Monday, November 6, 2000: Mill Creek, Kansas

Justin walked into the hallway of the high school bright and early Monday morning. He had his backpack on his back and his favorite pair of sunglasses resting on his head.

He usually liked being the center of attention, but this was different. He could feel hundreds of eyes on him. He guessed Stu had been right when he’d said no one new had come to the town in a year.

As he’d sat in the hotel room the day before, he’d debated running some more, but had given up the idea. If he was going to be found, he could at least say he’d tried to start over.

He didn’t want to be a fugitive. He just wanted to be normal.

He’d done everything he could to disguise himself. He’d cut and dyed his hair. He had brown contacts in and he was wearing flannel. Justin Timberlake didn’t wear flannel.

But Randy Smith did.

"Hey Randy!" Justin heard a voice over his shoulder. He didn’t immediately register that he was Randy. "Randy!" he heard again.

Justin looked over his shoulder and saw Stu walking up to him.

"Stu! My man!" Justin said.

Two other guys followed Stu. Justin noticed curious expressions on their faces.

"Hey," Justin said. "I’m J- Randy."

"Nick," a guy with black hair said sticking out his hand.

"Josh," the other guy said. He had short spiky blond hair. He shook Justin’s hand. "Did you just move here? You look sort of familiar."

Justin cringed inwardly. He hadn’t even been here ten minutes and already people were starting to recognize him.

"Yeah, I walked into town on Thursday."

"He did too!" Stu said. "He doesn’t have a car at the hotel."

Nick raised one of his eyebrows. "How’d you get here?"

Justin had noticed a greyhound station downtown, so he didn’t hesitate to say: "By bus."

The three guys nodded. Three cheerleaders suddenly joined them. One confidently stuck her arm around Nick’s shoulders.

"Hi," she said smiling at Justin. "I’m Carrie. I hope my brother isn’t totally turning you off our little town." She looked him up and down. "We need some new blood."

Justin almost blushed at the heated stare she was giving him.

"Bug off Carrie," Nick said. "Go find your boyfriend." He shrugged her arm off of his shoulder.

Carrie humphed and smiled one last time at Justin. "See you later."

The other two girls giggled and followed the voluptuous blond. They were all dressed in skin-tight cheerleading outfits.

"That’s my sister," Nick said. "She comes off a little strong, but she’s not bad once you get to know her."

Justin nodded. He didn’t mind Carrie. She was like every girl he’d been exposed to in the last 3 years. She was like every girl he’d dated in the last 3 years.

"It’s okay," Justin said. "I’m used to it."

The other guys looked at Justin a little strangely.

"You were popular with the ladies I take it?" Stu asked.

Justin blushed. He hadn’t meant to say that. He was really going to have to watch himself.

"At my last… school… That was my crowd," Justin lied. Well, it wasn’t really a lie. That was his crowd. He just wasn’t in school.

The other guys nodded, satisfied with that explanation.

Justin looked down the hall and saw Maggie walking with another girl. He smiled when she looked at him. She smiled shyly back, but frowned when she saw whom he was with.

Stu looked over his shoulder to see who Justin was looking at.

"How do you know Maggie Hunter?" he asked. His voice had a hint of disgust.

Justin raised an eyebrow as he looked at Stu. "I’m going to be living at her house. They’re letting out a room."

"Couldn’t you find anything better?" Josh asked.

"What’s the matter with Maggie?" Justin asked. "She seems really nice."

"She’s a bitch," Nick said cold-heartedly. "She screwed Josh over. He went away for the summer and she’s all over all these dudes. Didn’t even bother to tell him when she got back. Just wanted to continue the way things were."

"You two dated?" Justin asked.

Josh nodded. "For about a year. We broke up two years ago and we haven’t talked to her since."

Justin looked at the three guys who were probably his best chance at friends at the moment. He couldn’t say what he really wanted to without pissing them off. He’d escaped from his old life to start over. He didn’t want to start on a bad foot.

"Well, I’ll watch out," he said.

The rest of the guys nodded and stopped talking as the bell rang.

Justin walked into his first classroom and smiled as he saw the girl sitting by the windows of the classroom. He walked up to her.

"Can I sit here?" Justin asked the slim girl slouched at her desk.

Maggie looked up. "It’s a free world," she said. Her voice held a bitterness he hadn’t heard before.

"Listen, Maggie," Justin began, "I really want to be friends with you. I mean we are going to be living in the same house."

"Let me tell you something Randy," Maggie said. "If you you’re going to be friends with Josh and the rest of those guys, I can pretty much guarantee we aren’t going to get along."

"You don’t know me," Justin said. "I could be nothing like them."

