Chapter 1:

Rehearsal at Last

"Ring, ring." The telephone rang. I opened my eyes and looked around me. As I glanced around the hotel room, I noticed the alarm clock that read 6:15. "Ring, ring!"

"Mandy, answer the telephone so the rest of us can get some sleep!" Jo shouted from the living room area. "Ring, ring!"

"Hello?" I mumbled.

"Good Morning Miss Pascal! Sorry, did I wake you? I thought you'd be up by now. I just called to remind you about the party tonight. You are coming, right?" The voice said

"Justin? Omigosh! Hi. How are you? It's awesome to hear your voice again." I said. It was my boyfriend Justin. It's seemed like it has been forever since I've seen him. "That Jive party's tonight? We forgot all about it. We were held over in Chicago for a little more then a day, because of snow and I guess we lost track of the day. I'm sooo glad you called. Yup, we're still going tonight. Hold on let me go remind everyone else. OK?" I asked

"Sure, go ahead." Justin replied.

I put my hand over the receiver and call all over the suite, "Faith, Nat, Jo, Drea, Les. Wake-up! It's Saturday and the Jive party is tonight." As I finished I could hear everyone rising and all talking at once.

"Hey, Many, tell Justin that he's a life saver." Our drummer, Drea Cassidy called from the living room.

"Ditto!" Faith Cameron, our other singer besides me, called from the other end of the room.

" Me too", called Leslie Philips, our guitarist, and Natalie Paterson, our bass player, called in unison from the other bedroom.

"Any other comments?" I called "Last call"

"Ooo! Me! Tell Justin that I don't forgive him for calling so early and waking me up. Tell him to never do it again, no matter what. Tell him I mean it!" Jo called sarcastically from the couch.

"Hey, Justin, you still there?" I asked talking into the phone.

"Yea, I'm here. I heard a bunch of yelling, is everything ok over there?" He asked cautiously, not knowing if he wanted to know the answer.

"Nothing really. Everyone says thanks, except for Jo, that said never to do it again no matter what the circumstances. And that she doesn't forgive you."

"Tell her that I'll call her tomorrow to apologize".

"I'll tell her later. So what time are you picking me up tonight?"

"I'm picking up my favorite singer from HOTTCA tonight at 5:30 and the rest of you are getting picked up at 20 of. So tell Faith to be ready."

I laughed. "Ok, I'll be ready at 5:30."

"No, I'm serious."

"If Faith accidentally gets food poisoning and can't go tonight what'll happen then?" I asked playing along. Faith gave me a weird look from the bed on the other side of the room. I could hear Jo making her way in the room mimicking me.

"Nope. I'd take Drea.'

"And if Drea gets sick?" I asked. All of us were now in the small bedroom, eavesdropping on our conversation. They were all really confused, but that didn't hesitate Jo's mimicking.

"Then Leslie and Natalie."

"If they all got deathly sick?" I asked.

"I'd take Jo"

"Like she would go?" I argued

"Then I'd take Sarah Michelle Geller." He stated

"And I'd go with Freddie. Deal!" I said finishing the conversation. I quickly got up and made my way to the bathroom with the phone and locked the door. Jo was getting to9 loud.

"Well I got to go." Justin said disappointedly "We're performing tonight so we're going over to practice.

"Cool. See you later. 5:30."

"I've got to ask you something later. Ok?" He asked

"Ask me now you'll forget." I asked curiously.

"I won't forget. Don't worry."

"Ok. Bye. I love you. See you later. Bye." I said, trying not to sound to disappointed.

"See you later. Bye. I love you too." Justin said quickly. Click.

