< Chapter 15

Chapter 16

The weekend passed as countless weekends before it had passed. Before they knew it, it was Monday and the week once again was starting. There was no Varsity practice that afternoon due to the freshman boys having their own season opener. He had been given the afternoon off and Justin was excited to be able to see Nick play. When they’d woken up late Saturday morning, Nick had turned to look at his best friend and sleepily asked if Justin would come and watch him play. The thought not to go hadn’t even occurred to Justin, but it was nice of him to ask anyways.

Monday morning, Lance had told Chris that he would be late for the Lincoln Report meeting that afternoon. It gave him time to go with Justin to the gym to watch the game. Although they would be there, Josh and AJ wouldn’t be able to make it due to previous engagements and despite Nick’s protests that it was okay that they were busy, Justin knew that he was slightly upset that they wouldn’t be there to cheer him on.

As he sat on the bleachers, watching the boys race back and forth from one end of the court to the other, a battle waged in Justin’s mind. On one hand he was proud at how good Nick was and the leadership that he was so clearly demonstrating with his team. Nick had taken his position as captain very seriously and was constantly calling out encouragement to his players at each possible moment. On the other side of the battle was jealousy, pure and utter jealousy. It wasn’t that he wanted to be jealous of his best friend, he didn’t. He wanted to be happy for Nick and not resent him, but it was harder and harder to ignore. Nick was the star of his team. There were other boys who were good, but Nick seemed to shine on the court, something that Justin had never noticed in all the years they’d been playing together. It might have been because they’d been playing for fun, or because Nick seemed to shy away from the spotlight where Justin stepped directly into it, but whatever it was, Justin
 was finding that he was opening his eyes at the person Nick Carter was starting to become.

While Nick was having the time of his life playing ball and getting court time, Justin was barely being noticed on the bench, buried in the lineup only to be called in as backup. There had been a few moments where he had felt bad that Nick had been forced to settle for the freshman team instead of Varsity, but now he had to wonder if it had been him that got the raw end of the deal and was worthy of pity. Finally, the game was over and the boys were celebrating their first win of the season. The small crowd that had come out to support them were cheering loudly and Justin rose to his feet to join in. Despite how he was feeling deep inside in places he refused to acknowledge, he cheered his best friend on to victory and tried not to let his jealousy consume him.

Nick immediately went rushing over the second he had the opportunity. The adrenaline was pumping in his veins and he had a smile decorating his face. "Well? So?"

"That was an awesome game Nick, you guys were great!" Lance’s eyes were full of excitement and he thought that he might write something up for the Report about the game, especially Nick’s performance.

"Thanks Lance," Nick grinned and awkwardly hugged Lance, careful not to get him too sweaty. He focused on Justin who was uncharacteristically quiet. Nick was anxious to hear what his best friend had to say, and thankfully, he didn’t disappoint.

"You’re a star bro, you’ve got mad skills." Justin nodded up to the bleachers where Christina and Britney were watching closely. "The girls are lovin’ you!"

Nick blushed at the compliments and ignored the looks he knew he was getting from the girls who were giggling and whispering quietly about him. He’d never been good at accepting compliments and praise and preferred to blend into the background rather than be in the spotlight. "Thanks, J It’s a great team."

The sound of Lance clearing his throat caught their attention. They both turned to see him frowning slightly. "I should get going," he announced. "I told Chris I’d be a little late ... And I have a few things about the paper that I need to talk to him about." He knew that it wasn’t fair for him to watch the game and leave so suddenly, but he really did have stuff he needed to talk to Chris about as soon as possible. In thinking about ways to improve the school paper, he’d come up with some really innovative ideas that he needed to talk to Chris about implementing for the next issue, which would be coming out in two weeks. It seemed harsh that everyone was there for Justin’s big game, all supportive and then taking him out afterwards, and no one was there for Nick, but it wasn’t something they could help. So with that, Lance gave him an apologetic smile.

Nick’s face fell just slightly as Lance informed them that he had to leave. He had been hoping that they could all go out to the mall for ice cream or to one of their houses or something to maybe talk about the game and the fact that he’d very briefly seen Kevin Richardson in the stands with Brian Littrell for some of the game. But rather than saying anything, he simply nodded his head.

