Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 14:51:13 EDT
From: Faradhi269@aol.com
Subject: NSync New Life 2

	This is part 2.  I want to thank the people who have sent me
positive responses.  It really means a lot to me.  As usual, this story is
meant to be Fiction!  It doesn't say anything that can damage anyone's
career or life in general.  It depicts romantic relationships between two
men.  If this material offends you or it is illegal to read it, go
somewhere else.

	"There was a kid who came on the show, just about 18 and having a
blast," Joey continued.  Then he paused for a minute.  "The kid had
boundless energy and enthusiasm.  His name was Ryan and you just saw him,
but he was about 25 pounds thinner and didn't seem so depressed.  He said
that he was a fan of us and BSB,"
	"I KNEW it!" Lance shouted.  "I told you that he's some crazed
fan!"
	"Whoa, Lance, calm down!" Joey tried to intervene, but Lance was
adamant.  "Lance, shut the fuck up!" Joey yelled.  "Let me finish!"  Lance
gaped at Joey, speechless, and Joey almost laughed at how completely
stupefied Lance looked.
	"Now, he said he was a fan, but he wasn't a total fanatic.  He said
that he liked our music and our harmonies, and that the message really sang
out to him." Joey smiled at the memory.  "He also said that since I was a
member of NSync, he decided that he wasn't going to sing his original song,
since it was one of ours.  So he sang `I want it that way' from Backstreet
Boys.  And Lance, he was awesome!  He hit notes that I couldn't believe.
He sounded like Nick, man."  And then he laughed.  "He even looked like
Nick."
	"Anyway, after he sang, all three of us gave him a perfect score.
He knew all the words, he dressed real nice, his backflips and stuff were
cool, and he hit every single note.  We HAD to give him a perfect score."
Lance saw the look on Joey's face, and his anger seemed to slowly melt
away.  He had started to get into the story, and after hearing me singing
while he was yelling at Justin, he could believe what Joey had told him.
	"When the second round, the `Wheel of Death' came around, he hoped
that he'd know the song.  The girl before him had done a great job, and he
was under a lot of pressure.  He spun the wheel and ended up with `I Drive
Myself Crazy.'  He breathed a sigh of relief and I got very interested.
Before he sang, I had a word with one of the producers, and he agreed that
at my signal, he would keep the music going longer than normal.  I wanted
to see how good this guy could be.  He sang Chris's part..."
	"Did someone say my name?"  Chris asked, stepping into the bus with
JC in tow.  "You weren't talking about US behind my back, were you Joey?"
he joked.
	"Of course not, Chris," Joey replied.  "Our bedroom antics are
private."  Then he smiled a huge grin and both of them broke out laughing.
	"Oh GOD, not again," Lance joked along.  "I'm tired of hearing
about your sex life, guys.  Besides, Joey, I want to hear the rest of the
story."  JC agreed with Lance, as did Chris.  By now, Lance didn't seem
angry at all to Joey, and he thought-so, he has the same effect on Lance,
too.
	But he continued, "he sang your part, loverboy," Chris giggled,
"perfectly.  His harmony with our voices was dead-on.  When Justin's part
was about to start, I have the producer my signal and he kept going.  He
was surprised, but he sang Joey's part very well.  But I knew that the next
part would be the hardest.  I looked at Ryan and nodded, and he seemed to
realize what I was saying.  He took a deep breath and belted out your part,
too, JC.  He got all of it!  I couldn't believe it.  It was so cool.  He
got a standing ovation when he finished, even by us judges.  He smiled
shyly and looked to us for our scoring.  He had two perfect tens, and I was
about to give him my score when my cell rang.
	"Everyone looked at me.  It was embarrassing.  When I answered it,
it was Justin.  He said, `Joey, you have GOT to give this guy a perfect
score!  I've been watching and he's so good!  Maybe he can join our group?'
