Three months later (they’d been told in early February), they were jetting off to Orlando USA, the first date on the long tour. They were being taken straight to the venue for sound and lighting checks, before being allowed to chill out and relax on their tour bus. The first concert wasn’t until tomorrow evening, but the girls had been flown in a day early so as to avoid as much jet-lag as they could. Yeah, right!

"Okay girls, just sing us the first couple of phrases of each song, and we’re pretty much done." They sang, their amazingly accurate harmonies soaring to the top of the building. "Wow, that was brilliant! Thank you very much, that’ll be all." They were ushered out of the venue and outside to where a huge, new, silver bus was waiting for them.

"Is this ours?!" Jessica cried.

"Yeah, but it’s also…" the guy who’d ushered them out started, but he was interrupted by them all excitedly running onto the bus with their suitcases and bags, checking out the bunk beds and admiring the entertainment section, and stuff like that. There was a room for the TV, there was a bathroom, there was even a little kitchen!

"Wow, this is awesome!" Hannah yelled from the bathroom as the others checked out the TV room. Hannah joined them in the TV room, and Kara went to the bathroom.

"Guys, they actually have a shower in this thing!" Kara cried happily. Hannah eagerly set up her Nintendo in the TV room, and started playing some kinda boxing game. Jessica joined her, and soon the two friends were battling it out.

"Hey, you two, pack that thing up!" Laura yelled after patiently watching the pair for five or ten minutes.

"What?" Jessica asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"We’re gonna go eat, you coming?"

"No, we’re gonna stay here." Hannah replied.

"Sorry Hannah, I’m actually hungry."

"’Kay, mate, I’ll just continue one-player. But you’ll play later, yeah?"

"Sure I will!" Jessica got up and gave Hannah a high-five. As the others left the bus, collecting Kara from the bathroom on their way out, Charlie hung back.

"Yo, little sis, don’t get into any trouble, you got me?"

"Sure, Char, what am I gonna do that’s bad on an empty bus?!"

"You tell me." Charlie warned as she also exited the bus.

The others had just gone to a McDonald’s which was in sight of the tour bus. In fact, it was just across the street.

"Laura, what’re you having?" Kara asked, peering at the menu behind the cash-desk.

"Just a BigMac. How about you?"

"I dunno…I think I’ll have a BigMac meal."

"Aren’t you having fries, Laura?" Jessica asked her older friend. To Jessica, food came before everything else.

"No, I don’t want any."

"I’m having McNuggets with all the trimmings…you know, drink, fries, ketchup." The others smiled and rolled their eyes knowingly at Jessica.

"I should pick up a vege-burger for Hannah," Charlie started. Her and Hannah were both vegetarian. "But they just don’t sell them over here. Do you reckon she’ll be happy with fries?"

"Yeah, but don’t forget a large diet coke…she’ll go mental if you don’t get her one!" Jessica commented, laughing.

"Yeah, I’ll have a BigMac with fries, large coke, and iced tea." a familiar voice told an assistant, nearby. Jessica’s eyes grew wide.

"Guys, that’s AJ!" she almost shrieked. AJ heard her, and as he received his order, he sauntered over to where the girls had gathered.

"Hello, did I hear someone say my name?" AJ asked with a friendly smile.

"Yeah, Jess here." Charlie replied instantly, staring at AJ’s tattoos. Charlie had a thing for guys with tattoos.

"Which one of you beautiful girls would be Jess, then?"

"Me." Jessica whispered. She held out her hand, and AJ shook it.

"Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Jess." AJ smiled at her, and Jessica just smiled weakly. Charlie was eyeing up AJ, while the others were eyeing up the other Backstreet Boys.

"Which one’s he?" Laura asked, whispering in Kara’s ear, pointing at a very tall, dark, handsome guy.

"He’s not a Backstreet Boy!" Kara replied in a whisper, laughing.

"Are you sure?" Laura felt a bit embarrassed, but as she said that, the guy she’d pointed at joined AJ, clutching his McDonald’s bag.

"Hey, AJ, what are you doing all the way over here?"

"Just talking to some rather lovely ladies, Kev." Kevin acknowledged the girls with a friendly nod and a smile.

"I’m Kevin, also a member of the Backstreet Boys." Kevin held his hand out and each girl shook it in turn.

"See." Laura told Kara with a glint in her eye. As Kevin shook her hand, she almost melted. He had such a gentle touch, and really beautiful eyes.

