Does anyone realize what goes on in any given second of the day?  People come into this world, and people leave it.  People go to work, school, wherever.  People have their dreams come into reality, and some have their dreams crushed.  While yet others wish they were elsewhere.  And in a moment, someone’s lives could be changed forever. . .

(Mid-March, 2001)

“Okay, one more take and I think we’ll have it,” a voice said.  Four pairs of tired eyes looked toward the booth.  The fifth pair of eyes sparkled happily. 

“C’mon guys.  I know we’ve been here a long time today, but he’s right,” JC Chasez said.  It was his song they were recording, and he was known to be a perfectionist.

Justin Timberlake sat on a stool, a red baseball cap pulled low, barely allowing his eyes to show.  His unruly hair was sticking out behind in all directions.  His left hand rested on his knee, tapping out a rhythm known only to him.  

He was anxious to get out of the studio.  They had been there all day, and he just wanted to go home and veg out in front of the TV for the night.  No more pressure of recording, no more pressure from the media, no more pressure from anything.  Just a night to watch TV.  He never got to do that anymore.  He knew he’d chosen his lifestyle, but sometimes, he just wanted to get away from it. 

“You still with us man?” Lance Bass asked.  Justin snapped his head up and turned to look at his friend.  Lance looked just as tired as he did. 

He sighed.  “Yup.  Let’s go.”  He adjusted the headphones over his ears as he stood up.  He looked around at his friends.  JC was staring at the paper on the stand in front of him, practically in his own little musical world.  Chris Kirkpatrick was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, as if playing a game.  Joey Fatone was standing there, trying hard to keep his eyes open.

Justin stepped up to the microphone and adjusted it slightly.  A high pitched squeal came across his headphones.  He squeezed his eyes shut from the noise reverberating in his ears. 

“Dude, you okay?” Joey asked, snapping awake.  “What happened?”

Justin shook his head, trying to clear that noise out.  “Oh, just some feedback,” he said.

“Why didn’t we hear this?” Chris asked to no one in particular.  Just then, there was another squeal through Justin’s headphones followed by a pop.  The rest of the guys all heard the pop.  He closed his eyes trying to make the sound stop.

When he opened them, he blinked rapidly for a few minutes trying to figure out what happened.  Then his eyes focused in on what was in front of him.  It was a piece of sheet music on a stand, but it wasn’t what they were recording.  He looked out at his left hand and saw a violin in.  In his right, the bow.  And for some odd reason, he was playing fast and furious.  When did I learn to play violin? he wondered.  And why am I playing it now?  Am I the one playing? 

His eyes searched the page full of black notes.  He was trying to figure out where they were.  He felt his fingers pounding the fingerboard, hitting the notes, while his other arm sawed back and forth, putting just the right pressure on the strings to make sound.  And he could hear the sound coming from the violin and it sounded good.

Obviously I’m the one playing, but how can that be?  Where am I?

            *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Alexandra Miller sat in the chair, her violin resting on her left knee, her bow on the stand.  She was in the middle of another long orchestra rehearsal.  They were giving a concert in a few weeks and needed all the practice they could get.  She sighed, staring at the piece of music in front of her.  She knew she was a good player; she could play all the notes on the page.  However, the group just wasn’t coming together to make the piece sound how it was supposed to. 

“All right people.  Let’s get out the Vivaldi,” the conductor said.  He turned to face the seats behind the stage.  A man sat out there, clutching his guitar in his hands.  “You ready?”  The man nodded. 

He laid his guitar in his case and grabbed his amplifier.  Alex and her stand partner scooted their chairs back to make room.   The man sat the amp up on stage.  He reached for the extension cord and plugged the amp in.  The conductor set a chair and extra stand nearby.  The man hopped up on the stage with his guitar and adjusted the stand and chair.

Alex looked at her music.  This piece wasn’t hard at all.  In fact, the last time the group read the piece, they hit every note.  But the last time wasn’t with the soloist.  Soloists are notoriously picky about the accompaniments.  She sighed again.  It was going to be a long night.

