"You're WHAT?!" I asked, blinking. "You're kidding me right?" This was too unreal, and SO not my life.
	"No, we're not kidding Mandy." Brian said gently. "Ask Carol."
	I went and sat on the stairs. This was like so cool, yet so wierd all at once. "Okay, I believe you." I said after some thought.
	Abby took a seat next to me on the stairs. "You have NO idea how badly I wanted to tell you, but as always, I'm not allowed to tell." She stuck her tounge out at the guys.
	I laughed a bit. "Yeah, I understand. Ya know, this clears up some stuff. A lot of stuff actually..." I said, staring at the floor. I didn't know if I was brave enough to look up at them again.
	RING-RING!!! RING-RING!!! RING-!!! came from Kevin's pocket. He reached into it and pulled out his cellphone. "Hello?" he asked it.
	I looked up at him for a moment, then returned my gaze to the floor. I was confused, but not, all at once. I was feeling a lot of emotions actually, and oddly enough they were all conflicting one another.
	"Mandy, you okay?" A.J. asked concernedly.
	"Yeah, it's just kinda wierd." I told him, looking up at him.
	"Guys, we gotta go." Kev said, stuffing his cell back into his pocket. "We've gotta be at that party on time, or Donna and Johnny will kill us, and you all know it's gonna take about an hour for us all to get ready, then a half-an-hour to get there..." He trailed off looking at the guys.
	"Yeah. Mandy, call me, okay?" A.J. asked as he followed the guys out the door.
	"Alrighty." I told him.
	"Abby ya coming? Or you gonna meet us up later?" Nick asked.
	"I'll meet ya later. You gonna catch a ride with Brian?" she asked.
	"Yeah, I can manage. Later hun." He ran up to her, kissed her cheek and darted out the door.
	"Awww! He's so sweet Abby!" I told her.
	She smiled. "I know." 
	I burst into giggles. "Abby this is SO not my life!! I mean, I know pop stars, and my granny has more money than she knows what to do with... I just spent $600 at the mall, I've never done that before... I've never done ANY of this before!!"
	Abby laughed. "Well get used to it, cause I've got another surprise for ya. Think you can handle it?" 
	"Ohmigod.. NO!" I said with a laugh. "Yeah.. go for it. I'm prolly gonna wake up from all of this soon anyhow, it might as well be as good as it can get."
	"Ya know where the guys are headed?" Abby asked. I shook my head. "Well they're going to some huge Jive Records party. Justin and the guys should be there too. You wanna come with me? I'm sure I can get you in."
	"Omigod! Yes!! Take me with you!!" I said, hopping up.
	"Alrighty!! Relax!!" Abby said laughing.
	"I can't help it!! This is so unreal!!" I told her laughing.
	"Okay, come on, we gotta go get ready! Take me to your room!" 
	I grabbed her arm and pulled her up to my room. "Okay, do I need a formalish dress, or can I go in normal clothes?" I asked.
	"Gotta wear a dress." Abby said with a sigh. "This way at least I'll be stuck in a dress with someone."
	I laughed. "Yeah, I'm not really into the whole dress thing either. But at least I've got some stuff to work with." I said, pulling open the wardrobe full of formal dresses.
	"Holy shit! Maybe I wanna borrow one of your dresses!" Abby said, gazing at the free-standing closet.
	"Feel free Abby." I said with a laugh.
	"Oh I love you Mandy!" she said laughing.
	I laughed. "Ditto. You're taking me to a phat party!" I squealed. I dug around in the closet of dresses, looking for something that didn't look like some sort of prom dress. In the very back corner I found a gorgeous deep blue silk dress that had a Japaneese feeling to it. It was a beautiful deep blue silk, with gold thread sewn into wonderful swirls and it had two pieces; a jacket-type top, and a slip dress of the same fabric with a long skirt that had a long slit up either side. It reminded me of the dress Mya wore in her "All About Me" vid, execpt that it was a little more.. ahem.. modest. My mother wouldn't have a fit if she caught me in this dress; maybe. I laughed and pulled the dress out of the closet. Abby looked a little mad that I had beaten her to the dress, but began to dig around the closet. She came out with a white, knee-length slip dress and a sheer blue and green swirled chiffon slip for over the top. 
	"Oooh! Coolio!" I told her. I ran into the bathroom and put the dress on, buttoning only the top button on the cropped jacket, so the bottom of it hung open, showing the dress underneath. By the time I got out of the bathroom, Abby was already into her dress. 
	"Ahh! Abby! Ya look great!" I told her.
	"You too!" she told me.
