"Macey?"
"Oh. Hi Lindsey," I said. "What's goin' on?"
"Eh, nothing much. What're you doing?"
I sighed. "Research on my music project. I finally picked a group."
"Really? Who?"
"They're called *NSYNC. My mom was a huge fan of theirs. She has a whole trunk full of stuff on them. Right now I'm looking through their biography. They were all kinda hot." I flipped to the section on JC Chasez and studied his face. God, he was hot when he was younger. Now he'd be in his forties.
"Oh, that's cool. I picked this group called Dru Hill. My aunt was freakin' obsessed with them. When my mom told her about who I had picked, she started saying, 'Ooh, Sisqo! He was fine!' It was hysterical!"
I laughed. "Man."
"Hey Mace, I'm sorry about what happened at the concert," Lindsey said after a moment of silence. "I don't know what happened with Ashley."
"I do. Lately she's become a conceited pain-in-the-ass."
"Come on Macey, it's not that bad."
"Yeah it is. We were best friends, Lindsey. Whatever happened to that?"
Lindsey paused. "I say we just give her some time to chill. Whatever's wrong with her she'll get over it. Besides, you should have gotten your surprise e-mail by now."
"What surprise e-mail?"
"Check it now."
I quickly switched on my computer and logged online. As soon as I got on I opened my mailbox. There were a few new messages from my friends and online friends, but then there was one from someone named "supurnova_guy". I clicked it and waited for it to load. It was a video mail. Wonder who it's from?
A few seconds later Steve Ramone's face appeared onscreen. I screamed.
"Hey Macey," he said. "Your friends told me about you, and one of them begged me to send you a video. I wish I could have met you face-to-face, but until I do remember this."
I quickly hit pause. "Ohmigod! Lindsey! You didn't!"
"I did."
"Oooh, I love you forever!" I shrieked.
"Finish playing it," Lindsey instructed.
I clicked 'rewind', then 'play' so I could be assured that I wasn't dreaming. "I wish I could have met you face-to-face, but until I do remember this." He cleared his throat and began singing: "Baby you rock my world, so why don't you be my intergalactic girl, breakin' the barrier between space and time, I just want you to be mine, my intergalactic girl."
I screamed again. "Ohmigod!"
"Isn't that too cool?" Lindsey asked.
"Oh God, yes! He is too sweet for doing this for me!" I had tears of happiness streaming down my face. "Thanks sooo much!"
"You're welcome. Hey, gotta go. See you later."
"Alright. I've got to finish my research. 'Bye Lindsey." I hung up the phone, then picked up the book. I had a long way to go.
*********
When Monday came I was exhausted. All weekend long I had been engrossed in my research of *NSYNC. From what I had read thus far, the five guys who made up the group were Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Justin Timberlake, and Lance Bass. They had started in 1996, starting their career in Europe. It wasn't until 1998 that they struck it big in the US. Their big break came when they did a concert on the Disney Channel after another pop group, the Backstreet Boys, backed out of it. Their US debut was extremely successful, yet it--and the group--held a second banana status next to the Backstreet Boys. That position didn't last very long. When the group's next album No Strings Attached was released, it beat the Backstreet Boys' first day sales record and spawned a massive world tour. I was amazed when I had read that. In two years they had gone from being relatively unknown to becoming international stars. I was basically dying to find out more about them.
Throughout school I forced myself to pay attention. When the final bell rang I quickly bolted out of class and once again ran into Mr. Randall.
"You really should have joined the track team," he said sarcastically to me.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Randall," I said. "I just wanted to get out of school."
"I can tell. Did you pick a band to do your project on?" he asked me.
"Yeah. My mom suggested them to me."
"Who?"
"*NSYNC. Have you ever heard of them?"
The expression on Mr. Randall's face went from its usual happy-go-lucky state to slightly concerned, as if something was wrong. "Really," he said in a flat tone.
"Well, yeah. What's wrong?"
"Oh... nothing. I remember them. A bunch of pretty boys who had just about every girl drooling over them." He smiled teasingly. "They were alright. Have fun with your project, Macey."
"Thanks. 'Bye." I walked out to the bus stop, still intrigued by the expression on his face. I shrugged it off as mild dislike and boarded my bus.