“Um, I don’t have any power,” the soloist said.  He flicked the switch for the amp on and off a few times to prove his point.  Suddenly there was a pop.  Alex’s eyes widened at the sound.

“Sorry!  It’s on now!” called a voice from the back, some technician.  The conductor raised his baton, and everyone’s instruments went up. 

They were in the middle of the second movement when there was a high pitch squeal from the amp.  Alex snapped out of the daze she was in from the piece and shook her head.  It was as if no one else noticed the noise.  She focused back in on the music.  Just as soon as she regained her focus, there was a pop from the amp.  Since she was seated near it, it seemed really loud.  She blinked her eyes in reaction to the noise.

Then, she was confused.  Her eyelids fluttered again.  The light seemed too bright.  She shook her head and didn’t feel her violin under her chin.  And her right hand didn’t hold her bow.  She brought her right hand up to her face.  It wasn’t her hand – she didn’t know whose hand it was, but it looked masculine.  She brought her head up to see four confused faces staring at her.  Out of instinct, she brought her left hand up to her head to push her hair back.  But when her hand reached her head, instead of feeling her long, thick, heavy hair, she felt short curls.  Oh my god, where am I?  

The orchestra held the last note for what seemed like forever.  Justin didn’t know what he was doing or how he was doing it, but he was playing a violin.  A freakin’ violin!  The conductor brought his baton down, signaling the end of the note.

“Good work tonight people!  Now we have a few more rehearsals before the concert.  We’re coming along nicely.  I hope all of you are able to get some practicing in between now and next week.  See you next week.”  People stood up and started walking off the stage.

Justin slowly brought the foreign instrument down.  He looked at the unfamiliar hands.  In his left was the violin.  In his right, the bow.  He was still in awe of the fact that he was actually playing this thing a few minutes ago.

He turned to look off the stage.  People were putting their coats on and packing things up.  He was the only one left sitting.  Carefully he stood up.  Still feeling disoriented, he walked off of the stage.  He only saw one empty case sitting on the seats in the audience.  Trying not to look out of place, he guessed it belonged to the violin he was holding.  He didn’t really know how he was supposed to put it away, so he watched the girl, trying to see what she did.

He tried to copy the girl.  He took the funny piece of padding off of the bottom and opened a little compartment in the case.  He twisted it around a few times before he could fit it in and close the lid.  Then, he laid the instrument gently in the area shaped for it.  He found two little pieces of Velcro that strapped around the neck.  He was still trying to figure out where to put the bow when a voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey Alex, are you okay?”

His head whipped around towards the voice.  He felt a long ponytail smack his neck.  There was a girl standing near him, a look of concern on her face.  She had a huge case next to her.  She already had her coat on.

“Um,” he began, clearing his throat when he heard the unfamiliar voice come out of his mouth, “I’m fine.”  He tried to hide his shock at the new sound of his voice.

“You look a little pale.  Are you about ready to go?  We can walk back to the dorm together,” the girl offered.  Justin bobbed his head up and down.

He thought he found the place for the bow, and as he started to lock it in, the girl spoke again.

“Aren’t you gonna loosen the hair a bit more?”

He looked at her quizzically, but then caught a glance of the girl down the aisle unwinding something at the end of her bow.  He mimicked the action, then locked the bow in place.  After shutting the case, he reached for the coat laying on the seat behind the case.  Zipping it up, he looked at the girl with the case, wishing he knew her name.  He wished he knew anything about where he was, and most importantly, who he was.  Because he knew he was definitely not Justin Timberlake anymore.

He followed the girl out of the auditorium.  They walked down the stairs to the doors.  It was dark outside, but he could see the lights reflecting off of snow on the ground.  This didn’t help him figure out where he was.  He obviously was not anyplace in the southern US because of the snow. 

Outside, the night chill sent shivers through his body.  It was cold outside!  He turned to look at the girl, seeing if she was cold, but she didn’t look like it.  He looked around and saw old brick buildings covered in brown vines.  A college campus?  He saw a sign with the name of the building on it, along with the name of the university – he was in Minnesota. 

