“Has anyone been up to check on Kim?” Brandi asked, looking over at the other two.  Katy was still hard at work on the computer and Mandy was writing in her journal.   They both shook their heads; they figured Kim would be down when she was ready to talk.  “Fine, I’ll do it.” Brandi headed upstairs and knocked on the first door that she came to.

             “Who is it?” Kim asked.

            “It’s Brandi.” She said softly, leaning against the door.  She could hear the a few faint sniffles.

            “Go away.” Kim yelled, but Brandi opened the door any way and went inside.  Kim was seated on her blow up bed surrounded by used tissues.

              “Don’t you listen?” Kim asked her eyes red from crying.  She wasn’t sure what hurt more, what JC had done or what she had done to her friends.  She had single handedly ruined everything.

            “Nope, I never have been good at following directions.” Brandi joked.  She got Kim to smile a little so she took that as a good sign and took a seat on the floor next to her.

              “So where is the prick at?” Kim snapped, she cringed a little as she said it, she really didn’t think JC was a prick, even after what had happened she still kind of liked him.  She didn’t realize that he was that strong or swift.

            “He is gone, Katy couldn’t find him.” Brandi explained.  It sounded kind of cold, but it was the truth and Brandi wasn’t sure that she could sugar coat it.  Katy had been out all night searching for him, so it wasn’t like they hadn’t tried.

            “What?  Is Katy mad?” Kim asked.  Brandi just shrugged, Katy wasn’t usually one to hold a grudge, just another thing that she didn’t believe in, but she was so into working on the video right now it was hard to tell if she was still mad or just focused.

              “What do you care if JC is gone, I kind of thought that is what you wanted all along the way to two of you went at it.” Brandi questioned.  Despite what they others may have believed Brandi had seen the twinkle in Kim’s eyes when she thought about JC.  She knew that Kim liked him; she wasn’t as good at hiding her emotions as she thought she was.

            “I don’t, I just don’t want you guys to be mad at me, that’s all.  To be honest I was shocked that you even brought me along on this little adventure to begin with.  I am not exactly the adventurer type.” Kim said.

            “I know, but we thought it would be good for you, you know a chance for you get out of your shell and explore the real world.” Brandi explained, after all they had discussed it at length.  Kim was always a question mark in their minds.  But they were a team and she was an important part of that team.

            “This is not the real world.  This is the fucked up universe that you and Katy thrive in.” Kim stated, laughing a little under her breath.  This was the kind of thing you only read about on books.  Real people don’t kidnapped boy bands, real people don’t fall in love with rock stars.  “You know what come to think of it the real world kind of sucks.  I think I know why you and Katy are always getting in to trouble.  It’s exciting, yet really exhausting.” 

           “Don’t worry; you’ll develop a tolerance over time.”  Brandi smiled, Kim had no idea the kind of trouble her and Katy had gotten into in the past but yes ir was exciting.  She was glad Kim was at least talking to her; she went out on a limb and asked Kim another question.

            “What really happened between you and JC?” Brandi asked.

            “I told you I went down there to see him, because I just couldn’t do the love scene knowing that I really liked him and then he would just be acting like he liked me.  We talked about it had he seemed confused, I just don’t think he could handle the pressure that I had put on him.” Kim said.  She could see herself in the reflection of a mirror that was on the other side of the room, she looked like a wreck.  “So what happens now?” Kim added.“We wrap things up here and then we leave, Katy says that was have at least today before JC finds his way out of the forest, and goes for help.” Brandi explained.  The look on Kim’s face said it all.  “This is not your fault; JC was unhappy here and would have left sooner or later.”

Kim nodded, she kind of believed that.  Then asked Brandi to leave so that she could get cleaned up and back to being human again.  Brandi respected her wishes and left, there wasn’t much more that she could do for her any way, the rest she would have to fix for herself.  Plus Brandi wanted to check on the guys, she wanted to spend some more time with Chris while she still could.

