~~~~~~~~~~» Liz «~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure that this is the right way?" I asked Chrys as I looked at the Raleigh road map for the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

We were driving around Raleigh trying to find our way to the airport before Tina and Court’s flight came in. I insisted that we leave the hotel early, just in case we got lost and couldn’t be there in time. Good thing we left early, because we drove around for half an hour until we stopped at a gas station and got directions.

"There it is," Chrys said when the purple FedEx planes came into view. "Looks like we’re going to be right on time."

I looked at the clock. It said 3:20...their flight was scheduled to come in at 3:35, which meant that we could take our time getting to the gate and avoiding fans at the same time. I decided not to call the airport for security because the word would leak out if I did that, like it always did with the guys. Once we had our rented Suburban parked in short-term parking, I put a navy fisherman hat on, and we both hopped out and headed for the doors. The security checkpoint was the worst for people to recognize us, so we hurried through and went on our way to the gate. We were a few minutes early, so we sat down and chatted quietly while we waited. I looked up when a woman and her two daughters walked up to us. The woman smiled and the two girls giggled a little when I smiled back. The older girl was wearing a hat similar to mine with a bandana tied around her head underneath it.

"Excuse us, but has anyone ever told you that you look like that nice girl that sings the song with the blond Backstreet Boy?" a woman asked in a hushed voice so she didn’t attract attention.

"Actually, yes, I get that a lot," I replied with a laugh.

Chrys smiled and tried to keep from laughing, which was hard when these people didn’t know that it really was me that they were talking to.

"Well, could my girls get a picture with you anyway?"

"Most certainly," I said with a smile. "What’s your names?" I asked the girls.

"I’m Katie," the older of the two said happily.

"And I’m Jessica," the other replied.

"How old are you girls?" I asked as I moved forward a little in my seat and waved them to come over to where I was.

"I’m 8," Katie replied. "Jess is 6."

I looked over at Chrys and smiled.

"Well, my name is Liz, but you can call me Ellz if you’d like to...most people call me that anyway," I said while I pulled my hat off and ran my fingers through my hair as their mother got her camera ready.

The look of shock that appeared on their faces was priceless. When they saw me put my finger up to my lips to keep them quiet, they refrained from screaming or causing a commotion. I laughed a little while I pulled Jess onto my lap and smiled while the mother snapped picture after picture with the two girls. I smiled when Katie reached over and stroked my long blond hair with admiration that only a child could have.

"So are you coming to the show?" I asked as Jess slid off my lap and stood next to me.

"Mommy tried to get tickets for us, but there weren’t any left," Jess said sadly.

"Awww...I’m sorry to hear that," I replied with a sad face. "Would you like to come see the show anyway?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!!!" Jess burst out happily.

"Well, why don’t you talk to my friend Chrystal here for a second while I talk to your mom," I told her while I pointed at Chrys. "She’s one of my dancers, so you’ll see her at the show."

"Ok," the girls said with smiles.

Once I told their mother of the arrangements that would take place, I heard the call for Tina and Court’s flight come over the intercom system.

"We’ve got to go now, but we’ll see you two later ok?"

