Chapter One

Best Week Ever - Chapter 1
Monday

Britney sat in 6th period - Food Preparation, while Ms. Anderson babbled on about some gourmet dish she once prepared for her husband.

Britney was taking the class with her cousin, Laura Lynn, because they knew it would be an easy �A� and boost their GPA, something they both needed during their Junior year of high school.

Britney was busy doodling circles in her notebook when Laura Lynn tapped her on her shoulder from the desk behind her and pointed to the new student who just walked in. Britney looked up and her stomach flip-flopped when she saw who was standing there in baby blue basketball shorts and a matching T-shirt.

She�d seen Justin around and always thought he was cute. She�d had a little crush on him since junior high when they had a few classes together in the 7th grade, it never developed into anything because they never got to know each other.

Britney�s heart sank a little just watching him wait as the teacher looked over his note. There isn�t one girl on the planet that wouldn�t jump at the chance to go out with him, so why would he even look twice when it came to Britney? He probably didn�t even know her name, or worse, he did, and he�d heard every nasty rumor that came along with it.

Justin and Britney attended Cooper Grove Academy, the most prestigious prep school in Memphis, Tennessee. CG Academy had a student body estimating around 20 hundred, but the school was in no way over crowded. The campus was huge, it resembled a ritzy country club more than a school.

The school�s courses were very demanding, but was extremely geared towards team sports. Almost every team at CG excelled throughout the state in their sport, except for maybe the football team.

Its population consisted largely of preppy white teens born into luxury and wealth. These kids got to do whatever they want, and that included wearing whatever they want, at one point there were uniforms but they were eventually expelled of when a mob of outraged mothers complained that their daughters were being restricted from flaunting their designer clothes and newly lipoed bodies.

Britney and Justin ran in different crowds and had different friends. He was fairly popular, he made homecoming court and he was captain of the boy�s varsity basketball team.

She hung out with her own group of friends, they were also high up on the popular scale but not quite CG royalty like Justin. Her social circle contained several cheerleaders, but not the airhead brain dead ones, including her cousin Laura Lynn. And some girls on the basketball team and in the drama club, both which she was a part of.

After many inner debates Britney finally decided to quit the cheer squad and try out for the girls basketball team. Surprisingly she made varsity. Britney was certainly not the best player on the team, she knew that, but she always loved the sport. It was fun, she made new friends and gained more respect around campus.

She was getting tired of being oogled by the football team during every practice and game, it seemed as if most guys she encountered had one track minds and couldn�t break eye contact with her breasts to even pretend to listen to what she was saying. This problem heightened after she dated Reg Jones, starting tight end on the football team.

He hurt her enough to make her swear off boys completely. He was that guy, that guy all your friends hated, that guy you were ashamed to bring home to mom, that guy your brother wanted to kick the crap out of. That guy you stayed with anyway because you thought you saw something no one else could.

Reg was, to sum it up with one word, an asshole. He teased her in front of his friends, he made tasteless jokes and rude sex comments constantly.

She would shrug off his words and appalling behavior in public, she would remind herself that he was nice to her when they were alone. That�s what mattered right? Of coarse, the only thing they did when they were alone was either make out and grope, he being the one doing the groping, or watch football on TV.

After about 3 weeks of �dating�, even though he never actually took her out on dates, it finally came to an end when Britney put her foot down. They were at one of Reg�s teammates� houses.

Reg had asked her to come over so she did. He was there with about 6 of his friends, and two other girls that Britney didn�t know. The girls were flirting around while the guys degraded them and felt them up.

Britney walked in and Reg ignored her for the first ten minutes while she stood in the corner of the living room waiting for him to finish his primitive conversation with his buddies and the beer in this hand. Eventually he made his way over to her.

He asked her to go upstairs with him and she did. Anything was better then standing there watching those sluts parade around for a bunch of horny teenage football players. He jogged up the stairs, smirking at his buddies on the way up, as Britney followed behind him. He took her to an empty bedroom and they proceeded to make out.

One thing led to another and he ended up on top of a shirtless, skirtless Britney. He began to paw at her panties but she stopped him before he could go any further. She moved her face away from his and protested but he didn�t listen. He continued sliding her panties down her thighs and eagerly attacking her breasts with his other hand. She knew that it was wrong. The place was wrong, the time was wrong, he was wrong, they were wrong.

She had always vowed to wait until she was married to have sex, and she wanted it to be special, with someone she loved. But Reg wasn�t special, and she didn�t love him. When he continued his advances, ignoring her objections, she lifted her leg and kneed him in the stomach, kicking him off her, and the bed.

She sat up, her heart was racing as she grabbed her clothes to cover herself up. He stood up from the floor and started yelling profanities, calling her names, bitch, whore, slut, tease. Unfortunately she carried those names with her for a little while after that. He told her if she wasn�t going to fuck then she should get the fuck out. She pleaded with him to not be angry but he couldn�t understand her through her sobs anyway. She quickly dressed and left the room.

