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Chapter Seven

Bianca immediately looked toward where Darcy was pointing furiously toward, completely forgetting that Abrianna, their friend, as they knew it, was dead. She squinted, trying to make out the faint figure that was in the distance. She had no idea what Darcy was talking about. The girl looked nothing like Abrianna.

“Darce,” Bianca said warily, “Abrianna, if you’ve forgotten, had brown hair. That girl is almost blonde with layers. Abrianna almost never wore much makeup. That girl looks like she wears some.”

Darcy scowled at Bianca, not believing that she was missing the most obvious thing of all. True, this girl looked almost nothing like Abrianna, but there was one thing that made her stand out. One little thing that was making her double think who the mystery girl behind the scenes was.

“Look at her eyes, duh,” Darcy pointed out, “I can still pick out those green eyes from anywhere.”

Bianca looked harder, not believing that Darcy could see that well to make out someone’s eyes from so far back. She squinted as hard as she could, trying to see what Darcy was, but just wasn’t. Just when Bianca was about to give up though, she definitely noticed just what Darcy was speaking of. The glowing emeralds sparkled, catching the light in just the right way, exactly how Abrianna’s had. She would never forget that special characteristic that she was lucky enough to get.

“My god,” Bianca breathed, “I…I think you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” Darcy said smugly, “I’m always right…” she quickly stopped, her voice trailing off, “Most of the time…over ninety nine percent.”

Bianca continued to stare at the girl until she slipped back behind the stage, disappearing from view. All that was running through her mind was that Abrianna was still alive, but then a second though crossed her mind. That was impossible, and if she was, what were the chances that she was actually with the Backstreet Boys. The chances weren’t that likely, in her opinion.

“We are so going to try to get backstage after the show,” Darcy said, putting her hands on her hips, “We’re going to get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing that I do…this week.”

“Darce,” Bianca reminded her, “You said that we were “so” going to try to get backstage anyways.”

“Well, now we have a better plan.” She informed her friend, and pulled her wallet out of her purse, flipping to a photo of herself, Bianca and Abrianna all together just weeks before the disappearance, “See this? This is my proof that we know her.”

Bianca looked at her friend skeptically, “Darcy, in case you haven’t noticed, the girl that we saw up there,” she pointed, “Looks pretty much nothing like the girl in the picture. They won’t buy it.”

Darcy shrugged, “But just maybe they knew her before she did that to herself and would recognize her for who she naturally is.”

“Assuming that it’s the same person,” Bianca stated, “We are totally jumping to conclusions here, you know that?”

“Oh, it’s her,” Darcy replied, almost too surly of herself, “It’s got to be. I know one of my best friends when I see one.”

Bianca didn’t say anything in return. She just watched the show in silence worried about how Darcy planned on going about her little scheme to get to whoever the girl was. She always had a plan in store for just about every situation. Bianca knew though that Darcy was also hoping to weasel her way back so that she could meet her idols. What she wasn’t sure of though was if the main reason she was making such a huge deal of it to actually see if the mystery girl was their friend or to use that as an excuse at the long shot of getting somewhere.

Meanwhile, Darcy was smirking to herself, thinking up the perfect plan. She laughed silently, wishing that Alex had come with them. The whole reason he hadn’t was because the memory of Abrianna would be too much for him to handle, but there she had been, standing right in front of their eyes. She couldn’t wait to see the expression on his face when she told him…or maybe she wouldn’t. She felt that because he’d been too coward to come, that he really didn’t deserve the right to know that his girlfriend, the love of his life, was alive and extremely safe and better off than she could even ever begin to explain.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zaina collapsed against a wall, breathing heavily, trying to calm herself. She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed hard, her body shaking. Why had those two girls been staring at her like that, so intensly? She could barely see the audience from all of the bright lights that were shining down so vibrantly on the guys, but it was hard not to notice that she was being watched by the two in the first or second row. She’d had a feeling that this would happen. All along she’d had a bad feeling that something would go would make her feel unsafe and like she could and would be harmed. A few frightened tears ran down her cheeks. For so long, she’d been able to steer clear of the area, but then, all of a sudden, she was being thrust back into the awful place that she’d been stranded at.