"Guys! Guys, come over here!" AJ called, and two more guys with McDonald’s bags joined them.

"This is Brian, and this is Howie."

"Well we’re Exclamat!on, we’re touring with you guys." Kara spoke up, checking out Brian.

"Really? Wow, it’s strange how we’ve all met here!" Howie smiled at them all.

"Well it is outside the venue." Jessica pointed out cheekily, grinning at the guys.

"Aren’t there five of you?" AJ asked, furrowing his brow, trying to remember.

"Yeah, we’re missing my little sister, Hannah. She’s on the tour bus at the moment, playing her Nintendo."

"Oh, well Nick will have found a friend then!" Brian laughed.

"Oh yeah, there’s five of you!" Kara exclaimed. The Backstreet Boys laughed, but Jessica just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Man, you don’t know anything about the Backstreet Boys!" Jessica looked offended, as if they hadn’t listened to her at all. She’d tried to teach the others about the BSB, but they obviously hadn’t listened.

"Well, Nick is checking out the tour bus - he’s kinda eager to play his Nintendo." Kevin informed the girls.

"Oh, right." Laura smiled at Kevin and nodded. "I’m Laura, this is Charlie, this is Kara, and this is Jessica." Laura suddenly realised they hadn’t introduced themselves to the Backstreet Boys, except to say that they were Exclamat!on.

"So, where’s your tour bus?" Brian asked, checking out Kara. Kara gave him a friendly smile and he returned it warmly.

"It’s just over there…you see it? The big silver one." Kara told him, pointing.

"Are you sure?" AJ asked, puzzled.

"Yeah." Charlie told him. "Why?"

"Because that’s our tour bus too."

~~At the same time~~

Hannah stopped her game soon after the others left, to visit the bathroom. But while she was in there, Nick Carter climbed onto the bus, eager to set up his own Nintendo.

"Wow!" Nick exclaimed, entering the TV room. "They even set up a Nintendo ready for us to play on!" He grinned and sat down on the floor. He started the game, and was delighted to find that it was the boxing game he’d wanted but never managed to get his hands on - it was currently only out in Europe.

[Author’s note: At this point, it’s the summer of ’98, when the BSB took the US by storm, so Nick is 18, AJ is 20, etc.]

Hannah finished up in the bathroom, and was surprised to hear the sounds of her game being played.

"Jess? Jessica, are you back?" she called, walking through the bus. Hannah hated anyone touching her computer without her permission, so even Jessica would be in for a verbal bashing. Hannah entered the TV room. "Jess? Jess get off my computer…" But Hannah stopped as soon as she saw that it wasn’t Jessica at all. She didn’t recognise the person sitting with his back to her, and she was very surprised and angry. "Yo, dude with the blonde hair, who the hell are you?" she yelled. Nick, who’d paused the game, turned to face her.

"What do you mean, who am I?! Who are you?!"

"Don’t return my question with a question, idiot. Who the fuck are you?"

"Don’t talk to me like that, I asked you a question. Who in the hell are you?!"

"Man, are you retarded?! Just tell me who the fuck you are!" "I’m not fucking retarded!" Nick was getting angry at the feisty blonde girl who was shooting her mouth off at him.

"Then why can’t you tell me your name?!"

"Why can’t you tell me your name?" Hannah was getting extremely pissed off at the tall blonde guy who was answering her questions with more questions.

"Fine, we’ll forget the names part. Now tell me what made you think that you could just come in, sit down, AND PLAY ON MY COMPUTER?!" Hannah, as I said, was very protective of her console.

"YOUR COMPUTER?! This was here when I came in, and seeing as this is my tour bus, I claim the computer!"

"It’s not your tour bus, what planet are you from?! This is my tour bus!"

"Dream on, kid, this is mine."

"Don’t call me kid you little prick, this is my tour bus, and my computer. So get out NOW!" Hannah had gone very red in the face, screaming her lungs out at the blonde idiot in front of her. Okay, she thought, he’s a very cute blonde idiot, but an idiot all the same.

"What makes you think that it’s your computer?!" Nick cried, but at the same time, checking her out. Not bad, he thought, but she’s calling me all these pathetic names. What a total bitch!

"Uh, the fact that my parents bought it for my last birthday! Man, I can’t believe you’re asking me how I know the computer’s mine!"

"Well the tour bus isn’t yours, so I thought the computer wasn’t either. And it isn’t!"

