Prologue
His feet pounded beneath him. The worn sneakers he was wearing bore new holes from this escape. When he was quite sure that he wasn't being followed, he ducked behind a large bus. Several men in uniforms raced past him, determined to catch up. When they had all passed, the boy sighed with relief.
Reaching into his tiny bag, he dug out a small, silver pick. He crawled to the luggage compartment of the bus and started picking the lock. The door swung open easily. Placing his pick back into his pocket, he crawled behind the luggage, shut the door, and fell asleep. He was on the run...again.
Chapter 1
Howie peeked cautiously out the hotel window, watching the mob of fans scream their names. "I don't think we can make it to the bus," he said.
"Don't worry, they'll let us through." Kevin had just finished packing his suitcase. "If we can't get through, we'll just sacrifice Nick."
"HEY!"
"I really can't afford to drop my luggage this time. I have a fresh change of underpants in here. It's my last one!" Brian complained, dragging his suitcase to the door. "I'm guarding this one with my life!"
"It's just underwear. You can always borrow mine!" AJ grinned at the chorus of "ews" that followed. He sat down on his suitcase, trying to get the stubborn snaps to close. "Hey I'm clean!"
They dragged themselves to the lobby and prepared to go out the door. AJ went first, waving to all the fans that had showed up, and stopping frequently to sign autographs. Howie went next, followed by Brian, Kevin, and Nick. Halfway through the crowd, AJ stopped yet again to sign some autographs, same with Howie. Kevin took this opportunity to stick out his foot and trip Brian. Brian stumbled, but regained his balance. The suitcase flew out of his hands and into the crowd. He screamed, "That suitcase has my underwear in it!" but the fans just screamed louder and tore more viciously at the suitcase.
Kevin darted into the bus and Brian ran after him.
The rest of the guys soon followed, laughing. Kevin had locked Brian out of the bus and Brian was trying to get in through a window.
"The offer's still up B-Rok if ya wanna take it, like I said I'm perfectly clean!" AJ grinned.
"Why do I always have to be stinky!" Brian sat down huskily.
"Sorry man, I just had to do that!" Kevin exclaimed.
"It was my last pair!" "I know, I know! But the fans loved it, look at them! I told you I'd get you back for locking me in the bathroom! Let's call it even cuz."
"Fine. But the first store that we see that sells underwear, we're payin' it a visit."
"Done."
The guys trotted off to bed, leaving Conan, the bus driver, and Denise by themselves. They were followed by another bus that had the dancers, security guards, the band etc. Conan had been there with the Backstreet Boys since the beginning. There was never a dull moment. That's why he liked his job. He had to drive them everywhere, but he never got bored of it. Conan smiled and shook his head. They had a long way to go today, then a few interviews, a meet and greet, then a concert. But it had been a lot less hectic after the boys switched their management.
He turned to Denise, but she had fallen asleep with a book in her lap.
"Oh well," he said and switched on the cd player. The boys didn't mind, they were heavy sleepers. He could hear Howie mumbling to himself in his sleep.
The bus trudged along the highway. All was well until Conan heard a "smack" then a "splat." They were very squishy sounds. He then heard the luggage compartment swing open and all the guys' stuff (including underwear ) fell out. Conan swore and stopped the bus. He went around the front of the bus and saw that he had hit an unfortunate frog and its guts had sprayed all over the bumper. Conan scrunched up his nose at the sight and continued his way around the front of the bus to the luggage compartment.
One of the suitcases had fallen into the ditch a few metres back ( it was probably Brian's...), and the rest lay scattered on the street. Conan grabbed the bags and prepared to stuff them into the compartment when he noticed something strange.
Denise had woken up from the jolt of the bus and she went to see what happened. She found Conan crouched in front of the luggage compartment.
"That poor frog didn't have a chance!" she declared, but stopped smiling when she saw Conan's expression.
"Looks like we have another stowaway."