< Chapter 38

Chapter 39

The lights dimmed and the crowd that had, only moments earlier, been rowdy and excited simmered down to a complete silence. The opening notes of the Overture started and back stage, Christina felt as though she was going to throw up. She had gone through this same ritual every night for the past four nights and had long since learned that by midway through ‘Over The Rainbow’ she would be fine.

It was just getting to Over The Rainbow that she had to manage. As Joey gave her a thumbs up and a discreet wink she smiled and felt some of the butterflies leave her stomach. She could do this. She had done this, and after that night, she would be done.

That sent a whole other type of butterflies loose in her stomach and a niggling of sadness crept into her heart.

Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to be in the play that year, and definitely not as the lead. In September she had remembered seeing posters around the school announcing that they were doing The Wizard of Oz in the musical that year and it was open auditions. She had actually been really excited to audition except that the nights indicated was the same nights that there was cheer leading practice. It had been a dilemma, one that she hadn’t been sure how to resolve. After thinking about it harder than she’d let on to anyone, she assumed that she had a better chance at making the cheer leading team than the school musical.

She’d been wrong.

It was only a miracle that caused for events to unfold where the girl who DID make the lead of the play would have to leave early and cause for last minute auditions to take place. And with Nick looking out for her, or looking out for Joey, they weren’t too sure who he’d been working for, she had gotten another chance, this time finding her true calling.

Christina walked out onto the stage to thunderous applause, the opening notes of her song silencing the applause. It had happened every night, and even those who had been forewarned about the dramatic entrance as well as her powerful singing voice were stunned into silence, only amplifying her nerves. As she took a dramatic pause, she looked out to the front row of the auditorium to find her boyfriend and best friends all watching her in pride. Britney and Josh had been there every night, and although she had told them they didn’t have to, they wouldn’t listen. It was comforting to see them night after night, knowing that no matter what happened, they were close by, watching over her. But to see Nick, Justin, Chris, Kevin, Lance and AJ with them caused for her to grin. She couldn’t cover the look of surprise as she headed further across the stage to see Kyle, Billy and Emily sitting next to Josh. Christina’s nerves were gone and she fell into the groove, this was what she knew she
 was meant to do.

"Delivery for Ms. Agui ... Agri ....Aguel..."

"Ms. Aguilera?" Christina offered automatically. She’d heard her name butchered nearly every day since she’d been taught by her mother how to pronounce it and it was just second nature to correct the person and speed the process up.

The delivery man smiled appreciatively and Christina knew he’d been practicing. She smiled back, the smile turning into a look of shock as he left the room to come back in with a gift basket larger than he could carry. It was on a cart. "What is this?"

"Gift for the Star of the Show."

Joey stepped in playfully, nudging Christina aside. "Oh, the STAR? That would be me! I’ll take that over here please." He burst into laughter as Christina poked him in the sides, pushing him away.

"Back off Fatone, that doesn’t say YOUR name on the card." Christina signed for the delivery and thanked the man one more time. With wide eyes, and the attention of everyone in the room on her, she opened the protective plastic casing and gasped at the presents that she found inside. Joey blocked her before she got a chance to see anymore. "Joey..." Christina whined.

"No. NO! You’re going to look at this stuff, start to cry and we don’t have enough time to redo the make up. Intermission is almost over and you still have the second half to get through. If you cry, your voice will go all wonky. No." Joey had to ignore the pleading look Christina was giving him. "NO!" He repeated.

Christina pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine." She knew that deep down he was right. She was already starting to tear up at the sight of the presents that her friends had sent her. She knew it was them as on the back of the card, all of their names had been listed, and just knowing they had done something like this made her want to forget the rest of the show and go out to be with them. But Joey was right, she needed to focus. This was her last chance to be Dorothy in Lincoln High’s rendition of The Wizard of Oz.

An hour later, she was standing in the centre of the stage, taking her bows. The audience was all on their feet, howling and screaming. The front row, which consisted of her friends and her family, were all throwing flowers at her and she couldn’t keep the tears back. She stood there until the rest of the cast came back out to join her for one last bow. The next thing she knew they were carrying her back stage to change back into her regular clothes. Christina simply stood in place, hugging and talking to the million or so people that were approaching her. She was still in her ruby red slippers, blue checked farm dress with a basket in her arms. Toto was nipping excitedly at her feet.