"Uhhh, okay. See you later. Have fun." He couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice and Lance frowned.

"I really am sorry I can’t stay Nick."

"Don’t worry about it." Nick tried to be cheerful, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Lance looked at Justin who had an odd expression on his face. During the whole game, Justin had barely said a word, and when he did it was just that, a word. One word here and there, and despite Lance’s continual attempts to get him to talk, Justin was pretty much off in his own world. He felt a stab of guilt at his conscience. "You’re not mad are you?"

Nick shook his head, the movement sharp and jerky which told Lance that he was lying. "No. It’s okay. I'll just see you tomorrow." He then turned to Justin, expecting him to have an excuse to leave as well. "How about you? Are you busy too?"

There was a moment where Nick thought that Justin was going to apologize and tell him that he was in fact going somewhere. He vaguely noticed Lance saying good bye and gave a wave in his direction. Nick’s stomach churned nervously and it wasn’t until Justin finally grinned that he could breath easily.

"Of course I’m busy. With you! Mom’s gonna be here soon to pick us up and we’re going to get take out Chinese food. We never got to celebrate my game on Friday, so at breakfast today, they decided to wait until tonight so we can all celebrate together."

Nick’s face broke out into a wide grin that mirrored Justin’s and he jumped up in excitement. "I just have to call mom and let her know where I’ll be!"

Justin nodded as he pushed Nick towards the locker room. "Do it from my house. We’re gonna have to hurry because she’ll be here soon."

Throughout the night, Nick couldn’t help but feel as though something was wrong. Justin seemed distant and a little more distracted than usual, and Nick felt as though it was because of him. There were times when he would stare off into space with an odd expression on his face, or even respond to Nick with a sharper tone than necessary. Nick didn’t want to read too much into his best friend’s mood, so rather than obsess over it, he simply let it go. They had both been pretty stressed out with juggling school on top of basketball, as well as Nick’s portfolio and art project which he’d fallen behind on. Nick assumed that Justin’s cool reaction towards him was simply residual of all the stress they’d been under.

Nick tried not to be offended when Justin declined to accompany his mother in driving Nick home. In fact, when Nick suggested it, Justin only said that he was too tired and was going to go to bed. He didn’t even suggest for Nick to call him when he got home, which they always did when leaving the other person’s house. All Justin said was that he’d see him in school the next day and exit the living room to retreat to his bedroom upstairs.

The next day at lunch, Nick was surprised when Lance showed up to the quad with his brown paper bag lunch. "Justin has a basketball meeting," Lance relayed the message. "He said he’d see you in science."

Nick nodded, not concerned with Justin’s absence. He figured that if he ignored there was a potential problem brewing, that it would disappear. And so with that in mind, he refused to let himself think too much about it. Instead, he filled AJ in on the events of the afternoon before, relaying the details of the game to the point where AJ felt as though he’d been there. Nick only paused when Lance jumped in to add his own observations.

"Wow, sounds like an awesome game," AJ said with disappointment evident in his voice. "I wish I could have been there."

"Usually our games are every one to two weeks," Nick said as he bit into his apple. "And we have another one next Wednesday." He flipped open his ‘Kevin Files’ and checked his schedule. When he found what he was looking for, Nick nodded. "Yeah, it’s at two this time."

AJ’s eyes widened in excitement. "Awesome, I’m totally skipping math to come!"

Lance narrowed his eyes at AJ. He knew that the older boy was having trouble with math and skipping would definitely not help his case. "What was that you were saying last week? You were crying that you’re failing math?"

AJ ducked his head to hide the blush that resulted. "I’m not failing, I'm just not doing well. Besides, you said you’d help me."

That had been true, Lance had offered to tutor AJ if he felt it would help him. But he had been turned down immediately with an embarrassed laugh and a promise that things weren’t as bad as AJ had claimed them to be. Lance hadn’t believed AJ then, and this conversation was only proving his initial reaction right.

"If I’m not mistaken, my offer was rejected!"

AJ gave a sheepish shrug and a smile that made Lance melt. "Maybe I do ...sorta ...kinda ...maybe ...need some help." He flashed lance his infamous puppy dog eyes and turned up the charm. When he saw Lance blush and look away, he knew he had him.