I just sat there on the edge of the Jacuzzi, thinking about everything. I'm in NYC. I'm going to see my boyfriend Justin Timberlake tonight for the first time in almost five weeks. Since he was in Nsync and I was in HOTTCA, we never got to see each other and rarely ever got to talk to each other. But tonight was a party hosted by Jive for all of its clients. Since both of our groups were Jive clients we would both be there. I knew Jo's teasing was friendly, but sometimes it was just too much. She's the oldest of the group only by a couple of months, but the oldest. She never had a real boyfriend or a real kiss because of her two older brothers Nick and Drew Lachey. They are extremely protective of their sister. Her brother's did a great of keeping the guys away in jr. high, they all liked her but were afraid of Nick and Drew. I try to think about the band; HOTTCA. There're six of us. It started out with me, Natalie and Jo. We've been close for like forever. Then we asked Faith, Leslie and Drea to join us. We've had awesome results and popularity. No matter what I think about all my thought float back to Justin. We've been going out for 11 months and 20 days, not that I'm counting. I've never dated a guy like him before. He's so sweet. He gets along with everyone and acts like a friendly, adviceful big brother to the rest of the group. He's the one that inspired HOTTCA…" Bang, bang, bang, Jo's knocking at the door.

"Hurry up get out the bathroom, we need to leave in an hour to go practice for tonight!" Jo yelled from the other side of the door.

"Ekk! Now? We're going to practice now? Justin's gonna be there! I need to change, and take a shower and…"

"And you need to hurry up because there's six of us and only two bathrooms." Natalie cut me off.

"OK," I called, " I'm coming out. Where's Drea?" I asked hurriedly.

"She's around," Jo yelled, " and if you come out you can find her."I opened the door to leave, as Jo ran in, pushed me out, and locked the door in record timing.

It took me about 20 minutes, even with Drea's helpful advice, to decide what to wear. I eventually decided on a mini skirt and a matching sweater. I quickly showered and changed with Faith insisting that se would do my hair. She put my long strawberry blonde hair in a simple topsy tail.

Thirty minutes later we were in the large building and I already set out in search for Justin. Then I heard his heavenly voice "… And I will take you, in my arms and hold you right where you belong…" I shrieked in delight. Once I finally found him, I ran up on the stage, practically knocking Joey over on my way up, and gave Justin a huge hug, and he kissed me. Not a just-ran-out-to-the-store-five-minutes-ago-I-missed-you kiss, an I-haven't-seen-you-in-five-weeks-I've-been-thinking-about-you-24/7-I'm-glad-your-back-could-you-tell-I-missed-you kiss. It was a little more then I expected so I pulled away. Not to soon, just perfect. I giggled and I could feel myself blushing.

"Whoa, Justin, we know you missed her, but next time do you think that you could tell her in privacy?" Jo asked, not in a mean way, in a Jo way.

"Leave the boy alone." JC Chasez called to her. "He's just happy to see his girl. I'd do the same thing if I hadn't seen my girl in over a month. And I'm sure that if you were in Mandy's shoes you willingly kiss him back. You know that you would. Don't try to deny it." Jo gave him the look that said 'like I could'. "Alright if your brothers didn't mind you would." JC finished satisfied.

"And who would that certain guy be?" Jo asked flirtatiously, with a smile on her face.

"Do you mind? We came here to practice for tonight. We can do without you for now but we need to go practice the Promise of You. Who's coming with me?" Faith asked annoyed. As she rose to leave Natalie, Drea, and Leslie left with her. All the guys of Nsync except for Justin and left also Jo stood there staring at JC. Justin and I stood over to the side suppressing our laughter.

"Hey, I'm JC, but I'm sure you know that." JC stammered.

Jo stood there searching for words. "She never gets like this. If Nick and Drew find out they're gonna flip!" I whispered to Justin. He laughed.

"I'm …um… Jo, but I guess you knew that to, right?" She said nervously.

"Do you have a date for tonight?" JC asked her shyly.

"No why?"

"May I have the honor?"

"Um… sure."

"I'll pick you up at 5:30 when Justin picks up Mandy. I'll come with him."

"Ok, cool. See you later." Jo said in a whisper.

JC took Jo's hands and held them. "I'll see you later, bye." He let go of her hands and headed across the stage to leave. When he noticed Justin and me he asked shyly, "Just how much of that did you see?"

"Well," I told him, "we never left." I could tell that he was embarrassed. JC rarely asked girls out and when he did he never wanted anyone around. He can be really, really shy.

"Gosh, JC, it's been like forever since you asked a girl out. Why don't you step into my office?" Justin asked, noticing JC's embarrassment and trying to get him to laugh. It worked like a charm.

