~~~~~~~~~~» Kevin «~~~~~~~~~~

When the lights lowered after the commercials, the audience became quiet and waited for the show to continue. Rosie walked up to one of the mics with Katie at her side again and waited for the cameras to start rolling again.

"We’re back at Radio City Music Hall at the VMA’s," Katie said happily.

"Our next performer is one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet," Rosie said with a smile to Katie and then the audience.

"And she’s really cool too," Katie added.

"Yes, she is...but there’s one thing that I know she can’t stand and that’s a player," Rosie said. "Here’s Ellz H with her new single ‘I Will’."

The two of them walked off the stage while the lights lowered until they were completely off, except for the small lights along the floor of the aisles in the audience. The band began playing some poppy music and then Liz’s voice came over the mic. I didn’t think that the music was for her song ‘I Will’, but I just waited to see what would happen.

"Hold up, hold up. STOP!!!!!!!!!!!" she said. "Let’s try that again."

The band started playing again while everyone, including me, looked around to see where she was, but couldn’t find her since she wasn’t on the stage.

"I’m still not feeling it," her voice said again, causing the band to stop again. "Let’s bump the bass..."

The bass started playin’ a phat bass beat while everyone listened. After a few seconds, the drums joined in, followed by the guitars, and then the synthesizers and keyboards. Now the song had a hip-hop feel with a little bit of R&B and pop mixed in. I saw her shadow passing our area as she walked by down the aisle and then spoke.

"Awwww yeah. That’s what I’m talkin’ about," she said in a low voice.

The music was loud, but it was engaging, so the loudness wasn’t annoying, like people would think it would be. All of a sudden, the music stopped. It was silent for a few seconds before the drums counted in and the other instruments started at the same time as the lights came on. The lights were small round ones placed on the edge of the stage, so it gave the whole stage an eerie feeling. You couldn’t see details of anyone unless they were no less than 10 feet from the edge of the stage where the ‘fan pits’ were. When the lights came up, there, in the middle of the stage, standing with her head to the side and her hands at her sides, was Liz. Her hair was now cut short so it was just long enough to cover her ears. She wore it flipped out, so everyone could see that the bottom layers were colored a bright purple color while the top was blond. The music stopped again, but started after a few seconds when Liz threw her right hand out to her side. At the same time, there was a bang and confetti was shot out over the right side of the audience. She did the same thing with her other hand, and confetti poured out over the left side. Her dancer’s walked out from behind a dark platform sort of box thing and began dancing around the main stage. They turned on black lights and all the dancer and Liz’s outfits glowed. The graffiti paint on her pants even glowed, which looked really cool. When Liz started singing, her dancers came and did a cool looking dance around her, so it looked as if they were in a club or something. She sang as if she were talking to the audience.

She walked down the middle walkway between the dancing people and stopped at the end just before she yelled ‘shout’. She looked out at the audience with a look of revenge before she walked down the right side of the walkway and continued by singing the chorus as she pointed out into the audience.

"Ja Rule, help me out..." she said in a low, sexy voice after she stopped at the end of the walkway and then turned back and pointed to the left side. I looked over and saw a guy walking onto the walkway to the front part of the stage. He started rapping while Liz made subtle dance moves over to where he was.

When he said sway and dance, Liz and her girl dancers did a sexy little dance move.

Just like before, Liz and her dancers acted out the dance moves in his rap, but this time the girl dancers did them with the guy dancers, and Liz did it with Ja Rule.

Liz gave Ja Rule a sly smile as she began to walk away towards the middle of the walkway, and then stopped while she said her part.

The music stopped momentarily on the sshhhhh part, but started again almost immediately.

Her dancers stood around her and did funky hand motions around her that looked cool under the black lights. Ja Rule just stood to the side and watched until they were done. During the chorus, Liz danced over to Ja Rule and smiled when he started dancing with her while she sang.

She went to the edge of the walkway in the middle while the music played a little bit. When the music drifted off a little, but then came back with a vengeance, she turned around and then walked back up the walkway while the music continued playing. She spoke the last part as she stopped and turned to look out into the audience.

When the last note played, she did a back flip, and at the same time, more confetti poured out over the crowd. All the lights went off and everyone clapped while the stage was cleared. Commercials came up on the screen, so the crew would have enough time to quickly clean the stage before the final number.

~~~~~~~~~~» Liz «~~~~~~~~~~

I was exhausted after my performance, so I didn’t bother changing back into my dress. After thanking Ja Rule for joining me on stage for the song, I made sure the dancers and back-ups were all taken care of before I went back to my seat. Just as I sat down, I expected Chad to say something about the performance, and when he didn’t, I squinted in the dark and looked over at the seat next to me. The face that looked back at me definitely wasn’t Chad.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Where’s my date? Where’s Chad?"

