//chapter//\\eleven\\

"Where have you been? We hoped you were dead. I mean, thought. We thought you were dead. What's with the ice pack?" Katie said all at once.

"Real smooth, Katie, but now is not the time for you to be mean to me. I got a surprise for you guys." said Malory, slyly.

"What is it, Mal?" Jenica asked as she proceeded to dig through her bag for her hairbrush.

Malory thought for a moment and said, "You remember those guys we were following?"

"Yeah." the other three girls said in unison.

"Well, I've got a little story for you. I saw them again." Malory said, smiling.

"You did?" Katie asked in disbelief. "Who are they?"

"Just four cute, wonderful, sweet guys that I happened to run into, literally." Malory said, knowing the whole time that she was hardly doing them justice with her meager compliments.

"How did you meet them?" Jenni asked.

"It's kinda funny, actually. I met them by passing out." Malory said, waiting for the strange reaction that she knew her friends were going to give her.

"WHAT?" Katie cried.

"Well, I was going down the stairs to get my sandals and one of them ran right into me. I fell, hit my head on the stairs, and passed out. When I woke up the other three were gathered around me and the one that ran into me was on the ground. And to make a long story short..."

"TOO LATE!" Jenica cried. Malory scowled at her as she continued.

"I stood up, passed out again, one of them carried me to a hammock, me and him bumped heads, laughed about it, joined to others, and they walked me to Port Royal to get an ice pack. Now, you guys have to come with me to the beach."

The other girls stared at Malory with their mouths hanging open. Finally, Katie asked why.

"Because they're waiting down there for me and my friends, which I told them that they could meet. You guys get ready. I'm gonna go ahead. I have to talk to them about something before you guys meet them." Malory explained as she was heading towards the door.

Just before Malory got out the door, Katie stopped her and asked, "What are their names?"

Now, this question caught her off guard. If she told the truth, then her friends would either believe her and know who was down there, or not believe her and decide not to go. "Um.......well. I'll let you guys ask them." Malory tried to shut the door but Katie stopped her again.

"Why wont you tell us? I just wanna know their names." Katie said.

"Well can you tell us anything about them?" Jenica asked. She had come up behind Katie to find out where these questions might lead.

"I told you before. They're just four cute, wonderful, sweet, and very hot guys that I met. Just, hurry up and get ready so you can decide for yourself." Malory said.

"Alright, I guess," Katie replied looking suspiciously at Malory. "but, if they turn out to be totally disgusting and you were lying, I'm gonna have to kick your ass, ya know." A smile slowly returned to her face as she headed for her suitcase so she could get ready.

"Ok, Katie. I promise you. You can kick my ass into the ground if you don't like these guys." Malory said.

"You're that confident?!?!" Katie cried.

"Yupper. If you don't like these guys then you can kick my ass every day for the rest of our lives. I promise." Malory said, with a sly smile on her face.

"Holy crap! These guys must really be something if Malory would make a promise like that!" Jenica cried.

"I gotta get ready!" Katie screamed.

Malory smiled to herself and slowly shut the door behind her. As she walked down the stairs she thought to herself 'Damn. Am I good, or what?' Malory headed down the stairs and out to the beach. When she arrived, the guys seemed surprised to see her alone.

"Don't worry, they're coming." she explained. "They just had to get ready first. I'd say that we have about a full hour until they join us."

The guys laughed and Malory knew that she had to tell them the truth about knowing who they were. But, how? Suddenly, she got an idea. If only it would work.

"Oh, God!" she moaned.

"What's wrong?" Clint asked.

"I have this song stuck in my head. Will you guys help me out?" she asked.

"What can we do?" Bob asked.

"Well," she replied, "maybe, if I heard a different song, it would get rid of this one. Help me think of a different song, would ya?"

"Well, what song is stuck in your head?" Scott asked.

Her eyes grew wide. "I...um...don't remember the name of it." she said.

"Alright, guys. I think we can help with this one." Dave said, smiling.

Malory gave a sigh of relief. Her plan was working.

The four guys huddled up, and spoke for a minute. When Malory asked what they were talking about, they told her that they were trying to think of a good song. 'Thank God!' she thought, 'It's going to work!'

Finally, they broke the huddle and turned back to her. By then, she had already taken a seat on the near-by hammock.

"You guys gonna sing for me?" she asked. Her heart was beating a mile a minute.

"Yeah." Scott replied.

She was finding it hard to talk because of the excitement and anticipation. This was one of her favorite bands, and here she was, sitting on a hammock alone, with them singing, only for her. It was a dream come true.

"What are you going to sing?" she whispered.

Scott smiled but didn't reply.

The four began snapping their fingers to keep time. Then Scott began.

"Girl, I've been watchin' you

Wonderin', what's your name

(And could I getchya)"

Malory smiled and began mouthing the words. She figured that doing that would tell them that she knew who they were. She looked up at them to see that they all had their eyes closed. 'Well, alright,' she thought, 'I guess I'll just have to show them that I know in a different way.'

"I'm hopin' that you feel the same

Baby, what's on your mind?"

Then Malory joined in by singing the backup of the song. She harmonized with them.

"Darlin' don't you know, it's the perfect time"

The four guys stopped and listened as Malory carried on the next line of the song by herself. Then, she gazed into each set of eyes in turn.

"I guess you know who we are, don't you?" Bob asked.

"I guess so." she replied, looking at the ground.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Dave asked.

"Well, actually, It's kinda weird." she stated. "I didn't know who you were until we were walking back from Port Royale. I must have been hit on the head pretty hard. I think it scrambled my memory. You guys are the reason that my friends and I dragged our butts from Illinois, down here to Florida. We came down here, mainly, for your concert."

After a moment of uneasy silence, Clint said, "I thought you were coming down here to go to a Holy Shit. I was gonna ask to join you."

Everyone looked at Clint and immediately burst out laughing. That was when Malory realized that it was going to be ok, at least until they met her friends.

Now that everything was ok, and all, she had to figure out the best way to present them to her friends. Then she got it, she just hoped that the guys would play along.

"Ok guys!" she cried. "To the pool!"

"What?" Dave asked. "I thought they were going to meet us here on the beach."

"Look," she replied. "My friends and I are huge fans. You guys are the wallpaper in our rooms and the CD that is glued into our CD players. Do you really want to be just standing here on the beach while you're being ambushed?"

"Do you really think that they would do that?" Clint asked in disbelief.

"Naaa. They wont do that. They'll probably just be a little shocked and tongue tied, but, still, you can't be too safe, right? Besides, I have a plan. Play along, please?" Malory begged.

"Alright, I guess. But, what's your plan?" Dave asked.

Malory smiled and said, "Ok, this is what you do..."

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