I see Chris in the hallway on my way back to the performance room at the studio.

"Are they still in there?" I ask. He gives me a strange look.

"What's wrong with you, Justin? Please, give me an explanation."

I shake my head helplessly. "Chris just... don't ask. But I'm ready now. We have to get this over with. I want to do it."

"No, explain yourself. Seriously. Before it's all over the papers that our littlest member has to go to rehab!"

"I'm not on drugs, Chris, I swear." I hold up my hands. I sure wish I were on drugs though. That would probably make this whole thing easier. "I can't explain myself." Which isn't the truth. It's not that I can't explain myself, it's just that I won't. And nobody would believe me anyway.

"Everything's going to be different from now on," I say, looking him in the eyes. And this is true. Now that I know why I'm here, I'm just going to do it and then, I'll get out. I'll go back to being dead or whatever I am in my old life back at home. I am determined. This time I'm going to make it work. For real. I'm focused on being my father.

I grab Chris's arm and march back into the room. People are getting up to leave, all the big wigs and stuff. Sasha is still there, sitting in the same place. I make it a point not to look at her.

"I apologize for my behavior earlier," I say loudly as everyone looked at me. "It was totally inappropiate. See, I was just following though... I lost a bet the other day. It's no excuse. I should have just paid the 5000 dollars. An oversight on my part. I really want us to have a chance to perform for you all as planned and I will not be disruptive in any way. Anymore." I stand there and take a deep breath. I'm sure that sounds pretty mature and grown up. I'm sure my dad was mature sometimes. "Well, then, let's get to it," Johnny says authoritatively. Lance and JC and Joey haven't changed places so Chris and I rejoin the semicircle.

I look at them all in a way I hope they know means I'm sorry.

I can feel Mom's eyes on me.

Sasha's eyes. Justin's body. This is not my life. I have to keep telling myself that.

"One... two... three..." JC counts off like we have been doing this for years. And for Justin that's true. So I take a deep breath and sing where I'm supposed to. We're singing with a track actually, so that's good. I don't think Bye Bye Bye would sound so good acapella. I try to think of how my dad would do it, putting some attitude into my lyrics, some feeling. Everyone is tapping their feet, nodding their heads. It's a fun song, that's for sure.

When we're done, everyone claps. I sneak a look at Sasha. She is smiling pleasantly and clapping too. She's so beautiful. It's easy to see why Dad wanted her.

I swallow down those thoughts and look over at Johnny. He nods at me. I guess all is going to be forgiven as long as I can keep this charade up without freaking out again. I've just got to think like my dad right now. I'm not Jez. I'm Justin.

JC clears his throat. We are going to start the next song now, I Thought She Knew. Chris counts it off. I have the first verse. It's a really pretty song. I wonder if it's a true story or something. It sort of reminds me of my life. Not a romantic sort of love but I wonder what Mom thought of me before she died. Did she know how much I loved her? Five year olds are pretty selfish and childish. I wonder how often I told her.

I sort of zone out during the song and then we are holding the closing notes and then it is over. Every claps and I feel flushed. I can't believe it is so easy to sing with them. It truly must be something Dad is born to do. Something that is imprinted on his very cells. At least one part of being Justin Timberlake is coming naturally to me.

"So, here's a schedule," Johnny says, passing out thick sheets of paper. He gives one to everyone in the audience and then he gives one to me and the rest of the guys. "This is what the group is going to be doing from now until the CD release date."

"Whoa!" I cry. "Are you serious? All of this?"

"Yep," Johnny says.

I don't think we have time to eat or sleep. The first order of business is shooting a music video with MTV filming us filming a music video. What kind of sense does that make? I don't see a personal day anywhere down the line. And it starts the day after tommorrow.

I look up and catch Joey's eye. I wonder what I look like because he smirks at me.

"No more play time for Justin," He says.

"Ha ha," I roll my eyes.

"This is exciting," Lance says. "Finally."