“Hey, you all right?” she heard a man ask.

Zaina looked up and saw Kevin standing above her, concern filling his eyes. She quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes.

“Um, yeah,” she stammered, “Is the show over already?” she asked, thinking that it had gone awfully quickly.”

Kevin laughed, “Nope, just an outfit change. So I gotta get my butt back out there quick.”

Zaina forced a tight smile, “Good luck for the remaining half or whatever is left.” She said, her thoughts slightly distracted.

Kevin looked at her oddly. He’d known her for over three years now and knew that something was bothering her. Even though she wouldn’t admit it, he could read her like a book. For one, she was terrible at lying and two, he could always tell when something was up with somebody who was close to him. This was one of those times. After the show, he made a mental promise to take her aside and ask her why she’d looked so distraught.

“Well, I have to hurry,” Kevin told her, “Meet me in my bus about ten minutes after the show, okay?”
Zaina nodded, wondering why he was asking her to meet up with him. It didn’t make much since to her, but knew better than to argue. Sure, Kevin would never hurt her for anything in the world, but she wanted to stay on his, as well as the other four guys’ good sides. Kevin waved as he ran into the dressing room. Less than a minute later, all five came rushing out of the room and back onto the stage seconds after the music started playing again. Zaina took in a jagged breath, trying to regain her composure. For all she knew, she was getting herself worked up over nothing. She’d been spotted at other shows too and pointed out. Why was she letting this particular one get to her? She had a feeling that it was simply because of the fact that she had come into Chicago all along expecting something bad to happen. She figured that she was just trying to prove herself to be right without thinking twice about anything that happened to pop up. She knew that she was probably acting crazy, and at the moment, that was the last thing that she needed whoever knew of her to be thinking.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

True to her word, as soon as the show ended, Darcy drug Bianca by the hand, pulling her forward against all of the fans who were doing exactly what they were supposed to and leaving the venue. Bianca shook her head, slightly embarrassed to be with one of the only ones who felt the need to try and stir up a commotion. She just hoped that it didn’t end in them being escorted to the police station in the back of a police car.

“Darcy,” Bianca stated, “I really don’t think that this is going to work. That girl is probably just a look alike. A mere coincidence. Let’s just go home like the majority and leave it at that.”

Darcy stopped, staring at her friend for a long, uncomfortable few moments. She wasn’t sure of what to say to the girl who was several inches taller than she was. Nothing came to her mind justice to what she wanted to say.

“So you want us to just give up?” Darcy asked finally, “B, this is the closest that we’ve ever come to knowing if Abrianna is still alive or not, and you’re telling me that you don’t want to find out for sure if it is even really her or not? What would you do if we didn’t at least try, and then months down the road find out that it really was her, no questions asked?”

Bianca sighed, refusing to say anything. She felt that there was no need to. Darcy was correct. This was the closest that they had come. If they passed up the opportunity to know, then she knew that they’d always wonder. Sure, if things turned out to be bad in the end, they would be disappointed. Hurt even, that they had been wrong. But she also knew that the hurt would go away and they would know that they’d given it another chance.

“See, you so know that I am right.” Darcy gloated, “Now come on. We don’t exactly have the entire night, you know. In about half hour, tops, they’ll be long gone. We have to do what we came to quickly.”

Bianca shook her head, amazed at how well Darcy seemed to know everything about the Boys. Sometimes she wondered if there was a little secret that her friend was keeping from her and, years before, Abrianna as well. After all, was it really possible to know so much that most wouldn’t even be able to begin to figure out or find? She wasn’t sure, so decided to just keep her curiosity to a minimum. Some things were best left uncomplicated, especially if it would make the wondering grow more intense.