"Go right for the throat, why don’t you?"

"What? What are you talking about Kev?"

"You are one mean girl," he replied with anger growing.

"Why? What did I do?!" I asked.

The way he was talking was freaking me out a little, and my eyes watered...I’d never seen him this mad, or even upset at all. Sure, he got annoyed, but he didn’t act like this.

"Please tell me," I whispered to him after a few seconds, while one of the presenters continued with the show.

When he turned his head towards me again, the look of anger had passed, and he leaned over a little closer to me so he wouldn’t disturb anyone around us when he whispered in my ear.

"AJ’s having a nervous break-down out in the hall...bawling, throwing things, totally freaking out," he told me bluntly. He pulled back a little to look in my eyes. "You totally rubbed it in his face up there and he’s going psycho out there because of it."

"What?"

When he moved back into his seat and began watching the show, I quickly leaned over, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him closer to me.

"What was that supposed to mean?!?" I asked loudly.

"He thinks you were singing about him."

I let him go and silently leaned back in my seat while the show drudged on, wondering what he really did mean by what he said. ‘Why would he think I was singing about him while I was singing a song about some lyin’ player?’ I asked myself. My mind was reeling with all sorts of possible scenarios during the last part of the show. When the final performer was done, I sat there in my seat, totally zoned out, until I felt a hand on my arm. I looked up a little and saw Chad kneeling down next to me in the aisle.

"You ready to go now?" he asked. "The place is almost empty."

"Yeah...sorry," I said absent-mindedly before I stood up and let him put his arm around my shoulder as we walked out of the auditorium.

"There she is...great show sis," Tina said with a smile when she saw Chad and I walk out the door to the hallway.

"Thanks," I replied quietly as she gave me a hug.

After we climbed into the limo, Tina told me that we were going back to the hotel to change out of their dresses and then we were hitting a club...or maybe two. The rest of the ride back was a blur as I kept thinking about what Kev had said earlier...if he meant what I was hoping he didn’t, I would be not only extremely furious, but also disappointed to no end. Just the mere thought of it made me cringe. It made me angry to think that he could have done something like that, but it hurt even more. I looked up when the window to the front rolled down and Izzie handed Court my cell phone.

"Izzie says it’s Meg," she said as she gave it to me.

"Speak to me..."

"Hey," she replied.

"Hi."

"What’s wrong?"

I sometimes hated it that she knew me well enough to know my mood just from hearing my voice, and now was one of those times. I knew everyone in the limo was watching me while I talked to her, so I waited to give her a straight answer until we pulled to a stop in front of the hotel.

"What’s going on Meg?" I asked quietly after I got out and took a few steps away from the others. "Why is everyone trying to hide something from me?"

"What do you mean?" she asked in reply.

"Don’t be on their side Meg...why won’t anyone tell me what happened while I was away from home?!"

When she didn’t say anything, I wanted to cry but my anger was getting the best of me.

"I thought you were my friend!!! I can’t believe this is happening!! I have to go," I said before I ended the call and turned my cell phone off.

I quickly walked over to where the girls, Chad, and Izzie were waiting, and shoved my phone into the pocket of my jeans.

"Let’s go," I called to them as I walked off and left them to catch up. "Hurry up and get changed...I need to blow off some steam, and I can’t wait much longer."

Once the girls left, I slumped onto one of the couches in the lobby and held my head in my hands.

"How did they let this happen?" I angrily asked myself as I sat there, sulking in my own animosities.

I nearly jumped when Chad sat down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, knowing that something was aggravating me.

"I found out that my ex-boyfriend cheated on me while we were together," I said only loud enough for him to hear, but with anger so intense it would have made any man cower. "I don’t know when and I don’t know who with, but heaven help me, if I ever find out, I’ll beat his sorry butt to the ground, not to mention what I’ll do to hers."

"Come on Liz...we both know that you won’t do that," he said calmly while he rubbed my shoulder to try and calm me down a little. "I’ve known you for almost all our lives, and I know that you’re not like that. You’re the sweetest girl, and if he can’t see that, then he doesn’t deserve you. You can do soo much better."

"Why can’t I find a guy like you?" I asked with a sigh of frustration before I leaned my head on his shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~» AJ «~~~~~~~~~~

"I miss you too..."

