< Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Nick scrambled to get into the car. He’d spent too long deciding what to wear that day that he was late now and he could hear his brother and sisters yelling at him from the back seat of their mini van. "You’re always such in a rush to get to school," Leslie complained as Nick got in and slammed the door shut, "and now when WE want to get there early, you’re late."

"Sorry," Nick apologized. He fought to catch his breath and calm his nerves. For a moment, he felt tendrils of excitement dance up his spine at the thought of seeing Kevin in the hallway before homeroom, but then remembered that Kevin was miles and miles away, starting his first official day of classes at college. The excitement made way for sadness, which was replaced by anxiousness at the upcoming semester. Despite how much Nick complained about school, he loved it. He loved the social aspect of it, being surrounded with his friends every day, talking with people and socializing. But he also loved the learning aspect as well. He loved being challenged, and busy and he’d been eager for school to start, if just to have his routine back to normal.

"What took you so long?" BJ asked as they drove towards Holy Cross, where she would be starting her last year in elementary school. Next year she too would be attending Lincoln High as a freshman with Nick and she couldn’t wait to be in high school. Then, she would be able to see Justin every single day and for sure he would notice her as more than just Nick’s younger sister.

"Couldn’t decide what to wear," Nick said with a shrug. He looked down at his faded, baggy jeans, his baby blue short sleeved tee that was over a black, long sleeved tee and his running shoes. He still wasn’t sure that he’d gone with the right outfit, but he’d run out of time and this was what he’d had on when his mother had warned him if he wasn’t in the car in ten seconds, he’d be walking to school. He saw BJ’s eyes give him the once over and she shrugged.

"Look like a goober to me."

Nick grinned. "Aww, thanks." He’d made the right choice, because if he looked really bad BJ would have said he looked awesome, just to spite him. They pulled up to the elementary school and the youngest Carter kids climbed out. Just as Nick was moving to the front seat of the mini van to join his mother, he recognized Stacey Bass approaching.

"Ohmygawd, Beej, that outfit is so, like, adorable!" Stacey shrieked.

Nick’s jaw nearly dropped when BJ answered with, "Ohmygawd, Stace, so is yours."

They were wearing the exact same thing.

Nick was frozen in spot, and unfortunately Stacey noticed him and turned her attention on him.

"Ohmygawd," she whispered softly. Her cheeks went a bright pink and she immediately went to fix her hair. "Like, hey Nick. You look really good today. That blue is, like, sick on you."

Nick was about to be offended when BJ giggled and nudged him. "Sick is good."

Stacey nodded. "Totally good." Nick could see the cartoon hearts floating around Stacey’s head and turned to look over his shoulder to make sure that Justin wasn’t behind him. It was the look she always got when Justin was in the room, just like his sisters did when he was there. But alas, Justin was nowhere to be found and she was looking at HIM like that.

"Uh, thanks Stacey. I’ve gotta get going," Nick scrambled into the front seat, blushing profusely. He looked at Stacey who was still watching him in awe.

"Come on Stace," BJ said as she pulled on her friend's arm. "Lets’ go."

"But he’s so hot," Nick heard Stacey moan. He instantly froze and looked at his mother in horror. She chuckled as BJ gagged.

"Gross, that’s my brother."

And with that, they were gone. Nick’s face was still heated and his pulse was racing. He was going to have to talk to Lance about how Stacey had gone mental, totally mental.

"What was that?" Nick asked slowly. His mother pulled away from Holy Cross and drove towards the high school where she would be dropping Nick off.

Jane only laughed at Nick’s discomfort. Well, Stacey’s been having a bit of issues lately, so has BJ actually. So Diane and I thought it would be good to take them shopping together. They’ve known each other, but haven’t really spoken, and we thought that they would get along really well. We were right. Last week, we all went for a girl’s day out, and the girls bonded instantly. Now they’re inseparable, and ..."

"AND?" Nick asked.

"And ...well they’d been talking about how they were both in love with Justin."

Nick couldn’t help but snicker.

"But they’d started to see that they both couldn’t have him, and, well Stacey admitted that she had a crush on you too. So they somehow came to the agreement that BJ could have Justin and Stacey could have you." Jane told the story as if it were the funniest thing in the world, while Nick sat in horror.

