chapter one
His eyes were full of excitement as he looked
out at the crowd. A smile played on his lips when he heard "Nsync"
being chanted loudly from several crowd members.
"Justin! Come on, we gotta hackey before we go out on stage," Lance
informed Justin. Justin followed Lance and the rest of his group members
outside. They stopped behind the stage, right by the ocean. The amphitheater was
right on the beach. Justin and his four friends stood in a circle, kicking the
small, bean-bag ball back and forth. It was a group ritual, before every
performance, they would stand in a circle and hackey.
Justin's mind, however, wasn't on the hackey sack, but on other things. He
stared off into the distance, at the setting sun. The sky was full of bright
colors...and then off, even farther in the distance, a black veil slowly began
to cover the sky. Justin's gaze drifted from the setting sun to the beach. He
loved the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.
And then he saw her. A girl, walking along the beach. He stared intently at her.
She was looking down at the sand beneath her feet as she walked. Her long dark
hair was flowng behind her. She must have felt his eyes on her, or she heard his
friends laughing and talking to one another as they kicked the hackey sack,
because suddenly she raised her eyes from the sand beneath her, to Justin.
Normally, if he was caught staring at someone, he would look away, but there was
something about the girl's stare that drew Justin in and would not let him look
away.
"Justin!" JC shouted and the hackey sack hit Justin's leg and fell to
the ground.
Justin looked away from the girl and at JC. "I'm sorry," he apologized.
"We almost beat last year's record! And then you ruined it!" JC bent
down to pick up the hackey sack. He smiled to lighten things. "I'm only
joking around. What were you staring at?"
"A girl," Justin answered simply. "She's walking on the beach,
look." Justin and the rest of the guys turned around and looked at the
beach. There was no girl.
"I don't see a girl," Joey reported and turned to face Justin.
Justin squinted. "She was there just a second ago..."
"Are you sure you saw a girl walking along the beach? I mean, it's
considered trespassing to be on this section of the beach at this time of
day." Lance raised his brow.
"Yes Lance, I am positive I saw a girl on the beach. I can assure you that
I am not going insane. I really saw her, I swear."
"Ok, we believe you," Chris answered quickly. "Come on, it's time
to go back." Everyone turned and started heading into the amphitheater.
Justin walked behind the rest. He was still amazed by the girl's intense stare
and at how quickly she had disappeared. Justin opened the door to the back of
the stage and looked behind him one last time to make sure the girl wasn't
there.
There, standing right where he had last seen her, was the girl. She stood facing
him, her hair blowing wildly in the wind and the ocean waves crashing at her
feet. She stared at him, her dark eyes burning into his. Justin was bewildered
and closed his eyes for a split second. When he opened them, she was gone. Whoa,
this is too weird... Justin quickly closed the door behind him.
* * * * *
The five guys walked into the house they shared. They all flopped down on the
couch, exhausted from the concert they had put on.
"Those blonde girls that were backstage were pretty cute," Joey was
the first to speak. Lance nodded in agreement.
"We have a photo shoot tomorrow, don't we," Chris grumbled.
"Yes, and it's very early in the morning. Which is why we should all go to
sleep now," JC suggested.
"I don't know about any of you guys," Justin stood up. "But I'm
too hyped to go to sleep now," he opened his closet and pulled out a pair
of cargo shorts and a tee shirt. "I'm going in the shower," he
announced.