Thursday, March 8, 2001: Orlando, FL

"It’s like the battle of David and Goliath," Lance read off the computer screen in front of him. "Like the Indiana Hoosiers making their way to an unprecedented State Championship in 1952--history is repeating itself. Little Mill Creek’s Mustangs (15-2) will play Winchester’s Pirates (17-0) for the State title tomorrow night at the Kansas State gymnasium."

"He’s really been playing basketball?" Chris asked. He rested his chin heavily in the cupped palm of his hand. "That was his commitment? A freaking basketball game."

"The Mustangs are led by seniors Randy Smith and Joshua Perkins," Lance continued, "who, as a team, appear to be nearly unstoppable."

"He’s been willingly going to school?" Joey asked. "What sort of nerd is he?"

"Which one is he?" JC asked. "Randy or Joshua."

"He could be either," Joey said. "Either he took his middle name or your name." Joey stared pointedly at JC.

"Or neither," Lance said.

"Don’t they show pictures?" JC asked. "We don’t even know for sure that it’s him--that he’s there, even."

Lance moved the mouse across the mouse pad and clicked on various links.

"If his hair were brown with frosted tips," Lance said suddenly, "and was short."

The three other guys stood up and leaned towards the screen. "Randy Smith."

"Huh," Joey said. He grinned. "Randy Smith. You’d think he could be a little more original."

Justin walked down the hall, Maggie by his side. His fingers flexed, itching to take her hand in his, but he stuck his hand in his pocket instead.

"I’ll see you later," Maggie said stopping in the hallways outside her classroom. She gave Justin a tight smile and rested her hand on his arm for a brief instant.

He smiled back, but the smile faded as soon as her back was turned towards him.

"Do you really think he’s miserable?" Chris asked.

JC nodded. "His girl sounded earnest."

"What if he set her up to it to try to get himself an extra few days?" Chris asked.

Lance looked away from the computer screen--away from Justin’s picture. "He wouldn’t do that, would he?"

"He’s tried everything else," Chris said.

"I don’t think he did," JC said. "She--she didn’t sound like she was making it up. She said that he was miserable and that after Friday he’d have nothing to stay for."

"Why’d she call then?" Joey asked.

"She said she loved him," JC said. He rested his head in his hands. "And somehow, for some reason, I believe her."

"So?" Stu asked as he sat down next to Justin in the locker room. He dropped his voice to a whisper.

"So?" Justin asked. He looked up at Stu and his contact colored eyes were cloudy.

"Did you--?"

Justin nodded.

"And?" Stu asked. He leaned closer to Justin.

"She can’t handle it," Justin said. "She said she’d try to get to know me and then six hours later that she couldn’t handle it."

"Oh. Shit." Stu rested a hand on Justin’s shoulder. "You guys seemed fine today."

"We’re friends," Justin said bitterly. He stared at his clasped hands for a moment, and then turned to Stu. "That’s all I can ever be with girls because none of them want to deal with the reality of me being me." He paused. "Or that’s all they want."

"You know Maggie--"

"I know that yesterday morning we were fine and now," Justin said. "Now I’m more alone than I was when I came here. I love her, okay? I fucking love her and now I don’t know what to do."

"If you guys were meant to be together," Stu trailed off.

"Then it’ll work itself out, right?" Justin asked. He shook his head. "Not in my world, Stu. In my world things are so fucked up that the normal proverbs--the normal rules--well, they don’t work."

"She knows you’re staying, though, right?" Stu asked.

Justin nodded. "I told her."

"You told her it’s over?" Stu asked. He clarified. "That ‘N SYNC is over?"

Justin was silent for a moment. "She knows and she still couldn’t handle it."

"And you aren’t even going to fight for her," Stu said. "It almost sounds like you can’t handle it."

"We could give him one last chance," Lance said quietly.

"We made the deal," Chris said. "We made it with him. We made it with us. He knows we’re over."

"We’re over," Lance repeated. He snorted quietly. "Somehow I never really thought we’d say that."

"If he’s really miserable, though," Joey said. "I mean, if he wants to be here, but feels an obligation to be there--"

"He does," JC interrupted. "I don’t know why, but I think he really does."

"--Then maybe he would come back on Friday," Joey finished.

"Maybe," Chris said.

"We could go see him," Lance said. "We know where he is. We could give him the chance and if he still said no, right to our faces--" He stopped talking.

"I know I said I was done," Joey said, "but how about all of us? Are we really done?"

He was met with silence.

Justin knocked on Maggie’s door.

"Yeah?" Her voice was faint.

"Can I come in?" he asked. "I need to talk to you."

Maggie opened the door. "Yeah," she said. "What’s up?"

