"Justin!"

16-year-old Justin Timberlake turned his head at the sound of someone calling his name. "What?" he said, when he saw Anne, the public relations assistant running his way.

"Come on," she said, taking his wrist. "There's someone I want you to meet," she said, literally pulling him to a room off of the "I Want You Back" set.

Justin inwardly groaned. Like I NEED another face to remember, he thought to himself.

Anne opened a door into on of the green rooms. In the center of the room there was a table, with a flower arrangement in the center. Sitting at the table, there was a girl who seemed to be drawing the flowers. Justin's first impression was that she was very beautiful. Her chin length brown hair was constantly falling in her eyes, which he could only catch glimpses of because they were on the sketch pad. But when he did see them, he could see that they were a beautiful blue.

Anne cleared her throat, getting both the attention of Justin and the girl. "Mackenzie, I brought someone to meet you."

Mackenzie. What a beautiful name, Justin thought. Then he gave himself a mental slap on both cheeks. God that was cheesy.

"Mackenzie Nelson, this is Justin Timberlake. Justin Timberlake, this is Mackenzie Nelson," Anne said.

Mackenzie looked him up and down. Suddenly, he felt like a piece of meat and he had no idea why. "Hi," she said carefully, and went back to her sketch pad.

Justin looked at Anne expectantly. "Well, she's, ah...kind of a wallflower. One of the most anti-social fifteen-year-olds I've ever seen," Anne answered in a hushed whisper.

"I am not a wallflower," Mackenzie answered without looking up. "I'm just a very busy person."

"If I had a dime for everytime you were 'just busy', do you think I'd be working?"

"Just go away, Anne. I'm working," Mackenzie said, her tone on the border of patience and impatience.

Anne threw up her hands in disgust. "Fine, O Anti-social one. Are you coming out onto the set?"

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. "I don't see why I'm needed there, but yeah, I'll come out in a little while."

"Good-bye," Anne said, opening the door and going through it. Justin started out too, but Mackenzie stopped him.

"No, Justin, you stay." Wordlessly, he obeyed. She finally looked up at him, directly in the eyes. "I'm not really a witch. I just talk like that to people I don't like," she smiled.

Justin rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. I don't really like her either."

Mackenzie raised her eyebrows. "Well. Someone agrees with me. That has to be a first." Her eyes returned to the arrangement of daisies and tiger lilies on the table, moving between that and the sketch pad in her lap. "So," she said. "Not to be rude, but what exactly is it that you do around here?"

"Actually, I'm in the group," he said.

This attracted Mackenzie's attention. "*N Sync, huh? How old are you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Sixteen," he answered.

Hot dang, he grew up nicely, Mackenzie thought to herself. But all she said was a whispered, "Go figure." After a few more second of silence, she said, "So, how do you like Europe so far?"

Justin shrugged. "It's okay. I haven't really gotten to see much except the inside of the studio, car, and Anne's house."

"Oh God, you've stayed at that woman's house? Heaven help you. I would stay with that woman for a couple HOURS when I was little and it made me want to shoot myself."

"Really?" he said. He shuddered. "To think that that woman is partly responsible for mine and the group's image." He shuddered again.

Mackenzie laughed. It was a clear, loud laugh, Justin noticed. "Oh, don't you worry. You gonna be shooting pretty boy images before you can say Annie get your gun, we're going rabbit hunting."

It was Justin's turn to laugh. "You're pretty funny, you know that?" he said.

She flipped her hair. "I try. I try." After a few more giggles from each of them, she said again, "But seriously, what you have seen, what do you think of it?"

Justin smiled. "I like it. It's really pretty."

Mackenzie smiled. "Yeah, that's what I said the first couple times. After you've been here more than a few times, it kind of loses it's magic," she said.

Justin thought for a minute. "So...what are you doing here, Mackenzie?"

Mackenzie looked up again and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Call me Mac or Macky. They're much shorter. And my parent's are both technicians, and they're working on the set today. And there's much a buzz about them being stage managers on your tour. So we might be spending more time than what we bargained for together," she smirked cutely.

Justin smiled. "I think I could handle it."

She blushed. "I think we should go now," she said, closing her sketch pad.

They both stood. Mackenzie looked up at Justin in shock and Justin looked down to her the same.

"You're tall," she stated.

"You're short," he said matter-of-factly.

She held up a finger at him. "Not short. Vertically challenged," she stressed. Opening the door, she asked, "How tall are you?"

"Six foot even. How short are you?" he asked with a grin.

She glowered. "Watch it buddy. A well-placed knee can do wonders for your manhood. Or, should I say from that point on, lack thereof." She left him, still surprised. "I'm five feet tall," she said, stressing the tall part.

He smiled. "Oh yeah. I'm gonna like her. She's a little spitfire alright."

"And five, six, seven, eight!" the choreographer counted off.