Darcy continued to tug on Bianca, pulling her up a large ramp that led to where the backstage would be. She was so close to getting back without a problem before a security guard stepped in her way.

“You’re not aloud back there without a pass,” he stated gruffly, crossing his arms over his large, barreling chest.

“But we know the one chick,” she protested, “Abrianna.”

“There’s no Abrianna here,” he told her sternly, “You must be mistaking who ever you saw for somebody else.”

Darcy looked like she wanted to whip out her infamous baseball bat and swing it a few times at the oversized guard. Bianca bit her lip nervously, attempting to quickly think up something to get her to back off.

“See, it’s not Abrianna,” she quickly said, “Now lets leave before he calls security on us.”

Darcy looked at Bianca as if she’d lost her mind, “For one, I know one of my best friends when I see them, and two, he,” she threw her hand in gesture of the massive man, “Practically is security.”

The guard didn’t budge. If anything, he seemed to grow, blocking the access to backstage even more. Darcy scowled, and Bianca wanted to sink into the ground. Sure, it would be the best day of her life if the girl was Abrianna, but, it obviously wasn’t and she just wanted to go home.

“Listen here,” Darcy finally went off, “I don’t know who you think you are, but we know that girl. Now just move aside like a good little boy and let us pass so we can see our friend.”

A grin spread across the guards face as he brought out a walkie-talkie and brought it to his mouth, turning his head away to speak. Darcy could barely make out the words that he was saying and it was something along the lines of escorting her and Bianca out of the venue.

“I am so not going anywhere,” Darcy told him, crossing her arms, as three police officers came running at her. Her eyes widened, and Bianca coward back, “Oh shit.” She said, wondering what she was going to do to get herself, and her friend, out of this little mess.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Now, Zaina,” Kevin said kindly, after she’d taken a seat in the dressing room minutes after the guys had left, “What was wrong earlier?”

“Nothing,” she replied quietly, looking downward to hide her troubled eyes. As soon as she looked up, it would give it all away. Her eyes always did. She hated it, but knew that it was what kept her in line: knowing that her eyes would give away her slightest beginnings of a fib.

Kevin looked at her skeptically, not buying into her excuse. He wanted to help his friend, but couldn’t unless she let him. He refused to leave the room until he had gotten somewhere with the small girl. He reached across to her and gently lifted her chin up, forcing her to look at him against her own will.

“Now, tell me the truth,” Kevin said with a smile, “Maybe I can help out. You never know.”

Zaina sighed, knowing that she was stuck. She took in a deep breath, preparing herself to be taken as paranoid to Kevin.

“It’s just, during the show, there were these two girls that were staring at me,” she began, “It made me feel like they wanted to hurt me in some way. And I don’t feel safe here as it is.”

Kevin nodded, listening to her intensely. He knew how she felt. Sometimes, there were certain fans that gave him a feeling of danger.

“You know that me and the guys will never let anything happen to you right?” he asked her.

Zaina shrugged. She knew that they wouldn’t let anything every intentionally happen to her. But what if one day, they weren’t around, and they couldn’t prevent it from happening.

“You don’t look so sure of yourself,” Kevin laughed, “Don’t worry. As long as you’re with us, which I hope is forever, you are safe. You have been for three years now, am I right?”

Zaina nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. All of you have been wonderful.” She told him softly, “Thank you.”

“We all care a lot about you,” Kevin told her, “Don’t worry abou…”

Kevin was cut off by the sounds of a girl screaming in the distance, “You can’t take me,” she shrieked, “Get you damn hands off of me.”

Kevin shook his head, and continued with what he was saying, “Don’t worry about them. Chances are, you…”

Again, Kevin was cut off by the same voice yelling and fighting with somebody. Obviously the guards, from how close she sounded.

“I said don’t touch me,” she screamed, “I am so going to sue your asses.”

