Two days went by with nothing else happening. Everyone had pretty much forgotten the whole idea that someone was trying to kill JC. They were enjoying themselves. JC was a lot happier than he'd been in a long time. Things were looking up for him. He got a couple more songs done while sitting outside but no longer by the lake. Even though things were better, JC couldn't force the thought out of his mind that there still might be more bad things to come. He tried not to think about it too much. He just focused on his writing.

He began writing with Justin a few days ago. Justin and him had been writing separate things. It was Justin's idea that they work on some songs together. JC had agreed. He wanted to get as much writing done as he could just in case his writer's block came back.

"How does this sound?" JC asked. "What happened to our love? You just walked away and left everything we had behind." JC read those lines because he had had problems with them earlier.

"Sounds good, Jace. Then maybe we can have the beat fast you know since we've already written some ballads." Justin suggested and pulled the guitar in his lap to demonstrate.

He was fiddling around with some cords when JC said, "Stop. Do that last one over again." Justin did and JC nodded pleased with the sound. "I like that sound. I think it would work. We'll just need to add some more sound to it when we get to the studio. What do you think?"

"I think you're right. That's perfect." Justin moved to write the note and add several others to it. JC also went back to writing some more lyrics before they switched sheets. Joey and Chris were on the couch watching a movie they watched a hundred times before, but never got tired of. This was how Lance found everyone when he entered the room.

"I'm going into town to buy more food. Anyone want to come?"

"I'll go." Justin said as he looked up from the song that he was working on with JC. He was adding lyrics to what JC already put. They had exchanged papers a few minutes before Lance walked in. Lance ignored Justin and asked the question again. Justin looked hurt at the thought that Lance didn’t want him to go, but just shrugged it off.

"Sure. I'll go with you." JC said as he finished the last line he was working on and stood up. "I think that does it for now. We can work on it again later if it doesn't sound good, but I think it's one of our best yet. Wouldn't you say, Justin?"

"Yeah. We can always go back and change it, but like you said it's the best we've done yet." Justin went over to the couch and sat down beside Joey already getting engrossed in the movie being it was his favorite.

"OK. Let's go." Lance headed for the door and called over his shoulder to the three sitting on the couch, "Be back later. My cell's on if anyone needs anything."

The three of them waved him off and JC laughed. He got into Lance's car and Lance drove to the town. JC was flipping through stations on the radio and found only one that got good reception.

"Have you seen the commercial for this song?" JC asked. The song was Shania Twain's "Man I Feel Like a Woman."

"Yeah. They're in that truck and the guy in the back is singing this song."

"And they're trying to get as far away from him as possible." JC finished and began to sing as a joke.

"Go totally crazy. Forget I'm a lady." JC sang.

"Men's shirts, short skirts. Uh, uh, oh." Lance chimed in. JC and Lance looked at each other and dissolved into laughter as the song ended.

"I haven't done that in a while." JC said after they finally stopped laughing.

"What? Sing like a girl?" Lance asked with a smile.

"No." JC chuckled. "Just sing period. I can't wait until we get back into the studio again. This time will be so much better now that I have a clear head and a few new songs."

"I know what you mean. It's nice to take a break though. We're going on our last week here. We have to live it up while we can." Lance replied as they pulled into the grocery store's parking lot. He parked the car and him and JC got out.

"What all do we need here?" JC asked as he grabbed a cart. They didn't have to worry about getting mobbed. It was pretty early and there weren't that many people in this town.

"Everything."

"Everything?" JC stopped and looked at Lance like he was crazy. "We don't eat that much do we?"

"No, but Joey and Justin do. We just need enough for us for another week. We don't want to leave any left over food in the fridge." Lance replied.

"That's true. Is that why you picked me to go? Because I wouldn’t want to buy everything in sight?" JC had resumed pushing the cart and following Lance as he threw the items into the cart.

"Yeah." Lance admitted. "If I brought Joey or Justin they would buy a bunch of stuff that we don't really need and we'd be in here for most of the day. I don't plan on being long. It's a beautiful day. I was going to take a hike."

"That sounds nice. I think I'll go with you. Do you think the others will want to go?"

"I'm going to make them go whether they want to or not. If it was up to them they would probably stay in their boxers all day and not do anything. I think it'll be good if we get them out." Lance answered.

"I can see the look on their face now." JC laughed. He could picture the three of them trying to object.

"You know you have a challenge ahead of you, right?" JC asked.

"Yeah, but I know how to deal with them."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You, JC my friend, are going to help me."

"I am?"

"Sure. Look I already have an idea and everything. I'll tell you when we get in the car." Lance and JC stood in line to check out. They paid for their groceries and loaded them in the trunk of Lance's car.

"OK. So what's your idea?" JC asked Lance once they were in the car. It took Lance the whole drive home to tell JC the idea and where he came in.

"They're going to be so surprised. This is going to be great." Lance nodded. JC and Lance took the groceries and carried them into the cabin.

Lance and JC finished putting the food away and walked into the living room. They found that Chris, Joey, and Justin were exactly where they left them.

"Guys, go get a shower and get dressed. We're going to go on a hike." Lance said and three of them turned to look at him.

"Why? I'm comfy the way I am and I don't wanna go for a hike." Chris replied.

"Yeah me either." Justin and Joey agreed.

"Yeah, well, too bad. Ya'll are going whether you like it or not." Lance looked over at JC. Everything was going as planned. They expected them to act that way.

"You can't make us." Joey objected.

"We'll see about that." Lance replied and walked out of the room. The three of them just shrugged.

"I guess he gave up." Justin said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." JC waited for what he knew was coming.

"Justin! Can you come up here for a minute?" Lance called from upstairs.

