While traveling to the next city, JC, Chris, Joey and Fantasia went to the back lounge to watch TV. An hour later JC was passed out on one couch, Chris was sound asleep on the floor and Joey was just falling asleep next to Fantasia on the other couch. Fantasia grinned to herself. Now was her chance! She had an idea for a particle joke to play on Chris.

Fantasia reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle of hot pink nail polish. She sat down on the floor next to Chris’s head. He was lying on his stomach with his hands flat on the floor. Fantasia carefully started to paint his fingernails. When she was about half way done with his second hand, Joey woke up.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"What? You’re the only ones allowed to play a particle joke?" she replied with an evil grin.

Joey just smiled at her and said, "You know, he’s going to kill you."

"Who says he’s going to find out it’s me?"

When Fantasia finished painting Chris’s nails she put the nail polish away and pulled out her camera. After taking a few pictures of Chris and his pretty nails, she put her camera away and sat back down next to Joey.

"How long will it take for that to dry?" he asked.

"About ten minutes."

Joey couldn’t wait to see the look on Chris’s face!

To pass the time Joey pulled Fantasia into his arms and they started making out. After about twenty minutes, Justin wandered back to the lounge to see what the guys were doing.

"Are you two at it again?" he asked when he saw Joey and Fantasia.

"You’re just jealous that Jamie isn’t here." Joey replied.

Justin just grumbled something under his breath and turned to leave. But on his way out he tripped over Chris’s foot. Sleepily, Chris looked behind him to see who had disturbed him. He grumbled something about Justin and his big feet before getting up. As he was pushing himself up off the floor, Chris looked down at his hands and let out a blood-curtailing scream.

JC, who was still asleep on the other couch, jumped awake and fell onto the floor.

"JUSTIN!!!" Chris screamed, "What’d you do to my hands?"

"I didn’t do anything!" he whined as he returned to the back of the bus with Lance close behind.

"Then how’d my fingernails get PINK!?!" Chris squealed. The other guys burst out laughing. Fantasia just sat there looking totally innocent.

"I didn’t do it. I haven’t been back here." Lance said.

"Don’t look at me. I was asleep." JC said.

"And I was… uh… busy with Fantasia." Joey said.

"Yeah, and I really did not need to see that." Justin said confirming Joey’s story.

"But then who was it? The only other people on the bus are the driver and…." Chris said trailing off and looking at Fantasia.

"What?" she asked in her most innocent voice.

"You did this?" he asked shocked.

"Do you really think I could do something like that?" she asked innocently.

"Yes!" JC replied. The other guys looked over at him confused. "Oh, come on! Don’t you remember how she freaked me out about getting a shot the day we met her?" JC explained, "She would totally do this!"

Chris looked back at Fantasia. She just sat there with an evil grin on her face. "Why?" Chris whined.

"I thought you guys liked practical jokes." she replied.

The other guys once again burst out laughing. "Ok, now how do I get it off?" Chris asked.

"The fastest way is nail polish remover." Fantasia said.

"Well, let me borrow some!" he said impatiently.

"I don’t have any. I always just let it wear off." she replied.

"How long does that take?"

"Not long. About two weeks." she replied.

"Two weeks!" Chris shirked.

"You’ll just have to wait till we stop somewhere." she said.

Chris groaned and went to his bunk to sulk. The other guys complemented Fantasia on her prank and went about their business. Soon Fantasia and Joey were alone in the back room. They curled up on the couch to watch TV, but it didn’t take long before they were making out again.

When they stopped for supper, Chris climbed off the bus and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. He was wondering how he was going to eat without anybody seeing his hands. Just then he noticed that the bus with Jamie and the other backup dancers had also stopped to eat. The five girls were just climbing off the bus so Chris ran over to them.

"Do any of you have any nail polish remover?" he asked sounding a little frantic.

"Why?" Jamie asked completely confused. With an embarrassed look on his face, Chris took his hands out of his pockets so they could see his pretty pink nails. The girls started giggling.

"It’s a good color on you." one of the girls said.

