i got you*
chapter 3
Amber woke up early the next morning, making sure not to wake up her roommate. She got ready for her first class, art history, and after she put on her makeup, she looked at herself in the mirror one last time. �Not bad� she thought to herself. �Not bad at all.�
Today was going to be a good day for Amber because she actually decided to sign up for the small musical that was going to be touring in the entire state of Georgia, and Florida.
She gathered her books, her cell phone, left a note for Elan, and left her room quietly.
~*~*~*~
JC woke up to his alarm and shut it off. He looked at his clock, and quickly reached over for his cell phone.
"Call Amber," he said, and heard a dialing sound, and the phone ringing tone.
"Hello?" Amber answered as she got onto the campus bus to head to her class.
"Morning sunshine," JC told her still a bit groggy.
"Josh?" she asked shocked hearing his voice and sat down in the back of the bus by a window.
"Hey what's up? Going to class?" he asked.
"Yeah" she sighed "Art history for an hour and 15 minutes. That'll be fun, but what ya goin� to do right?"
JC smiled, "I see you're kinda in a good mood."
"Oh, well, I have been up for a few hours anyways.�
"Ah gotcha. I was up kinda late myself. Went to Lance�s welcome home party," he sighed. "So... what ya got on your mind?"
"Well...I'm just thinking about signin' up for something later today..."
"Oh really? What is it?" he asked.
"Oh for the tour summer musical. It's the a musical that one of my drama friends wrote for his Master's thesis."
"Oh cool," he replied. "Hey Amber... gotta go� to the uh� bathroom."
She laughed, "You didn't go BEFORE you called me huh?"
"Nope."
"Ok, well I'm getting closer to school, so I'll talk to you later then."
"Ok. I'll call you later love ya bye!�
"Bye." she said hanging up giggling.
~*~*~*~
Chelsea was not having a good day. Nope. Not a good day at all. First she was late for work because she slept in, she spilled coffee on her new fifty-dollar skirt, and Justin had been teasing her relentlessly all day.
She just sat down at her desk for lunch, when she looked up at the doorway to see JC walking by quickly with his phone by his ear talking to Amber she figured. She sighed at her desk bored as hell as she listened to JC tell his girlfriend he had to go pee.
She giggled, but then figured that since she was on her lunch SHE should call Amber. Because a guy doesn't really tell his girlfriend that he has to go to the little boys room.
She waited for a few minutes and then picked up the phone and called Amber.
"Hello?" she heard Amber ask.
"Hi, it's me. Chelsea."
"Hey, I just got done talking to Josh. Boys are funny when they have to tell us girls that they have to go to the bathroom. So, what's up?"
"Well, I wanted to know the same thing. JC just walked by and I over heard him talking about going to the bathroom, and wanted to know what was going on. He normally stops to say hi to me when he comes in."
"Oh, well... I guess I better tell you the story.� Amber filled her in about her school offers for the summer. �So I decided to go with the musical, I get to act and sing really, and that�s what I wanted to do.�
�Hey, that would be fun.�
�Yeah, getting to tour around GA, maybe even Florida.�
�Oh, I�d love to see it.�
�Yeah, you remember Douglas Smith? The one from math class, the one that the girls go crazy for?�
�Yeah?�
�He wrote the musical for his major. We get to perform it, and if it gets great reviews and big crowds, he gets to graduate with his masters for it and tour with it.�
"Awesome. He's a cool guy... cute and hot."
"I know." Amber giggled. "Speaking of whom... he just walked into the cafeteria." He was very cute indeed� dirty-blond, 6 foot even, dark-tanned, muscles, 175 lbs., the smile the girls swoon over for, dreamy blue-eyes. To Amber, a very cute tanned 90�s teen-heartthrob, Neil Patrick Harris, who was �Doogie Howser, MD.�
"Oh yeah. Remember that night when he got so drunk he was hitting on us?"
"I know. Glad that his friends took care of him. Remember they took his underwear and flew them over the campus?" Amber asked laughing.
Chelesa shook her head at the memory. "Yah. I can't believe I use to date him."
"Hey, you were smart in breaking it up too. The girls told you that he was just getting attention with you."
