When they got to the stage, Natalie went to sit on the floor by Laura who was sitting there with a pencil and a notepad drawing something. She sat down right beside her and took the notepad. "What is this?"

Laura grinned and shrugged. "A drawing."

"Uh huh, are you drawing JC?"

Laura smiled even brighter and nodded. "YEP!"

Natalie turned to look at Laura and gave her a cautious look. "Um, how come his face is all disformed, and what's wrong with his hair?"

Laura again shrugged and took the notepad back to finish the drawing. "Because he's a jerk? I dunno."

"He doesn't seem that mean."

"Well, he is now!"

When Laura finished the picture she tore the paper out and laid it down on the floor where she was soon going to put another two pictures afterwards. "This is very fun, you should try it sometime."

"Um, I'm not exactly the best artist on earth, trust me on that one when I say it."

Laura sighed and before she would forget about the bet, she decided to get another idea in Natalie's head before the end of the day. "The guys are great, aren't they?"

Natalie shrugged and also gave a nod in the head. "Yah, they're great I guess."

"Especially Justin, he's a real nice guy."

Natalie sighed. "If you say so, he's got his moments just like everyone else."

"You already know that? Lance is the one that really gets those moments, let me tell you."

"Really? I would never suspect that of Lance, he seems down to earth and kind."

"That's what he is on the outside, just wait till you get to meet the real Lance."

"Ahh, that is interesting. Do you always talk trash about the guys?"

Laura shook her head innocently and put the notepad and pencil down on the floor with the drawing facing the floor. "No, just when I feel like it. I figure I mine as well, just to make the best of things."

"I see, interesting idea you've got going there."

"I know."

Natalie sighed and looked up at the stage and all of the things up on the stage and around, to where she eventually got to looking at all the seats. "This is absolutely nuts, this place is huge."

"I know, tell me about it, I feel bad for the fans who got seats up there, they won't be able to see the guys at all, that would really suck, what a waste of money, geez."

"Well, that's their problem, look at them, they're working hard..."

Natalie and Laura both watched as Wade continued to work the guys hard for another 20 minutes at least.

They began to do the dance to 'Pop' for the fifth time. After the first verse was over, Wade clapped his hands. "Come on guys, you always dance to this, can we get it right? Please?"

Justin let his head fall back and he sighed and cracked his neck before getting back into place. "This is getting pathetic, the first show is tomorrow night, and this song isn't even working out."

"Justin, it will be fine, just concentrate for once."

Chris then fell to the floor and he complained as he took a bottle of water to his mouth. "This is ridiculous, I'm not a dancer, I'm a singer."

"Chris, you do both, now let's get this together."

After practiciing the song two more times, the guys had gotten it down to perfection and they moved to 'Up Against the Wall'. Wade watched in satisfaction and then turned around to see what Laura was doing. He smiled, winked and waved before turning around again to make sure the guys were doing what they were supposed to be doing. "Alright, that's good, that's good."

When the chorus came to their ears, the dance moves began. Laura watched and her eyes widened. She whipped towards Natalie and gawked. "What the heck was that? Is it like a hoedown up there or something? Damn, that's messed up."

"Hey, he's your bestfriend. He choreographed it, not me, not the guys, not anyone else."

"He must have been on drugs, he would never do a thing like that. That's just completely wrong. I mean, jeez, they look like they are doing some queer dance like they would do on that dumb show 'Zoom' or whatever, heck, looks like an MMC moment if you ask me, that's beyond cheesy, now all we need is Britney and Christina to come along and dance with them, and we'll be reliving childhood if you ask me."

"Calm yourself."

Laura shook her head. "I think I should go up there, that would be fun."

"Um, why?"

Laura's eyes widened. "Why not? I wanna get in one of those suits the guys have for this dance and stick to the wall, that would be fun, don't you think?"

"And who in their right mind would let you do that?"

"Me."

"Good answer, but it's not going to happen."

