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Fanatic
© 1999
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I had been planning a trip to New York for months. It had taken me six 
long months to save up enough money to go and I was only going for 
three days in the middle of the week. I arrived on a Tuesday morning 
and went searching for some place that did nails. After I had my nails 
done, I went for a walk. It was just amazing to be in the "Big Apple." 
I went back to my hotel at about six that evening and gathered some 
things. I was camping outside of the MTV studios just to make sure I 
would get a good spot for when Total Request Live was on. I had no clue 
who was going to be there the following day, but whoever it was, I was 
going to be outside screaming my lungs out. My favorite band, the 
Backstreet Boys, had released a new video two weeks prior to my arrival 
in New York and I was going to be screaming my lungs out for it and 
just hoping the host of TRL, Carson Daly, would notice me. 

I arrived at fifteen, fifteen Broadway around ten that night and place 
a lawn chair. I had a small bag with me, that I place on my lap. I was 
already dressed and couldn't really sleep. I was too excited. Around 
midnight, more people started gathering. I thought something had 
happened, but I only had to wait until three the next day to find out.

As dawn broke, I heard screaming. I opened my eyes and looked around 
me. Sometime during the night hundreds of girls had gathered. I still 
had my spot, right against the barricades. It was six in the morning 
and I had nine hours to get myself ready. I opened my bag and pulled 
out a white paper bag with a bagel in it. I had saved it all night for 
breakfast. After I ate my breakfast, I spoke with some girls around me. 
We discussed many things, but mainly we talked about the Backstreet 
Boys. They were also fans and just adored the new video. They also had 
no idea who was going to be on the show later that day, but it was 
rumored that the Backstreet Boys might make an appearance and that was 
why the crowd had gathered.

Around nine that morning, still six hours till the show started, I 
opened my bag and pulled out a small tackle box. Inside was everything 
I needed to do my make up. My hair was already done and my teeth were 
brushed. (I had taken the time to remember everything.) It took me 
almost the entire six hours to get ready, but it was well worth it.

At three, cameramen and a whole bunch of people wearing headsets came 
out of the studio. A couple of portable televisions were set up so they 
could see what was going on in the studio. From my vantage point, I 
could see people walk in front of the windows, but I wasn't really sure 
who they were. Everyone outside was screaming and jumping up and down, 
including myself. I had a sign with me, because I knew that Carson 
could see the signs as long as they were written large enough. 

I had been out there screaming and jumping for about a half an hour 
when suddenly a cameraman started focusing in on the fans that were 
standing against the barricade. I had no clue what was going on, but I 
was one of the ones the cameraman focused on. He passed me and then I 
heard the man standing beside him say, "Charlie, wait. Go back a few. 
Back, back, back, back, stop." Charlie, the cameraman was focused on 
me. "Once over," the man standing beside Charlie said. Charlie took the 
lens of the camera and looked me up and down. A few seconds went by and 
then the man beside Charlie came over to me and said, "Miss, come with 
me." I took my sign, motioned to the girls beside me to watch my stuff 
and followed the man. 

"My name is Jeff," he told me, "and you are wanted up in the studio."

"Huh?"

"Here, put this on." He put a blue bracelet on my wrist and put me in 
an elevator. He stood in the doorway and said, "Just show this to the 
guy who meets you when the doors open and he'll take care of you." Jeff 
pushed a button and the doors closed. 

When the doors opened, another man was on the other side. "Aw, man, you 
would fit in perfectly here," he said when he saw me. "You must be the 
one that was picked. Come on, we're about ready to come back from 
commercial. What's your name?" he asked, handing me a microphone and 
jogging over to the windows. 

I followed him as I said my name. He led me around some cameras and 
there in front of me was Carson Daly and beside him were the Backstreet 
Boys. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Thirty seconds," someone behind me called.

Carson looked at me and said, "Come here." I followed his instructions, 
walking over to him. When I was close enough to him, he put his arm 
around my shoulders and said, "Remember to speak into the mike. You 
know who these guys are, don't you?" I nodded. "Well, they picked you 
out from all those fans down there to be up here with us. What's your 
name?"

I told Carson and the Boys and then heard someone say, "We're on in 
five." Four seconds after that was said Carson looked at the camera and 
started speaking.

"We're back with TRL, the Backstreet boys and their lucky fan, Becca. 
So, Becca," Carson said, turning slightly to me, "where are you from?"

"California," I said into the mike. "And I've been outside since ten 
last night."

The Boys all expressed their amazement. "A true fan," AJ said. "And you 
are weirder than I am," he told me.

"Thank you," I said.

"What all do you have on?" Kevin asked.

"Well, the tank top and boxers are hand painted. The tank top says 
'Brian's Perfect Fan' and then on the back," I said, turning around so 
the camera could get a shot, "it says 'The One who is Larger Than 
Life.' The boxers have the lyrics to 'Larger Than Life' and 'I Want It 
That Way' on them. Written down my legs are all your guys' full names. 
See there's Kevin and Howie on my right leg. Nick and AJ are on my 
left."

