"Oh my God! Justine that was great! You were awesome, I see that I'm finally rubbing off on you." Brittany exclaimed, coming from the house.

"Thanks. Is she still here or did she go?" Justine said still upset.

"Oh she left right away. Did you see the look on her face when you said that? It was classic!" Britt told her.

"Did J go with her?" Justine said hoping he was still there.

"No. Is something wrong?" Brittany said to her noticing her tears.

"Umm. well. I feel bad for saying that to Britney." Justine said trying to hide the truth.

"Yeah right. You'll tell me later right?" Brittany said smiling at her 18 year old friend.

"You guessed it." Justine said as she got up and hugged JC.

"Thanks for listening." She told him.

"Anytime little J." JC told her as the three walked back to the house. As they neared the backdoor, Justine, a little frightened, grabbed JC's hand.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he's not mad at you."

"Did he look pissed off Britt?" Justine asked.

"Umm. not really. I think more surprised." Britt told her trying to make her calm down. As they walked into the living room everyone was spread out on the couches. Justine went and sat down by Lance and Chris. JC went and sat on the floor and Brittany sat next to him. They were all watching a movie and Justine kept fidgeting.

"Just go talk to him. He's out in front shooting hoops." Lance whispered in her ear.

"I don't want to go talk to him." Justine said.

"Yeah you do. I can tell." Lance said back.

"But I'm scared and I don't know what to say." Justine said.

"Here I'll make it easy." Chris said as he picked her up and carried her outside.

"Chris, put me down. I swear, if you don't put me down I'm going to..to." Justine told him.

"To what? That's right nothing. Now quit talking during movies and just talk to him." He told her as he put her down and closed the front door in her face. Her hand quickly grabbed the door handle but she was to late, he had already locked it.

"Chris, let me in! Its cold out here!" Justine said pounding on the door. Justine turned around and noticed a very sweaty Justin shooting free throws. She had to admit he did look mighty fine, or as Brittany would say, "orgasmic". She slowly walked up to him.

"Justin?" she asked quietly.

"Huh?" he said not looking at her. His voice was not cold and he didn't sound mad but that didn't mean she still wasn't afraid of him.

"Uh. do you have a..a.. key to the house?" Justine asked, trying to get back inside the house where people could see her and keep her safe.

"E, I'm not mad at you. You don't have to be scared." Justin told her.

"I'm not scared, just frightened." Justine said trying to avoid his eyes. "I'm sorry of what I said earlier." Justine said trying sound like she meant it.

"Jus, I know it's been hard getting used to Britney being my girlfriend." Justin said to her as he led her over to his car and sat her on the hood. "All I want you to do is apologize to Britney."

"Apologize?" Justine asked.

"She was mad and doesn't understand why you all dislike her so much. But I told her ya'll were probably just having a bad day." Justin said to her.

"Yeah. That's it. I'll try to be better next time I see her." Justine said to him as she looked at the stars. She didn't know how to tell him how she was feeling. She could feel tears coming to her eyes and quickly got off the car to go over and shoot hoops.

"What's the matter, E?" Justin asked as he grabbed her hand and turned her around. The feel of his hand in hers felt so right but he was taken and seemed so happy. She would do anything to keep him this happy even if it was to hide her feelings for him.

"Nothing. I'm just cold and I want to go inside." She said looking away from him.

"I don't believe you." He said as he pulled on her chin so she would look into his eyes. Her eyes slowly looked at his and her lips seemed to be moving towards his. It was like she couldn't stop them. They slowly brushed against his and she felt him tense up. She quickly pulled away and ran to go inside. When she got to the door she remembered it was locked and ran to the back. She should have known it. They locked that one too. She knew she shouldn't but she ran down and went into the boat that was parked on the lake. As she laid down on the inside she broke down in tears. She cried to herself until she was quietly asleep.

~Meanwhile back with Justin~

He stood there in shock. Justine never acted this way. First she was quiet in the car and then she blew up at Britney and then this. He knew that she never usually was this obvious with her feelings. He was so confused and he had to know what was wrong with her. He knew she ran to the back but he didn't know where. He didn't think she would have gone into the forests surrounding the place because he knew that she was afraid of them at night. He thought about the back door but remembered the guys had locked it. He thought of any other place that she would have gone. He didn't think it was likely but he decided to check the boat. As he peered over the edge he saw her sleeping form. He got in and laid down next to her. She turned in his arms and snuggled close to his chest.