I rolled my eyes at myself in the mirror as I washed my face while I listened to Nick babbling on the phone with someone. It’d been exactly a minute and a half since we walked in the room, and he was already calling the girl that he took as his date...I think her name was Linni. He’d been hanging around with her for a few weeks before she left town to go with Liz on tour.

"You’re going to be at Club Monaco?" he asked after a brief period of silence. "The whole crew’s gonna be there, right?"

I grabbed a towel from the rack to wipe the water from my face before throwing it at Kaos. He yelped when it unexpectedly hit him in the face.

"I’ll meet you there in a little while...I’ve gotta change first," he said before he told her good-bye and hung up.

"Blah blah blah...don’t wanna hear about it," I said apathetically when I saw him open his mouth as if he was going to tell me about his plans.

He frowned and watched me fall back onto my bed to stare at the ceiling. The whole night was a total wreck, and nothing could make it better...not even a bottle of JD. When there was a knock at the door, Nick got up and walked over to answer it while I rolled onto my side and faced the wall.

"Is AJ hiding in here?"

It was Amber, the girl I’d found at the last minute to be my date for the award show. I cringed at the sound of the girl’s annoying high-pitched voice saying my name as if I was her lover.

"Over there..." Nick said in reply before he went back to looking for something decent to wear for the evening.

I got a queasy feeling in my stomach when I felt her hands attempting to massage my shoulders. Her fingers just didn’t have the magic touch like Liz’s did. No one had the same affect on me that she did, but now I knew I’d never have the pleasure again.

"What’s wrong honey?" she purred in my ear as she ran her hand along my arm and stopped to play with my hair in her fingers. "Can Amber make it better?"

I rolled over so that I was lying on my back. I looked up into her face. Truth was, she had a very beautiful figure, but when it came to everything else that I wanted in a girl, she lacked it all. When she gave me a sly smile with a little laugh, I knew that I didn’t want to be here with her. I saw Nick walking to the door out of the corner of my eye. When I felt Amber’s hand on my cheek as she stroked my goatee, I quickly moved away from her and got off the bed. She watched me in disbelief as I grabbed my leather jacket that was sitting in a chair, put it on, and walked towards the door behind Nick. I stood in the door after Nick walked out and turned to face the bed where Amber was still sitting. I pointed to the door, signaling that she should leave, and she hurriedly got up and walked into the hall. I shut the door and put the key card in my back pocket.

"You want me to come with you?" she asked almost too sweetly.

"Umm...maybe next time..." I replied as I started to follow Nick down the hall towards the elevators.

I didn’t say anything else, or even give her a chance to reply before I went to catch up with Nick.

"Or never," I mumbled as I walked on to the open elevator that Nick held open for me.

"What was that about?" he asked, motioning to Amber before the doors shut.

"I can’t believe I actually took her as my date," I said after a few seconds. "She has the intelligence of a potato, even if she is a supermodel."

I saw the smirk that Nick gave me and glared a little to say that I saw it.

"Don’t even say a word about it...I know that I don’t have the best reputation or anything, but I wouldn’t have done anything with her...she’s soo blah..."

I knew he was stifling a laugh, even if he barely managed to keep a straight face. A feeling of sorrow came over me.

"She doesn’t even compare to..." came out of my mouth before I could think about what I was saying.

I looked up and found Nick staring back at me. I cleared my throat just before the doors opened on the main floor.

"Where to?" Marcus asked after Nick and I were in the car that they had ready for us.

"Club Monaco," Nick replied for the both of us.

"Sure thing," Marcus said and then relayed the information to the driver.

We were there within twenty minutes. There was a long line outside the door for those people that wanted to get in, and we knew that most of them wouldn’t. We got out of the car and easily got inside the club. I figured there would be other ‘famous’ people there since we did get in without any problems. There was heavy security outside to keep the lines in check, and to help the celebrities get in without a glitch.

"I’m goin’ over there," Nick said as he pointed to a table where Linni was sitting with a few girls. "Loosen up AJ...have some fun."

