< Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Lance's whole life had changed in the span of two days. Now, instead of watching Nick and Justin at Nick's locker from behind his own open door, he was a part of their conversation, laughing at the jokes and antics, he was officially a member of their clique. He'd gone from eating his lunch alone while reading his book on the front steps, to leaving his book in his knapsack and eating in the quad with Nick, Justin, AJ and Josh when he arrived from his co-op placement. Seeing the change in his status, suddenly Britney and Christina were more than happy to talk to Lance whenever they would see him, only furthering Justin's suspicions that they were using him to get to Nick and Justin. On one hand it made him mad that they were so shallow, but on the other it made him feel special, a part of something.

It happened on the Friday of the game, at 2:02 and Lance had to fight to control himself until 2:30 when he knew he'd be seeing Nick at their lockers between class. The second Nick arrived, he knew something was up with his new friend.

"Oh my god," Nick's face went a pale white, his eyes were wide as saucers. "Are you SERIOUS?"

Lance could only nod, unsure of whether Nick would be angry with him or happy that it had happened. He hoped to god that Nick wasn't mad as he would hate to think that their friendship would be over so soon after starting. "Totally serious." Lance bit his lip nervously.

"And Justin didn't tell you to tell me this?" Nick's eyes were narrowed with suspicion, his face a mask of disbelief. Justin always thought it was funny to try and tell Nick things about Kevin talking to him and asking him about Nick to see if he'd take the bait, but Nick never believed his friend. His first instinct was to not believe Lance either, but he looked too wired and nervous to be making it up.

"No. Justin has no idea it happened. I just ran from class right now to tell you. I swear to god!"

"Pinkie swear!" Nick held out his hand and extended the pinkie finger, which Lance linked with his own almost immediately. The second Lance swore to him, Nick jumped up and down and screamed, startling everyone around them, including Lance. "OH MY GOD!"

"What are you two freaking out about?" Justin asked, approaching his two friends. Nick spun around, his eyes dancing with excitement.

"Not here. We've only got one more class left... lets skip it. I'll leave Aje and Josh a note to meet us in the parking lot after school." Nick quickly wrote a note and slid it partially into one of the slots in his locker. "He'll get it. Now lets go."

As much as the thought of skipping class terrified Lance, it made him equally as happy. He followed Nick and Justin through the hall and out the back door towards the football field. They joined the many other students who were skipping last period on a Friday afternoon. They climbed the bleachers until they hit the top row, secluded from everyone else outside. Looking down, they could see the football team practicing for their game that night, Kevin's 78 jersey prominent as he threw for a long pass.

Nick sighed as he watched Kevin pull back his arm and send a perfectly arched pass, which was caught with ease by another member of the team. "He's so dreamy."

"Not that I mind skipping," Justin said as he sat down. "But we're going to see this tonight. Why are we out here now?"

Nick remembered why they were skipping class and he hooted again, doing a dance of joy. "Lance is the luckiest person in the whole world!" Nick turned to face Lance. "Tell him! TELL HIM!!"

Justin laughed, despite his confusion and nodded at Lance. "Yeah, tell me."

"Well, I just had computers right, and for some reason, the other computer lab, the one where the seniors have their class, was closed. So they thought it would be good to have one class, seniors and freshmen. Sort of so that we can integrate."

Justin nodded and rolled his eyes as Nick muffled a giggle. "And?"

"Well, Kevin Richardson has computers in that class and so he was in my class today. Well, there isn't enough computers for both grades, so we were all paired up. Senior and freshmen..."

"And Kevin was your buddy?" Justin asked, concluding the obvious. Surprisingly, Lance shook his head.

"Nah, I got some guy named Howie. He was pretty cool. Showed me his web page that he made in his spare time and we got to talking, so I showed him mine. Then I asked him to look over this assignment I have to hand in next week. We have to make a mock newspaper for the school, which includes everything that's going on. We have to write fake articles, have it as if we were going to really distribute it. Well Kevin was at the next computer and he turned to say something to Howie and saw my assignment. So he came over and they were all looking at it.."