"I'm sorry, Justin." She said into his shirt.

"Its OK. Just go to sleep." He said as he kissed her forehead. He tried to think of what was going on in her mind but he was too tired to think and soon fell asleep.

~In the morning~

Justine woke up to a warm body next to her. She had no clue where she was or how she got there. As she went to get up, her hand whacked something hard.

"Ow! God, E, could you be any more violent in the morning?" Justin asked rubbing his head.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Justine told him.

"Wow. That's a record two sorry's in less then 24 hours." Justin said amazed.

"What are you talking... oh I see." Justine said as her face turned red. "I'm so sorry about last night. My emotions got the best of me."

"You don't need to apologize. I know that it was nothing and it was a one time thing." Justin told her. "Now lets go get some cereal." Justine followed Justin into the house thinking about what he had said about the kiss. He was wrong to her, it was nothing but right. But once again she had to put on a happy face for him. As they walked into the house they found the remaining 4/5's of NSYNC watching cartoons, Kristin was eating, and Brittany was busy on the computer. As Justin went to get some cereal, Justine walked by the table, where Kristin was sitting, and found a note for Justin. She quickly grabbed it and stuffed it in her pocket.

"I'm going to take a shower." Justine said quickly.

"OK." Justin and Kristin replied at the same time. As she headed towards Lance's room she took the note out of her pocket. She couldn't believe that she was doing this. As she opened the letter she immediately knew the handwriting.

Justin~

As she was staring at the letter the door opened. "I'm so sorry Lance. Its just that." Justine said to the figure in the door way. "Oh hey Britt. I almost thought that I got caught."

"Caught? Sounds juicy. Spill now." Brittany said to her.

"OK where do I start?" Justine said.

"At the beginning. Now stop stalling." Britt said as she put Lance's clothes on his chair.

"OK, hold on a sec." Justine said running by her. "M-Sippi boy! Britt and me are using your room, you dare come interrupt and say good- bye to any secrets I know about you. That includes any of the other monsters down there too!" Justine yelled as she walked back into his room. "OK here it goes. I hate Britney."

"Well I figure that much." Britt said to her.

"And...and...I think...I'm falling in love with Justin." Justine said as she covered her face with her hands. "I kissed him last night and it meant everything to me and nothing to him. And now I found this letter from Britney about wanting to 'discuss' things about this afternoon. What she is really saying is lets get Justine out of the picture." She continued.

"Well there's only one thing to do. We have to bring the Bitch down. But please if you ever marry Justin and have kids, I'm never doing their hair. Yours and his is bad enough. If only he would shave the fro." Brittany said hopefully.

"Well what should we do?" Justine asked.

"Well we could make up a reason that I have to come along with him to the deli. That way I can make sure that she doesn't do anything that could hurt him or you." Brittany said thinking.

"J will never go for that. If he wants to be alone, then he'll find a way. You know how good he is at sneaking around security." Justine told her.

"Well do you have any ideas?" Britt asked her.

"Well what if we just didn't tell him about the note." Justine said.

"That could work but Britney would probably come over if he never showed up." Britt told her.

"I'm not so sure she would come over." Justine said.

"Jus, we're talking about Britney. She ALWAYS comes over."

"True. But we have to get her before Justin sees her." Justine told her.

"Well, we should booby-trap the house. It would be so much fun. But we have to make sure that our plan doesn't go off on some innocent person." Britt said.

"We have to hook something on the door and cover her with feathers. That alone would make my day!" Justine said getting excited.

"We should put wallpaper paste in a bucket and have it fall on her. The feathers would stick to her then." Britt told her.

"Should we stop there?" Justine questioned.

"Yeah, and have her freak out! I would pay money to see Justin's face when he sees that his silicon toy looks like a bird!" Britt said laughing to herself. There was a soft knock on the door.

"Come in." Justine yelled.

"The guys have lunch downstairs and told me to come get you." Kris told them.

"OK. Thanks babe." Justine said as she ran out the door past her friends. "Did I ever tell you how much better days go when your in love?"

"What is she talking about?" Kris asked Britt.

"Think. I know its hard, but try. Does Justin help you out?" Britt asked her friend.

"Does he know?" Kris said shocked.

"No. He's a man, they don't know anything."

"You're right," Kris said. As they walked towards the kitchen, they heard a scream.

+Chapter Three+

+Chapter Directory+

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