Justin walked past her and sat down on her bed. He sighed deeply. "I know I said that I’d leave the status of our relationship up to you, but--"

"But what?" Maggie asked. She was still standing by the door, but now her arms were crossed tightly under her breasts.

"But I love you," Justin said, "and I’ve never been able to say that before."

"Yeah," Maggie said. She sounded disbelieving.

"I haven’t," Justin said. "What I thought was love is nothing compared to what I feel for you and I can’t let you go without a fight."

"What am I supposed to say, Ran-Justin?" Maggie asked. "I can’t do it." She moved her hands in a useless gesture. "We can be friends, Randy, and not mess up what we’ve spent so long. What we have."

"But I believe we can make a relationship work," Justin said. "I’m not going back, Maggie. I already made that decision. I’m here until the end of the year. So, I’m no longer Justin Timberlake, really, I’m just another guy."

 "You sound like the Randy I know." Maggie stared at Justin. "But I look at you and know you aren’t."

"I am," Justin said. "I want to be with you. I love you too much to let you go." He saw tears well up in Maggie’s eyes. "Give it a chance, at least. For me. For us?"

Maggie sniffled.

"Just get to know me," Justin said. "I can promise you that I’m not any different from Randy Smith."

Slowly Maggie nodded.

"Oh, thank god," Justin said. He took a deep breath and opened his arms inviting Maggie into his embrace.

In less than a second she was in his lap and kissing him.

He scooted backwards and lay down on the bed, pulling Maggie down with him.

Later, Justin touched her kiss-swollen lips and ran a hand over her sweatshirt covered arm.

"We’ll be okay," he said.

"Justin," Maggie said softly. She ran her finger through her hair and tugged out a knot. "I have something to tell you." She swallowed.

"What?" Justin asked.

"Last night," Maggie said. She swallowed again.

"What," Justin said. He ran his hand down her arm again and then back up in a caressing motion.

Maggie buried her face in his chest. "I--uh." She stopped. "I didn’t want you to stay for me."

"Maggie," Justin said as he ran his hand over hair. "I’m staying for me. You’re just a perk." He grinned down at Maggie, but she didn’t return his smile.

"Last night," she started again and sniffled. "I’m sorry."

"It’s okay," Justin said, unsure of what he was saying was okay.

Friday, March 9, 2001: Wichita, KS

"I’m going to throw up," Matt said as he walked onto the court of the gymnasium. "Fuck. Look at all these seats."

Justin looked up and around the seating areas. He spotted where he and Stu had sat for the K State-KU game. The place looked larger from the court.

"This is fucking huge." Stu turned around in the center of the court. He raised his hands to his face and cupped them around his mouth. "We are number one!" he yelled.

Kevin let out a whoop and the sound echoed around the empty gym.

"I know it looks big," Coach said, "but this court is the same size as the one we’ve been playing in for the last four months."

Justin nodded. He’d performed in bigger. Much bigger.

"We’re good at the game we play," Coach said. "We deserve to be here, boys."

"Yeah," Matt said. He pumped a fist in the air.

"Let’s warm up," Coach said.

Justin knelt down on the cold locker room floor. His shorts didn’t cover his knees. He clasped his hands in front of him and closed his eyes. "Please let us win," he muttered. "Please let it all be worthwhile."

"It was worthwhile," Stu said from behind him. "You know it was."

"Randy," Matt said from the door of the locker room. "Your other half wants to see you."

Justin stood up, using the hard wooden bench to push himself up. He saw Stu give him a concerned look.

"It’s okay," Justin said. "We’re okay now. We worked it out."

Stu nodded. "The Randy I know never gives up without a fight."

"Yeah," Justin said. He headed to the door of the locker room and stepped out into the miniature foyer.

"Hey," Maggie said. She pushed herself away from the wall. "I just wanted to wish you good luck."

"Thanks," Justin said. He looked out towards the court. "We’re going to need it."

"No, you aren’t," Maggie said. "You all are going to do just fine."

"Ha," Justin said. He grinned, though.

"We couldn’t have done this without you, Justin," Maggie said. "Just know that. Without you we would have been another average team from Mill Creek. With you--because of you--we’ve done better than ever before."

Justin blushed.

"I don’t know if your choice was worth it," Maggie said. She swallowed. "But thank you."

"I told Stu," Justin said softly, "it wasn’t any choice at all."

"It was," Maggie said. "We both know it was."

The lot outside the Kansas State gymnasium was filling up quickly when Lonnie pulled the van into a parking spot. He looked over his shoulder at the four men and the three other bodyguards sitting in the back seats.

"I don’t like this, guys." Lonnie tried to frown at them.

"When do we ever do things you like?" Chris asked. "We talked about this all night. And we just spent three hours on a flipping plane. We aren’t turning back now."

