"I've missed you so much. Where have you been?"

"Where have I been?! You're the one who's got all these superstars running around with you. You're just too much of a social butterfly for me." The handsome boy complimented.

"So who else is coming?" Ali asked him.

"Well, I called Bethany, Ray, Doug, Melissa, Jill, Jake, Pieter, Beth, and Jordan. They're probably bringing people along with them as well. They should be here in about half an hour since I called them after I got ready." He explained.

"Ahem," Justin pretended to cough.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry baby. Honey, Chris, Jc, Joey, and Lance this is one of my good friends Joe. Joe this is *Nsync." Ali was beaming and Justin could tell that the presence of her old friend Joe had that affect on her. He could feel the hairs on the back of his stick up as he shook hands with Joe. After he had shook everyone's hand and some of the tension had left people went back to their spots in the living room and outside.

Just like Joe had predicted all who he had called showed up in about a half an hour. Only, more people showed up that those people had called to come. By the time the party had only been going on for two hours there were at least 20 of Ali and Katie's good friends from the past dancing and have a great time.

Ali circulated with her friends and Katie did the same leaving the guys a little peeved and let to themselves to fend off start struck fans. It was almost midnight when Ali ventured over the guys who had some other guys and girls around them.

"Hey sweetheart, making friends?" Ali kissed Justin as she held his hand tightly.

"Well, we'll all talking to Jake, Jordan, and Greg. I think...Beth...was just here, but she and um Jill went off over there." Justin pointed to two young women huddled over something that they were both giggling about.

"I guess I'll go see them. You guys it's so good to see you. Do any of you need anything?" Ali asked her three old friends.

"Well, I'd like another soda," Chris said to her.

"I wasn't talking to you Chris. So anything?" Ali repeated.

"You're still waiting on us. You're not at high school with us anymore. You're not our "bitch" anymore Ali. Oh, you're too cute." Jordan told her as he kissed her forehead. "I'm glad you haven't changed. We missed you. College sucked without you." Jordan complained.

"Yea, no one to pick on and make her do stuff for us." Jake added in.

"Oh thanks Jake, love you too," Ali snorted back.

"You know I'm just kidding with you," Jake moved over and put her in a head lock and Greg tickled her as Jordan give her a little mess of the hair since it was all nice.

"Ok, ok! Enough. Leave me alone. I put up with this for four years. Haven't you finished your torture of me?" All three boys smiled and shook their heads. Ali looked toward Justin with pleading eyes.

"Don't look at me. You haven't talked to us, you're "new" friends, so we don't exist to you right now. Sorry no help found here." Justin said coldly.

"Pwease?" Ali squealed as Ray came up behind her and pinched her sides. "Ok, you boys talk and not a word of anything about high school you guys!" Ali left the group to meet up with Katie who was Christina, Melissa, and Danielle. Those three had also been in Katie's grade, but since Ali and Katie were BFF's then the other three became the same with Ali. "Hi girls," Ali kissed Melissa's, Danielle's and Christina's cheeks. "How are you?" Ali had some tears glossing her eyes.

"Fine, but you don't look like that. Sweetie what's wrong?" Danielle asked with concern. Danielle and Melissa had both gone off to college together in Las Vegas and were back for spring break. Christina had gone to college in Boston where Greg was for Art school. Christina and Greg were "a thing" off and on all during high school and apparently still. Melissa had gone through quite a few guys in these past years, but nothing serious. Danielle was happy to report she was happily involved with someone in New York. He, too, was going to school in Las Vegas with them.

"I'm just so happy to see everyone. I just missed you all so much. I knew something was missing and I guess, it was my past." Ali let a tear fall and left Katie with the girls to circulate with some other people.

"That girl. She hasn't changed." Christina stated.

"Yup, still the dorky, sweet, and wild girl she was with us in high school." Melissa laughed. The four of them kind of separated themselves from the party just to talk about what they've missed out on in each other's lives.

"Ali, get your ass over here!" Someone screamed as they entered the room. Everyone turned in a fashionable blond girl standing in the door with a tall and very fashionable guy behind her.