"No, it’s not!" Chris shirked, only making the girls laugh harder.

"Which of the guys did this to you?" another girl asked.

"None of them. It was Fantasia." he replied.

"Really?" the girls asked surprised.

"Yes! Now can you help me or not?" he asked getting a little impatient.

"I have some." said one of the other girls. Chris followed the girl onto the bus while everyone else went in to eat.

After about three weeks, Chris decided it was time to get back at Fantasia. He didn’t want to do it right away because he knew she would be expecting it. Today the guys had some interviews really early in the morning. Fantasia had been up late with Joey the night before, so she had fallen asleep in a chair. Now was Chris’s chance! He knew Fantasia was sensitive about her hair. She didn’t like anybody touching it. His plan was to tease her hair and make it big and poofy.

Chris crept up beside her and pulled a brush out of his pocket. He started to tease her hair, but after a couple strokes he got the surprise of his life. The brush got a little tangled in her hair and as he was trying to get it out all her hair came off her head! Fantasia woke up to find Chris standing there with the brush in one hand, her wig in the other and a very startled look on his face. Joey walked into the room just in time to see Fantasia scream, grab her wig out of Chris’s hand and dash into the bathroom.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing!?!" Joey yelled at Chris.

"I was just… I… I…." he stammered.

Joey groaned and said, "You stay here! And don’t even think of telling anyone about what you saw!"

Then he ran into the bathroom to check on Fantasia. Chris flopped down in the chair that Fantasia had been sitting in and tried to sort out in his mind what just happened.

"Fantasia?" Joey asked as he entered the bathroom. He found her curled up on the love seat crying. Joey sat down next to her, took her in his arms and pulled her onto his lap. "What happened out there?" he asked gently.

"Chris pulled my wig off while I was sleeping." she said between sobs, "Why would he do that? Does he hate me that much? And how’d he even know?"

Joey didn’t know what was going on, but he was sure there had to be a reasonable explanation. He thought about the look on Chris’s face and said, "I don’t know what he was doing, but I don’t think he knew."

"What does it matter? He knows now and now he hates me." Fantasia said, her face buried in his chest. Joey knew she could be rather irrational when it came to people finding out her secret. But he also knew Chris wasn’t like that.

"He doesn’t hate you." he said soothingly as he rubbed her back.

"How could he not? Didn’t you see the look on his face? He was horrified!" she cried.

Joey sighed and said, "I’ll talk to him and see what’s going on. But, you know, maybe it’s time you told them."

Fantasia’s head shot up. "Oh, so you want all of them to hate me?"

"They’re not going to hate you! Besides, if any of them say or do anything to hurt you, I’ll beat the crap out of them." he said.

This made her smile a little. "Really?"

"Yes, of course. I love you, Fantasia. And I’m not going to let anybody hurt you ever again. I promise." Joey said stroking the side of her face. Fantasia threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"I love you, Joey."

After a minute she pulled back a little. Joey rested his forehead against hers. They just sat there for a minute staring into each other’s eyes. Fantasia had never felt so completely loved as she did at that moment. She pulled Joey into a hot, fiery kiss.

When they broke apart, Fantasia rested her head on Joey’s shoulder. He held her in his strong arms and asked, "So, will you tell them?" Fantasia just sighed deeply. "Please? Just trust me on this."

Fantasia loved Joey, but trust was a different issue. It wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t anything he did. She just had trouble trusting people in general still. She wanted to trust him…. But that’s easier said than done.

Fantasia sighed again and said, "I’ll think about it."

Joey smiled at her, that was good enough for right now. "Well, I better talk to Chris and find out what he was thinking." he said.

"Do we ever know what he’s thinking?" she asked as she moved off his lap.

Joey laughed and said, "Not often."

"Just make sure you don’t tell him anything." she said. Joey smiled and assured her he wouldn’t with a kiss. "But…" Fantasia continued, "Feel free to tell him I have pictures of his pretty pink nails."

Joey grinned and said, "Ok." Before leaving to talk to Chris.