"Ya, I know," Chelesa let out a sigh. "Hey speaking about guys... do you... do you know Justin well?"
Amber dropped her fork onto her plate that her food flew out onto the table. "JT?" she asked shocked. "Um, yeah..." she laughed picking it up, "I know all of them really. Why do you ask?"
"Cause well... I saw him giving me the eye yesterday and well... I kinda gave him the eye back and I just want to know if I was right to lead him on."
"Girl... um..." Amber stalled, "Just be careful is all I can say. He just likes to get as many girls as he can in bed with him."
"Well, I haven't been in bed with a man in over 2 years I think I'm entitled to it."
"If he's not pleased, he'll kick you out of bed the next morning, and it doesn't matter what time it is to him either." Amber sighed, "Just be careful. I'm not your mother or dad, and I don't have the right to stop you from doing anything, but I am a friend that cares."
"Aw! Amber you're so sweet." Chelsea said with a smile. "So...how's the gang?"
"Just wanting college to get over with. Everyone has their plans for the summer."
"Awesome. Well hey girl, I gotta sadly get to work and I know you got class so call me tonight okay?�
�I will... if Josh doesn't call me first," she laughed. "I'll talk to you later anyways. Douglas is waving me over for something. I think it's for the musical because everyone from class is going over. So� Bye." Amber hung up.
Chelsea looked at the phone, giggled, hung up, and went back to finish her sandwich.
~*~*~*~
Amber walked over toward the table where Douglas and the others where at. She smiled agreeing with all the other girls that yes, Douglas was hot, and the captain of the college football team, the basketball team, a math-wiz, loved to act and sing as well.
At another table, she heard someone talking about *NSYNC, and she slowed down a little bit.
�Did you read on the internet that Lance had a party last night?� someone asked.
�Yeah, and said that all of the guys but Chris had dates that night?�
�Someone heard JC yell into his phone to his girl-friend, and started crying later. They were talking about breaking up. JC�s cheating on her anyways because he brought another girl to the party and she went to make sure that he was okay and stuff.�
Amber knew this� but as long as no one knows about her being the girl�
�I read something else on that site too. Someone posted up that he�s dating a girl named Amber and get this� she goes to school here.�
Amber stopped dead in her tracks. It couldn�t be. Someone figured it out? She never told anyone.
She kept walking on over to the table smiling where Douglas and the others where. She had to tell Josh. No she couldn�t tell him, he�d go crazy if she told him. But, what if she has to transfer to another college? Another state? She�d have to go into hiding for sure� forever.
�Hey, Amber,� Douglas said smiling at her.
Amber blinked and shook her head. �Sorry. I have a lot of stuff on my mind. Hi everyone,� she said sitting down.
�Are you ready to go over the songs that I figured out that we should use and go over the play?� he asked as everyone started sitting down.
�Yeah,� she said as everyone else agreed.
Back over at the other table, the girls there started getting into their dorm directory from last year, and start looking and writing down all the Amber�s in the book. ALSO one of them figured that she should go watch ALL of her tapes that she recorded with *NSYNC on them.
~*~*~*~
~few days later~
At the end of the day, JC crawled into bed, and started to call Amber. He been busy again with another TV show that the guys had to go do, he never had time to call Amber. Before he even called, he noticed that he had voicemail. He pushed in his password.
�You have 11 new messages.� JC rolled his eyes, and listened to them. Mostly was his family, the guys leaving fun ones, and then the last three caught his attention.
�Josh, it�s Amber. I have a new number, and I�ll call you on it. The room number has changed too.� He heard girls screaming in the background, �****� I have to go. I love you�� he heard more screaming then a beep.
�Josh, it�s Elan. Um, the new room phone is,� she left a different number, �Amber�s cell phone number now is,� she left that, �Um, Amber doesn�t want you to know, but um, someone here at the college figured out who you are now. I didn�t know it, I swear, but someone else did. I guess it was the pictures online and a message board online that posted info up too. Josh, don�t blame Chelsea, she didn�t do it, and she doesn�t even know about this� look I better go. Let Amber call you. Please. She�s got her own room now. It�s um, secured too. Thanks to the teachers. She�s figuring stuff out� crap. Bye,� Elan hung up.