"And?" Justin asked. He was genuinely curious as to what Kevin had said to him. Even though he made fun of Nick for his fantasy of talking to Kevin, it was pretty cool that one of them had actually spoken to a senior, especially without it having the senior making fun of them and embarrassing them in front of everyone. Even he'd never spoken to anyone older than junior, and that had just been Josh.

"He talked to him!" Nick gushed. At first he'd been jealous of Lance, but the initial shock had worn off and he was happy for his friend. Plus Lance had been worried that Nick would be mad at him, and it wasn't Lance's fault, so he couldn't be mad at him. "Kevin Richardson actually talked to him. TOUCHED HIM!"

"He touched you?" Justin was impressed.

"Put his hand on my shoulder. He said that even though it was a fake paper, that I was really good and I should consider going out for the real school paper. From what he said, he writes an article for it every once in a while about the football team, and that they're always looking for more people to write. Plus, one of his best friends works on the paper so.."

"Chris," Nick spoke. When Justin and Lance looked at him he gave a sheepish shrug. "Chris, the punky guy, he works on the paper."

Justin rolled his eyes and turned to Lance. "And?"

"And that was it. He went back to his partner and I went back to talking to Howie and then class was over so I ran to tell Nick."

"Was he being serious?" Justin asked skeptically. He'd hate to learn that Kevin was being sarcastic and mean, which would totally shatter Nick's perception of him.

"No. He was really nice. Some of the other seniors were being jerks, but he was pretty cool. Told them to leave us alone and to grow up."

Nick beamed at the news, nodding his head. "I told you. He's the coolest ever."

Lance had to agree. After talking to Kevin and seeing his personality close up, he could understand why Nick had such a huge crush on him. Of course, Lance hadn't been able to stop thinking about AJ since they'd had lunch with him two days earlier, but he couldn't deny that Kevin was pretty dreamy.

They spent the rest of the missed class gossiping and watching the team practice. Nick half participated in the conversation around him, mainly focusing his attention on Kevin who was now surrounded in cheerleaders, talking sweetly to them.

"Come on, we're gonna have to hustle if we want to meet Josh at his car," Justin announced as he stood up. Little by little, the crowd on the stands was getting thinner and he'd glanced at his watch, surprised to see how fast that last period had flown by.

Nick gave one last sigh and nodded as they bounded down the bleachers towards the parking lot. He gave a slight startle when Justin threw an arm around his shoulders. "You just watch, we'll be at Brian Littrell's parties too Nicky. When we make the basketball team, we'll be a part of that crowd and you'll be talking to Kevin Richardson every single day."

Nick laughed and rolled his eyes. "Right. Like I said, fresh meat Justin. We're never going to make the team."

"Confidence kiddo," Justin assured him. "You grew like a foot this summer. So did I. And we're not even done. We're fourteen and we still have years of growing."

The thing Nick loved most about his best friend was his endless optimism. But the thing was he was always right. Nick and Justin had been playing basketball since they could walk, and they were both great players. But the players on the school's team were in a whole other league and Nick feared that the teams didn't have as much to do with skill, as it did with connections, and they had none. It didn't stop either of them from practicing every single Saturday and Sunday in Justin's backyard where his dad had put a hoop up for them a few years earlier. They would go out first thing in the morning and were forced back in when the sun went down and they couldn't see the basket anymore. Justin was forever complaining that they needed night lights so he could play after the sun went down, but his father insisted that if they did that, Justin would never come in and they needed assurance that he'd eat and sleep at least 8 hours of the day.

"Don't tell me you guys skipped class!" AJ said as the three freshmen approached Josh's car. When they all gave him bright grins and nodded their heads, he cackled and clapped his hands together. "Fabulous. Usually it takes the new kids months before they get into the art of skipping class. I knew there was a reason I liked you Carter."

Josh was already sitting inside his car, fidgeting with the radio. "Damn you Aje, were you playing with the radio?"

"Uh, I haven't been inside the car yet ass wipe." AJ flashed Justin, Nick and Lance a grin that indicated that he had very well been playing with the dials. They all tried to stifle their laughter as they slid into the back seat. Josh simply glared at his best friend and shook his head in resignation.

"Somehow I don't believe you."