"Not no, we've got that new choreographer, what's-his-name'll get mad if we're late." JC said playing along.

"Don't worry, he won't mind" Justin replied. "Hey Jo, earth to Jo? I can guarantee that your date'll be the best dressed and have the best manners besides yours truly. He's learning from the best. Mio," Justin sarcastically to Jo.

"Come on. Hurry up. We've got to go practice. We've got a new line up remember? I'm leaving." JC said sounding annoyed.

"You go ahead. I got to talk to Mandy for a minute. I'll catch up with you in a few minutes." Justin said to JC. He turned to Jo, "Miss Lachey, do you mind?"

"No sir, I don't. I'm going. Mandy, hurry up, ok?" Jo answered. I nodded as she left.

"So this morning you said that you had something to ask me, what is it?" I asked his curiously. I could see something in his eyes, either fear or joy. I couldn't tell which. I was never good at those types of things.

"Not now, I'll ask you later." He said, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you more." I said playfully.

Just then Natalie burst into the room. "Hey Justin," she said politely. "Mandy, we need you now. Guess what I found. Annoying soap. Only I find annoying soap. Justin, sorry but we really need her. Do ya mind?" Natalie asked, she sounded very frustrated.

"Sure, go ahead. She's all yours, for now at least." He said answering Natalie. Then he looked at me. "I better get going also. Bye, see you later, 5:30 your hotel room. 817, right?"

"Yup, all right. Love you. See you later." I said quickly knowing that Natalie wouldn't have come and gotten me unless it was an emergency. I ran over to him and gave him a quick kiss. "Bye, see you soon." Justin smiled. Natalie grabbed my arm and pulled until we were in the hallway.

"So is it true JC asked Jo out?" she asked.

"Yup, so who's this annoying soap that you're talking about?" Soap is our code word from forever ago, for a hot guy. Childish we know but it comes in handy!

"Tyler Chasez, JC's little brother, Nsync's bass player, all competition. Good thing that Nick and Drew aren't going to be there tonight. They'd totally flip."

"I know, right. So does Tyler look like JC, how much yonger is he? We're still on for later, right?"

"Sorta, JC's 24 and I think that Tyler's 19. Of course. Let's bring Jo, she might appreciate the trip. Lol!"

"You're nice. Sure she can come. Is this the room?"

"Yup this is it." Natalie said opening the door. "All is saved. I found Mandy!" She quickly explained that we need 30 more seconds and they're all brain-dead.

"Well," I started, "since it is two weeks before Christmas, why don't we start out with something like Jingle bell, Jingle bell, Jingle bell rock. Then the music is cut and we do one of those drum things, with me and Faith dancing of course, then go into the promise of you, with a little extra music in the beginning if we need the time." I said satisfied.

"See I told you that she could help." Drea said. "So we waited for Jo, who's in another world right now, and from what Jo said no one wanted to bother you."

"I am not!" Jo exclaimed.

"But, we desperately needed your help, but no one wanted to bother you. But with us brain dead we really needed you. So I sent Natalie out to get you. I figured that Natalie could get you nicely. I'm guessing you had time to say good-bye. It took you long enough." Drea was usually quiet so this was a surprise to me.

"Well you were right, Drea." I said blandly.

Practice flew by and in no time Jo, Natalie, Drea, and I were walking down 5th Ave. towards Saks. Leslie and Faith were exhausted so they went back to the hotel to get some rest.

Two and a half hours later we walked out of Saks, all with a bunch of bags. Drea got a bunch of makeup, and nice pea coat. I got a long, strapless, baby blue dress. It was gorgeous, and it glittered in the light. I got some simple white heals, since the dress covered me feet, and a purse and wrap that both matched the dress. Jo got a short, black, spaghetti strap dress. Her dress had this glitter on it that came off very, very easily, and her wrap came with the dress. She got a small black purse and open toe, sandal like heals. Natalie got a long, black, velour Skirt and a strapless top outfit. She didn't get a wrap but she got a new coat and a velour purse. As we tried to hail down a cab it began to snow, not a lot, just a little flurry. Soon a cab stopped and took us back to the Plaza.