"Why can’t they both have him?" He asked. It was much funnier when Justin was the object of their affection, not him. "Why can’t Beej have Lance and Stacey have Justin?"

Jane smiled and affectionately patted her son’s knee. "It doesn’t work that way. Maybe by next week they’ll have found someone else, but for now, you’re it Nickolas. You are the boy she dreams about at..."

Nick’s tortured moans cut off the rest of Jane’s sentence. She laughed good naturedly at her son who jumped out of the mini van quickly. They had pulled up to the front of Lincoln High and he couldn’t bear to listen to the rest of what his mother was about to tell him.

"Have a good day, Sweetie," Jane called.

"Thanks mom," Nick stopped and turned to face his mother. Most of the gang was already on the steps, talking comfortably and he remembered that they were going to the Shake Shack after school. "We’re gonna get something to eat after school okay, I’ll call when I’m coming home."

Jane nodded. "Okay, be good."

When Nick approached his friends, he received a warm welcome. Hugs were passed around as if they hadn’t just seen each other the night before and they were aware of the envious stares they received by what were most likely fresh meat, starting new at Lincoln. Nick sat down next to Lance who had driven to school with AJ and gave his best friend a serious look. "We need to talk."

Lance laughed at Nick’s dramatics. He sat up straighter and nodded. "Okay."

"Our sisters need to be stopped. Seriously."

Lance’s laughter amplified. "I don’t know what our mothers were thinking getting them together, only bad things could come of this."

Nick gave a solemn nod. "You don’t know the half of it." Before he could continue, Christina and Josh approached. More hugs were given out and the blonde stopped in front of Nick.

"Nicky, you look great today. That blue looks awesome on you."

Nick smiled and then frowned. "Sick. I look sick."

It was Christina who frowned. "No you don’t. Are you sick? Do you feel okay?"

Nick chuckled and shook his head. "No, apparently I look sick. Sick means good. Sick means hot, at least that’s what STACEY said this morning when we saw her at Holy Cross."

Justin, Lance and AJ all burst into hysterical laughter at Nick’s discomfort which only caused Nick to growl more. "It’s not funny."

"Oh my god, it so is funny," Justin disagreed, laughing harder. Christina nodded and smiled as she ran her fingers through Nick’s spiky hair.

"Okay then, you look sick." She leaned back into Josh’s embrace as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"If sick means hot," Josh said with a shrug. "Then I’m freakin’ terminal." When everyone stared at him in silence he blushed. "You know, like a terminal sickness. It’s fatal, I'm so hot it’s ..." He shook his head and sighed. "Never mind."

"If you have to explain it," AJ laughed, "then it ain’t funny."

Everyone continued on with their conversations, leaving AJ, Lance, Justin and Nick to theirs. "So yeah, what happened?" Justin asked with a snicker. He was relieved that if Stacey was focusing her attention on Nick, she’d leave him alone. Now he just had to figure out how to throw Nick’s sisters off of his trail.

"So we get to the school and the twins, Les and Beej get out. I’m about to get into the front seat when your sister comes running up to the car and is all ‘ohmygawd, you’re so like adorable’." The three teens laughed at Nick’s perfect imitation of a thirteen year old girl. "And then my sister is all ‘ohmygawd, you too’." Nick pretended to flip his hair. "And then she notices me and gets this look on her face that’s supposed to be for JUSTIN," Nick glared at his best friend who was grinning, "and is all ‘you look sick Nick’. And Beej tells me it means I look hot and they’re giggling and I swear, I'm going to throw up."

"I swear I’m going to throw up," Lance agreed with a look of distaste on his face.

"So then I got in the car and Mom tells me that Stacey and Beej are best friends now and they’ve spent the last two weeks together. Which is like, whatever, right, but one day they were both talking about how much they love Justin..."

Nick paused as Justin groaned.

"..and they decided that they both can’t be in love with him. It’s too complicated and what would happen if one hooked up with him."

"Oh my god," Justin shrieked. "Not gonna happen. EITHER of them." His yell caught everyone’s attention and their small group burst into laughter. "Gross."

"You okay J?" Brit asked, mildly concerned.

"Just upset that all the girls at Holy Cross are in love with him," Lance called out. He was instantly silenced as Justin pounced on him.

