Soon enough, it was time for Nyoko and the entire Goshima family to go out to the Chapel Hills Mall and get clothes for their gig as backup dancers for Fingerbang. They were so excited. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and they wanted to make sure they could take advantage of this while the iron was hot. Plus, the Organization XII concert was just around the corner, so they had a chance to be close to the band in more ways than one.

It was about an hour and seventeen minute drive to the Chapel Hills Mall, but the adults hadn't cared about how long it would take to get there as long as they could just get there and get everything they needed. Their first stop there was JCPenney, which was the best department store as far as the Goshimas were concerned. They had a good feeling that JCPenney would have the best clothes available for thirteen-year-old girls, especially if they were going to be performing at a concert like the one down at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. For minutes upon minutes on end, Mr. and Mrs. Goshima would rummage through the teen girls' clothes, trying to find whatever outfit was perfect for a boy band's backup dancers. For minutes upon minutes on end, they couldn't seem to find what they were looking for... that is, until they stumbled upon some sparkly blue and yellow jumpsuits hanging off a round metallic clothing rack in the middle of an aisle.

"Ooh, how about these, girls?" Mrs. Goshima asked while she pulled the jumpsuits out from the rack.

The triplets took a closer look at the jumpsuits. These were navy blue jumpsuits with spaghetti straps, and they were covered in blue and yellow glitter. The pant legs ballooned at the bottom into what looked like bell-bottoms, and there were zippers at the back that were situated in the middle.

"Oh wow, these are so cool!" Momoko exclaimed.

"Yeah, these are super neat, Mom!" Miyako rejoined.

"You really like them?" Mrs. Goshima asked.

Momoko and Miyako nodded vigorously. "Yeah!"

Nyoko cocked her head to the side and gave with a small smile. "Yeah, I have to admit, I kinda like these jumpsuits."

Mr. Goshima just chuckled. "Alright, well, why don't you go get changed in one of the fitting rooms?"

"Okay," all three of the triplets replied simultaneously.

The family of five proceeded to make their way into the fitting room area where the triplets would try on the sparkly blue and yellow jumpsuits. Mr. Goshima waited outside while his wife and the triplets went into a fitting room to try on the sparkly blue and yellow jumpsuits. All of a sudden, a JCPenney employee walked into the fitting room area to oversee everything.

"Is everything alright, sir?" the employee asked Mr. Goshima.

The JCPenney employee had short brown hair styled into an asymmetrical bob and was wearing a white collared dress shirt with long sleeves paired up with a short black skirt and black high heels. She had dark brown eyes and was wearing gray eyeshadow and cherry red lipstick.

"Everything's fine, ma'am," Mr. Goshima replied.

"I'm glad to hear. Are your daughters buying these jumpsuits for homecoming next year?"

Mr. Goshima shook his head. "We're actually getting these jumpsuits because they're going to be backup dancers for Fingerbang."

"Fingerbang, huh? I think I've heard of them. They're that boy band that formed a couple years ago at West Jefferson Middle School, right?"

"That's the one. They actually go to school together."

"Wow. I can't imagine what it would be like to hang out with celebrities at school."

Mr. Goshima amusingly shook his head. "Me neither. I wish I'd hung out with celebrities when I was going to school."

"Me too. Alright, it looks like you guys need some privacy. I'm gonna go see if anybody else needs my help. Bye."

With that, the JCPenney employee walked off to another section of the department store. Once the JCPenney employee was out of sight, Mr. Goshima turned around and knocked on the fitting room door.

"Hey, you girls done yet?" Mr. Goshima asked amusingly. "I know how you women are."

Mrs. Goshima could be heard giggling from the other side of the door. "Not yet. I just need to make sure these jumpsuits look perfect on the girls."

Mr. Goshima then amusingly held his hands up. "Alright, alright, take as much time as you need."


After some more shopping around the Chapel Hills Mall, it was time for the Goshima family to head home. Just like when they had arrived at the mall, it took them an hour and seventeen minutes to make it back to Conifer. That whole excursion at the Chapel Hills Mall actually hyped up the triplets for their upcoming trip to the Organization XII concert. All three of the girls were certain this would be the best concert ever, even better than the *NSYNC concert they went to a couple years ago when they graduated from elementary school.

"Well, girls," Mr. Goshima began to speak. "Your mother and I can't wait to see you up on that stage two weeks from now. That concert's supposed to start on the fourteenth, isn't it?"

"I'm pretty sure it is," Mrs. Goshima replied, fairly confident of the answer she just gave. "I'll have to check again when we get home. Oh my goodness, I never imagined that my own children would be backup dancers for the opening act of a concert. I never even expected them to be interested in that kind of stuff in the first place."

"Like what Forrest Gump said in the movie: 'Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.'"

The parents just laughed amongst themselves on the drive home while the girls entertained themselves with their thoughts. The future seemed so shiny and new to them. They may not have gotten the jetpacks and flying cars they wanted, and they certainly got the shock of a lifetime when they saw what happened with the World Trade Center, but they were still happy with the ways things were going in the world. Technology seemed to be improving with each passing day, and this couldn't have been more evident than those iPods they'd gotten for their thirteenth birthday.


Later that night, with everyone home and getting ready for bed, Nyoko decided to sneak down to the computer room and log on to AIM and talk with her long-distance friend Buster over the upcoming Organization XII concert.

"Man I cant wait to see Organization XII," Nyoko typed down. "They are the best band in the world."

"What r they like?" Buster asked her in a reply a few seconds later. "Are they cool?"

"So cool. You should see Xemnas. He is so badass man. He got swag wearing all that black with that black suit and those black shoes."

"What kind of rock music do they play, like Marilyn Manson or sumthing?"

Nyoko smiled a little at Buster's question. "I guess u could say that. I've only listened 2 a handful of Marilyn Manson's songs, but I think he's awesome."

"Cool. Whats ur favrite song of his?"

Nyoko thought about it for a minute and then typed, "Beautiful People I guess?"

"Cool. Mom doesnt let me listen 2 him. She thinks hes a bad man."

Nyoko couldn't help but feel sorry for her long-distance friend when it came to how strict his mother could be. In fact, Nyoko's parents were the same way, except much stricter. Sure, they gave her and her sisters much more freedom than their own parents had given them when they were children, but that wasn't saying much. The triplets still weren't allowed to own CDs from certain artists like Jennifer Lopez or Ashanti or even Britney Spears due to how much of a "bad influence" they could leave on the girls.

"Guess I should get 2 bed," Buster typed out. "Its about 3 AM over here."

Nyoko looked down at the time on the computer taskbar. Sure enough, the clock read 1 AM. (Elwood City's time zone was two hours ahead of Conifer's.)

"OMG I gotta sleep!" Nyoko typed in response. "TTYL."

Buster typed back, "Okay good nite! TTYL."

With that, Nyoko both logged off AIM and shut down the computer to go to bed. It was absolutely imperative that she get sleep. After all, she and her sisters needed to practice for their act with Fingerbang.