Tuesday, November 7, 2000

Justin sat down next to Stu at the lunch table again.

"Hey," he said. "How’s it going?"

Stu smiled. "Good."

Justin nodded. He saw Maggie walking by their table.

"Hi Maggie," he said.

Maggie turned to him and half smiled. She looked at Stu and her face became stony. She kept walking.

"Well," Stu said. "She’s smiling at you at least."

"I told her I’m going to make it impossible for her not to like me," Justin said. "I’m going to."

"You trying to take over my place of being Mr. Popular?" Stu asked.

"Well, I am the new guy," Justin said. "That’s my job isn’t it?"

Stu laughed. "Yeah, it was all Nick and Josh, then me, now you."

Another girl walked by the table. "Hi Stu." Her smile turned flirtatious "Hi Randy."

"Hi Mary Jane," Justin smiled. He turned on the fan smile and saw Mary Jane turn bright red.

"You can really turn on the charm," Stu said. "No wonder all of the girls like you."

Justin blushed slightly. "Lots of practice."

Justin dribbled the ball slowly down the court eyeing the four men without jerseys and the five with. He saw one of the guys with a jersey coming towards him and one without breaking away from his defender. He threw the ball to the guy without the jersey without taking his eyes off of his own defender. He ran down the court towards the basket and got around his spot. He kept his eye on the ball and managed to break free long enough to catch the long pass. He got to his spot, ducked as Matt tried to stop him and shot the ball. It hit the backboard and went straight through the hoop.

"Good job guys," the coach yelled as he blew the whistle. "That’s it for today. Randy, Matt, can I talk to you both for a minute?"

Justin nodded and smiled as the rest of the guys clapped him on the back, congratulating him on a job well done.

He grabbed his shirt from the bleachers and wiped the sweat off of his face and neck. Matt did the same as they walked towards the coach.

"What can we do for ya Coach?" Justin asked slipping slightly back into the ghetto talk that had defined Justin Timberlake.

"Randy," the coach said. "You’re very good. We’re very lucky that you chose to come to our school. I don’t normally start guys that haven’t been on the team for at least a year, but we need you out there. I want you to be our starting point guard. Do you have any problem with that?"

"But what about Matt?" Justin asked. He looked at his friend. He didn’t want to piss anyone off. Not on his third day here.

"Matt’s a better guard, aren’t you Matt?" the coach said. "It’ll make our bench stronger."

Matt nodded and had an amazingly relieved look on his face. "You can have point guard. There just wasn’t anyone else to do it."

Justin nodded. "I would be honored coach, but maybe you should talk to the rest of the guys. I mean I’ve only been here three days and I don’t want to step on any toes."

"That’s a noble sentiment Randy," the coach said. "But it’s my call."

Justin nodded. "I’d be honored coach."

Matt grinned at Justin. "Good luck! The spot’s all yours."

Justin finished setting out the silverware on the table. He sat down at the table as Maggie and Cathy finished bringing the food to the table.

"It smells wonderful ma’am," Justin said. He was going to be so spoiled on this food he could tell. There were always three salads, a main dish, two vegetables and a homemade dessert. He was already spoiled by the fact that there was real cream for his cereal in the morning and he’d only been there one morning.

"Thank you Randy," Cathy said smiling. "I hope you like it."

Justin felt his stomach rumble. "I’m sure I will."

Bob joined them at the table. Justin hadn’t really had a chance to talk to Bob since he’d moved in. He was a kind looking man. The sort of fatherly figure that Justin had always wanted in his life.

Bob said grace and immediately began passing the food around the table.

"So Randy," Bob said. "I heard you’re the new point guard for our basketball team."

Justin blushed and nodded. He was never going to get used to how fast news traveled.

"Yeah," Justin said. "I was very honored when coach asked me if I’d do it."

"This coach don’t know what the hell he doing," Bob said.

"Bob!" Cathy said, her voice taking on a slight shrieking quality.