~~Meanwhile~~

The Backstreet Boys and the rest of Exclamat!on were making their way back to their tour bus…they’d just figured out that they were obviously being made to share.

"It’s big enough, though," Laura told Kevin as she climbed the steps up to the bus. "Cosy, but also kinda spacious…what in the hell is that?!" Laura suddenly stopped what she was saying and signalled to the others to be quiet. "Is that Hannah…screaming?!" Laura asked, rather concerned to be hearing her friend having such a temper tantrum.

"Yeah, it is." Charlie told Laura. "My God, I didn’t know she got that upset when she lost a game!" Charlie laughed, as did Kara and Jessica, but the Backstreet Boys weren’t…they were straining to hear. They could hear a male voice also shouting.

"Man…that’s Nick!" AJ exclaimed. They all hurried onto the bus, and headed toward the screaming and shouting. The voices led them to the TV room, and soon enough they were faced with two teenagers screaming at each other.

"You have no right to just storm onto my bus and claim my computer!" Hannah was screaming.

"I already told you, it’s not your bus, it’s my bus!"

"Wo, guys, hold it." AJ said calmly. But when the two didn’t hear him over their arguing, he shouted impatiently, "HOLD IT!" Nick and Hannah promptly shut up and turned to face AJ.

"Not another strange person!" Hannah cried, exasperated. "Who in the hell are you?!" Nick groaned and glared at her.

"This is one of the other people this tour bus belongs to." he gave Hannah a fake smile.

"Hannah, this is…" Charlie started to introduce Hannah to AJ, when Hannah interrupted her.

"Well she is one of the other people this bus really belongs to!" she cried triumphantly, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Nick.

"Hannah, shut it!" Charlie boomed. Hannah turned toward her sister.

"Tell this idiot that this is our tour bus, not theirs! I don’t even know who the fuck they are!" The other Backstreet Boys were a bit surprised at the language she used, but they were kinda used to foul language…after all, they were always around Nick.

"Hannah, calm down, and shut up!" Laura almost screamed. She stalked into the TV room and gave Hannah an ‘if you don’t shut up soon I’m gonna make you’ look.

"But…" Hannah started, but Laura clamped her hand down over Hannah’s mouth. Hannah squirmed to get free, but as Laura was so much taller and stronger, she didn’t really have a hope in hell.

"Hannah, listen to me. These are the Backstreet Boys." Realisation washed over Hannah, and the others could all see her blush. But it disappeared quickly, as Hannah doesn’t really express her emotions very much. Laura saw that Hannah had shut up and loosened her hand slightly. Hannah seized her chance and finally squirmed free.

"Hi, I’m sure you’re all very lovely." she smiled sincerely at the Backstreet Boys, who thought she was kinda sweet for saying that. The Exclamat!on girls sighed, happy that Hannah wasn’t gonna show them up anymore by using even more foul language. "But HE is a fucking idiot!" Hannah yelled, pointing at Nick. The girls shook their heads in embarrassment and Laura once more covered her hand over Hannah’s mouth. Laura then picked up Hannah, who was pretty light, and carried her straight out of the room.

"My sister’s really sweet usually," Charlie lied, and told the guys, AJ especially. She wanted to impress him, but it was obvious that her little sister wasn’t gonna give her much of a chance to do that. "But, uh, she gets kinda protective over her Nintendo."

"Sounds like someone else we know." Brian said, looking at Nick.

"She’s such a little bitch!" Nick exclaimed. But as soon as Kevin had shot him a glare for talking about someone like that, he sighed and continued to moan about Hannah without calling her a bitch. "She just stormed in, thinking she owned the joint, and started mouthing off to me about how the computer was hers, and how the bus was hers, and…"

"But the computer is hers, bro’." Brian pointed out. Nick shifted uncomfortably.

"Well that’s beside the point. The point is that she’s a mean, self-righteous…uh…person…who thinks she’s little miss it, and…" Nick stopped when he saw the others glaring at him. "Man," Nick grumbled. "People never take my side." And with that, he left the room. He walked past Laura who was giving Hannah a severe talking to, and Hannah glared at him. He glared back and left the bus, walking over to the McDonald’s to get himself a meal.

~~Later That Night~~

The Backstreet Boys had to go out and do a live TV performance and interview, much to the relief of the Exclamat!on girls. Nick and Hannah had been arguing all evening, and they were thankful for some peace and quiet.

