I got out of the pool and cupped my hands around my mouth. "HELLO!?" I yelled. Everyone stopped attacking each other and looked at me. "Two things...one: we are still fully clothed AND you all are in the pool..."
        "We can changed the fully clothed part easily..." AJ laughed. "OW! Arright, Jenny, never mind that..."
        "Two..." I continued, "...the guys still don't know where they are sleeping in this house." AJ was about to comment about the sleeping part when Howie put a hand over his ready-to-speak mouth. "Thank you Howie," I smiled and AJ frowned. One by one everyone got out of the pool...dripping wet. I ran inside and got some towels, and returned to hand them out.
        "K, who's sleeping where?" Chin asked.
        "Um...what rooms are open?" Kevin asked.
        "Well, there's the den/guestroom downstairs, and of course the couches in the living room and family room...then there's the study/guestroom upstairs and the game room..." I answered.
        "I say we stay upstairs where we can keep and eye on these girls...no telling WHAT they can do," Nick snickered.
        "Well then..." Julie crossed her arms and sat in the hammock.
        "But then three of us have to cram into a room Nick," AJ reasoned.
        "So...?" Nick got an evil grin is his eye. AJ caught on.
        "Oh...YEAH I say we all stay upstairs."
        "So then all six of you plan to share one bathroom...?" Cathy pointed out.
        "Damn..." AJ muttered. He hadn't thought of that.
        "So? It won't kill us...and, um, we can come downstairs if necessary..." Nick urged as we began to shuffle inside.
        "Seriously...?" Cathy raised an eyebrow...she didn't seem to trust their motives.
        "Whatever is fine...if Lance objects then we'll rethink the whole thing. As of now all I can think about is changing..." Howie stated.
        "I get the game roooooooom!!!!!" Nick yelled racing up the stairs with his bags.
        "Me tooooooo!!!" AJ said following him.
        "Who's gonna be the third one?" Cathy asked. The three Boys that were left shrugged. Jenny caught Brian's eye and gave him a look. Brian sighed and understood; she wanted him to find a chance to talk to Nick, and Julie (who'd be in the room right next to the game room).
        "I'll go..." He trudged up the stairs.
        "So I guess Howie, Lance, and I will take the study?" Kevin asked.
        "Yeah..." Chin replied.
        "I'll go get three sleeping bags for the idiots in the game room..." Jenny laughed and walked off.

        While the Boys settled in, Lance and Hannah arrived. A bashful Lance agreed to the sleeping arrangements and headed up to his room with his retrieved "stuff."  Julie quickly pointed out that we'd better think about dinner while the guys were occupied. If we left it up to them, we'd be having more food like pizza and McDonalds. So, we decided to actually cook something...hoping the guys would take awhile. We closed the kitchen door just incase they would be using the downstairs bathroom. At one point, Brian did stick his head in making a random comment about something, and Jenny banished him from the vicinity informing him that he and his fellow friends were only allowed back in the kitchen, or dining room for that matter, when we called for them. He saluted, said "Yes Ma'am!" and was gone. We set to work trying to make an impressive dinner--we didn't know exactly why or what drove us. Maybe it was because the fact finally hit us that the Backstreet Boys and a member of *N Sync were in our house. Maybe it was because we felt like impressing someone. Maybe we were just really really sick of fast food. Whatever it was, we outdid ourselves. We placed the food out and set the table accordingly, lit candles, and dimmed the lights. Then we heard some noises down the hall. Cathy was first out of the dining room door to investigate. We followed her. I was last and closed the door behind me. Down the hall we went and we saw the boys piled up on the stairs, as if they had fallen. We burst out laughing.
        "W-What happened?!" Cathy exclaimed.
        "Nick is an idiot," Howie stated matter-o-factly as he got up.
        "Am not!  Kevin is!" Nick said getting up.
        "Lance is the one with no coordination," Kevin mumbled once standing.
        "AJ has no patience," Lance muttered standing up.
