“Hello.” Lance said.

“What’s your favorite scary movie?” the mysterious voice asked. Lance, thinking it was the murderer he saw, was afraid to say anything.

“Wha…What do you want?” Lance stuttered into the phone. After a few minutes of silence he heard laughing and instantly knew who it was.

“Chris! Jesus Christ! Don’t do that!” Lance screamed into the phone. He couldn’t believe that he had fallen for this trick. Every time they got together, Chris would do his phone prank to get a rise out of Lance. Normally Lance didn’t fall to it but he was just paranoid from what happened.

“Sorry man. I didn’t think you would really fall for it.” Chris replied instantly regretting his joke. Lance normally wasn’t the one to scream so Chris knew that he had upset him a great deal if Lance yelled at him.

Lance took a deep breath and a lot more calmly now said, “It’s ok. I just watched this really scary movie lately that was kind of like this. Anyway, come down for pizza. It’s ready.”

“Ok. Be right down.” Chris said as he hung up the phone and bounded down the stairs. Lance hung the phone up and turned around only to see JC standing there.

“You okay, Lance?” JC asked having heard the whole conversation.

“Yeah, I’m fine. He got me for once. He won’t let me live this down, will he?” Lance replied.

JC shook his head. “No way. You know he won’t. Let’s take this stuff into the living room so we can watch our scary movie.” JC helped Lance carry the drinks and plates into the living room. Every settled in their spots. This was a tradition when they got together. They would put in a scary movie and see who had nightmares that night. Usually Justin was the one to get the nightmares but somehow Lance knew that he wouldn’t be the only one.

Lance had sat down next to Chris to show that there was no hard feelings and Chris patted him on the shoulder as the movie started. The movie was almost over when it got to the worst part. Well it was the worst part for Lance anyway. A ghost was stabbing someone to death. All this did was remind Lance of what happened. Now Lance was certain that he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

The movie was over and everyone headed to bed except for Lance and JC. They were cleaning up the clutter of paper plates, popcorn, pop cans, and napkins. They had been working in silence until JC spoke up.

“You know that me and you are rooming together, right?” Lance shook his head.

“Ya. Joey got a bedroom to himself and Justin and Chris are sharing a room.” JC explained.

“Sounds like a plan.” Lance replied as they threw that last bit of garbage away. They both headed upstairs.

“You going to bed?” JC asked.

“No. I think I’m going to take a shower first.” Lance said.

“At 3:30 in the morning? Aren’t you tired?” JC stated.

“Yes I am tired but I really need a shower.” Lance answered. JC nodded his head.

“Enjoy it then.”

“I will. Good night.” Lance said.

“Night.” JC replied. Lance stripped off his clothes once in the bathroom. He stepped into the hot shower. Lance could feel his body physically relax and become less tense. After an hour of being in the shower, Lance turned off the water and got out. This shower made him feel so much better. It almost made him forget about the murder. He headed back to his and JC's room. Lance saw that JC was sleeping and wanted to try and get some sleep too but he doubt that he could.

Lance was lying there for a half hour when he fell asleep. It wasn’t a very fitful sleep though because he woke up screaming from his nightmare about two hours after he had fallen asleep. His screaming woke everyone up except Joey. JC tried to shake Lance of his nightmare as Justin and Chris came running in. No body really knew what to do so they started saying his name, trying to wake him up.

“Lance. Come on, Lance. Wake up.” Chris chanted while JC lightly smacked him on the cheeks. Finally Lance’s eyes opened. Lance was pale and his face showed fright but the thing that gave away his fright the most were his eyes. They were a bright green, brighter than they normally are. Lance had come to realize that everyone minus Joey was crowding around him.

“I’m so sorry that I woke you guys. Go back to bed.” Lance apologized knowing that he must have scared them with his screaming. He had flashes of his nightmare and shuddered. The dream had seemed so real. Lance dreamt that the murderer had found him and was going to kill him but killed his friends first. That’s why he screamed. What he was afraid of most was in his dreams. That’s why he couldn’t tell the guys.

“Are you okay, Lance? You look so pale.” Justin asked.

“Ya, I’m fine. Really guys, go back to bed.” Lance answered. Justin and Chris looked like they were about to say something but stopped when JC gave them a look that told them that he would figure out what was bothering Lance and to go to bed. So Chris and Justin left for their room. JC continued to sit on the edge of Lance’s bed. Lance felt his head begin to throb and closed his eyes. He could tell that this was going to be a migraine.

“What are you still doing up JC?” Lance asked as he opened his eyes to look into JC’s blue ones.

“I wanted to make sure that you’re okay. You scared us back there with your screaming. It must have been some nightmare.” JC said. Lance sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“It was. I’m sorry I woke you guys.” Lance apologized again.

