Chapter 2.

            He hadn’t expected them to find him; in fact he thought they’d forgotten about him. But waking up the next morning, with his head feeling as if ten thousand bricks had fallen onto it, and seeing their faces made him smile, even if it was only brief.

            “Jayce?” he sat up slowly, wondering if he’d heard the right voice and glanced around him.

            “J? What happened? What are you guys doing here?” he asked in a harsh voice.

            “We tracked you down,” another voice, which he was sure, was Chris, said. “Jayce you need help.”

            He shook his head furiously and tried to get up. “I don’t need anything,” he hissed angrily, “I’m…”

            “No you’re not.” Now he was sure of the voice and turned to face it.

            “Yes I am,” he persisted glaring at his friend, “What do you care anyways J?”

            “I’ve always cared,” Justin replied, “We’re brothers’ man, that’s what brothers do for each other.”

            “Yeah when one is in trouble…” Joey put in and he snapped.

            “I’m not in trouble!” he snapped glaring at each one of them. “What do I have to do to get that through your heads?”

            “Accept our help,” Lance said simply, “If you think you don’t have a problem prove it to us by getting help and making us waste our money.” He grunted and rolled his eyes.

            “Fine,” he muttered giving in, knowing that was the only way to get them to shut up and accepting the fact that he did not have a problem. “I’ll go to get your bloody help.”

            He walked into the white reception area, the rest of his family and friends right behind him, and as he did so he felt stuffy and agitated.

            “Come on Josh,” his father hissed in his ear, softly nudging him forward.

            “I’m going,” he snapped back as he fell forward and caught himself. He still thought this was a ridiculous idea.

            “Mr Chasez,” the lady behind the counter greeted with a big, fake smile. He scowled at her, in the process for a nudge in the ribs from his father. “Welcome.”

            “Whatever,” he replied with a roll of his eyes.

            “Hi, we’re here to check Josh in?” his father interrupted giving him a foul look.

            “Okay then,” the lady replied with another smile. “What are you in for?”

            “Nothing,” he grumbled but his father corrected him.

            “Josh has a little problem…” his father began but he cut him off.

            “I don’t have a problem!” he snapped angrily, “I’m just here to prove to everyone that I don’t have a problem!”

            “Um, right then,” the lady said unsurely as she typed up something into her computer. “Hope you have a speedy recovery!”

            “Thank you,” his father replied, “We hope so too.”

            “I’m already fine,” he muttered, but before he could say any more he was dragged away.

            “Josh!” his father snapped at him, “Can’t you be a bit polite?”

            “Why?” he asked with a grunt, “Like they care.”

            “They do Josh,” his father replied, “That’s why you’re here because people care enough to want to help you.”

            “No they don’t,” he hissed in reply, “They’re just pretending.”

            The room was stuffy and there was hardly much light, he could feel himself wanting a drink. He sighed and flopped down onto the bed, there was no one here who cared about him, his family and friends had left him here, to face the unknown alone.

            He rubbed his eyes and thought about lying down and getting some sleep, but that was not possible.

            “You must be the new guy right?” he looked up and saw a lanky looking guy standing in front of him with a smirk plastered on to his face.

            “Yeah so?” he asked not wanting to get into a conversation right now.

            “I’m Jake, what you in here for?” the man, Jake asked walking over and plonking himself onto the bed next to him.

            “Nothing,” he grunted and tried to ignore Jake hoping he’d go away.

            “That’s what I used to say,” Jake replied, “You got a name?”

            “It’s none of your business,” he snapped and Jake held his hands up in defence.

            “Whoa, calm down man. I was just trying to be friendly,” Jake replied and he rolled his eyes.

            “Yeah well you’re wasting your time,” he spat back, “I don’t need any more friends.” Jake sighed and got up, walking to the door. Before he left he turned and faced him.

            “You know, everyone here knows who you are,” Jake stated.

            “Then why did you ask?” he asked in anger and Jake shrugged.

            “Just thought I’d tell you, you’re not Justin Timberlake so if you think you’re going to get special treatment here then you came to the wrong place,” Jake replied and then he was gone.

            He could feel his blood boil, he had only been here five minutes and people were already comparing him to Justin, again.

            “So Josh…” the lady with umber white hair, named Dr Halley began.

            “It’s JC,” he corrected angrily, glancing around the smartly up kept room.

            “Okay JC,” the doctor answered looking at him with stern eyes, “Why are you in here?” He looked at the doctor and shrugged.

            “I don’t have a problem,” he answered bluntly and went back to looking at the décor in the room. The doctor sighed and removed her glasses to clean them.

            “JC, nobody is in here for nothing,” she said with a sigh and he glared at her.

            “Yeah? Well I am okay?” he snapped and crossed his arms over his chest.

            “Okay,” the doctor said with a sigh, “Why don’t we start with your name? What does JC stand for?”

            “What do you think?” he asked angrily, “It’s my initials.” He rolled his eyes; this doctor was not all that smart as they said she was.

            “JC, I’m only trying to help,” the doctor said almost at the edge of her thread.

            “I don’t need any help. I’m FINE,” he said stressing the last word.

            “Do you really believe that?” the doctor asked and he gave her a firm nod. “You do know the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem?”

            “Of course I do,” he shot back, “But I don’t have problem that I need to be recovering from.”

            “Fine then,” the doctor said closing her file with an angry snap. “I can’t help you then.”

            “Good, then can I go?” he asked with a snort.

            “Yes you can,” the doctor replied, “But you can’t leave here until you are fully recovered, and well you haven’t even begun your recovery.”

            “Well then I guess I’ll be here for a long ass time then won’t I?” he snapped and the doctor nodded.

            “I guess so,” she replied.