"Start bringing your math books with you to lunch. We can go over stuff then. And then on days I don’t have to be at the paper office, we can study after school Sound good?" Once Lance was in official study, school mode, nothing could deter him.

The last thing AJ needed was to do math every day at lunch and again on most afternoons after school. He hated having to do it in class, but if it meant quality time alone with Lance, then AJ would force himself to suffer. Not that it would be suffering. He tried to hide the smirk that tugged on the corners of his lips.

The bell rang and the three friends headed off in opposite directions with promises to talk later. Nick was excited to see Justin in science, if not just to make sure that everything was okay between them. He still had a seed of doubt planted in his mind that something was bothering him and that it had to do with him. Nick also was curious to see how their meeting had gone and whether anything new had developed on the team since Friday night. The last thing Nick had expected to find when he walked into class was Britney sitting in his seat, nearly draped all over Justin. Nick stopped for a moment and shook his head in surprise, not at all covering up the shock that was clearly displayed for all to see.

"Uhhh, hey." He said in greeting. Both Britney and Justin looked up at him. They flashed him similar smiles although neither made any attempt to move.

"Hey Nick," Justin greeted his best friend. He had butterflies in his stomach and could tell that Nick was a little surprised at finding Britney in his seat. Although he had told her that Nick would be sitting there, Justin hadn’t been too forceful and she hadn’t really given any indication that she’d heard him. Something in the back of his mind told Justin he was making a mistake, but he didn’t think that switching seats for one day would be a big deal.

"You know what," Britney suggested with a giggle.

"What?" Nick asked, face serious. He gave Justin a subtle look which the other boy pretended he didn’t see.

"You should sit with Christina today. She was saying earlier that she had wanted to talk to you about the game yesterday. And that will give me a chance to sit with Justin and talk to him."

Nick put his books down on the table as if to show her that he wanted his seat. "We’re not really going to have a lot of time to talk, since it’s class. So I’d just like my seat please."

Unfortunately, Britney wasn’t moving. Justin only gave a sheepish shrug which further enraged Nick.

"See, Justin wants me to sit here, don’t you?" Britney snuggled closer to Justin who didn’t protest.

"It’s just one day. Right?"

Nick felt like he’d been kicked in the gut and refused to look at Justin. He knew that Mr. Phillips would be in any second and he didn’t want to get into trouble for not being in his seat and causing a scene. So rather than argue, he stormed to where Christina was already sitting and took Britney’s seat. He noticed that she was blushing and refused to look up. He mumbled ‘hi’ as he sat down. He didn’t want to take out his anger on her as it wasn’t her fault, but didn’t feel that he should have to be nice to her when it was him that had been put out.

"Sorry about that," Christina apologized softly. Nick looked up at her and felt bad at the expression on her face. She obviously knew that he didn’t want to be sitting there. "She gets something in her head and nothing can stop her."

"Yeah, well he doesn’t seem to mind," Nick scowled. He opened his book and got his homework out to be checked. He noticed Justin turn his head around to catch his eye, but decided that if Justin was going to ditch him for Britney, he was going to ignore him. Surprisingly, Christina didn’t giggle or flip her hair once as Nick had expected. She had quietly put on her glasses and paid attention as Mr. Phillips started teaching the lesson. Britney on the other hand, spent the whole class giggling and whispering to Justin, which had quickly gotten on everyone’s nerves, especially Mr. Phillips.

"I appreciate the need to switch things up a little," Mr. Phillips said in a very annoyed tone of voice. "But if these are going to be permanent seating arrangements," he motioned towards Nick sitting with Christina and Justin with Britney, "we will have to do with a whole lot less of giggling and socializing." That had been directed towards Britney and Justin. Nick couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction as Justin sunk down on his stool, obviously embarrassed.

Once again, Christina flashed him an apologetic smile. "Is everything okay?" She asked quietly as they were working on the assigned homework.

Nick looked up and noticed that she was serious. Christina was biting the tip of her pen thoughtfully, a look of genuine concern on her face. He didn’t know what to say and so he shrugged.

"I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. But ...you just look sad. You have for a while now, but ...I don’t know. More so today. And I know it must have hurt for Justin to pick Brit over you."

