~~Later That Morning~~

The others had pretty much used every single pun you could think of to do with falling out of beds. Nick was pretty tired of it, and had been irritable all morning. But, at long last, the guys decided they’d give it a rest.

At around 11am, the guys decided it was time for some exercise, to help them loosen up for that night’s concert.

"Okay, I think we need to get outside for a while." Brian told them. "How about a game of basketball?" The guys all nodded. "Girls? You wanna play?"

"No, I don’t play basketball." Jessica told them.

"Me neither." Kara put her arm around Jessica. "We’re a bit too short for the sport anyway! We’re gonna go brush up on some dance moves."

"Okay, no problem. You?" Brian looked at Hannah, Charlie, and Laura.

"I’m in!" Hannah blurted out immediately. "I wanna kick some Backstreet butt!" Brian smiled at her. The other guys (other than Nick) had gotten to like the young, energetic, feisty Hannah. She was fun to be around, apart from when she argued with Nick.

"Me too!" Charlie chimed in. "The Bierowic sisters are kicking some Backstreet butt together!" Charlie and Hannah gave each other a high-five.

"Laura?" Kevin asked her, with a shy smile.

"Sure." she smiled shyly back. AJ and Brian exchanged a knowing look.

They all headed outside and searched for a court nearby. At least, they needed a building with enough wall space for their portable hoop. But, they were lucky - the venue had a basketball court inside. It was a huge building, and held sporting events as well as concerts.

"Okay, we need teams!" Brian liked being the authority when it came to basketball. But he wasn’t pushy, he was just friendly and organising.

"There’s eight of us, so that’s four on four." AJ added.

"Well done AJ, you finally learned to count and divide." Nick said sarcastically.

"Shut up Nick. Snap outta your bad mood and be the nice sunny Nick we all know and love. Okay?" AJ sighed and shook his head at Nick.

"Okay, I suggest we have mixed-teams." Brian continued. "Let’s see…we need one tall person on each side to make it even, so we’ll make Kevin and Nick team captains. Okay, Kevin, you pick first."

"Um…AJ." He winked at Laura as if to say ‘I’m picking you next’. She blushed very slightly.

"Brian." Nick chose.

"Laura." Kevin picked. There were only three people left…Charlie, Hannah, and Howie.

"Howie."

"Hannah." So Charlie went to Nick by default…the guys obviously didn’t know how good the Bierowic sisters were at sport!

"Okay, let’s get this game started." Brian clapped his hands and dribbled the ball he’d brought with him into the centre of the court.

They started to play, and quickly found that the girls were better than they’d thought. Nick and Charlie had a good one-two going, dribbling it down the court to pass to Brian…who would shoot and score practically every time. But then there was AJ and Kevin who could dodge the others with great ease, and pass to Hannah…who was maybe even more accurate than Brian.

But of course, the real competition was between Hannah and Nick. Every time Nick had the ball, Hannah would try her best to get the ball off him. But Nick was good at dodging…as was Hannah when Nick tried to get the ball off her. Hannah and Nick were soon playing a very aggressive game of basketball, and the others were getting kinda tired of their constant battles.

"Okay, let’s have a time-out!" Brian called. They all stopped playing and walked over to Brian. Nick and Hannah were glaring at each other. "Look, Hannah and Nick, you two are taking this game way too personally. Chill out, relax, have some fun. Now, I think you two would play better…and maybe even get along…if you were on the same team. So, Charlie, I’m switching you for Hannah. Is that okay?"

"Sure, I don’t mind. The scores are pretty even anyway." Actually, Kevin’s team (the one Charlie had just joined) was winning by a couple of points, so Charlie didn’t mind being put on the winning team.

"Brian, do I have to play alongside her?!"

"Yes!"

"Charlie, why couldn’t you have just said no?!" Hannah whined at her older sister.

"I’m winning now, Han. And you’re losing!" Charlie grinned gleefully. Plus, she was now playing with AJ.

"Great." Hannah grumbled. Nick and Hannah glared at each other as Brian started the game back up again.

Brian’s bright idea wasn’t quite so bright after all. Nick wouldn’t pass to Hannah, and Hannah wouldn’t pass to Nick.

"Nick, just pass me the bloody ball!" Hannah was unmarked, whereas Nick had Kevin standing in front of him as he was about to shoot. Nick could’ve easily tossed the ball to Hannah and they would’ve got another point to settle the scores. But Nick wouldn’t pass, and Kevin got the ball off him, dribbled it up the other end, then passed to Laura who scored. "Nick! For crying out loud, just pass me the ball when I’m free!"

"You would’ve missed anyway." Nick retorted, ignoring her protests.

When Hannah was in a similar position, being marked by her older sister, she refused to pass to Nick, and they also lost a point to the other team. In the end, Kevin’s team won…by about twelve points. Howie didn’t really care, but Brian was annoyed.

"You guys! You made us lose the game!" he chided Nick and Hannah.

"You put us on the same team!" Hannah defended herself.

