Chapter one::
Jenna O’Connor emerged from her best friend’s walk in closet, wearing a denim miniskirt. “Hey, Beck? Can I borrow this?”

Becky Carter lowered her eye-lining pencil. “You’re supposed to be getting ready, and you’re in there trying on my clothes?” She laughed.
Jenna shrugged, “It’s a cute skirt.”
”They’re going to be here soon.” Becky adjusted her long blonde hair. She exhaled slowly. “Well, I think I’m ready… You?”
Jenna glanced in the full-length mirror. “I think so.” She followed Becky down the stairs to the main floor of her house.
Becky flopped onto the sofa. “So what now? The waiting game?”
Jenna sighed. “What do you want to do?”
Becky clicked on the television and switched channels to Much Music. “I don’t know. There’s really nothing to do, is there?”
”You’re right. Not in this shit hole anyway.” Jenna lifted a magazine and flipped through it. Finally, she put aside the magazine and crossed the room to the large front window. She moved aside the curtain and peered out into the unusually empty street. There wasn’t a single car or person passing. It was as if the outside world was frozen in anticipation.
”Any sign of them?”

“No. But I guess a watched clock never ticks, right?”
”I guess.” Becky shrugged, fidgeting with her hair once again.
Jenna stood waiting impatiently at the window. She suddenly laughed. “Remember when we used to climb up that willow tree out front and write them letters?”
Becky laughed. “Yeah. We wrote them a different letter every day of the week. It took us hours and we never said anything intelligent, other than that we loved them.”
Jenna stood thoughtfully remembering. They had been friends for a very long time. As long as she could remember, anyway.
”What do you think they’re like?” Becky asked suddenly, not looking up from the TV.
”Who?” Jenna asked obliviously. A stray cat ran across the road feet from Becky’s driveway. Other than that, the world outside seemed dead, the limbs of the trees barely lifting in the absent wind.
”Them. You know? We’ve been into the band for so long, what if they’re not who we think they are? What if they turn out to be major assholes who are completely not who they seem to be?”
Jenna drew in a deep breath. “I guess… I guess we’ll just have to take that chance. And if they are complete assholes, then this was still the chance of a lifetime. And the music doesn’t change. Musically, they’ll still be the same.” Jenna let the curtain fall back into place and sat down next to Becky on the sofa. “Come on, I’ll paint your nails for you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isaac, Taylor and Zac drove along a deserted street in a small town. Amongst the rundown houses and twisted trees, there was the odd large home. They were in the middle of nowhere in a sparse little town in northern Ontario, Canada.
“It shouldn’t be too much further, right guys? I mean, we followed the directions…” Zac said from the backseat, looking up from his magazine.
“Yeah,” Isaac said from the passenger’s seat in the front, “We’re just looking for the house number now, turn left here.”
Taylor nodded and hesitated at a stop sign before turning the car.
“Nice stop. I think that was more of a yield.”
“Whatever, my driving is fine.” Taylor retorted.
“30, 33, 36, 39…” Zac counted off the numbers on the houses as they passed outside his window.
“Your driving is terrible.” Isaac mumbled, “Dammit, Zac! Stop! Please, that’s really annoying.”
Zac stopped reading out house numbers. “Whatever. You’re just in a pissy mood lately. Why?”
“No Reason.” He replied, then quickly said, “I’m not in a pissy mood.”
“Yeah, you are.” Taylor agreed.
“It’s nothing, okay? I’m just frustrated about my relationship status.”
“What status?”
“Exactly.” He sighed. “I don’t know.”
“You’ve gone from one steady girlfriend to the next. Why don’t you take a break?”
Isaac nodded. “Believe me, after the last girlfriend, I’m definitely swearing off women for a while.”
“Uh, guys?” Zac spoke up from the backseat. “What house number are we looking for?”
Isaac checked the directions he had scribbled on a scrap piece of paper. “Uhh… 48.”
“We just passed it. It’s the house back there with the big willow tree.”
“Oh, shit.” Taylor swore, looking for a place to turn.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The doorbell rang suddenly, erupting through the house like a church bell ricocheting off the empty halls.  
"It’s them!" Becky jumped up, being careful not to smudge a toenail. She padded down the hall with Jenna close behind her. She ran down to the front landing and paused before opening the door. “Ready?”
“I guess,” Jenna smoothed her hair down and sat on the top step.
Becky nodded excitedly pulling open the door. “Hi!”
"Sorry, we're late. We're not very punctual..." Taylor said.
"I think it's your driving," Ike muttered.
"Hey, I drive fine. Maybe you should just lay off because-"
"Hey, shut up because I swear I'll-"
"Both of you knock it off and get inside, it's cold in Canada." Zac ordered.
They both exchanged expressions of embarrassment and followed Zac inside.
"Whoa, what happened in here?!" Taylor asked, finding a seat on the sofa.
Videos and CDs were strewn across the coffee table in an unorganized manner.
"We were bored, you were late. We were trying to kill time. Want us to paint your toe nails pink?" Becky asked holding up a bottle of the brightest shade of pink she owned.
"Umm... no. What do you have planned?"
“Well, we thought since it’s your first time here in our little hick town in the middle of nowhere, we would go to a club. There’s a place that we usually hang out at when there’s nothing else to do.” Jenna began.
“It’s not that exciting, but the music is alright and it’s better than nothing.” Becky finished. “Do you feel up to it?”
“Yeah, sounds okay.” Isaac nodded.
“I’ll go.” Taylor added.  
"I'm tired." Zac stated.
"Well, if you want to stay here, I can stay.” Becky compromised. “You guys can go.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zac had fallen asleep on the sofa without realizing it. When he woke several hours later and opened his eyes, he peered around a dark living room.

