“I can’t believe I’m finally allowed to tell my friends that I’m dating one of the hottest guys alive!” Lenore gushed into the phone. “Are you sure Nick’s gonna be here in time though? I mean, is he sure he wants to do this? After all, not even the press knows we’re dating yet.”

“He’s sure Lenore,” A.J. told her. “He should be there by third period; you better be able to get all your friends into the drama room by then.”

“I just hope Mr. Scott will let me do this,” Lenore answered. “I haven’t exactly had the chance to ask him yet.”

“Lenore!” A.J. exclaimed. “I thought you said you were going to ask the day after Nick told you that you could tell your friends?”

“Well…” Lenore trailed off. “I was going to, but…”

"You got cold feet?”

“Yeah...”

“Perfectly understandable,” A.J. laughed. “You said hi to that Chris Moore guy at all lately?”

“Yeppers,” Lenore said cheerily. “I love Nick and all, but I’ll always have a crush on Chris no matter what. If Nick and I should ever break up, well, then I’m hoping Chris will still be available.”

“Don’t blame you, but I can pretty much guarantee you, you two ain’t gonna be breaking up anytime soon.”

“You’d better be right ‘bout that,” Lenore stated. “I ain’t never had a broken heart before in my life!”

“Well, I’ll let you go now; don’t want you being late for school on account of me.”

“Sure, we do!”

“Lenore, go to school,” A.J. said. “Or I’ll call Nick up and tell him to get his butt back here. If he refuses to come home it’s ‘cause he wants to lecture you on missing school.”

“Alright, alright,” Lenore sighed. “I’m going, I’m going, I’m going.”

She hung up after saying good-bye, then quickly left for school as she was already running late. She waited until lunch to talk to her drama teacher, who, luckily, agreed to let her do what she had planned. After lunch all her friends were told over the P.A. system to report to the drama room a.s.a.p. for their was a surprise coming their way.

Lenore watched nervously as all her friends entered the drama room and noticed her other classmates getting curious looks on their faces. She prayed that her friends weren’t going to kill her for not telling them sooner.

“Lenore, why are we all here?” Amy P. asked. “I’m supposed to be enjoying my spare right now, not standing around here with these losers.”

“Well, I gotta announcement to make,” Lenore began with major butterflies in her stomach. “It’s really important too.”

“Well, what is it already?” Julia, Amy’s sister, interrogated. “What’s so important that you had to haul us all outta class; not that we really mind or anything.”

“Yeah,” Andrew D., a fellow classmate, piped up. “Why’d you have to interrupt our class to tell them something?”

“Shut-up Andrew!” Katie snapped. “Then maybe she’ll explain.”

“I wanted y’all to know I gotta boyfriend,” Lenore informed them. “But you ain’t gonna believe who he is.”

“C’mon Lenore, you know you can tell us anything,” Nicole Chouinard reminded her. “Nothing you do can shock us that much.”

“Trust me, this’ll shock y’all,” Lenore muttered. “Some of you might even kill me for this.”

“We’d never do that, and you know it,” Jen riposted. “No one’s ever gotten mad at you before anyhow, so why should we all start doing so now?”

“Anyhow, who is it Lenore?” Katie questioned.”

“Yeah, who?” All her other friends queried.

“Nick Carter,” Lenore whispered.

“Who?” Erika asked. “I don’t think anyone in here heard you.”

“Nick Carter,” Lenore said louder.

“Yeah, sure he is, and I’m married to Howie,” Liz stated, making it loud and clear that they didn’t believe her. “C’mon, seriously though, who is he?”

“Nick Carter,” Lenore repeated, knowing how much most of her friends despised Howie. “It’s honestly Nick Carter.”

“You got any proof?” Sarah wanted to know. “Not that I’m saying we’re actually gonna believe you.”

“Yeah, I got proof,” Lenore replicated. “I knew no one would believe me, so I arranged to have proof.”

