Isaac strolled up, grinning. "Boy, that was fun."
"What?" I asked, bored. I stabbed an olive until it was a horrific mess.
He made a face. "Dancing."
I smiled slightly. "Cool."
Taylor munched on a carrot. "Who'd ya dance with?" he asked, a piece of carrot falling onto his chin.
I grinned widely.
Isaac raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Karet Lee Chin." he said, laughing.
I laughed, and Taylor looked confused.
"What?" he asked confused.
I only laughed harder.
Isaac brushed his chin, and Taylor did so. He saw the carrot and reddened.
"You could have told me." he mumbled.
I grinned, and looked up to see someone standing nearby.
"Ahem." he cleared his throat.
"Heya." I greeted him.
"Care for a dance?" Nick asked.
I glanced at Taylor. His eyes were dark blue as he watched me.
I smiled apoligetically, and got up. "Won't be long."
I followed Nick onto the dance floor and we started out.
"So, you're the Kristen everyone's raving about." Nick Carter began.
"No. I'm her cute twin." I smiled.
He laughed. "You can sing."
"Thanks."
"By the way, I'm Nick Carter." he joked.
I chuckled. "I gathered. I'm She Who Sings."
"So you're Aussie, eh?"
"Yup."
Silence.
"You know Natalie Imbruglia?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
I groaned, making gagging noises.
"That bad?"
"I don't know her that well, but we met, and she was such a bi-... bler." I rolled my eyes. "I can't stand her."
Nick nodded. "I see."
"You're tall." I commented.
He laughed. "Yeah. You're short."
I put on a hurt expression. "This is the last time I'll dance with you, Nick Carter."
"Sorry." he grinned boyishly.
"My sisters always thought you were cute. I see that they're right." I said, ignoring the icy glare following us.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I'm a fan of yours. Cool stuff." I was tempted to flick him off, but I didn't.
He smiled. "That's cool. Tell me when you release your album, and I'll get it. You're good."
"Hey, thanks. You can hear our songs before any of Hanson's concerts."
Nick glanced at our table. "Taylor seems grouchy." he finally said.
I nodded. "Something up his butt."
The music ended.
I dropped my arms, and stood awkwardly.
"Want to meet the others?" Nick asked.
I faced away from the table. "Sure. That'd be great." I said genuinely.
Nick took my arm and led me to a table with the other, ohmigosh! Backstreet Boys lounging around.
"Hey Nicky." A.J. said lazily.
"Who's this?" Kevin, in his low voice, asked with a suggestive grin.
Nick raised his arms in defense. "A friend, Kev, a friend."
"Hi." I said. "I'm Kristen." I introduced myself as the leaned forward to shake my hand.
"Heya Kris."
"How are ya, Kris?"
"Yo."
"Hey."
"Hi again." I said. Nick sat down, and pulled a chair over for me to sit down.
I shook my head. "I've got to be getting back..."
They protested.
Nick grabbed my hand. "Stay."
I hestitated. It was either to stay here and chat, or go back and have a spat with Tay. Hard, huh?
"I'll stay." I sat down.
The guys cheered.
"So where you from? England?" A.J. asked.
Nick laughed. "Australia, A.J."
I nodded.
"How old are you?" Kevin asked, picking at his teeth with a toothpick.
I turned red. I was fully aware of our age gaps. "15."
Kevin raised his eyebrows and gave Nick a pointed glance, saying that 'she's a bit young, don't you think?'.
"That's cool." Howie D. piped up, crunching his napkin. "So what music you into?" he asked.
"Anything. From R&B to opera."
"Opera?" he asked incredulously.
I laughed. "Yeah. I don't exactly like it, but it keeps my voice strong."
Howie put on a falsetto and sang a few off key notes.
I sang mine, reaching a high pitch. They stared.
"I see why you do it." Kevin nodded.
"Yeah." Brian finally said quietly.
I smiled at him. "How you doing?"
He looked a bit taken aback. "Good."
"The operation..." I hinted.
"Oh that. Hard stuff, but I'll make it."
I nodded. "Cool. Don't rough it. I get a cold, and I'm strapped into bed with people awaiting my every need. If you had my company, you'd be indoors for a few years, sales or no."
He laughed gently. "Yeah."
"You know what'd be cool?" Nick asked.
"What?" I chorused with the others.
"For us and Kris to do a song together."
The others nodded.
"Sounds cool." Kevin agreed. "She'd fit in good."
I nodded, but then slowly shook my head. "I can't do it without the others."
Howie stopped fiddling with his napkin. "What?"
"I'm in a band."