Laura nodded her head and stood up. "Watch, it will happen."

"Good luck."

Laura shook her head and walked up to Wade and stood there, rocking on her heels, whispering. "Doo doo doo doo doo."

"Doo doo doo doo doo."

Wade then turned towards her and shook his head. "What do you want now?"

"Well, you know you are like my bestfriend and uh, that stage set for this song is pretty nifty and-" Laura paused as Wade held a hand up so he could tell something to the guys, then she continued. "And uh, that stage is really cool, and those wall things look pretty awesome and-"

"You should go sit down, because uh, you are not going to play on the set, I will tell you that right now."

"But, oh, please?"

Wade shook his head. "Not today."

Laura put her head down and walked back to Natalie. She sat back down on the floor and glared up at Wade before turning back to smile at Natalie. "He's a jerk."

"I told you he would say no."

Natalie grinned and then walked up to Wade. "Hey bud."

Wade turned around and eyed Natalie suspiciously before looking at Laura's big grin. "She's not going to play on the wall."

"I was gonna ask if I could..."

"Oh, well, sorry Natalie, no."

"Fine, be a jerk, see if i do anything for you again."

Wade raised one eyebrow and looked at her with a confused expression. "You have never done anything for me yet anyways."

"Oh yah, well remember this when I don't do anything for you when you ask me to, just remember that, and memorize it or something."

"Right."

Natalie walked back to where Laura was and sat down on a chair that was behind Laura where she was sitting on the floor. "He is a jerk, you weren't kidding."

"I know, how inconsiderate."

"I was kidding."

"I wasn't."

Laura grinned and put the pencil to the paper to put some finishing touches on the next picture she was drawing. "Heh, I'll show you 'jerk' right here bud, oh heck yes."

Natalie looked over Laura's shoulder to try to see what she was drawing, but she took the notepad and hugged it to her chest so Natalie couldn't see. "Nat, this picture probably isn't a good idea for everyone on earth to see, I might get my ass kicked if a certain someone sees."

"Um, who?"

"No one..."

"Sure, is it of me?"

Laura shook her head and smiled. "Nope, it's of someone else, I wouldn't draw you."

"Wade?"

"No comment."

"Uh huh."

"While we're on the topic of a guy, let's talk about another wonderful guy, oh what's his name again? Um, oh yah, Justin, so anyways, look at him dance!"

Natalie looked up and raised her eyebrows as Justin tripped and stumbled, but gracefully got back into the dance. "Yah, what a great dancer... Ahem, those tripping skills are going to get him somewhere, I tell ya man."

As Laura and Natalie continued talking about Justin, JC looked over and noticed Laura's grin and shook his head. He then stopped to look at her, trying to figure out what she was saying. Obviously, the grin read that she was talking about Justin. When Wade noticed that JC stopped dancing, he clapped his hands. "JC, come on, focus, you guys haven't been on stage in a while, and you need to practice like it is the real show, except without all of the fancy stuff."

Laura's attention was caught, and she looked at JC and grinned and mouthed the word 'loser' to him.

JC held up a hand and smiled at Wade. "I know that this day is going to be busy and all, but maybe we should take a quick break, it's not like this is a hard dance anyways, 'Girlfriend' is probably the easiest dance anywho."

Wade rolled his eyes. "Chris already called for a break five minutes ago, we don't need another break, we have to go another hour or so."

JC sighed. "I have to go to the bathroom."

Wade shook his head and growled loudly. "Fine, make it quick."

JC walked away from the guys and over to the Natalie and Laura to make a quick appearance. JC smiled at Natalie. "Hey Natalie, how are you?"

Laura raised her eyebrows and sighed. "Say 'hi' to me, why don't you?"

JC shrugged. "Oh I don't know, a bet maybe? Maybe we shouldn't communicate, you know, because of the bet and all, wouldn't want any cat fights, would we?"