Justin raised an eyebrow to Joey and Chris. "Should I go?" Joey and Chris shrugged. "Well you're really helpful."

"It's up to you Justin, but if I were you I would want the surprise that Lance has." JC made an expression like he slipped up. "Oops. Did I say that out loud?"

"A surprise? Cool. What's the surprise?" Justin asked JC.

"I can't say. Why don't you go up and find out?" JC suggested and Justin took off up the stairs and into his bedroom where Lance was standing.

"Where's my surprise?"

"How did you know it was a surprise?" Lance asked.

"JC let it slip, but he didn't tell me what it was." Justin explained.

"Alright. Close your eyes and I'll get your surprise." Lance watched as Justin closed his eyes partially trying to peek. "No peeking or you won't get it at all." That said Justin shut his eyes completely. Lance back out of Justin's room, shut the door, and locked it.

Justin's eyes flew open when he heard the door shut and he bounded over to the door where he found out that it was locked. "What gives, Lance?"

"You need to get dressed so we can go on the hike and you aren't coming out until you're ready." Lance explained and Justin sighed. He never expected Lance to do this, but had to admit it was a good idea.

JC was downstairs smiling. He knew what Lance did to Justin and could just picture Justin's shocked face. "Hey, Joey." Time to put the second part of the plan into action.

"Yeah?"

"Can you come upstairs with me? I need to find something in your room that I left in there yesterday when we were hanging out, but I'm not sure where it is." JC said.

"Can't you just search yourself? I don't care if you go through my room." Joey replied.

"No, it wouldn't feel right. Besides, you watched me put it down yesterday. You know where it is."

"OK." Joey relented and JC led him upstairs and into his room.

"What am I looking for again?" Joey asked.

"My Leo necklace. I think I took it off in the bathroom. Could you check?" JC lied. He had his Leo necklace on, but you couldn't see it because it was under his shirt. Joey headed into the bathroom while JC moved out of the room and shut the door behind him listening to the lock click. He saw Lance and high fived him. Their plan was working perfect.

"JC!" Joey pounded on the door after finding JC gone and the door locked. "Open up!"

"Sorry, man. I can't. You need to get dressed because you're coming on the hike with us." JC laughed as he heard Joey grumble.

"So this is what you guys were up to?" JC and Lance turned to see Chris standing there. The two of them just smiled at each other.

"I see. Well, I'll save you the trouble. I'll go get dressed." Chris left to get changed while shaking his head. Lance was good at pulling off things when he wanted to. JC and Lance let Joey and Justin out. They waited a few minutes and Chris came out.

"Hey no fair!" Justin cried.

"Yeah. You didn't lock him in his room." Joey said.

"I went willingly." Chris replied as they headed out the door. They got to the door when JC stopped them.

"Are you guys going to hike with us willingly or do we have to drag you?" Chris, Joey, and Justin looked at each other.

"Willingly." They replied in unison. JC gave a satisfied nod and all five of them went out the door and picked a new trail to hike. They had been hiking for an hour with meaningless conversation along the way when they reached a clearing with a river. They sat down by the river relaxing for a bit before they were to go back to the cabin.

They were silent as they lay in the sun. It didn't last too long though. Chris jumped up and tapped JC on the shoulder. "Tag! You're it!" There was no way Chris was going to let JC and Lance have all the fun. They all got up and JC took off after Joey laughing all the way. They ran back the way they came while switching who was it the whole time. They made it back to the cabin and everyone dropped onto the ground.

"What a run!" JC exclaimed. He thought it felt good to act like a kid again and play tag. He had always loved playing that when he was younger.

"Yeah. We gotta keep in shape." Justin said. After lying there for a while, they all got up and went into the house. They took turns using the shower since they all wanted to clean the sweat off them.

Now they were all relaxing on the couch watching a movie while eating popcorn. "Did you guys have fun hiking?" Lance asked.

"You mean after you and JC tricked us into getting dressed? Yeah. It was fun. I'm actually glad I didn't stay inside. It was a beautiful day." Chris answered with a smile.

"See? It was good we made you go out. Besides, you guys haven't been outside in a couple days." JC said.

"You didn't have to get us to do what you wanted that way though." Justin protested.

"Yeah we did. If we didn't do that ya'll would still be sitting here in your boxers wasting the day away." Lance objected.

"That was really surprising when you two did that." Joey said. "You two are the most unlikely people to pull something like that off. You guys don’t normally do stuff like that."

"It was all Lance's idea." JC replied.

"Lance! It was your idea? All professional business Lance came up with that idea?" Justin exclaimed and Lance smiled.

"I can pull that stuff off when I want to. I’m not completely serious."

"So you've showed us." Joey replied. They stayed up until one in the morning and decided to get some sleep. They all went to bed. Justin fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but JC was another story. He knew that he should try to sleep, but he couldn't until he got somewhere with this line that was stuck in his head.

A breeze caught JC's attention. JC looked toward the window expecting it to be opened, but it wasn't. This unnerved JC. Then he saw what looked like a figure of a person standing in front of the window. JC's first thought was that someone knew where he was and somehow got into his room, but he knew that this spot was secluded and no one knew they were here except for Johnny. I must be hallucinating, JC thought.

Then it showed him something. Its image faded away and in place of it was an image of JC. It showed him and his friends. JC shivered. He couldn't stand the thought that someone had been watching them. The image moved on to show something that hadn't happened yet. It showed JC walking through the woods when a tree fell on him. He could see that in the image he had died.

"I'm going to get you, Josh." The figure said and disappeared.

It was then that JC let out a horrified scream, which echoed throughout the cabin. All of the guys came running.

"What's wrong, JC? You look like you've seen a ghost." Justin said.

"I think I have." JC replied starring at the spot the ghost had been before it disappeared.