“It’s not very cold out, is it?” the girl asked him.  He looked at her incredulously, snapping out of his daze.  She grinned.

“Not really.”  At least his answer was truthful.  It wasn’t very cold out.  But if this girl felt this weather was warm, he’d hate to see what they considered cold.

The two continued walking across campus in silence.  Thousands of questions were running through Justin’s head.  And all of these didn’t have any answers.  He didn’t know whom to ask.  He decided the most important thing was to find out who this girl he now was was. 

They reached a street.  He hadn’t really been looking at the buildings, but then realized he should’ve so he’d know his way around some.  All of a sudden, he looked up to see five huge buildings looming in the distance.  One was especially tall.  He saw the girl was moving left towards the area where two of these buildings were located, and he hurried to follow.

She took a key out of her pocket and unlocked the door.  She held it open until Justin reached a hand out to grab it.  They both walked in.  To his right were rows of little tiny boxes.  Each had a room number on it.  He panicked.  How in the world would he figure out which one was where this girl he was belonged?

They took a right and followed a long breezeway to another building.  Soon, they came upon two sets of elevators.  The girl looked at him and grinned again.

“Not gonna take the stairs?  You’re only three flights up, silly!  Well, c’mon.  Here’s an elevator.”  On cue, a bell dinged, and the doors to the elevator on the right opened.  Wordlessly, Justin got in.  The girl reached out and pushed the buttons for floors three and nine.  His mind boggled when he saw there were numbers for floors going up to sixteen.

“You’ve been pretty quiet, Alex.  Are you sure you’re okay?”  She studied his face curiously.  “You were pretty wound during break.”

He nodded.  “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”  She didn’t have a chance to say anymore because the elevator stopped on the third floor.  Justin got out.  There were two open doors, one on his left, and the other on his right.  He saw doors on both sides.  He felt his coat pockets, hoping to find some keys.  He put his hand in the right pocket and pulled out a set of keys.  He searched frantically looking for a room number, but there wasn’t one.  He looked at the door on his left.  The doors he saw through there had names on them.

Maybe I can just wander around, looking for a door marked Alex, he thought.  So, he walked over to the left door.  After wandering around for a while, he found a door marked ‘Alex & Kat’s Room.’  There were pictures covering the door, with a marker board hanging below a peephole.  He picked one of the keys and put it in the lock.  Slowly, he turned it, praying he had the right key and the right room.  With a click, the door unlocked.  He turned the knob and walked into the room, not knowing what to expect.

The first thing he looked for when he walked in was a mirror.  On his left, there was a little area with a lighted vanity mirror.  He looked into it.  He felt his jaw drop in shock when the realization finally hit him – he was a girl.

            *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Alex squeezed her eyes shut.  Her head hurt.  Her mind filled with unanswerable questions.  A few seconds later, she got up the courage to open her eyes again.  The four faces were still staring at her, but this time, she recognized them.

“J, you okay?” a voice asked.  Her eyes wandered over to find the face that the voice went to.  The voice belonged to none other than JC Chasez.  She then recognized the rest of the members of *NSYNC standing in front of her.  What happened? she wondered.

“Can you hear us?  Or are your ears ringing?” Joey asked. 

“Man, it’s a good thing we just finished before that noise happened!” Chris said.  His eyes focused in on Alex’s.  “Justin, can you hear anything we’re saying?”

Confusion filled her face, along with a sense of shock.  Justin?  Why would they be calling her that unless . . . She couldn’t be Justin Timberlake.  Again on instinct, she ran a hand through her hair, but it was curly.  Oh god! she thought.  I’m Justin Timberlake!

“I’m fine.  Just a little ringing,” she answered finally.  She couldn’t get over how funny Justin’s voice sounded coming out of her mouth, but then she remembered it wasn’t her mouth.

“I think it’s time to call it a night, guys.  I think they want to do an equipment check with this last problem,” Lance said.  The rest of the guys nodded in agreement.  They grabbed their coats, leaving Alex still sitting on the stool.

