"I need a song, I need a song," I muttered to myself as I walked to the library. When I was halfway there I could hear someone softly singing. I stopped for a minute, and just listened as a smooth, beautiful male voice echoed down the hall.

"One... you're like a dream come true... two, just wanna be with you... three, girl it's plain to see, that you're the only one for me... and four... repeat steps one through three... five, make you fall in love with me... if ever I believe my work is done... then I'll start back at one."

I applauded. "Bravo," I said to the singer.

"Why thank you, Macey." I gasped as I saw a tall man's figure coming down the hallway, holding a mop. He quickly flashed a brilliant smile at me.

"Mr. Randall?" I said, shocked.

"Surprise surprise."

I was caught completely off-guard. "You have an incredible voice!" I said.

Mr. Randall smiled modestly. "I'm not that good, Macey. So, how's work on your audition?"

"Not good. I can't even pick a song. I've tried all of my favorites, but I don't want to sing any of those. Could you reccomend something to me?" I asked.

I watched as Mr. Randall brought his lips together thoughtfully. "Well... I could teach you a song."

"Really?"

"Yes, but I need your full cooperation and attention, okay?" I nodded. "Okay, let's go here." He pointed to a vacant classroom.

We walked in, and Mr. Randall closed the door. "Okay, what kind of a song do you want to learn?" he asked. "Something uptempo or a ballad?"

I thought for a moment. "Ballad."

"Okay." He paused for a moment, obviously deep in thought. "Hmm, I've got one. I want you to sing back every line I sing, okay?"

"Okay."

Mr. Randall went up to the piano and sat on the bench. "Ready? Okay. 'Lying in your arms, so close together...'"

I cleared my throat, and softly sang after him. "'Lying in your arms, so close together...'"

*********

I awoke on Saturday to find that outside, there was a steady downpour. I opened my curtains and watched as the world seemed to drag along, only water soaked. As I closed the curtains, my eyes darted to the computer that was on my desk. I had major business to do on it today.

I crawled out of bed, threw on a pair of sweatpants, and a t-shirt. After getting dressed, I headed downstairs and grabbed two blueberry muffins, then walked back to my room. I pulled the chair to the desk out and sat in it, then turned the computer on.

As soon as the whole system got booted up, I quickly logged online. "Hmm... search on *NSYNC." I typed it in and pressed the "search" button. A few minutes later, I got plenty of results.

About an hour later I gave up. I had no new leads on what had happened with Justin. I found out that all of them had gotten married and had ended up being active in music somehow, whether it be producing, songwriting, or management. All of them had done something like that, except for Justin, who, of course, had completely disappeared from the public eye.

My next idea was to do a people search. I went to one of the most comprehensive people search sites. I'd used it to track down a few kids I'd gone to preschool with, so I figured it might be useful to find out information on Justin. I typed in the name "Justin Randall Timberlake", and "Memphis, Tennessee" for name and location.

Seconds later results came up. Nothing. I sighed heavily. I clicked the "back" button a few times, and stared blankly at the monitor. Where else could I look?

Suddenly I had a quick revelation. I furiously typed Justin's name again, this time changing the location to "Florida". When that search turned up negative, I went back and typed in another state name, hanging onto the slightest shread of hope that I could find soemthing, anything on Justin Timberlake. Everytime I tried a state, I wrote down the state name and everytime I crossed the name off the list.

Two hours later, I looked down at the paper. North Carolina, Texas, Washington, Colorado, Alaska, Delaware, New York, and Conneticut were left. I sighed. "Maybe he moved to Canada," I muttered. "Maybe he moved to Europe. Maybe he's even dead! Why am I trying to find someone that just vanished into thin air? I'm insane!"

I stared at the screen once again. "Maybe he's living in New York," I said. I typed in the name (which had become quite routine) and "New York" as the location. "Come on, come on..." I willed the computer. No luck.

I sighed. "Just for a laugh, let's see what happens when I type in Conneticut." I typed in the name and location, and waited for a negative result. When the page finished loading, I swear that my heart stopped beating for a few seconds.

There were two listings for the name "Timberlake". One was for a Jason Timberlake, who lived in Stamford, the other was for Justin Randall Timberlake, who lived right here in Hyperion.

"He lives right in this town," I muttered. "He's right here." I then looked up at the address. 8431 Fishborne Lane. I grabbed the pen I'd discarded on the floor earlier and quickly scrawled the address onto a sheet of paper. I then grabbed a pair of jeans off the closet floor and quickly pulled them on. I grabbed my jacket, slid on my shoes, and turned the computer off. I decided I would go to investigate.

chapter 9
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