The audience is getting up to talk to us. One of them comes up to me, takes my arm and looks me in the eyes. He says, "Stay focused." I nod because that is the plan. I talk to other people to. Someone wants to measure me for a wardrobe fitting. Apparently, I'm the only one that needs such a service. I walk back with the woman and she measures me foot to tip. I'm secretly pleased that I'm taller than my dad but we do have the same size shoe. The wardrobe woman asks me if I would like to pick out some bandana. She's making some outfits for us to wear on talk shows. I try to think of the kind of stuff my dad might pick. I would go for the plainer earth tones, but that's not Justin. No, he's all about being flashy. That's exactly what I go for. Bandanas with shiny studs in blue, green and red.

"You'll look awesome," The wardrobe lady says.

"Yeah, well, it's kind of my job." I smile at her. I feel charming.

When I walk back to my car, it's late and everyone is gone. The sun is going down and I can see the orange and golds and reds and purples on the horizon. It's pretty. It's not like that in LA. There's too much pollution, even with all the Healthy Living Laws. I never knew sun sets could be so wonderful. I stand there, on the edge of the parking lot, just staring for a while.

"It's beautiful is it?" The voice is familiar, from the core of my being. I turn around and face my mother, Sasha. "I saw you watching from the window. The sunset. I love just taking in nature sometimes, when I get a moment."

"Well, I'm mostly daydreaming," I say. "I mean, it's just a sunset."

Sasha smiles at me. She extends one of her slender hands. No rings, no nail polish, just a solid hand. I take her hand after a moment. God, it is so weird to see her. But I'm not me right now. I'm Justin.

"Sasha," She says.

"I know," I take her hand. We shake firmly, like business partners. "I'm Justin."

"I know," Sasha says. She really has a lot of hair. It's pulled back with a headband, going down and out and it's thick and curly and dark and beautiful, just mounds and mounds of hair. It's gorgeous.

"How long have you been working here?" I ask. Conversation is polite. Justin would want to make conversation. I'm sure he was a polite young man. Me, Jez, I'm just craving to hear her voice.

"I've been here since the semester started. In January. I'm a marketing major at UCF."

I don't think I ever knew my mom's college major. I close my eyes for a moment and tell my self to think Justin.

"What does marketing has to do with music?" I ask.

"Well, there's a lot of marketing invovled," She says, like I'm kind of dumb, but not in harsh way.

"Yeah, yeah, I can see that now that I think about it," I backpeddal. "That's why we had to have that showcase, right? To see how to market us."

"We've got a lot of great ideas," Sasha tells me, waving a casual hand. "This CD is going to be huge. Everyone knows it."

"Yeah, I'm singing on it, aren't I?" I say with a cocky smile.

Sasha chooses to laugh. "Yeah, can't forget that point. Plus you have an excellent team behind you. Jive is going to take really good care of you. They take good care of me and I'm only an intern. It's a really great internship. I'm so lucky, I never thought I'd get it."

"Well, I'm sure you deserve it or you wouldn't be here." I smile at her, taking in her white teeth and her bright eyes. This is getting weird. I think I've had enough. "Well, I guess I might be seeing you around then..." I'm staging my exit.

"Justin," Sasha says, a bit cautiously. "I don't know why but for some reason, you seem familiar to me."

My insides sieze. My heart skips a beat. My stomach drops. My outside stays calm.

"Oh course I do. I'm Justin Timberlake."

Sasha laughs for a moment. I like the happy wrinkles that appear by her eyes while she's laughing. "No, not just that. It's something else. I can't put my finger on it."

I hook my hands on my pockets. What can I say to this? I shrug casually. "Well, something else huh? I must be the man of your dreams. Featured in a thousand unbidden fantasies."

Sasha looks like she doesn't know what to make of me. She laughs after a moment. "Oh, I'm sure, Justin. That's what it is. Thanks for clearing it up."

"Well, maybe I don't need to be a fantasy anymore."

"Of course not," Sasha plays along. "Not when you're standing right there, poised and ready to sweep me off my feet."

"We could have met in another life," I try, keeping my eyes on her. Oh how I want someone to know.

"That's true," Sasha says. "I believe in those kinds of things. Absolutely."