"Yeah!" Nick agreed.

"Omigod, did you two just agree with each other?!" Brian asked in surprise. Nick and Hannah both went wide-eyed, but glared at each other too!

"Whatever, it’s your fault as much as it is ours." Nick grumbled, leaving the venue.

"It was nice of you to try so much, Hannah." Brian complained.

"Hey, it wasn’t just me, okay?"

"I know, I know. I’m just annoyed. I always win at basketball."

"Well that’s very sportsmanlike of you." Hannah told Brian sarcastically. Brian just sighed disappointedly (at losing) and walked off to find someone to moan to.

"You played good, Han."

"You too Char." Hannah and Charlie did get along most of the time, and Charlie gave her sister a hug.

"It was a shame you got paired with Nick, though. You would’ve won the game."

"It was worth it though."

"What?" Charlie was confused…Hannah seemed almost pleased she’d been put with Nick. "You wanted to play with Nick?!"

"No!" Hannah said, giving Charlie a ‘duh’ look.

"Then what?"

"You were so happy playing with AJ." Hannah told her. Charlie grinned…her little sister wasn’t so bad…after all, she was pleased that her big sister had gotten to play with the guy she liked.

"Han, come here!" Charlie hugged Hannah tighter. "You can be such a bitch sometimes, but other times, you’re a right little sweetheart."

"I’ll take that as a compliment." Hannah replied amiably.

~~That Lunchtime~~

"So, how was the basketball?" Kara asked Brian. He’d sulked off to find someone to moan to, but had stumbled across Kara and Jessica making a huge lunch.

"The game was really bad." Brian moaned. "Hannah and Nick fought with each other when they were on opposite teams, and fought with each other when they were on the same team! That’s why we lost."

"Aw, Brian, don’t worry about it. There’ll be other games, and you’ll win them all by a mile." Kara soothed, serving up the chicken salad onto eight plates.

"Why are you only putting that on eight plates?" AJ asked as he strolled onto the bus.

"Because Hannah and Charlie are vegetarian." Jessica informed him.

"Oh, I see…so what’re they having instead?"

"Pizza." Kara declared.

"What?! We get a manky…" AJ stopped dissing Kara’s meal when he saw Brian glaring at him. "I meant, we get a nutritious meal that’ll keep us going for hours, and they get a plate of fat!" Kara just smiled at AJ…she didn’t care what he thought of her chicken salad…because however revolting it looked, Kara’s chicken salad was famous for tasting delicious.

"They don’t eat salad." Kara defended the pizza. "Plus, it’s full of vegetables. It has olives, mushroom, broccoli, pineapple, tomato, and some other stuff. It’s actually a lot healthier than you’d think."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." AJ sat down next to Brian on the huge sofa that circled around the table.

"Well, you may as well start," Kara told the guys and Jessica. "I expect the others will be here soon." They all tucked in hungrily, as did Kara, and soon enough the others traipsed in, also hungry.

"Excellent, vegetable pizza!" Charlie exclaimed. Hannah grinned, and they shared it between them. Nick just rolled his eyes, purposefully ignoring Hannah. Hannah didn’t have to try to ignore Nick…it just came naturally.

~~After Lunch~~

"I’m gonna play on my Nintendo, anyone wanna join me?" Nick asked everyone.

"Hey, I was gonna play on my Nintendo!" Hannah whined. "Oh, I’m sorry." Nick pretended to be sorry. "But there’s only one TV. And I call Nintendo!"

"You can’t just call Nintendo." Hannah told him, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Well I’ll race you to the TV then." Nick challenged her, and ran to the TV room.

"You selfish pig, that wasn’t a fair race!" Hannah shouted, running after him to the room.

"Tough luck, I beat ya to it!" Nick shut the door on her and locked it. Hannah banged on the door, shouting through it.

"Nick! Nick you little prick, open the door this minute!"

"No way." Nick called from inside.

"Open it this second or I’ll…or I’ll…"

"Sorry, I can’t hear you over my computer game!" Nick retorted gleefully, turning the volume right up.

"I hate you Nick Carter, I really do!" Hannah shouted as loud as she could, before stomping off to sulk outside on her own.

"Will those two never give it a rest?!" Howie complained…they’d all heard Hannah and Nick behaving childishly again.

"Hannah is the most stubborn little bitch you’ll ever meet." Laura told him. And she was right. Hannah never gave up.

"I heard that!" Hannah shouted from outside, obviously feeling insulted. Laura just rolled her eyes, ignoring Hannah’s comment.

"You learn to love her." Charlie told the guys.

"Well, we think she’s nice…when she’s not arguing. But we don’t exactly know you guys." Kevin said.

"Yeah, I know…but when you get to know us, you’ll get to know the Hannah we like, too."

"But will Nick ever get to know the nice Hannah?" Kara asked.

"And will Hannah ever get to know the nice Nick?" AJ added. They all shrugged and continued to chat and clear up the dishes.

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