Parker High School, Saturday, December 16, 2000

Justin stared at the bench that his feet were resting on. It was 10:20. They should have been out there playing. They should have been twenty minutes into their game. The tournament had been delayed though. The refs hadn’t seemed in any hurry to get the day underway and the first game had been delayed by half an hour. Now the teams were neck in neck and it was looking like an overtime was going to be needed. More of a delay.

Justin clasped his hands in front of him and twiddled his thumbs. He’d never found great enjoyment in twiddling his thumbs before, but it seemed like a necessary evil in this case. That movement was the only thing keeping his nervousness at bay.

They had to win this game. It was going to be his last one, one way or another. He was going to go out a winner. Now if he could only convince the rest of the guys they needed to win as badly.

He saw Stu approach out of the corner of his eye and sit down next to him.

"You okay?" Stu asked.

Justin shrugged. He had to keep his thumbs moving.

"What’s up?" Stu asked. He stared at Justin’s rapidly moving fingers.

"I’ve got five days," Justin said quietly. He looked around the bleachers. They were pretty much empty. The rest of the Mill Creek team was standing down on the sidelines talking with the cheerleaders from one of their opposing teams.

Stu stared at Justin. They hadn’t discussed the email since he’d supervised Justin’s reply. He’d abided by Justin’s wishes not to talk about his past at all. "You’re going back?" he whispered. It was his turn to glance around the empty benches.

"I don’t have a choice," Justin said. He kept his voice low. "They know where I am. It’s not so much about staying away anymore. It’s about staying here."

"So leave and then come back," Stu said.

Justin stopped his fingers and felt the nervousness wash over him. He started moving his foot up and down spastically. He just had to keep moving.

"I can’t," he said. "If I leave and they come here everyone will know. Then I can’t come back."

Stu frowned. "There’s got to be some way to keep you here and them away."

"I don’t think there is," Justin said. He started his thumbs moving again. The more movement, the less nervousness. It was a good thing.

"Did you get another email?" Stu asked.

Justin shrugged. "I sort of threw my computer into the back of my closet." He smirked. "It made me feel sick every time I looked at it."

They were silent again, both watching Justin’s thumbs move in circles.

"Five days?" Stu asked. He watched Justin move his head up and down. "I’ll think of something, okay Bro? I’m not letting you leave here without a fight."

Justin smiled wanly. He watched as one of the teams shot the ball and it dropped through the basket. The unthinkable happened. The buzzer rang. One of the teams had actually won.

"We’re being paged," Stu said. The two guys looked at their coach waving at them frantically. They stood up and headed down the bleachers. Stu put his hand on Justin’s shoulder as they reached the bottom. Justin stopped and faced him. "We will think of something Randy."

Justin smiled. Stu had said the name so deliberately. Justin nodded and they headed for the locker room.

"Remember this is for Maggie," Justin whispered in Stu’s ear as Stu went to the center of the tip-off circle. Stu grinned at him and braced himself to jump in the air as soon as the ball left the ref’s hand.

The Crystal Lake player batted the ball towards Justin’s side of the circle. Justin smiled when he saw Matt grab it. Matt dribbled back and waited for the court to clear. He passed the ball lightly to Justin.

Justin jogged on to their side of the court with Matt a few steps in front of him. His defender was crouched over, ready to block him. Justin slowed down and let his team get organized. He saw Brent lose his defender and make it to the center of the key. The ball was in the air before Justin’s defender knew what was happening or Brent’s defender saw it coming.

Brent grabbed it and brought it down. His defender had caught up to him and another one of the Crystal Lake players was trying to stay between him and the basket. The problem? It left Kevin open. Brent bounced the ball to Kevin and smiled as Kevin shot it through the basket easily.

Two points up and counting.

The game was going to be cake.

"So? You guys win?"

"Of course," Justin said. He smiled as Maggie sat down next to him. "Did you doubt my word?"

Maggie nodded without hesitation. There was a wide smile on her face.

"I’m hurt," Justin said. He looked at Stu who was grinning widely. "Did you hear that? She doubted my word."

"Sorry man," Stu said. He clapped Justin on the shoulder lightly. "I’m going to go get a Coke. Any of you want anything?"

Emily stood up from the place she’d taken in front of Justin and Stu. "I’ll come. I want a tootsie pop."

Justin raised an eyebrow at the redhead and then looked over at Emily. "You want anything?"

Maggie shook her head. "We got food on the way here."

