"If you know what you want
Then you go and you find it
And you get it…"

Britney twisted the phone cord tightly around the tip of her finger, watching as the blood was trapped just beneath her unpainted nail. She let go of the plastic cord and watched as it unwound.

"It was so cool, Justin," she said. "It was my voice coming out of those speakers. It wasn’t my voice mixed with other peoples like it always was on the Club. It was just me."

"It’s an amazing feeling, isn’t it?" Justin said. "Just wait until you hear your song on the radio for the first time."

Britney coughed slightly, laughing. "Yeah, uh huh. Like that’s ever going to happen."

"Have a little faith," Justin said. "You’ll be so big—we all will be—that the world won’t know what hit it."

"You guys will be, anyway," Britney said. She continued before Justin could say anything. "They gave me a tape to bring home with me. We all listened to it together before dinner." She smiled, twisting the cord around her finger again.

"What’d your parents say?"

"We listened to it five times," Britney said. "By the fifth time my little sister was bouncing around the room with a hairbrush pretending she was singing."

Justin’s voice took on a rich quality when he laughed. "Maybe she’ll follow in your footsteps."

Britney stood up from her bed as she shook her head. "No. I don’t think so. My mom said that she knew I was going to be a performer when I was, like, two. My little sister just isn’t in to doing those sorts of things."

"Yeah." Justin sighed and the sound echoed through the phone connection. "There are just some people out there who don’t want to get up and perform. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?"

Again, Britney laughed. "I’d hate to be one of those people."

"I think we all would," Justin said.
--

Lance looked up from his magazine as Justin came into the bus lounge and closed the phone. "That Britney?"

Justin nodded and flopped down onto the couch.

"What’d she have to say?" Lance asked. He looked down at the magazine sitting on his lap and tried to look uninterested.

"She just finished recording her first song," Justin said. Lance looked up and saw that Justin was smiling as he spoke. "Remember when we finished our first song?"

Lance didn’t really have to force his smile. "Yeah."

"I told her to wait until she heard her song on the radio for the first time."

Lance laughed out loud. "And hopefully she won’t be like you and drop a very breakable picture frame in the middle of a crowded store." He laughed more when Justin flipped him off.

"I was excited," Justin said. "Sue me."

"So when do we get to hear her song?" Lance asked. "Is she going to send us a tape?"

"We’re going to do better than that," Justin said. "We’re going to her first show."

Lance arched one eyebrow. "Her first show?"

Justin nodded. "They’ve got her doing a mini-set at some teen club in Lexington. She said she wanted us both there, so I said we would be. That okay with you?"

"When is it?" Lance frowned slightly.

"Three weeks," Justin said. "We have the weekend off. I already checked. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but."

"I’ll be there," Lance said.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Justin spoke again, his voice brimming with laughter. "I was thinking that we could be her first groupies. Write her name on our faces, have big signs that say ‘We love Britney!’ on them. What do you think?"

Lance smiled slowly then started laughing. "Works for me."
--

"Baby, I’m so into you—" Britney slid gently across the floor in front of the mirror in her prep room at the teen club. "—You got that something, what can I do? Baby, you spin me around—" She spun on her sock covered feet on the wooden floorboards. When she looked up, back into the mirror, she shrieked, turning around again immediately, hands falling to the tops of her hipbones.

"Justin Randall Timberlake, you do not sneak up on me like that."

Laughing, Justin stepped through the doorway and into the room, Lance was close behind him.

"But we didn’t want to interrupt you, BJ," Justin said. "I know how pissed you got on the Club when people interrupted you."

Britney narrowed her eyes. "Sneaking up on me is worse, Timberlake," she said. Her eyes narrowed further. "What is on your guys’ faces?"

She managed not to smile when Lance self-consciously raised the tips of his fingers to the left side of his face.

Justin just stepped closer to Britney and turned his head fully so that she could see his shaved-smooth cheek.

"’I love Britney’?" Britney asked, reading the glittery words.

Justin nodded. "Lance and I talked it over and decided that we were your first groupies. We even had t-shirts made for the Britney Spears fan club. I’m president and he’s—" Justin paused and then turned to Lance. "What are you again, Lance?"

Britney looked over at Lance and saw him rolling his eyes and moving his finger in circles at his temple before pointing at Justin. She laughed.

"Hey," Justin said. He stepped back towards Lance and slapped him on the arm.

Lance just shrugged.

"Okay," Justin said. "So there’s no fan club, but we wanted to show how much we support you."

"By putting glitter on your faces?" Britney asked.

"And making signs," Lance said, speaking for the first time.

Britney blinked. She always forgot how deep Lance’s voice was.

"I get the ‘Britney drives me crazy!’ sign while Justin gets the ‘I love BJ!’ one."

Britney moved a hand up to her forehead. "You guys are going to embarrass me, aren’t you?"

Justin stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her gently, making her lean up against him. "We’ll be good if you want us to, Britney. We just wanted to take your mind off of the performance."

Britney swallowed before she grinned weakly. "How ‘bout you sit in the front row and hold up the signs really high so I can’t see anyone beyond them?"