I told Justin `I can't believe you're calling me with this right now!  I'm
about to give the kid his score.  Can't you even wait thirty seconds?  I'll
talk to you later,' and then I hung up on him.  I looked at Ryan with a
smile and pulled out my scorecard.  Instead of ten, I put two together and
gave 100 for it.  He laughed so hard he almost fell over, and naturally won
the contest."
	"Duh," Chris supplied helpfully.
	"Thanks, Chris.  Anyway, we got together after the show went off
the air and talked for a while.  He told me that he couldn't believe that I
did that to him.  He'd seen the show before and knew that they never do
anything like that.  We chatted away hours sitting on the beach.  He told
me about his family, his future, and other stuff like that.  I asked him
where he learned to sing like that and he said that he like being in
musicals.  He mentioned that his favorites were 'Les Miserables' and
'Jekyll and Hyde', but he only said he liked them 'cause they were serious
and thought provoking.  He asked about us and if we liked Orlando.  I told
him about where we live when we're not on tour and about all of us.  He
knew some of it, but he really liked the details, ya know?"
	"Like what?" Lance asked, getting a little nervous.  "We do have
secrets, you know."
	"Well, Lance, I told him that you grew up a deeply religious person
and that you are really much deeper than you seem to be," Joey replied
impishly.  "He was really interested.  We got to talking about the
spiritual world and the differences in religions.  He's really smart.  Give
him a chance, you might like him."  Lance just shrugged.
	"Anyway, to cut a long story short, I told Ryan that it was really
cool to hear him sing and that he was really good.  I also said that if he
wanted any tickets to a concert or anything, to call our management and I'd
arrange for it.  You know the drill."
	"Mmm hmm," Lance said.  "So what is he doing here?  He didn't come
with tickets or asking for them."
	"I don't really know.  He asked for a job, but he definitely
doesn't need one for the money.  My guess is that he's almost looking for a
place to hide."
	"Hide?" Lance exclaimed.  "You think he's done something illegal?
We can't get involved with anything like that!"  Chris tried to calm Lance
down, but got a death-stare.  He held up his hands and backed away.  JC
wisely stayed out of the whole exchange, although he looked like he wanted
to say something to Lance.
	"No, Lance," Joey replied calmly, "I don't think he's done anything
illegal.  He seems sad more than afraid.  I think he's in some trouble,
yeah, but not legally.  Besides, he's a friend.  We need to help him."
	"Well," Lance acquiesced.  "Maybe you're right.  Let's go have a
look and see how those two are getting along.  But Joey, if he's any
trouble..." he trailed off ominously.  Chris just grinned.  "Great!  Now I
get to see who you've been talking about for the past half-hour!"  "Yeah,"
JC agreed. "I want to see who can sing ANYTHING in the awesome way that I
do!"  The rest of them just giggled.
	The four of them walked towards the back of the bus and slowly
opened the door.  They stared at Justin's helpless look as he held me with
my face buried in his shoulder, crying uncontrollably.

						CHAPTER 3

	Justin already knew Joey's story, since he'd made Joey tell him
when he called back, so shortly after Lance had led Joey out, Justin asked
me what was wrong.  Looked at him in his yellow t shirt with a black fork
on it and smiled.  He was so cute!  So I told Justin that I was not exactly
the same person that I was a couple of months ago.
	He'd seen me on MTV, of course, and was shocked when he saw what I
had become.  Besides being heavier and more muscled, my eyes seemed less
bright and my whole body seemed tight.  Everything about me seemed to be
the opposite of what I had been before, and he wanted to know why.