Justin felt his hackles rise, but he managed to control his temper.

"From what I’ve seen he’s a very good coach," Justin said calmly.

"You missed our good coach," Bob said. "He was the best in the state. He retired two years ago and the teams been shit since then."

"Coach McGrath completely rearranged the plays," Maggie explained. She gave Justin a sympathetic look. "Some people don’t think they’re as effective as the old Coaches were."

"Damn right they aren’t," Bob said.

"Coach said the team would be good this year," Justin said. "I want to do anything I can to help them along."

"That’s a good attitude Randy," Bob said. "I’m glad to see you aren’t just some new boy who wants to take the team over."

"I’m just happy to be able to play," Justin said, but his brain lost the track of the conversation.

Words from a memory echoed through his head: There is no ‘I’ in ‘N SYNC.

Bob was smiling at Justin so he’d guessed he’d said the right thing. "Come on Randy, there’s plenty of food. Eat up."

Justin did just that. He scooped some of the green beans off the plate in front of him and began shoving them in his mouth.

There is no ‘I’ in ‘N SYNC. He’d added the letter to their group on his own. He’d made there be an I. And now he was going to have to live with the consequences. Suddenly he was dreading the day he did go back to ‘N SYNC. It wasn’t going to be pretty.

Justin had just settled into bed when he heard a small knock on his door.

"Yeah?" he called.

The door opened and Maggie stuck her head in. "Randy, can I come in?"

Justin yawned. "Yeah."

Maggie opened the door and shut it behind her. They were in darkness. Justin reached over and turned on the light on the nightstand.

"Whassup?" he asked.

"I wanted to apologize," Maggie said. She was looking at the window, the ground, anywhere but at Justin.

"For what?" Justin asked. He’d said he was going to make it hard for her not to like him. Feigned innocence was definitely part of the act.

"For being a bitch yesterday at school and after school, and last night. And I wanted to apologize for my dad. He sometimes says things…"

"It’s okay," Justin said. "And you had the right. I heard that you and Josh had a falling out. If you dislike them that much and I’m hanging with them…"

"A falling out?" Maggie asked. "Is that what he said?"

Justin nodded. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Maggie smiled slightly. "You sure you want to hear it? Stu didn’t."

"I’m not Stu," Justin said. "I want to be your friend Maggie."

"Josh and Nick are obviously losing their touch then," she laughed. "Stu hated me before he even saw me."

"What does this have to do with Nick?" Justin asked.

"Everything," Maggie said.

"Do you want to sit down?" Justin asked. He patted the end of the bed.

Maggie sat.

"Josh, Nick and I were friends forever," Maggie began. Her voice caught and Justin immediately reached out to put his hand over hers. "Josh and I began dating our freshman year, but it was still the three musketeers. We did everything together. Then Josh went away for the summer. Nick and I hung out all the time and we suddenly realized that we had feelings for each other. We kissed once, but that was all. We both freaked."

Maggie was telling the story slowly, taking deep breaths. Justin didn’t rush her.

"Neither of us knew how Josh would take it, so we ended it. We didn’t let it go any farther. We both agreed that we’d never tell Josh. You ever watch Dawson’s Creek?"

Justin shook his head.

"Well, it’s a Dawson, Joey, Pacey thing," Maggie continued. "When Josh got back though, the first thing Nick told him was that I’d been hanging all over other guys."

Justin’s fists clenched. He hated when people told an enlarged truth for their own benefit.

"I tried telling Josh, but he wouldn’t listen. Nick had made him so mad… I gave up and I haven’t spoken to them since. I haven’t wanted to."

Justin squeezed Maggie’s hand, trying to cover his own tensed nerves. "I’m so sorry Maggie. I didn’t know."

"It’s okay," Maggie said. "I just thought you should know why I don’t like them."

Justin nodded. "Completely understandable." Against his will he yawned.

