Justin's world froze. All he could hear was his pulse beating rapidly and all he could see were amused ocean blue eyes looking back at him.

"Hey, yea?" Nick greeted and questioned. The other boy got the 'deer-caught-in-the-headlights' look on his face despite the fact that his eyes were somewhat wide and his mouth slightly ajar. Nick tried again. "Can I help you?" Just by looking at the uniform the other boy was wearing Nick knew he was a freshman. Every two years there was a uniform change. The incoming freshmen get one kind of uniform that they will wear till the end of their sophomore year and by that time they will have chosen their next years uniform, which will be worn till they graduate. This was done so that each year had their own uniform. Nick's uniform consisted of dark gray slacks, the option of wearing a short/long sleeved white polo shirt with their schools name on it or a regular plain white button down long/short sleeved shirt, a black sweater and jacket, and black school shoes. Whereas the present freshmen's uniform practically was the same except they had black slacks and dark gray sweater and jacket. The short-sleeved shirts could only be worn during the summer or warm seasons unless they are worn under the sweater during the winter or cold season. But at the moment Nick wasn't wearing his entire uniform. Only his slacks and the long-sleeved button down shirt that was under his black football team's hoodie and sneakers.

"Nickolas," the nun called him. Nick gave the other boy a quizzical look before turning around to look at the nun.

"Yes, sister?"

"It says here that you're tutoring Justin Timberlake in biology and algebra." She turned the flat-screen monitor towards Nick so that he could see his picture. Nick laughed. Just how funny and convenient was life? Nick mused.

"Thank you Sister but I think he found me." Nick smiled and stepped to his right so that the nun could see the boy standing behind him.

She chuckled and then nodded. "I see that. Well, take care and here is your ID."

"Thanks." Nick took his ID and turned back towards Justin. "So..." Nick began.

Justin brought himself out of the daze he'd fallen into. "I, uh, I... You showed up!"

"Uh huh, I did. Sorry for being late-"

"I'm glad you came when you did 'cause I was just about to leave," Justin said, pointing towards the table he was sitting at.

Nick felt bad. "I was in a meeting and I didn't notice the time fly by. Sorry."

Justin laughed nervously. "It's, uh, it's okay, really. You're here now. So, it's all good." Justin shrugged trying to look at anything and everything besides the gorgeous blond standing in front of him. Just his luck. He has to get a tutor that was fucking hotter than hell. How the fuck was he supposed to concentrate now? Justin sighed.

"Ok, cool. Phew. I promise I'll never do that again." Nick sighed with relief. "So, yah. Let's get tutoring." Nick smiled and walked towards the table Justin had pointed at a few seconds ago. Justin stood there for a few seconds before shaking his head and following Nick. Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. Oh man.

Once they were seated Justin took out the books they'd need. "Okay, then. I hear you're having trouble with bio and algebra." Nick said as he looked from the books Justin placed on the table between them to Justin's right profile.

Justin swallowed. "Um, yah. I'm like so close to failing th-"

"Could you speak up a bit? We're not in the library so you don't have to whisper. The second floor resource center is a place where group studies or projects and all that stuff could be done. We can be loud, Timberlake. So, speak up." Nick said leaning closer as he tried to hear what the younger boy was saying. "Oh by the way, my name's Nick Carter."

Justin blushed bright. "Sorry, and my name's Justin Timberlake," he said shaking Nick's outstretched hand. Nick was the most beautiful man he'd ever laid eyes on and his hands were manly yet soft.

Nick nodded. "Nice to meet you. So, as you were saying?" Nick sat back in his chair and listened.

"Yah, um, I'm passing the tests and quizzes by a point or two. I'm not doing," he waved his hand around trying to come up with a term, "…so, great."

"Alrighty then," Nick nodded, "do you have pervious quizzes or tests or anything that was graded so that I could get a better understanding with just what I need to help you with?"

"Yah, I do." Justin took out his folder and then handed Nick both his math and science tests.

Nick looked at the grades first. Justin noticed and blushed. "I know that the grades aren't that great but I want to be able to get a GPA of 3.2 or higher so I could make it on the basket ball team next year, ya know?"

"Hmm," Nick looked up at Justin. "For basket ball...you'll just have to bring them up a bit, definitely. I'll do my best to try and help you with that." Nick looked back down at the papers in his hands. "Well, just what don't you understand? Wait, better yet, which one do you want to go over first?"

Justin thought about this for a few seconds. "Well, I'm not struggling that much in bio so let's do that first that way we'll have more time for anato-, I mean, math." Justin blushed even more if that was possible. He was going to say anatomy, meaning he would love to study... well, anyways.

Nick nodded. "Fine. First thing's first. What don't ya get?" Nick pushed the math books along with the test papers to the side and placed Justin's bio test papers on top of the textbook that was between them.

A few minutes later Justin finished explaining just what it was he didn't get as well as his studying methods.

"Well, to be honest, Timberlake, for bio I don't find index cards all that helpful. It always takes so much time and space... it's just so much to do that it can drive a guy nuts." Nick brought the pointer finger of his right hand to the side of his head and turned them to indicate 'crazy.' Justin chuckled and Nick smiled. "What I do is take a loose leaf papers and write down the terms and their definitions. Draw pictures, make charts, use different colors, or whatever to help you visualize and understand it more. The trick to bio is not just memorizing things. You have to be able to associate the pictures with the term and the definition. You get me?" Nick asked.

Justin nodded. "Yea. Okay, I'll try that. We're having a quiz in two days so, I'll go home tonight and do just that."

"Oh that reminds me, do you have a copy of your syllabus or a schedule of your tests and homework’s assignments?"

"Yah, why?" Justin took the folder out again and handed Nick the requested papers.