"BETHANY!!!!!!!" Ali ran across the room to give her a huge hug. They screamed for about a minute and then parted. Then Ali screamed again as Tim scooped her up and gave her a huge hug as well. Then, totally unexpectedly, he kissed her. "Whoa, hey sweetie what are you doing?"

"I never got to do that with you before. So now I did." Tim smiled.

"Well, you can't do that again. I have a boyfriend that I am madly in love with and just happens to be 1/5 of *NSYNC!" Ali screamed as he put her down. "Justin, baby could you come here please. You too guys come here."

"What are you doing?" Tim asked through his teeth as his grip around Ali's shoulders tighten.

"Justin, Jc, Lance, Joey, and Chris this is Tim. He was a good friend of mine in high school and we've remained good friends. The same goes for Bethany here. She's my girl!" Everyone shook hands and hugged.

"So Tim, this boy is a funny one. He used to make fun of me so bad. Well, everyone did but that's besides the point, he would tell me to get over my crush on you sweetie..."

"Crush? No, hun, it was an obsession. So, how is the business?" Tim squeezed her arm even more and Ali didn't bring up anything that would embarrass him any more.

"It's hard. As always, but we're doing pretty well and we're just thankful." Jc explained simply.

"That's really cool."

"You boys, ::ahem::, play nice. Ali and I have things to talk about," as Bethany walked away she pinched Joey's butt and grabbed Ali's hand and pulled her to the couch.

Up until that moment Ali had been extremely happy that no one had brought up Jack, but Bethany brought up more then him. "Why the hell is Joe here?" She said kinda loudly.

"What do you mean?" Ali said coyly.

"You know damn straight what I mean. He treated you like shit. He wasn't nice to you until you started hanging with Tim. Who, by the way will kill him if their left alone."

"Look, most of the people I love are here. I want this to be nice. It's almost time to say good bye to a lot of people. I know what Joe did, but I've dealt and moved on. I've dealt with a lot. I know you have too, but I'm really happy now. I haven't told anyone this, not even Katie, so you can't say a word to anyone, besides Tim." Bethany nodded and Ali went on. "I'm not going to NYU. Let me explain before you freak. The way I see it is if I get an internship with Jive Records in the legal department that's half of the course and then classes on my independent study. It's a lot of work, but when the next tour comes up I want to be able to pack and go with them and not have to say bye again."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yes, and I am really happy. Justin is so amazing. Sometimes I forget their so famous. I'm so surprised the reporters haven't found Katie and I yet. We're heading to Florida for some sort of award show and then we'll be back here. They have to go back and forth from here to New York and work on their new album. Besides that, their all ours. The new tour probably won't start till April, so then I'm with them all the time. This is just so wonderful." Ali gushed.

Bethany just embraced her with another bug hug and stood up and saved Tim from his uncomfortableness of being alone with Justin and Chris. Ali went over to Doug, Kaitlin, and Jason. They were in the kitchen laughing about something Jason had just said.

"Hello all. Kaitlin you look wonderful!" Ali embraced her friend whom she first met in 7th grade. Ali then hugged Doug tightly. "Doug, I'm so glad you could come." As she let go she looked over at Jason and smiled at his goofy grin. "Jason. My own Babe Jewth! How are you?" She hugged Jason for the longest as she remembering all those stupid conversations where she learned the most about the oh so secretive Jason.

"I'm great. I can see that you are too," he replied with an award winning smile. Ali thought to herself that he and Joey should definitely go club hopping for chicks.

"I am. I'm so young and I've already found the man of my dreams," Ali sighed just as Justin walked in and wrapped his arms around her stomach and rested his head on her shoulder. Even though he'd done it a million times this one just felt more special to Ali for no reason at all. "Kaitlin, how is that children's book coming?" Ali asked with interest. Kaitlin had always had a very good imagination and a gift of drawing fantasy creatures.

"Heather and I are almost finished." Heather is another friend who, Ali assumed, was the illustrator, and wasn't able to come tonight. "It should be on shelves in about 2 months."