	 I told him, "I had gone to the Isle of MTV as a graduation present
from one of my aunts, and when I got back, my whole family was going to
have a huge graduation party for me.  I couldn't wait.  Everything was
going great and I was having a fun time.  And when I got home, we prepared
for the party.  It took a while, since everyone was going to show up, but
by the end of the week everything was ready.  It was great to see my
cousins and friends and other family coming by to congratulate me on
getting out of school and doing well at it.  They were really pleased that
I was going to a great school in Atlanta for college and wished me the best
of luck.  Around noon, my parents started getting everything ready for
dinner at about six-thirty.  They turned on the oven, the stove, and the
warmer.  I helped with some of the preparations, since I love to cook when
I get the chance.  But at about three o'clock, we ran out of veggie dip and
I had to run to the store to get some more.  I guess I was lucky.  My
parents had gotten too involved in catching up with their friends and
forgot all about the food.  So when one of my aunts pulled out a cigarette,
no one paid it any mind...
	"I was on my way home, about two minutes away when I saw an
enormous fireball shoot upwards.  I said "Holy Shit!  What the hell was
that?" and floored the car in the direction the inferno came from to see
what was going on.  As I pulled up to my house, it wasn't there any more.
Everyone had been inside, and all that was left was a crater in the ground.
Most of the cars parked in front of my house were flaming husks, and I
suddenly realized that I was all alone in the world."  Here, my voice
cracked, and I had to swallow a few times to be able to go on.
	"My life was a mess.  I was 18, so I didn't need to be placed under
protective custody, but I also had no family left to live with.  I called
my friend Tom and told him about my problem.  Tom had been my only friend
not at the party, since his graduation party was the same day.  His mom
said I could stay with them until I figured out what to do.  So I went to
live with my last friend.  In the meantime, I had lots of paperwork to deal
with.  I had to arrange for the funerals of over seventy people, and there
wasn't even anything left to bury."
	  When I said this, I broke down and Justin instinctively reached
forward to comfort me.  He held me close until I started to calm down, and
when I did, all I did was notice how great it felt to be held by him.  "Go
on," he said, "I'll be here for you."
	So I continued, "but the strangest thing is that since everyone
else had died, I was the sole heir to about 50 or 60 wills.  I got
property, money, cars, everything.  I didn't want any of it, though, so I
decided what I was going to do with it all... I sold it.  I got money from
the insurance companies for my house, all the cars, and all the life
insurance policies.  The police questioned me because I had so much to gain
from this, and they thought that I'd planned it.  It was horrible.  They
finally believed me when the fire marshal said there was no evidence of
wrongdoing, and I told the police I would sue them for harassment." I
smiled wanly, "it was an empty threat.  I was just so pissed.
	"So, as I was saying, I sold everything, collected the money, which
you saw earlier and got ready for my new life.  I bought my dream car, a
black '99 Mustang GT convertible and some clothing.  All black.  I was
still in mourning.  I also went and bought a few other things to help me
confront my demons," I added.
	"Like what?" Justin wanted to know.
	"Nothing.  Don't worry about it," I avoided his question.  "Anyway,
I went to live with Tom and my days went by in a haze.  I didn't sleep for
more than two or three hours a night, so I'd wake up at 6 a.m. and work out
lifting weights until Tom woke up at about 11.  I'd been taking martial
arts for a few years-"
	"I noticed when you came down the hill," Justin interrupted.
	"Really?" I looked at him confused.  "I don't remember using any of
it."
	"On the security guards." He affirmed.  "But don't worry about it.
Get on with the story."
	"Oh yeah.  Sorry.  Tom was much better at it than I was, so after
he woke up, we'd spar for hours and hours.  At first, he'd kick my ass
every time, but my intensity helped me a lot, and so did my added muscle, I
guess.  And after sparring until about 4 or 5, I'd go to the YMCA and swim
some laps and soak in the jacuzzi for a while.  I'd get back to his house
at about eight and we'd work on my weapon techniques for a couple more
hours.  Then we'd play some D&D."
	"D&D?" Justin asked.  "What's that?"