They nodded and waved as Chrys and I got up to go to the arrival gate. I pulled the hat back onto my head with a smile just as the first few passengers walked out of the gate. Chrys and I exchanged looks before I lowered my head and turned a little so I was facing Chrys instead of the gate. When I heard Tina’s voice a few feet away, I nodded my head a little to Chrys. She walked over to Tina and Court as they walked out of the gate.

"OH MY GOSH!!!! It’s been FOREVER!!!!" Chrys exclaimed as she hugged both girls ecstatically.

"Um...I think you have the wrong people," Tina said, totally taken back at Chrys’ outburst. "Come on Court."

I was looking at the ground from where I was standing, leaning up against a wall and listening to everything that was going on.

"No, you’re the right people," Chrys said as she took hold of Tina’s arm and stopped her from leaving. "Well...at least I’m pretty sure you’re the people I’m looking for. Don’t you know who I am?"

I had a hard time trying not to laugh at the whole situation. I turned to face the three of them, but stayed standing where I was and listened with a smile on my face.

"Uh, no," Court replied. "Are you sure you know us?"

I couldn’t help it anymore. I let out a little laugh as I took a few steps closer to where they were standing.

"She doesn’t know who you are, but I do," I told them as I approached them with my head down still.

"Oh...duh! I guess I forgot to mention that," Chrys said sarcastically with a wink.

I slowly looked up just enough so I could see, even though the bill of my hat was covering my eyes. It took them a few seconds to realize who was standing in front of them.

"Oh my gosh!!!" Tina exclaimed happily as she gave me a huge hug. "Why haven’t you called? BRAT!!!"

"Sorry. I’ve been just a TINY bit busy," I replied with a shy smile as I gave Court a hug. "And this is Chrystal. She’s one of my dancers."

"Hi," Tina said with a smile as she shook Chrys’ hand.

"Hi," Chrys replied while she shook Court’s hand.

"Soooooo...enough of the introductions. We’ve got to get back to the hotel before sound-check," I told them before I started to walk off.

"One little question," Court said as we walked toward the baggage claim. "Why is there no security?"

"Well," I started as we walked up to where their bags were already waiting on the carousel. "Whenever security comes or the airport is called, there is ALWAYS a snitch giving plans away, so I decided not to have any on this trip. Everything’s been good so far...no mobs as of yet."

"Yeah," Chrys agreed. "But we did meet these two adorable girls just before you two came. They were so small and cute! The older one was 8 and the other was only 6."

I smiled at the thought of the two girls. They were cute and I couldn’t help but smile at how happy they seemed to be when we met them. Once we had the girls’ bags, we quickly made our way to where the Suburban was parked.

"Ah! I love this song!!!" Tina said happily when she heard a song on the radio that she liked. "Turn it up!!!"

I reached over, turned the volume up really loud and the bass up all the way, and rolled down my window, even if it wasn’t the warmest day out.

"I want this CD," I said when I realized who it was.

"You like Ja Rule?" Chrys asked as she quickly looked over at me while she drove down the freeway.

"Of course! Who wouldn’t?!" I replied with a grin.

"Every little thing that we do, should be between me and you. The freaky things that we do, should be between me and you baby..." Tina, Court and I sang with the thumping music as we pulled off on the exit that would take us to the hotel.

"Wouldn’t it be cool to do a song with them?" Chrys asked with a sly smile.

"That would be ‘da bomb!" I replied excitedly as we drove into the hotel parking lot.