She looked up at Justin and saw him smiling at Lance. "That’s the spirit," he said, turning back to her. He pressed his lips to the top of her head. "You’re going to do so good, BJ."

Britney hardly heard him, though. Her eyes were focused on Lance, noticing that he’d looked away as soon as Justin’s lips had touched her head.

There was a knock on the door and Britney looked up to see her costume coordinator.

"Boys out," the older woman said. "We need to get her dressed."

Justin dropped his arm from Britney’s shoulders and started walking back towards the door. He turned just before he reached Lance. "We’ll be in the front row, okay?"

Britney nodded and swallowed heavily.
--

"What did you say her three songs were that she was performing?" Lance asked.

Justin frowned. Some of the glitter cracked and flaked off of his cheek.

"’Baby, One More Time,’" Justin said. His eyebrows knitted together. "’Sometimes’ and ‘Crazy’ or ‘You Drive Me Crazy’—something like that."

"’Baby, One More Time?’" Lance asked. "That doesn’t sound so clean."

Lance saw Justin turn to him and give him a dry look. "This is Britney. Do you think she’d sing anything that wasn’t clean?"

Lance smiled and shook his head. The lights in the club went dim and they both turned to face the stage.

A teenage boy walked out onto the platform and tapped at the microphone standing in the middle of the stage. "Good evening," he said. "Thank you all for coming out tonight as we spotlight some talented young artists from our area."

There was a smattering of applause.

"First up," the boy said, "is Miss Britney Spears. She was a member of the now-former Mickey Mouse Club and is in the process of recording her first CD."

"Go, Britney!" Justin called through cupped hands. Lance looked over at him.

"And so, without further ado, Britney Spears singing ‘Baby, One More Time.’"

The music started and Britney walked out into the middle of the platform. She stopped and dropped her chin to her chest. Her hair was up in two pigtails above her ears, and she was wearing the equivalent of the catholic schoolgirl outfit, with the shirt tied up right below her breasts.

Justin hooted and Lance looked back at the stage. His eyes went wide.

"Oh baby, baby." Britney nearly growled the words as the lights on the stage came up. "Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know that something wasn’t right here." She started to move around the stage.

Lance blinked, the sign falling to the ground in front of him as his fingers went limp. He looked down and saw that Justin’s was there, too.

"Oh baby, baby, I shouldn’t have let you go, and now you’re out of sight, yeah. Show me how you want it to be. Tell me, baby, ‘cause I need to know now, oh because. My loneliness is killing me."

Lance jumped when he heard Justin’s voice in his ear. "I told you she’d be good, didn’t I?"

Lance nodded, not taking his eyes away from the stage.

Britney strutted, twirling one of her pigtails around the tips of her fingers. "And I must confess I still believe, when I‘m not with you I lose my mind, give me a sign, hit me baby, one more time." She did a mock boxing motion.

Lance found his head bobbing up and down with the beat, and when he briefly took his eyes off of the stage, was pleased to find that other people were bobbing their heads, too.
--

"Thank you," Britney said. She was smiling widely, sweat sparkling on her forehead. She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, adrenaline still running through her system. "Thank you guys so much for coming."

Britney nearly threw herself at Lance, wrapping her arms around his neck. She could feel herself shaking against him as his arms loosely closed around her waist. Her pigtails tickled her cheeks.

"I get a hug, too," Justin said from behind her. "It was my idea, after all, for us to come."

Britney felt Lance’s arms drop quickly from around her waist and she let go, throwing herself at Justin with just as much enthusiasm.

"I don’t think I could have done that without you guys out there," she said against Justin’s chest.

"You would have done fine without us here," Lance said. "You didn’t seem that nervous when we showed up."

"I’m a good actress," Britney said with a shaky laugh. "But it helped because I knew you guys were in the front row. I mean, I couldn’t see you, but I could pretend that you two were the only two out there."

"You’ll get used to the adoring fans," Justin said, keeping one arm loosely slung around Britney’s shoulders. "I saw some guys giving you appreciative glances. Didn’t you, Lance?"

Lance nodded.

"So, what’s next?" Justin asked.

Britney saw that he was looking at her again. "Next?" she asked.

"Yeah," Justin said. "Where’s your next show?"

"Oh," Britney said. She looked down at the floor for an instant. "I don’t know. Why?"

"Well." Justin moved so that he was standing next to Lance and slapped the other teen on the back. "We are president and vice president of the Britney Spears fan club. It’s our duty to be at all of your shows."

Britney laughed. "You are a dork, Justin."

"Just imagine having to live with him," Lance said.

"Shut up," Justin said. "Britney loves me, don’t you, BJ?"

Britney rolled her eyes and nodded exaggeratedly, with too much patience. "Of course I do, Justin. I love you lots and lots." She tried not to look at Lance.
--

"I could have just slept on the floor," Lance said as he looked around Jamie’s bedroom. "I don’t want to put your sister out of her bed."

"She doesn’t care," Britney said

Lance watched as she stuffed the pillow into the pillowcase and fluffed it before putting it on the bed.