"I don’t want to talk about it," Nick growled. He looked up and was surprised when Christina was still watching him, eyes full of compassion. It was the first time he’d really looked at her in what could have been weeks, and realized that she wasn’t wearing a lot of make up or extremely revealing clothing. She wore her long blonde hair up in a messy ponytail, held up together by two pens, a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. There was a light sweater wrapped around her waist. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time and couldn’t help but stare. Christina began to shift uncomfortably under his gaze.

"What?" She asked awkwardly.

"What, what?" Nick countered, embarrassed at being caught staring.

"You’re looking at me weird."

"I just ...you look different." Nick noticed her blush and was instantly sorry he’d embarrassed her. "No ...not bad different."

Christina set down her pen and sighed. She looked sad, probably as sad as he felt right then. Nick gave her an encouraging smile. "I know what people say about me. And I know that I act like an air head and a ditz. I just ...I didn’t know what high school was going to be like, and I went to an all girls’ elementary school so it was the first time I’d really been around boys, especially boys that notice girls and ..."

"You don’t have to explain," Nick protested. He didn’t want Christina to feel more uncomfortable than she already did.

"No, I'm sorry. We were such idiots and ..." She pointed at Britney who was still all over Justin. Much to Nick’s pleasure, Justin looked very uncomfortable.

"I think he’s mad at me," Nick confessed. If Christina was going to share her problems with him, he should at least do the same. He was surprised when she shook her head.

"I don’t think that’s it."

"How would you know?" Nick asked defensively. His pulse was racing and he felt his stomach churn.

Their conversation paused for a moment as Mr. Phillips came around to return the tests they’d taken the week earlier. He wasn’t surprised when he saw a B in red ink underneath his name and smiled at the grade. What did surprise him was the A+ underneath Christina’s. Nick’s eyes narrowed and he studied her once again. She didn’t look surprised at the grade and Nick believed it probably wasn’t the first one she’d gotten. He realized that he had somehow been underestimating her all of these months. She quickly turned it over and slid it in the back of her binder, blushing profusely. When Mr. Phillips was safely out of ear’s shot, Christina answered Nick’s question.

"I hear a lot more than you realize." Those eight words caused for Nick to turn beet red and his pulse to race uncomfortably. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her and suddenly wanted the floor to swallow him up. He didn’t need to ask if she meant what he thought she meant, he knew that she knew. She had to.

Christina saw Nick freeze and she could sense he was panicking. Quickly, she put her hand on his arm and refused to let him move. "I know you’re this amazing friend, wonderful and sweet and so thoughtful. I know that you’re so worried about everyone else that you don’t worry about yourself. And I know that you’re never going to like me like I like you."

Nick looked up and saw Christina blush, she refused to look away. Instead, she shrugged and gave a tiny embarrassed smile. "But I know that,’ Christina lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper, "...Kevin Richardson is the luckiest guy in the whole world, although he has no idea why he’s so lucky." Christina took a deep breath and fidgeted with her pen. "And I know that you and Justin are having trouble, despite how much you both try to ignore it. But he’s not mad at you. If he was, he wouldn’t be hurting so much right now."

Nick’s chest hurt and he felt tears fill his eyes. He discreetly wiped them away and wished that everything hadn’t changed. He wished that they’d have both either made the team or not made it, but not one of them which would cause for this great big invisible gap to come between them. Thankfully, Christina understood his need to change the subject. He couldn’t help but whisper a soft ‘thank you,’ to her though.

The second Justin saw the expression in Nick’s eyes, the one that he’d hidden so well that only someone that knew him like Justin did would see, he knew he’d gone too far. When he’d called Britney over to his and Nick’s desk to talk, he hadn’t anticipated her bringing all her things. Or maybe he had, but wouldn’t let himself admit to it. Never the less, he knew he was being petty, but couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it. One day wasn’t going to make a difference, and Justin simply needed time to himself without Nick hovering around. Justin needed to think about why he had woken up that morning, resentment still fresh in his mind, a bitter taste in his mouth. The one thing that he noticed, was the resentment and bitterness was all directed towards Nick, the one person that he shouldn’t feel that way about.

