Part 3

JC woke up surprised to find Justin starting a fire. He looked around to see that the other guys were still asleep. He propped himself up on his elbow, watching Justin curiously. He took in the dark circles under Justin's eyes and looked at his best friend worriedly. Justin always worried ten times worse than the rest of them when it came to personal issues. JC only wondered what it was that was bothering him so much.

"Hey, JuJu. What are you doing up already?"

Justin shrugged, still working on the fire. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to get up and start doing something."

JC smiled. "There must be something funny in that rice."

"Huh?"

"Nothin'. How do you think Backstreet's doing?"

Justin shrugged, still concentrating on starting the fire. "I don't know. Who cares?"

"Justin..."

"What?" Justin asked, looking up annoyed. "What did I do now?"

"This isn't you and you know it isn't."

"Excuse me for not being Mary-Freaking-Sunshine."

JC looked at Justin. "Something's bothering you for you to act this way."

Justin looked back down at the swirls of smoke beginning to form, knowing JC was right. Why did JC always have to be right? He must've been born with the I'm-always-going-to-be-right-gene.

"Why have you been acting like you don't care when you know a part of you does?" JC asked, looking at the young man in front of him. Justin had to be the most sensitive and nicest guy out of them all. The Justin he had been seeing lately was nothing compared to the Justin that he knew. The Justin he knew had made a rare appearance the night of Tribal Council.

"Beeeeeecause," Justin drew out, "......just because," he finished, changing his mind about answering. He knew there was no point in drawing out the discussion. He didn't know what he was thinking trying to hide anything from JC. He should just give up and answer him now. JC was going to get it out of him eventually. He always did. The

bastard.

"Curly-"

"How long are you gonna bug me if I don't tell you?"

"Until you tell me."

Justin laughed, jumping up. He had finally gotten the fire started. He looked at JC, smiling, a gleam of happiness shining from his blue eyes. JC was looking at him with a small smile on his face, but his eyebrows were raised with concern. Justin shook his head. JC never knew just when to give up.

" 'Cause of Nick, that's why. Something about that guy just really bothers me. I don't know what it is. He doesn't seem too concerned with us, so why I should I let him know if I'm concerned with them?"

JC laughed, talking in a high pitched, motherly voice. "And if Nickolas jumps off the bridge, are you gonna jump off, too?"

Justin turned around regretably. "Fine, make fun of me."

JC jogged over to Justin, wrapping his arm around his neck. "Justin, I'm just teasing you," he said, giving Justin a noogie.

"Stop!" Justin yelled, squirming his way out of JC's strong grasp.

"Justin, all I'm trying to say is that this isn't you. Don't let Nick Carter change you because then he really wins and you lose."

"Thanks for the pep talk. When can I send another problem to your column, Dear JC?"

JC rolled his eyes and rubbed his hand over the thick stubble on his face. "I still keep trying to figure out exactly where it all went wrong with us. You would think that with the way the media hounds us and criticizes us for being "boybands" that we would stick together to ride this out. But, no, we turn against each other and do to each other

what the media does. Insult ourselves."

"You're right," Justin agreed. "When we say anything that even insinuates the Backstreet Boys have no talent or vice versa, we're in a way talking about ourselves. We're, in a way, saying that boybands aren't going to last."

"How can we?" another voice spoke up.

JC and Justin turned to see Chris yawning. "How are we gonna survive when we're stupidly volunteering to abandon ourselves on an island trying to survive against our rivals? We're gonna be like the dinosaurs," Chris smiled. "We're all going to DIE!" Chris yelled playfully. "We're going to be extinct, and they're gonna have museums dedicated to us. 'Here,'," Chris said in a museum director voice, " 'is NSYNC. It's rumored they didn't survive because the Backstreet Boys literally decided to 'tear up their hearts.' The Backstreet Boys apparently didn't realize that it was just a song'," Chris finished, laughing.

"Chris, you're gross."

"Love to chat, but I'm still tired," Chris said, repositioning himself back to sleep. "Try not to be loud, PEOPLE!"

JC and Justin smiled. Chris was too much sometimes.

"You know," Justin said in a low voice, "I was kinda worried about Backstreet last night. I was remembering how it was when we went through tribal council. Hell, man. True hell. I never thought that anything could split us up."

"Hey, just physically," JC said, following Justin to the shoreline. "Joe's here in spirit."

"Spirit? He's here in more than just spirit. I can still smell him." Justin smiled. "I miss him."

"I know; me, too."

They both looked at each other. "But we won't tell him that," JC laughed.

"Definitely not," Justin said, laughing with him. "I wonder what he's doing right now."

JC smiled. "If he's not out dancing somewhere, he's flirting with some girl, and if he's not doing that-"

"If he's not doing that, then he's shopping himself into more of a fashion disaster than he already is."

JC started laughing. "Alex, I'll take A, B, and C for $500."

Justin smiled, biting his bottom lip. "Man, I miss Joey," Justin laughed lightly. "What do you think they're putting in the water out here?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good."