"Let her change," Joey said, waving everyone away. He ushered her to a room off to the side where she found her mother and Britney waiting for her. "We figured you might need some help, you keep getting distracted and as much fun as it is hanging out here, we were hoping to get to the cast party some time tonight." It was then that Christina realized she was the only one that hadn’t changed out of her costume. She blushed and covered her face in embarrassment.

"I’m sorry..."

Joey shook his head and smiled warmly at her. "Oh god no. Don’t apologize. You’re a star sweetie, your people want to see you. But they can see you when you’ve changed and we get this place locked up. I’ll be outside."

When the door closed, Christina ran right into her mother’s arms, followed by Britney’s. She chattered on excitedly with Britney as her mother unzipped the back of her dress and helped her step out of it. She slipped her jeans and a tee shirt on while her mother hung up her dress and it’s accessories neatly. Five minutes later, they emerged. Once the door opened, she was face to face with the rest of her gang, everyone waiting excitedly to see her. The noise was deafening as they all started to clap and scream. Her face was bright red and the smile still hadn’t left her lips.

One by one, each of them took the time to hug and congratulate her, finished by Josh who kissed her long and hard. "I love you," he whispered in her ear, smiling as he felt her tighten her hold on him. "I’m so proud of you."

"Thank you," she whispered back, tears in her eyes. "I’m so sad it’s over."

They pulled away and Josh leaned his forehead against his girlfriend’s. He knew how much she loved being a part of this production and just by the gleam in her eye, knew that it wasn’t over yet.

"So, are we ready to party?" Nick asked with a wink. He turned to Christina and grinned. "Plus, you gotta still open your present."

"Yeah, we hear that you started to cry and Joey had to take it away from you," Billy teased with a tug on Christina’s pig tails. The group started to laugh as Christina blushed.

"I wasn’t crying..." She started, cut off by Joey.

"That’s damn right she wasn’t crying. That’s why I had to take it away from her. The last thing we needed was a Tammy Fae Dorothy. I wouldn’t ever live it down."

"Well," Christina’s mother said warmly. "Your father has gone ahead to the house to get everything ready. So we should finish up here and make our way over too."

As they headed towards Christina’s mother’s car, Christina noticed that Britney looked a little down. She nudged her best friend’s shoulder softly. "You okay?"

Britney tried to smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. It was Christina’s night and she didn’t want to bother her with what was on her mind, but at the same time, Britney couldn’t think about anything else. She hadn’t been able to think about anything else for weeks. "No. But tonight’s not the time for it."

Christina frowned. She couldn’t enjoy herself knowing that something was bothering Britney. And judging by the look on Britney’s face, it was something big. "Of course it is. Talk to me."

Britney took a deep breath. "I don’t want to ruin your night."

"You’re not going to ruin my night," Christina assured the girl. When they got to the car, she informed her mother she was going to sit in the back with Britney. When they were buckled in, she took a hold of Britney’s hand and held it comfortingly. "Tell me what’s wrong."

"I don’t know, that’s the thing,’ Britney confessed. "I’m just so ...sad lately. It’s not all the time, but I start thinking, what is my thing? What do I do?"

Christina was confused, she had no idea Britney was feeling this way and wondered how long it had been going on. She’d been so busy with rehearsals and the play that she’d been neglecting everything and everyone else. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Nick and J have basketball, Lance has the Report, you have your singing and the play ...I don’t have anything. There’s nothing I do."

Britney nodded, understanding now. She wasn’t sure how to make her friend feel better, but knew she had to try. "Well, does that necessarily have to be a bad thing?"

"What?"

"Well, AJ doesn’t ‘have’ anything, neither does Josh. And look at them, they’re happy enough." Britney gave a slight nod. Christina saw it as encouragement so she kept talking. "And look at Billy and Kyle, they’re as anti extra curricular as you can get." The two girls both broke into laughter, knowing how true Christina’s statement was.

"Yeah, but their school blows so..."

"True." Christina hugged Britney close and stroked her hair comfortingly. "So you haven’t found your ‘niche’ yet. Who knows next year, right? You’re trying out for cheer leading again.."

When Britney moved to shake her head, Christina glared at her. "You ARE. You know that next year you WILL make it. You have to because there isn’t any doubt that you’re better than any of those other girls. All those years of dance classes, plus now you know what to do and aren’t just going in there, bouncing up and down lamely and flipping your hair like we did when we went in there."

"I guess."

"Oh sweetie," Christina cooed. "I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. I should have noticed."

