Chapter 5

            “Today is going to be hot!” the weather man said while the girls were waking up the next morning. “It is perfect beach weather out there folks and if you’re not a beach person then I would recommend you stay inside with the AC on high.”

            “Do you guys want to go to the beach today?” Kelshie asked as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.

            “Most of the out of towners won’t be here so it would probably be less crowded,” Jess commented.

            “You know me,” Heather said, “It doesn’t matter what we do.”

            “I would like to check out the beach today if you guys don’t mind,” Melina said.

            “No we don’t mind,” Kelshie smiled. “After breakfast we’ll pack the car with snacks and all the other beach stuff and head for the shoreline.”

            It took the girls about half an hour to really get moving and pack Kelshie’s SUV for their day at the beach.

            Once they picked a prime spot to lay down the blanket and open up the umbrella they would go back and forth from tanning to jumping into the cool water.

            “Look the volley ball nets are open!” Heather exclaimed. “Come on let’s go play!”

            She grabbed Melina’s arm and dragged her through the sand toward the unoccupied volley ball net. Kelshie and Jess followed as they laughed at Heather’s mad dash for the net.

            “Let’s play Heathers against me and Melina,” Jess suggested.

            “Sounds good to me,” both Heathers said at the same time.

            “We’re going to kick your asses,” Jess teased. “Right Melina?!”

            She chuckled, “I don’t know. I’ve never played on sand before.”

            “That’s ok,” Heather laughed, “Kelshie and I aren’t that coordinated.”

            Kelshie nodded her head, “We always seem to run into each other and trip over each other’s feet!”

            And trip over each other they did! There came a point in the game where Kelshie and Heather just gave up because no matter what they did they kept falling. The Heathers were lying in the sand laughing hysterically and Jess and Melina were giggling along with their friends. It was no use keeping score because it was obvious that Melina and Jess won.

            When all four girls had enough sun, salt water and sand they packed their things to head back to Kelshie’s house.

            “Is there any dog park we can take the Puppies to around here?” Heather asked once they got in the car.

            “There is a park that allows dogs,” Jess answered.  

            “Would you guys mind if we go there because I feel bad that the Puppies were cooped up in the house all day.”

            “I feel bad too,” Kelshie agreed. “We’ll spend some time exploring the park then on our way home I have to stop at the grocery store to pick up fixings for sub sandwiches for dinner. Does that sound like a plan?”

            The other girls agreed and Kelshie made her way toward the house.

            The Puppies loved spending time at the park. They met other dogs, played endless rounds of fetch and Frisbee, and took a few dips in the pond located in the middle of the park. They even watched the sunset with the girls. After stopping at the local 24 hour grocery store the day of play for both girls and dogs ended at Kelshie’s house for dinner.

            When the paper plates were thrown away and the left over sandwich meats were put back in the refrigerator the girls sat down in front of the TV to relax.

            “Hey Hermie,” Jess said, “Do you have any songs in mind for the Karaoke thing?”

            “Well like I said before I think we should stick to songs from either Unbreakable or This Is Us,” Heather replied.

            Melina pouted, “But what about all the other great songs from earlier CDs?”

            “Don’t get me wrong I love the older songs but I would rather sing those songs with a fifth person. My sister Stephanie would love to do that with us but she couldn’t get off of work for this concert. And her boyfriend already took her to a This Is Us show. Besides each Boy gets their own time to shine in the newer songs and I would like each of us to get our own time to shine,” Heather reasoned.

            “Good point. I think we should stay away from very popular songs then,” Kelshie suggested, “Like we shouldn’t sing the singles.”

            “I was thinking the same thing,” Heather smiled. “Ain’t it scary how we can read each other’s mind?”

            Kelshie chuckled, “Honestly it doesn’t bother me anymore because we’ve been reading each other’s minds for years now!”

            “You’re right! I don’t know why I’m still scared!” Heather laughed. Getting back to the Karaoke subject, Heather said after she finished laughing, “Also I think it’s safer to stick to Unbreakable and This Is Us because I have a feeling we’re going to hear I Want It That Way, Quit Playing Games With My Heart, and Everybody Backstreet’s Back at least five times each that night.”

