Chapter 10



The group sat down at their table in the diner of the hotel. The waitress saw them and walked over to take their order.
"Hi! How are you all this morning?" she asked pulling out a pen and paper.
"Good." everyone answered.
"That's good," she said, looking up. "Now let me tell you about our specials. We have-" She stopped and her mouth dropped to the floor. Nick knew that look. She had recognized them.
"What is it?" Nicole asked the waitress.
"Oh my God! You're the Backstreet Boys! I love you guys!"
"Why thank you." Brian answered "But could you keep it down please?"
"Oh, yeah! I'm sorry! Can I have your autograph?"
"Sure." The young waitress now frantically searched for something to write with when she realized she was still holding the pad of paper and pen in her hands.
"Oh! Here you go!" She handed the paper to AJ who was closest to her.
"To...Jessica..." he wrote, reading her name-tag. He finished and passed it on to Brian and it went down the line of Boys.
"There you go Jess." Howie said with a big smile handing the signed paper back to her.
"Thank you so much!" She grinned, clutching her prize.
"You're welcome. Now could we get some food?" Nick laughed playfully.
"Oh yeah! Anything you want!" everyone smiled at the happy waitress and gave their orders.
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After they had finished eating, they headed off to a short practice. The girls weren't really needed because it was just a singing rehearsal, but they tagged along anyway. The guys practiced "Spanish Eyes" and "Don't Wanna Lose You Now" just to polish up their vocals. Allyssa grinned every time she heard Nick sing, and saw him looking at her. All five girls were tapping their feet and bobbing their heads to the beats. Occasionally, they all mouthed the lyrics that they had memorized. When they thought they had done a good enough job for that day, the girls clapped and the guys bowed with cheesey smiles glued to their faces, and walked over to their applauding friends.
"That's all we needed to do. We get a break." Nick told everyone.
"Cool. What do you want to do now?" Allyssa asked him.
"I dunno. I don't usally have free time during the day..." Nick thought of something fun he hadn't done in a while. He glanced over at Brian and smiled, and Brian knew exactly what he was thinking. "Alright! Basketball time!" Brian cheered.
"Cool, let's go!" Gwen said already heading out the door. The rest followed her but Brian trailed off. "I gotta go get the ball. I'll be right back." he shouted back.
"Ok. Hurry up B!" Nick yelled back.

"Guys vs. Girls?" AJ asked when they reached a court.
"Yeah we'll kill you guys!" Gwen answered.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. We've got B-Rok on our side."
"Speak of the devil..." Nicole laughed pointing to Brian who was running over to the court spinning the ball on his finger.
"Let's play ball!"
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The five tired girls trudged back to their hotel room after 2 hours of shooting hoops.
"Man, I am so tired!" Sandy sighed.
"I know." Vikki agreed. "I can't believe we tied!"
"Yeah it was a good game." Allyssa commented. The guys had gone to Brian's house about 20 minutes before, because the girls had decided to go for drinks at a pizza place.
"What's that?" Nicole asked looking at a folded paper with a rose tied onto it with ribbon lying at their doorstep. Allyssa bent over and picked it up.
"It's for you, Gwen!" She smiled, handing it to Gwen.
"For me?" she asked. "From who?"
"I dunno. Doesn't say."
"Open it Gwen!" Sandy squealed
"Ok, when we get inside." Allyssa unlocked the door and they quickly got inside and begged Gwen to hurry up and see her treasue. Gwen smelled the rose and slowly untied the ribbon and opened the paper. A huge smile spread across her face.
"It's a poem!"

Chapter 11