He walked away after I nodded my head in reply. It wasn’t long before the thumping music seeped its way into my veins. I walked onto the dance floor and was met by a large crowd of dancing people. A girl asked me to dance, so I accepted and danced with her to the loud club music. There were a few familiar faces in the crowd, and it dawned on me that Nick said ‘the whole crew’ would be here when he was talking on the phone at the hotel. A slow song started playing and it was at that moment that I first saw her. She was dancing with the guy that I’d seen her with at the show earlier. They were standing so close to each other that I doubt you could fit anything between them. She rested her head on him while he had his hands set on her lower back. When she moved her head so that her forehead touched his neck, I felt as if someone punched me in the gut. I didn’t know if she had any feelings for the guy, but if she did, I had no chance of getting her back, seeing that she was thoroughly enjoying the dance. He whispered something into her ear and she let out a little laugh with a smile, keeping her eyes closed. After watching them for a few more seconds and much consideration, I decided to take my chances and say hi to her. I had just convinced myself to go up to her when some girl asked me to dance. She didn’t give me time to react before she put her arms around my neck and moved closer. Every time I turned around while we were dancing, I kept my eyes on Liz. I couldn’t help but look at her. I wanted to talk to her, but now that she knew, it would make things ten times harder for me to win her back, if I could win her back.

~~~~~~~~~~» Liz «~~~~~~~~~~

Chad held onto my back as we started to dance to a song that was a little more upbeat than the last. I took a split-second look over his shoulder and saw Bri come in the door from outside. I knew that Linni called Nick and told him to meet her here, but I didn’t know Bri would be coming as well. I smiled to myself when I saw Chrys give Bri a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"What’re you looking at?" Chad asked before he turned his head to see what I was looking at.

"Come with me," I replied while I took hold of his hand and led him to the roped off tables where Chrys and the others were sitting.

I walked up behind Bri and held a finger up to my lips to tell everyone to keep quiet while I put my hands over Bri’s eyes. I bent over a little and whispered in his ear.

"Guess who love..." I said in a low voice with a fake British accent.

"Arti?" he asked, reaching up to feel my hands.

"No, no...try again," I said, this time in a funny Oriental voice.

"Cut it out Meg."

I let out a laugh when he said that.

"Speaking of Meg, where is the little brat?" I asked in between laughs, keeping my hands on his eyes.

He took hold of my hands and pulled them off his eyes before he gave them a tug, causing me to fall forward so that I looked like I was giving him a hug. When he turned his head and saw me, he let out a laugh.

"I was gonna guess you next," he said with a cute smile.

"Uh huh...sure you were," I replied with a sly smile as he let go of me and let me stand up. "Nick..."

"Hi," he replied with a smile before he turned to Linni and gave her a cute grin.

"Sooo...what are you guys doing here?" I asked. "Don’t tell me you brought the rest of the guys..."

I missed the worried look that Nick gave Bri.

"We came to see our girls," Bri said with a smile.

Chrys giggled as he poked her in the side.

"And?" I asked.

"And what?" Nick replied.

"Nevermind..." I said, disappointed. "Anyway, this is Chad. He’s an old friend of mine from forever ago...since grade school."

"Nice to meet you Chad," Bri said while they shook hands.

"Yeah, any friend of Liz’s is a friend of ours," Nick added.

"We’re gonna go get a drink, so I guess we’ll see you later or whatever," I said shortly.

I quickly took hold of Chad’s hand and led him to the bar, where I ordered him a Mt. Dew and me a water. After the bartendress gave us our drinks, I turned around and watched the crowd of dancing people. I spotted Rissa dancing happily a few feet away with a guy that she’d met a little bit ago. She looked like she was having fun...until Trent came, pushed the other guy away, and cut in.

"What was that for?" I heard her ask as she pushed him away a little bit. "You’re not my boyfriend, so you can’t tell me who I can and can’t dance with."

Trent moved closer to her and put his arms around her shoulders as they began to dance.

"I know that. I’ve liked you for a long time now Rissa...will you be my girlfriend?" he asked in a low voice so I could barely hear what he said.

"Well..." was all she could say before he moved in and gave her a short kiss on the lips. "That was nice," she whispered dreamily with a smile, moving a little closer to him.

"So?"

"Yeah, I’d like that. I’ve been waiting for you to ask," she replied with a shy smile before she playfully pushed him away. "What took you so long to ask me if you’ve liked me for so..."

He cut her off with another kiss. I could sort of tell that they liked each other on the tour, but neither of them ever made a move towards a relationship. I smiled as they continued dancing...they looked so cute together that it would have been a shame if they didn’t hook up. I looked over at Chad with a smile when I heard a song that I liked come on. I set my empty glass on the bar and motioned for him to dance with me. He set his glass on the bar and followed me a few feet onto the dance floor. I smiled as he wrapped one of his arms around my back and started to move along with the rhythm of the song. I sang the words of the song with the music while we moved together. It was a remix of ‘Stutter’ by Joe with Mystikal rapping in the middle.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, so I turned my head a little to see who it was. Chad stopped dancing and let me go when he saw me turn to see who was behind me.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!" I screamed. "I can’t believe you!"