“J, you coming?” JC’s voice broke through Alex’s thoughts.  She looked at him.  He was waiting expectantly.  “We rode together, remember?”  She got up and followed him out of the studio.  They walked to a Jeep.  Alex waited for JC to unlock it, and then got in.  After starting the car, the radio came on loudly.  Alex’s hands flew up to her ears.

“Sorry.”  JC reached over and turned the volume down.  “Are you okay, or still a little shaken?  That was quite the noise.”  He paused, waiting for a response.  Alex didn’t know what to say.

“Yeah.  I’m still in shock a little,” she replied.  She was in shock, both from her situation, and from the noise.  “So, if I seem a little confused, that’s why.”  He seemed satisfied with that answer. 

During the ride to the house, JC talked about the album.  Alex could tell that he was so excited to be recording it again.  She knew they had just finished a massive tour last summer in support of their last CD, and she was impressed that they were already working on their next album.

Soon, the car was pulling onto a street that held massive houses.  JC turned left, pausing at the gate to enter a security code.  Alex was in awe of the house.  It was a gorgeous house.  She tried to hide her amazement, not wanted to have to explain why this impressed her.

He drove into an attached driveway and shut the engine off.  He got out of the car, and Alex got out, too.  She followed him into the house.  The first room she was an enormous kitchen.  Through there, she could see a TV room.  JC wandered into the TV room, then paused, and turned to look at Alex.

“Maybe you should go up to your room and sleep.  You seem kinda out of it.  I’ll get you up for recording tomorrow.”

Alex nodded in agreement.  “Good idea.  Good night.”  She was thankful that he said go ‘up’ to the bedroom; otherwise she wouldn’t have known where to begin to look for his room.

She climbed the stairs, and at the top saw doors on either side of the hallway.  Some were open, some were closed.  She began to walk down the hallway slowing, carefully peering into the rooms.  She came upon a room that she thought belonged to Justin.  She wandered inside.  One wall was covered in basketball memorabilia.  Another wall had family pictures on it.  The bed was made somewhat messily.  On a table in a corner near the window sat a computer with a screensaver on.  She was about to touch the mouse to turn the screensaver on, when she caught her reflection in a mirror.

She stared at the reflection the full-length mirror gave.  Sure enough, her doubts about who she was were settled – she was Justin Timberlake.

Justin took in the small room.  He couldn’t remember ever being in a room so small.  If he had been in a room so small, he would have thought it was a walk-in closet.  There were two beds lofted, one against each all, trying to provide more room.  Pictures cut out from magazines filled the room, giving a sense of the personality of the two girls who lived there.

The desk on his left had a notebook computed sitting on it.  On the back of the desk was a wall beneath the shelves above.  Amidst the magazine clippings taped up was a sheet of paper titled ‘Alex’s Schedule.’  He relaxed, knowing he had at least figured out which side of the room was Alex’s.  He noticed this girl had an *NSYNC calendar hanging on the left side of the desk, along with various pictures of him and other guys.  Obviously she knows about us, he thought, chuckling a little. 

He opened the lid to the computer and turned it on.  As it booted up, he glanced around the room again.  For being a small room, the girls had done their best with it.  A recliner was on the other girl’s side, and the TV was on a stand with a microwave on Alex’s side.  Colored Christmas lights were hung underneath each of the lofts.

A noise caught his attention.  The computer was ready.  He plugged in the Internet cord and clicked the internet icon.  A few seconds later, he was online.  MSN Messenger began to sign in.  He saw the AIM icon and clicked on it, hoping she had auto log-in on that, too.  She did.  AIM signed in.

The AIM noise sounded, and a screen popped up with a message.  He recognized the name as his own AOL account.  The message read, “What happened?”

            *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Alex guessed Justin must have a direct modem because the internet came right up.  She saw the icon for AIM and clicked it.  It signed right in.  She added her own screen name to the buddies list.  She saw it was on, and instant messaged it.

