The next day at work Kat’s friend Courtney ran up to her asking her questions about the dance.

"I didn’t go." Kat said annoyed.

"Why not!" What happened?" Courtney asked.

"He couldn’t go." Kat answered her.

"Oh, Kat I am so sorry." Courtney said.

"Oh well, it’s not it hasn’t happened to me before. I think I have been dumped right before a dance more times than actually going to any!" Kat exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Courtney asked.

"My senior year Brad and I were supposed to go to Prom together. Well 2 days before Prom he tells me he has to go somewhere with his family so he can’t take me to Prom. That weekend, I found out he really was cheating on me. I spent my senior Prom at home while he was getting it on with some cheerleader from anther school!" Kat told her.

"Oh man Kat. Why the hell did you ever take him back?" Courtney asked.

"I was in love. BIG mistake. One I will not make again." Kat replied and walked off.

"I’m not gonna get my heart broken again. I can’t go through that again." Kat thought to herself.

"I think she is too late." Courtney said to herself as she watched Kat walk away. The rest of the day just got worse. Kat was loaded with work, couldn’t take any breaks or a lunch and worked over 12 hours. By the time she got home it was almost 12:30AM. Kat threw her stuff on the floor and fell on the couch and automatically fell asleep.

The next morning her phone awakened Kat.

"GIRL WHERE ARE YOU?" a voice yelled.

"Huh, Who is this?" Kat asked.

"This is Whitney. Remember softball practice today!" Whitney yelled.

"OH SHIT! I’ll be right there." Kat jumped up, changed into some shorts and a tee shirt, grabbed her softball bad and ran out. Softball practice was long and hurt because she was so tired and sore. She was making all kinds of mistakes and ran so many laps. After practice her coach pulled her to the side.

"Are you ok Kat? You’ve never made mistakes like you did today." She said to Kat.

"I’m sorry coach. I worked really late last night and they worked me to the bone." Kat said knowing that was no excuse.

"Well I hate to say this, but if you keep going like this your gonna lose your starting position in the spring." Her coach said and walked off.

"AGH!" Kat yelled and threw her glove down and kicked the fence. After she gathered herself she drove home. She walked into her house and noticed she had a message on her machine.

"I don’t want to deal with anyone right now." She thought to herself and walked upstairs and took a long hot bath to soothe her aching body. After she got out of her bath her muscles hurt even more. She walked over to her machine and pushed play.

"Hey Kat this is Justin. We are in California for a couple of days and would like to see you so give us a call at the Ramada Hotel Room 501. Hope to hear from you soon."

Kat sighed at the sound of his voice.

"If that voice can’t make a girl melt, I don’t know what can." Kat said out loud. She decided to give them a call. After she got connected to the room no one answered so Kat called the front desk and left a message.

After she hung up Kat plopped back down on her couch and flipped on her radio. Music could always clam her, hence the reason she was majoring in it. Next thing she knew, she had fallen asleep, and then was awaken by her phone.

"Hello" she answered still half asleep.

"YOUR HOME!" Justin yelled.

"Yea, and have been for the past couple of hours." Kat replied.

"Well Ms. Sleepy Head, would you like to come and visit your favorite band?" Justin asked.

"You mean the Backstreet Boys are in town?" Kat answered sarcastically.

"Oh you did not just say that girl." Justin said hurt.

"I’m just kidding. I’ll be over in a couple of minutes." Kat said still extremely tired.

"Ok." Justin said and hung up.

"I just hope I can make it there without falling asleep." Kat said out loud. She walked by her mirror and looked at herself, there was no use trying to make herself look better, nothing was going to work so she pulled back her hair and straightened out her clothes. She walked into the lobby and saw a group of girls asking all the bellhops if they knew what room *NSYNC was in. Kat had to laugh and walked right past them up to Justin’s room. She had barely knocked on the door when it flung open and someone quickly pulled her into the room.

"Oh man, I thought you were room service. Oh well you will do." Justin said kiddenly.

"You know there is a huge group of girls downstairs looking for you guys and I wouldn’t think twice about telling them where you are." Kat stabbed right back.

"Oh please don’t." Justin pleaded as he fell to his knees.

"Ok, I won’t." Kat said.

"YES!" Justin jumped up.

"Not yet at least." Kat finished with a smile and giggled as she watched Justin’s fall.

"So where are your partners in crime?" Kat asked.

"Oh yea, I was supposed to call them when you showed up." Justin remembered.

"Well how about you tell me who is in what room and I’ll go tell them myself." Kat said with a smirk.

"Ok. Joey is in 500, Lance in 502, JC in 503 and Chris in 504." Justin told her.

"Ok I will be back then." Kat said and headed for the door.

"Wait a minute." Justin said.

"Yeah." Kat said as she whirled around.

"I didn’t get a hug." Justin said with a puppy dogface.

"Oh I hate that face!" Kat said as she walked over and gave him a hug.

"It’s great to see you." Kat said.

"You have no idea." Justin said back.

Kat decided to hit Joey’s room first, but no answer so she walked over to Lance’s and no answer so she tried JC’s. She knocked on the door and heard JC’s voice say, "Who is it?"

"Room service." Kat said in a sweet voice.

"I don’t want any, but thank you." JC replied.

"But I have a treat for you." Kat shot back.

"I said no thank you." JC said.

"JC open this door right now!" Kat exclaimed. All of a sudden the door swung open. "Is that anyway to treat room service?" Kat asked.

JC just reached out and gave her a huge hug.