"You can go solo, you know." Nick suggested.
"I know, but it's being... I dunno, selfish."
The others shook their heads, disappointed.
"Well, the offer always stands, Kris." Brian told me, and the others agreed.
"That's cool. I'll remember that." I looked at the people dancing. I glanced back as Christina Ricci asked Brian to dance with her.
He refused and she huffed away.
"I've got to go." I stood and the others waved goodbye as Brian complained about his condition.
"See ya, Nick. Nice meeting the rest of you."
I walked away, and nearly ran into Miss Ricci. She started to shove by, but I stopped her.
"What the he-... what is wrong with you?" I asked, grabbing her arm.
She stared at me like I was a bug. "Nothing. Now let me by."
I still stopped her. "He won't dance with you because he's had an operation on his heart." I rolled my eyes at her stupidity.
She grew angry. "Who the hell are you?!"
I grew angry. "Weak piss compared to you, huh?!"
She tore her arm from my grasp and glared at me. "What did you say, you chit!?!"
"Can't you hear me?" I raised my voice.
She stood back and spat venom. "Piss off!"
"Hell no!" This was turning into a catfight. The music stopped as I, the rookie, took on a pro. She might have been a long time famous star, but I've been a long time famous bitch-fighter.
The dancers cleared away from us.
"What right do you have to tell me what to do?" she yelled.
"Since when did I tell you what to do, you stupid cow! I only told you that he couldn't dance with you because he was in a poor condition!"
Christina reared back and slapped me. She smiled unpleasently as I held my stinging face.
I turned away and spun around, hitting her full in the face. She took the force and stood there.
"You hit me, you bitch!" she cried.
"'Do you know who I am?'" I mimicked her next line and she grew even angrier. "I know exactly who you are. You're a piss poor actress who can't act her way through an open door."
"Who the hell are you and why the fuck are you here?!" she screamed.
The crowd stood, watching, slightly amused.
"I am Kristen Harmont." I said proudly.
A look of recognition spread over her face, but she turned to the crowd and yelled, in true star style "Do you know who the hell she is?!"
Some people nodded, making her even more angry. She spun, stared at me, and marched up to me.
I didn't back down, and she reached up like a flash and tore the straps off my dress. Not only that, but I had bleeding scratch marks down my shoulders.
That's it. I was done being Miss Nice Bitch. The dress was $445 for God's sake. I grabbed her short black hair and yanked it back so hard that she fell over. I held half her body off the floor as I tore the ugly purple lace off her dress.
She screamed and struggled to get up, but I held her down. I got to my knees and tore her expensive hair style out.
Hands grabbed me, and pulled us apart. She scrambled up, and stood, breathing heavily.
"Did you see that? That bitch attacked me!" she shrilled hysterically.
"You ignorant lemon!" I yelled. "You got me first!" I was pulled away and led to my table.
There was silence as people watched us.
My shoulders began to burn, and I winced as I looked down. 8 blood red tracks went across from one shoulder to the other. Drops of blood rolled down and into the black fabric of my dress.
"God dammit." I cursed, and pulled my dress up. It slid back down again. "That cow tore my dress."
Someone pressed napkins to my shoulders and I jumped.
"Keep still." Jessica murmured. "You've also got scratches on your face and arms."
Isaac hovered. "And she tore your dress."
I glanced down at my dress. It had a new split.
Jessie tended to my arms, and my body became one big ache.
"I always hated her movies, anyways." Zac said offhandedly.
I smiled. "I'm ready for round 2."
Jessica held me down. "No you don't. You stay here."
Walker Hanson ran up. "What in heavens name happened!?"
Isaac gave him a funny look. "Where have you been, Dad? Kris got into a fight."
Walker looked around. "I was arranging a donation upstairs. Who did she fight with?"
"Christina Ricci." Jamie told him helpfully.
"Christina Ricci did that?" Walker asked, stunned.
"Yeah." Zac said. He grinned widely. "You should have seen her, though."
Isaac bent over and peered into my face. "You're going to have a fat lip."
I pushed them all away. "This is nothing." I motioned to my face, shoulders and arms. I grabbed my dress and stared at it. "But this! This..." I said, angry tears welling up.
Jessica laughed. "Kris, you are the strangest girl I've known. You don't care about the possible scars you're going to get or your red face and fat lip, but about a piece of cloth."
I smiled weakly.
Taylor jogged up, and shoved his way through the crowd watching us.
I felt like the Queen. The Queen who had been caught in the back halls of the palace and mugged, but the Queen nonetheless.
"Oh, man, Kris! You're my hero!" he hooted.
I knit my brows.