Laura nodded her head. "It would be a shame if I would have to kick your ass, wouldn't it JC, aww."

"You kick my ass? Hah."

Laura smiled. "Yah, that's what I said lil white boy."

JC looked down at the floor right beside Laura and noticed the picture that she drew earlier. He bent over and picked it up. "What is this?"

Laura shrugged and stood up. "I don't know, let me see."

JC showed her the picture and Laura just smiled before giving Natalie a hard look. "Did you draw this Natalie, that's so ignorant."

JC rolled his eyes at Laura. "Natalie didn't draw this, your signature is on the corner."

"Whoops, I forgot to erase that, my bad."

"Is this what you think of me?"

"Not really, I would have drawn more but--"

Wade clapped his hands and cleared his throat. "Ahem, hey JC, thought you were going to the bathroom."

"Sorry, your friend was too busy threatening to hurt me."

Wade raised his eyebrows. "JC, She aint my friend, not when she's causing the practice to be slowed down."

Laura rolled her eyes and looked up at JC again. "JC, you're a moron, why would I be friends with a loser like Wade, ugh, get a grip, anyways, the next time you say anything mean to me, watch out, this picture, blown up, with more detail and all over the place at a concert, heck I might even ask your mom for a few embarassing pictures."

"You don't know my mom."

"We'll get acquainted, I'll find a way."

JC then turned to Natalie. "Remind me to call my mother and tell her to watch out for a weird stalker named LAURA!"

Natalie grinned and nodded her head. "I'll be sure to do that."

Wade walked over and tapped JC on the shoulder. "Ok, first of all, I thought you were going to the bathroom, and if not, then get back to practice." Then Wade leaned in to whisper. "And, just leave Laura alone, she bites."

JC smiled evilly. "You would know... don't get too jealous."

Laura kicked him in the butt as he walked away and smiled up at Wade who had a puzzled look planted upon his face. "He's just playing around."

"Oh..alright." Wade walked away.

When the guys then started to dance to 'Girlfriend', Wade watched carefully and nodded his head to the parts that were just fine. When the chorus came, Wade cringed as Chris screwed up and fell over. Wade stopped the music and walked up to him.

"Dude, you need to get this together."

Chris stood up and grinned. "I know... oh well, it's alright."

Wade rolled his eyes. "Alright, let's take it from the chorus, we need to get this evened out, it isn't that hard."

Justin nodded his head. "Yah Chris, and Lance, it isn't that hard, geez."

Joey layed down on the ground and sighed. "That's what you think man."

JC rolled his eyes. "You have an excuse..."

"What's that?"

"You're Italian."

"And that means?"

"You're allowed to be out of shape and oveweight and all that good stuff, they eat a lot, and aren't expected to be in shape like good old wonderful me."

Joey stood up and raised his eyebrows. "You calling me fat little white skinny boy? Don't mess with me."

JC rolled his eyes. "Oh please."

Wade cleared his throat to get attention. "Alright, let's do this. five...six...seven...eight..."

The guys began to do their 'hoe down' type dance moves in the chorus as the guys somewhat sang the words. When Lance stopped and fixed his clothes, Wade once again growled in frustration. "Ok, come on, can we please just focus here?"

Lance wiped his forehead. "I don't want to do this today, I don't feel good."

Wade smiled gently. "Too bad, first show tomorrow, and you guys are screwing up on one of the easiest songs, it's not that hard, it's a shame they couldn't get us a stage though..."

Lance shrugged. "We're getting one tomorrow, obviously."

"Yah, true."

When Lance wiped his forehead again, JC smiled. "Need some water?"

Lance shrugged. "Yah--"

Quickly, JC interrupted and shouted down to where Natalie and Laura were. "Natalie, why don't you bring Lance some water since your sitting there all by yourself."

Natalie raised an eyebrow and stood up and started to walk towards the stage where Wade was. "Right, ok, if you say so--"

Laura interrupted Natalie after following her. "That's alright Natalie, don't waste your breath, I'll take it."