"I have a feeling that Howie was the one who had to leave," Justin said out of nowhere.

JC made a face. "That sucks. He's the one I like."

"I know. He's the only one I can stand. They should've sent Nick off the island. Frickety-Frack-Frack.....whatever they call him. He needs to go home already."

JC shook his head. He knew if he waited long enough, Justin would bring up Nick. He wondered if Nick was the same way with his friends about Justin.

"Probably," JC muttered.

"What?"

JC shook his head. "Nothing, man. Why don't you and Nick get along? I

understand the competition between our groups, but you and Nick have had some personal vendetta concerning just the two of you for years now. What's that all about?"

Justin shook his head. He imagined that Nick had never told his friends the way he had never told his own why they held such a high dislike for each other. It was Nick's business and Justin wanted to keep it that way. Justin hated lying to the guys, so what he did was just not answer their questions directly.

"Why does there have to be a reason?" Justin answered. Justin smiled warmly as he thought about the prank that he and Chris were going to pull on Nick. He was done letting Nick Carter make his life a hell. "Since when does there have to be a reason for anything that you do?"

--

"Whatcha doin, Frack?"

Nick looked up from the crashing waves to see a concerned Kevin staring down at him. Nick smiled. He could swear that Kevin could list "worrying over Nick" as a hobby.

If Nick miraculously woke up one day without any problems, Kevin would probably make one up for him just so that he could continue to worry about him. Kevin would probably go crazy if Nick actually ever figured out how to solve his own problems. Nick smiled as he realized how lucky he was.

"Nothin, Train. Just looking at the water."

"It doesn't run on batteries, Nick," AJ said, walking by them. "The water rolls that way because God wants them to. They're called waves," AJ joked.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Lame, AJ. Majorly lame. Negative 10 points. Try again later."

Kevin sat down next to Nick. "Are you sure that nothing's wrong?"

"Kev, what are you going to do the day I finally grow up?"

Brian walked by them and started laughing. "Hey, AJ, did you hear that? Nick thinks he's gonna grow up...."

Nick smiled, shaking his head. It didn't matter how old they got, they were always going to see him as the baby. He smiled. He was okay with that. Sometimes. Sometimes he was okay with that. Other times he wanted to jump off of buildings. Really high buildings. Or better yet, he wanted to throw them off of really high buildings.

"I'm fine, Kevin, really," Nick said, squinting at Kevin. The sun was shining brightly behind him.

"Is it Justin?"

Nick looked away from Kevin and rolled his eyes. "Why does everything have to be about Justin?" Nick spat out.

Kevin laughed. "It's about Justin. Is there somethin' goin' on between you two we should know about? You two fight more than you and Mandy do."

"And that's saying a lot," AJ muttered, walking by them again.

Nick turned around to shoot AJ a glare, and AJ smiled back to him.

"Yeah, and except Justin GRADUATED," AJ laughed, walking faster away from Nick. He figured if Nick jumped up to beat him down, he should at least have a head start to get a good run in.

Nick was about to jump up when Kevin put a hand on his shoulder to push him back down. Kevin giggled, trying to keep down his laughter. "You know he's just trying to get you mad, Nicky. Ignore him."

Nick relaxed, flipping the small bangs that found their way to his forehead. His blue eyes surveyed the calm waters in front of him and he wondered what Mandy was doing at that moment.

"It's a big ocean, Nick. And a big world. Lots of other girls out there who are worth your time."

Nick didn't bother to turn to look at Kevin. He hated how Kevin could read his thoughts. He hated it even more when Kevin tried to give him advice about Mandy. Why couldn't everyone just accept that he loved her? It's not like they were the ones who went home to her.

"Enemy coming!" Brian yelled, trying to talk like a pirate. "Argh!"

Nick looked in the direction that Brian was pointing to and saw two figures walking in their direction. He could instantly tell that one of them was Justin. The huge shade his mop was casting on the ground made him sure of that much. He couldn't tell who the other one was. It was either JC or Chris.

"It's the love in Nick's life who actually has an education!" AJ laughed, jumping around. "Nick, just when you thought your day couldn't get any better."

Nick calmly looked at AJ. "At least Mandy isn't getting kicked out of groups that already suck and isn't making porn videos."

AJ suddenly turned serious. "She didn't make a porn video, and you know it. That was a rumor."

Nick calmly kicked the sand with his foot. "Lay off Mandy and I'll lay off of Amanda," Nick said, walking by AJ with a small smile on his face.

What pissed AJ off more than someone yelling and insulting him or anyone close to him was someone calmly insulting him or anyone close to him. It was the smugness that got to AJ.

"Guys, that's enough," Kevin interrupted tiredly. "We don't want them to see us fighting.....so chill out."

AJ put on a tight, fake smile as they got closer. "Sure, sweetheart."

--

 

"Man, I can't believe we walked this far," JC said, seeing Backstreet's camp come into view.