	"Well, it's a role-playing game that's kind of hard to explain," I
told him, "but it involves characters out to save the world and they can do
things like magic and thievery-like characters on video game RPG's," I
added.  "But all of it is completely in your mind.  Everything that occurs
you have to see in your imagination.  This helped me a lot, since I could
lose my anger and pain in my character.  When he fought monsters and
demons, I was fighting them and letting everything go for a couple of
hours."  I looked at him sadly, "Then it'd all come back."
	"Oh," was all he said.  But he pulled me even closer and hugged me
tight for a second.  I knew he didn't really understand, but I didn't
care-it felt so good to be comforted for a change.
	"It went on like that for two months," I continued my story.  "But
I knew that it had to end soon.  Tom had to go to college, and I decided
that even though I could afford it, I wouldn't.  Not yet.  So when I heard
that you guys were having a concert, I threw all my things together and
drove out here, hoping that maybe I could hook up with Joey, get him to
remember me, and live on the road for a little while.  I'm decent with
electronics and I know my way around a stage, so I figured that it could
serve as a distraction and give me a chance to start over.  You know?"
Then I got really quiet.  "I've gotten used to having money and stuff, I've
gotten used to being away from home and on my own, but you know Justin,
I've never gotten used to being so alone."  And with that, I fell to my
knees, sobbing uncontrollably.  I was crying so hard, I didn't notice the
rest of the group come in the door.  Justin pulled me forward into another
hug, and after crying for twenty minutes or so on his shoulder, I fell
asleep.

	Chris, Lance and Joey all noticed this last part and watched
silently as I fell asleep.  Joey looked at Justin with a question in his
eyes, but Justin just shook his head slightly.  Once I was asleep, Justin
lifted me up very gently and put me in his bunk to rest.  Then he came back
in to where the other guys were waiting.
	"Well, Justin," Joey asked impatiently, "what'd he tell you?
What's going on?"
	Nearly crying himself, Justin told the others what had been going
on.
	Lance and Joey both broke down in tears, and Chris and JC looked
around uncomfortably.  That's when Chris sited my gym bag that I'd brought
with me.  "What do you guys think he has here?"  He asked the others,
weighing the bag. "It's really heavy."
	"I don't know if maybe we should," Justin hesitated.  "It wouldn't
be right.  Especially not after trusting us so much."
	"Trusting YOU, you mean," Lance countered.  "He hasn't really shown
US anything like trust.  I feel for the guy, but I still am a little
uncomfortable about him being here.  I think that we should open it and
find out.  We won't take anything," he said very quickly, noticing that
Justin and Joey objected, thinking about all the money in the
four-foot-long black bag.  "We'll just have a look.  The way he wouldn't
tell you what he bought makes me curious."
	"I still say no." Justin argued.  "Let's wait for him to show us if
there's anything of interest.  And besides, he hasn't really trusted you
'cause you haven't trusted him!  If you weren't so hard on him, you'd
understand that he only wants to be friends!"
	"I agree." Joey added.  "We have no reason not to trust him."
	"But," JC began when they heard "NOOOOOOO!" coming from the bunks.
Justin and Joey ran to see what was going on.  They ran to Justin's bunk
and saw me thrashing around, crying out over and over again
"Mommy... please... no..." Justin reached in to hold me and rubbed my back.
I started to calm down, and Joey looked at Justin curiously.  "I've been
doing it all day," he answered the unspoken question.  "Once more couldn't
hurt."  Joey just shrugged and the two of them headed back to join the
others.
	As they entered the back room, they heard a gasp.  The rushed in
and saw Chris pulling a long, slightly curved object out of my bag.  As it
came out with a steely hiss, the bright and exquisitely sharp blade
gleamed.
	As a group they all muttered "Holy Shit!" and stared at it, feeling
very uncomfortable all of a sudden.


* That's it for part two.  Sorry that the conversations seemed to go on
forever.  I tried for some realism, and sometimes I like to talk.  Next
time, there'll be more action, I promise.  Again, thanks to those who have
helped me with this story.  I really appreciate positive reinforcement.