~~ Stephanie ~~

It was January 26th, 2006 and I was at my friend Jasmine’s house having a BBQ with her and our two other friends Muffy and Alana. What were we celebrating you ask? Well not only was today Australia Day (a national holiday here, much like the 4th of July in the US) but next month we were seeing who we considered one of if not the best boy band in the world (at least Jasmine, Muffy and I thought they were the best; New Kids On The Block were still Alana’s favourite but hey she was still a Backstreet fan so that’s all that mattered, even if she was rooting for the wrong team during those NKOTB VS BSB debates!). “Grubs up” Jasmine’s dad Steve said “thanks dad” Jas said taking a plate of hamburger patties into the kitchen table “smells great Steve” Muffy said walking in with Alana and I in tow “eat up girls, you’re going to need your strength for next month” he laughed “Travelling around the country side seeing a bunch of boys and acting like a bunch of teenage girls. It’s below you, Jas” “Cassie I’ve told you before don’t tease your sister and her love for those boys” I looked at Jas “kids, they just don’t understand the mature female emotions” which made everyone but Cassie laugh.

I grabbed a hamburger pattie and put it onto my bun and then proceeded to put Lettuce, Cheese and Mayo on top (with the cheese on top of the pattie, of course) “great burgers Steve” I said taking a bite out of mine “I’m glad you enjoy it Steph” he smiled back at me “so..speaking of these Backstreet Boys..which one do you like? Or are you another fan of the blonde one?” I laughed “No I’m not a fan of Nick” “oh, you aren’t a fan of that tattooed freak are you?” “AJ? No, well I like him but he’s not my favourite, Brian is” he just shook his head and mumbled something about us needing to be more mature or something. How much more mature could we get? I mean here we are only days away from seeing our favorite group for the first time in our lives and we’re yet to scream. We’re meeting them and everything and we’re yet to scream. Ok so we did all the screaming when we got our tickets through the fan club but still, we’re mature enough to control it when we’re around other people who don’t care for the guys, doesn’t that make us mature? It did in my eyes.

So you’re probably wondering how this all got started, right? Well it’s a long story, actually it’s a story that’s just been building up for almost Eleven years, yep that’s right Eleven looooong years. Well as you could tell my name is Stephanie or Steph for short, I’m 4’11, twenty-four years old, I have shoulder length brown hair with hazel/green eyes. I reside in Melbourne, Australia and I’ve been a fan of the Backstreet Boys since I was eleven, so since they started in 1995. My favourite is none other than Brian with AJ coming in second. This was going to be my very first Backstreet Tour because they haven’t toured Australia before and by gosh I was damn excited! My friends are Alana, she’s 5’2, twenty-six years old, has blonde hair with some curls that flowed down to the middle of her back, she has blue eyes and her favourite boys are Nick & Howie. Muffy is 5’3, and at twenty-two she’s the baby of our group, she has long curly blonde/brown hair that she dyes way too much with bright blue eyes and Nick just happens to be her subject of Backstreet affection. Jasmine is roughly 5’, twenty-six years old, she has shoulder length blonde hair that she likes to dye fire red for some strange reason, I suppose it matches her personality though, she’s a very loud girl and can get quite pissed off if you try hard enough. Nick is also her favourite. It’s hard being the only one not interested in Nick Carter sometimes but I put up a good fight. Sure I think Nick is pretty hot but not as hot as Brian. We all met on the Backstreet Boys fan club; Weird World. It was like fate had brought us together. I joined and did a search for Australia and up popped the Australian fan thread that Muffy had started and her, Jas, Alana and a few other girls were posting in there. I didn’t actually expect to find any Aussie fans on that site, most of them were either American or European but boy was I happy when I did! Muffy, Jas, Alana and I had an instant connection, it was pretty weird. They invited me on their little road trip and I was hesitant at first, I mean I just met these girls online a few weeks ago but I had no one else to go to the concerts with so I thought what the hell do I have to lose? (you know, besides my life)

On January 23rd, I left for Brisbane, travelling by train via Sydney and finally making it to Brisbane on January 25th and being picked up at the train station by Muffy. It was awkward driving to her house, the silence was killing me but we started talking about the tour and the boys and then what do you know? We couldn’t shut up. That leads us to where we are today, Jasmine’s house having a BBQ, today was Australia Day after all. As I was just finishing up my burger Steve asked Jas to come and look at the car we were using for our road trip, oh did I mention the four of us are road tripping around Australia to all the Backstreet concerts? I have no idea what was wrong with the car, I’m not a mechanic after all but Steve and Jas got it working again and we were soon on our way back to Muffy’s house. When we got there we went into Muffs room and Jas and I laid on her bed while she sat in her computer chair and checked her MSN. “Nothing good” she said turning the screen off “can I check my email?” I asked her getting up off the bed before she even had a chance to respond “sure” she said sitting on the bed where I had previously been “thanks muff”

I logged into my Google Mail email account and smiled as I had another email from my aunty, no doubt it was one of those “be careful; don’t talk to no one you don’t know; don’t leave your bags unattended; be careful walking the streets of the city at night” type of emails “anything good?” Alana asked me getting up and standing next to me “mmm not really, just a email from my aunty telling me not to talk to people I don’t know” I looked over at Muff and Jas “I think it’s a bit late for that though, don’t you?” they just laughed as I smiled “Oh here’s something interesting..the guys are meant to be staying at the Stamford here in Brissy” “yeah? Do you want to go down there and check it out tonight since they’re arriving tonight?” I looked at the girls “I dunno, I wouldn’t want to meet them in that sort of environment, it’s kinda like stalking” Jas sighed “I don’t want to meet them that way, either”

A few hours later we found ourselves at Coorparoo train station waiting for the train to the city, the plan was to just go into the city and have some fun on Australia Day but we somehow ended up at the Stamford hotel. We looked around for awhile, watching the people come in and out and didn’t really notice any security or anything that told us the Backstreet Boys were indeed there so we just ended up getting the train back to Muffs house and going to bed at around 11pm.

~~ Steph ~~

The next morning because Muff had to work and Jas was going to hang with her best friend for the day Jas dropped Alana and I off at the theme park Movie World, they had just opened a new rollercoaster there and I was pumped to try it. “You two have fun and I’ll pick you up from here at 3:30, ok?” Jas asked leaning over into the passenger seat so she could yell to us “Ok Jas, see you at 3:30” I said waving her bye as she drove out of the parking lot. I turned to Alana, so shall we do the rollercoaster first?” she laughed “as if you’re going to get me on that thing” I sighed “come on Al, it’s not like you’ll die from height fright” she shook her head violently “no way Steph, just not gonna happen” I sighed in defeat, did I mention Alana is scared of heights? “alright well you can wait here while I go on it a few times, I’m not sure when I’ll be back in Brissy so want to get a few rides in before the park gets packed at lunch time” “I’ll be here, just don’t take too long because I do want to get my $30 worth of rides” I laughed “yeah yeah ok don’t get your knickers in a knot girl” she just laughed as I started to walk to the Superman: Escape entrance.