"I'm so proud of you." Ali smiled thinking of how much she missed her normal teenage life. Now, in the public eye a lot with the man of her dreams she had really forgotten about those who had once filled her life with such joy.

"Well, I still have a few more people to see, but I will be back!" She pulled Justin outside to the patio to look at the sky. It's already past 1 am and Ali was still wired. "I love you, Justin." Ali kissed his lips softly, but stayed there for a little while just taking all of him in. Her hands traveling around the back of his head and neck. While Justin's were holding the small of her back. The two went inside as she glanced at Jill and Beth in the corner talking. Justin went back to talking to the guys. "Hey, you two have been here all night long." Ali kissed Jill and Beth's cheeks and embraced them in tight hugs.

"Heya, we're just looking at some stuff." Jill and Beth both thrust their left hands into Ali's face.

"Oh my god," she was staring at two beautiful rings on each of their ring fingers. "Jake? And Jordan? Oh my god! I'm so happy for you. Why didn't you call me and tell me??!?!"

"Well, we just decided to have a double wedding, but see, you're the first to know that. We both want a summer wedding so it probably won't be until about June. The guys are siked about it too. They've been friends for how long, so. Then, all of our friends can all be together at once. Then we have to wait for you and Justin to get married." Jill said all at once.

"Very funny. I'm happy the way things are right now. I'm too young, but I am in love. Justin and I have only been together for months not years. Marriage is such a giant step and I'm just so happy for you. I'll leave you alone to plan and I'm going to go attack your boys for not telling me even though you probably said you wanted too." Ali started to walk away, but turned around and pulled Jill and Beth into another big hug and then walked away with a bounce in her step.

Justin was standing with Ray, Doug, Jason, Lance, and Jc as they saw Ali run over to Jake and Jordan who they had just left. Lance wasn't really paying attention, but watching Katie walk and talk with her friends. Justin could have sworn he saw Lance wipe away some drool. "I totally forgot to tell Ali that Britney and Christina aren't coming."

"J, I doubt she'd notice. Look at her. We thought she was outgoing with us, but look at all these people." Lance said to him.

"She was defiantly the coolest underclass men we all knew," Ray said fondly.

"Yup, she had the guys and the girls. She just had this presence as she got older that would draw people to her. She was always happy, but when she was upset you could see it. She also had problems lying." Doug said agreeing with Ray.

"I've missed her. Seeing her again with you of all people." The comment confused Justin.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"She always talked about how much she loved you and how you two would be together forever. I'll never doubt her again. Hey, Mr.T! Where ya been? This was our old English teacher from middle school." Jason motioned to a very tall man making his way towards them. "Hey T, what's happening?"

"Noting, what's up wit you Jason?" He said in a deep voice.

"Just chilling at Ali's party. Have you talked to her yet? I don't know if she knows you're here." Jason pointed out as he took a big sip from his soda. "Ali, hey Ali come back here for a second. Someone else is here." Jason waved his arms to get Ali's attention. As she walked over she took a double take of Mr. T.

"What are you doing here Mr. T?" Ali gave him the high five slide handshake (I hope you all know what I mean) and then asked, "I thought you'd be doing something with your friends."

"I just had to come after Katie called me and told those corny *nsync guys were going to be here. I had to see if she was kidding or not." He explained without noticing 3/5 of *nsync were standing behind him.

"She wasn't lying. Hi, I'm Lance Bass of *nsync and that's Jc and that's Justin. Nice to meet you." Lance said politely.

"Don't get me wrong I think you did a hell of a job getting where you are, but Ali made you seem so corny. I remember one test on Romeo and Juliet she finished with a lot of time left so she filled every single bit a free space with fact about each one of you, lyrics, and song titles. After that she would always have a few *nsync related things on anything she handed in. Except papers."

"Thanks there Mr. T. Not like I wasn't embarrassed to have everyone talk about me now these guys know I'm weird like that." Ali said while blushing and hiding behind Justin's shoulder.

"See Ali, we already knew that," Lance said mocking her.