"Come in. Justin was supposed to call us when you got here." JC said while picking up some papers off the couch.

"Well I figured I might as well do it personally." Kat replied. "Do you know where Joey and Lance are?"

"They are probably in Chris’s room" JC said and turned around and looked at her. "Kat, are you feeling ok?" he asked as he walked towards her.

"Yeah why?" Kat answered while looking at some flowers.

"Well because you look really worn out and tired." JC said as he touched her right shoulder.

"Ouch." Kat jumped.

"And in pain!" JC added.

"I’m fine don’t worry about it. I just haven’t gotten much sleep lately that’s all, end of conversation." Kat said sternly.

"Ok." JC said not wanting to drop the subject. She really did look worn out, but not like one of those though days at work, more like one of those tough YEAR at work. "Do you want to sit down?" JC asked.

"Actually I was gonna go see Chris and how about I meet you in Justin’s room." Kat said.

"Ok." JC said and gave her another hug. "I want to say I’m sorry again about your dance…"

"Don’t worry about it. It was nothing." Kat cut him off.

"No, it’s your senior year and…"

"And nothing. It was a just a dance. I got to go. See you in a couple of minutes." Kat said and walked out.

"Then why are your acting like that?" JC asked himself.

When Kat got in front of Chris’s door she heard people wrestling. "Yup, they are in there alright."

She knocked on the door and Kat could see Joey and Chris frozen on the floor as Lance opened the door. "Hey guys." Kat said.

"Hey you!" Lance said and gave her a hug. She walked in and Chris almost tackled her.

"KAT! I’ve missed you so much." He exclaimed.

"Hi Chris." Kat said trying to breathe.

Finally Joey preyed Chris off and gave her a hug.

"Hey Joe." Kat said with a smile.

"When did you get here?" Lance asked.

"Oh about 15 minutes ago. I know Justin was supposed to call you, but I told him I wanted to surprise you guys." Kat told them.

"Have you seen JC yet?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, I told him to meet us in Justin’s room and I would get you guys." Kat replied.

"Well, let’s go then." Chris said while heading towards the door.

LIFE

Justin heard a knock on his door and as he opened it he said, "You couldn’t stay away could ya Kat."

"No, honey I couldn’t." JC answered.

"Hey you aren’t Kat." Justin whined.

"What was your first clue? Kat told me to meet her back in here" JC said while walking in.

"Oh ok." Justin said as he shut the door.

"Have you seen Kat?" JC asked kind of concerned.

"Um…duh…yea." Justin replied.

"No, I mean have you seen how she looks?" JC retorted.

"Yea I have. She looked really beat up but I didn’t want to say anything to her." Justin said.

"Well I did and she said she hasn’t gotten much sleep and that’s it and she wanted to drop the subject quick too." JC told him.

"That’s weird." Justin said confused. All of a sudden there was a banging on the door. "I’m coming!" Justin yelled. The minute he turned the doorknob Joey, Lance, and Chris pushed open the door and flung in with Kat right behind them. "WHOA!" Justin exclaimed.

"Dude there are a bunch of girls headed this way." Joey told them. Then there was a knock at the door.

"Oh man." JC moaned.

"HIDE!" Kat said.

"Huh?" They asked.

"I said hide! I’ll handle this." Kat repeated and they all darted in different directions.

Once they were out of sight Kat answered the door. "Hey there can I help you?" she asked all perky.

The girls’ smiles kind of fell, "Um… *NSYNC is supposed to be in this room." One of the girls said.

"You’re kidding me! *NSYNC is in this hotel!" Kat stated acting like a crazed fan.

"Yeah and one of the bell hops told us this was one of their rooms." Another girl said.

"He was probably tricking you. Besides if I was a celebrity I would want to be on the first floor so I wouldn’t have to worry about being seen in the elevator or stairs." Kat told them.

"Oh yea!" another girl screeched.

"THANKS!" another one, said as they ran off.

"Good luck!" Kat yelled after them and closed the door while laughing.

"What is so funny?" Chris asked.

"Those girls were like 2 years old I swear and one of them had shirt that said Chris will you marry me." Kat said still laughing.

The guys just kind of looked at Chris and smiled.

"Anyway." Chris said.

"So what are you up to this week?" Lance asked Kat as they sat down on the couch and bed.

"Work, work, and work. My last softball practice was today until break is over." Kat answered.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Justin asked.

"Christmas? I totally forgot that was coming up." Kat said.

"You’re kidding me." Chris replied.

"Nope. I’ve been working so much I forget what day it is." Kat said with a small laugh.

"Are your going to see your parents?" JC asked Kat and she got serious all of a sudden, then looked at the floor,

"Um…I’m going to visit them yea." She replied.

"Well that’s good. I love seeing my family." Lance said.

"Yea." Kat said softly.

JC was going to as something, but Kat started with "So what about you guys. Do you get to spend Christmas with your family?"

"Yea, just Christmas Day though. We have things to do on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas." Joey told her.

"Well at least you get Christmas Day with your family." Kat said.

"Yeah." They all replied, but JC was still wondering why she got that way all of a sudden. "She was in a great mood two seconds ago." He thought to himself.

They all talked for about 15 minutes then they had to get ready for some interviews later on so Kat said good-bye to them as they walked out of the room.

"Don’t you have to get ready?" Kat asked Justin.

"Nope. I was born ready." He replied back smiling.

"Right." Kat said back. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure." Justin replied shrugging his shoulders.