~~ Alana ~~
So there I was waiting for Stephanie to get off that stupid rollercoaster that she’s already ridden 4 times when my mobile started playing Hang Tough by New Kids On The Block “Hello?” I answered holding the phone as close to my ear as I could so I could hear properly “its me. Get in here NOW” “what? Why? You know I don’t..” “NOW Alana! Just do it! Trust me! I’m up near the front now HURRY!” Steph hanged up and I was left just looking at the phone, what on earth could she want me in there for? I walked into the entrance for Superman: Escape and started searching for Steph when I saw what she was talking about. I stood there and stared at them for a few seconds “excuse me? Are you in this line?” someone asked me, knocking me out of my trance “oh umm..I’m looking for my friend so no not really in the line..yet..umm..sorry” I took a side step, letting the lady and her two kids past me and that’s when I heard it “ALANA! Over here” there was Steph waving her arm like the idiot that she is, screaming my name to get my attention. Unfortunately it got everyone else’s attention to. Oh boy. How embarrassing. I had to walk past the very reason why I was in there in the first place to get to Steph “ok you’ve got me here now what?” I asked giving her a look “we’re going for a ride” she said grinning “ohh no, I’m not going on that…thing. I told you already” she grinned and pointed to behind me before turning herself around to face the ride attendant who was telling us what to do “Alright guys, line up at the first gate, 4 people to a gate” I looked at Steph who was still grinning, what is she up too? “how many people?” the ride op asked us “two” Steph said “gate 5” we proceeded to gate 5, which wouldn’t you know turns out to be the very front carriage? I knew what was going to happen, there was 4 spots and 5 of them, one of them would jump with us.

“Hey do you guys mind if we join you?” I looked at him with my mouth gaping open. No way! “Of course not” Steph said “the more the merrier” was she nuts? The more the merrier? “thank you” then he looked at me with those chocolate brown eyes of his and I just smiled at him and he smiled back “been on this before?” he asked me “um no, not exactly” I said sheepishly “not exactly?” “well you see I’m umm, I’m kind of afraid of heights. I’d rather my feet stayed on the ground then be..well, up there” I said pointing to the roof “Oh I see” he turned to his friend and I looked at Steph, was she laughing at me?

~~ Steph ~~

I was laughing SO hard on the inside; Alana didn’t know what to think! There we were getting ready to ride Superman: Escape the rollercoaster and here were the Backstreet Boys going on the same run we were on when all of a sudden Howie asked if him and AJ could join us. I thought Alana was going to freak out! It was priceless! We sat down in the rollercoaster seats, I had so much trouble getting my restraint down, they were over the shoulder ones and weighed a bloody ton; not good if you’re weak like I am but thankfully the ride op helped me “thanks a lot” I smiled at him “no problem, it’s my job” he laughed and I just smiled “so are you ready for some serious rollercoaster air?” AJ asked me which got me laughing “serious rollercoaster air? Why AJ anyone would think you were a RC fanatic” he laughed as the train started to roll out of the station and into the ‘subway’ “just so you know Steph” Alana said from the very front “I’m going to kill you when we get off, ok?” I looked at AJ and we both just laughed “what ever you say, Al” we descended into the subway and were near the end “now what?” AJ asked me just as ‘Superman’s’ voice came over the speaker system “don’t worry folks, I’ll get you out of here, sit back, keep your arms and leg inside the car at all times and hold on tight” and swooooosh, blasting out of the subway area, going from 0-100K’s in 2 seconds, we were off, heading over the top hat, it felt like we stopped on the very top for 5 seconds or more but we really didn’t, it’s all a part of gravity. Rolling our way down the first hill and into the first bunny hop hill Alana was screaming the whole time. I noticed we were nearing the tunnel entrance “after this tunnel when we go around the corner there’s a camera that takes your picture” I screamed to AJ, Howie and Alana “Oh perfect!” Alana yelled back “not only do I have to know I went on this ride but I’ll have picture proof” AJ and I just snickered to each other. 30 seconds later we were back at the drop off station, Alana was going on to Howie about how high that all was, even though the highest point was only 60 metres and Howie was just taking it in. We walked out and I looked at Alana “soo how was it?” she glared at me “never again miss Stephanie Marie!” and stormed off towards a seat. I looked at AJ and he just shook his head and thanked me for being a great RC partner which made me smile “pleasure was all mine” I went over to Alana “enough coasters for today, please?” she begged “um well there’s still two more coasters I want to go on before we leave..” she just rolled her eyes “how about we go do Scooby then? It’s a nice indoor coaster, it’s not scary at all” I smiled to myself; not scary if you are use to mad mouse type of rides, that is.

~~ Alana ~~

So here we were; in line for Scooby-Doo something Coaster, I have no idea how Steph talked me into it but she said it’s not scary so against my better judgment I’m going on this thing. “I love how it goes backwards daddy” a little girl, couldn’t be more than 6 said to her father, I looked at Steph who had a sheepish smile on her face “backwards? This thing goes BACKWARDS!?” the little girl looked up at me “yes it does and it goes sideways!” I swallowed the lump in my throat. Great, just great “shhh sweetie, let’s not spoil it for those that haven’t had a chance to ride Scooby yet, ok?” “oh oops. I’m sorry” she said to me and I just gave her a fake smile. This thing goes backwards???

~~ Steph ~~

I felt an inch tall as we got into the Scooby ride, I had plans of telling Alana about it going backwards once we were on the ride; then she couldn’t back out but that little girl spoiled it but thank fully Alana is still coming on with me. Our train took off and Alana let out a little scream “it’s ok, it’s all just lights and music…nothing too scary” “it looks like a ghost train!” she screamed and I laughed “I suppose it does” we went around a corner and then she saw the ‘axe’ “Oh my god we’re gonna get chopped up” as we went under it she covered her head and I was laughing so hard I forgot about the camera until the flash went off. “That would make a great picture for our Road Trip scrapbook” she punched me in the arm “no more surprises, please?” “ok, there’s just one backwards drop and then another three dips and we’re out” Alana let out a sigh and I smiled. This was turning out to be a great day already.