“Darce,” a second female voice said loudly, “Let’s just get out of here. If you don’t fight, they’re going to let us go.”

Kevin chuckled, amused with the conversation that was going on out there. Zaina raised one eyebrow, obviously getting entertainment out of the fight.

“As I was saying,” Kevin began, trying again, “You’ll probably never even see who…”

Again, he was distracted by the yelling. He was getting frustrated with the interruption that were overpowering his soft-spoken voice. Rolling his eyes, Kevin stood up, and Zaina got up as well.

“I’m going to go out there and see what’s going on,” he said, “Maybe I can put an end to it once and for all.”

Zaina followed Kevin out of the dressing room and out over to where the obnoxousness was taking place. Seeing the two girls struggling to get out of the grips of police, he walked over to get closer.

“What’s going on?” he asked loudly, getting everybody’s attention, “And please let the girls go until we know what is going on.”

The officers released Darcy and Bianca and they quickly stepped as far away as they could from them.

“These ladies,” the guard said with an amused chuckle, “Claim that they know a girl named Abrianna that is with you guys.”

Kevin shook his head, “I’m sorry,” he said, “There’s nobody with us named Abrianna.”

Darcy scowled at him, figuring that he was lying to her. The other four Boys had since joined Kevin in wonderment at what was happening as well. Darcy then saw the girl step out from behind Kevin, her eyes growing wide in fright.

“Those are them,” she said aloud to Kevin, pointing at the two girls that who named themselves as Darcy and Bianca, “The girls I was talking about.”

“And that,” Darcy said, “Is Abrianna. Remember us girl. You’ve been holding out. Why didn’t you at least write and tell us that you’ve been with the Backstreet Boys all of this time?”

The guys all looked at one another for a very long moment and began laughing loudly, “No, this is Zaina.” Nick said, proudly saying aloud the name that he’d come up with.

Bianca saw more closely that despite the totally different look, she did resemble Abrianna, almost exactly. Darcy pulled out her wallet and flipped through her photos to one of the three of them together, thrusting it into A.J’s hands.

“See,” she pointed, “Same person.”

A.J. sighed, ready to get the confusion out of the way and their lives on with. He looked down at the photo quickly, and looked back up. But something caught his eye. He did a double take and paled. The girl in the photo, was in fact, the same exact person that the guys had found years ago. The same girl from the poster that he had found. He should have known that this day would come. Her friends from her old life would find her and try to get to her. A.J. saw ten pairs of eyes on him and he quickly composed himself trying to fight the look of recognition on his face.

“I’ve never seen this girl,” he said casually.

Kevin snatched the wallet out of his hand and looked down at the photo, his own eyes widening.

“Oh my god,” he said aloud, running a hand through his black hair. The girl was definitely their Zaina. How Zaina looked before the makeover. He then looked up at A.J, who had guilt written all over his face, “A.J.” he said sternly, “You knew, didn’t you? You knew all along.”

A.J. quickly turned and disappeared before he had to answer. He knew that once he was alone, he’d have a lot of explaining to do to Kevin. Kevin rolled his eyes and turned back to the girls.

“So you’re a part of her past life,” he said.

“Well, DUH,” Darcy exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

Zaina wondered what was going on. She’d never seen these girls before in her life who claimed to know her. She tapped her foot impatiently as everyone talked to one another. She was completely in the dark.

“Would somebody like to explain to me just exactly what is soooo amazing?” she said sarcastically.

Kevin turned and looked at her, as if seeing her there for the first time, “Oh, yeah,” he said, and handed her the picture for her to see.

Zaina looked down at it and gasped. She recognized herself in the photo with the two girls standing in front of her. But she didn’t remember them at all. Tears started to form in her eyes as she clutched the photograph, staring at it with intensity. For the first time in three years, a little part of her past was right her in front of her, but what annoyed her was that it didn’t bring back any memory of it at all.