"Never mind." Kat said.

"No, what?" Justin asked touching her shoulder and when he did that he felt her whence in pain so he stepped back.

"Um…could I sleep here for like an hour because I am dead tired and I don’t want to drive home like this." Kat said trying to hide the pain in her voice.

"Yeah, sure. Sleep as long as you need." Justin said comforting.

"It will only be like an hour. Don’t worry." Kat replied. Then they heard a voice go,

"Justin you ready?"

"Yeah, I’m coming." He answered. "I’ll talk to you later ok." Justin said as he gave Kat a hug.

"Ok, and thanks again." She replied.

"No prob." Justin said and walked out.

LIFE

"Oh man that was a long interview." JC commented as they drove back to the hotel.

"I don’t know if I can take anymore questions." Chris cried in agony.

"I just want to go back to the hotel and crash." Justin said while stretching his legs.

"Here we are guys." The driver said.

The guys walked up to their rooms and said good night. When Justin walked in he saw Kat’s sweatshirt on the floor. He picked it up and looked at the bed and sure enough Kat was lying there and her watch was going off, but she wasn’t budging.

"She is knocked out." Justin said to himself. He walked over to Kat’s watch that was on her arm and turned it off and she still didn’t budge. For the first time Justin looked Kat up and down. She was wearing a tank top and her arm was wrapped around her stomach on top of the comforter. Justin noticed how strong her arms looks and how good of shape she was in. Then he noticed her right shoulder was black and blue like it was bruised badly. "Wonder how she did that?" Justin asked himself. He changed into some PJ’s and cleaned off the couch and fell asleep.

The next morning Kat woke up and had to think about where she was and then she looked over at the couch and saw Justin and she remembered.

"Oh no. He slept on the couch because of me. I was only supposed to sleep an hour. Why didn’t my watch go off?" Kat thought to herself. She got up quickly, but her legs gave in because they hurt so badly and she fell to the floor and tried to catch herself, but that only made her shoulder feel worse. Kat lay on the floor in pain hoping she didn’t wake Justin up.

"Kat?!" she heard Justin say.

"I’m fine go back to sleep." Kat said from the floor.

Next thing she knew Justin was standing in front of her, "Are you ok?" he asked frantically while bending down to check her out.

"I’m fine." Kat assured him. "Go back to bed."

"No I think I should take you to the doctor." Justin said helping her up.

"No, no. I’m fine. I’m going to go home, get ready for work and I’ll be fine. Now go back to bed." Kat told him forcefully.

"No way. You aren’t going to work today. You can miss one day." Justin said leading her back to the bed.

"No I can’t miss just one day. I have to go." Kat said getting up but Justin stopped her.

"You aren’t going to work like this." Justin exclaimed.

"Your right I’m not. I am going to go home, shower, and change and then go to work." Kat said.

"This isn’t a time for sarcasm Kat." Justin shot back.

"You don’t understand. I HAVE to go to work." Kat yelled back at him.

"What don’t I understand?" Justin asked.

"Look, you go to work in the worse conditions because you have a commitment to over a billion people. I have to go to work in the worse conditions because I have a commitment to myself and…" she stopped in mid sentence and gained her composure, "and I just have to go." She finished.

"At least let me drive you home and to work. Where do you work?" Justin asked.

"I work for JIVE records. Really I’ll be fine Justin, but thank you." Kat said gathering her stuff.

"Kat…" Justin started, but Kat put her hand over his mouth.

"Because of me you slept on the couch, I am not gong to cause more trouble and that’s it period. I’ll be fine." Kat said softly.

Justin just shook his head ok and Kat took her hand away.

"Sorry for making you sleep on the couch. Thank you for letting me stay. Your great." Kat said as she hugged him.

"You could make it up to me by letting me take you home." Justin replied.

Kat just looked at him and said bye and walked out, "I’ll call you when I get home if that would make you feel better."

"I’ll be waiting." Justin told her and she closed the door. Justin plopped down and smiled as he spotted her sweatshirt lying on the floor. He pocked it up and sighed. "She is so stubborn." He said to himself.

LIFE

Kat slowly made it to her car and got in. "These kind of days I really regret buying a stick shift car." She said to herself and pushed on the clutch and groaned as the pain ran up her leg. "Maybe I should have Justin take me home. No you have already been a nuisance." Kat fought with herself and started the car and drove home. Back at the hotel Justin was trying to figure out a way to get Kat off the hook. He picked up the phone and heard "Front Desk."

"Yes, could you please find me the number to Jive Record Company." Justin asked.

"Of course Mr. Timberlake. I will get right back to you."

"Thank you." Justin said and hung up and smiled.

When Kat got home there was a message on her machine so she hit the button and heard her friend Courtney’s voice,

"Hey Kat. Your friend Justin called and told us about your father. Take the day off and I hope he gets better. Let me know what hospital he is in so I can send flowers. If you need anything let me know. Bye."

Kat’s eyes got big, thinking for a second. "He didn’t." Kat sighed. "Damn it Justin. Why did you do this, why did you have to say something about my father?" Kat wasn’t too happy with what Justin had just done so she called him up.

"Hello." Justin said.

"Justin! Why did you do it?" Kat asked.

"You need the day off." Justin replied.

"So you thought that calling my work telling them my dad was in the hospital was helping me. Look Justin, thank you for your help, but just next time don’t include my family in any excuses, ok." Kat said exhausted.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any harm." Justin said apologetically.

"Well look, now that I have the day off I am going to go back to bed, bye." Kat said and hung up.

