ten

Chapter Ten

Andy opened the door to the back room of the bus cautiously and was greeted with the sight of a teenage girl sprawled on the sofa. Her head was flung back over the armrest, her eyes were closed and her long, dark hair flew in every direction. Looking around the room, Andy noticed a heap of papers by the girl's feet, next to what looked like a school textbook.

Andy smiled to herself knowingly. This girl's position and obvious frustration with her homework reminded Andy of Chase. She vividly remembered the dramatic pleas and protests he used to stage night after night. She had always calmed him down and helped him with his homework, so that their father wouldn't physically punish Chase for his frustration.

She closed her eyes in silent prayer for her brother, before focusing back on the situation at hand. It was times like these when Andy remembered exactly why she'd wanted to be a teacher in the first place.

Andy bent to pick up a pencil that had found it's way to the doorway and cleared her throat softly to make the girl aware of her presence in the room.

The girl opened her eyes slowly, glancing towards the door from her position on the sofa. She sat up, looking slightly puzzled, evidently confused as to who exactly Andy was and what she was doing there.

Andy watched the girl, as she sat up and blinked a few times, allowing her eyes to readjust to the light. The young girl was quite beautiful for her age. She had dark brown almond shaped eyes to match her raven-colored cascade of hair. The girl smiled brightly, making her even more attractive. She cocked her head to the side, obviously assessing Andy as well.

Andy spoke up first. "I think I found your pencil. Apparently it doesn't like homework either."

The girl nodded her head in agreement, still grinning. "I guess not. Sorry about that. I tend to make wonderful first impressions. I'm Riley, by the way. I'm opening for NSYNC on this tour."

"Don't worry about the mess. I'm used to homework troubles. My brother never had a great time with his homework either. Anyway, I'm Andrea Jacobs. You can just call me Andy though. I brought Jon up to visit Justin for a few weeks."

Riley's smile grew even bigger, if that was possible. "Seriously? That's awesome. I love that kid."

"Yeah, so do I. He's certainly an�individual."

"He's got quite a bit of energy. He and Chris tend to wear each other out when he's around."

Andy laughed softly, shaking her head. "I've already experienced the wrath of Chris firsthand, and I have no trouble believing that." She paused. "So�what exactly did I interrupt when I walked in earlier?"

Riley grimaced. "Geometry. I was about to burn that stupid thing." She gestured towards the book on the floor. "You should be proud. You saved an innocent geometry book from being char-broiled."

"Guess I was just in time then. Do you need help at all? I'm pretty good at geometry."

"That's okay. I don't want you to spend your first day in NSYNC-land doing geometry homework."

"I really don't mind. I actually have a teaching degree�I like to help."

"Well�I dunno�I could definitely use some help with this. I guess if you're sure you don't mind�"

"Not at all. One of the bodyguards�Mike, I think�is watching Jon near the stage while the guys are at soundcheck. I have nothing to do for awhile."

"Cool."

Riley reached down to collect her papers, and Andy picked up the geometry book. When they were settled on the couch, Riley looked over at Andy.

"I have to warn you. I'm completely daft when it comes to geometry."

Andy smiled at her. "You probably just need someone to explain it to you." She paused. "We better get started. Lord only knows how long it will be before Mike sends Jon back. The man thinks he's tough, but after a few hours with Jon, he'll really know what strength is."

Riley nodded in agreement. "Although, he is used to dealing with the older version, so maybe he'll be able to handle Mini-Me."

"Point taken. Anyway, where should we start?"

"I think I left off with number nine."

Andy nodded, and they went straight to work.

A half hour or so later, they were laughing about an analogy Andy had used to help Riley better understand a word problem, when there was a knock on the door. They looked up to see a tall man, who Andy guessed was in his mid to late thirties, enter the room. He looked a little surprised to see Andy there.

He looked questioningly at Riley. "Hi, Riley. You are doing your homework, right?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes, Eric. Andy was helping me actually." She turned to Andy. "Andy, this is my manager, Eric Robertson. Eric, this is Andrea Jacobs. She brought Jon up to visit Justin and was nice enough to help me with the evil that has come to be known as geometry."

