"Wow!" I said to my friend, Melanie as I turned off the TV.
"'Because of You' is such a great video."
Melanie sighed dreamily, "I know. Jeff is so hot."
Melanie and I were best friends since first grade, when she punched this bully who was chasing me around the park, trying to kiss me. I grinned. That bully wasn't all that bad. His name was Justin Timberlake. Throughout seventh grade and eighth grade, I went out with him. What a guy…until that A-Hole cheated on me with Janelle Jones. Janelle Jones is one of those ditzy girls, a total airhead. I guess my life is better without Justin, but I do miss his adorable smile. Justin is still my friend, but now, it's different. Melanie's life was totally perfect. She has a wonderful boyfriend, Brian Littrell. He's cute and understanding. He knows about Melanie's obsession with 98*. Did you know what Brian did to get Melanie's attention? He sang 'Because of you' to her in front of the whole school at a talent show with his best friend, Nick Carter. Nick…what can I say about him? He's cute, funny, a great singer…let me put it another way, BLOND HAIR AND BLUE EYES! Drooling? I am! Nick is one of those guys who were always followed by lots of girls, because of his good looks. His little brother, Aaron gets followed by lots of girls too. Why? That's because Aaron looks a lot like Nick. Nick is my friend, and I never thought of him as more than that, until one day……

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey Karen! Wait up!" I turned around and saw Brian running towards me. "That math test was hard, eh? Mr. Timmons could sure think of hard questions for us!" he said as he ran up to me.
"Yeah it was hard, but Mr. Timmons is a good teacher, Where's Melanie?" I asked.
"Oh, Mel needs to stay after school today, remember? Yearbook club?" he asked.
"Oh right!" that was stupid of me.
"Hey, there's Justin." Said Brian.
I looked at Justin. He looked cute, as usual. Justin turned and grinned at me. "Hey Karen!" he called and waved. I grinned at him and waved back. "Hey Brian! B-ball practice tomorrow, right?" he asked Brian.
"Yup!" Brian replied.
Justin gave a final wave, then he walked over to Janelle. I watched him as he and Janelle walked hand in hand down the street. I sighed.
"Look! There's Nick and Aaron!" said Brian. "Yo Nick!"
"Nick and Aaron turned around. "Hi Brian!" cried Aaron as he ran into Brian's arms. Aaron turned to me, "Hey Karen! You wanna know what Nick told me today? He-"
"Aaron! Are you gonna tell?" Nick asked as he gave Aaron the evil eye.
"Nope!" Aaron said, and grinned at me.
Aaron is one cute kid. I grinned back, and turned to Nick. "Hey." I said, smiling.
"Hey." He smiled back.
Aaron looked at Nick, then at me, then at nick again. "I don't get it."
Brian looked at Nick and me and said, "Aaron! Do you want to go to the park? We can wait for Melanie there." Aaron nodded, and together, they walked to the park.
"Um, Karen," began Nick, "Do you want to go to the dance with Brian, Melanie and me? You know, kind of a double date?"
My heart soared. Nick Carter, the cutest guy in my school asked me out? WHOA!
"Sure! I'd love to!" I answered happily. Nick grinned and together we walked to the park, When we got there, Brian was pushing Aaron on a swing, :Hey! Having fun?" I asked.
"Everything is fine, my arms are sore, but they're ok." Said Brian.
"Hey guys!"
We all turned to see Melanie running towards us. She looked great, as usual. Wearing a light blue skirt and a pink shirt with 2 inch heels, she looked stunning. Even Aaron was gawking at her. Melanie ran up and kissed Brian on the cheek.
"Hey honey." She said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

From this point, Karen took over.