"Don’t you dare apologize," Britney warned. "I’m just a little depressed lately and ...feeling pretty useless."

"If you don’t mind me interrupting," Christina’s mother said warmly from the front seat. "There is nothing wrong with taking things easy at school. I am all for getting involved, but sometimes, the best thing to do is just be young and enjoy yourself. Don’t take on too many responsibilities. There were girls when I was going to school, they got so involved in groups and other things that they didn’t get to enjoy themselves at all. Granted, it’s fun being a part of a group you enjoy, but at the same time they didn’t come to any parties, they didn’t get to SEE anything, they were always involved in it. So Britney, don’t worry if you’re not always doing SOMETHING important, sometimes the most important thing is being along for the ride and providing encouragement and aide when it’s needed."

Christina nodded, "who was always the one making signs for J and Nicky for their games? Who was always making sure Lance had enough snacks or whatever when he’d be at Report Meetings? You’re our support group, you take care of us and without you, we’d be a mess." Christina couldn’t help but grin at the way Britney’s face lit up. There was a considerable difference from when they’d gotten into the car, and she was glad that she could help to cheer her best friend up. "So, we okay?"

Britney nodded. She felt as though a giant weight had been lifted from her chest. When they arrived at Christina’s, she pulled the blonde in close and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much," she whispered with tears in her eyes. "You’re my best friend. You always will be."

Christina felt the tears that had been threatening since she’d received the package, fall. She hugged Britney just as tight, not wanting to let her go. They were interrupted by Billy and Josh’s appearance.


"Everything okay here?" Billy asked as he pulled his girlfriend close. A look of worry crossed his face at the tears in Britney’s eyes. "Hey, baby... What’s wrong?"

Britney shook her head, a trembling smile on her lips. "Just having a girl moment." She cleared her throat and took a cleansing breath. "I’m okay."

Billy pressed their lips together in a comforting kiss. "Good, I hate to see the most beautiful girl in the world cry."

"Is Christina crying?" Josh joked, trying to lighten the mood. When everyone looked at him oddly he blushed. "He said the most beautiful girl in the world ..crying ...that’s Christina..." Everyone groaned while Christina ‘awwwed’.

"Weak, you’re so weak," AJ teased. Now the whole gang was outside while their friends and fellow students were heading inside the Aguilera’s house for their cast party.

"I remember something about a huge present," Christina said excitedly.

"Oh yeah, we sold it." Nick said, sticking his tongue out at Christina. He hadn’t expected her to attack him, so when she jumped on his back, he screamed, causing for everyone to burst into laughter.

A few hours later, everyone was in the kitchen, sitting around and talking while nibbling on the snacks that had been put out. It was after midnight and while some people had gone home, the party was still going pretty strong. Chris was sitting with Justin at the bar, the two teens holding hands and talking softly to each other when Nick approached them. "Hey, how’s it going?"

Both Chris and Justin grinned. "Pretty good, just arguing."

"About?" Nick asked with a snicker.

"Who’s better at Final Fantasy," Chris supplied with a roll of his eyes. "I say I am, because I can master almost every version, but he says he is because he’s beaten eight."

Nick snorted. "So he’s better than you at one, but you’re better than him at like a dozen?"

Chris nodded while Justin scowled. Nick giggled as he contemplated his judgment. Finally, he spoke. "Justin wins."

Justin grinned while Chris yelled. "WHAT?"

"Justin wins," Nick shrugged unapologetically.

"Why?"

"’Cause I said so." Nick winked at Justin while taking a sip of his coke.

"And that’s why he’s my best friend," Justin beamed proudly. He fought with Chris for a few minutes before turning to Nick with a smile. "So, how was last night?"

Kevin vaguely heard Justin’s question to Nick and felt his stomach lurch. He was so startled he nearly fell off of his chair. When he righted himself, he shifted so that he could better listen in on their conversation. He’d been sitting at the table talking to Joey, Brian, Josh and two of Josh’s friends from St. Peters. Yet the whole time, had been conscious of Nick’s every move. So when Justin inquired about the night before, he had to wonder what Nick had told him and what the question *really* meant?

Nick coughed, caught off guard by Justin’s question. "What?" He asked, his voice high pitched. He cleared his throat while trying to remain cool.

"How was last night man? Must have been exciting staying all by yourself, no parents around."

Nick’s look of confusion turned into a giant grin and he bounced excitedly in place. "Totally awesome. Oh my god, it was the best time ever."