Once she got cleaned up, Kim headed down stairs not sure what to expect.  But everything seemed normal, as if nothing was wrong, but Kim knew that it was just a front.  She felt guilty and she wanted to do something to help, the only she could think to ask herself was, what would Katy or Brandi do in this situation?  Blow something up?  Stab someone?

“Hey do you guys care if I borrow the car, I just feel like getting out of here for a bit.  You know to clear my head?” Kim finally asked.  Katy glanced up from the computer and tossed her the keys to her car.  Maybe Kim really did just need some fresh air; god knows it had done wonders for Katy the night before.

Down stairs Brandi let Chris pull her onto his lap and she rested against him for a minute.  She could feel the others looking at her but she didn’t care.

“You know even if JC goes to the police, we’ll just deny it.  It will be our word against his.” Justin said.  It wasn’t that he cared so much about her and Chris relationship but it was his own romance that he wasn’t ready to give up on.  Katy hadn’t been down to see him since it had happened, he had heard that she was upstairs working on the video, but it just sounded like a lame excuse.

“I want to believe you guys, but we have done some very bad things, maybe we deserve to be punished for it.” Brandi offered.  Chris just held on to her hand and stared at her lovingly while Justin smiled, god only knows what that boy was thinking about.  “Justin, you dirty little pervert.” Brandi joked.

“What?  I didn’t say anything.” Justin said.

“But you were thinking it.  But who were you think about little man?” Brandi questioned.  Justin hadn’t shown a real interest in any one since they arrived, of course Katy hung all over him but that wasn’t unusual and they didn’t seem romantic.  Mandy was pretty and could defiantly turn heads.  Kim was a sweet heart; it could be easy for someone to fall for her innocence.

“Maybe, it’s you.  Wouldn’t be the first time Chris and I have fallen for the same chick.  But honestly I would bend any one of you girls over my knee and teach you a lesson.” Justin said, sounding more than just a little cocky. 

“Hey now, back off.  If anyone is laying a hand on her it will be me.  You can have at the other three though if you think you could even catch them.” Chris interrupted.  He wrapped his arms around Brandi as if to protect her, truth was it didn’t think he could ever hit a woman, even playfully.  He knew what the girls had done was wrong, and he remembered the anger he had felt when he woke up in the back of that car.  But now it was just a fading memory. 

“You want to put money on that?” Justin asked, flashing them both his million dollar smile.  Chris and Brandi exchanged glances, Justin was up to something. 

“Fine, I’ll bite.  $100 bucks says that you can’t catch and spank Katy.” Chris said, he even pulled his wallet out and pulled out a $100 bill.  He had picked Katy for more reasons that any one realized, but mostly because Katy would be the hardest to catch.  If Justin could pull that off then he would have earned the money.  “But you can’t tell her what you are doing, because she is freaky like that and it wouldn’t be far.  You just have to pounce on her.” Chris added.

“Awesome.  Now we need and impartial third party.” Justin said looking around.  Brandi held out her hand to him.  “I said impartial third party.” Justin added.  After all she was sitting on top of his competitor that hardly made her impartial.  Brandi just wanted him to give her $100 bucks which she knew he would never see again.  It wasn’t like Justin would catch Katy off guard any way.  She would tear him apart.

“I’ll do it, now pay up you two.” Lance offered.  Chris handed Lance the money and waited for Justin to dig his money out.

“How will we know if you succeed?” Chris asked.

“Oh trust me, you’ll know.” Brandi sighed, the whole house would know.  Justin held out his hand to Brandi.  “What?” She asked.

“Well I can’t do it chained down here.  You have to unchain me so I can go stalk my prey.” Justin teased.  Brandi thought about it, with JC gone did it really matter if one of them was let lose for a few hours?  After all this was going to be entertaining, someone was about to get their ass handed to them.

“Fine but if anyone asked, I had not part in this.” Brandi said and then released Justin.  Chris made a pouty face at her.  “Why do you need unchained, where do you think you are going handsome?” Brandi asked.  She leaned down and kissed him on the lips causing him to groan slightly.  Brandi had every intention of spending the whole day doing just that, loving on her Chris.  Unfortunately for Lance and Joey they were just going to have to suffer through it.