~~ Alana ~~

Our car went onto the elevator, as Steph called it and we started to move upwards but then the thing started to tilt to the left and then the right “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” I screamed, Steph, as usual just laughed “here we go Al, I hope you are ready for backwardness” I turned my head and yep sure enough, our car was going to free fall backwards. Oh boy. “Here we go” she said putting her hands in the air “ahhhhhhhhhhh” I screamed again. A few more turns and twists and dips and we were at this part where Scooby says ‘escape down here’ only I couldn’t see WHERe he was talking about! Steph said we were going “under then out” but I had no idea what that meant? Suddenly our car jerked forward and sure enough we went down a dip (which hurt my back, might I add) and that was it, that was the end of the ride. “So how’d you like that? She asked me as we were getting out “better then the last ride” I said walking into the Scooby merchandise shop “Alana look at this” she said pointing to our so called picture on the monitor in the shop “oh god, I look so scared” “you WERE scared” she said laughing which just led me to hit her “shut up” “alright let’s go on the falls then we can go on the roller coaster and maybe get some lunch?” she said looking at her watch “sounds good to me”

~~ Steph ~~

We approached Wild West Falls and just stood and watched the people coming out “seems like they’ve got the jets up high today” I said walking into the entrance to the ride “it’s pretty hot today” Alana said “yeah, the wetter the better, right?” “right” we only had to wait 20 minutes before we got on and boy was this ride over due. After we got into the flume we were strapped in with a lap bar and on our way. We went up the first lift hill and the doors closed behind us, we started turning around and Alana looked at me “another backwards ride?” she asked and I nodded “this is the best one though” Ahhhhhhhh came the screams from Alana and other people on the ride, I just held my hands up and screamed wooohooo instead. We got to the second lift hill and started going up..it was a slow walk to China, let me tell you when all of a sudden we stopped in the middle of the tunnel, in total darkness. Alana panicked “Steph! What happened!?” “it’s ok, don’t panic. They probably just stopped us because we were too close to the flume in front, they don’t want us to bang into them. It’s all good” I looked around and prayed that was it; please don’t be a mechanical problem. A few seconds later we were on our way “see, it’s ok” I smiled at Alana. “This is the end guys, there’s a camera on the left just as we’re going down the hill so make good use of it” Alana looked at me and I smiled. We decided instead of putting our hands up, we’d just do what was now called the “Spynkter move” (every finger & thumb is down against your palm except your index and pinkie) and smile at the camera. “Backstreet Rocks” we screamed as the camera went SNAP and our flume went SPLAT into the water. Getting out we discovered we were totally soaked, that’s front row for you though! Alana laughed “that was soooo fun” I nodded in agreement “now do you want lunch now or the other coaster first?” she looked at me “coaster it is then”.

~~ Steph ~~

We walked over to Lethal Weapon, the roller coaster and I dragged Alana to the queue “so this thing goes up side down, right?” I smiled “yeah but it’s all good, it’s a great ride except for the ear bashing, of course.” We were next in line when I heard a familiar “hello ladies” I turned around and sure enough it was AJ with Brian, Howie and Kevin. “Hey guys” Alana said “ready for a great coaster ride?” she asked them, since when did she think it was great? “sure am” Howie smiled at her “I’m ready to tame this beauty” AJ said looking at me and I just laughed “yeah well just make sure you keep your head back against the rest and don’t let it move around too much, otherwise you won’t have any ears left and that’ll be a shame” they all laughed “why would it be a shame if we had no ears left?” I looked at Brian “well, because if you had no ears you couldn’t hear the music you make and if you didn’t like the music you made than there would be no Backstreet Boys albums” Alana laughed “oh yeah, great point!” the guys just laughed “I’m serious” I stated “if there was no more BSB albums I think I’d die” I looked at Alana and she was ready to burst from laughter “so does that mean we have to continue this until we’re 90 year old men and we’ll be dancing on stage with walking sticks trying to sing but not doing a great job at it?” I had to laugh at that “oh Brian that would make the BSB fans of the world so happy if you guys were 90 years old and still going at it” Alana clapped her hands “oh my gosh, that’s a funny image” I giggled “I know! Trust Brian to give us a mental image like that” “hey” I looked over at AJ “what about dancing?” “90 year old Backstreet Boys who dance too?” “Sounds good to me” Alana said as we were let into the ride by the ride op “oh for sure! I could see it now “sorry guys, we’re not what we use to be you know” that got Alana and I into a fit of giggles, Brian looked at the other guys and just shook his head mumbling something about girls, which made us laugh even harder.

~~ Alana ~~

We were climbing the lift hill of the rollercoaster, it felt like forever until we reached the top, I took one look down and regretted it “Steph?” “yeah?” she looked at me the best she could through the harness “we’re safe, aren’t we?” she just laughed “of course, if the harness fails than the seatbelt will keep the harness down; don’t worry” I sighed. I’m 60 meters in the air, going to be travelling at 85kms per hour, going to be upside down five times while travelling over 765 meters of track and I’m scared out of my wits about falling out. Did I mention me + heights = not good? “hey Alana? On this ride we don’t hold on!” Steph said grabbing my hand “are you nuts?!” I screamed at her as our train started down the hill and went into a cobra roll “Steph, I’m going to kill you when we get off. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” I screamed at her as we went into two corkscrew rolls. We went into a cobra roll and I screamed at Steph “is this thing ever going to stop?” she just laughed and so did the boys. “Any one for lunch?” AJ asked us as we got off Lethal Weapon “urgh” I said feeling like I was going to be sick with the mention of food, I heard Steph laugh “lunch sounds great. I’m starved” I stared at her “are you crazy? You just got off a twisting coaster, going upside down and..and you are hungry?” she laughed “I’ve been on this coaster too many times to get nauseated after riding it” “how many times are we talking?” I questioned her “Umm well I lost count at 10 but I love roller coasters so I’m not really affected by it” I just stared at her, at least 10 times? My god. “We can hold off lunch until later if you want, Al?” she turned and asked me “uh if you guys don’t mind I’d rather leave it until later?” Howie smiled at me “how about another ride?” “sure like what?” I thought for a moment “why don’t we go on the wild west falls again?” everyone nodded and agreed and set off towards the falls.

~~ Steph ~~

We were in the lineup waiting and as usual Brian and AJ were goofing around, I was laughing like crazy when it was our turn to get into the flume. I jumped in and then felt someone sit down next to me “mind if I sit here?” Brian said “not at all” I grinned at him and he just looked at me “as if she’ll say no Bri, you’re her favourite BSB” Alana said from behind me, I turned around and glared at her, if looks could kill Alana would be dead right now “well thank you very much” said a smiling Brian “it’s nice to be appreciated” I couldn’t do anything but smile as we were strapped into the ride and set along our merry little way. As we came out from the first drop Howie pointed up to the fountain that was going off ‘Ol’ Faithful’ as she was called, “Uh guys? I think we’re going to get wet…” I giggled as the others started to freak out “is this your idea of a joke, Steph?” Brian turned and looked at me and Alana just laughed “relax guys, it doesn’t wet you” I grinned as we approached it “at least not too much” the guys just looked at each other as if they didn’t trust me.