�JC� omg,� a girl screams, �I love you JC! I�m your biggest fan��
JC deleted that one, and replayed Elan�s message and wrote down Amber�s new numbers. Then he called Johnny.
�Hello?�
�Hey, Johnny, it�s JC.�
�JC, it�s late,� he told him.
�I know, but listen, some how a fan got my number and now I have to change it.�
�Again? Did you�re girlfriend give it out?�
�No, you know Amber wouldn�t do that.�
�I know.� Johnny sighed, �Ok kid� I�ll figure it out and call you on your HOME phone to give you the new number.�
�Thanks.�
�How is Amber anyways?� he asked.
�She�s fine. Um, can I ask you something?� he asked.
�Sure buddy what is it?� he asked.
�Um, I hate to ask you, I know we�re not busy right now, but um, may I go see Amber, please?�
�Well,� he heard papers being turned, �How long?�
�Just for a weekend. Please?� he asked again.
�How long ago did you ask to go see her?�
JC sighed, �Over a year ago. It was at the Grammy�s last year.�
�JC, it�s been that long?� he heard Johnny shocked. �Why didn�t you ask earlier?�
�I did, but we were so busy, I couldn�t go see her.�
�Well, I think I can help you book a flight this weekend to go see her�� there was a long pause, �How about this. We�ll book you a flight for a week, with Amber, at a hotel.�
�Really?� he asked. �A week?�
�Sure. Why not? Someone here is telling me that you should.�
JC sat there thinking about who it could be, �It�s Chelsea isn�t?�
�Yes, how�d you know?�
�Lucky guess.�
�Well, kiddo, get some sleep and I�ll call you in the morning, and we�ll get you going on the phone problem and on that flight to go see Amber.�
�Thanks Johnny. I really appreciate it.�
�No problem. Goodnight.�
�Night.�
JC hung up, looked at the phone numbers, and dialed Amber�s room phone number.
~*~*~*~
Amber was on her bed crying her eyes out. Her life was now a mess, and she just needed a best friend right now. Just then her phone rang and she picked it up.
�Elan?� she asked.
�No,� someone said puzzled.
�Josh?� she asked.
�Yes, it�s me. Whose this?� he asked again worried.
Then she started crying again, �Josh someone figured it all out. I�m trapped into my own room- and I�m scared.�
�Whoa� Amber? It�s going to be okay.�
�It�s not Josh. Everyone here knows that I�m dating you. They�re saying that I�m engaged to you, which is hard telling them that I�m not. Douglas is mad at me because I can�t get to practice to the musical, and when I do, all these girls are there waiting for me to get done so that they can ask me questions about you, me, US, the guys. I have guards at the door now. NO ONE can bother me BUT Elan��
�What? Who is it?�
�I don�t know, I just know these girls at this table were talking about you guys, and I over heard about the party at Lance�s and they heard about a girl that you�re dating is named Amber and she goes to this school, then the next day, it�s all over the campus.� She paused, �You know, how hard it is to get to class and be guarded by these two guards that you don�t know, taking you to class and stuff.� She slowed down reached over and blew her nose.
�Amber, baby, I love you, I still do. I wish that those girls never figured anything out. I�m glad that you�re safe and sound right now. I got your message and I was worried. When Elan told me after she left me the numbers� I�m sorry.�
�Did you even see on the websites?� she asked looking at her computer that was still on getting emails and seeing her and his picture up from the Grammy�s on a website
�What?�
�We are on there. Our picture from last year and the girls made it big on our campus web pages. It�s on ALL of the *NSYNC boards and sites too.�
JC sighed. �I�ll call and let Johnny know. Are you going to be okay tonight?�
�Yeah. I�m waiting for Elan to call me.�
�Okay. I�ll call you tomorrow. Okay?� he asked.
�Okay,� she said with a sniffle.
�I love you Amber.�
�I love you too Josh.�
�Night sweetheart.�
�Night.�
~*~*~*~
JC waited to hear a click, and sighed. He just wish that he could be there holding her right now, letting her know that everything was going to be okay. But then, everything wasn�t going to be okay. Not anymore.
chapter 4