"I don't see why we can't just turn around," Justin whined again.

"Because, they've already seen us. We can't just turn around and go back. It's rude."

"And? So we're rude. You're mom isn't here to ground you, JC."

"Curly, are you going to make me drag you by the ear?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "I'm not 12, you know."

"That's right," JC said, snapping his fingers. "You just turned, what? 14?"

"Hey guys," Brian smiled, greeting them. "What brings you guys over here?"

Kevin looked at them wearily. "Please tell me that you don't have some sort of challenge with you."

"Puh-puh-puh-puhleeeeeeeeeeease," Brian pleaded, batting his eyelashes.

JC laughed. "No, there's no challenge. Me and Justin were just walking and talking, and we ended up further out than we realized."

Everyone looked at Justin who hadn't said a word. He was stubbornly staring out into the water.

JC gently nudged Justin and he refused to turn around. He wanted to mutter to him to say hi, but he knew they would hear him. He continued to talk to Brian, trying to get a way for Justin to talk. He even pretended to sway his foot back and forth and kicked Justin a few times. Nothing. JC suddenly smiled, knowing what would get Justin talking again.

"Yeah, Justin was just saying last night that he wanted to come and see you guys to make sure that you were okay after last night. He even secretly hoped that Nick would stay. Little buddy said he would miss Nick if he had to leave."

Nick looked at Justin weirdly and Justin finally broke his blue gaze with the water to sharply turn to look at JC.

"You lying freak!"

"Justin, it's okay to admit-"

"To admit what? That you said that it was a joke that they let Brian put a song on their album about his mom?"

JC turned to Justin. Damn. He should have known better than to try to push Justin. He had been in a crappy mood all day.

"What?" Brian asked, clenching his jaw.

Kevin looked at all of them. Wouldn't they ever get along? Someone always had to say something....

"I didn't mean it like that," JC said, turning to Brian after shooting a million daggers in Justin's direction. They didn't seem to be piercing him anywhere, so JC made a mental note to beat the crap out of him later. It wasn't exactly smart for Justin to try to start something with the Backstreet Boys when they were outnumbered by two. And shit,

Kevin was big.

"So what did you mean?" Brian asked, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry if I prefer to write a song praising my mother for the love she's given me instead of a song that publicizes my sexual frustration because I can't get laid by my girlfriend everytime I want."

JC also clenched his jaw. He wasn't going to fight with them. They were all uptight because Howie was gone and they needed to take it out on someone. He remembered how he felt the day after Joey left.

"Can't we just get along?" Nick asked. He seemed to stop to think. "Okay, scratch that. Someone please slap me silly."

"Can I do it?" Justin asked, raising his hand.

Nick looked at Justin annoyed. His curls were going everywhere. Nick wondered how many gallons of gel Justin had to use to control the frizz from hell. Hell, it had to take concrete to keep that head from attacking innocent bystanders.

"Sure, you can do it," Nick tightly smiled, "if you want to go cross-eyed and crazy."

Justin waved his fingers in front of him. "Oooh....I'm scaaaared."

"I would be too if I had that on my head."

"What's the matter? Missing your Barbie Doll, Nickyyyyyy?" Justin taunted.

"It's your girlfriend who's filled with plastic, Timberfuck."

JC put his arm across Justin's chest to keep him from advancing.

"Why do you always have to dump on Brit for?" Justin asked annoyed.

Nick laughed. "That's a no-brainer, Justin."

"Then that explains why you know the answer."

Nick lost his smile. "Because it pisses you off, loser."

Justin knew he shouldn't say what he was about to say. Everything in his head was telling him not to, but he wouldn't listen to himself. It was like when you were beyond the point of being mad and you just wanted to say whatever you could to hurt the other person. Justin could foresee how bad he was going to feel after saying what he was going to say, but all that did was make him hesitate. And the words were out before he could even second guess himself.

"I may be a loser, but I at least I'm a loser who has my family there. They're not all trying to squeeze money out of me or transferring from one side of the country to another while I pay millions of dollars on their homes OR trying to turn my baby brothers into overnight superstars," Justin spat out angrily.

Nick's eyes widened a little and the the three remaining Backstreet Boys crowded around Nick protectively. Even JC's eyes widened at Justin's remark. It was so cold, JC couldn't believe that Justin had let the words escape his mouth.

"Listen you little son of a bit-"

JC cut Kevin off. "Where in the hell do you get off? Listen, you damn dinosaur, you're about a century older than Justin. I'm tired of you always trying to fight Nick's fights for him. You have to know what it's like to live with a 19 year old. What's Nick's temper like, huh, Kevin?"

Kevin looked at JC irritably. JC was beginning to annoy the crap out of him.

"What does Nick's temper have to do with anything?"

Kevin looked at Nick and noticed that he seemed to be staring at Justin strangely. He had surprisingly still not said a word.