"Where am I?" Brian asked.

"Oh, you're on my ankle." He raised an eyebrow at me. "See that heart 
down there on my right ankle. It's got the initials 'BTL PLS.' Which 
stands for 'Brian Thomas Littrell Please.' And it's also got two, 
twenty, two thousand."

"My birthday," he said.

"The day I got it done. And on both my arms it says 'Backstreet.' All 
of your guys' names are beaded into my hair and I even had my 
fingernails done for the occasion." I showed them my fingers. On each 
finger was a different letter. It spelled out 'Brian B-Rok.' "And I was 
even inspired by Kid Rock. Check out the eye lids." I closed my eyes. 
There in glitter pen was written "Brian B-Rok." 

"Whoa," the guys said in unison.

"How long did all that take you?" Nick asked.

"The face and body paint took about six hours. The nails took two, the 
hair took about three and the clothes took a couple of days to dry."

"Wow," Howie replied.

"Well, we need to go to the next video," Carson said and introduced the 
next video. While everyone at home was watching the number six video, I 
was chatting with the Backstreet boys.

"Where did you get the idea to do that?" AJ asked me.

"Well, I'm a college student and do so much more for basketball games."

"Like what?"

"Well, one thing I do is sing 'Larger Than Life,' while the 
cheerleaders dance."

"You're cheerleaders do our dance moves?" Kevin asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Fatima taught them."

"Wait, you wouldn't happen to be a Wildcat, would you?" Brian asked me.

"Yea, a Chico State Wildcat."

"That's right. Guys, remember when Fatima said she was going to 
California for a week to teach some Wildcats how to dance?" Brian said 
to the rest of the guys.

"Yeah," they all replied.

"I think this girl is the one who got her out there."

"Actually, I just talked our choreographer into it. She was the one who 
got Fatima out there. You guys should come to a game sometime. They're 
wild."

"Well, when's your next performance?" Nick asked.

"Sometime in October. I think at homecoming. We're working on 
'Everybody' this summer and hope to have it done in time for 
homecoming."

"When's homecoming?"

I told them the weekend and then we were told that we would be back on 
in five seconds. I was now standing in front of Brian and Howie, who 
were standing in front of the other three guys. Carson came back on and 
said, "Well, I'd like to thank the Backstreet Boys for being here. I 
know you guys have a lot to do. And I wanna thank Becca for just being 
so darn weird. And now here's our number five video." 

When we were clear, the Boys started walking out of the room. I kinda 
hung back. "Hey, wanna come back to the hotel with us?" Howie shouted 
at me.

"Sure," I shouted.

"Meet us at the back door. The security guard'll tell you how to get 
there," Kevin yelled at me.

I nodded and headed to the elevator. When I was on the ground floor, I 
walked out the front of the building and over to where my stuff was. As 
I collected my stuff, the girls who had been watching my stuff inquired 
why I had been chosen. I just told them that Carson thought I was weird 
and wanted to meet me. When I had my stuff, I headed back into the MTV 
studios and asked the security guard where the back door was. He 
pointed me in the right direction. I was met at the back door by a 
security guard. He held open the door for me, where I saw a Jeep Grand 
Cherokee with tinted windows waiting. The back window rolled down 
slightly and someone said, "Going my way, Wildcat?" It was AJ. I 
grinned and climbed in the backseat with them.

We drove back to the hotel they were staying at, which happened to be 
the very same one I was in. I spent the rest of the day with the 
Backstreet Boys. When it was time for them to go to another appearance, 
they gave me an address where I could write to them and told me to let 
them know when homecoming got close and they would be there.

Well, in September, I wrote to them and told them when the performance 
would be and asked them if they would be coming. When they replied 
saying that they would, but they wanted to blend in, I told them 
different things they could do, like paint their faces, wear the school 
colors and act like college students. 

The day of the performance arrived and I had totally forgotten about 
the fact that the Backstreet Boys had said they might show up. At 
halftime of the men's soccer game, I was at the top of the bleachers 
behind all the fans. The music to 'Everybody' started. The cheerleaders 
were on the field and everyone in the crowd started looking for me. 
Then I started singing. I was walking down the steps shaking the hands 
of the fans as I went. I was almost to the bottom by the chorus so I 
turned around to face the crowd. When I started singing the chorus, the 
crowd joined in and even attempted some of the dance moves. I added in 
some things to the song to get the crowd excited about Chico. About two 
rows from where I was standing I saw five guys just acting goofy. I 
sang the second verse and everyone followed the instructions, it was 
great! For the bridge, I decided I would play with these five guys' 
minds. I went over to them and started singing and dancing near them. 
They were totally into it and even started dancing with me. I saw one 
of them wink at me. I knew then who they were. They were totally 
unrecognizable. They all had their faces painted and were wearing 
school shirts and hats. It was great. The whole crowd loved the routine 
and had no idea that the ones who really sang the song were right there 
among them.