        "Well Brian is the doofus," AJ grunted pulling himself up.
        "Can't we all just get along?" Brian smiled.
        "Never mind...I DON'T wanna know..." Chin sighed.
        "So what have you girls been doing this WHOLE time!?" Nick changed the subject.
        "It's a surprise..." Julie smiled.
        "But I dun like surprises..." Nick whined.
        "C'mon, you think it's ready to show 'em, girls?" Jenny asked.
        "Shouldn't we change though? They have..." Hannah pointed out.
        "NO! Show us!" Nick pleaded.
        "I thought you didn't like surprises..." Julie laughed.
        "He's just too impatient..." AJ said.
        "I thought that was you!" Chin laughed. AJ shrugged and grinned.
        "Well I don't need anyone's approval, I'm gonna change..." I said heading up the stairs.
        "Touch the dining room door, you DIE," Jenny warned the Boys as we left them at the bottom of the stairs. We returned minutes later to find the boys watching TV in the family room. Darwin and Kezia were curled up on the floor by their legs.
        "Aww," I cooed.
        "Such good boys!" Jenny said. Brian looked up.
        "You talking about the dogs? Or us?"
        "Kezia's not a boy..." Cathy informed him.
        "OH..."
        "Didn't try for the dining room? Impressive," Chin commented.
        "Can we see it nooooow? Nick whined.
        "It's probably getting coooooold!" Brian added.
        "Okay, okay..." Julie muttered and led the way. All six of us proudly opened the doors to the creations we had cooked up. The guys' mouths dropped open. All was silent for a moment.
        "Damn..." AJ muttered.
        "Wow..." We heard Brian.
        "Geeze..." Lance murmured.
        "Oh...my...god..." Nick stumbled.
        "Whoa..." Kevin mumbled.
        "Sheesh..." Howie quietly stated.
        "I take it you like it so far...?" I asked. They nodded dumbly.
        "You guys CAN sit down..." Cathy motioned to the chairs. They slowly shuffled to the seats, following us as we sat down. It was a round table. I sat, then Kevin, Hannah, Lance, Chin, AJ, Jenny, Brian, Cathy, and Howie...thus was the seating arrangement.
        "So how old is everyone?" Howie asked.
        "We've been though this D," Kevin pointed out.
        "Not for everyone," Howie replied.
        "I'm 18 as of yesterday...though I wish I was younger..."Jenny started.
        "But you're an adult now!" Brian pointed out.
        "Exaclty," Jenny replied.
        "I'm 18...gonna be 19 soon" I said.
        "Same here," Julie stated.
        "18," Chin sighed.
        "Me too," Hannah said.
        "19," Cathy grinned.
        "Only as of January," I pointed out.
        "Well we've got some young lasses here, don't we?" Brian faked a Scottish (or is it Irish?) accent. We laughed. This was followed by some chitchat around the table before we really dug in. After awhile, it was mostly quiet...possibly because the guys too busy stuffing their faces with food to talk.
        "Okay who likes who here," Cathy broke the silence as most of us finished eating.
        "W-What?" Brian choked on his food.
        "You heard me."
        "We all like each other...no one hates anyone..." AJ said.
        "You know what I mean."
        "We do?"  Nick asked.
        "Don't act dumb you guys. Kat and I haven't been with you the while time, we deserve to know things like this," Chin stated.
        "Huh? I thought Nick already pointed EVERY LITTLE SINGLE thing out in this house!  I knew there were dogs...but where'd you hide the cats all this time?" Howie asked laughed.
        "NO! Kat! With a K! That's meeee," Cathy grinned.
        "Back to the subject..." Chin said.
        "I don't think we need to answer..." Kevin said.
        "Yes you do," Cathy said.
        "Why?" AJ asked.
        "I already told you. Cathy and I haven't been with you the whole time. We have a right to know," Chin said getting into it.
        "You already know who we like, isn't that enough? The guys know because of a certain truth or dare game..." I glared at Jenny.