Izzie was there waiting on the sidewalk for us when we got there. By the way he had a worried look on his face, he must have thought that we got lost, which we did.

"That’s Izzie," I told Tina and Court while we pulled to a stop. "He’s my personal guard, so wherever I go, he goes, so don’t be alarmed if it seems we’re being followed, because we will be."

Izzie opened the back and got the bags out while we got out of the Suburban and waited on the sidewalk. Tina and Court insisted on taking their own bags up, so I handed Izzie the keys to the truck so he could return it back to the rental company.

"Thanks Izzie," I told him with a half hug as Chrys led the girls to the front doors. "Smooches."

He gave me a small wave before I turned around and followed Chrys into the lobby of the hotel. There were a few fans here and there, but they were mostly waiting around for *NSync, so we weren’t bothered at all on the walk through.

"*NStink should be hanging around here somewhere, so don’t let the imps hit on you or anything, because they are infamous for that," I informed my younger sisters as we walked onto the elevator.

I pushed the button for our floor and waited until we got there. I followed Chrys down the hall until I got to my room. She stopped and waited with me while I unlocked my room with the key card that Izzie had given me earlier.

"You two will be sleeping in my room...hope you don’t mind," I said apologetically as I pushed the door open and let them see my deluxe suite. "I mean, there’s plenty of room, so it shouldn’t be a problem."

"Well, yeah, there should be plenty of room," Tina said sarcastically as she walked in behind me and threw her bags onto one of the two queen sized beds in the room.

The room was complete with two beds, two couches, a large bathroom, a big TV, and a small kitchenette. Chrys came in and waited while I showed the girls where everything was, and what they should do if anything went wrong.

"Whenever we go somewhere...anywhere...you’ll always be with Izzie, no matter if I’m there or not," I told them while I pulled the hat off my head and put a scrunchy in my hair. "He’s really sweet, and I’ll make sure he lets you guys have tonz of fun while you’re here."

They nodded and followed me as I followed Chrys into the hallway. We passed the other dancers’ rooms as we headed to Chrys and Rissa’s room.

"This is Chrys’ room, so if there’s any problems while I’m at sound check, you can come here if you can’t find Izzie...unless you’re gonna come with me," I told them while we walked into the room and found Rissa, Destiny, Dalone, Linni, Kyle, and Trent sitting on the beds talking. "Hey peeps!"

Everyone in the room smiled and waved with ‘hey’s and hi’s’ when they saw us walk in.

"These are my two younger sisters," I told everybody as I pointed to them. "Tina and Court. They’re here with us on the tour until I get sick of ‘em and send ‘em home."

They both gave the group small waves and smiles.

"Anyway, that’s Rissa, D-D-Destiny, Dalone AKA Chocolate-Luvah, Lyndsey or Linni, Kyle, and last, but definitely not least we have Trent, who is also known as T-man...or just T," I told the girls as everyone waved at the mention of their names. "Where’s everyone else?"

"Oh...they’re off shopping at one of the malls downtown," Destiny replied.

"Ok, well, I’ve got sound-check soon, and you all have warm-up and practice soon too, so we’re gonna be off now," I said before the girls and I went back to my room.

The girls decided that they’d rather join me at sound-check than stay at the hotel by themselves, so we headed out to the car that Izzie had waiting for us. Sound check went fine so afterwards, we chilled in my dressing room for a while until my crew got to the venue.

