AN: In which Kei gets off her lazy butt and updates and Perry blows a fuse. ************************ Nightmare of a Lifetime: Chapter Three ******************** It was Monday morning and Nicole was on time for once. Or she was until the shrill ring of her cell phone made her pause in the lobby of WEG to answer it. "Hello?" Nicole winced as the voice on the other end began to rant and scream. She glanced back at the now ever present camera man and sighed, wishing she dared to turn the mike she wore off. She didn't, no matter how tempting it was... "Frankie... No Frankie... I didn't know until last week. Oh come on Frank. It's not like that... No. No! I wanted this? Shit, you think I want to miss my coverage of Ozz Fest?! You can't boycott MTV sweetie, it doesn't work that way. What do you mean Ozzy did? "You're shitting me right Frankie? That's insane! He's MTV God Frank he's not serious. Oh come on. You guys are making demands? You're going to destroy your careers. I'M blowing things out of proportion?! Frankie, Frankfurt... Frank LISTEN to me... Of course I'm pissed, you're not letting me get a word in edgewise. Honey its JUST three months. "No I'm NOT sleeping with any of them! Why? Maybe because they're like twelve. I don't want to know how you know how old Chris Kirkpatrick is Frank, I really don't. Will you calm down? "Frankfurt, I'll call your mother. No, I'm not making you any promises. Why? Cause you sleep with anything in a skirt during tour when I'm not around. Oh it is so the same thing. We're not exclusive, that means I can get laid if I want to. "Screw you too Frankie. Tell Ozzy to CALL me. Yes I still love you. Give kisses and kicks to everyone. No I'm NOT getting a tattoo with our names on it. Yes, I'll do that... a long walk off a short pier. Frank, I'm LATE to a meeting. "I'm not having this conversation any longer. Frankfurt. Fine. Bye." "Who was it?" Nicole sighed and looked at Bill, her camera man and new 'best friend'. "Frankfurt McAllen." "From Fermented Pain?" The second sigh turned to a groan. "Yes from Fermented Pain. Not that its your or the camera's damn business but we date casually and he's less than thrilled with my new job. I'll explain in great and gory detail LATER but now, thanks to a grown man's jealous hysterics, we're late for our grand entrance and introduction. Now let's haul ass..." ********************************************************************************* Six men looked up as Nicole burst through the door of the conference room, camera man in tow. Five of the six winced and Johnny had a slight smile on his lips. She sighed as she felt her shoulders slump. "Great first impression huh?" she asked sarcastically. The curly headed one she thought was Justin snickered. Johnny rose and held the chair next to him out. "Its fine Ms. Perry..." Nicole shook her head firmly. "No its not Johnny and please, call me Perry, everyone else does. A close friend called in a relative panic and I would have gotten my ass kicked for hanging up, no matter how much I wanted to. And I was so hoping to hold together a professional act for at least a couple of minutes." She took the proffered seat with a weak smile as Johnny returned to his, a serious look on his face. "Actually relative panic sort of describes the state of MTV at the moment... I received a phone call myself before you all arrived..." Nicole had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Ozzy didn't, did he?" Johnny looked at her in surprise and she sighed, screwing her eyes shut. "Is he NUTS? I can't believe Aunt Sharon let him do that..." Lance sat up and watched the younger woman mumble. "Johnny, what's going on?" Johnny winced and carefully looked around the table at his guys, his friends. They were all staring at him intently, breaking their stares only long enough to glance at the strangers in their midst. "What's going on," he replied slowly, "is that Ozz Fest has banned all MTV crew, cameras, reporters, everything in protest." "Protest of WHAT?" JC demanded, curious to see what the connection between Ozz Fest and them was. Johnny glanced at Nicole who was slumped in her chair, obviously ignoring everything that was going on around her. "In protest of Ms. Perry being taken off coverage of their tour in favor of ours." "WHAT?!" Was the incredulous response from the five men. There was a tap on the open door and Johnny looked up to find his personal secretary. "There's a call waiting on line three Mr. Wright," Beverly said politely when she saw that she had his attention. "A Mr. Larson from MTV." The collected members of *NSYNC watched silently as Johnny reached for the phone in the middle of the conference room table and put it on speaker. "This is Johnny Wright Mr. Larson. I have the guys and Ms. Perry here on speaker. What can I do for you?" "Perry I want to know what you said to them THIS instant!" *NSYNC as a whole jumped at the deep, obviously agitated voice boomed from the phone. Nicole sat up and glared balefully at the phone. "I haven't even talked to Ozzy Malcom. I swear! I called Kell when I found out. I bitched and moaned but I didn't do anything! I had no idea until Frankie called me a few minutes ago. You think I would let those guys screw with their careers for me?" "Nicole..." "Oh come off it Malcom. You know I had no hand in this..." "But they're doing it because of you." Nicole slammed her hands on the table, startling them all. "And I can't help that, okay Malcom? I didn't even believe Frank until I hear it from Mr. Wright's lips. I thought he was just blowing off steam. You know Fermented Pain and Ozzy... You know how Sharon is too. "I never believed for an INSTANT that she would let him do something this stupid." "They care about you Nicole." "And that's a bad thing, right Malcom? That's a horrible thing, letting people love me. Having friends. Screw you Malcom. Screw MTV. I'm sorry that the only people I've ever thought of as family are trying to look out for me. I'm sorry that you guys might loose a few dollars because of their loyalty. "I didn't choose this gig Malcom. You and all those damn good for nothings in charge did it. Thought it would go over real well. I TOLD you Malcom! I told you this was a shitty idea. I told you to put someone else on this show but here I am, doing my JOB. The camera's getting every freaking moment on film too. HAPPY? "So don't you dare call me looking for a scape goat cause I'm not some damn sacrificial lamb. If someone is gonna get fired over this its not going to be me. Now if you'll excuse me I'm trying to get a meeting started with my future coworkers. When you pull your head out of your ass call me, until then don't bother." "And what do you expect MTV to do about this? Its OZZ FEST Nicole. We can't not cover it!" She laughed bitterly. "Hell if I know Malcom. Send em Carson with a bow and an apology note. I don't care, its not MY problem." "You won't even TALK to Ozzy?" Nicole snorted. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't," she replied vaguely. "Nicole..." "My name is PERRY Malcom!" and with one swift movement she hung up the phone. There was a long stretch of tension filled silence. Finally, after eternity, Nicole spoke softly. "I'm sorry you all had to witness that." She groaned. "This isn't going well is it?" "Why does Ozz Fest care if you cover them or us?" Nicole peered up at the curly headed one... Justin... and met his too blue gaze. "I've covered the tour every year for my four years working with MTV..." He sat up straighter, gaze never wavering. "Kell? AUNT Sharon?" Nicole blushed. "I hit it off with Kelly Osbourne my first year on tour. She's younger than me but we're a lot alike. We've been best friends ever since. I usually go spend time with them on tour by taking my vacation time. I... I call Sharon and Ozzy Aunt and Uncle cause we're like family. They... they're just trying to watch out for me. "I see." She sighed again as he regarded her suspiciously. "I seriously doubt that Fuzzy. I seriously doubt that. Well, on this cheery opening, on to business..." So Nicole bull shitted an entire meeting. It went well considering, really.