"No, you don't trust me."

Josh grinned, "that too!"

"Good boy."

Once everyone was buckled up, Josh headed out of the parking lot and towards the beach where he knew Nick lived.

"Do ya'll do this every time they have a home game?" Lance asked. It still amazed him how, after all the time he'd spent on the sidelines, watching and wishing he were included in Justin and Nick's discussions, he was finally there. Taking his own advice, he realized that they were never going to know he was alive if he didn't say anything, so that morning, he had vowed to instigate a conversation. If he waited for them to notice him, he might have been there for four whole years. And despite how much courage it took him to actually speak, he was relieved that he did. Or else he would have been on his way home right now, his mama's milk and cookies waiting for him as an afternoon snack with a night of TV watching ahead of him. Instead, he was in JC's car, on his way to his friend's house for homemade pizza before going to see a football game. Lance's life just got a whole hell of a lot better.

"Not really," Justin said with a shrug. "Usually I go to Nick's on Friday nights anyways, so we go home, have dinner and then we have his mom drive us to the school. We meet Josh there.. or we'll have her pick us up afterwards and take us to the Shake Shack."

Nick's face turned a bright red as he rolled his eyes. "Except the last time she wanted to come in and hang out with us. Which was totally embarrassing, so Josh went up to her and explained that he'd watch out for us and make sure we got home okay."

"And she was cool with that?" Lance asked, looking into Josh's eyes through the rear view mirror.

Josh responded with a toothy grin. AJ snorted. "Yeah, parents love Josh. He has this way with them." When Lance looked at Josh again, he saw the older teen nod.

"I don't know what it is, they love me."

"They love him so much that when mom heard he was asking for her pizza, she made sure to make his favourite." Nick noticed Lance looked a little lost so he explained. "Mom usually makes pizza on Thursday nights for dinner, so Fridays I always have some in my lunch. Josh had some one day and has been going on about it since. So I told her he wanted some, she asked what his favourite was and instead of making it last night, she was making it today."

The rest of the trip was made with small talk about each of their days. They went to Nick's and ate pizza in the basement while playing his Nintendo. At first Lance had been surprised that Nick would have such an old game system, but he explained that they did have an X-Box, but he preferred the old games to the new ones. Finally, it was time for them to leave for the game. Nick's mother kissed her 'baby boy' on the cheek and slipped him twenty dollars in case he wanted to get something else later. The others pretended not to notice so it wouldn't further embarrass Nick who was already blushing a deep crimson.

"Mom," Nick whined softly. "Not in front of the guys."

"What, they can't know how much I love my baby?" Jane Carter cooed, pinching Nick's cheeks.

"God," Nick sighed in resignation. There was no use trying to beat her. The best way to deal with it was to accept it and hope it would be over soon. "You're so embarrassing."

"You should be so lucky you have a mother who loves you so much."

Josh cleared his throat and flashed Nick a discreet wink. "Mrs. Carter, thank you again for the pizza, it's the best pizza I've ever had."

Nick's mother beamed brighter than she already had been. She pulled Josh in for a tight hug, pinching his cheeks. "You're the most polite boy I think I've ever met Joshua. You tell your parents they've done a fine job raising you."


"I will Mrs. Carter." When Josh had extracted himself from Mrs. Carter's grip he grinned. "Now, regretfully we do have to leave. The seats fill up early and the last thing we want is to be standing for the whole game."


Had Nick suggested they hurry up, his mother would have cried that he was in too much of a rush and should calm down. But since it was Josh, she only nodded and agreed instantly. "Of course, Joshua. You don't need me holding you boys up. Be careful and call if you need anything. Drive safe Joshua. And behave Nickolas."

"Yes mom!" Nick whined as he scurried out the door before she could change her mind.

"By Mrs. Carter," the other four boys echoed as they too hurried out of the house and into Josh's car.

They arrived at the school in time to get good seats for the game. Lance was surprised at how full the stadium was, and Nick was more focused on where Kevin was. They took their seats and it wasn't until everyone else had sat down that Lance realized he was right next to AJ, in a spot that seemed too small for him to fit in comfortably.

