Thomas Scott, their manager, had brought Jessica, Lauren, Caitlin, Kristen, and Kelli back over to the States since their debut album had been released last week and was doing really well on the pop charts. The five of them were nearly the perfect epitome of a teen dream pop group, being really good friends, and since Jessica and Kelli were cousins, that made them even closer. Thomas was quite thrilled with them, and since they were the first girl group he'd managed, he loved them even more. Their first single in the US 'Castles In The Sky' was flying up the charts and had debuted at #19 on the Billboard Radio Chart. They had an interview scheduled with MTV later today, for Total Request Live for the debut of their video for 'Castles In The Sky', along with the ultra-popular boyband *N Sync, who would be there for the retirement of their 'I Drive Myself Crazy' video.
Kelli, Kristen, Lauren, and Caitlin were ecstatic about meeting *N Sync because they thought the members of *N Sync were ultra hot. Kelli loved JC, Caitlin loved Chris, Kristen loved Joey, and Lauren had the biggest crush on Lance. Jessica really didn't know what they looked like, but she loved their music, so she was glad to be meeting them as well. Jessica was like that, she paid more attention to how the music sounded, rather than how the people who made the music looked. The other girls, even Kelli, couldn't figure out why she didn't care about how hot *N Sync was.
Jessica smiled happily as she found her sister's classroom and walked in the door.
The seniors that her sister taught looked up in surprise as an unfamiliar girl, dressed in jeans and a white tank top, rather than the uniform that everyone else wore, walked in. A flash of recognition crossed the face of a girl in the front row. "You're Jessica of Midnite Dreamerz!" she exclaimed.
Jessica smiled. "Hi everybody, what's up?" she asked rhetorically. She looked at the girl in the front row and nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm Jessica Blackburn." Jessica glanced over at her sister's desk, and raised an eyebrow slightly to see five guys surrounding it, dressed in stylish yet casual clothes, and appeared to range from about 22 to 18. One especially caught her attention, a blonde with baby blue eyes and a stunning smile, who looked to be about nineteen who was really cute.
"Jess!" her sister exclaimed as she got up to hug Jessica.
"Yo, Ms. B, why didn't you ever tell us you know Jessica of Midnite Dreamerz?" a guy with dirty blonde hair in a crew cut, who was sitting in the back row asked as Jessica and her sister hugged.
"Long time no see Nix," Jessica said, smiling.
Jessica and her sister separated. "Jessica is my sister Eric," Nikki said calmly.
Eric grinned and gave Jessica a quick once-over, obviously thinking rude thoughts.
Jessica rolled her eyes and turned to her sister. "How long till school's out?" she whispered.
"Ten minutes," Nikki whispered.
Jessica nodded and walked over to her sister's desk and sat down in her chair, introducing herself to the five guys sitting there while the students in the class returned their attention to the test they were taking.
"Hi, I'm Jessica," she introduced herself to the guy with the blonde hair and baby blue eyes she'd thought was cute.
"Rich," he said, smiling at her.
She turned to the guy next to him with an eyebrow ring. "J," he siad, shaking her hand.
"Scott," the guy next to him with spikes in his hair said.
"Abs," said another guy with dark brown hair that was almost black.
"Sean," said the last guy, who had his hair shaved.
"Nice to meet you," they all said in unison, then grinned. They hadn't planned on doing that.
They talked quietly amongst themselves as they waited for the final bell to ring. Jessica learned that the five of them were in one of her favorite groups, Five. "Boy I feel like an idiot...I love your music and I have no idea what you looked like," she said with a grin.
"Nah, it's alright. It's pretty cool actually, to meet someone who likes us more for our music than for what we look like," Scott said.
"Very much so," Abs said.
Jessica smiled at them, then made a face as the pager on her hip let out a shrill beep simultaneously with the bell ringing. "Oh man...I hate this thing," Jessica said, glaring down at it.
J laughed. "We hate ours too most of the time."
Jessica smiled at him, and stood up long enough to pull a Star Tac phone out of her jeans pocket.
Eric sauntered up to the desk, his swagger making it apparent that he thought he was 'all that'. "Hey Jessica," he said.
Jessica looked up from her phone, "What?"
"Wanna go out tonight? I'll make it worth your while..." Eric said, moving his hip suggestively.
"Sure, Eric. I'll go out with you..." Jessica started.
"What?!" J exclaimed.
"...the day that you lose your 'I'm all that and I know you want me' attitude, which roughly equates to be never," Jessica finished.
Eric shrugged, "Your loss." He swaggered out the door, never losing his attitude.
"Grr...I hate jocks!" Jessica exclaimed, glaring at Eric's retreating back.
The guys snickered as Eric turned around and winked at Jessica with what was obviously his idea of a 'come and get it' look as he walked out he door.
Jessica made a gagging noise and pretended to throw up. "I think I just may kill him," she said sweetly as she dialed her phone. "Thomas?....What do you need?...Oh, our interview got moved up?...Thirty minutes at the at MTV studio?...Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can...Oooh, new tour information?...Opening act?...For who?...No fair! Why can't you tell me now?!...Oh fine, I'll be there as soon as I can...You're mean Thomas!...Bye," she pressed the disconnect button on the phone with a grin on her face.
The grin on her lips changed to an apologetic smile as she looked at Five and her sister. "I'm really sorry guys, but our taping with MTV got moved up to 4:00, which is thirty minutes from now, so I really have to go," she apologized.
"Don't worry bout it Jess," Nikki said. "We're going to the MTV studio too."
"You are? Why?" Jessica directed her question to Five.
"We have a taping for MTV 1515," J explained. He slid his arms around Nikki's waist from behind her. "And since Nix here is my girlfriend, and we're going to announce it to the public today, she's coming with us."
Jessica whirled around to face Nikki. "That has been going on for how long without you telling me Nikki?"
Nikki blushed and tilted her head to smile at J, who kissed her softly on the cheek. "We've been dating for five months now."
"Y'know Nix, I'd be more mad if it wasn't for the fact that I haven't been in the States for seven months," Jessica said jokingly. "Anyways, congrats you guys!"
"Thanks sis," Nikki said. J turned her around and kissed her on the lips.
After a few minutes, as J and Nikki got increasingly into the kiss, Jessica grabbed her stomach. "I think I'm gonna woof my cookies!" she declared jokingly.
Nikki and J broke apart. Nikki started laughing while the guys just looked confused, not understanding the American slang.
"It means that I feel like I'm gonna throw up," Jessica explained to them.
Their faces cleared in understanding and they nodded.
"Ah, I get it now," Rich said.
"Guys, we kinda gotta get going," Sean said, looking at the clock.
"Oh yeah," Abs said, standing up.
Rich extended his arm to Jessica and she linked arms with him. They followed Nikki and J out of the school building and into the limo that was waiting to take them to the MTV studio.