Justin quietly sighed as him, Joey, JC, Chris, and Lance mindlessly went through the steps to I want you back that they had danced so many times that day, Justin thought he could have danced it in his sleep. In fact, I probably WILL be dancing this in my sleep tonight! he thought.

The choreographer interrupted his thoughts when he said, "Okay, we'll take that. You guys go break for about five minutes. The cameras aren't ready yet."

"Let's find some FOOD!" Chris exclaimed.

"Yeah I'm starving," Joey said.

"Like THAT'S anything new," JC said, a smile playing his features.

Joey glared at him. "You're picking on the wrong person. Justin's the true garbage disposal of the five of us." Joey, JC, Lance, and Chris walked towards the green room off of the studio. "Hey, Justin, are you coming?" Joey called back.

Justin had just caught Mackenzie sitting in a chair along the wall. "Nah, you guys go ahead."

JC came running back to him. "Justin, are you alright?" he asked in a worried tone.

Justin looked at him. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

"You sure? You eaten anything today?" JC asked.

Justin clenched his teeth. Just because he was the youngest at sixteen, JC was always treating him like a child. Which, by law he still was, but he was more mature than that. He loved JC as a brother, and nothing could change that, but this kind of thing really ticked him off. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've eaten, I'm just not hungry now, okay?"

Taken aback a bit, JC started towards the green room. "Well, if you're sure…"

"Yeah I'm sure," he said, and he walked over to Mackenzie, her nose still buried in her sketch pad. "Whatcha working on, Macky?"

Mackenzie jumped. "God, Justin, you scared the beejeezus out of me," she said. "Nothing much. You wanna see it?"

Justin sat in the folding chair next to her. "Sure," he said, and leaned over so that he could see.

"It's a picture of you guys dancing," she explained. He was amazed at her ability and detail. Her rough sketch showed every crease in their clothes, and the details applied to their faces was just exquisite. She had captured Chris' happy-go-lucky attitude and JC's extreme concentration.

"Wow," he said. "Macky, this is amazing."

"It's not my best work," she said. "Would you like to see more?"

"Yeah!" he said. She turned the page to the flower arrangement that she had been drawing that afternoon. The flowers almost seemed to be alive, and he half believed that if he reached out and touched them, they would be more than paper. She flipped to another page to reveal a detailed portrait of a little girl and a little boy holding hands and sitting in front of a fountain. "Wow," he said again.

She smiled. "I drew that in Munich when we were there a few weeks ago. It's amazing. There are so many things that I want to draw, but only so much time," she said.

"I know," he said.

"Justin?" he heard a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw his mother standing there.

"Oh. Hi mom. Mom, this is Macky. Macky, this is my mom," Justin said.

"Hi," Mackenzie said shyly. Justin now saw that Mackenzie was shy with a person who she didn't know, and then she either liked them, or she didn't like them like she didn't like Anne.

"You can call me Lynn, Hon," the woman said. "Did you draw those?" she asked.

"Yes," Mackenzie said shyly.

"You're very talented, Macky."

"Thank you."

"Hey, mom, you should see the one of us guys dancing," Justin started.

"WE'RE READY TO GET ROLLING NOW!" said someone who looked like they knew what was going on.

Justin rolled his eyes. "That's my cue. Bye."

She smiled. "Bye."

"Justin? Hello? Justin Timberlake? Planet Earth, calling Justin Timberlake, hello, are you in there?" Chris tried one more time. "That's it. He's lost all contact with Land of the Living."

JC sighed. "Let me try." He walked up to Justin and yelled in his ear, "JUSTIN!"

Justin jumped about a foot in the air. "Why did you just burst my ear drum?" he demanded.

"We’re between shots now," Lance explained. He frowned. "What were you staring at?"

Joey grinned. "I think the better question, Lansten, is who. Who was he staring at?"

Justin groaned. "Shove it Joe."

"Ah ha! So I was right! What's her name?" Joey said as he hopped over to where Justin was standing.

Justin shook his head. "Do you guys have anything better to do than torment me?" he whined.

"No," they all answered.

Justin sighed. "Okay, over there," he pointed to where Mackenzie was still seated in the same chair, still drawing away and talking to his mother at the same time. The guys followed his hand and Joey did a double take. "Woah…" he said.

"Down Joey," Justin said, stretching his back. "She's fifteen."

"Say what? Dang, milk did her body good," he said, scratching his head.

"Well, her parents might be stage managers on our tour, so get used to the sight of her," Justin said.

"She's awfully pretty for fifteen," Lance said. Justin glared at him. "Just reporting what I see," he said, bringing up his hands in defense.

Chris jumped on Justin's back, bringing him to his knees. "I think someone has a crush."

Justin leaned over, allowing Chris to be dumped over his head and off his back. "Do not," he protested as Chris cried out in pain from being dumped on the floor. "Besides, this is only the beginning. Only the beginning…"

--We've Only Just Begun, By The Carpenters