"Shut up," Justin growled playfully. Lance’s laughter was infectious and soon everyone was laughing.

"So," AJ asked, curious as to where Nick was going with this story. He just loved the looks of discomfort on both Justin and Nick’s faces and was surprised at just how surprised they were that these girls were in love with them. They truly were clueless regarding how other people saw them, especially people of the opposite sex. Or even the same sex as often the case was as well.

"So, they apparently worked it out," Nick sighed dramatically, a miserable look on his face.

"And?" Justin wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He covered his eyes and waited for the blow.

"Well, after Stacey admitted that she has a crush on me too, they decided that BJ can have you and Stacey can have me."

The gang broke into hysterical laughter, causing Justin and Nick to scowl more.

"Gawd," Justin whined. "This is horrible. Neither of them can have me. I’m not to be had."

"You?" Nick groaned. "At least when they all wanted you, it was funny. Now it’s just gross."

"Oh my god," AJ said, holding onto his stomach as he tried to control his laughter. "You two are hilarious. Just think about it, this is the last year of freedom you're gonna have."

"Why?" Nick asked, eyes wide.

"They’ll be here next year. Just imagine having them follow you around the school like puppies. Them and all of their fresh meat girlfriends."

Nick wrinkled his nose as he shook his head. "Mom says they’ll forget about this crush by the end of the week."

"Have they yet?" Lance asked. "I mean, how long has BJ been in love with Justin?"

Justin narrowed his eyes and glared at Lance who blushed and shrugged.

"But ...I mean, yeah..." Lance scooted closer to AJ who he knew would protect him.

"I think it’s sweet," Emily said as she stood in front of them.

Nick gave her an odd look. "I think you’re crazy." Emily only shrugged.

"Probably."

"Come on," Josh said as the bell sounded. "We should start getting inside. I’m sure it’s going to be insanity in there." They all filed in through the front doors to stand on the foyer.

"So remember," Britney said one last time as everyone was about to head off in their own directions. "Freshmen..." She paused and started to laugh. "Sophomores," she corrected herself proudly, "sophomores meet right after homeroom at our lockers. The rest of you, we’ll see you in the gym. First ones there save us seats."

Everyone gave a nod as they headed in the directions to their homerooms. Emily, Kyle and Billy had been sent their homeroom allocations as well as their guidance counselor information during the summer. As new transfers to the school, they were given appointments during that week as an official welcome to Lincoln High. Emily’s was the next day during first period, while Kyle would be going during second. Billy’s note had said he would be seeing his counselor Thursday during first period.

Where homeroom was usually fifteen minutes in length, that day it was barely seven minutes. They sat down long enough to hear that morning’s announcements and receive their schedules for first term before they were then given their locker assignments and free reign to head out and set everything up for the new year. Vice Principal Delaney would let them know over the school’s PA system when it was time to head down to the gym for the assembly.

Thankfully, because it was still warm, the only baggage people had were their backpacks, and thus the moment they were given the go ahead, students all piled into the halls. It was loud and boisterous, everyone catching up after two months away, complaining that they were back to the grind again and excitement of what lay ahead for them.

Nick practically sprinted up to the section where sophomore lockers were, hoping that he had as good a locker as he had the year before. All he needed was for Justin’s locker to be closer and he would be happy. Looking at the numbers, he checked the sheet on his schedule. "SO598". The lockers in front of him read SO502, so he must be further down the hall. When he finally got to where he should be, he smiled and looked around. He was nearly at the end of the row. It took him just a few minutes to open up his locker and start decorating. He'd come prepared, with pictures and tape, wanting to make his locker as homey as possible. The picture of him and Kevin went right at eye level at the back, so when he looked into the locker, it was the first thing he would see. After peeling off a few heart stickers, he placed them right next to both his and Kevin’s heads, giggling for just a moment. On the door he stuck up pictures of the rest of their gang, along with a poster for Chris’ band and
 some art work he’d done over the summer.

Looking to his right, he smiled as Mandy and Joey approached. "Hey, what number are you?" Nick asked as they stopped to talk. Mandy checked her schedule again.

"SO596," she answered. Right next to you it seems." Nick shimmied and moved just a little to the side so she could get in. "I’d have been here before, but Joey came by to get me so he could show me his locker. We’re gonna head down to the assembly with you guys."