"We’re good," Justin said as he looked back up at Stu. He didn’t notice Emily and Stu exchange a look. He looked back at Maggie. "You guys got here early."

"Sylvia thought the game was more important than me manning the empty video store," Maggie laughed. "Like anyone would rent a movie when they could come watch you guys."

"Smart lady," Justin said. "This is going to be the culmination of, well, something…"

Maggie giggled. "So’d you guys trounce them this morning?"

Justin nodded. "But of course. We won by 20. I don’t even know how that team made it to the second round."

"Seeing you guys play the first half of that game two weeks ago I’d wonder the same thing about you."

"We’re good," Justin protested. "I just have to remember not to think."

"That shouldn’t be too hard," Maggie laughed.

"Shut up," Justin said. He put an arm around Maggie’s shoulders and gave her a playful squeeze. His eyes went to the floor where he saw Laura glaring up at them. "Like you could do any better."

"I couldn’t," Maggie said quickly. "I admit it. I suck at basketball."

"We’ll have to play sometime," Justin said.

Maggie laughed. "I suck, thus I should play the school’s point-guard? That doesn’t sound smart Randy."

Justin shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat." He leaned close to her ear. "I might let you win," he whispered.

Maggie turned to look at him. "You wouldn’t dare."

"I guess you’ll just have to play me to find out," Justin said with a twist of his eyebrows. He leaned away from Maggie as Stu and Emily came up the bleachers.

‘N SYNC Compound

Johnny knocked on the door of the practice room. The four guys were following Wade’s movements in the mirror. Even though the guys swore up and down they wouldn’t be heading back out on the road they had been diligently brushing up the routines several hours a day.

Wade turned around and saw Johnny standing in the doorway. He pushed the button on the remote in his pocket. "You need them to take five?" he asked Johnny.

Johnny nodded and walked into the room. The four guys had immediately dashed for their water bottles and towels. Chris had fallen to the floor in a mock faint. Joey and JC joined him on the floor, bracing themselves on their arms. Lance was slouched in a chair by the wall.

"You guys aren’t going to like this," Johnny said as he pulled up a chair of his own.

All four guys leaned forward as Chris sat up.

"What?" JC asked. "What are they saying we have to do now?" They all knew he meant JIVE.

"They aren’t saying anything," Johnny said. "MTV is saying something."

The tiredness seemed to leave the guys. MTV had been wonderful to them during this unexplained break with the daily Justin watch and the continued playing of ‘This I Promise You’ even as it fell down the TRL charts.

"What do they want?" Lance asked.

"Before this all started you guys signed an agreement to perform ‘Bye, Bye, Bye’ at the New Years celebration."

"They still want us to perform?" Joey asked. "

"Promotions have already started and you guys are slated to perform."

"So you’re asking us to go out without Justin," JC said. He got up from his place on the floor. "You said that it was up to us." The disdain for their manager was back in his voice.

Johnny sighed. "It is up to you. I just think that it would be a wise career move for you to do this one last engagement even if you don’t go back on tour."

JC opened his mouth to respond, but Lance cut him off. "Why?"

"You’ll have the ears of the world," Johnny said. "If Justin’s not back it would be the time to announce whatever you want to announce. That you’re breaking up, that he ran away, that you’re going back out on the road without him…"

"We aren’t going back out without him," Joey growled.

"Or whatever," Johnny finished. "I don’t want to see you guys break up, but do you really want your last performance that everyone will remember to be in Wichita? You guys could still go out on top."

The four guys studied each other.

"It couldn’t hurt," Chris said. His voice had taken on some of the playfulness that had been missing in the previous weeks. It wasn’t the same as before, but it was something.

Lance and Joey nodded in resigned agreement. Everyone looked at JC.

"He could be back by then," JC said finally. "We could show off that he’s back."

Johnny nodded at the reluctant commitment. "I’ll go call MTV and tell them you’re for sure." He stood up from the chair. "Wade!"

Wade came back into the room, a towel around his neck and his blond hair respiked.

"Yeah?" He looked between the guys and Johnny.

"We need to work out a four man routine for ‘Bye, Bye, Bye,’" Johnny said as he dragged the chair back towards the wall. "We’re going to be doing it New Years Eve."

Wade looked at the four remaining members of ‘N SYNC. They were looking unhappily at the floor.

"We’ll get something together," he said.

The fifteen guys on the opposing team were huge. They were tall and well muscled.

"Are they in high school?" Justin asked Stu as they took off their warm-up shirts by the bench.

