That night around eight, I was sitting in my room, listening to the radio as I aimlessly scrawled on a sheet of paper. I had been writing something completely pointless, but somewhere along the way I'd grown distracted and now the paper was covered with dozens of hearts and the letters "BSB". I was semi-freaked at this. It was almost as if the subconcious part of me that was a completely insane teeny had cut loose. No matter how hard I tried that part of me refused to forget the concert. I was miserable.

I heard a light knock at the door, interruping my concert-crazed train of thought. "Who is it?" I asked, slamming my notebook closed.

"It's me. Bec."

"Oh. Come in."

While Stacey had a personality compatible to Mr. Hyde, Becca was the nicer, kinder one of my cousins. She was the only one in the house who made my job easier. She cleaned her room and bathroom by herself and sometimes she'd help me with dinner. Because of her kindness, she was one of my best friends.

"Hey," Becca said, offering a wrapped box to me. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks. It's nice to know someone here remembered." I opened it to find a Magic 8 Ball. "Cool. How'd you know I wanted this?"

"I figured since Stacey threw your last one into the lake on vacation two years ago, you might want to have another one."

I laughed lightly, remembering when Stacey had done that. "I swear, I never knew why she hates me so much."

"She doesn't hate you," Becca assured me. "She's just... jealous."

"Jealous! In my dreams! Why would she be jealous of me? She's got everything anyone could want, why is she jealous of me?"

"Come on, Candice. You're one of the smartest people I know, and you get away with basically all A's and B's. Stacey's holding a C average. Your GPA's way higher than hers. You're funny, talented, and people like you for all the right reasons. She has nothing on you."

I thought about it for a minute. "I don't know. That still doesn't give her a valid reason to treat me like crap."

Becca smiled at me. "I know. Some people are just plain bitchy, and my sister is one of them. It's a phase; she'll probably outgrow it soon."

Over the radio I heard JoJo say, "Well ladies, if you want to win tickets to the Backstreet Boys concert at the Raleigh Sports and Entertainment Arena, call me up and tell me why you're the biggest Backstreet fan."

"You gonna try to call and win?" Becca asked.

"I guess so." I picked up the cordless phone and pressed the "on" button. I prepared myself to dial the radio station's number when I heard the Stacey's voice chattering away. "This sucks," I grumbled as I turned the phone off.

"Don't worry, maybe Alex will have an extra ticket they'll want to give to me. You could have it."

"Even if it means you don't get to see Kevin?" I asked. Becca adores Kevin.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I gave her a hug. "You are too kind."

"Right now we're running our search for the biggest Backstreet Boys fan," JoJo said, "and we have Christy on the line...."

"Christy?" I said, not believing my ears.

Becca stared at me. "You think-?"

"Hello? JoJo?"

"Hey, Christy, so how are you the biggest Backstreet fan?"

It's her, I thought. Ohmigod.

"Well, I'm not doing this for me actually," Christy explained. "It's for my friend, Candice."

"Okay, tell me, how's she the biggest fan?"

"You should see her room. There are posters everywhere. She tapes everything on them, she collects everything-fan magazines, biographies, the import singles, you know, the whole nine yards. She admires them like crazy and she'd do anything to see them in concert," Christy explained.

"Well, thanks Christy," JoJo said. "At ten we'll pick the winner, who will go to the concert and get an extra surprise."

"Ohmigod!" Becca said. "You could win!"

I was basically paralyzed in excitement. "Oh God, oh God, oh God... I can't believe she even got through!"

"You want me to stay here to see if you win?"

"No, that's alright. You can go downstairs if you want."

"I want to stay, just to hear who wins."

"Alright."

So we sat there, listening intently to the radio, almost under its control. After what seemed to be an eternity, JoJo's voice was finally on the air. Without thinking, I grabbed Becca's wrist. "He's getting ready to say who won it."

"Well, we've singled down our finalists to the top three. There's Marissa, Alyson, and Christy. I'm going to settle this the democratic way and pull someone's name out of a hat."

"Very democratic, JoJo," Becca muttered.

"I've drawn the name... now I'm dialing the number..."

"Call the winner already!" I yelled at the radio.

"Think you won?" Becca asked. "There's definately a chance---"

"I never win anything, Bec," I began. "I doubt it---" I was interrupted when a familiar voice said, "Hello?"

"Hey, is this Christy?"

"Yeah, did we win?"

"Yes you did! You and your friend Candice, along with two other guests will go to see the Backstreet Boys in concert on February eighteenth!"

"Whoa, wow, really?" Christy said excitedly.

Becca and I were estatic to say the least. "I'm going!" I screamed. "I'm really going!"

"... not only will you be headed to the show, but you're going in style: you have a limo rented just for you and one-night reservations at the Marriot. And also a special surprise."

"I wonder what the surprise is," Becca asked.

"Oh God, Bec, I still can't believe I'm going!" I had tears of joy streaming down my face.

Just then the phone rang. I dove onto the bed and turned it on. "Hello?"

"Hey."

"Christy!!!" I screamed. "You are a saint!"

"So I've heard."

"Thank you sooo much! I can't believe we're goin'!"

"Me either. We gotta take Julie and Shiara with us."

"Yeah---oh, man! I don't have anything to wear!"

"Whoa, chill. How 'bout you and I pick up something tomorrow? Are you free?"

"Probably. Can you come at eleven?"

"Sure. See ya then."

"Aight. Bye now." I clicked the off button, then began to start screaming again, due to the fact that I was still psyched. It had turned out to be a pretty good birthday, after all.

chapter 4