avoid a person she didn't know at all. Yet on the other hand, all she wanted to do was be around him.

     Destiny's child's `bootylicious' started playing and Juls knew that was her cue. She stepped out onto the stage with one of the male volunteers. She put a smile on her face and walked down the catwalk. She couldn't hear a thing. These people were screaming their hearts out and Nsync was yet to step onstage. She made a mental note to take Melinda up on those ear plugs she had mentioned a couple days before. Juls noticed a lot of the girls looking at her, but not because she had Fumanskeeto clothes on but with questions in their eyes. They had all been given a Promo pic of her in the Fuman clothes on, before the show. Now seeing her onstage was mind bothering. Juls never thought about it until the second she walked backstage and rushed to change clothes.

    All those people now knew who she was. The promo pic they had gotten explained who she was and all her basic information. She knew now why Johnny had warned her about the situation with the guys and the press. Of course one of those reporters at the show tonight was going to link her with one of the guys. Mostly Justin. She hoped that she was exaggerating, it was only her first show and she was panicking. Snap out of it Juls!

...................Nsync dressing room........................

"Where's Justin?" Joey asked looking in the vacant bathroom.

"I don't know. Damn it Lance, lay off!" Chris said shoving Lance onto the floor. They had been on the Playstation for an hour straight. Lance for once had Chris' character in a headlock. He figured since he learned how to do it, he would just keep reapeting the move over and over again to annoy Chris.

     Justin walked passed Lonnie and Mike who were standing outside the wardrobe room. He playfully shoved Lonnie to the side. Or at least he tried. He only hurt his shoulder in the process.

"One of these days man. I'm gonna get you!" Justin said walking past them.

"In your dreams wimp!" Lonnie said before turning back to his handheld poker game.

"Where are you going?" Mike asked

"Mind yours, man!" Justin said turning his back. He looked behind him to look at Mike again. He knew he would be after him if he didn't say where he was going. Sure enough Mike was right behind him. "Alright man I'm gonna go get a peek outside Geez!"

"Scared ya huh? Pussy!" Mike said walking past Justin. "Besides I'm going to the bathroom I don't care where the hell you go."

"I'm not a pussy! Don't go to bed tonight Brotha!" Justin said laughing and walking towards the back of the stage.

     Justin managed to get through the volunteers line waiting to get onstage without being noticed or chased down. They did a good job screening the locals. he thought to himself. The volunteers where indeed aspiring models not Nsync fans. Justin walked towards the end of the stage behind the curtain where he couldn't be seen. Right away he noticed the girl in his favorite Fuman outfit walking towards him. She looked at him and paused. Then went around him.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" Melinda said behind him.

"Chill, Melinda I'm checking out the crowd." He said hugging her. He knew how to shut her up.

"Ohh. Well you did! So get back there before someone recognizes you." Melinda said getting away from his grip. "I thought by now you would know how the crowd would be." Melinda said sarcastically.

"Yeah I know but I wanted to come out here this time. Just checking it out." Justin said walking away. Melinda was right. He knew exactly how their fans were and he never went out there before show time. He came out for one reason. A reason he hadn't seen for days. Mission accomplished.