With her hair tousled and her lipstick smeared, she came bounding down the steps in tears. All of Reg�s buddies turned to her, watching her as if she were exactly all of those things Reg had just called her. They laughed and mumbled to each other under their breath.

Reg and his friends told everyone they knew what a slut she was and how she gave it up to him so easily. The entire school knew how Reg Jones had nailed Britney Spears. This rumor spread and twisted in the mouths of every person it reached. Now not only had she slept with Reg, she had also managed to do the entire varsity football team, none of them denied it of coarse.

Eventually the rumor faded away, as all rumors eventually do, but she still gets harassed by the football team. She doesn�t get much slack from anyone else about it, anyone who ever came in contact with Britney were quick to learn how sweet she was, it was quite difficult not to like her.

Britney was beautiful, she didn�t know it but everyone else seemed to. She wore the same things as all her friends did, but she seemed to get more dirty stares in the hallway then they did.

�

Ms. Anderson took the green slip from Justin�s hand and directed him toward an empty seat two rows behind and one to the right of Britney.

He smiled at Joey, a senior buddy of his on the basketball team with him, and took the specified seat next to him.

�Dude what�re you doing here?� Joey whispered to Justin, curious as to why his good friend would join the class during mid November, already a 2 months and a half into the school year.

�Dropped Spanish.� Justin leaned over and mumbled, still looking ahead. �Turns out, Mi espanol no es muy buena��

Joey chuckled.

�Okay, so today we are going to get started on our first group project. This is big, it�s worth 20 percent of your grade so I expect you all to take this very seriously.� Ms. Anderson announced and the class groaned.

Justin turned in his seat and gave Joey a stupefied look. Great. The exact day he joined the class was the day they start on a big project. This was cooking class, it was suppose to be a breeze.

�You�re all going to get into groups of four, and I want an equal number of ladies and fellas in each. Then your going to be assigned a specific place for which you will need to prepare a cultural meal for the class. When I say �meal� I mean a main coarse with all the trimmings, at least 3 side dishes, beverage, and either appetizers or desert. You will need to include your own recipe with easy, but detailed, step by step directions. Also each member of the group needs to include a two page, typed, report on the history and significance of the meal. Just background information and how it is a part of the culture of your assigned location. Anyone have any questions?� Ms. Anderson looked around the room for raised hands.

�Um. Ms A? Are we going to get class time to work on it?� Someone asked.

�You will get a chance to do a little research today and you will be able to prepare in class for the rest of the week, but if you need extra time or specific parts of the meal need extra attention you�ll have to do that on your own time at home. By the way, the final project will be due this Friday.�

The class groaned once more.

�So if there are no more questions, everyone needs to get into groups of four, with two boys and two girls in each. Then I will assign you a place.�

The class began to talk as they bustled around forming groups.

�Wanna be in his group?� Laura Lynn whispered to Britney with a mischievous grin, quite aware of her cousin�s crush. Britney instantly knew who she was referring to and turned around in her chair to face Laura Lynn.

Britney bit her bottom lip, and quickly glanced at Justin then back to her cousin.

This was a perfect opportunity to get to know Justin. But what about all of those rumors about how Justin�s a player, he�s probably scored off the court as much as he has on. She didn�t need someone like that in her life. But what if those were just rumors, she shouldn�t believe them, besides, she�d had her fair share of false rumors spread.

Before Britney had a chance to answer Laura Lynn turned around to Joey, who sat right behind her.

Joey and Justin were involved in their own conversation, oblivious to the forming of groups that was occurring around them.

�Hey Joe, you guys wanna join our group?� Laura Lynn glanced from Joey to Justin.

Joey raised his eyebrows at Justin questioningly, who nodded yes.

�Sure.� Joey smiled.

�I have to warn you I�m probably not the most refined chef in the class�� Justin warned, half serious.

�It�s okay� Britney can�t even make toast.� Laura Lynn said.

Britney blushed when Justin looked at her and smiled that adorable crooked smile of his that she had previously only admired from afar.

�Okay, once you have your group send someone up here to write down all your names and I�ll assign you your place�� Ms. A announced over the noise of the class.

�I�ll go.� Justin volunteered as he started to stand up.

�No.� Laura Lynn said quickly. �You stay here.� She smirked at Britney who stared at the floor shyly. Laura Lynn got up and walked to the front of the class. Joey turned back around in his seat to fish something out of his backpack.

A few moments of silence passed before Justin decided to speak up.

�Hey Britney� Congrats on making the basketball team, who knew we had an all star player tucked away on the cheer squad.� He smiled at Britney. Britney�s heart skipped about ten beats. She was sure he could tell how surprised she was by the way his smile broadened when she looked at him.

�Thanks, but I�m not exactly an all star.� She smiled back and shook her head.

�You will be.� He said confidently.

�You�re sweet�� She said softly as he stared intently at her. She blushed when they locked eyes.

His heart quickly found its way up to his throat. This had never happened before. His palms started to sweat a little and he grew very nervous. He couldn�t help but notice that she was very pretty, the kind of pretty that gave you butterflies.