JC was running out of ideas. "Natalie should get up, Laura, you should rest because you said you were tired earlier, didn't you?"

Laura rolled her eyes and took the water to Lance. "No, I didn't say that." Then she mouthed a few words to JC. "Nice try sweety, you aint going to win."

As Laura started to walk away, Wade grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "You still doing that bet?"

Seeing that Laura was probably going to be caught by Wade, JC clapped his hands loudly because he wasn't about to have this bet stopped, he was having too much fun, and having a little too much confidence in thinking he was going to win. "We should get practicing, come on, let's get this done."

Wade rolled his eyes and smiled down at Laura. "We'll talk about THAT later... trust me, no one will save you then."

Laura grinned innocently. "Why whatever may you be talking about oh dear Wade?"

"Whatever." Wade turned the music back on. "Alright, let's go."

Laura walked back over to where Natalie and her were sitting and she smiled as she saw that Natalie was looking at Justin. "He's a cutie, aint he?"

Natalie shook her head to try to get out of her daydream. "For the last time, I wasn't thinking about or looking at Justin."

Laura grinned. "I wasn't talking about Justin."

"You weren't? Then who were you talking about?"

Laura smiled brightly. "Chris."

"WHAT?"

Everyone looked over at Natalie because of her shout. Natalie grinned with her cheeks turning pink. "You can practice now again, sorry."

When they all turned away, Laura smiled satisfyingly. "You love Chris don't ya?"

"Oh yah, you know me."

"He's a good dancer isn't he?" Laura eyes Chris as he stumbled on a turn they had to do.

Natalie nodded her head in satisfaction, with her eyes off of Chris. "Oh yah, those moves are to die for."

Laura's smile turned into a very brighty grin and she stared at Natalie. "You aren't talking about Chris, you're talking about Justin aren't you?"

"Um, no, but like why do you seem like your insisting that I like him, I don't even know him, and I'm not about ready to go out and date an egotistical pop star."

Laura grinned and shrugged innocently. "I don't think you like him, seriously, but there would be nothing at all wrong with it."

Natalie nodded her head, pretending to agree. "Right, whatever you say Laura."

The two girls kept silent and watched the guys struggle through the rest of the song. Throughout the rest of the rehersal, the guys continued to dance, and in the end, everything worked out fine. To end the rehersal, Wade clapped his hands and nodded his head. "Ok, we're done." As everyone jumped off the stage, Wade shook his head and mumbled under his breath. "Finally."

Wade walked over to Laura and saw her laying down on a few chairs sleeping. He looked at the notepad that was now laying on her stomache and he stepped one more step so he was right in front of her, and he took the notebook. He looked at the page that was obviously drawn on and his eyes widened.

It was a picture of him. His hair was all out of place, his ears looked like there was wax coming out of them and his eyes were crossed and nose crooked while everything else was messed up. He shook his head and turned to the next page to see a picture of JC fall out, but he picked it up and smiled at the picture that looked similar to the one of him.

After looking at that picture, he looked at the next and last one which was of Chris falling and with a twinky in his mouth. He took the picture out and walked over to Chris. "Here bud, you should keep this."

Chris took it and looked at it before laughing. "That's pretty good, who is it?"

Joey walked over and chuckled. "That's you."

"No it isn't! I'm much better looking than that!"

Wade shrugged his shoulders. "Not according to Laura over there."

Chris put a hand to his chin and he smiled. "A twinky sounds prety good right about now if you ask me."

"We aren't asking you, now go get on the bus so we can go to the hotel, I'm tired, and so is everyone else." Justin said as he walked by.

He then walked to where Natalie was sitting and smiled. "Have fun?"

"OH of course, so much fun, sitting here, watching you guys, and doing nothing as Laura slept, I liked it a lot." She winked dramatically.

Justin grinned and put a hand out for her to grab so he could pull her up. "Glad you had fun, wink wink."