"Bye" Justin said as she hung up. "You idiot. Why did you use the family excuse? You don’t know anything about her family."

The rest of the day Kat got some rest and caught up on some of her schoolwork. The guys on the other hand were jammed all day long. When they got back to the hotel it was around 12:00AM and they found out they had to fly to New York in an hour. Justin wanted to call Kat and say good-bye, but no one answered at her house. He picked up her sweatshirt as he headed out the door.

"Hey Bob, can we make a quick stop?" Justin asked.

"If it’s quick." Bob answered.

"It will. I just want to drop something off." Justin told him. On the way to Kat’s house Justin tied a ribbon around her sweatshirt and wrote a note.

"Are you going to give it to her personally?" Chris asked.

"No, I’m just going to set it on her door step." Justin answered. They pulled up to her house and Justin jumped out and set her present down. "Bye Kat." He whispered.

The next morning Kat woke up and went to go get her paper. When she opened her door she saw something sitting on her doorstep. She bent down and picked it up and noticed what it was and looked around to see if he was still there. She sat down on the step and read the note:

Dear Kat~

You left this at the hotel the other night. I wanted to give it to you personally, but we have to go to New York now for some more promotional stuff before we head home. I want to say I’m sorry again for saying that thing about your father. Merry Christmas.

Love,

Justin

LIFE

Christmas Day

All of Justin’s family had opened their presents and they were relaxing while his mom cooked dinner. He decided to call Kat and leave a message on her machine wishing her a Merry Christmas. So he went to his room and dialed her #. To his surprise, Kat answered the phone on the second ring.

"Kat?" Justin asked confused.

"Um…yeah." Kat answered.

"I thought you were with your parents?" Justin said.

"Well, I did see them, but I had some stuff to do so I came home early." Kat said, but wasn’t too convincing. "If you knew I wouldn’t be here then why did you call?" she said turning the tables.

"Well I thought I would just leave a little Merry Christmas on your machine." Justin told her.

"Well I am glad you called because I want to say I am sorry for going off on you that day. I didn’t mean to really." Kat said.

"No Kat you were right. I shouldn’t have called your work with that excuse." Justin said.

"Well we are both sorry, let’s just leave it at that, ok." Kat said.

"Ok." Justin smiled.

"So when are you guys going to be back out here? 2 or 3 months something like that?" Kat asked.

"No, more like 2 days. We have to finish up what we went out there for and then we have a New Year’s show out there on New Years Eve." Justin informed her.

"So you guys will be here for New Years?" Kat asked excited.

"Sure will." Justin said just as excited.

"JUSTIN DINNER!"

"Well I have to go." Justin said

"Yea I heard your mom. Merry Christmas Justin." Kat said.

"Merry Christmas Kat." Justin said and heard Kat hang up.

2 days later the guys were back in the swing of things and on their way to California. They had an hour or two to relax so JC decided to call Kat.

"Hey Kat." JC said happily.

"Hey you. Are you guys in town?" Kat asked.

"We sure are. What are you up to?" JC asked.

"Well I was about to make some lunch. Are you guys hungry?" Kat asked.

"Are we ever." JC said.

"Well why don’t I fire up the grill and you guys can come on over here for some lunch, if you can I mean." Kat told him.

"We are on our way. See ya in a few minutes." He answered her and hung up.

About 15 minutes later there were 5 guys standing on Kat’s front door.

"Come on in you guys." Kat said as she opened the door. "What do you guys like on your hamburgers?" she asked.

So the guys put their orders in and offered to help, but Kat wouldn’t let them. Finally they were done and Kat served them drinks and added some fries.

"My compliments to the chef." Chris said.

"Well thank you." Kat said.

"Aren’t you going to eat?" JC asked her.

"I will just steal some of your fries." Kat joked.

"Oh you think so huh." JC said covering his fries. He looked at Kat and watched her laugh. She looked the same way she did the last time they left her except she had a little more color in her face.

"So what is this TV special you are doing on New Years?" Kat asked.

"It’s on ABC and it is with a bunch of other artists." Justin informed her.

"We sing two songs. One before midnight and one after midnight." Lance continued.

"It’s like one big party." Joey said grinning.

"Sounds like fun." Kat said.

"What about you?" Joey asked.

"Well my friend Whitney is going to come over probably and we will break out our best friend, white champagne and watch some fireworks." Kat told them. "We do it every year unless there is a party that we really want to go to."

"Well this year Kat, you aren’t going to stay home if I can do anything about it." JC thought to himself, but his cell phone broke his thoughts.

"Do I have to answer that?" JC pleaded.

"Yea you do Jace." Lance replied.

"Hello. Yea…ok, we’ll be right there." JC said and closed his phone.

"Bad news guys, we have to go." He informed them.

"You’re kidding me." Justin said throwing down a fry. Then they all heard a honking. Kat walked them to the door and said good-bye.

JC, Chris, Justin, Lance, and Joey walked into Lou Pearlman’s Office and took a seat.

"Hey guys." Lou said.

"What’s up Lou?" Justin asked.

"Well we may change our New Year’s schedule." Lou told them.

"What do you mean?" JC asked.

"Well MTV asked for you guys to come to their annual party. I told them I would talk to you guys, but it probably wouldn’t be a problem." Lou said with his hands folded.

"Yes it is a problem." JC jumped up. "We already have plans and it has been like that for a long time and we aren’t going to back out on it." He ended.