Stu followed his gaze to the other bench. The Parker players were moving to the floor to do their warm up exercises. "They can actually cut people from their team." He turned back to the bench and grabbed a ball.

Justin grabbed a ball of his own and followed his friend onto the court. He started shooting and was pleased to see the ball was still going through the net like it had that morning. As he dribbled back to the free throw line he let his eyes roam over the crowd. Mill Creek’s stands were full. The red and white mass of people had expanded up the bleachers until it almost reached the top row. He saw two familiar people and felt his hand miss the ball.

Nick and Josh were standing by the bottom of the bleachers.

Blushing he got control of the ball again. He saw Nick lean over to Josh and make some smirking comment. Justin assumed the comment was about him. He turned away and moved towards the basket. They had to win the game now.

"Go Mill Creek!" Emily screeched. She jumped to her feet and began bouncing up and down in the stands. Maggie rose so that she wasn’t the only one sitting down in the stands. She felt Emily grab her arm and lean towards her ear. "They’re doing so good!" she stage whispered.

Maggie nodded, but she didn’t feel any joy in the game. Every time she looked down the court towards Mill Creek’s basket she saw Nick and Josh. They were both standing there with crossed arms and frowns on their faces.

"I mean they’re tied with Parker," Emily said. "They’re State Champions."

Maggie nodded again. She hadn’t heard what her friend had said.

"Why is Randy so on tonight?" Emily asked.

‘Randy’ entered into Maggie’s subconcious and she turned towards Emily. "I don’t know," she said. "He really wanted to win this game."

"That’s obvious," Emily said. "He’s fighting like a bull out there."

Maggie let her eyes travel to the floor just in time to see Justin fly across the floor. A ten-year-old boy ran out with the sweat rag and immediately began wiping the wet spot on the floor up.

"He wants it," Maggie said again.

Justin was tired. There were thirty seconds left in his second game of the day. While the first game had been an easy win, this game was intense. Parker was ahead. That was what everyone had expected. Parker was supposed to take the game in the first minute and never give it back— sort of like Mill Creek’s win over Crystal Lake. It hadn’t happened though. They were only down by two and they’d even led, once for about five seconds.

Justin couldn’t even call a time out, they’d used the last one two minutes before.

He slowed the ball down and watched as his team set themselves up beneath the basket. They had seven seconds left on the shot clock. Not long, but enough. They had to make this to tie the game or make a three-pointer to win it— if Parker didn’t make a basket after them.

Matt managed to free himself from his larger defender. He ran to the three point line and grabbed the ball as Justin chucked it to him. He went up and the ball arced through the air. The swoosh resounded through the gym causing Mill Creek’s fans to go absolutely wild.

Justin watched as Parker in bounded the ball. Their point-guard was down the court with more speed than Justin could fathom at that late point in the game. He took off after the taller man with the sinking knowledge that he wasn’t going to catch up. Stu moved up so that the point guard didn’t have a straight run at the basket, leaving his man open. Matt covered Stu’s man as Justin caught up to his guy.

Seven seconds. Six, five, four…

Justin’s guy took a step towards the basket, toward Justin.

Three… two…

The ball flew through the air.

One…

The ball landed on the rim. It spiraled around, the sound loud in the quiet gym.

The sound of moving ropes was heard as the ball fell through the net.

Parker fans began to storm the court as the Mill Creek players moved idly in their places. It had been close. Too close. A one-point win.

Justin walked toward the bench. His eyes were trained on the ground, his head hung low. He stopped as he felt someone step deliberately in front of him. He looked up and saw Josh.

"Sorry," Justin said. He began to walk around the other man.

"Randy," Josh said quickly, putting a hand on Justin’s arm.

Justin looked up, confused. He clenched his fist in case Josh decided to hit him again.

"You did good out there," Josh said. "None of us could have done any better." He smiled weakly and dropped his hand.

Justin nodded in dumb surprise. "Thanks man."

Josh stepped away, towards a scowling Nick. Justin barely heard the words Nick uttered. "We would have won if you’d been out there."

Justin continued toward the bench, grabbing his towel and letting it rest over his jersey.

"Good job Smith," Coach said as he came up to Justin. "I didn’t have to tell you not to think once."

Justin smiled weakly. "We were so close."

"Randy," Coach said. "No one expected us to make it to the final round. I didn’t expect us to make it to the final round. To lose to Parker, the current State Champions by one point? That’s good. You did very well."

"Thanks," Justin said. He did feel a little better. Maybe. It was his last game though and he’d wanted to win.

