THE BABY – SITTER BOYS
by Maann

            The BackStreet Boys just had a meeting with Johnny Wright. They decided to take a stroll in the park.

            "Ah…what a wonderful day!" Howie spread out his arms, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

            "Not to mention peaceful." Brian added.

            "Yeah, right." Nick muttered angrily. He was not in the mood that day because Johnny scolded him earlier for pulling another prank joke to one of their staffs.

            "Calm down, Frack." Brian tapped his friend’s shoulder.

            "Hey! Let’s go play basketball!" AJ invited his groupmates when he saw some kids playing in the basketball court.

            "C’mon!" Kevin waved at them, aiming to run towards the court. When suddenly…

            "Look, the BackStreet Boys!" They heard a girl’s shriek. They turned around slowly and saw a couple of girls giggling furiously. Nick looked to his left and saw some other girls pointing at them. The Boys looked as though they’d been petrified.

            "At the count of three," Kevin said, "you all know what to do." His groupmates nodded.

            "One," he began counting, "two…" They all stepped one foot forward. "Three!" They ran as fast as they could. Howie peeked over his shoulder and saw the girls running behind them.

            "Where are we going now?" AJ asked, "I think we ran at the wrong direction."

            "We’re going to look for a place to hide. Just run!" Kevin said.

            After ten minutes, the Boys were still running.

            "So, Kevin, where’s the safe place you’re talking about?" AJ snorted.

            "We’d been here earlier!" Nick groaned.

            "We’re just running in the same place over and over again!" Brian exclaimed.

            "Stop complaining!" Kevin yelled. He looked over his shoulder and slowed to a halt.

            "What are you doing?" Nick also stopped running, as well as their other friends.

            "Look." Kevin jerked his head in the girls’ direction, "They’re all tired and they’re kinda far from us." The four turned around and saw the girls all panting.

            "And they’re not looking." Kevin added with a grin, "C’mon, follow me." They tiptoed quietly across the street without being noticed by the girls.

            "Dumb girls!" AJ laughed.

            "Don’t get so excited." Howie said, panting, "I bet by now those girls already noticed that we’re gone."

            "I’m itching!" Nick groaned, scratching his arms and legs. They were hiding in the bushes in a vacant lot.

            "We are all itching, ok? So, stop complaining." Brian snapped.

            "Shh…" Kevin hissed, "I think they’re coming." They saw the girls coming and stopped just in front of them, they held their breath.

            "Where are they?" one girl asked flirtatiously.

            "They can’t be far from here." another girl said.

            "Let’s just stop chasing them." a chubby girl, looking really exhausted, suggested, "It won’t do us any good. Besides, we could still see them in their concert." the girl bent forward, her hands resting on her knees and her butt facing Nick’s face. Nick grinned nastily at his friends. But his grin immediately faded and instead, his eyes widened.

            "Gross!" he exclaimed.

            "Quiet!" Howie immediately covered his hand to Nick’s mouth. It’s good that the girls also made some noise so they didn’t hear Nick. The Boys stayed at that position until the girls left. They all sighed in relief when the girls were not in sight anymore.

            AJ chuckled, "Whoa! That was close!" They all stared at Nick.

            "Why are you lookin’ at me?" he snapped, "Are you blaming me?" His blood was rising. "Didn’t you see that, that girl farted right into my face?!"

            The four boys’ shoulders were shaking furiously for they were forcing themselves not to laugh. But they couldn’t help it, they all guffawed.

            Nick smirked, "What’s so funny?" His face was turning red.

            "Hey, isn’t that Greg’s house?" Brian pointed to a house just across the street. Greg was their former dancer who became really close to them.

            "Yeah!" AJ agreed.

            "Come on! Maybe he could help us go back to Johnny’s house." Howie said.

            They were on the front stoop and Kevin hadn’t pushed the doorbell yet, when the door swung open. A woman, maybe in her 30’s, burst out from the door.

            "Thank goodness, you’re here!" the woman said. The Boys looked puzzled.