"I could just go in there and get him," Lonnie said. "Then you all could have a happily ever after reunion here in the safety of this van."

"No," JC said. "We need to see his life. He’s in there, Lonnie, his life is in there, and we need to convince him to come back out with us."

Lonnie sighed and opened the driver’s side door.

"You all stick together," he said. "And no drawing attention to yourself. Blend."

"Yes, Dad," Joey said. He pulled the baseball hat down low over his face and pulled a sweatshirt up over the top.

"Good," Lonnie said. "Now, if any of you screw off, you’re going to be back in the car alone faster than you can blink. Got me? This place is a completely insecure breeding house for teenage girls and it’s just asking for--"

"We got you, Lonnie," Lance said. "Now, can we please just get in there?"

The group of eight men began moving toward the large building, with Lonnie wandering a few steps behind, muttering "I just don’t like this."

Justin jogged around the court, breathing in deeply through his nose and out through his mouth.

He looked at the players on the other team, the Winchester Pirates, warming up on half of the court. The players seemed to be even larger than the Parker players were and their moves were precise, methodical, perfectly executed.

He focused his eyes back on the line painted on the gym floor in front of him. He didn’t see the eight men making their way through the stands and sitting down.

"Where is he?" Lance asked. "They’re red, right? Mill Creek is red?"

"Yeah," Chris said, slapping him lightly on the back of the head. "Why else do you think we’re all wearing red?"

Lance blushed.

"There," JC said. He pointed at the court. "There he is. He’s jogging."

"Shit," Joey said. "Look at him out there."

Justin caught the ball as Stu passed it to him. He jogged down the court, trying to ignore the large player following his every move.

"Back off," he said, but the words came out as more of a growl.

The other player just moved a step closer.

"Perkins," Justin called as he tossed the ball through the air. He watched as Josh caught the ball and went up for a basket.

The ball went in and they were only behind by six.

"Look at him," Joey said. He watched Justin bring the ball down the court again. "He’s really good."

"We always knew he was," Lance said.

"Do you think he’ll come back?" Chris asked.

The conversation stopped.

"Mill Creek is a come from behind team, Al," one newscaster said into his microphone. "They thrive on the pressure of having to play catch up."

"You’re right about that, Bob," Al said into his own microphone. "If the Mustangs can keep the game within ten, they have a good chance of taking the title tonight."

"Last year," Bob said, "this team won a single game. This year they’ve only lost three. What has happened?"

"They got Randy Smith," Al said. "He’s phenomenal on the court. And Joshua Perkins has finally matured into the player that we all knew he could be."

The red crowd behind them began cheering loudly.

"And Mill Creek scores another two," Bob said. "And they’ve managed to bring it within three at the end of the half."

"I don’t think Winchester was expecting this," Al said.

"You guys are doing great," Coach said. He smiled at the ten players collapsed on the bench. "I couldn’t ask for better."

The ten players grinned.

"Now," Coach said, "since this is the last time I’ll be able to say this, take the ball out and bring it back in."

Eleven hands went into the center of an impromptu huddle.

"Win!" the ten players shouted. The word echoed around the otherwise empty locker room.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked Maggie. "You’re looking a little lost."

"I’m fine," Maggie said.

"Everything’s fine with you and Randy?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," Maggie said. She looked down at the court. "It’s great."

"Stu said--" Emily started.

"Stu doesn’t know what he’s talking about," Maggie interrupted.

JC looked at the people in the stands around him.

"They’re all counting on this, aren’t they?" he asked quietly.

Lance nodded.

Justin dribbled the ball down the court. He tossed it to Matt, who took two bounces before he picked the ball up. Justin watched the shot clock tick downwards.

"Pass it," he said loudly, hoping Matt would hear him.

Matt looked at him and sent the ball flying in Justin’s direction.

Justin had just touched it with the tips of his fingers when he was suddenly hitting the ground. He heard whistles blowing and buzzers sounding.

"Shit," Maggie said. She stared out at the court as she stood up. "Oh my god."

"Shit," JC said. "He’s down."

"He’s not getting up," Chris said. His fists were clenched tightly. "Why isn’t he getting up?"

"He is," Joey said. "See, he’s struggling to his feet."

"He’s holding his wrist," Lance said.

Justin winced as he shook his wrist. He looked up at the clock and felt a sense of dejavú. There was a minute left in the fourth quarter. The difference was that this time they were ahead by one.

"Smith." The announcer’s voice was loud in the gym. "Two shots."

Justin flexed his wrist. He met Coach’s worried gaze and nodded that he was okay. He looked up into the stands, quickly attempting to find Maggie. He smiled at her.