She waited anxiously for a reply.  She wasn’t sure if she could pull this off.  Sure, she knew who *NSYNC was, and she knew who Justin was.  But what she didn’t know how Justin acted normally.  She had only seen them on TV and in concert.  She was even more worried for Justin.  Obviously they’d never met, so he knew nothing about her.

A message popped up from Alex00, her screen name.  She sighed with relief.  They could at least try to figure out what the hell was going on.

Alex00: Who are you?

Dirtypop1: Alexandra Miller

Alex00: I assume you know who I am, right?

Dirtypop1: Yes, I do.  Do you know where you are?

Alex00: Obviously not in Kansas anymore, Toto

Dirtypop1: Funny.  Seriously, though.  Are you in my dorm room?

Alex00: You call this a room?  I thought it was a closet.

Dirtypop1: Aren’t we the sarcastic one, Justin!

Alex00: I try.  I have realized that I’m somewhere in Minnesota, and I’m in college.

Dirtypop1: Good for you.  You’re a college freshman.  And you have class tomorrow at 9:00 am.

Alex00: Seriously?  Good god, that’s early!  But I want to know what the hell happened.

Dirtypop1: I was in orchestra and then I heard a pop from an amp.  The next thing I know, I’m sitting in a recording studio with four strangers surrounding me.

Alex00: Well, obviously I was recording.  Then there was this loud pop in the earphones.  The next thing I knew, I was playing a violin.  Rather well, if I do have to say so for myself.

Dirtypop1: That’s weird.  You don’t know how to play violin, do you?

Alex00: Not that I’m aware of.  But I was playing it convincingly.

Dirtypop1: So what do we do now?  I don’t think I can do this.

Alex00: Do what?

Dirtypop1: How do we get back?  I can’t be you Justin.  I’m an average singer, and lord knows I can’t dance.

Alex00: And I can’t play violin.  I can’t be you, either, Alex.  But I don’t know how to get back.  I don’t even know how we got here.

Dirtypop1: Neither do I.

Alex00: Um, okay.  So, here’s what I think we have to do.  We have to know a little about each other, pretend to be each other until we figure out what to do. 

Dirtypop1: Sounds good.  Um, I’m 19.  I live in the town right across the river from where you are.  In fact, I have one class at a college there tomorrow.  It’s French.

Alex00: French?  Good god!  How do I get there?

Alex went on to explain about her class schedule tomorrow.  All of a sudden Justin seemed to freak out.

Alex00: Dude, this other chic just walked in.  Who is she?

Dirtypop1: My roommate, Kat.  Don’t worry.  She’s harmless

Alex00: Okay, do you think I need to explain anything to you right now?

Dirtypop1:No, oh wait, hold on a sec.

“Justin, are you feeling better?  I’m gonna order in a pizza.  Want some?”  JC poked his head in the door.

“Sure.  Sounds good.  Pepperoni, kay?”  He nodded and walked away.

Alex00: What are you doing?  Alex!

Dirtypop1: Don’t have a cow, man.  Ha ha.  I made a funny, too

Alex00: I don’t think that we should joke considering the situation we’re in.  I’m freaking here.  You’re in the public eye now.  More than you probably ever would have been.  Don’t ruin my career!

Dirtypop1: Don’t ruin my life, Justin!  We both have to be thinking about that.  I’m gonna do my best to be you, and you do your best to be me.  JC’s ordering a pizza, so I have to go shortly.

Alex00: All right.  I understand.  I’m scared shitless.  Think we can do this for a day?

Dirtypop1: I think so.  Get on here tomorrow night, okay?  Same time.

Alex00: I think my schedule will work for that.  We were just supposed to be recording.  So it’ll work.

Dirtypop1: All right.  If bad gets to worse, you have a cell phone, right?

Alex00: Of course.  You, too?

Dirtypop1: On the second shelf.  Just in case.  Good luck, Justin.  This is a really weird position we’re in.  Maybe it’s all a bad dream.

Alex00: Maybe.  Good night.