"The way Nick acts has everything to do with this. Justin and Nick are still young and immature. What kind of man are you if you're going to pick a fight with a kid like Justin?" JC asked, looking at him like he was crazy. "You're like 30. You're a full decade older than Justin, so you should know better than to get worked up over anything that he says. Like you weren't like that when you were his age?"

"What makes you think you're always right?"

AJ looked between Kevin and JC. It was like they were looking in mirrors.

"You think you know everything," Kevin said, annoyed.

"And like you don't," AJ muttered. He turned away as he saw Kevin giving him a look. "Interesting trees they have out here," AJ said, looking around.

Kevin turned back to JC. "Nick's family is none of Justin's business."

"Just like whatever Justin and Nick are fighting about is none of yours."

Kevin was beginning to understand how crazy he made the guys when he thought his word was it and when he was convinced that he knew what he was talking about.

"You're a low life son of a bitch."

Everyone turned to Nick surprised. It was the first thing he had said since Justin's outburst. Justin tried to look at Nick unfazed. The truth was that what Nick said was true. Justin was already feeling lower than low, but he refused to let Nick know that.

"Am I? Thanks for that, Nick. Now I can die happy."

"Oh, you can die alright."

JC saw that Kevin was about to get into it, but he raised his hand. He hoped that Kevin would just let them do whatever it was they were going to do. They needed to get over their anger already because it was getting crazy.

"Like your family's so perfect, Justin. Your father left your mother and didn't really come back into your life until he heard the cash register go ca-ching. So you think my family's fucked up? Yeah, we must be really messed up, huh, Justin? A bunch of weirdos for my parents to still be together. But I'm not as lucky as you are. They're not split up to where my father can pop kids out with other women. I don't have step brothers and sisters popping up all over the place."

Justin clenched his jaw. He deserved that and he knew it, but he wasn't about to let Nick talk about his family that way.

"You're still upset about Mandy, aren't you?"

The guys all looked at Justin and Nick confused. Kevin got even more confused as he saw Nick's face turn red. Mandy? What had Justin said about Mandy?

"That was years ago, Nick. I'm telling you, I didn't know she was your

girlfriend."

"What?" AJ asked, confused. What in the world were they talking about?

"Don't you dare mention Mandy," Nick spit out.

Brian was lost. He looked at the other guys faces to see if they knew what was going on, but they were all gaping at Nick and Justin. They looked like a bunch of retards just staring at them.

"What are you guys talking about?" Brian asked.

Justin sighed. "I never told anyone, you know. That was your business. I'm not as horrible as you try to make me out to be."

"You knew damn well who she was."

"I'm telling you, I didn't!" Justin yelled frustrated.

"How would you feel if I went after Britney, huh?" Nick challenged. "I could help her out where you're lacking."

JC looked at Justin. He didn't know that Justin had it in him to turn purple. But there he was. A regular rainbow, turning red, blue, purple, and green.

"Hey, can you do orange?" Brian asked, trying to lighten the situation. They continued to ignore him.

"For the last time, I didn't know WHO she was! I don't track down your

girlfriends, Nick. And what does it matter if I did know who she was, Nick? She came to me. You were obviously not doing something right, so she came to me where I could."

Before Nick could think, he reached out and pushed Justin, forcing Justin to rush into the ground. Everyone sort of froze as Justin watched Nick and Nick watched Justin.

Justin stood up and dusted himself off, shaking his head.

"I thought you were better than that, Carter, but hell, I've been wrong before."

Nick and Justin stared each other down as their friends watched in suspense.

"Good thing you know when you're wrong," Nick said simply and walked away.

Brian started after him immediately. "Frack?"

Kevin caught his cousin. "Stop. Just leave him alone for now. He needs to be alone."

But he hadn't even glanced at Brian as he spoke. He was still staring at JC and Justin unwavering in his gaze.

"Are you two done here? Or do you have any more Jerry Springer secrets up your sleeve?"

"Kevin, I didn't even know," JC began annoyed. "This is news to me."

"I don't care," Kevin snapped. "Take your brat and go. I think it might be time for Lance to give him his bottle."

Justin's head snapped up. "Bottle?"

"Hey, if I'm a dinosaur, then you're a freakin' fetus. Get the hell out of here," Kevin muttered and turned to see Nick's figure getting smaller in the distance.

JC rolled his eyes. "Real mature, Kev. Now that all this crap is out in the open, these two should find a way to make some peace, don't you think? Like you want Nick carrying around all that anger."

"Oh, I'm not down for peace," Justin said.

Kevin's stomach churned. Didn't these guys understand English? What part of fucking go away didn't they understand? He sucked in air, and was about to let him have it when Justin caught his eye.

The kid looked beyond pathetic with guilt, regret, exhaustion and God only knew what else written all over his face. It was a look he'd seen many times on Nick.

"So you fucked Mandy?" AJ asked shaking his head solemnly. "Well, well. If the girl had actually taken high school health, she would have known better. Isn't that the class where they teach you not to fuck feather dusters?"