"I need to let you go to bed," Maggie said. "Sorry I came in so late."

"Any time Maggie," Justin said. "I told you I was going to make it very hard for you to not like me. That means my door is always open if you want to come in and talk."

Maggie smiled her first genuine smile of the day. "Thanks Randy. That means a lot."

She opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

Justin shut off the light and closed his eyes.

Wednesday, November 8, 2000
 

Justin was just walking away from his locker when he ran into someone. He heard a feminine "ouch!" and saw someone on the floor in front of him.

"I’m so sorry," Justin said as he reached a hand out to help her up.

The girl grasped his hand. She had long brown hair that fell in waves around her shoulders.

"It’s okay," she laughed. "I should have been watching where I was going."

"I should have been watching too," Justin laughed.

"Hey," the girl said as she cocked her head slightly to the side. "Aren’t you Randy Smith?"

Justin nodded. "That I am. I don’t think we’ve met yet have we?"

"Not officially," the girl said. "My name’s Laura." She stuck her hand out and Justin grasped it.

"Good to meet you," Justin said. He looked at his watch. "Well, I need to go get ready for practice."

"I’ll walk with you," Laura said quickly. "I’ve got practice too."

Justin raised an eyebrow. "You a cheerleader?"

Laura nodded. "My fourth year. How long have you been playing basketball?"

Justin shrugged. "My whole life."

"I meant on a team," Laura said. "Were you on varsity all three years in high school"

"Actually, this is my first time playing on a team," Justin said slightly sheepishly. "I’ve never tried out before."

Laura looked genuinely shocked. "Oh my gosh. I’ve heard you’re really good."

"I just hope that I’m an asset to the team."

"You will be," she laughed. In a hushed tone she continued. "You didn’t see them last year."

Justin laughed. "They look pretty good now."

"So are you going to Josh’s Friday?" Laura asked.

"What?" Justin said.

"Josh’s. You know, his senior party?" Laura said.

"Oh, he hasn’t mentioned it to me," Justin said slowly.

"You’ve been hanging with them so much he probably just thought that you’d be there anyway," Laura said. "You should go. His parties are great."

Justin nodded. "I’ll think about it."

Laura smiled in a flirtatious manner. "Come, please, for me?"

With a smile Justin agreed. "Just for you."

"See you around Randy," Laura said. She walked towards the girls locker room as Justin watched her walk away.

Justin was sitting in the den playing channel roulette when he heard the doorbell ring. He slowly boosted himself off the couch and walked towards the door only to see Cathy answer it. He turned around and began walking back towards the den.

"Randy," Cathy called stopping him in his tracks. "Someone’s here to see you."

Justin turned around and walked back towards the door curious as to who would come see him. He saw Stu standing on the porch.

"Hey man!" Justin said, a smile lighting up his face. It was perhaps the first unpracticed smile he’d shown since he’d been in Mill Creek.

"Hey," Stu said. He looked a little uncomfortable standing outside the door.

"You want to come in?" Justin asked.

Stu nodded and stepped through the doorway. "I was passing by on my way home from work and I thought I’d drop by and see how you were settling in and all," he said.

"Good," Justin began. "Great actually. You want to come up to my room?"

"Sure," Stu said. He followed Justin up the stairs to the hallway between his and Maggie’s rooms.

"That’s Maggie’s room," Justin indicated with a twist of his head. "Mine’s right here."

Justin opened the door to his room and turned on the light. The room was immaculate. He’d decided that he was going to change Justin Timberlake’s traditional habits as well as his name and appearance. As long as he had the chance to start fresh he might as well become the person he’d always wanted to be.

"Wow," Stu said as he looked around the room. "It’s really… neat."

Justin nodded proudly. "For the first time in my life, yeah."

Stu laughed. "You should see my room. It looks like hurricane Enid went through there."

"Hurricane Enid?" Justin asked raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, so that was just the first name that came into my mind," Stu said blushing slightly.