"This is a small town Randy," Maggie said. "You find a crowd and you stick with it. If you stick with them we aren’t going to mesh."

Justin was going to respond, but the teacher called the class to order.

"I believe we have a new student with us," the grandmotherly woman said at the front of the room. "So for his benefit, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Mary Lark. Now Randy would you like to come up here and tell us about yourself?"

Justin blushed as all eyes turned towards him. He stood up and walked to the front of the room.

"Whassup?" he asked as he blushed slightly. He could get up and perform in front of 60,000 people yet he was nervous speaking in front of a class of 20.

"My name is Randy Smith," Justin continued. "I rolled into town on Thursday. My parents are probably going to be moving into the country around here and so they sent me ahead so I could get settled in school and everything."

Justin nodded his head and blushed even more under the stares of the rest of the students.

"Thank you Randy," Mrs. Lark said. "Does anyone have any questions for Randy?"

One of the guys raised his hand.

"Matt?"

The guy identified with Matt began to speak. "You’re tall. You play ball?"

"Basketball?" Justin asked with a smile coming through his voice.

Matt nodded.

"Sure do!" Justin said enthusiastically. "My friends used to call me Bounce." His smile turned slightly sad. He inwardly scolded himself. He couldn’t go giving away his ‘N SYNC nicknames.

Matt and the three guys around him all smiled widely. "You gonna play?" Matt asked again.

Justin nodded before he knew what he was doing. "Yeah, I guess."

"Right on!" Matt said. "I’ll talk to you later bout it."

Justin smiled. Suddenly he felt at ease. "Any more questions?"

He was almost expecting a question about their music. That was all he’d answered questions about in the last three years.

No one raised their hands and Mrs. Lark indicated that Justin should go back to his seat.

Justin sat down and looked over at Maggie who steadily avoided his gaze. She hadn’t looked at him the entire time he was up front. She glanced over at him though and blushed when she saw that he was looking at her.

Justin smiled, but she’d already turned her head away. He turned his attention back to the front of the class. Maggie was a girl who was just waiting to be conquered.

Justin slid his lunch tray next to Stu’s as he sat down at the lunch table.

"Can I sit here?" he asked.

Stu looked up and smiled. "Yeah man, totally. I heard you decided to join the basketball team. That’s cool. Josh’s on it and you know I am."

Justin felt his mouth drop in amazement. News traveled faster here than on the internet when he kissed Britney or was seen talking to a girl.

Stu laughed seeing Justin’s amazement. "I told you. It’s a small school."

"I guess so," Justin said.

"I can tell you that half the school already has a crush on you," Stu continued. "It happens with all the new blood. It happened with me when I moved here a year ago."

"You were the last person to move here?" Justin asked.

Stu nodded.

"Is Maggie really that bad?" Justin asked.

Stu shrugged. "I’ve never really had anything to do with her. I became friends with Nick and Josh and she was off limits totally."

Justin nodded. "She really doesn’t like you guys."

"I know," Stu said. "I don’t think she’s that bad. But don’t tell Josh I said that, ‘k?"

Justin’s fan smile lit up his face. The one he reserved for making people feel special and that he’d never break their confidence. And if it was important he didn’t. This was important.

"Of course," Justin said.

Justin stared at his locker at the end of the day and was amazed at the number of books he had. He was exhausted. He’d forgotten how stressful people could be. This was almost worse than dealing with fans. Not to mention the constant stress that someone would recognize him.

"Randy?" a man’s voice came at him. "Are you Randy Smith?"

Justin looked at the man who was dressed in a Nike jacket and khakis.

"Yes," Justin said. Everyone really did know who the new guy was it seemed. This was a true illustration of how fast gossip traveled.

"I’m Bob McGrath, the basketball coach. I heard that you were thinking of playing."

Justin smiled. He stuck out his hand. The coach grasped it.

"Good to meet you," Justin said. "I’m very interested in playing."

"Good, good," Bob said. "Why don’t you drop by our practice this afternoon and we’ll see what your skills are. We’re going to have a good team this year, but we can always use more players."

Justin smiled. "What time is practice?"

"We go from two thirty until five. That way guys can get home to do chores."

Justin nodded. "I’ll be there. Is it okay if I’m a few minutes late? I need to run back to the hotel and get some clothes."

The coach nodded. "We’re just happy to possibly have another player."

Justin smiled. "I’ll see you then."

He was glad that he was going to be getting high school sports experience. One more step towards being normal.

Justin walked into the gym and immediately felt self-conscious. He hadn’t played basketball with anyone but the guys in years.

"Over here Randy," the coach called out.

Justin walked over to the group of nine guys. This was their entire team? He recognized Stu and Josh and Matt and the three other guys from class. He’d seen the other three guys around the halls.