"So, who do you think is the cutest?" Jessica asked, reaching for some more popcorn.

"Oh, definitely AJ!" Charlie grinned. "Those tattoos, baby, they turn me on something bad!" Charlie obviously had a kinda crush on AJ.

"I like Brian." Kara commented dreamily. Kara was one of those really sweet people, who goes completely mushy at romantic or sad movies. "He seems like a real sweetheart." They all grinned at Kara.

"I have a thing for Kevin…he’s so sexy! And his voice…could melt any heart!" Laura had talked to Kevin a bit that evening, and she’d gotten to like him…a lot.

"Hannah, how about you?"

"Huh?" Hannah hadn’t been listening, but had been off in her own little world, thinking about something. She’d been sulking about her argument with Nick, and how she’d been carried outta the room like she was some little girl.

"Who do you think is the cutest Backstreet Boy?" Kara asked her friend.

"None of them."

"Oh yeah? I saw you checking a couple of them out." Charlie told her younger sister with a little smile.

"I was NOT!" Hannah defended herself.

"Yeah, but you fancy one of them, right?" Jessica asked her. Hannah blushed and frowned. She looked as if she was just about to tell them something, but then had suddenly changed her mind.

"They’re nice guys, but I don’t fancy any of them. And that Nick…man…I wanna hit him so hard." The others rolled their eyes at Hannah.

"Stop going on about him for one second!" Laura cried, exasperated.

"He’s a fucking little prat!" Hannah declared, folding her arms across her chest stubbornly.

"Man, Hannah, SHUT IT!" Charlie warned Hannah. Hannah glared at her and walked outta the TV room, and crawled into the bunk she’d claimed. Actually, none of them had claimed any bunks, but Hannah just chose one anyway and sulked/slept in it for the next couple of hours.

When the Backstreet Boys came back, they were all kinda tired. So they said a quick hello and goodnight to the remaining four members of Exclamat!on, who were watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S re-runs, before heading off to the bunk beds.

You see, unbeknown to the Exclamat!on girls, the Backstreet Boys had a traditional sleeping arrangement - each of them always slept in the same bunk. For example, AJ would always have top right, whereas Howie would have bottom left. Well, Nick always had top left…the one Hannah had chosen.

Nick sleepily grabbed some bed clothes and headed into the bathroom to change and wash. Once he was ready, he said goodnight to the other Backstreet Boys and pulled the curtain back on his usual bunk. The sight of the sleeping Hannah made him jump - he didn’t really expect anyone to be in his bunk!

"What?! What the hell is she doing in there?!" Nick asked the others, almost shouting.

"We dunno!" Kevin replied, shaking his head. They’d all had enough of Hannah and Nick’s quarrelling.

"Hannah…WAKE UP!" Nick almost screamed. The others winced as he shouted it so loud. Hannah woke up with a start.

"Huh? What?" She rubbed her eyes, blinking, trying to see who had woken her up. "What the hell did you do that for?" she asked Nick angrily. "I was asleep."

"I know!" Nick replied through gritted teeth. "In my bunk!"

"What? Man, you never give up with the whole, ‘this is mine, oh and this is mine, and this is mine…" Hannah mimicked, making the others have to stifle laughs. It was a pretty good impression.

"Shut up!"

"No! This bed does not have your name on it! Sleep in one of the other beds!"

"No way! I always have this bunk!" Nick protested angrily.

"You’ve never had this bus before, dimwit." Hannah rolled her eyes and pulled the curtain back. Nick immediately yanked it open.

"No, but I always have the top left bunk!"

"There are several top left bunks!" Hannah cried, gesturing toward the two other sets of four bunks.

"Well I always have the first block…near my buddies!"

"Look, Kevin’s having a bunk in the second block…go join him!" Hannah was still on the bunk, her feet dangling over the edge. But as the bunks were quite low, she was only just above Nick’s eye-height.

"NO!" Nick replied stubbornly. He grabbed Hannah’s legs and started to pull her down off the bunk.

"Get off me, GET OFF ME!" she screamed angrily, lashing out with her feet. Nick was trying to drag her down off the bed, and if he succeeded, she’d hurt herself when she landed. But, as it happened, Hannah lashed out pretty good…and her foot connected with Nick’s jaw, knocking him back.

"Ow!" Nick exclaimed, rubbing his jaw and heading back to the bunks to pull Hannah out of ‘his’ bed.