"Enid?" Justin repeated. "What sort of name is that?"

"My grandmothers name," Stu said proudly. "Don’t diss it."

Justin laughed. "I’ve never known anyone named Enid."

"You obviously aren’t from the country," Stu said. "As if it weren’t obvious enough already."

Justin looked at himself in the mirror. The familiar paranoia, which had begun creeping away in the past two days, had suddenly returned full force.

"It’s that obvious?" Justin asked. He swallowed.

"I mean come on bro, you’re wearing a new flannel shirt. It’s bright and all the buttons are there. And I mean your jeans don’t have any holes or anything. I’ve bet you’ve never even been on a horse."

Justin tried to look indignant but failed miserably. His joy at not being discovered transcended all at the moment. "I have to been on a horse. Its name was Toby."

At the mention of Lance’s horse Justin suddenly sobered.

"It’s okay dude," Stu said, suddenly worried that he’d insulted Justin. "I was just kidding."

Justin visibly shook his head. "Sorry, Toby sort of made me think of something I didn’t really want to…" He suddenly felt the urge to get out of the house. "Do you want to go grab some food or something?"

Stu looked at his watch. "Sure, I guess."

Justin smiled. "Let me go see if Maggie wants to come."

Stu nodded as Justin left the room. That was something he was going to have to get used to. Not automatically talking trash about Maggie Hunter. It wasn’t that he wanted to, it was just… different.

Stu and Justin walked down the dark street. Maggie had opted to stay at home. Neither of them had been all that surprised. She hadn’t been subtle in her dislike for Stu, yet Justin had said he was going to make it impossible for her not to like him, and even with her recent pledge of friendship he was still going to be the most wonderful person in the world to her.

"Oh my god," Stu said, doubling over with laughter. "That is so true."

Justin laughed and turned his hat backwards again. He’d been doing his imitation of Kent, a rather large guy in their American Literature class.

"You know you should go into comedy or something," Stu said. "You really seem like you like to perform."

Justin felt the smile on his face become fake, but he decided to take it for the compliment it was.

"I used to live on stage," Justin said.

"I totally believe it," Stu said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "You know, we have this talent show thing during February. You should totally enter it. You could so win."

Justin maintained the fake smile. The last thing he wanted to do was get back up on stage. He didn’t want to be known in this town as a performer. He wanted to be himself without any stage personality.

They continued walking towards the Hunter house.

"Hey Justin?" Stu asked as he sat on the bed in Justin’s room.

"Yeah?" Justin answered without thinking. He was sitting at his computer looking at his email. Not that he’d get any email, but it was habit to check. Suddenly he realized what he’d done. "Shit."

Justin turned towards the bed and looked at Stu. "How did you know my name?"

Stu was sitting up. There wasn’t even a trace of a smile on his face.

"I was in the office on Sunday and these two guys came in looking for a Justin. They showed me a picture that looked like you with red hair. Sort of like the hair you had when you came to town."

Justin nodded. "I saw them out the window. I was hoping that someone else was being manning the desk who didn’t know I was here."

"Everyone knew you were here by then," Stu said.

"So what’d you say?" Justin asked. His blood was running cold through his veins.

"I said you’d left on a bus Friday morning."

Justin let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t a breath he’d known he was holding.

"So Justin," Stu said drawing the name out. "What are you doing here?"

"Escaping," Justin said. "Please Stu, you can’t tell anyone."

Stu nodded. "Who are you escaping from? You aren’t like a criminal are you? And no more lies about your parents moving here."

Justin shook his head. "My life was just too crazy. I was losing who I was. I had to get away."

"To Mill Creek?" Stu asked. "No one wants to ‘get away’ to Mill Creek."

"It was pure random luck that I ended up here," Justin said. "Pure random luck."

"Well Randy," Stu said deliberately. "I hope you find what you’re looking for."

"I already am," Justin said.