"Guys," the coach said addressing the team. "This is Randy. He’s going to be trying out for our team."

Matt smiled at him as did Stu and Josh.

"Well, lets warm up," Coach said. "Get crackin’ guys."

The guys immediately picked up basketballs and began making shots at the basket. Justin nearly groaned. He saw most of the balls bouncing off the backboard. This was the team?

Justin lazily dribbled the ball towards the basket, found his spot on the floor and shot. It swished through the basket.

The nine other players stopped playing and stared.

"What?" Justin asked as he ran after the ball.

The other guys began shooting again. A few balls went through the basket. Justin shot again and the ball went through again. He took the ball to the three-point line and shot again. It rolled off the backboard and went in.

The coach walked up to Justin. "Randy, can you always shoot like that?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah coach."

"You’re on the team," the coach said. "Okay everyone. Let’s start doing drills." He blew his whistle.

Justin smiled as he followed the rest of the guys as they ran across the court. He’d see how well all of his dance practice had kept him in shape for the better things in life.

Justin stared around the hotel room, trying to determine if he’d left any of his meager belongings. He didn’t see anything. He had his backpack slung over his shoulder and his suitcase in his hand.

He walked out the door and down the street towards the house he’d now call home. He’d just taken a shower so his hair was still wet and he smelled of soap and cologne.

He walked through the gate in the white picket fence and up to the whitewashed door. He rang the bell.

Maggie opened the door. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Justin said. "How are you?"

Maggie shrugged. "Why should you care?"

Justin looked at Maggie. Was she for real? She was going to hate him just because he was associating with that group of guys in the school?

"Maggie," Justin said. He was still standing on the porch. "I’m sorry that you don’t like the people I was hanging out with today, but you don’t know me. You don’t know if I’m like them and you don’t know if I’ll even be friends with them in a week."

Maggie shrugged. "You’ll be friends with them. Once they like you, they like you. If you’re in that crowd you’re in. If you aren’t, you’ll never get in."

"You used to be friends with them," Justin said.

"And then I wised up," Maggie said. "Randy this isn’t any of your business, so why don’t you just drop it, okay?"

If she wanted to drop it, Justin was going to respect her wishes, for now.

"Can I come in and move into my room?" Justin asked.

Maggie nodded and stepped away from the door.

Justin walked into the house that he could now call home. He hadn’t had a place that he wanted to call home in years.

"You remember the way up?" Maggie asked.

Justin nodded.

"Well, go make yourself at home," she said. There was a slight amount of disdain in her voice.

Justin nodded again. "Thanks, I will. Maggie, I just want you to know, I’m going to make it very hard for you not to like me."

He stared at the girl standing in front of him for a second before heading up the stairs.

Maggie watched him retreat to his room.

"I already do like you," she said quietly to herself. She closed her eyes and willed the hate she wanted to be there back. It didn’t come.

Justin heard a knocking on the door of his room. "Come in?" he said.

Cathy opened the door. "Are you all settled in?" she asked. "Is there anything I can get you?"

Justin smiled and shook his head. "No, thank you though. I’m great."

Cathy nodded. "It will be nice for Maggie to have someone her own age around the house."

Justin nodded. Cathy had obviously missed the fact that Maggie didn’t like him.

"It’ll be good for me too," he said.

"Well, goodnight," Cathy said.

Justin looked at the clock on the wall. It was 9:40.

"Goodnight Cathy," he said.

Cathy shut the door.

Justin suddenly realized that he was tired. The first day had taken more out of him than he’d realized. The guys would have gone into shock if they’d seen him think about bed at 9:40.

He got up and walked out of his room towards the bathroom. He might as well get ready for bed if he was tired. He began walking down the steps between his room and Maggies. He heard music coming from the room.

He knocked softly on the door, not knowing why he was doing it.

"Come in," a soft voice said.

Justin turned the knob and looked into the room decorated in yellow. The girl was lying on her bed.

"Hey," he said. "I just thought I’d say goodnight."

"You’re going to bed?" Maggie had an incredulous look on her face. "It’s 9:45."

Justin nodded. "It was a stressful day."

Maggie nodded sympathetically. "So stressful. Showing up and immediately being accepted into the in-crowd. Poor baby."

"No, more like entering a school of everyone who’s known everyone else forever."

Maggie suddenly felt a little bad. "I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. Do you want to come in?"

Justin shook his head. "I really am tired. I’d probably fall asleep if I sat down."

Maggie just nodded. "Okay, well, goodnight then."

"Goodnight."

Justin walked down the stairs, grimacing as some of them creaked. She’d asked him to come into her room. That had to be a good sign.