~~ Alana ~~

I had to laugh at the guys, they were acting like a bunch of girls when we went passed the fountain; they really thought they were going to get soaked! It was priceless! Steph whispered to me not to tell them about the water barrel up ahead and sure enough AJ pointed to the water tower and looked at Steph and I “we’re going to get wet again aren’t we?” Steph just looked at me “if you say so, AJ” I laughed “come again?” “She means, if you think you are going to get wet than you probably will, right?” Steph grinned at me “right”. We approached the last lift hill with laughter and Steph and I just looked at each other and smiled, here comes the fun part! “what’s next?” Howie whispered to me “you’ll just have to wait and find out” I smiled to him. The flume got up the top and started to turn “ok are we meant to be turning?” “Please tell me we aren’t going down there” Brian said pointing to the exit shoot. “Yup, 75metre drop straight down into the water, boys” “great, was getting a little too hot in here” AJ practically screamed as we went shooting down the drop towards the bottom.

~~ Jas ~~

I pulled into the Movie World parking lot at 3:40, I hope Steph and Alana didn’t mind waiting the extra ten minutes for me, I really did mean to leave Karen’s place when I said I was going too but we just got caught up in our talks that I almost forgot I had to pick the girls up. I looked over to where I had dropped them this morning and I smiled as I saw the two of them sitting on a bench, waiting. “hey, I’m SO sorry I’m late I was with Karen and we..hey...why are you guys totally drenched?” they looked at each other and laughed “long story” Steph said climbing into the back seat with Alana right behind her. “Steph, Alana this is my best friend in the entire world; Karen. Karen meet Steph and Alana” I said introducing the girls to my best friend, Karen “wow, you really ARE short” Karen said as she said hello to Steph, “yeah well, you know what they say…good things come in small packages” we all laughed; Steph loved using that line and at 4’11 who could blame her? “unless of course that package is on a guy then it’s a bad thing” Karen interjected which made us laugh even harder “Karen!” I scolded. We were on our way back to Muffs when we decided to drop in on her work and offer her a lift home, even though she only lived a 5 minute walk from her work. “Hey, is Muff ready yet?” I asked Sophie, one of Muff’s co workers “mmm nope, I don’t think so..she’s out the back in the store room..I’ll go see” “ok thanks” I said as she walked off. “So Karen who is you’re favourite?” Steph asked in an attempt to get to know her better “Howie, the gorgeous man that he is” Steph giggled “I’m surrounded by Howie and Nick lovers!” “and don’t you forget it” I smacked her playfully on the arm. “Hey guys, I’ll be ready in 5, take a seat” Muff came out and informed us “ohh we can take a seat with us? Sweet. I always knew Maccas was nice and rewarding” Muff just rolled her eyes and went back behind the counter.

~~ Muffy ~~

I was so over working this week, I couldn’t wait for this road trip; I NEEDED a holiday! After I finished my shift I decided to order a burger, I hadn’t eaten all day and was feeling a little woozy except if I had known the guys in front of me were going to take 20 years to order their meals I would have had some fried noodles when I got home. I thought about this road trip, not only was it going to be my first time seeing the Backstreet Boys but it was going to be my first time travelling around Australia in a car, full of females who I only just met. I should have been more nervous than I was but truth of the matter; I was excited. It could have been the excitement of seeing the boys for the first time or it could just be because for the first time in a long time I’m going to be independent; no parents, no siblings, no rules. Just the open road, the girls, the Backstreet Boys and I. Life couldn’t be any more sweeter! We piled into the car for the 5 minute drive back to my house and I noticed Steph and Alana were whispering to each other, what was all that about? I thought. “Hey guys? Did you want to do Nick’s video tonight?” Steph asked from the back seat “Mmm yeah, might be a good idea to just record our messages to him while we’re all together considering Karen isn’t coming to the other concerts” Jas looked at us all from the driver’s seat “sounds good” I said wanting nothing more than to go to sleep right now but knowing I couldn’t.

“How was MW?” I asked Steph as we climbed out of the car at my house and went inside “it was pretty good, wasn’t really that packed and thankfully WWF was working so we got drenched” I laughed; Steph loved theme parks so I wasn’t too surprised when she told us she was going there while I had to work, the more coasters the park had the better Steph liked it. “How’d you enjoy it Alana?” “Oh yeah..it was ok..well, it wasn’t all that bad, I just don’t care for heights” I looked at Steph “Superman?” she just nodded and I laughed. Superman was a new rollercoaster that only just opened at Movie World last month; it was the first LIM launch coaster in Australia going from 0-100Kms in 2 seconds so it was very popular with local and international tourists alike. “How was superman?” “you HAVE got to go on it Muff, it’s soo awesome. Cyclone has nothing on this ride, not even LW has anything on it” she grinned at me and I just smiled gathering some clothes to have a shower with, “sweet, we’ll have to check it out Jas” I said turning to Jasmine and Karen who were in their own little world.

~~ Steph ~~

We were just lazing about Muffs room doing absolutely nothing when we decided to listen to B105, just as we turned it on the D.J started talking about the boys “and get ready Australia because the Backstreet Boys have finally hit our shores; the boy group landed last night and are now currently relaxing at a undisclosed location. The boys are playing to a sold out crowed at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre tomorrow night before they head off to Sydney, Adelaide and then to Melbourne where their Never Gone Tour ends after a 9 month tour around the world.” “I can’t believe they came in last night!” Muff said “ohh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys” I giggled and looked at Alana “we ran into the guys today at Movie World” “are you serious?” Karen asked “totally. They were lining up for superman when I noticed them, that’s how I got Alana to go on. She shared her seat with Howie” I looked at Alana who was now going red in the face “Howie!? my Howie!?” Karen looked at Alana who just nodded and I laughed “yeah and then we went on lethal weapon with them; it was by total uh ‘mistake’ because they just happened to come line up when we did and then they just joined us on wild west falls…which was quite funny because I thought AJ was going to pass out from the look of the main drop” “oh my god that’s so bloody awesome” Jas said looking up from her laptop “I know, it was a day well worth $30” I said laughing.

~~ Jas ~~

It was around 7pm when we decided to go for a walk to start filming for the video we were making for Nick’s Birthday. We took a little walk down to some local shops which were shut up for the night and just sat down before we started filming. “How do you want to do this?” I asked looking at Muff “well let’s just say what we want..we can edit it later” “alright” I looked at the camera “well I just wanted to say that I love you guys, I’ve been a fan since you started and if it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t have met my best friend Karen, here” I put my arm around Karen’s shoulder as she started to speak “that’s right, we met during high school, we became friends because of our love for you boys and now we’re best friends and it’s all thanks to you guys so thank you, thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet my best friend Jas here” the two of us hugged “cut” Muff called and I looked at Steph “awww where’s my camera for this Kodak moment?” she said giggling. We walked back to Muffs house deciding that we could finish the videos tomorrow before the concerts.