"Is everybody ready?" called the DJ.
"YEAH!"'
'When the Lights go Out' by 5ive blasted out from the speakers.
"I love this song." I tried to yell over the loud music.
Nick grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the food table.
"Let's dance." He said and gave me one of his adorable grins.
Nick was an incredible dancer. He knows all the right moves. It was hard trying to keep up with him. As we were dancing, I could see all the girls looking at us. I knew all of them were jealous of me. After all, I was dancing with the most gorgeous guy in the school. Nick was usually very shy when asking girls out, so actually, very few girls in the school went out with him.
After that song was finished, I spotted Melanie and Brian just coming in. Melanie saw Nick and me too. "Come on Nick. There's Brian and Mel." I said. Melanie and Brian walked up to us. Melanie and I both noticed that we were wearing almost the exact same dress, but just different colours. I had on a blue spaghetti string satin dress then went down just above my knees. Mel's was purple.
"Hey, great minds think alike!" I said. Mel and I both laughed.
"You look great."
"You do too." Mel responded.
"Yeah, Karen, didn't I tell you that you look very good tonight?" Nick asked.
"Yes, Nick, only about the hundredth time." I said smiling. Nick was such a sweet guy.
"Hey, what took you guys so long? You were supposed to meet us here half an hour ago." Asked Nick.
"It was Me. She took forever doing her hair." Explained Brian.
Melanie punched him in the arm. Brian leaned over and kissed her. That lasted for quite a while. I looked at them and thought of how lucky and happy Melanie was. I wished I had a relationship like hers.
"I'm gonna go check on Aaron. I wonder what he's up to." Nick said to me. Aaron came along because he loves dances and hanging out with older kids. He's a lot younger than us but seems to fit in quite fine. Aaron's pretty mature for his age. None of us even mind him hanging with us. Sometimes I wish I have a little brother like that.
"Hey Bri, let's dance." Melanie said to Brian.
"Gee, I wonder why you want to?" Brian commented sarcastically.
"Could it be because they're playing 98*?" Off Brian and Melanie went.
I turned around and found Nick walking towards me. We went and joined Mel and Brian. After that dance, all four of us went to get some punch.
"Nick, there are some of the guys on the team," Brian pointed to Nick.
"Is it ok if we go say 'hi'?" Nick asked Mel and me.
"Sure, Karen and I will stay here." Melanie answered.
Nick and Brian (also Justin) are on the basketball team. Brian's the captain and Justin's the co-captain. Just by looking at Brian, you would never guess he's so good at basketball. This is because of his height. Brian is quite short, but he can sure handle the ball! Brian always said that the two things he loves the most in this world are basketball and Melanie.
"Mel, I'm going to go see Aaron, ok?" I asked.
"Ok. There's Victoria. I'll go talk to her." Melanie went to do some gossiping.
I found Aaron sitting by himself across the room. I walked up to him. "Why are you sitting by yourself?" I asked.
"I was with Scott and Emma, but they wanted to slow dance." Aaron said.
I turned around and saw Scott and Emma dancing. I turned back to Aaron. I could tell he wasn't having so much fun.
"Hey Aaron, wanna dance with me?" I asked and smiled.
"What? A slow dance?" he looked at me like I was crazy.
"Sure, why not?"
"Ok then, let's go." Aaron got up. He's such a great kid.
Aaron probably stepped on my feet at least a hundred times.
"Sorry." He would always say.
"You know what Aaron?" I said.
"What?"
"If you were older, I wouldn't mind having you as my boyfriend." I told him.
Aaron's brown eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yeah!"
"Karen, I know that I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I can never keep a secret so why start now?" Aaron said.
"What is it?"
"Oh man, if Nick finds out I told you he'll kill me."
"Just tell me. Did Nick say something about me?" I asked.
"Are you kidding? He never stops talking about you!"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Nick likes you." Aaron said.
"I like him too. He's such a great guy and a good friend." I replied.
"No, you don't get it. He likes you more than a friend. He has had a crush on you even since you two were in grade seven." Said Aaron.
I was shocked at what I heard. I mean, Nick? He was always just my buddy…my good looking buddy. I've known him for five years but I never thought of him as more than just a friend. "Why didn't he tell me that he likes me?" I wondered. Then it hit me. I was going out with Justin Timberlake! Poor Nick, he must have been heart broken. But what about for the last year? I wasn't with anyone. I would go on dates but there was nothing serious. Every relationship would just last for only a few dates. You could say that I was boyfriend-less for the last year.
"Why didn't Nick say anything after I broke up with Justin?" I asked Aaron.
"How could he? After your break up with Justin, you said that you didn't want to be in any serious relationship ever again." That was true, I did say that, but I was really upset then. I just said it because I was so angry. I still dreamed about marrying a wonderful guy when I'm older. "And plus, Nick thought you just want to be friends with him." Aaron continued. That was true too. I did just want to be friends with him, but when I thought about it, what a great boyfriend Nick would make.
"Hey Aaron, let's stop talking about this right now, because here comes Nick."
"You won't tell him I told, will you?" Aaron asked.
"Don't worry. I won't and thanks for telling me." I smiled at Aaron. He smiled back.
"Hey, little bro, what are you doing dancing with my date?" Nick teased as he walked up to us.
"Nothing. Hey, they're playing another slow song. You can dance with Karen now, Nick." Aaron said. 'God Must Spent a Little More Time on You' by *N SYNC came on. "I'll leave you two alone," continued Aaron and he walked away.
Nick turned to me and said, "Mind if I have this dance?"
"Not at all." I responded. I took his hand.
Nick held me very close. I could smell his cologne. It was Gravity. That was his favorite. I gave that to him on his last birthday. I placed my hands on his broad shoulders. I saw Melanie and Brian dancing beside us. Melanie saw me and Nick and she smiled.
"Karen, I have to tell you something." Said Nick as he looked at me with those sparkling blue eyes. Right then, Nick couldn't have looked better. The light above us shone off his golden hair. "This is really hard to say."
"Just say it. You can tell me anything." I said. Just then, I realized what he was about to tell me. Was Nick going to tell me his feelings towards me?
Nick took a deep breath then began. "Karen, I really like you. I think we could be more than just friends." After saying that, Nick looked down and stared at his shoe. I could tell it was very hard for him to say.
"I know, you liked me ever since grade 7." I tried to break up the tension.
"Aaron told you, didn't he?" Nick looked angry.
"Nick, don't get mad at Aaron. It's a good thing he told."
"Whatever. It doesn't really matter now. Aaron still shouldn't have but then again, he has never kept a secret in his whole life." Nick tried to laugh.
"Yeah, that's for sure." I chuckled a bit.
Nick asked me if we could go outside to talk about this whole his-feelings-for-me-thing. He felt uncomfortable talking about it in front of all those people around. The music was also a little too laud to have a decent conversation.
As we were heading towards the door, Brian ran up to us and said, "Nick, where are you going? We're on in two minutes!"
Brian and Nick started this singing group with three other guys about two months ago. The other three guys are Kevin, AJ and Howie. Kevin is Brian's cousin. He's pretty cool. AJ, well, what can I say? He's a very off the wall person. He's one of those people who likes to stand out in a crowd. Howie's kind of quiet. He's not as crazy as the others. He is very smart and always nice.
The group is a R&B, pop and dance group. Kind of like 98* and 5ive. They don't have a name yet because they haven't found one that they all like. They're going to be singing a song at the dance tonight.
"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't know we are going to perform so soon," Nick said. "I'll come in one sec. Karen, I'm sorry. We'll have to talk later."
"That's ok. Go, hurry. You guys will be awesome. Break a leg!" I told Nick and he quickly ran off.
I walked over to the stage. Melanie found me and came to stand beside me. We smiled at each other.
"I saw you and Nick." Melanie said. "So, did he tell you?"
"Tell me what?" I pretended not to know what Melanie was talking about.
"About how he likes you."
"How did you know?"
"Well, I think you're the only one in this whole entire planet who didn't. It's pretty obvious. I know about it all along, and Nick told me he was going to tell you tonight." Melanie explained.
The guys came on the stage. "They're going to rock!" I cried. "For sure." Melanie said in excitement. "That's my boyfriend, Brian, up there!"
Nick said into his mike, "This is a song dedicated to the person I came with tonight. I hope she gets the message in the song." "That's you, Karen." Melanie exclaimed as if I didn't know. The music started. It was great. The guys were really talented. Their voices were so perfect and sounded like one voice. What harmony! They also wrote the song themselves.
"I deserve a try honey, just once,
Give me a chance and I'll prove this all wrong,
You walked in, you were so quick to judge,
But honey, he's nothing like me,
Darling why can't you see.
I'll never break your heart,
I'll never make you cry.
I'd rather die, than live without you,
I'll give you all of me,
Honey, that's no lie."