"That way I know just what to cover and help you with first. Get that out of the way and then we can go back and finish whatever else you don't get."

"Oh okay." Justin smiled and if it wouldn’t look all that awkward he would have leaned over and hugged the daylights out of Nick. Not only was the guy hot but he was also smart and nice and did he mention hot? His first high school crush. Justin sighed.

Nick looked at his watch and then at Justin. "Um, what time is this tutoring thing over, anyway?"

Why the hell did Nick want to know that? Ouch. That's exactly what his other tutors had asked him... every 5 minutes. Maybe he has a girlfriend he has to meet and kiss and and… or maybe he just didn't want to be seen with a freshman. Double ouch. Maybe he was really a big jerk. "Um, I think at like 4:30...why?" Justin trailed off. He so badly wanted to know.

"That's what I was afraid of. It's like 3:55 now. I'm not sure if that's enough time for me to go through the entire math with you. You have a quiz tomorrow, right?" Not the answer Justin was expecting but was thrilled.

"Te…test, yes."

"Why do you look and sound so surprised?" Nick questioned the expression on the younger boy's face.

"Oh it's just that...I thought you were gonna bolt from here just like my other tutors." Justin bent his head down.

"What? What other tutors? You had tutors before me, what happened?" Nick was curious.

"Well, they didn't particularly care about tutoring me, a freshman, ya know. I mean there was that one French dude that like totally was trying to help me but I didn't understand a single word he said. It took me like three days to figure out that it was 'take out a sheet' instead of 'take gut a shit.' And like one of them didn't even bother to show up or inform me about it. I waited for two hours that day." Nick frowned. He was not at all happy about hearing that.

"So wait, how many tutors were there before me?" Nick asked seriously.

"Um, six."

Nick's eyes widened. "Oh my god. All that time wasted!" He paused. "Can I have their names?"

Now it was Justin's turn to frown. "Why?"

"You like that word, don't ya?" Nick shook his head. "Never mind. I want their names because I want to know just what they were doing in this program and why they signed up for it if they don't do even do their jobs. It’s not even that much pay to begin with. It's not fair to you or anyone else who needs help."

"Um, I don't really know their names. But I do have a list at home, I think." Justin frowned. "What do you mean by 'it's not even that much pay?'"

"Oh, those who are recommended by their teachers to be tutors and sign up for this program get paid. Each hour is like $4 or something, I really wouldn't know though."

"Why wouldn't you know?"

Nick shook his head as his long golden locks swayed along and smirked. "I bet you drove your parents nuts when you were a kid, huh?"

Justin felt something familiar begin to stir in his pants and he squirmed in his seat to try and ease the slight discomfort. God, he'd only known Nick for a few minutes and he's already thinking about what it would be like to have those lips on his... ehrm, yes, and run his hands through silky looking strands of...well on with the show. He gave Nick a confused look 'cause he didn't really understand just where that comment came from... likes out of the blue. "Huh?"

"Never mind." Nick thought about Justin's math test tomorrow but right now they didn't have much time. School closes at six and he still had things to take care of in the student council room. Then Nick thought of something. "Hmm, listen, where do you live?"

"Uh, 96th and Columbus Ave, upper west side." Justin bit his bottom lip. "Why?"

"Hmm, that's funny. I live on 96th and Madison Ave, upper EAST side." Nick chuckled.

Justin chuckled as well. "Right across central park. Ironic, eh?"

"I suppose," Nick said. "Listen, I still have a meeting to finish up and other things to take care of. Why don't you come over to my place or I come over to yours, whichever, today and maybe tomorrow?" Nick suggested.

Huh? He wants to come over to my place? Today? Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. "Um, sure. My parents are working, though. Won't be home until nine or so." Why the hell did he just say that? He brought his hand up and ran it through his curly locks.

"Uh, okay. That's fine." Nick watched Justin's hand as it ran through the wavy/curly hair. He got a glimpse of something on the right wrist... a bracelet. It looked more like threads...worn out threads. Nick looked away immediately so that Justin wouldn't catch him. Maybe them being alone wasn't such a good idea. Nick's not dumb. He lives in New York City for goodness sake. He knows what a pride bracelet is when he sees it and what he saw on Justin's wrist was a homemade pride bracelet. All of a sudden Nick felt very aware of himself. Now what? "Um, you wanna pack your things so we can get out of here or something?" Nick asked hesitantly.

Justin gave Nick a quizzical look before quickly packing his things away. They exited the resource center as Nick said good-bye to the nun. Justin furrowed his brows when Nick stopped in front of the elevator.

"Nick, why did you stop?" He questioned.

"We'll use the elevator, it'll be easier and faster." Nick inserted his ID, pressed the down button, and waited.

"We're not allowed to use the elevators, Nick." Justin pointed out.

"True but being in the student council has its perks." Nick grinned.

"You're in the student council?" Justin didn't even bother to hide his shock. He really needed to start paying attention to just what the hell was going on in his school. More so, just who are who in school!

"Yeah, I'm the Treasurer." The elevator came; he removed his ID and walked in holding the doors. "You coming or what?"

"Yea." Justin got in and they stayed quiet the whole ride down to the basement. Once they got there Nick spoke up.

"Why don't you go and get your things and meet me in that room over there, okay?" Nick suggested and pointed towards the closed door that had a 'student council' label on it.

Justin nodded. "Okay."

Nick turned to the left to go to the council room and Justin turned to the right towards the locker room. Jogging to his locker he quickly began packing his books and getting his winter gear on. Once he was done he slowly walked his way over to the council room all the while trying to regulate his breathing and calm his nerves. That has got to be the record fastest Justin's ever gotten his things together after school. Taking another deep breath he knocked on the door and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat.