"The sky," J.C. sarcastically and unenthusiastically remarked.
"Hardy harr harr. No, really, are you doing anything right now?" Kevin asked.
"Depends. Why do you wanna know?" J.C. cautiously answered.
"Get a life and grow up! I'm stranded at the mall."
"Well, how am I involved, mall rat?"
"Because."
"Intense answer there!"
"You are going to be so kind as to come and pick me up! After all, you are always saying that the ten of us should do more things together. Here's the first step."
"Fine," J.C. said heavily. "But I am not going to because of that, I'm picking you up because I don't want to hear you whining about hitch hiking or walking or anything like that."
"Okay. Thanks, man," Kevin said as he felt like a weight had been lifted.
"Yeah, okay."
"See ya then!"
"Yeah. Bye!"
What Kevin had not told J.C. was that the mall had been closed for the safety of the shoppers and employees because the snow that was quickly accumulating outside.
The Backstreet Boys and *N SYNC had been vacationing in Greenwich, Connecticut, for the summer, not the winter. They had gotten bikes the first week they were there and rode them everywhere. They only drove if they had to go to Stamford, a nearby city that had a larger mall, more restaurants, and clubs. Lou had arranged the whole trip for them and told them only to take two cars, one for each group, that held five people each. They had decided on the two jeeps, Brian's and J.C.'s so that one group wouldn't feel like the others had a better car.
Greenwich was like a whole other universe. They could walk freely around the town without being bombarded with fans. They wanted to leave in a way and, yet, stay forever. They loved meeting their fans, but were not allowed to, according to Lou, while on their little break in Greenwich. They also wanted to stay, because they could step away from their busy and public lives to be normal people again.
HONK!!! He pulled his coat tighter around his body and jogged towards J.C.'s inviting Jeep.
"Man it's cold!" J.C. said.
"No kidding!"
They drove the rest of the way in silence. Then they reached the house that the two popular music groups were sharing.
Then they reached the house that the two groups were sharing. J.C. and Kevin got out of the Jeep and trekked across the snow-covered driveway. They walked into the kitchen to find the rare occasion of the ten friends all standing in the same room at the same time. J.C. and Kevin were extraordinarily worried what was going on. First they thought that it was odd for everyone to be gathered together without a strange occurence having occured. Secondly, they read the grim expressions of the eight others and thought a tragedy was in the process or had already happened. Lastly, after being with each other, and only each other, for such a long time, they were all getting a little jumpy and edgy.
"So what happened?" Keven asked.
"Yeah, what's going on?" J.C. added.
"Well, the weather people...what are they called? Weatherologists? Clo-" Howie began.
"To make along story short, or at least short enough that you'll listen, I'll tell you," Justin said. "The meterologists on the news are predicting a blizzard, a major one. They are saying at least, at least, get this, three feet! Feet! Then they are saying when the snow stops, rain will start. And Joey, J.C., and Chris know what that means!"
"Ice!" the three exclaimed in unison.
"Yep! That's right! Snow, then freezing rain. So we are going to have three feet of snow come down with a layer of sleek ice on top of that!" Justin said.
"Oh, and don't forget about white outs! Snow is all you can see in all if you're standing outside," Nick sighed.
"So what're gonna do?" Kevin asked.
"Well, we're gonna go shopping for the stuff we need," Lance answered.
The ten guys worked out a shopping plan together. They decided that they needed emergency food, batteries, flashlights, rock salt, shovels, and fire starters. They also decided to travel all the way to Stamford for the best selection.
They all got into Brian's and J.C.'s Jeeps. The Backstreet Boys were in Brian's bright blue one and *N SYNC in J.C.'s dark blue one.
They reached Stamford quickly. They all got out and hiked into the mall. None of them could decide how to do the shopping. Since they did not have guards with them, they did not want to be recognized, so they split the list apart and left each other alone to go their separate ways.
An hour later they all met back at the North directory, everyone but Chris. Joey, Kevin, and Howie, the least recognized ones, all sat down on the bench next to the directory. The others ventured off to do some window shopping. Nick and Brian went to a store that had supplies for practical jokes. J.C. and Lance went to the pet store to visit all of the animals. Justin and A.J. went in search of phat sunglasses and outrageous clothes.