"Nick, just fucking go away!" Hannah had curled up on the bed now, so as to make sure Nick couldn’t pull her down. But he wouldn’t give up quite so easily. He climbed a little way up the beds, just missing poor Howie’s head with his foot, and grabbed Hannah. "AHH!" Hannah screamed, as Nick finally dragged her down, kicking and flailing in his strong arms. The piercing scream that had been let loose from Hannah’s mouth reached the Exclamat!on girls, who rushed out to see what was the matter.

"Nick! Nick, what in the hell are you doing with her?!" Charlie cried, reaching for her sister.

"Getting her out of my bed!" Nick replied through gritted teeth, as Hannah continued to kick and hit him.

"Kevin! Kevin, can you come help us here?" Laura called for Kevin, who’d just gotten into his bunk on the second block of bunk beds.

"What is it?" he asked, peering out.

"Quick!" Laura yelled, almost intimidating Kevin. He got outta the bed and looked at where Laura was now pointing.

"What in the…Nick! NICK, FOR FUCK’S SAKE! PUT HER DOWN!" Kevin marched over to Nick, who was now preparing to drop Hannah…and not from a particularly safe height.

"You want down? Then you’ll get down." Nick gave Hannah an evil glare, and was almost tempted to sing ‘Get Down’ to spite her even more. But immature as Nick was, he wasn’t that immature.

"Nick, you fucking prick, don’t you dare drop me!" Hannah cried as Nick lifted her higher and higher. But Nick’s evil plan was foiled when Kevin grabbed Hannah out of Nick’s arms and brought her safely back down to the ground. "Thank you, Kevin." Hannah was a bit flustered to say the least. Having a very untrustworthy and angry Nick lift her as high as he could, preparing to drop her, wasn’t the most heart-warming feeling she’d ever experienced.

Charlie hugged Hannah tightly, now feeling very protective over her younger sister.

"Nick, you idiot, what in the hell were you doing?!" Charlie was tempted to slap him, but knew that quarrelling with Nick just as Hannah had, wouldn’t impress AJ or any of the others.

"I was getting my bed back." Nick grumbled, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly. But he hung his head slightly, and you could tell that he felt a bit ashamed.

"Nick, go to bed, I’ll have words with you in the morning." Kevin gave Nick a ‘do what I say else you’ll regret it’ look, and Nick climbed up into his newly reclaimed bed. "Hannah, honey, you can have one of the beds near me."

"But…" Hannah started, but Charlie shot her a look. "Yeah, okay, thanks Kevin." Hannah grumpily chose the top left bed again and clambered into it.

Hannah tried to go to sleep, but she was just so angry at Nick. You see, she couldn’t get ideas for evil plans to get him back, off her mind. She’d been conjuring up different plans for a ‘Hannah revolution’ for a couple of hours when she hit on an idea that, if it worked, would definitely get Nick back.

It was a very simple plan…it was actually just giving Nick a taste of his own medicine. Hannah crept out of her bunk silently, and made her way over to Nick’s bunk. She saw that his curtain hadn’t been pulled, which made what happened next a lot easier. Hannah grabbed Nick’s foot as gently as she could, and she checked Nick’s expression to see if he’d noticed - and he hadn’t. Hannah counted silently under her breath.

"One…two…three!" On three, she yanked Nick’s foot as hard as she could. Nick didn’t wake up immediately, giving Hannah just enough time to run back to her bunk. Nick was a little dazed…finding himself ready to topple out of the high bunk.

"Woah!" Nick let a scared shout out of his mouth as he fell to the floor, landing with a loud THUMP!

"Huh? What?" the sleepy Backstreet Boys asked as they poked their heads out of their bunks to see what had caused the noise.

"Nick? What’re you doing down there?!" Brian asked a very confused Nick.

"I…I…" Nick tried to figure it out, but was interrupted by AJ.

"Ha ha! He fell out of bed!" It was a somewhat cruel remark, but as far as the BSB could tell, it was very true.

"I didn’t fall out of bed!" Nick protested. "I…I…" But Nick couldn’t work out what’d happened.

"Tomorrow night, Nick, you’re exchanging beds with me." Howie yawned. Nick was still confused, and he grumpily climbed back into bed.

"We’ll have a safety rail fixed up by tomorrow night." Brian told Nick, trying not to laugh. Nick just shot him a glare and yanked the curtain closed.

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Chapter Three