"Did he just see us?" Chris asked. "I swore he just smiled at us."

"Maybe he really is ready to come back," Joey said.

"How would he know we were here," JC said.

Justin closed his eyes as the second of his two shots went in. They were ahead by three with one minute left in the game.

Fifteen seconds later the game was tied.

Twelve seconds after that Mill Creek was ahead by two.

Fourteen seconds and a foul by Matt later, Winchester was ahead by one.

There were 19 seconds on the clock as Justin took the ball down the court for the final time. He moved quickly, but carefully.

With ten seconds left he saw Josh free himself from his defender.

With eight seconds left the ball reached Josh’s hands.

With six seconds left Josh went up for the shot and with three seconds left the ball went in.

As the buzzer rang, one of the Winchester players lobbed the ball down the court and the entire building watched as it bounced off of the backboard.

The Mill Creek fans stormed the court for the final time that season.

Lance had his eyes on Justin. He saw his friend wrapped around a girl frantically kissing her.

"That’s his girl," he said.

"Not his normal type, is she?" Chris asked.

"You mean she looks real?" JC asked.

"So what do we do?" Joey asked. "Do we leave and pretend like we were never here, or do we go say hi?"

"I don’t know," Lance said. "Can we take him away from here?"

"We talked about this," Chris said. He stood up. "We’re going to say hi. We’re getting closure on this tonight."

"We could do it a little less publicly," Lance said.

"No," Chris said. "We need to tell him that we gave him the time he asked for. He needs to know that."

Justin felt like the world was exploding around him. One arm was wrapped tightly around Maggie’s shoulders as he was accepting congratulations from what seemed like the entire town. He smiled widely when he saw Coach holding up the large silver trophy. He held up the felt banner next.

The banner that he’d wanted to see on the wall of the Mill Creek gym.

"Smith," Josh said, weaving his way through the crowd.

"Perkins," Justin said. He nodded with a full smile on his lips.

"Good game, bro," Josh said. He pulled Justin into a hug, which Justin returned wholeheartedly.

"We did it," Matt said as bounced over. "We fucking did it. We’re State Champions! We are the FUCKING State Champions."

Stu nearly jumped on Justin’s back he was jumping around so enthusiastically. "It was so worth it, dude. Whatever I said before, I take it back."

Justin turned around and pulled him into a hug.

When Stu tensed in the middle of the hug, though, Justin pulled away. "What’s wrong?"

"Don’t turn around," Stu whispered, "Justin."

Justin turned around.

"Congratulations, Justin," JC said. He was smiling, but the action was strained, Justin could tell.

Justin felt the world freeze and his heart speed up. His arms fell to his sides. He looked at Stu, but the other teen looked just as confused as he felt. He looked at Maggie who had become a pasty shade of white.

Justin looked forward again. He wasn’t sure whether to smile or to turn around and run.

"Oh my god, it’s ‘N SYNC!" a girl in the crowd screamed. The general chatter suddenly seemed to increase ten-fold.

He started to turn around.

"Justin," Lance said.

Justin turned back around and noticed that the bodyguards had closed in around the guys, prepared to do battle with the crowd.

"Justin?" he heard Matt say behind him. "Randy? Dude?"

Justin looked at Maggie again. He blinked once, twice. She had taken another step away from him.

"I’m sorry," Maggie said softly. "They needed you. I’m so sorry."

Justin looked at her for another brief instant before turning away.

"Justin," Chris said. "Come on, man."

Justin looked at Stu again and then at Maggie. Tears were dripping down her cheeks. Emily was standing by her side.

"It’s Justin Timberlake!" a girl suddenly screamed.

"Justin?" Matt asked again.

Justin looked at Stu for a third time. "You were right, fairy tales can’t last forever."

With his head down he walked towards the guys.

The crowd was suddenly pressing against him, not in the friendly congratulatory way they had been earlier, but in the clawing fashion he had once been used to.

"It’s Justin!" another voice came out of the crowd.

Justin looked up when he stood in front of JC. "I’m ready to go," he said.

The five men, together again for the first time in months, nearly ran to the van. Lonnie started the car and was about to pull away when they saw a figure running towards them.

"Justin!" Stu called. "Randy!" He held Justin’s game bag with his clothes.

Lonnie rolled won the window of the van and grabbed the bag. He quickly pulled out of the parking spot.

"Bye," Justin said softly. Uncomfortable silence filled the van.

"You did really good out there tonight," Joey said.

Chris leaned over from his spot in the back seat and cuffed Justin on the back of the head. "You fucker."

"Care to explain the last four months in detail to us?" JC asked.

Justin shook his head. "We’ll talk tomorrow," he said. "I don’t think I can do it tonight."