~~~~~~~~~~» Kevin «~~~~~~~~~~

"So we start promotions in a few months, then do a few radio shows, photo shoots, and then the VMA’s?"

I was on the phone with Mike, our publicist, when Arti walked in the room all smiles. I watched her sit down on the couch while Mike was talking in my ear. When Arti saw me watching her, she gave me a sly smile before she pointed to the phone.

"What was that again? Sorry...I, uh, didn’t hear the last part," I said.

I listened to what he was saying, but again my eyes roamed around the room until they landed on Arti. She knew that I was watching her as she sat there on the couch and flipped through a magazine.

"So...are we performing the VMA’s or just in attendance?" I asked.

At the mention of the VMA’s, Arti looked up at me as if she was going to say something, but stopped herself. I gave her a questioning look before she hurriedly got off the couch and left the room.

"Hey Mike...I’m going to have to call you back. Sorry," I said before I hung up and went in search of Arti.

I walked up to the door for her room and found it closed. I pressed my ear to the door and could barely hear her talking to someone on her cell phone. I figured she’d eventually tell me what was up, so I went into my room and pushed play on my CD player. The CD that was in the player was a rough cut of some of the new tracks that we’d recorded for the new album.

~~~~~~~~~~» Liz «~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you have a good time backstage?" I asked Tina and Court as we walked down the hallway at the venue after the entire show was over.

We’d decided to stay and watch the rest of the show from backstage after my set was done, so we were just getting ready to leave.

"The best," Court said happily. "*NSync’s show was wasn’t all that, but 3LW, Dream, and the other opening act were good."

"Those girls are so cute!" I said with a grin. "They’re fun to have on tour."

"Oh my gosh! K...so just before *NSync goes on, fru-fru boy comes over and starts talkin’ to the two of us," Tina explained. "So he’s like tryin’ to flirt with us...that boy is a loser!!! Him and Tittney deserve each other!"

I couldn’t help but laugh. I was laughing so hard that I swallowed wrong and started choking on air.

"Yeah...he kept asking us for our ‘digits’ and Tina was like ‘1-800-BITE-ME’. I had to say that I had to go to the bathroom before I burst out laughing," Court added. "Tina was making him seem like the fool that he really is. Then Joey and Chris walk up tryin’ to be all cool and stuff. Ha! They remind me of the munchkin gang from The Wizard of Oz...’we’re the lollipop guild...’," she said in a weird voice.

We walked up to a door where Izzie was standing and waiting for us to come. He opened it for us and waited while we walked into the venue garage where our busses were waiting for us to take us back to the hotel for the night.

"Good evening guys," Izzie said after we’d walked through.

My eyes opened wide as all three of us turned our heads back to the door and saw the guys from *NSync walking out the door about ten steps behind us. I screamed really loud, followed by laughter as I began running for my bus. The girls burst out in laughter as they followed my lead and jumped up the steps of the bus and quickly shut the door of the bus when they saw the guys starting to walk over towards our bus.

"AAAHHH! I can’t believe they were right behind us!" I said as I peaked out the window and saw them approaching the door of the bus.

"Yeah, but it’s not like it wasn’t true," Tina pointed out just before there was a knock on the door.

I burst out laughing again.

"You better answer that...it’s your bus," Court said with a sly smile.

"I’m not gonna answer it!!!" I replied. "You answer it Tina."

"Ok."

Court and I watched her walk to the steps and down them. I turned around and watched the guys out the window as I listened to what was happening.

"Yeah," Tina said in an expressionless voice after she opened to door.

"What was that all about?" Joey asked as he pointed to the door to the arena over his shoulder.

"Wouldn’t you like to know," Tina answered matter-of-factly.

"Yes, I would."

"Well that’s nice," Tina said snottily as she started to shut the door.

Chris reached up and held the door open with his hand.

"What’s your problem?" he asked.

I stood up from my spot leaning over to the window and went to the front where Tina was.

"My problem is that there’s these incredibly self-centered, ugly guys that think they’re the center of everyone’s universes and they won’t leave us alone," Tina answered with obvious annoyance towards them.

By that time, I was standing behind Tina at the top of the steps. She pushed Chris’ hand off the door and began to shut it again. This time it was Justin who held the door open.

"We might be self-centered but we have everything we want, and you have nothing," he said with his nostrils flaring in anger as he glared at Tina with hate. "You’re just a jealous little slut who can’t get anything out of life."

The second that he said the word ‘slut’, I was down the stairs and he had my fist in his face.

"Don’t you EVER call my sister a slut you sorry little maggot!!!!!" I yelled as I kneed him in the stomach.

The door of my bus was shut and locked before any of them had any time to react. The dancers had already gone back to the hotel by the time *NSync hit the stage, so it was the three of us on the bus besides my driver. I watched from the window as Justin doubled over in pain. The other guys had to help him up and carry him to their bus. I rolled down the window and yelled out to them as they opened the door to their bus while we drove by.

"Consider that a warning Fro-boy."

Before I knew it, we were pulling to a stop at the hotel. We didn’t want to run into them again at the hotel, so we hurried up to my room before they got there.

"Good thing I’m basically not on their tour anymore," I said with a sigh before I slumped onto one of the couches in my room.

"When do you start Christina’s tour?" Court asked from where her and Tina were lounging on one of the beds.

"Well, we’re leaving tomorrow to meet up with her at her next stop in LA. The next concert’s in five days, so we can make a few scenic stops on the way over to Cali," I told them with a yawn. "Then we do the western dates with her before joining Faith while she’s in the mid-west."

"Nifty spiffers," Tina said. "Let’s watch a movie."

There was a knock at the door. Tina turned on the TV and surfed through channels while I got up and answered the door. Kayla, Destiny, and Chrys were in the hall. I invited them in to join us for a movie and a few girlie games since none of us were tired enough to go to sleep.

© Liz Holder 2001