~~ Steph ~~

I woke up to the sound of the keyboard going off and looked at my watch, it was 9am. I looked over at the computer and saw that it was Jas on it and looked under me to find Muff still asleep. “Who you talking too?” “my dad, he’s just making sure I have everything, mobile phone is all charged and all that” “ahh ok, my mum was the same when I left Melb” I said smiling and wanting to fall back to sleep but knowing we had such a huge day planned ahead so I couldn’t. “I can’t believe it’s tonight, it just seems like yesterday when I got we’ve got it going on and now we’re finally going to be seeing them in concert” I whispered to Jas to try and not wake Muff up “I know, I’ve dreamt about this day for so long that all this feels like a dream” I nodded “well c’mere and I’ll pinch you!” I said giggling a little louder than I had thought “could you two please keep it down? I’m trying to sleep” I looked at Muff who was sleeping in the bunk under me “whoops, sorry hun..just a little too excited for tonight I guess” “yeah well I wasn’t planning on getting out of bed until around 10ish so..” she trailed off and rolled over “…so we’ll keep it down hun” Jas said looking at me “I’m going for a shower” I said hopping down the ladder and walking out the door with my stuff.

~~ Muff ~~

“I need a coffee” I said deciding to get up since Karen and Jas made sure I couldn’t get back to sleep “coffee sounds good” I turned and saw Steph come out of the shower “any one else?” they all just shook their heads ‘no’ and I walked into the kitchen. “so what’s the deal with the water thing?” Steph asked “well I can’t drink tap water, it makes me really sick so mum and dad gets the drinking fountain for me, mainly, but it’s better for you then tap water any way” “oh ok, I don’t mind tap water but it has to be in the fridge for at least 5 hours before I drink it and it can’t be at room temperature otherwise it makes me sick but with all the yucky chemicals in it that’s not a surprise” she said getting a drink of water to take her tablets with. If there was one thing I learnt about Steph in the 7 months I’ve been talking to her it’s how sick she is, she’s suffering from a Kidney Disease and High Blood Pressure so she’s on all of these medications to try and slow the process of her disease down and keep her BP under check. She was in hospital over the near year which had us all a little worried at first but she’s bouncing back “gah, I’ll never know why they make tablets so damn small you could lose them in your hand” I laughed “its either too big or too small with you; are you ever satisfied?” she thought for a moment “mmm nope..unless Brian Littrell comes knocking at my door then I’ll be satisfied” we both laughed “what’s so funny in here?” “Nothing like telling a joke to get a good start to the day” I smiled at Steph, this trip is going to be soo good, I can tell.

“So what time do you want to head to Carindale?” I asked the girls “I say 11:30/12, just get there for lunch and then we can head over to the BEC after that for Soundcheck” Muff said “yeah that sounds like a good plan” I looked at my watch “well it’s already 10:30 so I guess we should get ready and leave here at around 11ish? If we get to Cdale early we can always look around at the shops or something” 45 minutes later we found ourselves walking out of the Carindale shopping centre after a little shopping trip, we had gone to Sanity and got the Never Gone Tour Edition album, which had just been released in Australia a few days before. “Hi welcome to Sizzlers Carindale, what will you have?” “Hi, four salad bars, please” “Sure that’s $55.80” the girls handed me their money and I passed it onto the lady “$2.60 change, thank you and enjoy your meal” “thank you” I said walking over towards a table “lets sit over here”

~~Steph~~
This was my first time in a Sizzler store so I had no idea what to expect from the food or the quality of the food but as I walked up to the salad bar I found some Seafood Salad Mix which I absolutely love so I piled that onto my plate along with some lettuce and a bit of Mayonnaise on top of the lettuce because I’m such a Mayonnaise whore. “I wish they did some older songs” Alana was saying “yeah me too, I’m dying to hear We’ve got it going on live! It’s my fav BSB song” I said sitting down next to Muff who just shook her head “ten years of songs and your favourite is their very first one? What the?” I laughed “what can I say? I think it’s a goofy song and goofy BSB is the best kind of BSB.”

~~ Steph ~~

About an hour later we were walking out of Sizzlers and back to Muffs car “time to head to the BEC” “think we got any chance of getting into SC?” I asked the other girls “mmm who knows, they were letting in everyone overseas but they could have changed that for ours” “yeah that’ll be right too; when have we ever gotten the same treatment the US and Europe fans have had?” “never?” Jas said shrugging her shoulders “I don’t see what the big fuss is about, I think we get treated the same as the Europe and US fans” Karen said from the back seat “oh sure we have, we’re getting our 5th BSB Tour now, aren’t we?” I rolled my eyes; if it was one thing the Australian fans did NOT get it was equal treatment as fans in terms of tours and promotions; in fact the boys have only been to Australia twice in the 11 years they’ve been around “Ok so this is our first concert tour but it’s a start, right?” Karen interjected “sure it’s a start; it just took them 10 years to figure out that there is indeed a Country who has loved and supported them since 1995 waaaaay down on the map there called Australia” “Aren’t you being a bit harsh Steph? It’s not the boys fault they haven’t toured until now” Muff said from the driver’s seat “I know” I said looking out the car window.

~~Alana~~
We all piled out of the car and headed over to where we saw a crowed gathering, assuming that’s where soundcheck people were lining up. “hey is this the line up for soundcheck?” Muff asked “no, this is just the back entrance to the arena; the soundcheck lineup is out the front up there” we looked to where she had pointed and headed off towards the entrance thanking her. “Come on boys and girls, if you have a pass to soundcheck then please come here and collect your wristbands now; the faster you do this the faster we can get underway” some guy was yelling to everyone piled around him “if you don’t have a wristband may I ask that you step back and let those with the wristbands come forward” I looked around, there was heaps of people here “have to be at least 50 people here” I said to Mufff “looks that way, it’s pretty packed” “I hope Sydney isn’t like this” Steph said taking a seat on a nearby bench “me too otherwise there’s no real point in going, I mean besides seeing them up close” “lets do the video for Nick” “Ok”

So here we were sitting around the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on January 28th, 2006 making a video for a guy we’ve never met before; of course this was no ordinary guy this was Nick Carter and today was his 26th birthday, he was going to be spending it performing for us at tonight’s concert so we decided like many other Australian fans to give him a birthday present. We were making a video of ourselves just to say how much the BSB mean to us and how thankful we are for them touring, finally.