"I...uh...I wanted to talk to you..."

He didn’t have a chance to say anything else before I reached out and shoved him as heard as I could, causing him to fall with his back into the bar. His arms were spread out over the bar as he fell, making glasses crash to the ground and break into a thousand pieces on the wooden floor. He had a look of shock on his face...he obviously didn’t think I would do that to him, but for all I cared, he deserved it...and much worse.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME AJ," I yelled at him as he stood up, a little disoriented. "That’s a warning."

Now I was angry. I stormed over to the table where the girls were sitting with Nick and Bri. Chad followed me and held my hands, knowing I would do something I’d regret if he didn’t.

"I can’t believe you!!!! You brought HIM here," I yelled at Nick with tears falling down my face in frustration. "How could you hurt me like that?!"

Everyone gave me surprised looks as I stood there and watched him squirm in his seat.

"I hate you Nickolaus Gene," I said before I walked away.

I wasn’t done yet. I turned halfway around as Chad led me away.

"I mean it Carter!! If you don’t keep him away from me, I’ll make sure that I never have to see your face again!" I added before I finally turned back and followed Chad.

We went out the back doors so we wouldn’t run into anyone on the way out. When we got outside the door, I leaned up against the cold wall and cried. Chad pulled me into a hug, but it wasn’t helping me much because I felt betrayed by my friends. When my cell phone rang, I pulled it out and handed it to Chad for him to answer while I wiped my eyes dry again.

"It’s a guy named Jay-J," he said as he held it out for me. "He said you’d know who he was."

"Jay-J? Oh my gosh..." I said as I quickly took my phone from his hand. "Jay!"

"Hi babygirl," he said.

"Hi," I replied with a sigh.

"I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for ya babygirl," he said after a few seconds.

"What is it?" I asked as I started to pace by the wall where I was standing before.

I looked up when the door to the club opened and Nick, Bri, Linni, and Chrys came out. When I saw who it was, I quickly grabbed Chad’s arm and walked towards the lot filled with cars and limos. We walked in-between cars this way and that, as long as we were going away from the guys.

"It’s Rachel," he said sadly. "I think you should come home right away."

"Oh my gosh...what’s wrong?! Is she ok?" I asked, staring to worry as a horrible feeling came to me.

I knew what he had to say would be bad. I stopped in the middle of one of the rows of cars as tears started to fall once more. Chad stopped walking and came to hold my hand for support.

"She’s dying Liz. She’s asking for you...please come home soon," he pleaded.

"I...I’ll be on the first flight home," I said after a second. "Tell her to hold on for me. I’ll be there."

"Please hurry. I’m not sure she can hold on much longer," he said. "I’ll see you when you get here."

I said goodbye and hung up the phone before I leaned on the car next to me and began sobbing. Chad reached over and brushed a piece of hair away from my face before he put his arms around me in a hug that I thankfully accepted while I tried to gather myself together.

"What’s wrong?" I heard Chrys ask when she walked up and saw how disturbed I was.

"I have to go," I said, my voice muffled by Chad’s jacket. "I-I-I can’t stay."

"What happened?" Linni asked as she walked over to us.

Chad let me go and I stood there with my hands trembling as I held my upper arms as if I was hugging myself. I felt foolish just standing there, looking like a mess in the middle of a parking lot of a New York club. I reached out and handed my phone to Chad.

"Book me a flight...please!" I whispered, my voice dripping with desperation.

He nodded and walked a few feet away while he called the airline.

"Where are you going Liz?" Chrys asked in a quiet voice as she watched Chad walk away.

"I have to go..." I said. "I’m going home."

I looked up at the two girls with sad eyes. Chrys put her arm around me and gave me a hug.

"My friend is dying and she wants to see me before she goes," I told the two girls sadly with tears threatening to fall yet again. "Please make sure everyone knows I’ll be back as soon as I can. I want to stay with her to make sure she doesn’t suffer at all."

Chrys nodded and let me go. I knew she wouldn’t try to stop me from leaving because she knew how much my friends meant to me. I walked over to where Chad was standing and only waited for a few seconds before he finished talking on the phone.

"Plane leaves in forty minutes," he told me as we started walking towards the street to hail a cab. "Our stuff will be waiting with a car at the hotel for us when we get there."

I nodded and closed my eyes while he opened the door to a cab that had just stopped in front of us. I stared out the window as we made the silent drive back to the hotel. This night had definitely not gone how I’d hoped it would, but I knew things would work out for the best, no matter how hard they’d be.

© Liz Holder 2001