He sighed heavily.

He appeared to be entirely alone in the house. He had been tired, but didn’t think he would fall asleep with the television on.
Zac stood and wondered where he was supposed to sleep for the night.
"Like I'd be able to find it in this place..." he mumbled under his breath.
Zac wandered around until he found the stairs leading to the second floor. At the top of the stairs he found a long hallway, lined on either side with a bunch of rooms. He peeked into the first room on the left, which appeared to be a girl’s bedroom. The walls were painted a bright blue, but the room was filled with stuffed animals and a hand drawn picture of himself and his brothers hung next to the canopy bed.
"Looking for something?" a voice asked from behind him.
He spun around to find one of the girls he had just met, he wasn't quite sure which. "Uh, yeah. The room I'm staying in...."
"Well, that's my room in there, yours is over here." She led him to the end of the hallway and opened the door.
"Thanks," He tossed his backpack onto one of the two beds.
"Do you think you'll be comfortable in here? Because there are plenty of extra rooms-"
"This is fine." He said immediately.
"Do you plan on doing anything other than sleeping while you were here?"
"I don’t know."
"Well, maybe, I can show you around. There’s not much to see, but it beats sitting here all day long"
He shrugged "Sure, why not?"
He stood and followed her. "You have a pretty big house."
"It’s ok, I guess." She led him out to the patio.
"Hey! You can see the stars! You can never see the stars in the city!" He stood leaning on the railing staring up at the sky for a few minutes. Becky sat down in a patio chair.
He slapped the back of his neck suddenly.
"We also have bugs, you don't… in the city, I mean." She smiled.
"That sucks." He slapped his arm. "God, these things are annoying!"
"You'll get used to it."
"I don't think so..."
"You will." She pulled her legs up onto the chair and hugged them tightly.
Zac sat beside her, "Cold?"
"A little. But I'm fine. This is nothing compared to the cold spells we get way up here."
"Maybe we should go inside, these bugs are really pissing me off."
"Sure," They stood and walked inside.

"You're pretty quiet. Are you excited about touring?"
"Of course I am. This isn’t an opportunity that comes up everyday."
"Hey, I don't mean to sound rude, But which girl are you?"
"Becky." She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear.
He nodded. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No."
"Girlfriend?"
She burst out laughing, "No."
"I got you laughing." He teased.
"With stupidity.” She playfully pushed him, “But you're a funny guy."

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