Eric looked over to Andy, smiling warmly. "It's nice to meet you, Andrea. Thanks for helping Riley. She has some trouble with math. I would try to help her, but�I was never all that good at math myself. I think I'd do more harm than good."

Andy smiled. She could tell that Eric genuinely cared about Riley and had a feeling that he was more her surrogate father than her manager. "Call me Andy. And it was really no trouble. She just needed someone to explain things to her. Shouldn't she have a tutor or something?"

"Well�she does have a tutor�"

Riley interrupted him. "I told you before, Eric. He may be smart, but he can't explain geometry to save his life. You always pick the old, annoying tutors for me." She flopped back onto the sofa dramatically. "Will you never learn?"

Eric chuckled softly at her antics. "Okay, okay. I get the point. Time for a new tutor. But right now, it's time for soundcheck, so you better put your things away and get ready."

She nodded and went to collect her papers.

Eric headed for the doorway. "I'll see you onstage in five minutes, Riley. Five minutes. Andy, it was a pleasure meeting you. Thanks again."

Andy walked with him towards the door. "It was honestly no problem. I'll see you around I'm sure�"

He nodded and waved as he disappeared into the front of the bus. Andy turned around to face Riley. "Hey, Riley...I'm going to go exploring now, so I'll see you later. Have fun at soundcheck."

Riley looked up from where she was gathering her things. "Thanks for the help. I'll see you around the arena probably, if not, then on the bus tonight."

"Oh, joy. I'm sure looking forward to those long hours on the bus."

Riley giggled. "Don't worry. You get used to it after awhile."

"Funny, that's what they all say. We'll just have to wait and find out." She opened the door to leave, calling back to Riley over her shoulder. "Talk to you later�"

"Bye, Andy."

Andy walked to the front of the bus, grabbing the pass that JC had left for her on the way, and descended the steps. She looked around the empty parking lot, confused as to where to go next, and decided to just walk in the door directly in front of her. She showed the guards her pass, and they let her inside.

So, she was in. Now she just had to figure out where to go.

She wandered around aimlessly for awhile, convinced that she would never find anyone that looked even vaguely familiar. After a few minutes, she heard someone chuckling behind her. She turned to see an attractive blond man leaning against the wall behind her.

He raised an eyebrow. "Need some help? You looked a little lost."

"Nice of you to laugh at someone in distress." She playfully glared at him but then laughed softly. "Actually, I take that back. I'm horribly lost. I'll take whatever help I can get."

He smiled, instantly liking her. "I'm Lance. It's nice to meet you�"

"Oh, right. Andy. My name's Andy."

A look of recognition crossed his face. "Ohhh, you're the one who brought Jon up here, right? The guys were telling me about you. You seem to have their approval."

Andy shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Except for Justin."

Lance sighed quietly. "Don't worry about Justin. He's just very protective of his brother. He'll come around eventually." He looked her over quickly, silently wondering what she could have done to piss Justin off so badly. When he noticed that she was still looking at him expectantly, he said, "You know, I'm pretty sure that everyone's in the cafeteria. I was on the way there myself actually, if you want to walk with me."

She smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks, Lance. That would be great."

They walked down the hall together until they reached the door to the cafeteria. Lance held the door open for her, and she thanked him, as she stepped through.

There was a buffet style dinner set up on one side of the room and quite a few round tables on the other side. Many of the tables were filled with various members of the crew, who were grabbing something to eat quickly before preparing for the show.

She spotted JC, Justin, and Jon sitting at one of the tables to her left. Lance stacked his plate with food quickly and joined them.

Andy filled her plate, but then hesitated. She couldn't decide where to sit. The thought of another confrontation with Justin was not all that pleasant, and she was about to go sit by herself at a small table to the back of the room, when JC caught sight of her and waved her over. She glanced back and forth between him and Justin, who was sending her death glares.

JC noticed her hesitation and sent her a quizzical look, but soon realized that Justin was glaring at her already. JC squared his jaw and made eye contact with her, telling her with his eyes that she had better come sit with them or he was going to come drag her over himself.