There's a connection in our gaze and this isn't something I'm a part of. Keeping Justin and Sasha apart may be harder than I think, even with me controlling Justin's body.

I look away first. "I've got to get going." I busy myself by patting myself down for the keys. I can't find them. Then I look up at the place where I parked the car.

My car isn't there.

I stare for a moment. The world seems to freeze.

"Oh shit," I whisper to myself.

I have been my father for about 48 hours. And I already managed to get his car stolen.

When I threw the keys on the ground while I was freaking out, I never picked them back up. The car is gone.

"What's wrong?" Sasha asked as I quietly tried not to freak out.

"Um... I lost my car." I turned to her. "My car, it's not here. I think someone stole it."

"Oh my god. Do you need a phone? To call the police?"

That is an idea. But honestly, I couldn't give them any information. I don't know the plate number or the registration or whatever else kind of information they would need to track it down. I don't know the make and model. Hell, I hardly know the freakin' color.

So I shake my head with a sigh. "No, I'm okay. I'll report... when I get home. I can go inside and call a cab."

"No way, Justin," Sasha says firmly. "I'll give you a lift home. It may not be a luxury car, but it works. You don't need to wait or pay for another ride. Cabs are smelly anyway. I promise my car smells good."

Everything about her smells good. "I don't want to make you go out of your way. Although driving me around... I don't know, I might be doing you a huge favor."

Sasha smirks and shakes her head. "Are you always this cocky?"

I bite my lip and answer truthfully. "No, not all of the time. Most of the time, I'm just pretending."

"Well, you don't have to pretend with me. Come on."

I feel sheepish as I follow her to her black truck. I don't seem to have a choice. I wonder if this was what happened before. Did Mom offer Dad a ride home on the real first day they met? Or is this the real first time they meet? I have no idea how the space time continuim is working right now! I don't want to think about it. I get in the truck and pull my ancient seat belt over my shoulder.

"I can't believe your car got stolen out of the parking lot. That's so weird."

I don't feel like telling her about my keys being on the ground so I just shrug non-comitally. I wonder how many times my mom drove me around, kind of like this. Except I would be in the back, in a car seat. Did she talk to me just like this? Did she look behind her shoulder and give me these same wonderful smiles? Did we listen to the radio? Did we have adventures together? I can't really remember. I was just too young.

"My car is insured so I'm not too worried," I tell her, forcing the words out so I'm not thinking about my past life or future life or whatever it is.

"They let us listen to your CD," Sasha seems good at making conversation. I'm a little distracted. I slide my eyes over to her. Her blouse is pulled tight across her chest, open slightly at the neck. She has an excellent chest. I know these thoughts are wrong. I can't help it. "It's really good."

"Really? I haven't heard it." I say and immediately regret it.

"Like since the final mix?" Sasha drives easily, with just one hand and she's looking over at me in an attentive way but keeps her eyes on the road at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah," I say quickly. "The final mix. I should do that."

"Yeah, you should," Sasha is smiling to herself, probably about me. "It seems like it would be important to listen to your own CD."

"It's one my top priorities. Right after clothes and my hair." I smile brightly and Sasha giggles.

"Where do you live, by the way?" Sasha says at a red light. "That might help."

I'm glad I memorized Justin's address. It really comes in handy. I tell her where to go and thankfully she doesn't ask for directions because I haven't gotten that good at living Justin's life yet.

"Wow, that's a nice area. I know because my roommate, she lives near them. I'm not from here. I'm just going to school here. It's my last year, thank goodness."

"Where are you from?" I ask.

"I'm originally from Michigan. I like it here. It's much hotter." She grins at me when she has a second. "I've met a lot of really good people."

"Yeah? Like a lot of superstars?"

"No, not so many superstars. Are you a superstar?"

"Naturally." I smile with Justin's cocky charm.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now," Sasha says. "You have to see how this new CD goes. And the tour!" She taking a few turns. I wish we could be friends at least. But if I'm going to make this work, I really do have to stay away from her. It feels like it will be too easy to let my plan fail.

"So, I have a question for you," Sasha says after a few moments of silence while I collect my thoughts. "What was up with that dare thing?"