            “So let’s see what we can scratch off our list,” Jess started, “The singles are Inconsolable, Helpless When She Smiles, Bigger and,” she pouted as she said, “Straight Through My Heart.”

            “Awe Jess!” Heather said, “I know you love STMH but don’t you agree that the only ones who should sing that song are BSB?

            “Yeah you’re right.”

            “Does anybody beside me have any song ideas?” Heather asked.

            “Well maybe we should scratch off the ones that we can’t change lyrics to,” Kelshie said.

            “What do you mean?” Jess asked.

            Kelshie explained, “Like instead of us girls singing, “Let’s be lovers/Girl I promise to be faithful” we could sing “Let’s be lovers/Boy I promise to be faithful”. Get what I mean? When we need to we could change the song so it sounds like it was written for a girl band instead of a boy band.”

            “Oh I got it!” Jess exclaimed. “That makes sense. Good idea.”

            “Let me grab a pen and paper,” Heather got up to find a pen and piece of scrap paper.

            “What are you going to do?” Melina asked.

            “I’m going to make a list of all the songs on Unbreakable and This Is Us. That way we can eliminate the ones that don’t meet our requirements.”

            “So we agreed the four singles are scratched,” Kelshie said. Heather crossed off Inconsolable, Helpless When She Smiles, Straight Through My Heart and Bigger from the list.

            “She’s A Dream wouldn’t make sense if we made it into the girl version,” Jess commented, “Even though I love that song!”

            “I love it too but you’re right,” Heather said as she crossed it off.  

            “One In A Million wouldn’t work either,” Kelshie interjected.

            “How about we cross off the ones that are going to be in the concert?” Melina asked.

            “That’s a good iead,” Jess said.

            “Since you’ve seen the concert already in Germany, you can cross off the ones that were in the show,” Heather handed Melina the list.

            “I remember: Bye Bye Love, All Of Your Life, This Is Us, PDA, Undone and that’s it,” Melina checked the list before handing it back to Heather.

            “It’s a good thing All Of Your Life is scratched,” Kelshie commented.

            “Why?” Melina asked.

            “Because Hermie would be way too excited to perform it!” Kelshie chuckled.

            “Is that true?” Melina questioned her “blood sister” with a smile.

            Heather blushed a little, “Yeah Kelshie’s right. That is my favorite song of theirs! I get very excited whenever I hear it.”

            “You said PDA was in the show right?” Jess asked.

            “Yes,” Melina replied.

            “Yes! What a relief!” Jess exclaimed. “I’m so glad we don’t have to perform that song!”

            Melina looked confused.

            “Jess doesn’t like PDA but I love it!” Heather explained.

            “I don’t like it either,” Kelshie added.

            “You guys suck,” Heather scoffed.

            “Maybe we should sing a slow song,” Melina suggested.

            “I don’t think it should be too slow though,” Jess said.

            “Let’s eliminate the really slow ones,” Kelshie said.

            “Ok… let me see here,” Heather glanced at the list, “we’ll get rid of Shattered, Love Will Keep You Up All Night, Unmistakable, Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon. How does that sound to you?”

            Kelshie pouted, “But I love Shattered and Unmistakable. Why do we have to get rid of those two?”

            “How about we keep Unmistakable and scratch Shattered because I love Unmistakable too,” Jess offered.

            “Works for me,” Heather said. “Unmistakable is another one of my favorites. Sounds good to you sis?”

            “I agree with the three of you. I love Unmistakable!”

            “Let me see the list please,” Jess didn’t even wait for Heather to answer when she snatched it from her hands. “I think Trouble Is sounds too depressing for me. I want to have fun on stage not be depressed. And You Can Let Go isn’t show-offy enough.”

            “Show-offy?” Kelshie questioned.

            “I don’t think it will show off our talents as well as the others might.”

            “I get what you’re saying,” Heather agreed, “Scratch it.”