They got off then, more worried than before.  Alex wasn’t sure she could handle being famous now.  Justin wasn’t sure he could pull off being a student, but he figured he had it a little easier than Alex.  He could just sit in class and not participate.  He’d been in school before.  Alex, obviously, had never been a pop star before.

“I hope she can handle it,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry, what?” Kat asked.  He turned his head to face this girl standing behind him, her hands on her hips.  Alex had assured him that she was harmless, but he wasn’t too sure. 

“I was just talking to myself.  It’s been a long day.”  He rested his elbows on the edge of the desk, resting his head in his hands. 

“Don’t turn that into a habit, Alex.  We wouldn’t to have to send you to the loony bin at age 19.”  She giggled, sitting down at her desk.  She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.  Justin reached up for the ponytail that his hair was in and took the rubber band out.  Alex had really long, thick hair. 

“God, my hair’s long,” he mused.  The statement could be taken in more than one context, so Kat laughed.

“No shit Sherlock.  But it’s so pretty.  I wish my hair was that thick,” Kat replied.  Her gaze focused back in on the TV.  Letterman was on, doing his opening monologue.

Justin stared at the TV.  Could they really pull this off?

(The Next Day)

Justin woke up the next day and sat up, hitting his head on the ceiling.

“Ow,” he muttered, rubbing his head.  He panicked, not feeling his curls.  The events of the night before came flooding back into his mind.  He looked around the small room, worry setting in.  He lay back down, closing his eyes, hoping it was all a dream.

Opening his eyes again, they frantically searched the room, looking for his Michael Jordan poster on the wall.  All he saw was another girl peacefully sleeping on a lofted bed against the other wall.  He rolled over onto his stomach and looked at the clock.  It read 7:50 am.  Groaning, he rolled onto his back.

He didn’t know how today was going to work.  There was no way he could pull off being a girl, let alone Alex.  He hadn’t been in real school in a long time.  Now, instead of being in something easy like high school, he had to be in college.

He made his way carefully down off of the bed.  He couldn’t believe people would actually want to get up and down from this bed day after day.  It was a real struggle, and only became worse when a person was tired.

Walking over to their closets, he finally decided to dress warmly that day.  Then he looked at himself in the mirror again.  He hadn’t taken a close look the night before.  The reflection in the mirror shocked him.  Besides the fact that he was a girl, his hair was all mussed up.  He looked for a brush and quickly combed it.  Again, he studied the reflection. 

Alex wasn’t a drop-dead gorgeous girl, he finally decided, but she was cute.  She had longish dark blonde hair with lighter highlights.  She wasn’t a skinny girl, he noted, looking down at the rest of her.  She had an athletic build and looked strong.  In fact, she was pretty tall, too.  He studied her face in the mirror, her hazel eyes piercing back at him. 

He broke his gaze in the mirror and went over to the desk.  It was quite unnerving to look into a mirror and not see yourself.  It was as if Alex was looking right back at him then through the mirror.  He scoffed at that thought.  Sitting down on the chair, he looked around for the book for her class.  Sure enough on the shelf, he found a book titled “A Look at the Stars.”  Alex’s first class was astronomy.  Another reason for him to be nervous.  What kind of person took astronomy?

After finding some random pop-tarts lying around to eat for breakfast, he began to pour over the textbook.  He didn’t realize he was so engrossed into it until a loud beeping noise startled him.  His eyes frantically searched the room to find what was making that noise.  There was a rustling in the other bed as Kat woke up.  She hit something, causing the noise to stop.

“Morning Alex,” she mumbled.  She glanced at the clock.  “Wow!  It’s twenty to nine.  You got class at nine today, right?”

Justin glanced at the nearby clock.  He didn’t realize that it was that late already.  He got up, shoving the books in the nearby backpack, and grabbed the coat on the back of the chair.  Slipping the items on, he hurried to the door.

“Alex, your key.”  Kat was sitting up, looking at Justin quizzically.  Justin stopped, and walked back to grab the keys lying on the desk.

