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**August 23 2002**

Charline sighed, looking back t the house she had spent close to four months in. The girls were now loading their tour bus, getting ready for their first show, which was that night in San Francisco.

Little did she know, Aaron was watching her also, in his bedroom, staring out the window. He could hear Leslie practicing piano downstairs. She was playing All or Nothing by O-town. How fitting. He put his hand on the glass, still watching, locking his lips and blinking his eyes violently, fighting back tears.

But he didn’t win the battle. A single tear trickled down his check, followed by another, and another, and another. Soon he was curled up the floor, sobbing. He wanted so much to run outside and take her back, but it looked to him like she didn’t care anymore. Not that she looked happy, but she didn’t look overly upset either.

Aaron knew however, that it wasn’t his fear of rejection that was stopping him from taking her in his arms and repeating “I love you.” A million times in one minute. No, it was that he loved her so much, that they would eventually drift apart What made sense to him was nonsense to others; he loved her too much to lose her, so he let her go.

Charline sadly turned her head away from the house, focusing her attention on the newly painted silver bus. Taking one last look behind her, she hesitantly boarded. Knowing that once she stepped inside Aaron was gone for good. Well, there was always the possibility of them seeing each other at awards shows and such, but the likelihood of it not being weird was next to nothing

Throwing her backpack, containing her CDs, Discman and Harry Potter books on the floor, she grabbed a bunk close to the washroom and began ripping picture out of Tiger Beat to stick inside. Joce had been smart the night before when going out to buy stuff for the bus – she got Charline a magazine with hardly any Aaron Carter pictures.

Charline was relieved not to find his face anywhere, that is, until she came across it in the rumors section. It was more than just a picture of him, though; it was a shot of the two of them at the MTV VMAs back in June. Curiosity got the better of her, and she read on.

Dear Tiger Beat:
There is a rumor going around the internet that Charline from The 4 Gurlz and Aaron Carter is a couple. Is this true?


TB: Sadly, yes. Charline announced that she and Aaron are an official couple when the group was on TRL a few weeks ago. But don’t get depressed just yet – Sophie stated that Charline likes Rishi from Chris and The Rockers, who will be the opening act for the girls’ upcoming tour. Who knows, a breakup could be just around the corner.

After she read that, Charline had to swallow to keep from crying. Then she climbed out of her bunk and went to yell at Sophie for saying she liked Rishi – ew.

**That Afternoon**

“Get lost Dixon.” Steph commanded, walking fasted as her ex-boyfriend followed her around backstage. He was one fifth of Chris and The Rockers – the opening act.

“I just want to help? He soothed, wrapping his arms around her waist. Steph responded by breaking out of his grasp and facing him.

“Then you can leave me alone.” She said, going out onto the stage to do sound check.

Rishi watched from behind the punchbowl. It was clear to him that Steph wanted nothing to do with Chris. Rishi had always secretly liked Steph, and she had always despised him. He had tried to get her to sleep with him a few years back. Now she was afraid of him. When he’d started dating Nick, he knew she’d have her heart broken it was just a matter of time. Now it was up to Rishi to make it all better.

“Steph.” He called to her, knocking over the punchbowl in the process.

Joce, who had been watching the whole thing while she got her hair touched up, snickered. This tour was going to be very interesting. She was sure of it, as long as it didn’t make headlines, she was ok with it.

A bunch of people rushed over to clean up the spilled punch, and a security guard carried Rishi to the other end of backstage so he couldn’t cause any more trouble.

**Meanwhile**

“Uh...hey...” Nick said, walking into Aaron’s room. For the first time in three months, the house was quiet.

“Hey.” Aaron replied, not taking his eyes off the television while he played N64. Obviously he was trying to keep his mind off Charline.

Nick sat cross legged on Aaron’s bed “So. did you say goodbye to her?” He asked.

Aaron shook his head, still not taking his eyes off the TV. “Did you say goodbye?”

Nick shrugged. “I tried, but she just gave me the cold shoulder.” They were silent for a couple of minutes before Aaron turned off the Nintendo.

“I’m worried that one day I’ll open the newspaper and read that’s she’s with someone else.” Aaron sulked.

Nick nodded knowingly. “Yeah, I’m worried that Steph will get back together with that Chris dude. Especially since his band is touring with her.”

Aaron curled his knees up to his chest and looked up at Nick. “But it’s not the same, cause…you know.”

“Cause you guys had sex.”

“Right.” Aaron replied, staring at the floor.

“Well, you don’t regret it, do you?” Nick asked, Aaron shuffled around a bit before answering.

“No, I just think we were too young.” He said slowly.

“I agree.” Nick nodded.

“I just think that maybe if we had taken things a bit slower, it could have worked out better, we could have been friends.”

At that Nick shook his head, his brother could be really naïve at times. “Let me ask you this, you loved each other, right?”

“Yes.” Aaron answered, wondering what Nick was getting at. Lately he had noticed that Nick would start out with a question, and then offer advice

“Friendship is impossible after love, and your breakup was inevitable. Just like me and Steph, we will never be friends. We might say ‘hello’ if we run into each other, but that’s just being friendly.”

Aaron nodded as he took in his brothers words of wisdom. Nick was right, it was all over, and nothing was going to change that.

**That Evening**

“Oh, we were driving in the car on the way to the cottage when suddenly Sophie piped up.” Steph sang, it was their first song of their first concert ever and their fans were loving every second of it.

“You guys, I hate this song.” Sophie whined, totally in character for the song, into the microphone.

“Well that’s your problem shut up!” The rest of them yelled to the crowd.

Charline looked at her three band mates. How could they seem so happy? Everything today was annoying her – from her stepping in spilled punch backstage, to Dave from CATR, to her stupid outfit being so itchy. Nothing was going her way today, the last place she wanted to be was up on stage pretending she was perfectly happy.

Sophie looked over in Charline’s direction for a split second. She felt sorry for her, at thirteen you shouldn’t have to deal with things like your boyfriend dumping you, then realizing that you’re pregnant. She wondered for a second how far along she was – they could have done it more than once. Then a thought stuck her, their tour was seven months long, and no matter how old the baby was now, Charline would be pretty big by then. They were either going to have to cut their tour short or reschedule a whole bunch of dates. When they did that, the media would want to know why.

What were they supposed to say? Sure, when BSB had to postpone a whole bunch of dates last year when AJ went to rehab, they told the truth. But by then it was their fifth, sixth tour and it was okay, they were respected. The girls were only on their first tour! Sophie shook the thought off, deciding to discuss it with the others, later; right now she had a show to do.

Chris watched from behind the curtains. He had to get her back, but also, he knew Rishi wanted her too. Suddenly it came to him.

The perfect plan.