	"Got a brush I can borrow?" Abby asked. I pointed her over to the vanity table and let her sit and go to work. I told her to go ahead and use anything she wanted. I pulled open a drawer on the left side of the vanity, and dug around through the ribbons and hair things until I found some pretty blue and gold chop sticks. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, letting little spikes and tendrils of hair fall out of it and stick out. I stuck the chop sticks in the bun to hold it up. I glanced around in the other drawers, trying to stay out of Abby's way. I found a bottle of bronzing lotion and put a little on my cheekbones and collarbone. I then handed the bottle to Abby who said, "Oooh! Gimme!" when she realized what it was. I laughed and went into the bathroom to grab my make-up. I slid on some dramatic eye-liner, and some charcoal-colored eyeshadow. I then pulled out my tube of lipstick, in a soft, golden, honey shade, and slid some on. I went back into the bedroom and spotted Abby.
	She had taken her long blonde hair and put it up into a green irredecent bear claw clip, with tons of little tendrils of hair falling out over her ears and the back of her neck. 
	"Oh Abby! You've gotta let me curl those for ya!" I told her, digging my cruling iron out of a drawer in the bathroom. I ran and plugged it in while Abby put on her make-up. 
	"Alrighty, but only if you lemme borrow some eyeliner." she told me. I nodded and gave her my eyeliner. She put some on, her brown eyes flickering in the odd light of the vanity. She slid on some silvery eyeshadow, and I dug out my bottle of silver sparkly lotion for her, instead of the bronzer. The light in my curling iron went off, and I set to curl all of the little loose hairs into corkscrews. I finished about five minutes later, and gently hair-sprayed the curls in. I smiled. Abby looked great! I was sure Nick would fall dead the moment he saw her. I went into the bathroom and dug out my bottle of Adrift and sprayed some on my arms and wrists I then sprayed a cloud at thin air and jumped into it. "What the hell are you doing dork?" Abby asked with a laugh, from the bathroom door.
	"Putting on purfume! And I'm NOT a dork!" I handed her the bottle, she smelled it and put some on. 
	"Ohh yummy!" she said. I laughed.
	KNOCK! KNOCK! came from my door.
	"Come in!" I called, walking into the bedroom area.
	"Mandy! So you are going! Great! Want me to arrange a limo to take you sweetie?" Gran asked.
	"Oh could you?!" I asked giddily.
	"Of course! Oh you look so beautiful! Abby you too! Oh your hair-" she said, eyeing us in awe.
	"Thanks Carol." Abby said, blushing.
	"Yeah, Gran, thanks so much!" I told her.
	"Well enough of my eyeballing you, lemme go get Conrad to arrange things." Gran said, and bustled out.
	"AHHH!" I screamed. "How in the heck can this get any better?!" I asked noone in particular.
	"For you? Umm, you walk in dressed like that, and A.J. falls madly in love with you... Totally Cinderella like, minus the glass shoes and the 12:00 curfew." Abby said. "For me? Umm, no, it really can't get much better, except until I see the look on Nick's face!" she squealed. I looked at my nails, almost wishing I had time to paint them, they still had the french tips I had shelled out the 30 bucks to have done on them a week ago, but I would need fills in a few days. I shrugged. Oh well, I don't need to worry about everything, I told myself.
	"We're ready right?" I asked.
	"Yep, think so! We're on time right?" I asked her in return.
	"Yep, right on time." she replied.
	"Great." I went into the drawer in the bottom of the wardrobe, hoping to find shoes. I was lucky enough to find them. I pulled out a pair of strappy blue heels that had a thin and delicate look to them. I tossed a similar pair in green at Abby.
	I slid them on, criss-crossing the long laces up around my ankle. I tied them up and stood, a bit shakily. I hadn't had an occasion to wear heels in awhile, but my balance evened out and we went downstairs. Conrad was standing at the front door waiting for us. He opened the door, and outside was a sleek black stretch limo. 
	"Ahh Conrad! Cool! Tell Gran thanks!" I hugged him and darted out the door.
	"Ditto!" Abby said and rushed out behind me.
	The driver got out and opened the door for us, and we climbed in. The driver got in the front and handed something over his shoulder to me. "Madam said to give this to you, just in case." he handed me a little cell phone, which I stuck in my little drawstring purse.
	"Thanks." I told him, and he put up the little window dealie. "Ohmigod Abby! This so rules!" I squealed.
	"I know, jeeze I wish I was in your family!" Abby laughed.
	"You wanna be?" I asked her, an odd idea cooking.
	"What?" she asked.
	"Well you wanna be me adopted big sister? I need one." I said with a smile.
	Abby giggled. "Sure!" I hugged her.