"Shut the hell up," Justin snapped, but he was more annoyed than angry. He was wishing he hadn't even woken up that morning.

"JC, are you done here? We have a lot of work to do being that we're one member short today," Kevin finally said.

"Yeah, um, we know," JC said. "Howie left?"

"No," Brian smiled. "He's here. He's just using his cyber-crusder super powers to make himself invisible."

JC rolled his eyes.

These guys were too angry to even begin to deal with the reality he, Justin and Chris had recognized earlier that morning. But he didn't really blame them. They were the same way when Joey left.

"Let's go, Justin."

AJ and Brian were starting back to their breakfast. Kevin was right. They did have a lot to do.

But Kevin himself had put that in the back of his mind and was too concerned with his little brother. Justin did not deserve his sympathy even for a second. He was not Nick.

"JC," he called just as the latter turned to follow Justin.

"What?"

"Keep Justin far away from Nick. I think what happened here today is way past anything we're supposed to be doing on the island."

"Fine."

Kevin stepped toward him because he wasn't finished. "Any more problems, and he'll deal with me."

JC rolled his eyes. "See? This is why he never grows up, and he never will."

"No," Kevin said, right in JC's nose. "This is why he knows he's not alone."

"Fine. Look, whatever. You get off on solving Doughboy's problems and threatening a 19-year-old, that's you're problem. I don't give a flying fuck."

Kevin felt his patience snap. He even heard it.

He narrowed his eyes at him, and JC still didn't waver.

"When you have gone through an ounce of the shit we've gone through, then you can pass judgment on what's right and wrong," Kevin began calmly enough, his arms crossing his chest. "When you have actually paid some dues and worked to get something for yourselves, instead of riding our fucking coat tails, then you can tell me who's problems to solve. When you have seen these guys go through the hell that I have," his voice rose as he leaned so close to JC that the other man had to lean back. AJ and Brian were running back to them. "You can open your trap and say something. When your cousin has had heart surgery, and your best friends have lost part of their families, and you have seen that kid," he pointed toward where Nick had disappeared. "Grow up in that hell he calls a family and make it, then you can call me a meddlesome dinosaur. In the meantime, take your phony, two-bit, sorry-ass out of my sight!"

JC finally blinked and took a step away from Kevin's glaring green eyes.

Kevin pressed a smile. Sometimes, size was everything.

--

"You should have said something," JC said after he and Justin had walked in silence for what seemed like an hour but had only been a few minutes.

It had taken JC that long to stop fuming. Justin just seemed stunned into silence.

"It would have been nice if I had known what kind of crap went down with you, Nick and the drop out."

"Why?" Justin finally asked. "So you could have been understanding? So you could have given me advice." He shrugged. "Don't fuckin' bother."

That threw JC back. "You're mad at me? What did I do?"

"I'm not mad," Justin muttered.

"Yeah you are. You're giving me lip, and I didn't even do anything. I had to put up with Kevin's bad breath while he gave me sermon about Backstreet hardships. I don't care. I could have given him a list of our shit, too. But I didn't. I'm not carrying around that kind of chip on my shoulder."

Justin shrugged. "Good for you." He knew he shouldn't have been irritating JC. He really wasn't mad at him as much as just mad. He had opened his big mouth about something he had promised himself he'd take to his grave. He really didn't feel guilty for getting involved with Mandy. He had done it blindly, with zero bad intentions involved. But he felt guilty for opening the whole can of worms to both groups. In spite of his own attempts at independence and self-reliance, he knew how the guys felt about him. He was the little one, the kid brother, the baby. And he was almost sure Backstreet looked at Nick the exact same way if not more so. Nick always seemed more lost than himself, and he didn't even think that was humanly possible.

After pretty much ignoring JC the rest of the way home, Justin ended up walking alone. He figured he pretty much deserved it, but he was too mad to talk to anyone about all of that. Things were better when they were just between Nick and him. They knew exactly what they were fighting over.

Now Kevin wanted to kill him, which meant that Chris would want to kill Kevin. Maybe it would take Chris and Lance to kill Kevin? He was kinda big there. JC and Howie would probably go at it, or would that be JC and Brian? Or did AJ have to fight JC because of the two letter names? He couldn't be sure. All he knew was that thing had taken a turn for the worst.

"-fucked Mandy??? You go there, JuJu!" Chris was saying when Justin finally walked up.

"You told them?" Justin whined. "You already told them everything?"

"Yeah he told us," Lance said shaking his head. "You should have said something."

"Why?" Justin asked tiredly.

"So we could have thrown you a party," Chris grinned. "You scored one with the tone-deaf drop-out." He started imitating a sports announcer. "Justin Timberlake, you just slept with Nick Carter's girlfriend, and now Fatty himself hates you for life. What are you gonna do?"

They all just stared at him.

"I'm going to Disneyworld!" Chris said raising his arms in triumph. "Right?"

Justin shook his head and started back toward the water. Maybe he could drown himself.