Britney turned back towards him. "I have an extra bed in my room—the rollout kind—but it’s not like either you or Justin could have slept there."

Lance chuckled, looking at Britney fondly. "Yeah, parents don’t normally like that sort of thing."

Britney nodded.

"You did really good tonight, BJ," Lance said as he sat down on the bed. "I hope you’re proud."

"It was fun." Britney sat down right next to the pillow. "I feel like I should have other words to describe it, but I just don’t."

"It’s supposed to be fun," Lance said. He looked down at the horse-patterned bedspread and traced one of the printed figures with his finger.  "It’s good that it was."

"I’m glad that you and Justin came down."

"He wouldn’t have missed it," Lance said slowly, carefully. He looked up to see Britney smiling shyly. "I was glad you wanted me to come, too."

"Of course I wanted you to come," Britney said. "Why wouldn’t I have?"

Lance shrugged. He looked back down at the bedspread.

"You’re a great friend, Lance—just as good a friend as Justin. You both have been here since the beginning of this for me. It means so much to have you both encouraging me."

They sat in silence for a few more moments before Britney yawned.

"You should go to bed, Britney," Lance said. "You must be exhausted. I’m sorry for keeping you up."

"You aren’t keeping me up," Britney said as she yawned again. "I’m not tired, really. I want to talk with you some."

"Yes, you are," Lance said. "Go to bed. We can talk tomorrow, okay?"

"But not without Justin," Britney said. She yawned for a third time. "Maybe I am tired."

Lance nodded and patted her gently on the arm. "We’ll talk tomorrow," he said again.

Britney stood, blinking tiredly. She touched Lance’s shoulder and leaned down, giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks again for being here."

"Anytime, Brit," Lance said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Britney said.

Lance watched her walk across the room. He lay down on the bed as she shut the door behind her. His fingers brushed against the place her lips had touched his cheek.
--

"My god is she going to be big," Justin said. His leg bounced up and down, pivoting on his heel, brushing up against the seat in front of him in the economy section of the airplane.

Lance nodded.

"I mean, did you see her on stage last night? Did you hear that voice?"

"I was there," Lance said, emphasizing the ‘was.’ He turned to look out the window.

"But," Justin said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lance could see Justin gesturing wildly with his hands.

"Just."

"I get it, Justin," Lance said, still not turning from the window. "She’s good, she’s going to be big, I told her all that stuff last night and heard you tell it to her five times this morning."

"What’s the matter with you, man?" Justin asked.

Lance did turn away from the window, then, and looked at Justin. The younger teen was giving him a look that was a cross between concern and anger.

"I’m tired," Lance said, pretending that was all that was bothering him. "You try getting a good nights sleep sharing the bed with 73 stuffed horses. I counted."

Justin’s look faded to one of amusement. He slapped Lance on the shoulder. "Sleep, man. Rid your brain of those horrid images."

Lance didn’t laugh, just nodded, and rested his head against the plexi-glass of the airplane window.
--

"How did it go?" Felicia asked, flopping down onto Britney’s bed. "I want details. I could just about kill my boss for not giving me the night off."

"There will be other shows," Britney said. "At least that’s what Justin and Lance seem to think."

"Of course there will be other shows," Felicia said. "And I can’t believe that Justin and Lance flew here for it."

"I know." Britney pulled one of her stuffed animals into her lap and hugged it. "It was really good of them to come."

"And you don’t admit that you like one of them," Felicia said. "I think the question now is which one of them likes you, for them to come all this way for a three song show."

"One of them liking me isn’t the only reason they would come see me."

Felicia raised an eyebrow.

"They’re just my good friends," Britney said. "That’s all."

"I know." Felicia nodded. "You just talk to Justin for an hour every night."

Britney shrugged. "Can I tell you something? Something that you can’t tell anybody?" She lowered her voice.

"Of course." Felicia scooted closer to Britney.

"Last summer, before they left on tour, Lance kissed me."

Felicia blinked. "He did? And you didn’t tell me?"

Britney nodded. "I liked—like—him a lot," she said, "but I didn’t want him to be my rebound for Oscar."

"So," Felicia said. "You’re over Oscar now, aren’t you?"

"It’s awkward now," Britney said. "I don’t know what to do about it. Just."

"Why is it awkward?"

"Because I turned him down, I think." Britney bounced her fist on the mattress. "Because Justin keeps making all of these jokes and touching me and being all flirty, and. I didn’t want to hurt Lance."

"Uh huh."

"I don’t know why it’s awkward," Britney said. "I don’t want it to be awkward. Tell me why it’s awkward."

"It’s awkward because you know that at one point he liked you and you didn’t return the feelings."

Britney nodded. "But I did sort of return the feelings, it just wouldn’t have been smart. I just want to be friends."

"Show him that," Felicia said. "Just be his friend and don’t let Justin’s comments make things awkward between you two. He’ll get over it, Brit."

Britney nodded.

"Now, I want to hear the details of your show."

"It was so cool," Britney said. "So, totally cool."

Felicia nodded and sat up on the bed, listening as Britney talked.