“Don’t worry about it. What was the dream about?” JC coaxed trying to get Lance to spill his guts. Lance knew what he was trying to do since they’ve been friends forever.

“JC, it’s not that big a deal. Go back to sleep.” Lance replied trying not to give into JC’s offer. He would love to talk his problems out with someone but he knew they wouldn’t understand.

“It is a big deal if it scared you so much.” JC stated. Lance sighed and massaged his temples. JC stopped trying to get an explanation out of Lance and looked at his friend worriedly.

“Headache?” JC asked. Lance nodded.

“Is it really bad?” Lance nodded again. JC left the room and came back a few minutes later with some aspirin and a glass of water. He tapped Lance on the shoulder. Lance opened his eyes and gratefully took the aspirin and water.

“Thanks, JC.” Lance said after swallowing the pills.

“No problem. You gonna try and get more sleep?” JC replied. Lance shook his head.

“It’s time to get up anyway.” Lance answered as he made a move to get up. JC pushed him back down on the bed.

“Lance, you need your rest. If your not going to go back to sleep, at least lay down and try to get rid of your headache.” JC sounded like his mom. Lance loved his mom to death but he hated when she told him what was best for him and that’s what JC was doing.

“Your not my mother, JC. Besides, I have stuff that needs to be done.” Lance stated.

“Ya but I’m a doctor and my orders are to stay in bed. Everything can be put off until tomorrow.” JC told the stubborn Lance and added, “If you don’t, I will get Joey to come in and sit on you.” Lance cracked a small smile at the joke about Joey’s weight.

“Ok, ok. You win. I will lay down for a while but I’m not staying in bed all day.”

“We’ll see about that.” JC replied smiling as he closed the door. Lance had fallen asleep almost right away despite what he told JC. He smiled as he thought about how much the others cared about him.

It was noon and all of the guys except Lance were sitting around eating lunch. Everything was pretty silent until Chris spoke up. “Did you find out what’s bothering Scoop?” JC shook his head and Joey had a confused look on his face.

“Why? What happened to him?” Joey asked confused.

“Didn’t you….oh ya that’s right. You slept through it.” Justin said.

“What did I sleep through?” Joey questioned.

“Lance woke us up from screaming. He had a nightmare.” Chris explained then turned to JC. “Why didn’t you find out what it was about?”

“He was avoiding the subject. It’s not like I wasn’t trying to pry it out because I was. But then he got a headache and I told him to lie down and get some rest. So unfortunately, I didn’t get anything out of him. All I know is that it must have been pretty bad because he’s had nightmares before but never reacted to them like that.” JC explained.

“Ya. I know what you mean. How do you think his head is?” Joey asked.

“It’s fine.” A voice said. Everyone turned and saw Lance standing in the doorway. “It’s a lot better now. Thanks JC for keeping Chris and Justin out of the room. I thought for sure I was going to get a special wake up call from them.”

“No problem. It was kind of hard to keep them out but then I promised they could wake Joey up if they left you alone.” JC explained.

“Ya. You’re lucky it wasn’t you. It was good old cold water and then getting smacked in the head with pillows. I’ll get them back good though.” Joey said.

“You wish, Joey.” Chris replied laughing about what him and Justin did to Joey earlier that morning.

“Oh don’t you worry. It will come.” Joey stated. Once conversation died down again JC said, “How much of our conversation did you hear?” JC wanted to know if Lance had been standing there the whole time unaware to them.

“I only heard what Joey said. Why? Did you talk about me the whole time?” Lance asked.

“We told Joey that you had a nightmare and that was pretty much it.” Justin said. Lance didn’t really believe them but he decided not to fight against it. Lance didn’t really feel like talking anymore so he walked out the backdoor to the porch swing and sat on it. Lance began to think about all of his options and if he should tell the guys or not. Lance was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice that Justin sat down on the swing next to him until he put a hand on his shoulder. Lance jumped five feet.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Justin apologized.

“It’s ok. What’s up man?” Lance asked sensing that Justin needed to talk about something.

“Well see I have this thing for this girl but she doesn’t even know I exist. What can I do to get her to notice me?”

“Try to do nice things for her like help carry her books or help her with her homework. You know, something to show her that you care.” Lance suggested.

“That’s a good idea. Thanks, Scoop.” Justin replied.

“Sure thing, Curly.” Lance said as Justin ran back into the house. Lance couldn’t understand why he was always the one the guys ran to for advice. He was always happy to help them but now he needed to talk to someone and he didn’t know who would be the most understanding. Lance had decided that if something happens like another nightmare or anything like that, that he would tell the guys. He knew something would happen sooner or later but the question was what and when.