"Oh yah."

The two walked towards the doors as everyone else made their ways to the door. Wade walked to where Laura was once again and picked her up. "Come on sleepy."

Laura's eyes opened slowly as she let Wade carry her to the door and she looked back at JC who was walking right behind them, and she gave him a wink before closing her eyes again, pretending to sleep.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

(at the hotel on the night before the first show)

Natalie opened the door to her room and when she walked in, she dropped her bag for the night with relief. "Finally, ugh, I'm so tired."

She took her bag and took all of the bathroom items out and put them in the bathroom and then just plopped her bag by her bed. After laying down on the bed, she turned the t.v. on.

Quickly, she flipped through the channels three times and just settled on MTV. "Wow, this is a first, MTV sucks."

Natalie then looked at the phone beside her and grinned. Of course she wanted to call someone, so she took out a sheet that she had been given with all of the room numbers of everyone who was staying there. She looked at Laura's number and picked up the phone and quickly dialed.

After three rings, there was an answer. "Hello?"

Natalie grinned. "Hey Wade, put Laura on."

"You figured the phones out, I'm impressed."

"Yah yah, put Laura on."

Laura soon picked the phone up and smiled. "Hello?"

"Hey girly, it's Nat, whatchu guys doing over there?"

"Nothing really, Wade's just being a bum, watching t.v being bored, and everything else that there isn't to do. How about you?"

Taking a second to comprehend what Laura said, Natalie sighed. "Nothing really, I just wanted to call you to see what you were doing, because I'm hella bored, but I'll talk to you later."

As Natalie hung up the phone, she grabbed a book and walked over to her door to open it and lock it. Then she walked down the hallway and into the elevator where JC was standing. Natalie smiled. "Hey bud, what you up to?"

"Nothing much, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to go down to the couches downstairs and go read."

JC nodded his head and pressed the floor number for the both of them. "Well, here we go."

"On the elevetor, and taking a ride, a space ride."

JC shook his head. "No, no, no Natalie, don't go there, just don't go there."

"Hah."

When they got to the lobby, Natalie stepped out and walked over to a room that was sectioned off for lounging. She saw Lance sitting there and sat down beside him. "Hey, what are you up to now at this time of night?"

Lance shrugged. "Reading, but I'm going to be going to bed in about a half an hour, got to rest up for tomorrow, I haven't done this in a while."

"Tell me about it, I don't know if I would be able to do what you guys do."

"I bet you would, it isn't that hard, but that's mainly because it is more fun than it is hard, but not a big deal, at least not to us."

JC looked over at where Lance and Natalie were talking and whipped around, running into someone. "Sorry ma'am."

The lady glared at him and walked along. "How rude, people these days, I tell you."

JC then ran to the elevator and pressed the number of his floor where Laura's room was. When the elevator got to the top he whipped around again, running into one of his body guards. "Oh my, sorry there Lonny."

Lonny smiled and shook his head. "That's alright, skinny white boy on a run, can't help it, I forgive you this time."

"Thanks bud."

JC ran down to Laura's room and knocked loudly on the door. Wade answered it and raised an eyebrow. "Why, hello JC."

"Um, hey, is Laura there?"

Laura came to the door. "I heard my name, who was it?"

JC grinned and took her hand and then smiled at Wade. "I'm going to borrow her, ok? Be right back, seriously."

Wade shook his head and tried to stop Laura but she closed the door. "What now?"

"You need to come down to the lobby with me, now."

"Why is that?"

JC grinned happily. "Because, someone is going to win a little bet we started not too long ago."

"WHAT?"

"Aww, pick up that jaw honey, let's go look."

Laura practically ran to the elevator and also ran into Lonny. She stepped back and put her hands up. "I'm so sorry."

Lonny shook his head like usual. "White boy over there just did the same thing, it's quite alright."

"Ok, thanks, see ya."