        "What?" she innocently asked.
        "UM, I think I hear Darwin killing something..." Brian excused himself, got up, and left the dining room to go outside.
        "I'm coming with you..." I said getting up, not wanting to be in on the conversation either.
        "Me too..." Kevin followed, with the same idea.
        "FINE just IGNORE what I say!" Cathy yelled.
        "Well I like Julie," Nick grinned and put an arm around her shoulder. She blushed.
        "Oh..." Chin trailed off. Julie gave her a we-need-to-talk look.
        "And I like Hannah," Lance said putting bent arm on her shoulder and leaning on her a bit. She grinned.
        "Anyone else care to answer?" Cathy looked at who was left at the table. It was silent. Jenny got up.
        "Might as well start cleaning up..." she said taking her plate into the kitchen.
        "Well this turned sour," AJ commented chewing on the last of his food.
        "Well SORRY," Chin got up in a huff and followed Jenny's path.
        "No! I didn't mean it was your fault...!" AJ called out.
        "Good job," Cathy said and got up too.
        "Great, now everyone's mad," AJ sighed.
        "No one's really mad..." Howie said.

~*~*~*(Outside)*~*~*~
        Brian, Kevin, and I were in the hammock. We heard the conversation ending inside. The sky was clear and the stars were out.  The air was still. We were silent. Darwin and Kezia were now fast asleep outside with us.
        "Nice excuse Brain; both dogs are asleep..." I quietly laughed, breaking the silence.
        "Oops," Brian laughed back. More silence.
        "We're all friends...right?" I asked out of the blue.
        "Hmmm?" Kevin said, "Why would we not be?"
        "Um, cuz we met you like what...yesterday?" I smiled.
        "Oh..."
        "And cuz of all this tension."
        "What tension?"
        "I dunno. Like Kat's question made us all feel uncomfortable. And it's just...you guys only have a week. After that, what happens? We all go back to our normal, everyday lives...This just seems like some sort of dream..." I trailed off.
        "Who says we can't keep in touch with you guys?" Kevin asked.
        "Yeah..." Brian agreed.
        "Who says you can...?" I replied.
        "Well don't we have a pessimistic girl on our hands?" Kevin laughed.
        "Yes you do," I assured him.
        "KEVIN AND BRIAN...MANLY ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED IN THE KITCHEN!" We heard Chin and Cathy yell. They shrugged and got off the hammock, almost flipping me over.
        "Whoa there..." I said balancing myself.
        "Sorry," They said before retreating to the kitchen.
        "Hey," Jenny said plopping down beside me a few minutes later.
        "Hey...So how is it in there?"
        "Tense."
        "Oh."
        "Yeah."
        "You need to help me with something."
        "What is it?" I asked.
        "We have to lock Brian, Nick, and Julie into a room."
        "Um, why...?"
        "They need to resolve things."
        "But Julie already spoke to Brian, remember?"
        "But Brian hasn't talked to Nick."
        "He hasn't?"
        "Where would he have had any time to so far?"
        "Oh..."
        "Yeah."
        "So why not have both of them in a room, why have Julie?"
        "She'll keep them from fighting."
        "You seriously think they'd fight!?"
        "I dunno. But Julie's a part of it too."
        "So when are we going to do this, mediator Jenny?"
        "I'm not a mediator."
        "Well you've been a bit of a counselor to Brian it seems."
        "Well this whole thing has been bothering him."
        "So when do you want to do this?" I asked.
        "Tonight."
        "And how do we do this?"
        "Umm..."
        "Ah, so the brilliant Jenny doesn't have a plan!"
        "I do too, it's just somewhere in my head..."
        "Mmm-hmm..."
        "K, we have to get everyone to do something, like watch a movie--"
        "Again?"
        "What do you mean again?"
        "We watched a movie last night."
