Well it was March 27th 1997 and 4 friends and I had planned to go to the autograph session to meet the boys and get there autographs.The Backstreet Boys were to show up around 2pm so we decided if we were there around 8:00 we would beat the rush of all the girls!! Boy were we wrong we got there at 8:00am and it was already getting packed! We all got in line and started waiting we had a long wait!! It was pretty quiet so far and it wasn't that packed!! We started making friends with the people that were in line with us and we were looking at BSB magazines. Well then the mall starts getting packed. Suddenly time had flown and it felt like we were in a can of sardines. Girls were fighting over who was in front of who and who was pushing who--it was awful.

It was now 12:30 and everyone started standing up and chanting their songs and yelling when the TV cameras would pass us and pushing like crazy. By the time 2:00pm came around the boys weren't there and the rumours were flying. Everyone was saying that the guys weren't coming out and then they got more upset so they would yell louder and push harder. I had never felt this way before. Every girl in the line had sweat dripping from there heads and it really started to smell bad. People were being taken away because of heat exhaustion and mothers were sending announcements over the speaker system that they had lost their children. It was now 3 and the guys were still not there, people were losing hope and others were crying. Two of my friends couldn't handle it anymore (you literally could not move your arms or legs). They heard that the session was canceled and decided they wanted to leave.

Well my other friends and I were not about to leave we had been there all day!! So our other friends left to wait for us in the bathroom! About ten minutes later my other friends and I were about to leave when over an hour and a half late the annoucement came over the speakers, "do to security reasons the boys have been moved to the congress center" (another place in the mall). Everyone started pushing trying to get over there and it was crazy. All the barriers got knocked down and there weren't enough security guards, so they ended up calling in the riot squad.

They put up barriers again and had a doorway leading in to the congress center and were taking in small groups at a time. All of a sudden one of my friends got grabbed by one of the Backstreet Boy's body guards to go in to the room they were in. Now we had lost 3 of our friends and I wasn't about to lose my last friend I held on to her as tight as I could. We were at the front of the line when they put the barriers up in a different way and we had to go to the back of the line. When I thought of how long we had been there and that one of my other friends had got in, I couldn't stand to not go in, so I grabbed my friend's hand and pulled her under the barrier with me. All the security guards just looked at me. When they let us in the room it was VERY quiet compared to out there and they told us that we couldn't get autographs or pictures we could only shake hands. Then I found out that we were the last group that was aloud in, I couldn't believe it. Then I saw the guys!!!!!

I was so shocked--there they were right there in front of me, WOW!!! Because we were the last group we got to talk to them a bit. I was going to ask for a picture but their bodyguards were staring at us (there was only 6 of us) and their moms were also looking at us so I was too shy. But, I shook all of their hands and they talked to us.

They asked us if we were skipping school and we told them yes and they said hey shhhhh the TV cameras are right behind you. It was all worth it, I couldn't believe it, I talked to them and saw them and touched them. I just wish that I had pictures or an autograph to prove it. Later that night when I watched the news with my friends (yes I found all of them) we found out that they had only expected 2000 people there and 5000 showed up so they were under secured. And out of 5000 people only 200 got to meet them!! I felt pretty special but I heard cause of that they have canceled autograph sesions now!! Sorry Guys!!