"Is this okay?" Lance asked shyly. He was pressed tightly against AJ's side and his body tingled from where they were touching.

"Perfect. Sometimes it gets a little squished." AJ flashed Lance a warm smile. He didn't want Lance to know how okay it was for them to be so close together.

"Let me know if I'm bothering you." Lance briefly brought his gaze up to meet AJ's before looking back down to focus on his lap. He jumped when AJ tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. When he looked up, he was staring into deep, chocolate brown eyes.

"You're definitely not bothering me."

Lance could feel his cheeks heating up as he went a million shades of red. It didn't stop the smile from covering his face. "Good."

A few seats down the bench, Justin and Josh were having a heated argument about music and the differences between house music and hip hop and whether or not grunge forever changed the industry to make it was today. They were fighting loudly, but doing so with smiles on their faces that indicated that in no way were they actually angry with each other. Nick was on the end, focusing intently on the captain, who was currently in discussion with one of the cheerleaders.

Nick's stomach churned in disappointment as Kevin leaned in to kiss the blonde girl, but at the same time, it allowed for him to replace her in his mind with himself and pretend that it was him Kevin was kissing. He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until he gasped for air, feeling the crowd before him start to spin due to the lack of oxygen.

The game was closer than Lincoln fans would have liked, as they'd narrowly beat St. Peters 14-10, but in the end, they'd won and that was all that mattered. By the time the stadium had cleared out, everyone was talking with a hoarse voice from screaming as loud as they could in hopes of inspiring their championship winning football team. Nick practically floated to the car from the stands as it was Kevin who had gotten both touchdowns to win the game for them.

"Did you see him? God, he's perfect."

"Just imagine, when basketball starts, people are going to be saying that about me after a game," Justin announced confidently. "How phenomenal I am. What skills I have, how hot I am."

"I thought you didn't want someone just because they thought you were hot!" AJ pointed out with a snicker.

"Doesn't mean they won't think it," Justin grinned as he winked at his friend. "Come on, lets go. I'm starved."

Lance's eyes widened at Justin's mention of food. "Already? You had like six pieces of pizza at Nick's house."

Justin shrugged. "I'm a growing boy. I need nourishment." They all climbed into the car, resuming their positions from earlier. "I think I'm gonna have a bacon cheeseburger, onion rings and a float. Root beer."

"What are you, in the fifties?" Josh snickered as they made their way through the traffic in the parking lot. "No one drinks root beer floats anymore."

"I do." Justin stuck out his tongue and relaxed against the seat. He turned to face his best friend, expression serious. "So, you gonna say something tonight?" Justin knew that Nick was dying to have some sort of contact with Kevin but was too shy and nervous to initiate it. It amazed Justin that how outgoing the blonde was, how popular and confident he'd always been, it all seemed to disappear when Kevin Richardson was in close proximity. Justin had never seen Nick act like a 14 year old girl until the first day he'd seen Kevin Richardson walking down Fresh Meat Lane and since then, Nick had been a whole other person. Not one that Justin didn't like, he still loved his best friend dearly, but he wished that Nick would realize that Kevin would be lucky to have Nick talk to him, not the other way around.

"God.. I don't know. I think so.." Nick bit his lip thoughtfully, butterflies already in his stomach. It was the same internal battle he had every single time he was put in this situation and Nick never knew what he was going to do until that exact moment where he had to make a decision. He hoped that tonight was his night.

"Well, we're here. If you do." Justin squeezed Nick's hand between them, pleased when his best friend squeezed back.

Nick turned to face Lance who was staring out the window, an unreadable expression on his face. "You okay?" He asked quietly. Nick didn't want to attract everyone's attention in case something was wrong with Lance. Thankfully he turned and gave Nick a smile.

"More than okay."

"You look like something's wrong."

Lance inhaled deeply before letting the breath out. "I'm just ... overwhelmed. Grateful that you guys invited me out with you." He stared into Nick's eyes, embarrassed at how vulnerable he looked at that moment, how pathetic he figured Nick probably thought he was.

"Well I'm glad that you came..." The rest of what Nick was going to say was cut off when Josh cut the engine to the car. When they looked out the window they saw they were parked in front of the Shake Shack.