        "Oh...so? Us young people like movies! Haha...Anyways...I'll tell Brian to meet me upstairs in the game room at um," she checked her watch, "...eight, and I'll tell him that I have to tell him something without anyone else hearing...and you tell Julie that you have to talk to her - "
        "What about Nick?"
        "He'll follow Julie."
        "Yeah right."
        "I''m serious! He's like attached to her or something!" Jenny joked, "Just kidding...um, tell him Julie needs to talk to him up there."
        "Why do I have to tell him?"
        "Cuz."
        "Fine."
        "K, it's set?"
        "As set as it'll ever be."
        "K...let's go inside and pitch the movie idea..." Jenny got up.
        "Hopefully there won't be any bickering..."
        We headed inside and found what we thought was a heated discussion around the island in the kitchen.
        "Um what did we miss?" Jenny asked.
        "You an inny or an outy?" AJ bluntly asked both of us.
        "A what?!"
        "Belly button..." Hannah explained.
        "And why are we talking about this...?" I asked.
        "Well, we were talking about the time someone asked Nick that question and he didn't know what the hell the interviewer was asking..." AJ began.
        "SO? Now I know..." Nick said.
        "And so we wanted to know about you guys."
        "Well I say we drop this and watch a movie," Jenny stated.
        "But we watched a movie yesterday," Howie pointed out.
        "So? We can watch a different one...pick form the slew of videos in our collection," I stated, walking towards the den with everyone following.
        "You have American Pie?!" Lance asked.
        "Yeah..."
        "EWW!" Brian crinkled his nose and pretended to be disgusted.
        "Yo, can we watch that? I never saw it..." AJ asked.
        "Sure why not?" Chin said and picked it up ad headed to the family room.
        "Beanbaaaaaaag!!!!!" Lance yelled and pounced on the beanbag that was on the floor.
        "That's Darwin's beanbag dear..." I pointed out.
        "So? He's outside!"
        "OOOkay..." Chin gave him an odd look. Howie went and sat on the end of a couch and Cathy and Kevin joined him. Hannah went and sat with Lance on the beanbag. Chin started the movie and sat down on another couch. AJ plopped down beside her.  I saw Jenny pull Brian aside and whisper to him. I assumed she was putting our plan into action, so I told Nick before he sat down that Julie needed to talk to him at eight. He looked at his watch and nodded and stayed standing to wait before heading upstairs. Jenny and I had seven minutes to make this work. I told Julie to go up to the game room before she sat down, saying I had to tell her something and I'd be there in a minute. Brian left saying something about the bathroom though Jenny and I knew he was going upstairs. Jenny left the room through the other door, and so did I.
        We ran stairs and hid behind the bend of the wall. We could see Julie with her back to us, attempting to play some pool at the end of the room while she waited. Soon Brian came upstairs and only seeing her from behind, thought she was Jenny for a moment. He waited thinking she would turn to talk to him after she hit the ball. Before she did, Nick showed up. We moved to the side of the door and popped only our heads in the doorway. They were to preoccupied to notice us.
        "Brian? What are you doing here...?" Nick asked. Brian turned around.
        "I would ask you the same thing."
        "Brian? Nick? Where's Sarah?" Julie asked turning around.
        "Julie...? Wait, where's Jenny?"
        "Sarah? Jenny? Why them?" Nick asked confused.
        "I'm right here," Jenny said stepping into full view, "...and so is Sarah," she said pulling me against my will into view as well.
        "What is this?" Julie asked confused.
        "Yeah...what's happening?" Nick asked.
        "Jenny, we can go somewhere else since you said you wanted to talk," Brian began.
        "No Brian, I don't need to talk...you do...with Julie and Nick," Jenny replied. With that, we stepped back, closed the door, and locked it. Nick's mouth dropped open. We leaned against the door to listen.
        "No..." Julie muttered.
        "They locked us in?!" We heard Nick.
        "Yep..." Brian sighed, realizing Jenny and my intentions.

*Chapter 21 ~ Discussions And Apologies*
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