            “That’s fine with me,” he said with a growl, “It’s not like I have anywhere else to be anyways.”

            He glared at the article, wondering if it could be right. Okay, so the reviews were great but what about the sales? Isn’t that what every thing meant?

            The entire world was comparing his record to Justin’s and it frustrated him to no end. He crumpled up the article and tossed it into the nearest bin.

            “Arghh!” he called angrily to the empty room, “Why can’t they accept the fact that I’m not Justin?”

            He got up and walked towards the fridge, he wanted a drink, something that was stronger than beer. Something he could drown his sorrows in, make him forget about the record.

            He found a bottle of vodka and plonked himself back into the couch and took a swig. He growled to himself as he thought about his pathetic manager who was not doing anything. He had left Johnny as a manager because of his reluctance to help him with the album, and instead had gone to some one who was supposed to be the next best thing. But he was shit; he did nothing but took his money.

            “Another Lou,” he muttered to himself and took another large swig of his vodka. “I guess they’re all like that. Bloody crooks.” This time he grabbed the bottle and downed half of it, as he did so he began to feel a bit of a buzz.

            “That’s more like it,” he said with a smirk and flicked on the TV and groaned. Another show about Justin. “What’s so great about him anyways?” His eyes watched the screen as Justin’s face smiled back at him. He grunted, and his eyes rolled back in his head.

            He took another swig, and smiled to himself as the cool, icy liquid fell down his throat, this is what he needed.

            “This will help me block out you,” he said to the TV as Justin spoke about his days in Nsync. Before he knew it he was back in that place again, the place where he was untouchable and he could forget about everything he ever knew.

            He woke up and looked around him, great; he was still in that place. He groaned and tried to go back to sleep. But it was useless, he was awake. So he slowly sat up and looked over his shoulder to the empty bed in the room.

            He smiled, because he was glad it was only him in the room. He didn’t need to be pestered with more people asking him rude questions about his life and Justin.

            “Look who’s up.” He turned his head sharply to the door and saw another bulky man standing by the door, a man that reminded him of Lonnie.

            “Who the fuck are you?” he asked with anger and the man chuckled.

            “I’m Davie,” the man replied with a smile, “I’ll be your guard while you’re here.”

            “My guard?” he asked with a roll of his eyes, “I don’t need no bloody guard.”

            “Hey man, I’m just here to make sure you do as you’re told and don’t have any thing you’re not allowed to have okay?” Davie said his smile fading as fast as it had appeared.

            “God, you sound like Lonnie,” he said climbing out of the bed as he did so Davie walked over to help him. “Back off, I don’t need help!”

            “Who’s Lonnie?” Davie asked ignoring his last comment.

            “My bodyguard. What else?” he asked with a grunt.

            “You had a body guard? What for?” Davie asked grabbing his arm and leading him to the bathroom.

            “Don’t you know who I am?” he spat and Davie shook his head.

            “Nope, all I know is that you’re here for help and we’re here to give it to you,” Davie replied shoving him into the bathroom. “You have five minutes, then breakfast.”

            “Ohhh fun!” he replied sarcastically and looked at Davie. “What?”

            “Come on, let’s go,” Davie said leaning on the door and waiting for him.

            “Well if you leave then…” he said gesturing for Davie to leave.

            “Nope sorry can’t do that,” Davie said, “Need to keep an eye on you at all times.”

            “Fine,” he replied rolling his eyes and turning around. “At least Lonnie wasn’t this bad.”

            Davie laughed, “I’m not Lonnie.”

            “Thank god.”

            He could feel the stares on his back the moment he walked into the dining area, everyone knew who he was. But he ignored that, he had become an expert in doing that.

            He grunted and stalked past the millions of tables to get to the cafeteria counter, with Davie hot on his heels.

            “Okay slow down buddy,” Davie hissed in his ear pulling him to a gentle stop. He turned and glared at Davie.

            “I’m not your buddy!’ he snapped and turned around to continue on his path.

            The food looked as foul as the food they received on the tour bus. And he knew, just by looking at the over-watery eggs and soggy toast that he wouldn’t even touch a drop.

            “I can’t eat this,” he muttered to himself, but Davie caught it.

            “Yeah well this is it until lunch, so if you want to starve till then be my guest,” Davie put-in.

            He frowned as he thought of what lunch could be like, probably the same standard. So he looked around for coffee.

            “Don’t they have coffee in here?” he asked angrily glaring around.

            “Nope, only juice,” Davie replied with a smile. He looked around and spotted the juice. It looked like bat piss.

            “That’s disgusting,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m not hungry anyways.”

            “Okay then your loss,” Davie said and pulled him away from the line. Won’t be much of a loss, he thought to himself as they walked out the room.

            “Nice first night?” he looked up and groaned. It was that annoying one called Jake again.

            “What do you want?” he snapped angrily, and Jake shook his head.

            “Again, trying to make conversation,” Jake replied and he grunted.

            “Well I don’t want to make anything,” he retorted, “All I want to make is a quick getaway from here.”

            “Well like they say, the only way to do that is to begin by admitting you got a problem,” Jake replied leaning back on the couch.

            “I don’t have a problem,” he replied with a grunt.

            “Well then why are you here?” Jake asked and he glared at the man.

            “I’m here because they put me here,” he snapped angrily.

            “Who’s they?” Jake inquired.

            “My family, who else?’ he shot back with a roll of his eyes.

            “They wouldn’t stick you in here if you didn’t have a problem,” Jake added and he rolled his eyes, this boy was getting on his nerves. “Besides there’s only one way out of here.”

            “And what’s that?” he asked sarcastically.

            “Admit you have a problem,” Jake said getting up, “Even if you don’t.”