Chris chuckled at Nick’s enthusiasm. "First time alone?"

Nick nodded while Justin gazed at his best friend with jealousy. "Yeah."

"What did you have for dinner?" Chris asked knowingly. Nick’s cheeks turned pink and he could still faintly feel the ache from the night before.

"Well, first I had ice cream. Then popcorn. Then I made microwave pizza. Then I had some more ice cream but with cookies on it."

Justin’s eyes widened even more and he was practically drooling. Chris covered his face with a groan. "How many times did you puke?"

Nick puffed out his chest proudly. "None!"

"How many times did you WANT to puke?"

"Just once."

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"For like three hours," Nick admitted which caused for them all to burst into laughter. He wrinkled his nose and rolled his eyes. "It was rough."

"Did you love every minute of it?" Chris asked, although he already knew the answer.

Nick nodded. "Did I ever!"

"What did you do afterwards? Stay up all night?"

Nick’s eyes flickered over to where Kevin was sitting at the table, watching them curiously. He grinned at the older boy before turning back to his best friend. "Nah. I watched a few movies and then at like midnight I was kinda tired. I got into bed, read for a bit and fell asleep. That was it."

"Wow. That is like, the coolest ever," Justin gushed. "I wish my mother would let me stay home alone."

"Nah, it’s not your mother you have to work on. She’ll never let you. My mom wouldn’t."

"But yours did!"

Nick nodded wisely. "Dad. That’s who you have to work on. Men stick together, if it hadn’t been for him, I’d be at grandma’s this weekend. Or I would have stayed with you. Not that I didn’t want to, because it would have been so cool. But I wanted to stay on my own for a night."

"Were you scared?" Justin asked genuinely. He couldn’t imagine staying alone in a huge house, although just minutes ago he was wishing for just that.

"I was at one point, but then I had the hall light on and it was okay."

Kevin tried to hide the smile that had spread across his face as he brought his glass up to his mouth. He had believed Nick when he promised not to tell anyone about the night before, but there was still a lingering fear that he might have unexpectedly said something. Thankfully, he hadn’t and Kevin could go back to his own conversation. He was surprised though when he looked back at the table to only find Brian sitting with him.

"Where’s ...?"

"Christina’s opening some gift, they went to go with her," Brian said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Ah," Kevin’s face burned with nervousness. Brian was still staring at him and he shifted in his seat. "What?"

"Has there been any point tonight when you haven’t been watching him?"

Kevin pretended he had no idea what his best friend was talking about.

"Joey’s told me..."

"Joey should learn to keep his mouth shut," Kevin interrupted hastily. He frowned at the look of displeasure on Brian’s face. "What?"

"What ...is that he’s worried about you. We all are. Where were you last night?"

Kevin shrugged noncommittally. "Around."

"We called, your mother said you’d left during dinner and didn’t say where to."

"Had stuff to do."

"You weren’t at HER house were you?" Both of them narrowed their eyes at each other suspiciously. Finally, Kevin shook his head.

"No."

"Where were you then?" When Kevin didn’t answer Brian changed his tactics. He knew that attacking Kevin wouldn’t work. Although he wasn’t sure the reason for Kevin’s departure mid dinner the night before, but he had a pretty good idea of what happened and the pressure from his parents was bad enough, he didn’t need his friends on his case as well. Brian rubbed his face tiredly. "Were you safe?"

Kevin raised an eyebrow, there were many different ways to interpret that question. He was fully aware that Brian knew exactly what he was asking. "I’m not even going to justify that question with an answer."

"Did you go somewhere safe?" Brian rephrased his question. Kevin nodded his head once.

"Yes. And that’s all I’m telling you."

"Staying at my house tonight?"

Kevin smiled for the first time since the conversation started. He nodded. "Is it okay?"

"You know it is."

"Thanks."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, both going over everything in their heads. Brian rest his hand on Kevin’s shoulder and squeezed. "Have you made any type of decision? About the fall?"

Hesitantly, Kevin nodded. He had but hadn’t told anyone. He was afraid to admit it out loud knowing that when he did, all hell would break loose. It would most likely be the thing to divide his family and when the smoke cleared, he wasn’t sure if his father would be able to look past his defiance. "I did."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Kevin gave a strangled gasp. He did, he wanted to talk about it so much, but at the same time was afraid to. It was too much for him to be able to handle and Kevin felt dangerously close to a breakdown. Thankfully Nick took that exact moment to approach, joining them at the table. He was followed closely by Justin and Chris.