            "Anyway, the kids are all in there. Cindy is taking her nap and if she wakes up, her milk is just beside her crib. The snacks are in the cupboard in the kitchen, just find it in there, ok?" the woman instructed.

            "B-but…" Brian was saying something but the woman already turned her back on them.

            "And one more thing," the woman faced them again, "in case of emergency, you can call me at the phone number taped to the phone. I’ll be back at 6." That’s all and the woman hurriedly dashed off.

            They all looked at each other and were silent for a moment. When suddenly…

            "Bang! Bang! You’re dead!" a blonde, blue-eyed little boy galloped out of the house, firing a toy gun at them, "Hey! You’re supposed to be dead!" he frowned when he realized that they were not interested in the game he’s playing, "What kind of baby-sitters are you?"

            "Baby-sitters?!" Nick exclaimed, "We’re not baby-sit –" He stopped when he heard a baby crying.

            "Who’s that?" Brian asked the boy.

            "Cindy." he replied, "She’s already awake."

            "Where is she?"

            "Upstairs. In her crib in the playroom."

            Brian immediately ran upstairs and looked for the baby.

            AJ shrugged, "Since we’re here, we don’t have any choice but to sit these kids."

            "Fine with me." Howie said. Kevin nodded.

            "Well, I think I have to go back in Johnny’s house alone." Nick said wryly.

            "Go ahead, bye!" Kevin said. Nick turned his back and walked away, he hadn’t crossed the street yet when he saw the girls who were chasing them earlier. He turned around abruptly.

            "Why the sudden come back?" Kevin asked.

            "I prefer to stay here than to be raped by those girls." he said and immediately went inside the house.

                They were surprised at what their eyes met. The house was a real mess!

            "I thought nobody can beat Nick’s house." Howie whispered to AJ.

            "Yeah, I thought so." AJ whispered back.

            "Can you live at this place?" Nick asked concernedly, "I mean, you call this a house? It’s all dumped!"

            "Look who’s talking." Kevin muttered. The kids inside the house looked really embarrassed.

            The Boys looked over the place again and no matter how many times they blink, they could still see the banana peelings all over the living room, the newspapers and magazines in the couch, the juice spills in the stairs and the toys scattered everywhere.

            They dared to glance in the kitchen.

            "Ew!" AJ exclaimed.

            "Yuck!" Howie and Nick chorused. Kevin took a deep breath then sighed.

            The sink was overflowing with plates, glasses, spoons and forks. The lunch or probably the breakfast dishes were still on the table. Chocolate and Popsicle wrappers were being attacked by ants from under the table.

            "What are we going to do now?" Howie asked as if that was the first time he encountered a mess like that.

            "Where’s Greg?" Nick ignored Howie and instead, faced the kids.

            "Greg?" a blonde, skinny little girl furrowed her brows, "Who’s Greg?"

            "Greg! The owner of this house." Nick answered.

             "We own this house and we don’t know a certain Greg." the girl replied. Nick frowned.

            "Maybe you’re referring to the first owner of this house." Another girl, probably older than the first one, with freckled face interrupted, "We just moved in last month."

            Nick filliped, "I remember! Greg already migrated to Canada last month! Why didn’t I think of that earlier?"

            "So, Greg doesn’t live here anymore. What do we do now?" AJ said.

            "I’ll call Johnny, maybe he could pick us up here." Nick headed to the phone.

            "Ooops…" Kevin stopped Nick, "sorry, but I won’t allow you to call Johnny."

            "And why?"

            Kevin turned his back to the kids and whispered, "Because we can’t just abandon these kids here. Their parents entrusted us to take care of them."

            "But we’re not baby-sitters." Nick whispered, too.

            "Yes, we’re not but their mother thought we are and now it’s our duty to look over them." Kevin reasoned out. Then the doorbell rang.

            "I’ll get it!" Another little boy popped out from the kitchen.

            "Sorry but we already have baby-sitters." They heard the boy said.

            "But your mom called us." A girl’s voice said.

            "Maybe she forgot that she already contacted a baby-sitter then she called you up, too." The boy explained.

            "Really?"

            "Perhaps."