“Thanks.”  He hurried out the door.  Walking to the elevators, he found the doors for the stairs nearby.  He hustled down them, realizing he didn’t really know where to go.  He had reached the lobby, and saw the breezeway he had walked through the night before.

Soon, he was actually on the part of campus where the classrooms were.  There were quite a few students going to class.  He started to get paranoid.  He held his head down low as he walked.  He hadn’t walked outside by himself without security in a long time.  Then he remembered that he was Alex.  He didn’t have to worry about being mobbed.

He found the lecture hall and took a seat in the back.  Pulling the little table part up, he took out Alex’s folder for the class.  Considering the whole situation, he was actually excited for this.  He had always wanted to go to college.  And now was a good a chance as any to try it out.

At nine o’clock exactly, the professor walked down the aisle to the front of the classroom.  She pushed a button on the wall and a screen came down.  Then, a computer projector hanging on the ceiling turned on.  The screen was tinted blue. 

This is getting interesting! Justin thought.  He was looking forward to the lecture, that is, until the lights turned off.  The screen suddenly was filled with some notes, and he hurriedly copied them down on the sheet of paper in Alex’s folder.  Surprisingly, his handwriting matched hers.  He didn’t understand how that happened.

Twenty minutes later, Justin was barely staying awake.  The screen hadn’t changed in ten minutes.  The professor was going off on a random tangent, not requiring any notes.  He stifled a yawn, doodling on the corner of the sheet of paper.  He hoped this wasn’t how all the classes were.  He thought college classes were supposed to be interesting, and relating to the person’s major in some way.  Then he remembered he didn’t even know Alex’s major.

The class didn’t end soon enough in Justin’s opinion.  He left the class quickly, hurrying back to the dorm.  He wasn’t as worried about finding the dorm, as it was the tallest building on campus.  Going into the room, he exchanged the astronomy books for the ones next to the French folder.  After that, he went to find Alex’s car.  She had explained to him what kind and where it was last night during their conversation.

He was glad he remembered where Alex had said the school was.  Both towns were pretty big.  The town where the other college was located was just across the river.  His eyes focused in on the road, watching the signs.  He didn’t even notice Alex had left the radio in the car on until a song came on.  He hummed silently with the pop station until he got to the other college.

He turned onto a street where Alex said there would be parking available.  She didn’t have a parking pass for this school.  Then he started walking towards the building.  This building didn’t look quite as old as the ones on the other campus.  He got inside and glanced at a clock.  He still had a few minutes to spare, so he decided to look at the book.  I don’t know what any of it says, he thought miserably.

“Hey Alex!  You ready for class today?”  A girl with dark, shoulder-length hair stood facing him, her hands on her hips.  “Thank god we took our test on Wednesday.  My brain is gone for the week.  Literally, TGIF!”

Justin searched his brain for a name to match the face.  Alex had said something about a good friend of hers in this French class.  Miranda . . . Manda . . .Maddy . . .Mandy!  That was it.  He looked at the friendly face.  “My mind is gone, too.”  He laughed at how true that was.  He stood up and followed to the small classroom.

“Seriously, I can’t wait for Spring Break!  I need this mental rest!”  She laughed, pulling out her books. 

“Bonjour,” the professor said as she walked into class.  Justin tensed up.  If they spoke French throughout the entire class, he was screwed.

“Why are you so nervous?  We already took the test,” whispered Mandy.

He shrugged.  The professor began to write the assignment on the board, all in French.  But for some odd reason, he understood what was being written.  The professor turned to face the class and began to explain the assignment, completely in French.  Justin wasn’t lost, though.  He was completely baffled by this.  His handwriting matched hers.  He understood French.  The only thing he wasn’t sure of was whether he could speak it.

Later in the class, they were going through an exercise on subjunctive mood.  Instead of being completely lost, he understood it all.  There was only one thing he didn’t want to find out if he knew how to do – to speak the language.

“Alexandra, numero onze, s’il-vous plaît?” the professor asked him.  His eyes widened in nervousness.

“C’est le meilleur dictionnaire que je connaisse,” he said in perfect French, to the amazement of himself.  The professor smiled, signaling that he was correct.