"Can we join you?"

Brian wanted to say no, that they were in the middle of a private conversation and if they could return in maybe ten minutes it would be better. But with one look at the smile on Kevin’s face and the way his eyes were shining, he knew their conversation was officially over.

"Maybe later," Kevin whispered to him, answering his question. It would give him time to decide if he really did want to talk about it, or needed more time.

~*~*

Lance and AJ were curled up in a chair in the corner of Christina’s spacious living room. They had spent the majority of the party with everyone else until finally they slipped off by themselves to be alone.


"So," AJ whispered into Lance’s ear. "A birdie told me that your birthday is next week."

Lance blushed and nodded. His lips curled into a shy grin. "Yeah."

"Are you doing anything?"

With a shrug Lance buried his face in AJ’s throat. "I think so, just not sure what. Justin, Nicky and I were talking about maybe going to a movie and then dinner. Something fun but not too involved, you know?"

AJ nodded. "Sounds good, we’ll work it out. Maybe we can go bowling, that would be awesome!" Lance slid his hand under AJ’s tee shirt, resting it on his bare stomach. The touch made him shiver. "I love when you touch me," he whispered softly so no one else could hear them.

"I love touching you," Lance agreed. It was the truth, whenever he was around AJ he couldn’t not be touching him. Even the most innocent of touches set Lance’s mind at ease and he felt more comfortable than anywhere else. Their lips came together in a sweet kiss that was interrupted before it could become more.

Christina jumped on her two friends, hugging them both while showering their faces with kisses. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!"

"For what?" Lance asked, giggling as he fought off more kisses from the excited blonde. She moved onto AJ, tackling him and hugging him just as tightly.

"For my basket, you’re the best!"

AJ looked up at Josh, Britney, Kyle and Billy who were taking pictures. He burst into laughter causing Lance to join in. They shared a look before winking and pouncing on Christina, tickling her mercilessly. The three rolled off of the chair and onto the floor before being dog piled by Britney and Josh. It wasn’t until they were all holding their sides in pain and laughing so hard they were crying that they let up.

Christina took AJ’s face in her hands before kissing him sweetly on the lips. She did the same to Lance before sprinting off into the kitchen to find Nick and Justin. Lance stood up and pulled AJ with him. They resumed their earlier positions, still giggling from their attack from Christina. When they’d finally settled down AJ leaned in so that his mouth was directly against Lance’s ear. He playfully nibbled on the lobe, feeling Lance shiver with excitement.

"Can we have our own party?" He asked shyly. Lance froze in his arms before pulling back to look AJ in the eye.

"Just ..us?"

AJ nodded. "A private party, with just me and you? Is that okay?"

Lance licked his lips and swallowed nervously. He could feel his stomach flipping in anticipation. There was a hunger in AJ’s eyes, one that Lance knew was reflected in his own. "Of course. Why?"

"I want to give you part of my present in private. I have two presents for you. One for the party with everyone, one just for you."

Lance felt his cheeks heat up and he leaned in to press their mouths together hungrily. "Will I like your present?"

"I hope so," AJ moaned into Lance’s mouth. "I’ve been wanting to give it to you forever, but I thought your birthday would be special. So I'll have to wait."

"When do you want to have that party?"

AJ thought about it, realizing that they had the perfect opportunity. "Well, we’ll probably do the group thing on Saturday right?"

Lance wrinkled his nose as he thought about when to have the parties. "We thought that we’d do it after school on Friday..." He stopped as AJ grinned at him.

"But mom works Fridays. We’d have my house to ourselves. All night. Plus I don’t have any brothers or sisters to worry about."

Lance had to agree, if they were going to have any type of private party, it would have to be at AJ’s house when his mom was at work. "Saturday it is."

"So we’ll go to my house after school. We can make dinner, I’ll make you a special birthday dinner and then have our own party."

Lance felt a jolt of nerves and he paused for a moment, a look of worry crossing his face. "Is ... we’re ... will ..." AJ kissed him quiet, running his fingers through Lance’s hair.

"Don’t worry baby, we’re not going to do anything we’re not ready for. I just want to ...give you something."

The possibilities were endless and Lance couldn’t deny the excitement that was pooling in his stomach. "Okay, I trust you." The excitement only grew at the smile that resulted from those three words. Now the only problem was waiting the week until Friday when he was going to get his present from AJ.


End Chapter 39


Chapter 40 >