"Oh, I see how it is. Just gang up on me huh? Fine, TIM!! Tim darling. Could you come here for a second?" Ali called Tim over.

"Yes baby?" He said innocently.

"What do you think of *nsync?" Ali asked expecting insults.

"Actually, since you were so persistent about how good they were I started listening more because I could actually sing some of it. There are great five part harmonies and even though I think it's too teeny bopperish, it's some good music." Tim said as he winked at Ali hoping for her happiness he just got her pouting.

"I can't win!" Ali threw her hands in the air and exhaled loudly.

"Aww, my poor, too nice, and sweet for her own good Ali." Tim wrapped her in a huge hug and picked her up. "You never could win," with that her dropped her onto the couch.

"So, is this party gonna calm down a bit at any time?" Katie asked them all as she walked over.

"I saw Ray and Doug leave a little while ago but that's it. It's getting kinda late now." Lance told her. "It's nearing 3 am."

"We'll start breaking people up around 3:30 then. By 4 hopefully almost everyone will be gone. Come on, let's go back and talk." Katie and Ali wondered back over to everyone. The girls had huddled over each other on the couch so no guests would think they were kicking people out.

"Boys, you have to hear Jason sing!" Ali had totally forgotten her hidden motive of inviting Jason to the party. "He's amazing or at least he was. I haven't heard him sing in a long time. Wait," Ali ran up her stairs with a gleam in her eyes that Jason saw and he ran after her.

"You can't," he proclaimed.

"Yes, I have like 5 copies. I have one for the car, my tape recorder, Katie's house which is now here, the original, and then an extra. I can part with one of them. I won't be loosing anything because their all the same. Every time you gave me a new one I added the music to all the others. Come on. This is you're chance. Do you remember sitting in Mr. T's room after school and telling Katie and I that you had sent out like twenty-seven demo tapes and no one wanted you. Now, you have the biggest claim to fame for Jive downstairs and they can help you. Stop being such a stick in the mud." Ali grabbed his hand and pulled him downstairs with his demo tape in her other hand.

"Sorry, this is not my idea," with his free hand Jason he tried to hide his embarrassment by covering his face.

"I hold hear something I want to give to Johnny personally. This is Jason's own music. Lyrics, music, and whatever else needed to make a song all by him and all great! Do you think Johnny would hate me much if I forced him to listen to it?"

"No, besides no one could hate you." Justin said sweetly and slyly pulling her arms around her forcing her to let go of Jason's hand and kissed her hard.

"Jason, I do believe that Justin is jealous of our hand holding," Ali said giggling.

"I never thought Justin Timberlake 1/5 of the Pop Kings would ever be jealous of moi." Jason said laughing as well.

"Yuck it up. But who's manager do you want to listen to your tape?" Justin reminded him.

Jason then proceeded to move to the opposite of the little group they were in. "I think I'll just stay over here," Jason said winking to Ali.

"ALI! Where are you?" Bethany was yelling.

"Right here!" Bethany walked over with anger all over her face. "Get Joe out of here right now."

"What are you talking about?" Ali asked nervously. As she was about to say more Joe walked over and draped his arm around her shoulders. "Hey."

"Get off of her," Bethany yelled at him. Even though the crowd had thinned out a whole lot of people came over to watch.

"She's my friend and I can do what I want." Joe replied.

"You're no friend. Just get out." Tim said to him.

"Who the hell are you to tell me what I am and are not." Joe told him getting in his face.

"Let's take this outside," Tim screamed.

The two went outside to Ali's front lawn despite Ali's screams for them to stop. They began to fight. They each threw out and took in quite a few good punches. Then Joe pulled out a knife. Justin and Chris ran to help. Ali and the rest of the party watched in horror as someone close to Ali's heart fell to the ground clutching his side.

"Nooooo! Katie call 911!!! Oh God, help!!" Ali screamed in horror as she ran to the victim.

"Ali?" He said as he groaned in pain.

Ali could hear her friends asking who it was. Due to the darkness it was hard to see. "It's..."