            “We are down to eight,” Jess said. “Masquerade, If I Knew Then, Everything But Mine, Something That I Already Know, Any Other Way, Panic, Treat Me Right, and Unmistakable.”

            “I don’t think we shouldn’t use Masquerade because BSB might use it to go along with the After Party theme,” Melina commented.

            “Yeah it is a good idea to scratch it because BSB might perform it for us at the party,” Heather agreed.

            “How about we vote on which song we should sing?” Kelshie suggested.

            “Sounds good,” Jess said.

            Heather ripped up four pieces of paper and handed them out along with pens she found buried deep in her bag. After each girl handed in her vote Heather tallied them up.

            “So what song are we singing?” Kelshie asked excitedly.

            “Its unanimous we’re singing Unmistakable!”

            Everyone else screamed, “Yay! I love that song!”

            Heather laughed, “Dam! I knew it was only going to be a matter of time until Melina started saying the same things as us! That was kind of freaky!”

            Kelshie interjected logically, “We should have a backup or a few just in case people who go before us take our song.”

            “I say Treat Me Right and then Panic,” Jess said.

            “Ok to me. What about you two?” Heather asked Melina and Kelshie.

            They both nodded in agreement.

            “When do we start practicing?” Melina questioned.

            “How about tonight?”

            “I have nothing planned,” Kelshie replied.

            Melina and Jess didn’t mind either so Heather plugged her ipod into the ihome.

            “Who is singing which part again?” Jess asked.

            “I’m singing Nick’s parts, of course, you’re singing Brian’s, Kelshie get’s Howie’s parts and Melina has AJ’s,” Heather replied.        

            “Ok hit it.”

            The girls listened to the song twice. The first time they listened closely to their individual parts just to get a taste of the notes because they didn’t have sheet music. The second time they actually sang the song with small, fixable mistakes here and there.

            “It’s missing something,” Jess said.

            “Maybe we can come up with a routine,” Melina suggested.

            “I like that idea!” Jess said.

            A light bulb lighted over Heather’s head, “We could imitate the routine from the Unbreakable Tour! We’ll have to modify it a little bit because we probably won’t have chairs to use at the Party but I think that’d be cool!”

            “I like it!” Melina exclaimed.

            “Do we have to dance?” Kelshie asked with a less than happy voice.

            “I know you don’t like to dance Kelshie but it’s three against one. Besides you’re a good dancer,” Heather said honestly.

            “That’s what you say.”

            “Kelshie! It’s the truth!”

            “Ok. Ok. I’ll dance.”

            “Good. I’m tired so I’ll start thinking about dance moves tomorrow.”

            “I thought we were going to Six Flags tomorrow?” Jess interjected.

            “Oh yeah that’s right. I’ll just think about it after Six Flags.”

            Like all the other nights the girls got cozy in their PJs and popped a movie into the DVD player. Heather pulled out Violet from her bag and started the night’s entry.

            “Dear Vi,

            Today we spent the day at the beach. Melina loved it! She said the Jersey Shore is simply beautiful. I had to chuckle at her comment because there are prettier places than Jersey. We took the Puppies to a park and they had a blast playing fetch and meeting other dogs. They even went swimming in the pond. At first I didn’t want them too but they needed a bath anyway. So when we got home my BSB Buds helped me bath the Puppies in the backyard. After dinner we picked the song for the Backstreet Challenge. We decided on Unmistakable. I know what you’re thinking, “How are you going to get through that song Heather?” I don’t know but I want to try it. That song is breath taking and our voices are perfect for it. Plus we all love that song. I might sound conceded but I think we might possibly be the only other group that could sing that song correctly besides BSB themselves. But still I don’t know how if I’ll be able to control my emotions when we actually perform it. At least we didn’t choose I Still. Tomorrow we are playing on going to Six Flags and then walking the boardwalk at night. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow and I have a feeling Jess and Kelshie are going to drag me onto all the rides I don’t want to go on so I better get a good night’s sleep.

            I’ll write more later. HMH”