Justin felt two arms encircle his neck. A lock of red hair fell over his shoulder. "You did great!" Emily squealed. "You showed those bastards what for."

Justin turned and Emily slipped off his back. "I wanted to win," he said.

"But you lost to Parker by one point," Maggie said. She smiled up at Justin. "That’s nothing to be ashamed of."

Justin smiled back. He couldn’t be depressed. Not when they had a whole evening out on the Wichita social scene.

"You girls ready to get out of here?" he asked.

Maggie and Emily looked at each other and nodded.

"Let me go find Stu and then we can get to his uncle’s okay? We’ll meet you out here." Justin didn’t wait for an answer before he headed towards the locker room.

Emily pulled her car into the parking spot a block away from the club. "You’re promising this is going to be good Stu?"

Stu and Justin climbed out of the cramped backseat, unfolding their long limbs. "Nope," Stu said. "But it’s got to be better than Mill Creek, right?"

Emily nodded. She was dressed in an outfit that would have caused scandal in Mill Creek. She caught Stu by the arm and led him out in front of Maggie and Justin.

"This is going to be fun," Justin said. "I haven’t been out in forever."

Maggie nodded, biting her lip gently. "I’ve never been to a club before."

"It’s not that great," Justin said. "It’s different though."

"You sound like you’ve been to a lot of them." Maggie shivered slightly in the cold air. Justin noticed and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into his side.

"I have been," Justin said. "My friends back home liked to go out a lot." He grew quiet.

"You think I look okay?" Maggie asked suddenly, perhaps sensing that Justin needed a change of subject.

"I’m going to have to fight to keep the guys off of you," Justin said with a smile before he could stop himself. He could feel Maggie blush. "You look great Mags. You really do."

Maggie smiled and pulled away from Justin. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the club. The line was just slightly out the door. The group of four huddled slightly together as a burst of wind covered them.

Justin eyed the door longingly. If he were with the guys he could’ve just walked in.

"Wouldn’t it be great if we were someone famous?" Stu asked suddenly. "Then we could just walk right in."

"Us? Famous?" Emily asked. "The stars from Mill Creek Kansas. I can just see the stories now."

Justin nodded weakly and moved up towards the warmth of the door, the other three quickly following suit.

"ID?" the bouncer asked. Justin showed him the fake ID he had and felt a momentary stab of nervousness. It wasn’t fake though, it was real— just a fake name. The bouncer looked up at Justin and then studied the card again. "Hand," he said.

Justin stuck out his hand and got the requisite stamp. Maggie came in after him, then Emily, then Stu. They all shrugged their coats at the coat check and headed for the hot confines of the dance floor, Justin leading the way. He was surprised when he felt tentative fingers grab his hand as he maneuvered his way through the throng of people. He looked back and saw Maggie gripping his fingers lightly. He smiled and stopped, letting her catch up with him. She made a move as if to drop his hand, but he grabbed her hand more firmly, lacing their fingers together. They made their way through the throngs of people together. Emily and Stu began poking one another, trying to get the other to notice the couple in front of them.

Justin found an empty space on the dance floor. He stopped, staking it out until Emily and Stu caught up. He stood there awkwardly for a second until Stu grabbed Emily and began grinding into her. Both their faces were masks of hysterical laughter.

Justin looked at Maggie and gave her a questioning look. She shrugged and stepped towards him. He put his arms around her waist and she gently put her arms on his shoulders, looking up into his face. With a small smile they began moving to the beat of the music, unknowingly oblivious to the world around them.

"I thought you two weren’t going to leave the club alone," Justin said as he sat in the back of the small car. Maggie was curled up beside him, her head resting on his lap. He ran a hand through her hair, memorizing the texture and smell of the locks.

"Car’s not big enough for any guests," Emily said with an exaggerated pout. She yawned. "What time is it?"

Stu looked at the dash board clock. "Four a.m.?" he asked in surprise. The sky still looked too dark.

"It’s off by two hours," Emily said. "Two. That’s not that late. It feels like four."

"I don’t know why you’re tired," Stu argued. "Randy and I’ve been up since seven and we played two games of basketball."

"Good for you," Emily said. "Do I turn here?"

Stu nodded and looked down at the paper napkin full of directions in his hand.

Justin looked at the girl still resting in his lap. Her eyes were closed and she was gently breathing through slightly parted lips. The moonlight shone through the car window and rested on her hair. He lightly rubbed a finger across Maggie’s jaw line and smiled to see her lips curve up slightly.

Only four more days…