THREE WEEKS EARLIER
Ananda Littrell caught the ball as it flew through the air and easily made the winning basket.
Her brother Brian and her boyfreind Nick slapped each other a high-five further down the court.
"Oh my Lord! Rematch!" AJ McLean yelled at her.
"No way!" Brian Littrell shouted back as he gave his little sister a noogie.
"Eeeeew, Brian! You're all sweaty!" Ananda cried, giggling. She shoved him away.
Ananda and Brian's cousin, Kevin Richardson, gave them the evil eye. "That was not a fair game."
"Was so too!" Nick exclaimed, joining Ananda and Brian.
"Naw man, it wasn't right putting you and Brian on one team," Howie said.
"Whoa, hold up - Ananda's the one who won the game here, not us!" Brian replied.
"It's about time somebody gave me credit!" Ananda cried, throwing her hand up in the air dramatically.
Nick laughed. Ananda was four years his junior, she was fifteen and he was nineteen. But Nick never got tired of her. She was on her school's golf team, vice- president of her class, on the cheerleading squad, and even had the lead in their current one-act play. Someday, when she graduated maybe, she wanted to be an actress.
Leighanne Wallace walked up to them and planted a kiss on Brian's cheek. "Ananda's right - give her some credit. If I didn't know you guys any better I'd say every last one of you were sexist."
Ananda nodded appreciativly. "Thank you Leighanne."
"You're welcome sis."
"Awwwww, man! Do those two always team up like this?" AJ asked Brian.
Brian nodded and Leighanne hit him in the head with her purse. "Owww..."
"Shut up." Leighanne poked him in the ribs playfully.
"Oh by the way guys, did you see those kids when you came in here?"
"Noooo... what kids?" Brian asked, looking straight at Ananda.
"There's a group of about five kids back there at the parking lot... probably about Ananda's age. There may have been more, but that's how many I saw. Anyways, it kinda smelled like pot whenever I walked past them, and they acted like they were hiding something."
Brian was staring at his little sister, who was, slowly but surely, trying to hide herself behind Nick.
"Panda Bear do you know anything about that?"
Ananda jumped, startled, when she heard her nickname.
She glanced at her feet nervously. "No, I have no idea."
Nick could feel Ananda's grip on his hand tightening and looked at her strangely. He could tell she was lying.
"Why is everybody staring at me?" Ananda cried, hiding behind Nick. His tall frame sheltered her from the six pairs of prying eyes that she knew were watching.