"If that’s okay," Joey said warmly. Nick nodded and the two gave a half hug in greeting.

"Totally okay." Nick looked around, frowning slightly. He hadn’t seen or heard from Justin or Lance. It wasn’t until he looked down the hall that he saw the two, talking animatedly with Britney and Christina. They were looking down the hall and it wasn’t until Nick held his arm up in the air and waved that they saw him.

"We’ve been looking for you," Justin said with a smile.

"Probably had my head in the locker and you didn’t see me," Nick said pointing out how he’d already decorated the inside of his locker. "This is me."

Both Justin and Lance frowned. "We’re down there." Nick must have passed their lockers on the way to his.

"I just walked by there, like ten minutes ago," Nick said. Justin rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Just got there a minute ago. Mr. Corbin had to go on and on about his summer vacation in Turkey. Finally we were like ‘seriously, we’ve gotta get going.’"

"I stopped by the report on my way down," Lance explained. "We’ve got a meeting tomorrow after school."

"Already?" Nick said. He shut his locker, waited for Mandy to finish putting her things in and they headed down to where Justin and Lance’s lockers were.

"Yeah, we want to get an issue out for Friday, which will be tough but I think we’ll do it. Just a small one. Oh, and there’s a dance on Friday night, like a welcome back sort of thing." Lance stopped, Nick figured that this was Lance’s locker. "I’m SO536."

"SO535," Justin said proudly. I ran into Lance and we were so excited because we thought that our lockers were side by side, but they’re across the hall from each other. And you’re just down there, so we’re so close."

"Where are Brit and Chrissy?" Mandy asked. Just as she mentioned their names, the two girls in question turned the corner.

"Right here," Brit said with a smile. "We’re the first two lockers around the corner."

"Awesome," Nick reached for his schedule when they heard Vice Principal Delaney on the PA System.

"Please start to make your way to the Providence Gym ladies and gentlemen. The assembly will commence in ten minutes."

"Oh crap," Joey said with a start. "I’ve gotta go back to my locker. I need my glasses." He turned to his girlfriend with a smile. "You go ahead."

Mandy shook her head. "I’ll go with you." She turned to the girls and pointed in the direction that Joey was heading. "Save us a seat."

"For sure," Christina said.

"Wait," Justin said as they entered the spacious gym. It took a few seconds, but Lance recognized AJ, Billy, and Kyle sitting on the bleachers.

"Come on," Lance nodded. "Over here."

"Wait what J?" Nick asked. They thread their way through the crowd and climbed onto their usual spot.

"Our schedules, who’s got what?"

Everyone had already forgotten about schedules, they were so excited to find out whose locker was where. Moments after the sophomores sat down, Josh and Emily strolled into the gym and directly over to where the rest of the gang was sitting.

"Oh my god, I totally forgot," Britney reached into her pocket and pulled out the perfectly folded piece of paper she’d received in homeroom. "Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded, all nearly bouncing with excitement.

"First period?" Britney asked. She looked at Justin who was directly to her right.

"Math." Justin looked hopefully at his friends. Unfortunately, no one smiled.

"Spanish," Nick said. Lance shimmied.

"Spanish." The two high fived and Justin sighed.

"Drama," Britney said causing Christina to squeal.

"DRAMA."

On the back of his schedule, Nick wrote down everyone’s first period class.

"Second Period?" Justin asked.

"English." Nick answered. This time Justin shimmied and cheered.

"ENGLISH."

Britney did a squeal of her own, "English!" The three high fived and looked at Lance and Christina.

"Math," Christina shrugged.

"Math," Lance agreed.

Christina was happy for just a moment that she had a class with someone else. "Yay, math with Lance."

"Actually," Lance said apologetically. "Probably not."

Christina frowned, she turned her head to see AJ’s eyes wide and his lips curled in a giant grin.

"You have math second period?" AJ asked. Lance nodded. "It isn’t in room 208 with Mr. Barton, is it?"

Lance looked down at his schedule. "Actually, yeah. How did you.." He couldn’t figure out how AJ would know where his class was and with who, until finally it hit him. His stomach started to jump and his face broke out into a giant grin. "Are you serious?"