He felt a tug at his T-shirt that stopped him mid-step.

"Guys," Lance said not letting go of Justin. "I think that's something that's going to have to be left between Nick and Justin. It's their fight and--."

"That's what I thought," JC said. "But you know, Kevin, and he immediately made threats on Justin's life."

"He did?"

"Really?"

JC shrugged. "Sorta. He said that any more problems and he'd be the one dealing with Justin, so what does that mean to you? I think we shouldn't make things worse, but we're going to have to really stick together from now on."

Chris nodded and Lance had to agree.

"Yeah," Lance said. "That's a good idea."

Justin stared at the floor and didn't even want to hear it. Brotherly support wasn't really what he wanted. He just wanted some time alone.

"Did he scare you, Curly?" Chris asked at the kid's silence. "Don't worry. We won't let him beat you to death with those over-grown caterpillars on his face." He raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Not scared," Justin said and pulled out of Lance's reach. "Just need some time, okay?"

"What? Why? You feeling guilty about screwing Mandy?" Chris laughed. "I can't believe you never told us. You just held on to that and didn't--."

"No one said anything about screwing," Justin finally spat. "You guys don't even know what happened."

"So what happened?"

Justin gave him the most annoyed look he could come up with. "I already told you that I just need some time. Why don't you just shut up and--."

"All right, fine," JC said. "You don't have to tell us anything, bro. Chris is just messin' with you. Go. Go walk around or whatever you need to do."

Now Justin was glaring at JC instead of at Chris.

"Don't tell me what to do," he said. "It's not like I don't already have enough shit to deal with--."

"Fine," JC said seriously. "Go deal with your shit."

Justin blinked at him surprised at the tone, the words, everything.

But JC was just out of patience. He was not a saint or a peacemaker, and he was not going to start treating Justin the way Kevin treated Nick. Never.

"Assholes," he muttered before walking away toward the water.

"Great, now you made him mad," Chris said. "Who's going to be the cute one, now? Not Fatone or either one of you two."

Lance actually laughed.

"Will you two stop being stupid, and be serious for once?" JC finally blew up. "This is serious."

The two of them stared at him. Lance knew how hard it was to make JC lose his patience, so he decided just to make things right.

"Sorry," Lance said. "I'll go talk to Justin. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"It's not serious," Chris said. "It just finally makes sense. Those two have hated each other for years, and it's over a girl. Isn't it better than it being over who's got more fans, who's got whiter teeth or who's in the better band? A girl," Chris said satisfied. "I can identify with that. Hell, I can even understand that. The other way, I just thought that they found out they were twins separated at birth, and Nick was pissed because Justin got the cool mom."

JC shook his head. "That's the other thing. Justin threw it in Nick's face that his family's so screwed up. That's what made Kevin get so pissed. We all understand the rivalry now, but Justin's words turned everything into hate. You know how Kevin is with his boys."

"Oh the ape got mad over that?" Chris shrugged. "How were things when you left?"

"Nick took off by himself, and the guys were adjusting to life without Howie. Pretty much like us."

"So Howie left? Figures they'd get rid of the only one that ever makes any sense."

JC gave him a look before heading toward their messy camp. Things were always a mess, and he was always cleaning them up. Sometimes, he wondered why he put up with the lot of them. Chris always wanted to make a joke out of everything. Justin was always in some kind of melodrama. Joey always wanted to have fun, and Lance just wanted to stay out of the way.

He was picking up the coconut shells they had used as breakfast bowls when Chris started to help him.

"Justin will figure all of this out," he said seriously. "He's a smart kid, and I'm sure whatever he said to Nicky boy was out of anger. Besides, it's not like Nick's an innocent victim of Justin's wrath. He gives shit, now he has to take it. He knows that. If things get out of hand with Kevin, you know we'll be there. But I don't think that's going to happen."

"Why? What makes you so sure?"

"Because Kevin thinks. He just doesn't react. He probably lost his temper when you were all talking, but he knows he wants to walk away from here with a whole group. Right now, he's probably consoling Nicky boy and trying to find a way to get the guys to focus on the competition."

JC shook his head unsure.

"Just how much you wanna lose, bro? I know what I'm talking about."

JC knew better than to bet with him. "You never pay up. Go wash the dishes."

--

Things were so quiet without Howie.

Not that he made a lot of noise when he was around, but there were more of them around, and they had all been in better moods, so things were just quiet. Too quiet.

"Nick back yet?" Brian asked as he settled a bunch of drift wood in front of their dying fire.

"No," Kevin said squinting in the direction they last saw him walk off. "He'll be here soon."

"It's getting late," Bri noted. "You should have let me go with him."

Kevin shook his head as he measured out the rice they'd be having for dinner.

"He needs to deal. He'll be back when he's ready. If anyone knows how to take care of himself out here, it's him."

"Yeah Kev, but you know he's upset," Brian said. "You know he's out there thinking about Mandy, him mom and Justin and--."