"She is messed up, man! You trashed her dress and pulled out half her hair. Her face is all swollen and red. She's going to have a black eye! You also scratched her arms up!" he grinned widely.
"Really?" asked Jamie. "Way to go Kris!"
Walker stood, holding his head. "This is bad... REAL bad..."
I stood unsteadily, napkins falling from my wounds. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hanson. I shouldn't have done it, but she was so snotty..."
He sliced his hands through the air. "I don't want to hear it, Kristen."
I stood, ashamed.
"Fighting is wrong." he went on and the grins fell from the others' faces.
"She starte-" I began.
"Kristen!" he boomed.
I stood, my eyes flooding. It was unfair. She made the first move.
Zac said slowly "Christina did start it, Dad. She tore Kris' dress-"
"ZACHARY HANSON! I don't want to hear it." Walker yelled, face red. He turned his anger to me. "I am your guardian whilst you are on the tour with us, and I am expected to treat you like my own sons. If Isaac, Taylor or Zachary had done this, they would be punished severely."
I hung my head. Walker Hanson was a good friend of the family, and of mine, as well. I would have never done anything to make him this angry intentionally.
"Tell me my punishment." I said, teeth gritted and tears falling down my sore face.
"You are banned from any extracurricular activities on this tour. You are confined to your room for 2 weeks, concerts, interviews or no. No visitors."
I sighed miserably. That just about made me prisoner for the whole tour.
"And..." he added ominously.
I looked up, biting my bleeding lip.
"You are not to do any television appearances until your face and shoulders are fully healed." and he walked away with angry strides.
I slumped down onto my chair. We had 5 concerts within the the 2 weeks I was grounded. We also had scads of TV appearances to do. I won't fully heal for months, and the tour was less than that.
I sniffed. The tears crept out, and I brushed them away, ignoring everyone around me.
"Kris?" Jamie asked, deeply concerned.
Kris had, after all, taken care of Jamie when she was ill. What could she do now? Jamie touched Kris, but she moved away.
Jessica took Jamie's hand and led her away.
"Kris needs to be alone."
Isaac patted my back and left. Zac did the same, telling me that he'll smuggle green jello to me in my days of confinement.
Taylor fidgeted beside me.
"Kris?"
I sniffed, ignoring my hurts.
"I'll talk to him when he calms down. He's just worried that you could have been hurt."
I said nothing.
Taylor stood there awkwardly. "Tell me what to do, Kris. I'm new at this." he finally pleaded.
"Just go." I mumbled.
He stood a moment longer and then left.
"Kristen." someone said.
"Just go!" I cried, wiping my face.
"I won't go until I thank you." Brian said, and sat himself down carefully. "And yell at you."
I sniffed again.
"I didn't know the fight was about me or I would have stopped it. You shouldn't have done it. At least she would have been pissed off at just me, and not both of us. Pardon my French."
I shook my head. "Swear all you want." I said blandly. "Right now, I've gone through every swear word and it's Spanish equivalent."
He chuckled. "I'm sorry this had to happen. I'll go and explain this to her. If there's anything I can do for you..."
I shrugged and cried out as my torn shoulders moved. "Oh, God."
He grew concerned. "That painful?" he asked, wiping a tear away.
"No. It's because I've been banned from the tour."
"Oh, man." he shook his head.
"Yeah. Oh well." I fiddled with a piece of hair, resigned.
"Who banned you?" he asked.
"Mr. Hanson." I sighed.
"I'll talk to him." Brian told me as he got up.
"No, Brian, don't."
He shook his head firmly. "I will. It's not fair for you to be punished when she's not." He walked away with slow measured steps.
Suddenly, my body shook. I hiccuped. I laughed at the irony, and stopped as my face ached.
I stood and went in search of the others. The crowd around my table parted and I saw another across the large room. I walked over and people stared as I moved forward.
Christina was seated on a chair, moaning about her sores. Her face was puffy and red, and her left eye was forced shut.
The people tending her saw me and grabbed me, hauling me away.
"Let go. I'm done." I told them, and seeing as I wasn't in fighting mood anymore, let me go. They kept a close eye on me though.
She turned one eye on me and screamed angrily. "Get her away!"
I looked straight at her and said loudly "I'm sorry you had to start it." I walked out of the crowd and picked up my dress straps from the floor. I couldn't see anyone I knew, so I walked out into the night down the red carpet.
Cameras flashed and microphones were shoved in my face.
"What happened Kris?" asked the woman who had interviewed me and Tay on the way in.
I smiled slightly. "Let's just say me and Christina had a difference of opinion."