AJ nodded and held up his schedule. Right there, in ink was his schedule, and second period had him in Math with Mr. Barton, room 208.

"Mine is in 307 with Mrs. Clease," Christina said, still confused. "How can you be in the same class?"

"Lance took grade ten math last year, remember?" Nick said with a laugh. It was amusing how excited Lance and AJ were at having a class together.

"Darn," Christina said with a laugh. "I was so excited to have him there next to me, giving me the answers."

"Nope," AJ said, pulling Lance close. "He’s mine."

"Third period?" Nick asked quickly. They were starting to get the stage ready for the assembly. Knowing the way their assemblies went, they still had time as they never started remotely close to when they were supposed to.

"Music," Justin answered. Lance and Christina both shimmied.

"Me too!" They both cried at the same time. Three way high fives went around the circle.

"Math," Britney and Nick said at the same time. They both stuck out their tongues until they saw that they weren’t the only one in math at that time.

"Oh good,’ Britney said in relief. "I was afraid I’d be alone for math, and I hate hate hate math."

"Me too," Nick groaned. They shared a high five before continuing.

"Fourth period?" Lance asked.

"History," Nick said.

"History," Justin agreed. The two shimmied and high fived. They looked at Lance who shook his head.

"Media Studies."

"Me too," Britney cheered. They all turned to Christina who was grinning. It was just a matter of what she was grinning about.

"History," she finally said, causing for Nick and Justin to cheer.

The remainder of their gang watched in amusement at their routine. Nick scribbled down everyone’s schedule and knew that none of them would have the same fifth period class as him.

"Okay, last period," Christina asked. She looked at Lance first.

"Business." Everyone booed and stuck out their tongues.

"Ewww, why would you volunteer to take that?" Justin said with his nose upturned. "Bo-ring."

Lance stuck out his tongue and rolled his eyes. "Because I like it, and I’m good with numbers and that stuff."

"I guess," Justin said. "I’d still rather take something fun, like gym or basket weaving."

Everyone stopped and looked at Justin who blushed. "You want to take basket weaving?" Kyle asked with a laugh.


Justin shrugged. "Instead of business? Hell yeah."

Lance punched Justin’s arm and shook his head. "Shut up. What DO you have last period?"

Justin stuck out his tongue. "Computers." Christina and Britney both squealed.

"Me too." They both said.

Nick shook his head. "Art." He looked over at AJ who nodded. He grinned knowing that again, he’d have AJ in his art class.

"Wow, this is gonna be so fun," Christina said as she slid her schedule back into the small bag she’d brought with her. She leaned back against Josh’s legs as she made herself comfortable for the assembly.

Nick turned to Justin and linked their arms together. "Only two classes together," he said softly. Justin nodded and stuck out his tongue in distaste.

"I know."

"But it’s cool." They sat in silence as the assembly started. A million thoughts were running through Nick’s mind as he looked around the spacious gym at the student population of Lincoln High. He turned to Justin and waited for him to catch his eye. Seconds later, Justin’s head turned and they stared deeply at one another. Nick wasn’t sure if he should tell Justin what he’d been thinking. "I keep ..."

"What?" Justin whispered. Nick had stopped and Justin could see that something was bothering him. "Are you okay?"

Nick wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I just ....keep looking for him, forgetting that he’s not here."

Justin nodded, he understood what Nick was saying completely. "I know, me too."

"It’s weird, I mean, I know he’s gone. But I keep looking down the hall, or over my shoulder, hoping he’s going to come by."

"You gonna call him tonight?" Justin asked. He knew that after school the gang would be going to the Shake Shack for snacks, but he’d made plans to see Chris at around seven, so their evening would be ending pretty early. Nick nodded.

"Totally. I’m going to call him at like eight, before bed."

"Guys," Lance whispered, interrupting their conversation.

"What?"


"You might want to hear some of this, they’re talking about the teams and Lincoln Sports."