Meanwhile, Joey was casually watching Justin�s odd behavior out of the corner of his eye.

Laura Lynn walked back over and took her seat between Justin and Britney, forcing them to peel their eyes away from each other, giving their attention to her.

�Alrighty, y�all. We�ve got�� She paused dramatically before half singing the word, �Ha-waiiii!�

�Nice!� Joey said.

�Very cool.� Britney added as Justin nodded his head in approval.

�Now we need to find a traditional Hawaiian dish.� Laura Lynn said and paused as she looked at Britney while she formulated a plan in her mind. �Okay, so Joey and I will look in Ms. A�s cookbooks and you two can search the net.� Laura Lynn winked at Britney with a smug expression.

Britney could have almost died. What if Justin had seen?

Lucky for her Justin was too busy noticing Britney to notice Laura Lynn�s obviousness.

�Cool.� Justin said when he finally processed Laura Lynn�s words.

Britney smiled cordially at Justin as he waited for her to stand up to follow her to a computer table on the side of the room.

Britney sat down in front of a lime green apple computer and Justin took a seat next to her, scooting the chair closer to hers. She pulled up Google and began the search.

�Maybe search for� luau?� He said watching the screen.

�Kay.� She typed it in. They surfed the web and found several helpful sites. Britney had just started reading about �pupus� appetizers when out of the corner of her eye she caught Justin watching her. She turned to him and his face instantly grew red as he looked back to the computer screen quickly. She focused her attention back on the screen as well and smiled to herself.

They searched the web for about ten more minutes and printed out several recipes that looked promising. They chatted idly about the recipes and laughed as they tried to pronounce Hawaiian words. They stumbled across a Hawaiian name translation page, where it gave Hawaiian translations of American names. Justin leant in close to reach the keyboard and typed her name into the database before she could close out the window.

�What are you doing?� She giggled as she watched him type slowly.

�Nothing,� He paused as he read the translation of her name from the site, �Pal-I-inky�� He sounded out the foreign word and she stared to laugh.

�It�s Palikenei.� She rolled her eyes and nudged him playfully.

�Same difference�� He chuckled.

�Well let�s see what yours is.� Britney said and started to type in his name.

�Luke-eye-kinky?� Justin sounded it out slowly.

�No Lukekini, like bikini.� She started giggling and leant into him, bumping his shoulder with hers. He furrowed his eyebrows at the screen. �Aw that�s cute.�

�Ha-ha.� Justin said sarcastically and but couldn�t hide his bright smile.

�Okay. Can everyone put the cookbooks back and turn off the computers. The bell is going to ring in a few minutes or so.� Ms. Anderson announced over the loud chattering of the class.

The students cleaned up and returned to their seats to collect their things. The bell rang and they filed out of the class into the hallway.

�So what was going on between you and a certain ex-cheerleader in there�� Joey said and playfully nudged Justin in the ribs a few times. Justin tilted his head to the side trying to hide his smile.

�Nothing�� Justin lied and continued to smile just thinking about her. In fact there was something. He felt something when he talked to her, when he looked at her, there was something about her that wasn�t like any other girl he had met. Something that made him want to make her smile, because he found it made him smile. Something about her that intrigued him, that made his heart flutter.

Justin had always noticed Britney, she�d always stood out to him. He didn�t know her that well but she always made him smile, when he saw her in the hall, or when he watched her games, or when he caught one of her performances in a school play. She was really smart, he knew that, she was on the honor roll. She was also really sweet. She was always nice to everyone despite all the crap she got from horny jocks. She had guys chasing her constantly, usually his acquaintances on the football team. He knew she was way out of his league, besides she had never shown any interest in him. Most of the girls Justin had dated in the past were way more into him then he was into them.

They were more interested in dating �Justin Timberlake�, captain of the football team, Mr. Popular, without even taking the time to get to know him. Those relationships ultimately fell apart after a few months at most, he grew tired of being their trophy boyfriends and sick of having a stronger physical then mental connection with them.

Most guys around campus either idolized Justin for getting so much �play� or completely resented him for it. Truth was, Justin wasn�t a player at all, he�d had a number of girlfriends, but he�d only slept with one, and she wasn�t a girlfriend, she was a one-night stand.

It was sophomore year, her name was Pam Macey. Justin was on the varsity team that year also, he wasn�t captain then, but he was definitely a heartthrob. Pam was a senior, she was known to get around. She always got what she wanted because no guy could ever resist her.

Including Justin, they were at a wild senior party one night and Pam brought him to some random bedroom. She made advances and he didn�t object. It was awkward, and unemotional, and fast. When Justin tried to talk to her at school the following week, she�d flirt with him a little, along with the rest of the entire male population, but she pretended as if it never happened.

Justin wished he could do the same. He immediately regretted sleeping with her, he knew his first time should have been special, with someone special, with someone he loved. From that point on Justin swore he wasn�t going to sleep with a girl just to sleep with her. He would wait until he fell in love, and he�d make sure the moment was perfect and the girl was perfect.

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