JC and Laura then were in the elevator and when they got to the lobby floor, Laura ran to the room where JC said Natalie was and she stopped suddenly when she saw her and Lance talking on the couch. "Oh my."

JC walked up beside her and grinned. "I didn't even do it, it just happened, and look, they're talking aimlessly, it's great, isn't it?"

Laura looked at JC and shook her head. "No, that's bad."

The next thing they knew, Lance was walking towards them. He smiled and stopped to say hello. "Hey guys."

Laura smiled. "Hi Lance, going to your room? That's a good idea, you should rest up."

JC shook his head. "Look, Natalie looks lonely, you should go talk to her."

"I was just done and uh." Lance pointed towards Natalie. "She's talking to Justin now."

Laura grinned at JC who didn't even notice Justin walk by to go see Natalie.

Justin smiled at Natalie. "So, are you having fun?"

Natalie looked up and flipped her hair. "Sort of, just reading, excited for the tour and all that jazz starting tomorrow?"

"Very, what are you reading?"

"I'm reading the Lord of the Rings books actually, my friend got me caught up in them."

"Oh, sounds like great fun."

"Very much."

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?"

Natalie shrugged and nodded her head. "Actually, I am very nervous, I'm going to screw up, I hope that I don't."

Justin looked at her and stared into her eyes and shook his head confidently. "You won't screw up, if anyone I should be nervous for tomorrow, or one of the other guys, not you, you will do fine, we have a show out there to do, and if we mess up too bad, we're screwed."

"Your fans will love you no matter what."

"Yah, that's true, they don't really care much, as long as they see us, well, that's the way it seems."

Natalie grinned. "So you were in the MMC when you were little, right?"

"Let's not talk about that, I don't know what was wrong with me then, but that's nothing exciting to talk about, do you live in Florida, or did you just come down for the job?"

Natalie sighed and put her book down with the bookmark in it. "Well, I didn't originally live in Orlando, but me and my mom moved down here and I decided to go to school."

"How did you land the job?"

"My teachers found it for me actually."

"That's cool, everyone at Jive is really nice."

"Tell me about it, that's all they've ever been so far."

Justin chuckled to himself and then looked back at Natalie. "Not to be cheesy or anything, but did you know that you have really pretty green eyes? I've never been one for green eyes, but yours are actually really nice, and I'm not hitting on you, so sorry if you feel uncomfortable, but i just wanted to tell you that."

"Well, thankyou I guess, I've heard that a couple times, but not too many times."

"When did you decide you wanted to do hair?"

"Well, my mom decided that I should because that's all I ever really did, and I actually like it now, it isn't that bad, the schooling was fun, but oh well."

Justin smiled gently. "Practice was interesting today."

"I know, did you see Laura's drawings?"

"No, I'll have to look at them, I heard about the one of Chris, that bad eh?"

"Very, it was great though, but Wade wouldn't let us play on the set for 'Up Against the Wall' I was disappointed."

Justin chuckled softly. "Well, I'll have to let you do that sometime, just remind me and I'll be sure to get it in."

"We would probably have to keep it a secret because Laura would get mad..."

"Yah, probably."

"She's a riot."

Justin then stood up and grabbed Natalie's hands. "Well, it was nice talking to you, but um, if you would look behind you, I think a couple people are scheming and being very nosey." Justin said, eyeing JC and Laura.

Natalie looked back at them and then at Justin. "Ah, I see, well, I think that would be a good idea then."

Natalie stood up and hugged Justin. "Thanks for the talk, it was nice talking to you."

Justin hugged her right back and pulled away before staring into her eyes again. "The pleasure was all mine, but I'll talk to you later, and see you tomorrow definately. Don't be nervous, I'll be nice to you."

"Alright, see you later Justin."

Justin looked at Natalie one more time and winked at her before walking off.

Natalie sat back down and sighed dreamily, he did know how to put all that charm out and use it wisely.

Chapter Seven

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