"But this is MTV JC, not just some little pop show on ABC." Lou replied.

"We were on MTV just a month ago, they can wait." Lance chimed in.

"Fine, if that’s what you guys want then this meeting is over." Lou said.

As the guys headed out Lou added one more thing,

"This wouldn’t have anything to do with that little friend of yours that lived here, Katherine I think her name is?" Lou asked.

"She has nothing to do with this and don’t even think about dragging her into it." JC said staring Lou down.

Lou just shrugged his shoulders and they walked out.

"How dare he pull Kat into this." JC said frustrated.

"Let it go man. He was just mad we turned down is idea." Lance told JC

"Hey guys!" a voice yelled.

They turned around to see an intern run towards them. "ABC just called and wanted to know if you want them to pick up your dates for you guys?"

"Oh man, a date. I totally forgot about that." Joey sighed.

"Tell them no, but thank you." JC replied.

"Well who here is going dateless?" Chris asked and saw everybody raise their hand except JC.

"And do you plan to take in this short of time Mr. Smooth?" Lance asked.

"Who do you think?" JC said giving Lance the duh look.

Later on that night JC snuck away for a while and drove to Kat’s house. He had practiced what he would say to her a million times, but the minute she answered the door he forgot every word.

"This is a pleasant surprise." Kat said when she answered the door and saw JC standing there with a rose in his hand.

"Hey. This is for you." JC said handing her the rose.

"Oh thank you. Come on in." Kat said and stepped back.

Kat walked to the kitchen to put the rose in some water and JC followed her.

"So what brings you by this late?" Kat asked.

"Well you know about the New Year’s party, and um I was wondering if you wanted to be my date?" JC asked.

"Hmm… white champagne on the balcony with best friend or music at a party with a handsome man?" Kat pondered out loud. "Well they do say champagne is better aged, so it can wait till next year." She answered.

JC let out the breath he has been holding and smiled.

"Ok, I will give you a call soon to give you all the details." JC said to her.

"Ok" Kat replied.

"Well I better get back before they start wondering where I am." JC said.

"Alright." Kat said as she walked him to the door. "Thank you for the rose. It is beautiful."

"Anytime. Bye." JC said and walked out.

"Oh man a date, I haven’t been on one of those in a long time, oh shit!" Kat thought to herself getting nervous all of a sudden. "Well get some sleep and in the morning call Whitney and she will know how to help you."

The next morning the first thing Kat did was call Whitney.

"KAT HAS A DATE!! YEAH!!!" Whitney exclaimed.

"Yeah, El problemo though bud. I have nothing to wear!" Kat yelled.

"Have no worries, Whitney is on the way over and then we are heading to El Mallo." Whitney said and hung up quickly.

As they were walking through the mall Whitney asked, "So are you excited?"

"Of course, but I am kind of scared." Kat told her friend.

"Why?!" Whitney asked.

"Because it is on TV, with an amazing guy and it is New Year’s!" Kat said.

"Well at least you will have someone to kiss at midnight." Whitney hinted.

"He won’t want to kiss me, Whit. I was probably was a last resort." Kat said

"Ok, whatever, but I will bet 10 bucks he will kiss you." Whitney said while pulling a 10-dollar bill out.

"You’re on." Kat replied and they shook hands.

"Now to find something that will make you look irresistible." Whitney said as they walked into a store.

"Good Luck." Kat retorted and followed her.

"I AM NEVER GOING TO FIND ANYTHING!" Kat cried as they walked out of yet another store.

"Just wait a minute." Whitney replied.

Then Kat stopped at a window, "WHIT!"

"Yea." She whirled around.

"There it is!" Kat said pointing at the manikin. It was wearing a dark brown mini skirt with a maroon boat neck shirt and brown boots. Kat ran into the store and found all the clothes in her size and ran to the fitting room.

"Well, what do you think?" Kat asked as she stepped out.

"Oh girl! You look great!" Whitney replied.

Kat changed back and took all the stuff up to the register and the total came out to be almost $200. Kat handed her credit card over very slowly.

"You know that is supposed to be for emergencies only." Kat whined to Whitney.

"If this isn’t an emergency, I don’t know what is." Whitney replied handing Kat the bag.

The days were going by slow at work and Kat hadn’t heard from JC yet. Finally 2 days before the party JC called, "I will pick you up at 4:00, ok."

"Sounds good. See you then." Kat said and hung up cause it was a rush at work. Next thing she knows her boss walks up to her,

"Guess what you get to do the 30^th?" he said.

"I’m guessing not relaxing." Kat sighed.

"Nope." He grinned. "We are trying to help a music group out that is leaving their management because they are getting screwed and they would like to come here." He informed her.

"So…" Kat asked.

"I want you to be on the committee." He said.

"You’re kidding! But I am only an intern." Kat replied.

"I don’t put you on special projects because you are an intern, you have a passion for music and I can tell you would do anything to help anyone out. That’s why I want you on this assignment." He told her. "We start at 5:00PM tomorrow in conference room A. Don’t be late." He said as he walked off. "Oh and one more thing. You can’t tell anyone because nothing is official yet, so lips got to stay sealed."

Well that just busted her running and telling everyone her good news, oh well.

At 5PM the next day she was ready to go. They started off the meeting and worked well into the night and even early morning until they came up with a rough draft and had talked to the lawyers some more. Kat got home at 4AM New Years Eve and went straight to bed.

Kat was awaken by a banging on her door, she had totally forgot Whitney was supposed to come over and help her get ready.