“Hey Nick, I’m Jas and I just wanted to wish you a happy 26th birthday mate! I hope it’s everything you wanted and so much more and I hope you don’t mind sharing it with us lovely Aussie’s, I’m sure the roof is going to be off seeing as this is your first concert here. Have a great day and don’t drink too much alcohol” she looked over at us and we were laughing “what?” “nothing” I said looking over to where the soundcheck people had gone “alright who’s next?” Muff said setting the camera up for the next victim “I’ll go” Karen said sitting down “alright” “Hey guys, I’m Karen, just wanted to thank you SOOO much for finally touring Australia; you have no idea what it means to us, it’s freaking cool as and I love you guys more for it. Nick duuuuuude, grats on 26 buddy! Make it a good one; get drunk; get laid; go crazy dude, you deserve it. Happy birthday” she smiled at the camera and then stood up “how was that?” I looked at Steph who seemed to be deep in thought, probably thinking about what she was going to say “it was great, you did a good job” “that’s why we call her straight to the point, Karen” we laughed. “Okk..Steph?” Steph took a seat and looked at the camera.

~~ Steph ~~

I was so nervous; I had no idea what I was going to say except thanks for touring and happy birthday nick, maybe that’s all I should say? Maybe that’s all the guys need? I took a deep breath “Hey guys I’m Steph and like the other girls I just wanted to first thank you for finally touring Australia, it really does mean a lot to us that you guys know we’re here and that we love you heaps, I think the sold out shows speak for themselves. Nick, I really can’t believe it’s been ten years, I was just eleven years old when I first heard the music of the backstreet boys and now here you are turning 26, it’s so un real but I hope you have an amazing time and I hope you enjoy Australia and what she has to offer, especially our beaches because we have some of the best in the world and I know you’ll enjoy them. Don’t get drunk too much, last thing we want is another BSB in rehab! You guys are absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to finally see you on stage for the first time since I’ve been a fan tonight, I already know it’ll be a great show because you guys are the Backstreet Boys” I smiled and waved goodbye and let out a breath “oh god that was so nerve wracking” Muff looked at me “that was really really good” “thanks. Your turn!” I grabbed the camera and grinned as she started to protest “now now muffster, if we have to do this then so do you, besides Nick is your man and it’s his birthday.. don’t you want to wish him a happy birthday?” I grinned knowing she wouldn’t back down “ok ok so let’s get this show on the road” she said sitting down ready to record her message.

“Happy Birthday Nick! Hope that you had a great day and have a great time here in Australia... if you need someone to show you around ask me *laughs* I’m Muffy by the way and like the other girls have already said thanks for touring Australia, you guys rock. Don’t make us wait another ten years though, I couldn’t handle that! Byeee!” she waved at the camera and laughed as I switched it off “oh my god too funny” I said in fits of giggles “I know but one of us had to be the goofy one.. you guys were too serious” it was now Alana’s turn to give her message “Hey guys, I’m Alana and I won’t bore you by saying thank you for touring Australia, it means a lot to us Aussie fans..” “you just did!” I yelled to her “yes well as I was saying..” she said looking from me back to the camera “Nick, happy 26th birthday, I hope it’s everything you wanted and you get a shit load of awesome stuff that you can actually use and I hope you don’t think this tape is too corny; it’s our way of thanking you guys and telling you how much you mean to us without actually saying it to your face, which in the end works out better because I’m so shy I’d probably squeak like a mouse or something so enjoy this video and take it for what it is worth and that’s just a video made by five Aussie fans who love and appreciate you guys more then you’ll ever know. Thanks for touring and come back soon” I stopped recording and smiled “that’s all of us then”

We walked over to near the front doors and the soundcheck people came piling out “how was it?” I asked a girl walking past us “oh, it was pretty awesome. They sang 4 songs, we could take pictures of them and then we got to ask questions and that was it but it was pretty good! Are you guys going to one?” “Yeah Sydney and Adelaide, can’t wait” “well enjoy it, it’s really good” “thanks, cya” “cya later” I turned around and looked at the girls “not long to go now guys” I said practically jumping up and down. “calm down Steph otherwise you’ll be bouncing off the walls” Jas said standing up trying to get me to sit down “I think it’s a bit late for that” I smiled at Karen “hello? There’s going to be five members of the Backstreet Boys standing right in front of me for the first time ever if my whole life; what’s not to get excited about!?” I said eyeing them all “and the fact that I’m 2nd row well..boo ya!” I giggled as they just rolled their eyes.

~~ Muff ~~

So here we were: one hour until they let us in through the doors to our seats, we had been standing outside for over an hour already, in total the girls and I had been waiting at the BEC for almost 8 hours, we were all anxious to see the guys finally, it was a feel amongst pretty much everyone who was at the BEC tonight. Looking around to the merchandise stand all I could see was rows of girls buying BSB Tour merchandise...I wonder how much they’ll sell this tour? “uh Muffster, you here?” I heard Steph say as she waved her hand in front of my face “huh what? Oh yeah yeah..cool..” I said not really knowing what the current topic was about “uh huh, right well we were just saying what songs we’re looking forward to hearing tonight” “oh, you mean apart from all of them?” she giggled “yes, your favs..the one’s you just can’t WAIT to hear” I thought for a moment “climbing the walls” and I smiled as the lyrics rushed through my head “I knew you’d say that. I’m looking forward to hearing I Still and of course I can’t wait to scream backstreet’s back!” we all laughed “been waiting 5 years to say that, it’s going to be sweet!”

~~ Steph ~~

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. The doors to the concert will open shortly, we remind you that there is to be no smoking inside at all times and hope you enjoy your night here at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre” the announcement came over the P.A System “about damn time, we’ve only been waiting since 3pm!” Jas yelled, which got us all laughing “uh, you mean ten years don’t you?” “Ok guys lets go and get our seats or do we want to wait until Kate Alexa is finished?” Muff asked “Hey guys! I thought it was you!” we turned around to the voice “it’s Kris” she said noticing the ‘who are you?’ look on our faces “ohh Kris! Hey, how you doing?” I asked her smiling “I’m great thanks, how are you guys? This is my sister Julia. We’re so pumped for the concert!” “we’re good, just can’t wait to get in there and sit down.. we’ve been here since 3pm” I said laughing slightly “oh, did you guys go to soundcheck?” Julia asked “no, we didn’t even try to get in..too many people..there was close to 60 people there” Muff said “oh wow, that’s insane” “mm yeah it was” we took a few pictures and decided to go in and find our seats “well have a great night guys!” Kris said as her and Julia went off to find their seats “you too hun”. I handed the guy my ticket and looked around; this was my first time at the BEC and man was it huge and it was filling up fast “go down the steps here and to the left and the guy down there will show you where to go” “ok thank you” receiving our tickets back, Alana and I headed down the steps and was met by another ticket guy “hello there” “hey” “section 47A row B?” “yup, second row, lucky us” I grinned “right this way” he said as he showed us to our seats “here you go” “thank you very much” “no problem, have a great night” “oh it’s BSB, no doubt we will” he laughed walking off and I looked over towards the 5th row where Muff, Jas and Karen had headed, spotting Jas I waved to her to let her know we got in our seat ok. “This is soo close” Alana said “I know, I can’t wait” I grinned.