	We pulled up at the hotel where the party was occouring, red carpet was out front, and people and reporters lined the outside of two red ropes, waiting for a glimpse of thier fave star. Our limo pulled up to the carpet and a man opened our door, and stuck a hand to me. I took his hand and he helped me out of the car. He helped out Abby as well. We walked up to the door, and a burly guard stopped us.
	"It's alright Joe, she's with me. I can dig out my invitation if you want." Abby said.
	"Nah, it's alright Ab. Go on in." Joe said.
	We walked past and followed the carpet to the dining hall, and ballroom area where the party was to take place.
	"What exactly is gonna go on here Abby?" I asked her quietly.
	"Oh, I'm not to sure. I know that it's some sort of benefit thing, and that *N SYNC and the guys are gonna perform, as well as some other groups. Oh look!" she squealed, pointing to my left, "That's a new guy group, they're called 5ive. They rock. Ever heard?"
	"Really?! No way! I love their new song, "When the Lights go Out" a lot! It was stuck in my head for days!" I laughed, looking over at them.
	"Over there! That's Code Red." she nodded over to a group of hot guys. 
	"Wowsers... they're hot." I breathed.
	Abby laughed. "Tell me about it."
	"Hey! Watch it now! You got a man!" I laughed.
	"I can look!" Abby defended.
	I laughed. "Only look though..." 
	"Don't start now..." Abby said. "Oh look! There's the guys-" she started, but stopped short. "Nevermind, let's go find your cousin first." she said, turning me in a different direction.
	"No, I see my cousin enough. I wanna see A.J.." I turned in the direction Abby had indicated a minute ago. I spotted A.J. and my eyes grew wide. I saw something horrible!!!
-----------------------------------------------------
	"Oh come on Mandy! Slow up!" Abby called after me.
	"No, I'm just gonna go before he sees me. It's no huge deal, go be with Nick. I don't belong here anyways." I said, making my way to the door.
	"I swear, I wanted to tell you about her, but I wasn't sure if they were a couple first off, and secondly I had NO idea he'd bring her here!" Abby said, grabbing my arm and tugging me into a shadowy corner.
	"What? I'm fine, I'm going home. I just feel out of place okay?" I said, lying but not lying all at once.
	"Oh come on. I know you like him! I honestly think he likes you, but I also know that he's been in an on-again/off-again relationship with Randi for about a year now. I dunno what he thinks is more important." Abby said.
	"He thinks she's more important, obviously." I muttered bitterly.
	"Now you don't know that! This party's been planned for months now, and I'm sure A.J. invited Randi when they were on again, about a month ago or so. He couldn't just drop her for you, that's not nice, hence not A.J.." Abby ammended.
	"Well..." I said, trying to find some reason to defend my anger. But I found none. "Alright, maybe your right." I said with a sigh, my anger fading, but my hurt only receeding to the pit of my stomach.
	"Now come on and face him. Don't be a chicken. I think that this was bad form on his part, but you need to show him that you're just fine, don't let him see ya unhappy. I love A.J. to bits, but he messed this one up, so come on and be my little sissy, and let's party!" Abby grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the open.
	I smiled. "Alrighty, alrighty. I'm happy, okay?" I knew it was a lie, but I cared for Abby, so least I could do is try and have some fun.
	"Good. Now let's go find Nick-Nack." She took my arm and began to pull me towards Nick and the rest of the guys and their girlfriends.
	I didn't think I could manage that right this second. "No! Um.. I'm gonna go find my cousin, see what he's up to." I covered, turning to scan the crowd for Justin's curly, frosted-blonde head. "He's right over there with Chris and JC." I told her, nodding to them.
	"Alrighty. I will see ya in a bit though, okay?" Abby said.
	"Of course Sissy!" I told her with a smile.
	"Good." she said, and walked over to Nick. I watched Nick's expression as he spotted her. His eyes got real wide, and he stood up and hugged her. I turned away and took a deep breath, making my way over to my cousin.
	"Mandy?" JC said, as he glanced over Justin's shoulder and saw me. His eyes grew wide.
	"Yep. Hiya JC." I told him, as Justin turned and saw me.
	"Woah." he said.
	"Jeeze..." I heard Chris mutter.
	I laughed. "So what you guys up to? Where's Joey and Lance?" I asked, looking around for them.
	"They're around. Lance is prolly somewhere mackin' it up with Kolli." Justin said with a laugh.
	"Kolli?" I asked.
	"Yeah, Kollina, Lance's girlfriend. She's really nice. They've been dating for what now?" JC said, looking over at Justin, "About half a year?"
	"I think so." Justin said. "Hey! There he is!" Justin said, looking over at Lance, who was making his way tward us, a girl in tow.