Fifteen minutes later, they met back at the North directory again. They decided to wait it out and see if he would show up, late as usual. They waited and he did not come. They started to panic and tried to decide what to do next.
Within ten more minutes, Chris arrived, but he was carrying a giant orange saucer.
"Man, that sled is crunk!" Justin exclaimed.
"Justin, you're just a baby, so, shuttup! Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick, where have you been? We've been waiting," J.C. scolded.
"Dude! Justin is not a baby! Never call me Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick agian. And I was getting a sled. Duh! I was trying to give us some excitement. It's called having fun," Chris replied negatively.
"Chris was being irresponsible. Right, Backstreet Boys?" J.C. said.
"No, Chris was trying to live, right?" Chris said.
"Sorry, bud, we're staying out of this one!" Brian said.
"B-Rok, don't do this to me!" J.C. exclaimed.
"You know what?! We're leaving and we suggest you do, too. We're attracting attention and the two of you almost broke our cover. Plus, this is your argument. For once, Kaos and I aren't fighting. We're staying out of this!" Kevin said.
"Yeah, J.C., come on. Plus, we're on a record for the longest time Bone has gone without upsetting Big Poppa Pearlman and everyone," Brian said in a hushed voice.
"Okay, come on, everyone," J.C. decided.
"Yo, Kaos, did you pay attention? You can make another comic about this!" Brian commented.
"True!" Nick exclaimed.
The five friends talked about other ideas for Nick's comic book that was being constructed quickly. After awhile, they all fell silent and stayed that way for the rest of the journey home.
*N SYNC's problem in their car was that no one could agree. J.C. was turning the argument with Chris into a battle. Justin insisted that J.C. sit as a passenger in his own car! Justin ended up driving by convincing the others that J.C. would not be able to fully concentrate and would threaten the safety of all of the passengers.
J.C. continued to anger Chris. After a while Chris tried to start a fist fight with J.C. Lance and Joey had to hold him back. Then Chris just burped after every sentence J.C. said and made faces. These actions made the Big Daddy turn into the Furious Daddy and Mr. Casual was transformed into Mr. Temper.
"Everyone, just shuttup! I try to be nice and cheerful and everything, but this has gone too far! You guys have never seen my temper. So knock it off before I have to get really, really, really mad!" Lance exclaimed furiously.
The five guys fell silent.
"Maybe we should just stay away from each other for awhile," Justin suggested.
Everybody agreed.
"You know, tonight we should have, like, a competition. The five of us verse *N SYNC!" Nick suggested.
"Yeah! I want to beat their heads in after what happened at the mall earlier today," Kevin said fiercly.
"It wasn't that bad!" Howie explained.
"Yes, it was!" the others exclaimed in unison.
"But what about our agreements that we will stay peaceful friends while we're up here?" Howie asked.
"What about the ten thousand promises that they gave to us? Our ten thousand promises that *N SYNC lied to us..." Brian and A.J. sang.
Nick stuffed his fist in his mouth and looked away so that no one but Brian could tell that he was laughing uncontrollably, but silently.
"Dude, let's get them back, and get them back good!" Nick exclaimed once he stopped laughing.
"Well," Kevin corrected him.
"Good, well, whatever! We're in this for revenge, not grammar!" Nick barked.
"So what are we going to do?" Brian asked.
"Yeah, what are we gonna do? A.J. asked.
"Here's an idea." Nick said. "We have advantages. We are still friends, and we've known each other longer. Here's what we do. We'll have a trivia conteset, like on Friends with Chandler and Joey verse-" Nick said.
"Back to the point!" A.J. interrupted.
"So we'll make up questions about them and they can make up ours. We answer questions about each other and they'll answer questions about them. Whaddya think?" Nick finished.
"For being the baby, you're a genius!" Kevin declared.
"Yeah, whatever! I think I'll take that as a compliment," Nick answered.
"Great! Okay we're back. Now let's start," Brian suggested cheerfully.
They excitedly bounced out of the car and ran inside to wait for their competition.
When *N SYNC came in, Nick quickly informed them on his idea. He gave an explanantion of the competition as a way to let off some steam from the day. Everyone agreed to participate, though they still wanted to stay away from each other. The preparations began.
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