Justin snuck up the stairs while Chris and Brandi were distracted.  Little did the others know, it didn’t matter to Justin whether he won or lose the bet, he just wanted an excuse to see Katy.  It was clear that she had no intentions of coming down stairs.  Maybe Justin had done some something wrong, why didn’t she want to see him the way that Brandi wanted to see Chris?

He stood there is the doorway watching her for awhile, she looked focused, but he couldn’t see what was on her screen.  But she was really into whatever she was doing.  He almost didn’t want to interrupt her.  With her so focused though he knew this was his only chance to possibly win the bet.  He snuck up behind her.

“If this is an escape attempt the door is that way.” Katy joked, not taking her eyes off the screen but pointing him into the right direction.  He didn’t know it but she would see him in the reflection of the monitor. 

Mandy was nowhere to be seen so Justin wrapped his arms around Katy and kissed her lightly on the cheek.  He looked at the screen but he couldn’t make any sense out of it.

“I am not trying to get away; you know that I wouldn’t do that to you.” He whispered.  Katy felt a shiver run down her spine as he spoke.  His ability to render her useless was still impressive.  She turned to him and before she could speak he kissed her.  “Why are you avoiding me?” He asked.

“I am not avoiding you.  I just… want to finish this before it’s too late.” Katy explained.   The truth was she was kind of avoiding him.  He could read her better than anyone, he might figure out her secret.  The others would never forgive her for letting JC get away.  “Is Brandi down there trying to start trouble?” Katy asked trying to change the topic.

“You have no idea, how much trouble they are starting down there.  But you are about to find out.” Justin said sneaking that last part in there.  Then before Katy could question him he pulled her up off the chair and tossed her over his shoulder.  She was screaming bloody murder and yelling obscenities at him.  Smacking him on the ass every chance she got.  After all his face was still sore from the night before so she couldn’t very well hit him there.  Justin had to admit that holding on to her was harder than he thought, for as tiny as she was, she sure was strong. 

But Justin wasn’t heading down stairs with her; instead he turned and went upstairs with her.  He really didn’t care about winning the stupid bet; he had something else in mind.  If this was his last day with her wanted to spend it alone with her doing what he does best.

“Which room is your?” Justin asked as he cleared the stairs. 

“I am in the one on the right, why?” Katy asked.

“Oh you know why baby.  Come on I need to be with you right now and I think you need to be with me too.” Justin explained.  Once inside the room it was easy to tell which on was her bed and which was Brandi’s, so he carefully set her down on her bed.  She crossed her arms and sat Indian style on the bed as if it was the safest position that she would think of.

“Justin I don’t have time for this, I have things to do.” Katy argued.  Truth was she was just upset, more with herself than anyone else but she didn’t need to be messing around with Justin right now, she had things to fix.

“Come on baby, I never thought I would hear myself say this but I just need to be with you, I don’t care what we do.  Just forget about the video for a half an hour.  I think you owe me at least that much of your time.  He crawled on to the air bed and wrapped his arms around her.  He held her like that for awhile and Katy couldn’t help but think that he was acting weird.  This was nice but this wasn’t the Justin she had envisioned. 

“You know, I didn’t get much sleep last night, maybe we could just take a nap.” Katy offered, after all she was already here and it seemed like a good idea now that she thought about it.  “Can you actually lay in bed with me and behave?” She asked.  Justin propped himself up on one arm and pulled her covers over to them.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Justin said smiling at her.  It was like learning experience for him, he wanted to do whatever she wanted to do at this point and if that meant taking a nap then so be it. She laid back bed and he pulled her close to him, for some one that had been living in a basement for a week he sure smelled great and he was so warm, like having her own personal heater.  She kissed him lightly on the nose; she wanted to make him feel better. 

“I think I might have another boo boo that you can kiss and make better for me.” Justin teased.  Katy playing smacked him and got comfortable.  Within a matter of seconds she was out, she must be a heavy sleeper.  Justin laid there for awhile running his hand over her arms and her hair; she only stirred slightly.  What on earth was this woman doing to him?