"We're here kiddies. Everyone out."

The parking lot was full of cars and kids from Lincoln High, everyone was scattered and talking animatedly about the close game they'd won. Josh and AJ went in first to secure them a table as Justin, Nick and Lance followed close behind. Just as they were about to open the door, someone darted in front of them and beat them to it. "Let me get that for you," Britney said sweetly.

Nick flashed Justin a confused stare and giggled as his best friend mouthed 'Britney'. So THIS was one of the infamous trashy 'peroxide twins'. "Aren't we supposed to get the door for you?" Nick asked coyly. He smiled as Britney's eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped in surprise. Her cheeks turned a bright pink and she nervously tugged on her ponytail with the hand not holding the door open. She stood in the doorway, blocking their entrance to the restaurant.

"Yeah, but..." Britney looked down and then back up at Nick before giving a flirtatious giggle. "Sometimes it's fun to just switch things up a little. Don'tcha think?"

Seconds later, another blonde was at Britney's side and Nick assumed that was the other 'peroxide twin', Christina. "Hey," she said breathlessly. Where Britney was wearing a mini skirt and a baby tee that ended well above her navel, Christina was wearing a pair of skin tight jeans and a backless shirt, both girls were practically drooling over them. Nick turned to look at Lance, they both rolled their eyes and had to fight to control their laughter.

"I'm Britney," Britney said. She made no move to let them enter the restaurant and Justin stood on his tiptoes in hopes to get either Josh or AJ's attention. He hoped that they would notice it was taking forever for them to join them and come looking for them, providing a perfect escape. Unfortunately, he couldn't locate either of them.

"Hey Britney." Nick leaned in as he spoke to her. Everyone could hear the soft gasp that escaped her lips. Suddenly, Christina's face was directly next to her best friend's, as if to remind Nick that there were two of them there.

"I'm Christina." Christina gave him a wide grin and rest her hand on Nick's arm. Nick focused his attention on her as well, giving Christina the same smile he'd just given Britney.

"Hey Christina." Nick looked over his shoulder at Justin and Lance who were watching him in disbelief. "This is Justin and Lance, but I'm sure you know them both already. They've said such nice things about the both of you."

If their smiles hadn't been blinding before, they surely were now as both girls were glowing. "Oh, they have?" Britney fluttered her eyelashes at Justin and then not so enthusiastically at Lance. Justin's eyes narrowed but he fought to paste a smile on his lips.

"They sure have." Nick could see that the girls were distracted, staring at Justin, so he managed to shift them over so that there was enough room for them to slip into the restaurant and join Josh and AJ who were now watching them in amusement. Nick grabbed Lance's hand and gave a subtle tug. With their attention on Justin, they didn't notice that Nick and Lance were making their way inside. Lance grabbed Justin's wrist and pulled. "So we'll see you beautiful ladies later," Nick said sweetly, punctuating his statement with a wink.

Both Britney and Christina dissolved into a fit of giggles, nodding and waving as the three friends snuck inside and out of their reach.

"Oh my god, did you see him smiling at me," Britney swooned. She held a hand to her heart and fell back against the wall.

"You? It was all me," Christina argued dreamily.

"I don't think so sweetie, he's mine."

"Wait, which one are you talking about?" Christina asked her friend skeptically. This was going to be big trouble if they were both after the same boy. She loved Britney dearly, but wasn't above fighting dirty to get her man.

"Justin of course. We'll be so perfect together. And he's so into me." Britney watched the three boys join AJ and Josh at a table, all of them high fiving in celebration. "And look, he's so excited that we talked to him. They're all high fiving each other. It's fate. Britney Timberlake, has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Christina sighed in relief. "Good, because Nick's mine. Did you see him, he was looking right at me when he said he'd heard such nice things about us. I knew that this shirt would be good luck tonight, he couldn't keep his eyes off of me." Both girls looked at each other before squealing in excitement. They scrambled inside the restaurant to get a good table so that they were in sight of Nick and Justin, but not too close to seem desperate. They'd been waiting for forever for this moment, and they didn't want to lose it.

End Chapter 3


Chapter 4 >