            "Uh, okay. So we better get going."

            "Bye." The boy closed the door carefully then went to the living room, "Are you really our baby-sitters?" he asked skeptically.

            "Yes." Kevin answered firmly.

            "NO!" Nick shook his head.

            "Yes." AJ interrupted, "Don’t listen to him."

            "What’s your name, then?" the boy asked.

            "I’m Kevin," Kevin introduced themselves, "this is Nick, AJ, Howie and the one upstairs is my cousin Brian. How about you?"

            "I’m Daniel." The boy replied.

            "Daniel. Nice name." Howie commented, "How about you two?" he turned to face the two girls.

            "I’m Megan, I’m the oldest." The freckled faced girl answered, "That’s Jeremy," she pointed at the kid playing a toy gun earlier, "this is Maria and that’s Sue." She pointed again at a little girl who’s playing puzzle peacefully.

            "So, you’re five plus the baby upstairs, that’s six." AJ remarked.

            "Nope, we’re seven." Maria said.

            "Who’s the other one?"

            "Jeremiah, Jeremy’s twin brother."

            "Where is he?"

            "In the study room as usual."

            Then they heard someone whined. It was Sue.

            "Why? What’s the matter?" Nick knelt in front of Sue.

            "Puttle." She said, pointing at the puzzle in Jeremy’s hand.

            "This is mine!" Jeremy yelled.

            "Puttle!" Sue cried harder.

            "Just lend it to her, ok?" Kevin approached him.

            "But she’ll just break it!"

            "No, she won’t break it, I swear."

            "Are you sure?"

            "Yes. As a matter of fact, I’ll play with her."

            "Okay." Jeremy handed Kevin the puzzle. Sue stopped crying and Kevin sat on the floor beside her and they began playing with the puzzle.

            Suddenly, Brian burst in, holding a dirty diaper.

            "That stinks!" Nick wrinkled his nose.

            "Where’s the trash can?" Brian asked the kids.

            "In the kitchen." Maria said. Brian went to the kitchen and when he came back into the living room his face was all screwed up.

            "I think we should start cleaning this house, it’s a total mess!" he announced.

            "Yeah, you’re right. But how?" Howie said. When someone in thick glasses burst out from the stairs.

            "You must be Jeremiah." Nick remarked. The boy nodded sheepishly.

            "So, we’re all here." Brian began, "How many are we?" he hadn’t started counting, yet when Jeremiah answered briskly. "Eleven."

            "Uh… ok, yeah eleven. We’re going to divide ourselves into three groups, ok?" They all nodded.

            "Me, Nick and Jeremiah will clean the playroom which is a total wreck!" Brian commenced, "Kevin, you, you and you –"

            "Sue, Daniel and Jeremy." Kevin informed.

            "Oh! Kevin, Sue, Daniel and Jeremy will clean this living room including the stairs. And Howie, AJ…" he stared at the two girls as if asking for their names.

            "Megan and Maria." Kevin supplied again.

            "Uh, okay. Megan, Maria, Howie and AJ will clean the kitchen which I think is the messiest."

            AJ and Howie opened their mouths to protest but Brian immediately interrupted them. "Don’t you dare complain because you’re not going to work there alone, you’re four and you’re going to help each other. Look at Megan and Maria, they’re not complaining to think that you’re much older than them."

            "Shame on you!" Nick mumbled under his breath. Megan and Maria giggled silently. AJ and Howie blushed in embarrassment.

            "Ok, stop of this conversation, let’s get started!" Kevin clapped his hands. They all ran in their assigned places and immediately began working.

            In the playroom.

            "Where do you keep all these things?" Nick held up some small toys that were scattered on the floor, "It can cause accidents."

            "Just put it inside that cabinet." Jeremiah pointed to a small – sized cabinet beside the tv set.

            "Here?"

            "Yeah."

            Nick opened the cabinet and toys came rushing down his feet, leaving the shelves empty.

            "Great." He muttered annoyingly.

            In the living room.

            "Daniel, will you pick up those banana peelings and throw it in the trash can." Kevin ordered, "And bring the sponge back with you."