“Let’s see this proof!” Jen C., another classmate, demanded. “There’s no way you could ever be dating a Backstreet Fag.”

Just then, as if right on cue, there was a knock on the door.

“Lenore, do you want to get that?” Mr. Scott inquired, knowing it had to be her proof. “I don’t think you should keep everyone waiting for this proof any longer.”

“Okay,” Lenore shrugged. “But I’m telling y’all, I’m dating the Nick Carter from the BSB.”

She then went over and opened the door for whoever was on the other side. Nick was barely even in the room before finally he gave into the urge he had to kiss her right then and there. He leaned down and kissed her lips softly as he always did when they kissed; after the kiss, he placed his arm around her and continued coming into the room. He looked around, and tried not to laugh at all the students standing/sitting there, gaping at them.

“I think they believe you now Sweetie,” he whispered into her ear, causing her to giggle. “I think you also put them in shock.”

“Oh my God,” Katie gasped. “It IS Nick Carter.”

“I told y’all it was Nick,” Lenore said. “Like, hello, I don’t think I would’ve said it was him unless it actually was.”

“Hey!” Nicole protested suddenly. “Nick’s mine! You’re supposed to get Brian or A.J., not Nick.”

“Sorry, but I kept telling you I liked Nick a whole lot too,” Lenore shrugged. “I told you that he’d somehow surpassed Brian a couple of times.”

“So, what?” Nicole shouted. “I can’t believe you’d steal my Nickolas Gene Carter!”

“He’s not yours,” Lenore riposted, starting to get a little mad, for she’d thought that Nicole of all people would support her. “Jeez, you sound just like Nikki did when she found out I was dating Nick.”

“Wait, she knows?” Jen asked, she watched Lenore nod, then continued, “And you’re still standing?”

“Yep,” Lenore replied, then answered their questioning looks, “We introduced her to Aaron; they’ve been going out for about a month now.”

“Oh, okay,” they replicated in unison.

“Wait a minute, you’re both dating the Carter brothers?” Nicole yelled. “How dare you do that to me! You know how much my sister likes Aaron!”

“So? You know just how much Nikki likes him too,” Lenore rejoined. “She would’ve beaten the crud outta anyone who tried to take Aaron from her.”

“Why, you no good bitch!” Nicole shouted. “You swore you’d never take Nick from me!”

“No, I never!” Lenore cried. “You just assumed I’d never take him ‘cause I always talk about Brian! Thing is, even though I’m dating Nick, I still talk about Brian quite often.”

“I can’t believe Nick would date a Brian obsessed freak!” Nicole shrieked. “Especially when he could’ve started dating one of his own fans!”

“Let me guess, you’re referring to yourself!” Lenore snapped. “God, are you ever conceited. What the heck I ever do to you other than be your friend all these years?”

“You stole Nick!” Nicole screeched. “I hate you!”

Lenore glared at her, visibly hurt. “Well, in that case, I now hate you too!”

With that said, Lenore then ran out of the drama room. After she’d left, Nick turned to give Nicole the Look.

“What she ever do to deserve such harsh treatment from you of all people?” He demanded. “Don’t you dare go giving me that whole ‘she stole you’ crap ‘cause I’m not buying it. You know for a fact that I’m her first boyfriend and all she’d wanted was for you and everyone else to be happy for her. So, why don’t you stop your damn complaining and put yourself in her shoes right now? You’re the first bunch of people to know we’re dating other than our families and the other guys ‘cause we wanted to keep it a secret. I didn’t want for her to have to face any confrontations, but she has, thanks to you.”

He then turned, gave a small smile to everyone else in the room, then left to go find Lenore.

“If he leaves her ‘cause of you, I swear we’re gonna kill you for that!” Katie growled. “Couldn’t you see just how happy she is with him?”

“Who cares how she feels?” Nicole retorted. “I’m the one who’s hurting, not her.”

“Oh, you’ll be hurting all right,” Liz stated. “Once we’re through beating the crud out of you.”