"Cheerleading try outs will be held next week, we have two squads. The freshman squad, and the Varsity squad. Both are open try outs, except that for the Freshman squad, you must be a freshman. Our first football game of the year will be held this Friday at two p.m. For upper year students, if you have a free period at that time, we would like for you to come out and show your support for the team, for other classes, attendance will be decided on by the teacher. Varsity Basketball season starts very soon. We will be having a pep rally sometime within the next few weeks to introduce you to your team. Try outs for open positions on the Varsity team will be held early October. Usually we hold them in early November, but this year we’re doing things a little differently. They are open try outs as well, so if you’d like to show us what you’ve got, come on out. For those freshmen who find themselves not ready for Varsity, we do have a Freshman team, which last year went on to win the
 Championship."


The crowd all burst into applause as Nick’s friends were cheering the loudest, calling his name. His face turned a bright red and he ducked, not wanting to call too much attention to himself.

Coach Griffiths laughed. "That’s right, lead by the freshman captain Nick Carter, we went on to win our very first Freshman Championship. So come on out and give it a try."

Justin threw his arm over Nick’s shoulder, giggling at how embarrassed he was. Coach Griffiths wasn’t finished.

"And for those Freshman who don’t think that it’s possible for them to make a Varsity team, last year at this time I would have agreed. But you’re wrong. For the first time in Lincoln High history, last year we had a freshman student try out for and make the Varsity team, so if you’re looking to follow in Justin Timberlake’s footsteps, I suggest you come to practices, watch and take note. Because you’ll find that here at Lincoln High, anything is possible."

Now their group was screaming Justin’s name, calling attention to the bleachers.

"I’m so embarrassed," Justin whined. He and Nick looked at each other and started to laugh. They could see tons of freshmen girls looking over at them with hearts in their eyes, giggling and pointing at them.

Principal Lane went on to explain the code of conduct that they were to follow at Lincoln High, the dos and don’ts of the school and any other rules that needed to be stated. It was after ten thirty before they were dismissed for a ten minute break. They would be expected in their first period class at the end of those ten minutes.

Standing out in the hallway, Nick noticed a bunch of girls walk past them, all giggling. He gave them a weird look which only made them giggle more. "What is wrong with them?" He asked as the rest of his group joined him.

Christina looked and snorted. "Oh, they were in my gym class last year. They’re okay, I guess. A little ditzy." She looked at Nick and grinned. "Love you though."

"What?"

"They love you; think you’re just the dreamiest thing ever. They’d spend all class last year talking about you, and when they knew I was friends with you, suddenly they would ask me all this stuff about you."

Nick blushed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"I’m serious." She consulted her schedule, remembering that Britney had drama with her. "But anyways, where are we having lunch? It’s going to take me forever to remember who I’m going to be seeing when."

"Lunch in the quad?" Justin suggested. He wasn’t so sure that AJ or Josh would want to spend yet another year eating in the quad, but he’d loved how peaceful and nice it was outside.

Everyone nodded except for Billy, Kyle and Emily, who weren’t exactly sure what they were talking about.

"Yeah," Josh nodded in the new transfers’ direction. "I’ll show you where. There are specific areas that people usually eat in. You’re not limited to them, but still. The freshmen eat in the caf."


Justin shuddered upon thinking about the few times he’d ventured in there to eat. With a shake of his head and a serious expression, he felt it necessary to warn them. "Don’t ever eat there. Ever."

Kyle looked at the rest of the group. The guys nodded and the girls rolled their eyes. "It’s not THAT bad," Christina argued.

Justin raised an eyebrow and Britney wrinkled her nose. ‘It is that bad, but we had fun."

"Sophomores eat in the quad, while the juniors have the junior lounge and the seniors have the senior lounge."

"But we ate in the sophomore Quad all last year," Nick said pointing to himself, Justin and Lance. "It’s nice and outside and quiet."

Billy shrugged and pulled Britney close for a kiss. "I don’t care where we eat."

"Awesome," Britney answered with a kiss of her own. "Meet in the quad after third period." She turned to Billy and smiled. "I’ll meet you at your locker? My math class is just around the corner."

The warning bell cut off any more conversation. The freshmen in the hallways all started to scatter, running towards their next class, afraid that they would be in trouble if late. When the panic had ebbed down just a little, Nick nodded in the direction he had to go.

"I’m this way." He looked at Lance who nodded.

"Me too." Lance winked at AJ and grinned. "See you second period, math buddy."

"Yeah you will, math buddy."

End Chapter 12


Chapter 13 >