How the hell can I speak French?  And some weird tense that I don’t even know in English!  This is weirding me out! he thought.

Soon the class came to an end.  He walked to the main doors with Mandy busily chatting away about one of her other classes.  He was feeling totally confused, yet happy at the same time.  He was able to fool her friends, classmates, and even her teacher into thinking he was Alex.  He was pretty impressed with his acting abilities.

He got back into Alex’s car and drove back to her dorm.  Discovering that Kat was at lunch, he turned her computer on.  He was still amazed at the whole French episode, but froze in his place when he noticed something on her schedule that he hadn’t noticed last night – work: 3-close.

Jumping out of his chair, he searched the shelves for the cell phone she had mentioned.  After he found it, he thought about the schedule he was supposed to be having today, while adjusting for the time difference.  He should be able to get a hold of her.

“Please have the phone with Alex.”

            *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

She groaned as she stretched in the bed.  But something about the bed felt unfamiliar.  It was too big.  Where was she?  She slowly opened her eyes and looked around.  She didn’t remember going to sleep here.

“Justin!  Get up!  We have to go in a half hour!”  A fist was pounding on the door as the voice yelled this.

Justin?  Was she still him?  She glanced at the clock, noticing it was already 9:30.  She sprang out of bed and walked over to the bathroom.  Glancing in the mirror, she still couldn’t believe she was Justin.

After showering, she felt more awake.  She looked in the mirror again.  Staring back at her was the unsmiling face of Justin Timberlake.  She took in everything about this image, especially that of the dripping wet curls.  It was odd to be in a situation like this.  She was sure not too many people saw Justin up-close like this.

She got dressed and then tried to decide what to do with his hair.  It was still a little damp, and the thought to cover it with a bandana was tempting, but she decided against it. 

Walking down the stairs, she went into the kitchen.  JC was sitting at the table, reading the paper and eating toast.  He raised his eyes to meet Alex’s when she walked in.

“No bandana today?  This ought to be interesting,” he said between mouthfuls. 

“Ha ha,” Alex replied.  She walked over to the fridge to find something quick to eat.  “What exactly do we have going on today?”  She pulled out a container of orange juice, and began to look for a glass.

“Well, we have a photo shoot this morning for the new album.  Then this afternoon, we are recording some more.  Wanna grab a muffin so we can go?  We’re already a little behind, and we still have to pick up Lance,” JC said, stuffing the last bite of toast into his mouth.  He stood up, closing the paper.  He put on a jacket and walked out to the garage.  Alex hurried after him.

They both go into the car, and JC drove to Lance’s.  The ride over was pretty much in silence, except for the radio.  Every now and then, Alex would hear JC humming along with.  He has such a great voice, she thought.  Suddenly, on impulse, she started humming, too.

“Ears not ringing anymore J?” he asked.  Alex turned to look at him.  “You seemed a little out of it last night.”

“Nope.  I can hear just fine.”  She stopped humming.  She was still unsure of what to say around any of these guys, especially JC.  She figured if she was quiet, then they wouldn’t talk.  She was just so used to humming or singing along with songs on the radio.  She did it all the time when she drove or was at work.

JC’s car stopped in front of another big house.  He honked the horn a couple of times.  Lance walked out and got in the car.

“Morning guys.  Justin, you feeling okay today?” his deep voice asked.  Alex nodded silently.  She sat back and listened to Lance and JC discuss the album.  They talked with such passion about the songs.  Alex wished she knew what those songs sounded like.  But she knew she would after today.

They soon arrived at the location for the photo shoot.  She followed the guys to a room filled with people setting up cameras.  Lance motioned for her to follow him to the stylists’ area.  One of them called Justin’s name.  Looking around, she saw the lady who was calling Justin’s name.  She walked over and sat down on the chair.

“Nice of you to leave the bandana off today.  Less work for me, less pain for you.”  She began applying products to her hair, trying to get the curls to look nice.  A little while later, she was done.  Joey was yelling at Alex.