"And he can deal, Brian. There's nothing to new to the story for him. It's just new to us. And if anything that's what he's having a hard time with. The fact that we all know what he's always tried to keep from us out of embarrassment. When he comes back, we're normal. Got it?"

Brian was nodding. Kevin always made sense when it came to Nick. He was going to have faith in him and believe that this time was no different.

"Okay, fine. Where's Bone?"

"He went to check if we had any new messages. The day's half done and we haven't heard anything about a challenge or anything."

"Maybe they're giving us a break?"

Kevin shook his head. "I almost hope not. I'd like to get off the island as soon as humanly possible."

"Having doubts, cuz?" Brian asked. "Don't worry, those next challenges are ours. Easy."

He sounded so confident. It was funny how he could be so concerned about Nick, yet so sure about the challenges. It was the other way around for Kevin.

"Guys!!!" AJ yelled jogging up the beach toward them. "We got one! We got one!"

"Great," Kevin muttered.

"Here!" AJ breathed hard. "Read it, Kev."

"You didn't read it, Bone?" Brian asked as Kevin unwrapped the little scroll. "I would've."

He caught his breath just as Kevin began to read.

"Dinner's served. Dinner's served for the band who wins the following reward challenge. Both teams compete in "Finish the Song." Winning band wins a pizza buffet dinner. Bring your appetite and your pop music knowledge."

AJ's mouth watered. "Pizza? Guys, we have to win this. I'm starved."

"Me too," Brian said. "I could use some pizza right about now. Imagine all that melted cheese?"

"Think it'll have mushrooms?"

They turned at the sound of Nick's voice.

"I don't know if it's all this rice, but I've been craving mushrooms," he said with a shrug.

"Hey Frack," Kevin greeted easily. "It doesn't say anything about mushrooms, but it does mention a buffet."

Nick touched his stomach. "Good. I'm hungry now. Are we going?"

"I think we should," Kevin said. "It doesn't mention a time, but let's just go."

He stole a good look at Nick just to make sure he was okay. He looked a little tired, but then again they all did. But JC's words hadn't been lost on Kevin, and he was holding back just a bit. Part of him had wanted to immediately search the kid for damage. But he didn't. He knew they had a challenge to win. And forget the pizza. Forget the reward. He wanted to win out of pride.

"Let's go, guys. My stomach's eating itself I'm so starved," AJ said.

Nick passed up Brian and Kevin to catch up with Bone. He didn't really want to be with either of the cousins because he was barely past feeling vulnerable. Either one of them would just bring everything back.

"You okay?" AJ asked as they hurried to the main beach where their prior challenges had been.

"Yeah," Nick shrugged. "It's fine. You guys know about Justin and Mandy. So what? Even before this, she could find the cure for world hunger and everyone would still hate her."

"That's true," AJ said honestly enough. "But if she made you happy, we wouldn't care."

Nick sighed deeply, and AJ let the matter drop.

"Wonder what we'll be doing now?" he muttered as they came upon what looked like a game show. There were two big tables facing each other. One of them had a banner that said NSYNC, the other banner said Backstreet Boys. Steven was standing at a podium between both of them.

"Very sophisticated," Brian smirked as they wandered over to their table. "What are we playing?"

"Hey guys," Steven greeted. "I'll explain the whole thing when NSYNC gets here, okay?"

"Sure."

"Alright."

"No prob."

"Um-huh," Nick muttered and dreaded the thought of laying eyes on Justin Timberlake again. "Crap. There they come."

Steven noticed something different between the bands that afternoon. They were always somewhat civil to each other, with everyone but the little ones, making an effort to be friendly. This time, no greetings were exchanged.

"Gentlemen," Steven smiled tightly at them. "Welcome to Finish the Song. It's the game show where your knowledge of pop music will earn you a big reward. Who's hungry?"

"Me!" Chris yelled. "I'm starved! Where's my pizza?"

"We didn't eat dinner," AJ said. "'Cause we're taking that pizza home."

"Not so fast, Boner," Justin called. "We already divided those pizzas among ourselves. They're ours."

"Shut your blow hole," AJ snapped at the kid. "No one buzzed you in. Oh wait, maybe they did and that's why you're hair's all on end."

Nick and Brian started laughing.

"Shut the hell up, weirdo," JC said. "How can you talk about hair when you don't even got any?"

"Guys?" Steven said breaking in. "Can we get started?"

"Of course," Kevin said.

"Let's do this," Chris said.

"We will be playing part of a popular song for you, and you have to complete the lyrics in song. Each band will get a turn as we have a total of ten songs lined up for you. The band that knows the lyrics to all their songs wins. We have a tie-breaker set up in the event that the score is even at the end of the game. Any member can sing for the team, and you will have thirty seconds to complete the song. Any questions?"

The guys looked solemnly at each other because they both understood.

"Oh-kay," Steven said. "Let's get started. We'll have a coin toss to see what band goes first. Chris, heads or tails?"