He’d invited Britney over to sit with him to punish Nick, although he didn’t know why the blonde deserved it. What he hadn’t anticipated was HIM being the one punished, and judging by the continuous giggle coming from Britney beside him, it was well deserved punishment. He had to wonder if she could breathe through her constant giggling, not to mention if she was dizzy from flipping her hair back every few seconds. She kept trying to talk to him as Mr. Phillips was teaching his lesson and before the class was even a quarter of the way through, he was feeling nauseous from the heavy amount of perfume that she wore. Justin prayed to god that he hadn’t made Nick mad enough to do something irrational.

Justin had snuck a few glances back to Nick and Christina’s desk, startled to find a smile on his best friend’s face. They were talking softly, equally participating in a conversation that had both of them blushing every so often. Nick looked as if he was enjoying his new seating arrangement, which only made Justin more miserable. Each minute of class seemed to drag until finally his torture had come to an end. Justin had never been so thankful in his life for the end of science.

Nick worked on the problems in the back of the chapter until the bell rang, startled that the time had already passed. He’d never have thought that science would have been so much fun, especially sitting with Christina Aguilera, one of the ‘peroxide twins’. As he got his stuff together, he grinned at the blonde.

"You know, I had fun sitting with you."

Christina grinned back at him. He had no idea how fast her heart was beating, how her knees had turned to Jell-O and how she desperately wished that it was her he was in love with, not Kevin Richardson. But she’d known for longer than she’d tell anyone that Nick wasn’t interested in girls like that and if she wanted to be friends with him, she’d have to get over her crush on him. No matter how much it hurt. "Me too. You gonna go back to sit with Justin tomorrow?"

Nick looked up at Justin who was forcibly laughing at something Britney had said. He felt the anger rising from his stomach again and shook his head. "Nah, I'm gonna sit here from now on if that’s okay with you!"

Christina only raised an eyebrow. She didn’t think it was wise for him and Justin to ignore what was brewing between them but it didn’t concern her. Finally, she smiled. "I know Brit won’t mind."

"What about you?" Nick could tell that Justin was hovering outside the door to talk to him. He didn’t hurry his conversation with Christina at all.

"I’d like that,’ Christina laughed quietly. It still amazed Nick how different she’d become over the past few weeks. He made a mental note to talk to her one day about it.

As Nick exited the classroom, Justin fell in step with him. "Sorry about that Nick, she just sat down and wouldn’t move. You know how it is."

Nick refused to even look at Justin. For some reason, he wondered if there had even been a practice that day, or if it had been an excuse to not eat with him.

"So, how was Christina?" Justin asked with a nudge to Nick’s side. The movement caused for Nick to stop suddenly and glare at his ‘best friend’.

"Fine, actually. She’s awesome. So not what I thought she was. In fact, I think I'm going to sit there tomorrow too." Nick wasn’t sure, but he thought that he might have seen a look of surprise and panic in Justin’s eyes. He was so hurt he didn’t even care.

"But ...what about your seat?"

"If I remember correctly, you gave that to Britney."

"For today."

"You didn’t seem too much in a rush for her to move."

Justin’s eyes narrowed into slits and he frowned. "Why are you getting so upset? What’s wrong with you?"

The question had taken Nick off guard and so he stopped walking entirely. His jaw dropped open and he gaped at Justin. "What’s wrong with me?"

"You get mad because I want Brit to sit with me for one day?"

"Oh, now you wanted her to sit with you? You said she sat there and wouldn’t move!"

Justin’s cheeks heated up and he knew he’d made a mistake. Nick only stood in front of him, arms crossed over his chest and a mad expression on his face. That only caused for Justin to get mad and shrug noncommittally. "You know what, I don’t care. Sit where you want!"

"Good, I plan on it."

Justin huffed a few times and when he realized Nick had nothing else to say, he started to walk away. They were alone in the hallway when he heard Nick’s voice softly ask, "why are you so mad at me?"

Justin turned around to see Nick looking at him seriously, head cocked to the side.

"I’m not mad at you." The question irritated him and Justin didn’t feel nearly as bad as he should have for lying to his best friend.

"You’re acting like you are."

Justin sighed and rolled his eyes. "I’m not. Don’t be a baby."

Nick shut his mouth and refused to say what was on the tip of his tongue. Instead he gave a fake smile. "Okay then. See you tomorrow."

Justin only half shrugged. "See you."

End Chapter 16


Chapter 17 >