"Yeah." Kat said half a sleep opening the door.

"What happened to you?!" Whitney asked.

"I didn’t get out of my meeting until 4 this morning." Kat yawned as she let Whitney in.

"Well we got a lot more work to do now so let’s get started." Kat did look pretty bad. She had black circles under her eyes and her hair was a mess. Whitney worked long and hard and when she as done she stepped back and smiled.

"You look drop dead gorgeous!" Whitney exclaimed and hugged her.

Kat looked in the mirror and liked what she saw.

"Girl you should have gone to cosmetology school." Kat told her.

"Nah, those pansies can play softball worth crap." Whitney smiled.

"Well I better go before prince charming comes." She said while gathering her stuff.

"I can’t thank you enough, Whit." Kat told her friend as she hugged her.

"You already have and don’t forget our bet." Whitney reminded her and left.

Kat shut the door and looked in the mirror one more time. "Is this really me?" she asked herself and then the doorbell rang. "Here we go." Kat let out a big breath and opened the door. Nothing in the entire world could brace Kat for what she saw standing at her door.

"WOW" was all JC could say.

"Wow me! Have you looked in the mirror today?" Kat replied totally taken away by how the man in front of her looked.

"These are for you." JC said as he handed Kat a dozen roses.

"Oh JC they are beautiful. Thank you." Kat smiled and smelt the roses then set them down in the kitchen.

"Are you ready?" JC asked.

On the way there JC kept looking over at Kat and then finally said,

"If I haven’t said it already. You look beautiful tonight."

Kat looked at him and smiled, "You look amazing tonight."

"Why thank you." JC replied. "I know for a fact who all the eyes will be on tonight and it isn’t me." He added.

Kat started to get really nervous when they pulled up to the red carpet. When JC opened her door light bulbs started going off furiously and it made Kat jump a bit. JC linked his fingers into hers and whispered, "Don’t worry, I’m right here." That made Kat want to melt right there in his arms. As they walked in JC ignored the "Who is she comments and headed inside." Once inside Kat felt a lot better when she heard the music and saw the people dancing.

"KAT! JC!" they heard someone yell and then saw Justin and Joey run up to them.

"Hey guys." Kat said

"Kat, girl. You look incredible tonight." Justin exclaimed.

"Why thank you Justin." Kat blushed.

"You have to promise me one dance." Justin asked.

"Of course." Kat replied and then they saw Chris and Lance walked in.

"How is everybody doing tonight?" Lance asked.

"Let’s get this party started!" Chris yelled.

"I was just thinking the same thing Chris." Kat said and grabbed JC’s hand and headed to the dance floor.

"Well looks like someone has calmed down." JC said as he and Kat danced.

"What do you mean? I am nervous as hell." Kat replied.

"Nervous? Why?" JC asked.

"Because of all the people here are making more money in one hour than I will make in a year." Kat answered.

"Are you comfortable with me?" JC asked softly.

Kat looked up at him, "With you I am the most comfortable, but I am also the most nervous."

"Weird, because I feel the same way about you." JC told her.

"Why are you nervous with me?" Kat asked.

"Because you are the most beautiful woman here and I want tonight to be perfect, just like you." JC said sweetly.

All Kat could do was look at him, "Tonight will be perfect no matter what because I am here with you."

After Kat said that JC pulled her closer and hugged her, "As long as I can look at you I will be alright."

Kat let out a sigh and let her be taken away by his smell and his embrace. "Stop fighting him Kat because you are in heaven right now."

Around 11:30 Justin came up to JC and said they needed to get ready.

"Ok, I’ll be right there." JC replied and looked back at Kat, "Don’t run off now."

"I’m not going anywhere." She told him and he ran off. The next thing she knew a girl that Joey had been dancing with came up to her and started talking to her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. You have been waiting all night for these guys and here they are: *NSYNC!"

Kat and the girl started to yell and clap.

"I feel like a teenager again." Kat said. The guys went straight into Kiss Me At Midnight and JC kept looking at Kat and smiling at her. For the first time in her life Kat felt herself majorly blush when he would look at her and wink at her.

After they done the announcer came back on and said, "We’ll be right back to talk with the guys right after this." Then she turned to them and said something and they all nodded their head in understanding. When JC looked at Kat, she and the other girl were talking they looked like they were having a blast laughing.

"She looks so comfortable. I’ve never seen her like that." Justin whispered to JC.

"She’s having fun. The last time I saw her smile that big was the first day we met her." JC told him.

"We’re back in 10." The cameraman told them so they turned back to the camera getting ready to talk.

A young man carrying a plate of champagne walked up to Kat the other girl, "Champagne ladies?" he asked sweetly while never taking his eyes off Kat.

"Why thank you." Kat said and he left.

"He had his eye on you girl." Said the girl as she nudged Kat.

"Whatever." Kat said and turned back to the stage to find JC looking at her so she smiled and it made him smile. Kat walked back to the bar to get another drink while they were still doing the interview.

"I think someone is trying to steal my date." Kat whipped around and smiled to see JC standing there.

"Excuse me?" Kat asked.

"The Champagne guy." JC said and took a step closer to her.

"Oh you aren’t getting jealous are you?" Kat asked smartly.

JC smiled at her and took the glass she was holding and put it on the bar. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Kat asked.

"You’ll see." He said.

They walked up the stairs and down the hall. "Here we are." JC said when they got to the balcony.

"Oh JC. It’s beautiful." Kat said looking out onto the city.