            "Do your parents keep these newspapers and magazines?" Kevin asked Jeremy.

            "Dad does." Jeremy answered, "But he doesn’t live here. I’ll just keep it, anyway." He grabbed the magazines and newspapers from Kevin’s hands and brought it upstairs.

            Then someone tugged Kevin’s pants, he looked down and saw Sue staring at him, "Me?" she asked hopefully.

            "Uh…" he looked around, "Pick up those toys including the puzzle and put it where it does belong."

            Sue smiled and immediately picked up the toys one by one and brought it somewhere upstairs. Daniel came back with the sponge and gave it to Kevin, he also helped his sister bring all the toys upstairs while Kevin began scrubbing the juice spills on the stairs.

            In the kitchen.

            "Where’s the broom and the dust pan?" Howie asked the two girls.

            "Huh?" Both girls were alarmed. They were doing the dishwashing and been whispering to each other for a couple of minutes now.

            "I’m asking for the broom and the dust pan." Howie repeated. He and AJ were assigned to clean up the table and the kitchen floor.

            "It’s in the back door." Megan said. After sweeping the floor, Howie asked AJ to help him put the trash in the garbage can in the backyard.

            "Megan’s been secretly staring at us." AJ informed Howie.

            "Yeah, and they’ve been whispering ever since we stepped our feet in the kitchen." Howie said.

            "Do you think they already noticed us?"

            "Perhaps. I doubt it if they tell us they don’t watch tv."

            "What do we do now?"

            "Nothing. Just wait until they ask who we really are. You know, they’re kids and they’re very curious."

            After about 30 minutes of cleaning, the Boys and the kids all met in the playroom. The Boys flopped on the couch and the kids on the carpeted floor.

            "That was tiring!" the Boys chorused.

            "Hundry." Sue complained.

            "What?" AJ frowned.

            "She’s hungry." Jeremy explained, "She can hardly pronounce words, she’s only three, you know."

            "Oh!" Howie nodded.

            "I’ll prepare our snack, then." Kevin volunteered, "No wonder we’re all hungry." He stood up and headed to the kitchen.

            "I’ll help him." Nick rose up from his seat, too and trotted behind Kevin.

            After a few minutes, Nick and Kevin went back to the playroom clutching one tray each. Kevin’s tray was loaded with snacks and a pitcher of soda. Nick’s tray contained eleven glasses and another pitcher of soda.

            "Time to eat!" AJ announced. He immediately grasped one bag of Lay’s and poured soda in his glass. The other Boys eyed him. "What?" he asked with mouthful of chips.

            "Tut, tut, tut…" Brian shook his head, "I feel really sorry for you."

            "I bet you’re hungrier than these kids." Nick added.

            "Oh! I forgot, sorry. Here have some." AJ offered his chips to the kids.

            They ate merrily while watching tv and chatted loudly. Daniel was flipping channels when he stopped at a Lilo & Stitch commercial on E!. When suddenly he gasped at the next commercial, "Hey! You’re on tv!" The kids looked at the Boys, amazed.

            The Boys looked at each other, "Busted!" they exclaimed in unison.

            "Why are you on tv?"

            "Are you popular?"

            "How come you’re baby-sitting?" The kids began throwing questions at them.

            "Shhh…" Kevin hissed, "Quiet, Cindy’s sleeping."

            "I told you, they’re very familiar to me." Megan pointed out to Maria.

            "So, who are you?" Maria asked curiously at the Boys, "And what are you doing here?"

            "Okay, okay." Brian gestured his hands as if surrendering, "We’re the BackStreet Boys."

            "THE BACKSTREET BOYS!" the kids bellowed, except for Megan and Sue who remained silent. "Who’s that?" The Boys almost fell from the couch.

            "Yeah!" Megan snapped her fingers, "You."

            "Yeah, us!" Nick’s face brightened, "You already know us?"

            "Yes, of course." Megan smiled, "Our flirty teenager cousins always talk about you everytime we’re having a family reunion."

            "I see." Howie chimed in, "But how come you didn’t recognize us earlier?"