	"Oh she's pretty!" I muttered to noone in particular. She was wearing a pretty dress in a silvery shade. Her browinish hair was piled on top of her head in a mass of corkscrew curls, a few curls escaping the mass and falling over her neck and ears. She had glittery dark eyes, and a cheery smile.
	"Mandy!" Lance called as he spotted me.
	"Heya!" I told him as he walked up and hugged me.
	"How'd you get here?" Lance asked.
	"Yeah, how did you?" Justin repeated.
	"I came with Abby." I told them.
	"So you.. uh.." Chris asked, trailing off.
	"Yes, I know who her boyfriend is. I met them all earlier today." I told him.
	"Oh, Kolli, meet Mandy. Mandy, this is my wonderful girlfriend Kolli." Lance said with a smile.
	"Nice to meet you Mandy." Kolli said, sticking out a hand.
	"You too." I said, smiling and shaking her hand.
	"Where's all the other girls guys? Have you introduced Mandy?" Kolli asked, looking at the guys.
	"No, they've been mingling a bit. So we haven't seen them, and Mandy just showed up." Chris said, looking around.
	"Well I'll go introduce her." Kolli said, taking my hand and leading me to a group of people on the other side of the room.
	"So Mandy, do you have a boyfriend?" Kolli asked.
	"No, I know of a guy I like, but I think he has a girlfriend." I said with a sigh.
	"Oh, I'm sorry." Kolli said. "You know JC likes you right?" she asked suddenly.
	I snapped my head in her direction, surprised. "What?" I asked.
	"Jeeze, I'm sorry. I always do that, say crazy things before I think. But he does like you. I guess what I'm trying to find out, is do you like him?" Kolli said, looking at me.
	I thought about A.J., who was basicly comitted in a relationship with a girl who could drive him so crazy one month, then make him love her all over again the next month. I wasn't planning on waiting around for A.J. to wise up to the stupidity of a relationship like that. Besides, I did sorta like JC. "Yeah, I do." I told Kolli.
	"Good, I like you a lot already, so I hope things work out for JC and you. Oh look, there's Tiffany! She's Justin's girlfriend. I swear to you, they are so alike, it scares me sometimes." Kolli said with a giggle. We walked up to Tiffany. She was wearing a pretty emerald dress, with thin straps that were made of a string of rhinestones. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a french twist. She was gorgeous, that was for sure. Justin had good taste, if nothing else, I thought to myself. 
	"Kolli!" Tiffany said. "What's up?"
	"Nothing much. Just here to introduce Carol's grandaughter. Justin's cousin, you know the one from NY?" Kolli said.
	"So you're Mandy?" Tiffany asked.
	"Yeah. I'm begining to wonder who doesn't know me yet!" I said with a laugh.
	Tiffany and Kolli laughed. "So how you liking it here so far?" Tiffany asked.
	"It's not too bad actually." I told her.
	"Mandy likes JC," Kolli whispered to Tiffany.
	"She does?" Tiffany looked at me.
	"Yeah, I do. Kolli! Hush!" I scolded her.
	"Sorry! But it's not like it matters if she knows!" Kolli said.
	"Don't tell anyone okay!?" I asked her.
	"Okay okay!" Kolli said.
	"Thank you. So, does JC have a girlfriend?" I asked with a smile.
	"Nope, not that I know of. Kolli?" Tiff said, looking at her.
	"Nope. No girlfriend." Kolli repeated.
	"Tiffany! Kolli!" called a voice. I turned and saw a girl with blonde hair heading our way. She was wearing a long, light blue slip dress, with little embroidered flowers on it.
	"That's Sahar. She's nice enough, but she's sorta dating back and forth between Joey and Chris, not to mention some other guys. She's just playing the field, but it always gets awkward when we all start to talk about our relationships." Kolli whispered to me.
	"Sahar!" Kolli and Tiff called. Sahar walked up to them and hugged them both.
	"Hey girls, wassup?" Sahar asked.
	"Nothing." they both answered.
	"Mandy, meet Sahar. Sahar, this is Mandy. She's Carol's grandaughter, Justin's cuz." Tiffany introduced.
	"Oh! Nice to meet you!" Sahar said, holding out a hand.
	"You too." I told her, shaking her hand.
	"So are you enjoying the party?" she asked.
	"So far? Yeah, though I really only just got here." I told her.
	"Ah I see. Well I'm going to go hang out with the No Authority guys, later!" Sahar said, and excused herself from the group.
	I laughed. "She's definately nice, but a flirt!" I said, not trying to be mean, cause I did like Sahar.
	Kolli laughed. "Come on, let's go find the Backstreet Boys and Abby! I can intro you to their girlfriends and stuff!"
	I realized this would mean being near A.J. and Randi, and I was busy trying to think up a lie when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
	I turned around and saw........