"I figured we could spend the rest of the party out here." JC said walking up and stood next to her.

"Don’t you have to perform again?" Kat asked.

"Oh yeah. That totally blew my mind." JC said looking at the ground.

"But we can stay up here until then." Kat reassured him. "We can still hear the music." She added taking a step closer to him. "May I have this dance?" she asked.

"How could I say no to the prettiest girl I know." He said and took her hand as they danced.

"2 minutes!" they heard someone yell.

"Kat." JC whispered.

"JC." Kat replied.

"I just wanted to hear your voice." He said.

"1 MINUTE!" the voice yelled again.

JC pulled his head back and so did Kat. She looked up at him got lost in his eyes. She forgot where she was and everything around her.

"10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1!"

Without saying a word JC leaned in and kissed Kat softly as fireworks started going off all around them. When they broke the kiss they looked at each other and smiled.

"You have no idea how long I have wanted to do that." JC admitted.

Kat just smiled at him and kissed him softly one more time.

"*NSYNC to the stage."

JC looked at Kat before they walked hand in hand back to the party. JC winked at Kat before he headed to the stage and Kat went looking for that girl again.

Kat spun around to see Brad standing against the wall.

"What hell are you doing here!" Kat said trying not to yell.

"Well, one of my friends invited me, but I was going to pass until I heard from a little birdie that you were going to be here so of course I accepted." He said with a grin. "I wanted to see what my girl was up to."

"When are you going to get it through your head, I AM NOT YOUR GIRL!" Kat exclaimed.

"Kat, sweetie." Brad said as he took her hand. "You will always be my girl because you were my first love and I will always love you." He added as he touched her face.

Kat use to melt when he touched her, but all she wanted to do was punch him. She felt a tear start to form as she closed her eyes and Brad brushed it away.

"I miss you Katherine. I’m lost without you. What can I do to get you back?"

Kat opened her eyes and said, "Leave."

"What?" Brad asked.

"Nothing you do will make me take you back so leave." Kat said.

"But," Brad started.

"But nothing. Yes Brad I loved you, you were my first love, but you have hurt me time and time again and nothing you say or do can mend those scars. Please just leave me alone." Kat cried.

Brad took his hands back and said, "I’ll always love you. That boy band brat can’t love you like I do."

"I sure hope not because you love made me someone I’m wasn’t and hurt me in the end so I truly hope his love isn’t like yours." Kat retorted. Kat couldn’t believe the things she was saying. She could never stand up to Brad like this, but ever since she had met JC he wanted him out of her life.

"Fine, but I’ll be right here when he dumps you for a dumb movie star. You’ll see. You’ll come crawling back. You always do." Brad said and walked away.

Kat felt the tears start to form again, but they were tears of rage and anger. She turned to see JC standing there in awe. Kat just looked at him and felt more tears come on. "How much did he hear or see?" Kat asked herself as she turned back around to brush away the tears.

"Are you ok?" JC asked as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

Kat turned around, but for some reason she couldn’t look in his eyes. "Yea, I’m fine."

JC brought his hand to her face and raised her chin so he was looking in her eyes. "Are you ok?" he asked again softly.

Kat just stared into is eyes and replied, "I am now." And wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight.

The hug kind of took JC by surprise because she hugged him so tight, but he didn’t care. Whoever that guy was he had hurt her before and JC wasn’t going to let him hurt her again.

"Do you want to leave? We are done performing." JC told her.

"Oh no! I missed your performance. I am so sorry. I wanted to see it really bad too." Kat said.

"Oh don’t worry about it. It’s no bug deal." JC assured her.

"To me it is." Kat argued.

"Well maybe I’ll give you an private concert later." JC smirked and it made Kat smile. "So do you want to leave?"

"You guys can’t leave yet, I haven’t gotten my dance yet!" Justin exclaimed. JC looked back at Kat and she said,

"He’s right. I promised him a dance and I never back out on a promise."

"Alright. Let’s go beautiful." Justin said excited and grabbed Kat’s hand.

"Is she ok?" Lance came up behind JC.

"I don’t think so." JC answered.

"Who was that guy she was talking to?" Lance asked.

"I’m not sure." JC said.

"Well who ever he was, they looked like they use to be close." Lance commented.

"I wonder if he is still here." JC wondered.

"Oh no bud." Lance said.

"What?" JC asked.

"That’s all Kat needs is you searching out this guys and interrogating him." Lance said.

"Now this isn’t so bad is it?" Justin asked Kat as they danced to a slow song.

"Not at all." Kat replied. "Justin, I wanted to thank you."

"For what?" Justin asked.

"For being such a great guy. You’ve a great friend." Kat told him.

"Well I should be thanking you. You have brought a new meaning to a part of my life. I never thought I could find someone that I could talk to so openly with." Justin said.

"I know what you mea. I don’t like to let many people close, but with you I want to tell you my life story." Kat exclaimed.

"Well I am all ears whenever you want to spill the beans." Justin told her.

"Thank you. Just do me a favor and never change ok." Kat said.

"Ok, as long as you and I are friends." Justin joked. "Kat can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Kat said.

"In your life, what is the one thing you want the most?" he asked.

Kat thought for a moment and then answered, "The man of my dreams."

"And what does this man look like?" Justin asked.

"I don’t know." Kat said.

"What are the requirements?" he asked.

Kat smiled. "You really want to know?"

"Of course." Justin replied.