It was the most beautiful song. I could see Brian looking straight at Melanie. I could see tears in her eyes. Right then, I almost started to cry myself. I looked at Nick. He gave me one of his oh-so-killer smiles and winked. A girl beside me named Sara Norwood thought that Nick was doing that to her! She took a deep breath and sighed. Sara looked at Nick admiringly. It was kind of funny. Sara Norwood is another one of those ditzy girls like Janelle Jones. In fact, the two are best friends. It's not surprising that they are. Sara turned around and giggled at Janelle. Janelle was standing behind me. She gave me an evil look. I just smiled.
When the song was over, the five guys bowed and said their "thank yous". Everyone cheered and applauded. They were great!
As soon as Nick stepped off the stage, he turned and looked at me. He was about to walk towards me when Sara ran and stood in front of him. I was too far away to hear what Sara was saying, but I could tell she was flirting with him. For some reason, I was really mad, but why? I've seen a lot of girls flirt with Nick before and it never bothered me. To me, it was always obvious why girls would flirt with Nick. He was extremely good looking and didn't have a girlfriend. Why was I mad? Could I be jealous? It couldn't be; Nick was just a friend.
Sara was still talking to Nick. All of a sudden, she said something and Nick looked extremely happy and excited. He jumped around and hugged Sara. The two then separated and walked in opposite directions. Sara went to talk to AJ. AJ too? 'Oh my gosh! What a slut!' I thought to myself.
Nick walked up to me and smiled.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"You mean the performance. What? You didn't like it?" Nice looked puzzled.
"No, not the performance. You guys were great, awesome and totally amazing. I mean, you and Sara." I said and looked at Sara, talking to the other four guys in the band.
"Oh! You won't believe this, Karen. Sara told me that one of her father's friend is a music producer and his record company is looking for an all boy group. Sara said she could get an audition for us! Isn't that great? A chance to get a record contract!" Nick cried. He was totally excited. Hie bright blue eyes were twinkling.
"That's wonderful! Wow! I'm so excited for you guys!" I said.
"I'll be back in a sec. I have to talk to the guys." Nick ran off.
I could see the five of them. They were giving each other high fives. I was so happy for them.

To be Continued…

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