~~ Jas ~~

At 8pm Kate Alexa came on the stage and before now I had never really heard her music except a few times on the radio but it wasn’t enough to make me jump and down with excitement.

I used to break, break, break, in a million pieces,
Fall, fall, fall all into your reasons,
Down, down, down is the only place you've ever pushed me,
I tried and tried just to make you see me,
I let you inside, yeah you thought you knew me,
You talk, talk, talk but it goes right through me,
‘Cause I can't hear a word you say

I looked at Muff and Karen and jumped up “let’s dance!” I said as the other two jumped up next up to me. We started jumping around waving our arms around as Kate went into the chorus

All I hear is la, la, la, la, la,
All I hear is la la, la, la, la,
You can scream and shout,
It won’t bring me down,
When you turn it up I just tune you out,
La, la, la, la, la, all I hear is la, la, la, la, la, ah ahh

By the end of Somebody Out There we were pumped and ready to dance the night away to Backstreet. Kate started her last song for the night, My Day Will Come. We continued to dance away while the majority of other fans sat in their seats just wishing the boys would hurry up. I took a glance towards where Alana and Steph were sitting and saw that they too were up and dancing along “looks like Al and Steph are enjoying themselves too” I yelled to Muff “yeah” she said continuing to dance. I noticed Kate come towards the front of the stage and she waved at us “she waved at us!” Karen yelled over the music as Kate pointed us out to her band mates and just nodded and smiled “wow she really did” I said getting all excited.

~~ Alana ~~

“Thanks so much you guys! You’ve been a awesome crowed and I look forward to seeing some of you in Sydney! Enjoy the boys and see ya soon, Brisbane” she walked off the stage and the lights came on “that was so much fun” Steph said taking a seat, out of breath “it was” I said smiling at her “now for the real fun part; toilet break” I stood up as Steph laughed “have fun in their hun” she called after me but I didn’t respond. I walked into the toilets to a interesting conversation “did you hear that the boys spent yesterday at Movie World?” “yeah and they were with these two girls.. no one knows who they are or where they’re from but I’m going to be so mad if Nick and AJ have girlfriends!” said the blonde one “for real..the two girls apparently aren’t famous so they are just ordinary people so who knows why they were with the guys, everyone knows Nick prefers celebs” I gulped and realized that I was still standing in the door way “excuse me” I said walking up to the girls “is there any pictures of those two girls you were talking about?” they looked me up and down “umm no there’s not but if they’re hanging around the boys then it won’t take long to get their picture and I swear if one of them is going out with Alex I’ll…well..you know what I mean” she smiled at me and I smiled back “yeah..well thanks” I said walking into a cubicle thankful that no one managed to get any pics of Steph and I with the guys.

~~ Steph ~~

I went over to the other girls who were still excited from Kate’s performance “hey Steph! Did you see? Did you see Kate point and wave at us?” “she did?” I asked as they all screamed “yes!” “sweet, did you wave back?” “wave back? What are we some kind of obsessed fans?” I laughed “and if it was Nick?” “if it was Nick I would have waved” “what are you, some kind of obsessed fan?” I grinned at Muff as she crossed her arms “I am so not obsessed, it’s love!” “uh huh, I believe it when I see it hun”

I walked back to my seat and noticed Alana sitting there “hey, was there a crowed?” she looked at me “mmm what? Oh no no..no crowed..” “you ok?” she looked behind us and leaned over towards me “people know about how the boys went to Movie World and how two girls were seen hanging around with them and these two girls I was talking to in the toilet were saying if they find out that Nick and Alex have girlfriends they’ll…” she trailed off “they’ll what?” I asked looking around “you know..how jealous fans can get..” I rolled my eyes “oh please, it’s not like we did anything with them; we just went on some roller coasters and had lunch with them, we didn’t go back to their hotel room and have our way with them” she sighed “yeah but still..I’m glad no one took pics of us though..don’t think I would have been able to stay in that toilet if they knew it was me” I shook my head “ok Alana look, if fans come up to you and question you about it, just say “yeah we ran into them on superman and they were basically following us around; we kept bumping into them everywhere we went and they asked if they could hang with us..you don’t gotta give them any more details then that and if they ask for some that’s when you walk away and say sorry you gotta go, ok?” I turned my head around to see if anyone was listening to us “ok Steph.. I’ve just never done this before, that’s all” “yeah, it kinda shows hun but don’t worry”

~~ Karen ~~

So here we were; the very first Backstreet Boys concert in Australia, the crowed was quite huge, the concert was sold out so if I had to guess I’d say there’s roughly 9,000 fans here.. which doesn’t sound like much but for a Country that’s had hardly any Backstreet love over the last 10 years it’s damn good. The crowed started with the Backstreet Boys chant and naturally we all joined in, “9pm my ass” I said getting frustrated with the whole backstreet time, “just come on that stage so I can see Howie already!” Muff and Jas laughed “anxious much?” “who me? Not at all” after that the lights went down and a really awesome beat started then the screen flickered on with some footage from backstage and Millennium tour “Brisbane are you readyyyyy?” we heard AJ scream from somewhere as we all screamed in response. A spotlight came on and the guys popped up on the stairs, I screamed so loud I thought my lungs were going to burst!

~~ Steph ~~

Oh my god! Talk about a rush! When the lights went off everyone rushed up to the barrier and oh my god, it was like Flinders Street Station during peak hour! The guys came up on the stairs and I wanted to cry and scream at the same time, this was it after ten years of being a devoted and dedicated fan I was finally seeing the most awesomest band in the whole world live IN concert IN Australia! I never thought this day would come. I screamed as AJ and Brian came and stood right in front of me as they belted out The Call “Come on Brisbane let me hear you sing along” Nick said walking over to the left side of the stage “listen baby I’m sorry, just wanna tell you don’t worry, I will be late, don’t stay up and wait for me” I screamed out the lyrics along with Alana and we started jumping up and down when the intro chords for My Beautiful Women started “they’re shaking their butts!” Alana screamed to me and pointed towards the boys which just made me shake my head and laugh “oh god, just what the world needs…Backstreet butts” Alana laughed and screamed along with the rest of the crowed.

The boys ran off the stage and the video clip for Don’t Want You Back came on, it was bits and pieces of the guys from the Millennium Tour, which I’ve never really seen so I stood there and sang along watching the pictures go by. “This is one of my favourite song’s from Millennium” I told Alana “mine too” “so wish they did that concert here...” “yep but never mind, we have them now!” she said looking towards the stage as some lights flickered and the intro beat to Siberia started “OMG SIBERIA” I screamed as Brian and Howie came rising from the bottom of the stairs and started singing “when you come back I won’t be here she said, and gently pulled me near, if you wanna talk, you can call, and no it’s not your fault” I smiled, I loved this song and I love the meaning of it, Never Gone was full of emotional songs that anyone can relate too. I looked over at Alana who was singing along to the chorus and I grabbed her arm and entwined her fingers with mine and put them both in the air as we swayed along while Kevin sang his part “I gave myself away completely, but you just couldn’t see me, though I was sleeping in your bed” then this white stuff came down from the roof… it was like the stuff they make from bubbles “you know this is turning out to be a fun concert” Alana said to me as we tried to grab some bubbles and failing miserably “yeah, and we still have three more to go!” I laughed as the boys finished singing Siberia and started talking to us.