Kat closed her eyes and explained, " There is a song by Chely Wright that says ‘I want the earth to move, I want to bells to ring. When he walks in a room I want angels to sing.’ That’s what I want. When he looks at me I want him to see me and only me and be able to know my every thought. I want him to love me more than he could think possible."

Justin listened to her, "Do you think he is out there?"

Kat opened her eyes and saw JC at the bar, "Yes, I know he his."

When the song was over Kat gave Justin a hug, thanked him, and walked back to the bar to find JC, but he wasn’t there. So she scanned the room and found him leaning up against a wall and he was looking at someone. Kat tried to follow his gaze and her eyes landed on Brad. She frantically looked at JC, praying that wasn’t who he was looking at. Then she saw JC out down his drink and started to walk in the direction he was looking. Kat walked quickly up behind him and tapped him on his shoulder and he turned around and smiled.

"What pretty girl were you looking at?" Kat asked sarcastically.

JC and thought before he said anything, "I was looking for you."

"Nah, you were staring at someone, I know you were." Kat kept joking.

"Are we getting jealous?" JC asked.

"Twoshce." Kat laughed and JC just watched her.

"I love to watch her laugh." He thought to himself. "Would you like to dance?"

"Only if it is with you." Kat replied.

"I think I can arrange that." JC said and took her hand with a smile.

They started to dance and JC was dying to know whom that guy was that she had been talking to.

"Kat, who was that guy you were talking to?" he asked, but he regretted it that second because she tensed up a bit.

"He…um…is an old friend that…I’m trying to forget." Kat answered. "JC, how much of that conversation did you see or hear?"

"Well I didn’t hear any of it, but I saw him…put his hand on your face and hold your hand" he answered.

"Shit." Kat thought

"Has he hurt you before?" JC asked.

"Why do you ask that?" Kat asked back.

"Well, jus the look in your eyes while you were talking to him." JC said.

Kat sighed, "Yea, I guess you can say that. But can we not talk about this here?"

"Sure, sorry." JC apologized.

Around 2AM is when they decided to leave. When they arrived at Kat’s house, he walked her to her door and Kat spoke first,

"Thank you again for the perfect New Year’s."

"It was only perfect because you were there." JC replied.

They held their hands in front of each other. JC looked up from the concrete and said,

"Would I be a bad person for saying I don’t want this night to end?"

Kat kind of giggled and replied, "No, you wouldn’t be a bad person JC. I was thinking the same thing." And JC smiled.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Kat asked.

"I would love to." JC replied. "Where do you want to walk to?"

"Just follow me." Kat said.

They walked down the street holding hands.

"Where are we going?" JC asked.

"Just be patient. We are almost there." Kat told him.

When the park came into view it brought a smile across JC’s face.

"That’s where we are going." Kat said and saw his smile get bigger. "I don’t know if you remember this place, but I pass it everyday on my way to work…"Kat started to say.

"How could I not remember this place." JC said as he looked at her. They walked into the park and start to head for the same bench they sat in last time.

"Dejavu." JC laughed.

"Yea, you could say that." Kat replied.

They sat down and coughed,

"I almost forgot how beautiful the stars are."

Kat laughed and played along, "The city lights ruin them."

JC smiled as he said the next line, "Well I like the view, and I like the company even more."

Kat smiled as she looked at him, "It is kind of weird how we remember exactly what we said that night."

"I can’t forget something when I think about it non stop." JC told her.

"Yea, I am sorry for the way I acted that night." Kat said as she looked away.

"There is no reason for you to be sorry." JC told her trying to get back her eye contact. "Kat, what’s wrong?" he asked as he put his hand on hers.

"Oh nothing." Kat replied as she stood up and walked over to the fountain. "When I was little my dad took me to this park and we would sit right here and he would give me a penny and I would throw it in the fountain as I made a wish." Kat told him. "I haven’t made a wish ever since the day they left."

"Why not?" JC asked.

"They seemed to stop coming true I guess you can say. Like the magic left with them and so did my will to wish." Kat replied.

"Where did they move to?" JC asked.

"Somewhere far away." Kat replied and left it at that.

JC was going to try to get her to elaborate, but decided against it. Instead he pulled two pennies out of his pocket and handed one to Kat. Kat looked at the penny and then back at JC.

"You can never lose the will to wish." JC told her. "So you have to show me how to do this right." He said flipping the coin in the air.

Kat laughed softly and turned her back to the fountain, kissed the coin as she thought of a wish, then threw the penny over her head into the fountain.

"So that is how the pro’s do it huh." JC said as he followed exactly what she did. "How was my form?" he asked afterwards.

"You could have thrown the penny a little more gracious, but not bad for a first timer." Kat said sitting on the edge.

"I’ll work on it." JC said as he sat facing her. "So what did you wish for?"

"Oh come on, you know I can’t tell you or it won’t come true. That is like wish making 101!" Kat exclaimed.

"I’ll tell you mine." JC grinned.

"I don’t want to know." Kat argued.

"Oh yes you do, I can see it in your eyes." JC played.

"Oh yes JC, the whole reason for my existence is to know what you wished for tonight." Kat replied.

"I knew it. Are you ready?" JC asked.

"NO! Don’t tell me." Kat exclaimed as she stood up.

JC grabbed her arm and sat her down in front of him and he wrapped his arms around her, "It was for your wish to come true." He whispered in her ear.

Kat turned around and looked at him. She was looking for some sign that he was joking or was lying, but all she saw was pure honesty. "Thank you." Was all she could say.

"Your welcome." JC replied and kissed her on her nose.