"Tails," Chris said.

"Heads okay with you, Kevin?"

Kev just nodded, and Steven flipped the coin.

"Heads. Backstreet, you go first. I'm going to play the song on my boom box here, and stop it early on. You have to finish the lyric where it left off. Anybody who knows it can sing. Ready?"

The guys nodded.

"Let's go."

A familiar, funky beat filled the air.

"Here we gooo! Here we go! One more time. Everybody's feeling fine. Here we go now--."

Steven stopped the song.

NSYNC started laughing.

The Backstreet Boys stared at each other, but Nick grinned.

"I know it," he said.

"Go head."

He cleared his throat. "Let's get some cereal? C'mon now grab a bowl?"

AJ started laughing and patted Nick on the back.

"No sorry, Nick," Steven said over Nick's laughter. Then he played the rest of the song.

"Aw, but Nick's version's so much better," Brian said.

Justin scowled while JC shook his head. These guys were real mature.

"NSYNC, your turn. I don't know what he does to make you cry, but I'll be there to make you smile--."

"I don't have a fancy car. To get you to you, I'd walk a thousand miles?" Chris sang.

"NSYNC scores."

The guys celebrated high-fiving and hugging each other.

"Good job, Chris!"

"Yeah!"

Brian and Kevin exchanged smiles. Nick leaned into the table so he could pay attention. He wanted to make sure the contribute to this challenge.

"We're using coconuts as points," Steven said handing them a big, brown coconut. "Backstreet, your turn. I'm doing this tonight. You're probably gonna start a fight. I know this can't be right--."

"Hey Lancey c'mon!" AJ sang. "It's time to suck my dick. You know I don't come as quick, as Justin. C'mon!"

They all cackled really hard at that one. And even Kevin had to admit that it felt good to ridicule the music they hated so much.

"Good one, Jay," he said patting AJ on the back.

"Um.., er, no," Steven said. "So far, NSYNC's ahead by one coconut. Guys it's your turn."

They had to straighten up from the shock. The Backstreet Boys seemed to prefer making fun of them over eating a warm meal. This was hate.

"You are my fire, the one desire, Believe--."

"When I say, I want it that way!" Justin sang.

"Another point for NSYNC."

"That was too easy," JC said. "That stupid song was drummed into my subconscious for more than a year."

"That's because it's a good song," Brian noted.

"Well, we'll be eating some good pizza today while you guys choke on rice," Justin said.

"It's better than choking on your stupid music--," Nick began but Steven cut him off.

"Backstreet? You drive a pretty car, you know how fine you are, and nobody needs to say it--."

"I love the bras you wear. They look good on JC and I love the way that he...," Brian was laughing too hard to continue. "I can't. I can't! I'm sorry."

"No," Steven said trying not to laugh. "I'm sorry."

NSNYC continued to gawk at Nick, Kevin, AJ and Brian who just couldn't stop laughing.

"But you know," Brian said wiping away a tear. "That is a good song...if you're deaf."

"Let's get 'em back," Justin whispered.

"No, think of the food," JC hissed. "We're eating pizza for singing their stupid songs. Forget them. They can eat rice."

"NSYNC, this could win you the game. Although lonliness has always been a friend of mine, I'm leaving my life in your hands--."

"Quit playing games with my heart before you tear us apart. Quit playing games with my heart?" Lance sang unsure of himself.

"No sorry. Backstreet, you can try to play catch up if you get this one."

"Aw, all their songs sound alike. Don't worry, bro," Chris told Lance.

"You might've been hurt, babe. That aint no lie--."

"You know, we've seen them all come and go, oh, out of each other's rooms, late at night," Nick sang. "I remember they told me they liked it a lot, and that they'd never stop!"

Brian laughed into Nick's shoulder while AJ made up dance steps to Nick's little tune.

He was thrusting his hips at NSYNC with a nasty smile on his face.

"Sorry once more, Backstreet," Steven said hurriedly. "Let's finish this up NYSNC."

"Assholes," Chris muttered. "I hope they starve."

"I'll be the one. I guess you were lost when I met you--."

"Still there were tears in your eyes," Justin sang. "So out of trust, or something like that that he babbles on. No more these mysteries and lies."

"Good enough," Steven said. "NSYNC wins."

"Good job, guys."

"Nice way to stay focused."

"Yeah you know it's funny that we won with that song because that's what Mandy would tell me," Justin said loudly. "That I'm the one."

Nick rolled his eyes and crossed arms.

"Guess we're eating rice?" Kevin asked throwing an arm around Nick as they started back to their camp.

"Rice is fine. I'm getting a taste for it," AJ said. "But let's go before we actually smell the pizza."

But it was too late, as the boxes of hot, freshly delivered pizzas were being taken out to NSYNC. The guys were given chairs, and they got to sit around their table.

"Ugh," Brian groaned. "Let's go."

Nick didn't have to be told twice, but they laughed all the way back to camp.

***

 

 

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