She sighed and headed to join them reluctantly, silently willing Justin to be nice, just this once. As she reached the table, JC pulled out the chair between him and Lance, and smiled at her.

Jon grinned brightly. "Andy!"

She couldn't help but smile when she saw the little boy. "Hey, Jon. Been having fun?"

He nodded vigorously before returning all concentration to his plate.

JC spoke up as she sat down. "Hey, Andy. Glad you could join us."

"Yeah, well, you can thank Lance for that one. I don't think I would have ever found my way otherwise."

Lance shook his head. "You would have been fine. You were almost there anyway."

She shrugged. "It would have taken me longer. My stomach thanks you."

He smiled. "I'm glad I could be of service to your stomach."

A few minutes later, Justin pushed away from the table abruptly and stood up. "C, we better go. Cindy wanted to alter some of our outfits before the show tonight, remember?"

JC nodded, standing up as well. "Yeah, you're right. We probably should check in with her. Lance�"

Lance interrupted knowingly. "Yeah, yeah. I know, Jace. I'll check in with her too, once I'm done here."

JC laughed. "Yeah, okay. I'll see you later Andy�"

Justin started to pick Jon up from his seat but the younger boy protested. "I'm not done, Justin. I have to finish my dinner!"

Justin was about to demand that the boy come with him, but JC put a hand on his friend's arm, stopping him. "Hey, Justin. Just let him stay. Andy will take care of him. That is her job after all."

Justin glared at her from across the table but reluctantly agreed in order to avoid a scene. "Yeah, okay. Try not to lose him�or break his arm."

Andy couldn't take it anymore. She looked up at him challengingly and spoke sharply. "You make it sound as if I would purposely endanger Jon."

He rolled his eyes at her. "If the shoe fits�"

She pushed her own chair back and stood, leaning over the table towards him. "Don't you dare accuse me of anything when you know so little about me or anything that happened. Your mother obviously trusted me to take care of her son, so why don't you take a hint from her if my word isn't good enough?"

Justin crossed his arms, still glaring. "Just know who you're messing with. And make sure you don't accidentally toss my brother down the stairs."

And with every pair of eyes in the room on him, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the cafeteria.

Andy huffed angrily and sat back down. JC stood across the table from her, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly, before kneeling to comfort Jon, who had been looking a bit frightened. Lance sat to her left open-mouthed, completely stunned. He spoke first.

"What the hell was that all about?"

Andy shook her head, eyes closed. "Don't ask. Because I couldn't even tell you."

JC stood and looked at her, smiling wryly. "You two really need to take anger management classes or something."

She rubbed a hand over her face. "Sorry about that. I shouldn't have come over here to begin with."

JC shook his head. "No, you shouldn't have to isolate yourself just because Justin has issues with you. Everyone else wanted you here. He's just going to have to learn to adjust to having you around."

JC looked over at Jon, who seemed fairly content with eating the cookie that Lance had passed him, and then back to Andy. "I really do have to get going. I'll talk to you later, Andy. You should come watch the show tonight, if you feel like it."

"Yeah, maybe we'll do that. What do you say, Jon?"

He nodded happily. "Yeah! I want to see them sing!"

She smiled at him, before looking back to JC. "I guess you have your answer then. I really am sorry. I'll try to control my temper next time."

"Don't worry about it, Andy. I'll see you later, Jon."

"Bye JC!"

"Bye, Andy."

"Bye�"

He left to go find Justin, Lance close behind him. Once they were gone, Andy got Jon cleaned up and set off for the bus with him on her hip. "Hey Jon, how about we take a little nap before the show? I'm tired, man."

He yawned and rested his head on her shoulder. "But I'm not sleepy."

"C'mon dude. I'm exhausted. Just a little nap?"

He nodded against her shoulder. "Okay, Andy. But just a little one�"

"You've got yourself a deal, buddy."

By the time they reached the bus, Jon was already asleep. Andy pulled back the curtains to her bunk and lowered him onto the bed gently. She pulled off his shoes and then her own, before curling up next to him and closing the curtains behind her. She wrapped her arms around him and quickly drifted off to sleep.