"It was a dare," I say, uncomfortably. Do we really have to talk about this?

"It's so weird because I thought you were talking to me. Like you were saying 'I love you' to me." One thing is clear about my mother: she doesn't beat around the bush.

"That was the point of it!" I bluff bravely.

"Yeah, but it seemed so spontaneous." She looks at me and shrugs her slender shoulders. She has a great body from what I can see. Not that I should be thinking these things. God, I've got to stop. "Sorry, I don't mean to make it weird. I have a problem of saying what I'm thinking about."

"No, it's okay," I say quickly. "What did they say about me after I left?" I ask, preparing myself for the worst.

"Not too much. It was more like... staring. And Chris tried to make a joke. And JC said he was worried about you. And Mr. Brenner, one of the execs from Jive, he asked if you were always so uncontrollable. I wouldn't call you uncontrollable. I think there's probably a different word."

"What did they say?"

"Johnny said you're really collected and mature and he was sure this was just an anomaly."

"That's the truth." I sigh, relieved that someone has faith in me.

"Is it?" Sasha looks at me with a questioning smile. "I bet you get sick of always being collected and mature."

"And you know so much about me," I say, giving her a challenging look. She looks right back at me once we're at a red light.

"Maybe I do. I don't know. It's hard to explain Justin but I've got like... a burning sense of Deja Vu. It's weird, I know it's weird. You can tell me it's weird."

I intake my breath sharply because this is a hard challenge I have. I want to be close to my mother so bad but at the same time, I know I have to keep Sasha and Justin apart.

"No, it's not weird," I say, looking at her evenly. "It's to be expected. It's natural, to have some kind of thing for me. Everyone does. But this whole... weird feeling shtick you've got going just isn't gonna cut it. You're not coming home with me. You're not going inside. Nothing is ever going to happen between us, no matter how tingly and familiar I make you feel. See, I don't like to work for my women. I don't have to. I could have girls at the drop of a hat, no conversation involved. So I don't want to waste your time. It's been fun flirting with you Sasha, but let's face the truth. Look at you. You're just not my type."

It feels horrible to say that. The words taste nasty on my lips. Sasha's face is carefully blank as she tightens her grip on the steering wheel.

"Okay, Justin," She says. That's all she says. She doesn't look at me.

"I really appreciate the ride," I say once my driveway comes into view. You can see the big brick mailbox and the trees lining the way up to the house, but you can't see the house from the road. "You can just drop me off right here."

"Will do." Sasha slows the car. It rolls to s stop. She's still not looking at me. I can't read her face at all. I push open the door and jump out. "I hope it works out with your car."

I walk to the driveway and I hear her drive down the street until she's out of site. Then I run up the driveway like I can outrun these horrible feelings, but it doesn't work. But it was necessary. God, I have to be it was necessary. This is the way things are supposed to be. She's never going to want to talk to Justin again.

That's exactly what I wanted.

I have to focus on being Justin. He wouldn't care, right? I bet he was a jerk all the time. He was often a jerk to me. He could have any girl at the drop of a dime, it's true. Maybe I'll call up some girls tonight. And I'll drink and smoke weed in my own house. Just the way it's supposed to be. Take my mind off things.

I make it to the front door and look up at my house. It seems to promise me greater things to come.

Then I realize that I don't have my keys. Therefore, I have no way to get in the house.

Is it karma? Does karma work this fast?

It would probably help if I were a smarter person. Maybe smoking all that weed killed too many brain cells. I don't know. I don't want to think about it right now.

I walk to the porch and sit down. I don't have a phone on me. I bet I could walk for miles on this road and not see a single soul. What am I supposed to do?

I lay down on my back and look up at the stars. It's fully dark now but I'm too weary and melancholy to feel scared. I wonder if I should make a wish. Could I wish myself out of this mess? Well that seems too easy.

Do I really want to keep my parents apart?

If only I didn't really know the future. Is it possible to make anything change?

What if this is my life forever?

I close my eyes. I actually want some drugs now. But I'll just settle for escaping for a little while so I keep my eyes shut tight and I try not to think of anything at all.