~~ Muff ~~

I am having a fantastic time tonight! I can’t believe how awesome these guys really are; not only is Nick looking so hot but he’s sounding hot and the rest of the guys are amazing too! “Brisbaaaaaane” Howie said into his mic and I screamed in response “whoooo” “alright so we just wanted to thank you guys for coming tonight” more screams “we know we haven’t been great to you guys making you wait ten years for a concert but we’re so honored to have such loyal fans like you guys. Keep the Backstreet pride alive!” he said as the rest of the guys came on and the intro to I Want It That Way started “alright we know you guys know this one so come on!” Nick said running over to the right side of the stage and Brian started to sing “you are my fire, the one desire; believe when I say… you sing it...” “I want it that way” we all screamed out. Jas, Karen and I started dancing and singing along “I never wanna hear you say…I want it that way…” we clapped and cheered when the song was finished “alright we’re going to slow it down a little bit, here’s a song for all the beautiful, lovely, sexy ladies in the house tonight”

“From the first day, that I saw your smiling face, honey I knew that we would be together, forever” AJ sang as Brian took over and Jas, Karen and I put our arms in the air and swayed along “I’ll never break your heart, I’ll never make you cry, I’d rather die, then live without you” it seemed like hours had passed before the song was finished and the guys rushed off the stage, no doubt to get changed yet again. “Oh my god this is so bloody awesome” Jas yelled over the We’ve got it going on video playing “I know! I don’t want it to end” Karen said getting all sad “aww hun at least you’ve got some videos and I’m sure Steph and Alana got some great shots of Howie for you” I said putting my arm around her as she smiled “they better have or else” she said as Jas and I just laughed when we heard Brian talking “ok so you guys know we’re really excited to be here, right?” we all screamed “and we know YOU guys are excited to be here too” we screamed again “so tell me.. who has..Never Gone?” we raised our hands “good good.. who has the first album?” we raised our hands again “wow you guys have the very first BSB album? Still?” we screamed; as IF we’d throw it away, Brian! “what about Millennium?” we screamed and raised our hands again “chapter one?” more screams and he laughed “you guys have all of our albums and yet you buy the greatest hits one too? What are you guys made of money or something?” we all laughed “no we just love you guys” Jas yelled “he can’t hear you hun” I said giggling.

“Alright so who knows this song? It goes da da da da da... da da da da…jam on cuz backstreets got it, come on now everybody...” “We’ve got it going on” we all screamed “oh, you guys know that one huh?” he laughed as we screamed “of course not Brian, it was only your first single” I yelled as we laughed “alright so you guys ready for some more songs?” we screamed “here’s one from Never Gone so if you know it” he laughed “sing along..it’s I Still” “who are you now? Are you still the same or did you change some how? What do you do, at this very moment when I think of you? and when I’m looking back, how we were young and stupid, do you remember that…” we sang along with Brian as he walked over to the side of the stage and waved to the fans sitting in the upper sections “I still need you, I still care about you, though everything’s been said and done, I still feel you, like I’m right beside you, but still no word from you”

~~ Jas ~~

We clapped and cheered as the song finished “this is becoming a great night” I said to the other girls “it sure is and I can’t wait for the rest of the concerts” I looked at Karen who looked depressed again “if I get to talk to Howie I’ll try and get him to talk to you on the phone hun” I said wrapping my arm around her shoulder, she smiled “thanks Jas” “are ya’ll ready to rock?” Kevin came out and asked us “yesssssss” we screamed “alright, this is just want you to know woo!” he said into his mic “looking at your Spynkter from when we first met, you gave me a smile that I could never forget and nothing that I could do could protect me from you that night” Nick belted out as we jumped up and down rocking out “I bloody love this song” I screamed over the music. “Come on Australia, sing it for me!” Nick yelled into his mic, “I just want you to now, that I’ve been fighting to let you go, some days I’ll make it through and then there’s nights that never end, I wish that I could believe that there’s a day you’ll come back to me, but still I have to say, I would do it all again” we sang along with them as they started jumping up and down off things, getting really into the rock sound of the song.

“So you guys know we’ve been in Brisbane..did I say that right?” Kevin was saying “Bris ben?” we laughed “so we’ve been in Brisbane for a few days, the guys and I were just relaxing, we got to learn that you guys don’t call women women here they’re called…Sheila’s..is that right?” I put my hands on my hips “I aint no Sheila!” I screamed to him furious “and if you call me one to my face I’ll punch you” I heard Muff laughing “bloody Sheila’s, I’ll give him Sheila’s right up the bloody ass” “calm down Jas, the guys American, enough said” I glared at her “I don’t care, he shouldn’t be calling us Sheila’s because that’s so degrading” I looked back towards the stage and noticed they had all ran off and a video was starting. “The things we did, the things we said, kept coming back to me and making me smile again, you showed me how, to face the truth, everything’s that good in me I owe to you” and on the big screen came pictures of the group from when they first got together, Kevin with his dad, AJ with his grandmother and other bits. I looked at the screen and got teary eyed “this song is so beautiful” I said to no one in particular “yeah..” came Muffs muffled response which caused me to look at her “oh hun it’s ok” I said and wrapped my arms around her. Losing her grandmother had been hard on Muffy and this song wasn’t making it any easier for her right now.

~~ Muff ~~

I hadn’t mean to cry, I tried to stop myself, telling myself now was not the time; I should be happy after all I’m seeing BSB for the first time but this song...I couldn’t help but cry, remembering what a great person I’d lost in my grandmother. She had always been there for me and was always my favourite grandparent growing up. I sniffled as my head laid on Jasmine’s shoulder “I can’t be sad, not tonight” I said in a muffled voice “it’s ok hun, just let it all out...the boys won’t mind and what you miss now you’ll see in Sydney” she tried to reassure me “I’m meant to be happy, the bsb are here, not crying” I sighed. I knew I was making myself worse and if I kept going I’d probably give myself a asthma attack. I looked over Jas’ shoulder and saw that the video had stopped and smiled “I think I’m alright now” I said trying to convince myself more than anyone “ok, if your sure” Jas said letting go of me “yeah..thanks” I smiled at her “any time hun that’s what Backstreet Chicks do for each other” I had to laugh, she was always coming up with these names for us.