            "Well, I’m just hearing your names from our cousins and I’ve only seen you in the picture they showed me once and that was a long time ago." she explained.

            "Oh! I remember them, too!" Jeremy prompted, "I was watching tv once and I changed the channel to MTV and I saw you singing and dancing but mom scolded me and told me to just turn off the tv if I’m just going to watch nonsense things."

            "Me, too!" Jeremiah raised his arms, "One time dad was reading a newspaper and I saw your picture at the back of the page he was reading but I already forgot about it."

            "Honestly, I’d never seen you before because I don’t watch MTV nor read a newspaper or a magazine." Daniel admitted.

            "Me neither." Maria said, "I just saw you earlier being chased by girls, you even hid in the bushes."

            The Boys smiled. "Yeah, that’s why we’re here. Those girls were chasing us and we hid in the bushes then we spotted your house and thought our former dancer, Greg still owns this house. But your mom thought we’re baby-sitters." Kevin explained.

            "But why did those girls chasing you?" Daniel frowned.

            "Because they’re popular!" Megan answered.

            "The Basket Boys!" Sue clapped her hands excitedly.

            "Yeah, we’re the BackStreet Boys." AJ corrected her.

            "The Basket Boys." Sue repeated, not minding AJ.

            "Ok, if that’s what you want to call us."

            "I think your mom doesn’t know us either." Brian remarked, "She even thought we’re baby-sitters."

            "Yeah, you’re right. That’s the reason why we don’t know you." Megan said wearily, "Because she doesn’t allow us to watch nor listen to modern music."

            "And why?" Nick frowned.

            "Because she hates modern music. She thinks it’s nonsense and not worth listening for." Jeremy complained, "We grew up listening to Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and worst, Luciano Pavarotti!"

            "Well, they’re great!" AJ prompted.

            "They’re great to you but not to us." Jeremy said.

            "And that’s also one of the reasons why mom and dad got divorced," Jeremiah spitted out, "they’ve got different taste in music. Dad likes alternative while mom loves list –"

            "Your parents are separated?" AJ cut him off.

            "Yeah, they’re very not compatible with each other." Jeremiah added.

            "But how can your mom take care of eight children at the same time?" Howie asked pensively.

            "And does she have a job?" Kevin added concernedly, "How about your dad?"

            "Well, we don’t all live here." Megan started, "Jeremy, Jeremiah and Sue live with dad in Jacksonville."

            "Dad just sent us here because he has to attend a convention in New York." Jeremy said.

            "Mom still doesn’t have a stable job but she’s really trying hard to find one. Almost everyday, she’s in a job interview but always fails to get the job." Maria joined in.

            "But dad always sends them money for expenses and stuff like that." Jeremiah said.

            "Well, maybe we could help their mom." Brian suggested to his groupmates.

            "Yeah, perhaps we could recommend her to Johnny." AJ agreed.

            "What time is it?" Howie checked Kevin’s wristwatch, "It’s quarter to 6!" he announced.

            "Mom said she’ll be home by 6:00 o’ clock." Daniel said.

            "Maybe now I’m allowed to call Johnny." Nick stared at Kevin innocently and picked up the wireless phone.

            After 10 minutes, Johnny was already in there. The Boys just told him what had really happened and he was really shocked. "I can’t believe that the BackStreet Boys became the Baby-sitter Boys!"

            They were now in the front porch waiting for Mrs. Tucker, the kids’ mom. Brian was supporting Cindy on his shoulder, with one hand under her bottom. Cindy woke up again and been crying wildly until Brian carried her and she stopped whimpering.

            "I think she likes you." Jeremiah remarked.

            "I like her, too." Brian replied as he cuddled the little baby, "I promise, I’ll introduce you to my son Baylee and I think you’ll gonna like each other." He told Cindy as if she’d understood what he said.

            A minute later, Mrs. Tucker finally arrived and Johnny immediately spoke to her.

            "Your mom will definitely be exposed to more modern music and there’s no escaping this time." Kevin whispered. The kids grinned and did a high five.

THE END